Speaker 1: Hi, this is Pastor Rick Warren and I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see what God's going to do through Daily Hope
Speaker 1: in this coming new year. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your support. I love you, I'm praying for you. I
Speaker 1: thank God for you. I appreciate you more than words
Speaker 1: can say. Have a happy New Year.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 2: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series
Speaker 2: called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick uncovers key principles found
Speaker 2: in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from
Speaker 2: the inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 2: and vocational. Now, if you can improve in any of
Speaker 2: these areas I just mentioned, stay with us, because in
Speaker 2: just a few moments we're going to let you know
Speaker 2: how you can have your very own Transformed study kit
Speaker 2: from Pastor Rick, which includes a seven session DVD and workbook.
Speaker 2: You can take a sneak peek right now by going
Speaker 2: to pastor Rick dot com while you listen, and if
Speaker 2: you want, you can just text the word Daily to
Speaker 2: eight hundred, six hundred five thousand and four to find
Speaker 2: out more. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part
Speaker 2: three of a message called from Stressed to Blest.
Speaker 1: Any of you remember Woodstock. There's this rock concert many
Speaker 1: many years ago. Joni Mitchell wrote a song about it
Speaker 1: called Woodstock, and it says, well, I came upon a
Speaker 1: child of God. He was walking along the road, and
Speaker 1: I said, where are you're going? He said, I'm going
Speaker 1: up the Asgars Farm for this rock and roll band.
Speaker 1: And there's a line in the course that says this.
Speaker 1: We are stardust, we are golden, and we're caught in
Speaker 1: the devil's bargain and we've got to get back to
Speaker 1: the garden. And it's a capital g she's talking about
Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden. We've gone a long way from
Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden on this planet. People say I
Speaker 1: feel close to God in nature. Of course you do.
Speaker 1: It's God's beauty, and beauty inspires and beauty motivates. Notice
Speaker 1: the next verse, Psalm twenty three, Verse two and three.
Speaker 1: He makes me lie down. But where does he make
Speaker 1: me lie down? He makes me lie down in lush
Speaker 1: green meadows golf course and leaves me beside calm, quiet
Speaker 1: waters by the sandtrap. He restores my soul. Okay, he
Speaker 1: restores my soul. Now, it's no wonder. Psalm twenty three
Speaker 1: is the most beloved psalm because we can all visualize
Speaker 1: this one. When I say think about lush green meadows
Speaker 1: and a calm, quiet lake, you relaxus thinking about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: If I say think about downtown in La, you get
Speaker 1: stressed out. I say think about meadows and calm waters
Speaker 1: and babbling brooks. Nature refreshes because beauty inspires. Now you
Speaker 1: need beautiful scenes. You need to see beautiful scenes, and
Speaker 1: you need to hear beautiful sounds. In order to keep
Speaker 1: the stress down in your life. You need to add
Speaker 1: beauty into your life. Let me give you some suggestions.
Speaker 1: Write these down. Number one, get outside every day. If
Speaker 1: you're not getting outside every day, your stress level is
Speaker 1: going up, even if it's just your backyard, even as
Speaker 1: just walk around the block, even if it's take your
Speaker 1: lunch outside. Walk outside of the office and sit outside
Speaker 1: and look up at a tree while you eat your sandwich.
Speaker 1: You need to get in touch with God's creation. You
Speaker 1: need to surround yourself with beauty. Get out side. Let
Speaker 1: me give you a second suggestion, start the day with God,
Speaker 1: not the media. Before you read any text, message, before
Speaker 1: you check your email, before you turn on the radio
Speaker 1: to some talk radio people screaming in each other, or
Speaker 1: before you turn on the television for some morning show.
Speaker 1: You need to get in touch with God first. The
Speaker 1: first seven minutes of your day set your mood every day.
Speaker 1: So do you want to start it with an alarm
Speaker 1: clock and then the worst news of the day coming
Speaker 1: at you. No, you don't really need to know all
Speaker 1: the bad news first thing. When you get up, you
Speaker 1: don't need to know that you need to turn on
Speaker 1: some praise music, some worship music. You need to get
Speaker 1: in touch with God. You need to let the first
Speaker 1: five ten minutes of your day be with the Lord,
Speaker 1: and that'll dramatically reduce your stress and improve your mood.
Speaker 1: Another suggestion number three, intentionally put beauty around you, whether
Speaker 1: it's pieces of art or music that inspires you, or
Speaker 1: something a craft that something that you know. I used
Speaker 1: to collect seashells and I collected them from all over
Speaker 1: the world, and I did it and I had them,
Speaker 1: had my library filled with them, because looking at those
Speaker 1: things simply inspired me to go, wow, that the intricacy
Speaker 1: of that nautilus, How God inspired that Looking at beauty
Speaker 1: lowers your stress level. Listening to beauty lowers your stress level.
Speaker 1: So I highly recommend that you either take up an
Speaker 1: instrument or or some kind of art or craft to
Speaker 1: create beauty. You are most like your creator when you're
Speaker 1: being creative, and so you need art in your life.
Speaker 1: You need beauty. And by the way, art and music
Speaker 1: are two of the greatest arguments against evolution. Why because
Speaker 1: they're totally unnecessary for human survival. And if the whole
Speaker 1: survival of the fittest really works, then why in the
Speaker 1: world do we have music and art in the world.
Speaker 1: Because you're more than a body and God made you
Speaker 1: for worship. Did you know more songs have been written
Speaker 1: about Jesus than any other subject in human history? Did
Speaker 1: you know more books have been written about Jesus than
Speaker 1: in any other subject in human history. Do you know
Speaker 1: that more art has been created about the Bible and
Speaker 1: the honor and glorify God and Jesus than any other
Speaker 1: subject in history? Why God gave us music and God
Speaker 1: gave us art for one reason, to express emotion. That's
Speaker 1: the only purpose of it. You don't need it for
Speaker 1: physical survival, but you do need it to really live,
Speaker 1: to be who God made you to be, so fill
Speaker 1: your life with art and fill your life with music.
Speaker 1: You know, when I get stressed out, I go home,
Speaker 1: I pick up at katar, I start playing guitar, are
Speaker 1: set on piano, Bang on the piano. It doesn't matter, kazoo,
Speaker 1: you know whatever, just come and paper. It's like last
Speaker 1: week you said, make a joyful noise. That don't have
Speaker 1: to be pretty, Just make a joyful noise. Philippians four
Speaker 1: to eight says this. You'll do best by filling your
Speaker 1: minds and meditating on things that are true and noble
Speaker 1: and reputable, and authentic and compelling and gracious. It sounds
Speaker 1: like television, doesn't it. No, it doesn't. That is not television. Okay,
Speaker 1: You'll do best by filling your mind with things that
Speaker 1: are true and noble and authentic, compelling, gracious, the best,
Speaker 1: not the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly. Now, because
Speaker 1: of sin, there's a lot of ugliness in the world.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of unpleasant things in the world.
Speaker 1: Whatever you give your attention to is going to either
Speaker 1: raise or lower your stress. Some of you, during fifty
Speaker 1: days transformation, you need to do a fast on the news.
Speaker 1: I hate to tell you this, but you could miss
Speaker 1: the news for the next fifty days, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to make one difference in the world. If you read
Speaker 1: the newspaper one day later, you'd realize how much news
Speaker 1: really isn't news. The media is tuned to make you
Speaker 1: think stuff's important that isn't that important. Has no bearing
Speaker 1: on your life. And if you used all the time
Speaker 1: that you spend listening to news, or watching news or
Speaker 1: reading news, and instead spent that listening to God, reading
Speaker 1: his word, listening to worship songs, your stress would be
Speaker 1: dramatically lower. It's your choice now. If you want to
Speaker 1: stay stressed out, keep watching local news because if it bleeds,
Speaker 1: it leads on the local news. In other words, if
Speaker 1: there's a crime that happened anywhere within distance, it's going
Speaker 1: to be reported on the news. Is that really what
Speaker 1: you want to hear? Is that what you really need?
Speaker 1: Is that going to make you a better woman a
Speaker 1: better man?
Speaker 3: No, you're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Rip will
Speaker 3: be back in just a moment with the rest of
Speaker 3: today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for.
Speaker 3: Pastor Rick's free email devotional at pastorick dot com. That's
Speaker 3: Pastorick dot com Have.
Speaker 4: You ever noticed that the world has ever changing so
Speaker 4: called answers to your relationship struggles, solutions to your financial troubles,
Speaker 4: and explanations to your search for meaning? But what the
Speaker 4: world offers often leaves us empty and searching for more.
Speaker 4: The good news is God's Word contains timeless truths that
Speaker 4: can transform every area of your life from the inside out.
Speaker 4: That's why Pastor Rick created a very special Bible study
Speaker 4: called Transformed. In it, he'll help you discover the key
Speaker 4: Biblical principles that will completely transform you by changing the
Speaker 4: way you think. Pastor Rick covers every area of your
Speaker 4: life spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial, and vocational, filled
Speaker 4: with weekly lessons, daily devotions, and exercises to help you
Speaker 4: go deeper in God's Word. This seven week DVD and
Speaker 4: workbook study is perfect to do on your own or
Speaker 4: with a small group of friends. We'll send you the
Speaker 4: Transformed Study kid as our way of saying thanks when
Speaker 4: you give a gift to Daily Hope to help take
Speaker 4: the certain Hope of Jesus to people around the world.
Speaker 4: To get your copy of this great resource, call eight
Speaker 4: hundred six hundred five zero zero four or go to
Speaker 4: pastororik dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred five zero
Speaker 4: zero four or pastaik dot com.
Speaker 1: Once again, here's Rick. Hate to tell you this, but
Speaker 1: you could miss the news for the next fifty days,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to make one difference in the world.
Speaker 1: If you read the newspaper one day later, you'd realize
Speaker 1: how much news really isn't news. The media is tuned
Speaker 1: to make you think stuff's important that isn't that important.
Speaker 1: Has no bearing on your life. And if you used
Speaker 1: all the time that you spend listening to news or
Speaker 1: watching news or reading news, and instead spent that listening
Speaker 1: to God, reading his word, listening to worship songs, your
Speaker 1: stress would be dramatically lower. It's your choice now. If
Speaker 1: you want to stay stressed out, keep watching local news
Speaker 1: because if it bleeds, it leads on the local news.
Speaker 1: In other words, if there's a crime that happened anywhere
Speaker 1: within distance, it's going to be reported on the news.
Speaker 1: Is that really what you want to hear? Is that
Speaker 1: what you really need? Is that going to make you
Speaker 1: a better woman a better man? No, So I recharge
Speaker 1: my soul with beauty. He makes me lay down in
Speaker 1: green meadows and calm waters. Beside calm waters. The fourth
Speaker 1: thing we have is go to God for guidance. Go
Speaker 1: to God for guidance. Now this is important because a
Speaker 1: common source of stress in your life is indecision. You
Speaker 1: can't make up your mind. Some of you right now
Speaker 1: are wavering. You're at the fork in the road. Or
Speaker 1: maybe you've got multiple options and you just can't decide,
Speaker 1: and the stress is killing you. You can't decide whether
Speaker 1: to get in or get out, or do neither. You
Speaker 1: got too many choices. I recommend that you make God
Speaker 1: the number one source for guidance, not the opinions of
Speaker 1: your friends, not some pundit on television, but that you
Speaker 1: go to God for guidance because he always tells you
Speaker 1: the truth. So what I do. I say, God, I
Speaker 1: need wisdom. And in James chapter one it says this,
Speaker 1: if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,
Speaker 1: who gives to all men liberally and does it couldn't
Speaker 1: condemn them or criticize them. He gives it generously and graciously.
Speaker 1: God is waiting to give you wisdom. You just have
Speaker 1: to ask. So you say, God, I need wisdom, and
Speaker 1: I pray and I ask. Then I read the Bible.
Speaker 1: I read this book and then I wait, and I think,
Speaker 1: and I be quiet, and I listen and I sense
Speaker 1: and at the right time, maybe not immediately, at the
Speaker 1: right time, God will put that idea in my mind,
Speaker 1: and you go, Wow, that's an inspiration. That's what I
Speaker 1: need to do. I want you to write this down,
Speaker 1: Write this affirmation down. It's an affirmation. God will guide
Speaker 1: me at the right time. God will guide me at
Speaker 1: the right time, not at the wrong time. And his
Speaker 1: timing is perfect. He's never early, he's never late. If
Speaker 1: you have to make a decision about next year, he's
Speaker 1: not going to give you the answer today because he
Speaker 1: wants you to trust him. The Bible says, there's enough
Speaker 1: trouble and each day, take one day at a time.
Speaker 1: So God's going to give you the right decision and
Speaker 1: the right guidance if you'll trust him. But he'll do
Speaker 1: it at the right time. So I'm twenty three. Verse
Speaker 1: three says this, he guides me in the right paths
Speaker 1: for his name's sake. That's an affirmation. God, I believe
Speaker 1: you're going to guide me at the right time, in
Speaker 1: the right way. I believe You're going to do that.
Speaker 1: And if you have that belief, he's going to do it.
Speaker 1: Number four or number five, I trust God in the
Speaker 1: dark valleys. I trust God in the dark valleys. Now,
Speaker 1: we're all going to go through dark valleys in our lives.
Speaker 1: You'll go through many of them in your lifetime. One
Speaker 1: of the fifth common sources of stress is loss. And
Speaker 1: you can lose your job, and you could lose your income,
Speaker 1: and you can lose your money, you could lose your health,
Speaker 1: you could lose your reputation, you can lose a loved one.
Speaker 1: We all go through many losses in life. And when
Speaker 1: you go through loss, there are always two common reactions.
Speaker 1: One is fear and the other is grief. Now, grief
Speaker 1: is good, fear is bad. When we did a series
Speaker 1: a seven messages on grief last year, and remember I said,
Speaker 1: grief is the way we get through the transitions of life.
Speaker 1: Grief is a good thing. The Bible says God grieves,
Speaker 1: It's a godly emotion. In fact, if you don't grieve,
Speaker 1: you get stuck. Some of you've had a major loss
Speaker 1: in your life in the past and you just shoved
Speaker 1: it down. You stuffed it instead of grieving. And when
Speaker 1: you stuff it you get stuck at that stage emotionally,
Speaker 1: and you've never gone any further because you didn't go
Speaker 1: through the grief. You got stuck, and you maybe need
Speaker 1: to go back and grieve some things in your life
Speaker 1: you've never grieved over. So you get unstuck because you
Speaker 1: got unstuffed. Stop pushing the pain down. Just grieve it.
Speaker 1: Let it out. It's not going to kill you. Grief
Speaker 1: will not kill you. You let it out. It's good
Speaker 1: for you. It's how you go through the transitions of life,
Speaker 1: and then you get unstuck and you can move on
Speaker 1: and you can grow up emotionally. Grief's a good thing.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, fear is a bad thing. Not
Speaker 1: once in the Bible does it say grieve not, sorrow not, weep,
Speaker 1: not cry not. What it does say is fear not.
Speaker 1: And it says that three hundred and sixty five times,
Speaker 1: which means there's one for every day of the year.
Speaker 1: Because grief doesn't paralyze fear does. Fear does. So I'm
Speaker 1: twenty three, verse four. Here's what David says, even though
Speaker 1: I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Speaker 1: I will fear no either. I don't fear anything. Why
Speaker 1: for you are with me, your rod and your staff
Speaker 1: comfort me. Now, remember he's using this shepherd metaphor shepherd
Speaker 1: with his sheep. Shepherd's always carried a rod and a staff.
Speaker 1: These are the two tools that you use to protect
Speaker 1: the sheep, to ward off wolves, and to protect the sheep.
Speaker 1: He says, I'm not going to stress out about this
Speaker 1: because God is my protector. God is helping me, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to trust God. In the dark valleys, even
Speaker 1: though I walk through the valley of the shadow, some
Speaker 1: of you are going through the valley of the shadow
Speaker 1: right now. Maybe the valley of the shadow of death.
Speaker 1: It may be the valley of the shadow of debt.
Speaker 1: It may be the valley of the shadow of conflict.
Speaker 1: It may be the valley of shadow of depression. It
Speaker 1: may be the valley of the shadow of discouragement. But
Speaker 1: you're going through the valley of the shadow now. Shadows
Speaker 1: are scary. I remember how I used to get afraid
Speaker 1: of shadows when you're laying in bed as a little kid.
Speaker 1: Some of the things though I've learned about shadows of this,
Speaker 1: Shadows can't hurt you. They can't hurt you. Can run
Speaker 1: over that hurts you. But if a truck shadow runs over,
Speaker 1: it doesn't hurt you. Shadow can't hurt you. Shadows are
Speaker 1: always bigger than the source, and that true. It's your
Speaker 1: fear of that greater than the actual event. Shadows are
Speaker 1: always bigger than the source because it makes them look
Speaker 1: bigger than they really are. But here's the good news.
Speaker 1: Wherever there's a shadow, there's a light. You can't have
Speaker 1: a shadow without a light. And so the key of
Speaker 1: when you're going through the value of the shadow and
Speaker 1: to not be afraid is to turn your back on
Speaker 1: the shadow and look at the light. Because as long
Speaker 1: as I keep my eyes on the light, the shadow
Speaker 1: can't scare me. And Jesus is the light of the world.
Speaker 1: That's how you go through the valley of the shadow death.
Speaker 1: That's how you lower the stress. I trust God in
Speaker 1: the dark valleys. Maybe you're going through that right now.
Speaker 1: You need to pray like David som one verse three.
Speaker 1: When I'm ready to give up, he knows what I
Speaker 1: should do. When I'm ready to give up, He knows
Speaker 1: what I should do. I want you to write this
Speaker 1: down on your outline. I don't have to know the
Speaker 1: answers when I know God.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy that
Speaker 2: you've chosen to study along with us today. If you'd
Speaker 2: like to receive ricks free daily devotional, just go to
Speaker 2: Pastorick dot com and sign up right now. Rick will
Speaker 2: be back to close out our time today. But first,
Speaker 2: you know, the world is shouting for our attention with
Speaker 2: answers to our relationship struggles, solutions to our financial troubles,
Speaker 2: and explanations to our search for meaning. But the world's
Speaker 2: promises leave us empty and searching for more. God's Word
Speaker 2: contains the only answers that promise to transform your life
Speaker 2: from the inside out. That's why Pastor Rick has put
Speaker 2: together the Transformed Study Kit, which includes a vegan leatherbound
Speaker 2: interactive workbook and a seven video session DVD. These video
Speaker 2: sessions can be used independently or with a small group
Speaker 2: of friends. This kit will help uncover key Biblical principles
Speaker 2: that will completely transform your life in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 2: and vocational. Will send you the Transformed Study Kit as
Speaker 2: our way of saying thanks when you give a gift
Speaker 2: to help Daily Hope, take the certain hope of Jesus
Speaker 2: to people around the world. To get your copy of
Speaker 2: this great resource, call eight hundred six hundred five thousand
Speaker 2: four or go to Pastorrick dot com. That's eight hundred
Speaker 2: six hundred five thousand and four or Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 2: Right now, here's Pastor Rick to tell us how God
Speaker 2: is using this ministry to change lives.
Speaker 1: Here's a letter from Catherine, a listener who says that
Speaker 1: hearing the truth of the Bible on Daily Hope transformed
Speaker 1: her life. She wrote me this, She said, Pastor Rick.
Speaker 1: A few months ago, I was angry all the time
Speaker 1: about everything. My husband was drinking too much, and my
Speaker 1: marriage was headed for divorce. Years ago, I'd forgotten about
Speaker 1: my faith. But one day, on my long drive home
Speaker 1: from work, I changed the station from my angry music
Speaker 1: and I found you speaking on Daily Hope on the radio.
Speaker 1: You know, it was as if through you, Jesus said, oh,
Speaker 1: you're finally listening, and I have something to tell you. Well.
Speaker 1: Your message spoke directly to me, to my problems and
Speaker 1: to my many failure, and you spoke some hard truths,
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick, that I needed to hear about the things
Speaker 1: that I was doing wrong and the things that I
Speaker 1: wasn't doing at all. But it made me look at
Speaker 1: myself and I realized that I had forgotten about Jesus,
Speaker 1: and I was making myself miserable trying to do everything
Speaker 1: on my own. I wasn't trusting in God, or seeking God,
Speaker 1: or even a relationship with Jesus. But a few days later,
Speaker 1: after a lot of inward reflection, I shared your words
Speaker 1: with my husband. You know what, We're now both reading
Speaker 1: our Bibles again, We're going to church again. We're mending
Speaker 1: our relationship with each other and with Christ, our Savior.
Speaker 1: And it is your daily hope program that changed our
Speaker 1: lives and the direction of our lives. Now I'm listening
Speaker 1: to you on my way home from work every day.
Speaker 1: So thanks for allowing yourself to be a vessel through
Speaker 1: which God can work to restore lives and marriages. I
Speaker 1: was hopeless, but now I'm full of hope and full
Speaker 1: of joy through my faith in Jesus. So God bless
Speaker 1: you Rick for bringing me back to God. Friends, you
Speaker 1: may have heard me say this before that I am
Speaker 1: addicted to change lives. I am passionate about watching God
Speaker 1: at work in your life and giving people hope when
Speaker 1: everything else seems hopeless. It's why we do what we do.
Speaker 1: Catherine and her husband have now mended their relationship and
Speaker 1: they're both reading their Bibles. That is incredible news. The
Speaker 1: family that prays together stays together. None of this, by
Speaker 1: the way, would be possible without your support of Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: It is your gifts, your financial gifts, and your prayers
Speaker 1: that allow me to teach millions of people every day
Speaker 1: all around the world about the hope of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Now have you just heard People are being saved, Lives
Speaker 1: are being changed, marriages are being restored, people are finding hope.
Speaker 1: Why because of you and your financial gifts and your prayers.
Speaker 1: So thank you everybody for your caring about others and
Speaker 1: the relationship with God. And if you can send a
Speaker 1: gift today, please do so. We want to reach more
Speaker 1: and more people with the hope of God's word. You know,
Speaker 1: if God is blessing you through Daily Hope, would you
Speaker 1: share your story with me? Write me Rick at Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast
Speaker 2: has blessed you, feel free to send him an email
Speaker 2: at Rick at Pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at Pastorrick
Speaker 2: dot com. Be sure to join us again next time
Speaker 2: as we look into God's Word for our daily hope.
Speaker 2: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
Speaker 2: your generous financial support.