Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you've joined us today because we're starting
Speaker 1: a new series from Psalm twenty three called Living in
Speaker 1: the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's goodness
Speaker 1: meets you right where you are and brings hope in
Speaker 1: even difficult seasons. And now we're kicking off with part
Speaker 1: one of a message called is God Really Good All
Speaker 1: the Time?
Speaker 2: Today we begin a new series that I'm calling Living
Speaker 2: in the Goodness of God. And specifically, we're going to
Speaker 2: look at the most famous chapter in the entire Bible,
Speaker 2: Psalm twenty three. More people know this Psalm than any
Speaker 2: other chapter in the Bible because it's all about the
Speaker 2: goodness of God's Specifically, it gives us nine ways God
Speaker 2: wants to be good in your life.
Speaker 3: Now, when you were.
Speaker 2: Growing up, you probably learned a little child's prayer, God
Speaker 2: is great, God is good, let us thank him.
Speaker 3: For our food.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so you learn at an early age God's
Speaker 2: great and God's good twin pillars. And of course, if
Speaker 2: you've been in church any time in your life, you
Speaker 2: know that sometimes the worship leader will say God is
Speaker 2: good and the congregation shouts back all the time, and
Speaker 2: then he'll say all the time, and they say, God
Speaker 2: is good?
Speaker 3: Is that really true? Is God good all the.
Speaker 2: Time in your life? I mean, what about the times
Speaker 2: when you're in pain? Is God good when you're in pain?
Speaker 2: What about the times you're in conflict? Is God good
Speaker 2: when you're in conflict? What about the times when you're depressed,
Speaker 2: when you're stressed out, when you're worried, when you're under attack?
Speaker 2: Is God really good all the time? And how do
Speaker 2: I know that goodness when I can't feel it? I
Speaker 2: want us to begin this series reading aloud Psalm one hundred,
Speaker 2: verse five. It's there at the top of your message notes.
Speaker 2: Let's read it together with great enthusiasm. The Lord is
Speaker 2: always good, He is always loving and kind. His faithfulness
Speaker 2: goes on and on to each succeeding generation. Now the
Speaker 2: Bible says God is good all the time? How is
Speaker 2: that true? How is that true in my life? What
Speaker 2: I want to do in this introductory message is I
Speaker 2: want to do two things. First, I want to show
Speaker 2: you why focusing on God's goodness is so important to
Speaker 2: your life, and why when you forget to focus on
Speaker 2: God's goodness. It causes all kinds of stress, It causes
Speaker 2: all kinds of problems, It brings all kinds of difficulty.
Speaker 2: The lack of focusing on God's goodness is the major
Speaker 2: cause of stress in your life. We're going to see that,
Speaker 2: and there are some negative consequences that happen, and when
Speaker 2: you forget how good God is. And then the second
Speaker 2: thing I want to do is just give you an
Speaker 2: overview of where we're going on nine ways that God
Speaker 2: wants to be good in your life. I'm not going
Speaker 2: to teach those because I'm going to teach on them individually.
Speaker 2: We'll study him in depth. Now, one way to understand
Speaker 2: God's goodness, the Bible tells us, is actually not just
Speaker 2: by reading the Bible, listening to scripture, hearing a message
Speaker 2: on it, but actually through worshiping.
Speaker 3: Look up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this in Psalm thirty four, verse nine.
Speaker 2: Worship God if you want the best, You want the
Speaker 2: best in life. That's why you need to be at worship.
Speaker 2: Worship God if you want the best, because worship opens
Speaker 2: the doors to read it with me to all God's goodness,
Speaker 2: all his goodness. The way you experience. God's goodness is
Speaker 2: actually through worship, and so worship opens up the goodness
Speaker 2: of God in your life. Now, what happens, let's start
Speaker 2: with this. What happens when I forget God's goodness? Well,
Speaker 2: actually there are four negative consequences, and you need to
Speaker 2: understand this so you can avoid it.
Speaker 3: So you might want to write this down.
Speaker 2: The first negative consequence of forgetting how good God really
Speaker 2: is is this, I start claiming credit for things that
Speaker 2: God did for me. I start claiming credit for the
Speaker 2: things that God did in me, through me, to me,
Speaker 2: for me, buy me with me. And when I do that,
Speaker 2: I head down a path that's going to cause a
Speaker 2: lot of depression, a lot of stress, and actually quick
Speaker 2: judgment from God. In Luke, chapter twelve, Jesus tells the
Speaker 2: story of a very rich man who had been very successful,
Speaker 2: made a lot of money, and one day he's surveying
Speaker 2: his business empire.
Speaker 3: This guy's a.
Speaker 2: Billionaire, he's got it all together, and he says, just
Speaker 2: look at what I've done in my life. He's pretty proud,
Speaker 2: and he goes, look at all of what I've accomplished,
Speaker 2: Look at all of the wealth that I've amassed. Look
Speaker 2: at all the great I I'm going to do with all
Speaker 2: this wealth, I couldn't possibly spends it. I'll tell you what,
Speaker 2: I'll just build bigger barns to store it all in.
Speaker 2: He doesn't give God any of the credit. He takes
Speaker 2: it all on in himself. He thinks that he did
Speaker 2: it all by himself. And the Bible says, God says
Speaker 2: to that rich man, you fool, you fool. He said,
Speaker 2: tonight you're gonna die, and I'm gonna give everything you've
Speaker 2: amasked to somebody else who will appreciate it and express
Speaker 2: their gratitude to me. It's a sober warning. It's a
Speaker 2: sober warning. If I were to ask you what is
Speaker 2: the worst sin you could commit? I wonder what be
Speaker 2: on your top ten list? If I said, what do
Speaker 2: you think is the worst sin that you could commit?
Speaker 3: And some of you.
Speaker 2: Might say, well, it's, you know, some sexual sin, or
Speaker 2: some of you might say maybe it's it's being greedy
Speaker 2: and you know, abusing other people in order to get
Speaker 2: more money.
Speaker 3: And things like that. Nope, nope, nope, you know what.
Speaker 2: The number one worst sin is prideful ingratitude, not being
Speaker 2: grateful to God for his goodness. The Bible talks about
Speaker 2: this over and over and over. Pride and ingratitude is
Speaker 2: the sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven.
Speaker 3: This is a serious thing, folks. This is the serious thing.
Speaker 2: When I stop being grateful to God for all the
Speaker 2: good in my life, then I get into trouble. The
Speaker 2: Bible tells us the story of King Herod, who was
Speaker 2: the king in Jesus Day and on the screen.
Speaker 3: The Bible says this in Acts chapter twelve.
Speaker 2: One day King Herod put on his royal robes and
Speaker 2: he sat on his throne, and he made a great
Speaker 2: speech to the people. And evidently it was quite a
Speaker 2: great message because they shouted, this is the voice of God.
Speaker 3: It's the voice of a God. He's more than a human. Now.
Speaker 2: Herod is not humble, he's not grateful for the place
Speaker 2: that he is in life. Instead, he became. Because Herod
Speaker 2: gave no credit to God. The Lord said an angel
Speaker 2: to strike him down with a fatal disease, and he
Speaker 2: died boom. God didn't take his life because he was immoral.
Speaker 2: God didn't take his life because he was greedy. God
Speaker 2: didn't take his life because he lied to people. God said,
Speaker 2: you are ungrateful, and you're setting yourself up saying, well,
Speaker 2: I did it all myself. And when you do that,
Speaker 2: you're skating on thin ice. Say, but wait a minute.
Speaker 2: I built this business with my bare hands. Who gave
Speaker 2: you your hands. I thought up the business plan totally
Speaker 2: by myself, who gave you your mind. I worked for where
Speaker 2: I got today, and I worked.
Speaker 3: By the sweat of my brow, who gave you sweat.
Speaker 2: Everything you have in your life, God, you would not
Speaker 2: take your next breath breath if it weren't for the
Speaker 2: goodness of God. You wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Speaker 2: For the goodest God. You wouldn't exist if God hadn't
Speaker 2: made you to love you literally everything in your life,
Speaker 2: the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability
Speaker 2: to eat, the ability to do.
Speaker 3: All these everythings. God gave you those abilities.
Speaker 2: And God says, I want you to be grateful to
Speaker 2: me and realize, never forget how good a God I am.
Speaker 2: That everything you have in your life, your freedom, your thoughts,
Speaker 2: all everything you got, it's because I gave it to you,
Speaker 2: and you wouldn't have it. You wouldn't even have the
Speaker 2: ability to work. Did you know that ingratitude is actually
Speaker 2: one of the roots of atheism, that when I'm ungrateful,
Speaker 2: then I start excusing myself and dismissing and maybe even
Speaker 2: denying God. The Bible says it like this in Roman
Speaker 2: chapter one.
Speaker 3: Here on the screen.
Speaker 2: Since God created everything, and he did the entire universe,
Speaker 2: people have always been able to see his goodness. There's
Speaker 2: that word, see his goodness and power in nature. Now,
Speaker 2: for instance, we don't have to have the Bible to
Speaker 2: know a lot about God. All you have to do
Speaker 2: is walk outside. Well, if we didn't even have the Bible,
Speaker 2: you could know a lot about God. In for instance,
Speaker 2: we know God likes variety, all the different flowers and
Speaker 2: plants and animals he creates. We know that God is organized.
Speaker 2: By looking at the universe. We know that God likes systems.
Speaker 2: He creates the plant system and the animal system, the kingdoms,
Speaker 2: the solar system. We know that God is powerful just
Speaker 2: by looking at nature. You don't have to know any
Speaker 2: Look at volcanoes, look at oceans, look at hurricanes, look
Speaker 2: at the pull of magnetism, and the sun and the
Speaker 2: moon and the stars. We know a lot about God
Speaker 2: just by looking at nature. So I can't say, well,
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about God. I've never read the Bible,
Speaker 2: and so the Bible says this, Since God created everything,
Speaker 2: people have always been able to see His goodness and
Speaker 2: his power in nature. So people really have no excuse
Speaker 2: I have to live in denial to deny God, because
Speaker 2: the design of the world and the universe is an
Speaker 2: evidence of a designer. Wherever you have creation, you must
Speaker 2: have a creator. It doesn't just happen. If I were
Speaker 2: to be walking down a mountain side and I saw
Speaker 2: a rock out of place, I might go, that's just
Speaker 2: an accident. But if I'm walking down a mountain and
Speaker 2: I see an Apple watch, that is no accident. Somebody
Speaker 2: designed it. Somebody designed that is evidence of design. In
Speaker 2: one trillion years, that would never just come together on
Speaker 2: its own. It takes more faith to not believe in
Speaker 2: God than to believe in God. You have to say,
Speaker 2: spend reality. The people who don't want to believe in God,
Speaker 2: it's because they don't want to believe in God. It
Speaker 2: takes more faith to believe. You know, I could put
Speaker 2: that on the ground and for a billion years it
Speaker 2: would never just come together on his own. And you're
Speaker 2: far more intricate than that, and so is everything else.
Speaker 2: Wherever there's a design, there's evidence of a designer. Wherever
Speaker 2: there's creation, there's evidence of a creator. This is called
Speaker 2: the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It's one
Speaker 2: of six philosophical arguments that don't even use the Bible
Speaker 2: to prove that God exists. And so he says, in nature,
Speaker 2: we've seen these things. If I don't want to believe
Speaker 2: in God, it's because I don't want to believe in God.
Speaker 3: I want to be God.
Speaker 2: I don't want a lord, I don't want a master.
Speaker 2: I don't want somebody telling me what to do. And
Speaker 2: then the Bible says this, they know God exists, but
Speaker 2: they do not give him credit for all he's made,
Speaker 2: and they're ungrateful.
Speaker 3: That's the big problem.
Speaker 2: So their thinking becomes confused, and their hearts fill up
Speaker 2: with darkness, and they think they're wise, but really they
Speaker 2: have become fools. You see, the slide into unbelief actually
Speaker 2: begins not with unbelief, it begins with ungratefulness. I'm ungrateful
Speaker 2: for all that God has done in my life and
Speaker 2: for my life. Now, did you know that the Bible
Speaker 2: also says that this idea of not focusing on God's goodness,
Speaker 2: being ungrateful for God's goodness is one of the signs
Speaker 2: of the last days of that when history is coming
Speaker 2: to a close. It's one of the characteristics God says
Speaker 2: will be found in society. Look at this verse on
Speaker 2: the screen, tewod Timothy three to two. As the end approaches,
Speaker 2: the end of history, people are going to be these
Speaker 2: ways self absorbed, you know anybody like that? Money hungry,
Speaker 2: self promoting, and arrogant, profane, rebellious. Yes, ungrateful, there's ungratefulness
Speaker 2: is in that long list of sins, and have no
Speaker 2: respect for what is sacred? Does that sound vaguely familiar
Speaker 2: in our culture? You can see every one of those characteristics. Now,
Speaker 2: God wants us to remember the source of our success.
Speaker 2: That's why when you are blessed as much as you
Speaker 2: do living in America, living here, having so many of
Speaker 2: your needs already met, God says, never forget that I
Speaker 2: am the source of everything good in your life. The
Speaker 2: Bible warns us in First Corinthians.
Speaker 3: Chapter four.
Speaker 2: There on your outline, what do you have that God
Speaker 2: hasn't given you?
Speaker 3: Answers? Nothing, literally nothing. It's all from God.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, every good and perfect gift comes from God.
Speaker 2: If God did not exist, you would not exist. What
Speaker 2: do you have that God hasn't given you? And if
Speaker 2: all you have is from God, why do you ask?
Speaker 2: Is though you're so great and as though you accomplished
Speaker 2: it all on your own.
Speaker 3: God is a good God.
Speaker 2: Now, the first thing that happens when I deny, when
Speaker 2: I forget God's goodness, I start claiming credit for stuff
Speaker 2: that actually I didn't do. God did it through me,
Speaker 2: and He gave it all me, even the abilities to
Speaker 2: do it. Now here's the second negative consequence, and that
Speaker 2: is when I forget God's goodness, I stop asking God
Speaker 2: for help. And that's a big problem because when you
Speaker 2: forget how eager God is to help you, how good
Speaker 2: God is, you start depending on yourself and you stop
Speaker 2: asking God for things in prayer. God wants to help you.
Speaker 2: God is waiting to help you. Over twenty times in
Speaker 2: the Bible. In the New Testament, it tells us to ask.
Speaker 2: We're commanded ask and it shall be given. Seek and
Speaker 2: you'll find Knock and the door will be open. The
Speaker 2: Bible says you have not because you ask.
Speaker 3: Not Over and over.
Speaker 2: God wants you to ask for whatever you need in prayer. So, well,
Speaker 2: you know, I only want to give God the big stuff.
Speaker 2: I don't want to give him the small stuff. Everything
Speaker 2: is small to God. None of your requests are big
Speaker 2: to God, so it's no big deal. Every request is
Speaker 2: small in his power. And so God says, I want
Speaker 2: you to I want you to ask. When you forget
Speaker 2: God's goodness. You know what happens. I can tell you
Speaker 2: when you've forgotten God, your prayers become tepid, weak, wimpy prayers.
Speaker 2: They're just wrote. You're not asking, not for anything. You're
Speaker 2: just mouthing words. You don't even mean it, non and
Speaker 2: on and onh and you don't actually even ever ask
Speaker 2: God for anything. You're not specific. You're not saying, God,
Speaker 2: I need money for this car payment. God, I need
Speaker 2: help over here. I've got a conflict with this person.
Speaker 2: Help me out here. And that's what happens when you
Speaker 2: forget the goodness of God. Now, how do you learn
Speaker 2: to trust God? Do you trust God more than you did,
Speaker 2: say six months ago, or a year ago, or two
Speaker 2: or three years ago. I said, well, some of you
Speaker 2: say no, Actually I don't I think I'm kind of stuck.
Speaker 2: I don't think my trust is any deeper than it
Speaker 2: was a couple of years ago. Well you know what
Speaker 2: that means. It means you're not asking in prayer. You're
Speaker 2: not growing in trust because you're not asking God for anything.
Speaker 3: The more you ask, the more God can meet your needs.
Speaker 3: The more He meets your needs, the more you grow
Speaker 3: and trust.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you
Speaker 1: were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.
Speaker 2: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 2: just a handful of people in our living room, I
Speaker 2: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 2: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 2: hope and with truth and with peace that comes from
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Well, you know that little devotional grew and
Speaker 2: grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 2: the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each
Speaker 2: day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's
Speaker 2: promises and finding fresh strength in his word to face
Speaker 2: whatever comes their way. And here's the best part. It's
Speaker 2: absolutely free. Okay, we don't have any charge for this.
Speaker 2: Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a
Speaker 2: podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain
Speaker 2: than ever, I want to help you start your day
Speaker 2: centered on what never changes. And what never changes is
Speaker 2: a God's love, his unconditional love for you and his
Speaker 2: promises to you. You know, if you just spend just
Speaker 2: a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,
Speaker 2: it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more
Speaker 2: peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly, a
Speaker 2: psychologists has said that what you do with the first
Speaker 2: five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So, friend,
Speaker 2: you were never meant to go through life alone. I
Speaker 2: want to personally invite you to just sign up for
Speaker 2: the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's
Speaker 2: going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Just go to Pastorick dot com. That's pastorig
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's word for our Daily Hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support. Rob