Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series
Speaker 1: from Psalm twenty three called living in the Goodness of God.
Speaker 1: It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where
Speaker 1: you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. And
Speaker 1: let's join Rick right now for the final part of
Speaker 1: a message called how to be Led by God's Spirit
Speaker 1: Number three.
Speaker 2: If I want to be led by God's spirit, I
Speaker 2: must look to God's word. I must look to God's word.
Speaker 2: God's will is found in God's word. Psalm one nineteen
Speaker 2: one oh five. Your word is a lamp to guide
Speaker 2: me and a light for my path. If you're not
Speaker 2: in the Bible every day, you're in the dark. You're
Speaker 2: walking through life without a flashlight. Your word is a
Speaker 2: lamp to guide me and a light for my path
Speaker 2: Proverbs one nineteen. Psalm on nineteen is what that's supposed
Speaker 2: to be. Psalm one nineteen one thirty three says this,
Speaker 2: guide my steps by your word, so I will not
Speaker 2: be overcome by any evil. It's up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: Guide my steps by your word, so I won't be
Speaker 2: overcome by any evil. Now, I want to give you
Speaker 2: a couple statements real quickly. I could go into this
Speaker 2: in detail, but I won't. About the word of God.
Speaker 2: Write these down. Number one, God's will is found in
Speaker 2: God's word. God's will is found in God's word. Most
Speaker 2: of God's will is already revealed. No, the name of
Speaker 2: your spouse is not there, But that's not what you're
Speaker 2: misunderstanding what I'm saying. The principles are there on how
Speaker 2: to find the right kind of man or the right
Speaker 2: kind of woman that would be God's choice. And as
Speaker 2: you read God's Word, he speaks to you. When you
Speaker 2: open your Bible, God opens his mouth and he starts
Speaker 2: talking to you. And when you close your Bible, God
Speaker 2: closes his mouth, He shuts his mouth. We discovered the
Speaker 2: will of God in the Word of God. So let
Speaker 2: me just say it this way. Stop listening for a
Speaker 2: voice and start looking for a verse. Some of you
Speaker 2: want God to write it in the sky. Why would
Speaker 2: he need to write it in the sky. He's already
Speaker 2: written it in a book, but you won't even open
Speaker 2: it on a daily basis. Stop looking for a voice.
Speaker 2: Write it in the sky. Give me a word. Start
Speaker 2: looking for a verse, and God will teach you the principles.
Speaker 2: And by the way, God expects me to obey what
Speaker 2: I already know before he shows me something new. So
Speaker 2: if God's already shown you something, I want you to
Speaker 2: do this and you haven't done it yet, why is
Speaker 2: he going to show you step two until you've done
Speaker 2: step one? It's already there. He said, I God, I
Speaker 2: need to know if you want me to change jobs.
Speaker 2: And God says, O, well, are you following what I've
Speaker 2: already told you? Are you already doing that? The key
Speaker 2: if you want to be led by the spirit, start
Speaker 2: doing what you already know is God's will. Just start
Speaker 2: doing what you already know is God's will. God's will
Speaker 2: is found in God's word. The other thing I want
Speaker 2: you to write down is this, God's will never contradicts
Speaker 2: God's word. If you get an idea and you can't
Speaker 2: find the basis for us in the Bible, it's wrong
Speaker 2: because God has already given us his word. You know.
Speaker 2: He says, well, I had this impression. People tell me
Speaker 2: all the time, Pastor Rick, I had this impression. Well,
Speaker 2: what does the Bible say? You know? This is how
Speaker 2: cults get started. I got this idea. The Bible tells
Speaker 2: us in Galatians chapter one, verse eight that even if
Speaker 2: an angel shows up and tells you something like here's
Speaker 2: some new books to add to the Bible, he says,
Speaker 2: you don't even trust that, because if it's not in
Speaker 2: the Bible, he says, you don't God's will will never
Speaker 2: contradict God's word. Most of what God's already wanted us
Speaker 2: to know is found in this book, and if you
Speaker 2: read it, God will guide you. You know. He said, Well,
Speaker 2: if I act on what God's already told me, then
Speaker 2: you're telling me He's going to tell me more. That's
Speaker 2: exactly what I'm saying, all right. Number four, If I
Speaker 2: want to be led by God's spirit, I must ask
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit to be my guide. I must ask
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit to be my guide. Do you remember
Speaker 2: in high school they had a position on the faculty
Speaker 2: called the school guidance counselor. And I remember that the
Speaker 2: school they were supposed to help you decide if you're
Speaker 2: going to go to college or get a job, or
Speaker 2: get in the military or whatever. And they were the
Speaker 2: guidance counselor. You have a guidance counselor for life. He's
Speaker 2: called the Holy Spirit. And you don't just have this book.
Speaker 2: It's nice to have this book, but what's even nicer
Speaker 2: is to have the author speaking in your ear going
Speaker 2: And this is what this means. And he is your
Speaker 2: guidance counselor. But where I say, I must ask the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit circle that word ask. One of the reasons
Speaker 2: you don't know God's will is you don't ask for it.
Speaker 2: And in James four, verse two, the Bible says you
Speaker 2: do not have because you do not ask God for it.
Speaker 2: You just need to understand God's interested in every detail
Speaker 2: of your life. He has the hairs on your head
Speaker 2: numbered and he knows everything about you. He knows your
Speaker 2: details more than you do. He knows the health problems
Speaker 2: you've got that you don't even know you've got. God
Speaker 2: knows them. And one of the best ways to engage
Speaker 2: your guidance counselor is ask a specific question in prayer.
Speaker 2: So I'm twenty seven verse eleven, teach me Lord what
Speaker 2: you want me to do and lead me down the
Speaker 2: right path. Now, how does he do that? How does
Speaker 2: God lead me down the right path? Well, there are
Speaker 2: a lot of different ways. But let me just mention
Speaker 2: a couple one of the miss The primary way the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit guides us is by reminding us what we've
Speaker 2: read in this book, because you read stuff in here,
Speaker 2: and if you memorize it, then it's stored in the
Speaker 2: back of your mind, and at the right moment, when
Speaker 2: you're in that conflict at work, God can bring that
Speaker 2: verse to mind, and Holy Spirit reminds us. The problem
Speaker 2: is we are not good at retention. We have good forgetters,
Speaker 2: but unfortunately a part of the Holy Spirit's job is
Speaker 2: to help you. Remember have you ever been talking to
Speaker 2: somebody and you go, I don't know what to say,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden the idea pops in
Speaker 2: your mind. The Holy Spirit just reminded you of that.
Speaker 2: And the more this book you get in your mind,
Speaker 2: the more he can bring back. Now, if there's nothing
Speaker 2: of this book in your mind, what's he going to
Speaker 2: bring out? Nothing? So you got it. You got to
Speaker 2: get in the book. I can't tell you how many
Speaker 2: times I've walked into a meeting or a phone conversation
Speaker 2: or an interview, or a skeptic on the street or anything,
Speaker 2: and I hadn't the slightest idea what I was going
Speaker 2: to say, and I just shoot up a quick prayer,
Speaker 2: guidance counselor what do you want me to say? Here,
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, what do you want me to say? And
Speaker 2: he'll bring something. Some of you've never had that happen,
Speaker 2: as I said, because you don't have anything stuck there
Speaker 2: in your mind. So God gives us ideas through his word.
Speaker 2: And the other way is he puts ideas in your mind. Yes,
Speaker 2: he does put impressions in your mind. When God gives
Speaker 2: you an idea, that's called inspiration. When the devil gives
Speaker 2: you an idea, that's called temptation. When you get an
Speaker 2: idea that's called dumb. It's just teasing. God gave you
Speaker 2: your brain. He wants you to use it. Satan cannot
Speaker 2: control you accept suggest thoughts. If you accept them, then
Speaker 2: he's controlling you. God will not control you because He's
Speaker 2: given you that free will. But when he puts an
Speaker 2: idea in your mind you respond to it, then he
Speaker 2: enlightens it. Now, is there any way I can speed
Speaker 2: up that process that I get God's ideas quicker? Yes,
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you how you can speed up
Speaker 2: the process of getting ideas quicker, like I need a
Speaker 2: new product, I need a new solution. Two things write
Speaker 2: these down. Number one, ask humbly, Ask humbly. That'll speed
Speaker 2: up the process. Proverbs twenty five, Psalm twenty five, verse nine.
Speaker 2: God guides the humble in what is right, and he
Speaker 2: teaches them his way. The more humble you are in
Speaker 2: coming to God, the quicker, God gives you the information
Speaker 2: you need. Pride goes for a destruction a haughty spirit
Speaker 2: before a fall. God says, if you just be humble
Speaker 2: and say, God, I need you. I got to know this,
Speaker 2: he said, I'll give it to you. The Lord is
Speaker 2: my shepherd. So we're just talking about he leads me
Speaker 2: in the paths in the right past for his name sake,
Speaker 2: and I just be humble about it. Another way is
Speaker 2: asking faith. I ask humbly, and then I ask in
Speaker 2: faith and I say, God, I need to know what
Speaker 2: you want me to do in this situation, and I'm
Speaker 2: expecting you to give me the answer. Thank you in advance,
Speaker 2: Thank you in advance. You got to have faith, James,
Speaker 2: Chapter one. If you want to know what God really
Speaker 2: wants you to do, and I hope that's what it
Speaker 2: is for you. If you want to know what God
Speaker 2: wants you to do, ask him and you'll gladly tell you,
Speaker 2: for He is already ready to give a bountiful supply
Speaker 2: of wisdom to all who ask. Remember ask combly, asking faith,
Speaker 2: but be sure that you really expect him to tell you.
Speaker 2: If you don't ask in faith, don't expect the Lord
Speaker 2: to give you any solid answers. That's why you don't.
Speaker 2: Often don't know what God wants you to do, you're
Speaker 2: not asking in faith. I remember years ago we were
Speaker 2: driving down the road. I think we're going up to
Speaker 2: Fresno or something, and Kay Kay was looking down. She
Speaker 2: was driving, and she looked down in the the gas
Speaker 2: tank was on empty, and I said, where's the nearest
Speaker 2: gas station? And we'd seen a sign about a mile back, said,
Speaker 2: the next one is like thirty miles up. I think
Speaker 2: we're up going up on five thirty miles down the freeway.
Speaker 2: So then I put it into one of these little
Speaker 2: you know apps, and it said get off the freeway,
Speaker 2: go ten miles down that little road and there'll be
Speaker 2: a gas station. Now the question is am I going
Speaker 2: to believe the sign or the app thirty miles down
Speaker 2: that road or ten miles on the app and go
Speaker 2: down a little road. This is a test of faith
Speaker 2: and sometimes that's going to happen in your life because
Speaker 2: you'll say, God, what should I do here? And God,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you to do the exact opposite of what
Speaker 2: you think you ought to do one time. If you
Speaker 2: want to know God's will, just figure out what you
Speaker 2: naturally do and do the opposite because you're off and wrong,
Speaker 2: so that would be a good thing to do. But
Speaker 2: you can always trust God's guidance system. He's never wrong.
Speaker 2: You do have to believe him all right. Number five.
Speaker 2: The fifth thing, if I want to be led by
Speaker 2: God's spirit, I must listen for God's response. And this
Speaker 2: is really a big reason why we don't hear God
Speaker 2: is because we ask and then we immediately run off.
Speaker 2: We don't wait, we don't be quiet, we don't listen,
Speaker 2: we don't pause. We say God, I need to know this,
Speaker 2: and then take off and then turn on the radio
Speaker 2: or start listening to your iPhone or answering calls or
Speaker 2: reading texts, or you know, watch a TV. And all
Speaker 2: the circuits are jammed and God can't get through to
Speaker 2: you for the answer. I cannot overemphasize the importance of
Speaker 2: you taking some private time alone every day just to
Speaker 2: sit quietly. I do this all the time. And I
Speaker 2: sit down and I say, God, is there anything you
Speaker 2: want to say to me right now? I just shut up.
Speaker 2: I just listen. I've read your word. I've talked to
Speaker 2: you all throughout the day. Job thirty three, verse fourteen.
Speaker 2: God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even
Speaker 2: though people may not understand it. He uses the Bible,
Speaker 2: he uses teachers like what I'm doing right now. He
Speaker 2: uses impressions, He can use circumstances, he can use pain,
Speaker 2: he can do all these different things. But the key
Speaker 2: is to tested by the word. And I want to
Speaker 2: close with this Psalm seventy seven, because sometimes you say,
Speaker 2: God don't want to know your will, and you look
Speaker 2: out and you go, that doesn't make sense at all.
Speaker 2: This is a test. Psalms seventy seven, verse nineteen is
Speaker 2: actually a verse about Moses. You remember the story of
Speaker 2: the Ten Commandments, when Charlton Heston, you know, stood up
Speaker 2: there and he put this thing in the water, and
Speaker 2: the nile turned red, and all of the different miracles
Speaker 2: and things like that, and when finally Pharaoh said after
Speaker 2: ten miracles, and all those miracles were making fun of
Speaker 2: false gods. Pharaoh finally says, okay, you can go, And
Speaker 2: so a million Jews are leaving and they're heading across
Speaker 2: to go across the Sinai Peninsula, and all of a
Speaker 2: sudden they come up to a little cul de sac
Speaker 2: and they're standing with mountains on either side, the Red
Speaker 2: sea in front of him, which looks impassable, and Pharaoh
Speaker 2: has changed his mind, and the army's coming after him
Speaker 2: and back. So they're himed in and they we're going
Speaker 2: to be slaughtered. We got mountains on either side, we
Speaker 2: got an ocean in front of us, and we've got
Speaker 2: Pharaoh's armies and they're armed and we have no arms,
Speaker 2: and they're coming after us. And they were in God's
Speaker 2: that'll called the Sacon. It looks like it's a goner.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be dead. The name of that place was
Speaker 2: called Bales of Fawn, which means God's hidden treasure. God
Speaker 2: had him exactly where he wanted him to be. He
Speaker 2: was going to do a miracle, and suddenly the ocean splits,
Speaker 2: you know the story, and they start walking through on
Speaker 2: dry ground, and imagine how in shock. Everybody had to
Speaker 2: be walking through that area, and when they get through
Speaker 2: the other side, it closes up, and you know the
Speaker 2: whole story. This verse in Psalms talks about it, and
Speaker 2: it says, your road lord led by a pathway through
Speaker 2: the sea, a pathway no one knew was there. I
Speaker 2: love that verse. There have been so many times in
Speaker 2: I have come up against enormous barriers, financial barriers, approval barriers,
Speaker 2: physical barriers, energy barriers. And I'm looking at this and
Speaker 2: I go, God, there's mountains on the east side and
Speaker 2: an impassable barrier in front of me, and the enemy's
Speaker 2: caving in, closing in very quickly. And I'm in bales
Speaker 2: the fawn. I'm in God's hidden treasure. And God says,
Speaker 2: I've got you exactly exactly where I want you to be.
Speaker 2: Watch this, and you made a pathway through the sea,
Speaker 2: a pathway no one knew was there. Bam, some of
Speaker 2: you are in balesa fon right now. There's no way
Speaker 2: we're getting now this. We're going into bankruptcy. There's no
Speaker 2: way getting now this. It's we've heard the sea word cancer.
Speaker 2: There's no way out of this. We're headed for a divorce, court,
Speaker 2: there's no and you are exactly where God wants you
Speaker 2: to be. He wants to do a miracle. But there
Speaker 2: are five things you got to stop doing, and there
Speaker 2: are five things you got to start doing stops and starts,
Speaker 2: stops and starts. And when you do that, you get
Speaker 2: God's guidance and he shows you a pathway that nobody
Speaker 2: knew was there. That's power heads. God can make a
Speaker 2: way when it seems there is no way. Now we've
Speaker 2: just gone only into three verses of this incredible passage
Speaker 2: Psalm twenty three, And out of that we know that
Speaker 2: because God is good, when I'm worried, he will meet
Speaker 2: my needs. The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything
Speaker 2: I need. And when I'm stressed, He'll teach me to relax.
Speaker 2: He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads
Speaker 2: me beside still waters. When I'm empty, he will replenish
Speaker 2: my strength. He restores my soul. And when I don't
Speaker 2: know what to do, he will guide me. He leads
Speaker 2: me in the right paths for His namesake. Would you
Speaker 2: pray all right? Now? Talk to God? Why don't you
Speaker 2: say something like this, Dear God, I want to be
Speaker 2: led by your spirit I don't want to go through
Speaker 2: life on my own ingenuity and power. I've had too
Speaker 2: many dead ends. I know that's not the solution. You
Speaker 2: have said. Only those people who are led by God's
Speaker 2: spirit are God's children. Because you are a good God,
Speaker 2: you guide us in your goodness. Lord. Starting today, there's
Speaker 2: some stuff I want to stop doing. Help me to
Speaker 2: remember that I cannot follow a culture that doesn't follow you.
Speaker 2: Do not copy the behavior and values of the world.
Speaker 2: To love everybody, but do not love the value system
Speaker 2: the Lord. Help me to remember that I can't follow
Speaker 2: friends who aren't led by you. I don't want anybody
Speaker 2: leading me in the wrong way. I want to love people,
Speaker 2: but I don't want to lead me. I want to
Speaker 2: be an influence, not be influenced. I want to be
Speaker 2: a thermostat, not a thermometer. Help me to remember that
Speaker 2: I can't look to other sources besides you and come
Speaker 2: to you with a clear conscience. It's not horoscopes and prayer.
Speaker 2: It's not self help books and the Bible. They're not
Speaker 2: on the same level. I want to stop being led
Speaker 2: by my circumstances. And most of all, Lord, I want
Speaker 2: to stop being mastered and manipulated by my moods. I
Speaker 2: cannot be led by the spirit if I'm led by
Speaker 2: my feelings. I'm sorry for the times that I've made
Speaker 2: feelings my God, and I did what I felt like doing,
Speaker 2: not necessarily what you wanted me to do. Lord. Today
Speaker 2: I'm telling you I want to be led by your spirit.
Speaker 2: I want to be led. I've got to be led.
Speaker 2: More than that, I'm willing to do whatever you tell
Speaker 2: me to do. I don't have to understand it. I'm
Speaker 2: telling you yes in advance. Help me to look to
Speaker 2: your word every day. Guide my steps by your word
Speaker 2: so I will not be overcome by any evil. Your
Speaker 2: word is a lamp to guide me in a light
Speaker 2: for my path. Be my flashlight. Help me to remember
Speaker 2: that your will is found in your word word, that
Speaker 2: your will will never contradict your word. And so today
Speaker 2: I asked you, Holy Spirit, to be my guidance counselor
Speaker 2: for the rest of my life. I'm asking you humbly,
Speaker 2: and I'm asking you in faith and help me to
Speaker 2: not be so impatient that I can't stop and just
Speaker 2: listen for your response. Help me to learn to wait
Speaker 2: on you, to be still and know that you are God.
Speaker 2: Thank you the good Shepherd. If you've never invited Christ
Speaker 2: in your life, just say, Jesus Christ, come into my
Speaker 2: life right now. I want to get to know you.
Speaker 2: I want to learn to trust you. I want to
Speaker 2: have a relationship and a friendship with you. And I
Speaker 2: pray this humbly in your name. Amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept
Speaker 1: Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Just email Rick at Pastororrick dot com. And now here's
Speaker 1: a closing thought from Pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: God has five purposes for your life. He wants you
Speaker 2: to know and love Him. That's called worship. He wants
Speaker 2: you to belong to his family that's called fellowship. He
Speaker 2: wants you to grow in him. That's called discipleship. He
Speaker 2: wants you to serve Him with your gifts and talents.
Speaker 2: That's your ministry. And he wants you to share the
Speaker 2: good News with other people. That's your mission. Now today,
Speaker 2: as we close, I want to talk to you about
Speaker 2: the third purpose, discipleship or personal growth. How do we
Speaker 2: grow well? We grow through the nourishment of God's word.
Speaker 2: It's how we get to know God. To know God's
Speaker 2: word is to know God's will. God's word is the
Speaker 2: source of God's will, and God's ultimate goal for your
Speaker 2: life is for you to become like Jesus Christ. To
Speaker 2: do that, you have to fill your life with the
Speaker 2: word of Jesus Christ. Two Timothy three seventeen says through
Speaker 2: the Word, we're put together and shaped for the tasks
Speaker 2: that God asked for us. I remember in the Old Testament,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that Job treasured God's word more than
Speaker 2: his daily bread. That's how I want you to treat
Speaker 2: God's Word. That's how you grow in discipleship. Get into
Speaker 2: his word every day, study it, memorize it, and meditate
Speaker 2: on it. Apply it. Never take it for granted. God's
Speaker 2: word is as essential to your soul as food is
Speaker 2: to your body. So get into the Word today. God
Speaker 2: bless you.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.