Speaker 1: Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today,
Speaker 1: Rick continues teaching a series called Connecting with God the
Speaker 1: Lord's Prayer. In these lessons, Rick shows you what it
Speaker 1: means to truly be spiritually connected to God and to
Speaker 1: each other through the power of God's love and God's word.
Speaker 1: In a moment, we're going to tell you how to
Speaker 1: get the Daily Hope Advent calendar. This special resource will
Speaker 1: help you experience all that Christmas promises. Go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com to find out more, or text the word
Speaker 1: daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Speaker 1: That's Pastorick dot com. Or the word Daily to eight
Speaker 1: hundred six hundred five thousand and four Right now, Here's
Speaker 1: Pastor RICKOD Part one of a message called the Prayer
Speaker 1: of Deliverance.
Speaker 2: A year ago, I got a note that says this,
Speaker 2: Pastor Rick. Every morning I start out with great intentions
Speaker 2: to change my ways. I think today is going to
Speaker 2: be different, but it never is. Somehow, in some way
Speaker 2: I always seem to fall back into the same old
Speaker 2: pattern of relating to people and my old bad habits.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I feel like there's a tug of war going
Speaker 2: on inside of me. Honestly, I really want to do
Speaker 2: what's best, but I always end up disappointing myself.
Speaker 3: And God. Rick.
Speaker 2: I have tried everything, prayer, resolutions, self help tapes, even hypnosis.
Speaker 2: Nothing seems to work. Why do I keep making the
Speaker 2: same mistakes over and over and over. Why am I
Speaker 2: so resistant to change? Why do I think? Why do
Speaker 2: I do things that I know are bad for me?
Speaker 2: I'm really discouraged and I need help getting unstuck. If
Speaker 2: you're honest, every one of us have felt that way
Speaker 2: at different times in our lives about different things in
Speaker 2: our lives. Because the reality of living on this planet
Speaker 2: is good intentions are never good enough. Good intentions are
Speaker 2: never good enough. If your life is going to change,
Speaker 2: If you're going to break free from the hang ups
Speaker 2: in your life, from the stuff that messes you up,
Speaker 2: from the past, and from your temptations, and from bad
Speaker 2: thought patterns and all kinds of things, it's going to
Speaker 2: take more than just well, I hope I'll do better tomorrow.
Speaker 3: And the reality is we.
Speaker 2: Often get stuck in this this cycle of good intention, failure, guilt, confession,
Speaker 2: good intention, failure, guilt, confession, and on and on, around
Speaker 2: and around in a circle. Is that the way God
Speaker 2: wants you to live? No, that's why you need Well,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about this week in the prayer
Speaker 2: of deliverance. Now we've been looking at each phrase of
Speaker 2: the Lord's prayer in depth and in detail, and this
Speaker 2: weekend we come to lead us not into temptation, but
Speaker 2: deliver us from evil. Now, the fact is some of
Speaker 2: you want to start checking out right now, So well,
Speaker 2: thank God, I haven't been tempted in fifty years, right.
Speaker 2: We often think temptation is an enticement or a llure
Speaker 2: to do something evil. We could mean bad and nasty,
Speaker 2: the really bad stuff, murder, adultery, and fornication, all of
Speaker 2: these different sins that other people do. And we tend
Speaker 2: to think that temptation is just about the big things
Speaker 2: in life, the forbidden, the evil things in life. But
Speaker 2: actually I found that satan is much more subtle in
Speaker 2: my life and some of those things. I'm not tempted
Speaker 2: to murder anybody.
Speaker 3: I'm just not.
Speaker 2: And you can train your mind to think in certain
Speaker 2: ways that certain things just don't tempt you anymore like
Speaker 2: they used to in hard ways. But I made a
Speaker 2: list off of the top of my head of what
Speaker 2: I call the subtle temptation. I don't know if any
Speaker 2: of you deal with any of these, but I do.
Speaker 3: Number one.
Speaker 2: The temptation to do what works, not necessarily the right thing,
Speaker 2: but what works. The temptation to do what's easy, like
Speaker 2: when you're a parent and you set your kid down
Speaker 2: in front of the television and let them babysit, and
Speaker 2: a thousand other ways we do what's easy. The temptation
Speaker 2: to do what's quick, The temptation to do what works
Speaker 2: in the short run, the temptation to do what is
Speaker 2: self serving or best for me. I find myself often
Speaker 2: tempted by the temptation to do what's unimportant, to not
Speaker 2: do what really matters in life, the essential things in life,
Speaker 2: but to do.
Speaker 3: Stuff that Why am I doing this?
Speaker 2: Why am I frittering away my time procrastinating? I'm doing
Speaker 2: the unimportant. The temptation to do what I've always done,
Speaker 2: The temptation to do what's right for the wrong reason.
Speaker 2: The temptation to do nothing. When you see something that
Speaker 2: I know I could help that person, I know I
Speaker 2: could help in that situation. I know I could do that,
Speaker 2: but you don't do anything when you see the poor,
Speaker 2: you see the sick, or you see the needy. The
Speaker 2: truth is, temptation is a lot more subtle than we
Speaker 2: think it is. But the answer to the temptations that
Speaker 2: we experience in life is this verse, which is the
Speaker 2: prayer of deliverance. And the prayer of deliverance always leads
Speaker 2: us to the path of escape. Now, Jesus said, you
Speaker 2: are to pray Thy kingdom Come. Thy will be done
Speaker 2: on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
Speaker 2: day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we
Speaker 2: forgive those who sin against us. We've looked at that
Speaker 2: the last two weeks, and he says, lead us not
Speaker 2: into temptation. Now, if we didn't give into temptation, we
Speaker 2: wouldn't have to worry about the two sentences before the sins,
Speaker 2: the guilt and the resentment. We wouldn't have to worry
Speaker 2: about that one. But God says that the prayer of
Speaker 2: deliverance is the path of a escape.
Speaker 3: And what is the path of escape?
Speaker 2: I want you to take your outline, and I want
Speaker 2: you to read this verse with me. One Corinthians ten thirteen.
Speaker 2: Read it with me. The temptations that come into your
Speaker 2: life are no different from what others experience. Okay, stop
Speaker 2: right there. If you say nobody knows what I'm going through,
Speaker 2: you're wrong. The temptations that come your way are no
Speaker 2: different from what others experience.
Speaker 3: We all have.
Speaker 2: The same basic temptations in life. You are not unique
Speaker 2: in the fact that you're tempted. Some of your temptations
Speaker 2: are more unique. But temptation is not you needque We
Speaker 2: all get tempted and they're not any different. Then he says,
Speaker 2: and read it with me. God is faithful. You will
Speaker 2: keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't
Speaker 2: stand up against it. Now, let me stop right there.
Speaker 2: When you say it was so strong, I just had
Speaker 2: to get in, then you were calling God a liar.
Speaker 2: Because God says I will always make a way out.
Speaker 2: I will never put more on you, or I will
Speaker 2: never allow more on you than I put in you
Speaker 2: to bear it up. And when somebody says I just
Speaker 2: couldn't help myself, they're not telling the truth. Because the
Speaker 2: truth is temptation is a choice, and you only do
Speaker 2: what you choose to do. So don't blame anybody else
Speaker 2: temptation is a choice to do do right or do wrong.
Speaker 2: And he says God will keep the temptation from becoming
Speaker 2: so strong you can't stand up against it. And then
Speaker 2: read the Ress with me. And when you are tempted,
Speaker 2: he will show you a way out so that you.
Speaker 3: Will not give in to it. And I want you to.
Speaker 2: Circle show you a way out, because this weekend we're
Speaker 2: going to look at the way out.
Speaker 3: Number one.
Speaker 2: The first step on the path to escape from the
Speaker 2: prayer of deliverance, as the Bible teaches, is first I
Speaker 2: have toy what makes me vulnerable. I must identify what
Speaker 2: makes me vulnerable.
Speaker 3: Now, notice I.
Speaker 2: Didn't say identify what tempts you. You already know what
Speaker 2: tempts you. What you may have never really thought through
Speaker 2: is what causes me to be tempted by that? What
Speaker 2: makes me vulnerable to that temptation, what makes me weak,
Speaker 2: what makes me susceptible. And more important than knowing what
Speaker 2: tempts you is knowing the when, why, how, where, and
Speaker 2: all the other factors that go into that temptation. If
Speaker 2: you're serious about permanent life change. Now, Jesus said this
Speaker 2: in Matthew twenty six forty one. He says, watch and
Speaker 2: pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The
Speaker 2: spirit is willing, but the body is weak. In other words,
Speaker 2: you may be willing, you may want to overcome your temptation,
Speaker 2: but will powers not enough.
Speaker 3: The spirit is willing. Have you learned that willpower is
Speaker 3: not enough?
Speaker 2: It'll work for a while, but after a while you
Speaker 2: get tired and willpower burns out. No lasting change ever
Speaker 2: happens with willpower. I'm gonna lose weight, I'm gonna stop smoking,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna whatever. Well, yeah, you can force yourself for
Speaker 2: a while, but as soon as you get tired, the
Speaker 2: will poops out. So he says the spirit is willing,
Speaker 2: but the body is weak. Now he says, watch and
Speaker 2: pray circle both of those. You can't just pray, You
Speaker 2: have to watch. So when Jesus says, as you are
Speaker 2: to pray, lead us not into temptation, he's even saying
Speaker 2: that's not enough. It's important to pray the prayer of deliverance.
Speaker 2: But besides praying, you aught to got it. You also
Speaker 2: have to do some watching. And what is he saying
Speaker 2: you need to watch for? You need to watch for
Speaker 2: the circumstances that make you vulnerable. You need to identify
Speaker 2: those and work with them. Now, let me explain what
Speaker 2: I'm talking about. If you've been around saddleback for a
Speaker 2: length of time, you know that the Bible teaches that
Speaker 2: every human being is unique. There's nobody in the world
Speaker 2: like you. You have a unique thumbprint, a unique EyePrint, a
Speaker 2: unique voice print. You have a unique heartbeat, you have
Speaker 2: a unique footprint. Everything about you's unique. God never MIxS copies,
Speaker 2: he never mikes clones. He will never make anybody like
Speaker 2: you before you or after you. And we call this
Speaker 2: your shape.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 4: Fall us here now, and that means Christmas is right
Speaker 4: around the corner. That's why we want to let you
Speaker 4: know that Pastor Rick and his wife Kay created an
Speaker 4: advoct calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork.
Speaker 3: It's beautiful.
Speaker 4: This two part resource includes a calendar with a special
Speaker 4: door for every day of December that opens to reveal
Speaker 4: a hidden image and an encouraging Bible verse. Use it
Speaker 4: with a companion daily Devotional booklet to help you and
Speaker 4: your family draw closer to Jesus and prepare your heart
Speaker 4: for the real celebration. The Daily Hope Advit calendar will
Speaker 4: help you spend the holidays worshiping instead of worrying, slowing
Speaker 4: down and reconnecting with God and expressing gratitude for the
Speaker 4: true meaning of the season. You want to get the
Speaker 4: Daily Hope Admit Calendar and devotional booklet in your hands
Speaker 4: now to start using it on December first. This resource
Speaker 4: is a perfect way to share the gift of Jesus
Speaker 4: at Christmas with your friends and family, and we'll send
Speaker 4: it to you to say thanks when you give a
Speaker 4: gift to Daily Hope to help take good news to
Speaker 4: people everywhere. Quantities are limited, so get yours now. Just
Speaker 4: call eight hundred six hundred five zero zero four or
Speaker 4: go to pastor Rick dot com. That's eight hundred and
Speaker 4: six hundred at five zero zero four, or go to
Speaker 4: pastor Rick dot com. Thanks so very much.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again.
Speaker 3: Here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Now what you may have never really realized as we
Speaker 2: talk about God shaped you for ministry, God shaped you
Speaker 2: for mission. It's gonna affect everything. Your shape also affects
Speaker 2: what tempts you. Your shape determines what tempts you. It's
Speaker 2: why some things tempt you and don't tempt other people.
Speaker 2: Why some things attempt other people don't tempt you. You
Speaker 2: have a unique susceptibility to temptation based on your shape,
Speaker 2: your personality, your experiences, your DNA, all.
Speaker 3: That kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Certain sitting situations tempt you and others don't. And some
Speaker 2: of us just really get to you, and some of
Speaker 2: them you can just blow off. And some things entice
Speaker 2: you and lure you in, and others bore you to
Speaker 2: tears and have no effect on you. So where does
Speaker 2: that come from? Where do the temptations in your life
Speaker 2: come from? Well, some are caused by nature, your own
Speaker 2: said nature, and some are caused by nurture.
Speaker 3: The way you grew up.
Speaker 2: And if you grew up in a house that was
Speaker 2: prone to blow up in anger, you probably learned that pattern.
Speaker 2: If you grew up in a house where you learned
Speaker 2: to stuff your emotions, that's pattern you learned. So some
Speaker 2: temptations are by nature and some are by nurture, some
Speaker 2: are caused by your DNA, and some are caused by
Speaker 2: your environment, some are caused by your character, and some
Speaker 2: are caused by your your circumstance. What am I saying
Speaker 2: is this, you don't get to choose your temptations.
Speaker 3: You don't get to choose them the things that really
Speaker 3: tempt you.
Speaker 2: Sorry, it's just part of the negative side of your shape.
Speaker 3: Now what does that mean.
Speaker 2: Well, the implication of that is you cannot be self
Speaker 2: righteous about anybody else's temptation, and you can't be self
Speaker 2: righteous about your own. And what does tempt you and
Speaker 2: what doesn't. And so when you see somebody who's tempted
Speaker 2: by drugs, or you see somebody who's tempted by gossip,
Speaker 2: or you see somebody who's tempted by pornography, or you
Speaker 2: see somebody who's tempted to overeat, really doesn't matter where
Speaker 2: that temptation come from. From DNA, from genes, from nature,
Speaker 2: from nurture, from environment, from choices, from circumstances. All of
Speaker 2: those things fit into that. But the fact is they're
Speaker 2: all the same thing, and one is no better or
Speaker 2: less evil than the other.
Speaker 3: The Bible says sin is sin.
Speaker 2: So we have no right to judge and say, well,
Speaker 2: my sins are okay, yours are nasty. How could anybody
Speaker 2: do that?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: Now, what I'm saying is that you have a pattern
Speaker 2: of vulnerability, and you better figure out what it is,
Speaker 2: because I want to tell you.
Speaker 3: For sure, Satan knows what it is.
Speaker 2: Satan knows your vulnerable points, and he's plotting the moment
Speaker 2: you wake up. If you wake up in the morning,
Speaker 2: you don't hit Satan first face on, just means you're
Speaker 2: head in the same direction. To identify your pattern, you
Speaker 2: identify what makes you vulnerable. Now to get specific, let
Speaker 2: me give you five questions you need to ask yourself first.
Speaker 2: You need to ask yourself when am I most tempted?
Speaker 2: When am I most tempted? In other words, what day
Speaker 2: of the week you're going to find some days of
Speaker 2: the week you're more tempted about things than others, Like
Speaker 2: on Mondays, or on Fridays, or on Sundays. Maybe a
Speaker 2: certain time of the day. Maybe you're more tempted in
Speaker 2: the morning, or at lunch or early or late afternoon.
Speaker 2: Maybe you're tempted when everybody else is in bed. You know,
Speaker 2: you need to figure out when are you most tempted.
Speaker 2: You know, I can handle any diet till noon. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's nothing. It's the hours between about six o'clock and midnight.
Speaker 2: That's my pattern of temptation. It's when I want to
Speaker 2: eat everything in the refrigerator and buy an extra refrigerator.
Speaker 2: Now I could go out and blame my genes and say,
Speaker 2: you know what, I just came from an obese family. Well,
Speaker 2: just because it's genetic in me doesn't mean it's right
Speaker 2: or it's healthy.
Speaker 3: No, it is not. It is not.
Speaker 2: And so you have to say when am I most tempted?
Speaker 2: You need to ask where where am I most tempted?
Speaker 2: Some of you are most tempted at work. Some of
Speaker 2: you are most tempted at your neighbor's house because of
Speaker 2: your neighbor. When my neighbors come over to my house,
Speaker 2: they just get so tempted. Maybe you get tempted in
Speaker 2: the kitchen. You need to know where you get tempted.
Speaker 2: Do you get tempted at seven eleven's? Do you get
Speaker 2: tempted at a sports bar?
Speaker 3: Do you get.
Speaker 2: Tempted at the beach? A lot of you get tempted
Speaker 2: in front of a computer. You need to know your
Speaker 2: area of vulnerability. When am I most tempted? Where am
Speaker 2: I most tempted?
Speaker 3: Then? Number three?
Speaker 2: Who is with me when I'm most tempted? You need
Speaker 2: to know your pattern of vulnerability.
Speaker 3: Who is with me?
Speaker 2: Am I most tempted when I'm alone? Am I most
Speaker 2: tempted when I'm with friends who lead me in the
Speaker 2: wrong direction? You know you can't soar with the eagles
Speaker 2: if you're flying with the turkeys. Am I most tempted
Speaker 2: when I'm with my coworkers and I think they're a
Speaker 2: bunch of jerks? Or am I tempted when I'm with
Speaker 2: a crowd of strangers and I think nobody would know me?
Speaker 2: Am I tempted with my family? To say things to
Speaker 2: my family I would never say to anybody else. You
Speaker 2: need to figure this out. This is your pattern. Identify
Speaker 2: what makes me vulnerable when?
Speaker 3: Where? Who? Number four is what?
Speaker 2: What temporary benefit do I get if I give in
Speaker 2: to the temptation?
Speaker 3: There's always a payoff, you know.
Speaker 2: The Bible even says that the Bible says there is
Speaker 2: pleasure in sin. It just says there's pleasure in sin
Speaker 2: for a season. In other words, it doesn't last you
Speaker 2: have your kicks, then you get the kickbacks.
Speaker 3: Folks, let's just admit it. Sin's fun.
Speaker 2: It's fun if it were miserable, nobody do it. Okay,
Speaker 2: let's just admit this all right. Sin is fun, and
Speaker 2: the Bible says that. The Bible says disobeying God is
Speaker 2: a whole lot of fun. Doing the wrong thing is
Speaker 2: a whole lot of fun. There is pleasure in sin
Speaker 2: for a season. So what of the temporary benefit I
Speaker 2: give in when I give in the temptation? Do I
Speaker 2: get comfort? Do I get excitement? Do I get joy?
Speaker 2: Do I get pleasure? Do I get a false sense
Speaker 2: of confidence? You need to know what's the payoff when
Speaker 2: I do this? And then the fifth thing you need
Speaker 2: to ask is how how do I feel right before
Speaker 2: I'm tempted? Right before I'm tempted?
Speaker 3: You need to know.
Speaker 2: What your emotional triggers are. You need to know what
Speaker 2: makes your you vulnerable? Is it frustration? And then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden you get tempted? Is it stressed? You
Speaker 2: get tempted?
Speaker 3: Is it when you're bored? You get tempted? When you're lonely?
Speaker 2: You get tempted when you can't sleep at night? You
Speaker 2: get tempted.
Speaker 3: You need to know these things.
Speaker 2: Step one, identify what makes me vulnerable. Watch, don't just pray,
Speaker 2: Watch and pray. Then once you know that pattern, here's
Speaker 2: step number two. Plan to avoid it. You plan to
Speaker 2: avoid it. You don't wait until you're in the situation.
Speaker 2: Decide am I gonna give into this or not? No,
Speaker 2: you decide before your emotions kick into gear.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. We are so happy
Speaker 1: that you've chosen to study along with us today. If
Speaker 1: you'd like to receive ricks free daily devotional, go to
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com and sign up right now. Rick will
Speaker 1: be back to close out our time in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But first fall is here, and that means Christmas is
Speaker 1: right around the corner. That's why we want to let
Speaker 1: you know that Pastor Rick and his wife Kay created
Speaker 1: an advent calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork.
Speaker 3: It's beautiful.
Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 2: You know, friends, one of the most common questions that
Speaker 2: you hear this time of the year is are you
Speaker 2: ready for Christmas? It's a question that shows how much
Speaker 2: preparation we think is necessary just to celebrate this holiday.
Speaker 2: And this holy day. We think getting ready for Christmas
Speaker 2: means putting up decorations and buying and wrapping gifts and
Speaker 2: sending cards and planning meals and helping with school plays
Speaker 2: and church musicals and office parties, and the list goes
Speaker 2: on and on, making sure that we help all the
Speaker 2: people who are in need. But does doing all that
Speaker 2: really get us ready for Christmas? We'll making it through
Speaker 2: a checklist, prepare me for celebrating the Birth of Jesus.
Speaker 2: We both know the answer is no, And we both
Speaker 2: know that it's too easy to get so caught up
Speaker 2: in doing too many things, many of them good things,
Speaker 2: but so many things that we forget the real reason
Speaker 2: for the season. So you know what, Here at Daily Hope,
Speaker 2: we've put together a brand new resource that I want
Speaker 2: you to have. I hope it will help you really
Speaker 2: get ready for celebrating the Birth of Jesus. It's an
Speaker 2: advent calendar, a calendar of preparation. And each day on
Speaker 2: this calendar, you'll open one Bible verse and then you
Speaker 2: just turn to the corresponding page and a companion book
Speaker 2: that we've put together, and you read through the very
Speaker 2: short spiritual growth devotional, not only takes a couple minutes
Speaker 2: to read the Bible verse and the devotional, but it's
Speaker 2: going to prepare your heart for the coming of Christ
Speaker 2: at Christmas. My hope is at this resource, this advent calendar.
Speaker 2: Preparing your heart for Christmas will help you spend the
Speaker 2: holiday expressing your gratitude to God, worshiping instead of worrying,
Speaker 2: and taking things off your schedule so you can appreciate
Speaker 2: the true meaning of Christmas. I don't want you to
Speaker 2: miss the miracle of Jesus this Christmas.
Speaker 1: You'll want to get the Daily Hope Advent Calendar and
Speaker 1: devotional book in your hands now to start using it
Speaker 1: on December first. This resource is a perfect way to
Speaker 1: share the gift of Jesus at Christmas with your friends
Speaker 1: and family, and we'll send it to you to say
Speaker 1: thanks when you give a gift to Daily Hope to
Speaker 1: help take the good news of Jesus Christ to people everywhere.
Speaker 1: Quantities are limited, so get yours now. Call eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four to support Daily Hope
Speaker 1: and we'll send you this powerful resource, or you can
Speaker 1: visit Pastororrick dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four or pastorick dot com. Be sure to
Speaker 1: join us next time as we look into God's Word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support