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: now here's part one of a message called how to
Speaker 1: be led by God's Spirit.
Speaker 2: You know, life is a series of choices. We make
Speaker 2: our choices and then they make us. We make our decisions,
Speaker 2: and if we make good decisions, we become successful. If
Speaker 2: we make bad decisions, then you know we're not. And
Speaker 2: every decision has a consequence. And the potential for error
Speaker 2: is great because obviously we're human beings.
Speaker 3: We're imperfect.
Speaker 2: Some of you today are struggling with some kind of
Speaker 2: difficult decision about where do I move, what job do
Speaker 2: I take? Do I get married? Do I stay in
Speaker 2: this marriage? All of these differ. Where do we put
Speaker 2: our kids in school? And Indecision is one of the
Speaker 2: greatest sources of stress in your life. And yet your
Speaker 2: heavenly Father doesn't want you to be stressed out by
Speaker 2: your decisions. But when you have this tension in you.
Speaker 2: Do I hold on or do I let go? Do
Speaker 2: I keep on doing what I'm doing?
Speaker 3: All right? Try something else? Do I move on? Do
Speaker 3: I get married?
Speaker 2: The Bible tells us in the Book of James that
Speaker 2: a double minded man is unstable in all his ways,
Speaker 2: and that word unstable actually in Greek means staggering like
Speaker 2: a drunk. That's literally what it means that when you're
Speaker 2: pulled in different directions by a decision because you just
Speaker 2: can't figure out which way to go, it creates enormous
Speaker 2: tension in your life. And then even after a lot
Speaker 2: of times you've made a decision, you start guessing, second
Speaker 2: guessing yourself, did I make the right decision? And then
Speaker 2: you just prolong the pain. Now what is the antidote? Well,
Speaker 2: the end to dote is to let God guide you.
Speaker 2: And we're going to look at that as we come
Speaker 2: to our fifth message in this series on living in
Speaker 2: the Goodness of God, where we're going verse by verse tough,
Speaker 2: Psalm twenty three. And the Bible tells us that life
Speaker 2: is a journey and that God has given us a
Speaker 2: road map. It's this book, the Bible, this is our
Speaker 2: roadmap for life.
Speaker 3: That God has given.
Speaker 2: Us a compass, that's our conscience that keeps us headed
Speaker 2: in the right direction if we listen to it. And
Speaker 2: that God has even given us a personal guidance counselor,
Speaker 2: and he is the Holy Spirit. And a personal guide
Speaker 2: is even the best thing all that's better than a map.
Speaker 2: If you have a guide taking you through a city
Speaker 2: you've never been in, that's a whole lot better than
Speaker 2: you trying to figure it out on a map.
Speaker 3: Or with a compass.
Speaker 2: Now, the Bible tells us that God wants to lead
Speaker 2: us in the paths of righteousness. That means the right paths.
Speaker 2: God done wants you to mess up your life. What
Speaker 2: we're talking about in this message is am I going
Speaker 2: to waste my life? Am I going to spend my life?
Speaker 2: Or am I going to invest my life? I don't
Speaker 2: want you to waste your life. And part of that
Speaker 2: means making right decisions. How do you get on the
Speaker 2: right path? How do the Bible says he leads me
Speaker 2: in the paths of righteousness. That means a modern translation,
Speaker 2: he keeps me on track. God wants to keep you
Speaker 2: on track in your life.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I know some of you say, Rick, this just doesn't
Speaker 2: work for me. I've tried to let God lead my life.
Speaker 2: I don't get it. How do you let God lead? Well,
Speaker 2: that's what we're going to look at this weekend, because
Speaker 2: there's some things you need to start doing. There's some
Speaker 2: things you need to stop doing in order to let
Speaker 2: God lead your life. But really the question comes down
Speaker 2: to why is it so difficult to figure out what
Speaker 2: God wants me to do with my life?
Speaker 3: Why?
Speaker 2: Why is God's will? Often it seems hidden? Is God
Speaker 2: playing games with me? Is God playing cat and mouse?
Speaker 2: Is he? Is he playing hide and seek? Does God
Speaker 2: enjoy confusing me? Of course not, of course not. The
Speaker 2: real issue is we often look for the wrong thing
Speaker 2: from God. Now we are in this series of Psalm
Speaker 2: twenty three, and I told you we're gonna memorize over
Speaker 2: ten weeks these six verses together. Now many of you
Speaker 2: memorize us as a kid, And if you memorize it
Speaker 2: in the King James version, it's okay for you to
Speaker 2: say THEE and thou and all at Elizabethan English. It's
Speaker 2: just four hundred years old, But it's okay as long
Speaker 2: as you memorize this important verse.
Speaker 3: Now, I told you a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: This is the most quoted passage in funerals, Psalm twenty three.
Speaker 3: But it's not even about death. There's only one line
Speaker 3: in it.
Speaker 2: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow
Speaker 2: of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art
Speaker 2: with me, You are with me. This verse is not
Speaker 2: This chapter is not really about death. It's the most
Speaker 2: famous psalm quoted at death, but it's not about death.
Speaker 2: It's really about how God wants to guide you and
Speaker 2: leads you all the way through your life.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Because God is a good God, and that's what we're
Speaker 2: looking at. God has good plans for your life, not
Speaker 2: bad plans, and God wants you to understand those plans.
Speaker 2: And because he's good, he has promised to guide. The
Speaker 2: good Shepherd doesn't just feed us, he leads us. He
Speaker 2: doesn't just correct us. He directs us. He guides us.
Speaker 3: And so this is.
Speaker 2: Part of leading, feeding and meeting our needs, which is
Speaker 2: what the good Shepherd does. Now look at the top
Speaker 2: of your outline, and we're going to start with now
Speaker 2: the first three verses. So let's read it together. The
Speaker 2: Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need. He
Speaker 2: makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me
Speaker 2: besides still waters. He restores my soul. Now here's the
Speaker 2: verse we're gonna look at this weekend.
Speaker 3: Read it with me.
Speaker 2: He leaves me in the right path for his Name's sake.
Speaker 2: As I said, because God is a good God, he
Speaker 2: promises to guide us. We're not left out on our
Speaker 2: loan on our own. God says, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 2: my guidance. In fact, listen, if you've never felt guided
Speaker 2: by God, that's a problem because one of the proofs
Speaker 2: are one of the evidences that you do have a
Speaker 2: relationship with God, that you're in his family, is he
Speaker 2: guides you. Look at this next verse there on your outline,
Speaker 2: Romans eight, verse fourteen. Only those people who are led
Speaker 2: by God's spirit are God's children. Uh oh, let me
Speaker 2: read it again. Only those people who are led by
Speaker 2: God's spirit are God's children. So it is absolutely vitally
Speaker 2: important that you learn what we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: this weekend on how do I get guidance from God?
Speaker 2: Or how do I be led by God's spirit? Only
Speaker 2: those people who were led by God's spirit, circle that
Speaker 2: led by God's spirit are God's children. So you can
Speaker 2: see the importance of this. On Friday, I took a
Speaker 2: couple guys from our staff and we just did a
Speaker 2: little day hike. It was such a beautiful day after
Speaker 2: all the rain we've been having, and I noticed it
Speaker 2: was we were taking this hike that a hike, or
Speaker 2: a journey or a walk is a composition of both
Speaker 2: starts and stops. And when you're on a journey, you're
Speaker 2: not always walking. You stop, you slow down, you look
Speaker 2: at things, you might pause. And there's some things on
Speaker 2: a journey of life you have to stop doing, and
Speaker 2: there's some things you have to start doing. Life is
Speaker 2: composed of starts and stops. And what I want to
Speaker 2: do is take that little metaphor today and talk to
Speaker 2: you about how do you hear God speak to you?
Speaker 2: How do you learn to get God's will in your life?
Speaker 2: How do you get God's guidance whether it's a business
Speaker 2: decision or a relational decision, or a financial or health decision.
Speaker 2: How do I get God's guidance in my life? How
Speaker 2: do I be led by God's spirit? Well, there are
Speaker 2: some things you need to stop doing in order to
Speaker 2: do that, and there's some things you need to start doing.
Speaker 3: So, let's begin with the negative.
Speaker 2: This may not be comfortable, but it's necessary if I
Speaker 2: really want to be led by the spirit of God. Okay,
Speaker 2: so you might write these down. Number one, he's a
Speaker 2: right from God's word. If I want to be led
Speaker 2: by God's spirit. First, I can't follow a culture that
Speaker 2: doesn't follow God. I can't follow a culture that doesn't
Speaker 2: follow God if I'm trying to follow God, if I'm
Speaker 2: trying to be led.
Speaker 3: By the spirit. So I've got to stop that. I can't.
Speaker 2: You can't run in two directions at the same time.
Speaker 2: You can't chase two rabbits at the same time. You
Speaker 2: can't serve God and money. You can't serve God and
Speaker 2: anything else. You got to decide what's number one in
Speaker 2: your life. You can only have one number one. In
Speaker 2: Exodus twenty three, Verse two, the Bible says, do not
Speaker 2: follow the crowd in doing wrong. Now, that's important verse today,
Speaker 2: because the whole idea is if everybody else is doing it, it.
Speaker 3: Must be okay, if it's legal, it must be moral.
Speaker 2: Not necessarily, if everybody else is doing it, then I
Speaker 2: should do it. You can't follow a culture that doesn't
Speaker 2: follow God. If you want to be led by the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit. Do not follow the crowd and doing wrong.
Speaker 2: You know, most people make decisions in their life according
Speaker 2: to what is acceptable, and I just want to fit in.
Speaker 2: And if they're doing it, then I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2: And if they're not doing it, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: do it because I don't want to stick out. I
Speaker 2: don't all standout. You don't want to rock the boat
Speaker 2: when in Rome, you know, do as the Romans. And
Speaker 2: you know, there are magazines that put out what's in
Speaker 2: and what's out, to tell you this is now out,
Speaker 2: stop doing that, this is now in, start doing that,
Speaker 2: wear this, don't wear that, say this, don't say that.
Speaker 2: And there are great pressures to make you conform to
Speaker 2: our culture. You cannot conform to our culture and be
Speaker 2: just like everybody else and be led by the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 2: because he's going in a different direction. This problem was
Speaker 2: Israel's biggest problem for two thousand and three thousand and
Speaker 2: four thousand years in the Bible, they kept trying to
Speaker 2: want to be like every other nation. God said no, no,
Speaker 2: you're supposed to be different. I don't want you doing that.
Speaker 2: He gave them all kinds of moral laws, and civil laws,
Speaker 2: and you know, ceremonial laws. And he said, this is
Speaker 2: going to just make you different from everybody else. And
Speaker 2: it's intentional. God said, because you're my people, I want
Speaker 2: you to be different. And so don't copy what everybody
Speaker 2: else is doing, what other cultures are doing, what other
Speaker 2: people are doing. Today, many believers except many of the
Speaker 2: standards simply because they're politically correct, culturally correct, they're what
Speaker 2: everybody else is doing. Here's what the Bible says, Romans twelve,
Speaker 2: verse two, do not copy the behavior or values of
Speaker 2: this world. Instead, let God transform you. That means you're
Speaker 2: gonna be different into a new person by changing.
Speaker 3: The way you think. So you're not gonna think like
Speaker 3: everybody else does.
Speaker 2: Then you will know. Notice, then you will know what
Speaker 2: God wants you to do. Now let me pause right here.
Speaker 2: The reason you don't know what God wants you to
Speaker 2: do is because you're too inculturated with this culture and
Speaker 2: you can't think like the world and think like God thinks.
Speaker 3: And so you have to decide a life.
Speaker 2: Do I want to be popular with the world, or
Speaker 2: do I really want to do what God put me
Speaker 2: on this earth to do. Do I want to be
Speaker 2: who He made me to be, not try to be
Speaker 2: poor carbon copy of somebody else. Don't copy the behaviors
Speaker 2: or values of this world. Let God transform you into
Speaker 2: a new person how by changing the way you think.
Speaker 2: Then he says, then you'll know. You want to know
Speaker 2: God's will. Then you'll know what God wants you to do,
Speaker 2: and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect
Speaker 2: his will really is. I want you to circle those
Speaker 2: three where its good, pleasing, and perfect. God's will for
Speaker 2: your life is good.
Speaker 3: It's not bad.
Speaker 2: God has good plans for your life, not bad plans.
Speaker 2: God's will for your life is good. It's pleasing. That
Speaker 2: means it's enjoyable. It's not a not a bad deal.
Speaker 2: It's not painful, can't involve pain. But it's good, it's pleasing,
Speaker 2: and it's perfect. That's what God's will for your life
Speaker 2: really is.
Speaker 3: You see.
Speaker 2: One of the weaknesses of following culture is it's all temporary.
Speaker 2: Whatever is in style now next year is going to
Speaker 2: be what yeah, out of style. So nothing is as
Speaker 2: worthless as yesterday's fashion unless you hold onto it for
Speaker 2: thirty years. And then what goes around comes back and
Speaker 2: ties get wide and narrow and wideness, hymn lines go
Speaker 2: up and down and all of that. But the Bible
Speaker 2: tells us in One John two seventeen, the world and
Speaker 2: all of its desires passes away, but the person who
Speaker 2: does the will of God shall live forever. Really, you
Speaker 2: don't want to care about whether I'm fitting in with
Speaker 2: culture or not. People tell you, well, you're on the
Speaker 2: wrong side of history. For you, it's not important on
Speaker 2: whether you're on the right side of history or the
Speaker 2: wrong side of history. It's important that you just be
Speaker 2: on the right side because history is often wrong. You
Speaker 2: ever heard anything called Nazism, communism, so many other History
Speaker 2: is often wrong. It's not important to be on the
Speaker 2: right side of history. It's important to be on the
Speaker 2: right side. And if you're going to let God guide
Speaker 2: you can't say, well, I'm gonna try to let culture
Speaker 2: guide me what I do think can be and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna let God do that too. It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2: Now let's get a little more personal. That was pretty easy.
Speaker 2: This is getting a meddling in your life. Now, if
Speaker 2: I want to be led by God's spirit, I can't
Speaker 2: follow friends who aren't led by God. If my friends
Speaker 2: are going the exact opposite direction that God is going.
Speaker 2: I have to make a choice. Am I gonna go
Speaker 2: to the direction my friends are going, or am I
Speaker 2: gonna go the direction of God. It's one thing to say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm going to be counterculture, but it's another
Speaker 2: thing to say, I'm not gonna let my friends influence me.
Speaker 2: You got to stop letting your friends set the agenda
Speaker 2: of your life. One of the reasons you don't hear
Speaker 2: God's will is because you're always hearing what their will is.
Speaker 2: Let's do this, Let's do that, Let's drink this, let's
Speaker 2: eat that, Let's go here, let's talk like this, Let's
Speaker 2: watch this TV show. There's some shows you just shouldn't watch,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter if they're the most popular shows on TV.
Speaker 2: You're filling your mind with garbage. We all worry about
Speaker 2: air pollution, water pollution. Have you ever worried about mind pollution?
Speaker 3: Some people are so open.
Speaker 2: Minded their brains fall out, and you're just letting the
Speaker 2: freeway go through your mind of all kinds. None of
Speaker 2: that stuff's forgotten. That's why you've had some of those
Speaker 2: weird dreams over the years. It's all everything you've seen,
Speaker 2: every rape every murder, every violent act, every cuss word,
Speaker 2: it's all in there.
Speaker 3: It's all there.
Speaker 2: I can't follow friends who aren't led by God. Why
Speaker 2: am I making a big deal about this Because one
Speaker 2: of the things that causes people to miss God's will
Speaker 2: for their life, God's plan, God's perfect, good and pleasing
Speaker 2: plant is pure pressure. You can get it in school.
Speaker 2: You all know what that was like in school when
Speaker 2: you felt pressured by kids in your class. But you
Speaker 2: also get it at work. There's a lot of peer
Speaker 2: pressure today, and you have to say, am I going
Speaker 2: to listen to my friends, my co workers, my teammates,
Speaker 2: or am I going to listen to what God says?
Speaker 3: First?
Speaker 2: John three seven says this, do not let anyone that
Speaker 2: includes friends leads you in the wrong way.
Speaker 3: Christ is righteous.
Speaker 2: That means he does what's right, so be like So
Speaker 2: to be like Christ, you must do what is right,
Speaker 2: not what's necessarily popular. And anyone who keeps on sinning
Speaker 2: is being led by the devil. So if I've got
Speaker 2: a friend who is habitually sinning, I mean they're having
Speaker 2: one affair after another there and they're bragging about it
Speaker 2: at work, and I'm you know, I'm listening to them.
Speaker 2: I'm then I'm just following them. Who are they following
Speaker 2: the devil? The devil, he says, don't let anybody leads
Speaker 2: you in the wrong direction.
Speaker 3: What do you do?
Speaker 2: You got to be tender without surrender. Now, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of bad advice floating around the world.
Speaker 3: Everybody agree with that?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, anybody could be a blogger today.
Speaker 3: Anybody can write a column today. I'm not making this up.
Speaker 2: Yesterday read an article called why everybody should have an affair.
Speaker 2: Oh that's the best advice I've ever heard, right there, boy,
Speaker 2: that's let me just tell you how much destructiveness that
Speaker 2: creates in the lives of kids. Let me talk to
Speaker 2: the men for just a minute here, Guys, you know
Speaker 2: what's the number one need that you have. You may
Speaker 2: have never even noticed it. If you're a daddy, if
Speaker 2: your a husband and a dad, one of the biggest
Speaker 2: needs you have in your life is you want your
Speaker 2: grown adult children to respect you. I don't know a
Speaker 2: man who doesn't want that. You want your grown adult
Speaker 2: children to respect you. That should have a hamper on
Speaker 2: the decision you make now.
Speaker 3: And a lot of others. Notice how quiet it got
Speaker 3: when I said that.
Speaker 2: I had every attention of every man in the house
Speaker 2: for one second. All right, go back to your ballgame.
Speaker 2: All right, Okay, I had a lot of bad advice
Speaker 2: out there. Proverbs thirteen, verse twenty look up here says this,
Speaker 2: keep company with wise friends, and you'll become wise. But
Speaker 2: if you associate with fools, your life will suffer great hurt.
Speaker 2: You can't soar with the eagles if you're running with
Speaker 2: the turkeys.
Speaker 3: Okay, so you know.
Speaker 2: Who you hang out with. You need to choose your
Speaker 2: friends wisely. You keep company with wise friends, you're going
Speaker 2: to become wise. If I want to follow God's direction, Okay,
Speaker 2: I can't let culture get me off track, and I
Speaker 2: can't even let friends get me off track. Make sure
Speaker 2: your advice is from the right source. Now it bothers
Speaker 2: me when people like get counseling. I've met believers who
Speaker 2: are going to non believers to get counseling for their life.
Speaker 2: I'm going to really they have no spiritual insight on that.
Speaker 2: The Bible tells us in First John three seven, it says,
Speaker 2: don't just let anybody lead you astray, because you'll miss
Speaker 2: God's will. Go ahead and get counseled, but get it
Speaker 2: from a mature believer. Now that may be really clear.
Speaker 2: When I talk to this about friends, means I can't
Speaker 2: follow friends. You mean I'm saying I have to give
Speaker 2: up all my non Christian friends.
Speaker 3: Of course, not.
Speaker 2: In fact, you shouldn't do that. Listen to me loud
Speaker 2: and clear. God wants you to have friends who are unbelievers.
Speaker 2: First place, you're commanded to love everybody. You're not allowed
Speaker 2: to not love anybody. If you're a believer Christ, you
Speaker 2: are to love everybody. In fact, I'm even commanded to
Speaker 2: love my enemies. I'm commanded to love the people who
Speaker 2: hate me, criticize me, attack me. I don't get a
Speaker 2: choice if I call myself a believer follow of Christ.
Speaker 2: I am to love everybody. And God wants to use
Speaker 2: you to bring them to Christ. But here's the difference.
Speaker 2: Look up here in the screen. Jeremiah fifteen nineteen says
Speaker 2: you will be my spokesman to these non believing friends.
Speaker 2: You are to influence them, but do not let them
Speaker 2: influence you.
Speaker 3: Every day when you go to work, you're.
Speaker 2: Deciding, am I going to be a thermostat or a thermometer?
Speaker 2: A thermometer just reflects what the temperature is of the environment.
Speaker 2: They're being talking dirty. I'm going to talk dirty. They're
Speaker 2: doing this, I'm gonna do that. A thermometer just reveals
Speaker 2: what the culture's like. A thermostat turns the heat up
Speaker 2: or down.
Speaker 3: God wants you to be in thermistat.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want you to influence them, to influence you,
Speaker 2: but you to influence them.
Speaker 1: What a great and timely message today. Let's end our
Speaker 1: show with a closing thought from Pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: If you've been blessed by this message today, here's what
Speaker 2: I want you to do. Share it, Tell somebody about
Speaker 2: it now. There's a lot of great ways you can
Speaker 2: share daily hope. One of the easiest is by posting
Speaker 2: it on social media on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn
Speaker 2: or Instagram. But you'll find a share button today next
Speaker 2: to the message on my website Pastorick dot com. Don't
Speaker 2: keep the good news to yourself. It's too good to
Speaker 2: keep to ourselves. We've got to pass it on to others.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening today and join me next time as
Speaker 2: we continue to look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to share this broadcast. Just go
Speaker 1: to pastorrick dot com. That's pastorrek dot com. Be sure
Speaker 1: to join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.