Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: We are so glad you're here with us today. We're
Speaker 1: going to continue our series called The Keys to a
Speaker 1: Blessed Life.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus' Sermon on the
Speaker 1: Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful
Speaker 1: and purpose filled life. And now here's the final part
Speaker 1: of the strength of gentleness.
Speaker 2: Number seven. Gentleness is a witness to unbelievers. Gentleness witnesses
Speaker 2: to unbelievers when people look at you, and non believers
Speaker 2: are watching you all the time, and they're watching to
Speaker 2: see are you any different than they are when you're understressed?
Speaker 2: Are you any different than they are when you are
Speaker 2: under pressure? When you respond to pressure with gentleness, that
Speaker 2: is an incredible testimony to the world. Here's what the
Speaker 2: Bible says Titus three to two. Believers should never speak
Speaker 2: evil of anyone. Circle that if you're a believer, not
Speaker 2: only am I as a pastor not to do that?
Speaker 2: You're not to do that. Believers should never speak evil
Speaker 2: of anyone. So that means you can't disagree with them. No,
Speaker 2: of course, you can disagree with people. You just can't
Speaker 2: speak evil of them. You can't malign them, you can't
Speaker 2: slander them, you can't do personal attacks against them. Not
Speaker 2: if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you can't.
Speaker 2: Believers should never speak evil of anyone, even the people
Speaker 2: who hurt you, even the people who hurt you, Nor
Speaker 2: be quarrelsome. You're not allowed to be quarrelsome. Instead, they
Speaker 2: should be gentle and show courtesy to everyone. Circle be
Speaker 2: gentle and show courtesy you. If you claim to be
Speaker 2: a follower of Jesus, you are not allowed to speak
Speaker 2: evil of anyone. You are not not allowed to be quarrelsome. Instead,
Speaker 2: you must be gentle with everybody, and you must show
Speaker 2: courtesy to everybody. That means even people of a different
Speaker 2: political party. Yes, you know, God gave me the gift
Speaker 2: of evangelism, which means I spend most of my time
Speaker 2: when I'm not at saddleback speaking to people I totally
Speaker 2: disagree with. I disagree with what they believe, or I
Speaker 2: disagree with with their lifestyle, or I disagree with their
Speaker 2: concept or whatever. But my definition of evangelism is you
Speaker 2: cannot win your enemies to Christ. You can only win
Speaker 2: your friends and to me evangelism as you build a
Speaker 2: bridge of love between your heart and theirs, and Jesus
Speaker 2: walks across. Now, people aren't going to trust Jesus till
Speaker 2: first they trust you. People don't ask me is the
Speaker 2: Bible credible? They want to know, Are you credible? Rick Warren?
Speaker 2: Are you credible? Are you exactly what you appear to be?
Speaker 2: Are you the real deal? Do you live with integrity?
Speaker 2: Are you gentle? Are you loving? Are you compassionate? If
Speaker 2: people like what they see, they will listen to what
Speaker 2: you say. The first they've got to like what they see.
Speaker 2: Gentleness is a witnessed unbeliever. We are to be gentle
Speaker 2: and show courtesy to everyone. Now, let me just tell
Speaker 2: you something. I know this from experience. If you actually
Speaker 2: obey this verse, you're going to be criticized by other
Speaker 2: Christians because they're going to tell you. They're going to
Speaker 2: say you're compromising. You see when I say I have
Speaker 2: friends who are Muslims, and I have friends who are atheists,
Speaker 2: and I have friends who are gay, and I have
Speaker 2: friends who are secularists, and I have friends who are Mormon,
Speaker 2: and I have friends who are you can name it.
Speaker 2: Democrats Republicans and in between, and how could you do that?
Speaker 2: And they hues a you of being compromising. No, you
Speaker 2: don't compromise what you believe. You just treat everybody with respect.
Speaker 2: You treat everybody with courtesy, whether you agree with it
Speaker 2: or not. Does that make sense? And you are to
Speaker 2: do that. If you do, there will be people say, hey,
Speaker 2: you can't be nice to those liberal people. Well why not,
Speaker 2: because then you're a liberal. Or you can't be nice
Speaker 2: to those conservatives? Why because then you're a conservative. You've
Speaker 2: heard me say this many times before. People ask me,
Speaker 2: are you left wing? A right wing? I say, I'm
Speaker 2: for the whole bird? Okay, I'm actually for America. Have
Speaker 2: you ever seen a bird fly with one wing? If
Speaker 2: you only have one wing, you fly around in a circle.
Speaker 2: It actually takes both wings. Nobody gets it right all
Speaker 2: the time. Independences don't get it right all the time.
Speaker 2: Democrats don't get it right all the time. Republicans don't
Speaker 2: get it right all the time. I have friends who
Speaker 2: are Republicans, I have friends who are Democrats. I'm for
Speaker 2: my friends. Why that's what Jesus would do, Because there's
Speaker 2: something more than politics that's important and it is, do
Speaker 2: they know Jesus? And that's what we are to do.
Speaker 2: Gentleness is a witness to believe unbelievers. Look at this
Speaker 2: verse one Peter three point fifteen. Always be prepared to
Speaker 2: give he's talking about witnessing to an unbeliever. Always be
Speaker 2: prepared to give an answer to everybody who asks you
Speaker 2: to give the reason for the hope that you have.
Speaker 2: But he says, do this with gentleness and what respect.
Speaker 2: No matter what they believe, and no matter how they act,
Speaker 2: and no matter how ungodly they are, you are to
Speaker 2: do it with gentleness and respect. In other words, you
Speaker 2: don't go out thumping bibles on people saying turn or burn,
Speaker 2: you're gonna die and fry while we go to the sky.
Speaker 2: That doesn't work. That doesn't work. Gentleness witnesses to unbelievers.
Speaker 2: Number eight, Gentleness makes me like Jesus. Gentleness makes me
Speaker 2: like Jesus. And this is the biggest one of all.
Speaker 2: That's why I saved it for last. In Matthew, chapter eleven,
Speaker 2: verse twenty eight, twenty nine says, if you want to
Speaker 2: be like Jesus, you want to be a godly woman,
Speaker 2: a godly man, you're gonna have to learn gentleness, Jesus
Speaker 2: says in Matthew eleven, come to me. Come to me,
Speaker 2: all you who are weary, and you're burdened, you're stressed out.
Speaker 2: And he says, I will give you more work to do. Now,
Speaker 2: I then say, I will give you what rest? Yeah,
Speaker 2: Then he says, take my yoke on you and learn
Speaker 2: from me, for I am gentle. Circle that God says.
Speaker 2: Jesus says, I am gentle and humble in heart, and
Speaker 2: you will find rest for your souls. Now. Question number one,
Speaker 2: Doesn't this mean that if I want to be like Jesus,
Speaker 2: I've got to learn to be gentle? Yes? Question number two.
Speaker 2: Is it possible that the stress you're feeling in your
Speaker 2: life and the pressure you're feeling in your life is
Speaker 2: because you are not gentle? Yes? Because the Bible says
Speaker 2: the more gentle you become, the more christ Like you become,
Speaker 2: and the more at peace you become, and the more
Speaker 2: at rest you become. The reason why you're stressed out
Speaker 2: all the time, why you're tired all the time, while
Speaker 2: you feel pressured all the time, is because you are
Speaker 2: not gentle. He says, I'm gentle, and if you come
Speaker 2: get with me, I'm going to give you rest and peace,
Speaker 2: not stress and pressure. I said, man, I want that.
Speaker 2: I want to be at peace. I want to be
Speaker 2: like Jesus. I don't be stressed out all the time.
Speaker 2: So I'm just gonna go out and tomorrow I'm gonna
Speaker 2: force myself to be gentle. So you get up in
Speaker 2: the morning, you go and how are you today? And
Speaker 2: you oh, just fine? Thank you? And you how are
Speaker 2: you to? No, no, no, that you can't fake gentleness.
Speaker 2: You can't manipulate gentleness. You can't manufacture gentleness. It's got
Speaker 2: to be an inside job. God has to produce it
Speaker 2: inside you. Look of the next verse. The fruit of
Speaker 2: the spirit is what gentleness. It is God's spirit producing
Speaker 2: it in you. You can't fake gentleness because inside you're
Speaker 2: gonna still be understress. It is something that God does
Speaker 2: to you. There is a prayer that I've prayed now
Speaker 2: for over thirty years. I've prayed it almost every day.
Speaker 2: And as I walk out and I see people and
Speaker 2: I walk down on the patterer, I say, Lord, help
Speaker 2: me to treat people the way Jesus would. Why because
Speaker 2: I am not by nature a gentle person. I'm not
Speaker 2: and you know what neither are you? You are not
Speaker 2: by nature a gentle person. You have to learn it
Speaker 2: and you have to let God produce it in your life.
Speaker 2: God help me to treat everybody I meet with like
Speaker 2: Jesus today, not rude, not crude, not in civil in
Speaker 2: all of those ways. Now let me wrap this up.
Speaker 2: Who could you practice gentleness with this week? Let's just
Speaker 2: get down and dirty, really practical. I'm going to give
Speaker 2: you three statements. Just write these down. They're not on
Speaker 2: your outline. Here's three things I want you to practice
Speaker 2: gentleness this week with three different kinds of people. Okay,
Speaker 2: so write these down. Number one. This next week, here's
Speaker 2: the first sentence. When someone serves me, be understanding, not demanding.
Speaker 2: When someone serves me, be understanding, not demanding. That's what
Speaker 2: gentleness is, strength under control. Why are you talking about Rick,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about waitresses when they serve you, clerks and
Speaker 2: stores when they serve you. A secretary or a government official,
Speaker 2: or a clerk or employees. If you work, people work
Speaker 2: for you. Are people in fast food? You know? A
Speaker 2: while back I went into McDonald's ordering my Daniel plan,
Speaker 2: just seeing if you'd catch that or not. And I'm
Speaker 2: standing in line, and there was this young girl, very flustered,
Speaker 2: as obvious she was a trainee at McDonald's. She was
Speaker 2: just like in her first day, the first couple days,
Speaker 2: and she was pressured, and there was a long line,
Speaker 2: and she was making a lot of mistakes. And the
Speaker 2: more she made mistakes, the more people got upset and
Speaker 2: they were not understanding. They were demanding, and the more demanding,
Speaker 2: the more pressure she felt. And I thought she was
Speaker 2: gonna burst into tears. And when I came up to
Speaker 2: get my Daniel plan meal, I looked at her and
Speaker 2: I said, it's okay, it's not that big a deal.
Speaker 2: Don't worry about it. It's not anything for people to
Speaker 2: have to wait a few extra seconds, and tomorrow will
Speaker 2: be a whole new day. You're just learning. It's okay.
Speaker 2: She looked up at me and she goes, aren't you
Speaker 2: that guy from Saddleback? I'm glad I was understanding, not demanding.
Speaker 2: And then I got to thinking, I wonder what is
Speaker 2: the reputation of our church family in Orange County when
Speaker 2: we go out for fast food? Are we understanding or
Speaker 2: are we demanding? I didn't get it the way I wanted,
Speaker 2: you know, I've traveled all the way around the world.
Speaker 2: I've been one hundred and sixty four countries, and now
Speaker 2: I want to tell you this. Americans have a simple
Speaker 2: reputation overseas. We're rude Americans, a thought of pushy, rude
Speaker 2: in civil not gentle, demanding, not understanding. Now the secret
Speaker 2: of great service. You want to get great service anywhere
Speaker 2: a restaurant or anywhere playing or treat people with respect
Speaker 2: and be consider their feelings and be sympathetic and be understanding,
Speaker 2: not demanding. The Bible says in Philippians too this, don't
Speaker 2: just think about your own affairs, but be interested in
Speaker 2: others too and what they're doing. Your attitude should be
Speaker 2: the same as that of Jesus Christ. So when people
Speaker 2: serve you this week, be understanding, not demanding. And if
Speaker 2: you don't get your burger right and it didn't come
Speaker 2: back animal style, that's also on the Daniel plan, don't
Speaker 2: sweat it all right, Okay, number two, write this one down.
Speaker 2: When somebody disagrees with me this week, when somebody disagrees
Speaker 2: with me, be tender without surrender. Be tender without surrender.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying Gentalist means you have to cave in
Speaker 2: on your convictions. And if somebody tells you something is
Speaker 2: wrong when you know it's right, or somebody tells you
Speaker 2: that something is right when you know that's not wrong,
Speaker 2: that's not right, it's wrong according to the scripture, you
Speaker 2: don't back down, you don't become wimpy, you don't become
Speaker 2: a chameleon and say, well, I'll ever teach his own
Speaker 2: ways and that's your interpretation. Woww No, No, that's a
Speaker 2: cop out. But you can be tender without surrender. Some
Speaker 2: of my best friends are people who violently would disagree
Speaker 2: with me on what I believe about certain things. I
Speaker 2: don't compromise on what I believe. I know what the
Speaker 2: Bible says, and I'm not afraid, and I'm not ashamed,
Speaker 2: and I fear God's disapprove them more than theirs. But
Speaker 2: I treat them with gentleness and respect, and that's why
Speaker 2: we can have a friendship. Let me show you Verse
Speaker 2: Romans fourteen to one in the paraphrase of the message,
Speaker 2: I love this welcome with open arms fellow believers who
Speaker 2: don't see things the way you do. In other words,
Speaker 2: they may be another brand of Christian. They may be
Speaker 2: Pentecostal or Catholic or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Baptist or
Speaker 2: Calrie Chapel or Vineyard or I don't don't really care.
Speaker 2: Just maybe they don't even agree with you on certain difference.
Speaker 2: Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things
Speaker 2: the way you do, and don't jump all over them
Speaker 2: every time they do or say something you don't agree with.
Speaker 2: That's the exact opposite people are doing on the internet
Speaker 2: right now. They jump over everybody anything. Then, he says,
Speaker 2: even when it seems that they're strong on their opinions
Speaker 2: but weak in the faith department, remember they have their
Speaker 2: own history to deal with, treat them gently. That's being
Speaker 2: like Jesus. That's what God wants you to do. To
Speaker 2: treat everybody gently. You be tender without surrender when somebody
Speaker 2: disagrees with you. Would you write this down in your outline.
Speaker 2: I never get my point across by being cross. You
Speaker 2: can tweet that one too. This is a really tweetable sermon.
Speaker 2: I never get my point across by being cross. You
Speaker 2: don't have to devastate those you disagree with. A lot
Speaker 2: of people make verbal overkill to make a point and
Speaker 2: they turn everything into win lose. You have to decide
Speaker 2: do I want to make a point or do you
Speaker 2: I want to make a friend with that unbeliever or
Speaker 2: even another fellow Christian. All right, and then one more,
Speaker 2: let me give you this one. When somebody disappoints you,
Speaker 2: and you're going to be disappointed this week. When someone
Speaker 2: disappoints me, be gentle, not judgmental. When somebody disappoints you
Speaker 2: this week, be gentle, not judgmental. Galatians six 's one
Speaker 2: says this, if someone is caught in a sin, you
Speaker 2: who are spiritual, should restore him gently. That maybe somebody
Speaker 2: in your small group you who are spiritual, should restore
Speaker 2: him gently. But it says watch yourself, or you may
Speaker 2: be tempted too. In other words, given the right situation,
Speaker 2: we're all potential ciners in any potential area. We don't
Speaker 2: surprise ourselves. If somebody's caught us in, restore them gentle.
Speaker 2: And Ephesians four, verse thirty two says this, be gentle
Speaker 2: with one another and sensitive with one another. Forgive one
Speaker 2: another as quickly and as thoroughly as God in Christ
Speaker 2: forgave you. We're going to come back to this verse
Speaker 2: in another week. They say this, God cut you a
Speaker 2: lot of slack. You better cut everybody else a lot
Speaker 2: of slack. God has shown you grace, You better show
Speaker 2: everybody else a lot of grace. God has forgiven you
Speaker 2: a whole lot more than you're going to have to
Speaker 2: ever forgive anybody else. That is gentleness. So how do
Speaker 2: you react when somebody really screws up their life? They
Speaker 2: really mess it up? You go, I told you so,
Speaker 2: I could see it coming. Serves you right. I would
Speaker 2: have never been that dumb. And you actually get a
Speaker 2: secret satisfaction when you see somebody fall, particularly if they've
Speaker 2: criticized you. Do you know what angered Jesus the most?
Speaker 2: It wasn't sin that angered Jesus the most. What angered
Speaker 2: Jesus the most were self righteous people who thought they
Speaker 2: spent all their time being God's appointed judge on earth
Speaker 2: of everybody else. And Jesus got really ticked off at
Speaker 2: those people. They were called the Pharisees. Happiness is when
Speaker 2: you can accept people who haven't attained your level of perfection.
Speaker 2: That was sarcasm. If you didn't get it, this is
Speaker 2: what it means. All right, it's time to close. Let's
Speaker 2: bow our heads do you really want to be like Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you do, you're going to have to learn the
Speaker 2: third beatitude. God blesses those who are gentiles. The whole
Speaker 2: world will belong to them. Why because they don't overreact
Speaker 2: and they're not out of control. It's strength under control.
Speaker 2: Would you pray this prayer in your heart, Dear Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I am not by nature a gentle person. I'm just not.
Speaker 2: And I need your spirit of power and love and
Speaker 2: self control. And this week when people serve me, help
Speaker 2: me to be understanding, not demanding. And this week, when
Speaker 2: people disagree with me, help me to be tender without surrender.
Speaker 2: And this week when people disappoint me, help me to
Speaker 2: be gentle, not judgmental. Lord, I want to be like you.
Speaker 2: I want to have a gentle answer that earns away anger,
Speaker 2: not stirs it up. Help me to lower my voice
Speaker 2: when everybody else raises theirs. And when evil things are
Speaker 2: said about me, help me to respond like Paul, to
Speaker 2: respond gently and disarm my critics. And when people are
Speaker 2: headstrong and I'm trying to persuade him, help me to
Speaker 2: remember that I'm never persuasive when I'm abrasive. But the
Speaker 2: more pleasant my words, the more persuasive I'll be. Lord,
Speaker 2: I want my life to be attractive. I want the
Speaker 2: beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a
Speaker 2: gentle spirit, which is so precious to God. And Lord,
Speaker 2: help me to use gentleness this week to communicate love
Speaker 2: to those that I love in my life. Help me
Speaker 2: to be gentle with them. You said that gentlenescerns respect,
Speaker 2: that a woman of gentle grace will be respected, then
Speaker 2: a godly man will be gentle. Lord, I want to
Speaker 2: be a gentle leader. I want to be meek like Moses,
Speaker 2: and like Jesus, strength under control. I want my life
Speaker 2: to be a witness. And Lord, I ask you to
Speaker 2: help me to never speak evil of anyone, to not
Speaker 2: be quarrelsome, to show courtesy to everybody, regardless of what
Speaker 2: they believe or how they live. Help me to share
Speaker 2: my faith with gentleness and respect. Most of all, Jesus,
Speaker 2: you've promised that if I would come to you and
Speaker 2: team up with you because you're gentle, I would find
Speaker 2: rest for my soul, replace my stress with your gentleness.
Speaker 2: I want the fruit of the spirit to grow in
Speaker 2: my life. If you've never invited Jesus Christ in life.
Speaker 2: Say Jesus Christ, put your spirit in me beginning tonight.
Speaker 2: I want to follow you and love you and learn
Speaker 2: to trust you the rest of my life. I give
Speaker 2: my life to you, Jesus Christ, in your name, I
Speaker 2: pray Amen.
Speaker 1: If you just prayed to receive Jesus congratulations, we would
Speaker 1: love to send you some free materials to help you
Speaker 1: along on your spiritual journey. Just email Rick at Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Rick at Pastorick dot com. Once again,
Speaker 1: here's Rick.
Speaker 2: You know, I just want to take a quick second
Speaker 2: to say thank you everybody. Thank you for listening, for
Speaker 2: sharing this broadcast, and for your faithful prayers, and especially
Speaker 2: your financial support. God is using you in a mighty
Speaker 2: way to get the message of hope out to a
Speaker 2: world that's death sprit lely in need of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening today, everybody, and please be sure to
Speaker 2: join me next time as we look into God's word
Speaker 2: for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
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