Speaker 1: Hey, friends, thanks so much for joining us today on
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick Warren. We're so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1: And today, Rick continues in his series called Transformed. Together,
Speaker 1: we'll dive into God's word and discover powerful principles that
Speaker 1: can truly change our lives from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
Speaker 1: and vocationally. You'll experience how God's truth brings real transformation
Speaker 1: to every part of your life. All right, well, let's
Speaker 1: get started and join Rick for the final part of
Speaker 1: a message called Change your Life by Changing your Mind.
Speaker 2: The reason why most people are ineffective in life and
Speaker 2: actually fail at life and actually don't enjoy life is
Speaker 2: because they've never learned how to fight the battle of
Speaker 2: the mind. This is so important. I just want to
Speaker 2: explain to you one simple thing, how temptation works. Because
Speaker 2: Paul says, we're not supposed to be ignorant of how
Speaker 2: satan works. We need to know how it works so
Speaker 2: you're not caught off guard. So let me explain to
Speaker 2: you how temptation works. Because it always uses the same
Speaker 2: pattern James one fourteen and fifteen tells us the pattern
Speaker 2: temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires,
Speaker 2: and these evil desires lead to evil actions, and then
Speaker 2: the evil actions lead to death. I notice temptation is
Speaker 2: a process. It's not an isolated event, you know when
Speaker 2: people talk about I don't know. It just caught me
Speaker 2: off guard. It was just a one night's stand. No
Speaker 2: it wasn't. No, it wasn't. There were a lot of
Speaker 2: things that you gave into before you got to lowering
Speaker 2: that barrier. Temptation is a process and the by Scott
Speaker 2: describes exactly how it thinks. And there are four phases.
Speaker 2: Write these down. Phase number one is temptation starts with desire.
Speaker 2: So number one is desire. If you don't have any
Speaker 2: desire for something, it's not a temptation. I have never,
Speaker 2: ever in my life been tempted to smoke a cigarette.
Speaker 2: Why there's no desire in me. I think they stink. Okay,
Speaker 2: somebody asked me one they will smoke and send you
Speaker 2: to hell. I said, no, make you smell like you've
Speaker 2: been there, but it won't. But it's not going to
Speaker 2: send you to hell. Okay, all right, do you remember
Speaker 2: when they used to have smoking on airplanes. That was terrible.
Speaker 2: I had a friend who used to carry a card
Speaker 2: with him and when a guy would light up next
Speaker 2: to him on the plane, he'd hand him the card
Speaker 2: and said, I notice you smoke. Will I chew? If
Speaker 2: you won't blow smoke on me, I won't spit on you. Now,
Speaker 2: I've never been tempted because it just didn't smell good
Speaker 2: to me. Now, there's a lot of stuff I've been
Speaker 2: tempted in that you haven't been tempted in. But it
Speaker 2: always starts with an internal desire. Now, he says, there
Speaker 2: the lure of our desire. It begins inside you. Temptation
Speaker 2: doesn't start out there, doesn't start on TV, doesn't start
Speaker 2: on the street corner. It starts inside your mind. And
Speaker 2: it often begins with a natural desire, not even an
Speaker 2: evil desire. It can begin with a natural desire. You
Speaker 2: have a natural desire for sleep. You have a natural
Speaker 2: desire for water. You have a natural desire for food.
Speaker 2: You have a natural desire for sex. You have a
Speaker 2: natural desire to succeed in life. These are all God
Speaker 2: given drives. The drive to achieve the drive for sex,
Speaker 2: the drive to breed the drive. Those are normal drives.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with them. Okay, he listened closely. Temptation
Speaker 2: turns a routine desire into a runaway desire, and that's
Speaker 2: what makes it bad. It becomes more important than anything else.
Speaker 2: It's all you can think about, and any desire out
Speaker 2: of control is destructive. Fire in a fireplace can warm,
Speaker 2: fire on a cooking stove can cook great food, but
Speaker 2: fire uncontrolled can burn your house down. All of God's gifts,
Speaker 2: misused and abused, will burn your house down. Any of
Speaker 2: them will sex, sleep eating any of those things. They're
Speaker 2: good desires, good drives, but misused and abused, they mess
Speaker 2: you up. Now. Often, temptation is an attempt to fulfill
Speaker 2: a legitimate desire in your life, like I just want
Speaker 2: to be loved. There's nothing wrong with that in the
Speaker 2: wrong way. But the point is, it's like steel in
Speaker 2: a magnet. If there were no desiring me, there would
Speaker 2: be no temptations. That makes sense, okay, So temptation doesn't
Speaker 2: start out there. It starts in here, in my mind
Speaker 2: with desire. Step two in temptation always happens this way
Speaker 2: is doubt, And what you do in doubt is you
Speaker 2: begin to doubt two things. You doubt that God loves you,
Speaker 2: and you doubt that God knows best. Because when you
Speaker 2: start to get tempted, you go, did God really say,
Speaker 2: don't have sex outside of marriage? Did God really say
Speaker 2: forgive the person instead of get even with him? Did
Speaker 2: God really say it's more blessed to give than to receive?
Speaker 2: And you start doubting God's word. We see this from
Speaker 2: the very first temptation and Adam and Eve they're in
Speaker 2: a perfect environment. Okay, it's paradise. They have no clothes
Speaker 2: and no kids. Hello, how do you mess up that? Really?
Speaker 2: Satan comes and says, hey, see that tree over there.
Speaker 2: Did God really say you can't eat of that tree?
Speaker 2: What is he doing? He's getting you to doubt God's word.
Speaker 2: And then he says, God knows that if you eat
Speaker 2: that tree, you'll be as smart as he is. What's
Speaker 2: he doing? He's getting you to doubt that God loves you,
Speaker 2: that God's rules are for your benefit. Every time you
Speaker 2: give into temptation, you are believing a lie. You think
Speaker 2: you know better, You think God doesn't know best. You
Speaker 2: think that you know what will make you happy more
Speaker 2: than he does. So there's always the desire, and then
Speaker 2: there's the doubt did God really say? Do I really?
Speaker 2: Does God really love me? Isn't God just being a
Speaker 2: little prudish about this? Is it really true? And on
Speaker 2: and on and on. Then the step three is deception.
Speaker 2: And the third thing that Satan does is he replaces
Speaker 2: God's truth with his lie and he says, God, you
Speaker 2: won't die if you eat this God had already said
Speaker 2: you eat this fruit, you're gonna die. Now God said,
Speaker 2: you can eat anything in the hole in the entire park,
Speaker 2: Yellowstone Park called Eden. You can eat anything in the
Speaker 2: park except this one tree. What does man do? He
Speaker 2: goes immediately to the one tree. It's the minimum amount
Speaker 2: of temptation possible, but it allows a choice. Satan changes it. Also.
Speaker 2: God says you can't eat a bunch of stuff, and
Speaker 2: reason he doesn't want you to because he doesn't want
Speaker 2: you to be as smart as he is. He is
Speaker 2: giving you a lie. He is deceiving you. Notice it
Speaker 2: says in that verse he says, I am lured. He
Speaker 2: said temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desire.
Speaker 2: Circle the word lure, that's a fishing term. Hey, I'm
Speaker 2: enticed he're talking about using bait there. Now, any of
Speaker 2: you fishermen, some of you are, The secret of good
Speaker 2: fishing is real simple. You got to use the right bait.
Speaker 2: Salmon eat a certain kind of bait, and trout eat
Speaker 2: another kind of bait, and fish will even change what
Speaker 2: they're eating feeding on at different times of the day.
Speaker 2: And how many fish are you going to catch with
Speaker 2: a bare hook? None? Zero, none, So obviously you got
Speaker 2: to put some bait on there. You got to have
Speaker 2: a lure question. What kind of bait does Satan use
Speaker 2: on you? Do you even know? Do you know the
Speaker 2: one he always uses on you? And he keeps coming
Speaker 2: back to it because it gets you every time. It
Speaker 2: hooks you every single time. It may be from something
Speaker 2: long time ago that a parent said to you, but man,
Speaker 2: when that thing comes out, you are just so hooked.
Speaker 2: You immediately get depressed, or you immediately get angry, or
Speaker 2: you immediately get worried. And Satan got her hooked. I
Speaker 2: put the right bait on that hook. Satan knows your
Speaker 2: weaknesses and he hides the hook. Now, I call this
Speaker 2: phased deception because you know why often we know there's
Speaker 2: a hook there, but we still keep nibbling. We know
Speaker 2: there's a hook, but we still keep nibbling. It's like
Speaker 2: people who flirt in the office. How stupid is that.
Speaker 2: You know there's a hook there, you know it's gonna
Speaker 2: there's only one way it could go bad, but you
Speaker 2: still keeping knibbling. You say, I'm an adult, I won't
Speaker 2: get hurt. I'll be careful. You're being deceived. And there's
Speaker 2: a lure. Now, anybody who's done fishing, Tom's a fly
Speaker 2: fisherman knows that lures can when you fly fish, they
Speaker 2: can be pretty flashy, pretty flashy. And the flashier the
Speaker 2: lure that what was that? That fish goes? What was that?
Speaker 2: Holy I'm gonna swim over there. That thing looked it's flashy.
Speaker 2: It's shiny.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: That looks like Las Vegas. You know what. Las Vegas
Speaker 2: is one giant lure in the desert and it's shiny
Speaker 2: and it's bright, and they've got all you can eat
Speaker 2: buffets for nothing, and somebody's paying for that, and you're
Speaker 2: gonna get hurt, and you know, the poor suckers are
Speaker 2: gonna you know, Las Vegas should just be called lost wages,
Speaker 2: because next time you're going to tempt to be going
Speaker 2: to Las Vega. Just give me your money, okay, just
Speaker 2: give it to me, okay, okay, And then you save
Speaker 2: the time, save the effort, and we'll use it for good,
Speaker 2: all right. Temptation always looks better than it is. Then
Speaker 2: Step four is disobedience and defeat. Disobedience and defeat. Now
Speaker 2: we've moved from desire. There's something that's I want to
Speaker 2: doubt God's word and God's love to deception. I'm believing
Speaker 2: the lie that Satan's telling me. It's gonna be Okay,
Speaker 2: you can get away with this, it's all right, just
Speaker 2: this once. It's not that bad, and I don't know.
Speaker 2: And then you go to disobedience and then defeat, and
Speaker 2: now it's sin. What began in the mind gets translated
Speaker 2: into action and it goes like this, My attention becomes
Speaker 2: an attitude, and my attitude becomes an action. Well, you
Speaker 2: really spend a lot of time on this, but this
Speaker 2: is how it works in the battle for your mind.
Speaker 2: I've had guys say to me, what's the danger of
Speaker 2: a harmless fantasy? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: It's not harmless. I want you to write this down.
Speaker 2: What I flirt with, I'll fall for whatever I flirt with.
Speaker 2: It may be a cupcake, I'll fall for whatever I
Speaker 2: flirt with, I'll fall for. I need to refocus my attention.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, after desires conceived, it gives birth to sin,
Speaker 2: and the end result is death. Says the Tragic consequt.
Speaker 2: What's death the exact opposite of living? Now, listen, you
Speaker 2: are free to choose anything you want in life. You're
Speaker 2: free to make your choices, but you are not free
Speaker 2: from the consequences of those choices. The moment you make
Speaker 2: that choice, you are no longer free because there are
Speaker 2: consequences that come to every choice, often unintended consequences, And
Speaker 2: what you sow you will reap. And you cannot choose
Speaker 2: the behavior and not choose the consequence. Now what am
Speaker 2: I saying? The best time to win the battle with
Speaker 2: temptation is before it begins. Look at this verse on
Speaker 2: the screen. So I'm one nineteen one twelve. I have
Speaker 2: made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no
Speaker 2: matter what. Until you come to that point, you're just
Speaker 2: gonna keep stumbling and stumbling and stumbling and stumbling. I
Speaker 2: have made up my mind that's a choice. I have
Speaker 2: made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no
Speaker 2: matter what. All right, Three things, I said, you got
Speaker 2: to make these choices every day. I have to focus,
Speaker 2: I have to free, I have to feed. I said. First,
Speaker 2: I have to feed my mind constantly on truth, not garbage.
Speaker 2: And then I have to free my mind from destructive thoughts.
Speaker 2: We talked about how that happens. And the third is,
Speaker 2: I must focus my mind on the right things for
Speaker 2: mental health, I must focus my mind on the right things.
Speaker 2: Three things that will make the most difference in your
Speaker 2: mental state. Number one, think about Jesus. Think about Jesus.
Speaker 2: You've heard that old cliche. You become whatever you think about.
Speaker 2: Most well, you think about Jesus. Guess what you're going
Speaker 2: to become like like Jesus. Second time of the two
Speaker 2: eight keep your mind on Jesus Christ Hebrews twelve Three.
Speaker 2: Think about Jesus. Example, he held on. Are you having
Speaker 2: a hard time hold on? He held on while wicked
Speaker 2: people were doing evil things to him? So do not
Speaker 2: get tired and stop trying. Don't do that. When you
Speaker 2: start feeling like you're ready to give up. Think about
Speaker 2: what Jesus went through think about Jesus. Number two, think
Speaker 2: about others. Think about others. Philippians two four says don't
Speaker 2: just think about your own affairs, but be interested in
Speaker 2: others too and what they are doing. Do you realize
Speaker 2: how counterculture that is everything in the world teaches you
Speaker 2: to think about yourself and nobody else. How many times
Speaker 2: have you heard this phrase, I've got to do what's
Speaker 2: best for me looking out for number one? Yeah, I
Speaker 2: could go on down a whole list of these phrases
Speaker 2: that basically say, it's all about me, it's all about me,
Speaker 2: it's all about me, it's all about me. That's why
Speaker 2: when I wrote Purpose Driven Life, I thought, what's the
Speaker 2: most counterculture statement I think of in our culture to
Speaker 2: begin this book with? And I just said, it's not
Speaker 2: about you. That is the most counterculture statement you can
Speaker 2: make in our world today. It's not about you. It's
Speaker 2: like a slap in the face. So I just thought,
Speaker 2: I'll start the book with a slap in the face.
Speaker 2: It's not about you. Okay, it's not about you. It's
Speaker 2: not about you. It's not about you. It's all about God.
Speaker 2: And it's only in giving your life away that you
Speaker 2: will understand what it really means to live. So think
Speaker 2: about others Hebrews ten twenty four. Let us think about
Speaker 2: each other and help each other to show love and
Speaker 2: do good deeds. And the best place to practice that
Speaker 2: is in your small group. Practice that version in your
Speaker 2: small group this week. Let's think about each other. Let's
Speaker 2: help each other to show love and do good deeds.
Speaker 2: In your small group. That's the laboratory for love. It's
Speaker 2: the place to learn and unselfishness. Think about Jesus, think
Speaker 2: about others. Number three, Think about eternity. That's the third
Speaker 2: one that'll make the biggest difference in your mental state.
Speaker 2: Think about eternity, that there's mortal life than just here
Speaker 2: and now. The problem that we do today is we
Speaker 2: have short term thinking. We only think about what's happening
Speaker 2: right now. Colossians three to two. Let Heaven feel your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Do not think only about things down here on earth.
Speaker 2: King James version says, set your minds on things above,
Speaker 2: not upon things on the earth. Let Heaven fill your thoughts. Now,
Speaker 2: have you heard this old canard? He's so heavenly minded,
Speaker 2: he's no earthly good. That's a bunch of baloney. You
Speaker 2: know what I found only the people who are heavenly
Speaker 2: minded actually do any good, And those who are most
Speaker 2: heavenly minded throughout history are those who've done the most
Speaker 2: good on earth bar none. It is not the earthly
Speaker 2: minded people who get the most done on earth. It
Speaker 2: is the most heavenly minded people who get the most
Speaker 2: done on earth for good. It's just not true. He's
Speaker 2: so heavenly minded and no earthly good. The problem is
Speaker 2: the opposite. We're so earthly minded, we're no heavenly good.
Speaker 2: All we think about is budget and baseball and bills
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. One Corinthians two nine. No eye
Speaker 2: has seen, no ear has erred, and no mind has
Speaker 2: imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
Speaker 2: Think about that, and when you start thinking about that,
Speaker 2: all of the problems, little nitpicky problems in your life
Speaker 2: go see so inferior compared to the glory, the joy,
Speaker 2: the pleasure, the enjoyment, the things we have to look
Speaker 2: forward to in eternity. I need to feed my mind
Speaker 2: on truth every day. I need to free my mind
Speaker 2: from those destructive thoughts. I can choose not to think
Speaker 2: them by changing the way I think, and then I
Speaker 2: can focus my mind on the right thing. And when
Speaker 2: I'm focused on the right thing, I don't have time
Speaker 2: to pay attention to the wrong thing. When I'm watching TV,
Speaker 2: I don't like what I see. I just flipped the channel.
Speaker 2: Change your attention. I'm no longer tempted. It's real simple.
Speaker 2: Let's vow for prayer. Father, you gave us our minds.
Speaker 2: We were made in your image. This is the greatest
Speaker 2: gift You've ever given us, the gift of intellect. And
Speaker 2: we realize it's our greatest asset, and yet it is
Speaker 2: the greatest battleground. And we realize that the world, and
Speaker 2: the flesh, and the devil all team up to thwart
Speaker 2: our best intentions. Now you pray, just say a simple prayer. God,
Speaker 2: help me to put into practice what I've just learned.
Speaker 2: Just say, God, help me put into practice what I've
Speaker 2: just learned. Help me to make these choices on a
Speaker 2: daily basis. I want to feed my mind with truth
Speaker 2: all the time. And I want to free my mind
Speaker 2: from destructive thoughts by taking every thought captive, to make
Speaker 2: it obedient to Christ, to not just let my mind
Speaker 2: run wild. Help me to be wise the temptation. Realize
Speaker 2: when desire is turning the doubt, to deception, to disobedience.
Speaker 2: Just say this, God, I'm going to make up my
Speaker 2: mind to obey your word forever, no matter what to
Speaker 2: think about Jesus, help me to think about others, help
Speaker 2: me to think about eternity, that my life may be
Speaker 2: truly transformed in your name. I pray.
Speaker 1: Amen, such great words of wisdom from pastor Rick today,
Speaker 1: and I hope you were blessed like I was. And
Speaker 1: now here's Rick to tell you about a resource that
Speaker 1: he created to help you in your walk with Jesus.
Speaker 2: Imagine the difference the world would be if lives were
Speaker 2: really transformed by the grace of God. Now, it's always
Speaker 2: been my goal here at Daily Hope, not just to
Speaker 2: show you what God says to do and how to
Speaker 2: do it, but to supply you with practical tools for
Speaker 2: doing it on a daily basis. So I've created a
Speaker 2: special Transformed Bible study Kit. Now, in this kit, there
Speaker 2: are a number of resources that I want you to have. First,
Speaker 2: seven lessons on DVD that help you go deeper and
Speaker 2: explore what the Bible has to say about each of
Speaker 2: these seven key areas of your life. And then there's
Speaker 2: a two hundred and twenty five page leather bound workbook
Speaker 2: filled with tools for personal evaluation, goal setting, daily devotions,
Speaker 2: versus to memorize, a place to take notes and journal
Speaker 2: information about additional resources. This study kit can be used
Speaker 2: not just in your personal life, but as a small
Speaker 2: group study guide with your friends. I want to send
Speaker 2: the Transformation Bible Study Kit to you as my gift
Speaker 2: to tell you how much I love you and to
Speaker 2: say thanks for your financial support of Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: Now, in this seventh session video and workbook study, Rick's
Speaker 1: going to guide you through all the key areas of
Speaker 1: life spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial, and vocational equipeing
Speaker 1: you with practical steps to experience real lasting change with
Speaker 1: weekly lessons, daily devotions, and exercises that will help you
Speaker 1: dive deeper into God's word. This study is perfect for
Speaker 1: personal growth or sharing with your small group. Request the
Speaker 1: Transformed Study Kit today when you give a gift to
Speaker 1: Daily Hope and join us in bringing the hope of
Speaker 1: Jesus to people around the world. Your transformation starts here.
Speaker 1: Just go to Pastororick dot com to get your copy
Speaker 1: of this great resource. That's pastorick dot com, or you
Speaker 1: can just text the word hope to seven oh three
Speaker 1: oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to seven oh
Speaker 1: three oh nine. And thank you so much for your support.
Speaker 1: Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope
Speaker 1: of Christ with people everywhere. We hope you'll join us
Speaker 1: next time as we continue to look into God's Word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. And this program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: past to Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
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