Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Hope. Now
Speaker 1: we're going to continue our series today called building My
Speaker 1: Life on Values that last, and Rick will press on
Speaker 1: and show us how we benefit when we apply the
Speaker 1: Biblical principles of trust, self control, balance, respect forgiveness, moral purity, fairness, honesty,
Speaker 1: and love to our lives. And now let's join Rick
Speaker 1: as he shares the final part of a message called
Speaker 1: accepting responsibility.
Speaker 2: The average American spends six hours a week in shopping
Speaker 2: related activities. Some of you blow that statistic out of
Speaker 2: the water.
Speaker 3: I know you know, I've seen you.
Speaker 2: You know, when the tough, when the going gets tough,
Speaker 2: the tough go shopping, you know. And and yet it's interesting,
Speaker 2: by the way, that the more educated you are, the
Speaker 2: more you shop.
Speaker 3: So some of you go, see, honey, I'm smart. See
Speaker 3: I'm really smart.
Speaker 2: I'm getting ready to go out on a little educational
Speaker 2: field trip, darling.
Speaker 3: God says, that's dumb.
Speaker 2: If you're spending all your money and you're not saving anything.
Speaker 2: Look at what it says. Let's read Proverbs twenty one
Speaker 2: twenty with great guilt. Okay, y, let's read it aloud.
Speaker 2: The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish
Speaker 2: man spins whatever he gets, ouch.
Speaker 3: Spends whatever he gets.
Speaker 2: Now you say, Rick, why you're making a big deal
Speaker 2: of this, because did you know that the number one
Speaker 2: cause of divorce is not adultery, It's not having an affair.
Speaker 2: The number one cause of divorce is not abuse, its debt.
Speaker 2: Fifty four percent of the divorces in America occur over
Speaker 2: financial pressures. We have now decided that the marriage vow
Speaker 2: is till debt do us part. And God says that's
Speaker 2: not very smart. Now, let me just get real honest
Speaker 2: with you. I read a survey this week that said
Speaker 2: most baby boomers are going to be flat broke in
Speaker 2: retirement and they're going to live in abject poverty. Why
Speaker 2: because they're not saving anything. Are you teaching your kids
Speaker 2: how to save? Are you teaching them how to make
Speaker 2: little three little banks or three little boxes and you
Speaker 2: divide up and allowances. This is for spending, This is
Speaker 2: for tithing, giving back to God. This is for savings.
Speaker 2: And when they get over, you get them, open them
Speaker 2: a bank account, and you teach them how to give,
Speaker 2: how to save, and how to spend. More important, are
Speaker 2: you modeling that or is everything just going out the door?
Speaker 2: Regardless of how little your income is. You need to
Speaker 2: learn to live on a margin where you live on
Speaker 2: less than you make so you can put away some
Speaker 2: to save. God says, that's being responsible. Somebody asked John D. Rockefeller,
Speaker 2: who at one time was the world's wealth this man,
Speaker 2: how did you amass such a fortune? He said, It's
Speaker 2: real simple. I've abided bye all my life, he said.
Speaker 2: I give the first ten percent as a tithe back
Speaker 2: to God. I save ten percent, and I live on
Speaker 2: the other eighty percent.
Speaker 3: Not a bad starting point.
Speaker 2: I would suggest that if you were being haphazard in
Speaker 2: your finances, that you might start that agenda returning the
Speaker 2: first ten percent to Goddess, he says, saving ten.
Speaker 3: Percent and learning to live on the rest.
Speaker 2: Why the Bible says this, The fool thinks only about
Speaker 2: having a good time now, And like it or not,
Speaker 2: God uses money to test you.
Speaker 3: He is testing your responsibility.
Speaker 2: And when he looks at your finances some of those
Speaker 2: rewards in heaven and those responsibilities in heaven, God's going
Speaker 2: to say, were you responsible with what I gave you
Speaker 2: here on earth? And the Bible also says to whom
Speaker 2: much is given, much is required. So you want to
Speaker 2: be responsible, start saving your money.
Speaker 3: Number two.
Speaker 2: If you want to be responsible, one of the ways
Speaker 2: is by controlling my reactions. By controlling my reactions, well,
Speaker 2: before we get in this point, here's what I want
Speaker 2: to do today. I want you to rate yourself on
Speaker 2: each of these four areas. Now we're not gonna go
Speaker 2: one to ten, but let's just use a kind of
Speaker 2: thumbs up or thumbs down. It's like a plus sign
Speaker 2: means this is under control in my life. It's doing
Speaker 2: great and I feel good about it. Minus means major
Speaker 2: warning here, I'm not being very responsible. So give yourself
Speaker 2: a plus or minus in the area of the money
Speaker 2: right now. Okay, plus sign means yeah, we're saving, we
Speaker 2: have a consistent plan for saving, spend and giving or
Speaker 2: being no, we have no consistent plan, or we're not saving.
Speaker 2: Give yourself a minus now. No peaking. Okay, don't peak
Speaker 2: anybody that would be irresponsible. Okay, write that down now.
Speaker 2: Number two second way by controlling my reactions. Earlier we
Speaker 2: talked about that you cannot control the events. You can't
Speaker 2: control the things, the tragedies that happen to you. But
Speaker 2: you can control your response and reaction. So God says,
Speaker 2: if you want to be responsible, maturity and responsibility are
Speaker 2: evident in your life. When you can handle the pressures,
Speaker 2: the stresses, the problems, the pains of life without losing it,
Speaker 2: without becoming stressed out, without becoming angry and blowing up,
Speaker 2: without shrinking into depression. And he says, when people hurt you,
Speaker 2: he says, you turn around and you do good to him.
Speaker 3: He says, the key to.
Speaker 2: Responsibility is learn to control your emotional reactions. Notice these verses.
Speaker 2: A fool expresses all his emotions, but a wise person
Speaker 2: controls them.
Speaker 3: Do you do that?
Speaker 2: Of course, the way that we usually express our emotions
Speaker 2: is through our words, And so Jesus tells us in
Speaker 2: the Book of Matthew, people will be responsible for every
Speaker 2: careless word they've said.
Speaker 3: I don't like that verse.
Speaker 2: That's one of the ones I wish God had left
Speaker 2: out of the Bible, because honestly, it says, I, Rick
Speaker 2: Warren am going to be held responsible for every careless
Speaker 2: word I've said. God is judging the responsibility of my
Speaker 2: mouth and yours too. So if you want to be responsible,
Speaker 2: he says, you need to put your mind in gear
Speaker 2: before you put your mouth in motion. You need to
Speaker 2: think before you speak. That's being responsible.
Speaker 3: Are you are you?
Speaker 2: Are you just a blabber mouth? You just say anything
Speaker 2: that floats through your mind, whether whether it's going to
Speaker 2: hurt anybody or not, whether it's the right time or not.
Speaker 2: Says control my reactions. Look at the next verse. Don't
Speaker 2: let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil
Speaker 2: by doing good.
Speaker 3: He's saying there.
Speaker 2: One of the ways you show responsibility is by not
Speaker 2: trying to get even with people.
Speaker 3: Who hurt you.
Speaker 2: See, when somebody shams you or rips you off, somebody
Speaker 2: maligns you, slanders you, somebody steals from you, somebody abuses
Speaker 2: you or hurts you. When you try to get even
Speaker 2: with that person, you know what you've done. You've just
Speaker 2: lowered yourself to their standard. You are even with them,
Speaker 2: and a person who tries to get even is no
Speaker 2: better than the person who just did the wrong. Because
Speaker 2: you're even, you're trying to get even. But when you
Speaker 2: forgive that person and you move on and say, God,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you take care of it, I know
Speaker 2: you're gonna settle the score.
Speaker 3: And I trust you to do that.
Speaker 2: That puts you in a superior moral position because you
Speaker 2: let God settle the score, which and he, by the way,
Speaker 2: has better rea sources than you do to do it.
Speaker 2: And so you say, God, I'm going to return good
Speaker 2: for evil rather than evil for evil. I'm not going
Speaker 2: to try to get even somebody shuts me out of
Speaker 2: a car pool lane or something like that. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to try to get back at them. I realize
Speaker 2: that what they reap, they'll sew and they'll eventually God'll
Speaker 2: get even with them. But God, I'm going to return
Speaker 2: good for evil. That is responsible, that's controlling your reactions.
Speaker 2: So I want you to rate yourself on this one.
Speaker 2: Number two, When people tick you off, what.
Speaker 3: Do you do?
Speaker 2: Irresponsible actions are either to a blow up or b
Speaker 2: clam up. Both of them are wrong. Those are inappropriate
Speaker 2: ways to deal with anger. Either become a skunk you
Speaker 2: smell up the place, or a turtle you withdraw in
Speaker 2: and hide.
Speaker 3: God does it tell you to be.
Speaker 2: A turtle or a skunk. There are appropriate ways to
Speaker 2: respond with anger. He says, you do it in calmness,
Speaker 2: in love, and in truth. Give yourself a plus or
Speaker 2: minus on that one.
Speaker 3: Okay. Number three The third way that.
Speaker 2: We can be more responsible of just this list I
Speaker 2: just picked is by guarding my mind. By guarding my mind,
Speaker 2: God has given you your mind, and the Bible says,
Speaker 2: as a man thinks in his heart, so is he are.
Speaker 2: Our minds control everything else. They influence our thoughts, can
Speaker 2: affect our feelings, and our feelings affect our actions. So
Speaker 2: it all starts up here. Now, let me.
Speaker 3: Relieve you of a little false guilt.
Speaker 2: You are not responsible for every little stray thought that
Speaker 2: flits or passes through your mind, aren't you glad of that?
Speaker 2: Whow Okay, You are not responsible for every little thought
Speaker 2: that's gone through your mind, because those can come from
Speaker 2: all different things. Conversations you over here, by accident, things
Speaker 2: that you see by accident. The devil puts thoughts in
Speaker 2: your mind, Oh yeah, all the time, when the devil,
Speaker 2: when Satan gives you a thought that's called temptation. When
Speaker 2: God puts a thought in your mind that's called inspiration.
Speaker 3: And both God and the devil are trying to talk
Speaker 3: to you all the time.
Speaker 2: They're trying to, you know, give you ideas, good ones
Speaker 2: from God, bad ones.
Speaker 3: From the devil.
Speaker 2: And so you're not responsible. Martin Luther once said it
Speaker 2: like this. He said, you can't keep the birds from
Speaker 2: flying over your head, but you can't keep them from
Speaker 2: building a nest in your hair. And what you are
Speaker 2: responsible for are the thoughts that you choose to hold
Speaker 2: on to and go over and over and over in
Speaker 2: your mind. The one goes through your mind. Oh, let's
Speaker 2: think about that one for a while. Like jealousy, like resentment,
Speaker 2: and a number and number of other things. Oh, I
Speaker 2: like I feel good about feeling so prideful about this
Speaker 2: situation and other things. You are not responsible for all
Speaker 2: your thoughts, but you are responsible for what you choose
Speaker 2: to allow in your mind through your eyes and through
Speaker 2: your ears, through the eyegate, the irgate, and God is
Speaker 2: going to hold you accountable for what you think about
Speaker 2: by allowing to let indo your mind. Now, this is
Speaker 2: an area, honestly, that many of you who've been Christians
Speaker 2: ten twenty thirty years are still acting very irresponsibly in it.
Speaker 2: It amazes me what some people see, much less let
Speaker 2: their children see. Almost notice what the Bible says proverb fifteen,
Speaker 2: A wise person is hungry for truth, while the fool
Speaker 2: feeds on trash. The fool feeds on trash. You might
Speaker 2: want to cut that out and put it on your TV.
Speaker 4: See.
Speaker 2: I know a lot of people who are true believers
Speaker 2: in Christ, in God, but they're they're watching trashy TV
Speaker 2: shows all the time, and they're listening to trash radio
Speaker 2: all the time, and they're watching trashy soap operas and
Speaker 2: talk shows, and they're reading trashy magazines and trashy books
Speaker 2: and novels, and they're paying good money to go see
Speaker 2: deviant behavior as entertainment and seeing trashy movies and hearing
Speaker 2: trash talk on those movies. And I've probably heard this
Speaker 2: a thousand times. But Pastor Rick, you know, when I
Speaker 2: go and I see those kind of things, it just
Speaker 2: doesn't phaze me. It doesn't bother me. I can listen
Speaker 2: to it. It just doesn't bother me, and it doesn't
Speaker 2: affect me. And I want to say, who are you kidding?
Speaker 3: Huh? Who in the world do you think you're kidding?
Speaker 3: You think you're kidding? God, It does affect you.
Speaker 2: Scientists have done study after study after study that says
Speaker 2: you never really forget any scene that you may not
Speaker 2: recall it consciously, but they can put a probe in
Speaker 2: your mind, and you know, stimulate certain parts of your
Speaker 2: brain and that idea will come right back up in
Speaker 2: living color.
Speaker 3: It's all stored there.
Speaker 2: And some of you have been storing garbage for years now.
Speaker 2: There's an old computer saying that says, garbage in, garbage out.
Speaker 2: Whatever you put in your mind is inevitably going to
Speaker 2: come out in your behavior and your beliefs. And what
Speaker 2: it does is it weakens you, and it weakens your values,
Speaker 2: and it lowers you because you've become accustomed to it
Speaker 2: so that it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Bother you anymore.
Speaker 2: And when things don't bother you anymore, that is a
Speaker 2: warning light that you've already passed a threshold.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 2: One of the ways Satan tries to get sin and
Speaker 2: deviant behavior acceptable is the starting point is it gets
Speaker 2: you to laugh at it. It gets you to laugh
Speaker 2: at ah, look at Oh, that's funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 2: And once you've laughed, your barriers have lowered. That's why always,
Speaker 2: any deviant behavior always starts on a situation comedy on
Speaker 2: television before it moves to a drama. Always, every time,
Speaker 2: study the last forty years of television. Because if Satan
Speaker 2: can get you laughing at something that is wrong, that
Speaker 2: is sinful, You've already lost a battle.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 2: Sin is not funny, folks, It's not funny at all.
Speaker 2: It put Jesus on the cross, that's how funny it was.
Speaker 2: And it is absolute abhorrent to the nature of God.
Speaker 2: And when I sit and I allow things in my mind,
Speaker 2: God says you're being irresponsible, and you.
Speaker 3: Got to check it out.
Speaker 2: Some hey said, well, I just try to be open minded.
Speaker 2: Will some of your open minds need to be closed
Speaker 2: for repairs. Okay, you need to do a little spring cleaning.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Some of you say, you know what, Rick, I never
Speaker 2: have any desire to read the Bible. You know why
Speaker 2: you don't hunger for it because you filled your mind
Speaker 2: with trash. There are three things. You can fill your
Speaker 2: mind with the truth, which always builds you up. You
Speaker 2: can fill your mind with poison, and you know what
Speaker 2: that does you pornography and other stuff like that. Or
Speaker 2: you can fill your mind with what I call stuffing.
Speaker 2: Stuffing is stuff that's neither good nor bad. It's just stuff.
Speaker 2: It's trivia. But you know what, if you eat a
Speaker 2: whole meal of stuffing, when the steak or the desert
Speaker 2: comes on. You don't want any of it because you're
Speaker 2: not hungry for it. The Bible says the wise man
Speaker 2: is hungry for truth, while the fool feeds on trash.
Speaker 2: Your character comes from what you think about, So rate
Speaker 2: yourself on this one plus or minus. Have I been
Speaker 2: pretty vigilant and I say, there's just certain things I
Speaker 2: won't watch. I'll turn the channel, I won't listen to it.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to listen to this or that or
Speaker 2: whatever or does Is your mind just an open freeway
Speaker 2: that anybody who wants to drop garbage in it can
Speaker 2: And you'll say, well, it doesn't affect me, or you're
Speaker 2: kidding yourself and you're being irresponsible. Give yourself a negative.
Speaker 2: That's one you need to work on. Number four a
Speaker 2: fourth theory of responsibility. I can be responsible in life
Speaker 2: by admitting my mistakes. By admitting my mistakes. Proverbs twenty
Speaker 2: eight thirteen says a man who refuses to admit his
Speaker 2: mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and
Speaker 2: forsakes them, he gets another chance. God gives you another chance.
Speaker 2: He always gives you more chances if you just confess
Speaker 2: and forsake. The Bible says in the Book of Hoseiah.
Speaker 2: Don't point your finger at somebody else and try to
Speaker 2: pass the blame. So I said earlier. Typically we try
Speaker 2: to accuse and excuse. Whenever we blow it, we say,
Speaker 2: it's not my fault, it's all your fault. I'm a
Speaker 2: victim of circumstances, and.
Speaker 3: On and on and on. Now the fact is, folks,
Speaker 3: look up here.
Speaker 2: I'm doing this message for me because there are many
Speaker 2: areas of my life that I am irresponsible in, and
Speaker 2: there are many areas of your life that you were
Speaker 2: irresponsible in. There's a verse in the Bible that says,
Speaker 2: there has never been a person who lived on this
Speaker 2: earth who always did what was good and never did
Speaker 2: what was wrong. We've all blown it. We've all been irresponsible.
Speaker 2: The Bible calls it sin. God doesn't want you going
Speaker 2: around with a heavy guilt trip about all the irresponsibility
Speaker 2: in your life, but he wants you to go around
Speaker 2: with a sense of promise and hope that He will
Speaker 2: help you overcome it.
Speaker 3: He can even listen.
Speaker 2: He can even bring good out of the stupid decisions
Speaker 2: that you've made in your life, if you will give
Speaker 2: them to him. It's one of the great truths of
Speaker 2: God's word, and Tracy is a great example of it.
Speaker 2: I want you to hear her story today. Would you
Speaker 2: give her a warm welcome.
Speaker 5: My name is Tracy, and I'd like to share how
Speaker 5: God has forgiven me and healed me from the painful
Speaker 5: hearts that came from living irresponsibly for many years. And
Speaker 5: I'd like to tell you how God has brought good
Speaker 5: out of the bad in my life since I committed
Speaker 5: it all to him. I was born when my parents
Speaker 5: were in their forties, and by the time I was
Speaker 5: four and a half, my dad died of a heart attack,
Speaker 5: leaving behind my mom, two brothers, sister, and myself. Soon
Speaker 5: a new dad came into my life. He was nice
Speaker 5: and funny, and I liked him right away. Unfortunately, he
Speaker 5: was also an alcoholic. Years to follow were a roller
Speaker 5: coaster of highs and lows. By the time my teen
Speaker 5: years hit, I was very bitter, confused, and resentful. Instead
Speaker 5: of taking responsibility for myself, I blamed my parents for
Speaker 5: my unhappiness and God for letting it happen. Turning my
Speaker 5: back on family and God, I searched for love, affection,
Speaker 5: and an end to my inner pain. I turned to
Speaker 5: a destructive and irresponsible path of drugs and alcohol. When
Speaker 5: I couldn't get the pain to go away, I'd settle
Speaker 5: for numbness. My search for love took me from one
Speaker 5: bad relationship to another, never finding what I looked for,
Speaker 5: and destroying myself along the way. I left home at
Speaker 5: sixteen and moved in with my sister. She had traveled
Speaker 5: a similar path. She understood my pain, but, like me,
Speaker 5: hadn't found the answer. Then I met a man I
Speaker 5: thought put an end to my search. Once again, I
Speaker 5: made someone else responsible for my happiness.
Speaker 4: I was afraid to be alone, and he played on that.
Speaker 5: By the time we'd been together two years, I was
Speaker 5: anorexic and suicidal.
Speaker 4: One night we fought and I snapped.
Speaker 5: I found myself scared, hopeless, and alone, with the bottle of.
Speaker 4: Migraine pills in my hand.
Speaker 5: I awoke to having my stomach pumped. My roommate had
Speaker 5: found me in time. It was only a week later
Speaker 5: that I discovered I was pregnant. For the first time,
Speaker 5: I had to think of someone else besides myself. I
Speaker 5: had to be responsible for my actions. I was frightened
Speaker 5: and alone, and in my desperation I turned to God
Speaker 5: for help.
Speaker 4: The Lord I had tried so hard.
Speaker 5: To alienate had been waiting patiently for me to return
Speaker 5: to him, and God was faithful as I faced the
Speaker 5: months ahead. He led me back to my family and
Speaker 5: stood by me, holding me up when my boyfriend announced,
Speaker 5: it's mere.
Speaker 4: The baby, and I chose the baby.
Speaker 5: The Lord was there when a frightened teenager gave birth.
Speaker 5: I would like to say I learned my lesson and
Speaker 5: was never irresponsible again, but I'm hard headed and it
Speaker 5: hadn't quite sunk in.
Speaker 4: Oh. I tried.
Speaker 5: I went back to church and I read the Bible,
Speaker 5: but it was a shallow effort.
Speaker 4: I didn't mature in my faith.
Speaker 5: Even more, I still carry guilt and shame from my
Speaker 5: failures within me. I hadn't accepted God's complete forgiveness. It's funny,
Speaker 5: but the guilt and shame that comes from not living
Speaker 5: responsibly can actually cause you to continue living in the
Speaker 5: same way. With my deep need to feel accepted, I
Speaker 5: went from one bad relationship to another for almost two
Speaker 5: more years. Then, in one moment, my entire life was
Speaker 5: ripped apart at the seams. I was raped, not by
Speaker 5: a stranger, but by someone I trusted. What's worse, he
Speaker 5: first tore my toddler from my arms and threw him
Speaker 5: in his crib. He then raped and beat me in
Speaker 5: full view of my frightened, screaming child. I was so
Speaker 5: full of hurt, anger and shame and guilt that I
Speaker 5: couldn't even pray for help. Truth was, I was afraid
Speaker 5: to pray. I felt I was being punished for my life.
Speaker 5: I carried the secret of this event inside me for
Speaker 5: many years. I took my son and I moved.
Speaker 4: I enrolled in a.
Speaker 5: University and got a job. But I soon found that
Speaker 5: I was going from daycare to nightcare.
Speaker 4: I wasn't my son was.
Speaker 5: I missed him, and I was burnt out, so I
Speaker 5: quit school. A few months later, I lost my job,
Speaker 5: the bills were passed due, and I was all out
Speaker 5: of money.
Speaker 4: I picked up food.
Speaker 5: From an emergency shelter and returned home to find the
Speaker 5: guest shut off, dead, winter and snowing. I held my
Speaker 5: little son and I cried. My parents offered to take
Speaker 5: us in, so I swallowed what was left to my
Speaker 5: pride and did it. Then I made another irresponsible decision.
Speaker 5: I jumped into a marriage without considering who I was marrying.
Speaker 5: I so badly wanted to have a family for my
Speaker 5: son that I married a man who was an alcoholic
Speaker 5: and a drug abuser. I didn't love him. I just
Speaker 5: wanted to create a little postcard family I'd always dreamed of.
Speaker 4: Big mistake. This guy quit his job.
Speaker 5: Two months before the wedding and since then only worked
Speaker 5: to supply his habit. I entered counseling with my pastor,
Speaker 5: and all attempts to include my husband failed to make
Speaker 5: things worse. I became pregnant and I discovered he'd begun
Speaker 5: selling drugs as an easier way to supply his habit.
Speaker 5: I tried everything to know avail. Then the final straw came.
Speaker 5: He picked my son up from daycare early and took
Speaker 5: him with him, selling drugs. He said for company.
Speaker 4: I left that night.
Speaker 5: In order to shorten my story, let me just say
Speaker 5: that through God's tender love, care and forgiveness, the Lord
Speaker 5: began to heal the hurts of my life, many of
Speaker 5: them self inflicted. About eight years ago, God brought Tim
Speaker 5: into my life.
Speaker 4: Who truly loved me.
Speaker 5: Because I didn't trust anyone anymore, I wouldn't go out
Speaker 5: with him, so he called me despite many discouragements every
Speaker 5: evening at six point thirty so I could know him better.
Speaker 4: Still, it took me six weeks to even agree to
Speaker 4: see him.
Speaker 5: Today, we are happily married with five kids. Then a
Speaker 5: friend suggested that we visit Saddleback Church to hear the music,
Speaker 5: knowing that was Tim's soft spot. It took only one
Speaker 5: visit and we were hooked. Tim pulled his trumpet out
Speaker 5: of storage and now place with the orchestra. It was here,
Speaker 5: through Pastor Wick's words and Rick Mutchaw's example of Christian
Speaker 5: love that Tim's heart was open to christ I'm so
Speaker 5: grateful to have a husband who reads his Bible and
Speaker 5: is growing spiritually. One Sunday, Pastor Rick was teaching on
Speaker 5: how God wants us to use our experiences to help others.
Speaker 5: Of course, with my background, I immediately thought of pregnant teens.
Speaker 5: I wanted to bring good out of all of that pain.
Speaker 5: I inquired about a group and found they needed a leader.
Speaker 5: I've been helping them ever since, and these young women
Speaker 5: mean the world to me. I've taken class one on one, two,
Speaker 5: one three oh one, and lay pastor training. I'm so
Speaker 5: thankful to God for my church family here at Saddleback.
Speaker 5: Here I found healing, understanding, and a way to bring
Speaker 5: good from the pains of my past. One of my
Speaker 5: favorite Bible verses is Second Corinthians one, verses three and four.
Speaker 5: Praise be to God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 5: the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
Speaker 5: who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we
Speaker 5: can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
Speaker 5: ourselves have received from God. If you feel that God
Speaker 5: doesn't love you, or won't forgive you, or can't use
Speaker 5: you because you made too many irresponsible decisions in your past,
Speaker 5: you're wrong. Jesus Christ can bring good out of the
Speaker 5: worst situation, even those we caused ourselves, if we just
Speaker 5: give him all the pieces and trust him.
Speaker 4: With our lives. Take that first step. Today, He's reaching
Speaker 4: out to you in love. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Tracy said something really profound. I hope you didn't miss this.
Speaker 2: She said, sometimes we feel so guilty and ashamed of
Speaker 2: stupid decisions we've made, irresponsible actions that we've taken that
Speaker 2: that guilt and that shame actually perpetuates the problem, and
Speaker 2: we keep doing what's causing the problem. It goes like this,
Speaker 2: I blew it, so I'm bad. Since I'm bad, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna blow again. And it becomes this cycle that you
Speaker 2: can't seem to get out of. The guilt and the
Speaker 2: shame actually keeps you locked in a lifestyle of irresponsibility,
Speaker 2: and you make one dumb decision after another.
Speaker 3: Now what you.
Speaker 2: Need is a power beyond yourself. What you need is
Speaker 2: a savior who can forgive your sins, clear your conscience,
Speaker 2: and give you the power to break out of that cycle.
Speaker 3: And here's the good news. It's the last verse on
Speaker 3: your outline.
Speaker 2: All of us have fallen short. That's a no brainer.
Speaker 2: I don't hold up to my own standards, much less
Speaker 2: God than neither do you. And yet God declares us
Speaker 2: not guilty if we trust in Jesus Christ, who freely
Speaker 2: takes away our sins.
Speaker 1: Such a great message by Rick today and every day.
Speaker 1: I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.
Speaker 1: And now here's Rick with an important message.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, thanks so much for listening today. You know,
Speaker 2: my hope is that God uses this broadcast to help
Speaker 2: deepen your relationship with Jesus. Now, these daily hope messages
Speaker 2: are distributed on radio stations and digital platforms all across
Speaker 2: the globe, and listeners are writing and letting us know
Speaker 2: that their lives are being changed. They're telling us that
Speaker 2: they're walking with Jesus and that guilt and fear has
Speaker 2: been chased from their lives by God's love. You know,
Speaker 2: relationships are being restored, and marriages are being healed, and
Speaker 2: many people are saying that they've found their life purpose.
Speaker 2: I want to say thank you to you, because we're
Speaker 2: only able to carry the hope of Jesus to these
Speaker 2: people all around the world because of gifts from generous
Speaker 2: listeners like you. I just wanted to say I am
Speaker 2: so grateful for your prayers and your financial support. Now,
Speaker 2: I understand in times like these many of you are
Speaker 2: unable to give financial support.
Speaker 3: Hear it from me.
Speaker 2: That's okay, because I never want anybody to give unless
Speaker 2: God leads them to give. That's between you and God,
Speaker 2: not between you and me, but between you and God.
Speaker 2: And your prayers are a continual and incredible contribution to
Speaker 2: this Daily Hope ministry. Now, if you do want to
Speaker 2: give a financial gift, I've got some really great news
Speaker 2: to share with you. There's a generous friend of Daily
Speaker 2: Hope Broadcast who is offering to match the amount of
Speaker 2: your gift. In other words, if you give twenty dollars,
Speaker 2: then that person is combined it with a grant to
Speaker 2: make your gift forty dollars. Now, if you've never given
Speaker 2: a gift to Daily Hope, I want you to pray
Speaker 2: about partnering with us so that together we can continue
Speaker 2: to share the hope of Jesus throughout the whole world.
Speaker 2: I love you so much.
Speaker 1: You know, when you give a gift to Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: you're really sharing the hope of Jesus with people all
Speaker 1: over the globe. And right now your gift is going
Speaker 1: to be doubled by the fifty thousand dollars matching grand
Speaker 1: That's right. Double. Just go to Pastorick dot com or
Speaker 1: text the word hope to seven oh three to oh nine. Again,
Speaker 1: please go to Pastorick dot com or just text the
Speaker 1: word hope to seven oh three to oh nine. Be
Speaker 1: sure to join us next time as we look into
Speaker 1: God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored
Speaker 1: by Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support