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. Up next,
Speaker 1: part two of a message called Relaxing in God's.
Speaker 2: Goodness Ecclesiastes, chapter four. And remember Solomon was the wisest
Speaker 2: man who ever lived, and he says this, here's another
Speaker 2: thing I've seen on earth that makes no sense. Some
Speaker 2: people don't have any kids, or family or even friends.
Speaker 2: In other words, no relationships. Yet they work obsessively, never
Speaker 2: taking a break. There's no end to their toil, and
Speaker 2: they're never content with what they've done or earned. They ask,
Speaker 2: and then he asked them very important questions that if
Speaker 2: you're in this category you probably.
Speaker 3: Not ask them yourself.
Speaker 2: They never asked, why am I always working to do more?
Speaker 2: Why am I always doing that? Why am I always
Speaker 2: working to do more? And why don't I let myself
Speaker 2: enjoy life? And here's a big one.
Speaker 3: Who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 2: Who will get what I leave behind. I don't have
Speaker 2: any relationships, So what's this big career that I'm working
Speaker 2: for in a massive accomplishments and achievements and a pile
Speaker 2: of money. Who cares? Who's going to get what I
Speaker 2: leave behind? What a senseless and miserable way to live.
Speaker 2: He says, You're better off having someone to enjoy and
Speaker 2: share the rewards of your work. When I value achievement
Speaker 2: more than relationships. God did not put you on earth
Speaker 2: to mark things off your to do list. He put
Speaker 2: you here to learn how to love. He says it
Speaker 2: over and over in scripture, to learn to love God
Speaker 2: with all your heart and soul and mind and strength,
Speaker 2: and to learn to love your neighbors yourself. Tom preached
Speaker 2: a classic sermon on this three weeks ago that that's
Speaker 2: what matters, not how many accomplishments I have in life,
Speaker 2: not how many achievements I check off in life, not
Speaker 2: how many goals I reach in life. When you get
Speaker 2: to heaven, God isn't going to say, tell me your
Speaker 2: goals and did you reach them. He's just not going
Speaker 2: to say that. When you get to heaven, God's going
Speaker 2: to say, tell me about your relationships. Did you get
Speaker 2: to know me? Did you get to know my son
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ? Did you love God with all your heart
Speaker 2: and soul on my strink? And how about other people?
Speaker 2: How did you score on relationships with other people? Because
Speaker 2: you had home runs all day and strike out in
Speaker 2: relationships and God saying ah wrong answer, Sorry, you missed it.
Speaker 2: I did not put you on earth simply to accomplish goals,
Speaker 2: to make a lot of money, to do really cool things.
Speaker 2: I put you on earth first of all to learn
Speaker 2: to love. And you can't learn to love if you
Speaker 2: don't have any deep relationships. Wow, this is why we
Speaker 2: don't relax. Misplaced identity. I base my worth on my work,
Speaker 2: so I pour all my energy into that, or materialism.
Speaker 2: I always want more, so I got to get more
Speaker 2: money to get more, or envy. I want to be
Speaker 2: like what other people are like, and so I'm following
Speaker 2: their ridiculous lifestyle too, and they're stressed out. Or I
Speaker 2: value achievement over relationships. He goes, why am I doing this?
Speaker 2: They never ask why I A'm I always working to
Speaker 2: do more? Why don't I let myself enjoy life? And
Speaker 2: who cares?
Speaker 3: Who's going to get what's left behind? Anyway?
Speaker 2: There's a fifth reason that people don't relax, and it's insecurity.
Speaker 2: It's insecurity insecurities when I'm afraid I won't have enough.
Speaker 2: I was once sitting at a dinner table with some
Speaker 2: people who were fabulously wealthy in the multi million dollar category,
Speaker 2: and I asked that person, so, how much more do
Speaker 2: you think you need to be secure? And the guy
Speaker 2: looked at me straight in the eyes and he said
Speaker 2: about twenty thirty million more. I'm going he has no
Speaker 2: idea that when he gets that, he's gonna say it's
Speaker 2: not enough, because it's never enough. You cannot have security
Speaker 2: if it can be taken from you, and you can
Speaker 2: have a lot, a lot of money, and it could
Speaker 2: be taken from you, but it's always more. And I'm insecure,
Speaker 2: and I'm afraid that I'm not gonna have enough. So
Speaker 2: I keep working, keep working, keep working, keep working. Here's
Speaker 2: what the Bible says, please you ask me six y seven.
Speaker 2: I love this in the message, we worked to feed
Speaker 2: our appetites, but meanwhile our souls go hungry.
Speaker 3: Bam, our souls go hungry.
Speaker 2: Does that sound familiar. I'm so afraid I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: have enough physically, materially that I'm giving up my spiritual
Speaker 2: depth in order to get it. We work to feed
Speaker 2: our appetites, but meanwhile our souls go hungry. Or how
Speaker 2: about this verse p One twenty seven, Verse two, God
Speaker 2: says this living Bible, it is senseless, senseless for you
Speaker 2: to work so hard from early morning until late at night,
Speaker 2: fearing and worrying. There's the reason insecurity, fearing and worrying
Speaker 2: that you won't have enough for God. Let's read this
Speaker 2: aloud together, for God wants his loved ones to get
Speaker 2: their proper rest. So go home right now and take
Speaker 2: a nap. All right, that's probably some of all you need.
Speaker 2: As we looked at the causes of our difficulties. So
Speaker 2: how do you do this? How do I learn to relax?
Speaker 2: How do I live a more sane life, a more
Speaker 2: balanced life, a less stressed and more blessed life instead
Speaker 2: of living a restless life. How in the world do
Speaker 2: I live a rest filled or RESTful life. Well, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna show you the antidotes to all five of these,
Speaker 2: because God in his word gives us the antidote to
Speaker 2: every one of these causes. So let's look at the solution.
Speaker 2: If you want to get off the rat race. If
Speaker 2: you want to relax in God's goodness, you want to
Speaker 2: have a more rest filled life, regardless of the way
Speaker 2: it's been in the past.
Speaker 3: What do you do well?
Speaker 2: You trust your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I
Speaker 2: will lack nothing, I have everything I need. He makes
Speaker 2: me lay down in green pastures and he will lead
Speaker 2: me beside still waters.
Speaker 3: If you're following God, if you're following.
Speaker 2: The good shepherd Christ, he's not going to lead you
Speaker 2: in the pathway of the rat race. He's going to
Speaker 2: lead you to lay down in green pastors and he's
Speaker 2: gonna lead you beside stillwaters signs of tranquility and peace.
Speaker 2: How does he do that? Here are the five antidotes.
Speaker 2: Number one, remember my value to God. That's the starting
Speaker 2: point for getting a more sane schedule. Remember my value
Speaker 2: and my worth to God. This is the exact opposite
Speaker 2: of basing your worth on your work. It's the opposite
Speaker 2: of basing your identity on your career. Now this is
Speaker 2: so counterculture because when you go to a meeting and
Speaker 2: somebody says who are you, one of the first things
Speaker 2: they ask is what do you do? As if what
Speaker 2: you do is your identity. And the first thing you
Speaker 2: tell him is your job. You don't tell him about
Speaker 2: who you are. You tell him about what you do.
Speaker 2: But he says, if you want to get off the
Speaker 2: rat race, remember my value to God.
Speaker 3: Okay, how valuable are you? Let's think about this.
Speaker 2: The Heavenly Father created you, which means God doesn't create
Speaker 2: anything without value. And God doesn't create anything without purpose.
Speaker 2: And God doesn't create anything without intention. The fact that
Speaker 2: you're alive means God loved you and wanted you alive.
Speaker 2: So the Heavenly Father created you. That's your value. You're priceless,
Speaker 2: You're a masterpiece.
Speaker 3: You're unique.
Speaker 2: Nobody's ever made like you. God didn't make any clones
Speaker 2: or copies, So the Heavenly Father created you. Jesus died
Speaker 2: for you. That shows your value. Jesus didn't die for junk.
Speaker 2: And the Holy Spirit lives in you. God puts his
Speaker 2: spirit inside you when you trust him. All three of
Speaker 2: those show incredible value, incredible worth. I want you to
Speaker 2: write this down in your outline. It's not what I
Speaker 2: do that gives me worth, but who I belong to.
Speaker 2: It's not what I do that gives me my worth,
Speaker 2: because what happens. If you're disabled, then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you have no value anymore. Now it's not what I
Speaker 2: do that gives me my worth, but who I belong
Speaker 2: to and I For some of you, this is going
Speaker 2: to be a major change in your thinking because you
Speaker 2: grew up feeling I'm a nobody. I'm not priceless, I'm
Speaker 2: not a masterpiece.
Speaker 3: I'm not unique. I'm not extremely valuable.
Speaker 2: Yes you are, but growing up, somebody told you, maybe
Speaker 2: a teacher, or maybe a peer, or maybe even a parent,
Speaker 2: said you're nothing. You're nobody, you're worthless, You're never going
Speaker 2: to mount to anything. And in the back of your
Speaker 2: mind you filed that tape, and ever since then you've
Speaker 2: been saying, I'll show them, I'll show my mom, I'll
Speaker 2: show my dad.
Speaker 3: And that is driving you to work, work, work, work, work,
Speaker 3: And that's the true of everybody.
Speaker 2: But for some of you, this is the motivation, that
Speaker 2: little voice that says, you've got to prove you matter.
Speaker 2: You got to prove you're not normal, you're not ordinary,
Speaker 2: you're not average, You're a superstar. Maybe you were even
Speaker 2: compared to a brother or sister. Are you compared to
Speaker 2: your parent or your dad or your mom, Why can't
Speaker 2: you be like And that has driven you and driven
Speaker 2: you to overwork, and years later you still hear that
Speaker 2: inner voice, And the truth is you can't afford to
Speaker 2: take time off because you've got to keep paddling. And
Speaker 2: you're paddling up a stream and the stream is come
Speaker 2: in the opposite direction. And you have to prove your worth.
Speaker 3: No, you don't. You don't.
Speaker 2: You don't have to prove your worth. You're already extremely value.
Speaker 2: God created you, Jesus died for you. The spirit lives
Speaker 2: in you. You're unique. You don't have to prove anything
Speaker 2: to anybody. You don't need their approval to be happy.
Speaker 2: You don't need their approval to be worthwhile. God says
Speaker 2: you're worthwhile, Jesus death says you're worthwhile. The spirit living
Speaker 2: in you says you're worthwhile. What in the world are
Speaker 2: you afraid of? The antidote to this building? My worth
Speaker 2: on my work is to remember my value to God.
Speaker 2: You'll never be any more valuable to God than you
Speaker 2: are right now. You'll never be any less valuable to
Speaker 2: him because.
Speaker 3: He made you. He's your father.
Speaker 2: My kids are valuable to me, not because of what
Speaker 2: they do because I created them with my wife and
Speaker 2: I love them. And it doesn't matter who they are,
Speaker 2: what they've done. It's they're my creations. You are God's creation. James,
Speaker 2: Chapter one, verse eighteen. This is what God says about you.
Speaker 2: God decided to give us life, that's a big deal,
Speaker 2: through the word of truth, the word is Christ, so
Speaker 2: that we might be circle this the most important of
Speaker 2: everything God has created. Do you realize you're more important
Speaker 2: than the moon? Do you realize you're more important in
Speaker 2: the milky way? Do you realize that in God's eyes
Speaker 2: you're more important than all of the extinct animals combined?
Speaker 2: Did you know that in God's book you're more important
Speaker 2: than all of the rare flowers and all of the
Speaker 2: trees and all the beauty of all the other creation.
Speaker 2: Look at that verse again. God decided to give us
Speaker 2: life through the Word of Truth, so that we might
Speaker 2: be the most important of everything God created. You matter
Speaker 2: more than the rest of creation. So what does it
Speaker 2: matter what somebody else says about you? If God likes you,
Speaker 2: they got a problem.
Speaker 3: So you can relax.
Speaker 2: And one of the reasons you don't have to work
Speaker 2: is you don't have to prove yourself. I'm a daughter
Speaker 2: of God. I'm a son of God. I'm a child
Speaker 2: of God. He made me, he made me, he wanted me,
Speaker 2: he loves me. He created me, and he made me
Speaker 2: just the way He made me to be. And I
Speaker 2: don't have to be somebody else. I remember my value
Speaker 2: to God Isaiah forty eight, Verse sixteen. God says, I
Speaker 2: have engraved you on the palms of my hands. And
Speaker 2: we've talked about this cherished verse many times. When Jesus
Speaker 2: Christ was nailed to the cross and those nails went
Speaker 2: through his hands, God permanently showed how much.
Speaker 3: You matter to him. When you get to heaven, the.
Speaker 2: Only person in heaven who's gonna have scars is Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: So for the rest of your life you will be
Speaker 2: able to see in eternity, you'll be able to see
Speaker 2: how much you matter God. I love you this much
Speaker 2: you mattered to me. I have engraved you on the
Speaker 2: palms of my hand. That's how valuable you are. God
Speaker 2: has a tattoo of you. When people fall in love,
Speaker 2: sometimes they'll get a tattoo of their lover their girlfriend,
Speaker 2: or their husband, their wife. God has a permanent tattoo
Speaker 2: of you. I have engraved you on the palms of
Speaker 2: my hands. Why in the world are you trying to
Speaker 2: prove your worth through your work? You're already infinitely valuable
Speaker 2: according to the Cross. And at the Cross he says,
Speaker 2: this is how much you matter. I want everybody right
Speaker 2: now to just close your eyes. Okay, just close your
Speaker 2: eyes for a minute and think inside yourself and take
Speaker 2: a deep breath, and just say, Father, help me to
Speaker 2: feel loved by you.
Speaker 4: Just say that, Father, help me to feel your love.
Speaker 4: And then say Jesus, help me to feel how valuable
Speaker 4: I am to you. And then say, Spirit of God,
Speaker 4: help me to feel how important I am to you.
Speaker 3: Amen? All right?
Speaker 2: So the anidote to looking for the work as you're
Speaker 2: worth is it just realize how worthwhile you are to God.
Speaker 3: Are you broken? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Are you a sinner?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So am I Are you perfect? Absolutely not? Are you
Speaker 2: deeply loved by God?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Are you flawed yes? But are you infinite value yes? Also,
Speaker 2: I've engraved you in the palms of my hand. Why
Speaker 2: are you trying to throw or feel your work a
Speaker 2: worth through your work? You don't need to Number two
Speaker 2: second step and this is the anidote to materialism, which
Speaker 2: is always wanting more and.
Speaker 3: More, And it says, enjoy what I already have.
Speaker 2: If you'll learn to enjoy what you've already got, then
Speaker 2: you can get off the rat race. Now this is
Speaker 2: called being content. Contentment does not come natural to human beings.
Speaker 2: You are not, by nature a contented person. By nature,
Speaker 2: we are discontented. By nature, we are not resting sheep.
Speaker 2: We are restless sheep. And by nature we are discontented.
Speaker 2: We always want more, we always want something different, And
Speaker 2: yet it can be learned. In Philippians four. Up Here
Speaker 2: on the screen verse twelve thirteen, Paul says, I've learned. Notice,
Speaker 2: contentment is something you learn.
Speaker 3: You can be educated in it.
Speaker 2: I've learned the secret of being content And every situation,
Speaker 2: whether I'm well fed or hungry, whether I'm living in
Speaker 2: plenty or in want, I can do everything through Him.
Speaker 3: That's Christ who gives me strength.
Speaker 2: So learning contentment means I don't have to have this
Speaker 2: incessant graph for more, grabbing for more, grabbing for more.
Speaker 2: Can we become so preoccupied in getting more we don't
Speaker 2: enjoy what we have? Yeah, yes, of course, you know.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. In southern California. You go down to the
Speaker 2: beach or just any place, and you find these amazing homes,
Speaker 2: over the top, beautiful homes everywhere, but the people are
Speaker 2: never around to enjoy them, because there are always a
Speaker 2: work because somebody's got to make the payments on those
Speaker 2: massive house mortgages. That's what I call the saddleback syndrome,
Speaker 2: and I've watched it for over thirty years, and what
Speaker 2: it is is we get extended with the desire to acquire.
Speaker 2: I gotta have that, I gotta have that, I gotta
Speaker 2: and the desire to acquire pushes you to buy something
Speaker 2: you really can't afford, particularly a mortgage that's over your head.
Speaker 2: And then you get over extended financially, and then you
Speaker 2: have to constantly hust to make ends meet because you're
Speaker 2: overextended financially, and soon, because you're over extended financially, your
Speaker 2: relationships start to deteriorate, and then you don't really even
Speaker 2: have a reason for that fancy home. The Bible says
Speaker 2: this Ecclesiastes for six up here on the screen, a
Speaker 2: little food eaten in peace. It's far better than happened.
Speaker 2: Twice as much earned from over work and chasing the wind.
Speaker 2: You know, it's better to have a little in peace.
Speaker 2: The greatest things in life aren't things. I couldn't count
Speaker 2: the number of deathbeds that I've stood by where people
Speaker 2: took their last breath. And in all the years that
Speaker 2: I've been a pastor, I've never had anybody say in
Speaker 2: their dying breath, man, I wish I'd spent more time
Speaker 2: at the office. I've never heard that one man, I
Speaker 2: wish I'd spent more time work. And I've never ever
Speaker 2: actually had anybody ask for a particular object or thing
Speaker 2: that they loved, value to worship. Please bring me my
Speaker 2: bowling trophy. I want to see it one more time.
Speaker 2: Please bring me my degree from community college. Please bring
Speaker 2: me I want to see my coin collection. Nobody's ever
Speaker 2: said that in their dying moments, nobody ever asks for
Speaker 2: things in the final moments of their life. They always
Speaker 2: ask for people, because eventually everybody learns that it's all
Speaker 2: about relationships. I just hope we learn it before the deathbed.
Speaker 2: You're gonna learn this one day when you're dying. You're
Speaker 2: not gonna ask for any Show me my car one
Speaker 2: more time, show me my fancy television screen, are my house. No,
Speaker 2: you're not going to ask for it. At the very
Speaker 2: last moment of your life, you're going to realize it's
Speaker 2: all about people you love, loving God, and loving your neighbors, yourself.
Speaker 2: Can we not learn that sooner? It's you're relieve an
Speaker 2: awful lot of stress. It would sure make life more fulfilling.
Speaker 2: It's not about achievements. It's not about accomplishments. It's about relationships.
Speaker 2: You know, I've said this many times. You're not gonna
Speaker 2: take anything with you. You never see a hearse pulling
Speaker 2: a U haul. If you laughed at that, kay, they
Speaker 2: laughed it. How many times have you heard me say that? Thousands,
Speaker 2: thousands of times?
Speaker 3: That's what I thought.
Speaker 2: You're never going to see a hearse pulling a U haul.
Speaker 3: You're not taking it with you. You know, it's so funny.
Speaker 2: In America, it's considered a track entity to quote die penniless.
Speaker 3: You know, Oh she died penniless.
Speaker 2: What a better time to go? I mean, really, the
Speaker 2: moment you've been your last set boom, I'm out of here.
Speaker 2: I call that wise, not stupid. I'm out of money.
Speaker 2: Let's go. That's just brilliant living. If you ask me,
Speaker 2: and then it still irks me. You can still see
Speaker 2: those bumper stickers around everyone. He who dies with the
Speaker 2: most toys wins? Are you kidding me? We need the
Speaker 2: bumper sticker. He who dies or the most toys still dies,
Speaker 2: and he didn't win anything all likely he probably lost
Speaker 2: a lot of relationships building up those toys. Ecclease ask
Speaker 2: these three thirteen says this, all of us should enjoy
Speaker 2: what we have worked for.
Speaker 3: It is God's gift.
Speaker 2: God says, enjoy what you've got while you got it.
Speaker 2: Enjoy what you have while you've got it. Well, look
Speaker 2: at this verse up here on the screen, Matthew six
Speaker 2: thirty one.
Speaker 3: I love this.
Speaker 2: In the message PayPhrase, Jesus says, you know what I'm
Speaker 2: trying to do here is get you to relax, to
Speaker 2: not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond
Speaker 2: to God's giving. Did you realize that relaxation is a
Speaker 2: spiritual issue, That resting is a part of trusting. Resting
Speaker 2: is a part of trusting. Resting is the way to
Speaker 2: bless him.
Speaker 1: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 1: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: already to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 2: Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great
Speaker 2: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
Speaker 2: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 2: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 2: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 2: and truth, and the power that we need to follow
Speaker 2: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 2: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 2: God changes lives. It's a lie if it's active, and
Speaker 2: it breathes new life and new love. Into all of
Speaker 2: our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you
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Speaker 2: or whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part
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Speaker 2: We could not do this without your support. We're one
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Speaker 2: let it write to me, let me hear from you.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
Speaker 2: So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry,
Speaker 2: and God will bless it, and God will bless you,
Speaker 2: and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for
Speaker 2: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
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