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. Can't
Speaker 1: wait to get started today. Here's the final part of
Speaker 1: a message called relaxing in God's Goodness.
Speaker 2: Remember my value to God. And then number two, enjoy
Speaker 2: what I already have. Stop trying to get something else,
Speaker 2: Just enjoy what you got. Number three, this is an
Speaker 2: important one. Limit my work to six days a week.
Speaker 2: You see, you're kidding me. I'm saying. If you're not
Speaker 2: doing that, you're breaking one of God's Big Ten, the
Speaker 2: Ten Commandments. Rest and recreation are so important to life.
Speaker 2: God put it in the Big Ten, a ten command
Speaker 2: right up there with don't commit adultery, don't murder, and
Speaker 2: don't steal. He says, every six days you take a
Speaker 2: day off. If you're not taking a day off every week,
Speaker 2: you are breaking the ten commandments.
Speaker 3: He said, Well, I'd never murder anybody.
Speaker 2: I'd never commit adultery, But are you taking a day
Speaker 2: off every week?
Speaker 3: It's right up there in the big ten.
Speaker 2: That's how important God considers rest and recreation and relaxation.
Speaker 2: If the bow, you know, like a bow and arrow,
Speaker 2: If the bow is never unstrung, you never unstring it.
Speaker 2: It loses its power, it loses the tension in the bow.
Speaker 3: Our best requires rest.
Speaker 2: Now, this is the fourth commandment, and when God gives
Speaker 2: a commandment, he's serious about it. This is not like
Speaker 2: an option like, well, if you feel like it, take
Speaker 2: a day off. No, it's called the sabbath. Let me
Speaker 2: show you some verses Exodus twenty three to twelve. Here
Speaker 2: on the screen. Work the first six days of the week,
Speaker 2: but rest and relax on the seventh.
Speaker 3: This is the law, he says.
Speaker 2: This law is not only for you, but also for
Speaker 2: your animals.
Speaker 3: So your pet needs to have a sabbath.
Speaker 2: As well as everyone else, including foreigners among you.
Speaker 3: God says, I don't.
Speaker 2: Want anybody unprotected from this law. He said, this law
Speaker 2: of rest and recreation and having the sabbath, having a
Speaker 2: day off every week, said everybody should be protected from overwork,
Speaker 2: including immigrants and foreigners who have come in.
Speaker 3: They shouldn't be overworking either.
Speaker 2: Now here's the fourth Commandment, Exodus twenty verse nine to ten.
Speaker 2: This is one of the tenth amendments. Fourth commandment. You
Speaker 2: have six days in which to do your work, but
Speaker 2: the seventh day is to be a day of complete rest.
Speaker 2: Circle that complete rest. Dedicate it to me. You know
Speaker 2: this is called the sabbath. Every seventh day you take
Speaker 2: a day off and a sabbath. You might write this down.
Speaker 2: Sabbath means a day of rest. That's what it means.
Speaker 2: And you know, did you know that your heart actually
Speaker 2: beats different every seven days. We're biologically wired for a
Speaker 2: day of rest. Now, this whole idea of where God
Speaker 2: says I want you have a day of rest and worship,
Speaker 2: it's not for God's benefit. It's not just some arbitrary law.
Speaker 2: God did it so you won't burn out. And the
Speaker 2: reason people are so stressed out today is they've forgotten this.
Speaker 2: And culture after culture after culture after culture, it's for
Speaker 2: your benefit. Look at this mark two, verse twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Jesus said the Sabbath was made to benefit man. In
Speaker 2: other words, God did make the Sabbath for his benefit.
Speaker 2: He made it for ours. When I ignore God's laws
Speaker 2: who gets hurt, not God. I get hurt when I
Speaker 2: don't follow out the owner's venue. Now, when is your Sabbath?
Speaker 2: I'm telling you it doesn't matter what day of the
Speaker 2: week you take your Sabbath. The Bible says this many
Speaker 2: times in the New Testament. What day you worship on,
Speaker 2: what day you take is your day off? Is your
Speaker 2: day of rest, your day of recreation? It doesn't matter
Speaker 2: the day. You just need to do it every week. Okay,
Speaker 2: my Sabbath is not Saturday. My Sabbath is not Sunday.
Speaker 2: I'm working on those days. My sabbath is every Monday.
Speaker 2: It's Monday. And by the way, I would encourage you
Speaker 2: to not call it your day off, because if you
Speaker 2: call it your day off, you'll cheat on it. You
Speaker 2: need to start calling your day off your sabbath. Now
Speaker 2: you say, well, what am I supposed to do on
Speaker 2: my Sabbath? I'm glad you asked write these down? Three things.
Speaker 2: Just find someplace in your outline. Doesn't give you a
Speaker 2: lot of space for it. You do three things on
Speaker 2: the sabbath. I'm going to summarize about ten hours worth
Speaker 2: of material. You rest your body, recharge your emotions, and
Speaker 2: refocus your spirit.
Speaker 3: Let me give it to you again. Number one.
Speaker 2: The first thing I do on the Sabbath I rest
Speaker 2: my body. Now you know the fact that if you
Speaker 2: don't take time off, your body will make time off.
Speaker 3: You can't just.
Speaker 2: Keep pushing it and pushing it. Do you know that
Speaker 2: during the little history note here, during the French Revolution,
Speaker 2: they abolish Sunday as a day of rest. In the
Speaker 2: French Revolution, they just abolished Sunday is the day of rest.
Speaker 2: They later restored it because the health of the nation
Speaker 2: had collapsed.
Speaker 3: They just completely collapsed. They were all burnt out.
Speaker 2: But I feel guilty when I relaxed. Well, Jesus didn't.
Speaker 2: He followed the sabbath. So you rest your body. The
Speaker 2: second thing you do on the sabbath is you recharge
Speaker 2: your emotions. I recharge my emotions. Now, what recharges you
Speaker 2: is going to be different things. You can recharge your
Speaker 2: emotion through quietness, solitude, that's a good thing. Just be quiet,
Speaker 2: turn off all the noise. You can recharge your emotions
Speaker 2: through recreation. I'm talking about recreation that rejuvenates you. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you get involved. I'm talking about non competitive stuff,
Speaker 2: because some of you you get in a competitive sport,
Speaker 2: you'll beat your brains out to win then, and that's
Speaker 2: not resting at all. The competitive spirit you had all
Speaker 2: week is now just being transferred to the tennis court
Speaker 2: or the golf course or wherever you need to do
Speaker 2: something that is non competitive that rejuvenates you so you're
Speaker 2: not stressed out when quote you lose. You recharge your
Speaker 2: emotions through quietness, through recreation. You recharge your emotions through relationships.
Speaker 2: Spend some time with people on your sabbath. I rest
Speaker 2: my body, I recharge my emotions. Number Three, I refocus
Speaker 2: my spirit. And that's what we do at worship. That's
Speaker 2: what we're doing right now. We're refocusing your spirit. Worship
Speaker 2: puts life into perspective. Now you need not only time
Speaker 2: in group worship, but you need time alone with God worship.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you that you have to make a conscious
Speaker 2: decision to make time over the other things besides work.
Speaker 2: And I would encourage you to think through how many
Speaker 2: hours a week do I want to work? And then
Speaker 2: stick with it and you schedule everything else? Why don't
Speaker 2: you you schedule doctor's appointment? Where are you scheduling recreation?
Speaker 2: Are you scheduling your Sabbath. I would encourage you to
Speaker 2: make it the same day every week and schedule your
Speaker 2: time with family into your life and relationships. Now, let
Speaker 2: me tell you who this is especially important for those
Speaker 2: of you who are self employed. Those are your entrepreneurs
Speaker 2: and you're self employed. If you don't schedule it, you're
Speaker 2: never going to take a break, and you're gonna bring
Speaker 2: home work with you, and you bring it home in
Speaker 2: your briefcase. I heard about a little girl sitting at
Speaker 2: a dinner table and every day her daddy came home
Speaker 2: with a briefcase and she said, what is that day?
Speaker 3: He said, well, it's work. I didn't get finished at
Speaker 3: the office.
Speaker 2: He said, well, why don't they put you in a
Speaker 2: slower group.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, okay, maybe that's what we need. Now. I
Speaker 3: want to tell you something.
Speaker 2: If you'll start obeying the sabbath, taking a day off,
Speaker 2: and you'll relax as God tells you to, and you
Speaker 2: know what this concert battle it's on and off with me,
Speaker 2: it's on and off with you. You know what will happen.
Speaker 2: You will actually end up with more time. God promises
Speaker 2: that the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything.
Speaker 2: He says, If you'll do it my way if you'll
Speaker 2: take one day off a week, and it's to rest
Speaker 2: my body and recharge my emotions and refocus my in worship.
Speaker 3: God says, you know what.
Speaker 2: I will give you more time Proverbs fourteen thirty. A
Speaker 2: relaxed attitude lengthens your life. Envy rots it away. And
Speaker 2: what did I say? Envy is one of the reasons
Speaker 2: we overwork. I want what they've got, he says, Instead
Speaker 2: of being envious, why don't you just get this relaxed attitude.
Speaker 2: It will lengthen your life. It will add hours to
Speaker 2: your day. Remember my value to God. Enjoy what I
Speaker 2: already have. Limit my work to six days a week.
Speaker 2: Fourth thing God says to do this is your good
Speaker 2: shepherd giving you advice from his word. I must adjust
Speaker 2: my values.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Why do I say this, Because to reduce the busyness
Speaker 2: in your life, you're going to have to change the
Speaker 2: way you think about what's important, and you need to
Speaker 2: ask the question. You might just write this question, now,
Speaker 2: what is really important? What is really important? You've heard
Speaker 2: me say, Man, many times we buy things we don't
Speaker 2: need with money. We don't have to impress people we
Speaker 2: don't even like You can't worry about keeping up with
Speaker 2: the Joneses or anybody else and live a life that's
Speaker 2: rest filled, RESTful life. Can't worry about them and reduce
Speaker 2: your stress. Jesus gets right to the heart of this
Speaker 2: adjusting your values. Look at this verse on the screen
Speaker 2: mark eight thirty six. What good is it? What good
Speaker 2: is it for a man to gain the whole world
Speaker 2: and yet forfeit his soul?
Speaker 3: But look at all the stuff I accomplished with my work.
Speaker 2: How's your soul? Did you forfeit your soul? Did you
Speaker 2: forfeit your relationships? Did you forfeit loving God? Did you
Speaker 2: forfeit loving your neighbors? Yourself? What is a profit of
Speaker 2: man if you're on the cover of Time magazine and
Speaker 2: you lose your soul? I love getting letters from you,
Speaker 2: emails from you, and you know I talked about stress
Speaker 2: and worry.
Speaker 3: Last week.
Speaker 2: Here's a note I got Pastorick as I listened last week,
Speaker 2: and it was like holding up a mirror to my face.
Speaker 2: I'd been filling my life with activities and even ministries
Speaker 2: to keep myself so busy that it wouldn't have time
Speaker 2: to think about or face some issues that I really
Speaker 2: need to deal with. I know I'm not alone in
Speaker 2: realizing this, and I think you hit the nail on
Speaker 2: the head when you spoke about worry and stress and hurry.
Speaker 2: I think this series is going to be life changing
Speaker 2: and life saving for many, many people. I think it's
Speaker 2: going to save some relationships, some marriages, some friendships, some families,
Speaker 2: some lives. Thanks to this last Weekend's message, I rested
Speaker 2: yesterday and the world did not come to an end.
Speaker 2: I read the entire Sunday paper for the first time
Speaker 2: in ages. I talked to friends without having to rush
Speaker 2: off some to do an errand I enjoyed watching my
Speaker 2: kids play with their friends. I sat in a room
Speaker 2: I just redecorated so I could relax in it. But
Speaker 2: I had never sat in it or even just enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I just redecorated it. Most importantly, I talked to God
Speaker 2: a lot during my quiet moments, and I painfully admitted
Speaker 2: to Him that I've missed my time with him. Well,
Speaker 2: that's the best thing that happened to me. He felt
Speaker 2: great to get back on track with God. And all
Speaker 2: day long I found myself asking what would have happened
Speaker 2: if I just sat still for two minutes. What would
Speaker 2: have happened if I just sat still for two minutes?
Speaker 2: What was I so scared of? It was great. I
Speaker 2: know that there probably some painful things are going to
Speaker 2: surface as I clear my schedule, and my mind has
Speaker 2: to contemplate certain things. But if I'm close to God,
Speaker 2: than anything I can't face because I'm not facing it alone.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for this series. It's an answer
Speaker 2: to prayer in so many of our lives. We just
Speaker 2: can't keep going at the pace we've been at.
Speaker 3: We just needed.
Speaker 2: Somebody to tell us it's okay to take time and
Speaker 2: rest and then not feel guilty about it, because God
Speaker 2: never meant for us to live the way we've been living.
Speaker 3: Amen, here's the fifth thing you need to do.
Speaker 2: I need to exchange my restlessness for God's peace. I exchange.
Speaker 2: I give up my restlessness. The Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 2: He makes me lay down and green passions. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: give up my tendency to rome, tendency to wander, tendency
Speaker 2: to veer off course. I'm going to exchange my restlessness
Speaker 2: for God's peace. Let me close with a couple verses
Speaker 2: Matthew six. We looked at this last week, when we're
Speaker 2: talking about worry Verse twenty six to thirty, Jesus says this,
Speaker 2: Look at the birds of the air. They don't plant
Speaker 2: or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly
Speaker 2: Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth
Speaker 2: so much more than those birds. You can't add any
Speaker 2: time to your life by worrying about it. And why
Speaker 2: do you worry about anything else? Look at the beauty
Speaker 2: of the wildflowers in the field. They don't worry or overwork,
Speaker 2: but God takes care of them, so you can be
Speaker 2: sure that he'll clothe you too. If God cares for
Speaker 2: the birds, how much more is he going to care
Speaker 2: for you. God loves you more than you will ever
Speaker 2: ever know, and there's nothing you can do that will
Speaker 2: make him love you anymore or make him love you
Speaker 2: any less.
Speaker 3: And they see what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2: Actually gets to the root of your workoholism, and my
Speaker 2: work all is them. What this does, It gets to
Speaker 2: the root of your restlessness and your stressed outness. You know,
Speaker 2: there's physical fatigue or you got you know your muscles
Speaker 2: are tired, and then there's emotional fatigue when your emotions
Speaker 2: are tired, and then there's spiritual fatigue.
Speaker 3: When your spirit dries up.
Speaker 2: You need more than simply to go to sleep to
Speaker 2: cure those last two. You can go to bed, but
Speaker 2: that's not going to get rid of emotional fatigue. It's
Speaker 2: not going to be rid of spiritual fatigue. People say, well,
Speaker 2: I just need a vacation. Yeah, you might, but you
Speaker 2: need more than that. What you need more than a
Speaker 2: vacation is you need a relation, a relationship to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: In the twentieth or twenty first century, we're not made
Speaker 2: to live this way the way.
Speaker 3: We've been living.
Speaker 2: As I said, the ability or the insistence of I'm
Speaker 2: trying to stay awake is what little kids do. It's
Speaker 2: a mark of immaturity. Maturity knows how to rest. I
Speaker 2: told you in the first week of this series that
Speaker 2: sheep aren't very smart. They're really one of the dumber
Speaker 2: animals that God created. Did you know that sheep don't
Speaker 2: like to lay down?
Speaker 3: They don't. They don't like to lay down.
Speaker 2: And yet it says He makes me lay down, and
Speaker 2: if you don't slow down, God will make you lay down. Now,
Speaker 2: I challenge you to start working on this immediately. Plan
Speaker 2: your Sabbath. God's way is not only the right way,
Speaker 2: it's not only the healthy way, it's the enjoyable way
Speaker 2: to live. And if you are tired of living the
Speaker 2: way you're living, here's my answer to you.
Speaker 3: Come to Jesus.
Speaker 2: Last verse on your outline, Matthew, Jesus is talking verses
Speaker 2: twenty eight to thirty and the message fair prayer phrase.
Speaker 2: He says, are you tired? Are you warned out? Are
Speaker 2: you burned out? Come to me Le's you'd say, come
Speaker 2: to a doctrine, come to class, he says, come to
Speaker 2: me a relationship. Get away with me, Jesus says, and
Speaker 2: you'll recover your life. And I'll show you how to
Speaker 2: take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me,
Speaker 2: watch how I do it. This is my favorite line,
Speaker 2: learn the unforced rhythms of grace. As your pastor, I
Speaker 2: want you to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I
Speaker 2: won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep
Speaker 2: company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
Speaker 2: You come to Jesus, he don't have a load more
Speaker 2: on you. He's going to take it off you. Now,
Speaker 2: let me summarize what I just taught you look up
Speaker 2: here on the screen. Here are the five things. Remember
Speaker 2: my value to God, Enjoy what I already have, limit
Speaker 2: my work to six days a week, adjust my values,
Speaker 2: and exchange my restlessness for God's peace. What does that spell?
Speaker 2: Relax r L A X. That's what God wants you
Speaker 2: to do. That's power heads. Augustine once said, the beginning
Speaker 2: of good works starts with the confession of bad works.
Speaker 3: So why don't you.
Speaker 2: Confess to God what's caused you to overwork, to be
Speaker 2: stressed out, to be stressed instead of blessed. Maybe you'd say, God,
Speaker 2: I've had a mistake at identity. I've been basing my
Speaker 2: worth on my work.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Tell him that I've been basing my worth on my work. God,
Speaker 2: I've always been wanting more. I'm never satisfied. I've been materialistic.
Speaker 2: You've said, don't wear yourself out trying to get rich.
Speaker 2: Have the wisdom to show some restraint. And you might
Speaker 2: need to say, and Lord, I've been envious. I've wanted
Speaker 2: what other people have, and I've wanted to be like
Speaker 2: other people, and i haven't wanted.
Speaker 3: To be me.
Speaker 2: Maybe you need to say, Lord, I confess that I've
Speaker 2: let achievement be more important than relationships. Another thing on
Speaker 2: earth that makes no sense. And I haven't asked the
Speaker 2: tough questions. Why am I always working so hard? Why
Speaker 2: don't I let myself enjoy life? Who cares? Who's going
Speaker 2: to get.
Speaker 3: What I leave behind?
Speaker 2: And maybe you need to confess insecurity and say, Lord,
Speaker 2: I live with the fear that I won't have enough
Speaker 2: to make it through retirement or whatever. But today I
Speaker 2: want to change. It's senseless for you to work so
Speaker 2: hard from early morning and to late at night, fearing
Speaker 2: you won't have enough for God wants his loved ones
Speaker 2: to get their proper rest. You say Lord, today I
Speaker 2: want to learn to relax in the goodness of God.
Speaker 2: You are the good shepherd. I want to lay down
Speaker 2: in green pastures. I want you to lead me beside
Speaker 2: quiet waters. Help me to remember that my value to
Speaker 2: you is greater than anything else, that you love me unconditionally,
Speaker 2: that I don't have to prove anything to others, and God,
Speaker 2: help me to enjoy what I already have. Instead, I'll
Speaker 2: always be reaching for more. Help me to limit my
Speaker 2: work to six days a week and to obey the
Speaker 2: ten commandments.
Speaker 3: It says take a Sabbath.
Speaker 2: And where necessary, help me to adjust my values, to
Speaker 2: put first things first, and to focus on the major,
Speaker 2: not the minor, things of life. Help me to take
Speaker 2: a day of rest every week and today. I want
Speaker 2: to exchange my restlessness for your peace, my pressure for
Speaker 2: your peace, my problems for your peace. I want to
Speaker 2: live in the love and goodness of my good Shepherd,
Speaker 2: say Jesus Christ. I give every area of my life
Speaker 2: to you. I want to love you and follow you
Speaker 2: in your name.
Speaker 3: I pray Amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you
Speaker 1: were just as blessed as I was. From today's broadcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.
Speaker 2: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 2: just a handful of people in our living room, I
Speaker 2: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 2: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 2: hope and with truth and with peace that comes from
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Well, you know that little devotional grew and
Speaker 2: grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 2: the largest email devotions in the whole world and each day,
Speaker 2: people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's promises
Speaker 2: and finding fresh strength in His word to face whatever
Speaker 2: comes their way. Here's the best part. It's absolutely free. Okay,
Speaker 2: we don't have any charge for this. Every day you'll
Speaker 2: get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you
Speaker 2: can listen to on the go. Now, in a world
Speaker 2: that's more distracted and uncertain than ever, I want to
Speaker 2: help you start your day centered on what never changes.
Speaker 2: And what never changes is a God's love, his unconditional
Speaker 2: love for you, and his promises to you.
Speaker 3: You know, if you'll just.
Speaker 2: Spend just a few minutes a day in the morning
Speaker 2: with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity,
Speaker 2: more purpose, more peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly,
Speaker 2: a psychologist has said that what you do with the
Speaker 2: first five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone.
Speaker 2: So friend, you were never meant to go through life alone.
Speaker 2: I want to personally invite you to just sign up
Speaker 2: for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to.
Speaker 2: Bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Just go to pastorick dot com. That's Pastor Rick.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.