Rick Warren - How to Be Led by God’s Spirit—Part Two

Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series

from Psalm twenty three called Living in the Goodness of God.

It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where

you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. So

let's get started. Here's part two of a message called

how to be Led by God's Spirit.

Let me show you something that a lot of Christians

and believers don't get. Let's show you two verses that

look totally opposite of each other up here on the screen.

One John two fifteen. By the way, they're written by

the same guy. John wrote the book John, and he

wrote first, second, and third John Letters and first John

Chapter two. He says this, do not love the world

or anything that belongs to the world. If you love

the world, you cannot love the Father. WHOA, that's pretty

clear now. That same guy who wrote that also wrote this,

the most famous verse in the Bible, God so loved

the world. Well, what is it? I mean, huh? That

looks like a big contradiction right there, God so loved

the world. And then he says, but you, you're not to

love the world. And if you love the world, to

love the Father's not in you. Well, which is it?

You need to understand the meaning of the word world.

The world is used two different ways in the scripture.

It refers to the world's value system and it refers

to the world's people. We are to love the people

and not love the value system. Does that make sense.

We are to love the people no matter what kind

of lifestyle they live, but we are to not love.

In fact, the Bible says we are to hate the

value system, like prejudice and racism and injustice and sexism,

and people hurting each other and war. We are to

hate eat the things that hurt people in the world.

Love the people, hate the value system. You know what

the problem is, We got it reversed. We love the

value system, hate the people. Christians do this all the time.

They're no different. They're just as materialistic, they're just as hedonistic.

They're you know, they're just as involved in everything in culture.

They love the culture and hate the people. God says, no, no,

you got that all wrong. You got it backwards. Love

the world people, don't love the world's value system. Okay,

Five things I have to stop doing one. I can't

follow a culture that doesn't follow God to you, I

can't follow friends who aren't led by God. Number three.

Third thing why I often miss God's will is this,

I can't look to other sources besides God. If I'm

looking for direction for my life, the best place to

look is not on a TV talk show. The best

place to look is to read the owner's Vaniel that's

the Bible, and talk to the creator who made you.

And that's where you're going to find out about your life.

I can't look to other sources besides God. Now, there

are many other sources that want to tell you how

to run your life, many other replacements. There are many

other substitutes for God, a lot of substitutes for God

in the world. They're actually called idols. I mean, for instance,

when you're looking for what am I supposed to do

with my life? I've actually met some believers who think

they can pray to God and read a horoscope. Really,

that's like saying I believe in reincarnation and heaven at

the same time. They're mutually exclusive. You either believe in

one or the other. You can't believe in both. That's illogical, irrational,

and it makes no sense at all. And so God says,

I want you to look to Me and don't look

to other things for your guidance. Now, when people look

to anything else besides God for guidance for their life,

you know what that's called. When they're looking for divine

guidance but they're not actually praying or reading the Bible,

it's called divination. Divination, you heard this word. Divination means

to try to find about your future without going to

your creator. That's called divination. And they're countless kinds of

ways to define the future, fortune telling and stuff like that,

predictions and prognosies and things like that. Do you know

in ancient times, what was the most common way that

people discerned the future. Know what this is? It was

called consulting the liver. They would actually sacrifice animals, they'd

cut out a liver because the liver was supposed to

be the heaviest organ in the body. And then somebody

would look at it and goes, mm, yeah, go to war,

go to battle, win this one. Now. I mean, this

is not some little minor thing. The Roman Empire was

built on defining the liver. No Roman soldier would go

into battle without looking at the livery. The Babylonians looked

at the liver. The Etruscans looked at the liver. This

was the most commonly used form of predicting the future,

and in fact it's actually even mentioned in the Bible.

Look at this verse here on the screen. The Bible

says in Ezekiel twenty one, the king of Babylon now

stands at a crossroad, uncertain of whether or not to attack.

He was going to attack Jerusalem, didn't know. So his

advisors will cast lots by shaking arrows from the quiver.

That was another popular way. You take arrows in a

quiver and you throw them out on the ground and

you go, mmm, don't go to battle, okay. And that

was one and the other end they will inspect the

livers of sacrificed animals. Fifty ways to lose your liver

right there, or love your liver or whatever. So that

was it called a divination. Uh does that kind of

stuff will happen today? Hello? Have you ever seen a

palm reading shop or tea leading or reading shop or

a crystal ball? And Madam so and so, and I

mean that stuff is still still around, tarot cards, horoscopes.

These are called divination looking to the future without looking

to God, and God says no, no, don't do any

of that kind of stuff. Don't go call the psychic hotline.

By the way, here's a little tip. If the psychic

hotline says, what's your credit card number? Hang up? They

should know that. And I want to say, you tell me,

if you're so smart, you tell me. If he can't

tell me my credit card, he can't tell me anything

else that's valuable because he has no ability at all.

I actually did a little research on it just for

fun this week, looking at the modern things divination, and

there's some crazy bizarre things out there. For instance, in Russia,

they throw beans on the floor and then look at

the pattern, and I'm going, yeah, that's that's a lot

of beans right there. So okay, you know that's a

pile of beans or whatever. Uh. There's there's a thing

called parrot parrot nancy where you let a parrot out

of its cage and it goes over and picks up

a card and then you know who you're supposed to marry. Okay,

there's I'm not making this up. There's a there's a

divination called rumpology, and there are people you can pay

who will tell you your future by looking at the shape

of your butt. I'm not making that up. Okay, I'm

not making it up. That's called stupidity. That's saying I would.

And why do they People go to all these others

because they don't want a boss in their life. They

want the future, but they don't want God. They don't

want a lord. They don't want somebody that have to serve.

And so the ridiculousness of looking to other sources besides God.

The Bible warns us look at this verse. Deuteronomy eighteen

says this, never look to psychics or seances, or fortune telling,

or the stars, or people who claim to be in

contact with the dead. People who do these things are

doing evil, and God hates it with a passion. Now

I doubt any of you are doing this, but I

will tell you this. If you know a believer who's

doing this, politely, gently, lovingly tell them you're heading down

the wrong track. You're never going to know God's will

through a seance, through a medium, through a horoscope, through astrology.

If you are following the stars, you're not following the sun.

S n you're not following the sun, you're not following God.

These are counterfeits, you know today, years ago Gideon used

that fleece to discern God's will. People get fleeced all

the time today, cults and fad therapies and scientology and

all kinds of stuff. The Bible tells us that Corinthians

eleventh Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So we

just got to avoid that. And the Bible tells us

in first John four, verse one, don't believe everything you hear.

That's a good thing to do on to read on

the internet. Actually, I read a quote the other day

on the internet, don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Abraham Lincoln. That guy was way ahead of his time.

All I say, okay, all right, I've got I know

I'm taking a long time on this, But if you

want to be led by the spirit of God, there's

some things you have to stop doing before you start

doing the other can't follow culture, can't follow friends who

are not following God. Can't look to other sources besides God,

like all those divination things. And number four, this is

a one that would white a lot of us. I

must stop being led by my circumstances. Now, the other

ones may have not been relatable to you, but this

one is certainly. I must stop being led by my circumstance.

I'm amazed how many believers the number one way they

try to determine God's will is, well, what's my circumstance?

You know I missed the plane, It must be God's will.

The heavy traffic, it must be God's will. The offering

plate skipped my road, that was God's will. I've had people,

you know, you know I bumped into them in a cart,

and must be God's will. We bumped into each other.

I won't say anything about that, but you know, you

know I overslept today. It is God's will. I don't

go to church. You're skating on thin ice, shallow, shaky

ground when you build your life around your circumstances. There

are a lot of examples in the Bible where the

circumstances were the exact opposite of God's will. When I

think about the story of Jonah, God said to Jonah, Jonah,

I want you to go to Nineva, and I want

you to preach to it. And they were the hated

enemies of the Israelites because they had oppressed them for years.

And Jonah said, I'm not going. It was literally racial prejudice,

and I'm not going. Instead of going east to Ninevah,

he gets on board a ship headed for Tarsis, which

is a seaport on the coast of Spain. He's going

as far east as he can. God said go west,

and he goes east. But the circumstances there was a

ship waiting there headed for Tarsius. He had the money

for a ticket. They had face on board. He gets

on board, they take him on. It must be God's will.

I've seen circumstance ruin a lot of businesses and business

opportunities because it looked like a good deal. Let me

give you another example from Paul. I wrote the scripture

down there on your outline. You might want to read it.

Acts twenty seven. It's about another Mediterranean cruise about two

thousand years later, and Paul is being taken to Rome

as a prisoner, and the night before the ship is leaving,

God says to him in his prayer time, tell him

not to go tomorrow because they're going to head straight

into a storm. And Paul says to the sailors and

the captain of the ship, guys, if we leave today,

we're going to go straight into a storm. But they

didn't listen to him. And here's what the Bible says

up here on the screen. Paul said, men, he is

talking to the sailors. If we sail now, this voyage

will be a disaster. We'll lose the ship, the cargo,

and maybe even our own lives. But when a gentle

breeze came up, they thought, this is exactly what we wanted.

Have you ever had a gentle breeze come up in

your life and think this is exactly what I wanted,

and you were heading straight into a storm. When a

gentle brief came up, they thought this is exactly what

we wanted. So they launched out, thinking it would be

smooth sailing. Sound familiar that new business venture. Thinking it

would be smooth sailing. But at see a violent typhoon

storm arose, which made it impossible to control the direction

of the ship. So we gave up and just let

her drift. That is the epitaph of many a believer

who trusted in circumstances. We just finally gave out and

let her drift. Because we thought it was right. The

circumstances look good, but that was a disastrous business deal

or marriage or whatever. How about you, how many times

have you ever thought of something circumstantial was an open

door and you later found out it was a trapdoor.

You can't just trust circumstances. I could give you example

example in the Bible about this where David he had

sent his army to war in spring, and he's at home,

lollygagging around in his pj's, and he's up upstairs and

he looks out and he sees a beautiful woman taking

a bath on a roof. What's she taking a bath

on a roof for? And he looks down from his

palace and see there, and he goes very pretty. Her

husband's at war, I'm home alone. She's attractive, and he

falls into affair. Circumstances can lead you the wrong way.

In fact, this satan can manipulate circumstances. You seem to

be aware of that, and so you always check your

circumstances against God's word. And what I mean by that

is that you don't use circumstances to discern God's will,

but you use it to confirm God's will. Now let

me give you one more. If I want to be

led by God's spirit, I cannot be led by my feelings.

If I want to be led by God's spirit, I

cannot be led by my feelings. Because your feelings lie

to you all the time. Now, every emotion is temporary,

whether it's a good one or a bad one. You

can be elated at your wedding and it will not last.

You can be elated at Disneyland, it will not last.

You can be elated at winning a game for a

team that you were rooting for. It will not last.

And the same is true if you're depressed, if you're discouraged,

it will not last. No emotion can stay at the

same level of intensity. If you have a panic attack,

one thing you need to know it can't last. You

cannot stay in a perpetual state of panic. This too

will pass. And so you can't be led by your

feelings because they're not permanent. They're just temporary. And the

most common mistake, and I even hear Christians saying this

today is well, just let your conscience be your guide.

I had to tell you this. Your conscience is often wrong,

so is mine. The Bible says the heart is deceitful.

I've told you this many times, that you lie to

yourself more than you lie to anybody else. Just because

you think it doesn't make it true. Just because somebody

else thought it doesn't make it true. Just because it's

popular doesn't make it true. Something is true because it's true,

not what you think is true is true, not what

you hope is true, not whatever all these other things.

Truth is simply truth. It's either right or it's not right. Now.

Most people base their decisions on how they feel. And

I can't tell you how many times, and it sounds

like a spiritual thing. Say, why did you do that? Well,

I just had a peace about it. That's not enough, friend,

to make a decision on. Well, I had a piece

about it. Piece is a good thing. But you better

have more basis for your decision than just a peaceful feeling,

because you could have a peaceful, easy feeling and I

know it won't let you go. So you were really

old people. If you know those lyrics, you are really

really old. I just I'm feeling right at home here

right now. Okay, you can't just go buy your feelings.

Feelings lie. It may be the result of some burrito

you ate or something you know. Do you remember that

story of Joe and I told you, Hey, here's a ship, Hey,

I got the money. Hey, they take me on board.

And he goes down, and he goes into the bottom

ship and he falls into a nice, peaceful sleep. He's

totally out of the will of God and he's at peace.

So that's not enough. Piece is a good thing, But

it's not to base your life on simply emotions. Because

he was totally disobeying God. Satan can give you false peace.

Proverbs fourteen, verse twelve. You may feel circle the word feel.

You may feel you're on the right path, the right road,

and still end up dead. Okay, and the result of

being manipulated my moods. Look at the next verse. We've

all strayed away like sheep. We have left God's path

to follow our own. And why do we leave God's

path to follow on because we felt like it. Those

are things you have to stop doing if you want

to be led by the spirit. Now the stuff you

should do going be a whole lot faster, Okay, quickly.

It's not gonna take me a long time. Because this

is self explanatory. On this dude talked about the five

things you gotta stop doing. What are the five things

you start doing? Very easy to understand. Number one. If

I want to get goddance from God, I want divine direction.

Number One, I must want to be led. I got

to desire it first. I must want to be led.

It starts with desire, It starts with longing, it starts

with craving. Have you ever had anybody hold your head

under the water so long that you go, I have

got to get air. When you get that desperate and

when you cry out to God, say God, I have

got to know. I've got to know what you want

me to do. It's not like I kind of would

like to know. It would be helpful to know. If

you don't have any intensity of your passion in your

prayer life about knowing God's will, God's going well, I

guess it's not that important to you. But when you

say I've got to have it, it's like I'm hungry,

I've got to have food. I'm out of breath. I've

got to have oxygen. I don't know which way to

go in life. God, I've got to know your will.

I must want to be led by the spirit I'm

forty verse eight, My God, I want to do what

you want, and your teachings are in my heart. The

reason why he wants it is because he's reading the Bible.

Your teachings are in my heart. Number two, I must

be willing to do what God says. I must not

only want God's will, I've got to be willing to

do what God says. I'm willing to obey in advance.

In other words, God, before you even tell me what

you want me to do, my answer in advance is

already yes. God doesn't tell you his will, and then

you get to decide whether you do it or not.

You have to decide an event you prequalify. God's not

going to show you what he wants to do with

your life, and then you get to decide about it.

You say, God, I surrender my life to you completely.

I don't just want your will. I'm willing whatever it is.

I don't even understand it. I don't even know it,

but whatever it is, I'm willing in advance. John seven seventeen,

Jesus said this, whoever is willing to do what God

wants and chooses it. It's a choice. You choose God's

will will know if what I teach comes from God,

so he says, trust me in advance.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after

that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a

letter from one of our listeners.

Here's Rick. You know I love hearing from Daily Hope

listeners like you. And here's one note that I got

from Raymond in New York. Your pastor, Rick, I'd like

you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast.

The nuggets that I get I share with my lunch

group at work, and my family benefits as well because

at dinner time, my wife and my son hear the

nugget that I learned during the day and we discuss it.

It's awesome. Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks

for writing me, and thanks for sharing your story. You

encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that you're

sharing Daily Hope with your co workers and with your family.

If God has used this broadcast in your life, would

you let me know about it and tell your story.

It'll be good for you, it'll be good for me,

and it'll be good for all the others who hear it.

I love you and I thank God for you. And

join me next time as we continue to look into

God's word for our daily hope.

Now, if you'd like to let Rick know how much

this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send

him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick

at Pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick dot com.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's word for our daily hope. This program is

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