Rick Warren - Is God Really Good All the Time—Part One

Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm so glad you've joined us today because we're starting

a new 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 in

even difficult seasons. And now we're kicking off with part

one of a message called is God Really Good All

the Time?

Today we begin a new series that I'm calling Living

in the Goodness of God. And specifically, we're going to

look at the most famous chapter in the entire Bible,

Psalm twenty three. More people know this Psalm than any

other chapter in the Bible because it's all about the

goodness of God's Specifically, it gives us nine ways God

wants to be good in your life.

Now, when you were.

Growing up, you probably learned a little child's prayer, God

is great, God is good, let us thank him.

For our food.

Yeah, And so you learn at an early age God's

great and God's good twin pillars. And of course, if

you've been in church any time in your life, you

know that sometimes the worship leader will say God is

good and the congregation shouts back all the time, and

then he'll say all the time, and they say, God

is good?

Is that really true? Is God good all the.

Time in your life? I mean, what about the times

when you're in pain? Is God good when you're in pain?

What about the times you're in conflict? Is God good

when you're in conflict? What about the times when you're depressed,

when you're stressed out, when you're worried, when you're under attack?

Is God really good all the time? And how do

I know that goodness when I can't feel it? I

want us to begin this series reading aloud Psalm one hundred,

verse five. It's there at the top of your message notes.

Let's read it together with great enthusiasm. The Lord is

always good, He is always loving and kind. His faithfulness

goes on and on to each succeeding generation. Now the

Bible says God is good all the time? How is

that true? How is that true in my life? What

I want to do in this introductory message is I

want to do two things. First, I want to show

you why focusing on God's goodness is so important to

your life, and why when you forget to focus on

God's goodness. It causes all kinds of stress, It causes

all kinds of problems, It brings all kinds of difficulty.

The lack of focusing on God's goodness is the major

cause of stress in your life. We're going to see that,

and there are some negative consequences that happen, and when

you forget how good God is. And then the second

thing I want to do is just give you an

overview of where we're going on nine ways that God

wants to be good in your life. I'm not going

to teach those because I'm going to teach on them individually.

We'll study him in depth. Now, one way to understand

God's goodness, the Bible tells us, is actually not just

by reading the Bible, listening to scripture, hearing a message

on it, but actually through worshiping.

Look up here on the screen.

The Bible says this in Psalm thirty four, verse nine.

Worship God if you want the best, You want the

best in life. That's why you need to be at worship.

Worship God if you want the best, because worship opens

the doors to read it with me to all God's goodness,

all his goodness. The way you experience. God's goodness is

actually through worship, and so worship opens up the goodness

of God in your life. Now, what happens, let's start

with this. What happens when I forget God's goodness? Well,

actually there are four negative consequences, and you need to

understand this so you can avoid it.

So you might want to write this down.

The first negative consequence of forgetting how good God really

is is this, I start claiming credit for things that

God did for me. I start claiming credit for the

things that God did in me, through me, to me,

for me, buy me with me. And when I do that,

I head down a path that's going to cause a

lot of depression, a lot of stress, and actually quick

judgment from God. In Luke, chapter twelve, Jesus tells the

story of a very rich man who had been very successful,

made a lot of money, and one day he's surveying

his business empire.

This guy's a.

Billionaire, he's got it all together, and he says, just

look at what I've done in my life. He's pretty proud,

and he goes, look at all of what I've accomplished,

Look at all of the wealth that I've amassed. Look

at all the great I I'm going to do with all

this wealth, I couldn't possibly spends it. I'll tell you what,

I'll just build bigger barns to store it all in.

He doesn't give God any of the credit. He takes

it all on in himself. He thinks that he did

it all by himself. And the Bible says, God says

to that rich man, you fool, you fool. He said,

tonight you're gonna die, and I'm gonna give everything you've

amasked to somebody else who will appreciate it and express

their gratitude to me. It's a sober warning. It's a

sober warning. If I were to ask you what is

the worst sin you could commit? I wonder what be

on your top ten list? If I said, what do

you think is the worst sin that you could commit?

And some of you.

Might say, well, it's, you know, some sexual sin, or

some of you might say maybe it's it's being greedy

and you know, abusing other people in order to get

more money.

And things like that. Nope, nope, nope, you know what.

The number one worst sin is prideful ingratitude, not being

grateful to God for his goodness. The Bible talks about

this over and over and over. Pride and ingratitude is

the sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven.

This is a serious thing, folks. This is the serious thing.

When I stop being grateful to God for all the

good in my life, then I get into trouble. The

Bible tells us the story of King Herod, who was

the king in Jesus Day and on the screen.

The Bible says this in Acts chapter twelve.

One day King Herod put on his royal robes and

he sat on his throne, and he made a great

speech to the people. And evidently it was quite a

great message because they shouted, this is the voice of God.

It's the voice of a God. He's more than a human. Now.

Herod is not humble, he's not grateful for the place

that he is in life. Instead, he became. Because Herod

gave no credit to God. The Lord said an angel

to strike him down with a fatal disease, and he

died boom. God didn't take his life because he was immoral.

God didn't take his life because he was greedy. God

didn't take his life because he lied to people. God said,

you are ungrateful, and you're setting yourself up saying, well,

I did it all myself. And when you do that,

you're skating on thin ice. Say, but wait a minute.

I built this business with my bare hands. Who gave

you your hands. I thought up the business plan totally

by myself, who gave you your mind. I worked for where

I got today, and I worked.

By the sweat of my brow, who gave you sweat.

Everything you have in your life, God, you would not

take your next breath breath if it weren't for the

goodness of God. You wouldn't be sitting here right now.

For the goodest God. You wouldn't exist if God hadn't

made you to love you literally everything in your life,

the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability

to eat, the ability to do.

All these everythings. God gave you those abilities.

And God says, I want you to be grateful to

me and realize, never forget how good a God I am.

That everything you have in your life, your freedom, your thoughts,

all everything you got, it's because I gave it to you,

and you wouldn't have it. You wouldn't even have the

ability to work. Did you know that ingratitude is actually

one of the roots of atheism, that when I'm ungrateful,

then I start excusing myself and dismissing and maybe even

denying God. The Bible says it like this in Roman

chapter one.

Here on the screen.

Since God created everything, and he did the entire universe,

people have always been able to see his goodness. There's

that word, see his goodness and power in nature. Now,

for instance, we don't have to have the Bible to

know a lot about God. All you have to do

is walk outside. Well, if we didn't even have the Bible,

you could know a lot about God. In for instance,

we know God likes variety, all the different flowers and

plants and animals he creates. We know that God is organized.

By looking at the universe. We know that God likes systems.

He creates the plant system and the animal system, the kingdoms,

the solar system. We know that God is powerful just

by looking at nature. You don't have to know any

Look at volcanoes, look at oceans, look at hurricanes, look

at the pull of magnetism, and the sun and the

moon and the stars. We know a lot about God

just by looking at nature. So I can't say, well,

I don't know anything about God. I've never read the Bible,

and so the Bible says this, Since God created everything,

people have always been able to see His goodness and

his power in nature. So people really have no excuse

I have to live in denial to deny God, because

the design of the world and the universe is an

evidence of a designer. Wherever you have creation, you must

have a creator. It doesn't just happen. If I were

to be walking down a mountain side and I saw

a rock out of place, I might go, that's just

an accident. But if I'm walking down a mountain and

I see an Apple watch, that is no accident. Somebody

designed it. Somebody designed that is evidence of design. In

one trillion years, that would never just come together on

its own. It takes more faith to not believe in

God than to believe in God. You have to say,

spend reality. The people who don't want to believe in God,

it's because they don't want to believe in God. It

takes more faith to believe. You know, I could put

that on the ground and for a billion years it

would never just come together on his own. And you're

far more intricate than that, and so is everything else.

Wherever there's a design, there's evidence of a designer. Wherever

there's creation, there's evidence of a creator. This is called

the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It's one

of six philosophical arguments that don't even use the Bible

to prove that God exists. And so he says, in nature,

we've seen these things. If I don't want to believe

in God, it's because I don't want to believe in God.

I want to be God.

I don't want a lord, I don't want a master.

I don't want somebody telling me what to do. And

then the Bible says this, they know God exists, but

they do not give him credit for all he's made,

and they're ungrateful.

That's the big problem.

So their thinking becomes confused, and their hearts fill up

with darkness, and they think they're wise, but really they

have become fools. You see, the slide into unbelief actually

begins not with unbelief, it begins with ungratefulness. I'm ungrateful

for all that God has done in my life and

for my life. Now, did you know that the Bible

also says that this idea of not focusing on God's goodness,

being ungrateful for God's goodness is one of the signs

of the last days of that when history is coming

to a close. It's one of the characteristics God says

will be found in society. Look at this verse on

the screen, tewod Timothy three to two. As the end approaches,

the end of history, people are going to be these

ways self absorbed, you know anybody like that? Money hungry,

self promoting, and arrogant, profane, rebellious. Yes, ungrateful, there's ungratefulness

is in that long list of sins, and have no

respect for what is sacred? Does that sound vaguely familiar

in our culture? You can see every one of those characteristics. Now,

God wants us to remember the source of our success.

That's why when you are blessed as much as you

do living in America, living here, having so many of

your needs already met, God says, never forget that I

am the source of everything good in your life. The

Bible warns us in First Corinthians.

Chapter four.

There on your outline, what do you have that God

hasn't given you?

Answers? Nothing, literally nothing. It's all from God.

The Bible says, every good and perfect gift comes from God.

If God did not exist, you would not exist. What

do you have that God hasn't given you? And if

all you have is from God, why do you ask?

Is though you're so great and as though you accomplished

it all on your own.

God is a good God.

Now, the first thing that happens when I deny, when

I forget God's goodness, I start claiming credit for stuff

that actually I didn't do. God did it through me,

and He gave it all me, even the abilities to

do it. Now here's the second negative consequence, and that

is when I forget God's goodness, I stop asking God

for help. And that's a big problem because when you

forget how eager God is to help you, how good

God is, you start depending on yourself and you stop

asking God for things in prayer. God wants to help you.

God is waiting to help you. Over twenty times in

the Bible. In the New Testament, it tells us to ask.

We're commanded ask and it shall be given. Seek and

you'll find Knock and the door will be open. The

Bible says you have not because you ask.

Not Over and over.

God wants you to ask for whatever you need in prayer. So, well,

you know, I only want to give God the big stuff.

I don't want to give him the small stuff. Everything

is small to God. None of your requests are big

to God, so it's no big deal. Every request is

small in his power. And so God says, I want

you to I want you to ask. When you forget

God's goodness. You know what happens. I can tell you

when you've forgotten God, your prayers become tepid, weak, wimpy prayers.

They're just wrote. You're not asking, not for anything. You're

just mouthing words. You don't even mean it, non and

on and onh and you don't actually even ever ask

God for anything. You're not specific. You're not saying, God,

I need money for this car payment. God, I need

help over here. I've got a conflict with this person.

Help me out here. And that's what happens when you

forget the goodness of God. Now, how do you learn

to trust God? Do you trust God more than you did,

say six months ago, or a year ago, or two

or three years ago. I said, well, some of you

say no, Actually I don't I think I'm kind of stuck.

I don't think my trust is any deeper than it

was a couple of years ago. Well you know what

that means. It means you're not asking in prayer. You're

not growing in trust because you're not asking God for anything.

The more you ask, the more God can meet your needs.

The more He meets your needs, the more you grow

and trust.

Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and

listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you

were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.

You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,

just a handful of people in our living room, I

also began writing a simple devotional just for the people

in our church to help them start each day with

hope and with truth and with peace that comes from

Jesus Christ. Well, you know that little devotional grew and

grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of

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Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a

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you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain

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centered on what never changes. And what never changes is

a God's love, his unconditional love for you and his

promises to you. You know, if you just spend just

a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,

it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more

peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly, a

psychologists has said that what you do with the first

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you were never meant to go through life alone. I

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