Rick Warren - It Depends On Who You Depend On—Part One

Hey, everyone, I'm so glad you're here with us today.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren, and

today we start a series called The Keys to a

Blessed Life. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus's Sermon

on the Mount and shows us how to live a

truly hopeful and purpose filled life. Now, let's get started

with part one of it depends on who you depend on.

You know.

Probably the most common greeting that you know you hear,

particularly among believers, is God bless you. And we say

it not just when people sneeze. We say God bless you.

Have you ever thought of what in the world does

that mean? What's a blessing? How do you define a blessing?

Would you know a blessing if it slapped you in

the face. I mean, the Bible says it sometimes a

problem is a blessing. So when you say God bless them,

really great, you say, given a bunch of problems, Really,

what in the world is a blessing? And if you

pray for God to bless somebody, how do you even

know if it's happened or not. If you don't know

what a blessing is? The word blessed in the Bible

is the Greek word macarios macarios, and macarios is the

word for happy, happy. It is the word for happiness.

To be blessed is to be happy. To have a

blessing is to have happiness in your life. And when

Jesus talks about you're blessed if you do this, he's

saying you're going to be happy if you do this.

It's the exact same word. Now, today we're going to

begin quite a long series through Jesus' most famous sermon.

It's called the Sermon on the Mountain. And Jesus begins

the Sermon on the mount by talking about eight ways

to be blessed by God to receive God's blessing on

your life. You could call it eight ways to be happy.

The truth is, I want you as your pastor. I

love you. I love you, and I want God to

bless your life. I want him to bless your relationships.

If you're in school, I want him to bless your studies.

If you're married, I want you to bless your marriage.

I want him to bless your finances. I want God

to bless your health. I want God to bless your talent.

I want God to bless your future. So I'm extremely

interested in how to receive the blessings of God. Now,

as we study scripture, we find that the problem isn't

with God. The problem is with us. God wants to

bless your life. You just have to get blessable, and

a lot of us don't live lives in ways that

God can bless. God isn't going to bless sin. God

isn't going to bless arrogance. God isn't going to bless indifference,

A lot of things God will not bless. And so

when Jesus starts his most famous sermon, the first thing

he begins with, I'm going to teach you the eight

conditions for receiving God's blessing in your life. And for

the next eight weeks, we're going to look at each

of those eight conditions in detail. We're calling at the

keys to a blessed life. Now, let me read the

first verses in Matthew chapter five. The Sermon on the

Mount is in Matthew chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven.

We're going to go through all three of those chapters,

verse by verse in the days ahead. And chapter five

starts like this when Jesus saw the crowds. He went

up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his

disciples came to him and he began to teach them. Now,

notice in Bible times, the teacher always sat and the

people the audience always stood. I think that's a good idea.

I want to be like Jesus. So maybe I'll just

sit down right now, and I'm going to ask all

of you to stand up for the next forty five minutes.

All right now, No, we won't do that, but you know,

I want to be like Jesus. Jesus doesn't wear socks,

so I don't wear socks. But Jesus, it says, sat down.

That was the way they taught in those days. The

teacher sat and everybody else stood. And then he gives

the first of these eight conditions for being blessed by God.

And he says this, blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Now that doesn't

tell me a whole lot because I don't understand most

of the words in that verse. First, I don't know

what poor in spirit needs, and I don't know what

the Kingdom of Heaven is. So we've got to unpack

this for you to understand the benefit to your life. First,

what is the Kingdom of Heaven? Is that different from

the Kingdom of God. Well, I'm going to ask you

to hold your questions on this because I promise you

in this series we're gonna deal in depth with this issue.

We're going to look at what is the Kingdom of

God and why it is so incredibly important to your

life and why you definitely want to be a part

of it. And we're going to go into that in detail,

explaining what is the Kingdom of God. But this week,

as we start the series, I want to want us

to look at just the first six words of Jesus'

most famous sermon, and the first six words he starts with.

The first word he starts with blessed. Now, I like

that God starts teaching with a blessing. He doesn't start

with let me give you eight curses. He gives you

eight blessing. That's my kind of preacher. And he says,

let me tell you eight ways to be happy. That's

the first things Jesus talks about in the Sermon on

the Mount. Here's what he says, Blessed of the poor

in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So

the first word out of his mouth to you is

a blessing. Now, what does it mean to be poor

in spirit? Well, he's not talking about physical power. He

doesn't say blessed to the poor. He says blessed to

the poor in spirit. He's not talking about economic poverty.

He's not talking about material poverty. He's not talking about

physical poverty. He's talking about spiritual poverty. He's talking about

maintaining a certain kind of attitude. For you to understand this,

I put there on your outline several other translations of

this verse so you could actually see a fuller understanding

of what it means to be poor in spirit. For instance,

the New Living translation says God blesses those who realize

their need for Him. The God's Word translation says God

blesses those who recognize their spiritually helpless. The Common English

version says God blesses those who are who depend only

on Him. And New Century version says God blesses those

who know they have a great spiritual have great spiritual needs.

You can see pattern development here. He's saying, I recognize

that I am inadequate to live my life without God.

Without God in my life, I am spiritually poor. Without

God's help in my life, I am spiritually poor. I

am inadequate. A good verse that helps clarify this is

someone forty six there in your outlined verse five. The

Lord blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him.

Circle the word trust and the word depend. This is

the first condition for God's blessing on your life. You've

got to trust him, You've got to depend on Him.

And that's what it means to be poor in spirit. Fact,

let me give you a definition. Why don't you write

this down? To be poor in spirit, which is the

first condition for God's blessing on your life, means I

humbly depend on God instead of myself. That's what it means.

To be poor in spirit means I humbly depend on

God instead of myself because I know I'm inadequate to

handle all the problems that face me in life. So

if I want God's blessing on my relationship to my girlfriend,

my boyfriend, my husband, and my wife or anybody else,

then I've got to be dependent upon God. If I

want God's blessing in my work, in my career, in

my studies. If I want God's blessing in my finances

and my health, I have to humbly depend on God

instead of myself. So then the question becomes, how do

you do that? How do I actually depend on God

on a daily basis and on a moment by moment basis. Well,

this weekend, I want to give you five practical ways

to do this from the Word of God. And these

are five practical ways. You can practice every one of

them this week. And if you practice these, you will

become a woman or a man who is poor in spirit,

which means you depend on God rather than yourself. You

understand your need for God in your life. And then

that's the kind of woman, that's the kind of man

that God says I like to bless. So let me

just get right into it. You might write this first

one down five ways to express my dependence on God.

Number one, to be blessed by God. First, I depend

on God's wisdom, not mine. I depend on God's wisdom,

not my wisdom, not my own. Other words, I listen

to what God says, I follow what God says to do,

and I do what he says to do. Now, let's

look at some verses together from the Bible, Proverbs, chapter fourteen,

Verse twelve says this, there is a way, There is

a way that seems right to a man. In the end,

it leads to death. Now a circle, the word seems

there's a way that seems right to us, to human beings,

but an end, it's a dead end, he said. Our

ideas often lead to dead ends. It leads to death.

Have you ever in your life had this feeling that

something was so very very very right and you just

knew it was the right thing to do, and you

felt it with all your heart, and then you did

it and it ended up being so very very wrong,

or it became a total fiasco and a failure. That's

what this verse is all about. There's a way that

seems right to us, but it often ends, he says,

in a dead end. And every one of us could

give a testimony on this, where you've had this feeling,

this hunch that this is the perfect job and it

ends up being a dead end. This is the peronaked relationship,

the one I've always needed, the one I've always wanted,

and that relationship ends up a dead end. This is

the perfect person that I should marry and I know

this is the person, and we all know people who

made that decision and it flopped miserably. Parents will often think,

I know this is the right thing to say to

my kids, and then it has the exact opposite effect

on the kids. It happens in friendships. It can happen investments.

I know this is where I should put my money.

This is a sure winner, this is a big deal.

I know if I invest in this man, I'm going

to clean house. It's gonna be great. And then it

just totally flops. You could probably and we could probably

spend the rest of the night doing this. Think of

painful examples where you wish that you would listen to

God instead of your gut, because God is filled with

truth and your gut is filled with pea. So your

gut's off and wrong. Just because you think it doesn't

make it right, and just because you feel it certainly

doesn't make it right. Feelings lie, They lie to you

all the time. I mean, there used to there's an

old country Western song that says, how could it be

wrong when it feels so right? Are you kidding me?

There are a lot of things that are wrong that

feel so right at the moment, Are you kidding me?

That's about the most immature, stupid thing you could say,

because a lot of stuff feels so right and it

ends up being so bad. And six months later you're

saying about that relationship, what was I thinking? How in

the world did I get messed up in that one?

How did I get my life so entangled in something

so stupid? And now I'm scarred and I'm hurt, and

I'm burdened, and I'm going Am I going to recover

from this? The Bible says there's a way that seems right,

but it ends in a dead end. So the first

way to get God's blessing in your life is I

depend on God's wisdom, not my feelings, not my thoughts,

not whatever else is telling me. I depend on God's wisdom,

not mind. Now, if you want to have fewer dead

ends in your life, you want to have fewer defeats,

fewer failures in your life. This is verse next verses

for you. Proverbs three five to seven. Trust the Lord

with all your heart. Do not depend on your own

understanding others. Don't depend on your wisdom. Don't depend on

what you think is the right thing. To do. Don't

depend on your hunches and your feelings. Those are often

lead you astray. Do not depend on your understanding. Seek

his will. God's will in all you do and everything

you do, how you spend your time, your money, your relationships, everything,

and he God promises he will direct your paths. Don't

be impressed with your own wisdom. What he's staying there.

Don't go around saying I got this all figured out,

I can handle this. I'm a big girl, I'm a

big guy. I know what I'm doing. I've got it

all figured out. I got a plan. He's saying, don't

be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, respect the Lord

and turn your back on evil. So, if I really

want God's blessing, the first thing is I depend on

God's wisdom, not what my feelings say, not what my

gut says, not what my friends say, not what I think.

But I trust in the Lord with all my heart

and lean not on my own understanding. Now, how do

I get God's wisdom? Two ways? You pray and you read.

You pray, you talk to God and you read the Bible.

You let him talk to you, and that's how you

get God's wisdom. Look at this next verse. The Bible

says in James Chapter one, verse five, if any of you,

any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray and ask God,

who gives it grudgingly and sparingly to all. That's not

what it says. If any of you lacks wisdom, you

should pray and ask God who gives it. Read it

with me, generously and graciously at all. Now, notice he

gives it to everybody all. You got to just ask

for it. You don't have to be qualified for it.

I have to just ask for it. You see, God

doesn't want you to hit dead ends. God doesn't want

you to go through failure after failure after failure after

failure in your life. God wants you to succeed in

your life. He wants you to be wise. He wants

you to make smart decisions with your time, your money,

your relationships, and everything else. And it's not like you're

waiting on him. He's waiting on you. God saying, hey,

I'm here and I'll give you wisdom, and I'll give

it generously, and I'll give it graciously. I'm not grudging

about it. I love to give you. I want to

make you wise. But you just got it. Ask now,

how do you know when you are living on God's

wisdom rather than on your wisdom? How do you know

if you're really depending on God's wisdom you're talking to

God throughout your entire day and you're reading His word

on a daily basis. If you're not talking to God

throughout your whole day, God, I'm getting ready to go

into this meeting, I'm getting ready to go into this class.

I'm getting ready to go meet with some friends. What

do I do? What do I say? And you're not

talking to God like that all day? And if you're

not reading God's word on a daily basis, you are

depending on your own wisdom. You're just fooling yourself. You're

not depending on God's wisdom, You're depending on your own.

And it's why you have so many problems and why

so many things fall through and why you end up

with so much pain in your life because you're not

depending on God's wisdom. By reading the book and talking

to the author, would you write this down. God's wisdom

and God's will are in God's word. God's wisdom and

will is in God's word. They're in God's word, God's

wisdom and will are in God's Word, and if you're

not in the Word, you don't know God's will. And

if you're not in the Word, you don't have God's wisdom.

And if you don't have God's wisdom, you can't be blessed.

So that's the starting point. I got to pray talk

to the Lord, and I gotta let him talk to me.

Let me give you another one number two. If I

really want God's blessing on my life and not only

depend on God's wisdom, I depend on God's strength, not mine.

I depend on God's strength, God's power, God's energy, not mine.

Now you've probably noticed that you often get tired. In fact,

you're tired a lot, and at the end of the day,

you're kind of worn out and you run out of energy.

And the reason why he's real simple. You're a human being.

Your strength is limit. God's strength is unlimited. Your strength

is finite. God's strength is infinite. Your strength is exhaustible.

That's why you get exhausted. God's strength is inexhaustible. God

never runs out of energy. God never gets tired, And

so I need to depend on God's strength, not my own.

Let me show you some verses Psalm eighty four, verse five.

God says you bless all who depend on you for

their strength. You want God's blessing in your life, You

need to depend on God for your strength. Now what

do you do when your strength evaporates. You're at the

end of the day, and you know, I'm just out

of steam. I'm abount of energy. I don't have the

energy to go into this next week. I got too

many things to do and not enough energy to do it.

Here's a good promise, Isaiah forty thirty one. Those who

trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed.

They will rise on wings like eagles. They will run

and not get weary, they will walk and not grow weak.

And I'll give you a personal testimony on this one.

I have been living this verse this one Isaiah forty

thirty one, because there's no way I could face the

loss of my son on my own energy, on my

own strength. I needed God to pull me through many,

many dark times. Now, let me just say this, in

the darkest moments of your life, when you cannot see

your way forward, it doesn't matter what they are, where

they came from. In the darkest moments of your life.

You need God's strength to get you through. And the

reason why most people never get through it is they

don't have God's strength. I've seen people go through a

divorce and they never recover. I've seen people go through

a breakup and they never recover. I've seen people go

through a major illness. I've seen them go through a

bankruptcy or getting fired, are getting laid off, or getting arrested.

I've seen people go through all kinds of different things

and you know, abuse, and they never recover. Why because

they're depending on their own strength. You're not going to

get through it on your own strength. You're gonna get

stuck at that stage and you get miserable the rest

of your life. The only way you get through the

darkest days of your life, it's on God's strength. You

got to depend on him.

Such a great message by Rick today and every day.

I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.

And now here's Rick with an important message.

Hi everybody, thanks so much for listening today. You know,

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