Rick Warren - How to Keep Your Heart Happy—Part Two

Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the Bible Teaching Ministry of Rick Warren. And today we're

continuing our series called the Habits of Happiness. In this series,

Rick dives into the Book of Philippians and helps you

discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. And now

we bring you the final part of a message called

how to Keep your Heart Happy.

The third exercise to maintain a healthy or happy heart

is this. This is a big one. Keep my conscience clear.

That's verse fifteen. Because one of the things that causes

us to lose our happiness is feeling guilty or feeling ashamed.

And the Bible says, if you want to be happy,

you gotta get rid of guilt. You gotta get rid

of guilt. You cannot be guilty and happy at the

same time. So you got to maintain a clear. Look

at these verses Philippians two fifteen. You are to live

clean and pure lives as children of God in a

broken and corrupted generation. You know that was written two

thousand years ago. Generations are still broken and corrupted, aren't they.

Human nature doesn't change. Everything else does, but human nature doesn't.

You're to live clean and pure lives as children of

God in a broken and corrupted generation ration. You are

to shine like stars lighting up a dark world on

a beautiful image that you live such a clean life.

You live, such a life of integrity, You live such

a life of purity. You live with a clear conscience,

You live with such authenticity. Your life is an open

book in such a way. When people look at you,

go man, they are a star. And it's like when

you take diamonds, a jeweler will always with diamonds on

black velvet. Why because they shine brighter against a black backdrop.

And as the world and culture becomes more dark, as

cultures crumble, Christians are to shine brighter and brighter. Let

me show you a couple of other verses that say

the same thing. Psalone nineteen one and two says, this

happier those who live pure lives, who follow the Lord's teaching,

keep his rules, and who try to obey him with

their whole heart. Jesus said it like this, Blessed are

the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You

know what the word blessed means. It's the word for

happy in Greek. When Jesus gets up and does the beatitudes.

Blessed to you when you do this, Blessed to the meek,

Blessed to the poor and spirit you know, blessed her

you and you hunger and thirst for righteous. He's saying,

let me give you eight ways to be happy. He

starts a sermon, the greatest sermon ever on eight ways

to be happy, and he says, Blessed are the pure

in heart, for they shall see God. You're going to

be the happier your heart is. It's because it's a

pure heart. It's a clean heart. Psalm thirty two, verse

one tells us what to do when we don't have

a clean heart, because a lot of us you say, well,

wait a minute, I'd like to be happy, but how

can I keep my conscience clear when it's not clear?

Right now? Well, then you need to do what. Psalm

thirty two to one says, what happiness for those whose

guilt has been forgiven? What joys when sins are covered over?

What relief for those who have confessed their sins and

God has cleared their record. That's I call that the

soap dish verse of the Bible. It just cleans us.

Now circle the word happiness and joy, and relief. You know,

those are three things that everybody is looking for in life.

We all want to be happy, We all want to

be we all want to enjoy life, and we all

want relief from our pain. And the Bible says it

comes from purity, and purity comes from forgiveness, from God's grace.

What happiness? What rejoy? What relief? For those who confess

their sins and God has cleared their record. So here's

a third exercise to maintain a happy heart. I got

to keep a clear conscience. That means I keep short

accounts with God. That means at the beginning and at

the end of every day, I do a spiritual inventory

and I say, God, is there anything between me and you?

I'm not going bed tonight with junk. I had some

garbage today that I picked up from bad attitudes, bad reactions,

things I said, things I did, And I'm not going

to climb into bed tonight with this sack of garbage

and get up in the morning and carry it off again. No, no, no,

I'm gonna deal with it. You practice what's called spiritual breathing.

You breathe out your sins in confession. You breathe them in.

You breathe them in a breathe in God's power and cleansing.

If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God has promised us. So

I keep my conscience clear, I keep short to counsel God.

I don't what would it How would your house smell

if you took out the garbage once a week? Pretty stinky.

You usually have to take it out every day, and

you need to do that spiritually too. You need to

take out the garbage every day. And if you do that,

you'll have a happier heart. You have confession to God

every day, and you get cleansing and forgiveness. Number four.

The fourth exercise to maintaining a happy heart is the

next verse, verse sixteen. And this is that I need

to memorize God's word and live it now. This is

an extremely important habit of happiness. I've told you many

times that if you're feeling depressed, if you're acting depressed,

it's because you feel depressed. And if you're feeling depressed,

it's because you're thinking depressed thoughts. If you want to

get out of your depression, you change the way you

think you be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

and you have to change your mind. And how do

you do that? How do I wash out the depressive

thoughts in my minds? Well, there are many ways. Sometimes

there's a chemical way, you know, if there's a chemical reaction,

and sometimes there's an emotional way, and sometimes there's a

relational way, and sometimes there's a spiritual way. The Bible

talks about the washing of the water of the word.

If I choose to dwell on a worry, have you

noticed when you dwelling worry, it gets bigger. It don't

gets smaller. The more you worry about something. The more

you worry, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Now,

if you know how to worry, you already know how

to meditate on the Word of God. Because worry is

when you take a negative thought and you think on

it over and over and over and over and over

and over and over. That's called worry. When you take

a passage of scripture and you think on it over

and over and over and over and over, that's called meditation.

And God has promised many, many wonderful benefits in your life.

If you will meditate on the Word of God and

then do it. You'll hear it and you'll study it

and you memorize it. Do you remember when we did

forty days on the Word. Do you remember the hand illustration.

That might be a good idea to just go here

and review that hand illustration. Okay, there are six ways

that you can fill your mind with God's word. There

are six ways you can get a grasp on God's Word.

You can hear it, you can read it, you can

study it, you can memorize it, you can meditate it

on it, and you can apply it. Now look up here.

If all you do, if your only intake of the

Word of God is hearing the Word of God, you

don't have a very good grip on the word. For instance,

if I am trying to hold on the Word of

God with just my pinky, Satan come along, he can

easily pull that out. It's very easy to pull it out.

Why because we forget ninety to ninety five percent of

everything we hear within seventy two hours. That's why I

never teach without handing you one of these things. Because

this is going to last longer than your memory. And

if you don't take notes, you're going to forget everything

I've said by Wednesday except maybe five percent. And if

you've never taken notes, you could have spent it saddle

back for thirty years and only remembered five percent of

everything I've said. And that's probably the jokes. So if

all you do is hear the Word of God, your

only intake of the Bible is coming to church, you

have no grip on the Word of God, and it

can be pulled out of your mind very very easily.

But if you begin to hear it and you read it,

now you read it every day, Now you got a

better grip. Okay, you got a little bit better grip,

and it's harder for Satan to pull it away because

you're not just hearing it, you're reading it. You got

a better grip. Okay. But if you hear it and

you read it and you study it, and we talked

about that in forty days a word, now you got

a better grip. But if you start memorizing it, thy

word have I hid in my heart that I sin

against you? And you meditate on it, you really think

about it, You're not gonna pull it out of my hand.

And if I apply it, then I have a solid

grip on the Word of God. Now why is that important? Well,

let's look at what scripture says. Look at these look

at these verses. The Bible says in verse sixteen, Well,

beIN two sixteen, hold tightly to the Word of Life.

And that's what I was just saying. You got a

hold tightly. You got to get a good grip on it.

You don't have a good grip on the b unless

you're doing all six habits, hearing it, reading it, studying it,

memorizing it, meditating on it. Then it can't be pulled out.

Hold tightly, the Bible says, to the Word of God.

Why should I do that? P Someone nineteen sixteen says,

your principles make me happy, so I never forget your word.

Now look at that verse for just a minute. Question

you want to be happy? Obviously you do principles. God's

principles make us happy. How do I remember God's principle?

I never forget circle never forget. That means you need

to memorize. You need to memorize. And you know that's

why we do this a lot in services. Will memorize

a verse in service because it's the only way you're

never going to forget it is to memorize it and

look at the next verse, lead me in the path

of your commands, because that is where my happiness is

fo Usually we're looking for happiness in all the wrong places.

God says, happiness is found where in the path of

God's commands. The fourth exercise is to maintain a happy

heart by memorizing God's word and then living it. Get

a grip hold tightly to the Word of life, Paul says.

Now there's one more, and the fifth exercise in Paul's

workout for a happy heart is this. It's the last verse,

use my life to serve God by serving others. If

I'm serious about happiness, and happiness is a serious subject,

if I'm serious about being happy, I need to use

my life to serve God by serving others. Now, the

only way you can serve God is by serving others.

You can't see God here on earth. He's invisible. So

how do you serve God when you can even see him?

You serve God by serving others. Jesus said in Matthew

twenty five. Inasmuch as you've done it under the least

of these, my brethren, you did it to me said,

even if you give a cup of cold water in

my name, He says, it as if you did it

to me. When you're polite to people, when you're nice

to people, when you're friendly, when you're helpful, when you

serve others, God says, it's like serving me. Now, how

does this bring happiness in my life? Because God wired

the universe that happiness does not come from status. I

know a lot of people's status who are very unhappy.

Happiness does not come from your salary. I know a

lot of wealthy people who aren't happy. It didn't come

from status. It didn't come from salary. It doesn't come

from sex, it doesn't come from success. It comes from service.

God wired the universe that you are most happy when

you were giving your life away. Why because He wants

us to become like him. It's all about love. So

the more I give my life away, the more I

serve others, And the more I serve God by serving others,

the happier I'm gonna be. Here's what Jesus said, If

you insist on saving your life for yourself, you will

lose it. Only those who sacrificially give away their lives

for my sake. And for the sake of the good News,

we'll ever know what it means to really live. And

this is the fifth secret of a happy heart. You

have to practice service and generosity every day. Practice service

and generosity every day. Jesus said it like this. I

didn't come to be served, but I came to serve

and to give my life as a ransom for many. Jesus,

that I came to serve and I came to give.

Those are the two things that will bring more happiness

in your life than anything else. Status won't. Success, won't, salary,

won't sex, won't. Service will Jesus that I came to

give and to serve. That those two words define what

it means to follow Jesus. If you're not serving, if

you're not giving, you're not following Jesus. It's just very simple.

But Jesus wired the universe in such a way that

the more I give myself away, the more God gives

to me, the more I'm blessed, and the happier I am.

Now notice this verse Philippians two seventeen and eighteen. Paul says,

your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice

in serving God. Your faith makes you offer your lives

as a sacrifice in serving God. That's using my life

to serve God by serving others. But then Paul adds,

if I have to offer my own blood, remember he's

in jail, he's in prison, he's getting ready for execution.

If I have to offer my own blood as a sacrifice,

I'll be happy and full of joy, and you should

be happy and full of joy with me too. I

want you to circle the word sacrifice in that verse.

Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice

in serving. Those two words, sacrifice and serving are two

of the keys to lifelong happiness, generosity and service. Giving

my life and giving my resources. So let me ask

you two very pointed questions. Number one, where do you

sacrificially volunteer to serve others on a regular basis? I

don't know. Would you like to be happier? Would you

like more happiness in your life? You need to add

sacrifice and serving in your life somehow. It's an essential

exercise for a happy heart. I read two articles this week,

one of them in an American medical journal and the

other in Time magazine. One of them said that they

have now proven that serving other people volunteering actually extends

your physical life. You will live longer. If part of

your life you give it away in unselfishly serving, sacrificing

for others in some way, you will live longer. Studies

have shown this. That's an amazing fact. And the other

one was is that serving is one of the quickest

ways to pull yourself out of depression. That's obviously not

the only way, but it's one way to pull yourself

out of depression by getting my focus off me and

getting my focus on somebody else. God has wired the

universe that through sacrifice and through serving, my joy goes

up and my sorrow goes down. So where do you

sacrificially volunteer to serve others on a regular basis? Let

me ask you another one. Is your heart growing more

generous every year? Are you more generous with your resources

this year than you were a year ago? And are

you more generous that year than you were the year before?

Or are you stuck at the same level of generosity

and wondering why you're stuck in unhappiness? Jesus said, it

is more blessed to give than to receive. Remember what

blessed means, Ma Carrios. It's happy. There's more happiness in

giving than in receiving. Jesus says, my giving reveals the

condition of my heart. He says, where your treasure is,

your heart will be so. It only not only reveals

my giving, reveals how happy my heart is. Giving also

increases the happiness in my heart. It's an attitude. It

is exercise and exercise that causes me to be happier.

It is not an accident that the word miserable comes

from the word miser duh. And the more miserly I am,

it's mine, it's mine, it's mine. I'm gonna keep it,

I'm gonna hold on tightly. The more miserable I'm going

to be. You know my testimony this I don't have

to tell you about this one that as God has

challenged me every year, ca and I determined that we

would be more generous than the year before, and it

has created a lot of joy. Now let me just

close before you begin these exercises, these five workouts that

Paul gives for more happiness in your heart. You know,

if you were going to go to an exercise program,

they always say, the first thing you do is you

need to check with your doctor about any pre existing condition.

Remember that they always said before attempting this, every book,

every exercise, before attempting this, check with your doctor about

any pre existing condition, because you might have a heart problem. Well,

I'll tell you right now, spiritually, you have a heart problem.

You got a coronary disease. It's called sin. And yes,

you do have a heart problem. And that's why in

order to before you can do these exercisees, you got

to get your heart healed. The Bible tells us. You

know what I love about the Bible, It's just honest.

It always tells the truth, even when it's painful, even

when you don't why, it tells us the truth. The

Bible tells us that their hearts. Our hearts are often

broken and bitter. The Bible tells us that our hearts

are often sick and self centered. The Bible says that

our hearts are often deceptive and discouraging, that we have

an amazing ability to deceive ourselves. The Bible tells us

that our hearts are often cold and calculating. The Bible

tells us that our hearts are sometimes fearful, that sometimes

our hearts are frustrating. We all have coronary disease. Spiritually,

what we need is a new heart. What we need

is a heart transplant. Now, I would like to recommend

to you my favorite heart specialist. His name is doctor Jesus.

All right, and let me tell you I've been going

to him for like my whole life. Let me tell

you why I like doctor Jesus as a heart specialist.

He makes house calls. He has never lost a patient,

not one. He doesn't charge anything. It's all grace. That's

a good one. Uh, there's no way he will see

you right now. He will see you right now. But

the main thing is he species in heart transplants, you

get a whole new heart. God doesn't just fix up

your old one. He gives you a brand new heart.

Ezekiel thirty six twenty six says this, I will give

you a new heart with a new and right desire,

and I will put a new spirit in you. And

i will take out your heart hardened by sin, and

I'll give you a new heart of love. Wow. Now,

these are God's workout conditions for a happy heart. And

remember the verse said you got to work out your

salvation after what God has worked in. But you can't

work on your salvation. You can't work out your salvation.

You can't strengthen what God has given you until you've

got it. You can't work out your salvation until God

works it in you. How do I get it? Last

verse on your outline, Acts four twelve can only be

found in Jesus alone. In all the world. There's no

other name. There is no one else whom God has

given who can save us. So we start with that one.

Let's bow our heads.

Now.

As I told you, it's easy to explain these five exercises.

In Paul's work Out for a Happy Heart, he says

you must continue to work out. You can't just stop,

But he says, first, God's got to work in both

the will and act according to His good pleasure. You

may have gone to church all of your life, or

maybe this is your first visit. It really doesn't matter.

You may be a religious person. You may be Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist, Mormon,

you know, Moslim or Muslim, or no other religion whatever,

maybe an atheist. You still need a heart transplant, and

salvation can only be found in Jesus alone in all

the world. There's no one else whom God has given

who can save us. So why don't you, in just

sincerity and humility, talk to God right now? So I

don't know what to say, Well, let me give you

words to say. Just say something like this, Dear God,

I need a new heart. Mine has been broken, battered, embittered.

It's been fearful and frustrated. It's been cold and calculating.

Sometimes it's been deceptive, it's been discouraged. I've been fearful,

and I've been frustrated, and sometimes I've been sick and

self centered. And I need a heart transplant. Dear God,

I want to become a new person inside. Jesus Christ,

I ask you to do heart surgery on me today,

as much as I know how. I ask you to

come into my life life and work in me and

give me both the desire and the ability to do

the right thing. Lord, I can't do any of this

work out until first you've done the working in. So

I'm asking you to save me. I want to put

my trust in you. I want to learn to love you,

and I want to learn to follow you, Jesus, from

this day forward as best I know how. And I

pray this in your name Amen.

If you just prayed to receive Jesus congratulations, we would

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Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

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