Rick Warren - God’s Promise to the Generous—Part One

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. I can't

wait for today's message. Here is part one of a

message called God's Promise to the Generous.

Today we wrap up the series by looking at the

last habit in the last passage or the last few verses.

Of this incredible book.

Now, Paul ends this little book with the greatest promise

ever given in the Bible, without a doubt, Philippians four

nineteen is the greatest promise God gives to you and

to me. And the reason I say it's the greatest

because it's so inclusive, it's so expansive, it's so including

and encompassing every other promise of the Bible. Philippians four

nineteen says this, You can be sure that God will

take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding yours

in the glory that pours from Jesus. You can be

sure that God will take care of everything you need,

his generosity exceeding yours in the glory that pours out

from Jesus. Now that word first, it says you can

be sure. In other words, this is not a hope,

This is not a wish, This is the might. This

is not I'd really like this. This is a certainty.

God guarantees this. God says, I guarantee that I will

take care of everything you need, my generosity exceeding yours.

I'll take care of everything you need. I had to

go look up that word everything. It's a little word

in the Greek. It's the word poss pas in Greek,

and posse means anything, everything, all things, whatever, whenever, however,

every circumstance, at all times. Now, what is not included

in that word nothing?

I mean, there's no wiggle room in that word. There's nothing.

So then my big question when I look at that

versus this, then, why do you have so many unmet needs?

Is God a liar? Is this just a verse?

You go, oh, yeah, I kind of hope this works

or not? Is God really a liar? Is God actually

saying I will meet every need? Does that include emotional

needs yes? Does it mean physical needs yes? Financial needs yes,

relational needs yes, Spiritual needs yes. God says, I guarantee

that I will meet every one of your needs, and

my generosity will exceed yours. So why aren't all your

needs met?

Well?

As you know, I've said this many times, there's a condition.

With every promise, there is a promise. With every promise

in the Bible. There are over seven thousand promises in

the Bible. And God says, if you do this, then

I'll do this. If you do this, then I'll do that.

And if you do that, then I'll do this. And

God says, there's a premise. With every promise, there is

a condition. Now I can't claim Philippians four nineteen. Paul

ends this book with the greatest promise in the Bible

unless I do what is talked about in verses fourteen

to seventeen, verse eighteen, And in that passage of scripture

it talks about generosity. In fact, that phrase in the

message paraphrase says God's generosity exceeds yours. This promise is

tied to generosity. God says, I will never let you

give more than me. You cannot outgive God. You've heard

me say that many many times. Now go back and

Remember the reason that Paul wrote this book. It's a

thank you note for an offering. Remember Paul is in

prison in Rome. He's an old man. He's awaiting execution

by Nero. He has started churches all over the Roman Empire.

One in corinth and he writes letters to them called

the Corinthians, and one in Philippi and he writes a

letter to them called the Letter to the Philippians. One

in a church in Thessalonika. It's a city in Greece,

and that's called First and Second Thessalonians. If he had

started saddleback, he would write first and Second Californians. And

he writes these letters and then he says, you guys

in Philippi, you have been the most generous with me.

He says, you have helped me time and time again.

And this is a fake you note. This book that

he writes is a thank you note and a receipt

for their generosity. He saying, I got your gift. And

through the entire book he talks about joy and generosity,

Joy and generosity. In fact, Paul actually brags about this

church to all the other churches he started, and he

writes a letter to the people in corinth the Corinthians,

and he actually brags about these guys.

If they're on your outline.

I want to look at this as the context of

where we're going today. Tewod Corinthians eight, Paul says. To

the people there, he says, I want you to know

about the church in Philippi's generosity. He said, even while

suffering in severe trials, the Philippian church was and extreme poverty.

This was an incredibly poor church, very poor church. Their

lives have overflowed with joy. I notice, even when they're

going through tough times and extreme poverty, he said, these

Philippians are still overflowed with joy because of their amazing generosity.

He says, I personally witnessed their giving and not simply

giving what they could afford, but giving even beyond human ability.

So these people were flat broke, they were in extreme poverty.

None of us are in extreme poverty, he said. Yet

they were giving even beyond their human ability. How in

the world do you do that, he said. Nobody told

them to do it. It was due to their own

generous hearts. In fact, they begged and they pleaded for

the privilege of giving to serve God's people. And they

gave in such a way that we did not expect.

He said, first they gave themselves to the Lord, and

then they gave themselves to us, and that is what

pleases God. So Paul is bragging about this church, saying,

this is the most generous church on the planet. If

God brag about your generosity, if God would ask you

to stand up right now and say, let me tell

you how generous this person is with their time, with

their money, with their influence, with their energy, with their praise,

with their words. This person is an incredibly generous person. Now,

there are really only two kinds of people in life,

their givers and their takers. And you have to make

a choice. This is one of the habits of happiness.

You have to make a choice. Am I gonna be

a giver in life? Or am I going to be

a taker in life? I've told you many times, if

not by accident, that the word miser and the word

miserable go together. The more it's all about me, the

more I take, take, take, take, take, the more unhappy

I am. The more I give, give, give, give, give,

the more generous I am with every area of my life,

my praise generous, with my love, generous with my time,

generous with my money. The more generous I am, the

more happy I'm going to be. Now, during this series,

we've looked at the Book of Philippians, and we've looked

at what I've called the habits of happiness. And we've

looked at the habit of integrity, and the habit of humility,

and the habit of charity. We've looked at the habit

of serenity. How do you live with peace of mind?

We've looked at the habit of reliability, being dependable, We've

looked at the habit of productivity. Paul ends this book

with one final habit. He says, if you really want

to be happy in life, you're going to have to

learn the habit of generosity. That's going to produce more joy,

more happiness in your life. And through the whole book

he does this, and he's talking about these different things

we have to learn. In Philippians chapter one, verse nine,

he says, you've got to learn how to love, and

then in Philippians one, verse ten, he says, you've got

to learn what matters most.

Will make you happy.

And then in Philippians three he says, verse ten you've

got to learn how to know Christ and what it

means to go through tough time suffer with him. He said,

that'll actually make you happy. And in three seventeen, Chapter three,

verse seventeen, he says, you've got to learn to be mature.

The more mature you are, the happier you'll be. Last

week we looked at Philippians. Chapter four, verse eleven. He says,

you got to learn to be content. That's a habit

of happiness. And he says, if you'll learn to be content,

then you're gonna learn to be happy. And in these

last few verses of this book, he says, you got

to learn to be generous. And if you learn to

be generous, your joy is going to overflow. So here's

what I want to do today. I'm gonna quickly take

you through the book and do a summary. Just give

you six things. The list six things of the benefits

of being a generous person instead of being a taker

in life, being a giver in life. I'm gonna give

you the six benefits of what it does to you.

And then I'm gonna explain to you how you can

claim that promise where God says I will meet every

need in your life, My generosity will exceed yours. Now,

the Bible says in Proverbs chapter eleven, verse seventeen, the

kind and generous man benefits himself.

What does that mean.

It means that you're gonna get out of life what

you put into it. The kind and generous man benefits himself.

God has established. One of the laws of the universe

is this. You're gonna sow what you reap. Whatever you plant,

you're gonna harvest. Whatever you give out, you're gonna get back.

But you're always gonna get back more than whatever you

give out. Now, this is true in every area of

your life. If you give out praise, people are gonna

praise you back. If you give out love, people are

gonna love you back. If you give out gossip, people

are gonna gossip about you. If you get angry with others,

people are gonna get angry with you. If you are

generous with others, other people are gonna be generous with you.

Now here's the point.

Whatever you need more of in your life, you need

to give away what you've got. Let me say it again,

whatever you need more of in your life, you need

to give away what you got in other words, let's

say you don't have any energy.

You're tired all the time. You're worn out.

How do you get more energy by laying around on

the couch watching TV. No, that didn't give you energy.

There's only one way to get energy. Expend what you've got.

You need to get up and exercise. Why because exercise

actually increases your energy, not decreasing it. By using what

you've got, you actually get more. So, if you need

more time in your life, you need to give away

some of your time unselfishly, serving others, serving God unselfishly.

And God says, I'll give you back more than you

have given out. I will never let you be more

generous than me. Whatever you need more of, you give

it away. You need more money, you need to give

away some of your money. You need more energy, you

need to go give away some of your energy. The

kind and generous person will benefit himself.

Now how do I benefit myself? Well?

The Book of Philippians, which is about a thank you

note for generosity, gives the six ways that when you're

a giver not a taker in life, you actually end

up being blessed more. Number one, the first benefit of

generosity is I earn the gratitude of others. I earn

the gratitude of others. You go up in esteem, you

go up in your reputation, you go up in people

loving and being grateful for you.

The more of a giver you are.

If you think about the people in your life that

you're most grateful for, who are they? They're the people

who invested in you. They invested time, money, energy, patience, whatever.

The people you're most grateful for are the people who've

given them most to you. If they've been stingy, you're

not grateful for them. Now, let me see it this way.

You earn a living by what you make, but you

earn the respect, and you earn the gratitude of others,

and you earn a legacy, and you earn a reputation

by what you give. You earn a living by what

you make, You earn a life by what you give,

and you earn the gratitude of others. Paul gives an

example of this, that the most giving people to the

most appreciated people. Philippians Chapter four, This last passage we're

looking at. He says this, how grateful I am, and

how I praise the Lord that you are helping me again.

They just sent it an offering to him. It was

so good that you helped me when I needed it.

You Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial

help when I brought.

You the good news. No other church did this.

You sent me aid again and again when I was

in need. So I am generously supplied with the gifts

you sent me. And look of the next verse Philippians

Won three, five and seventy says, every time I think

of you, I give thanks to God for you. Because

you've been my partners in spreading the good news. It's

right that I should feel as I do about you,

in other words, so grateful, so loving, for you have

been a very special place in my heart. We have

shared together the blessings of God. Question, is anybody grateful

for your generosity? Can you think of five, ten, fifteen,

twenty people? Go, Man, that person is so loving, they

are so giving. They have been so generous with me

that they are grateful for you. Why don't you write

a note or make a call to all the people

who've been generous to you a way to give thanks.

You can give thanks by talking to people, say thank

you for your generosity to me. The way, You've been

so giving in my life. You were there when I

needed you. You help me financially, you help me physically,

you help me emotionally. The people who've been given to you,

you speak grateful for them, But at the same time

you want to say, who am I being generous to

that they're grateful to me. That's the first thing I earn,

the gratitude of others. Number Two. Every time I'm generous,

I show what really matters most. I show what really

matters most every time I'm generous. Why Because what matters

most things are people.

People.

Things don't matter most. Life is not about the acquisition

of things. Now, when you give, when you're generous with

your time, your money, your energy, whatever, every time you give,

you're showing what matters to you. Tell me how you

spend your money, tell me how you spe spend your time,

and I'll tell you what matters most to you. And

if I looked at some of your schedules, what matters

most to you is your hobby. What matters most to

you is your sport. Some of you you look at

your time, money, What matters most to you is your children.

I'm not saying that's wrong I'm just saying, whatever you

spend your money on most is what matters to you

the most. Jesus said it like this, Wherever your money is,

your heart's going to be there.

See.

I don't care about Microsoft because I don't own stock

and Microsoft.

But if I bought.

Stock and Microsoft all of a sudden, I'd care about

the success of that company because wherever you put your money,

that's where you put your heart. And so when I

am generous, it shows what really matters most. Now, Paul

talks about this issue through the whole book. We've looked

at it for nine weeks. Look at some of these

verses Philippians one verse ten, I want you to understand

what really matters, Paul saying, I want you to understand

what really matters. And the way I give shows what

really matters in my life. What does matter my life

not acquisition. Life is not about the accumulation of things.

He who dies with the most toys still dies. I

heard about this guy who a billionaire, and this is

a true story. A billionaire oil man asked to be

buried in his Cadillac and at the funeral, one of

the guys said, man, that's living.

Really and I'd call that dying is what I call it.

That's dying.

And so what you put your self in emphasis in

shows what matters most. Jesus said, a man's life does

not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses.

In other words, I could spend my whole life working

working hard to get money so I can buy things, things, things, things, things,

and my pile of things can get bigger and bigger

and bigger, and at.

The end of the life, my pile is this big.

So what.

Life is not about things? It's about learning how to love.

It's learning about relationships. And if at the end of

life I've got a giant pile of things, but I'm

estrange for my wife and kids, I missed it. I

just missed the purpose of life, because the purpose of

life is not collecting things. You are to use things

and love people. If you start loving things, you're gonna

use people.

You get it reversed.

And so every time I'm generous with my time, with

my money, with my effort, with my energy, I really say,

what matters most is God and people. What matters most

is love. Now Paul talks about this in verse chapter three,

verse seven, all those things, all those little fribulties that

I thought were so very important, I now consider worthless.

I don't have to have that, I don't need a

status symbol to make me feel good about myself. I

now consider worthless because of Christ. You see, this is

how generosity breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Now,

what is materialism? Materialism is the idea that having more

will make me more happy, more secure, and more valuable.

And none of those things are true. We talked about

that last week. That's materialism. Materialism is all about.

Getting, get get, get, get, get, get get.

I gotta get a little bit more next year. I

gotta get a little bit more next year.

I gotta get.

That's called materialism. How do you break the grip of

materialism in your life? There's only one way. The anecdote

forgetting is giving. So every time I'm generous and I

take something that I've got and I give it to you,

or I give it to God, or I give it

to a poor person or whatever, then I am actually

breaking the grip of materialism in my life. In Philippians

three twenty, Paul says, where's citizens of heaven?

Where the Lord Jesus Christ live.

He says, I'm not living for here and now I'm

storing up for eternity. I'm not trying to make my

pile on this side of eternity. I'm trying to make

my pile on that side of eternity. I'm living in

light of heaven. See what does my generosity? What does

my giving reveal about me? What is it reveals most important?

Where I put my money is where I put my heart?

Now Number three the third thing. Every time I'm generous,

I earn the gratitude of others. I show what really matters.

Number three, I become more like Jesus.

Why.

Because Jesus is the most generous person who ever lived.

Jesus is a giver. Why am I becoming more like Jesus?

Because giving is the essence of God. God is a giver.

If God was not a giver, none of us would

be sitting here right now. Because everything in my life

and everything in your life is a sheer gift of God.

If God wasn't generous, I'd have nothing. The air we breathe,

the sun that shines down on us, the fact that

my heart is beating that I'm taking the fact that

I have lungs.

I didn't earn these lungs. I didn't earn this life.

It was given to me out of God's great generosity.

If God wasn't a generous god, I would have never

been created. And if God wasn't a generous God, I

wouldn't say the next word word.

Everything.

The Bible says, every good gift and every perfect gift

comes down from the heavenly Father of life.

He said, well, wait a minute, I earned this stuff.

Where do you think you got the ability to earn?

But I thought it up? Where do you think you

got your brain?

Everything in your life is a gift of God. Everything,

the freedom you have, the fact that you have eyes

to see, it, ears to hear, It's all a gift

of God. Because God is generous. Now, God wants his

children to become like him, the Bible says, God so

loved the world that he he gave. You've heard me

say this many times. You can give without loving, but

you cannot love without giving. So you say, well, you

know I really love my kids, do you give them

your time?

Well? I really love my wife, what are you giving her?

God so loved the world that he gave and This

is what love is all about. I become more loving

when I become more generous. You spell love giv Lust

is based on getting. Love is based on giving. Lust

can never wait to get. Love can always wait to give.

You know, one of the things you ask about us

most here on Daily Hope are the Bible scripture cards.

We get a ton of requests for them, so Pastor

Rick has created another deck of scripture cards with fifty

two key verses from his Habits of Happiness teaching series.

These verses will help you discover God's path to true

and lasting happiness. They're colorful, eye catching cards, and they

make it easy to memorize the Word of God, so

you have it when you need it most. Something you

hear Pastor Rick talking about all the time, so be

sure to ask for the Habits of Happiness scripture cards

when you support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with a gift

to help share the hope of Jesus Christ with people

all around the world. It's our way of saying thanks.

Just go to Pastorick dot com to get your copy

of this great resource. That's Pastororick dot com. Or you

can just text the word hope to seven oh three

oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to seven oh

three oh nine. And thank you so much for your support.

Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope

of Christ with people everywhere. Be sure to join us

next time as we look into God's Word for our

daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily

Hope and your generous financial support.