Rick Warren - How to Keep from Stressing Out—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 that 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. Okay, here's

the final part of a message called how to keep

from Stressing out?

If I want to reduce the stress in my life,

I worry about nothing, I pray about everything, I thank

God in all things. And number four, I think about

good things. I think about good things. Now this is

extremely important because the stress and your war with stress

in your life, that war, that battle is going on

between your ears. The stress isn't out there, it's in here.

It's inside. It's between your ears. The battle is in

your brain. It's in your thought life. It's in your mind.

And your war with stress or won or lost in

your mind, and what you fill your mind with will

determine the level of stress in your life. If you

want peace of mind, now listen closely. If you want

peace of mind, you're going to have to start controlling

what you allow in it. Most people they just their

mind's like a freeway. Anything can drive through it. And

they fill their mind with poison and garbage and stuffing

and all kinds of things. And you know, the mind

is like a computer. It's gigo, garbage in, garbage out.

Whatever you put.

In your mind is going to come out in your life.

And so they go and they see movies they shouldn't see,

and they watch shows they shouldn't watch, and they read

novels they should and they listen to gossip they shouldn't

listen to, and they just let anything in their mind.

Worry about water pollution, They worried about food pollution, they

worry about air pollution, but they're not worried at all

about mind pollution. And yet that's the most serious pollution.

They said, well, I'm just trying to be open minded.

Some people are so open minded their brains fall out,

and they will allow anything into their lives and let it.

Now here's what the Bible says, Philippians four eight. Fill

your mind with those things that are true and good

and right. Think about there it is fill your minth.

Think about things that are pure and beautiful and respected.

If anything is excellent, if anything is worthy of honor.

Think about those things. Now.

Notice the Bible gives us eight tests on whether we

should allow something in our mind or not. He says,

if you want to lower the stress, you're gonna have

to change what you think about, in control what you

allow into your mind. And the eight tests are before

I listen to or watch or talk or say or

hear this, I should say, is it true?

Is it good? Is it right? Is it pure?

Is it beautiful? Is it respected? Is it excellent? Is

it worthy of honor? Now he says, here, think on

things that are good and pure and right. Let me

give you a verse to write down. Proverbs fourteen to nine.

This isn't in your outline Proverbs fourteen nine, it's here

on the screen. It says this, fools make fun of sin.

That's foolish. That's foolish. Now, when you think about these

things true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy, you

know what that is.

It's a picture of God. And what he's really saying

is think about God.

Here's what Isaiah says. There on your outline, you Lord

will keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live

in perfect peace? Would you like to be less stressed?

Out?

You Lord, will keep in perfect peace all who trust

in you, whose thoughts are fixed on.

You.

If you fix your thoughts on God, he says, I

will keep you in perfect peace. You see, what you

think about is going to determine how stressed and how

worried you are. You know, I've told you the story

of Corey tin Boom. Corey tin Boom was a Dutch

Christian young woman during World War Two. Her family the

ten Boom family. Her dad was a clockmaker and they

lived in Amsterdam during World War two and they made

a story that she wrote a book about and the

actually made it movie of her life called The Hiding Place.

And during World War Two, the ten Boom this Christian

family took in Jewish friends and hid them in what

was called the Hiding Place in their house for many

years to prevent them from being captured by the Nazis

and shipped off to death camps. One day, the Nazis

found out and not only took the Jewish friends, but

took Corey and her family and they went were taken

to death camps in Poland and Corey lost her entire family.

She was the only one that survived.

And it's a very wonderful story, and in it she

says something I've never forgotten. She said, if you look

at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within,

you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll

be at rest. It all depends on what you have

your eyes on. You know, people said, well look within,

Well I did. I didn't like what I saw. I

don't want to look. But then I want to look without.

I want to look at God. I want to look

at Christ. Think about good things. Now there's one other step.

That's number five. Be content with anything. The Bible tells

us to be content with anything. This is the fifth

key to living a reduced stress life, where God says,

if you do these things, you'll have God's peace in

your life. Now, let me explain contentment, because a lot

of people misunderstand the meaning of contentment. A lot of

people think means content and means I have no ambition.

No, no, no, no.

Paul who wrote this book, Remember, he's probably one of

the most ambitious men who ever lived. He single handedly

takes the good News the Gospel all across the Roman Empire.

He's one of the most ambitious people ever. And he

says I've learned to be content, so it has nothing

to do with ambition. That's not contentment. Contentment is not laziness.

Contentment is not apathy. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment is

not fatalism. What will be will be case. Contentment is

not lacking ambition. Content Here's what contentment is. It's enjoying

what I have right now, rather than waiting for something

else to happen in order for me to be happy.

Does that make sense?

It's enjoying what I've got right doesn't mean I don't

want to progress, doesn't mean I don't have goals.

The Bible says you should have goals.

It means I'm not waiting for something to happen in

my life in order to be happy. Contentment is the

opposite of coveting. Coveting is when and then thinking, when

this happens, then i'll be happy. When this happens, then

i'll be happy. And when that happens, then I'll be happy.

That's when and then thinking. Contentment is actually independence from circumstances.

It means my joy is not connected to what's happening

in my life right now. My joy, my happiness is

not based on my happenings. It's not based on my circumstances.

It means I've learned to enjoy whatever I've got right now,

and I'm not waiting for something or someone to make

me happy.

Now.

Here's what Paul says in the next two verses, verse

eleven twelve. He says, I've learned. I've learned to be

content circle the word learned. Contentment is not natural. I'm

about my nature content. You're not by nature content. You

have to learn it, just like you have to unlearn

worry and you have to learn happiness.

You have to learn.

Contentment, something that we get educated on. I've learned to

be content whatever the circumstances, he says, I know how

to live on almost nothing, or I know how to

live with everything. And in the original Greek here he

said I know how to live in poverty and I

know how to live in luxury.

I know them both. I know how to be happy.

And either in poverty and luxury and nothing or with everything,

I've learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether

I'm well fed or hungry, or whether I have more

than I need or when I don't have enough. Now,

he says there I have learned to be content. How

do I learn contentment? Let me give you a couple

of three ways. You might just write these down. They're

not in your notes, so just write them down. The

first way you learn contentment is this, stop comparing. Stop comparing.

That's so important because the source of all discontent is comparison.

I remember many, many years ago, when I was a

little boy and got up on Christmas morning and my

parents had given me the gift of my lifetime, a

Stingray bicycle.

Okay, well, these butterfly handles get your motor runing banana.

I thought it was so cool, and I thought I

was so cool until I saw my neighbor got a

better one, and my happiness went out the door. Now,

the Bible tells us over and over and over it's

foolish to compare yourself to anybody else.

Why Two reasons.

One, you're always gonna find somebody who's doing a better

job than you, and somebody who.

Has more than you, and you're gonna get discouraged.

Two you're always gonna find somebody you're doing a better

job then, and you have more then, and you get

full of pride. Either way, you're dead in the water.

God takes you out of the game and you sit

on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Discouragement

and pride are the two things that take you, knock you.

Out of life. So he says, don't do that. God says,

I called you to be you. I made you to

be you. If you don't be you, who's gonna be you?

When you get to heaven, God is gonna say, why

weren't you more like your sister, or why weren't you

more like your mom or your dad?

Or what God didn't? Why don't you be you? I

made you to be you.

Most of us start off as originals and end up

as carbon copies. God never makes copies of anything.

No two snowflakes are like. No two human beings are like.

You have a unique thumb print, handprint, voice print, footprint, ieprint.

You are unique.

Even identical twins aren't really identical. They're different in millions

of ways. God never makes a repeat. God man makes clones.

God never makes clones. When God made you, he broke

the mold. God wants you to be you, And if

you don't be you, who's gonna be you? And so

he says, stop comparing and when you because when you compare,

you get jealous and you get envious. Now, the Bible

says this, look at this verse on your outline. Peace

of mind makes the body healthy. But envy is like

a cancer. In other words, it.

Eats you up. It will eat you alive if you

get envious.

Now that phrase peace of mind makes the body healthy.

Phrase that word piece of mind. Actually another translation is

the word contentment. Contentment makes the body healthy. So stop comparing.

Here's a second little tip for learning contentment. Stop thinking

that having more is better. You see, there are three

myths that we're taught by advertising in society. Having more

will make me more happy, having more will make me

more important, Having more will make me more secure.

None of those are true. They're all lies.

Having more will not make you more happy, having more

will not make you more valuable, And having more will

not make.

You more secure. In the first place, you can lose

it all. You can use billions.

You can lose a billion dollars in a lot of ways.

And your value is not based on your valuables, and

your net worth is not based on your self. Worth

is not based on your net worth. It's based on

who You are not what you own. So stop thinking

that having more will make me more happy, having more

will make me more important, having more will make me

more secure.

None of those are true.

You need to find your security in something that can

never be taken from you.

Well, I can't.

If I put my security in my job, it can

be taken from me. If I put security in my

bank account, I can lose that. If I put my

security in my health, I can lose that, or my

good looks I can lose that. It has to put

security and something can't be taken from me, and that

is my relationship to God. I'll never forget Victor Frankel

standing in a death camp. If you've never read his book,

A Man Search for Me, It's terrific book. And he says,

you know, they stripped me naked, they took away everything,

including my wedding ring. And then he said, I realized

that there was one thing that could never be taken

away from me, my ability to choose my response. You

cannot control everything that happens in your life, but you

can't choose how you respond. That's your freedom. Now here's

what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes chapter four it's better to

only have a little with peace of mind than to

be busy all the time with both hands trying to

catch the wind. That's what I call the saddleback Center.

We go out and we buy things we can't afford

with money, we don't have to impress people we don't

even like, and then we get in debt. We have

to become workaholics to pay for all the things we've bought.

And if you own something and God told you to

give it away, you don't own it. It owns you.

A lot of people are possessed by their possessions. There's

nothing wrong with possessions, nothing wrong with them, but unless

you make it your God, and you cannot be possessed

by your possessions.

And he said, you know, if your.

Whole life is trying to work harder to pay for stuff,

he says, you're missing the point. A third day and

I'll end with this is learn to learn to admire

without having to acquire. I've found this personally fun for me.

Learn to admire without having to acquire. In other words,

I have learned that I don't have to own it

in order to enjoy it. The fact is with ownership

ownership's a lot.

Of pain a lot of the times.

I mean, you got to insure it, you got to

maintain it, you gotta store it, you gotta haul it.

I mean, let me give you an example.

My family and my kids and my grandkids, we like

the jet ski and we like to go down to

Mission Bay in San Diego, particularly in jet ski We've

done on several vacations, will go jet skiing. And because

we've done this a lot as a family, I've offer thought, well,

maybe I should go buy some jet skis, And then

why in the world would I do that? I mean,

then I got to insure it. Then I gotta maintain it.

Then I gotta store it. Then I got to haul

it back and forth. You know, if it's just down there,

I go down there and use it.

Rent it for an hour or two. I'm going to

give you a true confession. I know it's going to

shock you.

I have never spent one hour of my life scraping

barnacles off my boat.

Because I don't know one.

I just use yours. You gotta lodge it aspen. I'll

jump up and down on your bed. You can ensure it,

maintain it, and store it, and haul it and learn

to admire without having to acquire.

Learn that I don't.

Have to own it to enjoy it. That's part of contentment. Now,

these five strategies that I've just mean, they're very easy

for me to explain, but they're very hard to do.

It's not easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy

to pray about everything. It's not easy to thank God

in everything. It's not easy to think about good things,

and it's not easy to be content with anything. So

where in the world am I gonna get the energy

to do these things that reduce the stress in my life?

God says this, You come to me.

You come to me, and I will give you the

power and the ability to do what will help you

do what is best for you. Paul ends this passage

with verse thirteen. One of the most famous verses in

the Bible is verse thirteen. I have the strength to

face anything and everything by the power that Christ gives me.

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

I can worry about nothing when Christ strengthens me. I

can pray about everything when Christ strengthens me. I can

thank God in everything and all things. When Christ strengthens me.

I can keep my mind on the right thing when

God strengthens me, and I can be content with anything

when Christ strengthens me. What we're talking to here is

not about a religion. Religion about a relationship. You may

be Buddhist, you may be a Baptist. You may be

a Catholic or Protestant or Jewish, I mean, Muslim, or Mormon,

or no religion at all. God has never made a

person he doesn't love. God has never made a person

he didn't die for. God has never made a person

he doesn't have a purpose for. And he says, if

you'll come to me, I will help you. I'm going

to close this last verse job twenty two. Verse twenty

one says this obey God and be at peace with him.

This is the way to happiness.

You see.

The real reason you're not at peace is because you're

at war with God. And until you make your peace

with God, that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus

to do, is to make peace with God for us.

When you make peace with God, then you get the

peace of God, and then you can have peace with others.

They're not going to be peace in the world till

the Prince of Peace.

Is reigning in our hearts.

So in order for you to have the peace of God,

you have to first have the peace with God. And

let's close of that, let's bow our heads. Would you

bow your heads with me? And I'm going to lead

you in a prayer. My blessing on you this week

is Romans fifteen thirty three. It says, I pray that God,

who gives peace, will be with you. So would you

pray this simple prayer. It doesn't really matter what your

words you say. If you just say, as I say this,

you say me to God, me too, say, Dear God,

I don't really want to be stressed out. I want

to learn the habits of happiness. And you have promised

that if I do these things, I will experience your peace.

So I'm gonna hold you at your word. Now.

I don't have the strength to do these so Jesus Christ,

I need you to give me that strength.

Help me to worry about nothing.

To remember it's unreasonable and unnatural and unhelpful and unnecessary.

You're gonna take care of me.

Dear God, help me to worry about nothing, and Dear God,

help me to pray about everything instead of talking to

myself to talk to you. Help me to thank God

in all things. Help me to think about the good

things and God, I ask you to help me to

be content with anything.

God. I want to have.

Peace with you so I can have the peace of God.

Jesus Christ.

I don't understand it all, but as much as I

know how, I say yes to you. I don't want

a religion. I want a relationship. I just want to

get to know you.

And so I.

Open my heart as humbly God, I say, make yourself

real to me, and I pray this in your name.

Amen.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to

love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

And then Jesus said, go make disciples, that's evangelism, Baptize

them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything

I've taught you, that's discipleship, and we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it Daily Hope, that a great

commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will

produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,

a great community.

You know.

I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good

news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around

the world. And we want people to know that God's

word is filled with hope and truth and the power

that we need to follow him every day is available

to every single one. You know as well as I do,

that the Word of God changes lives. It's a live

it's active, and it breathes new life and new love

into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this,

whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on

a radio station, or whether you listen through a podcast,

you're a part of the Daily Hope family, and I

need your help. We could not do this without your support.

We're one hundred percent listener funded. Would you continue to

pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us.

And let write to me, let me hear from you.

I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.

So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry,

and God will bless it, and God will bless you,

and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for

all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.

Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

just go to pastor rick dot com. That's pastorrick dot com,

or you can text the word hope to seven oh

three oh nine. That's the word hope to seven oh

three oh nine. And really, from the bottom of our hearts,

we thank you so much for your support. Your gift

to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ

with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next

time when 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.