Rick Warren - You Need Others for Spiritual Support—Part One

Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the

Bible teaching Ministry of Rick Warren. We're so excited that

you've joined us today. As we continue in this powerful

series how the Church meets your deepest needs. Together, we're

uncovering the joy and strength that comes from being a

part of God's family. And now here's Rick withd part

one of a message called you Need Others for spiritual support.

Now, if you take out your message notes, I want

to begin with a fundamental truth about you. You are

not just a body. Okay, You're not just a body.

You're far more than just your physical frame. Your body

is very important, but you have a soul and you

have a spirit. Now, the world only focuses on your

body and your mind, but God also cares about the

development of your soul and your spirit. And that's why

He puts you on earth to develop your spirit and

your soul before you're ready for eternity. I talk about

in Purpose Driven Life that life is a test and

life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment

before eternity, and God has five purposes for you here

while you're on this planet. Now, the Bible talks about

these five purposes in details, and I even wrote about

them in The Purpose Driven Life. But attached to those

five purposes for your life are five deep emotional and

spiritual needs. Your five deepest emotional spiritual needs. Now, next weekend,

I'm going to go deeper in explaining these, So don't

worry about writing this down. It's just a little sneak preview.

But all five of these needs that God placed in

you can only be met by full participation in God's family.

God's family, the church is the tool that God created

to meet your deepest needs.

So what are they? Well?

Your deepest emotional and spiritual needs are you need spiritual

support and emulation you need Number two, you need spiritual

strength and stability. Number three, you need an empowering sense

of awe, which actually comes from connecting with the supernatural

and with the sacred in a relationship with God. Number

four you need self worth and self expression. Those go together,

and finally, you need to feel significance and satisfaction. Now,

these five deepest emotional and spiritual needs are connected to

God's five purposes for your life, but you cannot fulfill

them by yourself. You will never satisfy them by yourself.

You can try, but you'll fail. Only by being connected

to God's family will these needs ever be met in

your life now. First, just like a brand new baby

needs family to care for it, a baby can't care

for itself. You need to first embrace and connect with

the spiritual family that gives you spiritual support and spiritual stimulation.

In other words, you need both comforting. Sometimes you need

comfort and you need challenging. Sometimes you need to be

challenged to get off your rear end and get moving.

And you need these from other people. Now, the Bible

calls this connection fellowship and membership in the Body of Christ.

That's your first and deepest need. You need a family

that's going to give you support and stimulation. Number two,

you need to establish a solid worldview and I'll explain

this in the weeks ahead. That gives you a spiritual strength,

gives you the spiritual strength and stability that you're going

to have in the storms of life. Life is tough,

and you have to know how to handle life and

how to handle all of the trauma and the tribulations

and the trials that come at you. And you've got

to be spiritually strong for that. Now, how do you

grow spiritual strength? Well, the answer is only by being

spiritually stretched you grow strong. Just like a muscle can

only grow stronger by being stretched, your spirit and your

soul must be stretched in order to be strengthened.

That's part of my job, and.

The Bible calls meeting this need in your life, the

need for spiritual strength discipleship number three. You need to

experience the sacred and the supernatural power of God in

your life. And what that does is it gives you

a sense of awe. You need a sense of awe

in your life. If you don't have any awe in

your life, you're bland, You're boring, and you're probably not

very happy in your life.

Now, what is awe? A sense of awe?

Awe is a mixture of emotions that combines reverence and

wonderment for something greater than yourself. Have you noticed that

human beings are naturally attracted and drawn to awe inspiring

sites we go see them on vacation. We're naturally attracted

drawn to ae inspiring sites and are inspiring sounds and

awe inspiring experiences and awe inspiring feelings. We of the

feeling of awe. We love being awed. Why because we

instinctively know that there's something or someone out there that's

greater than we are.

And that is no accident. Have you ever thought about it?

Why is it that every single culture in the world worships,

every single culture worships because you're wired for worship as

a human being.

You can't help it.

The fact is, you're wired for worship. And if you

don't worship God, you're going to worship something. You might

even worship yourself or your boat, or your career or

a celebrity, but you're going to worship something because we're

wired for worship.

Now, it's a paradox.

I want you to listen to this that without awe,

which is worship in your life, Without awe in your life,

your life becomes awful.

That's paradox.

Without awe in your life, your life becomes awful.

But on the other hand, with.

Awe in your life, if you regular experience moments of

all in your life, your life becomes awesome. Awesome, and

awe comes from the sacred.

That's called worship.

The fourth need that you have in your life, a

fourth deep need is express your spiritual gifts in service,

and that's what gives you self worth. You need to

feel good about yourself. You need self worth and you

need self expression. Now, notice I haven't said a word

about success because status and salary and success do not

give you self worth, but self expression of being what

God made you to be does. Let me say it

another way. You need a place to shine. You need

a place to sparkle. You need a place of self

expression that is essential to your spiritual and emotional health.

And when people don't have a place to shine or

sparkle and to express the shape the God given spiritual gift,

heart ability, personality experiences that God gave them, then you

get bored with life starting out. You need a safe

place to discover and to develop your spiritual gifts and

your shape. Now I want you to listen. You can

develop your natural talents anywhere. You can develop them on

a football field if you're talent in that area.

You can develop at work.

You can develop the natural talents which by the way,

God gave you those two anywhere. But you can only

discover the spiritual gifts that God has put inside you

and given you. The only place you can discover that

is in a church, family because that's where God gives them.

The spiritual gifts are given out through his family, and

that's where He expects you to use them. And if

you never discover your spiritual gifts, the one he said,

I don't even know that I've God gifts.

Oh yeah, you do.

The Bible talks about them a lot. But if you

never discover them, it's a huge loss, not only here

on earth, but in the rewards that you're going to

miss an eternity. You know, it's another paradox of life

that I said that without awe, your life is awful,

but with awe, your life becomes awesome. It's also true

that in your life that self respect and self worth listen,

come through selflessness. Self respect and self worth actually come

through selflessness, not by focusing on yourself. It doesn't come

by focusing on yourself, but self worth comes by focusing

actually on serving others. God wired the universe in that

only as you give your life away does your life

have success of self worth and self awareness. Finally, the

fifth need that you have in your life is that

you need to know your God given mission, and that

gives you significance and satisfaction. You're not put on this

planet by accident. Now, the way that this series is

going to work because we're going to cover all five

of those deep needs needs in your life in the

next five weeks.

The way this series is going to work is.

That in my weekend teaching, I'm going to primarily focus

on why you have these five deep needs in your

life and why you need a church family to meet them,

and why only the church can meet those needs. Business can't,

government can't, school can't, boyfriend can't. Now today I want

you to see how you need other people in your life.

You need a church family for spiritual help. I know

I'm belaboring this point, but because all the time we

hear people say, oh I love God, I love Jesus,

I just don't need a church family.

That's nonsense.

It means you have no idea all of the gifts,

the blessings and the benefits God has prepared for you

when you're fully involved in His family.

Now, let me just say it this way.

Today, all around the world, people are taught to act

as if they don't need anybody else. We're told do

your own thing, go your own way, be your own man.

We idolize the rugged individualists who goes off by themselves

on a mountain and seems to have no need of

anybody else. We think many are they're totally independent, and

we idolize that independence. In fact, in today's culture, quote

depending on anybody else is often considered to be a weakness,

and you're never supposed to let on that they need

anybody else. And people often characterize marriage is like it's

a prison, limiting your options, when actually, when God is

at the center of your marriage, marriage is not limiting,

it's liberating. It actually makes you twice as effective then

you would be by yourself.

If you have a godly, God.

Centered marriage, true love, healthy relationships, real community, and genuine fellowship,

they bring out the best in you. In fact, you

can't become all God wants you to be without other

people in your life. You need them for your spiritual

and emotional help. And when you have those kind of

close relationships in a church family, it makes you far

far better than you'd ever be on your own by yourself.

The fellowship of belonging to a church family, the community

like here at Saddleback Church, has liberated and emancipated and

brought out the best in literally tens of thousands of

people just in this church, Saddleback Church, and by being

a part of this family, it's helped them become greater

and go farther and accomplish more and be happier and

even live longer than people would have ever lived or

experienced on their own. Did you know the studies show

that if you go to church, you're going to live

on an average about five to six years longer than

other people if you're in church every weekend. Now you know,

I've heard people say complete independence is the key to happiness.

Complete independence is happiness. Well, let me be completely honest

with you, because after counseling thousands of people, I can

tell you this that's nonsense. Complete independence from other human

beings is not happiness.

It is loneliness. It is loneliness.

And the quickest way to make yourself completely miserable and

resentful and fearful and insecure and unhappy is to pretend

that you have it all together and you don't need

anybody else in your life, and that you're completely independent

of needing anybody else's help. Not only is that idea lie,

it's simply not true. It's provably absurd, and everybody around

you knows it's not true, and yet we persist in

wearing masks and pretending that we're self contained and that

we're not dependent upon each other. Now, you know what's

really ironic to me. I'm an observer of human behavior

as a pastor. I had to fly to Washington, DC

and back. We're in a couple of airports. I just

watch people, And what's ironic to me is to watch

how we desperately want and need the attention of others,

and the approval of others, and the affirmation of others,

and even the affection of others. We desperately in need

want these things. We just don't want to admit out

badly we need it. And that's why everybody wears emotional

masks instead of being authentic with their true needs. What

we've been taught is that happiness comes from independence. But

the truth is real happiness comes from interdependence. God wired

us that way, and he wants us to be a

part of his family. In Genesis two eighteen, the very

first thing God said to man was this, it is

not good for man to be alone. Now, whether you

ever get married or not is irrelevant to that verse.

It is not good for you to be alone, God

says you need a spiritual family. And in another very

important Bible verse, God says, in Romans twelve, verse five,

since we're all one body in Christ, we're all in

the family of God. We're all in the body of Christ.

We're all a part of his flock. We notice this.

We belong to each other. Circle that word belong. We

belong to each other, and each of us needs all

the others. In a church family, you don't just belong

to Jesus. You belong to each other. You're my brother,

you're my sister. I'm your brother, I'm your sister. And

the Bible says we need each other. Now, you may

not feel this, is you feel this, You don't necessarily

feel like you need other people. You may not feel

like you belong, but it is absolutely necessary. God says,

being a part of a member of God's family, a

community of fellowship, is not optional. A Christian without a

church family is a spiritual orphan. You know, years ago,

many of you remember when we did forty Days of Purpose.

About thirty five thirty six thousand churches in just America

alone did forty days of Purpose. And in that s

I shared the big idea that God created you to

fulfill five purposes on earth. But in this series, I

want to share an even bigger idea. And the bigger

idea is this, You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your

life by yourself on your own. You need other people.

And each week we're going to look at a different

purpose and a different emotional and spiritual need that you

have and how God wants to meet that need in

your life. Now, what I want to do today, for

the rest of our time together is just quickly give

you five reasons you need a church family for your

spiritual and emotional health. You cannot be healthy unless you're

connected to other believers in the Body.

Of Christ, in the family of God. So write these down.

Number one. First thing I need is this, I need

others to walk with me. I need others to walk

with me. That's one of the benefits of a church family.

You know.

The Bible often call your spiritual life your walk, your

spiritual walk, and then I able says walk in love,

walk in truth, walk into lightness, walk in joy. Colossians

two six and seven says, just as you receive Christ

Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Now, why does

God compare life to a walk, Because it's a journey.

So I said, we're to walk in light and love

and truth and obedience. We're to walk in the spirit.

Where to walk like Jesus. God never intended for you

to walk through life alone. Now, as I said, this

has nothing to do whether you're single or married. Thousands

of singles fully walk in the Lord, in the community

and the fellowship and the family and the membership of

Saddleback Church. He said, well, what's wrong with walking alone?

I prefer walking alone. Well, let me give you three

benefits of walking with others in a church family. You

might just write this in your margin there or whatever.

Number One, it's safer. There's safety in numbers. There's less risk.

You ever had to walk through a dark alley at

night by yourself when you preferred would have preferred to

have walked with somebody else. When you're going through dark times,

it's safer to walk with others. Number Two, it's supportive.

It keeps you from giving up. If you've ever done

a marathon, you get a pain in your side and

you're tempted to quit, it kicks in for you. You know,

probably I don't know what what mile maybe for me

about you know, yard fifty. But when you run with

other people, it keeps you going, It gives you support.

You know.

There's an old African proverb that says, if you want

to run fast, run alone. But if you run and

want to run far, run with other people. When you

run together, you can go so much farther. That's why

geese fly in v formation so they don't get tired.

The updraft carries the others along and they change out

who's at the front of the vib So it's safer,

it's more supportive, it's smarter. You actually learn more by

walking with others through life. Proverbs twenty eight twenty six

is this only fools trust what they alone think. You know,

if you're walking alone, you might be walking in the

wrong direction. The Bible says in the multitude of counselors

are a safety. One of the things you learn when

you're walking with other people is you learn how to

get along.

You learn how to love.

And one of the great goals of life is learning

how to love, because God is love. Have you noticed

everybody walks at a different pace and they all have

to walk in a different style. Well, when you walk

with others, it teaches you a very important skill. It's

called compromise. You just can't go with your patient style,

you have to share it with others. As I said.

Genesis to eighteen says, it's not good for men to

be alone. God hates loneliness, and what's his antidote. Well,

God's antidote loneliness is two groups, a physical family and

a spiritual family. Physical family is an antidote for loneliness.

But even that's not going to last forever.

Family.

Physical family split up, they grow up, they divorce, they

move away, they die. But your spiritual family, which is

the church, is going to last forever and ever and ever.

Your physical family isn't going to last forever and ever,

but your church family is going to Hebrews ten twenty

five says this, Let us not give up the habit

of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another. That's

the comfort and the correction or the challenging I talked

about earlier. The church is God's spiritual safety net for

you when you're weak, when you're tired, when you feel

like giving up.

You know you're created for community.

Have you ever said you know, well, I don't I

don't feel like going to worship. Well, of course you have.

You know, I've thought that a lot myself, and I

was going to do the sermon. When you're tired, then

you'd rather just stay home and lay on the couch

all day. But you know, what I've discovered is that

when I least feel like worship is when I usually

need it the most. But when I get with other people,

all my discouragement and my fatigue and all the other

things we're going to talk about, they start leaving, and

so does the loneliness. I want you to write this

down right now, Salarn your outline. Community is God's answer

to loneliness. We all need a place to practice relationships

and learn to love. Community is God's answer to loneliness.

So what you need to do to walk through life

is you need a small group of believers. First Corinthians

fourteen thirty and thirty one. Look at this verse. It

says when you gather each one of you. He's talking

about gathering in a small group. He because you can't

do this in a crowd of five hundred or two

hundred people. You can only do this as a small group.

He says, First Corinthians fourteen thirty thirty one. When you

together in that small group, each one of you be

prepared with something useful for all. Sing a song, teach

a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight,

take your turn, with no one person taking over. That

way you all learn from each other that could only

happen in a small group. What's the goal? The goal

of this fellowship is Ephesians four sixteen. As each part

does its work, it helps the other parts grow so

that Christ's whole body is healthy and growing and full

of love. I want you to write this down under

this next point, I can't grow without others. If I

don't have others, I'm going to be lonely. But this

is the second point, I can't grow without others. One

Peter four nine says open your homes to each other

without complaining.

That's called hospitality. Are you doing that?

Are you being hospital or you open your home up

to a small group. If you're not in a small

group right now, you need to start one. Just get

a couple of friends to discuss what you learn in

this series. We say, well, you know, I just haven't

started a small group. I'm not in a small group. Well,

let me ask you be honest, what excuse have ben

You've been using for not being in a small group

and you know it would be strengthening for your spiritual

heart and your support?

What excuse to be in the well?

You know my house, my house is not clean, or

my house isn't big enough, or I don't like my neighbors,

or nobody would want to come to my house. Really,

you know what the truth is? The truth is everyone

has a longing for belonging.

What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily

Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with

a letter from one of our listeners.

Hi, everybody today, I want to share a letter from Edam,

a listener from Canada who talks about the impact Daily

Hope has had in his life. I love these stories,

he writes. The Daily Hope Ministry has helped me greatly

in shifting the lens through which I see life. I

know now that I was created for God to fulfill

his purpose. I understand that every trial or every situation

I face in life is a test of my character

and is preparing me for Heaven. I started listening to

Daily Hope at the time when I was confused about

my existence. This was when times were bad and I

didn't have a job. I always thought a profession to

find who I was. But Daily Hope shifted my perspective

on life and my purpose, and I soon started to

experience peace in my heart when I least expected it.

Even though I landed a great job, I understand that

it doesn't define who I am or my purpose. I

was created by God and for God, and I want

to surrender fully to his will. So I want to

say thanks to you and to the entire Daily Hope

team for the impact that you've had on my life.

What an incredible testimony of how God's working through Daily

Hope to bring about strong sense of purpose in people's lives.

So thank you everybody for your ongoing support and your

faithful prayers. More lives like items will be changed in

Jesus' name because of you.

Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this

broadcast has blessed you, he would love it.

Please feel free.

To send him an email at Rick at pastorick dot com.

That's Rick at pastorick dot com. 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.