Rick Warren - 7 Biblical Habits That Can Change Your Life Forever

Most of your unhappiness in life, most of your unhappiness

in life is because you listen to you instead of God.

And when you do that, you tell yourself stuff all

the time that isn't true.

Just because you have.

A thought doesn't mean it's accurate, doesn't mean it's true,

doesn't mean it's correct. A lot of things you think

of are not right, they're not correct. A lot of

things I think of aren't right, aren't correct. In fact,

a lot of things I think are actually lying to

myself rationalizing where we tell rational lies to ourselves. How

can I be free from me? How can I be

set free from me? And the way we're going to

look at this is the truths of Romans eight. I

have put them in a practical way of listing seven

mental habits that you need to do that will help

you apply the truth of Romans chapter eight.

And so we're going to look at.

These seven mental habits that explain the great truths of

Romans eight. Romans eight is the greatest chapter in the Bible.

In my opinion, it's the greatest chapter. They once stood

a study of Bible scholars and said, if you could

only have one chapter of the Bible and you're on

a desert island, which one would you take? And about

ninety percent of them said I'd take Romans eight. So

this is a very strong passage. The first step in

being set free from me is this, I must remind

myself daily what Jesus did for me.

That's the starting point.

I got to remind myself every day of what Jesus

did for me. What is salvation? What are the benefits

of it? You see, we have a lot of people

who saved. You don't act like it. They run around

all the time filled with shame and uncontrolled thoughts and

compulsions and fear and bitterness and insecurity. And they're believers,

but they're not set free from me. And the first

step is you've got to remind yourself what Jesus actually

did for you. And this is how the Holy Spirit

sets me free from shame. Let's look at these verses

Romans eight one to four. First, he says, so now

there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ.

And let me stop there before we go any further.

No condemnation means God doesn't judge you for all the

things you've done wrong. If you've trusted Christ, because Jesus

took all that judgment on the cross, he doesn't have

to judge you. Because Jesus was judged, he doesn't have

to condemn you. Because Jesus took your condemnation. He took

your wrap, he paid your penalty, he did your time

for you.

This whole passage is talking.

About people who've given their life to Jesus. This doesn't

apply to you if you haven't made that decision yet,

But if you've received Christ into your life, the Bible

says you're under no condemnation. Now, notice it doesn't say

that after I become a Christian, I won't sin, You're

still going to sin. It doesn't say I'm not going

to make mistakes. You're still going to make mistakes. It

doesn't say I'm not going to fail and look stupid.

You're going to fail and look stupid. It just says

you're under no condemnation. In other words, you don't have

to walk around with shame. You don't have to walk

around with guilt because when Jesus Christ died on the cross,

he not only paid for all of the sins you

committed last week, last year, and your.

Entire life he committed.

He's already paid for the sins that you're going to

commit tomorrow, next week, and the rest of your life.

They're already paid for. Now.

The next part of that verse says, for the power

of the life giving.

Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit.

God's Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the

power of sin that leads to death.

And what does that verse mean?

The second thing I remember is that because I'm a

believer and I have g says, I have a new power.

In my life greater than willpower.

You see, before you became a Christian, the only thing

you had to use against your bad habits was sheer willpower.

And how long does that work? Now? Very long, he says.

Now there's a new power in you.

And when you want to change things in your life,

it's not just if it's to be, it's up to me.

It's not just my own willpower. It is God's power

in me. I have been given a power greater than willpower.

We're going to look at this more in the next versus.

Then the next thing it says, the law of Moses

could not save us because of our sinful nature. Now,

laws keeping God's laws cannot save you. Guy says, well,

I know I'm going to heaven. You say, how do

you know? It's because I keep the Ten Commandments? I say,

name them. You don't not only not keep the ten commandments,

you couldn't even name all of them. If I ask

you to stand up right now, you couldn't even How

can you keep them if you don't even know them all?

By the way, keeping laws never works, why, it says,

because of our sinful nature. Laws simply work on outside behavior.

They don't work on inside change. God knew that laws

couldn't save us. But God put into effect a different

plan to save us. He said, his own son in

a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful.

And God destroyed sins control over us by giving his

son as a sacrifice for our sins. In other words,

he gave us the power to make those changes, to

forgive us and the changes. And then it said he

did this, Jesus died on the cross so that the

requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us.

What is he saying there that Jesus.

Not only paid for all your sins, he did all

the right things for you, those of us who no

longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. Now,

if you really are serious about changing your life for

the better, you've got to start where God tells you

to start.

And God says you don't start.

With your behavior, your actions, and you don't start with

your feelings, your emotions. You start with your mind. The

battle for you to be set free from me starts

in changing your mind. Be renewed, be transformed by the

renewing of your mind. The Bible teaches very clearly that

the way we act is determined by the way we feel,

and the way we feel is determined by the way

we think.

Now, the good thing about this is that.

Now that you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit

inside of you, and so you can ask him to

help you put good thoughts in your mind. So now

you're not just on your own. You're not just out

here trying to think up by yourself. And what would

be a good thing for me to think about? You

can say, Holy Spirit, put good thoughts in my mind.

That's the second thing we learned from Romans eight. I

ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts. And

if you ask him to give you better thoughts.

Do you think he will? Of course he will. Of

course he's going.

To give you better thoughts. That's a prayer he's going

to answer. I ask the Holy Spirit to give me

better thoughts. This is the second key to permanent change

in your life. Now, this is what it says in

the next two verses, Verses five and six of Romans eight.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their

mindset on what the nature that nature desires. But those

who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindset

on what the Spirit desires. Now, there's two kinds of mindset.

There's the mindset of your old nature, and there's the

mindset of the Holy Spirit. There's the mindset of the

way I normally think about my life, and there's the

mindset of how the Spirit sees my life. Which one's

gonna be true the one that the Spirit says. So

I have to choose between these mindsets. Am I gonna

set my mind on the way I normally think about

my life? Am I gonna set my mind on the

way God thinks about my life? Now there's a big

difference in choosing these mindsets, because if you choose one,

you're gonna get one response, and if you choose the other,

you're gonna get another. And the next part of the

verse tells us what that is. The mind of sinful

man is what that means. It's self destructive. Thoughts that

you come up with yourself are going to tend to

be self destructive. The mind is sinful man is death.

But the mind controlled by the Spirit is what life

and peace. And it's all about the mindset you choose.

This is the Holy Spirit's answer to uncontrolled thoughts. What

I do is I ask the Holy Spirit to give

me better thoughts. And this is the principle of replacement.

I want you to write this word down, replacement. The

principle of replacement is anytime you want to change something

in your life and you're serious about changing it, you

don't resist it, you replace it.

When you got something negative.

In your life, you don't resist it, you replace it.

Whatever if you focus on gets your attention. Whatever gets

your attention gets you. Satan gives you ideas. Those are

called temptations. Holy Spirit gives you ideas. Those are called inspiration.

You get ideas. But the truth is you choose what

you focus on. But now now that you're a believer,

you have a helper, and you can say, Holy Spirit,

I invite.

You to give me your ideas.

And a lot of times the Holy Spirit, the God's

Spirit will say to me, Hey, Rick, why don't you

think about this instead?

Good idea, and I just change my thoughts.

Now, I would encourage you to invite the Holy Spirit

to have free access to your mind. You say, God,

you have put your spirit inside of me. I give

you free access to my mind twenty four hours a day.

I invite you to suggest good thoughts. Why because they'll

always be the truth, They'll always be right, they'll always

be helpful, they'll always be pure. Those are the things

we are to think on. So you invite the Holy

Spirit to put thoughts in your mind?

Why?

Because those who live according to sinful nature have their

mindset on one thing, but those who live according to

the Spirit have their mindset on another. And the mindset

that I normally have leads to self destruction, and the

mindset that God's Spirit gives me leads to peace. And

I want peace in my life. Look at the next verse.

The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not

submit to God's law, nor can it do so, it

can't even do it. Those controlled by sinful name nature

cannot please God. So why do you work on passing

law when they don't have the ability to change it?

To change, only God can change it. Change comes from

the inside out. Third principle. Third mental habit. You're going

to need to develop to apply the truths of Roman's

aid in your life, and that is this, I realize

I have a new ability to say no. I need

to remind myself. I need to remember on a daily basis.

I need to realize that now that I'm a believer,

I have a new ability to say no to the

things that are self destructive in my life. Now this

is very important because before you became a believer, all

you had was will power, and you lost most of

those bad habits because lost to most of them because

you don't willpower wears out.

It's not enough.

But now, with the Spirit in your life, you have

a new ability to say no, a new power, and

you need to learn.

How to tap into that power.

Galatians five point sixteen says this, let the Spirit direct

your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of

the old human nature. Now if I let the Spirit

live through me. Does it say I won't have those desires?

Is that what it said? No, it said I won't what.

I won't satisfy those desires? I won't satisfy those desires.

In other words, do I still have the same desires

I had before as a Christian?

Yes? Do I still have the same temptations? Yes? Do

I still have the same urges and compulsions? Yes? Do

I fulfill them? No? Why?

Because I have a new power inside of me, And

it's not just will power any more. Now this is

the good news of Romans chapter eight. Look at the

next verse, verse nine. But he says, you are not

controlled by your sinful nature. You are now controlled by

the spirit if you have the Spirit of God living

in you. Anybody who does not have the Spirit of

God living in them does not belong to Christ.

And let me stop here and explain this.

Some people mistakenly think that you get God kind of

piece meal, that Jesus comes into your life at one

point in your life, and then maybe a little bit later,

the Holy Spirit comes into your life, and then maybe

a little bit later, you get the Father into your life. No,

God is a trinity three and one When you got Jesus,

you got all of God. God doesn't come into your

life piece meal. When Jesus comes into your life, the

Spirit comes into your life. When Jesus comes in your life,

the Father comes into your life. When the Father comes

into your life, the Spirit in Jesus, I'm in your life.

You can't separate him. Now the question is does he

have all of you and the rest of your life.

You're going to be given more and more of your

life to him, and then the more you give, the

more power you have. But he says, because I have this,

I now have a new ability to say no.

Look at the next verse.

So, dear brothers, you have no obligation anymore to your

old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.

This is how God sets me free from my compulsions.

But I have a new power, a new ability to

say no. Number four. The fourth fit mental habit I

need to develop if I want to change my life

is I need to turn my thoughts to God whenever

I'm afraid. And this is how God spirit sets me

free from me with the attitude of fear Romans eight.

Look at the next verses, Verses fourteen to sixteen. For

the spirit God gives you does not make you slaves

and cause you to be afraid. Instead, the spirit makes

you God's children, and by the spirit's power, we cry

out to God, Father, my father. This is actually the

Aramaic word abba. Abba is not the group it's It

means daddy, papa.

You know, it's it's dad, dad.

It's the most basic intimate form of father, Daddy, Daddy,

my daddy. We cry out to God, Daddy, my daddy, Papa,

my papa.

Ahba my Abba.

God's spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that

we are God's children. Stop focusing on your fear. Start

focusing on your father. That's the antidote. Stop focusing on

your fear. Start focusing on your father. Now, he says,

the antidote to fear is two things. First, he says,

the spirit that God has given you doesn't make you slaves,

make you afraid, but he makes you God's children.

Whenever you are afraid.

The first thing you need to do is remember this

whose family you're a part of. I'm a son of God.

I'm a daughter of God. I'm a child of God.

I'm in the family and families take care of each other,

and there's family protection. You're a child of God and

He's going to take care of you. And second you

call out to your father. Now, what are you most

afraid of? What are you most afraid of?

These days? You know the number one fear people have.

I know all the studies people say it's the fear

of speaking in front of others, it's the fear of heights,

or you know, the fear of new social situation. Actually,

what I've found as a pastor talking to people for

thirty years, the number one fear people have is the

fear of being out of control. And when you feel

your life is out of control, it creates enormous fear

in your life. The Bible says that we should not

be afraid, but we turn to God two Timothy one, p.

Seven.

For the spirit that God has given us does not

make us fearful or timid. Instead, his spirit fills us

with power, love, and self control. Now get this, the

more controlled you are by the Holy Spirit, the more

self control you're going to have. So if you are afraid,

that's not from God. That fear is not from God.

When God's spirit comes into your life, you're filled with love.

I want that you're filled with power. I want that

you're filled with self control. I want that. Okay, Holy Spirit,

I want all you got fill me. The fifth thing

we learned from Romans eight is about the end antidote

to hopelessness, and that's verses seventeen and eighteen. And the

habit I want you to learn to develop is to

focus on the long term, not the short term.

Now.

When you think in long term, you're able to handle

short term pain a whole lot better. You're able to

handle short term losses, short term failures, short term hindrances

because you're thinking long term now. Romans Chapter eight, verses

seventeen and eighteen talks about focusing on the long term,

and it talks about the promises of God. Since we

are his children, we will possess the blessings He keeps

for his family, and we will also possess this is

really cool, We will also possess with Christ what God

has kept for him. Did you know that the Bible

says that when you get to heaven, you're going to

get rewarded. You will be rewarded for how well you

did with what you were given. What did you do

with your time, What did you do with your money,

What did you do with your influence? What did you

do with your talents, your time, your talents, your treasure.

This is called the stewardship of life.

And God has put stuff in your hands and your

steward of you're going to be evaluated on that in heaven,

and your rewards will be based on that, and you're

going to be rewarded if you're focusing all in short term.

There's a one word for it. It's foolish. It's foolish.

Number six. The sixth habit is to remind myself that

God is good and in control. This is an application

of what the Bible teaches in Romans chapter eight. Remind

myself that God is good and in control. And you

are mean to remind yourself of that over and over

and over and over and over every single day. In

verses nineteen to twenty five, Paul says, everything in the

world is broken. Everything in the world has lost its

original purpose. Everything in the world is suffering, everything in

the world is in pain, and everything in the world

is frustrated because sin broke it all down. Everything is frustrated.

In fact, look at this verse on the screen verse

twenty Everything created is subject to frustration, waiting to be liberated,

set free from me, waiting to be liberated.

From its bondage to decay.

All of creation groans in pain like childbirth, and we

groan inwardly. We're going, oh man, this is tough. This

is hard, This is difficult. Why is life so hard?

Now?

He says that the result of living in a broken

world is pain, and the result of pain is bitterness.

And we start getting resentful and we fail. Life is unfair. Well, yeah,

what else is new? Life is unfair because it's broken.

But the Bible says in Romans eight that there are

four things you need to remember to get over bitterness. Now, listen,

pain in your life is not optional. But misery is

pain in your life. You're going to have pain in

your life. It's called life. Suffering in your life is

not optional. You're going to suffer. Misery is Moaning is optional.

Bitterness is optional, And you overcome bitterness by remembering four

magnificent truths. In Romans eight, verse twenty six and twenty

seven says this, the Holy Spirit is praying for me.

The Holy Spirit is praying for me. That helps me

overcome bitterness because no matter what I'm going through.

I know God's on my side. He's praying for me.

It says here, the spirit helps a with our weakness,

and we don't know how to pray as we should.

But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. Okay,

the Spirit of God, it says, prays for us and

even begs God for us with deep feelings that words

cannot explain. God sees what's in our hearts, and the

Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way

that God wants.

So when you're no matter what.

You're going through, the first thing, he goes, you know what,

right now, the Holy Spirit is praying for me. That's cool.

Second thing, God is using it all for good. That

second thing, I remember, God is using everything in my

life for good. It's not all good, but he's using

it all for good. The next verse says this, and

we know that in all things God works for the

good of those who love Him, who've been called according

to his purpose. It's not all good, but God is

using it all for good. God is good, greater than

my problems. God is greater than my enemies. God is

greater than my critics, And God is using it all

for good in my life.

Number three, God wants me to succeed. Did you know that?

Did you know that God wants you to succeed? He

doesn't want you to fail in your life. He wants

you to succeed in your life. God is not against

you if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, God

is for you. The Bible says in verse thirty one,

So what can we say against such wonderful things, about

such wonderful things, all the stuff we've talked about, What

do we say about all these wonderful things? If God

is for us, who can be against us? Remember I'm

in the family. My father is God, and so God

wants me to succeed. And finally, number four, God will

give me what I need. When I'm feeling blue and

when I'm feeling bitter, I need to remember mind myself

that God is good. He's in control, his spirit is

praying for me. He's using everything for good in my life.

He wants me to succeed, and He's going to give

me what I need Verse thirty two. Since God did

not spare even his own son, but gave him up

for us all, won't God give us. Won't God, who

gave us Christ give us everything else?

Wow?

He said, if God loves you enough to let Jesus

die on the cross for you, don't you think he

loves you enough to help you with your debt? Don't

you think he cares enough to help you with your health?

Don't you think he cares about you when your face

breaks out? There is nothing in your life that God

doesn't care about. I threw that one in because it

seems so ridiculous. There is nothing in your life that

God doesn't care about. Upset tummy. God cares about it.

He knows every hair on your head. God will give

me what I need. If God didn't spare a sun

to solve my biggest problem, everything else is small potatoes.

It's all minor to him. There is no big problem

in your life. They're all small problems to God. Now, finally,

the seventh habit destroys the seventh enemy, which is insecurity.

Now. The fact is, when you feel insecure, it really

messes up your life.

And the worst fear that we have in insecurity is

the rejection. Nothing hurts more than rejection. The one thing

I can tell you this is God's never going to

reject you. And the seventh habit is this trust that

God will never stop loving me. Trust that God will

never never stop loving me.

I'm in the family. He cannot not love his family.

He will never stop loving me Romans eight thirty eight

and thirty nine in the chapter. Now, I'm convinced that

nothing ever can ever separate us from His love. Death can't,

life can't, The angels can't, demons can't. Satan can't separate

you from God. Our fears for today are worries about tomorrow.

Even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.

Whether we're high above the sky or in the deepest ocean,

nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate

us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ.

Jesus, our Lord.

I may lose a lot of things in life, but

I'll never lose my salvation. You can't lose it because nothing.

Once you're in God's hand. He's not letting go of you.

You may want to let go, but He's not letting

go of you. You cannot lose your salvation. Now, my

question is this, do you belong to Christ? Because none

of these things are true in your life unless you

belong to Christ. Do you have the Holy Spirit in

your life? You say, well, I don't know. Well let's

make certain of it right now. That's bow our heads

and I'm going to pray a prayer as we close,

and I'm going to ask you to pray it. Say

this in your heart, Dear Jesus Christ, thank you for

all that you did for me. Thank you that there's

no condemnation in my life for all the suinin I've done,

you took that condemnation. Thank you that you did what

the law couldn't do. Thank you that you destroyed sins control.

Thank you that you accomplished the law in my life.

And my righteousness is nothing, but your righteousness is what

ticket I get into heaven on. Help me to never

forget what you did for me. And when I feel ashamed,

let me remember what you did on the cross for me.

Holy Spirit, I ask you to give me better thoughts.

I want to switch mindsets. I don't want the mindset

of self destruction. I want the mindset of life and peace.

I don't want to think my old ways. I want

to think your new ways. I invite you to put

thoughts in my mind all the time.

For they are the truth.

And help me to remember and realize that I have

a new ability to say no.

Lord. I used to just.

Have willpower, but now I've got spirit power. I'm not

obligated to give into those compulsions anymore. That if I

ask you for help, you'll help me and give me

the strength to say no.

Thank you, that no temptation is too strong.

And when I'm afraid, help me to turn my thoughts

to you. Help me to remember that I'm your child,

and help me to cry out to you, Father, Daddy

i'm afraid. I focus on my father, not my fears.

And help me to focus.

On the long term, not the short term. You know

the pain in my life, you know the suffering. I

want you to use it for good and I want

you to use it for your glory. And I want

to look and focus long term on eternity, not just

to hear.

And now I want to do the right thing, not

the easy thing.

And when I start to get bitter and I feel

life is unfair, and when I feel hurt, help me

to remember that you God are good, and you're in.

Control, that you are praying for me. Thank you for.

Doing that, that you are working all things for good.

Thank you for doing.

That, that you are for me, not against me.

Thank you for that, and that you didn't spare Jesus

and so you'll give us whatever we need. Thank you

for that.

Most of all, I thank you that you will never

let go of me. You'll never stop loving me, You'll

never reject me. Thank you that I cannot lose my

salvation no matter what else I lose on this planet.

That you will never stop loving me.

If you've never invited Jesus Christ in your heart, Jesus say,

I want you to be my lord, my savior. I

want you to be the manager of my life. I

don't understand it all, but I want to trust in

you completely. Thank you for your grace to me. I

want to love you for the rest of my life,

and I ask you to accept me into your family

by faith.

In your name, I pray Amen Assas