Rick Warren - Being Thankful Even in Bad Times – Part One

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

teaching ministry of Rick Warren. You know, with Thanksgiving just

around the corner, we're pausing our current series to bring

you a special message from Pastor Rick, one that will

help you reflect on God's goodness and grow a heart

of gratitude. Now, let's jump right in with part one

of a powerful message called being thankful even in bad times.

Thanksgiving is not an easy holiday for a lot of people.

Anybody in pain has a hard time being grateful. How

do you be thankful of Thanksgiving if the doctor just

told you it's cancer. How do you be thankful of

Thanksgiving if the person you love the most just walked

in and said, I don't love you anymore and I'm

leaving you for somebody else. How do you be thankful

when you have a chronic illness that just isn't getting

any better. How do you be thankful this Thanksgiving when

you've been laid off and you've gone to fourteen job

interviews and they've all turned you down. How to be

thankful when your dream has collapsed, or when an economic

tsunami has wiped out everything you've earned in your lifetime.

How to be thankful when your son commits suicide? Twenty

thirteen was the worst year of my life. How am

I supposed to be thankful at Thanksgiving? And yet the

Bible tells us to always be thankful? And one Thessalonians

five eighteen, the first verse on your outlined. It says this,

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will

for you in Christ Jesus. You want to know God's

will for your life. Part of God's will is that

you give that in all circumstances. Now, the key to

this verse is the little word in, I am grateful

that it doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances. It says,

give thanks in all circumstances. The difference between the word

in and the word for is the difference between maturity

and masochism. God doesn't expect you to be grateful for

everything in your life because there's a lot of bad

in your life. There's a lot of bad, there's a

lot of evil, there's a lot of sin in the world.

And it would be stupid, it would be masochistic to

be grateful for sin and the suffering it causes. I'm

not grateful when somebody gets leukemia or loupus. I'm not

grateful when a woman is raped or a child is molested.

I'm not grateful when there are wars. I'm not grateful

when there's racial profying and people are prejudiced and bigoted.

Again it's because of their race. I'm not grateful when

there's injustice in the world. In fact, the Bible says,

there's some things you ought to get mad about. You

gotta get anger is often an evidence of love. Somebody

hurt my kids or grandkids, I get angry. That's an

evidence of love. God gets angry when he sees evil

in the world. So the Bible doesn't say be thankful

for everything. That would make God a tyrant. But the

Bible says, in everything, give thanks. Why Because even in

the darkest times, in the worst periods of desperation, even

when my life is totally falling apart, there's always some

good things that I can thank God for. No matter

how good things are in your life, there's some bad

things you need to be working on. And no matter

how bad things are in your life, there are some

good things and some blessings you can be grateful for.

So how do I be grateful when I don't feel

like how do I be thankful even in bad times?

Will you look at the things that you can always

be thankful for? And the Bible gives us five things

you can always be grateful for. I don't know what

you're going through right now as we go into the

Thanksgiving holiday, but I do know that these are five

things you can always be grateful for. So one of

the things I can always thank God for, well, let's

get right into it. Number one. The Bible says, I

can always be thankful for the grace God shows me.

I can be thankful for the grace that God shows

to me. Now, what is grace. Grace is when God

gives me what I need, not what I deserve. Grace

is when God gives me what I don't deserve. Everything

in your life is a gift of God's grace. The

air you're breathing right now is a gift of God's grace.

You didn't own it, you didn't buy it, you don't

deserve it. The next beat of your heart is a

gift of God's grace. The Bible says, every good and

perfect gift, everything in your life you owe to God,

even your own life. He gave you your mind, he

gave you your sight, he gave you your hearing, he

gave you your voice. Everything in your life is a

gift of God. And if God hadn't decided to create

you to love you, then you wouldn't exist. So it's

all by God's grace. Now, the Bible says in Ephesians

two eight, you have been saved by grace through believing.

You did not save yourselves. It was a gift from God.

I can't earn my way to heaven. I can't work

my way to heaven. I can't buy my way into heaven.

I can't bargain my way into heaven. It is just

a flat out gift of God's grace. He says, you

earn it, No, you receive it. It is a gift.

Salvation is a gift you receive, and the only thing

you have to do is believe. You have to believe

that Jesus Christ came and died for your sins paid

for your ticket to heaven. That's it. You didn't do anything.

It was all done by Jesus. And on the cross,

he cries out, it is finished. In other words, I

have paid for your salvation. It's all a gift. In

some one O three David gives us a list of

the gifts of God's grace. These are things we can

be thankful for. I will not forget the glorious things

God does for me, in other words, the gracious gifts

of God. He forgives all my sins by grace. He

heals me by grace. He ransoms me from hell by

his grace. He surrounds me with his love. He fills

my life with good things by his grace. He's merciful

and tender towards those who don't deserve it. That means me.

He's slow to get angry. He never bears a grudge man,

I like that one. He never bears a grudge by grace.

He has not punished us as we deserve for our sins.

If I got what I deserved in life against God,

my trying to be God, my playing God, my thing,

I don't need God, I wouldn't even exist. I can

always be thankful for grace, the grace that God shows

me every single second of my life. I don't deserve anything.

God gave me this next second of my life, and

if He didn't want me to have it, I wouldn't

have it. So I'm grateful for the grace that God

shows me every moment of my life. Number two, I

can always be thankful for the plans God has for me,

the grace He shows to me, and the plans He

has for me, because God has good plans for your life. Now,

it's very obvious that life is not always good. A

lot of things that happen in life are bad. They're painful,

they're difficult. Life is tough. Life is not all sunshine

and lollipops and roses and rainbows and my little ponies

and rainbow bright. And although life is not always good,

God is always good, and God's plan for your life

is always good. They said, well, not everything that happens

in my life feels good. Well, not everything that happens

in your life God planned. Don't blame God for your mistakes.

Don't blame God for your choices. When we say that

God has a plan for your life, that doesn't mean

that you're in it. If you could be out of

God's plan your entire life, you have to choose to

be in God's plan for your life. God says, there

are many ways that seem right into a man but

the ends there life in the way of death. There's

one road. You've got to choose. God's plan. The Bible

says this. I have good plans for you, says the Lord.

Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. I circle the word good.

I have good plans for you, say the Lord. I

don't plan to hurt you. I plan to give you

hope and a good future. Some people believe they worship

a God who causes all their suffering. I worship a

God who bears all my suffering Isaiah fifty three and

Isaiah fifty six. And he was bruised for our transgressions.

He was wounded for our iniquities. The chastisement of our

sins was laid upon him. Jesus Christ on the cross

took my suffering, took my death. We have a God

who doesn't watch our suffering callously. We have a God

who suffers with us, and not only that takes our

suffering on himself dies in our place. That's the plan

of God. Now, as I said, God doesn't plan, God's

plan does not. God doesn't plan the sins, either the

ones you do or the ones other people do and

hurt you, and you get hurt, you know, innocently because

of other people's sins. God didn't plan those. But God's plan, says,

my plan is bigger. And since God already knows every

stupid mistake I'm gonna make and you're gonna make in life,

He goes, I can fit that into the plan. And

God already knows how other people are gonna hurt you

and sin against you. And God goes, that's not good.

But I can fit that into the plan. I can

use that, and I can use that, and I can

use that, and I can use that. God has no

plan B for your life. That's something I'm gonna be

thankful for. I'm not on plan eed FG or H.

God says, yeah, you know all this stuff. I didn't

want this for you. It wasn't part of my plan.

But because you walked off and did your thing, that happened.

But you know what, I can fit that into the

plan for your life. That's something that we can be

grateful for. That's something we can we can expect God

to use in our lives. Let me compare your life

to a cruise line. Let's say we got on a cruise,

you and I and you and me, and we got

on the cruise and we go from La to say Tokyo.

Now that cruise ship is headed toward Tokyo. But while

we're on that cruise ship, like in your life, you

have a lot of free choices. You have a free will.

It's just not completely free. You have limited free will. So,

for instance, on that cruise line, you could eat all

seven buffets. I would advise it, but you could and

stay up for the midnight buffet and all of that too.

You could go play shuffle board. I don't know why

anybody would want to, but you could. You could go dancing,

You could play some slot machines. Most likely, you could

sleep the whole time. You could a lot of things

you could do on a cruise ship. But no matter

what you do on that ship, it's going to Tokyo

and nothing's gonna change it. And it is the CAP's

job to get it to Tokyo, not your job. God

has a plan for your life, and once you put

your hand in Christ's hands, he says, I'm gonna get

you to heaven. Whether you realize it or not, it's

not in your hands anymore. And there are times you

may want to let go of God's hands. But God's

not gonna let go of yours because you put your

hand in his by putting your faith in Christ. And

like the captain's job to get us to Tokyo, it's

God's job to get you to heaven. It doesn't depend

on you. Can you be grateful for that? Oh baby,

oh baby, Yeah, yeah you can, because it doesn't depend

on me to keep myself saved. If I worked to

earn my salvation, then anytime I stopped working, the salvation

would stop working. But I don't earn my salvation. It

is the gift of God's grace. And I put my

hand in his and I accept it through Christ, and

then He's gonna hold on for the rest of the

cruise line. So God says, I'm gonna use it all.

I can use the plans that God has for you. Now,

sometimes we doubt God's plan. Ca and I decided to

do one television broadcast interview on Matthew's death, and I

chose CNN because I knew CNN the scene all around

the world, unlike a lot of other networks. And one

of the parts of that one hour interview, Piers Morgan

asked both Ky and me, did we ever doubt God

and did we ever doubt his plan? And I want

you to hear our response when Matthew died, Satan thought

he had won, but actually he had lost. Why because

he couldn't torture him anymore.

Pastor Rick's first summon off his son Matthew's tragic suicide.

Rick and his wife Kay am back with me. Now,

you oversely have talked about how difficult it was. At

the same time, you're one of the most famous pastors

in America, and you knew it to have to be

a moment when he got back out there and talked

about this. What was that moment? Like, I know you

both went out on the stage. Kay, you only lost

a couple of minutes because you found it scient difficult,

which is completely understandable. But for you rate that moment

when he walked.

Out, I was overwhelmed by the love of our people.

Can I have given thirty three years to this church

and I feel like they all gave it back in

a moment. It was just a very tender moment for me.

As a pastor. I have walked through the valley of

the Shadow depth with thousands of people. I have walked,

I've stood at the bedsides and seen lots of people

take their last breath. I have been there for those

people for thirty three years, and they were there for

us when we needed it most. There are different levels

of grief. The easiest funeral to do is when an

elderly person dies. They've lived a good life, they loved

the Lord. They're ready to go to heaven. When my

parents died, case bad died, it was kind of a homecoming,

celebration of a life. More difficult is the death of

a spouse. More difficult than that is the death of

a spouse with little children at home. That's tough. A

murder is a tough funeral to do, without a doubt.

The most difficult kind of funeral is the death of

a child, because parents aren't supposed to outlast their children.

And then on top of that is a suicide. Why

now I'm doing the death of a child funeral, the

death of my child's funeral. The death of my child's

funeral is a suicide. And then, as you said, as

a well known person, everybody knows it's on the CNN

ticker and it's on everywhere else, and that's difficult. And

that's why we just decided. I decided I was going

to use social media to grieve.

This is the tough question for you, right, there must

have been a moment after Matthew took his life when

even you questioned your faith in God.

I never questioned my faith in God. I questioned God's plan.

There's a big difference. I know God is a good God.

Nothing can shake that from my life. I know God

is a loving God. The question is, it's like my children.

My children have never doubted that I love them, but

they sometimes doubt my wisdom and they don't think I've

made the right decision. Not Everything that happens in the

world is God's will. Everything that happens in the world

God allows, He permits, but because it couldn't happen without

his permission. But we live in a world where there

are free choices, and if I choose to do wrong,

I can't blame God for that. So God isn't to

blame for my son's death. My son his life. It

was his choice. And if I chose to go out

and get drunk and get in a car and I

was in an accident killed somebody, I can't blame God

for that.

Kay have you gone through any doubt about your faith.

You know, as Rick said, it's not Our faith is

probably what's got is the foundation what's gotten us through,

and it's solid and strong. But I have to tell

you that, you know, before I have something I want

to show you. There's this this box that that I

that I was given to me a few years ago,

and and I it's got the word it's a it's

a marble box, and it's got the word hope on it.

And her hope box.

It's my hope box. And I filled it with verses

that gave me comfort, that gave me encouragement, that versus

that just kept my faith really strong. Before Matthew passed away,

and every day I would sit and I would read

these verses. And that morning, after we had been to

his house the night before and I was pretty certain

that he had taken his life, I got up that

morning and I opened my hope box and I went

through those verses one more time. And then after that

I didn't open it for a month.

I couldn't. And then I started to think, so where

do I go from here?

What do you do when your hope has been crushed?

And the only way I know how to rebuild.

It is to go back to my faith into God's word.

And this time I started putting verses in that give

me hope.

For the future.

Like there's this amazing verse that's in one Corinthians fifteen

forty three.

It says, our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they

will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness,

but they will be raised in strength. And so every

time when I go to the cemetery, I quote that

verse because you know what, Matthew's body was broken. A

gun broke his body, and he was buried in brokenness,

but he's going to be raised in glory. He was

buried in weakness. I say, Matthew, you were buried in weakness,

but you will be raised in strength. So the struggle

has been not.

In believing that God exists, not that God.

Is evil, because God is good.

But I have this other little tiny pot. When there's

questions I can answer, like did Matthew think of.

Before he pulled the trigger?

Did he.

Was there any moment in which he suffered? Why after

all those years of prayer and effort did he die?

All these things that I have no answers for. And

I put him in this little pots my mystery pot.

So here's my hope box, not a little mystery pot.

And so every day almost I fill it with another

question that I can't answer. But what I know to

be true is that God will answer those questions. They

will be answered. And my hope is very certain.

And that Matthew was not in heaven three seconds when

all of his questions.

Were answered, his life makes sense to him that yet.

Wow, what a great message from Pastor rig today, and

I have some exciting news to share with you.

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That's Pastorick dot com. Or you can text the word

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

word hope to seven oh three oh nine. Be sure

to join us next time as we look into God's

Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by

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