Rick Warren - How Should I Live in This World Part Two

You know, we really live in a world that's full

of competing beliefs and values and choices, and what you

believe shapes how you live and ultimately who you become.

But the good news is God hasn't left us to

figure it all out alone.

No.

In fact, today, on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we're going

to continue our series Reframing Your Worldview, where Rick Warren

unpacks powerful truths from God's Word to help you see

life clearly and live it with confidence and purpose. And

now let's get to Rick with part two of a

message called how Should I Live in This World?

The third key to living like Jesus is humility. There's discernibility,

there's integrity, and there's humility. Now again, humility is another

word that's totally misunderstood. A lot of people think humility

is saying, oh, I'm no good, I'm just a bunch

of junk. Jesus didn't die for junk. You want to

know how valuable you are. Look at the cross with

arms outstretched. Jesus says this much. This is how valuable

you are.

So you're not junk.

And when you go around and saying oh, I'm nothing,

you pooh pooh yourself. That's actually a form of false humility,

which is really a form of pride. It's insecurity that says,

I want you to notice me, so I'm going to

tell you how lousy I am. Humility is not false modesty.

Humility is not being quiet and reserved. Humility is not

denying your strengths. In a word, humility is dependence. You

might write that down. Humility is dependence upon God. And

the more humble you are, the more you depend on God,

and the less you depend on yourself.

That's what humility is all about.

That's why the very first beatitude in the very first sermon,

the famous Sermon on the Mount that Jesus preaches, the

first sentence goes like this, blessed are In other words,

blessed Our God likes to bless the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it

mean to be poor in spirit? It means you're humble.

Poor in spirit means God, I admit I don't have

it on my own. If I'm gonna make it in life,

I need you God. I'll never accomplish what you want

me to accomplish. I'll never reach my dreams. I'll never

be the woman of the man you want me to

be unless you help me out.

God.

That's poor in spirit. That's being humble. It's saying God,

I can't do it on my own. And the Bible

says this. Jesus said it. God blesses those who realize

their need for Him. That's humility. It's depending on God

every second. Now, why is humility so important? Because without

it is the reason you have so much stress in

your life, the reason why you have you follow me

on us. I'm gonna have to explain it to you.

The reason why you get stressed.

Out is a lack of humility.

What do you mean by that, Rick, Well, the two

greatest causes of stress are these. Number one, the number

one cause of stress is trying to control the uncontrollable.

Trying to control things that you can't control gets you

stressed out. It gets you worried. Now, the truth is,

most of your life is out of your control. You

can control your attitude, you can control your response, but

you can't control what's going to happen to you next week.

You have no control over what's gonna happen to you

the rest of your life. Those circumstances are beyond your control,

and so you get stressed out. The more you need

to control, the more stressed you get. Now, the need

to control is an evidence of insecurity. When you see

somebody who has a high need to control, it means

one thing they have high insecurity.

The more insecure a person is, the more.

They try to control everything because they're so afraid. They

don't want you to know they're afraid, but they're trying

to control it so they don't have to be afraid.

The more confident you are, the more you relaxed are

You hold things with an open hand. You say here,

you know your confidence is not based on having to

control everything, and so you get stressed because you try

to control the uncontrollable. The second great source of stress

is a lack of trust in God. And whenever you

don't trust God, your stress goes up, your worry goes up,

your anxiety goes.

Up, and your peace of mind goes in the toilet.

It just falls apart.

So you're depending on yourself instead of depending on God.

What is the antidote to stress? The antidote distress is humility,

and a good definition of it is this next verse

Matthew eleven twenty nine. Jesus says this, come to me

all you who are weary, burdened, in other words, burned out,

and I will give you a whole lot more work

to do.

Well, that's not all it says, says.

It says, come to me when you're stressed out, and

I will give you what rest? Yeah, rest, that's a

good one. I like that word. Then he says, take

my yoke upon you. Now he's not talking about an

egg yoke. He's talking about one of those things where

you attach two horses together to pull a cart, or

two cattle together to pull the wagon. Why what's the

purpose of a cart or a yoke to.

Have the burden?

In other words, now instead of one horse pulling the cart,

you got two as their yoke together. Or instead of

one cow pulling the wagon, you got two cattle pulling

the covered wagon. So the purpose of a yoke is

to make the load lighter. That's the purpose of a yoke.

God never meant for you to go all through life

pulling things on your own, pulling the burden of your.

Life all by yourself.

That's why you're tired all the time, because you're trying

to solve all your problems by yourself.

God's never meant for that.

Jesus says, hey, yoke up with me, put my yoke

on you, and we'll pull your load together. Now, he's

got a lot more strength than you do. Now, here's

the thing about it. When you pull the yoke together,

you have to go at the same pace. Jesus goes,

you got two cattle yoke together. One can't go faster

than the other. One can't go one direction another the other.

When you are the load of your life ball by yourself,

you have a tendency to go too fast. You have

a tendency to go in the wrong direction, and you

have a tendency to pull it off in a ditch.

Some of you been there several times.

When you are yoked to Jesus, then he's pulling it

with you. It's lighter. He's going to go just the

right pace because he knows the pace better than you do.

He's going to keep you in the right direction. And

there's no way he's going to let you go off

in a ditch. So he says this, come to me,

all you who are weary and burdened. You're worn out

you're tired, you're stressed, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for

I'm gentle and here it is humble in heart. And

what does that humility produce? You will find rest for

your souls. Now, if you're stressed out tonight, the answer

to your stress are the three things in that verse.

There.

They are Come to Christ, give up control, learn to rest,

learn to trust.

That's it.

That's the antidote to stress. Come to Christ, give up control,

learn to trust. So you and he may have to

do that fifty times a day. God, I'm bringing this

problem to you, Jesus. I'm bringing this problem to you,

and I'm gonna give up control of it. I'm not

gonna worry about it, but I'm going to trust in you.

And you do that and your stress level goes down. Now,

coming to Christ and giving up control and learning to trust,

there's another word for that, humility. That's real humility. So

to live like Jesus means I live with discernibility, I

live with integrity, and I live with humility. Here's the

fourth one, and it's another big one. Live with simplicity.

Jesus obviously lived a very simple life. He lived a

life of simplicity and that lowers your stress too. But

today life has gotten more and more complex and is

getting more so everybody agree with that. It's getting more

and more complex. And not only that. You got more

stuff than you've ever had before. And when the more

stuff you have, the more you have to care for it,

the more you have to clean it, the more you

have to protect it, the more you have to ensure it,

the more you have to repair it. The more stuff

you've got, the more it dominates your life. My guess

is you probably have more stuff than your parents did.

It's just getting more and more every day.

And so you know, today we have an entire industry

that we didn't even have fifty years ago.

It's called personal storage units. It's like you.

Don't even have enough room in your house anymore, so

you have to go put it in a storage unit

and you pay rent to hold all your stuff.

The comedian George Carlin says it like this.

You know, all you need in life is a little

place for your stuff. Everybody's got a little stuff. This

is my stuff, that's your stuff. Over there's his stuff.

Now that's all a house is. It's just a place

to keep your stuff. Now, if you didn't have so

much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You can just

walk around all the time. But you got to have

a house to have a place for your stuff. A

house is just a pile of stuff with a cover

on it. Now, you can see that when you're taking

off in an airplane.

You look down, you.

See everybody's got their own little pile of stuff with

a roof on it.

Now, of course, when you leave your house, you gotta.

Lock it because you wouldn't want anybody taking your stuff,

because they always take the good stuff. Okay, they never

bother with the worthless stuff. Oh no, they just take

the good stuff. So when they take all your good stuff,

you have to go out and buy more stuff and

more stuff. And sometimes you have to gotta go get

a bigger house. Why no room for your stuff anymore?

Got to get a bigger house. You ever noticed that

when you go to somebody else's house you never feel

quite at home. Says you know why, because there's no

room for your stuff. Somebody else's stuff is all over

the place, no place for your stuff. And if you

stay overnight at their house, they give you a little

bedroom they haven't used in eleven years. Somebody died in it,

but they haven't moved out any of the stuff. Now

there's usually a dresser in the room of some kind,

but it's worthless because there's no room for your stuff

because it's still got his stuff on it. Now, sometimes

you go on vacation, so you got to take some

of your stuff with you. That's two big suitcases full

of stuff. It's a smaller version of your house. So

you get back to your hotel. You get to your

hotel room in Honolulu, and you open up your suitcase

and you put away all your stuff. Little stuff here,

little stuff there, A little over there, Honey, you can

put your stuff in there. And then even though you're

far away from home, you start to feel okay because, after.

All, you have some of your stuff with you. Look

at what the Bible says.

Jesus said in Matthew twelve fifteen, be on your guard,

by the way, that's one of those watch out verses.

Watch out, guard against all kinds of greed. A man's

life does not consist in the abundance of his stuff,

his possessions. You know this isn't anti American message. In

many ways. It's counterculture because everything in our society says

it's all about the stuff, it's all about getting more,

that the whole purpose of life is simply the acquisition

of things, and that Jesus said, wait a minute, a

man's life doesn't consist in the abundance the things you possess.

It's exact opposite of what our culture teaches. Our culture

teaches he who dies with the most toys still dies,

still dies. And somebody ritual died, they'll say, hen, I

wonder how much he left. I'll tell you he left

it all, all of it, one hundred percent.

Didn't take any of it with him.

It wasn't years before you were born, it's not gonna

be years after you die. You just get to use

this little bit of stuff for sixty or eighty years.

And then you pass it on.

And a lot of people think the whole purpose in

life is just to collect stuff. That's stupid, because it's

all gonna burn up. None of it's gonna last. It

isn't gonna last for a long time. And in America

we are possessed by our possessions.

What do you mean by that? I mean, I know

people who use.

All their time, all their energy, all their effort, all

their talent, all their leisure just to get things.

And so what they do.

Is they go out and they buy a house bigger

than they really can afford, and they buy a car

they don't really need. And then they have to hustle

and hoof it and overextend themselves and work themselves to

death just so they can have things. And they give

up time for things. That's dumb, because your life is

not about things. Your life is about time. And when

you waste it and you use it to get things,

you're never getting that time back. You're giving up what

you cannot keep for something else that is worthless.

And so you don't want to give up time for things.

Yeah, you can go out and work real hard, and

then all of a sudden you can go buy that

beautiful vase. But look what you've just lost in your

life in order it to get that vase. And once

you get it, you said you got insirt, sure it's

not broken, and make sure somebody dusts it, and all

these things, and you begin to be possessed by your possessions.

And people work work, work, work, work, work, work.

Just to get wealth.

And they spend the first half of their life sacrificing

their health to get wealth, and then they spend the

second half of their life using their wealth.

To get health. That's dumb, That's just dumb. But do

you see how counter culture this is.

Everything in society says the purpose of life is to

work hard, so you can get more and more and

more and more things. But you can all those things,

you're not taken with you, And none of those things

are gonna keep you happy. Because you're gonna get a car,

then you're gonna get bored with it.

You're gonna want another one, et cetera, et cetera.

So people, I'm telling you, never sacrifice time for things.

Your time is far more important than your money. You

can all always get more money, but you can't get

more time. You've only got a certain amount allotted on

this planet. Now. The Bible says this. Jesus said it.

He says in Matthew sixteen, how do you benefit if

you gain.

The whole world?

You know of stuff, but you lose your soul in

the process. I've known a lot of businessmen it did

that is anything worth more than your soul? The answer is,

of course not. Is anything worth more than your health.

No is anything worth more than losing your family? You

know thing, No, there is no thing worth more than

those relationships. So he says, learn to live with simplicity.

I'll just say it this way.

If you have something, a possession that God told you

to give it away, and you can't give it away,

you don't own it. It owns you. If you could

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

It's all gonna vanish anyway, So why store it up.

Now?

Here's the fifth key to living the way Jesus lived.

I live with discernibility. I live with integrity, I live

with humility, I live with simplicity. And then I live

with possibility. I see the possibilities because I have faith.

This is the faith factor in living. The Bible says

the just shall live by faith. The Bible says, without faith,

it is impossible to please God. The Bible says, whatever

is not a faith is sin. The Bible says, according

to your faith, it will be done unto you. And

so God says, when you come to me and you

believe in me, Oh, the possibilities expand in enormous ways.

Look at this verse Matthew nineteen twenty six. Jesus says,

with God everything is possible. Well, I can figure that

he created it all. But the next one is the

mind blower Mark nine twenty three. Everything is possible to

him who believes. Now that's a different issue. I believe

that of all the people on planet Earth, believers, Christians

followers of Jesus should be the most innovative people on

the planet, and should be the most creative people on

the planet. Why because we serve a God who says

all things are possible.

Actually, the most.

Narrow minded people I know are people who don't believe

in God. Why because their possibilities are limited just by

these certain things. But when I put my faith in God,

all things are possible, it expands my horizon. I can

be much more creative, and I can be much more innovative.

You know what the greatest sin is. It's not the

one you're thinking of. My sin is unbelief. Unbelief it

is not trusting the God who made me. He made

everything on the planet, He made everything in the universe.

Everything I have I owe to him. It all came

from God. I wouldn't have anything, not even my life,

if it weren't for him. Why would I not trust

him when I have unbelief? It limits my life? Now,

listen to this. The more you believe God, the more

you trust God, the more limitless your possibilities become. The

more possibilities for your life, the more possibilities for your family,

the more possibilities for your career, the more you trust God.

I've said many times that hell would be if God

showed me what I could have accomplished in life. If

I just believed him a little bit more, that to me.

Would be hell. I missed that, Yeah, because you just

didn't trust me. You just didn't believe me.

So let me ask you three very personal questions. Number one,

in what area or areas of your life? Are you

limiting God by your unbelief? God wants to bless you,

but you're limiting because you won't do it his way.

Your finances, your relationships, your career. So yeah, I know

God says to do such and such, but I don't

really think he knows what's best. I'm gonna do what

I want to do. Every time you doubt God, you

limit yourself. Question Number two, what needs changing in your life?

What do you need to change in your life? What

would you like to change in your family? What would

you like to change in your relationships? In the world.

I want to change five major problems. We call them

the global goliaths. Spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, poverty, pandemic diseases, illiteracy.

Those are giant problems. But with God, all things are possible.

What would you like to change? Third question, what are

you waiting on? What are you waiting for? You're not

waiting for God. He's waiting for you. Friends. These are

the greatest days to be alive. We live in an

unbelievable time and God has put you in a world

class church, a church that is literally changing the world,

affecting hundreds of thousands of church leaders in one hundred

and sixty two countries.

And God of.

All people brought you here to be a part of it.

Why not so you can sit and watch history, so

you can be a part of it. We are making

a difference. This is no time for discouragement. It's time

to get going.

You know, people are being transformed by these messages. In fact,

here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

You know, no matter how bad things seem, you can

always trust that God is active in your life, working

things out for the good. While you are waiting. God

is working. God always has your best interest at heart.

He's a good God. Today, I want to give you

the example from a note that I got from a

young man named Tyler, who has seen how God is

always there even when circumstances seem to be their worst.

Tyler wrote me said, you know, Rick, I haven't had

a close relationship with Christ. But then several events occurred

in my life all at once. First my girlfriend broke

up with me, and that was the biggest heartache that

I could imagine for both of us. Then my friends

left for college the same week, and third, my dad

left for California to start a new.

Job, leaving me in Ohio.

All of this hit me at once and I was

a complete mess. But with guidance from others and realizing

this was a scheduled appointment from God himself, I found

Christ through your Daily Hope podcast and through prayer and

in going to church, I finally found the joy in

my life again, and I'm.

A changed person.

Every day now, I listen to you, Rick, and I

read my daily devotional, and I look at life with

a whole new perspective. You know, before I was living

for me, I wasn't living for God. But this journey

has been so amazing. God is so good and the

best part is that I can wake up every day

knowing that He loves me and will listen to me,

and that Jesus Christ will take my worries from me.

I'm so thankful Rick that God woke me up and

changed me into a better and healthier person that I

am today. And I'm thankful for my savior, Jesus Christ.

So God bless you.

Well. Thanks Tyler, Thanks for writing that encouraging letter.

You have experienced firsthand how much God cares for you,

even in the smallest details of your life, and through

this what was a very difficult season, he led you

to Jesus, the greatest gift you could ever receive. So

did you know that the Bible says in Luke fifteen,

right now, all of Heaven is rejoicing because you're a

part of God's family. The Bible says they have a

party in heaven every time one person steps across the line.

And what that means that you and I are now brothers.

Did you know that we're brothers in Christ and your

church family are your brothers and sisters here to walk

alongside you. So Tyler, welcome to the Family of God.

And as you grow in your faith, staying connected with

a strong church community is so so important. I want

you to surround yourself with people who will encourage you

in the Lord, who will pray for you, who will

help you stay strong in your journey with Jesus, and

and see how God moves in your life as you

faithfully follow Him into your future. By the way, you

also mentioned that you listen to the Daily Hope podcast.

For anybody who hasn't checked that out yet, it is

completely free. It's completely available on all major platforms. It's

on Apple Podcasts, it's on Spotify, it's on wherever you

get your podcasts. You can also listen anytime by just

going to a Pastorrick dot com on the internet. Now, friends,

we're able to share Daily Hope with people around the

world because of your generosity listeners just like you, So

let me just stay here. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Thanks

for being a part of this community. Thanks for your

contributions to care for other people so that they could

get the word of God and build the hope that

they need, and they can keep seeking God and He

will guide them.

God bless you.

Hey be sure to join us next time when we

look in a God's Word for our daily hope. This

program is sponsored by Pastorick's Daily Hope and your generous

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