Rick Warren - How To Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running on Empty Part Three

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in our series

called Strategies for Stressful Times. In these lessons, Rick SHARE's

biblical wisdom for navigating difficult and stressful times so that

you can experience God's peace and thrive in any situation.

But before we get started, we want to let you

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to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Now

here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part of a

message call how to keep your tank filled instead of

running on empty.

Now we come now to the third steps. First, get

fed up with how I've been feeling. And then second,

come to Jesus because He's gonna give me rest for

my soul. Now here's the third step, big one. Three words,

give up control. Give up control. You see, the real

reason for overload in your life is because we try

to control things too much. We try to control things

too much. We don't even realize how much we try

to control things too much, but we act subconsciously as

if it all depends on me. I have to hold

everything together. I gotta make it all happen. Now, listen,

I love you guys. Now, I just want to tell

you that the greater you need to control things, the

more overloaded and stress you're gonna be in life. You

got to learn to give up control. The greater your

need for control, the more overloaded, the more empty, the

more stressed, the more depressed you're gonna be in life.

Jesus's third solution to running on empty? Is this the

next part of that verse? Take my yoke up on you.

That's the third step. Get fed up, come to Jesus,

give up control. Now, obviously this needs to be explained.

What's he talking about here? Take my yoke? Well, he's

not tiring about an egg yoke, Okay, not that kind

of yellow egg yoke. He's talking about the wooden frame

that you put over two animals. Farm animals so that

they work together. And when you take two cattle and

they're pulling, they're gonna pull a wagon together. You put

a yoke over both of them and then they pull

the together. He said, wait a minute, Wait a minute,

that doesn't sound very relaxing. Takes my yoke. That sounds

more like a burden. I'm already carrying too much of

a burden. Why in the world would I want to

take jesus yoke on me, Because you don't understand the

purpose of a yoke. The purpose of a yoke is

to lighten the load, not to make a heavier load.

The purpose of a yoke is so that you share

the load you're carrying. You're already carrying the load. Jesus says,

yoke up with me, and I'll help you carry it.

See when two animals team up together, it makes the

load lighter, not harder. Now, Jesus is God, he's not

carrying any load. He has no load because he's God.

He's not carrying anything. And he goes on to explain

that in the next verse, verse thirty. Look at that verse.

He says, for my yoke is easy and my burden

is life. I'm not gonna dump more on you when

you're tired, when you're worried, when you're empty, when you're frustrated.

He says, I'm going to take it off you by

helping you carry your load. He says, my yoke is

easy and life. I love the new living translation says,

my yoke fits perfectly. In other words, it's not uncomfortable,

it's not rough, it's not tight, it's not painful. Now, friends,

a yoke is a symbol of partnership. It means you're

no longer going through life by yourself. You're teamed up

with God, and he's going to help you carry the load.

You weren't meant to go through life carrying your load

all by yourself. Hear and me. You weren't meant to

go through life carrying the load that you're carrying all

by yourself. You said, I'll take part of it, and

I'll carry it with you. He doesn't have any load.

He's God. He doesn't add to your load. He takes

it from you. I'll share it. Now, you're not carrying

the load by yourself. Now, this principle of giving up

control to God, it's all through the scriptures and it's

really the antidote to peace. Let me show you some

verses Psalm fifty five, Verse twenty two. Pile all your

troubles on God's shoulders. He'll carry your load and help

you out. I love that in the message. He'll carry

your load and help you out. You pile it on

his shoulders. Yoke up with him. Let me ask you

who's got a stronger back. You are God, Jesus says,

Join up with me, Come to me, give up control.

Join with me, and I'll put the load on me

and we'll carry it together. Now what does that mean? Well,

let me just be real honest with you. If you're

feeling overloaded right now, it means that at this point,

right now, you are not yoked to Jesus Christ. When

I feel overloaded, when I feel stressed out, when i

feel I'm going under, every time I feel that way,

it means that somehow I've gotten detached or disconnected from Jesus.

I've gotten detached or disconnected. So this yoke is a

symbol of partnership, but it's also a symbol of control

because it's used to guide animals. You see, when I'm

yoked with Jesus we move together in the same direction

at the same pace. When I'm not yoked to Jesus,

I can move at a pace it's too fast, and

I can go off in a ditch very easily. But

if you're yoked to Jesus, there's no way he's going

to let you outpace yourself, and there's no way he's

going to let you go off in the ditch.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope be back in

just a moment with the rest of today's lesson. You

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Now back to more from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.

Galatians, chapter five. Look at that verse on your outline.

Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in

step with the spirit. How by being yoked to Jesus,

partnering with Jesus, how do I keep in step with

the spirit? Next verse Romans three twenty eight. Our lives

get in step with God by read it and aloud

with me together, letting him set the pace. Circle that

letting him set the pace. If you're setting the pace,

it's probably the wrong pace. You know. It's interesting to

me that we have no record in scripture of Jesus

running anywhere. Jesus was never in a hurry. You won't

be either. If you're connected to Christ. Why not choose

the easiest yoke Jesus the easiest yoke. Now, notice he says,

take my yoke that's in exchange. What that means I

take off the one I've been carrying, that yoke where

I've been yoked to the world's expectations, what everybody expects

me to do, and I put on the yoke of God.

What Jesus says, The answer is give up control, give

up control. Every time I give up control, my load

gets lighter, and God gives me peace quickly. The last

couple number four, he says, come, then he says take,

and then he says learn. And here's the fourth thing.

Learn to trust, learn to trust. This is the antidote anxiety.

Worry lessen and trust more. And this is the fourth

thing Jesus says to do. The rest of that verse,

he says, and learn from me. Learn from me, for

I'm gentle and I'm meek, I'm humble in heart, and

you will find rest for your souls. You know, Jesus

modeled how to live with peace and purpose, and the

fourth step to refilling your spiritual and emotional tank is

to follow Jesus' model. He says, learn from me, watch

how he lived, and do it the way he did.

Learn from Jesus. Now, if you serve the word learn,

Learning is a process. You don't learn it overnight. You

didn't develop your overloaded lifestyle overnight. You're probably not gonna

get out of it overnight, but you're gonna learn to trust.

What can I learn from Jesus? Learning is a process.

Learning takes time. What can I learn from Jesus? Well,

he says, you'll learn how to be gentle and humble.

What how is that going to help me? Learning to

be gentle? That doesn't seem like it's gonna help me

because I'm stressed out and tired. Why is gentle and

humble so important? I mean, Jesus didn't say learn from me,

and I'll teach you how to have endure and stamina.

That's what I would expect them to say, learn from

me and I'll give you endurance and stamina. No, he says,

learn from me and I'll teach you how to be

gentlemen and humble. Why because listen very closely. The two

biggest causes of overload and stress and emptiness in your

life are aggression and arrogance. What let me explain aggression

is we don't want to wait for anything. We're aggressive.

We don't want to pause for anything. We don't want

to consider anything. We don't want to be patient for anything.

We want to just jump right in and we get

over committed because of our aggressive behavior. It's the opposite

of gentleness, being aggressive rather than being gentle, and that

puts stress on you. And the other is arrogance. What's

the sign of arrogance when we try to control everything.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but

your ego, my ego is responsibility for more stress and

overload in my life than I realize. Your ego is

responsibility for more stress and arrogance in your life than

you realize. You try to do it all. That's ego,

that's pride, that's arrogance. You try to have it all,

you try to please everyone, You try to act like

superwoman or Superman. That's arrogance. The more arrogant you are,

the more egotistically driven you are, the more stressed you're

going to be. The most stressful people I know are

no are the most arrogant people I know. The antidote

to the two biggest causes of stress in your life

are generalist and humility. What does that mean? It means

I need to remind myself every day I'm not God

and I'm not everybody's savior, and neither are you. What

was Jesus' secret of peace? He only did what the

Father told him to do, and he didn't worry about

the rest. You go read the Book of John twelve times.

In the Book of John, he says, I only do

what the Father tells me, and he says, follow my model.

Why don't you start trusting God? Try trusting God? Let

me give you a couple verses. Look at this layer

on the screen Proverbs twenty, verse twenty four. Since the

Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything

that's happening along the way. Hmm, we keep trying to

figure it all out? Says why don't you just trust God?

Learn to trust? So I'm one forty two. Verse three

says this when I'm ready to give up. Maybe you're

feeling that way when I'm ready to give up on

my marriage, or my job or anything else. When I'm

ready to give up, he knows what I should do.

Learn to trust? How do I trust more? Look at

this verse on the screen. Romans ten seventeen. Faith comes

by hearing the word of God that leads us to

the last two steps. Number five. Start every day by

refilling my take. Start every day by filling my tank.

Now we've talked about this so many times, I don't

feel like I have to go into it in any detail.

But I'm talking about a daily quiet time. I'm never

going to stop talking about this because it is the

key to stability and the stee key to energy in

your life Matthew sixty six. Jesus says this in the message.

Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted

to role play before God, and just be there as simply,

as honestly as you can, and the focus will shift

from you to God and you will begin to sense

His grace. Start every day by filling my tank. Remember

I tried to teach you over a year ago. Hw

FW and HWLW his word, first word, his word, last word.

Start the day with God's word. In the day with

God's word. Finally, one more step, number six, Stay connected

to my spiritual family. That's gonna keep you refueled and

refilled and keep you from going empty. Hebrews eleven twenty five.

Let us not give up the habit circle the word habit.

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together

as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another

all the more. Why do I need to be connected?

Stay connected to my spiritual family, Because when you're empty,

and when you need to be filled. Here's what God

says about the church last verse on your screen. Pesians

one twenty three. The church is Christ's body, and it

is filled. That's the opposite of empty. It is filled

with Christ, who completely fills, which is the opposite of empty.

Everything else you empty. You need to be a church.

You need to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

They will help refill your emptiness. Okay, let's wrap it up.

Weighing you down right now. Problem with your children, problem

with your finances, problem with aging parents, problem with your health.

But I will tell you this. God brought you here

today so he could say this to you. Let's look

at the verse one more time on the screen. I

love this. In the amplified translation, Jesus says this to you,

if you're empty, come to me. Come to me, all

you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened, and

I will cause you to rest that soul. Rest. I

will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take my

yoke on you. Partner with me and learn from me,

for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart. And you

will find rest, relief, and ease and refreshment and recreation

and blessed quiet for your souls. And that's beautiful. And

the amplified translation this is the most important invitation you

will ever receive in your life, and you took enough

time to show up to let God give it to you.

Here's the invitation. Get dissatisfied the way you've been feeling.

Come to Jesus, not to anything else. Come to Jesus.

Give up control, learn to trust, and stay connected. Pray

this prayer. Dear God. I'm tired of trying to control everything.

I'm tired of a life without rest and peace. Forgive

me for all the times I've turned to other things

for relief instead of you. Today, I'm coming back to

you in your name. I pray Amen. Hi everybody, this

is Rick and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. You know,

if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,

or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,

would you let me know about it. There's something real

about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at Pastorrick

dot com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.

I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you

some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.

And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

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I want to take a minute and tell you how

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During the recent fighting in the capital of Juba. She said,

I had planned to commit suicide. There's somebody who needs hope.

When I listened to Rick Warren's broadcast, the one called

when you feel Like giving Up, I got inspired and

I dropped the idea of taking life that very night.

And I'll continue to pray God to bless this great

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isn't God amazing How when you just give what you

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I want you to pray for Joyce and today I

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please contact us today. You can give right now by

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six hundred five thousand and four, and we'll say thanks

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