Rick Warren - How God Blesses Grateful Hearts A Thanksgiving Message—Part Two

Hi, this is Pastor Rick warrant on behalf of my

family and all of our staff here at Daily Hope.

We wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today, Rick brings his

special Thanksgiving message called How God Blesses Grateful Hearts to

a close. But first, in just a few moments, we're

going to tell you how you can get a beautifully

illustrated devotional for children by Pastor Rick that will help

them discover how much God loves them and that He

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Right now, here's Pastor Rick with the final part of

a message called how God Blesses Grateful Hearts.

Now here's the second habit of gratitude, giving back to God.

Write that down giving back to God. At Thanksgiving or

any other time, we give thanks by giving back to God.

We give thanks by giving, we give back the first

part of what He has given to us. Let's look

at some scripture on this Psalm fifty four, verse six

of this, I will offer a sacrificial offering as a

special gift to thank you Lord, because you are so good.

That's a Thanksgiving offering. We talked about a Thanksgiving song,

but the Bible talks about a thanksgiving offering, an offering

where we give to give thanks. You know, about four

hundred years ago, a group of Christian believers who were

being persecuted for their faith left Europe and moved to

North America in order to establish a colony that allowed

religious liberty so they could worship God freely. And those

original people who came four hundred years ago from Europe

were called the Pilgrims. Four hundred years ago, they established

with the Native Americans in their area a Thanksgiving day

in the fall to give thanks to God. That's where

the whole Thanksgiving Day got started. Of the modern days,

now a lot of stations have Thanksgiving Days. One hundred

and fifty years later, after the Pilgrims, America's first President,

George Washington, created, at the urging of Congress, the first

National Thanksgiving holiday. So that happened four hundred years ago,

the first modern Thanksgiving, and then one hundred and fifty

years later the first Thanksgiving holiday for a nation. But

did you know that three thousand years before that, three

thousand years before that, God had told the nation of

Israel to establish a Thanksgiving festival every year called the

Feast of Weeks, and they were to celebrate God's goodness,

and they were to express their gratitude to God by

bringing him a special Thanksgiving offering. That's three thousand years

before the modern Thanksgiving Day. Deuteronomy chapter sixteen, verse ten,

and eleven says this, I love this. In the TeV version,

celebrate the harvest festival. To honor the Lord your God

by bringing him a free will offering in proportion to

the blessing He has given. You. Do this at the

place of worship. So in the original Thanksgiving Day, they

were to bring a gift of thanksgiving to the place

of Thanksgiving. That's the Temp's where they worshiped. Now, this

Thanksgiving offering has been practiced by God's people for thousands

and thousands of years, and we've practice it here at

Saddleback since our church began forty two years ago. It

is mentioned many many times on the Bible, such as

in Psalm one sixteen seventeen, where King David says this,

I will sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to you. Now listen.

This is God's second favorite way of being thanked. He

talks about it over and over and over. The thanksgiving

offering is mentioned many times in scripture. In Psalm fifty,

verse twenty three, God says this, those people who truly

honor me are those who are they who bring me

offerings to show thanks. Those people who truly honor me,

God says, are those who bring the offerings to show thanks.

And I God save those who do that. It's one

of God's favorite love languages. Singing back to God and

giving back to God is our you know, examples and

illustrations of gratitude. Anytime we give an offering to God,

it actually represents three kinds of gratitude. It's a three

D gratitude past, present, in future. When I give an

offering to God, it represents I'm grateful for God's blessing

in the past, I'm grateful for God's blessing today, and

I'm grateful in faith for God's continued blessing in the future.

I thank you for the past, I thank him for today,

and I thank him that he's going to keep on

taking care of me in the future. Three kinds of gratitude.

So what kind of offering are we to bring to

show our gratitude to God. Well, the Bible says over

and over and over and over, we are to give

God the first part of our income, not the leftovers.

Not well, I pay all my bills and whatever's laft,

I'll give to God. We are to put God first

in our finances. Now, God knows this is a step

of faith, putting him first, which is why he tells

us to do it. Because it's a step of faith.

God is more interested in your faith. He certainly doesn't

need your money. God doesn't need your money. He owns it.

All the money you got in really yours, it with

somebody else. That's four years, that's yours right now. On

loan is be loaned to somebody else later. God just

wants to know if you trust him. Now, as I said,

with every principle God gives us that God gives us.

He also attaches a promise. There are more promises in

the Bible related to giving back to God than any

other promises in the scripture. Proverbs three nine and ten

is a good example. Proverbs three nine and ten says, this,

honor the Lord by giving him circle this the first part,

circle first part, by giving him the first part of

your income. And here's the promise. That was the premise.

Here's the promise. He will fill your barns and beryls

to overflow with more. God says, giving him an offering

is not just an act of gratitude, it's an act

of faith. And God always honors faith, so he promises

to bless you back. That's why I said there are

more promises in the Bible attached to giving and generosity

than the other subject. What God wants his children to

be like him. God is a generous God. Everything you

have in life is a gift of God's love. God

is the number one giver. God so loved the world

that he gave. You can love, You can give without loving,

but you can't love without giving. God so loved that

he gave. And if you love God, you're gonna give.

And if you love others, you're gonna give. Now, he says,

here's the promise, give me the first part, and I'll

overflow your barns and your baryls. In other words, you're

gonna get back more than you could possibly give to me.

God is that you give to me, and I'll give

to you, and we'll see who wins. Now, Jesus expanded

and extended the promise we just read proverbse three by

saying it this way in Luke chapter six, verse thirty eight.

Look up here on the screen. This from the New

Living Translation Luke six thirty eight. If you give, this

is Jesus talking. If you give, you will receive, and

your gift will return to you in full measure. And

then he says, press down, shaken together to make room

for more. Like you got a bag of beans. You

keep shaking it so it can hold more, Press down,

press down, shaken together to make room for more, and

running over. Whatever measure you use in giving larger from wall,

Jesus is talking, it will be used to measure what

is given back to you.

This is pastor Rick's daily hope. Rick will be back

in a moment with the second half of today's message.

But first, if this message has encouraged you, or if

God puts someone on your mind, that needs to hear it.

Would you share it? You'll be glad you did, and

be sure to let them know about pastor Ricks free

daily email devotional at pastorick dot com.

Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children to understand

that even before the universe was created, God had them

in mind, and that He has a special plan and

purpose for their life. That's why he created The Purpose

Driven Life devotional book for children. This inspirational resource uses

the principles found in pastor Ricks life changing bestseller The

Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as one hundred devotions

that speak directly to the daily challenges kids face and

gives real world applications to help them discover their purpose.

Paired with powerful scripture passages and engaging illustrations, young readers

will thrive on the biblical wisdom that has helped millions

of people throughout the world. We'll send you The Purpose

Driven Life one hundred illustrated Devotions for Children today as

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To help daily hope take the hope of Jesus to

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This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Audio Broadcast Ministry

of Pastor ds warrant. Once again, Here's Rick.

Do you believe that if you give, God will give

back more to you? How much do you trust God?

Do you think Jesus is a liar? You know what

I've never understood, friends, I've never understood. Why do people

trust Jesus to forgive their sins and save their souls

and take them to heaven, but they don't trust the

same Jesus with their finances and the promises he makes

about that. It makes no sense at all if you

can't trust Jesus with your finances. Why do you trust

him for your salvation? Really, this is a faith issue.

How much do you trust God? What we're talking about,

of course, giving the first part back to God is

called the principle of tithing. Tithing is the old English

word means ten percent. It's not twelve percent, it's not

twenty it's not one percent. Tithing means the first ten percent.

If I make ten dollars, the first dollar goes back

to God. If I make one hundred dollars, first ten

dollars go back to God. First, we give the first

ten percent of our income back to God in faith

and gratitude, and then He blesses the other ninety percent.

Look at these last two verses in this section Deuteronomy

fourteen twenty three Living Bible. Bring your tithe, that's the

first ten percent. Bring your tithe to the Lord, the

first of all you earn. The purpose of pithing is

to teach you to always put God first in your lives.

Now you may say, well God's first in my life. Well,

let me see two things. Let me see your calendar

and let me see your checkbook. Because the way you

spend your time and the way you spend your money

tells me what's really first in your life. And then

one of the greatest promises of all. It's the only

promise in the Bible where God says, you can prove

that I exist. It's a good verse for atheist. You

want to prove God's exist pithe Here's what God says.

Malachi three ten. Bring your whole tithe that's ten percent

to my storehouse, says the Lord, so there will be

food in my house. You bring the first ten percent

on the first day of the week as an act

that God is first. And what's first day week Sunday?

Is it act of worship? You bring it to my storehouse,

says the Lord. You don't give your tithe to your

sister or to some nice organization. After belongs to God.

It goes to his temple, It goes to his store house,

says that there will be food in my house. And

then he says this. Test me in this, God, dare

you try it? You like it? Test me? Here's the

Pepsi challenge verse. Test me in this and see if

I won't throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour

out so much blessing you won't have enough room for it. Wow.

God says, this is the way you can prove God exists.

Tithe all right, tithe put him first. And that is

God's second favorite way of being told you trust him,

of being told you're grateful. We sing songs of thanksgiving

and we give back to God in thanksgiving. Now we

said that the first of God's three favorite ways that

he loves to be shown gratitude is singing back to God.

And the second favorite way that God has is for

us to give back to God. And we've seen the

Thanksgiving song, and we've seen the power of the Thanksgiving offering.

But now we come to what's called the Thanksgiving cup.

And what we're talking about is taking the Lord's Supper

together as an act of gratitude. God's third favorite way

of being told that we love him is through communion

through the Lord's Supper. The third habit of gratitude is this,

write it down communion with God. First Corinthians, chapter eleven,

verses twenty three to twenty seven. Look up here on

the screen. It's not on your outline. It says this.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took bread,

and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and

he bro the bread, and he said, this is my body,

which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Then in the same way, Jesus took the cup, and

he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

And whenever you drink it, do this and remembrance of me.

And I says it twice. Do this in remembrance of me.

Communion is to help us remember what's remembering for, so

we can be grateful. Whatever you remember, you can be

grateful for. He says, I've given you this memory tool communion.

The bread and the wine, the juice and the wafer.

I've given you this communion tool to remember the good

thing that I did for you, the suffering that I

did for you, what it cost me to pay for

your salvation Jesus. The Bible says this, for whenever you

eat the bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim

the Lord's death. It's remembering of God's great gift on Calvary,

Jesus death on the cross. You proclaim the Lord's death

until he comes again. He didn't stay dead. He's coming

back again. That's what Easter is all about. And then

the Bible says Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks

the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will

be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood

of the Lord. What does that phrase mean? An unworthy manner?

You know, as a young Christian, I often wondered and

was even a little worried what that meant, to take

the Lord's supper, to take communion in an unworthy manner.

But I now believe that taking the Lord's supper in

an unworthy manner includes taking communion without truly being grateful

for all Jesus paid for with his death on the cross.

To take it in an unworthy man is to reject

the power of the cross. It is to take communion

without fully understanding and fully accepting and fully being grateful

for Jesus' sacrifice for me. This is Jesus's third favorite

way of us expressing our thanks to him. He gave

us the memory tool of communion. Now you've probably heard

that another name for the Lord's Supper, or another name

for communion is the Eucharist. Have you heard that word

the Eucharist. That's a Bible term. It's in the Bible,

you know, the New Testament was written in Greek. Eucharist

is a Greek word. Do you know what it means? Thanksgiving?

Eucharist is the Greek word for thanksgiving. The communion is

to be a model of thanksgiving. It's a way we

give thanks back to God, first through the thanksgiving song,

second through the thanksgiving offering, and third through the thanks

thanksgiving cup. One Corinthians ten sixteen says, this is not

the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a

participation in the blood of Christ, and it's not the

bread that we break participation in the body of Christ.

When we drink from a communion cup and we eat

the bread, we are participating in one another of God's

favorite ways to be told thank you God. By our eating,

we are saying Father, thank you, thank you, thank you

for sacrificing yourself to send your son to come and

die on the cross for our sins so that we

can be forgiven. And we remind ourselves of the high

price that Jesus paid to save us. And our only

response is gratitude. Colossians two thirteen and fourteen says this

we were spiritually dead because of our sins and our

sinful nature. We were dead, separated from Christ. But God

gave us new life. We didn't turn over new lead.

He gave us a whole new life. God gave us

new life with Christ. He forgave all our sins, and

it counseled the record that contained all the charges against us,

and he took it and he destroyed it by nailing

it to Christ's cross. That's what the Bible says. What

is our response to such overwhelming love? It is one

Corinthians fifteen fifty seven which says this, how we thank

God who gives us victory over sin and over death

through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is the Eucharist, This

is the cop of thanksgiving. So I want you to

bow your head right now, and with your head bowed,

I want to ask you, have you ever completely fully

accepted the gift of God's salvation by faith? Have you

accepted the grace of God in your life? Have you

accepted His forgiveness realizing you can't earn it, pay for it,

or deserve it. It's just a gift. And have you

expressed your gratitude back to God? If you haven't, saying

so right now in your heart, say dear God, thank you,

thank you, thank you, for dying for me. Say that

thank you for paying for my sins. Say that thank

you for dying on the cross so that I could

be forgiven and that I could go to heaven, and

so that I could have a purpose for living. Jesus Christ,

I opened my life to you, and I give myself

completely to you, and I want to develop these habits

of singing with gratitude, giving back in song, of giving

back financially, and of taking communion to remember your sacrifice.

I ask you to accept me into your family in

Jesus Date. Amen, Hi, this is Pastor Rick. If you

just pray to accept Jesus Christ into your heart, congratulations,

You're now my brother or sister and the Lord. And

you need to tell somebody, and why don't you tell me?

Write to me Rick at Pastorrick dot com. Just email

me Rick at Pastorrick dot com and tell me your story.

I would love to read it. And by the way,

I'll send you some free material to help you start

in your new journey with the Lord. God bless you.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If this message

has encouraged you, or if God puts someone on your

mind that needs to hear it. Would you share it?

You'll be glad you did, and be sure to let

them know about Pastor ricks free daily email devotional at

pastorick dot com. Rick will be back in just a moment,

but first, Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children

to understand that even before the universe was created, God

had them in mind, and that He is a special

plan and purpose for their life. That's why he created

The Purpose Driven Life devotional book for children. This inspirational

resource uses the principles found in Pastor Rick's life changing

bestseller The Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as one

hundred devotions that speak directly to the daily challenges kids

face and gives real world applications to help them discover

their purpose. Paired with powerful scripture passages and engaging illustrations,

young readers will thrive on the biblical wisdom that has

helped millions of people throughout the world. We'll send you

The Purpose Driven Life one hundred illustrated Devotions for Children

today as our way of saying thanks for your gift

to help daily hope take the hope of Jesus to

people around the world. Be sure to get a copy

for all the children God has placed in your life, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews,

and the kids in your neighborhood. They'll all be blessed

by this amazing resource. Go to Pastorick dot com right

now to get your copy, or you could just call

eight hundred six hundred five thousand four. There's only two

days left to get this great resource, so don't wait.

That's Pastorick dot com or eight hundred six hundred five

thousand four. Thank you so much for your support, and

be sure to let us know that you listen to

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope on the Rape. Here's Rick with

a special message.

You know, there's so much we can be grateful for

during Thanksgiving. No matter how things go wrong in your life,

there's still something you can thank God for. But let's

remember those who are less fortunate. Reach out to somebody

with the love of God this Thanksgiving, maybe with a

meal or a blanket, or invite him to church. Think

about what you can do to let them know they're

not forgotten during this season of giving. Thanks God bless

you all and have a great Thanksgiving.

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.