Rick Warren - How the Bible Changes Us—Part One

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

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series

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rickshare's practical Bible study tools that will reignite your passion

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Here's Pastor Rick Warren with part one of a message

called how the Bible Changes Us.

The Bible is unlike any other book. It's why we

call it the Holy Bible. There are a lot of

good books in the world. In fact, there are a

lot of great books in the world, and there are

some really super great books.

I've been a reader all my life.

I have a library over twenty thousand volumes some of

them as old as four or five hundred years old,

that I've been collecting since I was seventeen, and use

bookstores in every city I went into in the world,

and there are a lot of really good books. But

this book is unlike any other book. It has a power,

a supernatural power in it that no other book has

to change lives. And the reason it has the power

to change lives is because it is the Word of God.

Last week we looked at the seven reasons we can

know for certain that this is God's Word, That it's

not just a human book, it's not just an ordinary book.

It's not just a bunch of fairy tales, or for

that matter, even just a history of Israel. That it

is theoneustosis. The Bible calls it God breathed. And the

reason why the Bible has the power to change our

lives is because it's not just words in print. It's

not just human ideas, it's not just pop psychology.

It is the Word of God.

Now, the word of God is the most powerful thing

in the universe. In fact, the Bible says the entire

universe was created by the word of God. God spoke

it into existence, that God gave us the universe by

simply speaking it and over and over again. God speaks

and it happens. God speaks and it happens. You know,

for thousands of years, scientists believed that the universe was

infinite and that it was eternal, that it had no

beginning and had no end. We know that's not true anymore,

you know, Einstein and the theory of relativity, and then

later the calculations of people like Stephen Hawkings and many

others have proven we now know. Scientists widely accept that

the universe had a definite beginning and has will have

a definite end. We don't know when that's going to happen.

But the Bible of course said that, you know, thousands

of years ago that the Bible, the world was created,

the universe is created, and that there will be an

end to it, that God has other plans after the universe,

and things like that. Now the scientists call the beginning

of the universe the big Bang. I don't have a

problem with that, you know, I don't have a problem

with that. I mean, because wherever you got a big bang,

you got a big banger. And the Bible says this

Psalm thirty three six, The Lord merely spoke and the

heavens were created. He breathed the word and all the

stars were born. If you want to call that a

big bang, that in the split seconds all those stars

were spewed out all over. Fine, but I'm going to

tell you behind that bang was the Word of God.

It wouldn't have happened unless it just didn't happen. By well,

it takes enormous amount of faith to believe it was

just an accident.

That something comes out of nothing.

We disproved spontaneous generation back in you know past yurs

Day and Curry and all these other guys that a

doesn't things don't son't happen out of nothing. That when

there is a cause and effect, there's the cause that

creates the effect. So the Word of God spoke. And

when you find the scriptures, the Bible says, God says,

let there be light. Bam, there's light. God says, let

there be this, and bam, there's that. And God says,

let there be this, and over and over, and God

speaks life into people. When Jesus was walking on the

planet two thousand years ago, he brought people back to

life simply by his word. These were widely seen miracles,

not attested to by two or three people, but four

or five hundred people at a time, sometimes thousands, in

what the Bible calls multitudes would see Jesus speak and

see people be healed, and see people be brought back

to life, and things like that. This is the power

of God's word. I don't have a power like that.

You don't have a power like that because we're not God.

But the power of God's word is God can create

things and bring them into existence. That's enormous power. Jesus

said that his words were more than just words, that

they were spirit and life. The Bible says this, and

John sixt' sixty three it says, the words I have

spoken to you are spirit and they are life. In

other words, when Jesus says when I talk, it's not

his words. We're talking about spiritual power. We're talking about

spiritual life. Things that can transform society, transform history, transform people,

can do the impossible. Hebrews four twelve says it like this.

The word of God is living and active. The word

of God is actually a lie. It is living and active.

The word living there in Greek is the word zoo zoo.

We get the word zoo from it, or zoology. A

girl's name Zoe comes from that. It means to live,

and it says the Word of God is living. It

is alive. It's not just words, and it is active.

The Greek word there is the word inner goths or

inner ghosts, which is the word we.

Get energy from.

It has energy, It has power to change things. The

Bible says it is sharper than any double edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

What's he's saying, He says.

Sharper than any surgeon's skilled scalpel. The Word of God

has the bariability to cut right to the heart of

the issue. The ability of the Word of God has

the ability to point out what's wrong in my life,

what needs to be corrected in my life, and what

I need, what I own. It's not a skill saw,

it's not a chain saw. It's like a scalpel. It

can do the fine work that needs to be done

in my life. Is exactly what I need. Now, what

do I need in my life? Well, I need the

same thing in my life that you need in your life.

What is that change the things in your life you

don't like, things in your life that you don't want.

There are things that you know.

Need changing in your life, and you may have even

tried to change them, but they haven't changed. The Bible

says the word of God can change.

Things that you cannot change on your own. D. L. Moody,

who was a.

Very famous pastor in Chicago one hundred years ago, said,

the Bible wasn't given to increase our knowledge. The Bible

was given to change our lives. And what I want

us to do this weekend is look at seven specific

ways God wants to change your life with his word.

Seven changes that you want in your life that God says,

if you'll invest your life in my word, it will

change you. So how does the God's living word change me?

You might write these down. There's seven reasons, seven ways.

The first way that God's word changes me is it

recreates my life. It recreates my life. What does that mean?

It means when my life has fallen apart, when my

life has gone to the dogs, when my life is

I feel like it said at the end of the road.

God comes in and recreates my life. He gives me

a whole new life. He gives me a fresh start.

He lets me begin again. The Bible calls it being

born again. It's that dramatic. Born again is simply meaning

you get a whole new life. You don't turn over

a new leaf. You get a whole new life. You

get to start over slatest clean Now. The Bible says

in James one eighteen, he chose to give us birth

through the word of Truth. Notice that this spiritual birth,

this salvation, comes through the word of Truth. You see,

without the word of God, you couldn't be saved. I

couldn't be saved Without the word of God. We wouldn't

be headed for heaven. Why, we wouldn't even know there

was a heaven. If it wasn't for this book. We

wouldn't know about Jesus dying the cross. We wouldn't know

how to trust him. We wouldn't know that God has

a purpose for our lives. We wouldn't know any of

the things that we need to know in order to

get to know God. Without his word. God is not silent.

God has chosen to reveal himself because he wants us

to know him. God knows everything about us. He wants

us to know about him. Paul told Timothy and two

Timothy three point fifteen. He says, you know from a child,

you have known the Holy scriptures, which you're able to

make you wise under salvation.

It's this book that's going to show you the path

to Heaven.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be

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

You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional

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Pastor Rick says, the Bible isn't meant to just inform us,

It's meant to transform us. That's why it's so important

to study God's Word. Maybe you've never studied the Bible

and you don't even know where to start. Or maybe

you read the Bible every day, but you're not getting

all God has for you out of the time you

spend with him. That's why Pastor Rick created a very

special Bible study called forty Days in the Word. This

life changing resource will ignite your passion for God's Word

and revolutionize your relationship with Jesus. The Forty Days in

the Word Study Kid includes six videos, sessions on DVD,

and a two hundred and six page, two color work book.

In the workbook, you'll find six easy to learn methods

for reading and meditating on Scripture. These are the very

methods faster Rick uses in his own personal daily quiet time.

You'll also find interactive journaling pages and Bible verse cards

with the twenty Bible versus every Believer should Memorize. There's

even a special section called how can we know the

Bible came from God? And a guide for choosing which

translation of the Bible is right for you. Will send

you a copy of The Forty Days in the Word

Study Kid to say thanks for your gift to help

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By the way, right now, when you give a gift

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

Now, the Bible is often compared to a seed. We

talked about this a couple of weeks ago, that it's

like a seed planet in your life. And once it

takes root in your heart, it begins to sprout, it

begins to grow, and then it begins to bear fruit,

and then you see all these changes for the good

in your life. The Bible says it like this one

Peter one twenty three, You have been born again, not

of perishable seed, but of imperishable, in other words, eternal,

through the living and enduring Word of God. You might

circle that living and enduring the Word of God is

not just words. It is alive, the living and enduring

Word of God. And so we, as James says, humbly,

accept the word planeted you, which can save you. So

it starts off by recreating my life, but it's got

a lot more to do than that.

Let me give you the others. Number two.

The second thing that the Word of God can do

in my life is it eradicates my guilt.

This is a big one.

I don't have to live have any guilt anymore in

my life. I don't have to go around with regrets

in my life. I don't have to go around with

shame in my life. Most people are stuck with memories

from the past. They can't seem to get over either

people who've hurt them and they have resentment, or they've

hurt others and they have guilt. Did you know that

God doesn't want you going through life caring a baggage

of guilt in your life? Did you know that God

wants you to be free from guilt? And did you

know that the Bible was given so you could become

guilt free? That God uses the word to eradicate your guilt.

I'll never forget. Many many years ago, I was in

another city and at the end of a service I

had spoken and a young woman came up to me

and she just began to pour out a really sad

story and all of the bad mistakes she'd made with

her life, and she was distraught she was weeping profusely,

and she was saying, I feel so guilty, and she

was literally sobbing with these deep heaves. I feel so guilty.

And I said, have you got a minute for me

to show you what the Bible says, what God's word

says about guilt.

And I began to take her through scripture after scripture.

On John chapter one, verse nine, if we confess our

sins to God, He's faithful and just to forgive us

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I call that the

soap dish verse. God says, I'm gonna give you a bath.

I'm not only gonna just forgive you, I'm gonna wipe

it out. We're gonna get rid of all of dirt

in your life. That's a cleaning verse. That's a disinfecting verse.

And I took it to verses like Romans eight, verse

one that says there's now no condemnation. That means none, zero,

zip none. There is no condemnation for those who are

in Christ. Jesus, you mean all the things I've done

wrong in my life, God's not gonna punish.

Me for it. Nope.

Why because Jesus already took that punishment on the cross.

What about the sins I commit tomorrow? Those two no condemnation.

That is such a guilt reliever, that is such a

shame reducer, that is such a regret elimination and eradicator.

The Bible was given to cleanse our lives from guilt.

Let me show you a couple verses Ephesians chapter five,

Verse twenty five or twenty six. Christ loved the church

and he gave himself up for her to make her holy,

cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.

Circle that phrase, through the word. What is he saying

is that when I take the word of God and

I fill my mind with it, it washes my mind,

it washes my body. It cleanses the dirt, the junk,

the grime, the grit, the shame, the sin, all out

of my life. That's what God's word does. It makes

me clean inside. It is the spiritual cleansing, so my

guilt is eradicated. Jesus once told the twelve followers his

disciples this John fifteen three. You are all ready clean

because of the word I have spoken to you. There

is a cleansing power in this book that when I

read it, it removes the guilt out of my life

by teaching me the truth. So the Word of God

can recreate my life and it can eradicate my guilt.

Number three, this is a big one. It activates my faith.

It not only eliminates or eradicates my guilt, it activates

my faith. And that is so important because it gives

me confidence. You know, I've discovered today most people are

not confident. Most people are not courageous. Most people are

flat out scared to death. They're afraid to take risks.

They're fear of failure, they're afraid of dying. They're filled

with all kinds of fears. They're not walking confidently because

they're not people of faith. Now, faith is word activated.

The Bible says this Romans ten seventeen. Faith comes from

hearing the message, and the message is heard through the

Word of Christ. Now, if you've ever read a verse

in the Bible and all of a sudden it hits you,

and all of a sudden you thought, I can do this,

I can do this, you have just had your faith

activated by the word of God. If you've ever been

in a service where Pastor Tom or I or some

other pastor was teaching, or you've been in a Bible

study and you heard the word of God and all

of a sudden you thought, I can do this, I

can do all things that Christ you strength to me.

You just had your faith activated by the word of God.

See this is the difference between the Bible and self

help books. Self help books often tell you some good stuff.

They can tell you the right thing to do, they

just don't give you the power.

To do it.

I mean, you read a self help book says now,

if you really want to succeed in life, you need

to stop worrying. Oh that's helpful. Okay, give up all

your bad helbits. Oh that's too And it'll tell you

all the right things to do. And they're right about

a number of those things. Stop thinking it's on negatively,

But you don't know how to stop it. You don't

have the power because those books aren't living. They're not alive.

But the power of God's word is. It not only

shows you what to do, it gives you the power

to do it, and it increases your faith. When I

read these thousands of promises in the Bible where God says,

if you do this and this, I will do this,

this and this that increases my expectation. It gives me confidence.

You know, some of you know this story that at

the end of the first year of Saddleback Church, when

Kay and I started the church in nineteen eighty at

the end of the first year, I was standing up

speaking and I fainted. I just passed out, and I

went into a period of depression. It was literally my burnout.

I had my midlife crisis at age twenty five. You know,

I wanted to get it over early, so when I

hit my forties, I just went right through it. But

I was working so hard and working eighteen hours a

day and loving every minute of it and not taking

time off, and I just burnt out physically, emotionally, spiritually.

And during nineteen eighty one, for that entire month, I

was depressed for the entire year. It's like I was

walking around with a cloud over my head and I

really didn't know how to get out of it. And

I was doing everything I could, but I was just

going to keep moving forward. You know, as I've said,

many times, what do you do when you're going through hell?

You keep going. You don't want to stay there, You

certainly don't want to make camp You don't park in hell.

When you're going through hell, you just keep going. And

so my prayer was not, Oh, God, do something really

great in my life. My prayer was God, get me

through the weekend. And I just kept doing that. But

during that time I was learning things that was preparing

me in that year of darkness.

Prayer me to.

Handle enormous levels of stress that would break most people,

and to be able to manage all kinds of balls

at the same time. I learned some skills and some

character development there I would have never learned if I

hadn't gone through a year depression, because during that your depression.

I was forced to read this book, and I was.

Reading it and reading it and reading it and reading

it and reading it because I needed my faith activated.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you've missed any

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close out our time today. But first we have some

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you more.

Hi, everybody, thanks so much for listening today. You know,

my hope is that God uses this broadcast to help

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they're walking with Jesus and that guilt and fear has

been chased from their lives by God's love. You know,

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many people are saying that they've found their life purpose.

I want to say thank you to you, because we're

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