Rick Warren - God's Way of Meeting My Needs—Part One

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

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in our series

called fifty Days of Faith. In these lessons, Rick looks

into God's Word to discover the true meaning of faith

and explore ways we can strengthen it. First, today, when

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eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,

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

called God's Way of Meeting My Needs.

All along in this series we've been talking about the

importance of the promises of God. God that if you're

going to be a man of faith, if you're going

to be a woman of faith, you have to learn

and claim the promises of God. Now, one of the

most famous promises in the entire Bible is the one

at the top of your outline Philippians four nineteen, which says,

my God will meet all your needs according to his

glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Now that's a pretty broad statement.

God says I will meet all your needs according to

my riches in Christ Jesus. Some of you saying, rick,

I don't understand that verse. I have needs in my

life that are not being met. I have physical needs,

I have spiritual needs, I have social needs, I have

financial needs, I have sexual needs. I have a lot

of needs in my life that are not being met.

So why doesn't this verse work for me? Why isn't

this promise working in my life? Well, it's not God's fault.

You need to understand the behind every promise is a premise.

There is a condition, and God says, if you do this,

then I will do this. And today we're going to

look at those conditions. And if you follow those conditions,

the premises behind the promise, you can count on the

fact that God says I will meet all your needs. Now,

he doesn't say I'll meet all your greeds. He says

I'll meet all your needs in your life. And in

tewod Corinthians chapter nine, if you have a Bible, you

might want to turn there. If you don't, all the

verses are on your outline. God spells out first the

principle how I mean, what God wants us to do.

Then he spells out the procedure how to do it,

and then finally he gives us the promise again, the guarantee. Now,

if you're going to take notes on any week, this

is a good week to take notes. Get out of pencil.

This can save you some money, it'll increase your joy,

it'll increase your faith, it will change your life if

you'll understand how God meets your deepest needs. Now here's

the principle. First, when you have a need, plant a seed.

When you have a need, plant a seed. Second, Corinthians nine,

verse six says this, let's read it aloud together. Whoever

sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, And whoever sows generously

will also reap generously. Now this is the principle of

sowing and reaping. When a farmer looks at a baron

field and he wants to have a crop, what does

he do to get a crop? Does he pray about it? No?

Prayers worthless at that point does he complain about it? No,

complaining is worthless at that point. What he needs to

do is go out and sow some seed. Until he

sows some seed, nothing is going to happen on that

piece of baron property. He has to start by giving.

Here are two farmers and they're both in debt, and

they both have a sack of seed. And one farmer says,

this is all I got. I'm going to hold on

to it. I'm not gonna give it away. I'm not

gonna spread it because it's all I've gotten. Once it's gone,

it's gone. He's never getting out of debt. The other

farmer says, here's a sack of seed. I'm gonna go

spread it out. I'm gonna go. The only way I'm

gonna get out of debt is give what i've got away.

That is the principle. What is God saying here. God

is saying that his financial plan for your life starts

with giving in faith. It's a test of faith. Now

that may seem illogical. You say, Rick, I don't have enough.

Why would I give away what I've got? I don't

have enough? Because God's ways are not your ways. And

God wants to teach you faith. Look at the next verse.

God says, my ways are not your ways. What's man's

way when you get in a financial bind, Well, typically

number one first thing we do is go borrow something,

charge it. If I can't afford it, put it on

a credit card. I don't have enough, so I'll just

put it on credit. And so man's way is to borrow.

Man second way is work harder, take on a second job,

work over time, get a little additional income any way

that I can. Some people will beg they'll go bum

off their relatives. Some people will steal, but most people

either borrow or work harder when they're in debt. God says,

time out. That's not my plan. God's way is g iv,

e give, He says, when you have a need, sow

some seed. Plant some seed. That is a statement of faith.

And the more seed you sew, the bigger harvest. If

I want a little crop, I sow a little bit

of seed. If I want a medium crop, I saw

a medium amount of seed. If I want a big crop,

I sow a whole lot of seed. When you have

a need, plan a seed. I've talked to a lot

of people, say, you know, Rick when I get out

of debt, then I'll start giving. God says, no, you

don't understand it. Start giving, and I'll help you get

out of debt. It's a statement a faith.

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

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Now let's get back to today's lesson. Here on Pastor

Rick's daily hope.

God's way is giv e give. He says, when you

have a need, sow some seed. Plant some seed. That

is a statement of faith. And the more seed you sew,

the bigger harvest. If I want a little crop, I

sow a little bit of seed. If I want a

medium crop, I saw a medium amount of seed. If

I want a big crop, I sow a whole lot

of seed. When you have a need, plant a seed.

I've talked to a lot of people. Say, you know, Rick,

when I get out of debt, then I'll start giving.

God says, no, you don't understand it. Start giving, and

I'll help you get out of debt. It's a statement

a faith. Now, you don't have to have God's help

in your life. If you want to just go through

life on your own, He'll let you do that. But

the best time to plant seeds is when you have

a need. Now, this principle of sowing and reaping applies

to every area of your life, not just finance, but

every single area. Whatever you give out in life, you're

going to get back. If you give out criticism, what

are you going to get back criticism? That's exactly right.

If you give out kindness, people are going to be

kind to you. If you give out anger, you know what,

you're going to get back anger. Whatever you give out

you get back. You give out love, you're going to

get back love. Now, whatever you get back, you not

only get back, but you get more of it back.

You get angry at somebody, you notice they get angrier

at you. That just happens that way. You be critical

of somebody in a little way, they'll be really critical

of you. And the truth is, whatever you give, you're

going to get back. So whatever you need, you need

to give away. If you need more time, give away

your time. If you need more money, you give away

your money. If you need more energy, you give it away.

How do you get more energy by sitting around and

eating potato chips? No, by going out and exercising. By

giving away energy. When you exercise, you know what, you

build muscle by using a muscle. Whatever you need more

of you use it. You give it away, and God

will bless it. Now that's the principle. When I have

a need, whatever I need more of, I give it away.

Now here's the procedure. It's in the next verse. The

procedure is give with the right attitude, because there's a

right way and there's a wrong way to plant seed.

There's a right way and the wrong way to give,

and it doesn't work unless you do it with the

right attitude. Tewod Corinthians ninety seven. You must each make

up your own mind. In other words, nobody can tell

you what to give. You must each make up your

own mind as to how much you should give. Don't

give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves

the person who gives cheerfully. Now let's just clarify this

right up front. God doesn't need your money. God owns

all the money anyway. In fact, your money in really yours.

It's God. He just gave it to you. You get

to use it while you're alive, and then when you're dead,

he's going to give it somebody else. So you don't

really own anything. It's just kind of on loan from

God while you're here on earth. So God doesn't need

your money, So what does he need. He wants your heart,

He wants what your money represents. You see, most of

us spend all our lives thinking about money, planning about money,

saving money, spending money, worrying about money, investing money, using money,

and God says, it's such a major part of your life.

I want to be in your life. God wants your heart,

not your money. He doesn't need your money. He wants

your heart. But that's what it represents. Bible says, where

your treasure is, your heart is. Now. God is far

more interested than in your attitude than he is in

any amount. Mount doesn't make any difference to God. What

do you give doesn't make any difference. He's interested in

your attitude. He's not interested in how much you give

to him. He's interested in why you give that amount?

Why not more? Why not less? Why do you give

what you give? He wants your heart. Now. If you

want God to meet all your needs, you need to

have five good attitudes in your life. And here they are.

We're all in this verse. First, I am to give thoughtfully, thoughtfully.

In other words, it says, make up your own mind.

Don't let anybody tell you what to give. They can't.

You have to make up your own mind thoughtfully. You

don't give impulsively. You think about it, you pray about it.

You make a deliberate decision based on prayer and conscious thought. Now, folks,

I have to be honest with you. I didn't learn

this truth for many, many years as a Christian. For

many years as a Christian, I thought the most spiritual

kind of giving was spontaneous giving. Course, I'd get moved emotionally,

I'd get a quiver in my liver, and I'd see

some need and I'd go, oh, I'm just going to

give it all. And I pull out my wallet and whatever,

I gotta give it. And I just thought, you know,

it's kind of If it's spontaneous, then it's spiritual. God says, no,

you're wrong, Rick, God says, I want you to plan

your giving. I want you to think it out. I

want you to give serious consideration to it, prayerfully, consider,

be thoughtful, not impulsive. Second, he says, be enthusiastic. I

am to give enthusiastically. He says, not reluctantly. In other words,

not out of guilt motivation, never give out of guilt,

never not grudgingly, not grin and bear like, Oh I

got to give something, now, you know. He says, don't

give reluctantly. And then he says number three. Third attitude,

I am to give voluntarily voluntarily. Notice, it says not

in response to pressure. Now, if you've been around saddle

Back for a length of time, you know we don't

believe in pressured giving. At Saddleback Church, somebody saying, Rick,

I feel pressure just you talking about it, Well, that's

your problem. I'm not pressuring you, okay. I mean you

know that's an intern no problem. You maybe need to

deal with that, and we do have counseling, but okay,

I'm not putting any pressure on you. In fact, let

me tell you just the opposite. If you ever feel

pressured to give, don't because you don't get any credit

for it. God says it's your attitude that counts. So

if you ever feel pressure to give, the Bible says,

don't do it. That means if you somebody ever comes

to your door and they give this sob story and

they're putting you under pressure to give, you can say, now,

Pastor Rick told me not to give, because I am

exactly telling you to do that. Never never, never give

under pressure. If you feel pressured, it's not gonna count

anyway in God's book, And what he's looking for is

your heart. Now, notice the fourth thing he says, I'm

to give not only thoughtfully enthusiastically voluntarily. I am to

give cheerfully, cheerfully if I want God to meet my needs.

The Bible says God loves the person who gives cheerfully.

Now you know, the New Testament of the Bible was

originally written in Greek, and the Greek word for cheerful

there is the Greek word hilarios. I bet you can't

guess what word we get from that.

Hilarious.

God says, I want you to have a good time

when you give. It should be a gut busting laughter time.

It's not. The Bible doesn't say give till it hurts.

The Bible says, give because it feels good, And the

truth is it does. It's always more fun to give

because you know it's making a difference, it's lasting. If

you haven't learned that, you just haven't given enough yet.

The Bible says, give because it feels good. Now, why

does God love a cheerful giver? Says God loves cheerful? Why,

I'll tell you why. Because he's won. God cheerfully gives

to you every single second of your life. The breath

you just took, God cheerfully gave it to you. You

would have nothing if it weren't for God's cheerful giving.

And God wants you to learn to be like him.

Now listen to this. If you don't get anything else,

when you are giving cheerfully, you are more like Jesus

Christ than any other time. You are more like God.

You are more Godly when you are cheerfully giving than

any other time. Because cheerful giving represents the essence of God.

And you cannot be a Christian, a follower of Christ

without learning to give cheerfully, because that is the nature

of God. God loves to give, and he loves to

see you give cheerfully. And he goes, that's my boy.

He looks down and he says, that's my girl. She's

given cheerfully. She's becoming like me. He's becoming like me.

So I'm to give cheerfully. And then number five, I

am to give weekly. Now that's w e e k

l y na, not w e A k l y weekly.

Let's read this verse together on one Grinthean sixteen two on

every Lord's Day. By the way, what is the Lord's day? Sundays,

first day of week? Why do we worship on Sunday?

Because Jesus arose was resurrected on Sunday, and so we

celebrate Jesus resurrection on every Lord's Day. Read it with me.

Put aside some from what you have earned during the week,

and use it for the offering. Giving is an act

of worship, and you're to give it on the day

of worship in your place of worship. It's an act

of worship, so you give it at the place of

worship when you worship me. Worship is not just come

singing some songs and hear a message. There are other

parts to worship. Prayer, commitment, and giving are all acts

of worship. And God says, I want you to give

me the first part of your money on the first

day of the week as a reminder that I'm number

one in your life. Now, how can I learn to

give cheerfully? Because by my nature I'm not naturally a

cheerful giver. So how do I learn it? Well, on

the back of your outline, there are three things you

need to remember, and if you remember these three truths,

you'll become a very cheerful giver. Number one, remember it

all comes from God. It all comes from God. You'll

never give anything away that God didn't give to you.

You would have nothing if it weren't for God. The

Bible says in the next verse Tewod Corinthians nine ten,

God gives seed to the farmer and food to those

who eat and need eat. And God will also give

you seed and multiply it. When a farmer goes out

to so seed, where'd he get the seed? He didn't

invent it. God even gave him the seed. He's going

to get a crop. But even the seed came from God.

So it's all God's in the first place. Second, I

remember God's guarantee, and God's guarantee is that whatever I

give to God, God is going to give back to me.

I overlook the verse on the first part. Turn it

back over for just a minute and look at Luke

six thirty eight. Now this is right from the words

of Jesus. Give to others, and God will give to you.

The measure you use for others is the one God

will use for you. So God says, you can choose

how much I bless your life, and you can choose

by your giving. Whatever I give you give to me,

I'll give to you what will just measure it back

and forth. God is a guarantee. In two Corinthians nine

to eleven, he says you will be enriched so that

you can give even more generously. Do you know how

God grows your heart, makes you, gives you a bigger heart.

You give to him, he gives more back to you

than you got. Then you give him more than he

gives more back to you. Then you give him more,

and it just keeps growing your heart. Instead of having

a little, tiny, shriveled heart, he grows bigger and bigger.

So you remember God's guarantee that he will bless you

back in return. And number three, I remember my eternal reward.

I remember my eternal reward God. Did you know that

God rewards you every time you give? And you're storing

up treasure in heaven. The Bible says an eternal reward

Luke sixteen nine. Use your worldly resources to benefit others.

In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for

you in heaven. Now get this, this is so phenomenal.

Anything that I hold onto in this life I'm losing

the moment I die. Anything I hold on too, I

refuse to let go up. I'm losing at the end

of this life. But anything that I place in God's hands,

I will enjoy forever an eternity. He says, it's being

stored up in heaven. Anything I put in His hands,

I will be restored and rewarded in eternity. Now it's

not you die, you get to heaven and you call

back and say, wire it all up now. No, you

gotta do your given while you're living, so you'll be

knowing where it's going.

This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. We are so happy

that you've chosen to study along with us today. Rick

will be right back to close out our time today.

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