Rick Warren - How to Invest Your Life—Part Two

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

Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in the series Essentials

for Living. In these lessons, Pastor Rick shares the power

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Right now, here's Pastor.

Rick Warren with the final part of a message called

how to Invest your Life Now.

The third one, and this is the greatest fear of

all is self pity. And self pity is well, I

failed in the past, so I'm afraid that I will

fail again, So I'm never going to try. Some of

you have allowed your past to keep you from being

used by God. You think I could never be used

by God, Rick, You don't know my checkered past. I've

had some major failures. I've had some moral failures. I've

had some relational failures. I've had some financial failures. I

have just really blown it in life. So I'm sure

that I'm on God's B team or C team, and

God could never use me. Well, you're dead wrong. You're

just having a pity party because God has never said that.

God has never said, well, you can't be used because

of your past.

You know.

There were two disciples who had spectacular failures two of

the twelve who followed Jesus. One was named Peter and

one was named Judas. They both committed the exact same sin.

They both denied Jesus in the crunch when it was

in the clutch time, right before the cross. Both of

them did the exact same thing. They betrayed Jesus, they

denied him. But they responded to their failure in very

different ways. Judas went out, had a pity party and

hung himself.

He committed suicide. That was the end of his life.

Peter, on the other hand, went out wept bitterly over it,

grieved about it, repented, asked God to forgive him, and

picked himself up dusted himself off and went back to

serving God. And Peter, the man who denied Jesus three

times was the same guy out of all the disciples

that Jesus decided to choose that forty days later he

would speak to the whole city of Jerusalem on a

day called Pentecost. Three thousand people became believers and the

church was born. Of all the people God could have

used to start the church, he uses the guy with

the biggest failure.

I like that.

That means there's room for me in the family of God.

That means there's room for you in the family of God.

That God loves to use failures. Moses was a murderer,

and God used him. David was an adulterer, and God

used him. Jacob was a massive business failure, and God

used him. Abraham was such a coward that he once

told his wife twice, honey, tell him you're my sister,

so they won't kill me to take you.

Now, most of us husbands couldn't.

Get away with that one, okay, I mean, that just

isn't gonna happen today.

And yet God took.

Every one of these, picked them up, cleaned them off,

and used them in great great ways. God uses imperfect people.

If God only used perfect people, what would get done

in this world?

Nothing?

Because there are no perfect people. So God uses people

with hang ups, and God uses people with checkered past,

and God uses people who have insecurities, and God uses

people who don't have it all together, and God uses

people who don't even know what they're motives are half

the time, and have mixed motives. I have up here

a brand new fifty dollars bill. How many of you

would like this fifty dollars bill?

God?

Bless you? Thank you, God bless you. Yes, God bless you.

I see that hand. Yes, all right, now.

Okay, let's scrunch it all up here.

How many of you would still like it? Oh? Oh,

you still like it? All right? How many of you

would still like it?

Oh? Still like it? Here's the point.

No matter how dirty, no matter how used, no matter

how trashed it gets crumpled, it had not decreased in

its original value.

Gotcha.

Sometimes in life we get dropped, and sometimes we get stomped.

On and ground into the ground.

And sometimes we get dirty from our own stupid choices,

and sometimes we get our lives so messed up. We

don't know if we'll ever be able to unravel it.

But you have not lost your original value. In God's eyes.

You are priceless. When are you going to stop making

excuses for why God can't use you.

Your original value to God is still there. It has

not changed.

And it doesn't matter whether you're all crumpled up or

whether you're creased real nice. It doesn't matter whether you've

gotten dirty or whether you're really clean. God can clean

you up and he can straighten you out, and your

value is still the same. So stop having a pity

party about your past and start letting God use you

in the present and developing your talent, because one day

you will give an account for how well you invested

your life. It doesn't matter where you've been. What matters

is what direction your feet are headed.

Today you're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will

be back in just a moment with the rest of

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In the Bible, Jesus told us that in this world

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

Rick's Daily Hope.

Did you notice in verse twenty four of this Matthew

twenty five, this guy gives a little complaint. He prepares

a little speech, the guy who hit his talent, and

it says, then the master who had received one talent came.

And he said, Master, I knew that you.

Were a hard man, harvesting where you haven't sown and

gathering where you haven't scathered seed. So I was afraid

and went out and hit your talent in the ground.

Notice what he's doing. He's blaming his boss, he's justifying himself.

He's saying, it's your fault, sir, that I failed. You're

a hard man, and I knew it, so I hit

it in the ground. It's your fault. The reason I

failed is because you were so unreasonable. Question, who are

you blaming for your lack of serving God? Who are

you blaming for your unhappiness? Who are you blaming for

not being in the center of God's will? Well, you know,

if I had just married somebody else, I could have

really been a great Christian. If I could have just

gotten married, I could have really gone far in this world.

And if I had had different parents, then I really

would have amounted to something in my life. And if

I hadn't gone through that divorce, or if I had

had a different brother and sister, or if I had

had different children than the ones that I've got, well

then maybe I, witdily would have made something of my life.

Quit blaming other people. You are as close to God

as you choose to be, no more and no less.

You are as spiritual as you want to be. You

can't blame anybody else. If you're close to God, it's

because you've chosen to be close to God. If you're far,

it's because you have moved. God didn't He hasn't ever

moved so to stop blaming other people. You see, it

is fear that always causes me to make excuses for

why I haven't done more with my life, And it

is fear that causes me to blame other people for

the problems in my life and why I can't do

more than I'm doing with my life. Now, let me

tell you something I've learned this one from experience. Satan

will most likely attach a fear to your greatest talent

because he doesn't want you to use it for God's glory.

So if you're good at, say, singing, he'll think, well,

you know you can't do that. Or if you're good

at planning, well you couldn't do that, and on and on.

Many of you who've been around here in a long time,

and one of my biggest fears had been the fear

of public speaking. You say, you gotta be kidding. No,

I'm not kidding you. I'm honest. What would have happened

if I had given in to my fears. There would

be no saddle backed church, Many of you would be

headed for hell, and a lot of people wouldn't have

been blessed.

Okay, now you must move against your.

Fear you must do the thing you fear the most,

because Satan wants to keep you from using your talent

for making the contribution that God puts you on this

earth to fulfill. And if you don't do it, you

will report to God one day. Why you let fear

keep you in a box. You must move against your fear,

and you must make contribution helping others with the talents

God gave you. Principal number six application if I don't

lose it. If I don't use it, I lose it.

The sixth principle of life investment application is if I

don't use it, I'll lose it. Verse twenty eight. The

Master says, take the talent from him who didn't use it,

and give it to the one who has ten talents.

Have you ever noticed this in life?

The people who are really talented seem to get more talented,

and people who don't really have a whole lot going

for them seem to oftentimes get less. What's going on here?

That doesn't sound too fair? Why isn't that sometimes the

person who's got one talent, all of a sudden he

didn't have any talent anymore because they didn't use the

one that God gave them. Now, this, Folks, is a

universal principle. God has the right to take away anything

in your life that you don't invest for him. God

has the right to take away anything in your life

that you don't use correctly and for his glory.

Why should he let you have it? Now? This principle

of use it or lose it is a universal principle.

It's true with muscles. If I don't use my muscles,

I lose my muscles. That's why doctors want to get

you out of bed after surgery real quick. They don't

want you to lay in flat. If you don't use it,

you lose it. If you don't exercise, your muscles get smaller.

With your money, if you don't invest it, you know

you're gonna lose it. It's true with your mind if

you don't learn to think, if you don't use your mind,

you lose your mind. You get dollar and dollar and dollars,

you get older. Because your mind's a muscle, you must

keep it exercise them growing. If you have a talent

and you refuse to practice, you will lose that talent. Now,

the opposite is also true. If you do use it,

you get even more of it. And so if you

use your muscles, guess what they get.

Bit.

If you take a little bit of money and you

invest it, it gets bigger. That's true in any area

of life. When you do use it, it multiplies. Hebrews thirteen

twenty one. God says, I will equip you with all

you need for doing my will. That's a promise. So

here's a question. What do you need more of? What

do you need more of in your life? Is there

anybody here who needs more say energy in your life?

Is there anybody here who needs more time in your life?

How about money? How about talent? Yeah, here's the secret.

Whatever you need more of. Listen, take the little that

you've got and start using it in serving other people unselfishly,

and God will multiply it.

It is a promise.

You say, I can't. I don't have time to serve

other people. I don't have time to minister, I don't

have time to do something on selwish. I don't have

enough time to get all things I need to do done.

That's why, because God never meant for you to be

a selfish little claw that spends all your time on yourself.

Why would God give you more time if you're just

going to spend it on you. It's kind of like tithing.

The principle of tithing that the first principle, first ten

percent of what I make goes back to God. Why

because when I give part back to God, God takes

the other ninety percent and makes it stretch further and

pay more than I would have if i'd kept all

hundred percent myself. Now, that's true with your time, and

that's true with your talent, and that's true with anything

in life. If you don't use it, you lose it.

And the way you get more is you invest what

little you've got. So if you don't have enough time

in your life, you really need to start serving because

you're out of balance. Or it's all take in, take in,

take in for me, Where in your life are you

doing something totally unselfish that is unrewarded that you don't

get any credit or money for it's just volunteer service.

Is there any are in your life that you're just

volunteering service and getting nothing back for it. If not,

you're out of balance. Now here's the sixth principle of

the seventh principle. It's compensation. If I use my talents,

I will be rewarded. If I use my talents, I

will be rewarded. Now Verse twenty three says this, His

master replied when he comes back home, well done, good

and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things.

I'll put you in charge of many things. Come and

share your master's happiness. Now look at this verse because

it gives the three rewards that God gives when we

use our talents in ministry to serve others, to make

a contribution in the world. First, we get the affirmation

of God. He says, well done, good and faithful servant.

Now God says, good job, well done. That's my boy

at a girl. What's he saying here? You know, the

affirmation of God in your life is far more important

than any other affirmation you could possibly get from anybody else.

Number two, Not only is God's affirmation, God's promotion. You've

been faithful with a few things. All put you in

charge of many things. You get promoted. Did you know

that in heaven your responsibility that you'll be given for

eternity is going to be based on your faithfulness here

on this earth. And if you mess up and don't

do anything with your life on earth. Why would God

give you some major responsibility in eternity. If you're faithful

and the few talents you have here on this earth,

God is going to give you greater capacity and greater

ability to serve Him for eternity in heaven. On the

other hand, if you just waste or spend or blow

the few talents you've got right here, and you use

them all in yourself, don't expect God to give you

the promotion in heaven for what you're going to do

the rest of eternity. And then notice there's not only

affirmation and promotion, there's celebration. Come and share your master's happiness,

he says, I'm smiling on you. It's party time. Let's celebrate,

and God knows how to throw a party. Do you

really want to be happy? Do you really want to

raise your self esteem? Do you want to feel like

you're making a significance difference.

With your life? Then you need to find a place

and start making an.

Unselfish contribution with your life on a volunteer basis. Use

your talents to serve God by serving others.

If you do that, what happens? Matthew six thirty three.

Seek first, the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and

all these other things will be added to you. All

the other things you're worried about, He'll take care of now.

It doesn't say seek second, third, fourth, or fifth. It

doesn't say finish your to do list and then see

if you've got any time for ministry. It doesn't say

fill your schedule up and fulfill it, and then see

if you've got any time for unselfish service. It says, no,

put it first, think of somebody else first. And God says,

when you do that, I'll take care of you. Let's

bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer?

Father? I realized that you placed me.

On this earth to make a contribution, not just to

be a consumer. And I don't want to live a selfish,

shallow life thinking only of myself. I really do want

to make a difference with my life. But Lord, I've

gotten so busy, and I've packed my life so full

that I haven't made time for anybody else, or for you,

or for what's most important. Forgive me for getting out

of balance. I want to invest my life and talents

in the things that matter most. Help me to know

what to cut back in my life, so I'll have

time to serve you by serving others.

In faith. Today.

I'm going to commit to serving in some ministry today,

believing that you will help me find the time to

make it possible.

If you've never committed.

Your life to Christ, why don't you add these two sentences,

say Jesus, I want to get to know you and

your plan for my life, and I want to.

Follow you from here on out.

I ask you to come into my life and change

me and save me. Help me to use my life and.

Talents to worship you in your name. 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 pastor Rick 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'll help

you on your journey with Jesus.

And I'll also pray for you.

God bless you.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope We're so happy you've

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to close out our time today. But first, in order

to live for God in the most meaningful way possible,

we need to have His word deep down in our hearts.

That's why Pastor Rick created a spiritual growth tool called

the Verses of Hope Scripture Box. Here's Rick to tell

you more.

One of the most powerful ways you can transform your

spiritual life is to memorize scripture. You say I can't

do that, Oh, yes you can. The Bible says in

Proverbs seven, verse two, guard my words as your most

precious possession. Write them down and keep them deep within

your heart. To keep them deep in your heart, you

have to remember them. That's why I've had my team

create a beautiful gold scripture box so you can practice

memorizing the verses that we give you and some that

you can develop on your own. Now, we've started a

collection of forty verses about hope. These are going to

encourage you when you feel down and discourage. It's a

collection that will help you keep God's word in you

so you have it when you need it. Now, I

had a graphic artist create Bible verse cards with multiple

graphic designs and really cool colors, so you're going to

enjoy studying these verses. It's not just words on a

blind card, but the colors will actually help you remember

these Bible verses and to help you develop the habit

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favorite verses. So, in addition to the forty verses of Hope,

you can write down verses that are meaningful to you

that come to you in your quiet time. And I

want to encourage you to use these cards to write

down the scriptures that you want to put in your

mind and to hide in your heart, and then when

you need them, the Holy Spirit can bring them back

to mind. Now, the Holy Spirit can't bring up something

you haven't put in your heart or in your mind,

so store them in this beautiful gold box. It's a

real pretty box that will make a great conversation piece. Now,

my hope is that This tool will help you learn

to love God's word, listen to God's word, and live

God's word as you share it with others. Now, while

you're working on these verses and some of the verses

you want to do, my team's actually working on new

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call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Quantities

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