Rick Warren - How to Get Closer to God Part One

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series

called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick uncovers key principles found

in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from

the inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,

and vocational. Now, before we get started, we want to

let you know that a very generous friend has given

one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That

means that all this month, every dollar you give to

help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus around the

world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.

You can find out more by going to Pastorick dot

com or by texting the word daily to eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastor Rick dot

or the word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with

part one of a message called how to Get Closer

to God.

Now, our verse is Romans twelve, verse two. Do not

conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind, and where is that

found Romans twelve two. Do not conform to the pattern

of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind. Now you've heard me say this many times.

The way you think determines the way you feel, and

the way you feel determines the way you act. If

you want to change something in your life that you

don't like, you don't start with your actions, and you

don't even start with your feelings. You start with your thoughts.

If you're acting depressed, it's because you feel depressed, And

if you're feeling depressed, it's because you're thinking depressed thoughts.

The key to transformation starts not in your actions, not

in your behavior, not in your body. It doesn't start

with your will. It starts with your thoughts. And if

you can change the way you think, that'll change the

way you feel. And if you change the way you feel,

that will change the way you act. Now, we're gonna

take that principle Roman's twelve two principle and apply it

to all seven key areas of your life relational, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, financial, vocational.

We're going to look at all seven major areas of

your life about how do I change the way I

think about this so that I feel about it differently.

And then if I feel differently, then it's going to

change the way I act and the way I respond

to other people. And that's called transformation. Transformation changes us

from emptiness to fullness. Transformation changes us from defeat and

failure to faith and vic Transformation changes us from insecurity

and inferiority to courage and to boldness. It helps us

become all that God wants us to be. Now, what

I want to say in this first session, as we

begin looking at your spiritual health, and we're going to

start with that, is that the further away you get

from God, the more trouble you're going to have in

your life. The more trials, the more difficulties, the more stress,

the more things are going to go wrong because you're

not cooperating with your creator, you're not following God's plan

for your life. And the Bible says the way of

the unrighteous is rough, it's full of thorns, it's difficult,

it's a rocky, rocky road. The further I get away

from God, the more trouble I'm going to have in

my life. On the other hand, the closer I get

to God, the more my life is going to be transformed.

And we can see this all through the scripture that Paul,

when he finally met Jesus Christ face to face, he

was radically transformed from a literally a terrorist, he was

a religious terrorist, into the apostle of love who wrote

the most beautiful poem on love ever written or penned

by men. Isaiah was transformed from a depressed person into

a courageous person when he met God. When he got

close to God, Moses got so close to God. The

Bible says he was even transformed in his appearance, and

people had to even look away from him. He almost

like glowed, and he got so close to God. God

is light, and in him is there are no darkness

at all. He was literally physically transformed. Now we all

want to be close to God. I mean, you wouldn't

be here this weekend if you didn't want to be

close to God in some way. But the Bible says,

all we like sheep, have gone astray. We've each turned

into our own way. In other words, like sheep, we

tend to wander. You don't have to teach sheep to

drift off. They just do it naturally, by their very nature.

They just kind of wander off and the shepherd has

to bring them back in and they'll walk off a cliff,

and you know, sheep aren't really that bright an animal.

They'll walk into a den of wolves, and in all

kinds of difficult and dangerous situations, sheep tend to wander.

The Bible says all we, you and me, like sheep

tend to go astray. We don't tend to stay close

to God. We tend to wander off. And so this weekend,

as we start transformation, and if I said, the closer

you get to God, the more you're going to be transformed,

we need to talk about how do you get close

to God? How do you stay close to God? And

if you've fall in a away from God, how do

you get back in that close relationship to God. Some

of you you can point to a time in your

life and you go, man, I remember when I was

really I felt God's presence. I was close to God.

I could sense his friendship, I could sense the fellowship,

and there was a joy in my life. But I've

lost that. You know, It's kind of it's like you

let the air out of a balloon. How do I

get back to God if I've kind of wandered away,

if kind of lost the spark, Because if I'm not

close to God, I don't have the power to make

all the other transformations.

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

We've got some incredible news to share with you. A

very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars

matching grant to this ministry all this month. Every dollar

you give to help Daily Hope share the certain hope

of Jesus around the world will be matched up to

one hundred thousand dollars, So twenty five dollars becomes fifty dollars,

fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a thousand.

Whatever you give will be doubled by the matching grant

up to one hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight

December thirty first, So please contact us today. Go to

Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred, six hundred

five thousand and four.

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us right away once again, here's Rick.

Some of you you can point to a time in

your life and you go, man, I remember when I

was really I felt God's presence. I was close to God.

I could sense his friendship, I could sense the fellowship,

and there was a joy in my life. But I've

lost that. You know. It's it's like you let the

air out of a balloon. How do I get back

to God if I've kind of wandered away, if kind

of lost the spark, Because if I'm not close to God,

I don't have the power to make all the other transformations. Fortunately,

we have a story in the Bible on how to

get back to God and how to get close to

the Father. It's one of the most famous stories in

the entire Bible. Jesus told that it's the story of

the prodigal Son, or sometimes it's called the story of

the Loving Father, because it's really more about the father

than it's about the son. And that story is in Luke,

chapter fifteen. Let me read you the story, and then

we'll pull some principles out of it on how to

transform your life spiritually, Luke, fifteen, Verses eleven to twenty four.

Jesus told this story. A man had two sons, and

the younger son told his father, give me my share

of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.

So the father divided his wealth between his two sons.

A few days later, the younger son packed all his

belongings and left to live in a distant land. See,

he's already getting away from the father. He's getting distant

from the father. And he got as far, basically as

far away from the father as he could. He goes

to a distant land, and there he squandered the gift

he'd been given. And we've all done that, and he

wasted his life and money on wild parties and reckless living.

Now about the time all his money ran out, it's

the fear and hit the land, and he began to

starve because he was left with nothing. Now he's getting

hungry now. The only job he could find was feeding

swine on a farm, and he became so desperate and

so hungry that even the pig slop he was feeding

the swine looked good to him, but no one would

give him anything for his hunger. When he finally came

to a census, he said to himself, this is crazy.

At my father's home, even the lowest paid workers eat

well while I'm over here, far away, dying of hunger.

So he goes, I know what I'm going to do,

he says, I'm going to return home to my father

and humbly say, Father, i have sinned both against God

and you, and I'm not worthy to be a part

of the family or called your son. But please just

make me one of your servants who works for you.

I'm not even going to be a family member. Hire

me out as a servant. Make me one of your

servants who works for you. And with that attitude, he

headed back home to his father. But while the son

was still a long distance away, he hadn't got all

the way back home. His father saw him coming, and

filled with love and compassion, he ran out to his son,

threw his arms around him, and kissed him. The son said,

now he's got his prepared speech. Father, I have sinned

against both God and you, and I'm no longer worthy

of being called your son. But the father said to

his servants, quick, bring me the finest robe in our

house and put it on him. Then get my signet

ring for his finger, and shoes for his feet, and

then roast the calf that we've been fattening up. We're

going to celebrate with a feast of eating and drinking,

for this child of mine was distant and dead, but

now he's back and alive. He was lost, but now

he's found, and so the party began. Don't you love

that story? And it tells the story of how every

one of us tends to wander away from our creator,

wander away from the father who made us, wander away

from the God who loves us. This kid starts off saying, God,

our dad or father, I want you to give me much,

rightfully mine. It's all about me. Give me my. It's

a very self centered life, and that's where we usually

start in life. Give me my, God, give me my.

I want mine now, and we're by the way. We're

in a hurry, and I want it and I want

it now, and if I can't pay for it, I'll

put it on credit, and so we're always in a hurry,

give me mine now. And so he takes off and

he packs up and he heads off for Sunset Strip

in Jerusalem, and there he wastes his money and his

time and his energy on wine, women and song, particularly women,

and he really gets mets up and he hits the skids,

and he becomes homeless. And then on top of that,

the nation goes into a national recession because there's a

famine in the land, and now nobody has anything to eat,

So nobody's going to give a panhandlurea a street guy

naming to eat because they don't have anything to eat.

And then he can't even find a job. Things go

from bad to worse, and finally finds a farm where

he hires himself out to do the worst job on

the farm, slopping pigs. Now, for a jew that's not

a good thing, that's not kosher, because you're not even

supposed to touch a pig. Okay, you're not even supposed

to have anything to do with pork. He gets the

worst job a Jewish kid could get, slopping pigs, and

he gets so hungry and he gets so desperate he's going, Man,

this stuff looks good. You gotta be serious, seriously desperate

if you think pig slop looks good. And it says

nobody gave him anything. And then it says he wises up,

and it says he came to his senses, and he goes,

shoot the servants, the poorest paid guys in my dad's employment,

get eat better than this. What in the world am

I doing? Now? He knows he doesn't deserve his father's love.

He knows he doesn't deserve he's just wasted half of

his dad's inheritance, all that his dad's burned his entire

life working to earn. And he goes, I know what

I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna go home and ask

God to or ask the father to just accept me

back in the family. I'm just go home and say, look,

hire me. I'd rather be a servant in your house

than be over here in a distant country, starving to death.

And you know the rest of the story. As we

saw the father's response. Now from this story we gain

the four things you need to do to get back

to God. Now I don't know where you are today.

You may be way, way, way way way way, way,

way way far away. Maybe I haven't been in church

in years and years and years, or maybe you a

little bit closer, or maybe you're a little bit closer,

but maybe even you've just been distant for a week

and you've had one of those weeks and you just thought,

you know, I really don't feel God's presence in my life,

and yet we all long to be close to God.

How do I get back to him? You do these

four things? Okay, write him down. Number one. I get

fed up. That's the first. I get fed up with

my life. I get fed up with my circumstance. I

get fed up with the way I've been living. I

just get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I am not gonna live this way anymore. I am

too stressed out, I'm too lonely. I'm too depressed. I

am overworked and busy, and I don't even like myself.

Why would anybody like me? I don't even like me.

I don't like the life I'm living right now.

Now.

Let me just say this. Nothing is going to happen

in your life in the next seven weeks until first

you get dissatisfied with the way you are. If you think, man,

it's fine, I'm just fine. I don't need any change

in my life, then you know what, you can sit

out the next seven weeks because nothing's going to happen

in your life until you decide I don't like this.

I'm tired of being stressed out all the time. I'm

tired of being frustrated all the time. I'm tired of

feeling distant from God. You gotta get desperate, you gotta

get hungry. You've got to get anxious for change. Nothing

happens until you get fed up. In that passage in scripture,

it says this he wasted it all, he had nothing left,

He got desperate and hungry, and he finally came to

a census, and that's where transformation starts.

This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. In just a moment,

Rick is going to tell you about a recent one

hundred thousand dollars matching grant from a very generous listener.

But first he's going to share with us how God

has been using your financial gifts to help us share

Christ with people around the world.

Here's Rick, Hi, friends, what did it surprise you to

know that there are entire groups of people who have

never heard about Jesus still in our world today, I'm

talking about the small tribes of less than a one

hundred thousand people in many, many distant places, who have

never heard the name of Jesus Christ. That means there's

not a single Christian among them. There is no church,

they have no Bible, there is no believer. Can you

imagine that? Would you help me reach these unreached, unengaged people,

You know, one of the reasons I started Daily Hope

was to find partners who would help us take the

hope of the good news of the Gospel to the

whole world, to the final frontier, these unreached, unengaged tribes.

Jesus wants us to witness to all nations and to

all people. He never made a person he did in love.

He never made a person he didn't want saved. And

Jesus died so that all may be saved. But people

can't follow Jesus if they've never heard about him, and

they've never heard of God's grace, how can they receive it?

So I'm asking you to help me in this finishing

the task project. Thank you for your support. You know,

Daily Hope is now reaching over thirty four million people

each month through Daily Hope, audio teachings and our email devotionals.

But we're only able to do this because of your

partnership with Daily Hope. We're working together to help us

fulfill the great commission. Imagine when you get to heaven,

somebody comes up to you and says, I just want

to thank you. I'm here because you cared enough for

someone like me. You prayed and you gave, and you shared,

and you sacrificed, and I'm in heaven because of you.

Will that be worth it? Even as we rejoice in

the success, we need to remember that there's still billions

of people who need to know Jesus and we got

to keep going. So I'm asking you prayerfully to consider

giving the biggest gift you've ever given, or that you

can give before the end of this year. As I said,

there's still about three thousand unreached people groups that have

either few are no believers in them. We've been able

to reach about six hundred of those tribes, making sure

there's a Christian living among them who speaks their language

and can help them understand the Bible. But that's just

the first step. The truth is an unreached people group

isn't considered reached until it has a healthy church, a

body of Christ that's able to plant new churches within

that group. So to help that happen, we're working on

translating spiritual growth tools into about two hundred new languages

for people who have virtually no Christian resources available. Think

of all the Christian books you could buy at Christmas

this year, Think of all the books you could pass

on at birthdays. These are so available in English, but

we need to translate them in all the other languages.

These translations are strategic that we've selected once to share

the gospel and to help disciple new believers where it

is most needed right now.

Now.

These resources are also going to help young pastors grow

and train others to build the church in their nations

and in their groups. Now, we've made a lot of

good progress, but we got a lot of work ahead

of us in this task. And it is a monumental vision.

I can't do this by myself. I need your help.

It's a timely vision, it's a global vision. But every

vision listen requires provision. Honestly, we wouldn't be able to

do any of this vision without you, and that's why

I cannot fully express how much I appreciate your financial

support of Daily Hope. You know I don't take a

salary in this. This is all a ministry of love,

and all of these funds are going to help reach

more people. Now, let me give you some exciting news.

A generous friend of Daily Hope has offered a one

hundred thousand dollars matching grant so that any gift you

give by December thirty first this year will be doubled

up to one hundred thousand dollars. That means every dollar

you give to Daily Hope between now and the end

of the year will be doubled. Would you please prayerfully

consider how you can give today, how you can reach

more people for Jesus in the coming year. And please,

while you're at it, pray that I will faithfully teach

God's word in a way that will penetrate hearts. Pray

for our Daily Hope team as they coordinate our outreach,

and most of all, pray for the people we're trying

to reach, that their hearts will be prepared to hear

the message of the good News of Christ and that

they will come to know the grace of God and

grow and mature in their Christian faith. You have a

part of the most important task in history. Now, my

prayer for you is that God's going to bless you

throughout this coming year, and that He will bless you

so much that you can be a blessing to others.

You know we're blessed to be a blessing, and my

prayers that He will draw you closer and closer to Him.

God bless you.

Remember, as Rick just shared, whatever you give today will

be doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred

thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty first. Anything

not matched will be lost, So please contact us today

call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or

go to Pastorrick dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred

five thousand four or Pastorick dot com. There are only

two days left to have your gift matched up to

one hundred thousand dollars, so don't wait. Be sure to

join us again 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