Rick Warren - Winning with the Hand You’re Dealt Part 3

Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. Well today we continue in our series called

God's Prescription for a Healthy Life. In it, Pastor Rick

will show you how to improve your health physically, spiritually,

relationally and emotionally by applying the five essentials needed for.

A more vibrant life.

If you want to have what it takes to live

out your calling in life, stay with us for this

amazing series. Now, in just a few moments, we're going

to tell you about the Daniel Plan DVD study Kit,

a sixth session video based study by Rick Warren, doctor

Daniel Aman and doctor Mark Hyman. This out of the

box approach to a healthy lifestyle is based on five

essentials faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. You can find

out more right now by going to Pastorick dot com

while you listen to today's Manage, or you can just

text the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com, or the word

daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part three of a

message called winning with the hand your dealt.

The freedom of choice is your greatest blessing, it is

also your greatest curse, because we make stupid choices all

the time. We make self defeating choices, We make harmful

choices that harm ourselves, our bodies, our circumstances, and everybody

around us, and so it becomes a negative thing in

our lives. It's a blessing, but it's also a curse.

But here's the good news about this card, this one

right here. God says it's a wild card. It's the

wild card. And this card can change the suit and

the number of any of the other cards you're dealt.

This is the wild card.

Your choices can determine these other cards. Now, I didn't

get to choose my chemistry, but I can choose what

I do with my body and how I make the

most of what I've got. That's my choice, and I

can choose to do the best I can with what

I've got. I didn't choose all of my relationships, but

I can choose how I respond to them, and I

can choose new relationships, and I can choose to learn

relational skills, and I can choose a lot of things

that will change my connections. I don't choose my circumstances,

but I certainly can choose how I respond to them.

I am response able. That means I'm responsible. I'm able

to respond. God has given us responsibility, which means we

have the ability to respond. And I don't control everything

that happens to me, but I control everything that happens

in me.

By what I choose to do in that response.

Even on my consciousness, I didn't control what people said

to me, those old tapes that went in my mind

and I started believing them, believing them. But I can

choose to stop believing them, and I can choose to

think differently, and I can choose a different consciousness, and

I can control my thoughts, and I can.

Change the rudder of my.

Boat by simply changing the way that I think. This

is the good news, and if you use it, you

can change the number and the suit of every card.

And your life and your destiny and eternity is determined

by this card. Ultimately, your identity is based on your choices,

and it's the wild card that.

Can change everything else.

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 at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

The truth is most of us don't pay much attention

to our health until something goes wrong. We put on

a couple of pounds every year and think no big deal, right,

But a few pounds over five or ten years really

adds up and it can even lead to major illnesses

like diabetes and heart disease. That's why Pastor Rick work

together with medical and fitness experts to create the Daniel

Plan Study. The sixth session DVD and workbook study kit

from Rick Warren, doctor Daniel Aman, and doctor Mark Hyman

is an out of the box approach to a healthy

lifestyle based on five essentials faith, food, fitness, focus and friends.

The Daniel Plan Study gives individuals in small groups the

encouragement and accountability he needed to succeed. If you've been

watching the scale go up lately, or your health is

in trouble because of your weight, it's not too late.

Join the thousands of people who've lost weight, improve their

health and improved their relationships through the Daniel Plan. We'll

send you a copy of the Daniel Plan DVD. Steady

Kid to say thanks when you give a gift to

Daily Hope to help share the hope of Jesus with

people around the world. Just go to Pastor Rick dot

com to get your copy, or you can call eight

hundred six hundred five zero zero four. That's Pastor Rick

dot com. Or call eight hundred six hundred five zero

zero four and thank you so much for your support.

Once again, here's Rick.

Now, there are five.

Winning choices that you can make with the hand you've

been dealt, and each of them has to do with

each of these cards. With this first card, my chemistry,

my biology, my chromosomes, my makeup, my physical being number

one first choice, I can choose to get healthier. I

don't care what handicap you have in your life. You

can be healthier than you are right now. I can

choose to get healthier. There are things that I can

do that will increase my energy. There are things that

I can do that will lower my stress. There are

things that I can do that will cause me to

have more power, more health in my life. I can

eat better, get more sleep, reduce the stress. They're all

kinds of things that I can do, and that's totally

in my control. And instead of bemoaning the fact that

you don't have an Olympic body, the fact is, instead

of bemoaning what you don't have, you need to do

a better job of making the most of what you've got.

And the fact is you're not. You're not making the

most of the body you've been given. So I'm one

nineteen Verse thirty seventy three says this, You made my body.

Lord.

Now give me sinse to heed your laws. Give me

sense to heed your laws. There are certain things you

can learn if you have chronic pain in your life.

You need to learn principles of pain management. There are

things we know about pain today that we didn't even

know ten years ago. You might write this down, The

pain is in my brain. Write that down. The pain

is in my brain. Yeah, it starts in your rear

end or wherever you're back, your knee, whatever. But that's

sending signals to a certain place called your brain, and

pain is processed by the brain. You can change your

pain level by changing your brain. That's controllable, that is

flat out controllable, and so improving the controllables reduces the

impact of the uncontrollables in my life.

Does that make sense?

The things in your life you can't change about your body,

You're never going to be one inch taller, you're never

going to be as handsome as me.

But there are a lot of things you can't change.

But you can change the controllables, and you could have

more energy than you've got, and you could be in

better shape, and you could probably extend your life some

simply by eating right, doing right, being right, things like that.

So that's in your control. Maybe you need to go

get a checkup, Maybe you need to go get some

blood work, Maybe you need to go see a dentist.

Maybe you need to get a supplement or get on

some kind of hormone replacement or whatever. I don't know,

but the fact is there are some steps you can

do medicine, exercise, controllable things. Daniel plan And so you

start with the physical. The first card, What do I

need to do physically? Shakespeare said, it's impossible to be

a philosopher with a toothache, and it's true, and it's

hard to feel close to God when you're in pain.

So deal with the pain. Number two. Second choice has

to do with my connections. And the choice I make

here is I can choose to deepen relationships. That's an

intentional choice to make my relationships better.

They can be better than they are right now.

I can choose to deepen my relationships. I can learn

some communication skills. I can build some new healthy relationships

and replace some bad, unhealthy relationships. I can reach out,

I can work on my relationships. I can risk connecting.

And I don't say that word risk arbitrarily, because any

connection you make is going to be a risk. If

you're going to build some new, healthy relationships, you're going

to have to risk some connecting. Would you write this down?

The fear of rejection prevents connection. The fear of rejection

prevents connection. And really the reason why you feel disconnected

is your fear of being rejected, your fear of being disapproved,

your fear of being hurt, your fear of others. Let's

go back to this issue of marriage. A lot of

you have said, you know, I really, in my heart

of hearts, i'd like to be married or I'd like

to be remarried, but I'm not. And you're telling yourself

no one would ever want.

To marry me.

Are you sure that's a feeling, not a fact. I

could ever get remarried at my age. Are you sure

that's a feeling not a fact. We had a wedding

the other day with a guy who's nearly one hundred

years old. I'm too old again. Are you sure that's

a feeling not a fact? And as long as you believe,

of course that's going to be true. But you're basing

it on feelings, not fact. Nobody would ever want to

marry me the way I look at my age. I

need to invite you to some of the odd weddings

I do, because you're not nearly as odd as some

of the.

Weddings I have done.

You say, but I'm just not good at social interaction.

I don't like that dating stuff. It's so icky. I'm

just not good at that, And that's the fear of rejection.

Would you write this down? Awkward won't kill me. Feeling

awkward won't kill me. Of course, it's awkward in developing

a new Really, I've never met anybody who didn't feel

awkward in developing a new Really, welcome to the human race.

But you move against that awkwardness and you find out

feeling awkward won't kill me.

How do I get rid of fear? How do I

get rid.

Of that fear first? John four eighteen. Look here on

the screen. There is no fear in love. On your

outline circle that no fear. There is no fear, There

is no fear. There is no fear in love. Perfect

love casts out all fear. Now why it does love

take away fear? Because love takes the focus off me

and puts it on somebody else. It's not about me,

my needs, my help, my heart, my hurt. It's about you.

Love has no fear because it's not about me. You see,

this is why you get up tight in social settings.

You go to a party and you walk in, and

the first thing you think.

Is, how do I look to everybody else?

What is everybody else thinking about me? Do I have

spinach in my teeth or my legs crossed just appropriately,

there's any toilet paper dangling from back behind me?

How do I look? What does everybody think of me?

I'll tell you they're not thinking about you. No one

in that party is thinking about you. You know why,

because they're all thinking how do I look to everybody else?

They're not even thinking about you.

This is the fallacy of single adult parties. We go

in thinking everybody's I've got to worry about everyone. How

everybody's gonna look at me? Nobody's looking at you. They're

all uptight about themselves.

Now.

Self centeredness walks into the room saying, how do I

look at everybody else? Love walks into room, going who

here needs my help? Who needs a word of encouragement?

Who needs a pat on the back? Who could use

a little affirmation? Who at this party looked like they're

a little on the outside and uncomfortable, and I could

put them at ease?

Love.

Humility is not thinking of yourself less. I'm no good,

I'm nothing, I'm junk, I'm no Humility is thinking of

yourself less. Humility isn't thinking of yourself as not good.

Humility is just not thinking about yourself. You're so focused

on thinking about other people, you're not thinking about yourself.

If I walked out here week after week and I

worried about how I looked to you and to the

thousands of people who have come to saddle Back I

walk it, I'd be scared to death. But if I

come out there and I going, Lord, what do these

people need? And I'm thinking about you, your needs, your hurts,

your interests. I'm not thinking about me. Perfect love casts

out all fear. The antidote to your social phobia is

to get your eyes off you, to stop being so

self centered, and to think about somebody else, and to

think about their needs, their hurts, their interests, and how

you could help them.

Perfect love cast out all fear.

I'm not an authority on a lot of things, but

i am an authority on fear because I've dealt with

it my entire life. And fear is fea r false evidence,

appearing real. It's not real. So how do you get

rid of the fear in your life? The fear of

making that connection, of making a commitment, the fear of

getting to know a stranger, the fear of getting in

a small group, all of these things.

How do I get rid of that?

You can't talk yourself out of it because fear isn't logical,

it isn't rational, and so you can rationalize it all

you want, but it isn't gonna go away. There's only

one way to get rid of fear. Do the thing

you fear the most. Move against your fear. Fear does

not go away from logic, Fear goes away from action,

and you walk up to the Red Sea and the

and the Egyptians are behind you, and you go, God,

I'm I'm gonna I'm in a no place.

I'm gonna cull the sack. I'm himmed in And you

step in and water parts.

And you go to the Jordan River and the water

is there, and you got to go across the Jordan

and you step in and the water backs up. You

move and the fear vanishes. Fear is always worse than

the reality. Why because fear torments you twenty four hours

a day and the reality that party might even only

last an hour. And it's the fear is always worse

than the reality. And so you have to say, Okay,

what am I gonna do? I'm gonna let look at

this next verse First Corinthians fourteen to one. Let love

be your highest goal, that ought to be the goal

for the rest of your life. It's not about accomplishments.

It's not about achievement, it's not about fame. It's about love.

Love is going to be my high school life is

all about learning how to love. Sib or Rick, I

loved and I got burned so bad. I gave my

heart on a platter and they took it and stomped

on it and tore it up into a grinder and

made hamburger out of it. And I am still hurting

from that. And and you think that excuses you to

not love again. Show me that in the Bible where

it says you get hurt by love, that allows you

to no longer love anybody. Nonsense, nonsense, You are not

allowed to not love. Love means risking connections, It means

stepping out. So what happens when I really tried to

love this person and it was blocked?

What do you do with a block love? You always

redirect it.

If you try to love somebody and they reject your love.

Let me tell you, friends, there are billions of people

in this world who are dying for your love, and

they're all around you. And when your love is blocked

and you can't love in that direction, then you love

in this direction.

And there are plenty of people like.

The elderly who need your love, like orphans who need

your love, like little girls and little boys growing up

without daddies who need your love. There's people all around you.

There's people on your row who are starving for your love.

Right now, you do not get to say I'm not

going to love because I got hurt once. You ought

to pray ifhes in three seventeen, I pray that Christ

will live in your hearts by faith, and that your

life will be strong in love. Circle that your life

will be strong in love and be built on love.

So circle that strong in love, built on love. You

ought to pray that every morning. Get up in the

morning and say, God today, here's what Jesus Christ. I

want you to fill my heart by faith and Jesus Christ.

Today.

I want to be strong in love and I want

to be.

Built on love.

By the way, where do you learn connection techniques? The

church was designed to be the laboratory for love. Now

you can't love a The only way you can learn

love in this church get in a small group.

That's why we.

Insist everybody, everybody, everybody be in a small group. The

very reason you're afraid to get in a small group

is the very reason you need it.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so glad

you're with us today, and if you'd like to receive

rix free daily devotional, go to pastorick dot com and

sign up right now. Rick will be back in just

a moment to close out our time today. But first,

the truth is that most of us don't pay much

attention to our health until something goes wrong.

We put on a.

Couple of pounds every year and think no big deal, right,

But a few pounds over five or ten years can

really add up. That's why Pastor Rick Warren has put

together the Daniel Plan DVD Study Kit. This sixth session

video based study by Rick Warren, doctor Daniel Ahman and

doctor Martin Kayman is an out of the box approach

to a healthy lifestyle based on five essentials faith, food, fitness,

focus and friends. The Daniel Planned Studykit gives individuals the

encouragement and accountability needed to succeed. If you've been watching

the scale go up lately, or your health is in

trouble because of your weight, it's not too late to

join join the more than fifteen thousand people who've lost weight,

improve their health and improve their relationships by ordering the

Daniel Plan DVD Study Kit. Let us send you a

copy of the Daniel Plan DVD Studykit as our way

of saying thanks for your financial support of this ministry.

Just go to Pastorick dot com right now to get

your copy, or you can call eight hundred six hundred

five thousand and four that's Pastorick dot com. Or call

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four and thank

you so much for your support.

Here's Pastor Rick with a closing thought.

God has five purposes for your life. He wants you

to know and love Him. That's called worship. He wants

you to belong to his family that's called fellowship. He

wants you to grow in character to be more like Christ.

That's called discipleship. And he wants you to learn to

serve using your gifts and talents, serve God by serving others.

That's called your ministry. Finally, he wants you to share

the good news and your life message with other people

around the world. That's called your mission. I'd like to

close today to talk to you for just a second

about your personal mission. Did you know that the Bible

says every time somebody accepts the Lord, they throw a

party in heaven. Did you know that it's right there

in Luke fifteen, verse seven, where the Bible says there's

more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his

heart and life than over ninety nine who don't need

to turn to Christ, who are already there. The day

that you accepted Jesus Christ, there was a party in

heaven for you. And by the way, the day that

you help somebody else come to know the Lord, there's

going to be a party in heaven. But there's also

going to be a party in your heart. I want

to encourage you today to look outward, to look around

you and see the people who need to hear about

the love of God, about the message of Christ, about

the purpose of life, about the daily hope that we

have in our hearts. The Bible says, always be ready

to share the hope that is within you. Could I

pray for you, and as we bow in prayer, you

might want to pray this prayer with me. Say, Father,

I want the joy that you've given me to be

shared with other people. And a lot of times I'm

afraid or hesitant to talk about you to others. Would

you give me so much love for other people that

love overcomes my fears and gives me the right words

to say as I share the hope that's in me,

Allow me to help others find you, to find real hope,

to find joy through knowing you. Thank you Lord so

much for trusting me to help bring others to you.

I want to accept my mission, and I want to

use it for your glory and in the power of

your spirit. Thank you, Jesus, put somebody in my life

today that I can tell about you. In your name,

I pray Amen.

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.