Rick Warren - Building My Life on the Bible—Part Two

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

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series

called forty Days in the Word. In these messages, Pastor

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

for God's Word and revolutionize your life as you grow

closer to Jesus. First, we're excited to let you know

that very generous friends of Daily Hope have stepped forward

with a special fifty thousand dollars matching grant that means

any gift you give to help Daily Hope share God's

Word with people everywhere will be double. So contact us

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Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part

of a message called building My Life on the Bible.

Many times the Bible is compared to a mirror. In scripture,

the Bible compares itself to mirror. What's the purpose of

a mirror? The purpose of a mirror is to evaluate ourselves,

and the Bible helps us do that. It's the mirror

of God's Word that helps us evaluate ourselves. Every one

of you did it sometime today when you got up

this morning, at some point, most likely before you walked

out the door, you paused and looked at a mirror

to assess the damage from last night, and then you

evaluated what needed to be changed before you walked out

that door. You may have run a brush or combed

through your hair, or he said I.

Have time to do that.

I'm going to put on a ball cap, or you

washed your face, or maybe you took the time to

put on some makeup. By the way, did you know

that the first Queen Elizabeth during you know, shakee Sphere time,

that as she got older that she lost her beauty.

She had all of the mirrors removed from Buckingham Palace

because she did not want to see the fact that

she was growing older. Now, there are two ways to

look at a mirror. There's you can glance at a mirror,

or you can gaze at a mirror. Glance at a mirror.

Is anybody remember happy days that show happy days? Remember

Phonsie'd he'd walk past a mirror and he'd stop and

he let me go.

Hey, he didn't need to do anything because he was

pure perfection.

He didn't have to, you know, Koma's there or anything.

He would, he would glance. Now, you don't want to

do that with this mirror. You can't just glance at

the word of God. That's a quick you know, I'm rushed. Lord,

I've got two minutes. I'm gonna look at it real

quick and then leave.

No.

Glancing at the mirror of God's word isn't going to

help you change. You've got to gaze at it. You

got to gaze intently. You look at the details. And

God wants us not the glance at his words, but

to gaze at his word, to look intently. Number three,

the third way to build your life on the Bible

is I build my life on the Bible. I research it.

I research it with my hands and my mouth. Now

I'll need to explain this to you. I research the

Word of God with my hands and my mouth. This

is Bible study. Researching is Bible study. Is there a

difference between Bible reading and Bible study. Yes, Reading the

Bible is reading the Bible. Studying the Bible is studying

the Bible. It's not study unless you have a pen

or a pencil and you're writing it down in fact,

there are two components of study, writing it down and

talking about it.

With somebody else.

That's turns reading into study. When I write something down

and I talk about somebody else, now I am studying.

That's why we believe in small groups, why we have

over five thousand small groups here at Saddleback, because the

way you study the Bible best is actually in a group.

And you you listen, and you write, and you read

and you talk, and you use your hands and you

use your mouth to study the Word of God. Now

look at these two verses John chapter five, Verse thirty nine.

Jesus says this, you search the scripture circle the word search.

He's talking about Bible study here, he's talking about research.

You research the scriptures. You search the scriptures because you

believe they will give you eternal life. And the scriptures

point to me. And we're going to show you how

you can see Jesus all through the Old Testament, not

just in the New Testament. You search the scriptures. That's

researching with my hands in mouth. And that's Chapter seventeen.

Luke talks about a group of people in a city

called Berea. Berea was a little city in Greece, and

he says the people of Berea were more open minded

than those in Thesalonaika. Fessalonaka was another city in Greece.

He said, those Bereans, they were more open minded the

people who lived in the city of Theessalonaika, and they

listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the scripture circle

that word again, searched. They searched the scriptures. That's studying it,

not just reading it day after day to check up

on Paul and Silas to see if they were really

teaching the truth. And see, these guys are searching the scripture.

They're reading, and not just reading, they're studying, they're writing

it down, they're talking, they're having a small group discussion.

That's what's going on here. These people are listening to

Paul preach and then they're going over and they're having

a small group discussion about it, which is what we

do in our small groups. The third way is I

researched with my hands and mouth. Now, the fourth way

to build my life on the Bible is I review

and remember with my mind. I review it and I

remember it with my mind. I review the word of God,

and I remember the word of God with my mind now.

The Bible says this in verse twenty five James, Chapter one.

The man who looks intently, that's reading into the perfect

Law and continues.

To do this.

That's reviewing, not forgetting what he's heard. That's remembering. He

will be blessed in what he does. If you're going

to be blessed in what you do, you got to

learn how to review and remember with your mind. Now

review you continually do this. You're pondering, you're thinking about

it over and over, and you're remembering, not forgetting. I

want everybody to look up here for just a minute.

If you're serious.

About being spiritually strong and mature, you don't want to

be a spiritual baby anymore. You don't want to be

a spiritual whimp. You don't want to still be on

the bottle ten years from now. You want to be

a godly man. You want to be a godly woman.

You want to be spiritually and emotionally strong. The single

greatest habit you can develop is the habit of memorizing

some scripture by hiding the word in your heart, by

putting it in your mind. Why Because when you need

the Bible. It's never around when you're tempted. You don't

have a Bible open or by your side, when you're witnessing,

when you're under stress, when you need comfort, when you

have a crisis, there's not a Bible around. You need

to have it in your mind so you can remember

it and review it. Right then, now you say, oh, Rick,

I can't I have a terrible memory. I can't remember anything.

You remember what's important to you.

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

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

If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can

listen online anytime at Pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

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 video sessions on DVD

and a two hundred and six page, two color workbook.

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 guards

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

more people learn, love and live God's Word through Daily Hope.

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

to Daily Hope to help take the Hope of Jesus

to a hurting world, generous friends of Daily Hope are

going to match your gift up to fifty thousand dollars.

But you only have till midnight on June thirtieth. To

make your gift go twice as far. Go to Fastererrik

dot com or call eight hundred six hundred five zero

zero four and as a special thinking you will send

you the forty days in the word Bible Steady kit. Again,

that's Pastor Rick dot com or call eight hundred and

six hundred five zero zero four.

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

You remember what's important to you. You remember the phone

numbers that important to you. You remember the dates that

are important to you. Somebody said I can't remember anything,

but you can quote me songs from the nineteen sixties.

Are you know baseball statistics on your favorite player or

you know stock quotes? You remember what's important now. Memory

is a skill that you can get good at, and

we're going to teach you some simple ways to improve

your memory.

Memory is like.

A muscle, and you can actually get better at it.

You may have a terrible memory, but you can improve

your memory. And actually memorizing scripture will cause your brain

to have a stronger memory in other areas. I guarantee it.

Study after study has shown this that if you will

learn to memorize scripture. It actually develops your memory. You'll

have a better memory in other areas too. During forty

days in the word, we're going to memorize one simple

verse a week on the weekend together, so that you

know these because when you need them, then God can

call them to mind. Now, you can't review it unless

you remember it. In other words, if I get in

bed at night, I can think about it because I've

remembered that verse. If I'm driving to an appointment, I

can think of it because.

I remember that verse.

But if I haven't memorized any verse, then I can't

remember and review it. Now, in the Bible, there's a

word for what we're talking about here. The skill of

remembering and reviewing is called write this down meditation. That's

all meditation is. Meditation is simply remembering and reviewing the

scripture in your mind. That's all it means. This word

is so misunderstood. Many people don't understand meditation.

They're scared of it. They think it's like.

Some whewoo, you know, and like it's some new age thing.

No no, no, no no.

In fact, even some well meaning Christians have said we

shouldn't meditate well, they're talking about the time where you

sit in a lotus position and put your mind in

neutral and contemplate the lent in your navel and go ummm, well, no,

that's not going to get you where you want to go.

But if you learn to remember and review the Bible,

then you can do it anywhere.

Now you know why this is so important. Let me

show you.

Look at this verse on your outline, Joshua, Chapter one,

verse eight. Do not let this book of the law,

that's the Bible, God's law, God's word. Let this book

of the law depart from your mouth. That means meditate.

That means talk about it all the time. Meditate on it?

How often day and night? Now circle the word meditate,

God tells you. God commands you to meditate on the

Bible day and night. In other words, when you're eating,

when you're sleeping, when you're drinking, when you're playing, when

you're running.

So that here's the benefit.

You will be careful to do everything written in it.

Then you will be underline these prosperous and successful. Now, friends,

the only promise of prosperity and success in the Bible

is this verse. And God says, if you do what

I tell you to do in this verse, you will

be prosperous. You will be successful. I didn't say that.

God said it. You will be prosperous and successful. And

what does he say? If you meditate on my word

day and night, In other words, you remember it and

you review it. If you remember it and review it,

you will be successful in all you do. Now, there's

one more way that I build my life on the Bible.

I receive it with my ears. I read it with

my eyes. I research it with my hands. I write

down notes and mouth I talk about it. I review

and remember it with my mind. And the fifth way

is I respond to it with my actions. And that's

the fifth thing that James tells us to do with

the Bible. I respond to it with my actions. James,

Chapter one, verse twenty two. Do not merely listen to

the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says,

turn it into action. And he says, don't deceive yourself.

How do we deceive ourselves? We think, if we've heard something,

we've got it.

No.

I could talk to you about how to be a

good father, but if you don't do it, it doesn't help.

You're just deceiving yourself. I could talk to you about

how to build a balanced budget based on sciritual principles.

But if you don't do it, you're just deceiving yourself.

You don't really know it. You see, you only believe

the parts of the Bible you actually do. I only

believe the part of the Bible I actually do.

We are to be doers of the word. That's why.

I don't know if you've ever noticed or not, but

in the message outlines I give you every weekend here

at Saddleback Church, every point, almost every time, not all

the time, but almost every point has a verb in it.

Why because we are to be doers of the word,

not hearers only. And in a lot of times we

hear message after message after message. We just hear it,

but there's nothing to do about it. There's nothing to

do about it. So every week I give you something

to do about what we have just looked at, and

I put the points with verbs. Why don't merely listen

to the word so deceive yourselves?

Do what it says.

Now, let's go back to that story that I started with,

where Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew

twenty four.

Look at this verse.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them

into practice. Underlying that puts them into practice in the words,

you're a doer of the word. You're an applier of

the word. You respond to it. Everyone who hears these

words and puts them into practice is like a wise

man who built his house on the rock, and the

rains came down, and the streams rose, and the winds

blew and beat against the house.

But it did not fall because it had its foundation

on the rock.

But but everybody who hears these words of mine come

to church, you listen to them, but you.

Don't put him into practice. It's like a foolish.

Man who built his house on sand, and the rains

came down, and the streams rose, and the winds blew

and beat against that house, and it fell with a

great crash.

I don't want that to happen to you. And I'll

say it again.

We don't know the storms that are going to come

into your life or into our nation, but I do

know this, you'll crumble if you don't have a solid

foundation for your life. And the solid foundation for your

life is not the opinions of others. It's not what's

popular on TV. It's not prevailing culture because that changes,

like shifting sands. You must build your life on the

unchanging word. And when you build your life on truth,

if it was true one thousand years ago, it'll be

true a thousand years from today, because truth does not change.

It's a rock, and you need a rock to build

your life.

If your life is not built on the rock, I'll

tell you how you.

Know you have stress.

You're stressed out because the sands are shifting and the

house is tilting, and you feel stressed and worried and

anxious about that because your house isn't solid and steady,

because it's not built on something that doesn't change. Now,

let me give you a simple tool to remember. These

five ways to get God's word into your life. Many

years ago, a guy named Dawson Trautman, who founded the Navigators,

came up with a thing called the hand illustration of

five ways to get a grip on the Word. I

want to adapt that this morning. Let's make each of

you the fingers of your hand represent one of the

ways to get God's word of your life. Your little

finger will be hearing it. I receive it with my ears.

I read it with my eyes, I research it with

my mouth and my hands. I review and remember it

with my mind, and I respond to it with my actions. Now,

let's say this is your Bible. If all you do,

if all your Bible intake is is simply hearing it,

you don't ever get any Bible in your life except

when you come to church. Then you're holding on to

the Bible with your pinky. That's all the grip you've got.

And you know what, Satan can come along and before

you get to the parking lot, bam, he stole it

out of your life because you've forgotten ninety five percent of.

It, of what you hear.

If all you do is hear the word of God,

you have no grip on the truth. You're not built

on the rock. Let's say if you're going to say, well,

I don't just come to church and hear the Bible,

I read it every day. Well that's better. It's a

little bit better grip. But still just hearing and reading

it is not enough. It can be pulled out of

your hand quite easily. But if I hear the word

of God and I remember it, and I read the

word of God, and I research. I study the Word

of God with some friends in a small group, and

I review the Word to God and remember it. I

meditate on it, and I respond to it. I've got

a grip. Nobody's taking this out of my hand. Nobody's

pulling the truth out.

Of my hand.

And I am solid and i am secure, and I

am not stressed because I'm built on the rock. That's

my goal for you in the next forty days. Let's

bow our heads. I want to ask you to pray

a simple prayer and follow me in it. Right now,

Dear God, I want to build my life on the rock,

not on sand. I want a solid foundation of truth.

I want to build my life on the Bible. So

I commit the next forty days to learning how to

do these things. I want to receive your word with

my ears. I want to hear God speak to me.

I want to read your word word with my eyes.

And I want to become a regular habit of Bible reading.

I want to learn to remember and review your word

throughout my day so that when I'm starting to get upset,

you can bring that verse to mind. And I want

to respond to your word and do what it says.

If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, say

Jesus Christ, I ask you to come into my life

and make me what you want me to be.

Save me.

I don't understand it all, but I know I need you.

I know I've done wrong things and I ask you

to forgive me, and I want to turn from those things.

I want to go your way, not my way, and

I want to learn to love you and trust you.

And by faith, I ask you to accept me into

your family.

In your name, I pray 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 will

help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also

pray for you. God bless you. This is Pastor Rick's

daily hope. If you've missed any part of this message,

or if you'd like to find out more about Pastor

Rick Warren in this ministry, just visit Pastorick dot com

where you can listen online anytime. That's Pastor Rick with

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When you give a gift to Daily Hope, you're helping

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