Rick Warren - Standing Courageously for the Truth Part Two

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

Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue a teaching series called Uncommon Courage. In

these lessons, Rick is going to share biblical inspiration that

will help you get the courage you need to follow

God's calling for your life. If you'd love to help

the kids you know learn God's work, then stay with

us because in just a few minutes we're going to

tell you about God's big plans for me and easy

to understand storybook Bible by Pastor Rick Warren. You can

take a sneak peek right now by going to Pastorick

dot com while you listen to today's message, or if

you want, you can just text the word daily to

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's the

word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

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

message called standing Courageously for the Truth.

Now in Hebrews chapter twenty five, it's up here on

the screen. The Bible says Moses chose to suffer with

God's people rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.

For a short time. Circle the phrase pleasures of sin

and circle short.

Time A think.

I love about the Bible as it always tells the truth.

It's honest. And the Bible says sin is fun. Notice

it says pleasure of sin, sin is pleasurable. If sin

wasn't fun, nobody do it. Okay, Even the Bible admits it.

Sin is fun. Is it fun to eat things that

are bad for you?

Yes? Absolutely, okay.

Is it fun to stay up really late even though

you got to get up early next morning you're gonna

be dead.

Yes.

There's a lot of things in life that aren't good

for you, and they're a whole lot of fun, or

they are a whole lot pleasurable. The Bible says there

is pleasure in sin, but it says notice, it doesn't last,

it's for a short time, And with every kick there's

a kickback. There's always a payoff, and the cost of

sin is far greater than the pleasure of sin. Sin

is fun, there's no doubt about it. But the cost

of it could be your own soul. And the cost

of it could be a broken body, of broken mind,

a broken heart, a broken relationship. There's always a cost

to sin Galatians six Po't eight on the screen says this.

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires,

that's hedonism, will harvest the consequences of decay and death.

But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest

everlasting life from the Spirit. And Exodus twenty three, verse two.

There on your outline. Do not follow the crowd in

doing wrong. But girls just want to have fun. Yeah, yeah,

there's nothing wrong with having fun. Do not follow the

crowd and doing wrong. It may be fun, but it

might not be right.

Now.

There's a third anti Christian worldview, and it is individualism, materialism, hedonism, individualism,

and individualism says what I want comes first. Materialism says

money is God. Hedonism says happiness is God. Individualism says

I'm God and it really doesn't matter what happens to you.

This is a dog eat dog world. I got to

look out for number one. I'm number one, and it

is a me first mentality. What I want comes first.

It is a self centered lifestyle. America was built on

rugged individualism. I do what I want to do, when

I want to do it, and nobody can tell me

not to do it. And today that has evolved into

the culture of narses. Maybe you haven't realized this, but

every advertisement ever created appeals to your self centeredness. We

do it all for you, have it your way, you

deserve a break today. It's all about you. You're great it.

Think of yourself. It's all about you. In fact, they're

even naming products now. We now have the iPhone and

then I work on my iPad and I post a

video of me on YouTube and who's the you me?

It's a place to show off, and we actually creating

tools that cultivate our narcissism that it's all about you.

I saw a mountain dew ad the other day and

it said obey your thirst hedonism. Most people don't realize

that that's flat out hedonism. Do whatever you have the

urge to do. Doesn't matter if it's right or wrong.

You must obey your thirst. If it feels good, do it,

if it makes you richer, do it. If it's all

about you, you do it. But here's the issue. God

didn't create you to live for you. Oh really, you

think the creator of the universe thought you up so

you could live a little self centered, selfish, egotistic cloud

of a life that it's all about me.

I don't think so.

You were made for something far, far bigger than yourself.

If you just live for yourself, why even get out

of bed in the morning, Just mail it in? Really okay?

I mean, just stay in bed, under the covers and pull.

Up the sheets. Because it's all about you.

That's why when I wrote purpose Driven Life and the

opening sentence was it's not about you. That is the

most counterculture statement you can make today, because everything on

our culture says.

Are you kidding me? It's all about you.

Everything is about you because the world view of individualism,

what I want comes first. And so if I'm married

to you and you're hindering my career, bye bye, sister.

I got to do what I gotta do. And if

I've got an elderly parent to take care of and

my elderly parent is cramping my style, bye bye parent.

I have no responsibility because it's all about me. And

if I want to go through a series of one

night's stance, too bad. It doesn't matter if it breaks

your heart. It's all about me. That is individualism at

its height.

Now.

The Bible says this Christian worldview. Proverbs eighteen one. It

is selfish and it's stupid to think only of yourself.

In fact, God sent Jesus Christ not just to save

us from our sins, but also to model how to live.

And in Philippians too, it says this, each of you

should look not only to your own interest that's counterculture,

but also to the interests of others. Most people aren't

doing that. Your attitude should be the same as that

of Jesus Christ. See Jesus said, if you want to

follow me, you got to put aside your selfish ambition.

You've got to deny yourself.

What.

Yeah, you got to deny yourself. What in our society,

that's two words you never hear. Deny yourself, Actualize yourself,

serve yourself, love yourself, take care of yourself, live for yourself.

Nobody in our culture.

Is saying what Jesus said, deny yourself, and that Jesus

taught us that God designed us for love, and love

is not thinking of yourself. Love is giving yourself away,

and Jesus that it is only in giving yourself away

you'll ever know what it means.

To really really live.

Paul said, clothe yourselves and the Lord Jesus Christ, and

forget about satisfying your own selfish desires. In fact, over

and over in the Bible, God warns about me living

a self centered life. The Bible says this in Romans

two to eight, for those who are self seeking and

who reject the truth. In other words, I know what

the Bible says. The Bible says, do this, but I

don't like that part at crimps my style. So I'm

going to do this. I'm going to be self seeking

and I'm going to reject the truth. I know God

says to do this, and I know God says, don't

do that, but I'm going to go ahead and do

it anyway.

For those.

Who are self seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil,

there will be wrath and anger. Why why does it

tick off God when I'm self centered? Why does it

make God mad when I live for myself?

Well?

Because number one, he didn't make you for that reason.

But the real reason is the reason God opposes self

centered living is because God is love, and the Bible

says love is not selfish. God wants you to be

a great lover, not a great self centered person. And

the Bible says love is not selfish. When I'm sitting

on the couch relaxing, reading the paper and watching TV

and I see that Kay needs help and I decide

to keep quiet instead of helping her. That's called being selfish.

At that moment, I am being unloving because love is

never selfish. When somebody asks for your help, he says, sorry,

I don't have time to do it. Love is never selfish.

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 Bible says children are a gift from the Lord.

Do you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, or kids in

your neighborhood that need to know God loves them and

has a good plan for their lives. You can help

them get closer to God by encouraging them to read

His word. That's why we're so excited to tell you

about a very special resource just for kids called God's

Big Plans for Me. It's a storybook Bible by Pastor

Rick Warren. This two hundred and twenty three page hardcovered

children's book includes forty well loved Bible stories to help

kids engage with God's word. Each Bible story has an

introduction from Pastor Rick that helps young readers understand the

Word of God and has a closing thought with a

practical step boys and girls can take to discover God's

Big Plans for them. Their eyes will light up as

they turn the beautifully illustrated pages and really start to

get what God wants to say to their young hearts

and minds. God's Big Plans for Me is so much

more than just a book filled with cute pictures of

Bible characters. It's a fun and effective way to introduce

children to God's ever last year truth. This book makes

a great gift. You'll want to get a copy for

every child in your life. And today, when you give

a gift to help Pastor Rick's daily hope take the

certain hope of Jesus Christ around the world, We'll send

you a copy of God's Big Plans for Me Storybook

Bible to say thanks. To get your copy of this

great resource, just call eight hundred six hundred five zero

zero four or go to Pastorick dot com to get yours.

That's eight hundred six hundred five zero zero four or

Pastorick dot com thanks in advance for your support. Your

gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of

Christ with people around the world.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again. Here's

Pastor Rick Warren.

Now, these world views materialism, money is God, Hedonism, happiness

and pleasure is God.

Individualism, I'm God. I run my own way.

If I'm the master and commander of my faith, I

don't need God. I'm in charge of my life. There's

a fourth one. This one is the exact opposite of individualism.

It's collectivism. It's called socialism.

Socialism is an anti Christian worldview that says government is God.

It basically says government should control everything. That's socialism. The

government should be in charge of everything. Now, there's nothing

wrong with government. Government is a good thing. In fact,

it was invented by God. God created three institutions. He

created the institution of family, he created the institution of

the church, and he created the institution of government. God

is not an anarchist. Everything should be done decently, in

an order. There's nothing wrong with government. But here's what

I've learned people who don't know God make government God.

Why because they don't have any higher authority to look

to meet their needs. So they want the government to

meet all their needs. They're not praying to God, so

the highest thing they can think of to make the

world a better place, it's not the church, it's not God.

It's government. It's the thing that's supposed to make everything better.

So they treat government like God and say, well, how

do you know that? Because I have spoken at most

of the major secular elite conferences on this planet. I

have spoken three times at the World Economic Forum in Davos,

I've spoken to the Aspen Ideas Institute, I've spoken at

the TED Conference, I've spoken at the Entertainment Gathering. I've

spoken to groups of elites in Manhattan and London and Europe.

And what I've discovered when I'm around sometimes I'm in

a group that I'm the only person of faith in

the group. And what I've discovered is this politics is

the religion of people who don't know God, and for them,

they treat it as everything. Now, again, there's nothing wrong

with politics, it's just not the savior. And if you

think any politician is going to be your savior, You're

going to be deeply disappointed. You're going to be defly

no matter who it is. By the way, what is

the purpose of government? The Bible says there are three

purposes of government, Protect freedom, insure justice, preserve peace. Protect freedom,

insure justice, preserve peace. Now, if I don't have a

God or anything bigger than government, then I want government

to do everything else too. Now, Jesus explained the limited

role of government, and he said the role of government's

a good role, but its role is not to be

God Matthew twenty two to twenty one. Jesus said, give

to s what is Caesar's, but give to God what

is god God's. Now, what do I give Caesar? What

I give my government? I owe it my respect, I've

got to I owe it, my taxes I owe I

need to keep the law. I can't just run through

red lights because I don't like that red light.

I got to keep the laws.

The government's role is to protect and preserve freedom and order.

And so I'm to be a good citizen. I'm to

be a responsible citizen. And in America, the privilege of

voting is of course the right to vote is the

responsibility to vote. But it says, you give to Caesar

what's Caesar's, but you give to God what's God's, what's God's?

What do you owe God your life? You don't know

government your life, but you do owe God your life

because He gave it to you. And so he says

there's a limit governer and has a limit, but God

owns it all. By the way, the Bible says, give

the caesar. What's theess who's Caesar in a democracy? Because

we don't have a king, we don't have a caesar,

we don't have a dictator.

Who's Caesar? And democracy? The answer is you are.

You are, The voters are Caesar because we, the people

in any democracy, determine the laws. The power in America

does not reside with the judicial branch, or the legislative branch,

or the executive branch. It resolves with the people who

put those people into office.

So you're the Caesar.

Just through that little in for free now, I said

that a lot of Christians may be on their way

to heaven, but they don't have a Christian worldview. Why

because they don't realize that if you're a Christian, you

have dual citizenship. You have dual citizenship. Look at this

verse on the screen Philippians three twenty. But our citizenship

is where in Heaven says that twice in the Bible.

So you have dual citizenship. I am a citizen of

the United States, and I'm also a citizen of Heaven.

By the way, my greater loyalty is to God, not

the government. And if there is a difference between God

and government, there's no question which one I'm going to

side with.

Now.

I'm a patriot, I would die for my country. I

love America, but my greater allegiance is to God, and

I have dual citizenship. Every Christian should be issued a

green card to remind you that you have a divided loyalty.

I often get a little worried about when I hear

people talk about this. God and country talk as if

they're like equal, God and country, like they're equal loyalties.

They are not.

It's not God and country equal. It's God's way up here,

my country's down here. It's important, but it's nowhere near

my commitment, my relationship, and my loyalty to God. If

you ever see a bumper sticker that says my country

right or wrong. That is an un Christian bumper sticker.

I hope you wouldn't say that if you lived in

Nazi Germany. The Christian attitude toward government is my country.

I'm going to make it the best I can, because

as a Christian, I'm responsible to make the best of

everything around me. But it is not my country right

or wrong. That is making a country an idol. It's

putting God in first place. Now, there are many many

examples in the Bible of Christians running up against this worldview,

and many examples where Christians had to choose God over government.

The Jerusalem City Council tried to prevent the apostles from

preaching and teaching the truth are and even speaking or

even using the name Jesus.

In the city of Jerusalem.

In fact, they said you are forbidden to use the

name Jesus in Jerusalem. And in Acts chapter five, the

city council said, we gave you strict orders not to

teach in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with

your teaching. Peter and the other apostles replied, we must

obey God rather than men. Another time in the chapter

before they said again they threatened and said you can't

use this name Jesus, and they said, we have to

speak of Jesus. Most of you know that I did

President Obama's inauguration prayer. What most people don't know is

four years earlier, I did the inaugural prayer at the

start of Bush's inauguration. Just wasn't controversial, so nobody even noticed.

Besides Billy Graham, I'm the only guy who's prayed for

both the Republican and a Democrat president. But both times

I was told, don't use the word Jesus, don't say

in Jesus name.

So what do you think I did? I mean?

Really, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy

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

if you'd like to receive rix free daily devotional, go

to pastorick dot com and sign up right now. Rick

will be back to close out our time today. But first,

the Bible says children are a gift from the Lord.

Do you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, or kids in

your neighborhood that need to know God loves them and

has a good plan for their lives. You can help

them get closer to God by encouraging them to read

God's Word. That's why we're so excited to tell you

about a very special resource just for kids called God's

Big Plans for Me. It's a storybook Bible by Pastor

Rick Warren. This two hundred and twenty three page hardcovered

children's book includes forty well loved Bible stories to help

kids engage with God's word. Each Bible story has an

introduction from Pastor Rick that helps young readers understand the

Word of God and a closing thought with a practical

step boys and girls can take to discover God's Big

Plans for them. Their eyes will light up as they

turn the beautifully illustrated pages and really start to get

what God wants to say to their young hearts and minds.

God's Big Plans for Me is so much more than

just a book filled with cute pictures of Bible characters.

It's a fun and effective way to introduce children to

God's ever lasting truth. This book makes a great gift.

You'll want to get a copy for every child in

your life and today when you give a gift to

help Pastor Rick's daily Hope take the certain hope of

Jesus Christ around the world will send you a copy

of God's Big Plans for Me Storybook Bible to say thanks.

To get your copy of this great resource, just call

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or go

to Pastorick dot com to get yours. That's eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four or Pastorick dot com.

Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

I want to say thanks to all of you who

are supporting Daily Hope Ministry with your financial gifts and

with your prayers. I know you appreciate these notes that

I get from people around the world as much as

I do. Let me just share one with you from

a woman named Anna who is an elementary school principal

and she just wrote this your Pastor Rick. I became

a principal in an elementary school at the age of

twenty five. I'm now forty two.

Now.

We've had Rick Warren Bible series and studies at our

church during the summers and I always enjoyed them so much,

and I've invited many friends and relatives to visit our church.

A couple years ago, I began to share your devotion

Daily Hope with all of my staff members each morning.

See she's a principle, she's sharing this with her staff.

She said, I've seen their growth in God. I've seen

the transformation in their lives and characters over these past years,

and I'm amazed at the Lord's love and mercy. That

doesn't mean that we haven't struggled with issues such as

death and depression and disappointments and illness things like that. However,

we have had our eyes on God during all of

the things that have come against us, and this has

made a difference. I pray with them during our staff

meetings to give thanks. So, Pastor Rick, I just want

to thank you for following God's calling. Even though you

go through struggles and life problems just like we all do.

God is with you. May the Lord continue to bless

you and your beautiful family. May continue to bless you

with wisdom and discernment so that you're able to share

your gift with all of us. Blessings, Anna, God, bless you.

Thanks for writing. I love getting these letters and you

actually encouraged me, and I love the fact that as

a principle, you're sharing the broadcast and you're sharing the

devotionals with your staff. This makes you a partner in

this ministry, and I thank you for doing that. I

want to encourage everybody else's listening. Find somebody that you

could share the good news with. Tell them about Daily Hope.

God bless you.

If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast

has blessed your life, please write him at Rick at

pastorick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick dot com. Be

sure to join us 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.