Rick Warren - Maintaining Harmony In My Home, Small Group, and Church Part Two

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

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series

called the Awesome Power of Vision. In these lessons, Pastor

Rick shows us how to pursue God's amazing vision for

each of our lives so that we can see our

future with faith and not fear. But first, do you

ever feel like you've lost your spark your joy? In

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the word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand

and four to find out more. Here's Pastor Rick Warren

with the final part of a message called maintaining Harmony

in my home, small group and Church.

You know, social media has some advantages, but it also

has a dark side that can spread division and hatred

faster than anything we've ever known. And we've all seen

well known people crash and burn from the instant response

to something they posted. Stuff takes on a life of

its own very fast on the Internet. So let me

pause right here, because the Internet is causing a lot

of conflict today and we're talking about how to resolve it.

There are three big dangers you need to keep in

mind if you use social media. Okay, let me just

give you some guidance here as your pastor who loves you.

If you want to minimize conflict and you're using social media,

three things to remember. Number one, realize, never forget this.

Realize this. No matter what you say, it's going to

be misunderstood and misinterpreted by somebody. Just count on that.

You can count on that if you put something out

there that thousands or even millions might see, don't be

surprised that they misunderstand it. They're likely to make a

negative comment about it. They make a negative comment, it's

going to travel faster and farther than anything positive you

could possibly say. Second danger is that everything you post

on the Internet, if you do that, becomes permanent, even

if it's a lie, it becomes permanent, global, searchable, and repeatable.

So before you post stuff, you need to say, do

I want this to be permanent, searchable, global, and repeatable.

Third danger, if you use social media is that if

you don't apologize for something that people are offended by,

or you correct it or challenge it immediately, you lose

the battle in about an hour because the critics aren't

going to wait for your clarification. Again, let me give

you another personal example from mistakes that I've made. About

ten years ago, there was an old television preacher who

has now gone on to heaven, started telling people, quote,

Rick Warren is creating a new religion, Islam with Christianity

and it's called Chrislam. Some of you remember this, okay,

about ten years ago he's Warren is creating new religion

blending Islam and Christianity called is Krislam. I'd never even

heard of such thing. Now, the idea was so ludicrous

it was laughable. I made a mistake. What I did

is I ignored it. That's who's going to believe that?

Who's going to believe that? And you know they all

know I believe Jesus is the only way. Jesus is

the only way, the truth of the life. So I

waited like four days before posting the correction, and by

then it was too late. Jesus has settled with your

adversaries quickly, but then it's too late. The lie had

spread all around the globe, and even today, ten years later,

it's still the lie that won't die. You can go

on right now and type in Rick warn and Chryslam.

You'll get all kinds of articles. I have been asked

by this about this question all around the world, by

reporters in India, by reporters in Africa, and little villages

you've never heard of. I still ten years later, are you?

Are you promoting Chris Loom? You know it's just spread

all over Why because it's permanent, surgable. It's a lie,

but it's never going to go away. And if you

don't move quickly to correct something on the internet, people

going to think it actually represents you. So when you've

hurt somebody's feelings or you've offended someone, the best and

quickest way to resolve it is to apologize and ask

for forgiveness.

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.

How do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel

spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're

just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark,

your joy. God knows how you feel right now. You

are not alone. He knows. Even David and the Bible

felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says,

you will seek Me and find Me when you seek

Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally,

it leads to a renewal of your relationship with Him.

That's why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new

resource called Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat,

and it He'll personally leave you on a spiritual journey

to help you seek God. Together, you and Pastor Rick

will go through a series of audio lessons and after

each session you'll take a little time to complete exercises

in the Companion workbook. You can do this at home

in short sessions, or you can get away for a

day and do it in one sitting. Through this retreat,

you'll experience a renewal of life within you. God will

restore your joy as he renews, refreshes, invigorates, and revives

your spiritual life, You'll never be the same again. Wilsond

you going deeper with God a personal renewal retreat as

our way of saying thanks when you give a gift

today to help daily hope, share the hope of Jesus

with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred and six

hundred at five zero zero four or go to Pastorick

dot com to get your copy of this great resource.

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

or Pastorick dot com.

Once again, here's Rick.

Now, I know what some of your thinking. You're thinking,

you know, people just shouldn't be so sensitive. Well, that's

not the christ like response. You need to remember a

couple things. These are biblical principles. First, is this intent

is never an excuse for impact. What I mean by that, well,

saying well I didn't mean it that way is no excuse.

If you hurt somebody, doesn't matter what your intent was.

You still hurt them. Doesn't matter what your intent is

no excuse for impact. Other people don't get to decide

what is hurtful to you. Other people don't get to

decide what is painful to you, and you don't get

to decide what is hurtful and painful and offensive to them.

So just because you don't think it's offensive or hurtful

and painful doesn't mean no. They get to decide, just

like you decide what's hurts you. So we have to

make work hard to make sure that our intent and

our impact match as Christians. The other principle you need

to remember is this God expects us to put the

consideration of the dealings of others ahead of our own.

Oh baby, there are a lot of scriptures on this one.

Look at this verse Romans fifteen one to three says this.

We can't just go ahead and do whatever pleases ourselves.

We must be considered of the doubts and the fears

of others who are offended. We should think of what's

good for others and build them up by doing what

pleases them, not ourselves them. For Christ did not please

himself instead, he felt as a scripture tells us, when

others insult you, it hurts me. You want to be

like Christ, develop the attitude When my brothers and sisters

get insulted, it hurts me. Okay, when you're insulted, I'm

insulted because we're part of the body of Christ. Okay,

we take offense for the offenses of others. We share

their offenses. We don't get offended, but we are sensitive

and we are empathetic when people are offended. Now, I

reserve judgment until I know all the facts in the

whole story. Second, I be sensitive and empathetic to what

offends others. And I don't be a defensive I don't say, well,

you're being too sensitive. I don't delay apologies. Here's the

third principle for harmony in your home and your work,

in our church, anywhere I limit my freedom out of love,

limit my freedom out of love. Here's another do not

let command Galatians five thirteen to sixteen. Do not let

your freedom become an excuse for indulging your selfish nature.

You say you got freedom to do a lot of stuff,

but that doesn't mean you should just go around do

whatever he please. He says, instead, let love make you

serve each other. That's what we use freedom for freedom

to love and serve each other. For the whole law

of God can be summed up in this one command.

Your neighbors, yourself. How come we keep coming back to

this verse because it's the most important thing. But he says,

if instead of showing love, you're always biting and devouring

one another, watch out, you'll destroy each other. We looked

at that verse last week, but it's one of the

do not let verses, and it says, instead, live by

following the spirit. And he said, and if you do that,

you won't do what yourself centered nature craves. Okay, you're

not going to be just pleasing yourself. You're going to

be pleasing those around you. You're going to be taking

care to not offend others. Romans fourteen, nineteen and twenty

says this aim for harmony. Aim for harmony in the church.

If he wants harmony in church, you wants it everywhere else.

To aim for harmony in the church and build each

other up. Don't let the eating of food destroy the

work of God. Now, remember last week I mentioned that Rome.

The church in Rome was having a conflict, and what

they were fighting over was should you eat meat or

should you be a vegetarian. It was a big fight

and Paul had to even talk about it both in

Rome and then also in Corinth. And he says this,

All foods are all right to eat, but it's wrong

to eat food that causes somebody else to sin. He says,

it is better not to eat meat, or drink wine,

or do anything that will cause your brother or sister

to sin. What am I doing there? I'm limiting my

freedom in love. Do I have the right to do

those things? Yes, but I limit my freedom out of love.

This principle of limiting my freedom out of love is

one that God expects both you to practice, both with

Christians and with non Christians. Let me show you two verses.

First with Christians, First Corinthians ten twenty four, don't think

only of your own good. Think of other Christians and

what's best for them. So not just to think about

what's best for me. I'm supposed to think about what's

best for others in the Saddleback family, because that's my

church family. First Corinthians ten thirty three says the same thing.

With non believers, Paul says, I try to please everyone

in everything I do. I don't just do what I

like or what's best for me. I do what is

best for them so that they may be saved. You

don't want somebody to go to Hell because you offended

them as a Christian. Now let's review if I want

harmony in all of my relationships, in my small group,

and my church and my home wherever. First, I reserve judgment.

I don't make snap judgments. I don't jump to conclusions.

When I hear something, I don't immediately assume the worst.

I reserve judgment till I know all the facts in

the whole story. Second, I'm sensitive and empathetic to what

offends others. I don't go, well, you shouldn't be offended. No, No,

I'm sensitive to what. I get to choose what offends

me and tell you that hurt, and you get to

choose and say to me, will that hurt? And I

don't put it down. I don't demean it or dismiss it. Third,

I limit my freedom out of love. And finally, fourth,

always be humble and kind. That's the fourth christ Like

principle for harmony anywhere you want, always, always, always, always,

always be humble and be kind. Now there are a

ton of do not let commands about this point, but

let me just show you a few of them. Philippians

two three. Do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead,

be humble, give more honor to others than to yourself.

You know what I've discovered in this containment thing is

that pressure when when we're in contained like, you can't

do it everything you want to do. Pressure is an

interesting thing. People respond differently to stress and differently to

professor pressure. It's like a taking a bottle of toothpaste.

If I put pressure on that bottle of tooth that

tube of toothpaste, what's gonna come out? Well, you say toothpaste, court,

that's what's gonna come out on a tube of toothpaste.

Not necessarily it may say toothpaste on a label. But

whatever is inside is what's gonna come out. And if

somebody secretly filled that toothpaste tube with jello or olive

oil or call you know, refried beans or baby food,

when the pressure is on that toothpaste tube, whatever is

inside is what's gonna come out. And that's true of you.

It's true of me that when the pressure's on, what's

gonna come out is what's really in your heart. It's

going to spell out when you're under stress. As a pastor,

of course, I deeal with thousands of people, and I

want to tell you something I've learned that under stress,

nice people become nicer and patient. People become more patient,

but under stress, mean people become more mean when they're understressed,

and bullies become bigger bullies and angry people become more

angry and opinionated people become more opinionated. Whatever's inside of

you is what's going to come out when you're under pressure.

James Chapter two, Verse one says this, here's a verse another.

Do not let verse Do not let class distinction enter

into your faith in Jesus Christ. What does that mean?

God's talking about the sin of prejudice, bias, racism. Don't

let class distinction enter into your faith. He's in Prejudice

is wrong. Now, prejudice is not a permanent idea. It's

typically a momentary sin, and it's easily confessed and say

I was wrong, that was sinful. You told a joke

about some culture. Okay, you disadmit it. Romans twelve sixteen

says this, give the same respect to everyone alike. Do

you do that? You give respect to equal respect to

everybody alike. Pay no regard to social standing. Be humble.

This is what humility is all about. Be humble and

meet people on their own terms, and don't think you

know it all Proverbs three verse three, and the American

Standard says this. Not only should we be humble, we

have to be kind. Here's another. Do not let command.

Do not let kindness and truth ever leave you. I mean,

I have to be kind all the time. Yep. If

you call yourself a Christian, do not let kindness and

truth ever leave you. Wear them like a necklace. Okay,

it's like you never leave it, and write them deep

within your heart. Now, of course, the number one thing

that humility will change in your life. When you are

humble and when you are kind, and you really want

more harmony in your relationships, you know what's going to change.

First the way you talk, the words you use, and

how you say it. That's what causes most conflict and

arguments is the way you say it and what you

say and how you say it. James three six. I

love this in the message paints a pretty big picture.

It says this, a careless or wrongly placed word out

of your mouth can destroy. By our speech, we can

turn harmony into chaos, Throw mud on a reputation, send

the whole world up in smoke, and go up and

smoke with it. And that smoke is from the pit

of hell. Hah, that's pretty clear. James Ephesians four twenty

nine says this, do not let any harmful words come

out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for

building up others according to their needs that it may

benefit those who listen. In other words, I'm not supposed

to talk about stuff that I want to talk about.

I'm supposed to do stuff. Talk about stuff that builds

you up, meets your needs, and only those things that

build up, never anything that tears down. Do you think

if we all practice that verse, we'd have a lot

more harmony and a lot fewer explosions. Yeah, so le's review.

I reserve judgment until I know all the facts. That'll

spare a lot of conflict and explosion. Second, be sensitive

and empathetic to what offends others. I don't get to

choose what it hurts you, and I don't get to

demean it and say, well, you shouldn't need The only

proper response is to be humble and kind and confess. Third,

I limit my freedom out of love. Finally, always be

humble and kind. Now when I say these four things,

these do not let commands. Do you know what they

really are. They're just being christ Like, treating people the

way God treats you. And if you do that, you'll

have fewer explosions and more harmony. So let's work on

these this week. Let me pray for you Father. May

we take these principles and apply them in our lives.

May we not just be hearers of the word, but

doers of the word. Help us to review these principles

and actually apply them and work on them this week.

If you've never opened your life to Christ, say Jesus Christ,

I need your power and love in my life. I

need you to help me change and become the person

you want me to be. And so I humbly say

yes to you today. Help me to understand it. I

want to learn to trust you and love you. Ask

you to forgive all the things I've done wrong and

make me a new person inside. I pray this humbly

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 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. We're so happy that

you've chosen to study along with us today. If you'd

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dot com and sign up right now. Rick will be

right back to close out our time today. But first,

how do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel

spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're

just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark,

your joy. God knows how you feel right now, and

you're not alone. He knows even David and the Bible

felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says

you will seek me and find Me when you seek

Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally,

it leads to a renewal of your relationship with him.

And that's why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand

new resource called Going Deeper with God a personal renewal retreat.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.

Let me ask you a very personal and serious question.

Would you truly like to have a deeper relationship with God?

Not a superficial one, a deep one Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.

God says this, you will seek Me and find me

when you seek for Me with all your heart. When

you seek God intentionally, it leads to a renewal of

your relationship with him. You're as close to God as

you want to be, and if you want to be closer,

it's up to you. That's why I created a Going

Deeper with God Personal Renewal Retreat. Yeah, Going Deeper with

God Personal Renewal Retreat. It's retreat just meant for you

where you can get alone with God and you can

connect with Him in an intimate way. That's going to

refresh and renew and revitalize your relationship with God. It's

going to give you a deeper understanding of His love,

and it will also prepare you to be used by

God in the days ahead. Now, as I lead you

through this Going Deeper with God Retreat, my hope is

that God will use it to completely revitalize and re

energize your spiritual life. Together, we'll go through a series

of audio lessons and after each session you'll just take

a little bit of time to complete the exercises in

the Companion workbook that I've prepared for you. And you

can do this. You can do it at home, you

can do it at school, you can do it in

short sessions, or you can get away for a whole

day and do it all in one setting. My goal

is to strengthen your relationship with God, deepen your commitment

and surrendered Him in affirm your commitment to live for

His glory. You know, maybe you've never thought about this,

but God, You're ready to go deeper with you. He's

just waiting on you now. I want to help you

get started by sending you a copy of Going Deeper

with God Today and when you partner with Daily Hope

to take the word of God these positive messages to

people all around the world. My team is going to

send you this very special spiritual growth tool just to

say thanks. I hope you'll take advantage of this Today.

We'll send you Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal

retreat as our way of saying thanks when you give

a gift today. To help Daily Hope share the hope

of Jesus with a hurting world, just call eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four or go to pastorick

dot com to get your copy of this great resource.

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