Rick Warren - Learning To Live Wisely Part Three

Pastor Rick Warren often says, you were made by God

and for God, and until you understand that, life will

never make sense. Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

Today.

In our series called God's Vision for the Rest of

your Life, Rick continues in his effort to help you

discover the unique purpose and vision that the Lord has

for your life. Now, in just a few moments, we're

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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. Here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final

part of a message called learning to Live Wisely.

Now there's a third key if you want to learn wisdom. First,

every day I listen to God for a very short time.

I just read the Bible or listen to the Bible

connect that's the l Then I enlist some friends and

get some wise people around me in my life for

input that encourage me keep me going. The A stands

for ask questions and accept correction. If you were going

to be wise in life, you're gonna become a wise woman.

If you're going to become a wise man, if you're

gonna be known that guy's wise, you're gonna have to

learn how to ask questions wise questions, and you're gonna

have to learn how to accept correction. Look up here

on the screen. The Bible says people's thoughts can be

like a deep well, but someone with understanding can find

the wisdom there where it's everybody's got something to teach you.

Everybody has something to teach you, but it's like deep

water in a well, and you've got to draw it

out of them. How do you draw the wisdom out

of every person? By learning to ask smart questions? I

can teach you how to do this in the next

six weeks. I can teach you how to ask smart questions.

I have a list of them that I use myself,

and as I've traveled all around the world, I can learn.

You can learn from anybody if you know the right

questions everybody's brilliant, just on different subjects, and everybody's ignorant.

Just on different subjects.

You know some things that I don't know, And if

I had time to sit with you, you could teach me

if I know the right questions to ask. I know

some things you don't know, and if you knew the

right questions, I can teach you some things you don't know.

The person sitting next to you right now they know

some things that neither of us know. You can learn

from anybody if you know the right questions. And so

asking questions and accepting correction is a key to wisdom.

The Bible says, by the way, you know, as I've

traveled around the world, I've talked to I've asked questions

of taxicab drivers and prime ministers, and they both taught me.

I've learned from from a hotel maids, and I've learned

from presidents. Because you can learn from anybody if you

ask questions. Proverbs eighteen fifteen says this, intelligent people are

always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them.

That's a sign of intelligence that you look for new ideas.

You're an entrepreneur, you're an innovator. You're always looking for

a new idea. That's a sign of intelligence. But when

you look for them, one of the keys is listening.

If you don't listen, then you're not going to grow.

One of the things I've learned is that I have

never learned anything while I'm talking. If my mouth is moving,

I'm not learning. I'm only learning when i'm listening. You

don't learn when you're talking, You learn when you're listening.

So you got to learn to listen.

You know. I've done an.

Awful lot of interviews ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, BBC, CNN,

on and on and on, and what I've noticed is

that the interview shows have changed. They're no longer about

the guests. They're about the interviewer. And the whole goal

is the interviewer wants to draw attention to himself. The

interviewer wants to explain his or her opinions, and you're

just the foil. I long for the old Larry King days.

Larry King.

I didn't agree with everything, but you know what, Larry

King he would ask a question and then he'd let

you talk. And he realized that the interview people weren't

going to listen, Larry King, they were going to listen

to all of the different fascinating guests that he had

and learning from them. Larry said in an interview show,

if the host is talking fifty percent of the time,

something is terribly wrong. The host listens the most, the

host talks the least. The host sets up the question

and then just listens. That's what a good TV host does.

It's same thing is true in a small group. The

host listens the most, the host talks the least. So

if you're shy, you should ask to be the host

of your small group. If you don't like to talk,

you want to be the host. The host of a

group is not the teacher. The host is the one

who says, now the next question is, and you read it,

and then you let everybody else talk and you don't

not say anything.

How cool is that?

So the host listens the most, You're not the teacher,

You're just listening. What I'm talking about is leadership. All

leaders are learners. For thirty years, I've been training leaders

around the world, business leaders, church leaders, government leaders in

one hundred and sixty four countries. All leaders are learners.

The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. Growing businesses

require growing businessmen. The moment you stop growing your business

stops growing. Growing families require growing parents. Growing churches require

growing pastors. Anything that wants to grow, the leader has

to be outgrowing it or the growth stops. Does that

make sense? So all leaders are learners. I'm constantly learning.

I learn from churches that are smaller than saddle back.

I learned from churches that are larger than saddleback. I

learn from people who agree with us. I learn from

people who disagree with us. I learn from enemies. I

learn from critics. That makes me wiser than my critics.

Why Because I learned from them, so I know what

I know. Then I learn what they know. All they

know is what they know. They don't learn from me,

But I learned from them. So it makes me smarter

because I learn what I know, Plus I.

Learn what they know.

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

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best it can be. Then you're going to want to

get a copy of the brand new twenty twenty one

Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's Great Adventure

for You, will help you tap into God's power and

presence when you learn how to pray with passion and purpose.

Covered in soft vegan leather with full color pages, this

prayer journal has sections to pray for specific people and situations,

as well as space to express your gratitude and personal

prayer requests to God. Each page is beautifully designed and

filled with inspiring Bible verses, photos and artwork. The God's

Great Adventure for You Prayer Journal is a spiritual growth

tool designed to help you enjoy a vibrant prayer life,

connect with God, and establish consistent daily prayer time. When

you give a gift to help daily hope take the

certain hope of Jesus to people around the world, We'll

send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope

Prayer Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait.

You can give right now by going to Pastorick dot

com or by calling eight hundred six hundred five zero

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call eight hundred six hundred at five zero zero four.

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

Pastor Rick Warren.

Are and learn.

How to learn wisdom is remember, remember, and reinforce what

I learned. You can't just learn it. You got to

remember it. And you can't just remember it, You've got

to reinforce it because if you don't remember and reinforce it,

you end up having to learn the same lesson over and.

Over and over. Have you ever done that?

Yeah, you'd had to relearn the same lesson over and

over and over and over because you may keep making

the same stupid mistake because you don't remember and you

don't reinforce, which, by the way, is why we hand

out these little handout things every week. The United States

Air Force says you forget ninety to ninety five percent

of everything you hear within seventy two hours. That's the

most depressing statistic possible for a pastor, because what it

means is by Wednesday, you're good have forgotten everything I've

just taught you. You're not gonna remember. Shoot, you don't

remember what I said last week. I don't remember what

I said last week, and I taught it five times.

If you the shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory.

So you can be sitting there looking all real spiritual,

but if you're not writing down, it's just going whoo

right through your mind in one air and out the other.

We don't remember. You have to retain it to remember.

It so you can review it, so you can apply it.

And that's why we do these things.

Now.

The Bible says this about wisdom Proverbs twenty two. Listen

and I'll teach you what the whys have said. Study

their teachings, and you will be glad if you remember

them and can quote them. Now, I want you to

circle the four verbs in that In that sense, listen, study, remember,

and quote. Those are marks of wisdom. Did you know

that memorizing actually improves your brain power? Doesn't even matter

what your memorize, it improves your brain. You could go

memorize the phone directory, but memory is actually like an

exercise for your mind. You get smarter when you attempt

to memorize something. People said, well, I can't remember anything Oh, yes,

you can. You remember what's important to you. You remember

what you love, You remember what you what matters to you.

For instance, a lot of people say, I can't memorize

the Bible, but they can give you every baseball or

football statistic for the last season. Or I can't remember

the Bible, but they can quote all kinds of lyrics songs,

popular songs. Or they can give you a recipe for something,

or they can give you the stock market quotes, or

they can give you statistics on something they care about.

You remember what's important to you, and if the truth

becomes important to you, you will remember it. You will remember,

and you will rehearse it, and you will reinforce it,

and you will review it in your life. Not only

interesting studies have shown not only when you memorize something

does it help you improve your memory. Memory helps you

improve your memory, It actually helps every other area in

your brain. The same time, synapses are developed and blood

flows and your brain has a plasticity. That it's the

opposite of Alzheimer's. When you stretch your brain, you Social

relationships and memorizing are two things that actually are preventatives

from Alzheimer's and other dementias in life, so you want

to have that in your life. So in each weekend,

we're gonna memorize together, and you'll not only be closer

to God, but you'll have a healthier brain and your

wife will thank you for that. Now, people say why

should I memorize the Bible. I'll tell you why, because

every time you need the Bible's truth, you don't have

one near you. You go to work this week, somebody's

going to criticize you and they're going to say something mean,

and you're gonna feel discouraged.

You need to be encouraged.

There are thousands of verses in the Bible that would

encourage you, but if you don't have it memorized, they

can't come to mind. Well, I know somewhere in the

Bible there's a verse that would encourage me. But if

you've got it memorized, God can bring it to mind.

Go pop.

He brings to the mind and goes, oh wow, I'm

not so discouraged anymore. Memorized verses are the best thing

for overcoming temptation, because when you start to be tempted

to be jealous, or you start to be tempted to

be insecure, or you start to be tempted to lose

your patience, or to get angry, or to lust, or

any any kind of temptation in life. You start temptation

to overeat or over exaggerat, or if you've got a verse,

memorize for that, God could go boom and brings it

to mind, and it helps you resist the temptation. Now,

if you don't have anything in there, there's nothing for

God to bring to mind, so it actually helps.

You that way.

Here's what the Bible says proverbs for don't lose sight

of my words. That means, memorize them, retain them, let

them penetrate deep within your heart. If you put it

in your mind, God can cause you to think about

it seriously, for they bring life and radiant health to

anyone who discovers their meaning. So you want radiant health,

you want life. Then you need to fill your mind

with the truth. Let it penetrate your heart so God

can bring it to mind. That's the fourth thing we're

gonna do. The fifth thing we're gonna do the next

next week is the fifth thing on learning to be wise,

and it is this The end is now do it.

Now? Do it?

Okay? I listen to the truth. I enlist friends to

discuss the truth. I ask questions about the truth, I

remember and reinforce the truth. And now I do the truth.

You don't just talk about it. You gotta do it,

because if you don't do it, you're not wise, no

matter how much you know of the Bible.

I mean, I told you last week because.

Of my back surgery, and I was unable to do

all the exercise, and I gained about ten pounds this fall,

and I thought, you know, I'm gonna get this back off.

I'm going to get these pounds back off. And so

let's say I go home and I pull out one

of my favorite diet and exercise books, and tomorrow I

sit back in my lazy boy chair.

To read the Word about die had.

An exercise, and I get my Guacamolean chips, my ham sandwich,

and my thirty six ouncer. Okay, and I'm reading, and

I'm going, this is so inspiring.

I love this.

I did.

Look, man, look at that guy. Look at the abs

on that guy.

I love that picture. Oh Man, that's me, oh man.

And have a little more guacamole, you know. And that

is such a good passage. I think I'm gonna underline

that passage in the book. I'm gonna highlight it. In fact,

I'm gonna write a little note out to the side

and say this is good, and you know, and write

out in fact this passage here on getting in shape.

It's so good, I'm gonna memorize it. But if I

stay in a lazy boy chair, it doesn't matter. I'm

a fool. I'm fooling myself. I'm deceiving myself because I'm

reading the word. I'm pract I'm listening to the word,

but I'm not doing the word, and it's self deception.

Here's what the Bible says. Look at the here in

your outline, James, Chapter one. Don't deceive yourselves by just

listening to the word. Instead, put it into practice. If

you listen to the word but you don't put it

into practice, you're like people who look in a mirror

and see themselves, but once they walk away, they forget

what they look like. But if you look closely into

the perfect law that sets people free, that's the Bible.

If you look closely at the Bible and you keep

on paying attention to it, and you don't forget it,

but you put it into practice, you will be blessed.

Notice the blessing comes We're not reading from doing these

other things. You will be blessed by God in what

you do. I said it earlier. Wisdom is a choice.

You can choose to be wise. Happiness is a choice.

Being close to God is a choice. Being honest is

a choice. So I just shared with you the five

ways to become wise for the rest of your life. Question,

are you going to do anything about it? Are you

gonna now do it? Are you gonna do anything about it?

He said no, that was a nice message. Let's go home.

If you're not gonna do anything about what I just

told you, I just wasted an hour of your life,

and I just wasted my breath. God does not bless

good intentions. God blesses wise choices, and God says, it's

your move, it's your choice. Will you do the wise thing?

Father?

I want to thank you for everybody who's here today,

those who are watching online, those in our venues, those

in our campuses. Your word is very clear that you

have blessed us with so many blessings, and you have

promised so many benefits. It will simple we learn to

be wise I pray that many people here today will

not just listen, but will take these five.

Steps to l ear in to be wise. If you've never.

Opened your life to Jesus Christ, said, Jesus Christ, come

into my life right now, make yourself real to me, say,

I want to learn to love you and trust you.

And I don't understand it all, but God, I want

to begin a new relationship with you this new year.

Father.

For those who prayed this prayer, I commit as a pastor,

and I commit this church to helping them and to

helping each of us become wiser.

In the days ahead.

I pray that you'll protect them from distractions and disturbances

and delays and difficulties, protect their hearts and minds from conflict.

And I pray that together we may become wiser. We

could experience all you want to experience, and that we

would all experienced what on earth we're here for.

Pray this in Jesus' 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

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be back in a moment to close out our time today.

But first, if you want to make your time in

prayer the best it can be, then you're going to

want to get a copy of the brand new twenty

twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's

Great Adventure for You, will help you tap into God's

power and presence when you learn how to pray with

passion and purpose. Covered in soft vegan leather with full

color pages, this prayer journal has sections to pray for

specific people and situations, as well as space to express

your gratitude and personal prayer requests to God. Each page

is beautifully designed and filled with inspiring Bible versus photo

work and artwork. The God's Great Adventure for You. Prayer

Journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you

enjoy a vibrant prayer life, connect with the Lord, and

establish a consistent daily prayer time. When you give a

gift to help Daily Hope take the certain Hope of

Jesus to people around the world, will send you the

all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal to

say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait 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.

Today.

I want to share with you a very special testimony

from one of our listeners named Marquita, and thanks to

Daily Hope and your support, she recently asked Jesus Christ

to be the leader of her life. Here's a story. So,

Pastor Rick, I wanted to let you know that I

have prayed the prayer salvation that you included in the

Deepening the Eyes of Faith message. I've been listening to

your messages for years. In fact, my child wouldn't even

be here today if it weren't for your words. You

wrote there may be accidental parents, but there are no

accidental children. Well, I've given birth to a beautiful baby girl,

and she's the light of my life. In fact, it

now hurts to remember a time that I was fighting

to decide whether I was going to have her or not.

But I repeated your words throughout my pregnancy. There are

accidental parents, but they're no accidental children. And although I'm

a single mom today, with the support of my family,

we're thriving. I want to make sure that she grows

up to find her purpose and to serve God. So

thanks for renewing my faith in God. And as I

still try to find and fulfill my purpose, please pray

for me and my child. Wow, Marquita, you are so right.

God does have a plan and a purpose for every

single baby. There are no accidental babies. So I want

to take a moment right now and just pray for

you in this broadcast. Pray for you and for your daughter. Lord,

I'm asking you right now to put your hand of protection,

your hand of blessing, your hand of guidance on Marquita

and her daughter. And I'm praying for both of them

to know your purpose, to feel your presence, to discover

your power, to live in your plan for.

Each of their lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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

has blessed you, you can write him at Rick at

pastor Rick dot com. That's Rick at pastor rick dot com.

Be sure to join us again next time as we

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