Rick Warren - Enabling the Vision Purpose Driven Giving Part One

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 going to tell you how to get a copy of the

brand new Daily Hope twenty twenty one Prayer Journal based on the theme God's Great

Adventure for You, a great resource to help make your time in prayer the

best it can be. Go to Pastorick dot com to find out more,

or 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. Now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part

one of a message called Enabling the Vision Purpose Driven giving. Notice this verse

on the first page the Bible says tell people to use their money to do

good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those

in need, always being ready to share whatever God has given them. By

doing this, they'll be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven. It

is the only safe investment for eternity, and they will be living a fruitful

Christian life down here as well. Now, I want you to notice three

things. This is a very important verse. First, I want you to

circle the phrase use their money. When you circle that, the Bible teaches

that money is to be used, not loved. The Bible doesn't say money

is bad. The Bible says the love of money is bad. You are

to use money and love people. Use money, love people. Now,

if you start loving money, you're going to do the opposite. You're going

to use people to get more money. So write this down in your outline

somewhere. Money is a tool. That's what it is. It's a tool.

It is a tool that God gives you to help fulfill your purposes in

this life. And you were to use it as a tool, and it

has great potential for good if you use it the way God intended. The

Bible says, use your money. Second, I want you to notice that

the Bible says that you can store up financially in eternity. It's like a

bank in heaven. The Bible says you can store up financially in heaven.

And notice I want you to circle the phrase for themselves. It says they

will be storing up real treasure for themselves. Circle that for themselves in heaven.

You can actually bank in heaven. Jesus called it storing up treasure for

yourselves in heaven. Now you've heard people say, all along, well you

can't take it with you. Well, that's true, but you can send

it on ahead. You can send it on ahead once you die. Whatever

you leave behind, you're leaving behind, but you can send it on ahead.

And the Bible says you can store up treasure in heaven. And today

we're going to talk about how you do that. How you do that?

Now? The Bible says also that you invest in eternity by using your money

for God's purposes for your life. And that investment is proven, it's secure,

it's risk free, it's guaranteed interest, it yields dividends forever. Now,

if you were to go to a financial advisor, any financial advisor in

the world would tell you, don't put all your eggs in what one basket,

right exactly, And you know what God would tell you the exact same

thing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. You need a diversified

financial folio. And that's the same thing as true spiritually. You need a

diversified investment to portfolio. Now, since God has five purposes for your life,

guess how many investment funds he has five. That's right, one for

each purpose of your life. And today we're gonna look at five ways to

use your money to further God's purpose in your life as long as you live,

and at the same time storing up treasure in heaven. As Jesus called

it. God's five financial investment funds. So let's look at them. If

you turn the page, the first one is this, God wants me to

invest in his treasury fund. God wants me to invest in his treasury fund.

Now I call it the treasury fund based on these two scriptures. Here

Matthew six, Jesus says this, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and us destroy and where thieves can break in and steal,

but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. There's that same phrase again.

He says, you store up treasures in heaven. The next verse job says

this, give up your lust for money, then the Almighty himself will be

your treasure. Now, how do I invest in this first fund? This

is the one that most of you know about. Most of you don't know

about the other four. This is called the Treasury fund. And I invest

in the Treasury fund by using some of my money to express worship. To

express worship, you might write that down. Now, why do I do

that? Because it makes God happy? You know, when I was a

little kid, I used to buy or make all these little cheesy gifts for

my parents, and when I look back at them, they were really lame.

But every time I would give my parents a present, they were overjoyed

by it. Now it wasn't like I could give them something they didn't already

have. It wasn't like they needed anything for me, because they didn't.

But they were just enjoyed, enjoyed the fact that I thought of them.

One time, when I was eight years old, I went into a thrift

store and I bought my mother a dress for twenty five cents, and I

thought it was a really cool dress. Now, it was about a size

four and my mom was a size twelve. So and I remember the clerk

knew my mom. She said rick Actually she said Ricky because I was called

Ricky as a kid. Ricky, your mom couldn't get her big toe in

that dress. I was so offended. I went home crying. And when

I gave my dress to my mom, that was the cheesiest gift. But

she was so thrilled. You know that when my mom died, I found

that dress in one of her chests. She'd kept it all those years.

Now, there's nothing you can give God that he needs, and God certainly

doesn't need your money. But when you come and you give an offering to

God, you're saying, God, I love you, God, I'm thinking

of you, God, I want you first in my life. And that's

the first purpose of life, to know and love God your plan for his

pleasure. And when you give back to God, it makes God smile.

He doesn't need it. He does it because you're saying, I love you

and I'm generous and I want to be with you. Notice these verses.

The Bible says, honor the Lord by giving him the leftovers of all your

income. Oh I misread that, Didn't I honor the Lord by giving him

the first part of all your income. That's called tithing. We'll look at

the next verse for where your treasure is there your heart will be. Also.

Do you want to get a heart for Microsoft. You want to get

interested in Microsoft. I'll tell you how to do it. Buy some stock.

The moment you buy some Microsoft stock, all of a sudden, you're

gonna get really interested in that company, and you're gonna read articles about it

that you never read before. If you don't own stock and Microsoft, you

couldn't care less about that company. But where your treasure is, your heart

will be. You want to get interested in Sony Corporation, Buy some stock

in Sony. The moment you buy stock in it, you're gonna get real

interested in it. Why Because the principle of life is wherever you put your

money, that's where your interest goes. Now here's the question, where is

your heart, Well, it's wherever you're putting your money your heart. Your

treasure may be in your boat. Your treasure may be in your motorcycle.

Your treasure may be in your home. It may be in your car,

It may be in redecorating. Your treasure may be in your hobby. I'll

tell you, without even knowing you, I can tell you where your heart

is, It's wherever your treasure is. Because regardless of what I say is

important to me, the way I spend my time and the way I spend

my money shows what's really important to me. And if you want to know

what's important to Rick Warren, all you got to do is look at two

things. Look at my schedule and look at my checkbook stubs, and that'll

tell you real quick what's important to me. And the same thing is true

for you. And you may say something's important, but the way you spend

your time, the way you spend your money shows what's really important to you.

So where do you want your heart to be, Well, wherever you

want it to be, Say, well, I want my heart to be

with God. Then you need to put your treasure in God, because where

your treasure is, your heart will be. Also. You know, every

time I feel distant from God, I feel I don't feel close to God.

I feel like God's a million miles away. One of the things I

do is I give an offering. Why because wherever I put my money draws

me to that. If I gave my money to you, it draws me

closer to you. If I give my money to God. It draws me

closer to God. If I give my money to something over here, it's

going to draw me closer to that. It's just a principle of life.

Now, the Bible says that not every kind of giving is an act of

worship. So what is it? Write these two things down. First,

worship giving is undesignated. It's undesignated. That means you don't control it,

you don't direct it, you don't tell God what to do with it.

The heart of worship is surrender, and you just say, Lord, I'm

just given this to you, whatever you want to do with it. The

Bible says in the Book of Leviticus, you may not take back what you

have unconditionally dedicated to the Lord. So worship giving is not strategic giving.

It's just undesignated. Here, it's all yours God. And then the second

thing, it's given when and where I worship. Worship giving is given when

and where I worship. Now, the Bible says this in First Corinthians.

On every Sunday, put aside something from what you've earned during the week and

use it for the offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has

helped you to earn and notice several things. Worship giving is weekly, it

says on every Sunday. Now, why that, because that's when and where

I worship, says every son, it's weekly. I give the first part

of my money on the first day of the week to say God, you're

first in my life. And then he says, put aside something that means

it ought to be planned. You ought to think it through. You don't

just give spontaneously. You think it through. And then it ought to be

proportional. He says, the amount depends on how much you've earned. You

didn't earn anything this week. You don't give anything. You earn a little,

you give a little, You earn a lot, you give a lot,

and it's undesignated. Now let me just say this. We're gonna talk

about five different funds today. This is probably the only one you've ever heard

of. God wants you to give to this fund before you give or invest

in any of the other funds. Why because he wants your heart more than

anything else. He doesn't want your money, he wants what it represents.

And the most sensitive nerve in the body is the one that goes from the

heart to the wallet. Why does God say do this? We'll look of

the next verse. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put

God first in your life. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's

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please contact us today. Go to Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four. 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 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

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listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Once again, here's Pastor Rick Warren.

Now, the second purpose of God for your life is that you learn to

love other people. He wants you first to learn to love him. You

invest in the treasury fund where your treasure as your heart is. So he

says, invest in the treasury fund, learn to love me. Now the

second purpose of life has learned to love other people in God's family. And

so number two, God wants you to invest in the mutual fund. The

mutual fund. It's God's mutual fund. And the Bible says in Romans twelve,

Verse ten, love one another with mutual affection. Now, how do

I invest in the mutual fund? How do I use some of my money

to invest mutual fund. Here's how you do it. By using some of

my money to encourage fellowship. To encourage fellowship, I use some of my

money to express worship. And I use some of my money to encourage fellowship.

And that means to show love to other believers. It means to use

my money to build relationships to demonstrate love. Look at these verses. The

Bible says, share what you have with God's people who are in need show

hospitality. The next verse says, think of ways to encourage one another with

outbursts of love and good deeds. He says, think aways, be creative,

put some thought into it. Now listen. Anytime I give my money

to God, it draws me closer to God. Anytime I give my money

to you, it draws me closer to you. When I give money to

people in my small group, or I help and I invested in my small

group, I grow up closer to them. So anytime you go out and

you buy a little nice card, you know, a hall or Dayspring card

or something, and you write a note of encouragement it and you give it

to somebody, you've just invested in the mutual Fund. Anytime you prepare a

meal, you buy a meal and you take it over to somebody's house who

is sick, you just invested in the mutual Fund. Anytime you open up

your home and you have a small group over and you provide some refreshments and

that costs you, you just invested in the mutual Fund. Anytime you provide

a babysitter for somebody who needs to go to church, or needs to go

to a conference or a retreat, or something like that. You invested in

the mutual fund when somebody you know and other believers is discouraged and they need

somebody to talk to you, and you take them out to lunch and you

pay for lunch. You just invested in the mutual fund. Does this make

sense? You? See? You can give to God, and God says,

that's storing up treasure in heaven. But you can also give to other

people and God says, when you do that as an act of love,

it's like banking it in heaven. God says, it counts. It counts.

He says, anytime you use your funds to show love to somebody else

in the family of God, whether it's anything, it could be maybe you

help somebody else financially in your small group whatever, you're actually investing in the

mutual fund. Now, why should I do this? Why should I give

to encourage fellowship? Well, look at these verses on the next page.

The Bible says this service of giving not only helps the needs of God's people,

it also brings many more thanks to God, and it's proof of your

faith. Now, of those three things there, it says, it meets

a need, it brings thanks to God, and it proves that you believe

what you say believe. Many people will praise God because you obey the good

News of Christ, the gospel you say you believe, and because you freely

share with them. Now you've heard me say it before that you can give

without loving, but you cannot love without giving. When I first fell in

love with my wife, I could not keep money in my pocket. It

was like burning a hole in my pocket. Every time I turned around,

I was buying or something. I see something on TV kitchen magician, I

gotta buy that. Man. You know, it didn't matter what it was.

I just wanted to buy her stuff. Why, because I was in

love with her. You cannot love without giving, and so when I give,

it draws me closer to you. It draws me and it causes me

to love you more. Also, it's a witness to other people. Notice

this next verse. When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even

when they're strangers, you make the faith visible. I wish I could tell

you all the stories, but let me just read you. One guy in

our church sent me this, He said, Pastor Rick, last Sunday morning.

A few guys from my men's small group had breakfast at the Pancake House

in Anaheim before heading over to Angel Stadium for the service. When our waitress

overheard that we were from Saddleback Church, she insisted on paying for our breakfast

herself. Now. When we asked her why, she said, well,

there's a couple from Saddleback that each year, all the time, and every

time they do, before they pay for their own bill, they request to

pay the bill for two other random tables in the restaurant as an act of

love. She said, I don't know what got into you Saddleback people,

but it's an inspiration to the rest of us. It's what we're drinking,

that's it's what we're doing. That's why we want to be famous for.

We say, that's the church where they love each other, where they're generous

with each other, where they take care of each other. These people over

there at Saddleback Church, they're the most generous people in the whole world.

Why, Because that's what God is like. It's a witness to other people.

Not only that, it builds unity among believers. The next verse says

how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. Now,

there is enormous power in unity. You know, it's like that phrase,

snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them stick together, they can

stop traffic. And if you can't do anything by yourself, and I can't

do anything by yourselves, together we can do something serious. This is Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope. We're so thankful that you've chosen to spend some time with

us today. If you've missed any part of this broadcast, including portions we

didn't have time for, just go to Pastorrick dot com and listen online.

Anytime. Rick will be right back 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. Right now, here's Pastor Rick to

tell you more. Do you ever feel like your prayers get stuck in a

rut? Would you like to know what God told me to do when my

prayer life got stuck in a rut? It was a time when I just

felt like I was praying the same thing over and over and over. In

fact, I was beginning to wonder if God was even answering my prayers or

even listening. Maybe you felt that way sometimes, or maybe you feel that

way right now. So what did God tell me to do? Well,

here's what he told me. It was such a powerful way to re energize

my prayer life, and it was so simple that I want to pass it

on to you. God told me to do this, He said, Rick,

start writing down what you're saying to me, and then I want you

to write down what I say to you. Write down what you say to

me, and then write down what I say to you. You see,

it's really not that complicated. God just said I should start by writing down

what I'm feeling, and then I should write down what he tells me after

I've read his word. It's really just a form of journaling, and spiritual

journaling is a spiritual habit that will help your prayers stay fresh and effective.

If you've never tried it, I'm begging you try this for a week or

two and see if it doesn't reinvigorate your prayer life. Journaling has many many

benefits to your spiritual life. It'll help you stay consistent in your prayers.

It'll give you a permanent reminder of how God answers your prayers because you re've

written them down. It shows how God is working in your life. You

can go back and review it. It'll even help you worship God more and

more as you speak to him. God speaks to people who care enough to

write it down. So write down what God tells you. But you've got

to have a place to do that. Now. I want to encourage you,

and I want to help you take this simple step of learning this new

spiritual habit in your prayers, of writing down your prayers and writing down your

prayer request. So what I did is I had my Daily Hope team create

a brand new spiritual prayer journal. It's got a real simple to follow format

that will help you put into practice God's wisdom that is found in Philippians four

to six that says this, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about

everything, tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has

done. Those four things are part of the format of our prayer journal for

this year. It's really cool. You're gonna love this tool 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 of 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. Call eight

hundred six hundred five thousand and four to get your prayer journal and have your

gift matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, or you can visit Pastorick dot

com that's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or pastorick dot com.

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 Ricks Daily hope and your

generous financial support