Rick Wareen - Will I Make Room For Jesus II

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

Well, today we continue with our special Christmas series called The Light of

Jesus at Christmas. In these lessons, Pastor Rick shows us how the Light

of Jesus brought into the world at Christmas, illuminates, purifies, heals,

and grows each of us in this season and beyond. Now, before we

get started, we want to let you know that a very generous friend has

given one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That means that all

this month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the Hope of

Jesus around the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. You

can find out more by going to Pastorick dot com or by texting 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, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part two of a message called will I

Make Room for Jesus? One Corinthians to fourteen. The unspiritual person has no

room there's that phrase no room for the gifts of God's spirit. In fact,

to him, they're folly. He can't even recognize them. I can't

put anything more in there because it's already crammed full of stuff. You've probably

got closets like that. Somebody brought you a whole new wardrobe, you have

no place to put it because your area is crammed. We overbook our lives,

we overspend our budget, we overestimate our strength, and all of these

things, and we walk around tired all the time because we've overbooked our heart.

Jesus describes it in Mark, chapter four, verse nineteen. He says,

they are overwhelmed with worries. They're overwhelmed with worries about all the things

they have to do and all the things they want to get that sound familiar,

and the stress strangles what they heard and nothing comes of it. Their

life is overbooked. Their life is overcrowded. And by the way, the

reason why somebody can go to church their entire life and it doesn't change them

is because of this crowded heart syndrome. You come and you hear a truth,

you know a kernel of truth. You get a little seed of wisdom

and it is planted in your heart. You think, yeah, I need

to do that. But you go home and immediately you're distracted by all the

things you have to do, all the things you want to get, and

you forget it, and that seed is choked and it never grows into a

fruit producing tree. You see, I'm not talking about evil things here.

I'm just you can fill your life with good things, really good things,

still not have any time for God. I mean, you could go to

church six days a week, you could be involved ministry all the time,

and you're so busy working for God. God doesn't have any time to work

in you. That's why the Bible says, be still and know that I

am God. Translation, sit down and shut up is a chill out.

You need to relax. Stop trying to do so much. Let God do

more in you. It's much more relaxing and much more fulfilling. One example

of this is Jesus had some friends named Mary and Martha. They were sisters,

and one day they invite him over for dinner. So Jesus goes over

for dinner. Mary figures out what's important. This is the son of God

at our house. We're only gonna get this once in a lifetime. So

she sits down at the feet of Jesus will start listening. But Martha was

busy worrying about the rd'euvs and you know, as everything in its place.

And here's where the story picks up. In Luke chapter ten. It says

Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to what he said. Okay, but Martha

was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Sounds like Christmas.

You know, you could have spent the entire last month buying gifts,

wrapping gifts, decorating the house, putting up the lights, fixing the tree,

sending out the cards, preparing the meals, getting everything done. Have

you had any time for Jesus? No, it's his birthday. We're so

busy with the preparation. You don't have any time for him. There's no

room in your heart. It's crowded. Martha was distracted at all the preparations

that had to be made, and she came to Jesus and said, Lord,

don't you care that my sister's left me to do all the work by

myself. Sounds like a sister tell her to help me. But Jesus said,

Dear Martha, you get upset over all these little details, but there's

really only one thing worth being concerned about, and Mary has discovered it.

What is that? Getting to know the Son of God, getting to know

Jesus Christ. Why? Because everything else you do isn't going to matter an

eternity. Your career isn't going to last beyond your lifetime. Your hobbies aren't

going to last beyond your lifetime. Your bank account isn't going to last beyond

your lifetime. The only thing that's going to last beyond your lifetime is your

relationship to God. And God puts you on earth not just to take up

space, breathe, use air, retire and die. He puts you here

so you could get to know Him, to know and love him the way

He knows and loves you. That's going to last forever and ever and ever.

So, Jesus says, Mary has figured out the one thing that's worth

being concerned about. You know, as somebody who does care about you as

a friend, as a pastor. If I could give you any gift this

Christmas, my wish would be that you would figure out what's the one thing

that matters most and it isn't getting more money, and it isn't becoming famous,

and it isn't even having fun. It's getting to know the creator who

made you and building a relationship so you go to be with him forever an

eternity when this life's over. You know what I've discovered. See as I'm

saying here, you can do lots of good things and still not having any

room for Jesus in your life. What I've discovered is if Satan can't make

you bad, he'll just make you busy. He doesn't care what distracts you.

It doesn't have to be evil as long as you pay no attention to

God in your life. It could be all kinds of good things that are

proper. In fact, there are all gifts from God, but they're not

God. And you can't have Him at the center of your life because if

that's the center of your life, then when that dies eyes you fall apart.

If your job's the center of your life, your life falls apart when

you lose it. If your bank accounts the center of your life, your

life falls apart when the stocks tank. But if God is the center of

your life, nothing can shake you because it can't be taken from you.

Deuteronomy. The Bible says it like this, make sure that you don't become

so full. In other words, your life is so crammed there's no room.

You're so full of yourself and your things that you forget God. You

see, we don't pay attention when God's around. We're just not even listening.

And we crowd our lives with so many other things, even good things,

that we don't have any time for God. The third reason we don't

make room is because we really don't think we need to make room for God.

The bottom line is, we really don't think we need to make room

for Jesus. We have a sense of self sufficiency, says I'm doing fine

on my own. Oh really, Now you may be living a good life,

you see, I'm living the good life. Great. Would you like

to know if there's a better life, because there is. The good life

is good, But the good life is not good enough. You need the

better life. I mean, when I was a kid, my mom fed

me spaghettios. Now I thought they were the world until I discovered in and

out Burger, and I went from the good life to the better life.

If there was a better life, than you're living right now, and God

wanted to give it to you. Don't you think you'd be interested in it?

Well, yes you would. Don't you think I'd think I at least

want to check it out? Yeah? I think he would. And he's

saying here, we don't think we need to make room for him. See

this is what the innkeeper did. The innkeeper saying, why do I need

any more guests? Sorry, no room. I've already sold out. I've

made my bundle, I've bankrolled it. I made as much money as I'm

going to make tonight. So I really couldn't care less about anybody else because

my life, my inn, my rooms are full. And a lot of

people say that to Jesus today. My life, the rooms of my heart

are full. I don't have any room for God, don't have any room

for Jesus. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

We've got some incredible news to share with you. A very generous friend has

given a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to this ministry all this month.

Every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the certain hope of Jesus around

the world, will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, so twenty

five dollars becomes fifty dollars, fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a

thousand. Whatever you give will be dub by the matching grant up to one

hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty first, So 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

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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 a consistent daily prayer time. When you give a

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to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. Call eight hundred

and six hundred five zero zero 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 at six hundred five zero zero four or pastorick dot

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

Rick Warren. Once again, here's Rick. You want to know what your

God is, I'll tell you what it is. It's who. Whatever you

think about most, whatever you think about most in your life, is your

God, because that's what's most important to you. Now. For some people,

their God is their career. For some people their God is their family.

For some people their God is making money or whatever. But whatever is

first place in your thought, what you think about most is your God,

and anything that's not God becomes what the Bible calls an idle, let's say,

a false God. See the deeper reason for our initition is really we

don't want God. I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. So

God, stay you created me, you made me. Yeah, Jesus came

and died for me. But I tell you what, God, you stay

on your side of the fence and I'll stay on mind. Thank you very

much. Well, there's only a problem with that. You miss the very

purpose of your life. You weren't made to be disconnected from God, and

you don't have any power in your life when you are disconnected from God.

I don't know how many of you lost power this week, but have you

noticed that when the power's off, all of your utilities, I mean,

all of your appliances are worthless. A disconnected coaster is worthless without power,

A disconnected blender is worthless without powers, just a piece of junk. A

vacuum cleaner is a piece of junk if there's no electricity to it. Those

things cannot fulfill their purpose unless they're plugged into the power. You cannot fulfill

your purpose unless you're plugged into the God who made you, who gives you

that power. So we run out of power. But the truth is,

it's human nature to wander. It's my nature to go forget you, God,

I'm gonna do my thing. I got my plants. In fact,

I think, God, I know what will make me happy better than you

do. And so we just kind of wander off. The Bible calls us.

It says, it's like we're like sheep. We just got a sheeper.

Naturally wanderers. The Bible says this, they're on your outline. We

are all like sheep. We've all want off. We've all gotten lost.

In other words, I don't know what I'm supposed to do next year.

Where am I coming from, Where am I going? What is the purpose

of my life? What am I supposed to do with my life? I'm

not direct that I'm drifting through life. We've all gotten lost, We've all

done our own thing, and we've all gone our own way. Now that's

the bad news. What's the good news is the good news is that if

I make Jesus, make room for Jesus in my life, an amazing number

of benefits take place. What are those benefits? Why should I make room

for Jesus in my life, even if it means clearing out some other stuff.

Well, let me just give you two reasons. I could give you

a lot of them. Let me just give you two that are very simple,

but they're very profound. Here's the first reason. First reason I should

make room for Jesus in my life is because I want to know my creator

and my savior. He made me and he saved me, so I need

to know that. I mean, if I said, hey, I'll introduce

you to Bono and you go, I don't really care. Well, it's

no big deal. If I said, let me introduce you to three or

four of the presidents, I know, well you said it was no big

deal. But if I were to say, let me introduce you to God.

He created you and has a purpose for your life, I would think

I'd want to be interested in that. He is my creator. I said,

I thought you're talking about meeting Jesus. I am. I thought God

made us. He did. Jesus is God come in human form. Look

at what the Bible says, before anything else existed, there was Christ with

God. He has always been alive. He didn't start at Bethlehem. Two

thy and ten years ago. He has always been inlive and is himself God.

He created everything there is that includes you and me. Nothing exists that

he didn't make. He made it all, so he owns it. All.

Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.

It helps me see in the dark when I don't think I can see

any other way. So I definitely want to make room in my life for

Jesus Christ because he made me, and that would make life a whole lot

better. You know, Like they say, when in doubt, consult the

owner's manual. When in doubt, read the directions. That's the Bible.

When in doubt, talk to the inventor. God invented you, but he

didn't just create you. He saves you. And the reason He came at

Christmas is to die for all your sins. Let me explain this. We've

all messed up. I think that's pretty common knowledge. We've all I don't

measure up to my own standards, much less God's, and you don't either.

I don't know really anybody who's perfect. We've all sinned. We've all

made mistakes, false fumbles, flaws, bloopers, sins, rebellion, I

mean really, I've talked to thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people around

the world. I've never met anybody who claimed to be sinless. I've never

met anybody who saying I'm perfect. In fact, if you think you're perfect,

there's really only one solution for you. You need to get married.

Okay, that'll solve that, and really quick. Okay, okay, all

you needed is getting married, and you'll know you are not sinless. Okay.

Marriage doesn't create problems, it reveals them. Okay, and you are

the problem. And you know I always say, you know, before you

get married, opposite it's attract and then after you get married, opposites attack.

Now I want to not only know my creator, I want to know

my savior who came to die for my sins. Now, why, here's

the reason. Follow me on this. Heaven is a perfect place. No

sorrow, no sadness, no sickness. It's incredible, full color, amazing.

You think the world's cool, Heaven's unbelievable. Now Heaven is perfect.

I'm not, and by the way, neither are you. I stopped being

perfect about day two. So if God lets imperfect people into Heaven, is

not going to be a perfect place anymore. If God lets all of us

into heaven with all of our imperfections, Heaven's going to be no better earth

because we'll take with them our lust, our ego, our betrayals, our

rejections, murders, rapes. Heaven would be no better Earth. So God

had to come up with a plan be and he said, here's what I'll

do. I will come to earth at Christmas time. I'm going to send

my son, Jesus Christ, and he's going to live a perfect life in

your stead, in your place, and then he's gonna die for all your

sins, so you don't have to pay for him. They've all been paid

off. And then you get to go scot free into heaven by just trusting

him. What a deal. What a deal? And so the Bible says

this the most famous verse in the Bible. God so loved the world that's

you and me, that he gave his one and only son, that's Jesus,

that whoever believes in him, who's whoever involved everybody. I don't care

what your background is, I don't care what your age is, what your

ethnic group is, I don't care what your religion is. You may be

Baptist or Buddhist, or Methodist, or Muslim or Mormon or Hindu. You

may be atheist or agnostic or no religion at all, doesn't matter to me.

The Bible says, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have

everlasting life. That's a good deal. I get to become a part of

God's family, and that family is going to last forever. Jesus said it.

The Bible says it like this, John Chapter one. He Jesus came

into the world which belonged to him. Remember he made it so we all

belong to him anyway. But those who were his did not receive him,

no room and did not welcome him no room. But those who did receive

him and welcome him, come on into my room, Come into the rooms

of my heart, all rooms, bathroom, bedroom, living room. To

those who did receive him and welcome him, he gave the privilege and the

power to become the children of God. Because and here's how you become a

child of God. They believed in his name. And that way I become

a part of God's family, and God becomes my father. So wait a

minute, isn't God the father of everybody? No he is not God created

everybody. God loves everybody. God has a purpose for everybody. But God

is only the father of those who choose to become a part of His family

by meeting the family requirements, which are believe in the sun He sent at

Christmas. That's the condition. Now I not only get to be a part

of God's family, I get to know my creator and my Savior, which

is a big deal. But there are actually some benefits here and now,

right now, for the rest of your life here on earth. And the

second reason I want to open every room of my heart to Jesus is to

enjoy a life of purpose, peace and power. Thank you so much for

listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We've got some incredible news to share with

you. A very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars matching groat

to this ministry. That means that all this month, every dollar you give

to help Daily Hope share the certain Hope of Jesus around the world will be

matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.

Merry Christmas, everybody. Do you even know why we give Christmas gifts

to each other. It's because God gave the first Christmas gift, the gift

of his son. God has been using you and your generous support to literally

transform the lives of so many people who've never heard about the hope that we

have in Jesus Christ. We couldn't do any of this without you, without

your support, you know, I do this for free. I serve Daily

Hope for free. We're one hundred percent listener funded. And I want to

thank you for being obedient to God. When he tells you to give to

Daily Hope. You might not thank You've got a lot to give. It's

the regular giving, month after month after month that God multiplies, and thanks

to all of you, we are reaching more and more people with the good

news every day. So let me just say at this time of the year,

I want to appreciate your partnership in this ministry. Any success that we

have is because God is working through us together. Your prayers make a difference,

Your giving make a difference, and you telling other people about the program

makes a difference. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would

you continue to pray for me? I really need your prayers. Pray that

God will give me just the right words to say this next year, as

we go into a year of Daily Hope sharing the good news of Jesus Christ

with people all around the world, then let me know how you're doing.

Let me know how we can pray for you. We have a prayer team

here. It blesses me to hear from you, and so just write me

Rick at pastorick dot com. It's real simple, Rick at pastorick dot com.

Thanks for listening, Thanks for giving, thanks for sharing, and thanks

for caring. God bless you all this month. Every dollar you give to

help Daily Hope share the certain hope of Jesus around the world will be matched

up to one hundred thousand dollars. So twenty five dollars becomes fifty dollars,

fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a thousand. You can give right

now by going to pastorig dot com or by calling eight hundred six hundred five

thousand four. We'll say thanks by sending you the brand new Daily Hope Prayer

Journal that's Pastorick dot com or by calling eight hundred six hundred five thousand four.

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.