Rick Warren - How To Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running on Empty—Part Three

Hello, everybody.

Thank you so much for joining us here on Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. Well, today we're continuing

in this timely series called Strategies for Stressful Times. In

this series, Pastor Rick shares timeless truths from God's Word

that will help you manage stress, overcome worry, and experience

the peace and stability that only God can provide. And

now here's Rick with the final part of a message

called How to Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running

on Empty.

First, get fed up with how I've been feeling. And

then second, come to Jesus because he's going to give

me rest for my soul. Now here's the third step.

Big one. Three words. Give up control. Give up control.

You see... The real reason for overload in your life

is because we try to control things too much. We

try to control things too much. We don't even realize

how much we try to control things too much. But

we act subconsciously as if it all depends on me.

I have to hold everything together. I gotta make it

all happen. Now listen, I love you guys. I just

want to tell you that the greater you need to

control things, the more overloaded and stressed you're going to

be in life. You've got to learn to give up control.

The greater your need for control, the more overloaded, the

more empty, the more stressed, the more depressed you're going

to be in life. Jesus' third solution to running on

empty is this. The next part of that verse. Take

my yoke upon you. That's the third step. Get fed up,

come to Jesus, give up control. Now, obviously this needs

to be explained. What's he talking about here? Take my yoke. Well,

he's not talking about an egg yolk. Okay, not that

kind of yellow egg yolk. He's talking about the wooden

frame that you put over two animals, farm animals, so

that they work together. And when you take two cattle

and they're gonna pull a wagon together, you put a

yoke over both of them And then they pull it together.

You say, wait a minute, wait a minute. That doesn't

sound very relaxing. Take my yoke. That sounds more like

a burden. I'm already carrying too much of a burden.

Why in the world would I want to take Jesus'

yoke on me? Because you don't understand the purpose of

a yoke. The purpose of a yoke is to lighten

the load. Not to make a heavier load. The purpose

of a yoke is is so that you share the

load you're carrying. You're already carrying the load. Jesus says,

yoke up with me and I'll help you carry it. See,

when two animals team up together, it makes the load lighter,

not harder. Now, Jesus is God. He's not carrying any load.

He has no load because he's God. He's not carrying anything.

And he goes on to explain that in the next verse,

verse 30. Look at that verse. He says, for my

yoke is easy and my burden is light. I'm not

going to dump more on you when you're tired, when

you're worried, when you're empty, when you're frustrated. He says,

I'm going to take it off you by helping you

carry your load. He says, my yoke is easy and light.

I love the New Living Translation. It says, my yoke

is light. Fits perfectly. In other words, it's not uncomfortable.

It's not rough. It's not tight. It's not painful. Now, friends,

a yoke is a symbol of partnership. It means you're

no longer going through life by yourself. You're teamed up

with God, and he's going to help you carry the load.

You weren't meant to go through life carrying your load

all by yourself. You hear me? You weren't meant to

go through life carrying the load that you're carrying all

by yourself. So you said, I'll take part of it,

and I'll carry it with you. He doesn't have any load.

He's God. He doesn't add to your load. He takes

it from you and says, I'll share it. Now you're

not carrying the load by yourself. Now this principle of

giving up control to God, it's all through the scriptures.

And it's really the antidote to peace. Let me show

you some verses. Psalm 55, verse 22. Pile all your

Psalms 55:22

troubles on God's shoulders. He'll carry your load and help

you out. I love that in the message. He'll carry

your load and help you. You pile it on his shoulders.

You yoke up with him. Let me ask you, who's

got a stronger back, you or God? Jesus says, join

up with me. Come to me. Give up control. Join

with me and I'll put the load on me. and

we'll carry it together. Now, what does that mean? Well,

let me just be real honest with you. If you're

feeling overloaded right now, it means that at this point

right now, you are not yoked to Jesus Christ. When

I feel overloaded, when I feel stressed out, when I

feel I'm going under, every time I feel that way,

it means that somehow I've gotten detached or disconnected from Jesus.

I've gotten detached or disconnected. So this yoke is a

symbol of partnership, but it's also a symbol of control

because it's used to guide animals. You see, when I'm

yoked with Jesus, we move together in the same direction

at the same pace. When I'm not yoked to Jesus,

I can move at a pace that's too fast, and

I can go off in a ditch very easily. But

if you're yoked to Jesus, there's no way he's gonna

let you outpace yourself, and there's no way he's gonna

let you go off in a ditch. There's no way

you can go in a ditch if you're paced, you're partnered,

you're yoked with Jesus. A yoke keeps us from going

off on our own, it keeps us from getting in trouble.

Galatians chapter five, look at that verse on your outline.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in

step with the Spirit. How? By being yoked to Jesus,

partnering with Jesus. How do I keep in step with

the Spirit? Next verse, Romans 3.28. Our lives get in

step with God by, read it aloud with me together,

letting him set the pace. Circle that. Letting him set

the pace. If you're setting the pace, it's probably the

wrong pace. You know, it's interesting to me that we

have no record in Scripture of Jesus running anywhere. Jesus

was never in a hurry. You won't be either if

you're connected to Christ. Many years ago, I found this poem,

and it's meant a lot to me during tough times.

It's called, The Lord is My Pacesetter. The Lord is

my pacesetter, I shall not rush. He makes me stop

and rest for quiet intervals. He provides me with images

of stillness which restore my serenity. He leads me in

the ways of efficiency through calmness of mind and his

guidance is peace. And even though I have a great

many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret

for his presence is here. His timeliness, his all importance

will keep me in balance. He prepares refreshment and renewal

in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind

with his oils of peace. My cup of joyous energy overflows.

Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruit of my

hours for I shall walk in the peace of my

Lord and dwell in his house forever. The truth is friends,

You're going to be yoked to something in your life.

There is some kind of controlling entity in your life.

It may be your own expectations, the expectations of your parents,

the expectations of your boss, the expectations of society. You're

going to be yoked to something. Why not choose the

easiest yoke? Jesus, the easiest yoke. If God likes you

and you like you and somebody else doesn't like you,

that's their problem. God says, my yoke fits perfectly. It's

based on your shape. Well, of course it's based on

your shape. He made you. Now notice, he says, take

my yoke. That's an exchange. What that means, I take

off the one I've been carrying, that yoke, where I've

been yoked to the world's expectations, what everybody expects me

to do, and I put on the yoke of God,

what Jesus says. You know what the truth is? Most

of you don't have one yoke on you. You got

a dozen. You have more than one yoke around your

neck right now. You're trying to please everybody. And those

yokes are piled on top of each other. And no

wonder you're tired. Because so many people have so many

expectations in your life. Take them all off. Jesus says,

let's do an exchange. I'll take all yours. You take

my one, which is easy and light, and I'll pull

the load with you. You see, when we think that

the answer to our emptiness is escape, I got to

get to Tahiti. God says the answer is not escape.

The answer is give up control. Give up control. Give

up control. Every time I give up control, my load

gets lighter and God gives me peace. Quickly, the last couple.

Number four, he says, come, then he says, take, and

then he says, learn. And here's the fourth thing, learn

to trust. Learn to trust. This is the antidote to anxiety.

Worry less and trust more. This is the fourth thing

Jesus says to do. The rest of that verse he says,

and learn from me. Learn from me for I'm gentle

and I'm meek. I'm humble in heart and you will

find rest for your souls. You know, Jesus modeled how

to live with peace and purpose. And the fourth step

to refilling your spiritual and emotional tank is to follow

Jesus' model. He says, learn from me. Watch how he

lived and do it the way he did. Learn from Jesus. Now,

if you circle the word learn, learning is a process.

You don't learn it overnight. You didn't develop your overloaded

lifestyle overnight. You're probably not going to get out of

it overnight. But you're going to learn to trust. What

can I learn from Jesus? Learning is a process. Learning

takes time. What can I learn from Jesus? Well, he says,

you'll learn how to be gentle and humble. What? How's

that going to help me? Learning to be gentle, that

doesn't seem like it's going to help me because I'm

stressed out and tired. Why is gentle and humble so important?

I mean, Jesus didn't say, learn from me and I'll

teach you how to have endurance and stamina. That's what

I would expect him to say. Learn from me and

I'll give you endurance and stamina. No, he says, learn

from me and I'll teach you how to be gentle

and humble. Why? Because, listen very closely, the two biggest

causes of overload are and stress and emptiness in your

life are aggression and arrogance. What? Let me explain. Aggression

is we don't want to wait for anything. We're aggressive.

We don't want to pause for anything. We don't want

to consider anything. We don't want to be patient for anything.

We want to just jump right in and we get

over committed because of our aggressive behavior. It's the opposite

of gentleness, being aggressive. Rather than being gentle. And that

puts stress on you. And the other is arrogance. What's

the sign of arrogance? When we try to control everything.

I don't know if you realize this or not. But

your ego, my ego, is responsibility for more stress and

overload in my life than I realize. Your ego is

responsibility for more stress and arrogance in your life than

you realize. You try to do it all. That's ego.

That's pride. That's arrogance. You try to have it all.

You try to please everyone. You try to act like

superwoman or superman. That's arrogance. The more arrogant you are,

the more egotistically driven you are, the more stressed you're

going to be. The most stressful people I know are

the most arrogant people I know. The antidote to the

two biggest causes of stress in your life are gentleness

and humility. What does that mean? It means I need

to remind myself every day I'm not God and I'm

not everybody's savior. And neither are you. What was Jesus'

secret of peace? He only did what the Father told

him to do. And he didn't worry about the rest.

If you go read the book of John, 12 times

in the book of John, he says, I only do

what the Father tells me. And he says, follow my model.

Why don't you start trusting God? Try trusting God. Let

me give you a couple of verses. Look at this

right here on the screen. Proverbs 20, verse 24. Since

Proverbs 20:24

the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand

everything that's happening along the way? Hmm. We keep trying

to figure it all out. He says, why don't you

just trust God? Learn to trust. Psalm 142, verse 3

Psalms 142:3

says this. When I'm ready to give up, maybe you're

feeling that way. When I'm ready to give up on

my marriage or my job or anything else, when I'm

ready to give up, he knows what I should do.

Learn to trust. How do I trust more? Look at

this verse on the screen. Romans 10, 17. Faith comes

by hearing the word of God. That leads us to

the last two steps. Number five. Start every day by

refilling my tank. Start every day by filling my tank.

Now we've talked about this so many times, I don't

feel like I have to go into it in any

detail today. But I'm talking about a daily quiet time.

I'm never gonna stop talking about this because it is

the key to stability and the key to energy in

your life. Matthew 6, 6, Jesus says this in the message.

Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted

to role play before God. Just be there as simply,

as honestly as you can and the focus will shift

from you to God and you will begin to sense

his grace. Start every day by filling my tank. Remember

I tried to teach you over a year ago, H-W-F-W

and H-W-L-W. His word, first word, his word, last word.

Start the day with God's word, end the day with

God's word. Finally, one more step, number six. Stay connected

to my spiritual family. That's gonna keep you refueled and refilled.

And keep you from going empty. Hebrews 11, 25. Let

us not give up the habit. Circle the word habit.

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together

as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another

all the more. Why do I need to be connected,

stay connected to my spiritual family? Because when you're empty

and when you need to be filled, here's what God

says about the church. Last verse. On your screen, Ephesians 1.23.

The church is Christ's body and it is filled, that's

the opposite of empty, it is filled with Christ who

completely fills, which is the opposite of empty, everything else.

You empty? You need to be at church. You need

to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ. They

will help refill your emptiness. Okay, let's wrap it up.

What's weighing you down right now? Problem with your children,

problem with your finances, problem with aging parents, problem with

your health. But I will tell you this, God brought

you here today so he could say this to you.

Let's look at the verse one more time. On the screen,

I love this, the amplified translation. Jesus says this to

you if you're empty. Come to me. Come to me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened

and I will cause you to rest, that's soul rest.

I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take

my yoke on you, partner with me and learn from

me for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart and

you will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and

recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. Isn't that beautiful?

A little amplified translation. This is the most important invitation

you will ever receive in your life. And you took

enough time to show up to let God give it

to you. Here's the invitation. Get dissatisfied with the way

you've been feeling. Come to Jesus. And I tell you

anything else, come to Jesus. Give up control. Learn to trust.

And stay connected. Let's bow our heads. Have you ever

come to Jesus? The starting point in unloading is to

talk to Jesus about what you feel empty about. Tell

him exactly how you feel. Tell him what's frustrating you.

You know, sometimes even your best friends don't want to

listen to your burdens. But Jesus will never ignore you.

He wants to be your partner. He wants to be

your friend. He wants to be your pace setter. And

he is making you the most amazing offer in the

universe and no one else can offer it. Come to

me and I will give you deep soul rest. Pray

this prayer. Dear God, just say in your heart, dear God,

I'm tired of being tired all the time. I'm tired

of trying to control everything. I'm tired of a life

without rest and peace. Forgive me for all the times

I've turned to other things for relief instead of you. Today,

I'm coming back to you. I want you to be

the pace setter of my life. I want to stop

trying to control everything in the first place. Forgive me

for my arrogance and my aggressiveness. Forgive me for not

being patient. Forgive me for allowing my insecurities and my

ego from taking on more activities than I could possibly manage.

Forgive me for pridefully overlooking my schedule and overloading it.

Forgive me for filling my life with less important things

so I have no time for what matters most, time

with you. I want to learn from you Jesus, I

want to learn from your model. I want to learn

to be gentle and humble like you so I can

have the peace that you modeled. Help me to take

these steps this week. In your name I pray. Amen.

We really appreciate you joining us today on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. We hope you'll stay with us for a

word of encouragement from Pastor Rick.

Do you ever find yourself asking the question, why is

this happening to me? Why does this have to be

so difficult? You know, the thing is, God never intended

for life on earth to be perfect. This is not heaven.

This is earth. And God put us here to teach

us a lot of things, even in the middle of

our pain and problems and difficulties. And one of the

things he wants to teach us the most is how

to love, how to love him, and how to love

other people. That prepares you for heaven. You see, God

loves you, and God is for you. So when things

get difficult, keep your focus on the love of God.

Just say to yourself, God loves me. Say it over

and over until you start to let it sink in.

Thanks everybody for listening today, and join me again next

time as we continue to look into God's word for

our daily hope.

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