Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm so glad you've joined us today because we're starting a new series from Psalm 23 called "Living in the Goodness of God." It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope in even difficult seasons. Now we're kicking off with part one of a message called "Is God Really Good All the Time?"

Rick Warren: Today we begin a new series that I'm calling "Living in the Goodness of God." Specifically, we're going to look at the most famous chapter in the entire Bible, Psalm 23. More people know this Psalm than any other chapter in the Bible because it's all about the goodness of God. Specifically, it gives us nine ways God wants to be good in your life.

Now, when you were growing up, you probably learned the little child's prayer: "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." You learned at an early age: God's great and God's good. Twin pillars. Of course, if you've been in church any time in your life, you know that sometimes a worship leader will say, "God is good!" and the congregation shouts back, "All the time!" And then he'll say, "All the time!" and they say, "God is good!"

Is that really true? Is God good all the time in your life? What about the times when you're in pain? Is God good when you're in pain? What about the times you're in conflict? Is God good when you're in conflict? What about the times when you're depressed, when you're stressed out, when you're worried, when you're under attack? Is God really good all the time? How do I know that goodness when I can't feel it?

I want us to begin this series by reading aloud Psalm 100, verse 5. It's there at the top of your message notes. Let's read it together with great enthusiasm: "The Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind. His faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation."

The Bible says God is good all the time. How is that true? How is that true in my life? In this introductory message, I want to do two things. First, I want to show you why focusing on God's goodness is so important to your life and why when you forget to focus on God's goodness, it causes all kinds of stress. It causes all kinds of problems. It brings all kinds of difficulty. The lack of focus on God's goodness is the major cause of stress in your life. We're going to see that. There are some negative consequences that happen when you forget how good God is.

Then the second thing I want to do is just give you an overview of where we're going on nine ways that God wants to be good in your life. I'm not going to teach those now because I'm going to teach on them individually. We'll study them in depth.

One way to understand God's goodness, the Bible tells us, is actually not just by reading the Bible, listening to Scripture, or hearing a message on it, but actually through worshiping. Look up here on the screen. The Bible says this in Psalm 34, verse 9: "Worship God if you want the best. Worship God if you want the best because worship opens the doors to all His goodness." The way you experience God's goodness is actually through worship. Worship opens up the goodness of God in your life.

What happens when I forget God's goodness? There are four negative consequences. You need to understand this so you can avoid it. You might want to write this down. The first negative consequence of forgetting how good God really is is this: I start claiming credit for things that God did for me. I start claiming credit for the things that God did in me, through me, to me, for me, by me, with me. When I do that, I head down a path that's going to cause a lot of depression, a lot of stress, and actually quick judgment from God.

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells a story of a very rich man who had been very successful, made a lot of money, and one day he is surveying his business empire. This guy is a billionaire, he's got it all together, and he says, "Just look at what I've done with my life." He's pretty proud. He goes, "Look at all of what I've accomplished. Look at all of the wealth that I've amassed. What am I going to do with all this wealth? I couldn't possibly spend it. I'll just build bigger barns to store it all in."

He doesn't give God any of the credit. He takes it all on himself. He thinks that he did it all by himself. The Bible says God says to that rich man, "You fool. You fool." He said, "Tonight you're going to die, and I'm going to give everything you've amassed to somebody else who will appreciate it and express their gratitude to me." It's a sober warning.

If I were to ask you, what is the worst sin you could commit? I wonder what would be on your top 10 list. If I said, what do you think is the worst sin that you could commit? Some of you might say some sexual sin. Some of you might say maybe it's being greedy and abusing other people in order to get more money and things like that. No. You know what the number one worst sin is? Prideful ingratitude. Not being grateful to God for His goodness. The Bible talks about this over and over. Pride and ingratitude is the sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven.

This is a serious thing. When I stop being grateful to God for all the good in my life, then I get into trouble. The Bible tells us the story of King Herod, who was the king in Jesus' day. On the screen, the Bible says this in Acts chapter 12: "One day King Herod put on his royal robes and he sat on his throne and he made a great speech to the people. And evidently it was quite a great message because they shouted, 'This is the voice of God! It's the voice of a god! He's more than a human!'"

Herod is not humble. He's not grateful for the place that he is in life. Instead, because Herod gave no credit to God, the Lord sent an angel to strike him down with a fatal disease, and he died. Boom. God didn't take his life because he was immoral. God didn't take his life because he was greedy. God didn't take his life because he lied to people. God said, "You are ungrateful, and you're setting yourself up thinking, 'Well, I did it all myself.'" When you do that, you're skating on thin ice.

You say, "But wait a minute, I built this business with my bare hands." Who gave you your hands? "I thought up the business plan totally by myself." Who gave you your mind? "I worked for where I got today, and I worked by the sweat of my brow." Who gave you sweat? Everything you have in your life, you owe to God. You would not take your next breath if it weren't for the goodness of God. You wouldn't be sitting here right now but for the goodness of God. You wouldn't exist if God hadn't made you to love you. Literally, everything in your life: the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability to eat, the ability to do all these things, God gave you those abilities.

God says, "I want you to be grateful to me and realize, never forget how good a God I am, that everything you have in your life: your freedom, your thoughts, everything you've got is because I gave it to you." You wouldn't even have the ability to work.

Did you know that ingratitude is actually one of the roots of atheism? When I'm ungrateful, then I start excusing myself and dismissing and maybe even denying God. The Bible says it like this in Romans chapter 1: "Since God created everything"—and He did, the entire universe—"people have always been able to see His goodness and power in nature."

For instance, we don't have to have the Bible to know a lot about God. All you have to do is walk outside. If we didn't even have the Bible, you could know a lot about God. For instance, we know God likes variety: all the different flowers and plants and animals He creates. We know that God is organized by looking at the universe. We know that God likes systems: He created the plant system and the animal system, the kingdoms, the solar system. We know that God is powerful just by looking at nature. Look at volcanoes, look at oceans, look at hurricanes, look at the pull of magnetism and the sun and the moon and the stars. We know a lot about God just by looking at nature.

I can't say, "I don't know anything about God, I've never read the Bible." The Bible says, "Since God created everything, people have always been able to see His goodness and His power in nature. So people really have no excuse." I have to live in denial to deny God because the design of the world and the universe is evidence of a designer. Wherever you have creation, you must have a creator. It doesn't just happen.

If I were to be walking down a mountain side and I saw a rock out of place, I might go, "That's just an accident." But if I'm walking down a mountain and I see an Apple Watch, that is no accident. Somebody designed it. That is evidence of design. In one trillion years, that would never just come together on its own. It takes more faith to not believe in God than to believe in God. You have to suspend reality. The people who don't want to believe in God, it's because they don't want to believe in God. I could put that on the ground and for a billion years it would never just come together on its own, and you're far more intricate than that. So is everything else.

Wherever there is a design, there is evidence of a designer. Wherever there is creation, there is evidence of a creator. This is called the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It's one of six philosophical arguments that don't even use the Bible to prove that God exists. In nature, we've seen these things. If I don't want to believe in God, it's because I don't want to believe in God. I want to be God. I don't want a Lord. I don't want a master. I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

Then the Bible says, "They know God exists, but they do not give Him credit for all He's made, and they're ungrateful." That's the big problem. Their thinking becomes confused and their hearts fill up with darkness. They think they're wise, but really they have become fools. You see, the slide into unbelief actually begins not with unbelief; it begins with ungratefulness. I'm ungrateful for all that God has done in my life and for my life.

Did you know that the Bible also says that this idea of not focusing on God's goodness, being ungrateful for God's goodness, is one of the signs of the last days, when history is coming to a close? It's one of the characteristics God says will be found in society. Look at this verse on the screen, 2 Timothy 3:2: "As the end approaches, people are going to be these ways: self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, and arrogant, profane, rebellious, ungrateful." Ungratefulness is in that long list of sins. "And have no respect for what is sacred." Does that sound vaguely familiar in our culture? You could see every one of those characteristics.

God wants us to remember the source of our success. That's why when you are blessed as much as you are, God says, "Never forget that I am the source of everything good in your life." The Bible warns us in 1 Corinthians chapter 4: "What do you have that God hasn't given you?" The answer is nothing. It's all from God. The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from God. If God did not exist, you would not exist. "What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is from God, why do you act as though you're so great and as though you accomplished it all on your own?" God is a good God.

The first thing that happens when I forget God's goodness is I start claiming credit for stuff that I didn't do. God did it through me and He gave me even the ability to do it. Here's the second negative consequence: when I forget God's goodness, I stop asking God for help. That's a big problem. When you forget how eager God is to help you, how good God is, you start depending on yourself and you stop asking God for things in prayer.

God wants to help you. God is waiting to help you. Over 20 times in the New Testament, it tells us to ask. We're commanded: "Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you'll find. Knock and the door will be open." The Bible says you have not because you ask not. Over and over, God wants you to ask for whatever you need in prayer. You say, "I only want to give God the big stuff. I don't want to give Him the small stuff." Everything is small to God. None of your requests are big to God. It's no big deal. Every request is small in His power. God says, "I want you to ask."

When you forget God's goodness, you know what happens? Your prayers become tepid, weak, wimpy prayers. They're just rote. You're not asking God for anything; you're just mouthing words. You don't even mean it. You go on and on, and you don't actually ever ask God for anything. You're not specific. You're not saying, "God, I need money for this car payment. God, I need help over here. I've got a conflict with this person. Help me out here." That's what happens when you forget the goodness of God.

How do you learn to trust God? Do you trust God more than you did six months ago or a year ago or two or three years ago? Some of you would say, "No, actually, I think I'm kind of stuck. I don't think my trust is any deeper than it was a couple of years ago." That means you're not asking in prayer. You're not growing in trust because you're not asking God for anything. The more you ask, the more God can meet your needs. The more He meets your needs, the more you grow in trust.

When I started Saddleback Church over 40 years ago with just a handful of people in our living room, I also began writing a simple devotional just for the people in our church to help them start each day with hope, truth, and peace that comes from Jesus Christ. That little devotional grew and grew and today Daily Hope is one of the largest email devotions in the whole world. Each day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's promises and finding fresh strength in His Word to face whatever comes their way. Here's the best part: it's absolutely free. We don't have any charge for this. Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you can listen to on the go.

In a world that's more distracted and uncertain than ever, I want to help you start your day centered on what never changes. What never changes is God's love, His unconditional love for you and His promises to you. If you'll just spend just a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, and more peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly, psychologists have said that what you do with the first five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. Friend, you were never meant to go through life alone. I want to personally invite you to just sign up for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk with God.

Guest (Male): If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional, it's easy. Just go to PastorRick.com. That's PastorRick.com. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.