Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Announcer: Hey everyone, I'm so glad you're here with us today. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. And today we start a series called The Keys to a Blessed Life. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. Now, let's get started with part one of it depends on who you depend on.

Pastor Rick Warren: You know, probably the most common greeting that, you know, you hear, particularly among believers, is "God bless you." And we say it not just when people sneeze. We say, "God bless you." Have you ever thought about what in the world does that mean? What's a blessing? How do you define a blessing? Would you know a blessing if it slapped you in the face? I mean, the Bible says that sometimes a problem is a blessing. So when you say, "God bless," you're really saying, "Give them a bunch of problems." Really, what in the world is a blessing? And if you pray for God to bless somebody, how do you even know if it's happened or not if you don't know what a blessing is?

The word "blessed" in the Bible is the Greek word "macarios." Macarios. And macarios is the word for happy. Happy. It is the word for happiness. To be blessed is to be happy. To have a blessing is to have happiness in your life. And when Jesus talks about, "You're blessed if you do this, you're blessed," he's saying, "You're going to be happy if you do this." It's the exact same word.

Now, today we're going to begin a quite a long series through Jesus' most famous sermon. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by talking about eight ways to be blessed by God. Eight ways to be, receive God's blessing on your life. You could call it eight ways to be happy. The truth is, I want you as your pastor. I love you. I love you. And I want God to bless your life. I want him to bless your relationships. If you're in school, I want to bless your studies. If you're, if you're married, I want you to bless your marriage. I want him to bless your finances. I want God to bless your health. I want God to bless your talent. I want God to bless your future. So I'm extremely interested in how to receive the blessings of God.

Now, as we study scripture, we find that the problem isn't with God. The problem is with us. God wants to bless your life. You just have to get blessable. And a lot of us don't live lives in ways that God can bless. God isn't going to bless sin. God isn't going to bless arrogance. God isn't going to bless indifference. There are a lot of things God will not bless.

And so when Jesus starts his most famous sermon, the first thing he begins with, "I'm going to teach you the eight conditions for receiving God's blessing in your life." And for the next eight weeks, we're going to look at each of those eight conditions in detail. We're calling it The Keys to a Blessed Life. Now, let me read the first verses in Matthew chapter 5. The Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. We're going to go through all three of those chapters verse by verse in the days ahead.

And chapter 5 starts like this. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And after he sat down, his disciples came to him and he began to teach them. Now, notice, in Bible times, the teacher always sat and the people, the audience always stood. I think that's a good idea. I want to be like Jesus. So maybe I'll just sit down right now and I'm going to ask all of you to stand up for the next 45 minutes, all right? No, no, we won't do that. But, you know, I want to be like Jesus. Jesus doesn't wear socks, so I don't wear socks.

Uh, but Jesus, it says, sat down. That was the way they taught in those days. The teacher sat and everybody else stood. And then he gives the first of these eight conditions for being blessed by God. And he says this: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Now, that doesn't tell me a whole lot because I don't understand most of the words in that verse. First, I don't know what "poor in spirit" means, and I don't know what the kingdom of heaven is. So we've got to unpack this for you to understand the benefit to your life. First, what is the kingdom of heaven? Is that different from the kingdom of God?

Well, I'm going to ask you to hold your questions on this because I promise you, in this series, we're going to deal in depth with this issue. We're going to look at what is the kingdom of God and why it is so incredibly important to your life and why you definitely want to be a part of it. And we're going to go into that in detail, explaining what is the kingdom of God. But this week as we start the series, I want to, want us to look at just the first six words of Jesus' most famous sermon. And the first six words he starts with, the first word he starts with, "blessed." Now, I like that. God starts teaching with a blessing. He doesn't start with, "Let me give you eight curses." He gives you eight blessings. That's my kind of preacher. And he says, "Let me tell you eight ways to be happy." That's the first thing Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount.

Here's what he says. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." So the first word out of his mouth to you is a blessing. Now, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Well, he's not talking about physical poverty. He didn't say, "Blessed are the poor." He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He's not talking about economic poverty. He's not talking about material poverty. He's not talking about physical poverty. He's talking about spiritual poverty. He's talking about maintaining a certain kind of attitude.

For you to understand this, I put there on your outline several other translations of this verse so you could actually see a fuller understanding of what it means to be poor in spirit. For instance, The New Living Translation says, "God blesses those who realize their need for him." The God's Word Translation says, "God blesses those who recognize they're spiritually helpless." The Common English version says, "God blesses those who are, who depend only on him." And New Century Version says, "God blesses those who know they have a great spiritual, have great spiritual needs." You can see a pattern developing here. He's saying, "I recognize that I am inadequate to live my life without God." Without God in my life, I am spiritually poor. Without God's help in my life, I am spiritually poor. I am inadequate.

A good verse that, that, that helps clarify this is Psalm 146, there in your outline, verse 5. "The Lord blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him." So circle the word "trust" and the word "depend." This is the first condition for God's blessing on your life: you've got to trust him. You've got to depend on him. And that's what it means to be poor in spirit. In fact, let me give you a definition. Why don't you write this down? To be poor in spirit, which is the first condition for God's blessing on your life, means, "I humbly depend on God instead of myself." That's what it means. To be poor in spirit means, "I humbly depend on God instead of myself," because I know I'm inadequate to handle all the problems that face me in life.

So, if I want God's blessing on my relationship to my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my husband, my wife, or anybody else, then I've got to be dependent upon God. If I want God's blessing in my work, in my career, in my studies, if I want God's blessing in my finances, in my health, I have to humbly depend on God instead of myself. So then the question becomes, how do you do that? How do I actually depend on God on a daily basis and on a moment-by-moment basis?

Well, this weekend, I want to give you five practical ways to do this from the word of God. And these are five practical ways you can practice every one of them this week. And if you practice these, you will become a woman or a man who is poor in spirit, which means you depend on God rather than yourself. You understand your need for God in your life. And then that's the kind of woman, that's the kind of man that God says, "I like to bless." So let me just get right into it. You might write this first one down. Five ways to express my dependence on God. Number one, to be blessed by God, first, I depend on God's wisdom, not mine. I depend on God's wisdom, not my wisdom, not my own. In other words, I listen to what God says, I follow what God says to do, and I do what he says to do.

Now let's look at some verses together from the Bible. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12 says this, "There is a way, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Now circle the word "seems." There's a way that seems right to us, to, to human beings, but in the end, it's a dead end. He said, "Our ideas often lead to dead ends. It leads to death."

Have you ever in your life had this feeling that something was so, very, very, very right and you just knew it was the right thing to do? And you felt it with all your heart. And then you did it and it ended up being so, very, very wrong or it became a total fiasco and a failure. That's what this verse is all about. "There's a way that seems right to us, but it often ends," he says, "in a dead end." And every one of us could give a testimony on this, where you've had this feeling, this hunch that, "This is the perfect job," and it ends up being a dead end. "This is the perfect relationship, the one I've always needed, the one I've always wanted." And that relationship ends up a dead end. "This is the perfect person that I should marry. And I know this is the person." And we all know people who've made that decision, and it, it, it, they, it flopped miserably.

Parents will often think, "I know this is the right thing to say to my kids." And then it has the exact opposite effect on the kids. It happens in friendships. It can happen in investments. "I know this is where I should put my money. This is a sure winner. This is a big deal. I know if I invest in this, man, I'm going to clean house. It's going to be great." And then it just totally flops. You could probably, and we could probably spend the rest of the night doing this, think of painful examples where you wish that you had listened to God instead of your gut. Because God is filled with truth and your gut is filled with pizza.

So, your gut's often wrong. Just because you think it, doesn't make it right. And just because you feel it certainly doesn't make it right. Feelings lie. They lie to you all the time. I mean, there used to, there's an old country western song that says, "How could it be wrong when it feels so right?" Are you kidding me? There are a lot of things that are wrong that feel so right at the moment. Are you kidding me? That's about the most immature, stupid thing you could say. Because a lot of stuff feels so right. And it ends up being so bad. And and six months later you're saying about that relationship, "What was I thinking? How in the world did I get messed up in that one? How did I get my life so tangled in something so stupid? And now I'm scarred and I'm hurt and I'm burdened and I'm going, 'Am I going to recover from this?'"

The Bible says there's a way that seems right, but it ends in a dead end. So the first way to get God's blessing in your life is, I depend on God's wisdom, not my feelings, not my thoughts, not whatever else is telling me, I depend on God's wisdom, not mine. Now, if you want to have fewer dead ends in your life, you want to have fewer defeats, fewer failures in your life, this verse, next verse is for you. Proverbs 3, 5 to 7. "Trust the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding." In other words, "Don't depend on your wisdom. Don't depend on what you think is the right thing to do. Don't depend on your hunches and your feelings." Those are often lead you astray. "Do not depend on your understanding. Seek his will," God's will, "in all you do." In everything you do. How you spend your time, your money, your relationships, everything. "And he," God promises, "he will direct your paths." "Don't be impressed with your own wisdom." What he's saying there is, "Don't go around saying, 'I got this all figured out. I can handle this. I'm a big girl. I'm a big guy. I I I know what I'm doing. I've got it all figured out. I got a plan.'" He's saying, "Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, respect the Lord and turn your back on evil."

So, if I really want God's blessing, the first thing is, I, I depend on God's wisdom, not what my feelings say, not what my gut says, not what my friends say, not what I think, but I trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Now, how do I get God's wisdom? Two ways. You pray and you read. You pray, you talk to God and you read the Bible, you let him talk to you. And that's how you get God's wisdom. Look at this next verse. The Bible says in James chapter 1, verse 5, "If any of you, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray and ask God, who gives it grudgingly and sparingly to all." That's not what it says. "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray and ask God, who gives it," read it with me, "generously and graciously to all." Now, notice he gives it to everybody. All you got to do is just ask for it. All you got, you don't have to be qualified for it. All you have to do is ask for it.

You see, God doesn't want you to hit dead ends. God doesn't want you to go through failure after failure after failure in your life. God wants you to succeed in your life. He wants you to be wise. He wants you to make smart decisions with your time, your money, your relationships and everything else. And it's not like you're waiting on him, he's waiting on you. God's saying, "Hey, I'm here. And I'll give you wisdom and I'll give it generously and I'll give it graciously. I'm not grudging about it. I love to give you. I want to make you wise." But you just got to ask.

Now, how do you know when you are living on God's wisdom rather than on your wisdom? How do you know if you're really depending on God's wisdom? You're talking to God throughout your entire day and you're reading his word on a daily basis. If you're not talking to God throughout your whole day, "God, I'm getting ready to go into this meeting. I'm getting ready to go into this class. I'm getting ready to go meet with some friends. What do I do? What do I say?" You're not talking to God like that all day. And if you're not reading God's word on a daily basis, you are depending on your own wisdom. You're just fooling yourself. You're not depending on God's wisdom, you're depending on your own. And it's why you have so many problems. And why so many things fall through. And why you end up with so much pain in your life. Because you're not depending on God's wisdom by reading the book and talking to the author. Would you write this down? God's wisdom and God's will are in God's word. God's wisdom and will is in God's word. They're, they're in God's word. God's wisdom and will are in God's word.

And if you're not in the word, you don't know God's will. And if you're not in the word, you don't have God's wisdom. And if you don't have God's wisdom, you can't be blessed. So that's the starting point. I got to pray, talk to the Lord, and I got to let him talk to me. Let me give you another one. Number two, if I really want God's blessing on my life, I not only depend on God's wisdom, I depend on God's strength, not mine. I depend on God's strength, God's power, God's energy, not mine. Now, you've probably noticed that you often get tired. In fact, you're tired a lot. And at the end of the day, you're kind of worn out, and you run out of energy. And the reason why is real simple: you're a human being. Your strength is limited. God's strength is unlimited. Your strength is finite. God's strength is infinite. Your strength is exhaustible. That's why you get exhausted. God's strength is inexhaustible. God never runs out of energy. God never gets tired. And and so I need to depend on God's strength, not my own. Let me show you some verses. Psalm 84, verse 5. God says, "You bless all who depend on you for their strength." You want God's blessing in your life? You need to depend on God for your strength.

Now, what do you do when your strength evaporates? You're at the end of the day and you go, "I'm just out of steam. I'm out of energy. I don't have the energy to go into this next week. I got too many things to do and not enough energy to do it." Here's a good promise. Isaiah 40:31. "Those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not grow weak." I'll give you a personal testimony on this one. I have been living this verse. This one, Isaiah 40:31, because there's no way I could face the loss of my son on my own energy, on my own strength. I needed God to pull me through many, many dark times. Now, let me just say this. In the darkest moments of your life, when you cannot see your way forward, it doesn't matter what, what they are or where they came from. In the darkest moments of your life, you need God's strength to get you through. And the reason why most people never get through it is they don't have God's strength. I've seen people go through a divorce and they never recover. I've seen people go through a breakup and they never recover. I've seen people go through a major illness. I've seen them go through a bankruptcy or getting fired or getting laid off or getting arrested. I've seen people go through all kinds of different things. And you know, abuse, and they never recover. Why? Because they're depending on their own strength. You're not going to get through it on your own strength. You're going to get stuck at that stage, and you get miserable the rest of your life. The only way you get through the darkest days of your life, it's on God's strength. You got to depend on him.

Announcer: Such a great message by Rick today and every day. I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was. And now, here's Rick with an important message.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hi everybody. Thanks so much for listening today. You know, my hope is that God uses this broadcast to help deepen your relationship with Jesus. Now, these Daily Hope messages are distributed on radio stations and digital platforms all across the globe. And listeners are writing and letting us know that their lives are being changed. They're telling us that they're walking with Jesus and that guilt and fear has been chased from their lives by God's love. You know, relationships are being restored and marriages are being healed, and many people are saying that they've found their life purpose. I want to say thank you to you because we're only able to carry the hope of Jesus to these people all around the world because of gifts from generous listeners like you. I just wanted to say, I am so grateful for your prayers and your financial support.

Now, I understand in times like these, many of you are unable to give financial support. Hear it from me, that's okay. Because I never want anybody to give unless God leads them to give. That's between you and God, not between you and me, but between you and God. And your prayers are a continual and incredible contribution to this Daily Hope ministry. Now, if you do want to give a financial gift, I've got some really great news to share with you. There's a generous friend of Daily Hope broadcast who is offering to match the amount of your gift. In other words, if you give $20, then that person is going to combine it with a grant to make your gift $40. Now, if you've never given a gift to Daily Hope, I want you to pray about partnering with us so that together we can continue to share the hope of Jesus throughout the whole world. I love you so much.

Announcer: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, just go to PastorRick.com. That's PastorRick.com. Or you can text the word HOPE to 70309. That's the word HOPE to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next time when 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.