Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Rick Warren: Hello everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm really glad you're here. Today we're continuing our 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 even in difficult seasons. And now, here's part two of a message called From Overwhelmed to Overflowing.

Now how do I experience an overflowing life? Four daily habits, write these down very quickly. If you'll do these, they will change your life. Here's the first habit for living an overflowing life and stop living an overwhelmed life. Number one, stay connected to Jesus every day. You've got to stay connected to Jesus every day.

In John chapter 15, verse 5, Jesus compares this to a grapevine. And he says this, "I am the vine and you are the branches. If you stay connected to me, you'll produce a lot of fruit. But you can't do anything without me."

I grew up in Northern California in the wine country. Everybody had vineyards in their backyard. And every season I would harvest grapes and I learned something real quick. If a cluster of grapes happens to be on a branch that's been cut off, it dies. You can tag on, you can tie on grapes to dead branches, but if they've been cut off from the root, cut off from the vine, they're going to die. And the same thing is true with you. If you try to go through life on your own power, you're going to be overwhelmed.

But if you're connected to the vine, if you're plugged into Jesus, you're going to have power. I've told you this before, a toaster cannot fulfill its purpose unless it's plugged into the power. And a vacuum cleaner cannot fulfill its purpose unless it's plugged into the power. And you as a human being, as a woman, as a man, cannot fulfill your purpose unless you're plugged into the power. And if you're cut off, like a grape branch from the vine, you're going to shrivel up and die. You're going to be overwhelmed.

He says you've got to stay connected. He says you can do nothing without me. He said, "I'm the energy, I'm the power." How do you stay connected? How do I stay connected to Jesus on a daily basis? You spend some time with him. We talked about this in a previous message on having a banquet in the Bible. Every day when you get up in the morning, you sit down, you read the Bible for a little bit, let God talk to you, you talk to God. That's called prayer. You listen, you be quiet, you spend some time.

If you want to have a relationship with anybody, you've got to spend time with them. You can't have a relationship with your husband or your wife or your best friend or God if you don't spend time with them. If you're not spending any time with God, you don't have a relationship with God. You have to have proximity and you have to have frequency. And the way you stay connected is to have that daily time alone with God. And then throughout the day, you just review it and you go back over it.

Jesus continued about this in John 15, verse 7. He says this, "If you stay connected to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted." Circle that, it will be granted. That's a promise. "My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings glory to my Father. So stay connected, stay connected to my love." He says you stay connected to my love when you obey me. "I've told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow." There's that word. The overflowing life, rather than overwhelmed life, comes from being connected to God. That means you've got to spend time with him.

Now circle the phrase "my words remain in you." He says if you stay connected to me, you spend some time with me every day, and my word stays connected to you. How do you do that? There's a word for that in the Bible. It's called the word meditation. Now when I say the word meditation, I'm not talking about what most of you are thinking. Some of you are thinking about sitting in a lotus position with your hands out like this and you're going "om" and contemplating the lint in your navel. No, that's Eastern meditation. That's New Age meditation. Meditation simply means seriously thinking about God's word, what God has said. You get a verse, you read it, and you think about it over and over.

Question: How many of you know how to worry? Can I see your hands? All right. If you know how to worry, you are already a pro at meditation. When you take a negative subject and you go over and over it in your mind, that's called worry. When you take a verse from the Bible and you go over and over it in your mind, that's called meditation. So if you are good at worrying, you're going to be great at meditation. Some of you are professional meditators and don't even know it.

Instead of taking a worry or a fear or an anxiety and thinking about it over and over—how am I going to do that, which leads to overwhelmed—you take a verse from the Bible and you think about it over and over, that leads to overflowing. Big difference. One takes you down, one builds you up. He says if you let my word remain in you, notice the promise. He says, "You may ask any request you like and it will be granted." That's like a blank check for prayer.

You say, "Wait a minute, Rick. I'm not seeing this in my life. I pray a lot and I don't see a lot of answers." Because you're not connected! When was the last time you spent an extended period of time just alone with God saying, "Hey God, is there anything you want to tell me?" When was the last time you were alone with God for more than two minutes? You're not connected. He says you've been cut off from the vine and no way you're going to have any fruit in your life. You're not going to be overflowing, you're going to be overwhelming because you're not connected to me. The more connected you are, the more fruit you're going to bear, the more success in your life, the more good fortune God says you're going to have in your life. You've got to stay connected. It's a simple principle, but it's one that we overlook over and over.

Now let me give you a second key. Each of these steps get a little bit harder. Here's the second key to overflowing. First is stay connected on a daily basis to God, to Jesus. Number two: stop griping and start being grateful. Stop griping, stop grumbling, and start being grateful.

Science has proven that each of these attitudes that the Bible talks about are good and bad for your health. Complaining is a very unhealthy emotion for you. Griping is unhealthy for you. But gratitude, study after study has shown gratitude is the healthiest emotion. You want to be healthy? Learn gratitude. When you are grateful, it changes the chemistry of your brain. Studies have shown that when you are thankful, when you're grateful, it produces serotonin in your brain, it produces dopamine in your brain, and it produces oxytocin in your brain.

Now don't confuse that—not Oxycontin. Oxytocin is the feel-good hormone. When a husband and wife make love, it releases oxytocin in both of their lives. When a mother nurses her baby, it releases oxytocin in both the mom and the infant. Studies have shown that if you pet a dog or a pet for 30 minutes, it releases oxytocin in the dog and in you. You want this hormone. You want this chemical in your life. And one of the key things that's produced for smarts, for peace, and for happiness—those chemicals, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin—happen every time you're grateful.

So you ought to get up in the morning before you get out of bed, make a list of 10 things you're grateful for. God, I'm grateful for air. God, I'm grateful for this bed. God, I'm grateful that I'm not in a war right now. You just start, and that will change the chemistry in your brain. Study after study has proven this. In fact, one study showed that if you try to make a list of 10 things you're grateful for and you can't even think anything up, just the attitude of trying to be grateful in your mind changes the brain chemistry.

Philippians 2:14 says this: "In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing." Because that's the exact opposite of gratitude. Let me ask you: what do you complain about? Second thought, don't tell me. Let me ask this: when you complain about something, how's that help you? Does that work out pretty good? You complain about the weather, does it change the weather? You complain about the way you look, does that change the way you look? You complain about your spouse or your children or your job—complaining is a total waste of time. It's stewing without doing. It's worthless. You should stop complaining and start being grateful. Stop grumbling and start being grateful because you're not going to feel better from complaining.

Colossians 2:7 says this: "Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all God has done." I suggest that you start your day with gratitude for God, what God has done for you, and for others. In fact, I read a study recently that if in the morning you get up and the first thing you do is send an email of gratitude to somebody you love or somebody who's helped you, it actually lowers your stress for the rest of the day. Because of the chemicals that are released in your mind, it'll actually lower your stress if you'll start your day with good news and if you actually start with gratitude. Send an email a day, it'll help you be healthier.

1 Thessalonians 5:18: "No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." I have people come to me all the time and say, "Pastor Rick, I just want to know God's will. What does God want me to do in marriage? What does he want me to do in my career? What does he want me to do with school? I just want to know God's will." Well, here it is. This is God's will for you, that in everything you give thanks. Why would God teach you step two when you haven't done step one? You want to know God's will on who to marry, God's saying, "Why don't you start with step one? Are you being grateful in everything? That's my will."

God says do step one and then we'll move to step two and then we'll move to step three and then we'll move to step four. If you're not doing what I've already told you to do, why should I tell you step two? If I want to be living an overflowing life rather than an overwhelmed life, I first stay connected to Jesus. I make that a habit every day. You can't get to know somebody you don't spend time with. And then number two, I stop griping and I start being grateful.

Here's the third thing the Bible says to do if you want to live an overflowing life. Stop comparing and start being content. Stop comparing yourself to other people and start being content. The Bible says anytime I compare myself to anybody else, that I'm foolish. It's a waste of energy.

God made you to be you. He doesn't want you to be anybody else. When you compare, you get envious, you get resentful, and you often start trying to copy somebody else. God says, "Wait a minute, I made you to be you. If you don't be you, who's going to be you?" God only makes originals. Even identical twins are different in thousands of ways. When you get to heaven, God isn't going to say, "Why weren't you more like your sister or your mom or your dad or your brother or some famous person?" He'll say, "Wait a minute, I made you to be you. If you're not going to be you, we don't need two of anybody else."

God wants you to be you. But comparing gets you in trouble. Look at this verse. 2 Corinthians 10:12: "We do not make the mistake of comparing ourselves with others because when we compare ourselves, we are foolish." I'm acting like a fool anytime I compare with anybody else. There are two problems with comparing yourself to other people. And in America, we've made this an indoor sport. We compare how we look, we compare our careers, our grade point average, academic ability, our kids, our spouses. Shoot, we compare how green the lawn is. And that always causes you to be overwhelmed, not overflowing. God says don't do it.

One, you'll always find somebody in life who's doing a better job than you. And you're going to get full of discouragement. "Oh, they got more money, they've got more talent, they're better looking." Number two, you can always find somebody you're doing a better job than and you get full of pride. Pride and discouragement will set you on the bench. They take you out of the game. You don't even get in the game when you're full of pride or ego or when you're full of discouragement or resentment because of somebody else.

The Bible says stop comparing and start being more contented and you'll live an overflowing life. And yet today, it's easier than in any other time in human history to compare yourself to other people. Why? Two words: social media. It's right in your face every day. We compare what we do, we compare what we wear, we even compare what we eat on social media. "I just got a caramel macchiato frappuccino cappuccino." "Well, I don't have one of those. I better run out and take a picture too of mine. So I'm going to go get the Al Pacino cappuccino because that's the really exclusive one. Most people don't even know about the Al Pacino cappuccino, but it's a good one and it makes me feel better because I posted it on Instagram."

We do this all the time. It is so easy because of social media to get stuck in staging your so-called pretend perfect life. Everybody knows you don't have a perfect life. We know it, you know it, and you know everybody else doesn't. But on social media, everybody's trying to put their best foot forward and we're living for the approval of other people. It's the fear of missing out. FOMO. I better get something out there to show how cool I am. There are two downsides. Some of you should go on a social media fast to break the addiction.

Fasting's good for your body, gives your body a rest. Social media fasting is a good thing too because that kind of always putting yourself in front of other people feeds your narcissism. It's all about me. Look at me, look at me. When a three-year-old says, "Papa, Papa, look at me," that's cute. It sucks as a 30-year-old. Okay? And that's what you're doing on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. Come on, be a grown up. It's okay as a baby, but not for everybody else. It creates narcissism in you and it creates envy in everybody else.

By the way, you know what the worst is? Self-righteousness. Showing off in a spiritual way. Like, "Notice how I'm raising my hands in prayer and my new sweater too." Or, "See me highlighting my notes in my quiet time alone with God that I just shared with one million people." If you're having a quiet time to impress other people on Instagram, stop it. That's the worst form of hypocrisy. "I'm showing how spiritual I am." It's the humble brag like, "Please pray for me, I've got to go pray for Bono." Putting in a little name dropping there or something. If you're a worship leader and you post the picture where all the lights make you look like a rock star. Don't. That's the overwhelmed life. That's not the overflowing life.

Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.

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 and with truth and with peace that comes from Jesus Christ. Well, 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.

Now 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. And what never changes is God's unconditional love for you and his promises to you. If you'll just spend a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity, purpose, and peace to everything that happens in your day.

Psychologists have said that what you do with the first five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So friend, you were never meant to go through life alone. I want to personally invite you to sign up for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God. 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.