Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you're here with us today. We're going to continue our series called The Keys to a Blessed Life. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. Now here's the final part of God Blesses a Heart of Integrity.

Pastor Rick Warren: Imagine how the world would be changed if every Christian—there are two billion of us in the world, 2.3 billion—what if every Christian went to work on Monday morning with integrity and said, "I don't care if everybody goofs off. I don't care if everybody slacks off. I don't care if everybody is just saying that's good enough for government work. I don't care what everybody else thinks. I'm going to work hard, work cheerfully, and give it my best shot."

What if Christians gained the reputation that people said, "We only hire Christians"? Why? Because they're the best workers. They work with integrity. They put in the extra effort. They go the second mile. They're honest. They don't cheat. They're not lazy. They work hard. What kind of witness would we have in the world if we were all like that?

Let me give you one more. You become a person of integrity by being real with others. You don't fake it. You are yourself. You don't pretend. It's what we were talking about earlier. You're authentic, you're genuine, you're not a *hupokritos*. You don't wear a mask and talk a certain way with this group and then go over here and wear another mask and act a certain way with this group. You don't act one way in church and one way at work and another way on the golf course or when you're shooting some hoops. No, you're always the same.

You're not perfect. You're not sinless. It's not that you don't make mistakes. You do make mistakes, but your heart is in the right direction and you are real with other people. You're not a phony. You're not a fake. You're not trying to be something that you're not really. 2 Corinthians 4:2 says this, "We refuse to wear masks. We refuse to play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves."

We say, "I think this means this" when we just don't like what it says. "Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open." Your life is an open book. You're authentic. What you see is what you get. You are not a phony. You're not a fake. You are into integrity, not into image. In a world that is absolutely obsessed with appearance and with image, how do you keep it real when everybody else is faking it and trying to live an image?

They act like they know this and do that and they don't have integrity. They're scooting by and they're skimming and they're cheating and they're not keeping their promises. How in the world do you keep it real? There is only one way. You have to care more about God's approval than the approval of other people. That is the only way you will ever become a man or a woman of integrity because if you care about what God thinks, then you're going to do the right thing.

If you care about what other people think, you are typically often going to do the wrong thing because what God thinks is often unpopular or difficult. The only way you can maintain integrity is to care more about God's approval—"well done, good and faithful servant"—than to care about the approval of other people. Psalm 119:9 says, "How can I keep my way pure?" Blessed are the pure in heart, they get to see God.

How do I live a life of integrity? "By living according to your Word." You must stay in this book. If you don't stay in this book, you will not have the strength and the stamina to live with integrity. I have said it many times that if I don't have a daily quiet time with God in the Word and if I miss it for a few days, I notice it because I start getting cranky. If I don't have a quiet time for a week, my wife notices it. If I didn't have a quiet time for a month, you would notice it because I would not have any spiritual power to clearly explain the Word of God to you.

This message today has been tough for me to share and tough for you to hear. It is a tough message because when I go through this checklist and I go down this list of six things, I'm thinking in my own mind, "Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail." I am just going, "Oh, man," and I'm not really feeling that good about it. But here is the good point. Saint Augustine said, "The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works." So if you are serious about becoming a woman or man of integrity, the first step is to own up that you haven't had integrity and just admit it.

I admit it, God. I don't always keep my promises. I admit it, God, I don't always pay my bills on time. I admit it that I often gossip and I like it and it's a juicy morsel to chew on. And God, I admit it that I've been spending your money. I've been robbing God. I've been using the tithe to pay my own bills. I've lacked integrity there. And I admit it, I don't always do my best at work. Sometimes I just slack off.

Sometimes I take a little extra time running some errands. Sometimes I don't put in the full amount and I don't do my best and I've taken some supplies home. It is in the little things that Tom talked about. And there have been a lot of times, Lord, I'm not really real with people. I fake it. I do pretend. I don't really be who I really am and I'm a phony. I wear a mask some of the time out of my own insecurities.

God, I admit it, I have segmented my life. I've acted this way here and I've acted this way here. This little sex life over here, this is just my little habit over here, and this over here is my little secret, and I just keep them all separate. It goes back to that thing about the Titanic myth. The Titanic myth is this myth that you can segment your life and it will keep you afloat. The Titanic was supposed to be the first unsinkable ship because it was the first ship that they ever segmented the hull.

Previous to the Titanic, all hulls of a boat were just one open hull. If you were out in a boat and you hit a rock or an iceberg and you knocked a hole in the boat, water would flood in, fill up the whole hull, and the ship would sink. The Titanic was the first ship to actually segment and compartmentalize the hull. They said theoretically, it is kind of like we do with submarines today. You segment the submarine so if you take on water in a certain area, you can batten down the hatch.

The idea was you could take on a certain amount of water and it won't sink the whole ship. Theoretically, that's true, but when it comes to life, a hole in the boat is a hole in the boat. Eventually, it is going to sink you. That little area you think you've got under control over here isn't under control and it's going to take you down. If you and I go fishing and you're sitting at one end of the boat and I start drilling a hole in my end of the boat, you are going to get concerned.

You will say, "Rick, what are you doing? You're going to take us down." The typical response today is, "Hey, it's my life. Nobody has a right to tell me what I do with my life. I can handle it. I'm a grown adult. I can sin and get away with it. It's none of your business." I am sorry, but it is my business what you do with your life because we're all in the same boat. It's called Earth. We are all in this together. You cannot sin and not have it affect other people.

Sin may be personal, but it is never private. My sin may be personal, I did it, but it's never private. Even if you don't ever know about the sins in my life, they affect you. Husbands, even if your wife never knows about the sins in your life, they affect her. Wives, even if your husbands don't know, they affect him. They affect your kids and we affect each other. You cannot do anything in life without affecting each other.

The idea of "it's none of my business" is just stupid. It is your business and it is my business because we affect each other. Even if some people never know about something in my life, it's still going to affect them in different ways because of the blessing of God or the removal of blessing of God on my life. The Bible says, "Be sure your sins will find you out." Friends, this is why we need a Savior. What we just talked about today is why you need the cross.

This is why we need grace, forgiveness, and salvation because none of us measure up. None of us are perfect. The Bible says there's not a just man on the earth who always does what is right and never does what is wrong. We have all sinned and we have all fallen short. Each of us have our own unique falling shorts. You have your falling shorts and I have mine, but thank God He forgives them all. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

This is why you need a Savior, because there's no way I can measure up to God's perfection. There's no way you can either. God doesn't expect you to be perfect. He does expect you to have integrity, which means you own up. The starting point to be a man or a woman of God is to say, "I admit it. I just don't have integrity in some of these areas." What really matters is the direction of your heart.

I don't always do it right. Your pastor is a very flawed individual. I don't always get it right. I make a lot of mistakes. I sin. I'm not always unselfish. I want to be, but I am not. I'm not always kind to everybody. I want to be, but I am not. I don't always keep my promises. I want to, but I don't. I don't always do my best in everything that I do. I want to, but I don't.

I don't want to gossip, but sometimes I do. In the deepest part of my heart, in spite of my own sinfulness, I want to do the right thing and I want to be a man of integrity. Fortunately, God looks down on Rick Warren and when He looks at me, He doesn't say, "What a screw-up. What a failure. He ought to know better." Instead, God looks down and says, "There's a guy who has a heart for Me and I'm going to bless him."

God is more interested in your heart than your sins. You're never going to be perfect. You're never going to be sinless, but you can sin less. You got it? Get it? Good. You're never going to be sinless, but you can sin less. That is a choice and it is a choice of integrity. It starts by saying, "God, I don't always keep my promises, but I want to. God, I don't always pay my bills, but I want to. God, I haven't refused gossip, but I don't want that anymore."

God, I don't want to rob You of money that's Yours. As an act of integrity, I want to tithe. God, I don't always do what's best at work and I don't always give it my best shot. A lot of times I just slack off because I don't really like my job some days. Help me to remember that whether anybody else notices what I do, You notice. Help me to do my work with excellence, quality, and integrity, knowing that I'm working for You as my real boss.

God, I need You to give me the courage to be real with other people. I am tired of wearing masks and playing games. I am tired of maneuvering and manipulating behind the scenes. I want to live my life as an open book. I'm not perfect, not sinless, but authentic and whole. Today, Jesus Christ, I commit to becoming a man or a woman of integrity. I want a pure heart that You can bless. Help me to stay in the Word every day so that Your Word keeps me pure.

If you've never invited Jesus Christ to forgive all your sins and to be the Savior and the Lord of your life, say, "Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but I want to thank You for dying for my sins and I ask You to become the leader, the manager, the boss of my life. I want Your purpose and peace and plan and power. I humbly ask this in Your name. Amen."

Guest (Male): If you just prayed to receive Jesus, congratulations. We would love to send you some free materials to help you along on your spiritual journey. Just email Rick at rick@pastorrick.com. That's rick@pastorrick.com. I've got some great news to share with you today. We've got some generous friends of Daily Hope who have offered a fifty-thousand-dollar matching grant. Now here's Rick to tell you more about it.

Pastor Rick Warren: I just want to take a quick second to say thank you everybody. Because of your generosity, we're able to take the hope of Jesus Christ into places where there are no Bibles, no believers, and no churches at all. As you pray about giving, I want to ask you to ask God about sending a gift that is the largest you're able to give because at this point of the year, we have a donor who has offered to match your gift.

That means what you give will be doubled. We get twice the bang for the buck. So please respond quickly and give in such a way that we can maximize it through this matching gift. I want to ask you this: would you pray for us at Daily Hope? Pray as we reach out to people around the globe with the hope that people will find Christ by the thousands and ten thousands and hundreds of thousands. Thank you for being a partner with me in getting the message out.

When you give a gift to Daily Hope, you're helping share the hope of Jesus with people everywhere. During the month of June, your gift will be doubled by the fifty-thousand-dollar matching grant. Go to pastorrick.com or text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that's pastorrick.com or just text the word HOPE to 70309.

Guest (Male): We hope you'll 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.