Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Today, we're continuing our series called The Habits of Happiness. In this series, Rick dives into the book of Philippians and helps you discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. I can't wait for today's message. Here is part one of a message called God’s Promise to the Generous.

Pastor Rick Warren: Today, we wrap up the series by looking at the last habit in the last passage, the last few verses of this incredible book. Now, Paul ends this little book with the greatest promise ever given in the Bible. Without a doubt, Philippians 4:19 is the greatest promise God gives to you and to me. The reason I say it's the greatest is because it's so inclusive. It's so expansive. It's so including and encompassing every other promise of the Bible.

Philippians 4:19 says this: "You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding yours in the glory that pours from Jesus." You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding yours in the glory that pours out from Jesus. Now, that word, first, it says you can be sure. In other words, this is not a hope. This is not a wish. This is not a might. This is not a "I'd really like this." This is a certainty.

God guarantees this. God says, "I guarantee that I will take care of everything you need, my generosity exceeding yours." I'll take care of everything you need. Now, I had to go look up that word "everything." It's a little word in the Greek. It's the word *pas*, P-A-S, in Greek. *Pas* means anything, everything, all things, whatever, whenever, however, every circumstance, at all times.

What is not included in that word? Nothing. I mean, there's no wiggle room in that word. There's nothing. So then my big question when I look at that verse is this: then why do you have so many unmet needs? Is God a liar? Is this just a verse you go, "Oh, yeah, I kind of hope this works," or not? Is God really a liar? Is God actually saying, "I will meet every need"? Does that include emotional needs? Yes.

Does it meet physical needs? Yes. Financial needs? Yes. Relational needs? Yes. Spiritual needs? Yes. God says, "I guarantee that I will meet every one of your needs, and my generosity will exceed yours." So why aren't all your needs met? Well, as you know, I've said this many times, there's a condition with every promise. There's a premise with every promise in the Bible. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible, and God says, "If you do this, then I'll do this. If you do this, then I'll do that. And if you do that, then I'll do this."

God says there's a premise with every promise; there is a condition. Now, I can't claim Philippians 4:19—Paul ends this book with the greatest promise in the Bible—unless I do what is talked about in verses 14 to 17 or verse 18. In that passage of Scripture, it talks about generosity. In fact, that phrase in the Message paraphrase says, "God's generosity exceeds yours." This promise is tied to generosity. God says, "I will never let you give more than me. You cannot out-give God." You've heard me say that many, many times.

Now, go back and remember the reason that Paul wrote this book. It's a thank you note for an offering. Remember, Paul is in prison in Rome. He's an old man. He's awaiting execution by Nero. He has started churches all over the Roman Empire, one in Corinth, and he writes letters to them called the Corinthians. And one in Philippi, and he writes a letter to them called the letter to the Philippians. And one, a church in Thessalonica, a city in Greece, and that's called First and Second Thessalonians. If he'd started Saddleback, he would write First and Second Californians.

He writes these letters, and then he says, "You guys in Philippi, you have been the most generous with me." He says, "You have helped me time and time again." This is a thank you note, this book that he writes. It's a thank you note and a receipt for their generosity. He's saying, "I got your gift." Through the entire book, he talks about joy and generosity, joy and generosity. In fact, Paul actually brags about this church to all the other churches he started.

He writes a letter to the people in Corinth, the Corinthians, and he actually brags about these guys. It's there in your outline. I want to look at this as the context of where we're going today. Second Corinthians 8, Paul says to the people there, "I want you to know about the church in Philippi's generosity." He said, "Even while suffering in severe trials," the Philippian church was, "and extreme poverty," this was an incredibly poor church, very poor church. "Their lives have overflowed with joy."

Notice, even when they're going through tough times and extreme poverty, he said, "These Philippians are still overflowing with joy because of their amazing generosity." He says, "I personally witnessed their giving. And not simply giving what they could afford, but giving even beyond human ability." So these people were flat broke. They were in extreme poverty. None of us are in extreme poverty. He said, "Yet they were giving even beyond their human ability." How in the world do you do that?

He said, "Nobody told them to do it. It was due to their own generous hearts. In fact, they begged and they pleaded for the privilege of giving to serve God's people. And they gave in such a way that we did not expect. First, they gave themselves to the Lord, and then they gave themselves to us. And that is what pleases God." So Paul is bragging about this church, saying, "This is the most generous church on the planet."

Could God brag about your generosity? If God were to ask you to stand up right now and say, "Let me tell you how generous this person is with their time, with their money, with their influence, with their energy, with their praise, with their words. This person is an incredibly generous person." There are really only two kinds of people in life. There are givers and there are takers. And you have to make a choice. This is one of the habits of happiness. You have to make a choice. "Am I going to be a giver in life or am I going to be a taker in life?"

I've told you many times, just by accident, the word "miser" and the word "miserable" go together. The more it's all about me, the more I take, take, take, take, take, the more unhappy I am. The more I give, give, give, give, give, the more generous I am with every area of my life—my praise, generous with my love, generous with my time, generous with my money—the more generous I am, the more happy I'm going to be.

Now, during this series, we've looked at the book of Philippians and we've looked at what I've called the habits of happiness. We've looked at the habit of integrity, and the habit of humility, and the habit of charity. We've looked at the habit of serenity—how do you live with peace of mind? We've looked at the habit of reliability, being dependable. We've looked at the habit of productivity. Paul ends this book with one final habit. He says, "If you really want to be happy in life, you're going to have to learn the habit of generosity."

That's going to produce more joy, more happiness in your life. Through the whole book, he does this. He's talking about these different things we have to learn. In Philippians chapter 1, verse 9, he says, "You've got to learn how to love." And then in Philippians 1, verse 10, he says, "You've got to learn what matters most. That'll make you happy." And then in Philippians 3, verse 10, he says, "You've got to learn how to know Christ and what it means to go through tough times, suffer with him." He said, "That'll actually make you happy."

In 3:17, chapter 3, verse 17, he says, "You've got to learn to be mature. The more mature you are, the happier you'll be." Last week, we looked at Philippians chapter 4, verse 11, where he says, "You've got to learn to be content. That's a habit of happiness." And he says, "If you learn to be content, then you're going to learn to be happy." And in these last few verses of this book, he says, "You've got to learn to be generous. And if you learn to be generous, your joy is going to overflow."

So here's what I want to do today. I'm going to quickly take you through the book and do a summary, just give you six things, list six things of the benefits of being a generous person. Instead of being a taker in life, being a giver in life, I'm going to give you the six benefits of what it does to you. And then I'm going to explain to you how you can claim that promise where God says, "I will meet every need in your life. My generosity will exceed yours."

Now, the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 17, "The kind and generous man benefits himself." What does that mean? It means that you're going to get out of life what you put into it. The kind and generous man benefits himself. God has established one of the laws of the universe is this: you're going to sow what you reap. Whatever you plant, you're going to harvest. Whatever you give out, you're going to get back. But you're always going to get back more than whatever you give out.

Now, this is true in every area of your life. If you give out praise, people are going to praise you back. If you give out love, people are going to love you back. If you give out gossip, people are going to gossip about you. If you get angry with others, people are going to get angry with you. If you are generous with others, other people are going to be generous with you. Now, here's the point: whatever you need more of in your life, you need to give away what you've got.

Let me say it again. Whatever you need more of in your life, you need to give away what you've got. In other words, let's say you don't have any energy. You're tired all the time. You're worn out. How do you get more energy? By laying around on the couch watching TV? No, that doesn't give you energy. There's only one way to get energy: expend what you've got. You need to get up and exercise. Why? Because exercise actually increases your energy, not decreasing it. By using what you've got, you actually get more.

So if you need more time in your life, you need to give away some of your time unselfishly, serving others, serving God unselfishly. And God says, "I'll give you back more than you have given out. I will never let you be more generous than me." Whatever you need more of, you give it away. You need more money? You need to give away some of your money. You need more energy? You need to give away some of your energy. The kind and generous person will benefit himself. Now, how do I benefit myself? Well, the book of Philippians, which is about a thank you note for generosity, gives the six ways that when you're a giver, not a taker in life, you actually end up being blessed more.

Number one: The first benefit of generosity is I earn the gratitude of others. You go up in esteem. You go up in your reputation. You go up in people loving and being grateful for you the more of a giver you are. If you think about the people in your life that you're most grateful for, who are they? They're the people who have invested in you. They invested time, money, energy, patience, whatever. The people you're most grateful for are the people who've given the most to you.

If they've been stingy, you're not grateful for them. Now, let me say it this way: You earn a living by what you make, but you earn the respect and you earn the gratitude of others, and you earn a legacy and you earn a reputation by what you give. You earn a living by what you make. You earn a life by what you give.

Paul gives an example of this, that the most giving people are the most appreciated people. Philippians chapter 4, this last passage we're looking at, he says this: "How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are helping me again." They just sent an offering to him. "It was so good that you helped me when I needed it. You Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I brought you the good news. No other church did this. You sent me aid again and again when I was in need. So I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me."

And look at the next verse, Philippians 1:3, 5, and 7. He says, "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to God for you, because you've been my partners in spreading the good news. It's right that I should feel as I do about you," in other words, so grateful, so loving, "for you have been a very special place in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God." Question: Is anybody grateful for your generosity? Can you think of 5, 10, 15, 20 people go, "Man, that person is so loving. They are so giving. They have been so generous with me." Are they grateful for you?

Why don't you write a note or make a call to all the people who've been generous to you? It's a way to give thanks. You can give thanks by talking to people and saying, "Thank you for your generosity to me. The way you've been so giving in my life. You were there when I needed you. You helped me financially, you helped me physically, you helped me emotionally." The people who've been giving to you, you be grateful for them. But at the same time, you want to say, "Who am I being generous to that they're grateful to me?" That's the first thing. I earn the gratitude of others.

Number two: Every time I'm generous, I show what really matters most. Every time I'm generous. Why? Because what matters most? Things or people? People. Things don't matter most. Life is not about the acquisition of things. Now, when you give, when you're generous with your time, your money, your energy, whatever. Every time you give, you're showing what matters to you. Tell me how you spend your money, tell me how you spend your time, and I'll tell you what matters most to you.

And if I looked at some of your schedules, what matters most to you is your hobby. What matters most to you is your sport. Some of you, you look at your time, money, what matters most to you is your children. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying whatever you spend your money on most is what matters to you the most. Jesus said it like this: "Wherever your money is, your heart's going to be there."

See, I don't care about Microsoft because I don't own stock in Microsoft. But if I bought stock in Microsoft, all of a sudden, I'd care about the success of that company. Because wherever you put your money, that's where you put your heart. And so when I am generous, it shows what really matters most. Now, Paul talks about this issue through the whole book. We've looked at that for nine weeks. Look at some of these verses. Philippians 1, verse 10: "I want you to understand what really matters."

Paul's saying, "I want you to understand what really matters." And the way I give shows what really matters in my life. What does matter in my life? Not acquisition. Life is not about the accumulation of things. He who dies with the most toys still dies. I heard about this guy who a billionaire oilman asked to be buried in his Cadillac. And at the funeral, one of the guys said, "Man, that's living." Really? No, I'd call that dying is what I'd call it. That's dying.

And so what you put yourself in emphasis in shows what matters most. Jesus said a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses. In other words, I could spend my whole life working, working hard to get money so I can buy things, things, things, things, things. And my pile of things can get bigger and bigger and bigger. And at the end of the life, my pile is this big. So what?

Life is not about things. It's about learning how to love. It's learning about relationships. And if at the end of life, I've got a giant pile of things, but I'm estranged from my wife and kids, I missed it. I just missed the purpose of life because the purpose of life is not collecting things. You are to use things and love people. If you start loving things, you're going to use people. You get it reversed. And so every time I'm generous with my time, with my money, with my effort, with my energy, I really say, "What matters most is God and people. What matters most is love."

Now, Paul talks about this in verse chapter 3, verse 7: "All those things," all those little frivolties, "that I thought were so very important, I now consider worthless because of Christ." You see, this is how generosity breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Now, what is materialism? Materialism is the idea that having more will make me more happy, more secure, and more valuable. And none of those things are true. We talked about that last week.

That's materialism. Materialism is all about getting. Get, get, get, get, get, get, get. I gotta get a little bit more next year. I gotta get a little bit more next year. I gotta get a little bit more. That's called materialism. How do you break the grip of materialism in your life? There's only one way. The antidote for getting is giving. So every time I'm generous and I take something that I've got and I give it to you, or I give it to God, or I give it to a poor person, or whatever, then I am actually breaking the grip of materialism in my life.

In Philippians 3:20, Paul says, "We're citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives." He said, "I'm not living for here and now. I'm storing up for eternity. I'm not trying to make my pile on this side of eternity. I'm trying to make my pile on that side of eternity. I'm living in light of heaven." See, what does my generosity, what does my giving reveal about me? What does it reveal is most important? Where I put my money is where I put my heart.

Now, number three: the third thing, every time I'm generous, I earn the gratitude of others, I show what really matters. Number three: I become more like Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the most generous person who ever lived. Jesus is a giver. Why am I becoming more like Jesus? Because giving is the essence of God. God is a giver. If God was not a giver, none of us would be sitting here right now because everything in my life and everything in your life is a sheer gift of God. If God wasn't generous, I'd have nothing.

The air we breathe, the sun that shines down on us, the fact that my heart is beating, that I'm taking—the fact that I have lungs. I didn't earn these lungs. I didn't earn this life. It was given to me out of God's great generosity. If God wasn't a generous God, I would have never been created. And if God wasn't a generous God, I wouldn't say the next word.

Everything, the Bible says, every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Heavenly Father of light. You say, "But wait a minute, I earned this stuff." Where do you think you got the ability to earn? "But I thought it out." Where do you think you got your brain? Everything in your life is a gift of God. Everything. The freedom you have, the fact that you have eyes to see and ears to hear, it's all a gift of God because God is generous.

Now, God wants his children to become like him. The Bible says, "God so loved the world that he," he gave. Now, you've heard me say this many times: you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. So you can say, "Well, you know, I really love my kids." Do you give them your time? "Well, I really love my wife." What are you giving her? God so loved the world that he gave. And this is what love is all about. I become more loving when I become more generous. You spell love G-I-V-E. Lust is based on getting. Love is based on giving. Lust can never wait to get. Love can always wait to give.

Guest (Male): You know, one of the things you ask about us most here on Daily Hope are the Bible Scripture cards. We get a ton of requests for them. So Pastor Rick has created another deck of Scripture cards with 52 key verses from his Habits of Happiness teaching series. These verses will help you discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. They're colorful, eye-catching cards, and they make it easy to memorize the word of God so you have it when you need it most.

Something you hear Pastor Rick talk about all the time. So be sure to ask for the Habits of Happiness Scripture cards when you support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with a gift to help share the hope of Jesus Christ with people all around the world. It's our way of saying thanks. Just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That's pastorrick.com or you can just text the word "hope" to 70309. Again, that's the word "hope" to 70309. And thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. 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.