Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Pastor 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. So let's get started. Here's the final part of a message called "How God Lifts Me Up When I'm Worn Down."

Now here's the second thing that banquet means. Write this down: God wants to bless me to show the world His goodness. You are a trophy of God's grace. I am a trophy of God's grace. I don't deserve the blessing on my life, but I don't deserve anything. It's all by God's grace. You don't deserve this banquet, but God says, "I just want to do it because I love you." You are exhibit A of God's grace. You are God's goodness on display.

Look at this next verse, Psalm 31:19. "Your goodness is so great. You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you. And you have done so much for those who come to you for protection when you're in the middle of a battle, blessing them before the watching world in the presence of my enemies." God says, "I want to bless your life so all the people can look at you and go, 'Wow, that girl is blessed. That guy is blessed. I want that. How are they blessed so much?'" Well, they have a good God. They know God.

He says, "Those who honor me, I have stored up great blessings for those who honor you." Now I want you to circle those two words: "stored up." It says God has stored up great blessings for those who honor you. Stored up indicates advanced planning. It means that God plans what He's going to do for you before it actually happens in your life. It's stored up, it's planned in advance. It's not just spur of the moment.

God prepares a banquet in advance for you in the presence of your enemy when you're in the battle. Let's apply this right now. You know that battle you're going through right now? The tough one you're going through right now, and it's a white-knuckle thing. You're holding on like on a roller coaster for dear life, and you don't know if you're going to win this battle or not—financial battle, physical battle, relational battle, dignity battle, moral battle, whatever the conflict is going on in your life.

Those jaws that are at stress, you know that battle? God says, "I prepare a banquet for you in the presence of your enemies." He has stored up the blessing. It means that battle you're fighting right now, which is very intense, before it even started, before you even got in that battle, God had already prepared the victory celebration.

God has already prepared the banquet. God has already prepared the celebration party for the problem you're in right now because He knows everything. He knows how it's going to come out. You store up in advance great blessings for those who honor me. You just keep honoring God with your life, with your body, with your business. You keep honoring God with the way you think, with the way you act, with the way you talk. Even though everybody's coming against you, you just keep honoring God. God says, "I already got the banquet planned. It's already stored up because you're going to get through this with my help."

God loves to throw victory celebrations for His children. Psalm 35, look here on the screen, verse 27. "How great is the Lord! He is pleased with the success of His servant." I love that verse. How great is the Lord! He is pleased with the success of His servant when you succeed. God loves to honor you, and He is pleased with the success of His servant. God has put all kinds of promises in the Word of God about it.

If you're in the middle of a battle right now of any kind, you need to realize that God has prepared a banquet for you on the battlefield, just a few hundred yards away. You've got to walk over there, walk into the tent, sit down and have some fellowship with God, and eat your favorite foods. That's what God wants to do in your life.

So my last question then is, what's on the menu? What's on the menu of God's banquet? I want you to write this down: Everything God has promised in His Word is on the menu. Everything that God has promised in His Word is on the menu. The menu are the promises of God in His Word. Now by many counts, one estimate is that there are about 5,500 promises in this book from God to you. Have you eaten any of them?

Have you eaten any of the 5,500-plus promises of God to you? The banquet is sitting right there. Your banquet is in your Bible. Everything God has promised to do in your life is in this book. If you're not reading this book, you don't know squat about what's on the menu. All of those 5,500 promises are there. This book is full of fruit and bread and all kinds of meat and milk and drinks and wine and sweets and lots and lots of desserts.

God calls the Bible the Word of God. He calls it the Bread of Life. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The Bible calls itself the meat of the Word, the bread of the Word, the milk of the Word. The Bible says it tastes sweeter than honey. The Bible says it is fruit. The Bible says it is fulfilling. The Bible says it is tasty. And over and over and over, all of those banquet terms describe the Bible itself.

And you can have a feast anywhere you've got one of these. You might be sitting in a bus stop and pull out a Bible and start having a feast right there of all the things God has promised to do in your life. And your anger goes down, and your fear goes down, and your anxiety goes down. The reason why your anxiety is up is because you're not in this book. You don't know what God's promised to do in this book. Now if God has provided a feast, a banquet in this book, why would you ever go eat an internet granola bar when there's a feast laid out for you?

And you're reading the newspaper more than you read this. You're reading magazines more than this. You're reading social media far more than this. And that's starving you while this would be feeding you what God has laid out and promised you. The Bible says this in Psalm 119:103, "The promises of your word taste sweet to me. They taste sweeter than honey in my mouth."

You got a bad taste in your mouth? How much time are you spending in this book? If you're not spending any time in this book, you've got nothing in your mouth but gravel. This is the feeding. Are you fasting or are you feasting on the Word of God? Are you fasting or are you feasting on God's banquet that He's laid out for you? All the stuff He's promised to do in your life—you can't do them if you don't know them. God never shuts His blessings until you shut this book.

When you open this book every day, you need to be feeding and eating from it, from the banquet of God. Now how much time are you really spending in this book? Not very much. You say, "Well, I go to church once a week." How would you do if you ate one meal a week? I'm feeding you the Word of God right now, but if you ate one meal a week and it was a banquet, and then you fasted the rest, you'd be anorexic. You wouldn't be very healthy.

What I'm teaching you is not enough. You've got to feed and feast on the Word of God every day. This is where you get your strength for the battle. And if you're not getting your strength for the battle from this book, you are failing in your battle because you simply don't have enough strength on your own to face all the crises you're going to handle. I'm telling you as your pastor who loves you, you've got to get in this book every single day of your life.

It's the banquet. And if you don't have it, then you're not growing. You're not being healthy. You're not being strengthened for the battle. What you need to do is go get a modern translation. Don't read one of those books with the thees and the thous and the Elizabethan English. There are tons of modern translations. You go, "Oh, that's what that means." And then go take Class 201 again, which I wrote, which teaches you how to have a daily feast with God. You've been through that class and you've forgotten what it's all about.

Go take it again. Take Class 201 again so you can learn how to feast on the Word of God. Psalm 34:8 says this: "Learn to savor how good the Lord is." Do you do that? When you read the Bible, do you savor the Word of God? You say, "No, not really. I just kind of do it as a what I ought to do it." Okay, listen very closely. Your view of this book, what you think it is, will determine how much you enjoy it.

If you think that this is a textbook, like this is God's textbook for us, does anybody ever enjoy reading a textbook? No, I hate reading textbooks. And if you think that this is a textbook, you're going to go, "I don't want to read that anymore than I want to do any other homework." It's not a textbook. If you think it's a history book—"Well, it's got some great stories in there, history of Israel and history of Jesus and all that history stuff"—do you enjoy reading a history book? Not many people do. It's not a history book.

If you think this is an insurance policy—it's your fire insurance policy to keep you out of hell. Okay, this is my fire insurance policy, I better read that. Or if you think the Bible is a life insurance policy, how you get eternal life, how you get to heaven, have you ever read an insurance policy? No, you have not. Why? Because they're boring and dry as all get out. And you go, "Yeah, you just show me where to sign." So if it's a textbook, if it's a history book, if it's an insurance policy, whether it's for hell or heaven or whatever, you're not going to read it.

You know what this book is? This book is God's love letter to you. It's a love letter. His banner over me is love. When Kay and I got engaged many years ago, we did something really dumb. We got engaged and both moved to opposite sides of the world. We lived in California. She moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to work in an inner-city African-American church, and I moved to Nagasaki, Japan, to plant a church. And we were separated almost our entire engagement.

Now in those days, we didn't have cell phones, and it cost fifteen bucks a minute on a regular phone to call Japan in those days. It was very expensive, and we were dirt poor. So we only had one alternative: write letters. Now I wrote a letter every day. She wrote a letter every day. And the way they would stack up, I'd get her letter before she got my response to the next letter, and my letter was talking about something she didn't get it until the next one, and we were always having out of sync because of the letters.

But that was the highlight of my day when I lived in Japan. And when I got a love letter, do you think I'd say, "Hey Rick, you got another letter from Kay," and I'd say, "Well, put it there, I'll read it in a couple days." Are you kidding me? The moment that love letter arrived, I would tear it open and I would read it and I would reread it, and I'd try to read between the lines. And I'd underline it, and I'd want to memorize portions of it. And I'm going, "I'm trying to gather every drop of love from this woman for me out of this letter." And I'd read it and reread it and reread it.

This is God's love letter to you. This is not for everyone. The Bible is written for God's children. And that's why when somebody who doesn't believe in God tries to read, it doesn't make any sense. Well, that's what you get for reading somebody else's mail. It wasn't written for you. This is God's love letter to His children. If you only do one thing, you start reading the Bible every single day.

I'll tell you what, start with the book of Luke this week. Start with the book of Luke. It just tells about Jesus. Just start reading through that. Your view, if you're not in this book every day, you are forgetting how much God loves you and you're forgetting what's on the banquet table. And as a result, you're stressed out because you think it all depends on you. You don't know what's covered in the policy. You don't know what God's already promised to do. The banquet is in the Bible.

Now one more thing. This promise—"You prepare for me a banquet in the presence of my enemies"—is a both now and later verse in the Bible. Because right now, while you're in the battle, you can have a banquet any day you open this book, and it'll give you strength for the enemies in your life. But there's one day going to be a literal banquet for you in heaven. It's called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And let me read it to you. Isaiah chapter 25 says this.

Here's how it's going to happen one day. History is moving toward a climax in heaven, and one day there's going to be a party in heaven, a giant banquet for all of God's people who honored Him and trusted Him. And it says this, Isaiah 25:6-9: "The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of the finest food for all peoples." Now doesn't matter what your background is. Doesn't matter what color your skin is. Doesn't matter what race you are, cultural background. Doesn't matter what religion you are.

If you have put your faith in His Son, if you have trusted God, if God has accepted you into His family, He said this is for everybody, no matter what your background is. "The Lord will prepare a feast of the finest food for all people, a banquet of the best of meats and finest wines. And on this mountain, God will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples and the sheet that covers all nations."

What's a shroud and what's a sheet? A shroud literally is what they put over dead people. It's a covering. Like a mummy, they would wrap a dead body in a shroud. It's a covering of death. And the shroud that this is talking about is the gloom that's spread all over the earth because we all know we're all going to die. We're all going to die. And that brings our attitude—no, we're not going to live forever on earth, and that's the gloom that hangs over everybody. Everybody knows they're going to die one day. God says He's going to destroy that shroud of death that enfolds people, and the sheets that cover all nations.

What's the sheet? That's the crowd of grief that we're all under because things don't work right. Everything's broken on this planet. God says one day at this banquet, I'm going to destroy that last enemy. I told you you had the enemy of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but you have a fourth enemy. The Bible calls the fourth enemy death. And the Bible says in Scripture, death is the last enemy to be defeated. And it will be defeated on this day.

And there will be no more death. And the Bible says this: "He will swallow up death forever." No more death. Nobody dies after this. "The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, and He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth." What's that talking about? The disgrace of His people is all the put-downs you've had for being a believer. When people put you down for standing for truth. When people put you down for doing the right thing. When people put you down for claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ. That's the disgrace. He said He's going to remove all the disgrace of His people. Why? By having a banquet in front of all the enemies.

I said, "I love these people. They put up with all kinds of stuff at the office and work and at home, but they loved me more than they loved you." And He says He will wipe away their tears. He'll remove the disgrace of people from all the earth. And in that day they—that's us—will say, "Surely this is our God. We trusted Him, and He saved us. Yes, this is the Lord. We trusted in Him. So let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation and the eternal party will begin."

Let's bow our heads. Have you met Jesus? Have you accepted His salvation? Or are you still trying to fight all your battles on your own power? How's that going for you? How's that working out? A little frustrating? God has planned a party for you if you'll just trust Him. He's planned a banquet in the middle of your battle, no matter what it is. I'm going to pray a very simple prayer and I invite you to pray it again with me, maybe for the five-thousandth time. Some of you it'll be for the very first time. Just say this:

Thank You, God. Thank You for Your goodness to me, even the stuff I don't recognize and don't even notice. Thank You that even in the middle of all my battles, You want to give me a banquet. You want to make me the guest of honor. And it's not in secret, it's public. It's on the battlefield, and even my enemies have to watch You honor me, and they can't do anything about it. Lord, I'm not doing too good in my battles right now. The world's around me with all of the pressure and stress, expectations. And Satan's against me, and he's always suggesting me to do the wrong things and trying to trip me up.

And then my old nature inside of me is at war with myself. You know, Lord, I often do stuff that I don't really want to do, and I don't do the things that I know are good and healthy and right. And I'm tired in the battle. Thank You that You want me and thank You that You welcome me into fellowship. Lord, it's hard to believe that You, God, would want to hang out with me. That You would love me that much, that You'd go to all the expense of preparing a banquet for me when I run for cover to You.

Lord, I read that verse today that said You're gently calling me from the jaws of distress. I'm coming. I'm coming right now. I'm running straight to You, to that open place of freedom where You've set a table full of the very best food. Thank You for loving me. And Lord, thank You for wanting to bless me to show the world Your goodness. You've already done so much for me. The air I breathe is a gift. That You want to bless me before the watching world. And I want to be blessable. I want to put my trust in You, Jesus Christ.

I don't understand it all. Forgive me for going days without looking at Your Word, the Bible. Everything You've promised is there. The banquet is in the Bible. And I want to commit to not going to bed at night without feasting a little bit on the banquet, all those 5,500 promises that You've made. And so I'm stepping out of the battle right now. I'm walking into Your tent, and in the one-on-one fellowship, I want to receive Your love and I want to learn to love You back. I humbly ask You to accept me into Your family. In Your name I pray, Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer for the very first time, or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at PastorRick.com and say, "Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ." And I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus, and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a letter from one of our listeners. Here's Rick.

You know, I love hearing from Daily Hope listeners like you, and here's one note that I got from Raymond in New York: "Dear Pastor Rick, I'd like you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast. The nuggets that I get, I share with my lunch group at work. And my family benefits as well, because at dinner time my wife and my son hear the nugget that I learned during the day and we discuss it. It's awesome."

Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks for writing me and thanks for sharing your story. You encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that you're sharing Daily Hope with your coworkers and with your family. If God has used this broadcast in your life, would you let me know about it and tell your story? It'll be good for you, it'll be good for me, and it'll be good for all the others who hear it. I love you and I thank God for you. And join me next time as we continue to look into God's Word for our Daily Hope.

Now if you'd like to let Rick know how much this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick at PastorRick.com. That's Rick at 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 Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support.