Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello everybody. Thank you so much for joining us here on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. Well, today we're continuing in this timely series called Strategies for Stressful Times. In this series, Pastor Rick shares timeless truths from God's word that will help you manage stress, overcome worry, and experience the peace and stability that only God can provide. Well, I know I'm excited to get to part one of a message called How to Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running on Empty.

Rick Warren: I want to begin today with two questions, a two question survey. Okay? And the first question is this. Now, be honest. Don't lie. How many of you have ever run out of gas? Can I see your hands? Great. All right. The rest of you, I hate. Okay? All right. You are my kind of people. Those of you raise your hand. The rest of you, you didn't raise your hand, you can go home right now. You don't need this message. You are too perfect and I envy you. Uh you're honestly in my Hall of Fame. Now, here's the second survey question.

Everybody can raise their hands on this one. How low do you let your gas tank get before you refill? Okay? So, when you refill after a quarter of a tank low, how many of you do that? You can go home right now. You you don't need this message. All right? When your tank is half empty, how many of you refill? All right. When your tank is three quarters of an tank empty, raise your hand. All right. All right. Uh when you are 5 miles past empty, raise your hand. You need to stay. Okay. Those of you who raise your hand that you you need to stay uh for this message.

Now, what I want us to do today as we start in this next message of the series Strategies for Stressful Time is I want us to look at how do you keep your tank filled instead of running on empty. And before we do the antidote, the solution to staying spiritually and emotionally and relationally filled so that your tank is full, I first need to identify the 10 reasons that you run out of gas. Okay? I want get out your pencil and write this down. The 10 reasons you run out of gas because each of these reasons why we run out of gas in our car actually parallels the reasons, the 10 reasons why you feel spiritually empty or emotionally empty uh too.

So, as I give them to you, as we go through this list of 10 things, I want you to circle the number of reasons that actually apply to your spiritual or emotional condition if you're feeling a little low, a little running on empty right now. Okay, here they are. Number one. First reason we run out of gas is not starting out with the full tank. Not starting out with a full tank. Not starting out every day with a full tank uh means you're going to be on empty much of the day. Number two. Being too busy to stop and refuel.

That's the second reason we run out of gas. When you're too busy to stop uh and refuel. And some of you can relate to that in your emotional life, in your relational life, in your spiritual life. Number three. Ignoring the owner's manual and pushing my car farther than it was created to go. You got a 10 gallon tank or 15 gallon tank or 20 gallon tank, or whatever it is, you need to know what the owner's manual says. When you push it past further than the owner's manual tells you, uh you're going to run out of gas.

Now, I hate to tell you this, but you're not Superman, you're not Superwoman, you have limits. And one of the limits that God puts uh in your life is actually in the Ten Commandments. And uh it says this. Every seventh day is for worship, rest, and relaxation. It's called the Sabbath. And if you ignore the Sabbath, you don't take a day for worship, rest, and relaxation, then you're going to pay for it. And you're going to be running on empty most of your life. Okay? Here's the fourth cause that we run out of gas, emotionally and spiritually, not just in our cars.

Number four. Being unaware of hidden leaks that are draining me. Now, most common causes uh of leaks in your life because you are draining energy all the time uh are your relationships. They drain you. And your responsibilities. They drain you. I don't know if you realize this, but conflict drains you of energy. Criticism drains you of energy. Disappointment drains you of energy. Uh frustration drains you of energy. You've experienced all of these during the pandemic. Grief. When you have a loss, drains you of energy. These are common leaks that empty your soul. All right? And when you're unaware of the hidden leaks in your life, uh you're going to run out of uh gas pretty quickly, emotionally and spiritually.

Okay? Uh number five. Being in a hurry. Being in a hurry drains your tank. You already know that going fast uh wastes more gas. I mean, you know that. When you're driving really fast, rapid acceleration, speeding up, you know, when the light turns green, that burns a lot of gas faster. And the faster I drive, uh the faster I'm going to run out of uh uh of gas and my tank is going to go low. Now, the same is true uh with your soul. That when you're in a hurry and you don't pause enough to refill, uh your tank's going to go empty quicker.

And the faster you go in life, the faster the pace of your life Are you hearing me? The faster the pace of your life, the quicker you are going to get to empty on the E of your gauge. So, you ought to ask yourself, what is the speed of my life today? Number six. Sixth common cause of running on empty and having an empty tank is not paying attention to my gauges. Not paying attention to my gauges. Now, those of us like me who have ADD, we don't pay attention to the gauges. I rarely see that gauge.

I've got to have a big light come on going, you are stupid and you're on empty and you need to stop and get some gas right now. I don't pay attention to my gauges. But the same is true in life. Did you know that you have gauges in your life that could tell you if you're getting near empty? You can. What are the spiritual and emotional gauges in your life? Let me just give you a few of them. Your sleep. Your sleep pattern. When you're not getting enough sleep, guess what? You're heading toward empty. Um another gauge.

Your irritability. When everybody around you notices you're more irritable than normal, guess what? That's a gauge. It's a gauge that says you're running on fumes. You're running on empty. You're a lot less irritable when your tank's full, emotionally and spiritually. Um your relationships are a gauge. How are you getting along in your relationships? That's a gauge in your life to tell me, tell you whether you're on empty or whether you got a full tank. I hate to say this, but your weight. Your weight is a gauge of how you're handling life. How about your attitudes?

Okay? Your attitudes. How about your generosity? Generosity. You're much more generous when you got a full tank. When you don't have a full tank, you're not very generous in life with your time, your money, your what anything. Um worship attendance is a gauge. When people start falling off and stop going up going to church services, going to worship, that's a gauge. Um there are all kinds of gauge. Patience. How patient are you? That that's a good indicator of whether you got a full tank or or you're heading toward empty. Each of these are gauges of how empty or full your soul is.

Now, the seventh common cause of being empty gas gas wise, out of gas, is this. Being overloaded. Being overloaded. When your car is carrying too much weight, it uses more gas than when there isn't as much weight in the car. The heavier the load you carry in a vehicle, the sooner you're going to run out of gas. I can tell you from personal experience, years ago um I borrowed a vacation trailer to take my young family uh on a vacation. So, I attached the trailer to my car. I'd never pulled a trailer before and I headed north for a family vacation and I did not consider that carrying more weight behind my car meant that I was going to get fewer miles per gallon.

I didn't I thought, well, I just get the normal miles per gallon and I can go this far. But uh I didn't realize that. And climbing up the grapevine, you know the mountains north of LA, and you're going up the mountains out of LA uh with very strong winds coming against you, I helplessly watched my gas gauge go There's no place to turn around. Okay, there's no place to turn around. There are no gas stations. And when we did run out of gas inevitably on the grapevine, I had to leave Kay and the kids in the car and hike up the mountain to the nearest town, which was Gorman.

Y'all know where that is. And and Gorman and get a thing of gas and then hike back down uh and some of you are making that mistake right now. When you're carrying a heavier load than you normally carry, you're running out of gas sooner. Reminds me of a story I heard the other day about uh a pet delivery truck. And uh uh there was guys going down El Toro Road and there's a car behind him watching this happen. And this pet delivery truck at every stop light, the driver of the truck gets out with a big tube of oil and starts beating on the side of the truck.

And when it turns green, he would get back in the truck and he would go. When he gets the next light, red light, he gets out, he beats the truck with the tube of oil, gets back in the truck. He does this three or four times and finally the guy falling behind him gets too curious. And at the next light, he stops and says, what are you doing? And the driver explained, well, this is a 2 ton truck and I'm transporting 4 tons of canaries. So, I have to keep half of them in the air all the time.

Some of you feel like that. You got so many things uh in the frying pan. You got so many things on your agenda. You got to keep half of them in the air all the time because you're overloaded. And if you're trying to say to yourself, I can't handle this, it's too much, you may need to lighten your load. Okay? That's a typical cause of running on empty. Okay? Too too big of a load. Number eight. The eighth common cause of running out of gas, emotionally spiritually in your life is this. Assuming the limits of my tank don't apply to me.

Now, I happen to have a big SUV, a big Ford SUV. You know, I've driven one all my life and it it holds like 26 gallons. Some of you, your car doesn't hold half that amount. Uh but when you when you think that your tank is bigger than it really is and you assume that it doesn't apply to you, there's a word for that. When I take on more than I could really handle, it's called pride. Pride. And honestly, you guys, I meet a lot of people who are proud of being workaholics. They are proud of how hard they work and they think they're invincible.

But the truth is they're running on empty. Pride drains your tank. Humility refills your tank. All right? A ninth cause of why you run out of gas, emotionally spiritually and even relationally. Ninth cause is um not knowing where to find a filling station. Now, this isn't such a big problem anymore because we all have smartphones. And you got Google Maps and Apple Maps and all these other things. But before that happened, you remember you go, where in the world's a gas station? And you had no idea where it was. Specially if you're out on a long trip, you go, I have no idea is there a gas station in the next town?

And uh you know, when you don't know where you could get refilled, uh that's a problem. But spiritually and emotionally, a lot of people don't know where to get refilled too. Now, of course, Saddleback's filling station, Saddleback Church and all the other good churches that preach the Bible, teach the Bible, they are emotional and spiritual filling stations. Sometimes I look like you coming in here and I see you, you know, on a Saturday or Sunday and I I feel like you come walking in just really drained and I feel like I've got jumper cables and it's my job to attach them to you and go and get All right, get out there, go for another week.

Honey, hang on. You know, I'm not a spiritual coach. I'm not the guy slapping Rocky in the corner going, pouring water on him, go go go guy, man, you can do it. I know you can. Get out there and do another round. And and I know you're getting beat up on a weekly basis. And you know I love you as your pastor. And I feel like my job is to be a spiritual filling station, is to help you get recharged and refilled emotionally and spiritually for the week ahead. But if if the people who gotten out of the habit of coming uh don't do that, they're just getting more and more drained.

Finally, the 10th reason uh and this really has to do more with if you've never driven a car, and that is not knowing how to refill my tank. I I have to admit that when I got my uh newer car, uh I didn't know how to open the gas tank. I kept looking for the thing to to pop for it to open. And I and I couldn't figure it out and then finally I figured out, oh, you just press on it and it it opens up on its own. But I didn't know how to refill my tank for several days.

Now, the feeling of emptiness uh is at an all time high. A lot of people are feeling empty right now. They're feeling drained. But I want to tell you this. Everybody listen. What we're going through is not new. There's a people have gone through periods of draining and feeling empty uh for centuries and actually millennia. Let me just show you a couple things on the in scripture from the Bible. Look up here on the screen. In Lamentations chapter two, verse 11, Jeremiah says this. My eyes have no more tears and I'm sick to my stomach and I feel empty inside.

That's thousands of years ago, guys. You may be feeling that today. Well, Jeremiah who wrote that book, Jeremiah and Lamentations, felt that he said, I feel empty inside. How about this one? Look on the screen. Job chapter seven, verse three. Job says, I'm given months that are empty and nights of misery. So, Job understands if you're feeling that way. How about this one? In Isaiah. This is out of the amplified translation. Isaiah says this. I have labored in vain and I've spent my strength for nothing and in empty futility. He said, I'm I'm feeling empty.

Or how about this one? One more. Second Samuel 3:39. David says this. Even though I am the appointed king, I feel empty. So, you may be on top of your game. You may be at the pinnacle of your career. You may get your name on the cover of some magazine. David says, even though I'm the king, I feel empty inside. Now, before we look at the solutions, I want to pause right here and I want you to look at that list of 10 things on your outline. And I want you to go back and circle the numbers that apply to your life.

All right? Circle the look at that list and go through it again. All right? Let's look at it again. If you'd say not starting out with a full tank every day, that's me. Check that one. Circle it. Being too busy to stop and refuel, circle that one. Ignoring the owner's manual, pushing my car or my life farther than it was created to go. Being on number four, being unaware of hidden leaks. Maybe you got conflict in your life. Number five, being in a hurry. Uh number six. Not paying attention to my gauges. Maybe you need to check that one.

Number seven, being overloaded. I got too much to do right now. Number eight, assuming that the limits of my tank don't apply to me. Number nine, not knowing where to find a filling station. Obviously, you know that one. You not circle circle that. Number 10, not knowing how to refill my tank. If you circle the last one, you came to the right weekend cuz that's what we're going to look at. How do you refill your tank?

Guest (Male): 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.

Rick Warren: Here's a note that I got from a woman named Becky. She said, Pastor Rick, the Daily Hope ministry has truly helped me in many ways. I attend church on a regular basis. However, the Daily Hope broadcast has taught me so much and I can honestly say that I never miss one of those Monday through Friday morning quiet times listening to Pastor Rick's teaching, growing closer to the Lord, and applying what he's taught me through his messages. I am blessed beyond measure and I absolutely love the way the Lord is using Pastor Rick to reach out and teach Christians and non-Christians as well.

One day, I believe I'm going to be able to increase my monthly contribution. I also believe that in the not too distant future that will happen. Woohoo! Faithfully fit, Becky. I love your heart and I love your faith and I love this phrase faithfully fit, Becky. That's great. I I want everybody to please pray with me that the Daily Hope radio broadcast and all of our online resources will continue to transform lives with the simple truth of hope through Jesus Christ. And thanks for listening today. Let's all stay like Becky, faithfully fit. God bless you.

Guest (Male): 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.