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. And now here's Rick with the final part of a message called How to Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running on Empty.

Pastor Rick Warren: First, get fed up with how I've been feeling. And then second, come to Jesus cuz he's going to give me rest for my soul. Now here's the third step. Big one, three words. Give up control. Give up control. You see, the real reason for overload in your life is cuz we try to control things too much. We try to control things too much. We don't even realize how much we try to control things too much, but we act subconsciously as if it all depends on me. I have to hold everything together. I got to make it all happen.

Now listen. I love you guys. I just want to tell you that the greater you need to control things, the more overloaded and stressed you're going to be in life. You got to learn to give up control. The greater your need for control, the more overloaded, the more empty, the more stressed, the more depressed you're going to be in life. Jesus's third solution to running on empty is this. Next part of that verse. Take my yoke upon you. That's the third step. Get fed up, come to Jesus, give up control. Now obviously this needs to be explained.

What's he talking about here? Take my yoke. Well, he's not talking about an egg yoke. Okay, not that kind of yellow egg yoke. He's talking about the wooden frame that you put over two animals, farm animals, so that they work together. And when you take two cattle and they're pull they're going to pull a wagon together, you put a yoke over both of them, and then they pull together. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute. That doesn't sound very relaxing. Take my yoke. That sounds like more like a burden. I'm already carrying too much of a burden.

Why in the world would I want to take Jesus's yoke on me? Cuz you don't understand the purpose of a yoke. The purpose of a yoke is to lighten the load, not to make a heavier load. The purpose of a yoke is so that you share the load you're carrying. You're already carrying the load. Jesus says, yoke up with me and I'll help you carry it. See, when two animals team up together, it makes the load lighter, not harder. Now Jesus is God. He's not carrying any load. He has no load cuz he's God. He's not carrying anything.

And he goes on to explain that in the next verse, verse 30. Look at that verse. He says, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He says, I'm not going to dump more on you when you're tired, when you're worried, when you're empty, when you're frustrated. Says, I I'm going to take it off you by helping you carry your load. He says, my yoke is easy and light. I love the New Living Translation says, my yoke fits perfectly. In other words, it's not uncomfortable. It is not rough. Uh it's not tight. It's not painful.

Now friends, a yoke is a symbol of partnership. It means you're no longer going through life by yourself. You're teamed up with God, and he's going to help you carry the load. You weren't meant to go through life carrying your load all by yourself. You hear me? You weren't meant to go through life carrying the load that you're carrying all by yourself. Jesus said, I'll take part of it, and I'll carry it with you. He doesn't have any load. He's God. He doesn't add to your load. He takes it from you and says, I'll share it.

Now you're not carrying the load by yourself. Now this principle of giving up control to God, it's all through the scriptures. And it's really the antidote to peace. Let me show you some verses. Psalm 55 verse 22. Pile all your troubles on God's shoulders. He'll carry your load and help you out. I love that in the message. He'll carry your load and help you. You pile it on his shoulders. You yoke up with him. Let me ask you, who's got a stronger back, you or God? Jesus says, join up with me. Come to me. Give up control.

Join with me, and I'll put the load on me, and we'll carry it together. Now what does that mean? Well, let me just be real honest with you. If you're feeling overloaded right now, it means that at this point, right now, you are not yoked to Jesus Christ. When I feel overloaded, when I feel stressed out, when I feel I'm going under, every time I feel that way, it means that somehow I've gotten detached or disconnected from Jesus. I've gotten detached or disconnected. So this yoke is a symbol of partnership, but it's also a symbol of control because it's used to guide animals.

You see, when I'm yoked with Jesus, we move together in the same direction at the same pace. When I'm not yoked to Jesus, I can move at a pace that's too fast, and I can go off in a ditch very easily. But if you're yoked to Jesus, there's no way he's going to let you outpace yourself, and there's no way he's going to let you go off in a ditch. There's no way you can go on a ditch if you're paced, you're partnered, you're yoked with Jesus. A yoke keeps us from going off on our own.

It keeps us from getting in trouble. Galatians chapter five. Look at that verse on your outline. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. How? By being yoked to Jesus, partnering with Jesus. How do I keep in step with the spirit? Next verse. Romans 3:28. Our lives get in step with God by read it aloud with me together. Letting him set the pace. Circle that. Letting him set the pace. If you're setting the pace, it's probably the wrong pace. You know, it's interesting to me that we have no record in scripture of Jesus running anywhere.

Jesus was never in a hurry. You won't be either if you're connected to Christ. Many years ago, I found this poem, and it's meant a lot to me during tough times. It's called The Lord Is My Pace Setter. The Lord is my pace setter, I shall not rush. He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals. He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity. He leads me in the ways of efficiency through calmness of mind, and his guidance is peace. And even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret for his presence is here.

His timeliness is all importance will keep me in balance. He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of peace. My cup of joyous energy overflows. Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruit of my hours, for I shall walk in the peace of my Lord and dwell in his house forever. The truth is, friends, you're going to be yoked to something in your life. There is some kind of controlling entity in your life. It may be your own expectations, the expectations of your parents, the expectations of your boss, the expectations of society.

You're going to be yoked to something. Why not choose the easiest yoke? Jesus, the easiest yoke. If God likes you and you like you somebody else unlike you, that's their problem. God says, my yoke fits perfectly. It's based on your shape. Well, of course it's based on your shape. He made you. Now notice he says, take my yoke. That's an exchange. What that means I take off the one I've been carrying, that yoke where I've been yoked to the world's expectations, what everybody expects me to do. And I put on the yoke of God, what Jesus says.

You know what the truth is? Most of you don't have one yoke on you. You got a dozen. You have more than one yoke around your neck right now. You're trying to please everybody. And those yokes are piled on top of each other, and no wonder you're tired cuz so many people have so many expectations in your life. Take them all off. Jesus, let's do an exchange. I'll take all yours, you take my one which is easy and light, and I'll pull the load with you. You see, when we think that the answer to our emptiness is escape, I got to get that to Haiti.

God says, the answer is not escape. The answer is give up control. Give up control. Every time I give up control, my load gets lighter, and God gives me peace. Quickly, the last couple. Number four. He says, come, then he says, take, and then he says, learn. And here's the fourth thing. Learn to trust. Learn to trust. This is the antidote to anxiety, worry, laughing, and trust more. This is the fourth thing Jesus says to do. The rest of that verse he says, and learn from me. Learn from me, for I'm gentle and I'm meek.

I'm humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. You know, Jesus modeled how to live with peace and purpose. And the fourth step to refilling your spiritual and emotional tank is to follow Jesus model. He says, learn from me. Watch how he lived and do it the way he did. Learn from Jesus. Now if you circle the word learn, learning is a process. We don't learn it overnight. You didn't develop your overloaded lifestyle overnight. You're probably not going to get out of it overnight, but you're going to learn to trust. What can I learn from Jesus?

Learning is a process. Learning takes time. What can I learn from Jesus? Well, he says, you'll learn how to be gentle and humble. What? How's that going to help me? Learning to be gentle, that doesn't seem like it's going to help me with cuz I'm stressed out and tired. Why is gentle and humble so important? I mean, Jesus didn't say, learn from me and I'll teach you how to have endurance and stamina. That's what I would expect him to say. Learn from me and I'll give you endurance and stamina. No, he says, learn from me and I'll teach you how to be gentle and humble.

Why? Because that listen very closely. The two biggest causes of overload and stress and emptiness in your life are aggression and arrogance. What? Let me explain. Aggression is we don't want to wait for anything. We're aggressive. We don't want to pause for anything. We don't want to consider anything. We don't want to be patient for anything. We want to just jump right in. And we get overcommitted because of our aggressive behavior. See the opposite of gentleness, being aggressive rather than being gentle. And that puts stress on you. And the other is arrogance. What's the sign of arrogance?

When we try to control everything. I don't know if you realize this or not, but your ego, my ego is responsibility for more stress and overload in my life than I realize. Your ego is responsibility for more stress and arrogance in your life than you realize. You try to do it all. That's ego. That 's pride. That's arrogance. You try to have it all. You try to please everyone. You try to act like superwoman or superman. That's arrogance. The more arrogant you are, the more egotistically driven you are, the more stressed you're going to be.

The most stressful people I know are all no are the most arrogant people I know. The antidote to the two biggest causes of stress in your life are gentleness and humility. What does that mean? It means I need to remind myself every day I'm not God, and I I'm not everybody's savior. And neither are you. What was Jesus's secret of peace? He only did what the father told him to do. And he didn't worry about the rest. If you go read the book of John 12 times in the book of John, he says, I only do what the father tells me.

And he says, follow my model. Why don't you start trusting God? Try trusting God. Let me give you a couple of verses. Look at this right here on the screen. Proverbs 20 verse 24. Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that's happening along the way? We keep trying to figure it all out. He says, why don't you just trust God? Learn to trust. Psalm 142 verse three says this. When I'm ready to give up maybe you're feeling that way. When I'm ready to give up on my marriage or my job or anything else, when I 'm ready to give up, he knows what I should do.

Learn to trust. How do I trust more? Look at this verse on the screen. Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. That leads us to the last two steps. Number five. Start every day by refilling my take. Start every day by filling my tank. Now we've talked about this so many times. I I don't feel like I have to go into it in any detail, but I 'm talking about a daily quiet time. I 'm never going to stop talking about this cuz it is the key to stability and the key to energy in your life.

Matthew 6:6 Jesus says this in the message. Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role play before God. Just be there as simply as honestly as you can, and the focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. Start every day by filling my tank. Remember I tried to teach you over a year ago His word first word, his word last word. Start the day with God's word in the day with God's word. Finally, one more step, number six. Stay connected to my spiritual family. That's going to keep you refueled and refilled and keep you from going empty.

Hebrews 11:25. Let us not give up the habit. Circle the word habit. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more. Why do I need to be connected, stay connected to my spiritual family? Because when you're empty and when you need to be filled here's what God says about the church. Last verse on your screen. Ephesians 1:23. The church is Christ's body, and it is filled That's the opposite of empty. It is filled with Christ who completely fills, which is the opposite of empty, everything else.

You empty? You need to be at church. You need to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ. They will help refill your emptiness. Okay, let's wrap it up. What's weighing you down right now? Problem with your children? Problem with your finances? Problem with aging parents? Problem with your health? But I I I will tell you this. God brought you here today so he could say this to you. Let's look at the verse one more time on the screen. I love this the amplified translation. Jesus says this to you if you're empty. Come to me.

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened and I will cause you to rest. That's soul rest. I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take my yoke on you. Partner with me. And learn from me, for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart. And you will find rest, relief, and ease, and refreshment, and recreation, and blessed quiet for your souls. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that amplified translation? This is the most important invitation you will ever receive in your life. And you took enough time to show up to let God give it to you.

Here's the invitation. Get dissatisfied the way you've been feeling. Come to Jesus. Not to anything else, come to Jesus. Give up control. Learn to trust and stay connected. Let's bow our heads. Have you ever come to Jesus? Starting point in unloading is to talk to Jesus about what you feel empty about. Tell him exactly how you feel. Tell him what's frustrating you. You know, sometimes even your best friends don't want to listen to your burdens. But Jesus will never ignore you. He wants to be your partner. He wants to be your friend. He wants to be your pace setter.

And he is making you the most amazing offer in the universe, and no one else can offer it. Come to me, and I will give you deep soul rest. Pray this prayer. Dear God just say in your heart. Dear God I'm tired of being tired all the time. I'm tired of trying to control everything. I 'm tired of a life without rest and peace. Forgive me for all the times I've turned to other things for relief instead of you. Today I'm coming back to you. I want you to be the pace setter of my life.

I want to stop trying to control everything in the first place. Forgive me for my arrogance and my aggressiveness. Forgive me for not being patient. Forgive me for allowing my insecurities and my ego from taking on more activities than I could possibly manage manage. Forgive me for pridefully overlooking my schedule and overloading it. Forgive me for filling my life with less important things so I have no time for what matters most, time with you. I want to learn from you, Jesus. I want to learn from your model. I want to learn to be gentle and humble like you so I can have the peace that you modeled.

Help me to take these steps this week. In your name I pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): We really appreciate you joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We hope you'll stay with us for a word of encouragement from Pastor Rick.

Pastor Rick Warren: You ever find yourself asking the question, why is this happening to me? Why does this have to be so difficult? You know, the thing is God never intended for life on earth to be perfect. This is not heaven. This is earth. And God put us here to teach us a lot of things even in the middle of our pain and problems and difficulties. And one of the things he wants to teach us the most is how to love, how to love him and how to love other people. That prepares you for heaven. You see, God loves you, and God is for you.

So when things get difficult keep your focus on the love of God. Just say to yourself, God loves me. Say it over and over until you start to let it sink in. Thanks everybody for listening today and join me again next time as we continue to look into God's word for our Daily Hope.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.