Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): You know, none of us can earn our way into heaven because eternal life is a free gift when you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. Today, Rick Warren continues a series called "Good News About Grace." You can't truly understand the Christian life until you understand grace. It’s at the heart of your faith and your relationship with God. In this series, you’re going to discover how not to only understand grace, but how to experience it and the joy that it brings. I can't wait to get started, so here’s the final part of a message called "Sustaining Grace."

Now there are three kinds of trouble. There’s the kind of trouble that blows you away like a wind. There's the kind of trouble that weighs you down like carrying a sack of potatoes. There’s the kind of trouble that’s like the rug is pulled out from underneath you, and you go, "Where did that one come from?" But the most difficult kinds of trouble to handle are the troubles and the problems of life that are unplanned, unrelenting, and undeserved. Would you agree with that?

Unplanned, unrelenting, and undeserved. There are some things I bring on myself. When I bring a problem on myself, I figure, "Okay, I made the mess, I’ve got to clean it up." I don’t mind handling problems that I created. I figure that’s par for the course. I did it, I might as well have to clean it up.

But the most difficult problems in life to handle are the unfair ones where you were an innocent party. You go, "What happened here? I didn’t plan this. I don’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t cause it." Those are the ones that are hard to handle. And they’re especially hard to handle when they’re not only undeserved, but they are unrelenting.

Most of us can handle problems if we can see an end in sight. You see, "Well, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I can see the problem is going to be over in six months or eight months. Sure, I can handle anything for that length of time or a year," or whatever. But there are some things in your life that hurt you, that harm you, that are unsolvable, that you’re going to live with the rest of your life.

Nothing is ever going to change that. There are some situations in life. There are some handicaps or disabilities, some background. You’re never going to be able to change your background. You grew up in that background. And there are some hurts that they hurt you and you cannot, with all the wishing in the world, make it go away. There are some things in life that are unplanned, unrelenting, and undeserved, and they hurt the most.

What do you do in those situations? You first stop doing the "if only" game. "Well, if only I had different parents. If only I had married somebody else. If only, if only." That doesn't work. That doesn't solve your problems and it doesn't ease your pain, playing the "if only" game. Instead, you need to focus on Christ and focus on his sustaining power.

God says in Isaiah 41, "Don’t worry because I am with you. Don’t be afraid because I am your God. I will make you strong. I will help you. I will support you with my right hand that saves you." Now, in that verse, I want you to circle all the things that God has promised to do for you. He says, "I'm going to be with you." He says, "I'm going to make you strong. I will help you. I will support you, and I will save you." That pretty much covers it all.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. That’s how you get sustaining grace. What do you do when you can’t fix an unfixable problem? What do you do when you can’t solve an unsolvable riddle? What do you do when you can’t change an unchangeable circumstance? What do you do when you can’t control something that hurts deeply in your life?

You throw yourself on the sustaining grace of God. Our culture loves to teach us self-reliance. We think that we can handle anything. I know that all around you, you’re brought up to think, "I am the master of my fate." That's a bunch of hooey. It’s just not true. You cannot control the major events of your life.

You didn’t control when you were born. You didn’t control where you were born. You didn’t choose your parents. You don’t know where you’re going to die, and you don’t know most of the things that are going to happen between now and then. One day, you’re going to wake up to the realization of the fact that there are limitations in your life that you cannot control. That’s called a midlife crisis.

And one day, you wake up and you realize you are not God and you cannot control everything that happens around you. So what do you do when it hurts so bad and you can’t change it? You rely on the sustaining grace of God. How do I get that kind of grace to keep on going in spite of temptations, trials, tension, tiredness, and troubles? You do four things.

Number one: cry out to God for help. Cry out. As long as you pretend to be self-sufficient, you short-circuit God’s power in your life. You need to admit your inadequacy. Say, "God, I can’t handle this," and you cry out for God’s help. The Bible says God gives grace to the humble. Circle that word "humble." So give yourselves completely to God. Draw close to God and God will draw close to you.

Notice who gets grace: the humble, those who admit they can’t do it on their own. And then you draw near to God and you cry out to God and you pray to God. You pray earnestly, you pray fervently, you pray passionately, you pray with integrity, you pray with emotion and say, "God, it hurts. Help." Did you know that God listens to the tone of your prayers?

He does. Because he knows that you don’t really want everything you ask for. When I ask my kids at Christmas, "What do you want?" and they say, "Well, I want this or that or this or that," I don’t listen to that. I don’t write it down. But when they go, "Daddy, I really, really, really want this," that’s the one I write down.

God does not answer perfunctory prayers where you just mouth the words, go through the motions, and your heart’s not in it. He wants you to pray passionately and fervently to him. If you want a good example of it, go read the book of Psalms because David did it chapter after chapter. Call out for God’s help.

Number two, to get God’s sustaining grace: fill your mind with God’s Word. Fill your mind with God’s Word. This book, let it comfort you, let it strengthen you, let it fill you, let it soothe you, let it give you the energy you need to keep going. Get into this book every single day of your life. Get a modern translation like the New Living Version or something and begin to read it and read it and read it and get it into your mind.

Notice what the Bible says. David prays, "I am completely discouraged. Revive me by watching TV." That’s not what it says, is it? No, that doesn’t work too good. "Revive me by your Word." Folks, there is some advice that’s going around today that I am so tired of hearing. If I hear it one more time, I’m going to lose my lunch.

It is in every movie, it’s in every talk show, it’s in every book. It is the standard New Age answer to your problems. It started in the movie "Star Wars" about 25 years ago where that great theologian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, says to young Luke Skywalker when he’s going through his crisis. He says, "The answers are within you, Luke. Look inside yourself."

Everybody’s been spouting that for 25 years as if that’s the big answer. There’s nothing new about the New Age. All the New Age is, is a repackaging of old lies. They didn’t work a thousand years ago, they don’t work today. And this one here is just look within yourself when you’re in trouble. Come on, that’s the problem!

I looked within myself and I went, "Yuck." I didn’t like what I saw. I got depressed when I looked within myself. I don’t need to look within myself. The answer is not look within yourself, because if it were, you’d already be changed. It doesn’t work. You need to look to God. He’s the only one who can change you.

He’s the only one who can help you. He’s the only one with sustaining strength. And you need to look not within you, you need to look outside of yourself to the Creator who made you, because the answers are not in you. The answers are in God. It doesn’t work the other way. Did you see this on Friday? I got this out of the business section of the Register.

The Psychic Friends Network filed for bankruptcy. Their lawyer says, "They apparently made some bad decisions due to unforeseen circumstances." Hello! Perhaps they should have seen it coming? And people are paying big money for that kind of hooey. You need to get into a book that’s been around for thousands of years, the Word of God.

Call out for God’s help. Fill your mind with God’s Word. Then number three, in those unfixable situations of life: accept support from God’s people. The Bible says by helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ. What is that law? Love your neighbor as yourself, the Great Commandment.

If you don’t have some strong Christian friends, mature believers, and you’re not in a small group where you can have some feedback and some support when the crisis is on, I feel pity for you. I really do. We don’t continually harp on this issue week after week after week, "get in a small group, get in a small group, get in a small group," just because it’s an idea.

It is essential for your physical, spiritual, and mental health. You need a support group. God never meant for you to go through life alone on your own. You’re not a Lone Ranger. In fact, God intentionally, the Bible says, puts weaknesses in our lives so we realize how much we need each other. We need each other.

You’re not going to make it on your own. You need to accept support from God’s people. Then number four, when you’re facing the unfixable problems of life: you need to hold on to God’s promises. Hold on to God’s promises. There are over 7,000 of them in the Bible waiting to be claimed, waiting for you to just grab onto like blank checks.

Here’s one of them, Isaiah 40: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Keep your hope in the Lord.

And even more than that, keep your eyes focused on the hope of heaven, not just on the here and now. Focus on the hope of heaven. Look at the next verse: "So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now. Rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever."

In heaven, there’s going to be no problem. In heaven, there's going to be no sorrow. In heaven, there’s going to be no sadness, no grief, no messed up lives. Now where do you need God’s sustaining grace today? Where are you discouraged and you feel like giving up? Are you being tempted?

You go, "Man, I’m just being pounded with this, and I can’t get rid of this temptation." Or are you tired? You say, "I just don't think I can put another foot in front of each other." Or are you under tension? Or are you in trials and troubles that you can’t fix? No matter what you’re going through, God’s grace will sustain you if you will let it.

Look at this last verse. Paul said, "I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, then my power is made perfect in you.'" When you’re going through a problem you can’t fix, don’t give up. Look up. Look up. Let’s bow our heads.

I’d like to close with a special prayer for those of you who are discouraged this morning. You may be struggling with worry, well, he can fix that. You may be struggling with guilt and shame, he can handle that. You may be dealing with depression or financial conflict or conflict in your home. Or you may be dealing with unemployment or infertility or something you cannot control.

He can handle it. So tell him right now what is discouraging you. Tell him passionately. It’s okay to shed a tear. Tell him passionately what is discouraging you. Jesus Christ, you know every single need represented here today. You know what we need even before we ask. You know our hurts and you know our fears.

You know our struggles and you know our sins. You know our loneliness, you know our grief. For those who are hurting here this morning, may they find relief. For those who are discouraged, may they experience your sustaining grace. May they sense your arms of love wrapping around them today.

For those who are carrying a heavy load, may they understand your power and your peace is available. For those who are tempted, for those who are addicted, for those who can’t stop doing what they don’t want to do, may they find release in Christ. For those who are depressed, would you restore their joy?

For those who are separated from a loved one, for those who are in conflict with a husband or a wife, may they find restoration and reconciliation. For those who are guilty and ashamed, help them sense the freedom of your forgiveness that you so graciously give. And for those who lack purpose and meaning and salvation, may they find you.

Now, it’s your turn to pray. Why don’t you pray this in your mind? "Dear Jesus Christ, I need your sustaining grace in my life." If you’ve never asked him for his saving grace, say, "I need you to save me and then to sustain me. And I’m giving myself to you. Help me to cry out to you for help and not try to do it all myself.

Help me to fill my mind with your Word. Help me to accept help and support from your people. And help me to hold on to your promises. Thank you that I’m going to make it to the finish line in heaven, not because of my performance, but because of your sustaining grace. I love you and I want to trust in you. In Jesus’ name, amen."

You know, 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.

Guest (Male): What a special message from Pastor Rick. And now, let’s hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope. Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Pastor Rick Warren: I love to end our broadcast by reading letters from people like you. Here’s one from Melissa, who lives in Colombia. "Pastor Rick, I just want to say thanks to you and thanks to God for helping me understand the Bible and for helping bring so many souls to Jesus Christ. I've been blessed because you put your messages online for free. And because of that free ministry, I have access to the truth. I cannot thank you enough."

She says, "I want to help, and I want to give what God commands to give me to give so that his message can reach the entire world." Thank you, Melissa from Colombia. Melissa, thank you. Thank you for your encouragement and thank you for your financial gift and thank you for caring about people who haven’t heard the good news.

You see, when we work together, we’re able to do things we cannot do on our own. Together, we reach people that would never be reached any other way. And when you get to heaven, we're going to celebrate all the souls that have come to know Jesus Christ. So thank you for listening, thank you for supporting, and thank you for praying.

Guest (Male): Hey, if you’ve been encouraged by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and you’d like to support us, please consider giving a financial gift. Really generous friends of the Daily Hope ministry, they’re going to match your gift up to $10,000. So please, don't wait. This special matching grant offer ends at the end of this week.

So please go to PastorRick.com or simply text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, PastorRick.com or text the word HOPE to 70309. And all of us here at Daily Hope thank you so much for your support. Your gift 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.