Rick Warren - When Life Shakes You, Only This Will Hold You

0:00You know, probably the most common greeting that, you know, you hear, particularly among believers, is God bless you. And we say it not just when people sneeze, we say God bless you. Have you ever thought, what in the world does that mean? What's a blessing? How do you define a blessing? Would you know a blessing if it slapped you in the face? I mean, the Bible says that sometimes a problem is a blessing. So when you say God blesses really great, you say given a bunch of problems? I really, what in the world is a blessing? And if you pray for God to bless somebody, how do you even know if it's happened or not? If you don't know what a blessing is, the word blessed in the Bible is the Greek word Makarias. And Makarias is the word for happy. Happy. It is the word for happiness. To be blessed is to be happy.

1:04To have a blessing is to have happiness in your life. And when Jesus talks about your blessed, if you do this, you're blessed. He's saying you're going to be happy if you do this. It's the exact same word. Now today we're going to begin a quite a long series through Jesus' most famous sermon. It's called the sermon on the Mount. And Jesus begins the sermon on the Mount by talking about eight ways to be blessed by God. Eight ways to be perceived God's blessing on your life. You could call it eight ways to be happy. The truth is I want you as your pastor. I love you. I love you. And I want God to bless your life. I want Him to bless your relationships. If you're in school, I want to bless your studies. If you're married, I want you to bless your marriage. I want Him to bless your finances. I want God to bless your health. I want God to bless your talent. I want God to bless your future.

2:07So I'm extremely interested in how to receive the blessings of God. Now as we study scripture, we find that the problem isn't with God. The problem is with us. God wants to bless your life. You just have to get blessable. And a lot of us don't live lives in ways that God can bless. God isn't going to bless sin. God isn't going to bless arrogance. God isn't going to bless indifference. There are a lot of things God will not bless. And so when Jesus starts his most famous sermon, the first thing he begins with, I'm going to teach you the eight conditions for receiving God's blessing in your life. And for the next eight weeks, we're going to look at each of those eight conditions in detail. We're calling it the keys to a blessed life. Now let me read the first verses in Matthew chapter 5. This isn't on your outline. But the sermon on the Mount is in Matthew chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. We're going to go through all three of those chapters, verse by verse, in the days ahead. And chapter 5 starts like this.

3:13When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And after he sat down, his disciples came to him and he began to teach them. And he says this, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now that doesn't tell me a whole lot because I don't understand most of the words in that verse. First, I don't know what poor in spirit means. And I don't know what the kingdom of heaven is. So we've got to unpack this for you to understand the benefit to your life. First, what is the kingdom of heaven? Is that different from the kingdom of God? Well, I'm going to ask you to hold your questions on this because I promise you in this series, we're going to deal in depth with this issue. We're going to look at what is the kingdom of God and why it is so incredibly important to your life and why you definitely want to be a part of it. And we're going to go into that in detail explaining what is the kingdom of God. But this week is we start the series. I want to want us to look at just the first six words of Jesus, most famous sermon.

4:23And the first six words he starts with, the first word he starts with, blessed. Now I like that. God starts teaching with the blessing. He doesn't start with, let me give you eight curses. He gives you eight blessings. That's my kind of preacher. And he says, let me tell you eight ways to be happy. That's the first things Jesus talks about in the sermon on the Mount. That's what he says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So the first word out of his mouth, he is a blessing. Now what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Well, he's not talking about physical poverty. He didn't say blessed or the poor. He says blessed or the poor in spirit. He's not talking about economic poverty. He's not talking about material poverty. He's not talking about physical poverty. He's talking about spiritual poverty. He's talking about maintaining a certain kind of attitude. For you to understand this, I put there on your outline several other translations of this verse. So you could actually see a fuller understanding of what it means to be poor in spirit. For instance, the new living translation says God blesses those who realize their need for him.

5:38God's word translation says God blesses those who recognize their spiritually hopeless. Common English version says God blesses those who are who depend only on him. You can see a pattern developing here. He's saying I recognize that I am inadequate to live my life without God. Without God in my life, I am spiritually poor. Without God's help in my life, I am spiritually poor. I am inadequate. A good verse that helps clarify this is Psalm 146. They're in your outline verse 5. God blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him. Circle the word trust and the word depend. This is the first condition for God's blessing on your life. You've got to trust him. You've got to depend on him. And that's what it means to be poor in spirit. In fact, let me give you a definition. Why don't you write this down? To be poor in spirit, which is the first condition for God's blessing on your life, means I humbly depend on God instead of God.

6:49I'm not a God of myself. That's what it means. To be poor in spirit means I humbly depend on God instead of myself because I know I'm inadequate to handle all the problems that face me in life. If I want God's blessing on my relationship to my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my husband, my wife, or anybody else, then I've got to be dependent upon God. If I want God's blessing on my work, in my career, in my studies, if I want God's blessing and my finances, in my health, I have to humbly depend on God instead of myself. So then the question becomes, how do you do that? How do I actually depend on God on a daily basis and on a moment by moment basis? Well, this weekend I want to give you five practical ways to do this from the word of God. And these are five practical ways you can practice every one of them this week.

7:52And if you practice these, you will become a woman or a man who is poor in spirit, which means you depend on God rather than yourself. You understand your need for God in your life. And then that's the kind of woman, that's the kind of man that God says I like to bless. So let me just get right into it. You might write this first one down. Five ways to express my dependence on God. Number one, to be blessed by God first, I depend on God's wisdom, not mine. I depend on God's wisdom, not my wisdom, not my own. In other words, I listen to what God says, I follow what God says to do, and I do what he says to do. Now let's look at some verses together from the Bible. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 says this. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Now, circular word seems. There's a way that seems right to us, to human beings, but in the end it's a dead end.

9:05He said, our ideas often lead to dead ends, at least to death. Have you ever in your life had this feeling that something was so very, very, very right, and you just knew it was the right thing to do. And you felt it with all your heart, and then you did it, and it ended up being so very, very dumb, or very, very wrong, or it became a total fiasco and a failure. That's what this verse is all about. There's a way that seems right to us, but it often ends, he says, in a dead end. And every one of us could give a testimony on this, where you've had this feeling, this hunch that this is the perfect job, and it ends up being a dead end. This is the perfect relationship. The one I've always needed, the one I've always wanted, and that relationship ends up a dead end.

10:05This is the perfect person that I should marry, and I know this is the person, and we all know people who made that decision. And it flopped miserably. Parents will often think, I know this is the right thing to say to my kids, and then it has the exact opposite effect on the kids, and actually harms them rather than hurting them. It happens in friendships, it can happen investments. I know this is where I should put my money. This is a sure winner. This is a big deal. I know if I invest in this, man, I'm going to clean house. It's going to be great. And then it just totally flops. You could probably, when we could probably spend the rest of the night doing this, think of painful examples where you wish that you would listen to God instead of your gut, because God is filled with truth, and your gut is filled with pizza. So your gut's often wrong. Just because you think it doesn't make it right, and just because you feel it certainly doesn't make it right.

11:11Feelings lie. They lie to you all the time. I mean, there used to, there's an old country western song that says, how could it be wrong when it feels so right? Are you kidding me? There are a lot of things that are wrong that feel so right at the moment. Are you kidding me? That's about the most immature, stupid thing you could say, because a lot of stuff feels so right, and it ends up being so bad. And six months later, you're saying about that relationship, what was I thinking? How in the world did I get messed up in that one? How did I get my life so entangled in something so stupid and so dumb? And now I'm scarred and I'm hurt and I'm burdened and I'm going, am I going to recover from this? The Bible says there's a way that seems right, but it ends in a dead end. So the first way to get God's blessing in your life is I depend on God's wisdom, not my feelings, not my thoughts, not what a rail says telling me, I depend on God's wisdom, not mind.

12:22Do you know someone who's graduating this year? Maybe it's your son or daughter, a grandchild, or perhaps a neighbor or family friend? As you celebrate this important milestone and they begin the next phase of their journey, they need to know that God created them, loves them, and has a plan for their life. That's why Pastor Rick created a special resource just for graduates, called the Purpose Driven Life, Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduate, filled with inspirational scripture, Biblical wisdom from Pastor Rick and beautiful imagery. This unique hardcover gift book provides a priceless reminder of the Bountiful Life God has planned for your graduate and it will inspire them to seek his unique plan and purpose for their life. Don't miss this opportunity to minister to the graduate in your life today. We'll send you a copy to say thanks when you give a gift to Daily Hope to help share the hope of Jesus Christ with people around the world.

13:35If you want to have fewer dead ends in your life, you want to have fewer defeats, fewer failures in your life. This is next versus for you, Proverbs 3, 5-7. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Now, there's don't depend on your wisdom. Don't depend on what you think is the right thing to do. Don't depend on your hunches and your feelings. Those are often lead you straight. Do not depend on your understanding. Seek his will, God's will, in all you do. Everything you do, how you spend your time, your money, your relationships, everything. And he, God promises, he will direct your paths. He's saying, don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, respect the Lord and turn your back on evil. So, if I really want God's blessing, the first thing is I depend on God's wisdom. Not what my feelings say, not what my God says, not what my friends say, not what I think, but I trust in the Lord with all my heart and lead not on my own understanding.

14:43Now, how do I get God's wisdom? Two ways. You pray and you read. You pray, you talk to God and you read the Bible, you let him talk to you. And that's how you get God's wisdom. Look at this next verse. The Bible says in James 1 verse 5, if any of you, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray and ask God who gives it grudgingly and sparingly to you. That's not what it says. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should pray and ask God who gives it, read it with me generously and graciously to all. Now, notice he gives it to everybody. All you got is his ask for it. All you got, you don't have to be qualified for it. All I have to do is ask for it. You see, God doesn't want you to be stupid. God doesn't want you to make dumb mistakes. God doesn't want you to hit dead ends. God doesn't want you to go through fail. You're after fail. You're after fail. You're after fail. You're after fail. You're in your life. God wants you to succeed in your life. He wants you to be wise. He wants you to make smart decisions with your time, your money, your relationships and everything else.

15:53And it's not like you're waiting on him. He's waiting on you. God say, hey, I'm here and I'll give you wisdom and I'll give it generously and I'll give it graciously. I'm not grudging about it. I love to give you. I want to make you wise, but you just got to ask. Now, how do you know when you are living on God's wisdom rather than on your wisdom? How do you know if you're really depending on God's wisdom? You're talking to God throughout your entire day and your reading has word on a daily basis. If you're not talking to God throughout your whole day, God, I'm getting ready to go into this meeting. I'm getting ready to go into this class. I'm getting ready to go meet with some friends. What do I do? What do I say? And you're not talking to God like that all day. And if you're not reading God's word on a daily basis, you are depending on your own wisdom. You're just fooling yourself. You're not depending on God's wisdom. You're depending on your own. And it's why you have so many problems and why so many things fall through. And why you end up with so much pain in your life.

16:56Because you're not depending on God's wisdom by reading the book and talking to the author. But you write this down. God's wisdom and God's will are in God's word. God's wisdom and will is in God's word. They're in God's word. God's wisdom and will are in God's word. And if you're not in the word, you don't know God's will. And if you're not in the word, you don't have God's wisdom. And if you don't have God's wisdom, you can't be blessed. So that's the starting point. I got to pray. Talk to the Lord. I got to let him talk to me. Let me give you another one. Number two, if I really want God's blessing on my life, not only depend on God's wisdom, I depend on God's strength. God's power. God's energy. Not mine. I depend on God's strength. God's power. God's energy. Not mine. Now, you've probably noticed that you often get tired. In fact, you're tired a lot.

18:01And at the end of the day, you're kind of worn out and you run out of energy. And the reason why is real simple. You're a human being. Your strength is limited. God's strength is unlimited. Your strength is infinite. Your strength is exhaustible. That's why you get exhausted. God's strength is inexhaustible. God never runs out of energy. God never gets tired. And so I need to depend on God's strength, not my own. Let me show you some verses. Psalm 84 verse 5. God says, you bless all who depend on you for their strength. You need to depend on God for your strength. Now, what do you do when you're strength evaporates? You're at the end of the day and you go, I'm just to add a theme. I'm about to energy. I don't have the energy to go into this next week. I got too many things to do and not enough energy to do it. Here's a good promise. Isaiah 40, 31. Those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed.

19:07They will rise on wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not grow weak. Now, let me just say this in the darkest moments of your life. When you cannot see your way forward and doesn't matter what what they are, where they came from in the darkest moments of your life, you need God's strength to get you through. The reason why most people never get through it is they don't have God's strength. I've seen people go through a divorce and they never recover. I've seen people go through a breakup and they never recover. I've seen people go through a major illness. I've seen them go through a bankruptcy or getting fired or getting laid off or getting arrested. I've seen people go through all kinds of different things. Abuse and they never recover. Why? Because they're depending on their own strength. You're not going to get through it on your own strength.

20:09You're going to get stuck at that stage and you get miserable the rest of your life. The only way you get through the darkest days of your life is on God's strength. You've got to depend on him. Now, I've put down here a couple verses that I would encourage you to memorize. One of them is for when you're young and another one is for when you're old. But the first one, everybody can memorize this. It's only one sentence. Psalm 7, 116. Look at this verse. I walk in the strength of the Lord. I walk in the strength of the Lord. That's an affirmation. Now, here's what I encourage you to do. Right? That verse on a card. You can read it over and over and over until you got memorized so you can say it 10 times a day. And here's what you do. You make it the most important affirmation in your life. And when you get up in the morning and you want to go right back to bed and you're worn out and you go, I don't have enough energy to get started today.

21:10You sit on the side of your bed and you say, I walk in the strength of the Lord. And then when you get up and you go to school or you go to work, whatever you're doing, and you have that first conflict with somebody, you say, I walk in the strength of the Lord. And later in the afternoon, when you get a phone call and it's bad news and it's terrible and you're frustrated and you're scared and it creates anxiety and stress, you say, I walk in the strength of the Lord. When in the late in the day, you're just running out of energy and there's still a whole lot more to do. You say to yourself, I walk in the strength of the Lord. And when you go to bed at night, as you put your head down on the pillow and all of the things that you didn't get done and all of the worries and the fears and loneliness and any other thing that tends to pile in, you say, I walk in the strength of the Lord. That is the kind of woman God bless us. That is the kind of man God bless us. I walk in the strength of the Lord.

22:14I don't just depend on God's wisdom and do the right thing. I do the right thing with the right power. I'm not doing the right thing under my power. I'm doing the right thing under God's power. God, I need you to give me the energy. I need to plug into the power. When you get older, you're going to face the pains and problems of aging. And that gets pretty frightening. Just talk to somebody who's getting up in age and asking that. And here's a good verse for then. When maybe your body isn't working like it should and your mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. Maybe you're starting to get a little Alzheimer, a little dementia. Psalm 73.26 says this. My health may fail and my spirit may grow weak. But God remains the strength of my heart. He is mine forever. One of the most famous Christians of the 19th century was a guy named Hudson Taylor. He was a very famous missionary to China. And he was a spiritual giant, a brilliant man.

23:19Later though in age, he lived to be an old man. And in his old age, he lost his health and became very, very weak. And he wrote this letter to a friend and said this. I am so weak. I can no longer work. I am so weak. I can no longer study. I'm so weak. I can no longer read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child and trust. That's good enough. Sometimes in your life, you're going to be so weak. You can't even pray. Sometimes in your life, you're going to be so weak. You can't read the Bible. You can't go to a Bible study. You can't work. You can't do anything. What are you doing those moments? You're just laying there in bed so weak. I rest in the strength of the Lord in his arms like a little child and I trust. You see, weakness can actually be a good thing in your life if it causes you to depend on God. Look at this verse up here on the screen.

24:26This is from St. Paul. Paul says this. 2 Corinthians 12. Three times, I begged God to take away my weakness. You've got some weaknesses you'd like God to take away. You've probably asked them to. And each time God said, my grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness. So, Paul says, I know gladly boast. I boast about how we can. I used to hide my weaknesses. I used to be ashamed of my weaknesses. Paul said, not anymore. I'm proud of my weaknesses. Why? Because when I'm weakness, when I'm weakest, the power of Christ works in me and shows up through me. And when I'm weak, then I am strong. See, that's the paradox of depending on God. The more you're weak, the more you depend on God, the more you depend on God, the stronger you get. Do you know someone who's graduating this year? Maybe it's your son or daughter, a grandchild or perhaps a neighbor or family friend?

25:42As you celebrate this important milestone and they begin the next phase of their journey, they need to know that God created them, loves them, and has a plan for their life. That's why Pastor Rick created a special resource just for graduates, called the Purpose Driven Life, Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduate. Filled with Inspirational Scripture, Biblical Wisdom from Pastor Rick and Beautiful Imagerie. This unique, hard-covered gift book provides a priceless reminder of the Bountiful Life God has planned for your graduate, and it will inspire them to seek his unique plan and purpose for their life. Don't miss this opportunity to minister to the graduate in your life today. We'll send you a copy to say thanks when you give a gift to Daily Hope to help share the hope of Jesus Christ with people around the world.