Daring Faith: How To Give Your Best To God with Rick Warren

now if you take out your message notes I want us to look this weekend as we continue in the series on daring faith the key to miracles at daring to give my best to God the Bible tells us that history is moving toward a climax history is not circular it is linear we are moving to a focus there was the beginning and there will be an end of history scientists used to think for instance that the universe was eternal that it always had been here and always will be here we know that is not true any more scientists have proven this is not true that the universe had a definite beginning and that it is actually winding down we don't know how long it's going to last but that it's actually going to have an end at some point the universe will and now I don't care what you call the the beginning of the universe the Big Bang I have a problem with that because wherever you have a Big Bang you've got to have a big banger somebody had to set it off but there was a beginning to history and the Bible says there will be an end history and there will actually be an end to earth and and the Bible says one day Jesus Christ is going to come back a second time and end the history on earth now many people don't realize that in the Bible there are more verses about Jesus second coming than there are about his first two thousand years ago at Bethlehem at the first Christmas yeah there are more scriptures in the Bible about Jesus second coming then there are about his first coming to die on the cross when he comes back he's going to end history he's going to take those who are still alive at the time with him to join the rest of us who were already in heaven and he will give out rewards and and we begin phase two which is eternity what we're going to do for eternity now should the fact that the Bible says nothing on this planet is going to last nothing is going to last should that have any impact on how you live your daily life well yeah yes it should in fact here's what the Bible says look up here on the screen second Peter 3 11 and 12 this since everything on earth will be gone one day what kind of people should you be your lives should be holy and dedicated to God because that's what's going to last as you wait for the day of God what is the day of God the day of God is a term for the second coming of Jesus Christ as you wait for the day of God and you do your best to make it come soon you do your best thing how do I make the second coming of Jesus come sooner how in the world do I do that well the Bible tells us by telling other people the good news because the only reason Jesus Christ hasn't come back yet is he's waiting for the last people that he knows are going to join his family to join he's waiting for the last person to hear the opportunity to have the chance of receiving the good news once the last person has accepted Christ that God knows is going to accept him BAM it's over and we're out of here so every time you share your faith with somebody it actually makes that date or that event come sooner now it says do your best that was an interesting phrase on that verse and so this week I went and I studied every time the phrase do your best is used in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation I studied every passage that talked about doing your best because that's a mark of faith and I don't have time to go into all of it but let me just summarize it the Bible tells us that we are to choose the best the Bible says we are to look for the best in other people the Bible says we are to think the best the Bible says we are to give our best the Bible says we are to do the best we can for God and for good let me just show you a couple verses there on your outline 1st Peter chapter 1 says this do your best why don't you circle that do your best to improve your faith that's the whole reason we're doing daring faith campaign right now to help improve your buffet do your best to improve your faith and you can do this by adding goodness and understanding and self-control and patience and devotion to God and concern for others and love if you keep growing in this way it will show that Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful and I told you last week this is my goal for your life as your pastor I want your life to be useful and I want your life to be meaningful and if if that happens I'll die happy men and how do I help your life become more useful and more meaningful by helping you improve your faith and that's why we're doing it so we're to do our best to improve our faith now the Bible also says in proverbs 3 there on your outline honor God with everything you own give him the first and best part of everything if you do this your barns will fill with grain and your barrels will overflow with wine now that's a metaphor and he's just saying there that if you put God first in your life and you do your best to give him the first of everything in your life he's going to bless you back he's going to bless you back materially he's going to bless you back spiritually he's going to bless you back emotionally and he says give him the first part now when we call giving them the first part of everyday we call that a quiet time when we talk about giving them the first part of your money we call that a tithe when we talk about give them the first part of your energy are the first part of your thoughts when we call it talked about giving him the first day of every week that's called Sunday church that's why we give him the first day of every week because we want him to be first in every of your life and whatever you want God to bless put in first place in but the Bible says give him the best here's another verse on the screen concentrate on doing your best for God what I want to do this weekend is talk about how do you do that how do I do that how do I give God my best and not just give God my leftovers of my time my energy my reputation my thoughts my talents whatever but how do I give God the best of my life and we're going to go to a passage in the book of 2nd Timothy 2nd Timothy chapter 2 is a book that Paul wrote to Timothy see who was a pastor in the church at Ephesus and in that chapter he uses three illustrations a soldier an athlete and a farmer and he says these are three metaphors of what it means to live by faith and he says you can learn a lot about how to give your best to God by looking at an effective soldier a competitive athlete and a productive farmer and he says if you'll follow the models of these three people you'll understand what it means to live by faith you'll understand what it means to give your best to God okay let's read the passage 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 to 7 says this and I want you to circle the three illustration people endure hardship with us like a good soldier okay there's the first one circle soldier endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus no one serving as a soldier gets tied up in civilian affairs he wants to please his commanding officer by the way who's your commanding officer God similarly if anyone competes as an athlete circle that that's the second one if he competes as an athlete he does not receive the victors crown unless he competes according to the rules and here's the third illustration and the hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops I mean he put out the effort he should be the first to get a share of the crops then he says think about these three illustrations and the Lord will help you to understand how they apply to you I said in a previous message that the greatest tragedy in life is not death but a wasted life and as your pastor I am committed to helping you be all God wants you to be I don't want you to settle for second place I don't want you to settle for also-ran I want you to win the race that God has given to you I want you to be the best that you can be and so I want us to look at these three analogies of a soldier and an athlete and a farmer from the Bible and starts off the Bible starts off by saying look at the military he says you can learn a lot about faith and about being the best you can be in the military do you remember that old army ad be all you can be in the army remember that and how do I do that what can we learn from effective soldiers that we had applied to our spiritual life well there's a lot we can learn about being the best from the military you know it reminds me a story Admiral Hyman rickover was the father of America's naval nuclear Navy the nuclear subs and the nuclear Navy and he was a genius and I remember reading a story one time that he was recruiting young graduates from Naval Academy cadets who just graduated to have the privilege of serving on a nuclear submarine and there was one young man who came in and sat down he wrote this story later became a very famous story and he said the Admiral just let me talk for two hours so he said I talked about anything I wanted to talk about for two hours and I was really trying to show off all my my intelligence and he said then the Admiral began to ask a series of questions which slowly dawned on me that I knew nothing about what I just talked about and it was very humbling he said right before I left the to our conversation Admiral rickover asked me a very poignant question it was this when you were in school and in all your previous life up to this date did you always do your best and this young man said well I started to say yeah and then he said I realized that's not truthful no and as he said I thought no I I didn't he said I was honest I said no I didn't do my best all the time and he said Admiral rickover looked at me with piercing eyes and said why not and then just sat there why not why not the best and he said that question began to burn in my heart it began to be the turning point in my life the man who is that young cadet later became the 39th president of United States his name was Jimmy Carter and when he wrote his biography it was called why not the best and he said it still haunts me that question am i doing am i truly giving my best I mean truly giving my best well there are three things if I want to give my best to God that I must do that every soldier understands you might write these down number one first I must define what I'd die for I must define what I'd die for you see well that's a strange place to start on giving your best to God no it's not because until you know what you're willing to die for you're not ready to live you're not ready to live until you know what you died for and you're not ready to love until you know who you died for if you've never clarified what's worth dying for in your life you really are just not fully alive soldiers know there are some things worth dying for freedom is worth dying for family is worth dying for faith is worth dying for there are some things more valuable even than my own life and they understand that and and even Jesus talks about this and about how that love is best expressed in the willingness to die for somebody else look at this verse John 15 verse 13 jesus said the greatest love the highest form of love is shown when a person lays down his life for his friends and soldiers understand this they realize that sometimes it's a matter of life or death and they put their life on the line practically every day Jesus says the greatest measure of love is the willingness to sacrifice your life for somebody else of course that's what Jesus did for us the greatest expression of love is Jesus dying on the cross you measure love not by what people tell you not by what people what your boyfriend says to you you measure love by the willingness to sacrifice and the greater the sacrifice the deeper the love the second thing we learn from soldiers in fact the soldiers to be the best they can be I'm a sacrifice my comfort I must sacrifice my comfort and of course soldiers do this all the time think of all the soldier the comforts that soldiers give up in other in order to serve others they give up comfort they go out and they serve in the heat and they serve in the cold they give up their free schedule because they're not free to do anything they want to do the commanding officer says I want you to do this now I want you that they give up their freedom in order to preserve the freedom of other people soldiers give up their wealth nobody gets wealthy becoming a soldier and so they give up a lot of things they sacrifice their own comfort and the hardships that they choose to put up with this is true in in any air of life you don't become great without sacrificing you don't become great by five easy steps you don't become great you don't become a great woman you don't become a great man by doing what's easy by doing what's comfortable you become great by committing yourself to something greater than yourself and then being willing to sacrifice for that and the greater your sacrifice in life the greater your character in life is the Bible says this in 2nd Timothy 2 verse 3 endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus he's using this metaphor this analogy of the military and he says you need just like a soldier puts up with a hardship for a greater cause you need to put up with hardship for a greater cause what is the hardship in your life what is following Christ making difficult for you well it could be your criticize some that could be a hardship ostracized made fun of maybe that's a hardship anytime you do what's right it's never easy if doing what's right was easy everybody would do it it's much easier to do what's wrong always easier to do what's wrong than to do what's right and that's why it's harder to tell the truth that's why it's harder to give instead of getting even it's harder to let go instead of getting revenge it's harder to be kind it's harder to be unselfish than selfish these are hardships in following Christ it's not easy but the path to greatness on the path to being the best you can possibly be as a man or the best you can possibly be as a woman comes from first defining what you died for and then second sacrificing your comfort you see it's a battle to do what's right it's not easy and and we are in a spiritual battle and nothing as I mentioned earlier has ever done great without sacrifice the Bible says this in Ephesians 5 to live a life of sacrificial love just as Christ loved us and gave himself as an offering and a sacrifice for us so he's saying okay if you want to be like Jesus Christ and that's the goal if you want to be like Jesus Christ you need to learn sacrificial love because Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice his own life and he offered himself as an offering for others question you want to be like Jesus who are you offering your life for right now who are you sacrificing your life for who are you putting up with hardships for besides yourself a lot of people put up with hardships in order to get ahead in order to succeed for personal goals are you involving yourself in any things that are hard to do for the benefit of other people and sometimes you lose sleep because you're helping other people and sometimes you spend some of your money because you're helping other people and sometimes you lose your privacy because you're helping somebody else these are hardships I must sacrifice my comfort if you want to be like Jesus we have to live a life of sacrificial love now he says we can learn these things from soldiers you know I'm gonna just do this right now if you served in the Army Navy Air Force Marines Coast Guard Reserve I want you to just stand up right now and let us thank you for your sacrificial service to our country would you do that right now thank you thank you thank you now I'm gonna do something else I may get in trouble for this but I'm the pastor so I'm gonna do it anyway up we have these little daring faith hero pins that we're giving to people involved in ministry but if it's okay with all you guys I want to give one to everybody who just stood on the way going out okay daring faith hero so so you know Tom if we run out tell him to order more okay cuz I just gave him away to these military heroes god bless you guys all right you know I can't think of sacrifice and nothing's greater ever done that sacrifice without thinking of one of my favorite stories that really touched me as as a young man the story of Jim Elliot and and and five missionaries Jim Elliot and four of his best friends heard about a tribe in the deep jungles of the Amazon in Ecuador who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ very primitive tribe no Bible no believer no church and so these five guys said we're going to give ourselves to go missionaries to reach this tribe that nobody's ever shared the good news with and they knew they just couldn't walk in it was a pretty violent tribe and so they start dropping gifts overhead from planes as they'd fly over the jungle and they were trying to soften him up and finally after about six months of preparation they decided to make first contact with this tribe and they found a little sand barge on the on the the river on the Amazon River where they could actually land a plane and they flew in and in the first landing they landed to get out to meet the Indians for the very first time I want to want you to watch us if you have a child with you I just want you to know it's a little intense you might protect them but watch this watch is what happened I said be missionaries what each other whoa be it a new boy you when those five missionaries were martyred in their very first attempt to share the good news with those Indians the world was rocked it was on the cover of every magazine and many people said what a waste what a waste those people went to tell them the good news and they didn't even get to share it and they gave their lives but that wasn't the end of the story in the closing words when Jim Elliot looks up at mink ayane the tribal chief who was killing him at that moment and offers words of forgiveness something sticks in his heart and he begins to soften and the rest of the story is is that some of the wives of those missionaries said we're going to go in now an Elizabeth Elliot Jim Elliot's wife took her young daughter and Rachael st. a sister of one of the other missionaries those brave courageous daring faith women moved to that tribe and moved in with them and they began to share the good news and the people were so shocked that the wives would come after they had killed the husbands and to begin to share the good news and that the tribe converted to Christ mean kyani that man who was the leader and who killed Jim Elliot he later had Nate st. who was the son of one of the men killed went came and lived in him and Nate Saint adopted him as his father the man who killed his own dad me and kyani became a devout Christian and then became a preacher and began to travel the world telling people about the good news of forgiveness and in 2006 that Indian Minka Yanni stood on the stage of Saddleback Church and preached to this crowd gave me these beads to represent their peace beads to represent the effect of the peace plan around the world and we they found the old plane that had laid buried in that sand bar they took it apart they brought it and we put it here on the stage on the anniversary of that the death of those men in fact I think we've got a picture of there yeah there's mink ayane there's Pastor Tom at a much younger age and and there's been kayani just beaming with the love of Jesus Christ no longer a hater no longer filled with rage of jealousy but a lover and and a preacher of the good news of the gospel how did that man come to Christ because somebody was willing to sacrifice there are some things worth dying for now I doubt that you will be asked to give your life for Jesus Christ but would you be willing are you just a casual Christian not a committed Christian and are you willing to sacrifice your own comfort for the greater good of other people that's what it means to be like Jesus is one other thing third thing we learn from a soldier is that I must eliminate distractions if I want to be the best that I could possibly be if I want to be the best man I can be if I want to be the best woman I could be I've got to eliminate distractions and the next verse in this passage says this as Christ soldier do not let yourself become entangled in the affairs of this life wasting time for then you can't please your commanding officer who enlisted you into his army if there's one thing a soldier must have is you must have the freedom to respond with flexibility when this commanding officer says go no off those soldiers sorry I'm busy right now I'm watching say yes to the dress okay I'm sorry I'm busy I can't go serve right now I've got my I'm going out for a game of golf right now I'm sorry I can't help because I'm I'm gonna play my hobby and I'm gonna I'm gonna go read this I'm gonna go watch a game and no no soldiers say you can't get a fair involved in the affairs of this life in civilian life because they have to be ready in a moment's notice to do what their commanding officer tells them to do you have to eliminate distractions now the Bible has a lot to say about doing without things that really don't matter how much of your time is invested in things that aren't going to matter five years from today much less in eternity how much of your energy is invested in things that aren't going to matter five years from today much less for eternity how much of your money are you investing in things that aren't going to matter five years from today much less for eternity if you want to be great if you want to be the best you must start spending more of your time more of your money and more of your energy of things are going to last forever and less of on it on things that don't really matter I mean do you really need to know how many times a Hollywood celebrities been married is that the most important thing you need to fill your mind with no then why are you reading all of those magazines about the stories of people you don't even care about it's a waste of time it's a waste of brain space what could you give up I want to challenge you to think about this week what could you give up an hour of TV a week what could you give up in order to make more time for the things that matter in life to love to serve to know God to worship these are the things we learned from effective soldiers define what I can die for sacrifice my comfort and eliminate distractions next Paul moves to the second example second metaphor and he says you know what you can learn some things from sports too if you really want to learn you can learn some things for your spiritual life from sport and he says let's look at the serious athlete the competitive athlete not the casual one but but the serious one and the second most used analogy for the Christian life in the Bible is an athlete and the Bible compares your life to a race you are running a race in life and it's not a 50-yard dash it's a marathon and my job as your pastor is to help you get across the finish line because you're in a race and I don't want you to get sidelined I don't want you to get run off in the ditch I want you to make it to the finish line and win the prize now here's what the Bible says 1st Corinthians 9 24 to 27 in a race everyone runs in other words everybody in life is living their life but only one person wins the prize so run your race to win run your ways to win to win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best there's that phrase again an athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a ribbon or a metal that won't last but we do it for an eternal reward that will last forever so I run straight toward the goal with purpose in every step I fight to win I'm not just shadow boxing or playing around like an athlete I discipline my belt my body I discipline myself making sacrifices and training my body to do what it should not what it wants to do otherwise I fear that I might be disqualified from the race now just like the soldier has three things to teach us the athlete has three things to teach us about being the best we can be you might write these down the first thing we learn from the athlete is this I must intend to win if I'm going to win in life it's got to be intentional it's not going to happen by accident it's not going to happen without effort it's not going to happen unless I have a goal you will not become great by accident you will not become the best woman you could possibly be the best man you could possibly be just casually it only happens if you intend to become the best you can be if you intend to have a great soul and to have a goal this is the difference between being a casual Christian and a competitive or committed Christian is there a difference between a competitive golfer and a casual golfer oh yeah the casual the committed golfer takes it serious they're playing to win and they're very they get stressed out about it if they don't win if you're a casual daughter you're just hitting the ball around and having fun smelling the roses you know looking at the Gophers you know you're just looking for some time off the difference is the degree of seriousness question how serious are you about being what God made you to be well I kind of like that do it in my spare time isn't going to happen how serious are you about being the best you could possibly be the Bible said there in verse 24 in a race everyone runs but only one person wins the prize so run your race to win circle that run your race to win you should be living your life in a way that you're running to win God wants you to win God doesn't want you to be a loser God wants you to be a winner he wants you to run the waste race to rent win and you've got to do this intentionally now the truth is there's some people that are listening to me right now that you're never going to be a great person you're never going to be the person God intended you're never going to be the best man or the best woman you can be why because you never intended to be you're not willing to pay the price you're just not willing to pay the price you don't want it badly enough you you don't want it deeply enough how deeply do you want to win the prize that God has for you in life he said well what's the prize look at the next verse greater reward and responsibility and eternity the Bible says first Timothy 6:12 run your best run your best in the race of faith and that's what we're talking about daring faith and when eternal life that's what you win eternal life for yourself for this is the life that God called you to when you profess your faith before many witnesses what does it mean when you profess your faith before many witnesses let's talk about your baptism when you're baptized you are professing your faith in front of many witnesses if you haven't been baptized that's what you need to do next you need to profess your faith out in front of many witnesses baptism is the way you do that then he says there he says you need to run your best race you need to do it intentionally so God I I really goofed off and a lot of my earlier life but I want the rest of my life to be the best of my life I want to make it count I want to make up for lost time and I'm serious about this I'm not gonna be casual Christian I'm serious about this I want your best for my life now to be the best I can be forgot first I have to do it intentional have to make the choice to go after it second I must discipline myself and of course this is what athletes do no athlete becomes a pro athlete without discipline without training you don't become great by doing whatever you feel you don't become great by living by your moods you just can't make up your own rules you can't there are no shortcuts to maturity there's no shortcuts to greatness look at a couple verses verse five says this if anyone competes as an athlete he cannot receive the victors crown unless he competes according to the rules and in 1st Corinthians 9 25 27 to win the contest you must deny yourself many things that would keep you from doing your best an athlete goes into strict training just to win a ribbon or a metal that won't last but we do it for an eternal reward that will last forever so I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should now we own those stories of what Olympian athletes give up in order to win a gold medal they pretty much put their life on hold they put all they put their social life on hold they have a rigid schedule of when I get up in the morning when I go to bed at night they have a rigid schedule of the training table what they eat what they won't eat what they do what they don't do you they give up they make enormous sacrifices to win a gold or silver or a bronze and God says you know what nobody's even going to remember those rewards and they gave their whole life they gave their whole life to something that's just going to vanish it's not going to last but he says it is a wise move to do that for something that's going to last forever in eternity and to make your life count and say okay there's some things I can do without so I can spend more time with God so I could give more to God so I could serve more so I could be more than what God wants me to be I would again ask you this question what am I willing to do without in order to be the best am I willing to do without popularity am I willing to do without wealth am I willing to do with without comfort I saw a poster yesterday and it said this the pain of regret is always greater than the pain of discipline that's a pretty profound statement the pain of regret is always greater than the pain of discipline how would your life be better if you had been just a little bit more disciplined early on in your life what are some things you could be enjoying today if you had been more disciplined in earlier life the pain of regret goes on and on and on I never learned that language and I wanted to but I didn't I never did this I never did it is takes discipline what do you wish you'd been more disciplined about I would say start now it's a wreck how do I be more disciplined I try for a while and then I give up it's because you're depending on your power not God's power willpower doesn't work let me just be real honest but willpower doesn't work it'll work for about 90 days you can change anything in your life for about 90 days that's why almost 100 percent of New Year's resolutions are over by March because you could force yourself to do something anything for about 90 days and then you're going to give up you don't need willpower you need God's power and how do you get God's power by focusing on his reward notice the secret the personal discipline is in that verse it's right there he says we do it for an eternal reward and that leads us to the third key we learned from athletes write this down to be the best I can be for God I must stay focused on the reward I must stay focused on the reward what's the payoff of doing right what's the payoff of doing good what's the payoff of serving Jesus Christ just rewards for out eternity that's no little ribbon or pin you're going to get in this life I have to remember the result the prize the payoff the reward by the way did you know this is what it caused Jesus to be able to endure the cross how was Jesus able to put up with all the beating the suffering the punishment the torture all of them evil and the mean things they did to him before he went to the cross and then nailed him to the cross how did he put up with all that suffering the Bible says he looked beyond the pain to the reward that he was going to receive and the benefit and the prize and the payoff the Bible says this look appear on the screen Hebrews 12 keep your eyes on Jesus who both began and finished this race we're in you're in a race whether you realize it or not it's the race of life study how he did it because he never lost sight of where he was headed that joyful finish with God in heaven he could put up with anything along the way the cross shame whatever and now he's there in the place of honor right alongside God you can handle enormous pain in your life and you can handle enormous discipline in your life if you realize there's a better purpose for it and there's going to be a payoff at the end when you forget the payoff when you forget the reward when you forget the prize then you're going to give up and that's why Paul says run to win in your life and keep your eye on the prize know what God's doing can you imagine yourself in heaven receiving the prize of God the well-done the commendation and the promotion and they are the rewards that God's going to give you let that motivate you Paul says it like this in first Corinthians 9 26 I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step he's Purpose Driven alright I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step I fight to win I'm not just shadowboxing I'm not just playing around the problem with a lot of people they just shadowboxing their air guitaring their Christian life they're pretending they just playing around they're just hitting the air they're not serious and he says run straight to the goal you need to stay focused on the finish line you need to stay focused on this fact everything you see is one day going to be gone so you shouldn't be invested a lot of time and money and energy in it you should be primarily investing your time and things that are gonna last forever what's that love the Word of God and people those are gonna last forever everything else is until last and so you ignore the crowds and if people cheer you or people jeer you just ignore them you're running the race you keep your eye on the goal and you don't waste energy how many things did i do this last week wasting energy on things that really don't matter how many things that I worry about this week that really doesn't matter in the long scheme of thing I need to be more focused more Purpose Driven like the competitive athlete then finally we come to the third metaphor and he says you know you can learn from agriculture you can learn from farmers some truths about your spiritual life and here's what the Bible says about that second Corinthians 9:6 2:14 remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop you must each make up your mind as to how much you should give don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure for God loves the who gives cheerfully then if I give not out of pressure reluctance but cheerfully then God will generously provide all you need this is a promise and you will always have everything that you need and plenty left over to share with others for God is the one who gives seed to the farmer and then he gives the farmer bread to eat and in the same way just like he does with the farmer he will give you many opportunities to do good and he will produce a great harvest of generosity in you yes you will be enriched so that you can give even more generously and you will be glorifying God through your generous gifts and your generosity will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ now I could spend a week on this text but let me just summarize it your life on earth is like planning a garden that's what he's saying here he's saying that while you're here on earth you got 60 80 maybe 90 at the most 100 years while you're here you're planning a garden and the kind of seeds that you plant while you're here on earth you're going to harvest in heaven what you sow on earth you will reap in heaven what you plant on earth will be the fruit that you get to enjoy for eternity in heaven and he said if you plant generously if you plant a lot of seeds you're going to have a lot of fruit in heaven you're going to have a lot to joy there that he says if you plant sparingly you're a miser and you hold it back and you don't give it away he said you're not gonna have much up there he says if he so generously you're gonna reap generously now five times in the Bible Jesus gives the same command and he says this I tell you store up treasure for yourself in heaven store up treasure for yourself in heaven store up treasure for yourself in heaven store up treasure for yourself in heaven store up treasure for yourself down anytime God says something five times he's saying I really to get this I highly recommend you store up treasure in heaven are you doing that so how in the world do I do that by planting seeds of generosity any time you plant a seed of generosity I'm not just talking about money I'm talking about what you give of your life away you're planning a seed of generosity when you help somebody else when you are unselfish when you serve when you'd put yourself out for the benefit of somebody else when you do something totally unselfish when you are generous with your time when you're generous with your money and your income when you are generous with your reputation when you're generous with your talent and you use it for the benefit of others not yourself you are planting seeds and he says I highly recommend that you so generously because you want a lot of fruit in heaven you want a lot there here's the final lesson write this down to reap a great harvest I must plant generously in faith I must plant generously if they can I have done this hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times you know our story you know that can I give away ninety-one percent of our income and we live on nine and we raised that from ten percent every year for 40 years and and you cannot outgive God I just give you a clear example I played this game for 40 years of god I lose every year you cannot outgive God let me end with with two promises of Jesus Luke chapter 6 says this give and it will be given back to you you'll be given much it will be poured into your hands more than you can hold you will be given so much it will spill out on your lap the way you give to others is the way God will give to you underline that verse the way you give to others is the way God will give to you I highly recommend you start being generous in planting seeds in this life to heart harvest in the next and then in March after 10 verse 29 31 Jesus gives a guarantee about anything you give up for his sake mark 10 29 31 Jesus says this I guarantee you this now if God guarantees something you can count on that one okay I guarantee you this anyone who gives up anything for my sake and for the good news just like those people who gave up time and money and energy and all of those different campaigns anyone who gives up anything for my sake on the good news whether it's a home or family member our property will get more than that back is the guarantee of Jesus multiplied a hundredfold and he says in this world to come in the world to come they will be given eternal life forever now God says anything that I give up for his sake for his kingdom anything I sacrifice for him I will be returned a hundredfold do you know what a hundredfold is that's ten thousand percent interest you know any stockbroker who will guarantee that do you know anybody who'll guarantee you ten thousand percent interest on your return no you do not only God and sons can do that they've been doing business with people like you for two thousand years that is the promise of God now you can either believe it or you don't but if you don't believe it why do you believe Jesus will save you and get take you to heaven that's the same Jesus why do some people trust God with their eternal salvation and don't trust God with their finances that does not make sense it doesn't make sense so when we look at these three people the soldier the effective soldier saves lives the effective athlete wins the prize and the effective farmer harvests a larger size a hundred fold now as a close in this message I've asked you a couple times to consider what is it that I might give up or let go of in order to have more time for the things that matter in life what is it that I could let go of in order to give more to serve more to share more to be more to be all God wants to be in order to be the best you can be now the fact is there are a lot of things in your life you could probably do without and you wouldn't miss them a lot of things but there is one thing you cannot do without you got to have this way what you cannot do without is a daily deep connection with Jesus Christ if you're going to grow and become the man God wants you to be if you're going to grow and become the woman God wants to be you have to have a daily deep connection with Jesus Christ you can't live a day without him because these things that we just talked about these seven things three from the soldier three from the farmer and one from the three from the athlete and one from the farmer these seven things you can't do them on your own you can't do them on willpower you'll do them for a while and you give up you need God's power you need to be plugged in to him and that's what it takes would you pray this prayer dear God I have to admit that I have not always used my time for things that really matter and I have wasted energy and money on things that aren't gonna last but I want that to change I want to run my race to win I want to win the prize I want to reap the harvest I want to please my commanding officer you and Lord if that means sacrificing my comfort so be it if that means and involves eliminating distractions so be it if that means even being willing to to die for you so be it I intend to win I want the rest of my life to be the best of my life and God I know I can't change on my own I don't have enough willpower I need your power to discipline myself to go for the best to stay focused on the reward I'm asking you to teach me to plant generously so I can harvest abundantly in the next life help me to not be short thinking help me not to think of only the here and now which is not going to last but to live my life the way you intended me to in light of eternity and to do now what I will later enjoy for eternity if you've never invited Jesus Christ in your life say Jesus Christ come into my life and save me right now I want to know you I want to trust you and I'm gonna learn to love you I give you myself completely and I ask you to use me for your purposes in your name I pray amen

Channel: Saddleback Church

Views: 77,171

Rating: 4.7767444 out of 5

Keywords: God (Deity), Faith (Quotation Subject), Rick Warren, Daring Faith, Your Best, God's best, God, Saddleback Church, Sacrifice, Giving

Id: JAArAU-2nIo

Length: 52min 1sec (3121 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 21 2015