"How to Keep Your Tank Filled Instead of Running on Empty" with Pastor Rick Warren

i want to begin today with two questions a two question survey okay and the first question is this now be honest don't lie how many of you have ever run out of gas can i see your hands great all right the rest of you i hate okay all right you are my kind of people those you raise your hand the rest of you you didn't raise your hand you can go home right now you don't need this message you are too perfect and i envy you uh you're honestly in my hall of fame now here's the second survey question everybody can raise their hands on this one how low do you let your gas tank get before you refill okay so uh when you refill after a quarter of a tank low how many of you do that you can go home right now you you don't need this message all right when your tank is half empty how many have refilled all right when your tank is three quarters of an tank empty raise your hand all right all right uh when you are five miles past empty raise your hand you need to stay okay those of you raise your hand that you you need to stay for this message now what i want us to do today as we start in this next message of the series strategies for stressful time is i want us to look at how do you keep your tank filled instead of running on empty and before we do the the antidote the solution to staying spiritually and emotionally and relationally filled so that your tank is full i first need to identify the 10 reasons that you run out of gas okay i want get out your pencil and write this down the 10 reasons you run out of gas because each of these reasons why we run out of gas in our car actually parallels the reasons the 10 reasons why you feel spiritually empty or emotionally empty too so as i give them to you as we go through this list of ten things i want you to circle the number of reasons that actually apply to your spiritual or emotional condition if you're feeling a little low a little running on empty right now okay here they are number one first reason we run out of gas is not starting out with the full tank not starting out with a full tank now we're going to look at some of the antidotes to these later on but how you start your day sets your day not starting out every day with a full tank uh means you're going to be on empty much of the day number two being too busy to stop and refuel that's the second reason we run out of gas when you're too busy to stop uh and refuel and some of you can relate to that in your emotional life in your relational life in your spiritual life number three ignoring the owner's manual and pushing my car farther than it was created to go if you got a 10 gallon tank or 15 gallon tank or 20 gallon tank or whatever it is you need to know what the owner's manual says when you push it past further then the owner's manual tells you uh you're gonna run out of gas now hey tell you this but you're not superman you're not superwoman you have limits and one of the limits that god puts in your life is actually in the ten commandments and it says this every seventh day is for worship rest and relaxation it's called the sabbath and if you ignore the sabbath you don't take a day for worship rest and relaxation then you're going to pay for it and you're going to be running on empty most of your life okay here's the fourth cause that we run out of gas emotionally and spiritually not just in our cars number four being unaware of hidden links leaks being unaware of hidden leaks that are draining me now most common causes of leaks in your life because you are draining energy all the time uh are your relationships drain you and your responsibilities they drain you i don't know if you realize this but conflict drains you of energy criticism drains you of energy disappointment drains you of energy uh frustration drains you of energy you've experienced all of these during the pandemic grief when you have a loss drains you of energy these are common leaks that empty your soul all right and when you're not unaware of the hidden leaks in your life you're going to run out of gas pretty quickly emotionally and spiritually okay uh number five being in a hurry being in a hurry drains your tank now you already know you already know that going fast uh wastes more gas i mean you know that when you're driving really fast rapid acceleration speeding up you know when the light turns green that burns a lot of gas faster and the faster i drive the faster i'm going to run out of of gas and my tank is going to go low now the same is true with your soul that when you're in a hurry and you don't pause enough to refill uh then you're gonna your tank's gonna go empty quicker and the faster you go in life the faster the pace of your life are you hearing me the faster the pace of your life the quicker you are going to get to empty uh on on the e of your of your gauge so you ought to ask yourself what is the speed of my life today if i'm running on empty if i'm running on fumes if i feel a little low i feel down i feel a little discouraged then maybe you're maybe you're still going too fast in in this pandemic what is the speed of my life number six sixth common cause of running on empty uh and and have an empty tank is not paying attention to my gauges not paying attention to my gauges now those of us like me who have add we don't pay attention to the gauges i rarely see that gage i've got to have a big light come on going you are stupid and you're on empty and you need to stop and get some gas right now i don't pay attention to my gauges but the same is true in life did you know that you have gauges in your life that can tell you if you're getting near empty you can what are the spiritual and emotional gauges in your life let me just give you a few of them your sleep your sleep pattern when you're not getting enough sleep guess what you're headed toward empty another gauge your irritability when everybody around you notices you're more irritable than normal guess what that's a gauge it's a gauge that says you're running on fumes you're running on empty you're a lot less irritable when your tank's full emotionally and spiritually um your relationships are a gauge how are you getting along in your relationships that's a gauge in your life to tell me tell you whether you're on empty or whether you got a full tank hey say this but your weight your weight is a gauge of how you're handling life how about your attitudes okay your attitudes how about your generosity generosity you're much more generous when you've got a full tank when you don't have a full tank you're not very generous in life with your time your money your what anything um worship attendance is a gauge when people start falling off and stop going up going to church services going to worship that's a gauge um there are all kinds of patience how patient are you that that's a good indicator of whether you got a full tanker or you're heading toward empty each of these are gauges of how empty or full your soul is now the seventh common cause of uh being over uh being uh empty gas gas wise out of gas is this being overloaded being overload when your car is carrying too much weight it uses more gas than when there isn't as much weight in the car the heavier the load you carry in a vehicle the sooner you're going to run out of gas i can tell you from personal experience years ago i borrowed a vacation trailer to take my young family on a vacation so i attached the trailer to my car i'd never pulled a trailer before and i headed north for a family vacation and i did not consider that carrying more weight behind my car meant that i was going to get fewer miles per gallon i did i thought well i just get the normal miles per gallon i can go this far but i didn't realize that and climbing climbing up the grapevine you know the mountains north of l.a and you're going up the the mountains out of la with very strong winds coming against you i helplessly watched my gas gauge go [Music] there's no place to turn around okay there's no place to turn around there are no gas stations and when we did run out of gas inevitably on the grapevine i had to leave kay and the kids in the car and hike up the mountain to the nearest town which was gorman you all know where that is and gorman and get a thing of gas and then hike back down uh and some of you are making that mistake right now when you're carrying a heavier load than you normally carry you're running out of gas sooner it reminds me of a story i heard the other day about a pet delivery truck and uh there was guys going down el tor road and his car behind him watching this happen and this pet delivery truck at every stop light the driver of the truck gets out with a big two before and starts beating on the side of the truck and when it turns green he would get back in the truck and he would go when he gets the next light red light he gets out he beats the truck where the two before gets back in the truck he does this three or four times and finally the guy falling behind him gets too curious and at the next light he stops and says what are you doing and the driver explained well this is a two-ton truck and i'm transporting four tons of canaries so i have to keep half of it in the air all the time some of you feel like that you got you got so many things uh in the frying pan you got so many things on your agenda you got to keep half of them in the air all the time because you're overloaded and if you're trying to say to yourself i can't handle this it's too much you may need to lighten your load okay that's a typical cause of running on empty okay too too big of a load number eight the eighth common cause of running out of gas emotionally or spiritually in your life is this assuming the limits of my tank don't apply to me now i happen to have a big suv a big ford suv you know i've driven one all my life and it holds like 26 gallons some of you your car doesn't hold half that amount uh but when you when you think that your tank is bigger than it really is and you assume that it doesn't apply to you there's a word for that when i take on more than i could really handle it's called pride pride and honestly you guys i meet a lot of people who are proud of being workaholics they all live in orange county california they are proud of how hard they work and they think they're invincible but the truth is they're running on empty pride drains your tank humility refills your tank all right a ninth cause of why you run out of gas emotionally and spiritually and even relational ninth cost is um not knowing where to find a filling station now this isn't such a big problem anymore because we all have smart phones and you got google maps and apple maps and all these other things but before that happened you remember you go where in the world's a gas station and you had no idea where especially if you're out on a long trip you go i have no idea is there gas station in the next town and uh you know when you don't know where you could get refilled uh that's a problem but spiritually and emotionally a lot of people don't know where to get refilled too now of course saddleback's filling station saddleback church and all the other good churches that preach the bible teach the bible they are emotional and spiritual filling stations but you know during covid a lot of people are running on empty emotionally because they've gotten out of the habit of going to their filling station and so they're not getting refilled at least on a weekly basis uh through the church service sometimes i look like you coming in here and i see you you know on a saturday or sunday and i i feel like you come walking in just really drained and i feel like i've got jumper cables and it's my job to attach them to you and go all right get out there go for another week hang on you know i'm like a spiritual coach i'm not the guy slapping rocky in the corner going pouring water on go go go guy man you can do it i know you get out there and do another round and i know you're getting beat up on a weekly basis and you know i love you as your pastor and i feel like my job is to be a spiritual filling station is to help you get recharged and refilled emotionally and spiritually for the week ahead but if the people who've gotten out of the habit of coming don't do that they're just getting more and more drained finally the tenth reason uh and this really has to do more with if you've never driven a car and that is not knowing how to refill my tank i have to admit that when i got my uh newer car uh i didn't know how to open the gas tank i kept looking for the thing to to pop for it to open and i and i couldn't figure it out and then finally i figured out oh you just press on it and it opens up on its own but i didn't know how to refill my tank for several days now the feeling of emptiness uh during coven pandemic is at an all-time high a lot of people are feeling empty right now they're feeling drained but i want to tell you this everybody listen what we're going through is not new people have gone through periods of draining and feeling empty for for centuries and actually millennia let me just show you a couple things on the in scripture from the bible look up here on the screen in lamentations chapter 2 verse 11 jeremiah says this my eyes have no more tears and i'm sick to my stomach and i feel empty inside that's thousands of years ago guys you may be feeling that today well jeremiah who wrote that book jeremiah and lamentations felt he said i feel empty inside how about this one look on the screen job chapter 7 verse 3 job says i am given months that are empty sounds like a pandemic i'm given months that are empty and nights of misery so job understands if you're feeling that way how about this one in isaiah this is out of the amplified translation isaiah says this i have labored i have labored in vain and i've spent my strength for nothing and in empty futility he said i'm feeling empty or how about this and one more second samuel 3 39 david says this even though i am the appointed king i feel empty so you may be on top of your game you may be at the pinnacle of your career you may get your cut name on the cover of some magazine david says even though i'm the king i feel empty inside now before we look at the solutions i'm going to pause right here and i want you to look at that list of 10 things on your outline and let you go back and circle the numbers that apply to your life all right circle that look at that list and go through it again all right let's look at it again if you'd say not starting out with a full tank every day that's me check that one circle it being too busy to stop and refuel circle that one ignoring the owner's manual pushing my car or my life further than it was created to go being on number four being unaware of hidden leaks leaks maybe you got conflict in your life number five being in a hurry number six not paying attention to my gauges maybe you need to check that one number seven being overloaded i got too much to do right now number eight assuming that the limits of my tank don't apply to me number nine not knowing where to find a filling station obviously you know that one you don't have to circle circle that number 10 not knowing how to refill my tank if you circle the last one you came to the right weekend because that's what we're going to look at how do you refill your tank now what does jesus have to say about all this what does jesus have to say when we come to him with an emptiness in our lives an empty soul an empty heart empty of character how does jesus respond when you say i got nothing to give i'm all out of gas i'm i'm living on fumes what does jesus do when you come to him in your emptiness does he scold you no does he judge you no does he reprimand you say oh you should be full no in fact he does the exact opposite jesus says this in matt in matthew chapter 11. look at this matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30. he says this if you're tired i would assume that includes a lot of people sitting here right now and those who are listening in daily hope if you're tired most people are tired today because of what we've been through the last 18 months if you're tired from caring heavy burdens come to be come to me and i will give you a whole lot more to do oh no that's not what he says he didn't say come to me and i'll give you a whole bunch of new things to do no he says i will give you what rest anybody like that that's what jesus says when you come to him with your emptiness come to me and i will give you r-e-s-t now he's not talking about physical rest you can get that he's talking about emotional and spiritual rest you can be physically rested and still feel empty inside we're not talking about physical emptiness today you know the last two days you know what i did each of our grandkids when they turn 10 k take k and i take them on a 10 on a two-day trip to wherever they want to go in california and and it's on your 10th birthday the last of our grandkids turned 10 claire turned 10 this week and so we said wherever you want to go in california some have gone to san francisco some have gone to tahoe claire decided two days of disneyland i walked my tushy off for the last two days first day we walked 9.2 miles i measured it over 30 000 steps in disneyland we've been on every ride you can possibly imagine and we were there for two days i'll be honest with you guys i'm tired today but that doesn't have to do with my emotional state it doesn't have to do with my mental or physical spiritual state i'm just tired so thank you guys figure it all out on your own goodbye no no you know you can be physically tired but not spiritually empty and not emotionally empty or you could be physically fit some of you are physically fit you look like it but you're emotionally empty or you're spiritually empty so jesus when he says come to me and i'll give you rest he's talking about rest for your soul in fact he says that later in the passage if you're tired of carrying heavy burdens come to me and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you then learn from me for i'm gentle and humble in spirit and you will find rest for your soul that's the refilling your tank for the yoke i share with you is easy to wear and it makes the load light the load is light now i want you to circle if you're taking notes circle the word come circle the word take and circle the word learn these are the first steps ready step number one get fed up with how i've been feeling get fed up with how i've been feeling nothing is going to change in your life until you get dissatisfied with it dissatisfied with the way that you feel right now you have to come to the point in your life my friends where you say i'm not going to live this way anymore i've had enough i'm not going to stay this way anymore i'm going to change i'm going to do something about the way that i feel nothing happens until you get desperate you see it's just too easy to put up with everything you're going through even when you don't like it simply because it's familiar it's uncomfortable it may be even painful it may be even empty but it's familiar so what is it that's going to cause you to finally get fed up with your current situation your current circumstance and the way that you've been feeling about it i've talked to thousands and thousands and thousands of people about this issue over the last 42 years the saddleback pastor and i've discovered that there are only three times when people really really change three things change people pain perspective and no other choice pain perspective and no other choice you're not going to change the situation you're in you're not going to change the way you feel until you either have enough pain or you change your perspective or there's no other choice now let me show you just three bible examples of what i just said first solomon solomon says this about pain in proverbs chapter 20 verse 27 and 30. he says this the lord gave us a conscience and a mind so we cannot hide from ourselves i know when i'm in pain i know when i'm empty but he says sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways everybody agree with that sometimes it takes a painful situation to make extremes our ways you see we don't change when we see the light we change when we feel the heat and when the heat's on we never change until the fear of change is exceeded by the pain and that's why you stay with situations and circumstances and stay even with the feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction in your own life because you're not in enough pain yet you haven't hit the bottom it hadn't gotten that bad yet for you and until you get so discomfortable so dissatisfied we only change when our pain is greater than the problem or the fear of change so pain will cause you to change number two uh we get this from the story of the parable of the jesus parable of the prodigal son the story of the lost son you remember that guy he he's a young kid and he says dad i want my inheritance now i'm leaving and he leaves takes all of his inheritance and goes to las vegas downtown strip and spends all his money on wine women and song and uh and he says this it says there about about the situation he wasted everything he'd been given on foolish living until he was broke miserable and starving he had to get a job feeding pigs now you remember pork is anathema for jews this guy's jewish and what's he doing he's feeding pigs so he's got it not only a dirty job he's got a job he's not supposed to even be doing he had to get a job feeding pigs and he became so hungry he was willing to eat the pig's food you got to be pretty hungry to eat pig slop but finally he came to his senses that's perspective i've been teaching you on perspective every week in this series on strategies for stressful times we talked about it last week how you got to have god's perspective he came to his senses and that's when we change he came to a census and he said to himself what's saying to himself self-talk you talk to yourself all the time he said to himself self this is not right i don't have to stay this way if i don't want to finally he came to his senses and he said to himself why am i living like this at my father's home even the higher servants eat better than i do so he decided to get up and go home to his father solomon says pain will motivate me and the prodigal son says a perspective hey there i don't have to live this way the people who work for my dad eat better than i do i'd go home and just be a servant and that would be better than what i'm living right now so pain and perspective but job i mean jonah the third guy gives us an example of how we change when we finally have no other choice and when jonah hits bottom and i mean literally bottom he's thrown over board on a ship he sinks to the bottom of the ocean and in jonah chapter 2 we have jonah's prayer at the bottom of the ocean and one of the things he says in jonah 2 7 one of my favorite verses in the bible when i had lost all hope i turn my thoughts once again to the lord when you don't have any other choice that's when you turn to the lord now nothing is going to change in your life that emptiness that despondency that depression that feeling of unfulfillment nothing's going to change too you get dissatisfied with the way you are and it'll either be pain or it'll be perspective from what we talk about here or it'll be you have no other choice but sometimes it requires all three now that's why jesus starts his solution to your emptiness by saying this look on the screen if you're tired in other words if you're not tired of the way you're living jesus doesn't have anything to offer you let me just be honest with you if you're satisfied with the way you're living right now jesus has nothing to offer you if you're self-satisfied even smug about what happens happening in your life go i don't need anything nothing needs to improve in my life jesus has nothing to offer you on the other hand if you are tired that means i get fed up i am tired of living the way i'm living if you're tired from carrying heavy loads if you're not tired of trying to solve all the problems by yourself jesus can't help you so let me ask you are you tired are you tired of running on empty are you fed up with the emptiness that you've been feeling in your life and are you willing to do something about it as i said we don't change until we feel the heat you have to come some point in your life where you go i have had enough i refuse to live this way any longer it is a point of dissatisfaction all right now let me ask you a personal question friend a friend do any of you you don't have to raise your hand on this but do you feel you're at a breaking point right now if you do i want you to write this down i'm going to put it on the screen write this down a breakdown is the door to a breakthrough just write that down a breakdown is always the door to a breakthrough there is no breakthrough until you have the break down the breakdown of my pride my arrogance my self-sufficiency a breakdown when i realize i can't do this on my own a breakdown is always the door to a breakthrough and i want you as your friend to have a breakthrough now now let me give you another thing to write down write this down underneath it i can't make a comeback until i admit my setback i can't make a comeback until i admit my setback if you're unwilling to admit that you have a setback and that you're empty and that you need god's help in your life nobody can help you right now i can't have a comeback every comeback requires a setback first but you gotta admit it now once you've done this first step which is get fed up i'm fed up with the way i've been feeling now you're ready for step two it's real simple three words come to jesus write that down come to jesus that means you bring the good and the bad in your life you bring the frustrating and the painful you bring the shameful things in your life you bring the exhausting things in your life you bring everything to jesus and you come to jesus jesus says this if you're tired okay i'm fed up if you're tired from carrying heavy loads heavy burden come to me and i'll give you rest now notice who you're to come to and what and what you're to come to he says come to me and what he gives you back who do you come to jesus what does he give you back rest notice friends it doesn't say come to religion religion can't help you he doesn't say come to rules rules can't help you when you're empty he doesn't say come to rituals rituals can't help you when you're empty he doesn't say come to regulations regulations don't help you when you're empty he says come to me come to me the antidote to your emptiness the antidote to your overload the antidote to all the lucky things that you're feeling right now that overloaded soul that empty soul it's not a plan for time management okay it's not a program for stress relief it's not a philosophy it's not a program it's not a pill it's a person come to me you come to jesus not the religion or that you come to jesus now i've studied scripture all my life and you know i've discovered that in the bible people came to jesus for a lot of different reasons some of them good some of them bad some came for forgiveness some came for healing some came to jesus for advice some came for eternal life some because they had a question you know what jesus didn't care why people came to him as long as they came to him jesus doesn't care why you come to him just that you come to him look at this verse on the screen john 6 37 who jesus says whoever comes to me i will never reject now notice what jesus promises look at the next thing he says he says come to me and i will give you rest what kind of rest rest for your soul that's much deeper than physical rest your problem right now is probably not overloaded muscles some of you probably need your muscles a little you need to use them a little bit more what you have is not overloaded muscles what you have right now is an overloaded mind you have an overloaded spirit you have an overloaded soul and we need rest not from physical work probably but from tension we need rest from anxiety you know what i'm talking about we need rest from hurry we need rest from worry now that's a different kind of rest as i said is i just sleep you know how you unwind when your physical tired is one way how you unwind when you're exhausted and overloaded emotionally i don't know what do you do what do you do when you're physically i mean spiritually and and emotionally mentally exhausted what's your first choice watch a movie do your hobby do an exercise go do a sport you know what those are all good things those are all good things but none of them can restore your soul only god can restore your soul that's why jesus said if you've got soul emptiness you've got soul depression you've got soul overload come to me isaiah 40. look at this verse on the screen he gives power to those who are tired and worn out and he offers strength to the weak so when you're inside when when you're empty inside let me just point out the differences when you're empty inside you know what culture says the world says when you're empty inside you need to do more you need to have more you need more things you need to make more money that's why you're empty make more money get more things do more things travel more places culture says the antidote to your emptiness is go go go go go go go more jesus said no don't go come come to me and come just as you are he's not going to nag you not going to judge you he's going to says i'll give you rest now we come now to the third step first get fed up with how i've been feeling and then second come to jesus because 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 because 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 now 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've 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 the 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 yolk okay not that kind of yellow egg yolk 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 pulling they're going to pull a a wagon together you put a yolk over both of them and then they pull the 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 yoke on me because 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 because 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 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'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 it says my yoke fits perfectly in other words it's not uncomfortable it's 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 hearing me you weren't meant to go through life carrying the load that you're carrying all by yourself she 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 now you're not carrying the load by yourself now this principle of giving up true control of god is 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 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 out pace yourself and there's no way he's going to let you go off in a ditch there's no way you can go in a ditch if you're pace you're 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 pacesetter the lord is my pacesetter 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 his 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 expectations of society you're going to be yoked to something why not choose the easiest yoke jesus the easiest joke 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 yolks are piled on top of each other and no wonder you're tired because so many people have so many expectations in your life take them all off jesus says 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 to tahiti 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 thing third fourth thing learn to trust learn to trust this is the antidote to anxiety worry less and 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 it learn from jesus now if you circle the word learn learning is a process you 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 general that doesn't seem like it's going to help me because 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 them 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 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 over committed because of our aggressive behavior it's 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'm not everybody's savior and neither are you what was jesus 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 verses look at this one 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 hmm we keep trying to figure it all out he says why don't you just trust god learn to trust psalm 142 verse 3 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 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 because it is the key to stability that's 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 and just be there 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 h-w-f-w and h-w-l-w 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 you're here you're connected to your spiritual family your family the saddleback church 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 god says about the church last verse on your screen it's on the 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 fails 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 with covid problem with who i don't know but 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 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 and that beautiful the amplified translation friends it's hot but that doesn't make this any less important 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 the starting point in unloading is to talk to jesus about what you feel empty about tell them exactly how you feel tell them 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 pacesetter 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 pacesetter 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

Channel: Pastor Rick

Views: 29,750

Rating: 4.921205 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Pastor Rick, Rick Warren sermon, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Saddleback, christianity, church, church sermon

Id: eQBI1ryUTew

Length: 58min 31sec (3511 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021