Learn How To Be Set Free From Self-Destruction with Rick Warren

the Bible teaches that you have three enemies that are trying to mess up your life they want to defeat your family they want to defeat your life they want to steal your soul they want to keep you from having joy and purpose and meaning here in life and these three enemies come against just kind of triple team and you know tag-team wrestling or you know double team takedown things like that and the Bible calls these three enemies that you have the world the flesh and the devil the world comes around you Satan comes against you and the battle with you is within you and this summer we're gonna go in detail into each of these three enemies because if you don't know who the enemy is you can never win the battle and you're gonna go through life defeated most of your life now we're beginning with your biggest enemy and your biggest enemy is not Satan it's not the world it's you you are your biggest problem and as I said last week I said you know when you want to run away from your problems you want to go to Cancun the problem is you take you with you and and all of that internal stuff is inside you now what we looked at last week is we began studying the battle inside you is that you really do have two natures if you are a believer you have your old nature which wants to do what's fun which wants to do what's convenient not not necessarily the right thing the best thing or even what's good for you a lot of things you want to do are actually self destructive to you and you know for a certain fact that there are things you know you would be good for you be healthy for you and you don't do them and you know that there are things that are bad for you that are unhealthy for you that mess up your life and you still do them anyway and last week we looked at this great testimony of Romans chapter 7 where Paul says you know what i can't figure myself out all my best intentions aren't good enough he says i want to do the right thing but i don't and i don't want to do the wrong thing but i do and that is the story of you and it is the story of me you know far more than you're actually doing if you were actually able to practice all the good things you know to do you'd be a lot more successful in life but it's not just knowing it it's getting yourself to do it and there's this battle because we have a natural resistance inside of us that wants to do what's easy what's convenient what's quick rather than what's right and what's best in fact our entire nation is in a financial crisis because of this tendency of human nature to have an inability to delay gratification we want it and we want it now whether we can afford it or not so we go out and we charge it even though we can't afford it and the government's been doing that for years and now we have a you know a financial crisis that teeters on the brink of collapse because all because the inability of buying things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like and thinking we can have it all let me just tell you right now you can't have it all that is a myth that advertisers will tell you you can't have it all life is about choices you have to make choices in life and go okay what's the best for me what's right for me what does God want for me and so best intentions are not good enough and the truth is the battle for you inside you much of your unhappiness in fact I would say it this way most of your unhappiness in life most of your unhappiness in life is because you listen to you instead of God and when you do that you you you tell yourself stuff all the time that isn't true just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's accurate doesn't mean it's true doesn't mean it's correct a lot of things you think of are not right they're not correct a lot of things I think of aren't right aren't correct in fact a lot of things I think are actually lying to myself rationalizing where we tell rational lies to ourselves now what I want us to do this weekend is look at how to overcome the six weapons of self-destruction now you you've heard of the weapons of mass destruction but I want to talk to you about what the Bible teaches about the weapons of self-destruction there are things that you do to yourself all the time that damage you that hurts you that that caused you to self-destruct that caused you enormous stress enormous pain enormous unhappiness and an unneeded pressure in your life and then I'm going to show you from God's Word in Romans chapter 8 how the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God living within you can give you the antidote to every one of these weapons now before we even get into the text I want you to write these seven things down it's not on your outline so you're just gonna have to write it somewhere scribble it over on the side these are the seven weapons of self-destruction you can talk to any psychologist and they'll tell you that these are the seven things that mess up people's lives more than anything else and we're gonna look at the cure for these weapons of self-destruction the first weapon of self-destruction is shame shame you cannot be happy and feel ashamed at the same time when you feel ashamed when you feel guilty when you feel regrets that just robs all your happiness God doesn't want you to walk around feeling guilty God doesn't want you walking around feeling exchanged God once you walk around with regrets in fact that's why I sent Jesus on on the cross to die for all of your sins but shame is the is the first number one destroyer of happiness the second weapon of self-destruction is uncontrolled thoughts if you don't learn how to control your thoughts your thoughts will ruin your life because you say to stuff to yourself that causes unhappiness causes grief causes pressure you must learn how to control your thoughts the third weapon of self-destruction is compulsions compulsions are those inner drives inner desires you can call them lust you can call them habits you can call them impulses but they're those things in your life you feel like I fell I just had to do it even though you knew it was wrong I just had to do it and those compulsions you got to learn how to deal with those and how to fight that weapon of self-destruction because if you do things by your compulsions you'll mess up your life the fourth weapon of self-destruction is fear and fear is an enormous destroyer of happiness of potential of God's purpose for your life it will limit your life you've got to learn how to master your fears the fifth weapon of self-destruction is hopelessness hopelessness keeps you from keeping on when you start to feel hopeless about anything you get discouraged and want to give up if you feel hopeless about your marriage if you feel hopeless about ever getting married if you feel hopeless about your finances or you feel hopeless about your health hopelessness is a self destructive weapon that you use on you and when you turn it inward it robs you of God's plan for your life number six bitterness is a huge weapon of self-destruction because life is unfair and we don't all get the same thing and life is broken and we're stuck and and some people get better than you and you get jealous and you get envious and some people hurt you you can either get better or bitter and bitterness is a cancer that will eat you alive and it will it will it's a poison that'll eat you on the inside you never hurt other people with your bitterness like you hurt yourself you always hurt you the most it is a self destructive emotion there is no value to bitterness in your life there's no value to holding on to a grudge all it does is make you miserable and the seventh weapon of self-destruction is insecurity you got to deal with this one because if you don't learn how to deal with insecurity in your life it's gonna cause you to do foolish things when you're insecure and you're trying to show everybody else that you're very confident you'll say stupid things you'll do stupid things you'll pose and the only people impressed by posers are other posers okay everybody sees through it the only people are impressed by fakes are other fakes so you know when you're insecure you can't hide it you have to deal with it now the classic passage on dealing with these weapons of self-destruction is Romans 7 and Romans 8 if you missed the last two weeks you need to run not walk out to the patio and buy the CDs from the last two weeks so you'll be caught up or you need to watch them online on mp3s or on video but Romans 7 explains what these 7 things do in your life and Romans 8 gives us the answer now at the end of Romans 7 Paul says this look up here on the screen he's outlined the battle going on inside himself and he says what a miserable person I am because I'm miserable you know as I said all all those things I want to do that I know are good I end up not doing and all those things that I don't want to do I end up doing and I'm really messing up my life what a miserable person I am I've tried everything and nothing helps I mean I've watched Oprah I've been to Tony Robbins seminar I've read a dr. Phil book I've you know I've done all these different things he does none of this stuff really works and getting me into shape he says who will free me from this life dominated by sin now he don't us he doesn't say what will free me because the answer to the problem inside you the mess-ups in your life that you'd like to change the answer is not a pill it's not a program it's not a book it's not a tape it's not a seminar it's not hypnosis the answer is a person it is Jesus Christ and his spirit inside you and Romans 8 is the answer to Romans 7 but the Spirit of God inside you gives you the antidote to all seven of these negative emotions now what I want us to look at this weekend is how can I be free from me how can I be set free from me and the way we're gonna look at this is the the truths of Romans 8 I have put them in a practical way of listing seven mental habits that you need to do that will help you apply the truth of Romans chapter 8 and so we're gonna look at these seven mental habits that explain the great truths of Romans 8 Romans 8 is the greatest chapter in the Bible in my opinion it's the greatest chapter they once did a study of Bible scholars and said if you could only have one chapter the Bible and you're on a desert island which one would you take and about ninety percent of them said I'd take Romans eight so this is a very strong passage you need to take a lot of notes today number one the first step in being set free from me is this I must remind myself daily what Jesus did for me that's the starting point I got to remind myself every day of what Jesus did for me what is salvation what are the benefits of it you see we have a lot of people who saved you don't act like it they run around all the time filled with shame and uncontrolled thoughts and compulsions and fear and bitterness and insecurity and they're believers but they're not set free from me and the first step is you've got to remind yourself what Jesus actually did for you and this is how the Holy Spirit sets me free from shame let's look at these verses Romans 8:1 2:4 first he says so now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ and let me stop there for we go any further no condemnation means God doesn't judge you for all the things you've done wrong if you've trusted Christ because Jesus took all that judgment on the cross he doesn't have to judge you because Jesus was judged he doesn't have to condemn you because Jesus took your condemnation he took your rap he paid your penalty he did your time for you now the Bible says that if I'm a believer that I belong to look at that verse there's no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus Circle the phrase belong to Christ Jesus this whole passage is talking about people who've given their life to Jesus this doesn't apply to you if you haven't made that decision yet but if you've received Christ into your life the Bible says you're under no condemnation that means God doesn't get mad at you when you sin did you hear that God does not get mad at you when you said if you belong to Jesus Christ because he's already taken the payment now notice it doesn't say that after I become a Christian I won't sin you're still gonna sin it doesn't say I'm not gonna make mistakes you're still gonna make mistakes it doesn't say I'm not gonna fail and look stupid you're gonna fail and look stupid it just says you're under no condemnation in other words you don't have to walk around with shame you don't have to walk around with guilt because when Jesus Christ died on the cross he not only paid for all of the sins you committed last week last year and your entire life he's committed he's already paid for the sins that you're gonna commit tomorrow next week and the rest of your life they're already paid for that's good news that is good news no condemnation that means there is no reason for a Christian to walk around in shame because I stop and I remind myself Jesus paid for all of my sins he already knew before I was born every sin I was gonna do and he paid for it now the next part of that verse says for the power of the life-giving spirit that's the Holy Spirit God's Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death and what does that verse means the second thing I remember is that because I'm a believer and I have Jesus I have a new power in my life greater than willpower you see before you became a Christian the only thing you had to use against your bad habits was sheer willpower and how long does that work now very long he says now there's a new power in you unfortunately a lot of Christians are still simply relying on willpower to change they've never figured out how to connect into spiritual power into the power of the Holy Spirit into the power of Jesus inside you he says there's a new power in you there's a new sheriff in town and when you want to change things in your life it's not just if it's to be it's up to me it's not just my own willpower it is God's power in me I have been given a Power greater than willpower we're gonna look at this more in the next verses then the next thing it says the law of Moses could not save us because of our sinful nature now laws keeping God's laws cannot save you guy says well I know I'm going to heaven you say how do you know says because I keep the Ten Commandments I say name them you don't not only not keep the King Ten Commandments you couldn't even name all of them if I ask you to stand up right now you couldn't even how can you keep them if you don't even know them all by the way keeping laws never works why it says because of our sinful nature laws simply work on outside behavior they don't work on inside change they don't change you on the inside for instance if I were to bring a a pig out here a big sow that had been rolling around in the mud and the dirt and eating garbage and and and it stinks to high heaven and say what is this you'd say it's Pig now I take that Pig backstage and I run it through a couple of car washes and then I put it in a bathtub and and I have bath salts and perfumed soap suds and and I get it all cleaned up and I brushed the you know their teeth the pigs teeth and and then I sprinkle some foo-foo juice on it you know some Corral number five you know that would be appropriate for a pig okay and and I and I rub it down with oil of olay so its skin is just silky silky soft and then I tie a ribbon around its neck they put a bonnet on it and I and I put some eyeshadow and fake eyelashes on this pig and and I put a dress on it and then I put some lipstick on this pig and I bring this pig out I say now what is it still a pig okay you may have spiffed up the outside but the nature has remained unchanged and this is what happens with self-help programs is that we spiff up the outside and we by sheer willpower say I'm gonna take a bath I'm gonna get on some new clothes I'm gonna change my behavior and all the outside looks different but inside it's still the same nature if you're gonna have radical change transforming change in your life it's got to change your nature and only God can do that no self-help program can change your heart which by the way is why I'm not a politician it I have zero faith in politics or laws to change human behavior why because it's just fixed on the outside you can pass a law that says nobody will be a bigot or a racist is that gonna change anybody's heart no only Jesus can change that heart and I have seen people come to Christ and they change from a racist into a compassionate person and from a bigot into a loving person only Jesus can change that if I thought you could change human behavior by laws I'd be a politician but there's no track record then it actually changes people only God can change the inside which by the way is why we don't spend so much time promoting all political laws you know there are some Christians who think they're gonna make the world a better place just by creating a law well people just break it I mean they want a law against the sin and the law against the sin and the law against the sin and the log insistent and the law against this sin and they think that's gonna change people know people just gonna break the law you do God has given all kinds of laws in his word and you don't obey those and you break them all the time see one of the things we know here at Saddleback is you don't expect somebody to act like a believer until he is one because he doesn't have the power to change he doesn't have the ability to change so passing a law that says everybody's gonna be moral or everybody's gonna do this that doesn't change it's that's fit that's cleaning up the big it doesn't change our nature God put into effect notice here so God knew that laws couldn't save us but God put into effect a different plan to save us he sent his own son in a human body like ours except that ours is sinful and God destroyed sins control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins in other words he gave us the power to make those changes to forgive us and the changes and then it said he did this Jesus died on the cross so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us circle the phrase for us what is he saying there that Jesus not only paid for all your sins he did all the right things for you those of us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the spirit now if you really are serious about changing your life for the better you've got to start where God tells you to start and God says you don't start with your behavior your actions and you don't start with your feelings your emotions you start with your mind the battle for you to be set free from me starts in Sheriff changing your mind be renewed be transformed by the renewing of your mind the Bible teaches very clearly that the way we act is determined by the way we feel and the way we feel is determined by the way we think for instance if I'm acting depressed it's because I feel depressed and if I'm feeling depressed it's because I'm thinking depressed thoughts and if I want to get over my depression I don't force myself to change my behavior that doesn't work and I don't force myself to change my feelings you can't change a feeling you cannot force a feeling a guy says you know I don't love my wife anymore so I said well okay what are you gonna do about it well I'm just gonna force myself to feel that I love her how will that work it doesn't work you can't force a feeling it's like telling The Crying kid now I command you to be happy Oh Troy you build your droid you cannot force a feeling in fact when you try to force a feeling everybody knows you're faking it you can't force a feeling you can't fight that feeling anymore if you laughed at that you're really old okay you are really really old okay now what you do is you change the way you think and if you change the way you think that's gonna change the way you feel and it will change the way you act so if you though you know I don't have any feelings for my wife anymore you can act your way into a feeling and you can think your way into feeling but you can't feel your way into feeling if you start acting loving towards your wife and you start thinking loving thoughts toward you right I'm gonna tell you what the feelings will come back they will return you act your way into a feeling and you think your way into a feeling but you don't feel your way into feeling now the good thing about this is that now that you're a Christian you have the Holy Spirit inside of you and so you can ask him to help you put good thoughts in your mind so now you're not just on your own you're not just out here trying to think up stuff by yourself on what would be a good thing for me to think about you can say Holy Spirit put good thoughts in my mind that's the second thing we learned from Romans 8 write this down number two the second mental habit to defeat the weapons of self-destruction is I ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts I asked the Holy Spirit to give me better and if you ask him to give you better thoughts do you think he will of course he will of course he's gonna give you better thoughts that's a prayer he's gonna answer I asked the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts this is the second key to permanent change in your life now this is what it says in the next two verses verses five and six of Romans 8 those who live according to the sinful nature have their mind set on what the nature that nature desires but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mind set on what the spirit desires now there's two kinds of mind sets circle the mind sets there's the mind set of your old nature and there's the mind set of the Holy Spirit there's the mind set of the way I normally think about my life and there's the mindset of how the Spirit sees my life which one's gonna be true the one that the Spirit says so I have to choose between these mindsets am I going to set my mind on the way I normally think about my life or am I going to set my mind on the way God thinks about my life now there's a big difference in choosing these mindsets because if you choose one you're gonna get one response that if you choose the other you're gonna get another and the next part of the verse tells us what that is the mind of sinful man is what that means it's self-destructive thoughts that you come up with yourself are going to tend to be self-destructive the mind of sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the spirit is what life and peace okay I don't normally do this but how many of you would like to have life and peace this summer yeah me too I would like to have life and peace of summer and it's all about the mindset you choose the economy may not change it probably won't your problems probably won't change those ones that are persistent but your mindset can change and that's the difference between a life of self-destruction or a life of life and peace now this is the Holy Spirit's answer to uncontrolled thoughts what I do is I ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts and this is the principle of replacement I want you to write this word down replacement the principle of replacement is anytime you want to change something in your life and you're serious about changing it you don't resist it you replace it when you've got something negative in your life you don't resist it you replace it you say I want to stop smoking you don't smoke up so I want to stop smoking I want to stop smoking so I want to stop smoking yeah it's like with frog and toad together that story we read last week I don't want to eat a cookie and I just ate one I don't want to eat a cookie and I just ate one I don't want to eat a cookie no because the whole time you're focusing on what you don't want and whatever if you focus on get your attention whatever gets your attention gets you that's why if you want to break any bad habit in your life the key is not to resist it but to refocus whatever you resist persists because you keep focusing on it now it's it's like if I'm flipping TV channels and all of a sudden there's something on TV that I don't really want to watch or I shouldn't watch I don't sit then go I don't want to watch it I don't want to watch it I don't want to why I just flip the channel I replace it and the moment I replace it it's gone it has no grip on me anymore so I mean if you're standing in an airport bookstore and they've got all these girlie magazines and you're standing in front of you say I don't want to look at them I don't want to look at him what do you do we don't stand there you walk away you okay you slam the door if you want don't want to get stung by the bees you just get away from them and and you you replace it with something else now let's say I had a big fat juicy doughnut sitting right here okay I mean and it's hot and the glaze is just kind of dripping off the side now I'm on the Daniel plan okay and as I told you last week our church has lost over two hundred thousand pounds together which is amazing and it's not too late to join us we still got half a year more it's a one-year program and and you could go to Daniel plan comm and join up and get your numbers and get all the doctors help and stuff like that now if it's it here I don't go I don't want that doughnut I really really I'm just smelling it oh baby oh baby that yeasty smell oh no what do I do I just look over it down to you guys and the moment I see you guys I've lost its its its lost its grip on me because my attention has changed now as long as I resist the donut it hadn't worked but the moment I refocus on something else I don't even think about it anymore does that make sense okay so I asked the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts to replace the negative ones in my mind now you choose what you dwell on Satan gives you ideas those are called temptations the Holy Spirit gives you ideas those are called inspiration you get ideas but the truth is you choose what you focus on but when Tao now that you're a believer you have a helper and you can say Holy Spirit I invite you to give me your ideas and a lot of times the Holy Spirit the God's Spirit will say to me hey Rick why don't you think about this instead good idea and I just changed my thoughts now I would encourage you to invite the Holy Spirit to have free access to your mind you say God you have put your spirit inside of me I give you free access to my mind 24 hours a day I invite you to suggest good thoughts why because they'll always be the truth they'll always be right they'll always be helpful they'll always be pure those are the things we are to think on so you invite the holy spirit to put thoughts in your mind why because those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on one thing but those who live according to the spirit have their mind set on another and the mindset that I normally have leads to self-destruction and the mindset that God spirit gives me leads to peace and I want peace in my life so yeah and that's why I said you know earlier we don't expect unbelievers to act like believers until they are they don't have the power look at the next verse the sinful mind is hostile to God it does not submit to God's law nor can it do so it can't even do it those controlled by sinful nature cannot please God so why do you work on passing the law when they don't have the ability to change it to change only God can change this change comes from the inside out third principle third mental habit you're gonna need to develop to apply the truths of Romans 8 in your life and that is this I realize I have a new ability to say no I need to remind myself I need to remember on a daily basis I need to realize that now that I'm a believer I have a new ability to say no to the things that are self-destructive in my life now this is very important because before you became a believer all you had was willpower and you lost most of those bad habits because it lost most of them because you don't willpower wears out it's not enough but now with the spirit in your life you have a new ability to say no a new power and you need to learn how to tap into that power I don't know about you but I could admit pretty honestly that before I had the Holy Spirit in my life there were some things I just couldn't say no to I didn't have the ability to say no to them now you can call them compulsions you can call them habits you can call them urges you can call them lust you can call them impulses you can call him your old nature but the truth is there was some things in my life I I just couldn't say no to I had no ability to say no cuz I didn't have I all i had was willpower now now I have God's power and he gives me the ability to say no look at this verse up here on the screen Galatians 5:16 says this let the spirit direct your lives and you will not satisfy the desires of the old human nature now if I let the spirit live through me does it say I won't have those desires did is that what it said no it said I want what I won't satisfy those desires I won't satisfy those desires in other words do I still have the same desires I had before as a Christian yes do I still have the same temptations yes do I still have the same urges and compulsions yes do i fulfill them no why because I have a new power inside of me and it's not just willpower anymore now I've heard people say but why should i limit any desire in my life that seems natural why should i rein it in if it seem if it's a natural desire friends not everything natural is good for you I mean I might naturally want to punch you in the nose that doesn't mean I should do it I have a lot of natural desires that I need to not fulfill for in some times I have a natural desire to cuss people out on the freeway does it mean I should just do it no just because it's natural doesn't mean it's good arsenic is natural but you drink it in and it'll kill you a lot of natural things are poison so just because it says natural doesn't mean it's good there are things in my old nature that are very natural for me to do but they're self destructive I mean people say well if I feel this way why shouldn't I give in to it because that's called maturity maturity is when you do the right thing not what you feel like doing because what you feel like doing isn't always the best for you the best for somebody else God's will or whatever if everybody just did what they naturally feel like doing nobody'd go to work tomorrow morning nobody would go to work now this is the good news of Romans chapter 8 look at the next verse verse 9 but he says you are not controlled by your sinful nature you are now controlled by the spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you and anybody who does not have the Spirit of God living in them does not belong to Christ and let me stop here and explain this some people mistakenly think that you get God kind of piecemeal that Jesus comes into your life at one point of your life and then maybe a little bit later the Holy Spirit comes into your life and then maybe a little bit later you get the father into your life no God is a Trinity three-in-one when you got Jesus you got all of God God doesn't come into your life piecemeal when Jesus comes into your life the Spirit comes into your life when Jesus comes into your life the father comes into your life when the father comes into your life the Spirit in Jesus come into your life you can't separate them you can't divide them up like a piece of pie so the moment you gave your life to Christ Jesus Christ put his self in your life in his spirit the Spirit of God the spirit of the Father the Spirit of Jesus it is the Holy Spirit so you don't get God a little bit at a time does that make sense okay God the Holy Spirit doesn't come in in the later point he comes in and he you get all of God when you give your life to Christ now the question is does he have all of you and the rest of your life you're going to be given more and more of your life to him and then more you give the more power you have but he says because I have this I now have a new ability to say no look at the next verse so dear brothers you have no obligation anymore to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do this is how God sets me free from my compulsions before when I would have felt compulsive the compelled to do something I didn't have anything except willpower to stop myself now I've got a new power inside me and I don't have any obligation anymore to listen to my old nature now I've heard people tell me I can't tell me people have had an affair committed adultery who told me I couldn't stop myself I couldn't help myself I just had to do it I just felt compelled to do it well now you have a new help to stop you and when somebody says I'm a Christian but I couldn't stop myself they're lying they are lying because they they simply didn't call on the power that was there available to them and they didn't rely on the Holy Spirit in that moment of temptation compulsions you know and you can ruin an entire life with one second of compulsion just go ask a bunch of the politicians dead scandals this last year spent decades building reputation and in a moment of compulsion lost it all stupid stupid stupid but I have a new power a new ability to say no number four the fourth bit mental habit I need to develop if I want to change my life is I need to turn my thoughts to God whenever I'm afraid that's the fourth antidote to these weapons of self-destruction I remind myself every day what Jesus did for me I asked the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts I realized I now have a new ability to say no and then I turned my thoughts to God whenever I'm afraid whenever I'm afraid and this is how God spirit sets me free from me with the attitude of fear Romans 8 look at the next verses verses 14 to 16 for the spirit God gives you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid instead the spirit makes you children and by the spirits power we cry out to God father my father this is actually the Aramaic word Abba Abba is not the group it's it means daddy Papa you know it's its dad dad it's the most basic intimate form of father daddy daddy my daddy we cry out to God daddy my daddy Papa my papa Abba my Abba God spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children now when I was a kid I wasn't very fearful at all I really had almost no fears as a child and was pretty reckless and had a lot of fun growing up but sometimes as a young child at night if I heard something that was kind of scary and I was afraid I would always cry out to my father I'd say daddy daddy and he could hear me from my room in our house and my dad would come and see me now when I was afraid I never called out from my mom and the reason why as I knew my dad was stronger now my dad wasn't a big guy but he was very strong because he was a hard worker and I knew he could take on anybody and so I'd say daddy whenever I was afraid I would cry out to Daddy this is exactly what God tells you to do when you're afraid stop focusing on your fear start focusing on your father that's the antidote stop focusing on your fear start focusing on your father now he says the antidote to fear is two things first he says the spirit that God has given you doesn't make you slaves make you afraid but he makes you God's children whenever you are afraid the first thing you need to do is remember this whose family you're a part of I'm a son of God I'm a daughter of God I'm a child of God I'm in the family and families take care of each other and there's family protection now let's say you grew up in Chicago or in New York City and your family was a part of the family okay the Mafia family okay and you're walking down the street as a kid okay and somebody starts to assault you and you stop these oh wait just a minute do you know who I am Do You Know Who am I am my father is guido and guido works for Bruno and Bruno is the capo Dei capo Dei capo Dei capo he will make you an offer you can't refuse are you sure you want to touch me cuz I'm in the family and guy says well on second thought you can have your money back because the family protects you now when you start to be afraid God says the first thing you said wait a minute do you know who my father is my father is the creator of the universe my father is God I'm a child of God I'm in the family God takes care of his kids and then I cry out to father father would you take care of this fear for me will you handle this one for me and my Heavenly Father says of course I'll handle it for me go back to sleep you have to worry about it I'll take care of you when you were afraid you remember whose family you're in you're a child of God you're not a slave you're a child of God and he's gonna take care of you and second you call out to your father now what are you most afraid of what are you most afraid of these days you know the number one fear people have I know all the studies people say it's the fear speaking in front of others it's a fear of heights or you know the fear of new social situations actually what I found is a pastor talking to people for 30 years the number one fear people have is the fear of being out of control and when you feel your life is out of control it creates enormous fear in your life and the longer you feel it's out of control you start thinking on that of control and then you start thinking maybe I'm losing my mind and you start fearing maybe I'm going crazy maybe I'm going insane you've all felt this at different times in your life so don't act like so self-righteous everybody I think I'm losing my mind I think I'm going crazy I'm afraid I'm going nuts now let me just put you at ease you're not going crazy because crazy people don't fear that crazy people are very happy to be crazy and don't care the very fact that you are afraid you're going crazy means you're rational so you're not crazy you're not going crazy the fear that you're going crazy shows that you're very very rational crazy people aren't afraid of being crazy so I want everybody to say this I'm broken but I'm not crazy okay let's say it aloud together I'm broken but I'm not crazy let's say it again I'm broken but I'm not crazy that's some of you afraid to say it so let's say it again okay ready I'm broken but I'm not crazy everybody's broken I'm broken you're broken the person sitting next to you is broken we all nothing is perfect in this world but you're not crazy now the Bible says that we should not be afraid but we turn to God I remember one time in in Northern California as the year I got married at the end of the year that I got married 36 years ago I my health broke and I was began to develop a fear that it's never gonna go away that my life is over shoot my life hadn't even started hadn't even started but I was afraid this is the end of my life I'm never gonna mount anything nothing's gonna happen in my life God isn't gonna use me I'm gonna be an invalid my entire life and on and on and on and it's filled with these fears and so we took a month off from work and kay and I went to Northern California where my parents lived out in the country in the redwoods and while we were there one day I got up in the morning and I was so depressed because these fears were just clawing at my mind all the time and the phone rang and my mom picked it up and she handed it to Kay and the man said is this where Rick Warren is staying and they said yes can I talk to him she said yes she hands me the phone this guy says Rick we've never met I don't know you you don't know me I'm calling from Sandy but I heard that you were going through a tough time and I just want to give you a verse and it is this God it's second Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and self-control and he hung up that verse changed my life here it is on the screen for the spirit that God has given us does not make us fearful or timid instead his spirit fills us with power love and self-control now get this the more controlled you are by the Holy Spirit the more self-control you've got to have you're gonna have you're going to have now get this a lot of people are afraid of the Holy Spirit it's like I don't want to be filled with the spirit fill the spirit that'll turn me into some nut I'm gonna be some religious fanatic I'm gonna be like some of those people on TV saying buy eBay you know out foul spirit of nicotine you know and I'm gonna be falling over backwards and I'm gonna be you know I'm gonna lose control actually it's the exact opposite the more you have of the Holy Spirit the more self-controlled you are in fact God does not give us it says a spirit of fear so if you are afraid that's not from God that fear is not from God when God's Spirit comes into your life you're filled with love I want that you're filled with power I want that you're filled with self-control I want that ok Holy Spirit I want all you got fill me it doesn't make me some nutcase it makes me more human and makes me more natural it makes me more loving it makes me more in self controlled mastered by the master I can master anything throw it at me I can handle it why because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me so the spirit in me doesn't make me a lunatic or a religious nut to be filled with the spirit makes me more self-controlled and believe me brother you need more self-control the more spirit controlled I am the more self-controlled I am number 5 and 3 more let's move these real quickly the fifth thing we learned from romans 8 is about the antidote to hopelessness and that's verses 17 18 and and the habit I want you to learn to develop is to focus on the long-term not the short-term focus on the long-term not the short-term you know there's a very famous study done by Harvard University very very famous study that found out that figured out that the more long-term your thinking is the more successful you're going to be in life the shorter term you're thinking is the more failure you're gonna be in life people who fail at life have short-term thinking they're only thinking about today the only thing about hearing now the only thing about what feels good to me right now but the longer term you think the more successful you'll be in life in fact the longest term thinkers are those who are most successful in life now as a Christian we can win this one hands down because when we think in terms of long term thinking we call it eternity because we're not just thinking about life here on this earth we're not thinking about 4050 years ahead we're thinking about trillions and trillions and trillions of years ahead and living in light of eternity is the key to being the most successful you could possibly be thinking in long term now when you think in long term you're able to handle short-term pain a whole lot better your angel able to handle short-term losses short-term failures short-term hindrances because you're thinking long-term here at Saddleback we went 15 years without a building a lot of pastors would have given up not having a building for 15 years Saddleback root over 10,000 people before we built this building but it didn't bother me because I was thinking long-term of in spending my entire life as a pastor of one church so 15 years so what that's just 15 years I was thinking long-term and while you're thinking about today and this week for your life as your pastor who loves you I'm always thinking ahead for your life I'm thinking about what are you gonna be at the end of the year what are you gonna be at the end of five years what are you gonna be at the end of ten years it's called decade of destiny and that's why I'm thinking about how to help you become all God wants you to be I'm doing some long-term thinking for your life and Lord where do I need to take you so that you'll be what you want to be and what God wants you to be in ten years most people aren't thinking that the whole society teaches you to think short term and we'll look at that when we get to the world now Romans chapter eight verses 17 and 18 talks about focusing on the long term and it talks about the promises of God in the next few verses since we are his children we will possess circle the word will that's a promise that's in the future it's not now doesn't say we do possess we will its long term since we are his children we will possess the blessings he keeps for his family and we will also possess this is really cool we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him did you know that the Bible says that when you get to heaven you're going to get rewarded you will be rewarded for how well you did with what you were given what did you do with your time what did you do with your money what did you do with your influence what did you do with your talents your time your talents your treasure this is called the stewardship of life and God has put stuff in your hands and your steward up you're gonna be evaluated on that in heaven and your rewards will be based on that and you're gonna be rewarded but not only that the Bible says you're gonna be rewarded not just for how well a steward you work you're gonna be rewarded for what Jesus did did you know that look at that verse again it says and also we will possess with Christ what God has kept for him did you know that the Bible says that in heaven we are going to Co reign with Christ we're going to be heirs with Christ from the Father we're gonna Co reign with Christ the easiest way for me to explain that as a mad having this giant theater sign like a big Vegas sign that's flashing that says now starring for eternity Jesus Christ co-starring your name that's what it means to share in Christ's glory you're gonna do that in heaven so you need to focus not on your little pity petty pain right now but on the long-term benefits of doing the right thing and sharing in glory forever notice it says the rest of that verse for if we share Christ's suffering we will also share his glory I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared in other words of small potatoes with all the glory that is going to be revealed in us to us he said yeah you know what it's not always easy living for Christ it's not always easy doing the right thing it's not always easy making the moral decision but the benefit long-term is gonna far outlast the pain you need to focus long-term not short-term now practical example Daniel plan Daniel plan means you put up with short-term pain in exercise and eating and things like that for long term benefits and you don't give up same thing with Bible study same thing with witnessing same thing with tithing giving of your money you put up with short-term pain for long-term benefit focus on the long term not sure if you're focusing all in short term there's a one word for it it's foolish it's foolish if you're a college student I beg you to not focus on the here and now the parties and the fun and all that stuff but focus on the long-term and where you want to be number six the sixth habit is to remind myself that God is good and in control this is an application of what the Bible teaches in Romans Chapter eight this is how God sets us free from the self-destructive weapon of bitterness I remind myself that God is good and in control and you were mean to remind yourself of that over and over and over and over and over every single day now I don't have time to get into this but in verses 19 to 25 of Romans chapter 8 Paul describes how sin has damaged the world if I got into this a sermon would be twice as long we don't have time to get into it so let me just summarize in verses 19 to 25 Paul says everything in the world is broken everything in the world has lost its original purpose everything in the world is suffering everything in the world is in pain and everything in the world is frustrated because sin broke it all down everything is frustrated in fact look at this verse on the screen verse 20 everything created is subject to frustration waiting to be liberated set free from me waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay all of creation groans in pain like childbirth and we groan inwardly we're gonna oh man this is tough this is hard this is difficult why is life so hard says the environment is groaning I I think earthquakes and I think you know hurricanes and I think all the wacky weather is there is the environment groaning because it's broken and we groan in pain because relationships are broken and later you're gonna find out that this Holy Spirit groans in pain for you there are three groans in this chapter now he says that the result of living in a broken world is pain and the result of pain is bitterness and that's a self destructive weapon when I look out and I go he's got a nicer house than I do she's got a better job than I do how come her kids are like that how come my and you start comparing and you start getting envious you start getting jealous and then people her shoo and you get bitter and you get grudges and you get resentful that's a pain that's gonna eat you up you got to learn how to deal with that weapon of self-destruction and the way you do it is remind yourself that God is good and in control that God as good as in control the result of living in a broken world is pain and the result of pain is bitterness and as a result we get bitter inside and we start getting resentful and we spent life is unfair well yeah what else is new life is unfair because it's broken but the Bible says in Romans 8 that there are four things you need to remember to skit over bitterness now listen pain in your life is not optional but misery is pain in your life is not you're going to have pain in your life it's called life suffering in your life is not optional you're going to suffer misery is moaning is optional optional bitterness is optional and you overcome bitterness by remembering four magnificent truths in Romans 8 verse 26 and 27 says this the Holy Spirit is praying for me you're right write that down the Holy Spirit is praying for me that helps me overcome bitterness because no matter what I'm going through I know God's on my side he's praying for me it says here the spirit helps us with our weakness and we don't know how to pray as we should but the Spirit Himself speaks to God for us God's praying to himself he's talking himself about you he said how does God talk to himself oh you don't ever do that you talk to yourself all the time when God talks to himself about you that's called prayer okay the Spirit of God it says prays for us and even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain God sees what's in our hearts and the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way that God wants so when your no matter what you're going through the first thing he goes you know what right now the Holy Spirit is praying for me that's cool second thing God is using it all for good that second thing I write remember God is using everything in my life for good it's not all good but he's using it all for good the next verse says this and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to his purpose it's not all good but God is using it all for good God is greater than my problems God is greater than my enemies God is greater than my critics and God is using it all for good in my life number three God wants me to succeed did you know that did you know that God wants you to succeed he doesn't want you to fail in your life he wants you to succeed in your life God is not against you if you're a Christian if you're a believer God is for you the Bible says in verse 31 so what can we say against such wonderful things about such wonderful things all stuff we've talked about what do we say about all these wonderful things if God is for us who can be against this remember I'm in the family my father is God and so God has wants me to succeed and finally number four God will give me what I need when I'm feeling blue and when I'm feeling bitter I need to remember mine myself that God is good he's in control his spirit is praying for me he's using everything for good in my life he wants me to succeed and he's gonna give me what I need verse 32 since God did not spare even his own son but gave him up for us all won't God give us won't God who gave us Christ give us everything else Wow he said if God loved you enough to let Jesus died on the cross for you don't you think he loves you enough to help with your debt don't you think he cares enough to help you with your health don't you think he cares about you when your face breaks out there is nothing in your life that God doesn't care about I threw that one in because it seems so ridiculous there is nothing in your life that God doesn't care about you got him that set upset tummy God cares about it he knows every hair on your head God will give me what I need if God didn't spare his son to solve my biggest problem everything else is small potatoes it's all minor to him there's no big problem in your life they're all small problems to God now finally we come to the last habit you need to develop these are all mental habits you need to take this home write it down put it on your windshield of that windshield so you can't see it right put it on your mirror and you're in your bathroom put it on your refrigerator put it on your visor in your car so everyday you can remind yourself to practice these seven habits that defeat the habits of self-destruction and the seventh habit destroys the seventh enemy which is insecurity now the fact is when you feel insecure it really messes up your life and the worst fear that we have in insecurity is the rejection many of you have experienced rejection you have felt it from your parents why can't you be like your sister or your brother you felt rejected by kids on the playground and they made fun of you and they made made-up names you felt rejected by a boyfriend or a girlfriend maybe you've been rejected by a spouse and nothing hurts more than rejection but one thing I can tell you this is God's never gonna reject you and the seventh habit is this trust that God will never stop loving me trust that God will never never stop loving me I'm in the family he cannot not love his family he will never stop loving me Romans 8:38 39 in the chapter now I'm convinced that nothing ever can ever separate us from his love death can't life can't the Angels can't demons can't Satan can't separate you from God our fears for today our worries about tomorrow even the powers of Hell can't keep God's love away whether we're high above the sky or in the deepest ocean nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord I may lose a lot of things in life but I'll never lose my salvation you can't lose it because she's nothing once you're in God's hand he's not letting go of you you may want to let go but he's not letting go of you you cannot lose your salvation now my question is this do you belong to Christ because none of these things are true in your life unless you belong to Christ do you have the Holy Spirit in your life you say well I don't know well let's make certain of it right now let's bow our heads and I'm gonna pray a prayer as we close and I'm gonna ask you to pray it say this in your heart dear Jesus Christ thank you for all that you did for me thank you that there's no condemnation in my life for all the sin I've done you took that condemnation thank you that you did what the law couldn't do thank you that you destroyed sins control thank you that you accomplished the law in my life and my righteousness is nothing but your righteousness is what ticket I get into heaven on helped me to never forget what you did for me and when I feel ashamed let me remember what you did on the cross for me Holy Spirit I asked you to give me better thoughts I want to switch mindsets I don't want the mindset of self-destruction I want the mindset of life in peace I don't want to think my old ways I want to think you're in new ways I invite you to put thoughts in my mind all the time for they are the truth and help me to remember and realize that I have a new ability to say no Lord I used to just have willpower but now I've got spirit power I'm not obligated to give in to those compulsions anymore that if I ask you for help you'll help me and give me the strength to say no thank you that no temptation is too strong and when I'm afraid helped me to turn my thoughts to you help me to remember that I'm your child and help me to cry out to you father daddy I'm afraid to focus on my father not my fears and help me to focus on the long term not the short term you know the pain in my life you know the suffering I want you to use it for good and I want you to use it for your glory and I want to look and focus long-term on eternity not just the hearing now I want to do the right thing not the easy thing and when I start to get bitter and I feel life is unfair and when I feel hurt help me to remember that you God are good and you're in control that you are praying for me thank you for doing that that you are working all things for good thank you for doing that that you are for me not against me thank you for that and that you didn't spare Jesus and so you'll give us whatever we need thank you for that most of all I thank you that you will never let go of me you'll never stop loving me you'll never reject me thank you that I cannot lose my salvation no matter what else I lose on this planet that you will never stop loving me if you've never invited Jesus Christ in your heart Jesus say I want you to be my Lord my Savior I want you to be the manager of my life I don't understand it all but I want to trust in you completely thank you for your grace to me I want to love you for the rest of my life and I ask you to accept me into your family by faith in your name I pray amen you

Channel: Saddleback Church

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Length: 70min 40sec (4240 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 20 2014