Leaving a Legacy of Faith — Part 2

Hey, everyone. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. You know, sharing your faith with the next generation. Well, it's one of the most important things you can do. And we're so glad you're here, because today Rick is continuing in his Leaving a Lasting Legacy series. Rick gives you some very special tools to help you share the biblical principles of faith, hope, love, and generosity with the next generation. Let's get right to Rick with part two of a message called Leaving a A Legacy of Faith.

How do you develop persistence? Faith is being persistent when I don't feel like it. Well, the key is to look not at your problem, but to look at the Lord. Keep your eyes on that which is invisible, on the Lord. Probably the greatest example in the Bible of persistence is Moses, who for 40 years led a group of crying, squabbling, complaining babies around the desert while they questioned his leadership the entire time. And yet he never gave up. And the Bible says this in Hebrews 11:27. It was by faith that Moses, when he was not afraid of the king's anger, left Egypt and was not afraid of the king's anger. He held to his purpose. Oh, he's purpose driven. Like a man who could see the invisible. Now, the key is that last phrase. Circle it. He could see the invisible. You keep your eyes on God. You look at your problem, you're gonna be distressed and depressed. You look at God, you're gonna be at rest. The issue is, what do you have your eyes on? Now, I have no doubt today in a crowd this side, that some of you are discouraged or depressed or in despair even, and you feel like giving up on that relationship. It's just not working. You feel like giving up on your marriage. I've tried. It ain't working. Or you feel like giving up on your job or your dream or your finances. We're never going to get out of debt or your health or your relationship to God or that prayer that's been unanswered. You feel like giving up, and God brought you here today to say, don't do it. Don't give up. Faith is believing when I don't see it, obeying when I don't understand it, and persisting when I don't feel like it. Hang on. God will make a way if you trust him. Remember the story of Job? Job lost it all. And in that moment of having lost everything, said God, blessed be the name of the Lord. You give and you take away. And it doesn't matter whether I'm up or down or high or low, I'm going to trust you, God, because you're the one thing I can count on. And you say in spite of it all, I'm going to thank God. I'm going to bless God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What are you doing at that moment? You are living in faith. You're believing when you don't see it. That's what you're doing. You're obeying when you don't understand it and you're persisting when you don't feel like it. Number four, faith is announcing it in order to experiencing it, announcing it in order to experience it. In other words, sometimes you have to say it before you sense it. There's a direct connection between your mouth, what you say and your faith. Good example of this is Joseph. And we find in verse 22, it was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, now he's about to die. He says confidently spoke circle that that's announcing in order to experience it, confidently spoke of God's bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt. And he was so sure of it that he commanded them to carry his bones with them when they left Israel, had come to Egypt to be fed and they were taken captives. And Joseph says, when you guys go back, when you guys go, not if, but when you finally go back to Israel, I want you to take my bones with me because I want to be buried in my homeland. Do you know how long that took from the time he died? 400 years. That is announcing it. A long time advance before you experience it. But he was confident. He said it in advance. He spoke the future into existence. That is faith. Years ago, I stood up in front of 60 people at a little service of Saddleback, the first service, a little trial run service. And I announced a vision for this church and said, this is the vision. This is Saddleback Church. None of it had happened yet. We had sent out a letter. We had written a letter to the community. It said, at last, a new church. For churches who've given up on traditional church services. Come to Saddleback. At Saddleback, you meet new friends and get to know your neighbors. You hear practical, positive messages that give you uplift on Monday that you heard on Sunday. You trust your children to the care of dedicated childcare workers. You hear contemporary music with the upbeat flavor, get a lift instead of a letdown. And we hand addressed and hand stamped 15,000 of those and mailed them out 10 days before Easter. And we had our first service and 205 people showed up. Now the thing about that letter is when I said all those things, we had not had a service yet. I was speaking it into existence. One of the things I said at that first service is we already have 50 acres of land. We just don't get to use it for a while. Little did I know that it would take 13 years to get it. But when we finally got it, it was going to be 120 acres. My vision was too small, but it was okay for a kid who was 25 years old asking God for 50 acres in Orange county. At today's prices, you can figure that took a little bit of faith. I spoke it in advance. Now, announcing something in order to experience it is the way God operates. It's the way he created the entire universe in this planet. The next verse, Hebrews 11. 3, says, by faith we see the world called into existence by God's word. What we see created by what we don't see. God went out and he said, let there be light. Boom, there's light. God says, let there be water. Boom, there's water. God says, let there be plants. Boom, there's plants. He spoke it all into existence. He announced it in order to experience it. Look at the verse on the back of your outline. Psalm 33. 9. For he spoke and then it came to be. That's what happens. Now, the Bible repeatedly from Genesis to Revelation, makes a connection between your mouth and what God is able to do in your life. When you say it, you'll sense it. If you. If you walk around all the time saying, oh, I'm such a loser, guess what? If you go out saying, this is gonna be a good day today, guess what? The person who says, I can do it and the person says, I can't do it. They're both right. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue. The Bible says whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. There's an enormous power in your words. And if you're going to become a woman of faith or a man of faith, you have to change the way you talk. And you have to announce it in order to experience it. Now, sometimes speaking in faith appears totally foolish, totally arrogant, totally out of touch with reality. To people who don't understand faith, God came to Abraham one day. Actually, his name was Abram. And he said, abraham Abram. I'm going to change your name from Abram to Abraham. Abraham means the father of a great nation. Now, there's only one problem with this Abraham was 99 years of age and he had no kids. So can you imagine Abraham going to a cocktail party? Hey, what's your name? Father of many great nation, great many nations. Oh, that's wonderful. How many kids you got? None. How old are you? 99. That's a good one. He was probably ridiculed for his name ruthlessly because God said, you're going to speak it in advance, you're going to say it in advance. You don't live in the world of human reality. You live in the world of spiritual reality. And you see it not as it is, but, but as it can be, as it should be, as God wants it to be, as it will be. Romans 4:17. God said, I have made you the Father of many nations. He didn't have a kid yet. God, who gives life to the dead. And this is key circle. This calls things that are not as though they were. That's not lying. God isn't lying. He's speaking in faith. He calls things that are not as though they were. That is the definition of this kind of faith, announcing it in order experience it. Look at the living Bible. It says, next verse. God speaks of future events with as much certainty as though they were already past friends. If you want to understand your pastor, you need to know that I have the gift of faith. In fact, it is my primary gift. I have the gift of faith and I live in the world of spiritual reality. And I don't tell it like it is. I tell it like it could be, like it ought to be, like God wants it to be, like it can be. Now I realize that there are teachers out there, some well known, who a lot of their ministry is actually just telling it like it is about the world. And there's a lot of things in the world that are pretty bad. And so they criticize this and they criticize that and they put down this. And they tend to be fairly negative because there's a lot of reasons to be negative about it. And they say, well, I just preach it like it is. I just tell it like it is. Okay, that's one way to do it. But there's a better way. Don't tell it like it is. Tell it like it can be. Preach it for faith. You see, labeling simply reinforces telling it like it is has never changed anybody. It only makes people defensive. For instance, if I were to say to some of you guys, you're lousy fathers, you don't spend any time with your kids, that's telling it like it is. You know, Your career is more important than your kids. That's telling it like it is. You say you love your wife, but you don't really show her in sacrificial ways. You're a lousy father. And that just labels people, makes you defensive, and basically you go, you're right. Look how lousy I am. When you label somebody, you reinforce. When you tell a kid, you're never gonna amount to anything, you are setting them up for failure. On the other hand, if I were to say to some of you guys, I see in you the potential for greatness, if you would let Jesus Christ take control of your life, if you would let the Holy Spirit live through you, you're not gonna be perfect, but if you'll let God live through you, you can become a godly man. You can become a man that your wife really does love and trust. You could become a father that your kids really do admire. You could become a man in the community that the community goes, I can count on that guy. That's a man of character. That's a man who, when you can count on him, you could become that with Jesus Christ in your life. Now, that motivates me to change. Not telling it like it is. Tell it like it ought to be, like it could be, like it should be, like God wants it to be. Speaking it in advance. Every single milestone in the history of Saddleback Church, I announced it in faith in advance before anybody ever believed it. Every one of them. I announced it in faith in advance. This is what we're gonna do. This is what's gonna happen before anybody even saw it or believed it. It's just how faith operates. In fact, it's how you're saved. Look at the next verse. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God. In other words, you're not saved by your works, your good works. You're saved by your faith. And it is by our confession that we are saved. Now, he's not talking about confessing your sins. He's talking about confessing your trust in God. It's why at the end of every service, I say, let's bow our heads and pray. And we say, God, I'm putting my trust in you, Jesus Christ, I'm trusting in you today. That is confessing your faith. We do it almost every service. At the end, say this prayer. You're confessing your faith to God. You know, Jesus is walking down the street one day and a Roman soldier comes up to him, a centurion, and he says, lord, I have a Sick servant, I need you to heal my servant. And Jesus says, okay, let's go, let's go heal him. And the centurion goes, oh no, I don't want to bother you, Lord, you don't need to come to the place. Just say it. Just speak the word. He goes, look, I'm under authority. I'm a man of authority. When I say it, it happens. I've got staff, I've got servants. When I say it, boom, it happens. So Lord, you don't have to come to my place. Just say the word and I know my servant will be healed. And Jesus looks at that centurion and says, in all of Israel, I have never found a man with so great a faith. Why he understood that faith is announcing it in order to experience it. Number five, faith is giving when I don't have it, giving when I don't have it. There is a definite test between giving and faith, a connection. God uses finances to test us. And the Bible gives us the first person in God's list of hall of famers. The heroes of the faith is a guy named Abel, had a brother named Cain. And you know why he made it into the Bible? For faith? Because he gave an offering. Pretty amazing thing. Have you ever had to decide between giving your tithe and paying a bill? This is a test. God is testing your faith. Will I pay this bill or will I give this tithe? Now here's what it says about Abel, verse 4. It says it was faith that made Abel's offering to God a better sacrifice than Cain's. Notice what it was. It was his attitude, the faith. Through his faith, God approved of his giving. Now notice here. It's not what he gave that pleased God, but how he gave it. Let me say it again. Cause many of you don't get this. It's not how much you give that matters to God, it's how you give it. It's not the amount, it's your attitude. God couldn't care less about the amount you give. It's not the amount, it's your attitude. Do you give it in fear or do you give it in faith? There's two ways to give. When I give in fear, I go, I'm giving this, but I really don't want to give this. You know, I'm going to go help the poor. I don't really want to do it because this is money I need for myself and I'm afraid I won't have enough if I give it away or if I come and give an offering. Or if I give to help some ministry, I help to give to anybody. Well, I'm afraid that I won't have enough, so I'm going to hold on to it. Well, don't, don't give. Because in giving in, fear doesn't count. You don't get any points for it. In giving in faith, you're going, I'm giving because I know God will take care of me. He's made more promises about giving than anything else in the Bible. I, I'm gonna trust him in this. See, you can give by reason or by revelation. I would like for you to write these words down and I wanna explain it. It's very important. You can give by reason or you can give by revelation. And if you're gonna become a person of faith, you have to learn to give by revelation. What is giving by reason? When I give by reason, I look at my budget, I see how much money I've got in my bank. I say, this is what I can reasonably give. I make a reasonable decision and I give an amount that I think I can afford. It doesn't require any faith to give by reason. Even an atheist can give by reason. They do it all the time. You know, they give the Segerstrom Arts center or a lot of other philanthropies. They just figure out, this is a reasonable bound, I'll give. It doesn't take any faith at all. Giving by revelation is when I say, God, what do you want to give through me? How much do you want me to trust you for? In this particular instance, it's not reasonable. It's by revelation. You tell me what you want to give through me. Now an example of this. Second Corinthians 8 says, because of their great joy, this is the people who lived in Macedonia, they gave even more than they could afford. And how do you do that? It's giving when you don't have it. One of the best known Orange county executives told me years ago, Rick, when you tell business leaders that the best time to tithe is when their business is in the tank, when it's going down, when it's in the toilet. He said, that's the best time to give because you need God's help in your life. And it's an evidence of faith I'll never forget. I've had this test many, many times. Kay and I have been tested giving when we didn't have it. One of the most dramatic examples was when we built this building back in 95. How many of you were here when we were in the tent. Alright, so some of you remember this story. Most of you don't even know this story. We were meeting in a tent. We decided that we would have an offering to build this building. We would make commitments over a three year period. And so Kay and I prayed about what we would give. And we came up with an amount that certainly wasn't reasonable. It was unreasonable, it was more than we could afford. But we said, we're gonna trust God in this, so we're gonna give God this amount. And then I was reading the Bible and in First Chronicles when it talks about the temple being built in Jerusalem, which was the largest offering in history. $400 million was given to build the temple in Jerusalem. 400 million. And God comes to David, the leader of Israel, and he says, I want you to announce your gift publicly so everybody knows that you're sacrificing as much as everybody else. I will never let anybody sacrifice more than us for Saddleback Church. So I've made sure of that for 26 years. He said, you announce your gift. So David comes out to the people and he says, okay, we're going to build this temple. We're going to give an offering, whatever you want to give. Here's what I'm giving. So many cattle, so many pounds of gold and so many tons of silver and all this. And then he goes, anybody else want to give, go ahead. And they built the temple. And God said to me, rick, who's the leader at Saddleback? I said, well, I am. He said, I want you to announce your gift. I'm going, oh no, I really didn't wanna do this. God said, no, I want you to announce your gift to be a challenge to others. I go, God, I don't wanna do this. I really don't wanna do. Everybody's gonna misunderstand. There'll be some people who think I'm bragging. There'll be some people think I'm not giving enough. There'll be some people who think I'm trying to manipulate or motivate them. God, I really don't like the disapproval of people. So, no. It's one of the few times in my life I told God no. I said, no, I won't do it. And God said, well, you will do it if you want blessing and want that building built. And I argued with God and I really did not want to do this. I just thought it's going to be so misunderstood. Some people think it's showing off. And I mean it just I, more than any, I'd rather go have my teeth removed than do this. And so I wrestled with God. Finally, I said, okay. And many of you remember, we did this thing called Time to Build, which was four weeks of emphasis before we had the offering. And on the first week, I got up and said, folks, I really don't wanna do this, but in the Bible, it says the leader is supposed to announce his gift to show that we're all in this together. So I go, you're gonna misunderstand it, and some of you are gonna judge me. And I'm just. I don't even know where the money's coming from, because we don't. This is an unreasonable amount. But I said, my wife and I have prayed and we have committed to give over the next three years above our tithe to help build this building. And I gulped, and in my mind, I'm going, you fool. And I really didn't want to do it. And I said, folks, I don't know where that money's going to come from. So I was basically saying, we're going to give two years of our salary over the next three years to help build this building. How are we going to live on that? I don't know. But that's what we did. I said to the church, please pray for me. Okay? A month later, the weekend that we were gonna do this special offering, I mean, I'm still biting nails. I have no idea where the money's gonna come from. But I figure somewhere over the next three years, God will figure out a way for us to be able to do that. The Friday before that weekend, I got a call from Zondervan Publishing Company. This is in 1993. And they said, rick, we want you to write a book. And we want you to call this book the Purpose Driven Church, which was published in 95. And they said, we believe this is going to be a best seller. And so we're going to send you in advance. All right, now we're talking. Now we're talking. And I just remember getting up Sunday, the following Sunday, that weekend, two days later, and I said, hey, you guys remember when I made that commitment? You remember?

Yeah.

I was.

Yeah.

I go, well, you're not going to believe what happened. I said, on Friday, I got this call from a company called Zondervan, and I told. And when I explained that, the place went wild. I mean, they were jumping and shouting and dancing and singing, and people were crying. I was crying, Kay was crying. I just. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And I thought, I am so glad I never missed that test. I nearly missed it because of my own stubbornness. I would have missed how God is dependable if I hadn't publicly gone on record to show my trust. It was a lesson I will never forget. Look at what these verses say. Proverbs 3, 9. Honor the Lord by giving him the first part, not the leftovers. The first part. First 10% of all your income, and he will fill your barns and overflow your barrels with finest wines. He said, I will bless you. We'll play a game. You give to me, I'll give to you, and you see who wins. Look at the next verse. 1 Corinthians 16. On every Lord's day, that's Sunday, each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week and use it for your offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you to earn. Giving by faith is when you put God first.

Wow.

Thank you, Rick, for that amazing message. You know, people are being transformed by these messages every day, but that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact, here's Rick to share some important news with you.

Let's be honest about this time of year. At the end of every year, there are so many ministries that ask for you to support them in the end of year giving.

And you know what?

We believe in every ministry that proclaims the name of Jesus and we thank God for them. And I know it can be difficult to decide who to give to. So let me just give you some biblical foundations for giving, some simple guidelines for end of year giving. You might think of these three or four things. Number one, give to the ministry that God tells you to support. Go to God, pray to him, ask him, say, God, who do you want me to support?

And you know what?

I support you giving to whoever God tells you to give to. And if it's not daily hope, I still support you to give to who God tells you to give to. So pray and ask God. Second, never give when you feel pressured. The Bible says in Corinthians that we are to never give under pressure or compulsion or under guilt. So if you ever feel guilty about giving, don't give because God tells you in the word not to give at that time. Give because you want to give, not out of guilt or pressure. Number three, give to where you support and believe in the goals of that particular ministry. Now, every ministry has different goals. You know, the goals of daily hope. Our goal is ultimately to take the good news, the gospel, to the 3,000 tribes left in the world that have no Bible, no believer, and no body of Christ, no church. This is the final frontier. That's our goal. It's called the Great Commission. Now, other churches and other ministries have other goals, and that's fine. Some only have the goal of just preaching in America. There's nothing wrong with that.

But if you believe in and have.

A heart for going to the last, the least, and the lost, this would be a ministry you should consider supporting because, I don't know others that are doing what we're doing, trying to go to these final 3,000 tribes and then finally give where your gift will be multiplied.

For instance, at the end of every.

Year, there is a donor to Daily Hope who offers to give a matching grant to apply to any donation that we receive before the end of the year. Now, what this means is that for every dollar you're able to give this month, the Daily Hope, it's going to be doubled. That donor will match it. That multiplies your gift. Like the little boy who brought his loaves and fishes to Jesus and Jesus fed the 5000. If you give $25 to Daily Hope this month, the matching grant will match it at $25. If you're able to give $100, the matching grant will add another $100. That multiplies your gift.

I would consider that as a factor.

In where to give during this month. Now, let me just say this. If you can't help us financially, that's okay. I understand. But I would ask that you pray for us. I'm so grateful for those of you who are a financial supporter of this ministry. That monthly giving, month after month, it means so much to me, it means much to God, but it means so much for eternity to those who are hearing the good news for the very first time. You know, I don't take any salary or any income from this ministry. I serve it for free. And so you and I are partners together in reaching people for Christ all around the world. In closing, let me just ask you to continue to pray. Pray for me as I pray for you. And pray that God's word will be taught clearly, with compassion, with clarity, with simplicity, and in this new year.

And that it will not only help.

You as you listen to these broadcasts, but it will help us reach people for Christ and disciple believers and build churches all around the world, especially in the tribes that have never heard the name of Christ. Thanks for your generosity, thanks for your prayers, and God bless you all.

This month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the transforming love of Jesus with people around the world will be matched up to $100,000. You can give right now by going to pastorrick.com or you can just text the word hope to 70309. Again, that's pastorrick.com or just text the word hope to 70 309. And thank you so much for your support. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.