Leaving a Legacy of Faith — Part 3

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. What a great series this has been. And today we're gonna join R for the final part of his message called Leaving a Legacy of Faith.

Number six. Faith is thanking God before I receive it. Thanking God before I. Believing when I don't see it. Obeying when I don't understand it. Persisting when I don't feel like it. Announcing it before I experience it. Giving when I don't have it. Thanking God before I receive it. And the Bible gives us an illustration of this part of Faith. Joshua, verse 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around them for seven days. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. He dies. Joshua takes over. He leads them into this country. That's their country. But while they've been gone, other people moved back in. During those 400 years, Jericho is now the most fortified city in the world. They go, there's no way that us, a bunch of slaves, are going to be able to take down the most fortified city in the world with all these walls. So we're just going to trust God and thank him in advance. And so for six days, the nation of Israel goes out and they walk around the city of Jericho in total silence. That had to be pretty freaky for the people inside Jericho. Look at what are they doing? They're walking around our city every day outside the walls in total silence. And on the seventh day, they said, now we're going to celebrate. And they blow their horns and they make music and they sing. They go, thank you, God, that you've already given us this city. Thank you, thank you. We're thanking you in advance, Lord. And the walls came tumbling down and Joshua fit the battle at Jericho. That was an amazing instance. Faith is thanking God before I receive it. Now listen, faith is not believing. God can do something. He can do it whether you believe it or not. Faith is not hoping he will. That's hope. Faith is thanking God in advance. You say, wait a minute, I gotta thank God in advance before I get it? In order to get it? Yes. Look at what Jesus said. Next verse. When you pray and you ask for something, believe that you have received it. Past tense Received it. And you will be given what you ask for. You don't beg God. You thank God in advance. You say, I gotta believe I've got it in order to get it. Yep, that's called faith. If you thank God in advance. If you thank God after you've got it, that's gratitude. That's not faith. But when you thank God in advance, that is faith. If I gave you a check for $1,000 and I handed you a check right now for 1,000 bucks, would you wait until you cashed it to thank me? No, you'd thank me right now, but it really wouldn't be yours until you actually cashed it. Because that check is really a promise. And when I would give you that check, you'd go, thank you, Rick. Believing that I was credible and believing that I had enough money in the bank to cover that check for $1,000, you fool. But God is no fool. And God says if I say it, it's gonna happen. So faith is thanking God in advance. What I'm saying is this. If God tells you to go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, take the tartar sauce with you. Cause you're gonna have a fish fry tonight, friend. The Bible says this because of your faith. It will happen. I want you to hear Rob's story. Would you give him a warm welcome?

Good afternoon. I'd like to share with you today about how God has been teaching my wife, Kim and I to live by faith in two specific areas. First, our family. And second, our finances. By far, the greatest test of faith in our family has been our struggle with infertility. We got pregnant shortly after we were married. And I'll never forget the day of that first ultrasound. It began with my wife beaming as the doctor ran the instrument over her midsection looking for that heartbeat. And it ended in the hospital where the nurse took me aside and said, I want to prepare you. It doesn't look good. You're going to have to be ready for when we tell your wife. After the miscarriage, we were discouraged. But we kept trying to conceive, looking forward to having our baby. But we had another miscarriage and then a third one. This was really testing our faith when we wanted to have a baby so badly. Of course, we were constantly reminded of our pain because everyone around us seemed to be having babies. When you're dealing with infertility, each and every month, there is the possible hope for a new life followed by despair. Despite this great test of faith, my wife Kim, never stopped giving to others. Instead of isolating herself from everyone else who was getting pregnant. Kim never, never ever missed anyone else's baby shower, a child's birthday party, or playtime with friends and their kids. My wife never stopped being there for others. For me, for her friends, for her family. In spite of this test of faith, every month we kept trying to conceive with no results. Finally, we completely surrendered the whole thing to God. It was quiet for a while after that. But then came the greatest blessing one could ever imagine. God had planned a baby just for us. He just happened to be in an orphanage in Russia instead of in Kim's womb. Our little miracle, Matthew. Gift from God. Now, how can you not help but give that kid the 10th popsicle with those blue eyes? I always get in trouble for that one. Now, God didn't answer our prayer for a child in the way we first imagined to be pregnant. God showed us that adoption was our calling, and he gave us a child beyond our imagination. When our adoption was announced and it came time for Kim's baby shower, everyone showed up in droves. All these mothers that Kim had faithfully given and celebrated with them in their joy during her time of greatest sorrow. It was fruit of the faith. A second area that God has tested us in our faith and learned to trust him has been our finances and learning to give. When my wife, Kim and I first started giving, I can tell you it was very hard to write that tithe check. That's a very sad statement on our part because God has so richly blessed us. But as I looked at giving, I admit that I thought about what that money I was giving back to the Lord could buy for me or what additional financial security that money might provide. Honestly, I wasn't trusting God very much. But we took a step of faith and we began the process. And through this step, the following. Number one, God showed me that I had way too many possessions, that they robbed me of my time. Too many possessions robbed me of my time. Time that is better spent to serve God. Time is better spent to take steps of faith. Number two. God reminded me that I'm really well off. He reminded me that I live in Orange county with material blessings so far beyond the majority of the rest of the the world. How could I not give, considering all my blessings? I noticed that as I became a generous giver, I actually became less and less concerned with the things of this life and more concerned with God's purpose for my life and his kingdom. I gained a greater sense of intimacy with God as my heart was drawn closer to Him. And I have learned to be grateful for what God has done. I am grateful for God's provision on my life for where I live, worship and work. I am grateful that through trial God has showed us how big he is and how big he comes through. I am grateful for my wife and my son Matthew. And I am so grateful to be given the great opportunity to experience the love a father has for his son. It's amazing. Sometimes I think my heart's going to bust. I love that little kid so much, and I'm most grateful for that. God loves me infinitely more than I love our little boy. I can't really fully comprehend it. I think my puny little heart is going to bust because of my love for my son. But then here's God sacrificing his own son on the cross for me, for you. And he's the king of the universe and he cares about us all that much.

Wow.

When I think of all God has done for me, how can I not give back to him now? I don't know what ways God is testing your faith these days. It may be in your family, it may be in your finances, and it may be in some other area. But my advice is to let go of your fear and trust Him. God can be trusted. Thank you.

Now, Rob's story illustrates two really important truths you got to know. Number one, God always answers prayers. Number two, not always the way you want. God is not a vending machine. You put in the faith and you get out whatever you want. A vending machine will give you all kind of stuff bad for you, like cigarettes and Twinkies. God will never give you something that's bad for you, so you can pray for it all you want. And if it's bad for you, he's not going to give it to you. God is not a genie where you rub the bottle and he just your wish is his command. In that way that makes God your servant. No, you serve God, not God serve you. And if you go home and read this chapter Hebrews 11 about the other heroes of faith in God's hall of Fame, you'll find that a bunch of them had bad endings. Some of them were killed, murdered, persecuted, tortured, went through poverty, went through disease, went through all kinds of bad things. And God says they're still great people of faith. They're heroes. Everything didn't turn out all nicey nicey in their life, but they were, believe me. And I had something better in mind for them. What I'm saying is that living by faith doesn't take away all your problems, you're gonna have problems in your life, and not all your problems you can just pray away. Sometimes we pray for God to take away a problem and he gives you the strength to go through it, and then you're a better person. You can ask the believers in Darfur right now or in Iraq or in North Korea or in Iran or in any other place where you can get killed for being a Christian. And things don't always turn out right for people of great faith, because God says, this isn't all there is to the story. You're only here on Earth. And he says, I've got some better stuff planned for you. And you will be rewarded for your faith in even if you don't get what you were praying for. Does that make sense? God says some of those things that you've been praying for and you've been praying for and you've been praying for, and you've never got them. He's going, don't worry. This is not the end of the story. You may not get all you ask for here on earth, but I have something better for you. And you will be rewarded for your faith. Heaven. That's why the last number seven is faith is trusting if I don't get it on Earth. Faith is trusting if I don't get it on Earth. Anybody can trust God when things are going great. But real faith is developed in the valleys. And the Bible talks about all these people who were persecuted and killed and tortured for their faith. And today, this last year, well over 100 million people around the world were persecuted for their faith even in the 21st century. And the Bible says this, they were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised because God had planned something better. If you could understand every one of God's moves, he wouldn't be big enough to be your God. And some of the unanswered prayers in your life. Later you will look back and you go, as Garth Brooks used to sing, thank God for unanswered prayers. God had a plan that you did not see. Now you may say, I wish I had more faith. How do you get more faith? Faith comes from the word of God. Get into God's word at our staff meeting. Saddleback staff. Eric, who's the head of our technology department, wonderful guy who walked away from a job with about, I don't know, 10 or $20 million in stock options and walked away from it to come on staff at Saddleback Church and be a pastor here. Lead Our technology team, we've been working for several years on a software project that we're using with all of our peace teams. Eric, our pastor of the tech team, came and said, here's the thing, but we're going to have to stop the project because we've run out of money for it. And I said, how much money do you need? And he said, we need a quarter of a million dollars to keep it going, this software project. And I said, okay, staff, I'm going to teach you about faith right now. Faith is calling things that are not as though they were. It is announcing it in advance. And I'm telling you right now, we have the money. I just don't know where it is. But we already have that quarter of a million dollars, and we're going to act like we've got it, even though we don't know where it's coming from. Everybody be praying and thanking God in faith. The next day, Thursday, I had to fly up to Portland, Oregon, to speak to a group called Generous Givers, Wealthy philanthropists. Yeah. And I was thinking the same thing, okay? And on the plane going up, I'm going, oh, maybe this will be the answer. Okay? All these Christian wealthy people who come together for me to teach them on giving. So they say, how can we give in a more generous way? And so I go up there and I do a message and I teach them about giving. And I speak that night, and I get up in the morning, eat breakfast with them, get on a plane and leave. Nothing happens. I'm going, okay, well, that was my idea. Well, maybe God would use that. God said, no, no, that's your plan, Rick. I got another plan. In the car going to the airport, I get a call from Ann, who's the secretary of David and me, and she goes, rick, I just opened an envelope from New York City, and there's a check in here for $150,000. And I'm going, well, maybe this is it. Maybe this is it. And I said, who's it from? And she told me the name. And I go, no, no, that's for another project. And you know how sometimes you're like, well, God, could we use this one for this one? You know? And you start trying to play funny games here. And he goes, rick, you know that money's for something else. Yeah, I know, God, I know. I just thought I'd suggest it to you, you know? He goes, no, no, that's not it either. Now, at the staff meeting, one of our staff members was so moved when Eric Said, we're going to have to stop this software project because we don't have the money. She came up and she said, I just got this check and I want to give it to the software project. And it was $1,000. I was moved by her generosity. Eric was moved. But it wasn't going to be 250,000. It wasn't enough. While Eric gets on a plane, goes to India, and while he's there, I say, get word to Eric. Do not fire the people. Do not lay him off. The money is here. We just don't see it yet. I'm speaking it into existence. Don't lay him off. And while he's there, he remembers the story in the Book of Kings where it says Elijah was praying for rain. There had been a drought in the countryside, and so he started praying for rain. And as he prayed up on this Mount Carmel, seven times, he sends his servant out to go look toward the ocean, say, are there any clouds coming? And each time they come back, the servant goes, no clouds. And he prays some more. He sends them out. And finally on the seventh time, he says, there's a little cloud out there about the size of a man's palm. And he goes, okay, the storm is on its way. And Eric goes, that thousand dollars, that's the small cloud. The answer is on its way. Now he's learning the lesson that I wanted him to learn. The next day, Wednesday or Tuesday, we get a. I get a check in the mail from a couple in this church. A very huge, huge check. And so I call the couple up and say, come in and meet with me and sit down. And my first question is, well, do you have a direction that you want this money to go for? Now, I wasn't going to tell him about the need, because that's cheating, okay? So I just said, do you have a direction that you want this money to be used for? Designated. And they said, oh, no, it's undesignated. It's just our gift to the church. Use it in any way, whatever the most urgent needs of the church are. And I said, they said, what are the most urgent needs? Well, there is one thing. And so I told them about. I said, we've got a staff praying for this thing. We need a quarter of a million dollars. And the guy looked at me and said, well, you got your answer. And God provided within seven days a quarter of a million dollars. If you've never trusted God in faith on either end, the receiving end or the giving end, you don't know what it's like to be fully alive. Let's bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, dear Jesus, you've said, without faith, it's impossible to please you. So I want to learn to live by faith and I want to model it and I want to teach it to the next generation. All those problems that are in my life, Lord, help me to believe when I don't see it. Help me to obey when I don't understand it. When you tell me to do something, I'm going to do it whether it makes sense or not. Help me to persist when I don't feel like it, when I feel like giving up. Help me to announce in order to experience it, to say it, to sense it. Teach me how to give when I don't have it. Teach me how to thank you before I receive it. And teach me how to trust you if I don't get it. When I'm here on earth, I want my life to please you. If you've never invited Jesus into your life, say, jesus Christ, I put my faith in you. Starting tonight, I wanna trust you. I want you to be the boss and the manager of my life. In your name I pray. Amen. Hi, everybody, this is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me rickastorrick.com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ, and I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Such a great message by Rick today and every day. I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was. And now here's Rick with an important message.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to love God with all your heart. That's worship and love your neighbor as yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment. And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize them into the family of God. That's fellowship. A sign of fellowship. And then he said, teach them. Obey everything I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the Great Commission. We believe at daily hope that a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will produce a great Christian, a great Church, a great company, a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus not just across America, but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth and the power that we need to follow Him. Every day is available to every single one. You know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen through a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family and I need your help. We could not do this without your support. Now, you know I don't take any funds from this broadcast. We don't have any giant million dollar donor who's giving big gifts to this. It comes from daily donations from listeners like you. We're 100% listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast? And would you continue to support us and write to me. Let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me. So write me, pray for me and support this ministry. And God will bless it. And God will bless you and we'll get to heaven and we'll thank God for all the people gonna be in heaven because you cared.

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