Rick Warren - A Faith That Anchors Me in Storms
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to week six of our special 16 week study during this COVID-19 virus crisis. I'm Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, author of The Purpose Driven Life and teacher for The Daily Hope Broadcast. Now, in this series, my goal is to share with you practical and biblical principles that will help you navigate this crisis, with stability and with strength. You know, I thought about it this week that actually we're dealing with two different kinds of pandemics. One of them is the physical disease, and the other is the emotional and spiritual dis-ease, emotional spiritual dis-ease that comes with all the radical changes in your life that have taken place these past months.
Now, I can't protect you from getting the virus, but I can help you cope with all the side effects of having your world turned upside down and I hope you'll tune in each week to these messages that are geared toward this particular pandemic. Now, the professionals in healthcare, they can tell you how to avoid the disease. But I can tell you how to avoid the dis-ease, the negative emotions that we've all felt from the stress of this pandemic. Now, we don't know how long this is gonna last. But God has not left us without help and without hope. You know, in the Bible, there's a very short little book called The Book of James. And it was written to people who were under enormous stress, they were actually in a crisis.
As I pointed out in an earlier message in the series, the Roman Empire began a period of severe persecution, and people's lives were just turned upside down. Believers could not meet together, sound familiar? As they had in the past, and in fact, they were scattered. The Christian church was decentralized all over the Roman Empire. So the Apostle James, who was actually the half brother of Jesus, wrote them a short letter. It's at the end of the New Testament, to encourage these people who are under stress, and to give them hope, and to teach them how not just to survive, but how to actually thrive in a crisis. Now, I said the book of James is a very short book, it's only 108 verses, but it is jam packed with practical guidance, specifically on how to counteract 16 common, negative emotions that people always typically feel in a crisis. And that's why I'm calling this series "A Faith That Works When Life Doesn't". A Faith That Works When Life Doesn't.
If you have a faith that doesn't work, when life doesn't work, it's a worthless faith. But this is a faith that works when life doesn't. If you missed any of the previous five messages I wanna urge you to go back and either listen to them, or watch them online. Now, so far, we've looked at the antidote to five unhelpful and unpleasant emotions that people typically feel in a crisis. They feel scared, that's usually the first emotion in a crisis, feeling scared, feeling fearful, then you feel troubled. And we looked at a faith that isn't troubled by trouble. And then you feel indecisive, and you have a hard time making decisions in a crisis. We looked at that. We looked at feeling tempted by old escape patterns and old coping strategies that we tend to go back to when we're under stress. And we also last week looked at the feeling loss, and feeling grief.
Now today, I want us to look at what God says to do when you're feeling unstable, when you're feeling insecure and unstable due to all of the changes that are going on around you. And I'm titling this message A Faith That Anchors me in Storms. A Faith That Anchors me in Storms. Now, I thought about this title, when I was watching the news this past week where, in addition to having to deal with a pandemic, several southern states here in the United States, were hit by severe storms and tornadoes, as if they didn't have enough to deal with. And the devastation was severe. And I don't care how many times you have seen a tornado and what it does to a community. It is always shocking to see entire homes just picked up in the air and torn apart and the pieces scattered for miles and miles. But, you know, as I looked at that this week, it reminded me that probably many people feel that's a metaphor for their life right now. It's been picked up. It's in the air. It's scattered everywhere and the storm of the Coronavirus has swept everything away. Everything's come unglued. And it's all up in the air right now.
Now, of course, you're gonna go through many different kinds of storms in your lifetime. Right now, we're all facing the Coronavirus storm, but you may be facing a financial storm because of it. Or you may be facing a health storm or a relational storm. All of these can create instability in your life. So how do you anchor your life in a way to give you stability when the inevitable storms come? I have here on this table, different kinds of anchors that I've picked up from mountaineers, from rock climbers, and their different kinds of anchors to anchor themselves to the rock. I wanna talk to you about how you do that in your life. How do you have stability when the inevitable storms come? You know, Jesus answered that question. At the end of a very famous sermon, it's called the Sermon on the Mount.
And so before we look at the book of James and continue on our study, I wanna first read to you Matthew chapter seven, verses 24 to 27. This is how Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount. He says this, Everyone who pays attention to my word and puts it into practice, is like a wise person who built his house on a solid rock. On a solid rock foundation. He said, those are the people who listen to my word and do what I say. They build their house on a solid rock foundation. Then a storm arose, and the rain poured down. And the floodwaters rose, and the storm winds beat hard against that house, yet it did not collapse. Nothing moved it because it was anchored to the rock. But, Jesus said, everyone who hears my word and does not practice it is like a foolish person who built his house on sand. When the storm came and it hit and the rains poured down, and the floodwaters rose and the winds blew against that house, it completely collapsed with a huge crash.
Notice two ways to live, built on solid rock or built on sand. And Jesus says that when the storms of life come, there are three external forces that can collapse your life. He said there are torrential rains, like the violent monsoon, there is the fierce winds, like hurricanes and tornadoes. And there's the rising floodwaters that submerge everything. Now, when you think about this, the rains attack your roof, they attack you, they come down from the top, the winds attack your windows, and your walls on the side, and the floods, attack your foundation. You know today in your life right now, there are three kinds of forces that are beating on you and they're trying to tear up your life and your relationships and tear them all apart. The first storm is the culture we live in. The culture we live in. The second is the changes that we live with. And the third is the crises that we live through. And of course, we're in a crisis right now, with this pandemic all around the world.
Now, the only way to make it through these storms is to be anchored and fixed and attached to something rock solid that is unchanging. And I'm here to tell you today that there's only one thing on this planet that's never going to change. Everything else is gonna change. But there's one thing on this planet, that's never gonna change, the truth of God's word, because truth is always true. If it was true 10,000 years ago, it'll be true in 10,000 years from today. It's not an opinion, it's the truth. Truth is eternal. And in a crisis, you really need to anchor your life on God's word. It's the only thing that you can completely rely on. Hebrews 6, verse 19, in the Bible says this, we have this hope, as an anchor for our soul, for the soul, it is sure and it is strong. That's the kind of anchor God wants you to have that holds you down and gives you stability when everything's flying off the off the charts, flying off the map, flying up in the air. Psalm 119, verse 81, says, God, my soul is weak from waiting for You to save me. But my hope is based on Your word.
Notice, hope is not based on an opinion, it's not based on a circumstance, it's not based on a personality. Hope is based on something that never changes and then you anchor into it and that gives you stability in the crisis. So that's what we're gonna look at today. How do I anchor my life on God's word so that I'm not blown away in the storm, like this current crisis? Well, James answers at the end of his first chapter. And if you'll take these practical steps this week that we're gonna look at, it's not gonna take me longer to share this with you. If you'll take these practical steps, you're gonna find yourself with greater stability, greater confidence, greater wisdom, and even God's blessing on your life. God promises it, he promises it.
Now, if you have printed out the teaching outline, which is on the website, then you can write down these steps on how to anchor your life to the rock of God's Word. All right? Here's the first step if you're writing notes, number one, first, if you're gonna anchor your soul to something that never changes, treat God's word as a gift, treat God's word as a gift to me personally. You know, in Isaiah, chapter 59, verse 21, the Bible says this, the Lord says, My people, I promise to give you my spirit, and my word, and these will be my gifts to you and your families forever. Now, James adds to what Isaiah says that he says, I'm gonna give you my spirit and I'm gonna give you my word.
In James chapter one, the passage we're looking at today, verse 17, and 18, James continues, Every good gift, and every perfect gift, every perfect present, comes from God, comes from God, our Father above who created all the lights in the heavens. He's talking about the sun and the moon and the stars. But unlike those lights, the sun and the moon and the stars that create shifting shadows, it says, God never changes. God never changes. And he says God chose to give us life by giving us His word, His Word of Truth, so that we could be his most important creation. Do you realize that you are God's most important creation? You matter to God more than the birds or the cows or the worms or the horses or the fish and in that passage I just read, okay, James, I don't know if you ever saw it. He mentioned about five aspects of God's gift of his word. He says, Every good gift and every perfect present comes from God.
Now, here's what he says about the Word of God. Five things. Number one, God's word is good. It's good. Now, what does that mean? He says it's a good gift. This is God's gift to you. And why is it good? Because it's beneficial. It's for your benefit. God didn't give us this book for his benefit. He gave us this book for our benefits. And if you're not reading this book, you're missing all the good things God wants to give you. God's word is good.
Number two, God's word is perfect. He says it's a perfect present. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means two things. First, if it's perfect, it means it's infallible. There's no error in it. You can count on it. Then he says, it's, being perfect means it's exactly what I need. You ever received a gift you didn't need? Yeah. You ever received an imperfect gift? Yeah. Well, God's word to you is his gift to you. And it's good, it's for your benefit. And it's perfect. It's exactly what you need.
Number three, God's Word is true. He says his word of truth. This book will always tell me the right thing to do. It'll never lead me astray. It's always correct. It will teach me the truth and it is the truth that sets us free said Jesus.
Then number four, God's word is unchanging. That's the thing about this gift. It's an unchanging gift. The Bible says God never changes. And so his word never changes. You know, as well as I do that some of the gifts you get in life wear out, they fade, they rust, they break down, and you can't always depend on them. But this is dependable. You can depend on it, it's unchanging. You can count on what God says.
And then the fifth thing he says is God's word is life giving. It's life giving. He uses the phrase God chose to give us life by giving us His word, you realize God didn't give His Word to horses. He didn't give His Word to ants. This is what makes us different from animals. God didn't give his word to fish. We were created in God's image, which means we have the ability to love God and be loved by God, we're created, and we were given his word so we can know Him. If you didn't have this, how would you know God?
Now, here's an important verse, it's there on your outline if you're taking notes, Romans 15, verse four says this. Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. And the scripture gives us endurance and encouragement so that we can have hope. Did you see that verse? Everything in this book was given to give you hope. Everything in this book, even the parts you don't understand, was given to give you hope. And he says, through this book, you're given endurance, that's the ability to keep on keeping on when you feel like giving up, and encouragement, the two things you need right now in this pandemic, they're in this book, if you don't have endurance, and you don't have encouragement, it's because you're not in this book. And if you're feeling discouraged these days, it tells me one thing. You're not spending enough time in this book, because this is the book that gives you endurance. And this is the book that gives you encouragement.
So the first way to anchor my life on God's Word, to anchor it into the rock, so I can't fall is to be, and the way I'm blessed by the Bible is to stop taking it for granted, treat this as a gift from God to you and then number two, realize that it's priceless. It's the owner's manual for life. So treat it as a gift, a good and perfect gift.
Here's the second step for anchoring my life on a solid foundation. It's the next verse in James chapter one. It's verse 21. I humbly accept whatever God says. I humbly accept whatever God says, I may not understand it. I may have a hard time with it. It may not seem, it may seem crazy, but I humbly accept whatever God says, first, I accept this as a gift. And then I humbly accept whatever God says, James chapter one, verse 21, the next verse says this. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept, circle that, humbly accept the message that God has planted, circle that word planted, in your hearts. For it's strong enough to save your soul. You need your soul saved? It's right here. You humbly accept the Word of God planted in your heart, circle humbly accept and the word planted. You know, in the Bible, God often compares our accepting his word to gardening. It's like God is planting seeds in our hearts and in our minds and he says, I want you to humbly accept what I'm planting in your heart.
That word accept in the Greek is the word, it's a hospitality term. It literally means to receive like a stranger, welcome them in fully. You are the welcome the word in your life, you say, as I'm reading this book, okay, God, come on in. God, come on, it is an attitude of acceptance. Before I even read your word today, I'm already saying, I am already accepting it. God said it. I believe it. That settles it. I say no, no, no, God said it. That settles it whether you believe it or not, because it's settled, and it's the truth. But notice in that verse, did you notice what, I skipped it over at the start, notice you have to do some weeding before you can do the seeding. Okay, in order to accept God's humble, word humbly planted in my heart, it says first, I gotta clean out some stuff.
Okay, it says Get rid of the filth and the stuff, I gotta clean out. I gotta do some spring cleaning. I've gotta take out the garbage. I've gotta clean up. I've gotta make space in my heart so God's word can be planted. It says Get rid of all the filth and evil in your life. Before you can accept God's word, You gotta do a little housecleaning. Now it's spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. And so it's time for spring cleaning. Maybe some of you been using some of your time to clean your closets at home. Well, how about your mental closets? It says get rid of the filth. You know, that word, it's funny what that word is in Greek. It's the word, and it literally means earwax. Earwax. That stuff is gross. Okay, you get a little on the Q-tip there and you pull it, oh, that's gross. The point is this: sin blocks me from hearing God. It plugs up the sound. I can't hear God when I got something else in my heart, in my mind, in my ears.
Okay, and he says, By the way, while you're at it, get rid of evil. That's anything you know that isn't right in your life. You know, personally, I like to work out here on the farm and I will often get really dirty and really sweaty and have a lot of, you know, dirt and smell on me and when I come home, Kay makes me take off my filthy clothes before I come into the house. Before you meet with God, you might need to take out the emotional and spiritual garbage in your life. How do you do that? Confession. You just admit it. Confession cleanses, and you just say God, I'm getting ready here. I accept this Bible as your gift. And I'm gonna read it and I'm gonna humbly accept whatever you tell me. But you've said before the seeding and before the feeding comes the weeding. So, I'm gonna do a little housecleaning here and I've got this junk I need to get rid of and you confess to God now. Now, I treat God's word as a gift. I humbly accept what God says to me and whatever he wants to say, that's fine.
Here's the third step, study then do whatever he says. Study then do whatever he says. That's the next several verses in James chapter one. James 1:22 to 25 says this, don't merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself. You know, you think, well, I'm listening to it, then I'm doing it. No, no, you're just listening to it. Says don't just merely listen to the word and deceive yourself. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man it looks at his face in a mirror.
Now we're gonna come back to this analogy, says God's word is like a mirror. He's like a man who looks in the mirror. And after looking at himself, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. Okay, in other words, it didn't do any good. But if you keep looking, this is what the Bible says. If you keep looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, this is the truth that sets us free. And you continue to do this, not forgetting what you've learned, but doing it, he just gave me four actions right there. He says, or five, he says, you will be blessed in whatever you do, hang on there. If you're taking notes, underline that you will be blessed in whatever you do. You wanna be blessed in whatever you do in the middle of this COVID-19 crisis, then you need to do those five things in that verse that the Bible just tells you to do about the Bible. God says you will be blessed in whatever you do. But there are some conditions. There's some premises for that promise that you have to fulfill in order to receive His blessing.
Now in those four verses that I just read, James gives us five ways that we are to anchor our lives to God's word. Okay, I want you to circle them. First is the word listen. He says, Listen, when you're listening, that's a way to anchor God's word. Then he says, keep looking intently. We'll come back to that circle, keep looking intently. Then he says, continue, circle the word continue. And then he says, not forgetting, circle the word not forgetting. And then he says doing, circle the word doing. To get blessed by the Bible. To get blessed in every area of your life you have to do all five things with the Bible. If you want all the blessing, you gotta do all five things, and they're all in those four verses.
Alright, let's just review them real quick. First, he says, listen to God's word. Now that's what you're doing right now. I am teaching you God's word. But you know, we forget 90 to 95% of everything we hear in about 72 hours. So you need to do a lot more than just listen. If you're sitting there listening to this and not taking any notes, you're gonna forget this all within 72 hours. So listening is good, but it's not the best way to learn the Word of God and that anchor needs to have more than just listening.
Second, he says, keep looking intently. Okay, what's that? Keep looking intently. He says, When you're looking intently in the Bible, there's a word for that. It's called studying. Keeping looking intently is not listening. It's studying the Bible. You look intently, you search. Now, now the difference? Do you know the difference between reading the Bible and studying the Bible? It's just one thing. You use a pencil or pen. You write things down. When you see something in the Bible, you write it down. If you don't write anything down, you're not studying the Bible. You're just reading it. Reading means I'm reading it. Studying means I'm not just reading it, but now I'm writing something down about what God has said to me, that's called studying the Bible.
And he says, look intently and keep studying. Then the third thing he says is continue to do this. What does it mean to continue? It means you make it a habit. You make it a habit, it means you do it daily. Now, I wanna recommend a habit to you that I want you to try for the next seven days, okay? Okay, and if you'll do this, I guarantee you, it's gonna change your life. It's a very simple habit. But I want you to do it every day, morning and night for the next seven days, is called His Word First And His Word Last or His Word, First Word, His Word, Last Word. H-W-F-W-H-W-L-W. His word, First Word and His Word, Last Word. Here's what I want you to do: put an open Bible by your bedside. Leave it open. Don't close it. Okay? When you wake up tomorrow morning, before you read anything else, before you look at your phone, before you listen to anything else, before you turn on Good Morning America or whatever you're doing and go to your internet site.
You read a portion of Scripture before you get out of bed. That's making his word the first word. H-W-F-W then you do at the end of the day, H-W-L-W, His Word, Last Word. Leave your Bible open, and by your bedside and before you go to sleep at night, after you finished all your, you know, TV, you know, downloading and whatever you've done. You're gonna read a portion of this book as the last thing you do, His Word, Last Word. before you go to sleep. Now friends, you're gonna be amazed at how much this simple habit will strengthen your life. You're gonna find your patience going up. You're gonna find your anxiety going down. It's gonna make major changes in your attitude. It will strengthen your life, and it will bring the blessing of God in your life. James has said, I want you to hear the Word, I want you to study the Word. He said, I want you to continue it as a habit.
And then fourth, he says, I want you to memorize it. You need to memorize Bible verses that are important to you. You don't have to memorize the whole Bible. But that's the not forgetting part that he says there. If you circled it, not forgetting, how do you not forget? By memorizing it. So here's what I want you to do. Anytime you read a verse that really speaks to you, don't just underline it in your Bible, copy it onto a little card that you can keep with you. And then you can read that several times a day. You can put it in your visor in your car, you can put it on your bathroom mirror, you can put it on your refrigerator. And the key to memorizing anything, actually is saying it aloud over and over.
You remember things through your ear, not through your eye. You can read something over and over and over and never memorize it. But if you'll read it aloud, it will, your ear will hear it and that's how you're gonna learn to remember verses. Now, nothing will do more to strengthen your spiritual life and give you the stability of having your life anchored to the rock, as Jesus said, than memorizing the scripture. You said, I can't do that. Yeah, you can. You say, well, I can't remember anything. You remember what's important. I know people say they can't remember but they can give you every baseball statistic for the last 30 seasons. Or they can give you the the top 30 lyrics for all the songs or they can give you the stock market. You remember what's important to you. You can remember a recipe, you remember what's important to you.
Now, the Bible word for remembering and reviewing God's word is called meditation. And I don't really have time to get into it, it just mean seriously thinking about God's word. But I will say this, God promises to do many, many great things in your life if you'll do one thing, if you'll learn to meditate, that means seriously think about his word every day. Now you say, Well, what does it mean to meditate? Well, it doesn't mean to put your mind in neutral and go ummmm, you know, doesn't mean to forget everything. Let me just say this. Do you know how to worry? Yeah, yeah you do, you know, some of you are pros at worry. If you know how to worry, you know how to worship and you know how to meditate. When you take a negative thought, you think about it over and over and over, that's called worry. When you take the Word of God and you think about it over and over and over, that's called meditating.
So use the same skills you use in worrying to meditate. It's not something spiritual that's way out there for superstars. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. Now, there are many promises about this. But I wanna just give you one, Joshua chapter one, verse eight. And it says this, do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, talk about it, meditate on it, think about it seriously, day and night, so that you're careful to do everything written in it. This is the same things James just said. He says, then you will be prosperous and successful. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You wanna be prosperous in your life, you wanna be successful in your life, that is the only promise of success in the Bible and God says if you'll do this one thing, you will be successful and prosperous. Meditate on my word, day and night. Day and night. His Word, First Word, His Word, Last Word.
Now that leads me to the last step in anchoring your life to God's word. Okay, finally, after I have treated this as a gift. After I have humbly accepted and say I'm gonna believe it, even if it's hard to understand, and I've cleaned out my heart and I'm receiving the planeted word, and I'm gonna hear it and read it and study it, memorize it, meditate on it, here's the final thing God says. Do it. Do it, just do it, do what it says. Remember that James says, you know, a lot of people are like, when they read the Bible, it's like they look in a mirror but then they walk away and they don't do anything about it. If you don't improve yourself, when you look in the mirror, what's the purpose of looking in a mirror? If you don't comb your hair, or, you know, fix something that's wrong on your face, what's the importance of looking in a mirror? This word is God's mirror, it helps you see yourself accurately, not the way the world sees you, not the way your parents see you, not the way your husband or wife sees you, but the way God sees you which is the true way.
When you look in the mirror, you see yourself. But if you don't do anything about it, what's the use of looking in the mirror? When God speaks to you through His Word, write down an action step, and then do it. The Blessing doesn't come from reading. The blessing comes in doing. So, I want you to practice these simple steps this week. Listen to the Word of God. There are podcasts out there. If you haven't listened to all of the messages in this series, catch up. Listen to the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Study. that means make some notes, memorize, meditate on the Word of God and then do it. And that's how you anchor yourself. Anchor yourself to the rock solid truth of God's Word. And that's how you get stability that you're gonna need in life when everything around you is changing.
You know, this week in my personal Bible reading, I came across a very unusual verse. But I wanna close with it. You know, in Scripture, God often tells us to study animals. He says, consider the ant, how industrious it is. And it says, consider this because, and he says, you know, you learn a lot just from nature. In Proverbs 30:26, I had never seen this verse before, I'm sure I read it many times, but I had never seen it as the way it hit me. It says this in Proverbs 30:26. Rock badgers are neither strong nor powerful, but they're wise enough to live in the safety of solid rock. And I thought, whoa. A rock badger doesn't have a very big brain, I'm sure. But it says it's weak, it's vulnerable, it's not very strong but it's wise enough to live in the safety of solid rock. Are you? Are you wise enough to live in the safety of the solid rock? On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand. During this pandemic, you may not feel very strong. You may not feel very powerful, but you can be wise. And the wise thing to do is to anchor your life on the rock of God's unchanging truth. The Bible.
Let me close by reading again what Jesus said, we started with this passage I wanna end with it. Jesus said, Everyone who pays attention to my word and puts it into practice is like a wise person who built his house on a solid rock foundation. And then the storm arose and the rain poured down and the floodwaters rose and the storm winds beat hard against it. That house, yet it did not collapse. Nothing moved it because it was anchored to the rock. But everybody who hears my word and doesn't practice it, doesn't put it into practice, is like a foolish person who built his house on sand. And when the storm hit, and the rain poured down and the floodwaters rose and the winds blew against that house, it completely collapsed with a huge crash. What are you building your life on? You're building it on pop culture, you build it on personal opinion, are you building it on the unchanging rock of God's eternal truth? If you're feeling unstable this morning, get in this book, get in it and read it, study it, memorize it, meditate and do it. Do it.
Now, every week, we do three things at the end of our service here at Saddleback Church. First, we recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. I wanna do this right now, I wanna pray with you. Maybe you've never invited Jesus Christ in your life. Last week, I invited people to pray this prayer. And I asked them to text me after they'd prayed the prayer. Over 2500 people said, I prayed that prayer and gave my life to Jesus Christ. 2500. Let's bow our heads right now and let me lead you in a prayer. Just Say: Dear Jesus Christ... Say it in your mind, if you're at home, and you're by yourself saying aloud:
Dear Jesus Christ. As much as I know how I opened my life to you (just say that) say I wanna build my life on the rock solid truth of your word. I don't wanna build my life on popular opinion or what culture says. I don't wanna build my life on the opinions of other people. But I wanna be anchored to the rock so that I have the stability when the storms of life come, I opened my life to you, Jesus Christ. And I humbly accept your word into my life and your spirit into my life. I'm humbly accepting that today. And I ask you to help me to become a person of the word that during this time when sporting events are canceled and concerts are canceled and going out to dinners canceled, and I have a lot of free time, may I spend that time in your word, getting to know you to become a man of the word or a woman of the word. And I ask you to accept me into your family by Your Grace. I'm putting my faith in you, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.