By Rick Warren

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other” (Romans 12:9-10 NLT).

If you want lasting change in your life, you must fill your life with love.

Love is the only thing that can change the unchangeable. Love invigorates. Love revitalizes. Love renews. Love refreshes. Love is the most powerful force in the universe, because God is love. The Bible doesn’t say God has love; it says he is love. Love heals what cannot otherwise be healed. Love uplifts. Love strengthens. Love energizes. Love empowers.
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other” (Romans 12:9-10 NLT).
“Take delight in honoring each other”—I love that! You know what that means? It means when people in your small group have a win in health, finances, or any goal they’ve set, you need to celebrate with them. Celebrate their wins. You lost two more pounds? Congratulations! You got a little bit out of debt? Fantastic! You had a breakthrough in your marriage? Terrific! The Bible says to take delight in honoring each other and to show genuine affection.
Here’s the amazing thing: God has wired the universe so that when you help other people, God takes care of your problems. God is looking at you not to say, “Are you helping yourself?” but “Are you helping others?” Do you want help with your goals? Start helping other people with their goals. Show love. Give yourself away. There is healing in giving back.
The Bible tells us the story of Job, who lost everything. He lost his health, he lost his family, he lost his wealth. He lost it all. At the end of the book, God gave it all back to Job. Why? Because Job prayed for himself? No. It says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10 NIV).
Why do you need to be in a small group? Not just so other people can help you, but also so you can help them. So you can pray for those people, and then God can help you. Give yourself away in love, and then watch God work in your life.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

Think of the ways you show love to others each day. What is the motivation behind your love?
How has loving others blessed your life?
Who in your life needs your love and support or needs you to celebrate with them today?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

As a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special agent on the southern border who fought sex trafficking for over a decade, I can say with certainty that the issue of the border wall should be not about power and partisan politics. It should be about the children – the tens of thousands of them who have been and are being trafficked into the U.S. and forced into the commercial sex trade.

Here’s a link to the editorial at Fox News.

The investigation has reached blockbuster status: The FBI has surreptitiously recorded the speaker of the Illinois House as well as Chicago’s two most influential aldermen — City Council committee chairmen who’ve overseen zoning and finances.

Here’s a link to the editorial at the Chicago Tribune.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is taking a victory lap, enjoying her “win” in denying President Trump funding for a border wall, and in particular celebrating the “unity” of her caucus.
Here’s a link to the editorial at Fox News.

You Will Not Change without Community
by Rick Warren

“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other” (Romans 12:4-5 NLT).

You will not make all the changes you need to make, want to make, would love to make, plan to make, or dream to make by yourself. If you could, you would. But you can’t, so you won’t!

The Bible says in Romans 12:4-5, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other” (NLT).
God wired the universe in such a way that we need each other. The phrase “one another” is used 58 times in the New Testament: Love one another, care for one another, encourage one another, support one another, pray for one another, greet one another, share with one another. God never meant for you to go through life as a lone ranger. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto! God didn’t design you to go through life by yourself. Whether you ever marry or not is irrelevant. You need a spiritual family, and you need to be in a small group.
You need me, and I need you. You need the people around you, and they need you. We belong to each other.
A lot of good self-help books will tell you the right thing to do, but they don’t provide the two things the Bible says you must have: God’s power and community. That’s what you need to really change. Change requires community.
At Saddleback Church, we’ve got people from every kind of background. We speak 65 languages at our church and have members from many different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
But what we have in common is our love for Jesus Christ. That unites us and allows us to help each other out.
Galatians 3:28 says, “In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus” (NCV).
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

What changes do you want to make in your life this year? What goals have you set?
How will the support of the people closest to you help you accomplish those goals?
What keeps you from accepting or asking for help from other people?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

Numerous Democrats, both in the House and the Senate for the last two weeks, have been speaking to their Republican colleagues. They have been asking them to broker this three-week opportunity to support the wall and negotiate other parts and other issues like DACA and Dreamers.

Here’s a link to the editorial at Fox News.

By Rick Warren

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3 NIV).

The first and greatest barrier to change in any area of your life is pride.

The fact is, nobody has it all together. I don’t have it all together. You don’t have it all together. The Pope doesn’t have it all together. The Bible says nobody is perfect—period. Everyone on this planet is broken because of sin.
But we walk around trying to impress people and pretend like we’ve got it all together. The problem is that if you want lasting change in your life, you first have to humbly assess your current state and admit that you don’t have it all together. You have to admit you have a problem with your finances, your health, or wherever you’re struggling in your life.
Romans 12:3 says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (NIV).
Are you willing to ask the people closest to you, “Where do I need to change?” Do you have the courage to ask others to be honest about you and with you?
Why is this so important? Because you can only manage what you measure. If you don’t know the measure of your faith, you can’t grow in your faith. If you don’t know the measure of your health, you can’t develop and grow in health. If you don’t know the measure of where you are financially, you can’t set goals financially. If you don’t know the measure of where you are spiritually or vocationally or relationally, then you can’t grow in those areas. You can only manage what you measure.
It’s also important to record your progress in any goal—whether through a journal or a record or some other tool you want to use. If you’re going to set some health goals, financial goals, or any other kind of goal, record your progress throughout the year so you can measure your growth and your development.
Evaluate where you are so that you can know where you should go.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

What people in your life can you talk with openly and honestly?
What areas of your life do you need to evaluate so that you can set realistic goals for change?
What are some ways you can keep track of your growth and progress?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

What people in your life can you talk with openly and honestly?
What areas of your life do you need to evaluate so that you can set realistic goals for change?
What are some ways you can keep track of your growth and progress?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, announced his retirement days before he was slated to start his 17th term in Springfield last week.

Here’s a link to the column at Illinois News Network.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing the unthinkable: She’s denying President Donald Trump the forum to verbally deliver the State of the Union address. The far left is cheering. For them, the move confirms that they selected the right speaker by once again entrusting Pelosi.

Here’s a link to the editorial at Fox News.

A Prayer to Remind You of Your Worth
By Julie Sunne

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14

For years, I had secretly thought that if I accomplished enough I’d be accepted and worthy. Each day I spent trying to please others by earning enough money, making a name for myself and providing for every need that crossed my path.

I believed I should be the greatest mom, the perfect wife, the best friend, the hardest worker, the one who had all the answers and cared enough to respond to everyone’s requests. I bought into the lie that success equals validation.

It was beginning to strangle me. Then the thought snuck in that my worth isn’t something to be found or earned, but it’s innate because of who God created me to be.

Each of us is created in the image of God — remarkably and wonderfully made. We don’t need to prove ourselves or earn our worth. And as today’s key verse reminds us, God’s works are wonderful. We already have worth in our Creator and Redeemer. That realization alone should give us peace as we live out who we are freely in Christ.

Who are you trying to prove your worth to? Today, embrace the truth that in Christ you are already worthy.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, Thank You for fearfully and wonderfully creating each of us. Thank You for giving us worth in Your eyes. Help us live as the one You uniquely intended us to be. Help us abide instead of strive, living peacefully and joyfully as heirs to Your Kingdom and co-heirs with Christ. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

fearfully-wonderfully-made