Pastor Rick Warren often says you were made by God and for God, and
until you understand that, life will never make sense. Welcome to Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope Today. In our series called God's Vision for the Rest of your
Life, Rick continues in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose and
vision that the Lord has for your life. Now, in just a few
moments, we're going to tell you how to get a copy of the brand
new Daily Hope twenty twenty one Prayer Journal based on the theme God's Great Adventure
for You, a great resource to help make your time in prayer the best
it can be. Go to Pastorick dot com to find out more, or
text the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's
Pastorick dot com. Or the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand
and four right now here's Pastor Rick Warren. Would part one of a message
called Embracing the Vision the purpose driven Life. God has never created anything without
a purpose. Every plant has a purpose, every rock has a purpose,
every animal has a purpose, every planet, every star, and if your
heart is beating, it means God has a purpose for your life. Now,
if you want to know the purpose of your life, you have to
start with God. I realize that in our culture a lot of people say,
you want to know your purpose, look within, like trust the force,
Luke. The only problem is that doesn't work. I tried looking within.
I didn't like what I saw. If you knew could discover your purpose
by looking within yourself, we'd all know it by now. It doesn't work.
You See, the truth is you didn't create you, so you can't
tell yourself what you were created for. Does that make sense? God says
I made you, and I'm the one who tell you what your purpose is.
If I were to hold up an invention that you'd never seen before,
and I said, tell me the purpose of this invention, well, you
wouldn't know what the purpose of it is unless you either a talk to the
inventor the creator who made it, or b read the Owner's Manual. The
only way you're ever going to know the purpose of your life is either a
talk to the creator who created you, or b read the Owner's Manual.
And so today we're going to look at what God says are the purposes of
your life. Now, if you'll open to the first page. There's a
couple verses from the Bible there. The first verse says this, it is
in Christ that we find out who we are and what we're living for part
of the overall purpose He's working out in everything and everyone. God has a
global or a universal purpose for the entire universe. He has a cosmic purpose
for history, and you are a part of that purpose. Fits into God's
grander scheme. And notice the next verse. Let's read it aloud together.
Everything, absolutely everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.
Now let me try to summarize it real simply for you. Number one,
you were made by God, and you were made for God. And until
you understand that, life isn't gonna make sense. Now, God created you
to last forever, Yes, forever. One day your heart's gonna stop,
that's gonna be the end of your body. But that's not going to be
the end of you, because you were made in God's image and you were
made to last forever because you're made in God's image. Now what that means
is this, You're going to spend more time on the other side of death
than you do on this side here on earth. You're gonna get sixty eighty
at the most, one hundred years at the most. That's really not very
long considering the fact that you're going to spend trillions and trillions and trillions of
years in eternity. You're going to spend far more time on that side of
death than you do on this side of death. So the question we're asking
this morning, then, is what on Earth am I here for? What
am I supposed to do with the sixty or eighty or at the most one
hundred years I get on this planet in preparation for the life that's in the
future. You see, the Bible says that life is preparation for eternity.
If anybody ever asks you, what is the meaning of life here, it
is life is preparation for eternity. This is the warm up act before the
real play begins. This is the dress rehearsal before the real show starts.
This is the initial warm up lap around the race before the real race begins.
Life on Earth is the kindergarten, It's the preschool. It's the get
ready stage for eternity. And as I said, you're going to spend more
on that side of eternity than you do on this side and in eternity you're
going to do a certain number of things. We're going to talk about him
this morning. And what God wants you to do while you're here on earth
is practice. God wants you to practice on earth what you're gonna do forever
in eternity. So let's get right into it. The Bible says, God
has five purposes for your life. Number one, you might write this down.
He turned the page. God planned me. God planned me for his
pleasure. God planned me for his pleasure. Everything in the universe was created
so that God could enjoy it. He created it all for his pleasure and
for his enjoyment. The Bible says this in the Book of Revelation, you,
God created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and
were created. Everything in the universe, including you, was created for God
to enjoy it. He wanted it, and so he created it for his
enjoyment. Read with me the next verse, the Lord takes pleasure in his
people. Let me ask you, how many of you are parents? Going
to see your hands? All right? Do you take pleasure in watching your
kids? You say most of the time. And I think the same thing
is true with God. Most of the time God takes pleasure in watching you
be you. I've got a little eighteen month old granddaughter now. Her name
is Kaylee, and I take pleasure just in watching Kaylee. She doesn't have
to do anything special. She can just kind of toddle around the room,
and I get so much enjoyment just watching her be her. Now. She
doesn't have to do anything spiritual, like come out and preach a sermon to
me. She doesn't have a quote a Bible verse, she doesn't have to
pray, she doesn't have to do anything quote holy. I just enjoy her
for being her. Some of you have never understood this. You think that
the only time God smiles on you is when you're doing something quote spiritual,
like when you're going to church, or when you help a poor person,
or when you show kindness to somebody, or you're reading your Bible. And
you think the only time that God is happy with you is when you are
doing something quote spiritual. And you don't realize that God gets pleasure out of
just watching you be you because He created you. You're listening to Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope. Rick will be back in just a moment with the rest of
today's lesson. You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional at pastorick
dot com. That's pastorick dot com. If you want to make your time
in prayer the best can be, then you're going to want to get a
copy of the brand new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This year's
theme, God's Great Adventure for You, will help you tap into God's power
and presence when you learn how to pray with passion and purpose. Covered in
soft vegan leather with full color pages, this prayer journal has sections to pray
for specific people and situations, as well as space to express your gratitude and
personal prayer requests to God. Each page is beautifully designed and filled with inspiring
Bible verses, photos, and artwork. The God's Great Adventure for You Prayer
Journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a vibrant prayer life,
connect with God, and establish consistent daily prayer time. When you give
a gift to help daily hope take the certain hope of Jesus to people around
the world, We'll send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer
Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. You can
give right now by going to Pastororick dot com or by calling eight hundred six
hundred five zero zero four. We'll say thanks by sending you the brand new
Daily Hope Prayer Journal. That's Pastorrick dot com. Or call eight hundred six
hundred five zero zero four. You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again.
Here's Pastor Rick Warren. Some of you have never understood this. You
think that the only time God smiles on you is when you're doing something quote
spiritual, like when you're going to church, or when you help a poor
person, or when you show kindness to somebody, or you're reading your Bible,
and you think the only time that God is happy with you is when
you are doing something quote spiritual. And you don't realize that God gets pleasure
out of just watching you be you because He created you. When my three
children were small, I used to sneak into their room at night and sit
down by the side of their bed and just watch them breathe, just watch
them sleep, and I got so much joy. I would just sit on
the edge of their beds, these little kids, and I'd watched their chests,
rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall, and I
would just watch them sleep peacefully and breathe. And I got so much pleasure
out of that. Because I was their father. I created them. They
were created simply out of my love, and I loved them. They didn't
have to be doing anything fancy. I just loved them. And that's the
way your heavenly father is toward you. God looks at you and he loves
you simply because he made you. Now, notice what the Bible says.
Look at the next verse. Long before he laid down the earth's foundations,
God had us in mind, and he settled on us as the focus of
his love. Now, let me explain this verse. Before God even created
the universe, he thought of you, and he focused on you. And
the Bible says that the entire universe was created simply so he could create the
human race, so he could love us. We are the focus of his
love unlike anything else in creation, not like animals or angels or stars or
anything else. We were created to be loved by God. Now this is
very important. Get this. The Bible says that God is love. It
doesn't say he has love. It says he is love. It is the
essence of his character, It is the nature of his being. God is
love. Now. I could go around and saying, oh, I'm so
full of love, but unless I bestow it on a person or a pet,
or an object or something, it doesn't do a whole lot of good.
The Bible says you were created as an object of God's love. Now,
get this, This is so important. The very reason you're sitting in
that chair right now, the very reason you're taking your next breath, the
very reason your heart is still beating is this. God made you simply to
love you. And if God hadn't wanted to love you, you would not
be alive, You would not be in existence. God thought you up in
his mind and created you simply to love you, because God is love.
Now, he didn't need you. God wasn't lonely. God's never been lonely.
But he wanted you, and you were made. The number one reason
you were made is God made you simply to love you. Now listen,
If you ever grasp the profound truth I just shared with you, and you
let it sink into your psyche and into your soul, you will never again
have a problem with inferiority or insecure or low self esteem. Because when you
realize that God created the entire universe just so he can create the conditions so
human beings could exist, so he could create you to love you. That's
how much you matter to God. That's how valuable you are, and that
would take away all of those feelings of insecurity that God created you in order
to love you. Now, Unlike animals, we're made in God's image and
that gives us the capacity to know and love God back. That's what makes
you different from animals. You're never going to see a cow praying before its
meal. You're gonna never see a kiddy full its hands and say grace before
it eats. Why they're not made in God's image. But God has given
you the capacity to know and love Him back. That's what makes you uniquely
human. One day, Jesus is walking down the street and the guy walks
up to me and says, Lord, what's the most important command in the
Bible. And Jesus says this, Let's read it together. Love the Lord
your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Circle first and greatest.
God says, the most important thing in life is to know and love
him. Look at the next verse, God says this, I don't want
your sacrifices. I want your love. I don't want your offerings. I
want you to know me. Can you sense the passion? This verse circle
the words know and love Because that's the first purpose of life. The most
important thing you can know in life is to know that God created you to
love you. And the most important thing you can do in life is to
know and love him back. That's the number one purpose in life. Now,
what does it mean. It means that when you get up in the
morning, you probably got to do something like this, sit down on the
edge of your bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else
done today, I want to get to know you a little bit better,
and I want to get to love you a little bit more, because that's
the first purpose of life, to know and love God who created you to
be loved by Him, And I want to know you and love you a
little bit more. And if at the end of the day you have done
those two things, it doesn't matter how many things have gone wrong in your
life. If you know God a little bit better and love him a little
bit more. That day was a success. On the other hand, it
doesn't matter how many deals you close, how many sales you make, how
many achievements you rack up, how many awards you win at the end of
the day, if you don't know God a little bit better and love him
a little bit more, you have just missed the purpose of that day.
You have wasted that day, and that day is a failure. Why Because
God did not put you on this earth just to mark things off your to
do list. That's a pretty shallow way to live. God did not put
you on earth simply to get up in the morning, go to work,
come on and watch TV, and go to bed and go to party on
the weekend. He created you first and foremost to know and love Him,
to get you ready for spending eternity with Him. And if you miss that,
you've missed the first purpose. And why don't you write this down there?
The first purpose of life is to know and love God. That's who
created you. He knows you, he loves you, He wants you to
know and love him back. The first purpose is to know and love God.
You see what the tragedy is. Most people go through their entire life
missing the purpose of it. They know all kinds of other things. Oh,
they know the stocks quotes, they know the sports scores, they know
the top ten, who's on the cover of People magazine, they know all
kind of phone numbers. But they don't know God. And God says,
that's a tragedy. On the top of the next page, the Bible says
this, some people have missed the most important thing in life. They don't
know God. Now you may know about God, Oh, I know exists,
but do you really know him personally? Do you know him personally?
Do you have a relationship, a friendship, a love relationship with God?
That's what God wants you to do. Now, how do you know when
you're disconnected from God? How do you know when you don't really know God?
You know about him, but you don't really know him. Well,
there's a warning light that comes on in your life when you are disconnected from
God. It's called stress. Stress or any of you familiar with this term
stress. Worry is the warning light that at that moment in your life,
you're disconnected from God. Whenever I'm worrying, it says, I'm acting like
I'm God. I'm acting like it all depends on me. I'm pretending I'm
the general manager of the universe, that I've got to make it all happen.
God isn't going to help me. I'm out here on my own,
and that causes stress. And the reason you're tired all the time, and
the reason you're fatigued, and the reason you're stressed out is because you're trying
to live your life disconnected from God. It's like having a radio transistor radio
with the battery pulled out. There's no power, but you plug in the
battery and get connected to God. You're going to hear all kinds of great
things. This is God's plan for your life. He wants you to know
and love him. See the Bible says in Matthew six, people who don't
know God are always worrying why because they think it's all on their own.
You see, God has wired you with a God's shaped hole in the middle
of you so that you need Him in your life. Well, there's this
emptiness inside of us. Now. The problem is we try to fill it
with a lot of other things instead of God. And you can try to
fill that God shaped whole with passion or position or possessions, or pleasure or
popularity. Or you can try to fill that hole in your heart with sex
or status or salary. But none of those things are going to fill the
whole that only God can fill in your life. You were made by God
and for God. And until you understand that, there's going to be a
hole in your heart that leaves you empty. Here's the second purpose of life.
The Bible says, God formed me for his family. God formed me
for his family. In other words, God wanted a family. He wanted
more than creatures. He didn't want just angels and animals and plants. He
wanted a family. And the Bible says, the whole reason you exist is
God wanted you to become a part art of his family, which makes you
unique. And that family is going to last forever. The Bible says this,
God's unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family.
This is amazing by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ, and this gave
him great pleasure. In other words, again, he did it for his
own enjoyment. This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. We're so thankful that you've
chosen to spend some time with us today. If you've missed any part of
this broadcast, including portions we didn't have time for, just go to Pastorick
dot com and listen online. Anytime. Rick will be right back to close
out our time today. But first, if you want to make your time
in prayer the best it can be, then you're going to want to get
a copy of the brand new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This
year's theme, God's Great Adventure for You, will help you tap into God's
power and presence when you learn how to pray with passion and purpose. Here's
Pastor Rick to tell you more. Do you ever feel like your prayers get
stuck in a rut? Would you like to know what God told me to
do when my prayer life got stuck in a rut. It was a time
when I just felt like I was praying the same thing over and over and
over. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if God was even answering
my prayers or even listening. Maybe you felt that way sometimes, or maybe
you feel that way right now. So what did God tell me to do?
Well, here's what he told me. It was such a powerful way
to re energize my prayer life, and it was so simple that I want
to pass it on to you. God told me to do this, He
said, Rick, start writing down what you're saying to me, and then
I want you to write down what I say to you. Write down what
you say to me, and then write down what I say to you.
You see, it's really not that complicated. God just said I should start
by writing down what I'm feeling, and then I should write down what he
tells me after I've read his word. It's really just a form of journaling,
and spiritual journaling is a spiritual habit that will help your prayers stay fresh
and effective. If you've never tried it, I'm begging you try this for
a week or two and see if it doesn't reinvigorate your prayer life. Journaling
has many many benefits to your spiritual life. It'll help you stay consistent in
your prayers. It'll give you a permanent reminder of how God answers your prayers.
Because we've written him down, it shows how God is working in your
life. You can go back and review it. It'll even help you worship
God more and more. As you speak to him, God speaks to people
who care enough to write it down. So write down what God tells you.
But you've got to have a place to do that. Now. I
want to encourage you and I want to help you take this simple step of
learning this new spiritual habit in your prayers, of writing down your prayers and
writing down your prayer request. So what I did is I had my Daily
Hope team create a brand new spiritual prayer journal. It's got a real simple
to follow format that will help you put into practice God's wisdom that is found
in Philippians four to six that says this, don't worry about anything. Instead,
pray about everything, tell God what you need, and thank Him for
all he has done. Those four things are part of the format of our
prayer journal for this year. It's really cool. You're gonna love this tool.
Covered in soft vegan leather with full color pages, this prayer journal has
sections to pray for specific people and situations, as well as space to express
your gratitude and personal prayer requests to God. Each page is beautifully designed and
filled with inspiring Bible versus photo work and artwork. The God's Great Adventure Sure
for You Prayer Journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a
vibrant prayer life, connect with the Lord, and establish a consistent daily prayer
time. When you give a gift to help daily Hope take the certain hope
of Jesus to people around the world, will send you the all new twenty
twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so
don't wait to get your copy of this great resource. Just call eight hundred
six hundred five thousand and four or go to Pastorick dot com to get yours.
That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or Pastorick dot com.
Be sure to join us again next time as we look into God's word for
our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Ricks Daily Hope and your
generous financial support.