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, before we get
started, we want to let you know that a very generous friend has given
one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That means that all this
month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus
around the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. You can
find out more by going to Pastorick dot com or by texting the word daily
to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com,
or the word daily to a eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part three of a message called Embracing
the Vision the purpose driven Life. Now, the number one question I'm asked
as a pastor is Rick, why is this happening to me? And I'll
tell you why. It's to help you to grow up spiritually. Everything in
life is designed to help you grow up spiritually. The good, the bad,
the ugly, the stuff you bring on yourself, the stuff that other
people do to you. God is not the author of evil. God never
does evil. But God can bring good even out of bad. That's the
cool thing about God. See, anybody can bring good out of good.
Anybody can do that, but God specializes in bringing good out of bad.
That's what Easter is all about. He turns crucifixions into resurrections. He takes
a terrible thing, the death of his son, and uses it to save
the whole world. God brings good out of bad. And there's nothing in
your life that you can't learn from if you'll just respond with the right attitude
and instead of saying God, why is this happening to me? Say God,
what do you want me to learn? What do you want me to
learn from this? Every situation in life will either make you bitter or better,
and it's your choice. It's how you choose to respond to it.
So the problem you're going through right now, you can just think of it
right now, think of the problem you're going to through. Every problem has
a purpose. Every problem has a purpose, and the purpose is to help
you grow up spiritually, to not be a spiritually immature person, but to
grow up. And the model of perfection is Jesus Christ. Notice the next
verse, let's read it aloud from Philippians. In your lives, you must
think and act like Christ Jesus. So the question then becomes, if God's
third purpose for my life is for me to grow up spiritually and become like
Jesus, what is Jesus like? Well, the Bible calls it the fruit
of the Spirit, and it says the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self
control. These are the qualities that God wants to build in your life.
He wants you to live a life that's overflowing with love, overflowing with joy,
overflowing with peace and patience and all those things. Now, how does
God then produce those qualities in my life? How does God grow character in
you and help you grow up spiritually? How does he make you like Jesus?
I mean, are you just walking down the street one day? D
D D no alson zap God zaps you with love, and for the rest
of your life you love everybody. I don't think so. As I said,
God teaches you these qualities by putting you in the exact opposite situation.
He teaches you love by putting you around unlovely people. It's easy to love
people who are cool, people who are like you, people who get along
with But He'll put you around some unlovely people. How about joy, Joy's
not happiness. Happiness depends on happenings circumstances. I can go to Disneyland and
I'm happy. I come out, I realize how much money I spent.
I'm not happy anymore. Joy is internal, and God will teach you joy
in the middle of grief. How about peace? Oh, it's easy to
be peaceful when you're out fishing by the lake. Hey, it doesn't get
any better than this. No. God teaches you real peace in the middle
of chaos, when everything in your life is falling apart, and you say
God, I need your peace, and he puts you full of peace.
How does God teach us patience? Department of Motor Vehicles, Oh, you've
been there, traffic jams, doctor's waiting rooms, a thousand different ways to
wait now. Becoming like Christ is a lifelong journey. It's a process.
It's going to take the rest of your life for you to grow up spiritually.
Look at the next verse. The Bible says, as the spirit of
the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. Some
of you are a little behind, though, because you've been living your life
not working on this, and you've got some catching up to do now.
God uses troubles and trials and problems and pressures and other people. He uses
all kinds of things in our lives to make us mature. But write this
down. Here's the third purpose of life. To grow up spiritually. Not
just physically. You're physically mature. God wants you to be spiritually mature.
He wants you to grow up and become like Christ. He wants you to
develop spiritual depth. And you know why that is so needed because it is
the biggest problem in our culture. The biggest problem in American culture is shallow
living, no depth, shallow living. And I hate to say this,
but it's true. We are a nation of spiritual babies. What do you
mean, we'll think of what a baby is. Babies are totally self centered,
they all think about it. I gotta do what's best for me.
I gotta think of what's best for me. They're self centered, they're self
absorbed, they're impatient. They don't know how to wait. I gotta have
it now, now, now, now, now, I must have it
now, even if I have to charge it. They're unable to delay gratification.
Babies are totally focused on their feelings, totally absorbed with the here and
now. They have no long term thinking. And that's the way most adults
are. I gotta do what's best for me. I gotta do what I
feel. They're acting as if all that matters is here and now, not
in light of eternity. They're living as if today only matters. They're manipulated
by their moodsocused on their feelings, and the Bible says this. Some people
have the shallow soil of character that when their emotions wear off and difficulty arrives,
there's nothing to show for it. What you need, what I need
is spiritual depth. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
We've got some incredible news to share with you. A very generous friend
has given a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to this ministry all this month.
Every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the certain Hope of Jesus
around the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, So twenty
five dollars becomes fifty dollars, fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a
thousand. Whatever you give will be doubled by the matching grant up to one
hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty five, So please contact
us today go to Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred six hundred five
thousand and four. 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. 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,
will send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal to say
thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. Call eight hundred at six
hundred five zero zero four to get your Prayer Journal and have your gift matched
up to one hundred thousand dollars, or you can visit Pastorick dot com.
That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four or pastorick dot com.
You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again, here's Pastor Rick Warren.
God plans you for His pleasure, So the first purpose is to get to
know and love God. God formed you for his family, so the second
purpose is to get in his family and start learning to love other people.
The third purpose God created you to become like Christ. He wants you to
grow up spiritually, not just physically. Here's the fourth purpose. God shaped
me to serve him. God shaped me to serve him. The Bible says
in Psalm one thirty nine, you shaped me first inside then out. You
formed me in my mother's womb. Now, this is a truth we've taught
over and over at Saddleback Church, that you are unique. You're not one
in a million, you're one and six billion. God doesn't want you living
up to the expectations of other people. God didn't create you to live to
be what your parents wanted you to be, or what your husband or wife
wanted you to be, or what your boyfriend or girlfriend wanted you to be.
God wants you to be what He made you to be. And you
are unique. And when you die and get to heaven, God isn't going
to say why weren't you more like somebody else? He's gonna say, why
weren't you more like you? And He uniquely shaped you, notice in your
mother's womb for a purpose. Now, God says, there are illegitimate parents,
but there are no illegitimate babies. There are accidental parents, but there
are no accidental babies. God had a plan for you, and I don't
care if your parents were good, are totally terrible, maybe they even abandoned
you. The reason they were your parents is God knew they had just the
right DNA to create you. And God was more interested in creating you than
he was in their parenting skills. And that's why they were your parents.
God wanted you and he uniquely shaped you. Now to help you remember how
God shapes you and makes you unique from everybody else, we use a little
cross to cure at Saddleback. Spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personality and experiences.
These are the five things that make you you. I don't have time
to get into these today. We have a class here at Saddleback. It's
a four hour class that thousands of people have gone through to discover your spiritual
shape. It helps you know what kind of career should I have, what
kind of ministry should I have? How should I be using my life?
Because God uses these spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personalities, and experience,
says to make you look on the next page, the Bible says this God
made us what we are. In other words, He shaped us. And
in Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which He planned
in advance for us to live our lives doing a circle the phrase good works.
Before you were even born, God decided in advance what contribution he wanted
you to make with your life, and he wants you to serve him on
this planet. God didn't put you on this planet just to take up space,
to breathe, to use resources, and to die. No, he
put you here to make the world a better place. He puts you on
this planet to make a unique contribution, to serve him by the shape that
He gave you, and nobody else could be you. And if you don't
serve God the way God intended you to serve him, then the world misses
that part of the jigsaw puzzle. Now another name for good works as ministry.
And anytime you use your talents and abilities to help somebody else, you
are actually ministering to them. Then notice this next verse one Peter for says
this God has given you, each of you some special abilities. Be sure
to use them to make a ton of money. Oh sorry, that's the
reviled, substandard perversion of the Bible. Let me read the correct translation here.
God has given each of you some special abilities, be sure to use
them to read it with me, help each other, passing on to others.
God's many kinds of blessings. Now get this. You know the talents
that you've got. Hate to tell you this, but they're not for your
benefit. God gave you your talents for the benefit of helping other people.
God gave me my talents for the benefits of helping other people. They're not
for me. You, the person next to you their talents, and for
the benefits of helping everybody else. God wired the universe so that we would
need each other. As I said, nobody's got it all together. I
don't have it all together. You don't have it all together. Nobody does.
That's why we need each other. And the Bible says, I want
you to serve me now. When you get to heaven. You're gonna love
God in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. You're gonna love
other people in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. You're gonna
grow spiritually in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. And you're
gonna serve God in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. Now.
Some of you have a misunderstanding of what you're gonna do in heaven.
You think that when you get to heaven you're gonna wear a white robe,
sit on a cloud and play a harp. Folks, that would be hell.
I can't think of anything more boring. If that's heaven, no thanks
God. But think about this. Think of all the thrills, all the
fun things you can do on this Earth, and this is an imperfect planet
and God created this. Think how much fun on all the thrills it's gonna
be in heaven. I mean, if look at all the fun stuff there
is to do on Earth and this is imperfect, in heaven, it's gonna
be a blast. I mean there you can do all these bike flips like
these you know guys do and never crack up. You can serve the big
waves and never wipe out. It's gonna be unbelievably fun. But one of
the things you're gonna do in heaven is served serve God. Now here's the
fourth purpose of life. To serve God by serving others. You serve God
by serving others. You see on Earth, it's impossible to serve God directly.
You can't serve him directly. The only way you can serve God on
earth is by serving other people. So anytime you help somebody else, God
says, it's like you're doing it for me. You're practicing on earth what
you're gonna do in heaven. When you are unselfish and you stop living this
little, self centered, clawed of a life and you start saying, I'm
going to help other people with my wife, God says, now you're getting
the point. You're practicing what you're going to do in eternity. We served
God by serving others. We saw a dramatic example of this just this last
week with Ashley in Atlanta. Ashley was going through she was a part of
a church that's doing forty days of Purpose and she was going through the Purpose
Driven Life book and she went out one morning, about one am in the
morning go get some cigarettes. Had no idea that if she was walking back
into her house, Brian was gonna stick up gun in her back and say
open the door, and he took her hostage. He took her inside her
house, tied her up, and put her in the bathtub, and it
looked like it was going to be murder number five. But Ashley had been
reading about God's purpose for her life. And she told Brian, you know,
Brian, you're not an accident and God has a purpose for your life.
And you were made to last forever, and God wants you to practice
on earth what you're going to do forever in eternity. And it started to
sink in. He goes, God has a purpose for me. Yes,
in spite of all the stuff I've done. Yes, there is no pit
too deep that God's love is not deeper. Still, God could reach out
to me. I've already killed some people. Yes, what could my purpose
be? Well, I don't know. But you know what, if you
turn yourself in, you go to prison, you may die for the people
you killed. But as long as your heart is beating, God has a
purpose for your life. And it could be in that prison that he wants
you to serve other people. And then Ashley not only told him that,
she said, can I read it to you? And he said sure,
So he untied her and she went and got her Bible, got a copy
of The Purpose Driven Life, and it just so happened. She was on
day thirty three, which is on how leaders, how real servants act,
and she read about how we are to serve God by serving each other.
And she even then practiced it. And she got up and she made this
guy breakfast. She served him and it melted his heart, and he turned
around and served her by fixing some curtains for her. And then she convinced
him to turn himself in and to let her go, and the killing spree
was stopped. Now you may think, well, I'm too far beyond for
God. I've done too many things in my life wrong. I've gone too
many years without a relationship with God. It's too late. You are dead
wrong. You're dead wrong. That's why God brought you here today. He
wants you to know Him in a personal way. Now number five, we
got to move quickly. This is the fifth purpose God. God made me
for a mission. God made me for a mission. Now I don't have
time to get into this, but during the next four weeks we're going to
focus on this exclusively, understanding and fulfilling your mission in life, and I
hope you'll come back for part two. Jesus said this, in the same
way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a
mission in the world. Should you decide to accept, mister Phelps, God
has a unique mission in the world that He has asked for you, and
only you can fulfill it. If you do not choose to fulfill it,
the world gets cheated. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily
Hope. We've got some incredible news to share with you. A very generous
friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to this ministry. That
means that all this month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share
the certain Hope of Jesus around the world will be matched up to one hundred
thousand dollars. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more. 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 your 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 your 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. 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 three thousand 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. That'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 three thousand 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 read the five thousand.
If you give twenty five dollars to Daily Hope this month, the matching
grant will match it at twenty five dollars. If you're able to give one
hundred dollars, the matching grant will add another one hundred dollars. 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 in this new year. And then 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. Remember, as Rick
just shared, whatever you give today will be doubled by the matching grant up
to one hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight, December thirty first.
Anything not matched will be lost, so please contact us today. You can
give right now by going to Pastorick dot com or by calling eight hundred six
hundred five thousand and four. We'll say thanks by sending you the brand new
Daily Hope prayer journal that's Pastor Rick dot com or call eight hundred six hundred
five thousand and four. 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
Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support