Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well today, Rick will bring our Easter
series to a close. In this series, he has risen. Rick has
been sharing six major benefits that the resurrection of Jesus brings to the people who
follow him. And now the final part of a message called the Mystery of
God's Plan. Act four in the Mystery of History is the act we're in
right now, and in Act four here it is God gives us a choice.
God gives us a choice. God says, I did it all for
you, but now you must decide to accept it. And God is waiting
right now. We're in a waiting period where he's gonna see who in humanity
is gonna say. I'm in. I accept it. I'm gonna go God's
way. I'm not gonna go Adam's way. I'm not gonna go my own
way. I'm in. I want to be a part of God's family.
And he gives us a choice. He doesn't force you. But the Bible
says this in One Kings eighteen, how long will you waver between two opinions?
If the Lord is God? Follow him now, friends, you got
a real blunt decision to make. Who are you going to live for you
or God, because you can't have two gods in your life. You can't
serve two masters. Bob Dylan used to saying, you're gonna have to serve
somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but
you're gonna have to serve somebody. You may serve your boyfriend, you may
serve your company, you may serve getting rich, you may serve your own
selfish desires and ambitions, but you're gonna serve somebody. And anything you put
before God in your life is called an idol, and God says that's a
false God, and you can only have one God in your life. You've
got to decide, am I going to live for me? Or am I
going to live for God? Who's going to be in charge of my life?
Now you said, well that's great, but I'm just not going to
decide. Well, I'm sorry, friend, But in this particular instance,
not to decide is to decide, because one day you're going to stand before
a God who says, I thought you up, I made you, I
love you, I've seen every day of your life. I made you for
me, I made you to be a part of my family, and I
want to express my love to you, and I sent Jesus to die for
you. Did you accept my son and my gift? And you're going sorry,
I just didn't decide wrong answer. At that point, God will say,
like Burger king, have it your way. God will not force you
to go to heaven. Okay, he won't force you. And he said,
look, you wanted your way on earth. Fine, you obviously didn't
want to be a part of my family on earth, so you obviously don't
want to be a part of my family for eternity. Have it your way,
depart from me. And so God says, you get to choose.
What am I supposed to choose? What do I need to choose? Well,
I need to decide three or four things. First, I decide to
admit to the fact that I've been living my planets that a God's plan.
I own up to my sin. That's called confession in the Bible. So
a God, You're right and I'm wrong. I've been living for me.
I haven't been living for you. I've been living for me, and I
confess it. I admit it. Second, I decide to turn from my
way to God's way, from my will to God's will. I turn from
my plan to God's plan. The Bible calls that repentance, and it says,
God, I'm no longer going to be the boss of my life.
You're going to be the boss of my life. You're going to be my
lord. Jesus, be the lord of my life. You call the shots.
Third, I say, I'm going to trust. I'm going to choose
to trust that what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me is enough to
get me into heaven, because I know I could never get into Heaven on
my own effort. Heaven's perfect that I'm not, and I could never earn
it, or work for it or deserve it. And so I'm going to
trust that Jesus, what you did for me on the cross is enough to
get me into heaven. And I'm going to gratefully thank you for that.
And Fourth, I'm going to choose to follow your purpose for my life from
now on. Not my plans, not my goals, not what my mother
wants me to do, not what my friends want me to do. I'm
going to do what God wants me to do. I'm going to follow his
purpose. He said, well, how can I do that? I don't
even know God's purpose for my life. Do you want to know how you
know God's purpose for your life? Here's how you do it. Here's the
secret. You choose in advance before you know it and tell God I'm going
to do it even before I know what it is. That's called a step
of faith. And it pleases God when God says I want you to do
it before I even tell you. Did you ever tell your kids? Because
I say so? And just need to trust me on this. And when
you come to God and you say, God, I'm going to choose you,
and I'm choosing your son Jesus, you say, I'm signing my name
at the end of the contract before I read the fine print. I am
signing my name on the blank check and I'm letting you fill it in.
God, I don't know what you want to do with my life, but
I know A. You love me. B you made me see you know
it will make me happy more than I do. And D you only act
in love towards me. So I can trust you in this. And I'm
saying yes to you in advance. That's faith. And then God will reveal
your purpose in life a little bit at a time, like a scroll where
he unrolls a little bit and you do that, and he enrolls a little
bit more, and you do that, he enrolls a little bit more.
God's not going to show you his plan for your life. So just so
you go, no, thanks, I don't want it. No, you
make the decision, you choose in advance. Here's what Jesus said. He
said, if anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether
or not my teaching comes from God. You want to know if Jesus teaching
comes from God. Make the decision and you will find out it is a
choice and act of the will. So, well, how would it affect
my life if I open up my life to God and I say, Jesus
Christ, come into my heart, and I'm going with your plan and purpose
for my life, and I'm going to turn from my way to your way?
What will it do to me? It will change you? How much
radically it will transform your life? I'll be honest with you. You cannot
invite somebody as big as God into your life and have it not change you.
If you think you've got God in your life and it hasn't changed your
life, I'll just be honest you ain't got him because you can't invite God
into your life and have him not change you. Maybe you've gone to church
all your life and you thought, well, I've got God my life.
Did it change you? No, then you don't have him. You may
have a religion, but you don't have a relationship and you need him in
your heart. Here's how it changes this. Look at this next verse.
The Bible says Christ died for all so that those who live by the way.
Notice Christ died for all, says all. Who's that include everybody,
Muslims, Jews, Baptist, Buddhists, Christians, Mormons, Hindus, Atheist,
Agnostics, Jesus. Christ died for all. Doesn't matter what your religious
background is. We're talking about a relationship to Christ. Christ died for all
so that those who would live would not continue to live for themselves. He
died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for
him. How do you know if you have Christ in your life, you
live for him. If you're not living for him, he's not in your
life, he says, so that we would continue to live for him.
That verse is what Baptism symbolizes. He said what is baptism all about why
do you think people? And dunk them underwater. It's a picture of the
two things in that verse. First, it's a picture that Jesus Christ died,
was buried in a tomb for three days, and on Easter Sunday rose
again. So baptism is a picture. And we take a person and we
bury him underwater and leave them there for three days, seeing if you're listening,
raise them back up. And that's a symbol of what Jesus said.
He said, don't ever forget what I did for you. Second, it's
a picture of what happens to you. I died to my old way of
living. I'm no longer living for me anymore. Now I'm living for God.
I'm living God's way. I'm living for his purpose. I have a
new life inside of me. Now. The point is, in this stage
you are free to choose. Phase four. God says, Okay, I've
done it all for you. Now you get to choose. And I'm going
to wait and see who chooses for me and who doesn't choose for me.
And you can choose anything you want. God's not going to force you to
love him. In fact, if you want to waste your life. God'll
let you. If you want to waste your life thinking life is all about
possessions, position, pleasure, popularity, prestige, you can waste your life
on those things, but that's not what life's all about. If you want
to waste your life thinking life is all about sex, success, status,
salary, you can waste your life on those things, but that's not what
life's all about. You See, You're free to make any choice you want
in life, and God's not going to stop you. But friend, let
me warn you, you are not free from the consequences of your choices,
and every choice you make on this planet has eternal implications. The Bible says
this today, I'm giving you a choice between good and evil, between life
and death. God's waiting for you to make the choice now. The final
act, Act five in the Mystery of History is still to come. It
hasn't happened yet, and we don't even know when it's gonna happen. But
the Bible says, one day history on Earth is going to be shut down.
The life on this planet's going to be over. God's gonna collapse at
all, the galaxy of the universe. In fact, the Bible says,
even the universe is not gonna last forever. God's going to create a new
heaven and a new Earth. God's going to do something new, because he's
always a god anew. The only thing that's going to last is his family.
Here's Act five in the Mystery of History. Act five is Jesus returns
for his family. Jesus returns for his family, and he says, those
who've chosen me, let's go. You're gonna last forever. Nothing else is
going to last. Friend. God's family is the only thing on this earth
it's going to last. The United States of America is not to last forever.
Microsoft Corporation is not to last forever. None of the celebrities in Hollywood
are going to last forever. What's gonna last forever are those who've chosen to
be a part of God's family. That's going to even outlast the universe.
And the Bible says this, Jesus died for us so that we can live
with him forever. Circle that forever, whether we're dead or alive at the
time of his return. In other words, some people are already in heaven
and some people are still down here. Either way, if you've made that
choice. You're going to be with him for eternity. Now, God has
long range plans for you. Follow me, listen real closely. You're only
going to spend eighty, maybe at the most ninety or one hundred years on
this planet. That's not very long. You're going to spend trillions and trillions
and trillions of years in eternity. And the Bible says God has long range
plans for you. Look at this verse. This is his plan. At
the right time, God will bring everything together under the authority of Christ,
everything in heaven and on earth, everything will come together right now under Christ.
All right, now, that's his plan, and it says at the
right time. When is the right time? Nobody knows. Jesus said,
no man knows the day nor the hour, neither the angels nor the Son,
but only the Father, which is in heaven. So anytime you find
somebody who gets out his charts and figures out when the end of the world
has come, you can know one thing, it won't happen on that day.
You can be certain that's one day it will not happen, because no
man knows the day they are So you can put all your charts away.
You're not on the planning committee. You're on the welcoming committee. Okay,
you're not the time, date and place committee. You're on the welcome committee.
What is it going to be like in eternity with God's family forever?
Oh man, I wish I had another couple hours just to explain it to
you. I could take you through all the scriptures of how cool it's going
to be on heaven. But just think about this. There's a lot of
cool stuff here on Earth, and this place is broken. Imagine how cool
it's going to be in a perfect place. It's going to be a gazillion
times better than the broken planet, and this place is pretty cool. You
agree with that. Okay, so it's going to be unbelievable. But let
me just give you one verse. The Bible says in Revelation twenty one,
Then God's home will be with his people, that's his family, that's us,
and he will live with them, and they will be his own.
We will be God's children, and He will wipe away all tears from their
eyes, and there will be no more death. There will be no more
suffering, no more crying, no more pain. These things of the past
will be gone forever. Why because we're not on a broken planet where things
aren't fair anymore. The Bible says this, All creation is waiting eagerly for
that future day. There will come a day when God will reveal who his
children really are. One day, God's going to reveal who his children really
are. Everybody's made by God. Everybody is created by God. Everybody's loved
by God, but not everybody is a child of God. You've got to
choose to be in his family. All creation anticipates the day when it will
join God's children, that's his family, in the glorious freedom from death and
decay from the broken planet. I don't know when that day is going to
happen, but the question that matters to me is this. On that day,
will your name beyond the family list? God will reveal who his true
children are. I want your name on that list now. I want to
thank you for coming at Easter. But if there's one thing I want to
leave you with, it's what I am most passionate about. If there's one
concept I really really want you to get, it is this. Your life
was made for a much bigger purpose than you've ever imagined. You are thinking
too small, and you are living too small. You were made for far
more than your puny little plans for your life. You are part of a
grand design that goes from history to history, and you were made by God
and for God, a God who desperately loves you and wants you in his
family for eternity. And if you are living simply for yourself, and you
are living for the here and the now, you are making friend a fatal
mistake. It is not about you. It is not about here, it
is not about now. It is all about God. It is all about
his purpose and plan and his love for you, and your purpose on this
planet Number one is to get to know and love the God who wants you
to spend eternity with him, and anything less than that is a waste of
your life. You are part of a bigger drama that began before the universe
was created and will go long after Earth shuts down. It is the only
thing that's going to last. You were made to last forever, and God
wants you to be a part of his forever family. But he's not going
to force you. You've got to make the choice, and I beg you
to do it now. For Heaven's sake, let's bow our heads. I'm
going to pray a prayer right now that will change your life forever, and
I mean for eternity. I invite you to follow me in this prayer.
It is a prayer of commitment. And you say me too, God as
Rick, praise along me too. God knows the very thoughts going across your
mind right now. Just say, Dear God, I have never understood how
much you really love me. Thank you for creating me. Thank you for
thinking of me even before you created the universe. Thank you for loving me.
Thank you, Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me and my
sins. It is hard to imagine a love like that. But I want
to get to know you God, not just about you, I want to
know you personally. I admit that I have been living my own way,
living for myself, focused on my puny plans for life instead of your plan
and purpose for me. And I want that to change. Starting right now,
I want to start living for you, Jesus. I want you to
become the manager of my life, the Lord, the boss of my life.
I want to learn to trust you and love you and follow you.
I ask you to forgive all of my sins and accept me into your family
for eternity. I could never deserve that, but just by your grace and
I pray this in Jesus's name. 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 Rick at Pastorick dot com and say,
Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to
Christ. And I'll send you some material that will help you on your journey
with Jesus and I'll also pray for you. God bless you. Hey,
thanks for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Pastor Rick has created a beautifully
illustrated book called Journey with Jesus, and this book is stunning. It's filled
with beautiful photographs, colored mosaics that depict the sacrificial journey Jesus made to save
us. Here's Rick to tell you more. Every year, Christians from all
over the world remember the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by traveling to Jerusalem,
where they walk the path that Jesus took on the way to the Cross.
That path is called the Via dol Rosa, which literally means the way
of suffering. Now, since you may not be able to ever travel to
Jerusalem, I want to suggest a way for you to celebrate and reflect on
and pray about what Jesus did for you on the Cross. So I've created
a brand new, one of a kind resource that will take you through the
fifteen stops that the Bible tells us Jesus took on the road to Calvary and
his death on the Cross. Now we're calling this resource Journey with Jesus.
Journey with Jesus is a deluxe hardcover gift edition book that's illustrated with really beautiful
photos, high quality glossy photos of mosaic tile artwork that reflect each of the
that Jesus made on his journey to the Cross. You're not ever going to
forget this gift. It's a great gift book to keep and to study over
and over again, and it'd make a great gift for your family and your
friends too. We'll send you a copy today. Just go to pastorig dot
com or text the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
That's pastorrig dot com. Or text the word hope to eight hundred six
hundred five thousand and four. Well, today is the last day to get
this great resource, so please don't wait. We hope you'll join us next
time when 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.