Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series
Speaker 1: called the Awesome Power of Vision. In these lessons, Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick shows us how to pursue God's amazing vision for
Speaker 1: each of our lives so that we can see our
Speaker 1: future with faith and not fear. But first, do you
Speaker 1: ever feel like you've lost your spark your joy? In
Speaker 1: just a few moments, We're going to tell you about
Speaker 1: an exciting new resource that will deepen your relationship with
Speaker 1: God and restore your joy. You can take a sneak
Speaker 1: peek right now by going to Pastororick dot com while
Speaker 1: you listen, and if you want, you can just text
Speaker 1: the word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand
Speaker 1: and four to find out more. Right now, here's Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick Warren with part one of a message called My
Speaker 1: Part in fulfilling Christ's Vision.
Speaker 2: Nothing is more valuable to God than his church. It
Speaker 2: is his bride, it is his body, it is his flock.
Speaker 2: The Bible tells us that Christ died for the church,
Speaker 2: says that in Ephesians. That's why the unity of God's
Speaker 2: family was the number one topic on Jesus's mind as
Speaker 2: he approached the cross why he was going to die
Speaker 2: for the church. If there had been something more important
Speaker 2: to Jesus, you can be sure he would have prayed
Speaker 2: about it right before the cross. But in John seventeen,
Speaker 2: which is jesus prayer for his crucifixion, Jesus mentions his
Speaker 2: vision for our unity multiple times in John seventeen. Remember
Speaker 2: I asked you this last week to read John thirteen
Speaker 2: to seventeen several times during the week, because in John
Speaker 2: seventeen twenty to twenty one, Jesus prayed this for you.
Speaker 2: He said, I'm praying for all who will believe in
Speaker 2: me because of my disciples testimony, and my prayer for
Speaker 2: them is that they'll be unified as one, Father, just
Speaker 2: as you and I are one. May they be unified
Speaker 2: united as one Now. Like every human parent, our heavenly
Speaker 2: Father wants to see his children get along with each other.
Speaker 2: You want your kids to get along, you want your
Speaker 2: grandkids to get along. And so today we're going to
Speaker 2: look at how we can do that, how we can
Speaker 2: get along better as brothers and sisters in the family
Speaker 2: of God. First, let me summarize last week's message for
Speaker 2: those of you who missed it on the outline, there
Speaker 2: are twelve statements that summarize why unity is so important
Speaker 2: to the church. And I'm not going to try to
Speaker 2: share all the scripture versus that we looked at last week.
Speaker 2: In fact, I'm just going to give you these twelve statements.
Speaker 2: But why is unity in the church so important? Well,
Speaker 2: here's what God's word says. Number one, the Bible teaches
Speaker 2: us that my unity with us believers is the proof
Speaker 2: that I'm saved, all right. Number two, the Trinity is
Speaker 2: our model for unity. Number three, Jesus' last prayer request
Speaker 2: was that the members of his church would live in unity.
Speaker 2: Number four. God gives us his glory so that we'll
Speaker 2: be unified. And number five, our unity is our greatest
Speaker 2: witness to unbelievers. Number six Unity removes fear and creates boldness.
Speaker 2: If you want to be less fearful and more bold,
Speaker 2: this is the key to it. We talked about that
Speaker 2: last week. Number seven. When a church is truly unified,
Speaker 2: everybody's needs are met. Number eight. Baptism and communion are
Speaker 2: visible signs of unity. And nine, focusing on our common
Speaker 2: purpose is what creates unity. Number ten unity begins when
Speaker 2: we realize that we are incomplete without each other. I
Speaker 2: need you, you need me. Nobody's got all the gifts.
Speaker 2: We need each other. Number eleven, Jesus died to unite us,
Speaker 2: not to divide us. And number twelve, Jesus expects me
Speaker 2: to work hard at unifying Christians, and he expects you
Speaker 2: and me together to work on it together now with
Speaker 2: these statements as our foundation. And that's what we talked
Speaker 2: about all last week. The natural question is what's my part?
Speaker 2: What's my role? How am I supposed to do my
Speaker 2: part in fulfilling Christ's vision? Because one day you're going
Speaker 2: to stand for God and he's going to say, did
Speaker 2: you do what I asked you to do? So let's
Speaker 2: talk about it. How can I be an agent of
Speaker 2: unity in my church? In my church? Well, since God
Speaker 2: paid the highest price for the church, he wants it protected,
Speaker 2: especially from the damage that's caused by division and conflict
Speaker 2: and disharmony. And God says that if you're a part
Speaker 2: of God's family, then he expects you you to be
Speaker 2: an agent of unity. You are commissioned by Jesus, whether
Speaker 2: you know it or not. You know it. Now you're
Speaker 2: commissioned by Jesus to do everything possible to preserve the unity,
Speaker 2: protect the fellowship, and promote the harmony in your church
Speaker 2: family and by the way, to all believers among all believers. Now,
Speaker 2: let's look at four simple steps. I could have given
Speaker 2: you a dozen this week, but I thought you know,
Speaker 2: I gave you twelve points last week. Let's cut it
Speaker 2: down to just four. Number one, here's the first step
Speaker 2: on how you can be an agent of harmony and
Speaker 2: unity in your church. Number one, focus on what we share,
Speaker 2: not our differences. When you get together with other Christians.
Speaker 2: Focus on the things we have in common, what we
Speaker 2: share in common, not our differences. Romans fourteen, verse nineteen.
Speaker 2: I love this the Phillips translation that says this, let
Speaker 2: us concentrate on the things which create harmony. All right,
Speaker 2: let us concentrate on the things that create harmony and
Speaker 2: on the growth of our fellowship together. Now, let's think
Speaker 2: about this for a minute. What does it mean to concentrate?
Speaker 2: What do you do when you concentrate, you let your
Speaker 2: mind just go anywhere. No, No, it means you focus.
Speaker 2: You focus. It means you give it your full attention.
Speaker 2: You don't casually concentrate. It's intentional. When you concentrate, you
Speaker 2: have chosen to concentrate. You choose to focus. You choose
Speaker 2: to decide to figure out what you're going to focus on.
Speaker 2: And when he says let's focus on the things that
Speaker 2: create harmony and unity, he's saying, you're going to decide
Speaker 2: to figure out what are the common things that we
Speaker 2: share his brothers and sisters in God's family? So what
Speaker 2: are they? What are the things that we share in
Speaker 2: common as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Speaker 2: Because we're all different, we look different, we act different,
Speaker 2: We're from different backgrounds, we different sizes and shapes, we're
Speaker 2: different genders, different races. What are the things that we
Speaker 2: share in common that God wants us to concentrate on? Well,
Speaker 2: God tells us in Ephesians four that we share seven
Speaker 2: big things in common. This is not all, but in
Speaker 2: Ephesians four it says there are seven big things we
Speaker 2: share in common. He says, I want you to focus
Speaker 2: on that. Ephesians four four to six. Notice how many
Speaker 2: times they use the word one in this In this paragraph,
Speaker 2: he says, there's only one body, and there's one spirit,
Speaker 2: and we've been called to one hope. There's only one Lord,
Speaker 2: one faith, one baptism, and only one God, who is
Speaker 2: the Father of us all, who is overall, and is
Speaker 2: through all, and is in all.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can
Speaker 1: listen online anytime at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: How do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel
Speaker 3: spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're
Speaker 3: just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark,
Speaker 3: your joy. God knows how you feel right now. You
Speaker 3: are not alone. He knows even David and the Bible
Speaker 3: felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says,
Speaker 3: you will seek Me and find Me when you seek
Speaker 3: Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally,
Speaker 3: it leads to renewal of your relationship with Him. That's
Speaker 3: why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new resource
Speaker 3: called Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat, and
Speaker 3: it he'll personally leave you on a spiritual journey to
Speaker 3: help you seek God together, you and Pastor Rick will
Speaker 3: go through a series of audio lessons, and after each
Speaker 3: session you'll take a little time to complete exercises in
Speaker 3: the Companion workbook. You can do this at home in
Speaker 3: short sessions, or you can get away for a day
Speaker 3: and do it in one sitting. Through this retreat, you'll
Speaker 3: experience a renewal of life within you. God will restore
Speaker 3: your joy. As he renews, refreshes, invigorates, and revives your
Speaker 3: spiritual life, You'll never be the same again. Wilsend you
Speaker 3: going deeper with God a personal Renewal retreat as our
Speaker 3: way of saying thanks when you give a gift today
Speaker 3: to help daily hope, share the hope of Jesus with
Speaker 3: it's a hurting world. Just call eight hundred and six
Speaker 3: Hindred at five zero zero four, or go to Pastorick
Speaker 3: dot com to get your copy of this great resource.
Speaker 3: That's eight hundred and six hundred five zero zero four
Speaker 3: or Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: Once again, here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Now, let's look at these phrases. He said, focus on
Speaker 2: the things that you have in common. We're one body.
Speaker 2: Jesus doesn't have multiple bodies, He just has the Church.
Speaker 2: We have one spirit we've all been given the same
Speaker 2: Holy spirit at salvation. We all share one hope. What's
Speaker 2: that It's the hope of the second coming of Jesus.
Speaker 2: He didn't stay dead, he resurrected, He went back to heaven,
Speaker 2: and he promised to return. We have one Lord. We
Speaker 2: don't worship multiple gods. We have one faith. And that
Speaker 2: faith is contained in this one book, not multiple books.
Speaker 2: It's in this one book, the one faith that God
Speaker 2: has got to us. We have one baptism, which means
Speaker 2: you don't have to be rebaptized every time he sin.
Speaker 2: And of course there's only one God. So what he's saying,
Speaker 2: we share the same salvation, we share the same forgiveness,
Speaker 2: we share the same grace, we share the same mercy,
Speaker 2: we share the same life, we share the same future.
Speaker 2: These factors are far more important than your gender or
Speaker 2: your race, or your age, or your economic status, or
Speaker 2: your background or your sins or anything else your size.
Speaker 2: These are the things that God wants us to focus on,
Speaker 2: not our personal differences. Now, it's important to remember that
Speaker 2: in all of the differences that we have too, not
Speaker 2: just things we have in common, but in all of
Speaker 2: the differences we have guess what those all came from
Speaker 2: God to So it was God who chose to give
Speaker 2: us different personalities. It was God who chose to give
Speaker 2: us different backgrounds, different races. It was God chose to
Speaker 2: give us, you know, different amounts of hair, different preferences, personality.
Speaker 2: He's all kinds. So that means that we should value
Speaker 2: and enjoy and learn from those differences in our church
Speaker 2: family too, not just what we have in common, but
Speaker 2: even celebrate our differences which are God given. Now, God
Speaker 2: doesn't want you to merely tolerate other Christians. He wants
Speaker 2: you to be united with them. But unity is not uniformity.
Speaker 2: Did you hear that? You might write that down, Unity
Speaker 2: is not uniformity. God doesn't when he says I want
Speaker 2: you to be united. He doesn't want us all to
Speaker 2: be alike. If he'd done that, he would have made
Speaker 2: us all alike. And if you had wanted that, sorry,
Speaker 2: that's not going to happen because God made us all different.
Speaker 2: When you say I don't like the way that person
Speaker 2: acts or lives, or I don't like their race or whatever,
Speaker 2: you're basically saying God, you made a mistake. You should
Speaker 2: have made everybody like me. God wants unity, but he
Speaker 2: doesn't want uniformity. For unity's sake, we must never let
Speaker 2: differences divide us. We should celebrate them, but we shouldn't
Speaker 2: let our differences divide us. We have to stay focused
Speaker 2: on what matters most. What is that learning to love
Speaker 2: each other as Christ has loved us and fulfilling God's
Speaker 2: five purposes for each of us in his church. Now,
Speaker 2: I know what you may be thinking right now, because
Speaker 2: you're saying, Rick, Okay, yeah, I get it. But what
Speaker 2: about all those differences in members in our church that
Speaker 2: irritate me? How am I supposed to deal with them?
Speaker 2: How do I be unified with somebody who just irritates
Speaker 2: me to no end? Well, let me show you a
Speaker 2: couple verses. First, let me just say this conflict is
Speaker 2: usually a sign that the focus has shifted the less
Speaker 2: important issues, something that the Bible calls in Romans fourteen
Speaker 2: disputable matters. There are some things we have to agree on,
Speaker 2: like Jesus is the son of God, he died and
Speaker 2: rose again, He's coming back one day. Bible is God's word.
Speaker 2: These are not disputable matters, but disputable matters are things
Speaker 2: where well meaning Christians can have difference of opinions, and
Speaker 2: in Romans fourteen that whole chapters about that. You might
Speaker 2: read that this week, but it says this in Romans
Speaker 2: fourteen one, you must accept all fellow believers, even weak ones,
Speaker 2: without arguing or judging them for different opinions. That's not
Speaker 2: an easy verse to understand. Oh yes it is. It's
Speaker 2: just an easy verse to harder verse to do. It's
Speaker 2: easy to understand the message. Translation of this verse amplifies it.
Speaker 2: Here's Romans fourteen to one in the message welcome with
Speaker 2: open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way
Speaker 2: you do. So you hear that, welcome with open arms
Speaker 2: fellow believers who don't see things the way you do,
Speaker 2: and don't jump all over them every time they do
Speaker 2: or say there's something that you don't agree with. This
Speaker 2: is scripture Roman's fourteen one. They have their own history
Speaker 2: to deal with. Treat them gently. Now did you notice
Speaker 2: that little phrase at the end there, they have their
Speaker 2: own history to deal with? You know what is he
Speaker 2: talking about? Well, we all we always tend to look
Speaker 2: at how far a person has to go. We don't
Speaker 2: know how far they've already come. And if you knew
Speaker 2: how far they'd already come, you'd probably be rejoicing with them.
Speaker 2: Go man, they'd come a long way. But we're always
Speaker 2: judging them from where they are now to where they
Speaker 2: need to be. And people are doing that with you too.
Speaker 2: But they have their own history to deal with. Well.
Speaker 2: It means that when you don't know the background of
Speaker 2: a fellow Christian and your church family, when you don't
Speaker 2: know the background, when you don't understand their background of
Speaker 2: a brother or sister, maybe they came out of an
Speaker 2: urban area, or maybe they came out of a rural area,
Speaker 2: or maybe they came out of a suburban area, or
Speaker 2: maybe they came out in poverty, or maybe they were
Speaker 2: an orphan. When you don't know the background and understand
Speaker 2: it of a brother and sister in Christ, you know
Speaker 2: what you tend to do either dismiss them or judge
Speaker 2: them for behavior that you don't understand. Let me give
Speaker 2: you a question, Okay, that will change your perspective on
Speaker 2: how you deal with people that you don't like or
Speaker 2: that you don't understand. Okay, here's the question. Stop asking
Speaker 2: when you see somebody that does things and you go,
Speaker 2: that just irritates me no end. Stop asking in your mind,
Speaker 2: what's wrong with you? And start asking this what happened
Speaker 2: to you? What happened to you? Because there's always a trauma,
Speaker 2: there's always a reason, a crisis behind behavior. Hurt people,
Speaker 2: hurt people, And if you find somebody who's hurting other people,
Speaker 2: if you dig deep enough, you'll find that they have
Speaker 2: been hurt. And the people who deserve it the least
Speaker 2: are those who need the most massive doses of love.
Speaker 2: Stop asking when you see people that irritate you, what's
Speaker 2: wrong with them? And start asking a much more sympathetic,
Speaker 2: empathetic question, what happened to them? I wonder what warped
Speaker 2: and what caused them to be so whatever it is? Now,
Speaker 2: Paul understood the great importance of unity in the family
Speaker 2: of God, so he's passionate when he talks about unity.
Speaker 2: And First Corinthians won ten. In the New Living, it
Speaker 2: says this, let there be real harmony, real harmony, so
Speaker 2: there are no divisions in the church. This is what
Speaker 2: Jesus wants, This is his vision the church. I want
Speaker 2: no divisions in the church. I plead with you to
Speaker 2: be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. If
Speaker 2: you take a note circle the word plead and circle
Speaker 2: the word purpose. Those two words plead and purpose for
Speaker 2: real unity to take place, for it to happen in
Speaker 2: your church, it takes both passion. Paul's pleading. I plead you,
Speaker 2: I'm begging you to get along with each other. For unity.
Speaker 2: There has to be passion and there has to be
Speaker 2: a common purpose. That's why we've never in forty one years,
Speaker 2: never had a split in saddle Back Church, not once.
Speaker 2: Why because we've had the same common purposes for forty
Speaker 2: one years. So that's the starting point. All right. Now,
Speaker 2: let me give you a second step to being an
Speaker 2: agent of unity. Number two, Realize that I must continually
Speaker 2: work at unity. I have to realize this is not
Speaker 2: something just happens. It's not accidental. If I'm going to
Speaker 2: be close to other people, if I'm going to be
Speaker 2: in harmony with other people, if I'm going to be
Speaker 2: unified in a small group or unified in our church,
Speaker 2: I've got to work at it. Now. The Bible says
Speaker 2: that Hesians fourth ree says this, make every effort you're
Speaker 2: taking notes underline that, make every effort to keep the
Speaker 2: unity of the spirit, bind yourselves together, living in peace
Speaker 2: with each other. Now that phrase make every effort means
Speaker 2: it's going to take some work. Unity just doesn't happen
Speaker 2: in your family and your marriage, in a relationship. In
Speaker 2: our church, unity happens only when you are intentional about
Speaker 2: it and you say, I'm going to make it happen.
Speaker 2: We're going to make every effort to build unity. He said, well,
Speaker 2: how do I do that? Well, I'm giving you some tips.
Speaker 2: I could give you a bunch more, but these are
Speaker 2: the ones we can work on right now. Let me
Speaker 2: give you a couple of things to not do, because
Speaker 2: these destroy unity. These create division instead of vision. Division
Speaker 2: always destroys vision. Number one, here's something not to do.
Speaker 2: Don't bring worldly values into the church. Yeah, why because
Speaker 2: every time you bring worldly values into the church, it
Speaker 2: causes division. It causes division. Now one of the world's
Speaker 2: values and we see it everywhere today is the idolizing
Speaker 2: of celebrities. You know, we now live in a celebrity culture.
Speaker 2: There's a celebrity on the cover of every magazine practically
Speaker 2: every week. And with the advent of social media, everybody
Speaker 2: now wants to be their own little celebrity, and they're
Speaker 2: turning their lives into reality shows. And everybody, I mean
Speaker 2: junior girls and sixth grade boys are doing everything for
Speaker 2: an audience today, and people are being marketed as if
Speaker 2: they're a product, and many people are actually doing it
Speaker 2: to themselves. They're marketing themselves as a product. And so
Speaker 2: actors and musicians and politicians and practically everybody else are
Speaker 2: being packaged and produced. They're long on reputation, but they're
Speaker 2: short on character.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so thankful that
Speaker 1: you've chosen to spend some time with us. If you've
Speaker 1: missed any part of this broadcast, just go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com and listen online. Anytime. Rick will be back
Speaker 1: to close out our time today. But first, how do
Speaker 1: you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel spiritually dry,
Speaker 1: like you're in a desert, or like you're just going
Speaker 1: through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark, your joy.
Speaker 1: God knows how you feel right now, and you're not alone.
Speaker 1: He knows even David and the Bible felt like that,
Speaker 1: and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says you will seek
Speaker 1: me and find me when you seek Me with all
Speaker 1: your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to
Speaker 1: a renewal of your relationship with him. That's why Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick created a very special, brand new resource called Going
Speaker 1: Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat. Right now, here's
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a very personal and serious question.
Speaker 2: Would you truly like to have a deeper relationship with God?
Speaker 2: Not a superficial one, a deep one Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.
Speaker 2: God says this, you will seek me and find me
Speaker 2: when you seek for Me with all your heart. When
Speaker 2: you seek God intentionally, it leads to a renewal of
Speaker 2: your relationship with him. You're as close to God as
Speaker 2: you want to be, and if you want to be closer,
Speaker 2: it's up to you. That's why I created a Going
Speaker 2: Deeper with God Personal Renewal Retreat. Yeah, Going Deeper with
Speaker 2: God Personal Renewal Retreat. It's retreat just meant for you
Speaker 2: where you can get alone with God and you can
Speaker 2: connect with Him in an intimate way. That's going to
Speaker 2: refresh and renew and revitalize your relationship with God. It's
Speaker 2: going to give you a deeper understanding of His love,
Speaker 2: and it will also prepare you to be used by
Speaker 2: God in the days ahead. Now, as I lead you
Speaker 2: through this Going Deeper with God retreat. My hope is
Speaker 2: that God will use it to completely revitalize and re
Speaker 2: energize your spiritual life. Together, we'll go through a series
Speaker 2: of audio lessons and after each session you'll just take
Speaker 2: a little bit of time to complete the exercises in
Speaker 2: the Companion workbook that I've prepared for you. And you
Speaker 2: can do this. You can do it at home, you
Speaker 2: can do it at school. You can do it in
Speaker 2: short sessions, or you can get away for a whole
Speaker 2: day and do it all in one setting. My goal
Speaker 2: is to strengthen your relationship with God, deepen your commitment
Speaker 2: and surrendered Him in affirm your commitment to live for
Speaker 2: His glory. You know, maybe you've never thought about this,
Speaker 2: but God, You're ready to go deeper with you. He's
Speaker 2: just waiting on you now. I want to help you
Speaker 2: get started by sending you a copy of Going Deeper
Speaker 2: with God Today, and when you partner with Daily Hope
Speaker 2: to take the word of God these positive messages to
Speaker 2: people all around the world. My team is going to
Speaker 2: send you this very special spiritual growth tool just to
Speaker 2: say thanks. I hope you'll take advantage of this today.
Speaker 1: We'll send you going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat,
Speaker 1: as our way of saying thanks when you give a
Speaker 1: gift today to help Daily Hope share the hope of
Speaker 1: Jesus with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred six
Speaker 1: hundred five thousand and four or go to pastorick dot
Speaker 1: com to get your copy of this great resource. That's
Speaker 1: eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's word for our daily hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support