Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
Speaker 1: the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so
Speaker 1: glad you've joined us. Today, we're continuing a powerful series
Speaker 1: called Radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots, and in this series, Rick
Speaker 1: will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
Speaker 1: stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created
Speaker 1: you to be. All right, now, here's part one of
Speaker 1: a message called Radical Joy.
Speaker 2: We're going to continue in this series We've been doing
Speaker 2: on Radicalis and we're looking at deepening spiritual roots. And
Speaker 2: today I want us to look at deepening the root
Speaker 2: of radical joy. At the very first Christmas, the very
Speaker 2: first thing the Angel said was behold, I bring you
Speaker 2: good news of great joy. It didn't say great faith,
Speaker 2: great love, great peace, great obedience, great joy. Joy is
Speaker 2: to characterize our lives in following Jesus Christ from the
Speaker 2: very first message at Christmas.
Speaker 3: Joy to the world.
Speaker 2: The Lord has come, I bring you good news of
Speaker 2: great joy. All through scripture, jesus ministry was characterized by joy.
Speaker 2: Everywhere he went and healed people and spoke. It says
Speaker 2: the people were filled with joy when he sent the
Speaker 2: disciples out in the seventy two out it says they
Speaker 2: returned with joy. When Jesus was resurrected on the Eastern morning,
Speaker 2: it says the disciples and the women who were following
Speaker 2: them were filled with joy. The Bible says that the
Speaker 2: new Church that was formed in Jerusalem, the first Christian group,
Speaker 2: it says they worshiped with great joy. Paul talks about
Speaker 2: in the New Testament. He says, whenever I pray for you,
Speaker 2: I pray with joy, with great joy. In fact, the
Speaker 2: Bible says in Luke fifteen that every time one person
Speaker 2: steps across the line spiritually puts their faith in Christ,
Speaker 2: gives their life to Jesus, there is joy in heaven.
Speaker 2: It says they have a party in heaven. They had
Speaker 2: a party in heaven when you gave your life to Christ.
Speaker 2: Time anybody does that, there's joy in heaven. Now a
Speaker 2: lot of people think that the following Christ is all
Speaker 2: about rules and regulations and rituals and things like that,
Speaker 2: but actually it's to be about joy. The Bible says
Speaker 2: in Romans chapter fourteen, They're on your outline. Verse seventeen.
Speaker 2: It says the Kingdom of God is not a matter
Speaker 2: of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy
Speaker 2: in the Holy Spirit. What's he saying there? The deeper
Speaker 2: roots you build into Christ, the more joy you're going
Speaker 2: to have in your life. You look around, most people
Speaker 2: aren't enjoying life. They're not enjoying it, they're enduring it.
Speaker 2: Most of the people on movies, most of the people
Speaker 2: on TV shows, they're not joyful people. They're depressed people.
Speaker 2: They're sad people, they're cynical people. They're just going through
Speaker 2: the motions in life. They don't go through the life
Speaker 2: with joy. And yet the Bible says the Kingdom of
Speaker 2: God is not about rules and regulations and rituals and
Speaker 2: eating and what you drink and all that. He says,
Speaker 2: it's about joy in the Holy Spirit. And Paul says
Speaker 2: in Philippians chapter one, he says, I will continue with
Speaker 2: you so that you will grow and experience the joy
Speaker 2: of your faith. Did you know that the more that
Speaker 2: you grow in Christ and the deeper roots you get,
Speaker 2: the more joyful God will make you in your heart.
Speaker 2: When I have not joy in my life, it means
Speaker 2: at that point I'm living a shallow relationship with Christ,
Speaker 2: because the deeper my relationship is with the Lord the deeper.
Speaker 2: My joy will be to be radically joyful means to
Speaker 2: be joyful all the time. Anybody can be joyful when
Speaker 2: things are going good. Anybody can be happy when things
Speaker 2: are going great. But radical joy is what is talked
Speaker 2: about in Philippians four, verse four, which says this always
Speaker 2: always be full of joy in the Lord. I say
Speaker 2: it again, rejoice. Now leave that on the screen. From
Speaker 2: it and if you look on your outline, that verse
Speaker 2: is there. I want you to circle two things. First,
Speaker 2: circle always, because that's rare joy. How is it possible
Speaker 2: to always be joyful? I mean, in spite of all
Speaker 2: the things that are happening in life. It says, always
Speaker 2: be full of joy. And here's the key in the Lord.
Speaker 2: Circle that phrase in the Lord. That phrase in the
Speaker 2: Lord or in Christ is Paul's favorite description of what
Speaker 2: it means to follow Jesus. It's used one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty seven times in the New Testament. In fact, the
Speaker 2: word Christian is only used a couple times in the Bible. Instead,
Speaker 2: the Bible calls us in Christ and over and over
Speaker 2: in the Bible. If you ever do a study on this,
Speaker 2: every time it says in Christ it's going to show
Speaker 2: you a benefit. There is a benefit for being in Christ,
Speaker 2: for putting my faith in Christ, for loving Christ, for
Speaker 2: being a part of Christ's family, being a part of
Speaker 2: what Jesus meant me to be. Now, it says rejoice
Speaker 2: in the Lord. It doesn't say rejoice in your circumstance. Now,
Speaker 2: let's just admit it. This last year was a pretty
Speaker 2: tough year. Everybody want to agree with that. It's a
Speaker 2: tough year, very tough year. He's not saying rejoice over
Speaker 2: the tough year. He's not saying rejoice or be joyful
Speaker 2: in your circumstance. He's saying, in spite of it, you
Speaker 2: rejoice in the Lord. Now, how do we do that? Well, Fortunately,
Speaker 2: we have a chapter in the Bible called Romans chapter eight,
Speaker 2: And in Romans chapter eight we have the six reasons
Speaker 2: for radical joy. Six reasons that we can always be
Speaker 2: joyful no matter how hard life gets, no matter how
Speaker 2: tough the circumstances are. Know how matter how difficult the problems,
Speaker 2: no matter how much life stinks, or whatever God says,
Speaker 2: you can be joyfulness because of these six things. Now,
Speaker 2: the first reason is in the first verse of Romans
Speaker 2: chapter eight and the Bible says that if I'm in Christ,
Speaker 2: that's the key. If I'm in Christ, God has completely
Speaker 2: forgiven me. God has completely forgiven me no guilt, no shame,
Speaker 2: no remorse, no regrets, because God has wiped it out.
Speaker 3: That's a good reason for joy.
Speaker 2: Romans eight, verse one says this, there is now no condemnation,
Speaker 2: no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I looked up this word no in the original Greek,
Speaker 2: and it is the strongest negative possible in Greek. It
Speaker 2: means no, no, no, no, no, no in a thousand years,
Speaker 2: not in a million years, not a chance in your lifetime, never, never, never,
Speaker 2: it ain't gonna happen, not a zero zip. No, it's
Speaker 2: not gonna happen. No condemnation, no no, He's saying, don't
Speaker 2: even think about it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: That's so important because the number one reason people lose
Speaker 2: their joy is guilt. Guilt and shame are kill joys.
Speaker 2: You cannot be happy and guilty at the same time.
Speaker 2: You cannot be joyful and living in regret at the
Speaker 2: same time. It is a kill joy that robs you
Speaker 2: of joy. And God doesn't want you to be robbed
Speaker 2: of joy. Now, of course none of us are perfect,
Speaker 2: so we've all made mistakes, so we all have legitimate
Speaker 2: reasons to feel regrets, to feel guilt, and maybe even
Speaker 2: to feel shame. And the result is most people live
Speaker 2: their lives in self condemnation, and that's why they're not joyful.
Speaker 2: They're going around saying, well, I should be better, I
Speaker 2: should be different, I should do this, I should do that,
Speaker 2: I must do this, and they're always shoulding themselves, always
Speaker 2: shoulding themselves, and they live in this constant sense of guilt, shame, regret, remorse.
Speaker 3: You see, the way God wired.
Speaker 2: You, because you're a human being, is that when you
Speaker 2: violate your conscience, it figures out a way to get even.
Speaker 2: You may not like that. You may try to overthrow it,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't work. You may try to rationalize it
Speaker 2: and tell yourself in your mind what you did was okay,
Speaker 2: when in your heart you know it's wrong, and that's
Speaker 2: telling yourself rational lies. But it doesn't work. When you
Speaker 2: violate your conscience, it figures out a way to get even.
Speaker 2: You may get sick, you may have all kinds of
Speaker 2: relational conflicts, You may sabotage your success. There are all
Speaker 2: kinds of things that people do. They don't even realize
Speaker 2: why they keep failing in life, why they keep messing
Speaker 2: up things. But it is guilt motivation at a deeper,
Speaker 2: subconscious level that's causing them to sabotage themselves. Now, God
Speaker 2: doesn't want you doing that, and so he says, come
Speaker 2: to me, receive my forgiveness through my son Christ, and
Speaker 2: no condemnation in Christ.
Speaker 3: Does God ever want you to feel guilty?
Speaker 2: Yeah, for about a half a second, long enough to
Speaker 2: get to him, and then you say, God, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: Please forgive me. And he wipes it out, and he
Speaker 2: forgives it, and he forgets it. He throws it in
Speaker 2: the deepest part of the ocean. Now, because I am normal,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna sin anymore. It
Speaker 2: doesn't say there will be no mistakes. You're gonna make
Speaker 2: mistakes the rest of your life. It doesn't say there
Speaker 2: are now no more sins. You're gonna sin the rest
Speaker 2: of your life. It doesn't say there are now no
Speaker 2: more errors. You're gonna have errors the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: It says no more condemnation. It means even when you
Speaker 2: blow it, you're forgiven.
Speaker 3: Is that good news. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: You see, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he
Speaker 2: didn't just die for the sins you've already committed. He
Speaker 2: died for the ones you haven't even committed yet, they're
Speaker 2: all covered in the cross. You say, well, why do
Speaker 2: I not feel condemned? Then why am I not condemned?
Speaker 2: Because Jesus already took the condemnation. That's what he died
Speaker 2: for on the cross, for your sins. And there's the
Speaker 2: law of the universe of double jeopardy that you can't
Speaker 2: be held accountable twice for the same crime. And either
Speaker 2: Jesus dies for your sins or you're going.
Speaker 3: To pay for me.
Speaker 2: See, somebody is going to pay for the wrong you've done.
Speaker 2: We live in the world. God is a just God.
Speaker 2: Somebody is going to pay for your sins. You just
Speaker 2: don't get away for it. Either you pay for them
Speaker 2: or God says, let me pay for them. Now, if
Speaker 2: you accept what Christ has paid for you, then you're
Speaker 2: scot free. There's no judgment on you. If you reject that,
Speaker 2: then you'll pay for him yourselves. But God says there's
Speaker 2: no condemnation for those in Christ. So what does that mean?
Speaker 2: It means that after you've accepted Christ, what happens when
Speaker 2: you sin? When you sin, God doesn't get mad at you.
Speaker 2: I mean, I even talk to Christians a lot of times.
Speaker 2: They think they've done something wrong in the past, and
Speaker 2: I go, now, something's happened to them, and they go,
Speaker 2: God's getting even with me. God's getting God does not
Speaker 2: get even with you. Why because that would be double jeopardy.
Speaker 2: That sin that you just committed has already been paid for.
Speaker 2: It's been paid for by Christ, so you don't have
Speaker 2: to pay for it. It's already been paid for, So
Speaker 2: God doesn't when you blow it, God doesn't. He's not
Speaker 2: mad at you. He's mad about you. He's already paid
Speaker 2: for all your sins, and he just wants you to
Speaker 2: confess it and come to him. The Bible says when
Speaker 2: Christ died and across all our sins were pardoned. That
Speaker 2: means stamped out, paid in full.
Speaker 3: Done for.
Speaker 2: You don't resurrect them. How long do you remember a
Speaker 2: bill that's been paid You don't you forget it. It's
Speaker 2: already been paid for.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: What we're talking about here is called salvation. Salvation means
Speaker 2: all my sins have been forgiven when I am in Christ,
Speaker 2: when I've trusted Him, and I.
Speaker 3: Can live guilt free. Now here's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2: Even if there was no such thing as heaven or Hell,
Speaker 2: and of course there is, but even if there weren't,
Speaker 2: it would be worth it giving my life to Christ
Speaker 2: just to have a clear conscience so that I could
Speaker 2: be joyful. The Bible calls that salvation, and it is
Speaker 2: the first source of joy. You're never gonna have joy,
Speaker 2: real joy until you experience salvation, the Bible says, and
Speaker 2: Saw I'm thirteen verse five. My heart finds joy in
Speaker 2: your salvation. My heart finds joy. It is the joy
Speaker 2: of being forgiven. It is the joy of freedom of
Speaker 2: a clear conscience. Tom, have you ever experienced that? Of
Speaker 2: course you have, yes, But talk to me about Tell me.
Speaker 4: When I first became a follower of Christ years ago.
Speaker 4: Some of you think a million years ago, but it
Speaker 4: was quite a few years ago. I was pretty cynical
Speaker 4: before I became a follower of Christ. It's one of
Speaker 4: the ways I pushed back against the negative feelings inside
Speaker 4: of me. And somebody taught me how to follow Christ
Speaker 4: and how to pray a prayer and trust him for
Speaker 4: a relationship. And I did that, and I didn't understand
Speaker 4: all the benefits when I prayed that prayer. I didn't
Speaker 4: understand how deeply he would forgive me. But I began
Speaker 4: to learn it, and immediately there was this feeling in
Speaker 4: my life of peace that I had never had. It
Speaker 4: was just this deep sense of everything's all right with
Speaker 4: the world. God has a purpose for my life. There's
Speaker 4: a future for me. And a lot of it was
Speaker 4: about the fact that I was free from guilt in
Speaker 4: my life. I've got to remind myself of that all
Speaker 4: the time. I mean, today, yesterday, I got to remind
Speaker 4: myself that I'm not condemned. It's not like I prayed
Speaker 4: a prayer a lot of years ago and then it stuck.
Speaker 4: It's got to be a daily reminder. But I know
Speaker 4: that at that point that peace came into my life
Speaker 4: and it's changed everything.
Speaker 3: You know, that's a good point.
Speaker 2: It's just reminding yourself no condemnation, no condemnation. You know
Speaker 2: what that does, It makes me want to love God more.
Speaker 2: If I feel like I'm living in condemnation, I don't
Speaker 2: want to love the judge who's condemning me. But if
Speaker 2: I realize that I'm under no condemnation.
Speaker 3: It makes me want to love God. You were so gracious.
Speaker 3: I'll never forget.
Speaker 2: Probably thirty five years ago, I was speaking out in
Speaker 2: Barstow at a little church and at the end of
Speaker 2: the service, a young woman came up to me, tears
Speaker 2: streaming down her face, and she said I could never
Speaker 2: be forgiven. And I said, what's the problem? She goes,
Speaker 2: I had an abortion, And I said, you don't think
Speaker 2: God can't forgive that. You don't think Jesus didn't die
Speaker 2: for that on the cross. You think that's the unpardonable sin.
Speaker 2: Would you like to be free from that? Would you
Speaker 2: like to let it.
Speaker 3: Go and close the door on the pass? Yes?
Speaker 2: I said, well, let me lead you in a prayer.
Speaker 2: So we bowed her head and I said, something.
Speaker 3: Lord, you know what I've done. You know I really
Speaker 3: messed up.
Speaker 2: But I'm sorry, and I thank you for dying for
Speaker 2: my sin, and I want to trust you to forgive it.
Speaker 2: And I asked you to come into my heart and
Speaker 2: forgive me. I remember when we finished that prayer, I
Speaker 2: looked up and hurt face was.
Speaker 3: Ch I mean, radiant.
Speaker 2: I'd never seen this, and I looked at it and she said,
Speaker 2: I feel clean for the first time. I thought, that's it.
Speaker 2: It's a feeling of clean. Well, you know, when you
Speaker 2: feel clean, you can feel joy. When you feel dirty,
Speaker 2: you don't feel joy. I remember a long time ago,
Speaker 2: I was watching a Colombo episode. Everybody remember Colombo. You're
Speaker 2: really old if you remember Columbo. And the guest star
Speaker 2: that week was Johnny Cash. He was the bad guy.
Speaker 2: And by the way, Doyle, do you know the song
Speaker 2: that Johnny Cash played to get out of jail?
Speaker 3: You know that, don't you? That's it? You know it?
Speaker 2: You do know it, all right, every good guitarist knows
Speaker 2: that song. Rick, you know that's all Johnny Cash. If finally,
Speaker 2: at the end of Colombo, he gets caught and he
Speaker 2: gives his classic line. He says, I'm actually glad I
Speaker 2: got caught because the guilt is killing me. And I
Speaker 2: thought a lot of people in life are being killed
Speaker 2: by their guilt. The first reason for joy is no condemnation,
Speaker 2: no condemnation at all. God has completely forgiven me. Second
Speaker 2: reason I can always be joyful no matter what's going
Speaker 2: on in my life is because if I'm in Christ,
Speaker 2: God has given me eternal life. God has given me
Speaker 2: eternal life that's at the other end, that's about in
Speaker 2: the future. And what that means is that death is
Speaker 2: not the end, that this is not all there is.
Speaker 2: One day you're gonna die and your heart will stop,
Speaker 2: but that's not going to be the end of you.
Speaker 3: Now, let's just admit it.
Speaker 2: If this life is all there was, all there was,
Speaker 2: that would be a reason to not be joyful, because
Speaker 2: there's a lot of things in life that are pretty sad.
Speaker 2: If you have traveled with me around the world and
Speaker 2: seen the people that I've seen around the world in
Speaker 2: total despair, life is said. In fact, if this life
Speaker 2: is all there is, then there's not a whole lot
Speaker 2: of reason for joy because if you haven't figured it out,
Speaker 2: life's unfair. Life is unfair. God never said it would
Speaker 2: be fair. Because of sin, we live on a broken planet.
Speaker 2: This is not heaven, where things are done in all
Speaker 2: God's way. Here on earth are done our way, and
Speaker 2: life is not fair. It's not fair when people are
Speaker 2: born with handicaps, it's not fair when women and little
Speaker 2: girls are raped, it's not fair when people are murdered,
Speaker 2: and all of the things that happen in society. And
Speaker 2: if this life was all there is, that would be
Speaker 2: pretty tragedy tragic. But the Bible says, the reason we
Speaker 2: have joys because we know we're not gonna be here forever.
Speaker 2: You're gonna spend sixty eighty, maybe one hundred years, but
Speaker 2: that's all. Then you're going into eternity, spend trullions of
Speaker 2: years there. And if you have found faith in Christ,
Speaker 2: you are in Christ. The Bible says, you're going to
Speaker 2: spend eternity with God in heaven. The Bible says this
Speaker 2: in verse eleven of Romans eight. It says, the spirit
Speaker 2: of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
Speaker 3: Now that's the key. The God's spirit has to be
Speaker 3: living in you.
Speaker 2: So just as he raised Christ from the dead, he
Speaker 2: will give life to your mortal body by this same spirit.
Speaker 2: What's your mortal body? Have you looked at yourself in
Speaker 2: the mirror lately? You're not half the man you used
Speaker 2: to be. Some of us are a little more than
Speaker 2: we used to be, but everything is decaying and declining. Baldness, bulges, bifocals,
Speaker 2: and other things.
Speaker 1: Wow, thank you so much, Pastor for that amazing message. Now,
Speaker 1: if you want to make your time in prayer the
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