Speaker 1: Hope is not a product. Hope is not a program.
Speaker 1: Hope is not a pills. Hope is a person. And
Speaker 1: there's only one person that you can put that hope in,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the world. Because
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ came back to life on Easter Sunday about
Speaker 1: twenty and seventeen years ago, it split history into AD
Speaker 1: and BC. We know three things for certain. Number one,
Speaker 1: you might write this down because he rose from the dead.
Speaker 1: I know that Jesus has a great purpose for my life.
Speaker 1: Jesus has a great purpose for my life. Now. One
Speaker 1: of the most important things you have to know in
Speaker 1: life is what's your purpose. If you don't ever figure
Speaker 1: out why you're here, you're gonna waste your life. You
Speaker 1: don't know why a lot of people confuse purpose with
Speaker 1: other things. Purpose is not success. You can be incredibly
Speaker 1: successful and not know your purpose. You make a whole
Speaker 1: lot of money and not know your purpose. You me
Speaker 1: incredibly famous and talented and very productive in your life
Speaker 1: and still miss the purpose for which you were made.
Speaker 1: I was talking to a guy one time and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, Rick, my life has a great cast. I
Speaker 1: just don't know the plot, and I said, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people feel that way. And another guy said,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody said, I hope my life isn't a
Speaker 1: joke because I don't get it. I don't get it. Now.
Speaker 1: When it comes to knowing your purpose in life, you
Speaker 1: really only have four choices. Only four choices. The first
Speaker 1: way is to try to figure out your purpose in
Speaker 1: life by speculation. What I mean of that is you
Speaker 1: just guess at it. You could go to some university
Speaker 1: and enroll in a philosophy course and ask all of
Speaker 1: the great questions of life, who am I? Why am
Speaker 1: I here? What is my purpose? Does my life have meaning?
Speaker 1: Is there any significance to my life? Where am I
Speaker 1: headed in life? Why am I here? And you can
Speaker 1: take lots of philosophy courses, but the bottom line is
Speaker 1: you're just guessing, and your guess is as good as mine.
Speaker 1: It's just speculation. You're never going to find your true
Speaker 1: purpose in life by just guessing about it. It's much
Speaker 1: more important than that. Another way is imagination, not speculation
Speaker 1: of an imagination, which just basically says, make up your
Speaker 1: own purpose. You don't know your purse, Just pick one anyone.
Speaker 1: There are probably one hundred thousand self help books that
Speaker 1: teach that. And as they said, they confuse success with purpose,
Speaker 1: and they say, you know, you know, set your goals
Speaker 1: and have your dream and clarify your values and know
Speaker 1: your vision. That's all good stuff, but it's not about
Speaker 1: your purpose. It's about success in life. And you never
Speaker 1: need to confuse those two. Just make up a purpose.
Speaker 1: That's imagination. And then there's the other way that people
Speaker 1: often try to find a purpose, and I would call
Speaker 1: it introspection. And what I mean by that is it's
Speaker 1: look within. They you hear this all the time in
Speaker 1: Eastern philosophies, you hear it in movies, and particularly hear
Speaker 1: it on talk shows, and they basically say, if you
Speaker 1: want to know your purpose, trust the force. Luke. Yeah,
Speaker 1: look look within, and if you look within long enough,
Speaker 1: then you'll know your purpose. Now there's one problem with that.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work. If it did, we'd all know our
Speaker 1: purpose because you've looked inside you, and I've looked inside
Speaker 1: of me. I looked inside of me. I just saw mess.
Speaker 1: I didn't get any clarity at all. Now follow me
Speaker 1: on the logic of this. You can't tell yourself what
Speaker 1: your purpose is because you didn't create you. Because you
Speaker 1: didn't make you, you don't know your purpose. If I
Speaker 1: were to hold up a object of some kind of
Speaker 1: air mechanical object, you've never seen it, I said, what
Speaker 1: do you think the purpose of this is? Uh, we
Speaker 1: could guess, we could speculate, we could look within you know,
Speaker 1: we could pretend we know. But really, the only way
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have any idea what the purpose of this
Speaker 1: object was unless either A you talk to the inventor
Speaker 1: who created it, or b you read the owner's manual.
Speaker 1: And if you do those two things, then you can
Speaker 1: find the purpose of what I was holding up. Now,
Speaker 1: the same is true for your life. The only way
Speaker 1: you're ever going to know your purpose in life is
Speaker 1: talk to the creator and read the owner's manual. If
Speaker 1: you don't do that, you're never going to know the
Speaker 1: purpose for which you were created. You could make up
Speaker 1: a purpose, but it's not the one you were created for. Now.
Speaker 1: The truth is, you are not an accident. You've heard
Speaker 1: me say this many times. There are accidental parents, acidental children,
Speaker 1: they're illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children. Your
Speaker 1: parents may not planned you, but God did. And if
Speaker 1: God had not wanted you to exist. You would not
Speaker 1: be alive right now, he said, why did God give
Speaker 1: me the parents? He gave me? God was not so
Speaker 1: much interested in their parenting skills as he was interested
Speaker 1: in their DNA, because God knew that they had just
Speaker 1: the right DNA to create you. And whether your parents
Speaker 1: were good or bad, or indifferent or maybe you even
Speaker 1: never even knew them, he knew that they would create you.
Speaker 1: And God was much more interested in creating you than
Speaker 1: he was in their parenting skills. God's plan and purpose
Speaker 1: is bigger than your parent's plan and purpose. He wanted
Speaker 1: you alive. You are not an accident, and He has
Speaker 1: a plan and purpose for your life. And so God says,
Speaker 1: I want you to know this now. He said, Rick,
Speaker 1: what does all this have to do with Easter? Well,
Speaker 1: let me show you. Look at these verses on your outline.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in the Two Corinthians, Chapter five, Jesus
Speaker 1: included everyone in his death so that everyone could also
Speaker 1: be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far
Speaker 1: better life than people ever lived on their own. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're taking notes, you might circle that phrase better life.
Speaker 1: God says, I have a purpose for your life, and
Speaker 1: it is a better life than you would ever live
Speaker 1: on your own. Now, that's not a term we talk
Speaker 1: about a lot better life. The term we talk about
Speaker 1: a lot is the good life. And in California we're
Speaker 1: supposed to be authorities on the good life. And in California,
Speaker 1: the good life basically means looking good, feeling good, and
Speaker 1: having the goods. If you look good and you feel
Speaker 1: good and you have the goods, you got the good life.
Speaker 1: There's only one problem with the good life. It's not
Speaker 1: good enough. You were made for more than just the
Speaker 1: good life. You were made for more than success. You
Speaker 1: were made for more than survival. You were made for significance.
Speaker 1: And the only way you will know your significance is
Speaker 1: by discovering God's purpose for your life. You look good,
Speaker 1: feel good, have the goods, but you need the better life.
Speaker 1: And I've talked to people who had all of those
Speaker 1: things and still felt frustrated or empty, or the nagging
Speaker 1: feeling there's got to be more. Well, of course, there's more.
Speaker 1: You weren't made just to get up in the morning,
Speaker 1: go to work, come on and watch TV, go to bed,
Speaker 1: go to party on weekend, retire and die that's not living,
Speaker 1: that's existing. Jesus said, I came that you might have life,
Speaker 1: and life to its fullest, the better life. Now where
Speaker 1: do we get that purpose? We'll look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, everything, absolutely, everything got started in Christ.
Speaker 1: He's the creator of the universe and finds his purpose
Speaker 1: its purpose in him. The only way you're going to
Speaker 1: find your purpose is in Christ, and the way Christ
Speaker 1: came back to life says I do have a purpose
Speaker 1: for your life. Look at the next verse. The Bible
Speaker 1: says this Ephesians chapter one. It is in Christ that
Speaker 1: we find out who we are and what we are
Speaker 1: living for. Who we are, what we're living for part
Speaker 1: of the overall purpose He is working. God is working
Speaker 1: out in everything and everyone. Until you get to know Christ,
Speaker 1: you're not going to know your purpose because He is
Speaker 1: the one who made you. He's the one who created you.
Speaker 1: He's the one that when he rose again, split history
Speaker 1: into AD and BC. Now you know here at saddleback,
Speaker 1: of course, we're committed to helping everybody discover and develop
Speaker 1: their purpose. We're a purpose driven church. I wrote a
Speaker 1: book about it. It is a big best seller, and
Speaker 1: I think that the reason it's sold. You know, it's
Speaker 1: the best selling book in American history, sold thirty two
Speaker 1: million copies in hardback and then we became the most
Speaker 1: translated book in the world. It's in Guinness Book of Records.
Speaker 1: Why not because I'm a good author. I'm not an author,
Speaker 1: I'm a pastor. But because it happens to be the
Speaker 1: number one need that people want to know about. Why
Speaker 1: am I here? What's my purpose? Without that? Without purpose,
Speaker 1: life is petty and pointless. And God says we find
Speaker 1: it through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, let me
Speaker 1: give you a second thing. Second bit, I'm only covering three.
Speaker 1: The second benefit we get from Jesus Christ rising from
Speaker 1: the dead is he not only says I've got a
Speaker 1: great purpose for your life. He says I have a
Speaker 1: great power for your problems. I have a great power
Speaker 1: for your problems. And Easter demonstrated the power of God.
Speaker 1: There's not much greater power than raising your yourself back
Speaker 1: to life. It is the most powerful event in history.
Speaker 1: And here's the cool thing about it, it's available to you.
Speaker 1: The same power that raised Jesus from the dead a
Speaker 1: couple millennia ago, two thousand years ago is available to
Speaker 1: you today. Let me show you some verses. This may
Speaker 1: be a benefit you didn't know about. And if you
Speaker 1: don't know about it, you can't depend on it. Fhesians
Speaker 1: chapter one the Bible says, I pray that you will
Speaker 1: begin to understand how incredibly great God's power really is,
Speaker 1: how incredibly great God's power really is to help those
Speaker 1: who believe him. It is the same mighty power that
Speaker 1: raised Christ from the dead. Say wait a minute, time
Speaker 1: out here, Rick, you're telling me that the same power
Speaker 1: that brought Jesus back to life is available to me
Speaker 1: in my daily life. That's exactly what I'm saying. That's
Speaker 1: a benefit you may have not known about. The resurrection
Speaker 1: of Jesus comes with a promise. Look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: By his power, God's by his power, God raised the
Speaker 1: Lord from the dead. And read this aloud on me,
Speaker 1: he will also raise Oh, now we're talking. The only
Speaker 1: reason you're going to be raised from the dead and
Speaker 1: have life after death is because Jesus did it. That's
Speaker 1: the reason. If Jesus doesn't raise you from the dead,
Speaker 1: you're not getting raised from the dead. By his power,
Speaker 1: God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will
Speaker 1: also raise us so you can have resurrection power in
Speaker 1: your life. Now, let me ask you a very personal question.
Speaker 1: Where do you need a resurrection in your life? I'm
Speaker 1: talking about right now. Let me phrase it another way.
Speaker 1: What's dying in your life or is dead and you
Speaker 1: know it and you need God's power to bring it
Speaker 1: back to life. Where do you need a resurrection this year?
Speaker 1: Where do you need God's resurrection power? See? The truth is,
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry about this, but some of you are
Speaker 1: in marriages that are dying. They're going south real fast,
Speaker 1: or maybe they already have died and you're just still
Speaker 1: living together. You need a resurrection in your marriage. The
Speaker 1: key to a long marriage can I've been married forty
Speaker 1: two years, is you have to learn how to fall
Speaker 1: in love over and over again. You know, fall in
Speaker 1: love just one time. You have to have resurrections in
Speaker 1: your marriage, in your life. Some of you need a
Speaker 1: resurrection in your marriage because it's dying. Some of you
Speaker 1: need a resurrection in your career. And you think, Man,
Speaker 1: I thought I'd be a whole lot further along the
Speaker 1: line than I am right now at this stage of
Speaker 1: the game. At this point in my life, I expect
Speaker 1: to be further down the road, but I'm not, and
Speaker 1: that's disappointing. And you need a resurrection in your career.
Speaker 1: Some of you need some resurrection and your energy. You say,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just tired all the time. I dragged
Speaker 1: through the day. I'm fatigued all of the time. I
Speaker 1: don't have any energy because you're living it on your
Speaker 1: power instead of God's power. God never intended for you
Speaker 1: to go through life just on your power. You don't
Speaker 1: have enough. Human power runs out, human love runs out,
Speaker 1: which is why there's divorce. You need supernatural love and
Speaker 1: you need supernatural power in your life to make it
Speaker 1: to the finish line. Some of you need a resurrection
Speaker 1: of your dream. You've had a dream in your past
Speaker 1: about something you've always wanted to be. You're always wanted
Speaker 1: to do, a talent, you wanted to develop, a goal
Speaker 1: you wanted to go after, and the dreams died. And
Speaker 1: this Eastern Resurrection Day, Jesus in the power that I
Speaker 1: raised myself back to life with. It's available to you
Speaker 1: if you plug into me. Some of you need a
Speaker 1: resurrection in your health. You're not going in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Some of you need a resurrection in your motivation. You know,
Speaker 1: I just you know, I'm just not motivated anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: just kind of putting in the time and waiting for
Speaker 1: the payday, checking the clock. I'm not motivated. Nothing motivates
Speaker 1: to me anymore. You need a resurrection of motivation. Some
Speaker 1: of you have had a split in a friendship with
Speaker 1: a dear friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or just a
Speaker 1: good friend. And there's been a rift, there's been a break,
Speaker 1: a tear, conflict. You need a resurrection in your friendship.
Speaker 1: So I'm just saying that in so many different areas.
Speaker 1: Some of you have had your heart broken recently, and
Speaker 1: as your pastor, I'm sorry, I really am, and I
Speaker 1: pray for people in our family that have a broken heart,
Speaker 1: and you need to have your heart repaired, and you
Speaker 1: need a resurrection in that area of your life. You see,
Speaker 1: this is the difference between human beings and God. God
Speaker 1: is God and we're not. Human beings can resuscitate. Only
Speaker 1: God can resurrect. If you know CPR, you know how
Speaker 1: to resuscitate somebody their heart stops, you can resuscitate them
Speaker 1: with CPR. If you're a paramedic, you've probably resuscitated hundreds
Speaker 1: of people with mouth and mouth or CPR, whatever you
Speaker 1: needed to do. Resuscitation happens when they've been dead for
Speaker 1: a minute or two or three minutes. But when you've
Speaker 1: been dead for three days and buried in the ground,
Speaker 1: you don't need resuscitation. You need resurrection. And God says,
Speaker 1: I want to have that kind of power, not resuscitation power,
Speaker 1: but resurrection power in the area of youth. Like of
Speaker 1: your life that are dying are already dead. They're already dead.
Speaker 1: And God has not only a purpose for your life
Speaker 1: because of the Cross and the resurrection, but God has
Speaker 1: a power for your life which is bigger than the
Speaker 1: problem you're going through out right now. Let me show
Speaker 1: you a couple verses First Corinthians, Chapter one. Paul gives
Speaker 1: a testimony of how God helps us when we think
Speaker 1: it is hopeless. You see, some of you are on
Speaker 1: the edge of giving up right now, and if we
Speaker 1: could put an X ray to your mind, it would
Speaker 1: show you're pretty desperate. I'm glad you came because God
Speaker 1: wanted you here a thousand years before you were born.
Speaker 1: He knew you would be here at saddleback on this
Speaker 1: day so he could say this to you. Don't don't
Speaker 1: give up you. Maybe you feel like giving up on
Speaker 1: your dream, or giving up on your marriage, or giving
Speaker 1: up on your health. Maybe you even feel like giving
Speaker 1: up on your life. Don't. God brought you here today
Speaker 1: so he could say this to you. You're ready for it.
Speaker 1: Here's what he wants to say to you. Don't give up.
Speaker 1: Look up, don't give up. Look up. The answer is
Speaker 1: not to quit. The answer is to get connected, find
Speaker 1: God's purpose, and get God's power in your life, and
Speaker 1: you'll have a new resurrection in your life now. Paul
Speaker 1: says it like this. He tells his own story of
Speaker 1: when he was ready to kick the bucket. This is
Speaker 1: probably the greatest Christian who ever lived, next to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And Paul says, there were times when I was so depressed.
Speaker 1: I was readister, throw in the towel. And he says
Speaker 1: this in Second Corinthians, we were really crushed, and he says,
Speaker 1: we were overwhelmed and we feared we would never live
Speaker 1: through it. Ever felt like that he crushed, overwhelmed, filled
Speaker 1: with fear. He says, we didn't think we'd live through it.
Speaker 1: We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves, and
Speaker 1: you just go Okay, this is not working. I do
Speaker 1: not have the power to get done what I need
Speaker 1: to get done in my life. I just don't have it.
Speaker 1: I got an energy shortage, I got energy crisis. I
Speaker 1: don't have the power to do what I need to do.
Speaker 1: And then Paul says, we realized that we were powerless
Speaker 1: to help ourselves. But that was good. Huh, How in
Speaker 1: the world could you feel in crushed, overwhelmed, fearful, and
Speaker 1: powerless to help yourself. How in the world is that good?
Speaker 1: He says, Because then we put everything into the hands
Speaker 1: of God, who alone could save us. For he can
Speaker 1: even raise the dead. That's what we're talking about at Easter.
Speaker 1: He can even raise the dead, said, and God did
Speaker 1: help us, and he saved us, and we expect him
Speaker 1: to do it again and again and again. If God
Speaker 1: can raise the dead, Jesus, he can raise a dead marriage.
Speaker 1: If God can raise the dead Jesus, he can raise
Speaker 1: a dead friendship. He can raise a dead career, he
Speaker 1: can raise a dead dream. He can raise a part
Speaker 1: of your life that's just dying on the vine. That's
Speaker 1: the kind of God we serve. That is a benefit
Speaker 1: that was paid for you by Jesus Christ. But you
Speaker 1: can go all through life totally unplugged. If you are
Speaker 1: unplugged from God's power, you will never know God's purpose.
Speaker 1: A toaster that is never plugged in is worthless. It
Speaker 1: has no intrinsic value unless it's plugged into the power.
Speaker 1: It cannot fulfill its purpose unless it's plugged in the power.
Speaker 1: A vacuum cleaner cannot fulfill its purpose as a vacuum
Speaker 1: cleaner unless it's plugged into the power. A microwave cannot
Speaker 1: fulfill its purpose as a microwave unless it's plugged into
Speaker 1: the power. You cannot fulfill your purpose in life unless
Speaker 1: you're plugged into the power, the power of the Resurrection.
Speaker 1: And he says, you know, we got the point. We
Speaker 1: were ready to just cash it all in and we
Speaker 1: were powerless. But that was good because then we put
Speaker 1: it all in the hands of God. And God goes, well,
Speaker 1: thank God, you finally did it. I've been waiting for
Speaker 1: you to get to the end of your rope so
Speaker 1: I could take over. How about you let me have
Speaker 1: a try and empowering and guiding your life now, Just
Speaker 1: be honest, are you sick and tired of being sick?
Speaker 1: And tired. Here's what the Bible says Isaiah forty. God
Speaker 1: gives power to those who are tired and worn out,
Speaker 1: and he offers strength to the weak. He said, Wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I'm tired, I'm worn out, I'm weak. I
Speaker 1: don't feel any power. Well, let me explain how you
Speaker 1: get that power. You get it through faith. You get
Speaker 1: it through trust. You get it through believing in the
Speaker 1: Son of God, who died on the cross for you
Speaker 1: and rose again to give you that power. You can
Speaker 1: complain to God all you want. God is not moved
Speaker 1: by your complaints. You can whine all you want. God
Speaker 1: is not moved by your whining. You can gripe all
Speaker 1: you want. God is not moved by griping. But the
Speaker 1: moment you put trust in him, Bam, God moves according
Speaker 1: to your faith. It will be done unto you. God
Speaker 1: honors faith, not griping, not whining, not all these other things.
Speaker 1: He says, I'll give you that power. He said, But Rick,
Speaker 1: you just don't know what I'm facing right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, you're right. I don't. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're facing, but I do know Luke eighteen twenty seven,
Speaker 1: which says this what is impossible with men is possible
Speaker 1: with God. What looks like a dead end, what looks
Speaker 1: like a death is prime time for a resurrection and
Speaker 1: a miracle. What looks like you're never going to overcome,
Speaker 1: God can overcome like that. And God can do more
Speaker 1: in five seconds in your life than you can do
Speaker 1: in five years, but you've got to trust him. A
Speaker 1: number of years ago, I was in China. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been doing the Peace plan in China for years
Speaker 1: and years now, and one time I was in Beijing. Actually,
Speaker 1: they were doing a state dinner in my honor in
Speaker 1: People's Hall in Tieneman Square, and the government officials were there,
Speaker 1: and I was very honored to be honored by the
Speaker 1: government in China. And while I was there, the professors
Speaker 1: over at Peking University heard that I was there, and
Speaker 1: they said, let's invite Rick Warren and his team over
Speaker 1: to talk with us. Peiking University is the only university
Speaker 1: in Beijing's still called Peiking. It's the Harvard of China.
Speaker 1: Fifty thousand students. Every communist leader in China is trained
Speaker 1: at the Harvard at China Peking University. So we went
Speaker 1: and we had a wonderful time with these professors, had
Speaker 1: a good discussion with him, was very friendly. One of
Speaker 1: the men that I met there was with a man
Speaker 1: named Professor Joe. Professor Joe was an older man. He'd
Speaker 1: been a professor there for fifty years and now was
Speaker 1: the provost of Peking University, highest level. When we finished
Speaker 1: our little discussion, I said, hey, let's just go out
Speaker 1: to dinner. You find the best Chinese food. I mean,
Speaker 1: what expect tacos. You know it's Beijing. You find the
Speaker 1: best Chinese food and I'm paying, So you pick your
Speaker 1: favorite place. So we go and we sit down. We're
Speaker 1: having this wonderful dinner with some of these Chinese officials,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, Professor Joe opens up and
Speaker 1: he says, I'm dying. I have a brain tumor and
Speaker 1: it's inoperable and I'm terminal. And he was scared to death.
Speaker 1: This is a man facing an impossible problem. He's at
Speaker 1: the end of his rope. We don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: We see no way out of this. He had no
Speaker 1: hope in Jesus Christ. He had no hope in God's grace.
Speaker 1: He had no hope even in an after life. He
Speaker 1: was the way it looked to him is I've got
Speaker 1: an incurable problem. There's no power to help me, and
Speaker 1: when I die, that's it. It's over. He was hopeless,
Speaker 1: and as he began to share that with me, I
Speaker 1: looked at him and said, you know, Professor Joe, my
Speaker 1: father's dying, because at that time, my dad was dying
Speaker 1: of cancer. Same time, I said, but you know, my
Speaker 1: dad's lived the full life. But more important than that,
Speaker 1: he knows God. He's been a friend of God's for many,
Speaker 1: many years. He knows Jesus Christ. And my dad is
Speaker 1: not afraid to die. He's made his peace with God,
Speaker 1: and he's not afraid to God to die, and he
Speaker 1: knows where he's going when he he dies. He has hope.
Speaker 1: And I explained to him that that kind of hope
Speaker 1: that you get and the kind of power that you
Speaker 1: get to go through those kind of situations only comes
Speaker 1: from a relationship with God. You don't earn it, you
Speaker 1: don't work for it, you don't buy it, you don't
Speaker 1: deserve it. God's power in your life is simply a
Speaker 1: gift of his grace. Because God is good, and God
Speaker 1: loves you, and he made you. And God's gift to
Speaker 1: you is free gift if you're just a friend of
Speaker 1: his son's. And to explain this to him a little
Speaker 1: bit better, I told him a story of a friend
Speaker 1: of mine, this true story. I said. I had a
Speaker 1: friend dad who he took his son to the carnival
Speaker 1: for his son's birthday, and he allowed his son to
Speaker 1: choose three friends that they would party with. And this
Speaker 1: was going to be his birthday party. So he bought
Speaker 1: a large roll of tickets, and at every one of
Speaker 1: the carnival rides, he would give his son a free ticket,
Speaker 1: and he would give his three guess, his three friends
Speaker 1: a ticket. They'd ride that ride, they go to next ride,
Speaker 1: everybody gets ticket. They ride that next ride, everybody gets ticket.
Speaker 1: And this friend of mine said, you know, Rick, on
Speaker 1: about the seventh ride. I looked down and as I
Speaker 1: was handing out tickets, I saw a fourth little hand.
Speaker 1: And I've never seen this kid at all. I've done
Speaker 1: this little kid, who are you? Little boy said, I'm
Speaker 1: your son's new friend. And your son promised that if
Speaker 1: I was his friend, that his daddy, his father would
Speaker 1: give me a free ticket. He said, Rick, you think
Speaker 1: I gave that kid a ticket? He said, he was
Speaker 1: with us the rest of the afternoon. And I looked
Speaker 1: at Professor Joe and I said, Professor Joe, your heavenly
Speaker 1: father has a ticket for you to Heaven. You can't
Speaker 1: earn it, you can't buy it, certainly never deserve it.
Speaker 1: You'll never be good enough on your own to get
Speaker 1: to heaven because heaven's perfect and you're not, and neither
Speaker 1: am I. The only way you get this ticket to
Speaker 1: heaven salvation is by being a friend of the father's son.
Speaker 1: His name is Jesus Christ. And I looked up and
Speaker 1: this gentleman about in his eighties had tears coming down
Speaker 1: both sides of his cheek. And he looked up and
Speaker 1: he said to me in the simple I'll never forget
Speaker 1: this moment. I still get goosebumps from it. He looked
Speaker 1: at me and said in simple English, Rick, I would
Speaker 1: like one of those tickets. Now. I've been in China many,
Speaker 1: many times, and Chinese people are among the most polite
Speaker 1: people in the world. They are amazingly polite. I didn't
Speaker 1: know if he meant it, he was just kind of
Speaker 1: being nice to me. I never ever pressure anybody to
Speaker 1: make the most important decision in their life. You take
Speaker 1: the time you need to make it, because if you
Speaker 1: take the time and you're intellectually honest, you'll make the
Speaker 1: right decision. And I said, well, you know what, why
Speaker 1: don't we do this, Why don't we just set it
Speaker 1: aside for a second. Let's finish our meals, and at
Speaker 1: the end of this meal, if you still want to
Speaker 1: open your life to Jesus Christ, it would be my
Speaker 1: honor to lead you in a simple prayer to invite Christ.
Speaker 1: You know, the provost of the Harvard of China. Well,
Speaker 1: we get to the end of the meal, we've talked
Speaker 1: about a bunch of other stuff, and he brings it
Speaker 1: up again. He said, Rick, I would like one of
Speaker 1: those tickets. So there, with a table of Chinese officials,
Speaker 1: we held hands together and I led him in a
Speaker 1: simple prayer to open his life to receive all that
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ did for him by dying on the cross
Speaker 1: and rising again. It's a prayer similar to the one
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite you to pray with me in
Speaker 1: just a second. And when he finished praying that prayer,
Speaker 1: he looked up and tears were coming down his cheeks again,
Speaker 1: but this time he's smiling. Don't get I didn't know
Speaker 1: if he meant it or not. I don't ever judge
Speaker 1: anybody's motive. It's between them and God. But I gave
Speaker 1: him a Bible and some spiritual material to grow. And
Speaker 1: we've got a packet like this called Fresh Start with God.
Speaker 1: I'll give to you if you want to start your journey.
Speaker 1: And I gave him some material just get him started.
Speaker 1: And as we left, I thought, I'll never see that
Speaker 1: guy again. The next morning, I was preaching in the
Speaker 1: most famous church in China, chong Winmen Church, very famous church,
Speaker 1: about the size of the number of people here right now.
Speaker 1: And as I stood up to speak, who should walk
Speaker 1: in at the back door but the provost of the
Speaker 1: Harvard of China, Professor Joe. He walked to the front,
Speaker 1: to the front row, turned around, said I am publicly
Speaker 1: proclaiming my faith in Christ. And the crowd went crazy
Speaker 1: because they knew who he was. Fifty years of Communist indoctrination,
Speaker 1: which the official policy is atheism. There is no God,
Speaker 1: so official policy of Communism is none of that filled
Speaker 1: the hole in his heart when the heat was on,
Speaker 1: when he was facing his own mortality, and the folks.
Speaker 1: The fact is the mortality rate in the world is
Speaker 1: still one hundred percent. Everybody's going to die. Only fool
Speaker 1: would go through life unprepared for what you know is inevitable.
Speaker 1: That's called denial. But he gave his life to Christ,
Speaker 1: and what was impossible became possible by the way, his
Speaker 1: cancer witted to remission for about ten more years, and
Speaker 1: he began to basically be a missionary to other professors.
Speaker 1: And I wrote him many many letters over over the
Speaker 1: next ten years. But here's the promise, and I want
Speaker 1: you to have the same promise, the promise of purpose
Speaker 1: and the promise of power. Fet Peter chapter one. Tewod
Speaker 1: Peter chapter one. As you get to know Jesus better,
Speaker 1: he will give you, through his great power, everything you
Speaker 1: need for living a truly good life. Now he said, well, Rick,
Speaker 1: I don't have everything I need. Well, then you just
Speaker 1: need to get to know Jesus better. As you get
Speaker 1: to know Jesus better, he's the source of your purpose
Speaker 1: and he's the source of your power. Now let me
Speaker 1: quit give you the third one. The third thing that
Speaker 1: I know for certain, not only does that God have
Speaker 1: a great purpose for your life. And God has a
Speaker 1: great power to solve your problems. But here's the third one.
Speaker 1: God has a great place for me after I die.
Speaker 1: We learn that from the resurrection of Jesus. We learn
Speaker 1: that there is more to life than here. And now
Speaker 1: we learn that death is not the end. One day
Speaker 1: your heart is gonna stop. That's gonna be the end
Speaker 1: of your body. But that's not gonna be the end
Speaker 1: of you. Oh no, no, no, you were made to
Speaker 1: last forever. And God says, I have proven that there's
Speaker 1: life after death. A raising my own son. I think
Speaker 1: Jesus knows more about the afterlife than you do or
Speaker 1: I do, because he's been there. And this gives us hope.
Speaker 1: Death is not the end. And in John chapter eleven,
Speaker 1: here's what Jesus said, I am the one who raises
Speaker 1: the dead and gives them life again. If you're gonna
Speaker 1: come back to life after your death, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Jesus who does it. Nobody else going to do it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be Jesus. He says, I am the one
Speaker 1: who raises the dead and gives them life. How do
Speaker 1: I know that he's telling you? Because he did it,
Speaker 1: nobody else did. It's one of the most attested to
Speaker 1: miracle in history, Jesus spent forty days in Jerusalem. After
Speaker 1: he didn't just say by to your friends, go back
Speaker 1: to heaven. After he raised himself. He walked around eight meals,
Speaker 1: talk to people, one time, train five hundred people, many
Speaker 1: many white eyewitness accounts over forty days. And he says,
Speaker 1: I am the one. Anyone who believes in me, even
Speaker 1: though he dies, shall live again, and he gives he
Speaker 1: is given eternal life for believing in me, and shall
Speaker 1: never perish. How do you get eternal life? Not by
Speaker 1: doing good, not by going to church, not by promising
Speaker 1: me perfect, not by giving a whole lot of money
Speaker 1: to help the poor. What he says one thing. You
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus can raise you back from the dead too.
Speaker 1: You trust him as your savior. He is the source
Speaker 1: of hope. Now let me just summarize this. You're never
Speaker 1: going to find ultimate hope in anything you can lose.
Speaker 1: If you want to have a hope that gets you
Speaker 1: through the toughest times of life, you must put your
Speaker 1: hope and put your trust in something that cannot be
Speaker 1: taken from you. If you put your hope in your
Speaker 1: bank account, you can lose your bank account. If you
Speaker 1: put your hope in your spouse, you can lose your spouse.
Speaker 1: If you put your hope in your health, you can
Speaker 1: lose your health, you can lose your mind. You must
Speaker 1: never put your hope in something that you could lose.
Speaker 1: If you put your hope in your good looks, you've
Speaker 1: already lost them, So that that shift sailed. Friend, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: If you put your hope in your job, it's gonna
Speaker 1: let you down. If you put your hope in another person,
Speaker 1: they will disappoint you. Why because they're not God. You know,
Speaker 1: when I used to do marriage counseling, I discovered that
Speaker 1: one of the biggest problems for marriage problems is we
Speaker 1: expect our spouses to meet needs in our life, but
Speaker 1: only God could meet. Nobody could possibly meet all your emotional, physical,
Speaker 1: spiritual needs. And you can't meet anybody else's total physical, spiritual,
Speaker 1: emotional needs. Only God can do that. And if you
Speaker 1: expect your spouse to meet all your needs, you're treating
Speaker 1: them like God. It's not only unfair to them, it's
Speaker 1: going to be frustrating and disappointed to you because it's
Speaker 1: not going to happen. You have to put your hope
Speaker 1: in something or someone that can never be taken away
Speaker 1: from you. And there's only one thing because you can
Speaker 1: lose everything else in life, and that is your relationship
Speaker 1: to God, your relationship to God. What I'm saying this
Speaker 1: Easter is that hope is not a principle. Hope is
Speaker 1: not a product. Hope is not a program. Hope is
Speaker 1: not a pill. I'll get this pilled and I'll have
Speaker 1: all the hope I need. Hope is a person, and
Speaker 1: there's only one person that you can put that hope in,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the world. That's
Speaker 1: why it's split in the AD and BC. That's why
Speaker 1: your birthday is dated according to this event. You need
Speaker 1: to get to know Jesus. And since Jesus raised himself
Speaker 1: from the dead and we know that there's life after death,
Speaker 1: here's what we have. Look at the next verse one
Speaker 1: Peter one. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ rose from the dead, so we know death
Speaker 1: not the end. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance
Speaker 1: for his children. That's you who've trusted in him. It
Speaker 1: is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond
Speaker 1: the reach of change in the clay the kay and
Speaker 1: God in his mighty power, will protect you until you
Speaker 1: receive this salvation because you are trusting him. What does
Speaker 1: that verse say, Well, let me summarize it all on this.
Speaker 1: Once you've trusted God for salvation, it is not your
Speaker 1: job to keep yourself saved. It's the Savior's job to
Speaker 1: keep you safe. It says he will protect you. He
Speaker 1: will make sure you get to Heaven. He will guard
Speaker 1: what you've given to him. When my kids were little,
Speaker 1: Kay and I took him on vacation of the Grand Canyon,
Speaker 1: and my two youngest, the boys, Josh and Matthew, immediately
Speaker 1: jumped out of the car, ran right up to the
Speaker 1: edge like this, that ain't gonna happen. So I went
Speaker 1: out and I grabbed their hands and they grabbed mine.
Speaker 1: They were fine. They put their hand in my hands.
Speaker 1: We started walking down the path and they started squirming
Speaker 1: and started trying to say, you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to hold on to Daddy anymore, and they didn't want
Speaker 1: to hold onto my hand. But I was not gonna
Speaker 1: let go of theirs because I am a loving father.
Speaker 1: There when you come to Jesus and you go God
Speaker 1: I'm giving him my whole life, the good, the bad,
Speaker 1: and the ugly. It's not clean up your life. And
Speaker 1: then come to Jesus like God, here's my greasy hands,
Speaker 1: my dirty hands, my filthy hands. God, just all the
Speaker 1: mess in my life. I put my hand in your hand,
Speaker 1: and God grabs your hand. You put your hand in
Speaker 1: the hand of the man who's still the water, and
Speaker 1: he grabs your hand. And then as life goes on,
Speaker 1: there are going to be some moments that you don't
Speaker 1: want to hold onto God's hand. God, I'm going to
Speaker 1: a party tonight with a bunch of unbelievers. I'd like
Speaker 1: to not be a believer for about an hour, okay,
Speaker 1: and I like to pull. And you may want to
Speaker 1: let go of God's hand, but He's not letting go
Speaker 1: of yours. Once you have been saved, he will keep
Speaker 1: you safe. That's the hope. You have. A lot of
Speaker 1: people think I don't give my life to God because
Speaker 1: what happens if I start on it and then I
Speaker 1: kind of mess up and screw up and fail, and
Speaker 1: now I feel really stupid, and then I lose my salvation. No,
Speaker 1: you won't. That's not what the Bible says. It is safe, secure,
Speaker 1: it's paid for, it's done, it's beyond the reach of change.
Speaker 1: In the kay, God and his mighty power will keep
Speaker 1: you saved. It's not your power. He does a saving.
Speaker 1: He didn't. He saves you, He keeps you saved. You
Speaker 1: don't save yourself. So what am I saying that the
Speaker 1: Bible tells is because of the Resurrection, we have hope
Speaker 1: because there's more to the story than just here and now.
Speaker 1: And we have hope because God protects your salvation and
Speaker 1: keeps it and you can't lose it. And that causes
Speaker 1: you to face the most difficult times in life with
Speaker 1: the whole new confidence. As a pastor, I have stood
Speaker 1: at I couldn't count the number of grave sites that
Speaker 1: I've stood at in forty years. I couldn't count the
Speaker 1: number of funerals that I've done. And so I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty good expert at knowing that differs between people who
Speaker 1: have hope and people who don't, because you can see
Speaker 1: it in their eyes. I have been at the funerals
Speaker 1: of people when nobody in the family knows God, nobody
Speaker 1: in the family has the hope of the resurrection, nobody
Speaker 1: in the family knows the hope of heaven, and for them,
Speaker 1: they're losing this person. They're never going to see him again,
Speaker 1: and it's over. That's it. It's over. And the terror
Speaker 1: in their eyes is something you don't want to see.
Speaker 1: I've seen it over and over and over. And I
Speaker 1: compare that to people who know the Lord, that when
Speaker 1: they lose a loved one who knows the Lord, they grieve,
Speaker 1: but they're not grieving for them because they know where
Speaker 1: they're going. They're grieving for themselves because they're going to
Speaker 1: miss them. And it's a whole different kind of grief.
Speaker 1: It's a grieving with hope. You know. The older I get,
Speaker 1: and the more of my family that's in heaven, and
Speaker 1: the more of my friends that are in heaven, some
Speaker 1: great great saints who've been in this church for over
Speaker 1: thirty years, they're going on, the more of my friends
Speaker 1: and family on the other side, the more Heaven becomes
Speaker 1: attractive to me. I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: When I was a young man, heaven didn't seem very
Speaker 1: attractive to me in the first place. No picture of
Speaker 1: it on earth is correct. I mean, the picture of
Speaker 1: heaven on earth right now that you hear there's heaven.
Speaker 1: It's all white. There's no color in heaven. There's fog
Speaker 1: up to your feet. You walk around, everybody's in a
Speaker 1: white robe with wings playing a harp. That would be hell.
Speaker 1: If that's heaven. No, thanks God. I just soon have
Speaker 1: my sunrise, a sunsets and a cool surf. That's not heaven.
Speaker 1: You can't even understand what heaven's going to be like.
Speaker 1: It's so cool. Even in a world that's broken, filled
Speaker 1: with suffering, sorrow, sadness, sickness, it's still a pretty cool place.
Speaker 1: We're enjoying it right now outside. Most of you know
Speaker 1: that four years ago, the week after Easter, our family
Speaker 1: lost to youngest member, my youngest son, Matthew, after a
Speaker 1: lifelong battle the mental illness, died and it was the
Speaker 1: worst day of my life, and his brother and sister's life,
Speaker 1: and his mom's life, and everybody else in our family
Speaker 1: who loved him. Many times over the last four years,
Speaker 1: I've been asked, how did you handle that? How did
Speaker 1: you handle the death of a son who struggled his
Speaker 1: entire life with mental illness. I want you to listen
Speaker 1: very carefully, because you're going to have loss in your life.
Speaker 1: I guarantee it. There is no life without loss, there
Speaker 1: is no loss without pain, there is no pain without grief.
Speaker 1: You're going to go through this in life. So somebody
Speaker 1: who loves you is your pastor, as your spiritual coach.
Speaker 1: That's my job to help you get ready for this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And listen carefully. The way you live
Speaker 1: with hope in the middle of pain is to enlarge
Speaker 1: your perspective, to change your viewpoint, to get your eyes
Speaker 1: off of what's happening right here and now, shift your perspective,
Speaker 1: change your focus, and begin to live in light of eternity.
Speaker 1: As I said, your life on earth shod you get
Speaker 1: maybe one hundred years. That's not very long compared to
Speaker 1: the trillions of years you'll spend in eternity. And so
Speaker 1: you get your eyes off the here and now and
Speaker 1: you get it on eternity, and you see the hope
Speaker 1: that's there. Here's what the Bible says, look on the screen.
Speaker 1: So we don't focus on the troubles we see right now.
Speaker 1: Instead we look forward to what we don't see yet.
Speaker 1: For the troubles that we see now are temporary, but
Speaker 1: the joys that will come to last, it will last,
Speaker 1: will last forever. I mean, even if you had a
Speaker 1: chronic problem your entire life, it's only one hundred years
Speaker 1: or eighty or seventy nothing compared to thousands, tens of thousands, millions,
Speaker 1: and trillions of years in eternity. And the truth is
Speaker 1: what comforts me when I think about the death of
Speaker 1: my son is not thinking about the happy moments in
Speaker 1: his past, but thinking about the holy moments he's having
Speaker 1: right now. That comforts me because my hope is built
Speaker 1: on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, And because
Speaker 1: I know where he is and if he was able
Speaker 1: to talk to me, and he can't, but if he was,
Speaker 1: he say, Dad, what are you worried about? This place
Speaker 1: is so cool, it's so great. It's far better than
Speaker 1: any of dis sermons you preached about it. And I
Speaker 1: can't wait for you to get here. That is my hope.
Speaker 1: We live in a society today, friends, that is filled
Speaker 1: with hopelessness. We are in an epidemic of hopeliness, hopelessness. I
Speaker 1: think it's one of the reasons why, you know, purpose
Speaker 1: driven Life was such a big seller, because there was
Speaker 1: no People are lacking hope and they're looking for hope
Speaker 1: and they want to know where it is and where
Speaker 1: is it. It's in God's word. It is in God's word.
Speaker 1: Look at this next verse, people, I don't know about heaven.
Speaker 1: No eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard,
Speaker 1: no mind has ever imagined the wonderful things that God
Speaker 1: has prepared for those who love him. He has a
Speaker 1: purpose for your life right now. He has a power
Speaker 1: to help you solve the problems tomorrow, and He has
Speaker 1: a for you after you die. The reason why you
Speaker 1: can't explain heaven is because your brain power isn't big
Speaker 1: enough to handle it. It would be like an aunt
Speaker 1: trying to understand the Internet. We live in a three
Speaker 1: D world, but there are dimensions that we don't even
Speaker 1: know about. And if God built this world and it's
Speaker 1: all broken now from sin, how much cooler is Heaven
Speaker 1: going to be? Say? Well, how do I get this?
Speaker 1: How do I get a new purpose in my life?
Speaker 1: God's purpose? How do I get a greater power in
Speaker 1: my life? And how do I get a greater place
Speaker 1: which becomes my ultimate hope that even when I'm going
Speaker 1: through tough Now I'm going this is not the end
Speaker 1: of the story. I have read the last chapter of
Speaker 1: the book We Win. It doesn't always look good, but
Speaker 1: I've read the last chapter We Win. Sometimes you're going
Speaker 1: through a tough time in your life, and really what
Speaker 1: you're feeling is the world is coming to an end.
Speaker 1: And that's the way you feel. The world is coming
Speaker 1: to an end. No, a season may be coming to
Speaker 1: an end, a moment in your life may be coming
Speaker 1: to end, but it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 1: Why because when the world ends, Jesus is coming back.
Speaker 1: And that's our hope, that's bow our heads. Because of
Speaker 1: the resurrection, we know for certain that God has a
Speaker 1: great purpose for your life, has a greater power for
Speaker 1: your problems, and has a wonderful place for you after
Speaker 1: you die. How do you get these benefits? If you
Speaker 1: confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe
Speaker 1: in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
Speaker 1: you will be saved. That's what the Bible says. So
Speaker 1: I want the honor and the privilege of leading you
Speaker 1: in a very simple prayer, much like Professor Joe in Beijing.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what your background is. You may be
Speaker 1: Buddhist or Muslim, or Mormon, or Methodist or Baptist or
Speaker 1: Buddhist or atheist or Catholic or doesn't matter what background
Speaker 1: you are. Jesus isn't interested in your religion. He's interested
Speaker 1: in you having a relationship with God, and you just
Speaker 1: confess it to God. So why don't you pray these prayers?
Speaker 1: So I'll just say a little prayer and you. It
Speaker 1: doesn't even matter the word you say. It's that you
Speaker 1: be humble. If you're humble for God and say God,
Speaker 1: I need you, that's it. So just say, Dear God,
Speaker 1: say that in your mind. Dear God, I do not
Speaker 1: want to go through life not knowing my purpose. Thank
Speaker 1: you that my life is not an accident. Thank you
Speaker 1: that you planned me, whether my parents did or not,
Speaker 1: and that You've loved me every moment of my life.
Speaker 1: And so today, as much as I know how, I
Speaker 1: want to open my life to Jesus Christ, who died
Speaker 1: on the cross for me and rose again so that
Speaker 1: I could have hope. Jesus Christ. I want to know
Speaker 1: God's purpose for my life, and I want to spend
Speaker 1: the rest of my life learning it and fulfilling it.
Speaker 1: In Jesus Christ, I want to put my trust in
Speaker 1: your power. I want to plug in starting today, I
Speaker 1: want to stop living on my own power to start
Speaker 1: living by your power. I know that you are greater
Speaker 1: than any problem I face. In Jesus Christ, I ask
Speaker 1: you to reserve a place for me in your heaven
Speaker 1: and your home. I want to learn to love you
Speaker 1: and to know you, to follow you. Thank you for
Speaker 1: loving me before I knew you. Thank you for dying
Speaker 1: for me before I even was created, but you knew
Speaker 1: I would be And so I humbly ask you to
Speaker 1: accept me into your family. Then I may experience all
Speaker 1: the benefits of what you did two thousand years ago.
Speaker 1: And I pray this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen,