Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible
Speaker 1: teaching ministry of Rick Warren. And today we're continuing with
Speaker 1: this powerful series called the Jesus Model. In this series,
Speaker 1: Rick will walk you step by step through the process
Speaker 1: of true biblical discipleship. Rick's giving you practical tools to
Speaker 1: grow spiritually, experience God's peace, live with greater purpose, and
Speaker 1: become more like Jesus in every area of your life. Okay,
Speaker 1: and right now, here's part one of a message called
Speaker 1: growing a Heart like Jesus.
Speaker 2: You know, to follow Jesus requires movement. It means you
Speaker 2: have to move forward. You can't just sit still. You
Speaker 2: have to be active. We have an active faith, and
Speaker 2: Jesus uses words like come, follow, go, obey, sin do.
Speaker 2: This is not a faith that you just sit around
Speaker 2: and do nothing. It is an active faith. One of
Speaker 2: the examples is in Mark chapter sixteen, verse fifteen, where
Speaker 2: Jesus says this, Jesus said to his followers, go everywhere
Speaker 2: that's comfortable and talk to people about the good news
Speaker 2: that you like. Now, that's not what he says. Jesus
Speaker 2: said to his followers, read it with me. Go everywhere
Speaker 2: in the world and tell the good news to everyone,
Speaker 2: circle everywhere and everyone. That's pretty inclusive. It's pretty global now.
Speaker 2: When Jesus said this to his disciples, it was physically impossible.
Speaker 2: They could not go everywhere and tell everyone. They couldn't
Speaker 2: get to Australia, they couldn't get to Latin America, they
Speaker 2: couldn't get to North America. Most of the world was
Speaker 2: off limits because there were no sea bearing ocean vessels
Speaker 2: at the time. There were no planes, trains and automobiles,
Speaker 2: no Internet, no Twitter, no Google, no cell phones, no telegraph,
Speaker 2: no telephone. There was tell Awoman and that'll spread things
Speaker 2: pretty fast. But oh the natives are restless Kimo sabe.
Speaker 2: But there wasn't all of the ways that we have
Speaker 2: the data spread the good news. They literally could not
Speaker 2: go to all nations and tell everyone. But not anymore.
Speaker 2: We are the first generation with this privilege where you
Speaker 2: can go anywhere in the world in about twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: If you don't believe that, just ask a travel agent.
Speaker 2: All you have to do is say I'd like to
Speaker 2: go to some mountain in the middle of Tibet or
Speaker 2: China or up in the Himalayas. On the mountains and
Speaker 2: they'll have you there in about twenty four hours. We
Speaker 2: are the first generation in history to be world class.
Speaker 2: In other words, we literally can travel to anywhere and
Speaker 2: talk to anyone almost within twenty four hours. So we
Speaker 2: take this verse here at saddleback very seriously, go to
Speaker 2: everyone everywhere. Now, I don't think God brought you here
Speaker 2: by accident. A thousand years before you were born. God
Speaker 2: knew you were going to be here, and he didn't
Speaker 2: bring you here to just sit soak and sour. He
Speaker 2: brought you here to be a part of his plan
Speaker 2: for the world that he happens to decide to use
Speaker 2: this church at this point, how do I be a
Speaker 2: part of it? How do I become a world changer? Well?
Speaker 2: God says, you know, what matters is not your background.
Speaker 2: What matters is not your fears. What matters is not
Speaker 2: how many sins you've had in your life. What matters
Speaker 2: is not your ability. God says, I'm looking for availability.
Speaker 2: God isn't looking for the most talented people to use.
Speaker 2: He's looking for the most available people to use. And
Speaker 2: the reason why God blesses me and God uses me
Speaker 2: is I'm available. At a very early age, I made
Speaker 2: the decision God, I'm all in, I'm all yours, and
Speaker 2: I don't care what it is, and I don't care
Speaker 2: how tough it is. I'm going to say yes to
Speaker 2: it anytime, anywhere, any place. And it has been an
Speaker 2: adventure and the wildest journey of life in my own life.
Speaker 2: And you can make that decision too. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: God is looking for people to use, and he will
Speaker 2: use you if you will just make yourself available, He
Speaker 2: will use you. Yes, you to be a world changer.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this here on the screen. Second Chronicle
Speaker 2: sixteen to nine is one of my life verses. The
Speaker 2: eyes of the Lord range they run to and fro
Speaker 2: throughout the whole earth. In other words, God is looking
Speaker 2: over the whole earth to find people, he says, to
Speaker 2: strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. All
Speaker 2: God wants from you is not super talent, super energy,
Speaker 2: super intelligence. He wants a committed heart. And so that's
Speaker 2: why this weekend we're going to look at how to
Speaker 2: grow a heart like Jesus, because it starts in the heart.
Speaker 2: How can you develop a heart like Jesus? Well, you
Speaker 2: need to do four things. Number One, you must care
Speaker 2: about what Jesus cares about. That's the starting point. You
Speaker 2: must learn to care about what Jesus cares about. The
Speaker 2: Bible says this in Ephesians chapter five, verse two. Be
Speaker 2: full of love, following the example of Christ, who loved
Speaker 2: you and he gave himself to God as a sacrifice
Speaker 2: to take away your sin. He said, you want to
Speaker 2: be like Jesus, then you're going to have to be
Speaker 2: sacrificial in your love. You're going to follow example Christ,
Speaker 2: and you're going to have to be full of love
Speaker 2: for others and care about what Jesus cares about. Now,
Speaker 2: what does Jesus care about? In a word, he cares
Speaker 2: about two things, very deeply. Number one, he cares about
Speaker 2: the world. He created it and he came to die
Speaker 2: for it. And Jesus loves the world. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.
Speaker 2: Now I love that little word so because it adds
Speaker 2: a little extra to it. You know, we can say, oh,
Speaker 2: I love you, I love you, I love you, But
Speaker 2: when you say, oh, I so love you, that adds
Speaker 2: a whole new dimension. God doesn't just love the world.
Speaker 2: He so loves the world. He loves it so much
Speaker 2: he was willing to die for it. The Bible calls
Speaker 2: that compassion. You see, sympathy is when you see somebody hurting,
Speaker 2: you say I'm sorry you hurt, you send them a card.
Speaker 2: That's sympathy. Empathy is saying I hurt with you. I
Speaker 2: enter into your hurt. Compassion is saying I'll do anything
Speaker 2: I can to stop your hurt, even if it means
Speaker 2: dying on the cross. And the Bible says it repeatedly.
Speaker 2: Jesus was moved with compassion. It is oh yeah, I
Speaker 2: love you. No, he was moved with compassion. God says,
Speaker 2: that's the way I want you to be toward the world.
Speaker 2: I want you to love the world with the people
Speaker 2: of the world. Love those people with all your art.
Speaker 2: Jesus loves everybody. God has never made a person he
Speaker 2: doesn't love. He loves the people you don't love. He
Speaker 2: loves the people you don't like. He loves the people
Speaker 2: you disagree with. He loves the people you think are evil.
Speaker 2: He loves the people who didn't vote the way you voted.
Speaker 2: He loves everybody. And if you're going to have the
Speaker 2: blessing of God on your life and you want to
Speaker 2: be like Jesus Christ, you have to learn to love
Speaker 2: the people Jesus made and died for, and that's the
Speaker 2: whole world. The Bible says this in Matthew chapter nine.
Speaker 2: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.
Speaker 2: And when we see the crowds, we worry about a
Speaker 2: parking spot. But when he saw the crowds, he had
Speaker 2: compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like
Speaker 2: sheep without a shepherd. He said, I looked out on
Speaker 2: all of humanity, asks, oh man, they're messed up. They're harassed,
Speaker 2: they're helpless. They don't know which way to turn. They're confused,
Speaker 2: they don't having the slightest idea what the purpose of
Speaker 2: life is. They're worried, they're bored, they're bitter, they're guilty,
Speaker 2: they're ashamed, they're broken hearted. They got all kinds of problems.
Speaker 2: I don't know which way to turn. They're screwed up.
Speaker 2: He says. I see the way people are, and my
Speaker 2: heart goes out to them. If you're going to be
Speaker 2: like Jesus, if you're gonna be blessed by God, if
Speaker 2: you're gonna be a world changer, you've got to care
Speaker 2: about the world the way Jesus does. He loves it passionately.
Speaker 2: Not only does Jesus love the world, there's something he
Speaker 2: loves even more, and that is his church. You're going
Speaker 2: to have to care about the church. Why Because the
Speaker 2: Church is Jesus's body, and he loves his body. The
Speaker 2: church is jesus bride, and he loves his bride. The
Speaker 2: church is Jesus flocked, and he loves his flock. The
Speaker 2: Church is God's family, and he loves his family. And remember,
Speaker 2: We've talked about this so many times, and I keep
Speaker 2: repeating it because I don't want you to ever misunderstand
Speaker 2: that the most important thing on this planet, more important
Speaker 2: than everything else put together, is God's family. The reason
Speaker 2: everything exists is God wanted a family. There would be
Speaker 2: no universe, there would be no planets, there would be
Speaker 2: no earth, there would be no human race except that
Speaker 2: God made it all so he could create a family.
Speaker 2: And that family is called the Church. And one day
Speaker 2: everything else is going to be destroyed. There's going to
Speaker 2: be a new Heaven and new Earth. But God's family
Speaker 2: is going to go on forever. It's the only thing
Speaker 2: that's going to last. It's more important than anything else
Speaker 2: on the planet, because it's going to outlast. It's going
Speaker 2: to go trillions and trillions and trillions of years. God's
Speaker 2: family lasts forever. Now, the Bible says about Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: loved the church and gave his life for her. You
Speaker 2: want to know how much Jesus loves the church, look
Speaker 2: at the cross with his arms outstretched. He is saying,
Speaker 2: I love the Church this much. I'm willing to die
Speaker 2: for it. I am willing to shed my blood for it.
Speaker 2: He loves the church, and in Matthew sixteen eighteen, Jesus said,
Speaker 2: I will build my church. He's not out building countries.
Speaker 2: He's not outbuilding businesses. He's not outbuilding non government organizations
Speaker 2: or parachurch organizations or charities. Jesus is in one business,
Speaker 2: the church building business. It is his family, It is
Speaker 2: his bride, his body as flock. I will build my church,
Speaker 2: and all the powers of Hell will not be able
Speaker 2: to defeat it. Now, sometimes we have skirmishes and it
Speaker 2: looks like all the church is being put down or
Speaker 2: its having a defeat there there. But you know what,
Speaker 2: go read the Bible, and I've read the last chapter
Speaker 2: of the book we win, Okay, we win. It's like
Speaker 2: reading the last chapter of a novel. History is God's story.
Speaker 2: God is in control. It is moving toward a focal point.
Speaker 2: And what is that focal point? One day history is
Speaker 2: going to end, and God's going to come and say,
Speaker 2: all right, I'm taking my family with me and they're
Speaker 2: going to live with me forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 2: He says, I will build my church. And if you
Speaker 2: want to invest your life in something that's going to
Speaker 2: last for trillions of years, give your life the building
Speaker 2: of God's family, because that's what's gonna matter. Now. God says,
Speaker 2: this is what I care about. I care about the world.
Speaker 2: I made it, I created it, I love it, and
Speaker 2: I sent my son to die for it. And I
Speaker 2: will love my church, which is going to outlast even
Speaker 2: the world. Care about what Jesus cares about? Number two.
Speaker 2: If you want to have a heart like Jesus, this
Speaker 2: onem's going to shock you. But you must be indifferent
Speaker 2: to what Jesus is indifferent to. We must be indifferent
Speaker 2: to what Jesus is indifferent to. You say, well, should
Speaker 2: followers of Jesus ever be indifferent to anything? Absolutely? Why?
Speaker 2: Because not everything's equally valuable. Everything's equally important. Not everything
Speaker 2: is equally going to last. Some things aren't gonna last
Speaker 2: five minutes, some five years, some fifty years, some five
Speaker 2: hundred years. Some are gonna last forever. You should invest
Speaker 2: your life in things that matter and not care about
Speaker 2: what doesn't matter. Let me tell you something. You know
Speaker 2: what's not gonna matter. Everything that's in People magazine this
Speaker 2: week next week, nobody's going to care about what was
Speaker 2: in it this week. Why it's short term, fad related,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter at all. Jesus was indifferent to a lot
Speaker 2: of things. People don't realize this. There are a lot
Speaker 2: of things Jesus didn't care about. He didn't care about
Speaker 2: things that didn't fulfill the mission God had called him
Speaker 2: to do. Jesus was indifferent to personal danger. One point,
Speaker 2: he's over in the ship asleep during the storm. Everybody
Speaker 2: else is freaking out. He's indifferent to danger. He's not worried.
Speaker 2: I'm in God's hands. He was indifferent to the opinions
Speaker 2: of other people. He was indifferent to religious traditions. Suddenly
Speaker 2: broke the religious traditions, which made the Pharisees and the
Speaker 2: Sadducees of religious leaders really ticked off because Jesus valued
Speaker 2: relationships more than rules. He valued people more than principles,
Speaker 2: and he healed people on the sabbath. Oh, you're not
Speaker 2: supposed to do that. He did all kinds of things.
Speaker 2: He always put the needs of people first because it's
Speaker 2: all about love. So he was indifferent to religious traditions.
Speaker 2: Jesus is indifferent to human timetables. People kind of sped
Speaker 2: him up, tried to force him to do things fast,
Speaker 2: try to get him under pressure. He always went at
Speaker 2: his own timetable. He went with a time clock, with
Speaker 2: the will of God. I'm just doing what God tells
Speaker 2: me to do. Jesus was indifferent to politics. Did you
Speaker 2: know that, couldn't care less about politics. In fact, at
Speaker 2: one point a politician talks to him about this, and
Speaker 2: Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If
Speaker 2: it was, I would command my servants to fight. That's
Speaker 2: not our battle. We're not in political wars. Why Jesus says,
Speaker 2: my kingdom is not of this world. If it was,
Speaker 2: I'd have all my servants being involved in that. But
Speaker 2: it's not. Jesus didn't try to overthrow the Roman Empire.
Speaker 2: He didn't try to revise it or reform it, or
Speaker 2: he didn't come to change the political system of Israel.
Speaker 2: He said, my kingdom's not in his world. He was
Speaker 2: indifferent to that, it wasn't his ultimate agenda. Sometimes when
Speaker 2: Jesus was indifferent, actually seems like he's rude. Let me
Speaker 2: give you an example, Luke. Chapter nine, Jesus says to
Speaker 2: a man, follow me. But the man says, Lord, let
Speaker 2: me first go bury my father. And here's how Jesus responds.
Speaker 2: Jesus replied, let the dead bury the dead. That sounds
Speaker 2: a little rude to me. Instead, you go everywhere and
Speaker 2: tell about the Kingdom of God. Then another man said,
Speaker 2: I'll follow you, Lord, but let me first go home
Speaker 2: to my family. Jesus said, anybody who begins to plow
Speaker 2: field that keeps looking back is of no use to
Speaker 2: the Kingdom of God. Sounds rude to me. What is
Speaker 2: Jesus saying? Well, first, you need to understand that Jesus
Speaker 2: knew what was in their hearts. He knew whether this
Speaker 2: was a little legitimate excuse, a reason, or just an excuse.
Speaker 2: But it all boils down to the same phrase that
Speaker 2: both of these men used. Want you to circle it.
Speaker 2: He says, Lord, let me first. Circle that phrase. Both
Speaker 2: the guys said let me first. Now you cannot say Lord,
Speaker 2: let me first. That's a contradiction. To use the word
Speaker 2: lord and me first in the same sentence is illogical.
Speaker 2: Either you're going to be first in your life or
Speaker 2: Jesus is going to be first in your life. Either
Speaker 2: he's the lord of your life or you're the lord
Speaker 2: of your life. Either he's the boss or you're the boss.
Speaker 2: He's the CEO or you're the CEO. You cannot say Lord,
Speaker 2: me first. Me first, says I'm God, I'm in charge.
Speaker 2: Now we live in a totally me first society. Would
Speaker 2: you agree with that? And it's a self centered, narcissistic
Speaker 2: world where it's all about serving me. Do you remember
Speaker 2: when we used to have full service gasoline? Any remember
Speaker 2: that people like did it for you? And then everything's
Speaker 2: all now self service. That has crept into our entire society.
Speaker 2: We're a self serve world. Serve yourself, serve yourself. And
Speaker 2: Jesus said, you, guys, it's not about you. It's about
Speaker 2: me and my kingdom. And I'm preparing you for eternity.
Speaker 2: So he can't say me First and Lord at the
Speaker 2: same time. Now, what did Jesus mean when he says
Speaker 2: let the dead bury the dead. Obviously, dead people can't
Speaker 2: bury other dead people, so he's not talking about physically
Speaker 2: dead people. He's talking about spiritually dead people, people who
Speaker 2: don't have the life of Christ in him, who don't
Speaker 2: know Him on a personal basis. He's saying, let the
Speaker 2: those who are spiritually dead do the things that anybody
Speaker 2: can do, and you be indispensable. He saying, if you're
Speaker 2: a follower of Me, if you've got My spirit in you,
Speaker 2: if you know the purpose of life, if you've been saved,
Speaker 2: you need to make your life count. Don't waste it
Speaker 2: on stuff that anybody can do. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: things in the world that anybody can do, but there's
Speaker 2: some things only a believer can do. Because you've got
Speaker 2: God's spirit in you. He's saying, let the spiritually dead
Speaker 2: do those things that anybody can do. You handle the
Speaker 2: stuff that can only be done by people who have
Speaker 2: My power in them. You be indispensable, and don't keep
Speaker 2: looking back, because if you're looking back, then you're caring
Speaker 2: about what they think instead of what I think. We
Speaker 2: must be indifferent to what Jesus is indifferent to. Let
Speaker 2: me give you a couple of very specific things that
Speaker 2: you need to be indifferent to if you're going to
Speaker 2: be a world changer, if you're going to let God
Speaker 2: bless your life and use you. Jesus number one was
Speaker 2: indifferent to impressing others. And you're going to have to
Speaker 2: decide in life who you want to impress. You have
Speaker 2: to decide. I'm not here to impress culture. I'm not
Speaker 2: here to impress popular opinion. I'm not here to impress
Speaker 2: my peer groups, or my parents, or my partners or
Speaker 2: my boss. I'm here to do the right thing, to
Speaker 2: do what God wants me to do. Jesus said in
Speaker 2: John five point forty one, your approval or disapproval means
Speaker 2: nothing to me. He was indifferent to peer pressure. Jesus
Speaker 2: was indifferent to the expectations of others. He would never
Speaker 2: allow anybody else, not even his own mother or father,
Speaker 2: to defend him or to make him go a certain way.
Speaker 2: In fact, at one time his mom asked him to
Speaker 2: do something, he says, it's not my time, Mom. He
Speaker 2: would not let the expectations of others control them. He
Speaker 2: was indifferent to either the possibility of rejection or the
Speaker 2: promise of praise. The second thing, Jesus was indifferent too.
Speaker 2: This one's a little bit harder. He was indifferent to
Speaker 2: getting rich. He said, life just isn't about getting rich.
Speaker 2: He said, that's not my agenda, and it it shouldn't
Speaker 2: be yours. Luke twelve fifteen. Life is not measured by
Speaker 2: how much one owns. He says. The greatest things in
Speaker 2: life aren't things. Life is not about acquisition. The person
Speaker 2: who says the goal of life is that he who
Speaker 2: dies with the most toys wins is a fool. He said,
Speaker 2: it's stupid. You didn't bring any money into the world.
Speaker 2: You're not taking any money out of the world. You
Speaker 2: think God puts you here on earth just to pile
Speaker 2: up a pile of things. You think that the purpose
Speaker 2: of life is to just store up things. Oh, come on,
Speaker 2: that's all your life's all about storing up things. You
Speaker 2: didn't own anything before God created you. You don't own
Speaker 2: anything when you go into eternity. Why would you spend
Speaker 2: your entire life accumulating things you're not taking with you.
Speaker 2: Life is not about accumulation. It's about relationships to God
Speaker 2: and to other people. It's about preparation for eternity. And
Speaker 2: he says, you know, don't worry about this. A man's
Speaker 2: life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.
Speaker 2: Your value as a person has nothing to do with
Speaker 2: your values, and your self worth has nothing to do
Speaker 2: with your net worth. If you tie your life to things,
Speaker 2: then every time you have a bad investment, your view
Speaker 2: of yourself is going to go down. Jesus said it
Speaker 2: like this, and Matthew six, don't get preoccupied or worried
Speaker 2: with the you know, having enough, in other words, you know,
Speaker 2: the material things of life, like having enough to eat,
Speaker 2: or have enough to drink, or heaven enough to wear.
Speaker 2: He said, you know, that's what unbelievers do. Unbelievers get
Speaker 2: so concerned, they get so stressed out by material things.
Speaker 2: But your having the Father knows what you need. So
Speaker 2: God knows what you need. He said. Instead, here's what
Speaker 2: you gotta be concerned about. Be concerned first of all
Speaker 2: with God's kingdom and what has his approval? What does
Speaker 2: that go everywhere? And tell everyone the good news, he says,
Speaker 2: Then all these other things will be provided for you.
Speaker 2: God says, I know what you need, and I'll make
Speaker 2: you promise if you will make living for me the
Speaker 2: priorities that are living for yourself, or living for things,
Speaker 2: or living for the approval of others, I will provide
Speaker 2: you with all these other things you need, and I'll
Speaker 2: bless you you just worry about doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, thank you so much for listening to Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope. I've got something really special to share
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