Speaker 1: You know, we really live in a world that's full
Speaker 1: of competing beliefs and values and choices, and what you
Speaker 1: believe shapes how you live and ultimately who you become.
Speaker 1: But the good news is God hasn't left us to
Speaker 1: figure it all out alone.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: In fact, today, on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we're going
Speaker 1: to continue our series Reframing Your Worldview, where Rick Warren
Speaker 1: unpacks powerful truths from God's Word to help you see
Speaker 1: life clearly and live it with confidence and purpose. All right, everybody,
Speaker 1: here's Rick with part one of a message called Where
Speaker 1: Did We Come From?
Speaker 2: When I wrote the book Purpose Driven Life. On the
Speaker 2: very first page of the first chapter, I begin with
Speaker 2: a quote by a well known atheist.
Speaker 3: That man was Bertrand Russell, and.
Speaker 2: He said this quote, unless you assume a God, the
Speaker 2: question of life's purpose is meaningless. I happen to agree
Speaker 2: with him one hundred percent of that. He's right, He's
Speaker 2: intellectually honest and saying, if you assume there's a God,
Speaker 2: then you can assume there's a purpose in life. But
Speaker 2: if there is no God, then the question about the
Speaker 2: purpose of life is meaningless.
Speaker 3: Let me get right to the point. If there is
Speaker 3: no God.
Speaker 2: If this is all just made up, we're just faking it,
Speaker 2: We're just pretending we've been conned by a myth.
Speaker 3: If there is no God.
Speaker 2: If everything in the world is an accident, if everything
Speaker 2: just is random chance, there is no rhyme or reason,
Speaker 2: there is no designer, no creator in the world. If
Speaker 2: that's true, then your life is worthless. Your life doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: Your life has no significance.
Speaker 3: There is no purpose to your life.
Speaker 2: If there is no God and we're all just a
Speaker 2: result of a random chan answer. It was the chance
Speaker 2: you were born, and there'll be a chance that you die,
Speaker 2: then there is no significance in the world. There is
Speaker 2: no right or wrong. There is no basis for law,
Speaker 2: there is no heaven or hell, there is no afterlife.
Speaker 3: Nothing really matters.
Speaker 2: You see, to be intellectually honest, the only logical rational
Speaker 2: philosophy for an atheist.
Speaker 3: If you really believe there is no God, this is all.
Speaker 2: Just an accident, then the only rational belief position is nihilism,
Speaker 2: which basically says nothing really matters, nothing really matters at all,
Speaker 2: because it's all just chance.
Speaker 3: Now, I've traveled around the world a lot of times, and.
Speaker 2: I've met thousands and thousands of Christian believers who are
Speaker 2: willing to live with the logical consequences, sometimes bad consequences
Speaker 2: of what they believe, even being willing to be tortured
Speaker 2: for it, and even being willing to die for what
Speaker 2: they believe.
Speaker 3: But I'll have to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: In all of my years, I have never ever met
Speaker 2: an atheist who had the courage to intellectually believe the
Speaker 2: implications of what they say they believe. Every atheist I
Speaker 2: know wants to believe there is no God, but my
Speaker 2: life matters, Well, no it doesn't.
Speaker 3: It doesn't.
Speaker 2: If life is just random accident and chance, and you're
Speaker 2: an accident, then nothing really matters. And I've never found
Speaker 2: anybody with the courage. What they want to do is
Speaker 2: they want to believe there's no God, but then they
Speaker 2: want to believe that.
Speaker 3: Their life matters, and the things about.
Speaker 2: An world which isn't in consequential or opposite of what
Speaker 2: you're saying you believe. Camu Albert Camu, the French atheist philosopher,
Speaker 2: pointed us out and he said, the logical extension of
Speaker 2: atheism is despair, and he was a philosopher of despair, now. Fortunately,
Speaker 2: only about two percent of the people in the entire
Speaker 2: world deny the exist distance of God. Only two percent
Speaker 2: are genuinely atheists. And so we don't live in a
Speaker 2: culture of despair like that. We live in a culture
Speaker 2: that values life. Now tonight, what we're going to do
Speaker 2: is we're going to look at this third question in
Speaker 2: this series of the great questions on life.
Speaker 3: Who am I? And where did I come from? And
Speaker 3: we're going to look at the three things that.
Speaker 2: Jesus said about who you are and where you came from?
Speaker 3: And then, even more important than.
Speaker 2: That, I want to look at the implications, because there
Speaker 2: are five very profound implications that will affect the rest
Speaker 2: of your life. If you've got your notes, why don't
Speaker 2: you write down these three fundamental truths, these three pillars
Speaker 2: of what we believe. First number one is that God
Speaker 2: created everything.
Speaker 3: God created everything.
Speaker 2: In the first book of the Bible, in the first
Speaker 2: chapter of that book. In the first verse of the
Speaker 2: first chapter of the first Book of the Bible, it
Speaker 2: says this in Genesis one to one. And by the way,
Speaker 2: in the beginning, it says, that's a good thing to
Speaker 2: start with in the beginning. If you're ever going to
Speaker 2: write a book. Start it within the beginning. In the beginning, God,
Speaker 2: let me just stop right there in the beginning.
Speaker 3: God, If you.
Speaker 2: Can't get back those past those four words, then really
Speaker 2: life has no meaning. It has no purpose, it has
Speaker 2: no significance. But the Bible says, in the beginning God,
Speaker 2: God existed long before the universe, long before this planet,
Speaker 2: certainly long before the human race. In the beginning, God
Speaker 2: created the heavens and the earth. Now, the Bible tells
Speaker 2: us that God spoke the universe into existence. He spoke
Speaker 2: it into existence. You say, how long did that take?
Speaker 3: I don't know. Could have taken a second gold to
Speaker 3: take ten billion years to speak it? I don't know.
Speaker 3: And really it doesn't matter to me that the bottom.
Speaker 2: Line is that God could take as little or as
Speaker 2: much time as he wanted.
Speaker 3: To speak it. He just spoke it.
Speaker 2: In fact, you see, when you are an eternal being,
Speaker 2: time is irrelevant to you because you are not controlled
Speaker 2: by time. Look at what the Bible says, this verse
Speaker 2: up here on the screen. Second Peter three to eight says,
Speaker 2: do not forget this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord,
Speaker 2: a day is like a thousand years and a thousand
Speaker 2: years is.
Speaker 3: Like a day.
Speaker 2: God is not constrained by time, So a one with
Speaker 2: about nine or ten zeros behind it, that's a blink
Speaker 2: of an eye for God. It makes no difference how
Speaker 2: long it took. It took as long as he wanted
Speaker 2: to take. And the Bible that din't actually say how long.
Speaker 2: You said, well, does Rick, do you believe that God
Speaker 2: used the theory of evolution?
Speaker 3: No, I don't. It's a theory, but I don't happen
Speaker 3: to believe it. Now.
Speaker 2: We do know that species change. We do know that,
Speaker 2: for instance, you can change the color of an orchid.
Speaker 2: We call it hybrids. You can take a plant or
Speaker 2: an animal and you can change their features.
Speaker 3: You can change an.
Speaker 2: Orchid from yellow to green. But nobody's ever changed the species.
Speaker 2: Nobody's ever changed an orchid into an elephant, nobody's ever
Speaker 2: changed a mouse into a monkey.
Speaker 3: There is our change.
Speaker 2: Sure, certainly you can show how birds can change their
Speaker 2: beak or their colors because of winter, or the Jerusophila fruitfly,
Speaker 2: and how you can change its life circle and span.
Speaker 2: But no, there is absolutely zero evidence, zero evidence of
Speaker 2: species change in.
Speaker 3: The fossils, not at all.
Speaker 2: There is not any fossils change prove a species changed,
Speaker 2: So it's just a theory. Now, it's interesting that the
Speaker 2: Bible doesn't spend a whole lot of time talking about
Speaker 2: how God created the universe. Instead, it spends a lot
Speaker 2: of time talking about why. And that's really what I'm
Speaker 2: more interested in. Why did he do it? Why did
Speaker 2: God create the universe? Why did God create the Earth?
Speaker 2: Why did God create human beings? What did he Why
Speaker 2: did you create the Earth? We'll look up the next verse.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this, He did not create the Earth
Speaker 2: to be empty, but formed it to be what inhabited.
Speaker 2: God made the Earth to be inhabited. He made it
Speaker 2: so it could sustain life. He didn't want it to
Speaker 2: be a dead planet. He created it to sustain life.
Speaker 2: And he put it just the right distance from the
Speaker 2: sun and put it just on the right axis so
Speaker 2: that when it's spun, it didn't get too hot or
Speaker 2: too cold, and it could sustain life. Now, the Bible
Speaker 2: tells us, I love this. In the message paraphrase, it says,
Speaker 2: God didn't go to all the trouble just to leave
Speaker 2: it empty.
Speaker 3: He made it to be lived in.
Speaker 2: Now, why did God create the Earth to sustain life.
Speaker 2: While the Bible tells us in Hebrews two ten, God
Speaker 2: is the one who made all things, and all things
Speaker 2: are for his glory. He wanted to have many children
Speaker 2: share his glory.
Speaker 3: That says here.
Speaker 2: God created it all to bring glory to himself, to
Speaker 2: enjoy it himself.
Speaker 3: He wanted. He did it because he wanted to do it.
Speaker 2: And he said he wanted to have many children share
Speaker 2: his glory.
Speaker 3: Who's he talking about? There? You and me? You and me?
Speaker 2: If I had time to take you through scripture, I
Speaker 2: could show you that the Bible very clearly teaches that
Speaker 2: God wanted a family.
Speaker 3: Now, God wasn't lonely. He didn't need us. He didn't
Speaker 3: need us, but he wanted us.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says that God is love and that
Speaker 2: we were created as objects of God's love. We were
Speaker 2: made simply so God could love us. If you want
Speaker 2: to know why you're sitting there right now, why you're
Speaker 2: taking the next breath, why your heart is beating the
Speaker 2: next beat, it's you.
Speaker 3: Were made to be loved by God.
Speaker 2: And if God hadn't wanted to love you, you would
Speaker 2: not be taking the breath you're taking right now. In fact,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that God created the entire universe just
Speaker 2: so he could create this galaxy, just so he could
Speaker 2: create the earth, just so he could create the human race,
Speaker 2: just so he could create you, so he could love
Speaker 2: you and love me. We were the idea behind creation.
Speaker 2: God made it all possible so that he could love us. Now,
Speaker 2: if you want a mind blowing idea, that is, in a
Speaker 2: mind blowing experience, The Bible says God created everything, but
Speaker 2: he did it because we are the crown of creation.
Speaker 3: He wanted children.
Speaker 2: He wanted to put create some individuals in his image
Speaker 2: that could be a part of his forever family. So
Speaker 2: God created everything. Here's the second pillar of truth. The
Speaker 2: second pillar is God thought of us first, but he
Speaker 2: created us last. God thought of us, the human race first,
Speaker 2: before he thought of anything else. But he created us.
Speaker 2: He made us last. Now, the Bible tells us in
Speaker 2: Genesis the exact order of creation. It says God started
Speaker 2: first by creating light. He made light, and next the
Speaker 2: Bible says he created water. He created water, and then
Speaker 2: he created the sky or the atmosphere. He created the atmosphere,
Speaker 2: and then next he created the oceans and the land.
Speaker 2: He split the oceans with dry land and wet land,
Speaker 2: and then he created vegetation on that land. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: after that he created the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Speaker 2: And then it says after that he created water animals,
Speaker 2: fish and water animals, and then after that he created birds.
Speaker 2: And then it says after that he created land animals.
Speaker 2: And then finally, last of all, he created man and woman.
Speaker 2: It created human beings. He created everything else first, but
Speaker 2: we were the reason for all the stuff that came before.
Speaker 3: Look at the next verse.
Speaker 2: Theesians one four says, long before he laid down the
Speaker 2: Earth's foundations. That means before he created the world, God
Speaker 2: had us in mind.
Speaker 3: Not amazing.
Speaker 2: God had us in mind, and he settled on us
Speaker 2: as the focus of his love. He said, I'm going
Speaker 2: to create the universe so I can create these people
Speaker 2: so I can love them. He created us last, but
Speaker 2: he thought of us first. We're the reason for everything else.
Speaker 2: We are the crown of creation, the Bible says in
Speaker 2: James one eighteen, God brought us into being through the
Speaker 2: word of truth, so that we should have first place
Speaker 2: among all his creatures. And you, as a human being,
Speaker 2: are unlike anything else.
Speaker 3: God has made.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about that in a little more
Speaker 2: in a minute, but he says you're different. Now here's
Speaker 2: the third thing that God tells us about creation. God
Speaker 2: custom designed each of us. He custom designed each of us.
Speaker 2: When you stop and actually think about what I'm actually
Speaker 2: going to share with you from the Bible, it really
Speaker 2: is indescribable. It's unbelievable. It's amazing what God did. David
Speaker 2: says this.
Speaker 3: In Psalm one thirty nineties, praying to God.
Speaker 2: He says you, God made all the delicate inner parts
Speaker 2: of my body, and you knit me together in my
Speaker 2: mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.
Speaker 2: Very few things are more complex than the human body.
Speaker 2: Your workmanship is marvelous, and how well I know it.
Speaker 2: You watched me, God, You watched me as I was
Speaker 2: being formed in utter seclusion. In other words, when you
Speaker 2: were conceived in your mother's womb.
Speaker 3: God saw it happening.
Speaker 2: He watched, he says, you watched me as I was
Speaker 2: woven together in the dark of the womb.
Speaker 3: You saw me before I was born.
Speaker 2: God custom designed you because he had a place and
Speaker 2: a purpose and a plan for your life. And he
Speaker 2: oversaw that creation, and you would not have been created
Speaker 2: without it. Now, don't ever let any professor or any
Speaker 2: parent tell you you are an accident.
Speaker 3: You're not an accident.
Speaker 2: There are accidental parents, but there are no oh, accidental babies.
Speaker 2: God planned you. Your parents may not have planned you,
Speaker 2: but God did. And really it has nothing to do
Speaker 2: with whether they were good parents or bad parents or
Speaker 2: indifferent parents, or maybe you didn't even know your parents,
Speaker 2: or maybe one of your parents died before you know
Speaker 2: you came to know them, or whatever.
Speaker 3: It's irrelevant.
Speaker 2: Why did God choose your parents because they had just
Speaker 2: the right DNA to create you. They had He wanted you,
Speaker 2: and he had you in mind. And whether they were
Speaker 2: good or bad people or whatever, he wanted you created,
Speaker 2: and they had the DNA to create you. There are
Speaker 2: illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children. God had
Speaker 2: a plan. If you're here, it's because He wanted you here.
Speaker 3: Now, that's amazing.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this, look up here on the screen
Speaker 2: Romans eleven, thirty four and thirty five. Have you ever
Speaker 2: come across anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God,
Speaker 2: this deep wisdom. It's way over our heads we'll never
Speaker 2: figure it out.
Speaker 3: Is there anyone.
Speaker 2: Around who can explain God? And the answer is no,
Speaker 2: No one can explain God.
Speaker 3: If you could explain God, you'd be God. But you can't.
Speaker 3: You trying to explain God would be like an.
Speaker 2: Aunt trying to explain the Internet. You don't have the
Speaker 2: brain capacity to explain God. God is so great and
Speaker 2: so what he has done is unbelievable, indescribable, un unattainable.
Speaker 3: It's just an amazing thing. So what should be our response?
Speaker 2: Just thank him, thank him for his wonderful grace, for
Speaker 2: his wonderful love. In fact, the Bible says this in
Speaker 2: Second Corinthians nine point fifteen. It says, thanks de to
Speaker 2: God for his indescribable gift. God created everything. God thought
Speaker 2: of us first, but made us last, and God custom
Speaker 2: designed you. Now what are the implications of that? Well,
Speaker 2: there are five, and they have profound impact on your
Speaker 2: life when you understand them. Number one first implication, your
Speaker 2: life has sanctity. Your life has sanctity. Now what does
Speaker 2: that mean? Sanctity comes from the word to sanctify. To
Speaker 2: sanctify means to set apart, It means to make something special.
Speaker 2: It means to dedicate it for a special use. If
Speaker 2: I were to say to God, God, won't you take
Speaker 2: my car and I want it to just be used
Speaker 2: totally to serve humanity and to serve you, then I
Speaker 2: could say I sanctified that car. I just made it
Speaker 2: special by dedicating it for a special, unique use. Rick
Speaker 2: much Yall could take his guitar and say, God, I
Speaker 2: want to give you this guitar and I want to
Speaker 2: use it to play music to you that makes the
Speaker 2: world a better place. Then he would sanctify the guitar.
Speaker 2: It just means you set it apart for special use.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says that your life has sanctity.
Speaker 3: Why is that?
Speaker 2: Because human beings are uniquely different from all the rest
Speaker 2: of creation. Why there are three and they're the next
Speaker 2: three verses there on your outline. First, at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the outline, it says God created people in his
Speaker 2: own image. God patterned them after himself, male and female.
Speaker 2: He created them. Now here's the first reason in your
Speaker 2: life has sanctity. God designed you in his image. That
Speaker 2: makes you different than all the animals. Cows and goats
Speaker 2: and sheep and ducks and frogs are not designed in
Speaker 2: the image of God. But human beings are. How are
Speaker 2: we different? First, we have a free moral choice. You
Speaker 2: can choose between right and wrong. You have a conscience.
Speaker 2: Animals don't have a conscience. You can talk to God,
Speaker 2: you can pray to God.
Speaker 3: Animals can't do that.
Speaker 2: You can make decisions and create decisions, and create tools,
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of things that you can
Speaker 2: do that are made in the image of God. And
Speaker 2: that makes you different from all of the rest of creation.
Speaker 2: You're not the same as animals. God designed you in
Speaker 2: his image. In fact, here's what the Bible says. Look up,
Speaker 2: you're on this sawmate five. You made people inferior only
Speaker 2: to yourself. You crown them with glory and honor. God
Speaker 2: says He's given us a certain position as human beings
Speaker 2: in the universe because we were made in his image.
Speaker 2: He wanted us made in his image. By the way,
Speaker 2: do you know why in the Bible that God authorizes
Speaker 2: governments to use capital punishment in murder cases?
Speaker 3: God says, I allow governments.
Speaker 2: To put people to death who've murdered other people. Why
Speaker 2: because murder violates the sanctity of life. And God says,
Speaker 2: if you, without any authority, take a person's life, you
Speaker 2: murder them just because you want to, He says, then
Speaker 2: you know what you forfeit your own life. In fact,
Speaker 2: look at what the Bible says up here on the
Speaker 2: screen Genesis ninety five and six.
Speaker 3: There's just one example.
Speaker 2: Animals that kill people must die, and any person who
Speaker 2: murders another must be executed.
Speaker 3: For to murder a person is to kill a living.
Speaker 2: Being made in God's image, and when someone is murdered,
Speaker 2: it robs God a fellowship with that person. That's why
Speaker 2: you were made in God's image.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: What does it take to become more loving, live more peacefully,
Speaker 1: develop patience, have self control?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick says, throughout all the years he's been a pastor,
Speaker 1: the number one question that he's been asked is wait
Speaker 1: for it. Why can't I change? You know, people really
Speaker 1: want to change, but they're stock and maybe you feel
Speaker 1: that way too. So in his book God's Power to
Speaker 1: Change Your Life, Rick lays out the groundwork for personal transformation,
Speaker 1: and then he offer vers biblical insights and simple steps
Speaker 1: for ten areas of growth that can take you from
Speaker 1: where you are right now to where you want to be.
Speaker 1: This book really connects you with the power to actually
Speaker 1: make the changes that you long to make. And as
Speaker 1: you apply the truth of God's Word by the power
Speaker 1: of His Spirit, your life will change and you'll get
Speaker 1: on track with God's wonderful purposes for your life. So
Speaker 1: be sure to request your copy of God's Power to
Speaker 1: Change your life when you give a gift to Daily
Speaker 1: Hope to help take the Hope of Jesus to people everywhere.
Speaker 1: That's our way of saying thanks. Just go to Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick dot com, or you can text the word hope
Speaker 1: to seven oh three oh nine. That's Pastor Rick dot
Speaker 1: com and that's got two rs in the middle. Or
Speaker 1: just text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine.
Speaker 1: And we thank you so much for your support. It
Speaker 1: means so much to us a day. We hope you'll
Speaker 1: join us next time as we continue to look into God's.
Speaker 3: Word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support.