Speaker 1: Hello, and thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren,
Speaker 1: and today we are continuing in a series called the
Speaker 1: Miracle of Mercy. Rick will show us how God's mercy
Speaker 1: can lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the
Speaker 1: way you live. Right now, here's part three of a
Speaker 1: message called God's Mercy and My Failures.
Speaker 2: Let me show you another example. Easter night, same night,
Speaker 2: that was in the morning that night, they're still together.
Speaker 2: It says that evening the disciples were together again with
Speaker 2: the doors locked.
Speaker 3: They're in a house, their house group. They're in a
Speaker 3: home church.
Speaker 2: They're in a small group and a home with the
Speaker 2: doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. They're thinking, Hey,
Speaker 2: they killed Jesus, maybe they're gonna kill us too. Maybe
Speaker 2: they're gonna crucify us. Now, this is Easter, so Jesus
Speaker 2: there is. And it says suddenly Jesus appeared in the
Speaker 2: middle of the group and said peace be with you,
Speaker 2: and the disciples were filled with joy when they saw
Speaker 2: the Lord. I guess so now I've been in a
Speaker 2: small group thirty five years. I've never had Jesus suddenly
Speaker 2: show up in the middle of the group. Okay, not physically,
Speaker 2: not physically, but I will you tell you this. I've
Speaker 2: seen Jesus show up in my small group hundreds of
Speaker 2: times through the words and the emotions and the prayers
Speaker 2: of other people. And I have sat in group after
Speaker 2: group after group when somebody start talking and I knew
Speaker 2: God is talking to me. Right now, He's talking directly
Speaker 2: to you, Rick Warren, and you better listen. It may
Speaker 2: be their mouth, and it may be a man, and
Speaker 2: it may be a woman. Didn't really matter who it is.
Speaker 2: But I'm talking to you right now. And God's presence
Speaker 2: showed up in my life in the middle of that
Speaker 2: small group. I have seen that happen over and over
Speaker 2: and over. And if you've been in the small group
Speaker 2: for any length of time, you know that God's presence
Speaker 2: Jesus often shows up in a small group. In fact,
Speaker 2: he promised, where two or three are gathered in my name,
Speaker 2: I will be there in the midst of them. Not physically,
Speaker 2: but His presence is there. His spirit is there, his
Speaker 2: love is there, his mercy is there, and he shows
Speaker 2: up in the middle of the group. And if you're
Speaker 2: never in a group. He's never going to show up.
Speaker 2: You got to get in that situation where two or
Speaker 2: three are gathered in my name, he says, I'm there,
Speaker 2: which with you. The reason this is important when you
Speaker 2: have a failure is because in a crisis, you don't
Speaker 2: think straight. And the bigger the failure, the bigger the
Speaker 2: loss in your life, the more you don't think straight,
Speaker 2: and you need other people around here.
Speaker 3: Have you thought about this? Have you considered this?
Speaker 2: And they just kind of calm you down and they
Speaker 2: straighten you out, and they're there to support you, and
Speaker 2: they're there to be with you. A third example of
Speaker 2: Peter and his small group, John chapter twenty, verse twenty
Speaker 2: six says, a week later, remember I told you last
Speaker 2: week that Jesus rose from the day, he stayed around
Speaker 2: Jerusalem for another forty days. He didn't just go right
Speaker 2: back to heaven. And so a week later, it says,
Speaker 2: the disciples were together again, meeting in a home. They're
Speaker 2: having their weekly small group. They're meeting every week, in fact,
Speaker 2: for the next fifty days. After Peter's big failure and
Speaker 2: after the cross and the resurrection, about all the disciples
Speaker 2: did was go to the small group. They pretty much
Speaker 2: just hung out together, kind of processing what in the
Speaker 2: world did we just go through the death and the
Speaker 2: burial and the resurrection of Jesus. And they're going through
Speaker 2: this trauma together, and they're coming to their small group
Speaker 2: over and over and over. Now, I don't think I
Speaker 2: have to repeat to you the importance of a small group.
Speaker 2: I've taught on you this many many times, but let
Speaker 2: me just say this again. The best time to build
Speaker 2: the support network in your life is before the crisis.
Speaker 2: You're going to have some rogue wins in your life.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have some major pain in the days I
Speaker 2: had count on it. This is Earth, it's not Heaven.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have losses. You're gonna have deaths, You're gonna
Speaker 2: have major illnesses. You're gonna have all kinds of problems
Speaker 2: that you don't even know about that I don't even
Speaker 2: know about.
Speaker 3: The time to get.
Speaker 2: Your social support system, that network in place. The time
Speaker 2: to build a small group is now, not in the crisis.
Speaker 2: It's a little late by then. Fortunately, Peter had a
Speaker 2: small group he'd been in for three and a half years,
Speaker 2: so when he had his biggest failure, he had a
Speaker 2: place to go and say.
Speaker 3: Man, did I screw up?
Speaker 2: And they go, yeah, you did, but we did too,
Speaker 2: and so let's all encourage each other.
Speaker 3: And so he had a place to go. He grieved.
Speaker 2: He let his small group support him. Third thing, very important.
Speaker 2: Third thing to do when you have a fail in
Speaker 2: your life. I cast myself on God's mercy. Cast myself
Speaker 2: on God's mercy. Now we know this, and we know
Speaker 2: Peter did this because Peter wrote about it. Peter wrote
Speaker 2: two books in the Bible. The first book is called
Speaker 2: First Peter. Guess which one. The second one's called Yeah,
Speaker 2: Second Peter. Yeah you're really bright today, okay, Second Peter.
Speaker 2: But in First Peter, he starts the whole book talking
Speaker 2: about how God has showed him mercy. I mean verse
Speaker 2: one and verse two. He said, Hi, it's Peter talking,
Speaker 2: and he tells who he's writing to. And so then
Speaker 2: the first thing he talks about in his book is
Speaker 2: God's mercy. First Peter, Chapter one, verse three. Because of
Speaker 2: his great mercy, he knew that God had shown him mercy.
Speaker 2: God has given us a new life. He goes, I'm
Speaker 2: not the same old Peter. I'm a new Peter. I
Speaker 2: got a new life. I'm not the old guy. I'm
Speaker 2: a new guy. Now He has given us new life
Speaker 2: by raising Christ, Jesus Christ from the dead from death.
Speaker 2: This fills us with a living hope. Now Peter has
Speaker 2: had a massive failure in his life, but he's not
Speaker 2: going around in despair. He's not going around in condemnation.
Speaker 2: He's not going around in guilt. He's not walking around
Speaker 2: in shame. He's not walking around in regret. He's not
Speaker 2: timid and going well. God could never use me. So
Speaker 2: he says, I'm walking around in hope. My life is
Speaker 2: filled with hope in spite of my failure. My life
Speaker 2: is filled with hope. Why because of the mercy of God.
Speaker 2: And later in the same book he says this, and
Speaker 2: he says it from personal experience. One Peter five to seven.
Speaker 2: Cast all your anxiety on him God, because he cares
Speaker 2: for you. He says, that's what you do. Now, why
Speaker 2: did Peter tell people to do that? Because that's what
Speaker 2: he did when he failed. He just cast all his anxiety.
Speaker 2: He cast himself on the mercy of God. Now I
Speaker 2: went and I looked up this word cast in the
Speaker 2: original Greek, in the original manuscripts of the Bible, and
Speaker 2: the word cast there. It doesn't mean kind of like
Speaker 2: fly fishing cast, you know, where you're just kind of flipping,
Speaker 2: you know, ten two and four, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: a you know, you're you know, doing back and forth,
Speaker 2: back and forth.
Speaker 3: That's an easy cast. Okay.
Speaker 2: This kind of cast all your cares really is more
Speaker 2: like when you're carrying a giant boulder and that the
Speaker 2: boulder is so big you couldn't throw it three feet.
Speaker 3: Basically, it just means let it go. It means drop it.
Speaker 2: And when he says cast your anxiety or other translations
Speaker 2: cast your cares on the Lord, he means take them
Speaker 2: and drop them. You just let it go. You don't
Speaker 2: have to throw it. You don't have to toss it.
Speaker 2: You just go.
Speaker 3: God, I'm dropping it.
Speaker 2: I'm dropping my fear, I'm dropping my insecurity, I'm dropping
Speaker 2: my guilt, I'm dropping my shame because you are a
Speaker 2: loving and merciful God, and I'm just gonna drop it
Speaker 2: all on you. I'm going to cast myself on the
Speaker 2: mercy of God. What does it mean to cast yourself
Speaker 2: on the mercy of God? Well, it means to pray
Speaker 2: something like this. You say, God, there is no way
Speaker 2: I deserve your forgiveness. I really blew it. There's no
Speaker 2: way I deserve your mercy. I've thumbed my nose to you.
Speaker 2: I've ignored you so much of my life. I've made
Speaker 2: them mistakes. God, There's no way I deserve your grace,
Speaker 2: your mercy, your kindness, your love. But God, you are
Speaker 2: a kind God. You are a loving God. You are
Speaker 2: a merciful and forgiving God. In fact, you have said
Speaker 2: that you love to show mercy. So I'm throwing myself
Speaker 2: on your mercy. I need a fresh start. I don't
Speaker 2: deserve it, I couldn't earn it. But you are a
Speaker 2: merciful God. So I'm just gonna ask you to do
Speaker 2: what you love to do and show me mercy. That's
Speaker 2: casting yourself on the mercy of God, you see.
Speaker 3: That's why.
Speaker 2: It's the antidote to everything Satan says to you so
Speaker 2: much of the time. And Satan is whispering in your ear.
Speaker 2: You're not good enough. Who do you think you are?
Speaker 2: You think God could ever use you? Why do you
Speaker 2: think God would answer your prayers? After all the stuff
Speaker 2: you've done, all those dumb stunts you've done. Why do
Speaker 2: you think God you're not good enough, and then they
Speaker 2: said he's always maximized things said, no way will God
Speaker 2: ever forgive you on that. He does not want you
Speaker 2: focused on his mercy. But I'll tell you what the
Speaker 2: antidote to get rid of all of that talk in
Speaker 2: your mind and Satan's constantly giving you those negative thoughts
Speaker 2: and it's kind of like, you know, the teacher on
Speaker 2: the Charlie Brown movies, Why Wow, why whoy why why?
Speaker 2: You know you can't hear, but it's just there. What
Speaker 2: is the antidote to that? When you cast your care,
Speaker 2: you lose your despair. When you cast your care, you
Speaker 2: lose your despair because then Jesus moves into action the
Speaker 2: moment you say, God, I'm throwing myself on your mercy,
Speaker 2: what does Jesus do with our failures?
Speaker 3: This is what I really want us to look at.
Speaker 2: Before Jesus even was arrested, he told Peter in advance
Speaker 2: this was gonna happen. And Jesus actually told Peter four
Speaker 2: things in advance of his failure. And here's what he said.
Speaker 2: In Luke chapter twenty two, thirty and thirty one. He said,
Speaker 2: Simon Simon, by the way, you know Peter's name, was
Speaker 2: actually Simon Peter, so sometimes he's called Peter and sometimes
Speaker 2: he's called Simon. Now Peter actually means rock rock in Greek,
Speaker 2: and it was Peter Barjona, which means he was the
Speaker 2: son of John, the son of John. So today Peter
Speaker 2: would have been called Rock Johnson. Okay, Okay, So Peter
Speaker 2: Barjona today in America would have been called the disciple
Speaker 2: Rock Johnson, Simon or Peter Barjona. Okay, he says, Simon, Simon.
Speaker 2: See the tenderness in God's voice. Jesus says, Satan has
Speaker 2: asked to sift you. Like what he says. Satan wants
Speaker 2: to turn your crank, Peter. He wants to test you.
Speaker 2: He wants to turn you inside out because he doesn't
Speaker 2: think you're gonna come through. I know you will, but
Speaker 2: he doesn't think you will. And so Satan wants to
Speaker 2: mess with you. He's telling you this is gonna happen.
Speaker 2: You're gonna get messed with, You're gonna be tempted. But
Speaker 2: Jesus says, I've prayed for you in advance. He says,
Speaker 2: I've already prayed for you that your faith should not fail.
Speaker 2: So he says, when not if when you have repented
Speaker 2: and turned back to me again. That's the third thing
Speaker 2: he says, strengthen and build your brothers. In other words,
Speaker 2: I want you to use your pain to help other people.
Speaker 2: I want you to use your failure to build up
Speaker 2: other people, to encourage other people to help them. So
Speaker 2: what do we learn? We learn five things that Jesus
Speaker 2: does with our failures. Write these down. Number one. First,
Speaker 2: he isn't shocked. He isn't shocked by your failure. Jesus
Speaker 2: goes Satan, wants to sift you. He predicted Peter's temptation
Speaker 2: long before it happened, and even said you're gonna deny me.
Speaker 3: He already knew it.
Speaker 2: God is not ever surprised or caught off guard by
Speaker 2: anything you do, good or bad. He already knows everything
Speaker 2: in advance. He already knows your weak spots. As I
Speaker 2: said the message paraphrase of Matthew twenty six, he said,
Speaker 2: you're all going to fall to pieces because of what
Speaker 2: happens to me. He knew this was going to happen.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in some one ohs three, verse fourteen.
Speaker 2: God certainly knows what we're made of. He bears in
Speaker 2: mind that we are dust. In other words, God knows
Speaker 2: we're not God. We're not perfect. We're human beings. We
Speaker 2: mess up, we screw up, we falter, we fall, we fumble,
Speaker 2: we flub up. He knows our frame. He knows we're
Speaker 2: not perfect. And not only does he know everything about
Speaker 2: you and what's inside you, he also knows every temptation
Speaker 2: and every trick that Satan's gonna throw at you. So
Speaker 2: he's not surprised. He's not shocked when you fail number two,
Speaker 2: this one, you will surprise you. He prays for us,
Speaker 2: He prays for us. Jesus told Peter before he had
Speaker 2: even failed. Peter, this is gonna happen.
Speaker 3: But I have.
Speaker 2: Already prayed for you that your faith will not fail.
Speaker 2: And jesus prayers are answered. I've prayed for you that
Speaker 2: you will not fail. In Hebrews chapter seven, it talks
Speaker 2: about this. By the way, do you know what Jesus
Speaker 2: Christ is doing right now.
Speaker 3: In heaven?
Speaker 2: Do you know what Jesus Christ is doing in heaven
Speaker 2: right now? The Bible says he's praying for you. He's
Speaker 2: praying for you now. When you pray for someone, that's
Speaker 2: called intercession. When you pray for someone, you intercede them,
Speaker 2: and the Bible says that Jesus is interceding for you.
Speaker 2: He's living to do that in heaven right now. He's
Speaker 2: praying for you, for your temptations, for the failures you've had,
Speaker 2: and for the ones you're gonna have tomorrow and the
Speaker 2: next day. The Bible says this Hebrews seven twenty five.
Speaker 2: Jesus is able to save us completely from all of
Speaker 2: our failures because in heaven he lives.
Speaker 3: To intercede on our behalf.
Speaker 2: He he's always talking to the Father asking him to
Speaker 2: help us. In heaven, Jesus is talking to Father, praying
Speaker 2: to the Father back. And when he said, wait a minute,
Speaker 2: this is kind of weird. Here God is talking to himself. Oh,
Speaker 2: you never talk to yourself. You talk to yourself all
Speaker 2: the time, and you're made in God's image. So if
Speaker 2: you talk to yourself any time, God can talk to himself.
Speaker 2: And when God talks to himself about you, it's called prayer.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says God is praying for you. Just
Speaker 2: like he said, Peter, I've already prayed for you before
Speaker 2: you even failed. I've prayed that you'll you'll make it
Speaker 2: through this, and he prays for us. Jesus is praying
Speaker 2: for you. That's the mercy of God. Number three. Third
Speaker 2: thing Jesus does when you fail, he believes in us.
Speaker 2: He believes in us. In fact, he expects us to recover.
Speaker 2: And that's why he told Peter even before Peter's big failure.
Speaker 2: He said, so, Peter, when you have repented and turned
Speaker 2: back to me again, circle the word when it's not.
Speaker 3: If not, it might happen. He said. When he goes,
Speaker 3: I know you're going to come back to me.
Speaker 2: You're going to sin, you're gonna fail, you're gonna make
Speaker 2: a mistake, but you're gonna come back. When you come
Speaker 2: back to me. This is the mark of a true believer.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse on the screen, Proverbs twenty four
Speaker 2: to sixteen. Let's read this verse aloud together, for even
Speaker 2: though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again.
Speaker 2: And leave that verse up there for a minute, for
Speaker 2: you know what I love about this verse. It says,
Speaker 2: even the good guy screw up, Even righteous people fall.
Speaker 2: They make mistakes. Okay, sometimes good people make dumb decisions.
Speaker 2: I mean, sometimes good people take their lives. Doesn't mean
Speaker 2: they were evil. That means they made a dumb decision
Speaker 2: in that moment. Sometimes we all make dumb decisions. Even
Speaker 2: though a righteous man falls seven times, even good people,
Speaker 2: even righteous people, have failures, and we fail repeatedly seven times.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you'd figure this out yet, but
Speaker 2: your biggest weaknesses are habitual. You don't just do them
Speaker 2: one time and then that's it. You do them over
Speaker 2: and over and over and over and over, and if
Speaker 2: it's a weakness of yours, you're back there within an hour,
Speaker 2: falling in the same area again and again and again.
Speaker 2: Jesus says, my mercy isn't just for the big, one
Speaker 2: time mess up. My mercy is for those every day
Speaker 2: mess ups that you do twenty times an hour, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you take back control and you
Speaker 2: start worrying again and again and again and again, and
Speaker 2: you're worrying, and you're worrying, and you're worrying, and I've
Speaker 2: told you don't worry. But his mercy will forgive nine
Speaker 2: thousand and ten thousand and one million times. Because God
Speaker 2: is a mercyful God. He's more willing to show mercy
Speaker 2: than you're willing to ask for it. He's not shocked.
Speaker 2: He prays for us. He believes in us. We fail repeatedly,
Speaker 2: but God says, I'm still gonna believe in you. Now
Speaker 2: we see a good example of Peter, I mean Jesus
Speaker 2: believing in Peter. From a little phrase that you might
Speaker 2: miss that happened on Easter morning.
Speaker 3: You remember a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Ago at Easter, we were talking about the fact.
Speaker 3: That Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went up to
Speaker 3: the tomb.
Speaker 2: Maybe they're taking flowers on Easter morning, and the Angel
Speaker 2: meets him and says, he's not here.
Speaker 3: He's gone.
Speaker 2: He's like he promised, he'll see you guys in Galilee.
Speaker 2: Now go tell the disciples, and notice what the Angel
Speaker 2: says on that Easter morning, Mark sixteen six and seven.
Speaker 2: The Angel said to the women, I know you were
Speaker 2: looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, but he's
Speaker 2: not here. He's risen from the dead. Now go tell
Speaker 2: his disciples and tell Peter that he's going ahead of
Speaker 2: you to Galilee and he'll see you there, just as
Speaker 2: he promised. Did you notice any redundancy in that verse?
Speaker 2: He says, go tell his disciples and tell Peter. Why
Speaker 2: did he add in Peter. Isn't Peter a disciple, wouldn't
Speaker 2: he be included? Couldn't he just say, hey, go tell
Speaker 2: his disciples. But Jesus knew how discouraged Peter would be
Speaker 2: from his.
Speaker 3: Failure.
Speaker 2: Jesus knew how much he needed encouragement, so he puts
Speaker 2: out an additional thing. Go tell my disciples, Oh, and
Speaker 2: especially tell Peter. When you fail, God knows your name,
Speaker 2: and he gives you a personal word of encouragement. He says,
Speaker 2: go tell my disciples, Oh, and especially tell Peter. I
Speaker 2: know how bad he feels about this. I know he's
Speaker 2: taken it the hardest of all. He's taken the hit.
Speaker 2: He's feeling ashamed, he's feeling regretful, he's down in the dumps.
Speaker 2: Go tell my disciples, and go tell Peter I'm alive.
Speaker 2: I'm alive. I kept my promise. And he singles him out. Friends,
Speaker 2: that is loved.
Speaker 1: What a great message from pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 1: I they always take away from his message. Here's Rick
Speaker 1: to tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism, Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
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