Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
Speaker 1: the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so
Speaker 1: glad you're here with us today. We are continuing in
Speaker 1: a series called talking about Stuff that Matters Now. In
Speaker 1: this series, Rick looks into the scriptures and he's unpacking
Speaker 1: what it means to live in community, have real conversation
Speaker 1: about what matters most, and face discouragement with courage and faith.
Speaker 1: It's honest, hopeful. So stay tuned. You won't want to
Speaker 1: miss a second. And now here's part two of a
Speaker 1: message called don't let anyone steal your identity.
Speaker 2: Here's the second pillar of your identity. Kay's gonna come
Speaker 2: and talk about this. In Christ, my value and worth
Speaker 2: are priceless.
Speaker 3: As Rick said, my value and my worth are priceless
Speaker 3: Isaiah forty three, Verse four. God says you are precious
Speaker 3: to me. Now, precious is a really emotional word. It's
Speaker 3: not a word that we use very often. We don't
Speaker 3: hear people talk about it. When I hear the word precious,
Speaker 3: there's something in me that just thinks it's got to
Speaker 3: be said with a Southern accent, like, well, honey, you
Speaker 3: are so precious to me, you know you just it
Speaker 3: fits with the Southern accent. But in Hebrew and the
Speaker 3: Old Testament was written in Hebrew and so Isaiah. In
Speaker 3: Hebrew it means highly valued or esteemed. In English it
Speaker 3: means valued, wanted, treasured, cherished. And whether you are comfortable
Speaker 3: using that emotional word precious to describe how you feel
Speaker 3: about people you love or have people use that about you,
Speaker 3: or whether you're comfortable even admitting the longings that you
Speaker 3: have in your heart. We all want to be loved,
Speaker 3: to be highly esteemed, to be valued, to be treasured,
Speaker 3: to be cherished by at least one other person in
Speaker 3: this world. And the good news is that God has
Speaker 3: already said you are precious to me. Well, how do
Speaker 3: we know that that's how God feels about us? He
Speaker 3: says it, But what's the visible proof of that? Two
Speaker 3: ways that I can think of. First is we are
Speaker 3: all made in the image of God. In Genesis one,
Speaker 3: twenty six and twenty seven, there on the screen, God says,
Speaker 3: let us make man mankind in our image, in our likeness.
Speaker 3: So God created mankind in his own image, in the
Speaker 3: image of God. He created them male and female. He
Speaker 3: created them in Latin, the words for image of God
Speaker 3: is immago day, and immago day is what all of
Speaker 3: us contain. All of us contain the image of God.
Speaker 3: We were made in His likeness, and it defines us
Speaker 3: as surely as this phrase that we've been using in Christ.
Speaker 3: Before we were in Christ. We were all made in
Speaker 3: the image of God. And what does that mean that
Speaker 3: we are made in the image of God. Well, God
Speaker 3: is not a physical being, is a spiritual being spirit,
Speaker 3: and so it doesn't have anything to do with well,
Speaker 3: you look like God, but I don't look like God.
Speaker 3: It's not about appearance. It is the characteristics of God.
Speaker 3: God is a three part being. Great theology that there's
Speaker 3: so much to unpack on this. He is a triune God.
Speaker 3: He's made in three parts. He's God, he's Son, he's
Speaker 3: Holy Spirit. And we, as human beings who are made
Speaker 3: in His image, are also made in three parts. We
Speaker 3: have a body, we have a soul, and we have
Speaker 3: a spirit. To be made in the image of God
Speaker 3: means that we have emotions like God has emotions. God
Speaker 3: uses words like precious. We've said that's an emotional word.
Speaker 3: God has emotions. We as human beings made in His
Speaker 3: image have emotions. We have the capacity for rational thought,
Speaker 3: not just instinct. We have the capacity to develop a
Speaker 3: spiritual connection with the creator of the universe. And that
Speaker 3: means that every single person, every single person, carries the
Speaker 3: spark of the divine and we have the image of
Speaker 3: God stamped on us. Now, this must become an unshakable
Speaker 3: conviction in you, because when you understand that you and
Speaker 3: every other person on this planet has been stamped with
Speaker 3: the image of God, that establishes personhood. Anyone made in
Speaker 3: the image of God is a person, regardless of how
Speaker 3: functional they are, how well they can contribute in society,
Speaker 3: whether they are born or unborn, every person has been
Speaker 3: stamped with the image of God. And it's the driving
Speaker 3: force for why we as human beings care for the weak.
Speaker 3: It's why we care for the vulnerable. It's why we
Speaker 3: care for those on the edges, those that are too
Speaker 3: sick to contribute to the community through employment, or those
Speaker 3: that are too young or those that are too old
Speaker 3: to care for others, or those that need to be
Speaker 3: taken care of, those who are incapacitated in their body,
Speaker 3: or their mind or their spirit, those who cannot speak
Speaker 3: their own name or put a spoon to their mouth,
Speaker 3: or those who are not yet born and have not
Speaker 3: made a measurable contribution to society. All our stamped with
Speaker 3: the image of God. I've talked to you a little
Speaker 3: bit in the last year or so about my mom.
Speaker 3: She's ninety five and is in last stages of Alzheimer's,
Speaker 3: and she is really a shell of the person that
Speaker 3: she used to be. She was a vibrant woman. She
Speaker 3: was an excellent Bible teacher. My dad was a pastor,
Speaker 3: and she was an amazing pastor's wife, and creative and warm,
Speaker 3: and she was one of those ladies that you know,
Speaker 3: they always say, well, you could eat her house was
Speaker 3: so clean you could eat off of her floor that
Speaker 3: was made for my mom. She was just always, always busy.
Speaker 3: And now at ninety five and last stages of Alzheimer's,
Speaker 3: it is impossible to have much of a rational conversation
Speaker 3: with her because her little sentence loop is about fifteen
Speaker 3: seconds long, and then she's forgotten what she's said. And
Speaker 3: most of the time she lives with delusions and thinks
Speaker 3: that she's been kidnapped and that people are trying to
Speaker 3: kill her and the caregivers are just being nice to her,
Speaker 3: but they're gonna you know, they're gonna hurt her behind
Speaker 3: closed doors. She's in a wheelchair because her legs won't
Speaker 3: hold her up anymore. She needs help with hygiene, she
Speaker 3: needs help with dressing herself. She can't teach Bible studies anymore.
Speaker 3: She can't even read the Bible because the Bible in
Speaker 3: any other book don't make sense to her. And so
Speaker 3: in society's eyes, my mother's worth and value is declining
Speaker 3: by the day, and she feels it, she knows it,
Speaker 3: and in some of her coherent moments she's able to say,
Speaker 3: I wish I could just die. I just wish I
Speaker 3: could die. Life is not how it used to be.
Speaker 3: I can't do anything for anybody anymore. And so my
Speaker 3: main task with my mom these days is to remind
Speaker 3: her every day that she has been stamped with imago day,
Speaker 3: that the image of God she bears, the divine spark,
Speaker 3: she matter. She is a person, she has value, she
Speaker 3: has worth, even though she can't contribute in the ways
Speaker 3: that she has done all of her life. She matters.
Speaker 3: And that is not only how we treat those who
Speaker 3: are weak and vulnerable, because they've all been stamped with
Speaker 3: the image of God. But this is how we are
Speaker 3: to treat each other, every one of us, able bodied,
Speaker 3: able mind, whatever condition you find yourself in, no matter
Speaker 3: if the person that you're looking at is doing something heinous, horrible, terrible, criminal, evil,
Speaker 3: and deserves some sort of punishment or some sort of
Speaker 3: consequence for their behavior, every single person, even at our
Speaker 3: very worst, maintains the spark of the divine, maintains in
Speaker 3: Mago day. And that means that you and I, in
Speaker 3: very practical terms, never ever have the right to speak
Speaker 3: of another human being in degrading terms, to talk of
Speaker 3: human beings as animals, call them names like dogs or
Speaker 3: cockroaches or vermin or infestations, or undesirable or even deplorable.
Speaker 3: This is all against Immago Day. It is all anytime
Speaker 3: we speak in degrading terms of other human beings, even
Speaker 3: at their very worst, we are negating in our by
Speaker 3: our words, what God says is true about us. Our
Speaker 3: identity is we bear the image of God. The second
Speaker 3: way that we know that we are valuable, that's concrete way,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's an incredible truth to know that we
Speaker 3: are stamped with the image of God. But another way
Speaker 3: that we can know that we are that our value
Speaker 3: is priceless to God is because Jesus died for us.
Speaker 3: Rick has already mentioned that. But the Bible says that
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ came to earth in human form to die
Speaker 3: on a cross for all of our sins, our rebellion
Speaker 3: against God's right to reign and rule in our lives.
Speaker 3: And he died for all of the sins for all time,
Speaker 3: for all of the people who ever were born, who
Speaker 3: would ever live, those who were alive when he died
Speaker 3: on the cross, those who have been born since his
Speaker 3: death and resurrection, and those who will be born long
Speaker 3: after you and I are gone. Jesus died for all
Speaker 3: of our sin in that moment, and he took the
Speaker 3: penalty and paid the ransom that we should have paid
Speaker 3: one Peter one eighteen. I'm going to come back to
Speaker 3: that other verse, so hold on, but look at first
Speaker 3: Peter one eighteen. It says you were rescued from the
Speaker 3: useless way of life that you learned, but you weren't
Speaker 3: ransomed by silver or gold, but with the precious blood
Speaker 3: of Christ. There's that word again, precious. It was used
Speaker 3: in the Old Testament, and it meant highly esteemed and valued,
Speaker 3: and in the Greek in which the New Testament was written,
Speaker 3: it means the same thing. And so God said, I'm
Speaker 3: going to use something that is precious, highly valued to me,
Speaker 3: the lifeblood of my son, to rescue and redeem something
Speaker 3: someone else who is highly esteemed, valuable, precious to me.
Speaker 3: And that was me, and that was you. So God
Speaker 3: says again, not only because we've been stamped with the
Speaker 3: image of God, but because he gave his lifeblood for us,
Speaker 3: we are precious to him. Well, there are two debilitating
Speaker 3: lies I think that can arise from our need to
Speaker 3: know that we matter. And the first one is that
Speaker 3: some have concluded that really none of us do matter,
Speaker 3: that the universe is a cold and sterile and unfeeling, uncaring,
Speaker 3: random place, And because the universe is that way, that
Speaker 3: means that we as human beings also are random and
Speaker 3: meaningless and at the end of the day, don't really matter.
Speaker 3: Rick is going to be talking about that more in
Speaker 3: the series, not so much today, but just know that
Speaker 3: that is a lie. The second lie that I think
Speaker 3: that we have to contend with about our whether we
Speaker 3: matter or not is let's just say you get past
Speaker 3: that first one and you do believe that human beings
Speaker 3: matter and that we're stamped with the image of God.
Speaker 3: What can creep in is a fear that if we
Speaker 3: reveal to other people really the shameful things that we
Speaker 3: have done, the terrible things that go through our minds
Speaker 3: on a daily basis, that we won't matter to them.
Speaker 3: Maybe will matter to God, but we won't matter to
Speaker 3: another human being, Because, honestly, there is a lot of
Speaker 3: junk in all of our lives. There's stuff that we
Speaker 3: are embarrassed and ashamed of. There are days that we
Speaker 3: would love to recall, wipe out. Man, I wish I
Speaker 3: had not done what I did on that day. I
Speaker 3: wish I had not said what I said to that
Speaker 3: person on that day. If I could rewind history, I
Speaker 3: would do it in a heartbeat, because I am so
Speaker 3: ashamed of what I did and what I said. But
Speaker 3: that doesn't even cover the things that nobody will really
Speaker 3: ever know about that go through our minds every day.
Speaker 3: If I would be horrified if you could see how
Speaker 3: many times I am so self centered, how I am
Speaker 3: completely self absorbed. How often wouldn't you hate it if
Speaker 3: everybody knew that they could see into your head when
Speaker 3: you're interpreting a conversation and or interaction and inside really
Speaker 3: what you're thinking of, Well, you know what, that doesn't
Speaker 3: do anything for me, so I don't have to talk
Speaker 3: to that person, or that person's got nothing to give me,
Speaker 3: so I don't have to listen to it. I mean
Speaker 3: the self absorption, the self centered its, the selfishness. I
Speaker 3: mean the stuff that's even worse for meth the ugly thoughts,
Speaker 3: the hateful thoughts, the violent thoughts, the pornographic thoughts, the
Speaker 3: judgmental the vindictive thoughts that fill our minds. And when
Speaker 3: those things, we know they're there. Other people don't necessarily
Speaker 3: know they're there, but it can lead us to that
Speaker 3: place of believing God may accept me, God may love me,
Speaker 3: but other people won't. And so conclude in the end,
Speaker 3: I really don't matter that much because people would run
Speaker 3: from me, they would discard me like a used tissue
Speaker 3: if they knew what I was really like. But here's
Speaker 3: the comfort. God does already know. God does already know,
Speaker 3: He knows it all, and he has already declared that
Speaker 3: you are precious to him, that you are highly valued,
Speaker 3: even in your sin, in your worst moments, in your
Speaker 3: most evil moments, in your most despicable moments, in your
Speaker 3: most shameful moments, His love for you does not shift
Speaker 3: or change. You are precious, your value, and Jesus has
Speaker 3: come for us. And because of the high price that
Speaker 3: Jesus was willing to pay for us, the Bible says
Speaker 3: we belong to God, we belong to him. Look at
Speaker 3: First Corinthians seven twenty three. It says you have been
Speaker 3: bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him.
Speaker 3: In the world of value, provenance really matters, whether in
Speaker 3: the world of antiques, where that jewelry came from, who
Speaker 3: wore that piece of jewelry, who painted that painting, who
Speaker 3: owned it, who owns that piece of art, whose house
Speaker 3: was that who used to have that car? Whose yacht
Speaker 3: was at? Those things matter? Ownership matters, and the Bible says,
Speaker 3: our provenance is God. God is our owner. Jesus has
Speaker 3: bought and paid for us, and our lives belonged to him,
Speaker 3: So our provenance are worth our value. So much comes
Speaker 3: from belonging to God. Ownership makes all the difference in
Speaker 3: the world. Rick has been a collector all his life.
Speaker 3: I mean, he collected rocks, he collected stamps, he collected coins,
Speaker 3: he collected national geographic magazines, he collected letters from famous people.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's collected it all. And he used to
Speaker 3: call it his valuable property. And so when he and
Speaker 3: I first met, that was one of the things I
Speaker 3: learned about him, as he was very particular about his
Speaker 3: valuable property, the things that he had collected. And he
Speaker 3: also collected some weird and random things like chicken wishbones.
Speaker 3: And the first time I visited his parents' home into
Speaker 3: the bedroom he had grown up with as a little kid,
Speaker 3: it was strong with desiccated and dried out chicken wishbones.
Speaker 3: And I married him anyway, So that's on me. I
Speaker 3: knew what I was getting into. I'm so glad he's
Speaker 3: settled on collecting old books and old things from history
Speaker 3: and theology, you know, and of course whoever it belonged
Speaker 3: to matters to him. But the really funny thing to
Speaker 3: me about this talking about ownership and provenance and where
Speaker 3: something came from is that, I mean, Rick would not
Speaker 3: say this about himself, but he's kind of well known,
Speaker 3: and some people, you know, might even say he's famous.
Speaker 3: And so there are people who want to own things
Speaker 3: that belong to Rick Warren. So there have been people
Speaker 3: digging in our trash over the years, and it just
Speaker 3: cracks me up because I'm thinking, really, his used root
Speaker 3: beer bottle is that valuable. But it's the provenance. It's
Speaker 3: who you belong to and who it belonged to. You
Speaker 3: and I. In our it is so strong and it
Speaker 3: is so secure. We've been stamped with the image of
Speaker 3: God and Mago day is written all over our lives
Speaker 3: and we have been bought and paid for by Jesus Christ,
Speaker 3: and we belong to God, our owner. Our provenance comes
Speaker 3: from God, and that identity strengthens us to live in
Speaker 3: this world in such a confident way. Rick is going
Speaker 3: to talk about the next point about how in Christ
Speaker 3: I have something to offer to the world.
Speaker 2: Thanks baby, Now, I've told you many times that you're
Speaker 2: not an accident. They're accidental parents. There are no accidental children.
Speaker 2: They're illegitimate parents. There are no illegitimate children. Your parents
Speaker 2: may not have planned you, but God did. And the
Speaker 2: reason you're alive is because He wanted you alive. Remember
Speaker 2: before you were born, thousands millions of years before you're born,
Speaker 2: he chose you. He said, I'm going to choose to
Speaker 2: create you. If you hadn't been chosen by God, you
Speaker 2: think you'd be alive right now? Not a chance. If
Speaker 2: you hadn't been loved and accepted, and if you weren't
Speaker 2: valuable and priceless to God, you think you'd be taking
Speaker 2: your next breath. Not a chance. Now, there's a third
Speaker 2: pillar of these four legs of the table, which are
Speaker 2: your self identity, your self worth. And as Key said,
Speaker 2: the third leg of the stool, or a third leg
Speaker 2: of the table, is in Christ. I have something to
Speaker 2: offer to the world. Why God didn't create anything without
Speaker 2: a purpose. So if your heart's beating and your breathing,
Speaker 2: there's a purpose. And that purpose is to make a
Speaker 2: contribution to the world. God uniquely shaped you for a contribution.
Speaker 2: He wired you in certain certain way. Nobody else in
Speaker 2: history has your DNA. Nobody, nobody in the past, nobody
Speaker 2: in the future will ever be you. God doesn't create
Speaker 2: clones or copies. Even identical twins are different in thousands
Speaker 2: and thousands of different ways. You have a unique thumbprint,
Speaker 2: voice print, iPrint, footprint, heartbeat. You're not one in a million,
Speaker 2: You're one in trillions. There's nobody ever going to be
Speaker 2: like you in the past and the future. That's how
Speaker 2: specifically God custom made you, and he wants you to
Speaker 2: be you. God doesn't want you to be anybody else.
Speaker 2: God that'd want you to be me. God doesn't want
Speaker 2: me to be you. God doesn't want you to be
Speaker 2: the person next to you, or why can't you be
Speaker 2: more like your brother or your sister, your dad or
Speaker 2: your mother. God wants you to be you. If you
Speaker 2: hadn't wanted to be you, you wouldn't exist. And yet
Speaker 2: we spend our entire lives trying to be somebody we're not.
Speaker 2: We spend our entire lives trying to well, I want
Speaker 2: to be like that guy, and I want to be
Speaker 2: like that woman, and we missed the whole purpose of
Speaker 2: our lives. God made you to be you. He doesn't
Speaker 2: want you to be anybody else. God puts you on
Speaker 2: this planet and made you you, and that means there's
Speaker 2: a contribution that only you can make. I can't make it,
Speaker 2: nobody else can make it. Only you can make it.
Speaker 2: God did not put you on this planet just to
Speaker 2: use resources. Live a self centered life. Breathe there, take
Speaker 2: up space and die. If you're here, there is a purpose,
Speaker 2: there's a plan, and there is a contribution God intends
Speaker 2: for you to make. That doesn't mean your contribution is
Speaker 2: going to be known by everybody in the whole world.
Speaker 2: We don't need everybody in the whole world to make
Speaker 2: a contribution that everybody in the world knows about. There's
Speaker 2: seven billion of us. But He wants you to make
Speaker 2: a contribution in the part of the world where you live,
Speaker 2: and that gives your life value and meaning. If you're alive.
Speaker 2: There is a purpose and reason and a contribution that
Speaker 2: God wants you to make. Let me show you some
Speaker 2: things from the Bible. Ephesians two, verse ten says this,
Speaker 2: we are each God's masterpiece. Did you know that's in
Speaker 2: the Bible? You are a masterpiece. You're a van Goh,
Speaker 2: You're a renoir. You're a manee, you're a rembrand. You
Speaker 2: are a masterpiece. That word there in Greek is actually
Speaker 2: the word poema. We get the word poem from it.
Speaker 2: You are a masterpiece. You're not a reject, You're not
Speaker 2: a defect. God says, you're a masterpiece just as you are.
Speaker 2: Stop trying to be somebody else. He said, I made
Speaker 2: you to be you, and God looks at you, and
Speaker 2: he goes, that's my girl, that's my boy. And you
Speaker 2: don't have to be somebody else for God to smile
Speaker 2: at you. In fact, God smiles when you be you.
Speaker 2: When you try to be somebody you're not God. Friends,
Speaker 2: But what are you doing? I didn't make you to
Speaker 2: be somebody else. If I'd wanted you to be somebody else,
Speaker 2: I would not have hated you. That would have just
Speaker 2: made them. So why are you trying to be somebody else?
Speaker 2: You are God's masterpiece. We are God's masterpiece. He created
Speaker 2: us in Christ, Jesus. There's that phrase again in Christ,
Speaker 2: to do the good things He has planned in advance
Speaker 2: for us to do with our lives. Did you know
Speaker 2: that before you were born, God planned the good things
Speaker 2: he wanted you to do with your life, The contribution
Speaker 2: you would make with your life. It's not my contribution,
Speaker 2: it's your contribution that, by the way, doing the good
Speaker 2: things with your life. There's a word for that in
Speaker 2: the Bible. It's called your ministry. Everybody has a ministry.
Speaker 2: Everybody has. This is my thing of good things that
Speaker 2: I do that help other people in the world. That's
Speaker 2: my ministry. And true success is doing what God planned
Speaker 2: you to do. My job as your coach, that's what
Speaker 2: I am as a pastor or I'm a spiritual coach.
Speaker 2: I'm your spiritual coach. My job is to help you
Speaker 2: find your niche, your niche the area in your life. Oh,
Speaker 2: this is what I was wired to do, and not
Speaker 2: to be somebody else, but to do what God wired
Speaker 2: you to do and for you to fulfill your ministry.
Speaker 2: So when you get to heaven one day, God goes, hey,
Speaker 2: did you do what I made you to do with
Speaker 2: your life?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: No, I watched a lot of TV. Wrong answer. Did
Speaker 2: you do what I made you to do with your life?
Speaker 2: He says, We're God's masterpiece, created to do what He
Speaker 2: planted in dance for us to do all those good things.
Speaker 2: This is real success. Most people have no idea what
Speaker 2: success really is. Some people's success means make a lot
Speaker 2: of money. You can make a ton of money and
Speaker 2: be an absolute failure in your life. Some people think
Speaker 2: being successful means being famous. You can be famous as
Speaker 2: all get out and be a total failure with your life.
Speaker 2: Some people think success is having a lot of power.
Speaker 2: You can have an enormous about amount of power and
Speaker 2: being an egotistical, narcissistic twit. It means nothing. What is
Speaker 2: real success? Okay, here's what the Bible says. Real success is.
Speaker 2: Real success is being who God made you to be,
Speaker 2: not trying to be somebody else, not trying to be
Speaker 2: what your parents wanted you to be. Real success is
Speaker 2: being what God wired you to be. And when you
Speaker 2: be who God wired you to be. When you be you,
Speaker 2: God goes you got it. That's why I put you
Speaker 2: on earth. I put you on earth to be you.
Speaker 2: You're not that guy. You're not that guy. You're not
Speaker 2: that guy. You're not her, You're not her. This is
Speaker 2: who I made you to be. That is real success.
Speaker 2: And that's part of my job to help you figure
Speaker 2: that out and not copy somebody else. If you try
Speaker 2: to be somebody else in life, you are absolutely going
Speaker 2: to fail because you can't be anybody but you. You're
Speaker 2: going to fail. So stop trying to be somebody else.
Speaker 2: Be who God made you to be. Be who you are.
Speaker 2: In Christ. Here's another verse. Colossians chapter two, verse nine
Speaker 2: and ten says this In Christ, there's that phrase again.
Speaker 2: In Christ, there is all of God in a human body.
Speaker 2: God came to earth in human form two thousand years
Speaker 2: ago split history into AD and BC. In Christ, there
Speaker 2: is all of God in a human body. God Jesus
Speaker 2: is God just in human flesh. So you have everything
Speaker 2: when you have Christ and you are filled with God.
Speaker 2: Did you know that through your union with Christ, and
Speaker 2: he has authority over every other power. Now, there's a
Speaker 2: difference between power and a authority. When a policeman stands
Speaker 2: up and stands in the road and says stop in
Speaker 2: the name of the law and a giant semi mack
Speaker 2: truck stops, who has the most power, the policeman or
Speaker 2: the truck. The truck has the most power, but the
Speaker 2: policeman has the authority, and authority always trumps power. You're
Speaker 2: not the most powerful person in the world, but you
Speaker 2: have God in you. You know what that means. You
Speaker 2: have authority, you have authority. You've never even tapped. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk about that in this series. You have authority,
Speaker 2: you have never even tapped. You don't have the power.
Speaker 2: The power is in in you. The power is in God.
Speaker 2: But he says you have the authority because you're filled
Speaker 2: with God. And he's saying that God has already put
Speaker 2: in you everything. You need to be you. You lack
Speaker 2: nothing to be a success in life if you understand
Speaker 2: the success is being you. Now, if you think being
Speaker 2: a success is being somebody else, yeah, you don't have
Speaker 2: their gifts, you don't have their talents, you don't have
Speaker 2: their opportunities. Oh yeah, then you do lack a lot
Speaker 2: of things if you think success is being somebody else.
Speaker 2: But if you think a successful life is being who
Speaker 2: God made me to be, You've already got everything because
Speaker 2: God put it in you when he planned you, and
Speaker 2: when he birthed you, and when he wired you. Now,
Speaker 2: do you understand what I'm saying here that you lack
Speaker 2: nothing to be the success God made you to be.
Speaker 2: So it really doesn't matter what anybody thinks about you.
Speaker 2: Why are you so hung up on what other people
Speaker 2: think about you? What other people think about you is
Speaker 2: none of your business. It's none of your business. You
Speaker 2: shouldn't even care about it. What you should live for
Speaker 2: is an audience of one. As I said, if God
Speaker 2: likes me and I like me, what's your problem. I
Speaker 2: wasn't builled, I wasn't created, I wasn't planned. I wasn't
Speaker 2: birth to please you. I was created and planned to
Speaker 2: please God. And if that's what I'm focused on, it's
Speaker 2: always going to be the right thing. So here's what
Speaker 2: I'm begging you to do, as your pastor, stop being
Speaker 2: a people pleaser and start being a God pleaser. Stop
Speaker 2: being a people pleaser and start being a God pleaser. Then,
Speaker 2: by the way, it's a whole lot easier to do
Speaker 2: because it's only one person. If you're be going to
Speaker 2: be a people pleaser, have you noticed that I don't
Speaker 2: always agree? You know, once you get crowd A please,
Speaker 2: crowd B gets ticked at you, and then you get
Speaker 2: crowd B please, crowd a gets upset. One mantuer the
Speaker 2: hero the next miniture of the zero a terrible way
Speaker 2: to live. Stop being a people pleaser. Make a commitment
Speaker 2: that on this day, I'm gonna stop being a people pleaser.
Speaker 2: I'm start going to be a God pleaser. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: worry about his God, is this what you want me
Speaker 2: to do? It will always be the right thing. He
Speaker 2: will never ever steer you in the wrong direction. So
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is it inside you and God made you.
Speaker 2: You're already competent, you have the right capacity, you're already capable.
Speaker 2: You just lack the confidence to be who God made
Speaker 2: you to be.
Speaker 1: Wow, thanks Pastor Rick for such an amazing message today.
Speaker 1: And now here's Rick to tell you about today's offer.
Speaker 2: You know, ever since the publication of The Purpose Driven Life,
Speaker 2: people have been asking me how they can teach their
Speaker 2: young children about the purpose of life. And they say,
Speaker 2: and I agree, that it's never too early to start
Speaker 2: teaching your children that they're loved by God and He
Speaker 2: has a purpose for the life. It's never too soon
Speaker 2: to tell a child God made you unique so you
Speaker 2: could fulfill your special life mission on earth, and God
Speaker 2: planned you just for that. Now here's the super good news.
Speaker 2: We have taken the principles that are in The Purpose
Speaker 2: Driven Life and we've written them into short devotionals aimed
Speaker 2: specifically at children ages four to eight years old. Today,
Speaker 2: more than ever, kids at this age need to hear
Speaker 2: the message that they're not an accident. They need to
Speaker 2: hear even before the universe was created, God had you
Speaker 2: in mind, and he planned you for his purposes. You
Speaker 2: were made to last forever. Now this book is called
Speaker 2: The Purpose Driven Life, one hundred Illustrated Devotions for Children,
Speaker 2: and it includes engaging illustrations and devotionals speak directly to
Speaker 2: the daily challenges that all of our kids are facing.
Speaker 2: And as a way of saying thanks to you for
Speaker 2: your financial gift to Daily Hope, I want to send
Speaker 2: you a copy of the Purpose Driven Life one hundred
Speaker 2: Illustrated Devotions for Children. This will be a great thing
Speaker 2: to give kids or to grandkids, and at the same time,
Speaker 2: your support continues to help us tell people all around
Speaker 2: the world about God's love and God's purpose for them.
Speaker 1: Be sure to request your copy of The Purpose Driven
Speaker 1: Life one hundred Illustrated Devotions for Children when you give
Speaker 1: a gift to Daily Hope. Just go to Pastorick dot
Speaker 1: com to get your copy of this great resource. That's
Speaker 1: pastorick dot com. Or you can text the word Hope
Speaker 1: to seven oh three oh nine. Again, that's the word
Speaker 1: Hope to seven oh three oh nine. And we thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your support. It helps us share
Speaker 1: the hope of Christ with people all around the world.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial
Speaker 1: support