Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a news
Speaker 1: series called This is Us. In these lessons, Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: shows us how belonging to a church family helps us
Speaker 1: navigate life's challenges. In just a few moments, we're going
Speaker 1: to tell you how you can get a copy of
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's book for kids.
Speaker 2: Called Words to Love.
Speaker 3: Buy.
Speaker 1: This book takes children on a joyful, grace filled journey
Speaker 1: exploring the power of words. They'll learn that while words
Speaker 1: may be small, they can do big things. You can
Speaker 1: find out more by going to Pastorick dot com or
Speaker 1: by texting the word Daily to eight hundred, six hundred,
Speaker 1: five thousand and four. While you listen to today's message,
Speaker 1: here's Pastor Rick with part two of a message called
Speaker 1: The Only Family That Will Last Forever.
Speaker 2: One Corinthians twelve twelve to fourteen. Just as your body
Speaker 2: has many members, what are we talking about there? Your
Speaker 2: hand is a member of your body. Your ear is
Speaker 2: a member of your body. Your eye is a member
Speaker 2: of your body. Your nose, your spleen, your liver, these
Speaker 2: are all members of your body. Just as your body
Speaker 2: has many members, and each member of your body is unique.
Speaker 2: The liver doesn't do what the heart does. All your
Speaker 2: members together form your single body physically, so it is
Speaker 2: with Christ's body, he says. It's the exact same thing,
Speaker 2: physical parallel to a spiritual parallel. The Christ's body is
Speaker 2: the church. He said. All the members of the church
Speaker 2: make up the body of Christ. All right, So he's
Speaker 2: saying here that only as you're connected does it really
Speaker 2: really matter. And then he says the rest of it.
Speaker 2: He says this, for in one spirit, we were all
Speaker 2: baptized in to one body. Regardless of our background, whether
Speaker 2: Jews are gentiles or slaves are free, we all receive
Speaker 2: God spirit. He says. It doesn't matter what your background
Speaker 2: is religious background, ethnic background, language background, racial back, None
Speaker 2: of that really matters, he says, regardless of your background,
Speaker 2: we all receive God's spirit. That's what puts us in
Speaker 2: the body. We're baptized into one body. So the body
Speaker 2: isn't made up of just one member, it's all the
Speaker 2: members connected together. And what is that saying. It's saying this.
Speaker 2: You are not the Church of God by yourself. You
Speaker 2: are not the Family of God by yourself. You're not
Speaker 2: the Body of Christ by yourself only as we are
Speaker 2: connected together? Are we the family of God? Are we
Speaker 2: the body of Christ? Are we God's Church. I'm not
Speaker 2: the church, you're not the church, but together we are church.
Speaker 2: And he said it's in that connection. So only in
Speaker 2: connection to other members are you actually in God's family.
Speaker 2: If you're not connected to other members, how are you
Speaker 2: in God's family? So what does that mean? Then? What
Speaker 2: does that mean the body to be a part of
Speaker 2: the body of Christ. Look at these verses First Corinthians
Speaker 2: twelve twenty five. The way God designed our bodies physical
Speaker 2: bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as
Speaker 2: a church, says, okay, look at your body, and then
Speaker 2: you'll figure out how the church operates. Every part is
Speaker 2: to be dependent on the other parts. I can't say
Speaker 2: that I don't need this part or I don't need
Speaker 2: that part. We all need each other, and we are
Speaker 2: to be dependent on the other parts. It was his
Speaker 2: intention that we live our lives together. God never meant
Speaker 2: for you to go through life on your own. Now,
Speaker 2: let me show you another verse, First Corinthians two, twelve
Speaker 2: twenty five to twenty seven. The members notice how many
Speaker 2: times this word member comes up in the Bible. The
Speaker 2: members must have the same care for each other. That
Speaker 2: means I got to care about you, you got to
Speaker 2: care about me. We have to care about each other
Speaker 2: if we are in the family of God, if we
Speaker 2: are in the body of Christ called saddleback or whatever.
Speaker 2: There are lots of good churches. Just choose one. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying just this church. I'm just saying, just choose
Speaker 2: a place that's going to be my family. The members
Speaker 2: must have the same care for each other. If one
Speaker 2: member is hurt or suffers, then all suffer together. And
Speaker 2: if one member is honored, all the others are rejoice.
Speaker 2: In other words, you get a raise, you get promoted,
Speaker 2: the whole church should celebrate with you. You get the
Speaker 2: word dreaded word cancer, the whole church should support you
Speaker 2: when you're going through those you know those protocols. You
Speaker 2: are the body of Christ, and each one of you
Speaker 2: is a necessary part of it. There's no unnecessary part.
Speaker 2: Becau said, well, I'm not. I'm not very necessary in
Speaker 2: my church. Oh how wrong you are. If I don't
Speaker 2: use my gifts, you get hurt. If you don't use
Speaker 2: your gifts, I get hurt. So does everybody else. We
Speaker 2: all have a different role to play. Now, let me
Speaker 2: pause here and review what I've said about what is
Speaker 2: the church. First, I said, it's God's family that's in
Speaker 2: heaven and on earth. Some sa in heaven, some's on earth.
Speaker 2: I said, it's composed of saved and baptized believers. Okay,
Speaker 2: if you're not saved, you're not baptized, you're not a
Speaker 2: part of the church. Okay. Number three, it's they are
Speaker 2: committed to Jesus and each other. We commit to Him
Speaker 2: and we commit to each other. But then there's one
Speaker 2: other fourth part. Write this down, and these are people
Speaker 2: who are preparing for heaven or Christ's return. Preparing for
Speaker 2: heaven or Christ's return, that's what the church is doing.
Speaker 2: So either Jesus comes back before I die, or he
Speaker 2: doesn't come back before I die and I go to
Speaker 2: heaven first. Either way, I'm preparing for eternity with him.
Speaker 2: Hebrews Chapter twelve, Verse twenty three is an important verse.
Speaker 2: It says this, you are the Church of God's children. Okay,
Speaker 2: remember it's the family of God. You are the Church
Speaker 2: of God's children whose names are registered in heaven. You
Speaker 2: ought to be grateful for that. Because you have come
Speaker 2: to God himself and you have come to Jesus. Now
Speaker 2: notice this, your names are registered in heaven. You know,
Speaker 2: I've met a few of these Hollywood types and done
Speaker 2: some Bible studies for producers and stuff like that in Hollywood.
Speaker 2: And the big deal in Hollywood is to get on
Speaker 2: the A List because if you're on the A List,
Speaker 2: you get invited to all the A List parties. You
Speaker 2: don't want to be on the B list or the
Speaker 2: C List or like some of us, the Z List, Okay,
Speaker 2: because you really want to be because the A List
Speaker 2: are the best parties after the Oscars and stuff like that. Well,
Speaker 2: let me tell you something. There's something better than being
Speaker 2: on the A List. It's being on God's registrative names
Speaker 2: in Heaven. Hello. That that is a big deal. Okay,
Speaker 2: that is a very exclusive list. Not everybody's gonna be
Speaker 2: on that list. Only those who've been saved and baptized
Speaker 2: and joined the part of the part of God's family.
Speaker 2: Only God's family is gonna be in the heabit. But
Speaker 2: that's a very exclusive list.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rip will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: A short time back, Pastor Rick Warren teamed up with
Speaker 3: a talented artist to create the stunting new children's book
Speaker 3: Words to Love by. Written with warmth and wisdom, it
Speaker 3: speaks to the hearts of little ones and takes them
Speaker 3: on a joyful, grace filled journey, exploring the power of
Speaker 3: words Through charming illustrations and engaging text, young readers will
Speaker 3: understand how their words can change their lives and the
Speaker 3: lives of those around them. Kids learn that while words
Speaker 3: may be small, they can do big things. Words can encourage,
Speaker 3: and they can spread love and kindness, and they can
Speaker 3: let us know we are not alone. This hardcover book
Speaker 3: is written especially for children at ages four to eight.
Speaker 3: It makes a perfect gift for the kids God is
Speaker 3: placed in your life today. When you support Daily Hope
Speaker 3: with a financial gift, we'll send you the hardcover book
Speaker 3: Words to Love By by Rick Warren as our way
Speaker 3: of saying thanks. Call eight hundred six hundred five zero
Speaker 3: zero four to support Daily Hope and we'll send you
Speaker 3: this powerful resource or you can visit pastor Rick dot com.
Speaker 3: That's eight hundred and six hundred at five zero zero
Speaker 3: four or pastor Rick dot com.
Speaker 1: Once again, here's pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you something. There's something better than
Speaker 2: being on the A list. It's being on God's registrative
Speaker 2: names in Heaven.
Speaker 4: Hello.
Speaker 2: That that is a big deal. Okay, that is a
Speaker 2: very exclusive list. Not everybody's gonna be on that list.
Speaker 2: Only those who've been saved and baptized and joined a
Speaker 2: part of the part of God's family. Only God's family
Speaker 2: is going to be in heaven. But that's a very
Speaker 2: exclusive list, most important invitation list. You want to be
Speaker 2: a part of. How do I get on that list? Well,
Speaker 2: that verse said get to know. You've come to know God,
Speaker 2: and you've come to know Jesus. You come to God
Speaker 2: and you come to Jesus. Now, there are sa sixty
Speaker 2: seven different metaphors in the Bible. The metaphors are names
Speaker 2: of the church. What I want to do in the
Speaker 2: last few minutes here is talk to you about five
Speaker 2: of them and show you the benefits. What are the
Speaker 2: benefits of belonging? So the Bible calls the church many
Speaker 2: different things, but let's just look at five. Would you
Speaker 2: write these down? The first metaphor is the most well
Speaker 2: known one, which is the church as a family. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's a family, and there are many many implications for that,
Speaker 2: But the one thing I want to focus on is that,
Speaker 2: as in a healthy family, you learn who you are.
Speaker 2: So write this down number one. In God's family, I
Speaker 2: learn my true identity. That's the first benefit of actually
Speaker 2: being a member of a local church. In God's family,
Speaker 2: I learned my true identity. Have you ever thought about
Speaker 2: why people wear brands? You know, it'll say Ralph Lauren
Speaker 2: or Ruka or Vans or Tommy Hillfigure or whatever. Why
Speaker 2: do people brands to identify to feel like they belong
Speaker 2: to something. They like to think that this is a
Speaker 2: cool brand. If I wear this brand, then I'm cool.
Speaker 2: And so we identify with brands because it helps us identify.
Speaker 2: But in reality, your primary identity doesn't come from what
Speaker 2: you wear. Your primary identity comes from relationships. I am
Speaker 2: a son, I am a brother, I am a husband,
Speaker 2: I am a father, I am a grandfather. I am
Speaker 2: a friend. I am a mentor, I am a pastor,
Speaker 2: I am a coworker. These are all relationships in my
Speaker 2: life that define who Rick Warren is. It's not how
Speaker 2: I look, It's not how little or much money I've got. It,
Speaker 2: it's what are my relationships. You're defined by relationships. Now,
Speaker 2: if my cans are bad or my connections are broken,
Speaker 2: then my identity suffers. If I just got fired, or
Speaker 2: I just got divorced, or my spouse dies. If something
Speaker 2: changes in my relationships, it causes me to pause, go
Speaker 2: who am I? Who am I? Because your primary identity
Speaker 2: comes from your relationships. Now I know what some of
Speaker 2: you thinks that Rick, that's terrible news for me because
Speaker 2: my family was dysfunctional, my family was broken, or maybe
Speaker 2: my family was not a non existent. Well, I got
Speaker 2: good news for you the next verse on your outline
Speaker 2: Ephesians two nineteen. You are a member of there's that
Speaker 2: word member. You are a member of God's very own family,
Speaker 2: and you belong in God's household with every other Christian,
Speaker 2: this is your family. You belong here, you fit here.
Speaker 2: Hear me out on this. Your spiritual family is far
Speaker 2: more important even than your physical family. God used your
Speaker 2: physical family to bring you into the world so you
Speaker 2: could become a part of his spiritual family. You should
Speaker 2: be grateful that your physical family got together. Whatever the
Speaker 2: circumstances are, it doesn't matter. God wanted you alive because
Speaker 2: he wanted you to be a part of his spiritual family.
Speaker 2: Why is my spiritual family the church more important than
Speaker 2: my physical family? Because your physical family doesn't last. People die,
Speaker 2: people grow old, people move away, people divorce, there's all
Speaker 2: kinds of different things. It doesn't last. But God's family
Speaker 2: is going to last forever and ever and ever. Our relationship.
Speaker 2: I have people in my family I never met, great
Speaker 2: grandparents and other relatives that I've never met. My dad
Speaker 2: was number eighteen of twenty kids. Yeah, can you imagine
Speaker 2: that I'd have to have rent a superdome if I
Speaker 2: had a home family reunion. I've never met most of
Speaker 2: those relatives. But if they're if they know the Lord,
Speaker 2: they're in God's family. We're going to be in heaven together.
Speaker 2: And your spiritual family is going to be permanent. It's
Speaker 2: going on for thousands and thousands and thousands and thousand years.
Speaker 2: God used your physical family to get you into the world.
Speaker 2: You ought to be grateful for that, but his real
Speaker 2: goal is to get you into his spiritual family. You're
Speaker 2: a member of God's very only family. And and you know,
Speaker 2: the world uses superficial identifiers. You have brown hair, you
Speaker 2: weigte such and such, your height, is this your Asian
Speaker 2: or your Caucasian or your African American. Or you're educated,
Speaker 2: or you're rich or you're whatever. Those are all superficial
Speaker 2: identifiers for you. And people today when they don't know
Speaker 2: their identity in Christ, they look for IDENTI and something else,
Speaker 2: like a political party. Well, I'm a this or I'm
Speaker 2: a that. And they find their identity in the team
Speaker 2: that they root for, or they find their identity in
Speaker 2: the celebrity that they identify with, or they find their
Speaker 2: identity in the political person they think is going to
Speaker 2: be the savior of the world. But none of that
Speaker 2: matters is to be superficial. What matters most is your
Speaker 2: spiritual identity. Look on the screen Hebrews two eleven. Jesus
Speaker 2: and the people he makes holy all belong to the
Speaker 2: same family. That's a connection. You're in the family of God.
Speaker 2: That's why he isn't ashamed to call them his brothers
Speaker 2: and sisters. Now you may have had some relatives you
Speaker 2: were ashamed of, but God, Jesus says I'm not ashamed
Speaker 2: of you. I'm your brother, I'm your elder brother in
Speaker 2: the family of God. By belonging to Christ, you discover
Speaker 2: your true identity. Now you know, I used to work
Speaker 2: up in the inner city la as a youth pastor
Speaker 2: many many years ago, and gangs would get gang tattoos
Speaker 2: so they could identify who they belonged to. Okay, what's
Speaker 2: the tattoo of a Christian Baptism? Baptism says, I'm in.
Speaker 2: I'm in. I'm not ashamed to say of the world,
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Lord. Now that's
Speaker 2: the first metaphor. It's family. Let's go quickly to these others.
Speaker 2: Second metaphor, the Bible says, the church is a temple.
Speaker 2: It's a temple. It's like a building erected to hold
Speaker 2: the presence of God. And God says, his presence wants
Speaker 2: to be in you. You're a temple, and together we
Speaker 2: form the Temple of God. Look here on the screen.
Speaker 2: One Corinthians three sixteen says this. Don't you realize that
Speaker 2: all of you, twogether together are the temple of God
Speaker 2: and His spirit lives in you. I'm not the temple
Speaker 2: of God just by myself. You're not the temple of
Speaker 2: God just by yourself. Together, we are the temple of God.
Speaker 2: That's a metaphor for God's family, for God's Church. And
Speaker 2: like a strong structure of a building, we each hold
Speaker 2: each other up. Okay, this is an important thing. We
Speaker 2: each hold each other up. You know. I remember when
Speaker 2: we were building all these buildings on the Lake Forest
Speaker 2: campus and how fascinating it was that it took thousands
Speaker 2: and thousands and thousands of parts to erect the building.
Speaker 2: But the most important thing in a building is that
Speaker 2: the parts have to fit together. If they don't fit together,
Speaker 2: the parts are worthless. A beam that is a quarter
Speaker 2: of an inch too short is worthless. A pike that
Speaker 2: is a foot too long is worthless. The parts have
Speaker 2: to fit together or they lose their meaning and purpose.
Speaker 2: And to be strong and to be stable, everything has
Speaker 2: to connect. And that's what the metaphor of the church
Speaker 2: as a temple is all about. Also, I noticed when
Speaker 2: I would walk around in some of these buildings that
Speaker 2: were being built before they were erected, is that there
Speaker 2: was a lot of spare stuff laying around on the ground.
Speaker 2: There were parts and wood and tools, and all kinds
Speaker 2: of things that were not used. And what I kniced
Speaker 2: about that is that a piece of pipe could be
Speaker 2: laying on the ground. It could be in the building. Okay,
Speaker 2: it could be in the building, but it was not
Speaker 2: a part of the building. You understand what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: just laying on the ground. It's in the building, but
Speaker 2: it's not a part of the building. Some of you
Speaker 2: are in the church, you come every week to service,
Speaker 2: but you're not a part of it because you're not
Speaker 2: connected yet. You haven't made the commitment of membership. You're
Speaker 2: in it, you're you're in it, but you're not a
Speaker 2: part of it because you're not connected to anybody yet.
Speaker 2: Many times, why did God use this metaphor of a
Speaker 2: building to illustrate the church, Because in a building, the
Speaker 2: connected parts hold each other together. And there are going
Speaker 2: to be many times in your life when you need
Speaker 2: other people to hold you together. You're going to need
Speaker 2: other people in your life to hold you together. As
Speaker 2: the pastor of this church, there have been many, many
Speaker 2: times over forty years, I needed the members of this
Speaker 2: church to hold me together because I'm just a person
Speaker 2: like you, and I needed people to hold me together
Speaker 2: when things are falling apart in my life. If you
Speaker 2: don't have that, you're lacking what the church offers. So
Speaker 2: write this down number two. In God's Temple, I'm supported
Speaker 2: by others. Like the strong structure of a building, we
Speaker 2: hold each other up. This is what the whole book
Speaker 2: of Ephesians teach us chapter two. In God's Temple, I'm
Speaker 2: supported by others. Ephesians Chapter two says this verse twenty
Speaker 2: one twenty two. In Christ, the whole building is joined
Speaker 2: together and it rises to become a holy temple to
Speaker 2: the Lord. It's talking about the Church and in him,
Speaker 2: you too, are being built together to become a dwelling
Speaker 2: place in which God lives by his spirit, by his spirit.
Speaker 2: Here's the point in a building. A disconnected frame has
Speaker 2: no support and has no stability, and it's going to
Speaker 2: collapse on its own. And if you're not connected, there
Speaker 2: will be times in your life when you collapse because
Speaker 2: you have no stability and you have no support. You're
Speaker 2: just out there on your own. You weren't meant to
Speaker 2: go through life all by yourself. You weren't meant to
Speaker 2: go through it all on your own. You need physical
Speaker 2: and spiritual and emotional and mental support you need to belong.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. We're so happy that
Speaker 1: you've chosen to study along with us today. If you'd
Speaker 1: like to have a hope filled message from Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: delivered to you every day, go to Pastorick dot com
Speaker 1: and sign up for ricks free email devotional. Right now,
Speaker 1: Rick will be back to close out our time today.
Speaker 1: But first, Pastor Rick Warren teamed up with a talented
Speaker 1: artist to create the stunning children's book Words to Love By.
Speaker 1: Written with warmth and wisdom, it speaks to the hearts
Speaker 1: of little ones. Words to Love By takes children on
Speaker 1: a joyful, grace filled journey exploring the power of words.
Speaker 1: Through charming illustrations and engaging text. Young readers will understand
Speaker 1: how their words can change their lives and the lives
Speaker 1: of those around them. Kids learn that while words may
Speaker 1: be small, they can do big things. Words can encourage,
Speaker 1: and they can spread love and kindness, and they let
Speaker 1: us know we are not alone. This book is hardcover
Speaker 1: and is written especially for children ages four through eight.
Speaker 1: It makes a perfect gift for the kids God has
Speaker 1: placed in your life today. When you give a gift
Speaker 1: to help daily Hope, take the certain hope of Jesus
Speaker 1: to people worldwide. We'll send you the hardcover book Words
Speaker 1: to Love by by Rick Warren as our way of
Speaker 1: saying thanks. Call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and
Speaker 1: four to support Daily Hope and will send you this
Speaker 1: beautiful children's gift book. Or you can visit Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com. Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from
Speaker 1: one of our listeners.
Speaker 4: Some of you may not know that Daily Hope is
Speaker 4: broadcast each day on Heartline Radio and Jakarta, Indonesia. Let
Speaker 4: me share a testimony I got from a man named
Speaker 4: Alex who lives there in Indonesia. Dear Pastor Rick, I've
Speaker 4: been blessed by learning the word of God delivered by
Speaker 4: you almost every night. I share the topics that I
Speaker 4: hear in Daily Hope with my children when we pray
Speaker 4: at night before bed. Pastor Rick, you and your broadcast
Speaker 4: have blessed our family. We pray that Daily Hope Ministry
Speaker 4: will continue to reach more and more people, not only
Speaker 4: in Indonesia, but all over the whole world. Alex, I
Speaker 4: want to thank you for blessing us with this note.
Speaker 4: This is the kind of note that keeps us going,
Speaker 4: that keeps us serving and working. I'm so glad you're
Speaker 4: sharing God's true through their children now. The reason Alex
Speaker 4: is able to hear Daily Hope in Indonesia is because
Speaker 4: of you. Because of your generous financial support and from
Speaker 4: other listeners like you, we're able to take this message
Speaker 4: all around the world. I just want to say to you,
Speaker 4: thank you for your regular financial support.
Speaker 2: We love you.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast
Speaker 1: has blessed you, feel free to send him an email
Speaker 1: at Rick at Pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's word for our daily hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support.