Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily ho the
Speaker 1: Bible teaching ministry that's here to encourage and inspire you
Speaker 1: every day. And today we're continuing our series called Awesome Relationships.
Speaker 1: In it, Rick Warren shares practical ways to help you
Speaker 1: take your relationships with family, friends, co workers, and even
Speaker 1: God from ordinary to extraordinary. And this is a series
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss. And now here's Rick with
Speaker 1: part one of a message called becoming best Friends with God.
Speaker 2: Now, what kind of relationship does God really want with you?
Speaker 3: You ever thought about this?
Speaker 2: What kind of relationship does God really want?
Speaker 3: Your?
Speaker 2: Relationship to God has many aspects. God is your father.
Speaker 2: Here's your creator. He is your maker. He's your judge.
Speaker 2: He's your man, he's your lord, he's your redeemer, he's
Speaker 2: your savior, and he's many many other things. But most
Speaker 2: shocking of all is this, God wants you for a friend.
Speaker 3: Whoa who who wh wh whoa whoa whoa? God wants
Speaker 3: me for a friend. Yes, he does.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in James chapter four, verse eight, draw
Speaker 2: close to God and He'll draw close to you. It's
Speaker 2: just pretty simple. You draw close to God and he
Speaker 2: will draw close to you. Now, when we want to
Speaker 2: know what God's relationship is like, we need to go
Speaker 2: back to the very beginning of time and look at
Speaker 2: the original ideal relationship in Eden. Because when God created
Speaker 2: Adam and Eve, they enjoyed this incredibly close, intimate friendship
Speaker 2: with God. There was no religion, There were no rituals,
Speaker 2: there were no rules except don't need that one tree.
Speaker 2: That was the only rule said you can do anything else,
Speaker 2: just one rule, no regulations, know all of the rigamarole
Speaker 2: that you find in so many religious things today. It
Speaker 2: was just a friendship. And the Bible says that Adam
Speaker 2: and Eve delighted in God.
Speaker 3: And He delighted in them.
Speaker 2: That's the way God wants to have the relationship with you.
Speaker 2: He was just a simple, loving relationship. And they were
Speaker 2: made to live in God's presence continually, and you were
Speaker 2: made to live in God's presence continually. But that ideal
Speaker 2: got ruined by sin. Sin broke the friendship. Sin broke
Speaker 2: the relationship, Sin broke the fellowship, and the friendship with.
Speaker 3: God was lost.
Speaker 2: And when you go through this book, the Bible and
Speaker 2: the Old Testament is about two thirds before we get
Speaker 2: to Jesus. In the Old Testament, there are not many
Speaker 2: people called friends of God, not many at all. In fact,
Speaker 2: in the Old Testament, only a very few people had
Speaker 2: the privilege of being a friend of God. Abraham was one.
Speaker 2: He was called the friend of God. Moses was a
Speaker 2: friend of God. David was a friend of God. The
Speaker 2: Bible says Enoch was a friend of God. But there
Speaker 2: weren't a whole lot of these people. Job was a
Speaker 2: friend of God. But most people did not have a
Speaker 2: personal friendship with God in the Old Testament. In fact,
Speaker 2: most of the time, guilt and fear was more common
Speaker 2: in relationship to God than was love and friendship. In fact,
Speaker 2: in the Old Testament, the Old Testament priest had to
Speaker 2: prepare weeks and weeks and sometimes months to get ready
Speaker 2: to go into God's presence. There wasn't just something you
Speaker 2: could do any day, anytime he wanted. But then Jesus
Speaker 2: changed the situation, oh Man radically, and when he died
Speaker 2: on the cross and paid for our sins. The Bible
Speaker 2: says that the veil between the Holy of Holies and
Speaker 2: the outer Court, that the Holy Place was ripped from
Speaker 2: the top to the bottom, symbolizing that The separation between
Speaker 2: God and man that had been going on for hundreds
Speaker 2: and hundreds and thousands of years was no longer there.
Speaker 3: That Jesus had.
Speaker 2: Built the new bridge, and now there was no separation
Speaker 2: between us and God, and everybody had access. It wasn't
Speaker 2: one priest, one day of the year got to go
Speaker 2: in and feel God's presence in the Holy of Holies.
Speaker 2: Now anybody, anybody could have God's presence in their life
Speaker 2: all the time, and direct access was once again available.
Speaker 2: You didn't need a priest, you didn't need anybody else.
Speaker 3: You could go directly to God.
Speaker 2: The Bible says it like this, They're on your outline
Speaker 2: Romans Chapter five, Verse ten and eleven. We were restored
Speaker 2: to friendship. Circle that we were restored to friendship with
Speaker 2: God by the death of his son while we were
Speaker 2: still his enemies. So we will certainly be delivered from
Speaker 2: eternal punishment by his life. Now we can rejoice in
Speaker 2: our wonderful new relationship with God. Notice this is a
Speaker 2: new relationship. They didn't have this in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: They didn't get to do what you get to do.
Speaker 2: All because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done
Speaker 2: for us in making us circle this friends of God,
Speaker 2: all because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
Speaker 2: for us in making us friends of God. You can't
Speaker 2: buy friendship with God. You can't earn friendship with God.
Speaker 2: You can't be good enough to have friendship with God.
Speaker 2: You can't bribe God, or bargain with God or bereat God.
Speaker 2: You can't do anything to have a friendship with God.
Speaker 2: Accept this received God's gift, which was paid for by
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of your sins, the restoration of
Speaker 2: a relationship. It's God's grace and jesus sacrifice. And Jesus
Speaker 2: says this in John fifteen fifteen, I no longer call
Speaker 2: you servants. Instead, I call you friends. Do you realize
Speaker 2: how radical that is for the God of the universe
Speaker 2: to say I want you.
Speaker 3: For my friend. Let that sink in for a minute.
Speaker 2: The God that created the entire galaxy say I want
Speaker 2: you for my friend. Now this word here where Jesus says,
Speaker 2: I don't call you servants anymore, I call you my friends.
Speaker 2: That word in the Greek is not just a casual
Speaker 2: acquaintance word. It means a deep, close, personal, intimate comrade.
Speaker 2: It's the word used for a best man at a wedding.
Speaker 2: You're best man, the guy you depend on the most.
Speaker 2: It's the same word used to refer to the king's
Speaker 2: inner circle, where the king has lots of acquaintances and thousands,
Speaker 2: maybe millions of subjects, but he's got a few close
Speaker 2: friends and these are intimate, trusted friends. Now in a
Speaker 2: royal court. If you walk into in a royal court,
Speaker 2: you're gonna go see a queen or king something like that.
Speaker 2: You have to keep your distance. You don't get to
Speaker 2: just walk up kenny, king or queen and just talk
Speaker 2: to them. You have to keep a certain number of
Speaker 2: feet back, you have to bow, you have to do protocol, etiquette,
Speaker 2: and all these kind of things. I've actually met a
Speaker 2: few kings and queens in my life, and it's it's
Speaker 2: pretty formal, because that's why most people react. But if
Speaker 2: you are in the inner circle, you're one of the
Speaker 2: king's friends. You enjoy close contact, direct access, and confidential information.
Speaker 2: Some of you remember the old hymn what a friend.
Speaker 3: We have in Jesus.
Speaker 2: Well, actually God invites you not just to be the
Speaker 2: friend of Jesus, but of the Holy Spirit and the Father.
Speaker 2: He invites you to be a friend of the Trinity. Now,
Speaker 2: how important is this to God that you actually become
Speaker 2: a friend of God?
Speaker 3: How important is it? It's extremely important.
Speaker 2: Let me show you a couple verses Exodus thirty four fourteen.
Speaker 2: He is a God who is passionate about his relationship
Speaker 2: with you. Did you know that God gets jealous? The
Speaker 2: Bible says God gets jealous when we give our lives
Speaker 2: to other things, when we put other gods in our lives.
Speaker 2: The God of money, the God of sex, the God
Speaker 2: of success, the God of popularity, the God of pleasure.
Speaker 2: It could be any God, and so that breaks God's heart.
Speaker 2: Because God is passionate about his relationship with you. Joseiah
Speaker 2: sixty six. God says this, I don't want your sacrifices.
Speaker 2: I want your love. I don't want your offerings. I
Speaker 2: want you to know me. Can you hear the passion
Speaker 2: in that verse? Again, this is hard to grasp. Circle
Speaker 2: the word love and circle the word no. Those are
Speaker 2: the two first purposes of your life to know and
Speaker 2: love God. If you miss that, you missed the number
Speaker 2: one purpose in your life. Because God did not put
Speaker 2: you on this planet to just do stuff, to.
Speaker 3: Just mark things off your to do list.
Speaker 2: God puts you on this planet to know and love him,
Speaker 2: to have a relationship with him. And if you miss
Speaker 2: that relationship, you miss that friendship, you miss the very
Speaker 2: purpose for which you were created. Nothing is more important
Speaker 2: than that you can be the most famous, most successful,
Speaker 2: most accomplished person.
Speaker 3: In the planet.
Speaker 2: And if you don't know and love God, you missed
Speaker 2: the purpose of your life because you weren't made simply
Speaker 2: to do things. God says, I want you to know me,
Speaker 2: and I want you to love me. And the Bible
Speaker 2: says that God planned the entire universe, and then he
Speaker 2: orchestrated all of history, including your personal life history, and
Speaker 2: he orchestrated it all so that you could come to
Speaker 2: know him and that we could become his friends. The
Speaker 2: Bible says it like this in Acts seventeen. Starting from scratch,
Speaker 2: God made the entire human race, and he made the
Speaker 2: earth hospitable. What it means, It means we can live
Speaker 2: on it. He made the earth livable. We got oxygen,
Speaker 2: we got water, we got it light, we got everything
Speaker 2: we need. He made the earth hospitable for human beings,
Speaker 2: with plenty of time and space for living. Why look,
Speaker 2: so we could seek after God and not just group
Speaker 2: around in the dark, but actually find him. Wow, that
Speaker 2: is God's number one plan and purpose for your life. Now,
Speaker 2: how in the world is this possible? I mean, we're visible,
Speaker 2: God's invisible. We're weak. God's omnipotent, We're imperfect. He's perfect.
Speaker 2: How does a flawed, finite creature have a friendship with
Speaker 2: an unflawed, perfect, omnipotent, invisible God.
Speaker 3: How does that happen? Oh, there's only one way through Jesus.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've known about God all your life, how do
Speaker 2: you build that friendship?
Speaker 3: Number one?
Speaker 2: Write this down. Make knowing God my number one priority.
Speaker 2: You're never going to become a friend of God in
Speaker 2: your spare time. You make no God your number one priority,
Speaker 2: my number one priority in life. Jesus said, seek first
Speaker 2: the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 3: Do it first.
Speaker 2: You know I've told you this many times. I do
Speaker 2: this every single morning of my life. I've done it
Speaker 2: for years. I get up and I sit on the
Speaker 2: side of the bed. Before I get out of bed,
Speaker 2: I'll just sit there for a split second and I'll say, God,
Speaker 2: if I don't get anything else done today, I want
Speaker 2: to love you more and know you better, because if
Speaker 2: at the end of the day I know God more
Speaker 2: and I love Him better, that day was a success.
Speaker 2: Doesn't matter how many things go wrong in it. If
Speaker 2: I know God a little bit better and I love
Speaker 2: Him a little bit more, then.
Speaker 3: That day was a success.
Speaker 2: On the other hand, it doesn't matter how many things
Speaker 2: I accomplish, or what happens in my life that seems
Speaker 2: to be good, how many windfalls that come into my life.
Speaker 3: Doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: If at the end of the day I don't know
Speaker 2: God a little bit better and love Him a little
Speaker 2: bit more, I miss the purpose of that day. I
Speaker 2: make it the number one priority of my life. Paul
Speaker 2: says it like this, everything else is worthless compared with
Speaker 2: the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus, I've discarded everything else.
Speaker 2: I counted all as garbage so that I may know Christ.
Speaker 2: I make it my number one priority. Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.
Speaker 2: God says, you will find me when you will find me,
Speaker 2: when you seek me. When with all your heart are
Speaker 2: you doing that? Let me just ask you, one on one,
Speaker 2: are you doing that? Are you seeking God with all
Speaker 2: your heart every day?
Speaker 3: Not likely.
Speaker 2: You're going to become a friend of God. When you
Speaker 2: want to become a friend of God, write this down.
Speaker 2: I'm as close to God as I choose to be.
Speaker 2: You can't blame anybody else. Can't blame your wife, your husband,
Speaker 2: your parents, your kids.
Speaker 3: You can't blame it.
Speaker 2: You are as close to God as you want to be.
Speaker 2: And if you feel far from God, guess who moved
Speaker 2: you didn't make it the number one priority of your life.
Speaker 2: You will find Me when you seek Me with all
Speaker 2: your heart. Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege,
Speaker 2: and being known and being loved by God is our
Speaker 2: greatest pleasure. You know, I've noticed, I was even noticing
Speaker 2: it on this trip that I was on in Europe,
Speaker 2: that you can tell what's important to somebody by what
Speaker 2: they brag about. That'll tell you their values, and so
Speaker 2: you know, if their kids are most important.
Speaker 3: They brag about their kids.
Speaker 2: If their job is the most important thing in their life,
Speaker 2: they brag about their job. If travel and having experiences
Speaker 2: is important, that's what they talk about.
Speaker 3: You brag about what you value most.
Speaker 2: If partying or buying new clothes is what you talk
Speaker 2: about most, guess what you value most partying and getting
Speaker 2: new clothes here's what God says Jeremiah nine. Look up
Speaker 2: here on the screen. God says, the wise must not
Speaker 2: brag about their wisdom, and the strong must not brag
Speaker 2: about their strength, and the rich must not brag about
Speaker 2: their money. But if somebody wants to brag, let him
Speaker 2: brag that he really understands and knows me.
Speaker 3: Why, Because that's what life is all about.
Speaker 2: You have you ever bragged by the fact that you're
Speaker 2: a friend of God? Hey, me and God we're like this.
Speaker 2: You know, we're close, we're buds, we're friends. Knowing God
Speaker 2: is what matters most, and there's nothing more important than
Speaker 2: that relationship in your life. Now, how do you know
Speaker 2: when God is not your best friend? How do you
Speaker 2: know when you don't really know God?
Speaker 3: Well? Jesus said in Matthew.
Speaker 2: Six that the secret or the symbol, or the characteristic,
Speaker 2: the concluding mark of a person who doesn't know God.
Speaker 3: Jesus said, and Matthew six is this worry.
Speaker 2: When you worry, it means you don't know God at
Speaker 2: that moment. You've forgotten who he is, what he said,
Speaker 2: what he's promised to do in your life. You're acting
Speaker 2: like you're an atheist, You're acting like there.
Speaker 3: Is no God.
Speaker 2: You're acting like it all depends on you. Every time
Speaker 2: you're worrying. Every time you worry, you're saying, Oh, I
Speaker 2: don't really know God at this moment. He's not my friend.
Speaker 2: I have to make it my number one priority. Number
Speaker 2: two second key to building a deep relationship with God.
Speaker 2: Slow down and shut up, or let me say it nicer.
Speaker 2: Slow down and be quiet. Okay, slow down and be quiet.
Speaker 2: Our friendship with God is like any other friendship. You
Speaker 2: have to make time for it. If you don't make
Speaker 2: time for your human friends, they're not your friends. You
Speaker 2: make time for your friends. And if God is going
Speaker 2: to be your best friend, you've got to give your
Speaker 2: best time to God. The Bible says this. You've seen
Speaker 2: these verses many times Psalm forty six ten. Be still,
Speaker 2: I mean, just slow down and know that I am God.
Speaker 2: You need to have a daily quiet time with God.
Speaker 2: Be still and know that I'm God, Psalm twenty five fourteen.
Speaker 2: Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who reverence him.
Speaker 2: With them, he shares the secrets of his covenant. See,
Speaker 2: most people don't know about God, and they don't know
Speaker 2: how God acts. They don't know why he does what
Speaker 2: he does, and they don't know what's going on in
Speaker 2: the world. Why, Because friendship with God is reserved for
Speaker 2: those who reverence him. You sit down, you slow down,
Speaker 2: you be quiet, and you spend time with God. What
Speaker 2: would a friend be if you never spend any time
Speaker 2: with him? Not a friend? You will never have God
Speaker 2: as your best friend. If all you do is just
Speaker 2: come to church services, You've got to just be quiet,
Speaker 2: be still, and you get out and sit down, and
Speaker 2: you just read God's word and you listen and say, God,
Speaker 2: is there anything you want to say to me? And
Speaker 2: you don't have to use any fancy phrases these and
Speaker 2: now's are who arts and where arts? And King James language?
Speaker 2: Don't you just talk to God authentically? The Bible says
Speaker 2: it like this, Matthew six five six, When you come
Speaker 2: before God, don't turn it into a theatrical production. I
Speaker 2: love this the message paraphrase. Just find a quiet, secluded
Speaker 2: place where you won't be tempted to role play before God,
Speaker 2: and just be there as simply and as honest as
Speaker 2: you can manage, and the focus will shift from you
Speaker 2: to God. That'll lower your stress and you will begin
Speaker 2: to sense his grace. Make knowing God my number one priority,
Speaker 2: and then slow down and be quiet. Number three key
Speaker 2: to a friendship with God, decide whose friendship you want most.
Speaker 2: You don't have time for everybody to be your friend.
Speaker 2: If everybody else is going to be your friend, you're
Speaker 2: not going to have time for God in your life.
Speaker 2: You've got to decide who you want most to be
Speaker 2: your best friend.
Speaker 3: Let me show you Verse on the screen.
Speaker 2: One Timothy, chapter six says this, some people have missed
Speaker 2: the most important thing in life.
Speaker 3: They don't know God.
Speaker 2: They know all the baseball scores, they know the stock
Speaker 2: market quotes, they know the top ten songs, they know
Speaker 2: how to do a recipe, they know all kinds of others.
Speaker 2: They know who's in and who's out in every soap opera.
Speaker 2: They know who's up and who's down in the celebrity
Speaker 2: charts and TMZ. But they don't know God. They've missed
Speaker 2: the most important thing in life. How in the world
Speaker 2: could anybody miss a fellowship and a relationship with God
Speaker 2: When he says, this is what I made you for,
Speaker 2: and this is what I want.
Speaker 3: How in the world you miss it? Real? Simple? Care
Speaker 3: about something else? More.
Speaker 2: That's why you're not a friend of God. You care
Speaker 2: about something else more, and you're miss of the relationship
Speaker 2: that you were designed for with your creator. Now the
Speaker 2: Bible gets very specific look of this. James, Chapter four.
Speaker 2: You should know that loving the world is the same
Speaker 2: thing as hating God.
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world
Speaker 2: becomes an enemy of God. Now I don't understand this.
Speaker 2: It tells me here that I'm not supposed to love
Speaker 2: the world. And yet in John three point sixteen, the
Speaker 2: most famous verse, it says God so loved the What
Speaker 2: so which one is it?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: Am I supposed to love the world or not love
Speaker 2: the world? God so loved the world? But it tells
Speaker 2: me here that if I love the world, I become
Speaker 2: the enemy of God. It's the meaning of the word world.
Speaker 2: In John three point sixteen, he's talking about the people
Speaker 2: in the world, and in this passage and in first
Speaker 2: John two sixteen he's talking about the value system of
Speaker 2: the world. Now, God says, I want you to love
Speaker 2: the people and hate the value system. You know what
Speaker 2: the problem is, We do the exact opposite. We love
Speaker 2: the value system and we hate the people. We love materialism,
Speaker 2: we love pleasure, we love popularity, we love prestige, we
Speaker 2: love passion, possessions, position, we love all the values of
Speaker 2: the world, and we hate the people. God says, no,
Speaker 2: you got it all backwards, and he says that if
Speaker 2: you want to be my friend, friends value what friends value.
Speaker 2: If you're going to be my friend, if I'm going
Speaker 2: to be your friend, then I have to value what's
Speaker 2: valuable to you. What's important to you becomes important to me.
Speaker 2: Why because you're my friend, because I'm your friend. And
Speaker 2: if you're going to be a friend of God, then
Speaker 2: you've got to care about what God cares about, and
Speaker 2: not care about what God doesn't care about. God doesn't
Speaker 2: care anything about image. He doesn't care about anything about
Speaker 2: how you appear your image. He's not interested in your reputation.
Speaker 2: He's interested in your character, not how you look, but
Speaker 2: what you are. And I have to choose to value
Speaker 2: with God values.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Rick, what a great message today. Hey,
Speaker 1: if you've been listening to the broadcast for a while,
Speaker 1: well you know that Rick is always saying that God
Speaker 1: wants your relationships to be more than just fair, average, good,
Speaker 1: or even great. He wants your relationships to be awesome,
Speaker 1: life giving, filled with joy and purpose, and that's why
Speaker 1: he created the Awesome Relationships Bible Study. Through this four
Speaker 1: session video based Bible study with workbook, you'll discover the
Speaker 1: tools you need to build an awesome marriage and family,
Speaker 1: awesome friendships, and most importantly, an awesome relationship with God.
Speaker 1: This resource is perfect for individual or group study. Be
Speaker 1: sure to request Pastor Rick's Awesome Relationships Video obeys Bible Study.
Speaker 1: When you give a gift to help Daily Hope take
Speaker 1: the Hope of Jesus to a hurting world, it's our
Speaker 1: way of saying thanks. Just go to pastorick dot com
Speaker 1: to get your copy of this great resource. That's pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. Or you can text the word hope to
Speaker 1: seven oh three oh nine. Again, that's the word hope
Speaker 1: to seven oh.
Speaker 3: Three oh nine.
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 support.