Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we
Speaker 1: continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love.
Speaker 1: There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during
Speaker 1: his final hours on the Cross that hold the keys
Speaker 1: for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with the final part of
Speaker 1: a message called the Word of Humanity.
Speaker 2: Jesus notices the smallest of services. You know. I read
Speaker 2: this a while back, Doud Nick Nichols. He was an
Speaker 2: American Christian and he was living in India, and he
Speaker 2: was trying to share the Gospel with people. He's trying
Speaker 2: to tell people in India the good news of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: He didn't speak a word of any of the Indian dialects,
Speaker 2: and he wrote this dud Nichols. When I got tuberculosis
Speaker 2: in India, I was forced to stay in a sanitarium
Speaker 2: for several months. I didn't speak the language, but I
Speaker 2: tried to give Christian literature in their language to the
Speaker 2: patients and to the doctors and the nurses, and not
Speaker 2: a single person accepted everybody politely refused my Christian literature.
Speaker 2: The first few nights I was there, I woke up
Speaker 2: around two am coughing from my tuberculosis, and during one
Speaker 2: of my coughing spells, I noticed an older, sicker patient
Speaker 2: across the room trying to get out of bed. He'd
Speaker 2: sit up on the edge of the bed. He'd try
Speaker 2: to stand, but in weakness, he'd fall back into the bed.
Speaker 2: I didn't understand what he was trying to do. He
Speaker 2: finally gave up, exhausted, but I could hear him crying
Speaker 2: softly through the night. The next morning I realized that
Speaker 2: he'd been trying to get out of bed to go
Speaker 2: to the bathroom, and the stench in our ward was awful.
Speaker 2: Other patients yelled insults at this man, who soiled himself.
Speaker 2: Angry nurses moved him roughly as they cleaned up the mess.
Speaker 2: One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled up
Speaker 2: into a ball and he wept. The next night, I
Speaker 2: woke up again coughing, and I noticed the same man
Speaker 2: trying to get out of bed, and like the night before,
Speaker 2: he fell back into his bed, whimpering. So I got
Speaker 2: out of my bed and I went over to him.
Speaker 2: When I touched his shoulders, his eyes opened wide with fear,
Speaker 2: but I smiled, put my arms under him and picked
Speaker 2: him up. He was very light due to old age
Speaker 2: and advanced t B and I carried him to the toilet,
Speaker 2: which was just a filthy, small room with a hole
Speaker 2: in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms
Speaker 2: under his armpits as he took care of himself, and
Speaker 2: after he finished, I carried him back to bed. As
Speaker 2: I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek.
Speaker 2: He smiled and said something an Indian I didn't understand.
Speaker 2: The next morning, another patient woke me up and handed
Speaker 2: me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his
Speaker 2: hands that he wanted a gospel tract that I had
Speaker 2: been trying to give out. As the sun rose, other
Speaker 2: patients approached me, and each of them indicated that they
Speaker 2: also wanted the Christian booklets that nobody had been interested
Speaker 2: in before. Throughout the day, nurses and interns and doctors
Speaker 2: asked for my booklet about Jesus. Weeks later, a pastor
Speaker 2: came who spoke the language, and he visited me, and
Speaker 2: he told me that several people in the hospital had
Speaker 2: put their trust in Jesus Christ as a savior as
Speaker 2: a result of reading those booklets. So what does it
Speaker 2: take for me to reach these dear people with the
Speaker 2: good news? Not my ability to speak their language, not
Speaker 2: my ability to give a persuasive presentation. I simply helped
Speaker 2: an old man to the bathroom. What are you willing
Speaker 2: to do to get people into heaven? Let's just pause
Speaker 2: on that for a minute. What are you willing to
Speaker 2: do to get people into heaven? What kind of love
Speaker 2: do you really have for other people who are physically, spiritually,
Speaker 2: and emotionally thirsty? Is anybody going to be in heaven
Speaker 2: because of you? Are you willing to pick up an
Speaker 2: old man and take into the bathroom? What are you
Speaker 2: willing to do? Jesus said inas much. You've done it
Speaker 2: under the least of these my brothers. You did it
Speaker 2: to me, Have you done it to anybody? Will you
Speaker 2: do it to anybody this next week? Will you show
Speaker 2: that kind of love? Are you so insolated in self
Speaker 2: centeredness and my life and my joke goals and my
Speaker 2: problems and my needs and my family that I don't
Speaker 2: have time to notice the people who are saying I'm
Speaker 2: thirsty around me. We learn in the thirst of others
Speaker 2: that I serve Jesus by serving others. And we learn
Speaker 2: that Jesus notices even the smallest service. And the third thing,
Speaker 2: this is the hardest one of all. Write this down.
Speaker 2: The most christ Like service is to enemies. Oh, come on,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm sorry, but this is the Jesus way
Speaker 2: to live. The most christ Like service is to enemies.
Speaker 2: I am most like Jesus. You are most like Jesus
Speaker 2: when when you're helping people you totally disagree with. You
Speaker 2: don't like their lifestyle, you don't like their politics, you
Speaker 2: don't like their breath, you don't like the way they look,
Speaker 2: you don't like their culture, you don't like the way
Speaker 2: they talk, and on and on and on. You are
Speaker 2: most like Jesus when you respond with kindness to the
Speaker 2: people who don't like you, when you're building bridge bridges
Speaker 2: to people like that. Jesus said this. The Bible says
Speaker 2: this in Proverbs twenty five. If your enemies are hungry,
Speaker 2: give them food, and if they're thirsty, give them water
Speaker 2: to drink. You know, during World War Two, the Nazis
Speaker 2: did not just send Jews to the concentration camps. They
Speaker 2: sent six million Jews, but sent Christians, and they sent Gaze,
Speaker 2: and they sent Gypsies, and they sent Communists and anybody
Speaker 2: else they just didn't like. Nicholas Berdyayev was a Communist
Speaker 2: who was sent to one of the death camps because
Speaker 2: of his Communism, and he was converted and became a
Speaker 2: Christian there because of the witness of a single Christian woman.
Speaker 2: He said that one day, the Nazi officer came out
Speaker 2: and began to call off the numbers of the prisoners
Speaker 2: that were to be gassed that day, and one of
Speaker 2: them was a young mother with a child that she'd
Speaker 2: had given birth to in the concentration camp, and she
Speaker 2: was scared to death that she was going to leave
Speaker 2: a baby, little baby, and she was going to die.
Speaker 2: But a Christian woman saw this taking place and realized
Speaker 2: that the Nazi didn't care about who it was, just
Speaker 2: cared about the number. So she walked up to the
Speaker 2: thing and said, I'm that number, and she went to
Speaker 2: her death. And Nicholas, a Communist, came to christ because
Speaker 2: that woman was willing to give her life for the
Speaker 2: Jewish lady. This act is sacrificial love, so impacted him
Speaker 2: he said, I've got to know this, Jesus. Does your
Speaker 2: life make anybody thirsty for Jesus? People say, you can
Speaker 2: lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink,
Speaker 2: But you can salt the oats. And the Bible says
Speaker 2: we are to be salt in the world. We are
Speaker 2: to make people thirsty to know God by our love,
Speaker 2: not by our words, by our kindness, not by our protests,
Speaker 2: by our compassion, not by what we're against, but the
Speaker 2: little acts of service that we do every single day.
Speaker 2: That's the big stuff. The most christ Like service is
Speaker 2: to enemies. Are you willing to suffer for the benefit
Speaker 2: of others knowing Jesus? Now let's go to this third section.
Speaker 2: We looked at jesus thirst, We looked at the thirst
Speaker 2: of others around you. What about your own thirst the
Speaker 2: things that you're just so unsatisfied about, you're not fulfilled about.
Speaker 2: You just have that ache, you just have that scratch,
Speaker 2: you just have that itch. And how do you get
Speaker 2: your own thirst satisfied? So the Bible says you do
Speaker 2: three things. Write these down. Here's the only way you're
Speaker 2: ever gonna get your life satisfied in life. Number one.
Speaker 2: First thing realize what I'm really thirsty for. I need
Speaker 2: to realize what I'm really thirsty for. What I think
Speaker 2: I want is not really gonna make me happy. What
Speaker 2: I think I want is not really gonna fulfill me.
Speaker 2: You know, we live in this world of if I
Speaker 2: could just and then you fill in the blank, if
Speaker 2: I could just get married, then I'd be totally fulfilled.
Speaker 2: Anybody want to give a testimony, Okay, anybody want to
Speaker 2: stand them say that one ain't true. Okay. If I
Speaker 2: could just get a boyfriend, if we could just if
Speaker 2: I could just get a job, if I could just graduate,
Speaker 2: if we could just have a baby. You have all
Speaker 2: of these. They're all good things, but they're not gonna
Speaker 2: bring you ultimate satisfaction. They're not gonna slack your spiritual thirst.
Speaker 2: You gotta realize what you're really thirsty for. You're looking
Speaker 2: in all the wrong places. There is no person, There
Speaker 2: is no job, there is no experience that could possibly
Speaker 2: meet all your needs. None, zero, not a zip, none.
Speaker 2: There's only one person who could meet all your needs.
Speaker 2: It's God. Anytime I look to anything else to provide
Speaker 2: my fulfillment in life, job, golf, for anything else, I've
Speaker 2: turned it into an idol. An idol is expecting something
Speaker 2: to fulfill in my life what only God can fulfill.
Speaker 2: That's an idol. You have idols, You have things in
Speaker 2: your life you expect to be fulfilling to you that
Speaker 2: only God can fulfill. And so I've got to start
Speaker 2: by realizing what I'm really thirsty for. Look at these
Speaker 2: verses Psalm sixty three. Oh God, you are my God,
Speaker 2: and I long for you. My whole being desires you
Speaker 2: like a dry, worn out, waterless land. My soul is
Speaker 2: thirsty for you. You have a God shaped hole in
Speaker 2: your life, and nothing is going to fill that hole
Speaker 2: except God. Jesus said in Matthew five, Blessed are those
Speaker 2: who hunger thirst for righteousness. They will be filled. Only
Speaker 2: God can satisfy your need. And the more you get
Speaker 2: to know Him, the more satisfied, the more fulfilled, the
Speaker 2: more happy you're going to be in life. Realize what
Speaker 2: I'm really thirsty for. You were made for your Creator,
Speaker 2: and when you're separated from him, you're going to be
Speaker 2: restless until you get to know him. Number two, I
Speaker 2: realized that what I'm really thirsty for. Number two, I
Speaker 2: realize that Jesus feels my pain. He understands it, he
Speaker 2: feels it. Jesus understands your needs better than you do,
Speaker 2: and he understands your pain better than you do. The
Speaker 2: pain you're going through right now. Isaiah fifty three, verse
Speaker 2: thirty five says this, he Jesus took our suffering on
Speaker 2: himself and felt our pain for us. He took our
Speaker 2: suffering on himself, felt our pain for us. He was
Speaker 2: wounded for the wrongs he did. He was crushed for
Speaker 2: the evil we did. The punishment which made us well
Speaker 2: was given to him, and we are healed because of
Speaker 2: his wounds. How many wounds did Jesus have on the cross, well,
Speaker 2: we know at least three hundred and sixty five, two
Speaker 2: in his hands, two in his feet, one his side,
Speaker 2: wounds on his head from the thorns, the three hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty lashes on his back. We are healed by
Speaker 2: his wounds. And let me just say this, some of
Speaker 2: you are in are faced chronic pain all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about physical pain. You just don't feel good
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, your back or your body or something.
Speaker 2: And you you, you, you are in constant chronic pain.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Jesus Christ understands chronic pain. He knows what
Speaker 2: chronic pain feels like. Some of you are in emotional
Speaker 2: pain from a discouragement, from a defeat, from a disappointment,
Speaker 2: from a rejection, from a betrayal, from a broken dream.
Speaker 2: Jesus understands your pain. Some of you are in spiritual pain.
Speaker 2: You're in mental pain. Jesus understands your pain. He understands it.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in Hebrews four fifteen, look at this
Speaker 2: verse on the screen, our High priest. That's Jesus understands
Speaker 2: our weaknesses. For he faced all of the same temptations
Speaker 2: we do. That he didn't sin. He didn't sin. He
Speaker 2: understands what you're going through. Realize what you're really thirsty for,
Speaker 2: and realize he understands your needs and understands your pain.
Speaker 2: Number three third thing, Stop looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Stop
Speaker 2: looking for fulfillment elsewhere. You know, we're always looking for
Speaker 2: a panacea. If I could just get a different job,
Speaker 2: if I could just then you fill in the blank.
Speaker 2: We're always looking somewhere else, looking for life in all
Speaker 2: the wrong places, looking for love in all the wrong places,
Speaker 2: looking for film fulfillment in all the wrong places, and
Speaker 2: it isn't gonna work. In the Bible, God says this
Speaker 2: Jeremiah chapter two. My people have done two evils. They've
Speaker 2: turned away from me. That's the first thing, the spring
Speaker 2: of living water. And he says, they've dug their own wells,
Speaker 2: which are broken wells and can't hold water. You know
Speaker 2: what the problem with you is? Why you're unfulfilled? Two things.
Speaker 2: One you turned your back on me. The second you're
Speaker 2: digging your own well, thinking, you know, if I just
Speaker 2: do this project, then I'll be fulfilled. If I just
Speaker 2: do this, then I'll be fulfilled. If I just do that,
Speaker 2: then I'll be fulfilled. What wells have you dug in
Speaker 2: your life that ended up dry? And you're out here
Speaker 2: digging away well, digging a well, and Niagara Falls is
Speaker 2: right behind you, and you go, what are we thinking?
Speaker 2: God says, I have all the water in the world.
Speaker 2: I can fulfill every one of your deepest needs. But
Speaker 2: you're over here digging a well, thinking, if I just
Speaker 2: get this job, if I just get this relationship, if
Speaker 2: I just make this much money, if I just if
Speaker 2: I And you're digging a well, and he goes, that's dumb.
Speaker 2: Niagara Falls is right behind you. It's like trying to,
Speaker 2: you know, capture a fire hydrant in the thimble. You
Speaker 2: can't handle all the blessings God's got for you. John
Speaker 2: chapter seven. Jesus said this on the last day, the
Speaker 2: climax of the festival. Jesus stood up and shouted, shouted.
Speaker 2: He didn't just whisper for this, He shouted to the crowd.
Speaker 2: And what did Jesus say to the whole crowd that
Speaker 2: he shouted out in the top voice. If you are thirsty,
Speaker 2: real simple, come to me. That's about as simple as
Speaker 2: can get. You don't go to McDonald's, you don't go
Speaker 2: to Starbucks. You come to me. If you're spiritually, emotionally thirsty,
Speaker 2: if your life is unfulfilled, if you're bored, if you're frustrated,
Speaker 2: if you lack meaning, if you just go there's gotta
Speaker 2: be mortal life than this, come to me. He didn't
Speaker 2: say come to religion. He didn't say come to church.
Speaker 2: He doesn't say come to Bible study. He says, come
Speaker 2: to me. The only thing that's going to fulfill you
Speaker 2: is a intimate relationship with God, because that's what you
Speaker 2: were made for. And most people go through life and
Speaker 2: miss the thing they were made for. What wells have
Speaker 2: you dug? When Niagara Falls is right behind you? He says,
Speaker 2: if you were thirsty, come to me, If you believe
Speaker 2: in me, come and drink. For the scriptures declare that
Speaker 2: rivers of living water will flow out from within. He says,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna give you a glass of water. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna give you a bottle of water. I'm not
Speaker 2: even gonna give you a pool of water. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: put a river through your life. You're never gonna be
Speaker 2: thirsty again. You see, here's the problem. When we're digging wells,
Speaker 2: Sin makes you thirsty. Anytime you try to find your
Speaker 2: thirst mastered by anything else besides God, you get thirst here.
Speaker 2: Sin is addicting. You don't believe it. Try pornography. You
Speaker 2: look one time. You can't just look one time. Every
Speaker 2: sin is addicting, every single saying. If you get angry,
Speaker 2: you don't just get angry one time in your life.
Speaker 2: That's it. You get angry over and over and over
Speaker 2: and over and over. If you get impatient, you don't
Speaker 2: just get impatient once. I have to get impatient over
Speaker 2: and over and over. It is addicting. It doesn't fulfill
Speaker 2: It doesn't slake your thirst, it doesn't quench your thirst.
Speaker 2: But Jesus satisfies. He says, I'll put a spring within you,
Speaker 2: last person, your outline. Jesus said this. People soon become
Speaker 2: thirsty again after drinking this water, the water of the world.
Speaker 2: But the water I give them takes away thirst. That's
Speaker 2: an amazing kind of water, takes away thirst. Altogether, it
Speaker 2: becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.
Speaker 2: So let me reinterpret it. If you feel unsatisfied with
Speaker 2: your life right now, there's a word for that. You're thirsty.
Speaker 2: You're spiritually thirsty. And the only one who can slake
Speaker 2: that thirst, quench that thirst is Jesus Christ. Only the
Speaker 2: one who on the cross said I thirst can take
Speaker 2: away your thirst. And you know what, when Jesus on
Speaker 2: the cross that I'm thirsty, I hate to tell you this,
Speaker 2: but he's still thirsty today. He said, what do you
Speaker 2: mean by that? He's thirsty for you to know him.
Speaker 2: It's the reason he made you. He made you to
Speaker 2: know him, and he's thirsty for you to know him.
Speaker 2: That's power. Heads. Would you pray this prayer, Dear God,
Speaker 2: I have been thirsty for so many different things in
Speaker 2: my life that I thought would satisfy me, but they
Speaker 2: have not. I have looked to relationships and looked to accomplishments,
Speaker 2: and I've looked to hobbies, and I've looked at so
Speaker 2: many everythings to fulfill my life. But I'm still thirsty.
Speaker 2: And Lord, it's like one of those drinks that when
Speaker 2: you drink it, it just makes you more thirsty. Thank
Speaker 2: you Jesus Christ. Thank you that you feel my pain.
Speaker 2: That you know what it's like to go through suffering,
Speaker 2: that you know what it's like to be rejected, to
Speaker 2: be criticized, to be misunderstood, to be betrayed. Lord, you've
Speaker 2: been through everything, and you know the pain in my
Speaker 2: own heart. You know my physical pains because you made
Speaker 2: my body. You know my emotional pains because you made
Speaker 2: my heart. You know my mental pains because you made
Speaker 2: my mind. Thank you that you care about my thirst. Today,
Speaker 2: i want to stop looking forfillment everywhere else. I'm going
Speaker 2: to stop digging my own wells, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: turn around to Niagara. You said, if you're thirsty, come
Speaker 2: to me, So I'm coming to you right now. I
Speaker 2: don't want any idols in my life, things that I've
Speaker 2: tried to find satisfaction in that have just disappointed me.
Speaker 2: I'm going to tear down the idols in my life,
Speaker 2: and I want you to put a river of living
Speaker 2: water in me. Jesus Christ, I want to know you personally.
Speaker 2: I want to have a relationship with you. Thank you
Speaker 2: that you died on the cross for me. Thank you
Speaker 2: that you were truly human and that you were truly God,
Speaker 2: and that you showed how much you loved me by
Speaker 2: dying for me on the cross. And God, in gratitude,
Speaker 2: I want to give the rest of my life serving you.
Speaker 2: I want to serve you by serving others, even if
Speaker 2: that means given a cup of cold water to a child,
Speaker 2: or changing a diaper, or helping an elderly person across
Speaker 2: the street. I want to do everything in your name.
Speaker 2: Thank you that you noticed the smallest service. And God
Speaker 2: even helped me with that one about serving my enemies.
Speaker 2: You said, if my enemies are hungry, I'm to give
Speaker 2: them food, and if they're thirsty, I'm to give them water. Lord,
Speaker 2: I really don't want to do that. There are people
Speaker 2: I don't like, but you died for them, just like
Speaker 2: you died for me, and I pray that nothing in
Speaker 2: my life would keep them from knowing you. And just
Speaker 2: as the story of the man who took the elderly
Speaker 2: gentlemen to the bathroom caused people to come to know
Speaker 2: your love, I want my life every day to make
Speaker 2: people thirsty for you. And I ask you to use
Speaker 2: me for your sake and your name this next week
Speaker 2: to meet the thirsty needs of people around me. I
Speaker 2: want to do it in gratitude and I pray this
Speaker 2: in your name. Amen.
Speaker 1: Such a great message by Rick today and every day.
Speaker 1: I sure hope you were just as an encouraged us
Speaker 1: I was. And now here's Rick to tell you about
Speaker 1: a resource that he created to help you in your
Speaker 1: walk with Jesus.
Speaker 2: You know, as we close today, I just want to
Speaker 2: say thank you for joining me in today's broadcast. I
Speaker 2: want to encourage you in another way through my free
Speaker 2: Daily Hope Devotionals. Are you getting those? These Daily Hope
Speaker 2: Devotionals are a summarization of many of the things that
Speaker 2: I teach on the broadcast. All you gotta do is
Speaker 2: just go to my website and you can sign up
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Speaker 1: Just go to Dailyhope Radio dot com and sign up
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Speaker 2: Our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
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