Speaker 1: You know, we really live in a world that's full
Speaker 1: of competing beliefs and values and choices, and what you
Speaker 1: believe shapes how you live and ultimately who you become.
Speaker 1: But the good news is God hasn't left us to
Speaker 1: figure it all out alone.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: In fact, today, on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we're going
Speaker 1: to continue our series Reframing Your Worldview, where Rick Warren
Speaker 1: unpacks powerful truths from God's Word to help you see
Speaker 1: life clearly and live it with confidence and purpose. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's Rick with part three of a message called how
Speaker 1: did the World Get So Messed Up?
Speaker 3: The Bible says in Job Job was the wealthiest man
Speaker 3: of his time, and yet he says this, I'm like
Speaker 3: a caravan lost in the desert searching for water. When
Speaker 3: you're disconnected from the source of life, which is God,
Speaker 3: it leads to him. It leads to thirst, and you
Speaker 3: don't know what's going to fill that thirst, and it
Speaker 3: actually can lead to darkness. You're bumping around the dark
Speaker 3: because you don't know where you're from and where you're going.
Speaker 3: In fact, the Bible says the Ephesians four eighteen, they've
Speaker 3: refused for so long to deal with God, that they've
Speaker 3: lost touch, not only with God but with reality itself.
Speaker 3: Now that friends is not a pretty picture. There's a
Speaker 3: lot of beautiful things in the world, and we can
Speaker 3: see them all around us. But let's just be realistic.
Speaker 3: At the same time. We live in a planet that's fallen.
Speaker 3: So there is natural disaster and deformities, physical decay and death,
Speaker 3: emotional stress, distress and disappointment, relational distance between me and you,
Speaker 3: and discord, and spiritual discontent and darkness. It is no
Speaker 3: wonder that depression is of epidemic proportions in our world.
Speaker 3: So here's my question, how do you stay happy in
Speaker 3: a world like that? First, how do you get happy?
Speaker 3: And then how do you stay happy in a world
Speaker 3: where there's a lot of things that aren't going right?
Speaker 3: How do you do that? The answer is you do
Speaker 3: what Jeremiah did. Jeremiah was a prophet. Some of you
Speaker 3: thought he's a bullfrog, but he was actually a prophet,
Speaker 3: and he wrote two books in the Bible, one called
Speaker 3: the Book of Jeremiah, and he wrote a book called Lamentations.
Speaker 3: Look up here on the screen, here's what he says.
Speaker 3: This is Jeremiah's testimony. I cannot find peace, or remember happiness.
Speaker 3: Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering makes
Speaker 3: me miserable.
Speaker 2: It's all I ever think.
Speaker 3: About, and I am depressed. Then he says, here's the
Speaker 3: good part.
Speaker 2: I remember something that fills.
Speaker 3: Me with hope, and everybody needs hope when you live
Speaker 3: in a falling planet. Then I remember something that fills
Speaker 3: me with hope. The Lord's kindness never fails. If he
Speaker 3: had not been merciful, we would have been destroyed. In
Speaker 3: other words, the reason this is still going on is
Speaker 3: because of God's grace. The Lord can always be trusted
Speaker 3: to show mercy each morning. So deep in my heart,
Speaker 3: I say, Lord, you are all that I need.
Speaker 2: I can depend on you. How do you get happy
Speaker 2: in the world, You say, Lord, you are all that
Speaker 2: I need. Don't put your trust in.
Speaker 3: Success, status, salary, sex or other things. Those are fine,
Speaker 3: but they're not the primary source. The primary source of
Speaker 3: happiness is your relationship to God. And all that other
Speaker 3: stuff's going to be gone eventually. You're only gonna get
Speaker 3: it sixty eighty years. But you want to develop a
Speaker 3: relationship with God because that's going to go on for eternity.
Speaker 3: And he says, Lord, You are all that I need.
Speaker 3: And when I look around and I've gotten nothing else,
Speaker 3: you were all that I need.
Speaker 2: The reason the world.
Speaker 3: Is in a mess is because of sin. The result
Speaker 3: of it is we live in a fallen planet. Now
Speaker 3: here's the big question. Why didn't God just shut it down?
Speaker 3: If the world is imperfect, then we've got rape and
Speaker 3: abuse and murder and genocide and all these things. Why
Speaker 3: didn't God just shut it all down? Why hasn't he
Speaker 3: pulled the plug on the planet. Why hasn't he just
Speaker 3: closed up shop? Why is He letting it go on
Speaker 3: and on and on? In spite of all the evil
Speaker 3: it's in the world. The way people hurt each other,
Speaker 3: it breaks his heart.
Speaker 2: He sees it all. He grieves over it.
Speaker 3: He sees people choosing to do evil against each other.
Speaker 2: It breaks his heart. It causes him to grieve. The
Speaker 2: only reason you've got emotions is God has emotions. He
Speaker 2: gave him to you. You're made in his image. So
Speaker 2: why didn't God just pull the plug on the planet.
Speaker 3: What's the for God letting it continue? Well, this is
Speaker 3: part of worldview, and you need to understand this. Although
Speaker 3: the world is broken, God is still in control and
Speaker 3: the moment that he wants to shut it down. Believe me,
Speaker 3: he's going to shut it down. So why is it
Speaker 3: still going on? In spite of all of the bad
Speaker 3: and evil in the world, and the sorrow and the
Speaker 3: suffering and the shame and the pain. God is allowing
Speaker 3: it to continue a little while longer for three reasons.
Speaker 2: You need to know this. Number One, to give.
Speaker 3: Us a choice. To give us a choice, and what
Speaker 3: is that choice? To choose good or evil, to choose
Speaker 3: right or wrong, to choose God or the devil, to
Speaker 3: choose the right.
Speaker 2: Way or the wrong way.
Speaker 3: Although the world is broken, and although there is sin
Speaker 3: in the world, by allowing it in there, it allows.
Speaker 2: God to give you a choice. You See, here's the thing.
Speaker 3: God wants you to love him because you choose to
Speaker 3: love him, not because you're forced to love him.
Speaker 2: I can't say it's real love.
Speaker 3: I can't say I love you unless I can choose
Speaker 3: to not love you.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 3: I couldn't make my wife marry me. I can't make
Speaker 3: her stay married to me. It has to be a choice.
Speaker 3: That's what love is. And because of that, God says,
Speaker 3: I want you to choose to love me, not I'm
Speaker 3: the only alternative, and so God allows a choice. And
Speaker 3: by allowing a sin in the world, you can choose
Speaker 3: to believe in God, you choose to not believe in God.
Speaker 3: You can choose to follow Jesus Christ the Son. You
Speaker 3: can choose to not follow his son.
Speaker 2: You can choose to.
Speaker 3: Say I want to follow God's purpose for my life,
Speaker 3: and you can say I think I'll just make up
Speaker 3: my own purpose in life and do my own thing.
Speaker 3: God gives you the choice, and by allowing evil to
Speaker 3: exist for a little bit longer.
Speaker 2: It allows the choice.
Speaker 3: The Bible says this in Deuteronomy thirty Today, I'm giving
Speaker 3: you a choice between good and evil, and between life
Speaker 3: and death.
Speaker 2: Now, let me just say this.
Speaker 3: You are free to make any choice you want to
Speaker 3: on this planet. God gave you that free will, but
Speaker 3: you are not free from the consequences. You're not free
Speaker 3: to choose the consequences. I could go out this afternoon
Speaker 3: and shoot up with drugs, but I'm not free from
Speaker 3: the consequences of it. I could choose to go out
Speaker 3: and get in a car accident or shoot people, but
Speaker 3: I'm not free from the consequences of it. I can
Speaker 3: choose to go out and go to bed with one
Speaker 3: hundred different women.
Speaker 2: But I'm not free from the consequences of it.
Speaker 3: And so I'm free to reject God my entire life
Speaker 3: on earth, but I'm not free from the consequences in eternity.
Speaker 3: God says, it's your choice, but there are consequences to
Speaker 3: every choice. God gives us a choice. Here's the second reason.
Speaker 3: He's allowing it to go on a little bit longer,
Speaker 3: to show us our need for a savior. The worst
Speaker 3: the world gets, the more we realize what a mess
Speaker 3: we've made of it, the more we realize we're not
Speaker 3: doing a too good job, not on our lives, not
Speaker 3: on our families, not on our nation, not on the world.
Speaker 2: And the more things kind of fall.
Speaker 3: Apart, the more people tend to turn to God. And
Speaker 3: we say, sometimes you have to be laid flat on
Speaker 3: your back to force you to look up. The only
Speaker 3: way God can get your attention. He's saying, hello, has
Speaker 3: God ever had to get your attention through pain? You know,
Speaker 3: he doesn't like pain, But if it'll get your attention,
Speaker 3: that's a good thing. And to show us our need
Speaker 3: for a savior. See human nature says I don't need God.
Speaker 2: In fact, I'll just be my own God.
Speaker 3: Human nature says, now, I know in the Bible it says,
Speaker 3: don't do these things.
Speaker 2: But actually I know.
Speaker 3: Better than God, and I know what will make me
Speaker 3: happy more than God does. And even though God says
Speaker 3: don't do these certain things, I think I'm still gonna
Speaker 3: go ahead and do them because I actually know better
Speaker 3: than God. And we always get into trouble when we
Speaker 3: doubt God's wisdom or when we doubt God's love. They
Speaker 3: are there for your benefit. Every principle in Scripture is
Speaker 3: there for your benefit, because everything God does in your
Speaker 3: life he does out of love to protect you from heartbreak,
Speaker 3: to protect you from a lot of different things. But
Speaker 3: it is human nature to think I know better than
Speaker 3: God what I have to do in order to succeed.
Speaker 3: I know what I have to do in order to
Speaker 3: be popular, I know what I have to do in
Speaker 3: order to get a husband. I know what I have
Speaker 3: to do or whatever. And God saying, well, no, actually
Speaker 3: you don't know better than me. No you don't. But
Speaker 3: I need to show you that you need a savior,
Speaker 3: and I need to show you that weout me and
Speaker 3: my life. You're going to tend to act subhuman. In fact,
Speaker 3: the Bible says this and Ecclesiastes three. God allows people
Speaker 3: to continue in their sinful ways so he can test them,
Speaker 3: and that way they can and see for themselves that
Speaker 3: they are no better than animals. See what do you
Speaker 3: mean by that? When you don't have any morals, you
Speaker 3: act like an animal when you have no conscience. The
Speaker 3: animals don't have conscience, and so they just do whatever
Speaker 3: they feel like doing.
Speaker 2: They have no right or wrong.
Speaker 3: It's just I do whatever I feel like doing. That's
Speaker 3: what animals do. And he says, there are people out
Speaker 3: there who are going to take advantage of you because they.
Speaker 2: Have no conscience. They act like animals.
Speaker 3: Some of them want to use you, some of them
Speaker 3: want to be used by you. Some of them want
Speaker 3: to abuse you. Some of them want to be abused
Speaker 3: by you. Sweet dreams are I mean forget for you?
Speaker 3: I am not anti Lenox, but it's good theology. Anti
Speaker 3: Lenox was absolutely right that a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Act like animals. They're not animals, but.
Speaker 3: They act like because they act without time. And what
Speaker 3: we need is a savior. And why do you need
Speaker 3: a savior? You say, why do I need a savior?
Speaker 3: That's like asking why do I need air? You are
Speaker 3: disconnected from the source of life. If you're not connected
Speaker 3: to God. Everything you own, and everything you own and
Speaker 3: everything in your.
Speaker 2: Life is because of God. You owe it all to God.
Speaker 2: You need a savior? Why?
Speaker 3: Well, one reason, there are a lot of reasons, I
Speaker 3: could give you a hundred. One of them is there's
Speaker 3: some things in your life you just can't do in
Speaker 3: your own power. The next verse says this, when I
Speaker 3: want to do good, I don't, And when I try
Speaker 3: to do wrong, try not to do wrong.
Speaker 2: I do it anyway. Well, all of us have felt
Speaker 2: that I.
Speaker 3: Could probably give you one hundred things in your life
Speaker 3: that are good for you that you don't do, and
Speaker 3: you know they're good for you, you just don't do them.
Speaker 3: And I could probably give you one hundred things in
Speaker 3: your life that you know are bad for you, but
Speaker 3: you do them.
Speaker 2: He do him anyway? Why?
Speaker 3: Because knowing it and doing it are two different things.
Speaker 3: I just don't have the power to change. And I
Speaker 3: would say, you're right, that's why you need Jesus. You
Speaker 3: need Jesus in your life because you don't have the
Speaker 3: power to change.
Speaker 2: You need a savior.
Speaker 3: And at Christmas, they said, unto you is born this
Speaker 3: day as savior.
Speaker 2: Who is Christ the Lord?
Speaker 3: Why if you didn't need a savior, God wouldn't have
Speaker 3: wasted the time sinning Jesus. You need him, And so
Speaker 3: He's allowing the things to go on in the world
Speaker 3: to give us a choice, to help us come to
Speaker 3: the realization that we need him.
Speaker 2: And number three, to demonstrate his grace.
Speaker 3: God is allowing the evil to continue in the world.
Speaker 3: He has not shut down the world, which he's going
Speaker 3: through one day, because he's trying to demonstrate his grace.
Speaker 3: The Bible says in a second Peter three nine, the
Speaker 3: Lord isn't being slow about his promise to return, as
Speaker 3: some people think. No, he's being paid for your sake.
Speaker 3: He doesn't want anyone to perish, so he's giving more
Speaker 3: time for everyone to repent.
Speaker 2: That is the only.
Speaker 3: Reason why God has not shut down the earth yet.
Speaker 3: He's waiting for you to get in the family. There
Speaker 3: are people he has created that he loves, and he
Speaker 3: wants them in his family. And he knew they were
Speaker 3: going to be born, and he knew that they would
Speaker 3: choose him, and he wants you to choose him.
Speaker 2: And he said I'm waiting a little bit longer.
Speaker 3: Because once the door is closed on the ark and
Speaker 3: it starts raining, they're not going to reopen it. Once
Speaker 3: God says okay, time's up. History's ending. We're now going
Speaker 3: into the eternity phase. It's over. They're in the second chance.
Speaker 3: And God is saying, the reason why I put up
Speaker 3: with all of the grief and all of the pain
Speaker 3: and all the evil that breaks my heart in this world,
Speaker 3: I watched my own son die for it. The reason
Speaker 3: I put it is because I love human beings and
Speaker 3: I want them in my family. I created them, and
Speaker 3: I want you. And I'm waiting just a.
Speaker 2: Little bit longer, giving you a little bit more time.
Speaker 3: I'm being patient so you will come to know me
Speaker 3: and repent. That's why He's doing it, shows his grace. Now, Listen,
Speaker 3: when somebody comes to you and says this, you know what,
Speaker 3: I just can't believe in a god, or follow a god,
Speaker 3: or love and worship a god who would callously allow
Speaker 3: children to suffer and women to be raped.
Speaker 2: Here's what you say to that person.
Speaker 3: I could neither and I don't and I could not
Speaker 3: worship a god, and I don't believe in that kind
Speaker 3: of God.
Speaker 2: In fact, he's not callous.
Speaker 3: You have no idea how much sin hurts God. He
Speaker 3: grieves over it every second of the day. Sees every
Speaker 3: wife being beaten, every child being abused, every woman being raped,
Speaker 3: every person being hurt. He sees it all, and he grieves,
Speaker 3: and he weeps and he sorrows, and everything in him
Speaker 3: wants to just shut it all down and say enough enough.
Speaker 3: But he's letting it go because he wants you to
Speaker 3: know him. That's how much he loves you. He's waiting
Speaker 3: for you to say yes. Because when the.
Speaker 2: Door shut, it's shut.
Speaker 3: And he cares about those illnesses and those diseases and
Speaker 3: those people who are suffering in the world far more
Speaker 3: than you do. Don't ever accuse God of Caelosi's. He
Speaker 3: thinks about it every second, far more than you do.
Speaker 3: You don't think about it every second you're thinking about yourself.
Speaker 3: And believe me, I believe in a God who one
Speaker 3: day is going to stop evil dead in its tracks,
Speaker 3: and he's going to shut down the world, and he's
Speaker 3: going to judge the with a holy wrath, the evil
Speaker 3: doers in the world and judge it all, and he's
Speaker 3: going to take those who have loved him to a
Speaker 3: perfect place of perfection that he has called Heaven, where
Speaker 3: we will live with Him without evil forever. That's the
Speaker 3: kind of God I believe in. That's the kind of
Speaker 3: God the Bible talks about. And the only reason he's
Speaker 3: holding back his fierce judgment on all of sin and
Speaker 3: all the evil on this world is because he loves you,
Speaker 3: and he's giving you a chance, a choice, a chance,
Speaker 3: and an opportunity to know him. It's for your benefit,
Speaker 3: and he's waiting for you and some others in his
Speaker 3: family to come in.
Speaker 1: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 1: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 3: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 3: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 3: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 3: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 3: And then Jesus said, go make disciples, that's evangelism, Baptize
Speaker 3: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 3: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 3: I've taught you, that's discipleship, and we call that the
Speaker 3: Great Commission. We believe it Daily Hope, that a great
Speaker 3: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 3: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 3: a great community.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good
Speaker 3: news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around
Speaker 3: the world.
Speaker 2: And we want.
Speaker 3: People to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 3: and truth and the power that we need to follow
Speaker 3: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 3: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 3: God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it
Speaker 3: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 3: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
Speaker 3: the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or
Speaker 3: whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of
Speaker 3: the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We
Speaker 3: could not do this without your support. We're one hundred
Speaker 3: percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this
Speaker 3: broadcast and would you continue to support us.
Speaker 2: And let write to me, let me hear from you.
Speaker 3: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
Speaker 3: So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry,
Speaker 3: and God will bless it, and God will bless you,
Speaker 3: and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for
Speaker 3: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: just go to Pastor rick dot com. That's Pastorrick dot com,
Speaker 1: or you can text the word hope to seven oh
Speaker 1: three oh nine. That's the word hope to seven oh
Speaker 1: three oh nine. And really, from the bottom of our hearts,
Speaker 1: we thank you so much for your support. Your gift
Speaker 1: to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ
Speaker 1: with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next
Speaker 1: time when we look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastoris's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support.