Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, we are so glad you're here with us today.
Speaker 1: On Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Rick Warren continues with an
Speaker 1: inspiring news series called what does it Really Mean to
Speaker 1: Follow Jesus Now. In this powerful teaching, Rick dives into
Speaker 1: God's Word to explore how we grow spiritually represent Christ
Speaker 1: in the world and find our place in God's family
Speaker 1: through the church. It's a fresh look at discipleship, purpose
Speaker 1: and the life changing power of spiritual community. All right,
Speaker 1: and now here's part two of a message called we
Speaker 1: are Ambassadors.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this in Philippians chapter three. Here on
Speaker 2: the screen, comparing believers and unbelievers, he says, all the
Speaker 2: other people think about is life on earth. They're not
Speaker 2: thinking about eternity. They're not thinking about what's after this.
Speaker 2: They're just thinking about here and now. Get all you can, can,
Speaker 2: all you get, sit on the can and all the rest.
Speaker 2: You know, the one where the most toys wins. Now
Speaker 2: the one with the most toys still dies. And your
Speaker 2: valuable and your value is not have nothing to do,
Speaker 2: and your self worth and your net worth have nothing
Speaker 2: in common. Life is not about the acquisition of things.
Speaker 2: So he says don't don't get caught up in the
Speaker 2: thing that you think that life is all about things.
Speaker 2: The greatest things in life aren't things, he says. Other
Speaker 2: people they're always thinking about what life is like here
Speaker 2: on earth. He said, you are citizens in heaven. We
Speaker 2: are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.
Speaker 2: You know, I really have thought that sometimes we ought
Speaker 2: to offer Christians green cards because our citizenship really is
Speaker 2: in heaven. He says, That's where your home is. That's
Speaker 2: that's God's family, and you're just here on earth. We
Speaker 2: get a green card right now. You know, when I
Speaker 2: was thinking about this message, I nearly brought my diplomatic passport.
Speaker 2: I actually have the Nation of Ruan because I've been
Speaker 2: there so many times, has given me a diplomatic passport,
Speaker 2: which is really doesn't mean a whole lot except when
Speaker 2: you're in New York, because it means that you cannot
Speaker 2: get fined for parking violations. So that's a really good
Speaker 2: thing because in New York, if you're within twenty five
Speaker 2: miles of the United Nations, if you have diplomatic passport,
Speaker 2: you have diplomatic immunity from all of parking violations. So
Speaker 2: thank you God, you know, but it really is a
Speaker 2: diplomatic passport. It's not that helpful. And other places hadn't
Speaker 2: got any out of any bad message yet. But the
Speaker 2: Bible says that life is a test, and life is
Speaker 2: a trust, and life is a temporary assignment. And we're
Speaker 2: in foreign culture and we've got a green card, and
Speaker 2: this really isn't our ultimate home. We really our ultimate
Speaker 2: home is in heaven. You're only going to be here
Speaker 2: for eighty years. You're on temporary assignment. Now what am
Speaker 2: I supposed to do while I'm here? Have you ever
Speaker 2: thought about this? After you become a believer, after you
Speaker 2: accept God's salvation, once your sins are forgiven, and you
Speaker 2: know you're going to heaven, why didn't God just take
Speaker 2: you on right then? Have you ever thought about that?
Speaker 2: I mean, once you're saved, why didn't God just kill you? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean, because ultimately you're going to heaven anyway, why
Speaker 2: should He leave you here for another twenty thirty, forty
Speaker 2: or however many years? It is with all its sins, suffering, sorrow, sadness, depression, despair, discouragement, problems,
Speaker 2: you know, pressures and difficulties and trials and tribulations and tears,
Speaker 2: And if you're going to go to a perfect place anyway,
Speaker 2: why doesn't he just take you there the moment he
Speaker 2: knows for sure you've accepted the invitation. Once you're in,
Speaker 2: why does he leave you here on earth to be
Speaker 2: an ambassador? That's why? To be an ambassador. You see,
Speaker 2: there's only two things things you can't do in heaven.
Speaker 2: You can have fun in heaven. You can sleep in heaven.
Speaker 2: You can rest in heaven. You can fellowship with other
Speaker 2: people in heaven. You can pray, you can worship, you
Speaker 2: can be creative in heaven. You can eat in heaven,
Speaker 2: and no calories. All right, there are only two things
Speaker 2: you cannot do in heaven. One of them is sin
Speaker 2: because it's a perfect place, and the other is be
Speaker 2: an ambassador to unbelievers, tell people who don't know the
Speaker 2: good news the good news. So there's two things you
Speaker 2: can't do in heaven, sin and share your faith. Which
Speaker 2: of those two do you think God leaves you here
Speaker 2: to do? Hmm, let's just think about that one for
Speaker 2: a minute. Why does he leave you here on earth?
Speaker 2: He leaves you here to tell somebody else you're going
Speaker 2: to go to heaven because somebody told you. Have you
Speaker 2: been an ambassador to anybody else? Now, that's the role
Speaker 2: of an ambassador. I'm a representative, and I am I'm
Speaker 2: authorized to speak, and I've been given a mission to
Speaker 2: tell the good news to other people. And I got
Speaker 2: to remember that it's just a temporary assignment and this
Speaker 2: really isn't ultimately my home. So what am I supposed
Speaker 2: to do? Well? The Bible says three things. Let's look
Speaker 2: at it. As an ambassador. You have three responsibilities here
Speaker 2: on earth, and these are the things that God wants
Speaker 2: you to do as an ambassador. Number one, I must
Speaker 2: be an example. I must set an example for other people.
Speaker 2: The first thing God wants you to do is help
Speaker 2: other people know what God is like by being example
Speaker 2: of his character qualities love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, meekness,
Speaker 2: self control. Now, the Bible says this in one Peter
Speaker 2: Chapter two. People who do not believe are living all
Speaker 2: around you. That's kind of obvious. People who do not
Speaker 2: believe are living all around you, and they might say
Speaker 2: you're doing wrong. So live such good lives that they'll
Speaker 2: see the good things you do, and we'll give Glory
Speaker 2: to God. What's he saying there? The first job of
Speaker 2: an ambassador, whether it's of a country or of Jesus,
Speaker 2: is you set a good example. You set a good example.
Speaker 2: Every summer I take part of our team and we
Speaker 2: tour one particular continent to see how the peace plan
Speaker 2: is progressing with all of our churches and all of
Speaker 2: our network in that particular area. A year ago in
Speaker 2: the summertime, I took a team to Latin America and
Speaker 2: we went to Colombia and to Brazil, and to Uruguay
Speaker 2: and a bunch of different places. One of the places
Speaker 2: we went to was Argentina. And while we were in Argentina,
Speaker 2: we were in Buenos Aires, and the US embassy heard
Speaker 2: that the team from Saddleback was in town, and they
Speaker 2: asked us to come over and meet the ambassador who
Speaker 2: wanted to meet our team. So we went over to
Speaker 2: the embassy in Buenos Aires, and the guy was quite
Speaker 2: a nice guy. He had been an ambassador to several
Speaker 2: different countries in his lifetime and stationed at different missions,
Speaker 2: and so I was asking about what it was like
Speaker 2: to be an ambassador, and I said, what is the
Speaker 2: most difficult part of being an ambassador. He said, the
Speaker 2: fact is, you're never off duty. You're always being watched.
Speaker 2: Everywhere I go, people look at me. And for many people,
Speaker 2: I'm the only American they know, so they look at me.
Speaker 2: And he said, if I had an eight hour job,
Speaker 2: I can go home at night. And but he said,
Speaker 2: if after work, I go out to a restaurant, people
Speaker 2: are watching, say, isn't that the ambassador of the United States,
Speaker 2: And they see if I'm cranky to the waitress, if
Speaker 2: I'm an ugly American and I'm demanding and I'm grouchy,
Speaker 2: or if I'm egotistical or act like a prima donna.
Speaker 2: He said, We're always on, We're always being watched. We're
Speaker 2: always representing our country. What if you lived your life
Speaker 2: like that, that you realized that you're always on as
Speaker 2: an ambassador of Jesus Christ, then no matter where you go,
Speaker 2: you are the only Christians some people will ever know
Speaker 2: that the people around you, you're the only Bible that
Speaker 2: they will ever read. You are a living Bible, and
Speaker 2: as a representative of Jesus Christ, as an ambassador of Jesus,
Speaker 2: you're either a Bible or you're a libel. You either
Speaker 2: make God look good, or you make God look bad.
Speaker 2: And there's plenty of Christians who make God look bad?
Speaker 2: Would you agree with that? And they say stupid things,
Speaker 2: and they're dogmatic, and they're mean and they're cranky, and
Speaker 2: that's not a good day. See, there are two reasons
Speaker 2: why people don't know the Lord. One of them is
Speaker 2: they've never met a Christian and the other is they
Speaker 2: have and they say, if that's what a follower of
Speaker 2: Jesus is, no, thanks God. And so you need to
Speaker 2: realize that your life is to be an example in
Speaker 2: everything you do. When my kids were growing up, particularly
Speaker 2: in the teenage years, it used to bug them that
Speaker 2: I greeted everybody no matter wherever we went. You know,
Speaker 2: they said, Dad, do you always have to smile at everybody?
Speaker 2: I mean, you're in the grocery store and you're talking
Speaker 2: to people, and you're greeting people, and it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: if we're at the theater or we're at a baseball game,
Speaker 2: or you know, we're driving on the street, or you
Speaker 2: smile at everybody. Dad, you have to always smile. I said,
Speaker 2: I'm an ambassador. That's true. I'm an ambassador not because
Speaker 2: I'm a pastor, but because I'm a follower of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: and there are people out there in the community go
Speaker 2: I know who that guy is, that's Rick, and they
Speaker 2: want to know. Does his walk matches talk? Is he
Speaker 2: two different ways? One way at church and another way
Speaker 2: in the community. Is he genuinely kind to everybody? Is
Speaker 2: he friendly? Is he compassionate? Is he merciful? Is he polite?
Speaker 2: Does he take it into consideration other people's feelings. I
Speaker 2: am an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and so are you.
Speaker 2: And people are watching you all the time, so you
Speaker 2: must set an example. So my question is how well
Speaker 2: does your daily life represent Jesus? Can anybody tell from
Speaker 2: your example what God is like? I mean, if they
Speaker 2: look at you where they say, you know what, Jesus
Speaker 2: must be very kind because that guy's kind or she's kind.
Speaker 2: Jesus must be very patient because Jesus is in his
Speaker 2: life and he's patient. Jesus must be very forgiving because
Speaker 2: that guy doesn't hold it against you. He's forgiving. He
Speaker 2: returns good for evil. What does your life say about
Speaker 2: God to the people around you? You may not like it,
Speaker 2: but if you claim to be a follower of Christ,
Speaker 2: you are an ambassador you may be a lousy one
Speaker 2: or you may be a good one. But you are
Speaker 2: an ambassador. You represent Jesus in everything you do, whether
Speaker 2: you like it or not. So the first thing is
Speaker 2: I must set an example. Second responsibility of an ambassador,
Speaker 2: I must share the message. I have a message that
Speaker 2: God has given me, and he wants me to share
Speaker 2: it with other people. That's interesting that in politics or
Speaker 2: in diplomacy, ambassadors are often used in history to end wars.
Speaker 2: Ambassadors are sent to negotiate the peace. Ambassadors are sent
Speaker 2: to sign the treaties. Ambassadors are sent to bring a
Speaker 2: reconciliation between warring entities and conflicting groups. And it's not
Speaker 2: an accident that God shows that term to refer to you.
Speaker 2: Where to help people make peace with God? Where to
Speaker 2: help people reconcile their relationship to God? Where to help
Speaker 2: people make their peace with Him? Now, God is very
Speaker 2: clear about the message he expects you to share. So
Speaker 2: let's read it. Two Corinthians five, verses seventeen to nineteen
Speaker 2: says this, anybody, anyone who is joined to Christ becomes
Speaker 2: a new person. The old is gone, says you know,
Speaker 2: all your past is wiped out. Forgive and forgotten. You
Speaker 2: get a clear conscience, he says. You get a chance
Speaker 2: to start over. And most of the world is hungry
Speaker 2: for that. They want to know, how do I get
Speaker 2: rid of guilt? How do I get rid of shame?
Speaker 2: How do I get rid of regrets? He says. Anybody
Speaker 2: who is joined to Christ becomes a new person. You
Speaker 2: get a fresh start in life. It's like being born
Speaker 2: a second time. In fact, the Bible calls it being
Speaker 2: born again. It's like getting a fresh start. All this
Speaker 2: is done by God. In other words, you don't do it,
Speaker 2: who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends
Speaker 2: and gave us the task of making others his friends. Also,
Speaker 2: that's our task as ambassadors, to make others the friends
Speaker 2: of God. Our message, here's the message, is that God
Speaker 2: was making all human beings as friends through Christ. That's
Speaker 2: why I sent Jesus. God did not keep an account
Speaker 2: of their sins. You forgave it all, and He's given
Speaker 2: us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.
Speaker 2: If this passage just fill with spiritual truth, so let
Speaker 2: me point out a couple things. Number one, the first
Speaker 2: part of our message is this Jesus offers everybody a
Speaker 2: new life, so that anybody's joined the Christ becomes a
Speaker 2: new person. This is the message of regeneration, the message
Speaker 2: of a new birth, or message of you get a
Speaker 2: brand new life. Would you like a chance to start over?
Speaker 2: Ever been halfway through painting a room? He said, wish
Speaker 2: I could start over, halfway climbing up a mountain. Wish
Speaker 2: I could start over? Halfway through life? Go wish I
Speaker 2: could start over? God says, you can. I'll give you
Speaker 2: a brand new life. Jesus offers everybody a new life.
Speaker 2: Second part of our message is Jesus ends our war
Speaker 2: with God. Did you know that you're at war with
Speaker 2: God until you make peace with him? Where's the war?
Speaker 2: The war is the conflict in your soul on who's
Speaker 2: going to be God? You? God? And the Bible says
Speaker 2: every human being and all of humanity is in rebellion
Speaker 2: against God because I want to be God. I don't
Speaker 2: want God running my life. I want to run my life.
Speaker 2: I want to make my decisions. I don't want God
Speaker 2: telling me what to do. I want to do what
Speaker 2: I want to do. That is the attitude that got
Speaker 2: Satan kicked out of heaven. It's pride, the middle letter
Speaker 2: of pride is I, and the middle letter of sin
Speaker 2: is I. And he's saying, it is I that causes
Speaker 2: my problems, and that rebellion against God puts me at
Speaker 2: war with God. You may not realize it, but you're
Speaker 2: at war with God until you accept what Christ has
Speaker 2: done for you. And that conflict causes all of the
Speaker 2: problems in your life. This unknown stress, the subconscious pressure,
Speaker 2: the guilt, the fear, the anxiety, all those different things
Speaker 2: come from being out of whack with your creator. And
Speaker 2: so he says, we're at war with God. But God
Speaker 2: says God wants us, says as friends. That's the message
Speaker 2: of reconciliation. And then he says the third thing here,
Speaker 2: all of our war crimes have been forgiven. God just
Speaker 2: wipes him out. That's salvation. How does God do this.
Speaker 2: He does it through Jesus, and he does it out
Speaker 2: of love. Look of the next couple verses. God was
Speaker 2: in Christ making peace between the world and himself. That's
Speaker 2: what Jesus died for. In Christ, God did not hold
Speaker 2: the world guilty of its sin. That's good news. And
Speaker 2: he gave us this message of peace, which is, by
Speaker 2: the way, why we call it the Peace Plan. Saddleback's
Speaker 2: you know initiative all around the world, which we call
Speaker 2: the Peace Plan, is based on this verse. And the
Speaker 2: pea in peace stands for plant churches and promote reconciliation.
Speaker 2: Why God has said, we have a message of reconciliation.
Speaker 2: We have a message of peace. We have a message
Speaker 2: that says the warring parties are being brought together. God
Speaker 2: did not hold the world guilty of its sin, and
Speaker 2: he gave us the message of peace. So we have
Speaker 2: been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if
Speaker 2: God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ,
Speaker 2: be talking about every believer when we beg you to
Speaker 2: be at peace with God. Christ had no sin, but
Speaker 2: God made him become sin so that in Christ we
Speaker 2: could become right with God. In other words, God took
Speaker 2: all of our badness. God took it out of us
Speaker 2: and poured it on Christ. And he took of all
Speaker 2: of good God's good, Christ's goodness and poured it into us.
Speaker 2: And he said that made the peace. And we are
Speaker 2: workers together with God. Now, once you circle the phrase
Speaker 2: we've been sent to speak for Christ. That's the second
Speaker 2: thing we do as ambassadors. We share the message. Anybody
Speaker 2: bought a car in the last two or three years,
Speaker 2: because see your hands. Okay, everybody's bought a car a
Speaker 2: probably some point. Do you know this game that they
Speaker 2: play where you go to like a car dealership and
Speaker 2: you find the car you want, and the young you know,
Speaker 2: salesman is there, and then they take you inside and
Speaker 2: you sit down in the showroom and you start the
Speaker 2: deal and how much you're going to give me for
Speaker 2: my car and how much you're going to cut off
Speaker 2: the price of that car, and you think you got
Speaker 2: a deal, and all of a sudden, the salesman goes,
Speaker 2: excuse me, I have to go check with the manager,
Speaker 2: you know I'm talking about. And they play this game
Speaker 2: and it's good cop, Bad cop. I really want to
Speaker 2: give it to you like this, but I got to
Speaker 2: go check with the manager. So they go back into
Speaker 2: the inner sanctum where you can't go, and they're there
Speaker 2: for a little bit, and they wait along for a while,
Speaker 2: you know, And then they come back out and say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm sorry, but my manager won't let me
Speaker 2: give this. We're all good. Well, then I'm going to
Speaker 2: go and win it. You're not authorized to close the deal.
Speaker 2: Then I don't want to talk to you. I want
Speaker 2: to talk to the manager because I don't want to
Speaker 2: play this game of good cop bad cop of I'd
Speaker 2: really like to help you, but the bad guy won't
Speaker 2: let me. So let me just talk to the manager.
Speaker 2: And and this this little game of give and take.
Speaker 2: There means that I say, if you're not authorized to
Speaker 2: close the deal, why am I talking to you? Let
Speaker 2: me talk to the guys is authorized to close the deal.
Speaker 2: Here's the amazing thing when it comes to offering the
Speaker 2: deal of salvation. You you, you are authorized to close
Speaker 2: the deal. You don't have to go to the manager
Speaker 2: in the back office. You you can say to anybody,
Speaker 2: I'm an ambassador of Jesus Christ and i am a
Speaker 2: plury potent potentiary, which means I'm authorized to make the
Speaker 2: offer in Jesus' name. And I don't have to go
Speaker 2: check with anybody else. And here's the offer. All your
Speaker 2: sins and your past can be forgiven. You get a
Speaker 2: purpose for living, You get a home in heaven, and
Speaker 2: God promises to take care of your life here on
Speaker 2: earth until he takes you home to heaven. If you
Speaker 2: put your trust in faith in Jesus Christ, that's the deal.
Speaker 2: And you don't have to go check with anybody else.
Speaker 2: You are the ambassador. God has authorized every one of
Speaker 2: his children to speak on his behalf and to make
Speaker 2: that offer, and to not have to go say, well,
Speaker 2: let me go get my priest's opinion, or let me
Speaker 2: go get my pastor's opinion, let me go get somebody
Speaker 2: else's authority. No. No, you have been given the authority
Speaker 2: to close the deal, to make the offer of the
Speaker 2: message of peace to anybody out there. Would you like
Speaker 2: to have your sins forgiven? I can offer that to
Speaker 2: you to Jesus Christ. Would you like to have a
Speaker 2: home in heaven. I can offer that to you in
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. And I don't have to check with anybody
Speaker 2: else because you are an ambassador. Wow.
Speaker 1: Some powerful words from Pastor Rick. And now this really
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite parts of the broadcast. Letters
Speaker 1: from our listeners.
Speaker 2: Here's Rick. Hi, everybody today, I want to share a
Speaker 2: note that we receive from Darren. He wrote me. He
Speaker 2: calls daily Hope his morning cup of God because it
Speaker 2: helps him stay focused on God throughout the day. Darren
Speaker 2: wrote me this, he said, Pastor Rick, I thank God
Speaker 2: for daily Hope. I support daily hope because Christ Hope
Speaker 2: is for me and in me, and I support it
Speaker 2: because it sends Christ's message to people all over the world.
Speaker 2: He wrote, you know, I've dealt with my share of
Speaker 2: demons in my life. I've had cancer, huge financial losses, addictions,
Speaker 2: permanent disability, chronic pain, and depression. But Daily Hope gets
Speaker 2: me going in the morning. It's a cup of coffee
Speaker 2: for me. But if I haven't had my cup of
Speaker 2: God in the morning, then I feel like I'm less
Speaker 2: able to pass on the good news to others. So
Speaker 2: thank you, Pastor Rick. You know, daily Hope helps people
Speaker 2: like Darren get their lives back on track because it
Speaker 2: connects them not just with God, but with God's Word.
Speaker 2: And it is so important for each of us to
Speaker 2: spend time with God and in God's Word every day.
Speaker 2: So I want to encourage every one of you to
Speaker 2: make a daily habit of opening the Bible. Sit down
Speaker 2: and open the Bible. You may open it on a
Speaker 2: iPad or on your phone, but open the Bible to
Speaker 2: see what God says about how we're meant to live.
Speaker 2: God bless you everybody.
Speaker 1: To sign up for Rick's free daily devotional, go to
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. Be sure to
Speaker 1: join us next time as we look into God's word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.