Speaker 1: Now to understand your life purpose and understand your life calling,
Speaker 1: you have to begin with God because God created you
Speaker 1: and you can't tell yourself what your purpose is, only
Speaker 1: your creator can tell you what your purpose is. And
Speaker 1: your purpose, your calling in life actually begins in the
Speaker 1: nature of God. Now the Bible tells us that God
Speaker 1: is love. We have talked about this so many times.
Speaker 1: That God doesn't have love, God doesn't just show love,
Speaker 1: God is love. Love is the nature, the character, the
Speaker 1: essence of God. There would be no love in the
Speaker 1: universe if it weren't for the fact that God is love.
Speaker 1: The only reason you're able to love, the only reason
Speaker 1: you're able to give it and receive love is because God,
Speaker 1: who is a God of love, made you in his image.
Speaker 1: Ants can't love. Snails can't love. Cows can't love. But
Speaker 1: human beings love because we're made in the image of God.
Speaker 1: Now the Bible says that everything in the universe was
Speaker 1: created so God could love it. God has never made
Speaker 1: anything he doesn't love. He loves every rock, every tree,
Speaker 1: every plant, every animal, every human being. God has never
Speaker 1: made anything he doesn't love. So if you're alive, it
Speaker 1: means God loves you. And you were created as an
Speaker 1: object of God's love. The Bible says this in Ephesians
Speaker 1: chapter one, there on your outline. Long ago, even before
Speaker 1: he made the world, God loved us and chose us. Whoa,
Speaker 1: let me just stop right there. Before God even created
Speaker 1: the universe, he had already chosen you and loved you.
Speaker 1: He made the universe so he could make Earth, so
Speaker 1: he could make the human race, so he could make you,
Speaker 1: so he could love you. If God hadn't wanted to
Speaker 1: love you, all the other stuff wouldn't have happened. It says,
Speaker 1: before he made the world, God loved us and chose
Speaker 1: us in Christ to be holy and without fault.
Speaker 2: In his eyes.
Speaker 1: His unchanging plan has always been, from the very beginning
Speaker 1: of time, to adopt us into his own family by
Speaker 1: bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave
Speaker 1: him this plan to have a family. God wanted a
Speaker 1: family and he wanted you to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: And the reason the universe exists is because God wanted
Speaker 1: a family. It was all made so we could be made,
Speaker 1: so we could be loved. And he says, and this
Speaker 1: plan gave him, read it with me, great pleasure.
Speaker 2: Circle that, great pleasure.
Speaker 1: Now you remember when you read Purpose Driven Life, the
Speaker 1: Bible says you are planned for God's pleasure. And the
Speaker 1: reason you're alive is that God made you to love you.
Speaker 2: Now, that's all background. We all know that.
Speaker 1: In this series, when we look at the five callings
Speaker 1: of God, and the word calling is used far more
Speaker 1: than purpose in the Bible. When we look at God's
Speaker 1: calling on your life, we're talking about God's assignment, God's
Speaker 1: purpose for your life, God's reasons for creating you. I
Speaker 1: want you to write this down. The first purpose of
Speaker 1: my life is to be loved by God. The first
Speaker 1: purpose of my life, the first reason you were created
Speaker 1: is to be loved by God. God made you to
Speaker 1: love you. Now let that sink in a little bit.
Speaker 1: The first purpose of your life is not to serve God.
Speaker 1: The first purpose of your life is not to trust God.
Speaker 1: The first purpose of your life is not to obey God.
Speaker 1: The first purpose of your life is not even to
Speaker 1: love God. No, no, the first purpose of your life
Speaker 1: is to let God love you. God didn't create you
Speaker 1: in first place to do something. He created you in
Speaker 1: the first place to receive something. Now, if you understand
Speaker 1: this revolutionary truth, and most of you have never really
Speaker 1: got this, it's gonna transform your life. That my number
Speaker 1: one purpose in life is not to do something for God.
Speaker 2: It's to receive something from God, to get his love.
Speaker 1: Because I was made to be a receptacle, a receiver,
Speaker 1: a benefactor of God's love. Let that sink in. Let
Speaker 1: me say it again, because I don't want you to
Speaker 1: get this. Your first duty in life is not to
Speaker 1: do something. It's not to learn. It's not to listen.
Speaker 1: It's not to pray. It's not to give. It's not
Speaker 1: to sacrifice. It's not to serve. Those are all good things,
Speaker 1: but they're not the first thing God created you to do.
Speaker 1: He created you to accept, to receive his love, to
Speaker 1: just let God love you. That's the first purpose of life,
Speaker 1: to be loved by God. Now, this is taught all
Speaker 1: through the scriptures. In the book of Jude, and I
Speaker 1: always like to mention these little books that nobody ever reads.
Speaker 1: The book of Jude is a very short book. It's
Speaker 1: only one chapter, 25 verses. It's the second to the
Speaker 1: last book in the Bible, right before Revelation. And I
Speaker 1: always like to mention these, because when you get to heaven,
Speaker 1: I don't want my people to be embarrassed in heaven.
Speaker 1: And when Jude comes up to you and says, hey,
Speaker 1: how'd you like my book? I don't want you to go, oh, Mr. Jude,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know you were in the Bible.
Speaker 2: No. No, when he walks over, he goes, hey Jude.
Speaker 2: Loved your book. Loved that book, really good.
Speaker 1: In fact, one of my favorites, because it was only
Speaker 1: 25 verses. You could memorize the book of Jude. Now,
Speaker 1: very short book, but a lot of profound truth in it.
Speaker 1: And in Jude chapter one, verse one, it says this.
Speaker 1: This letter is from Jude.
Speaker 2: Jude.
Speaker 1: A servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
Speaker 1: Now I wanna stop here. That, friends, is one of
Speaker 1: the most humble statements ever written.
Speaker 2: You say, why?
Speaker 1: He says, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ and I'm
Speaker 1: a brother of James. He forgets to mention one thing.
Speaker 1: He's the half-brother of Jesus.
Speaker 2: You say, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: Jesus had brothers? Yes, Jesus had brothers and sisters. They're
Speaker 1: talked about in the Bible. When Mary gave birth to Jesus.
Speaker 1: She was a virgin. That was a miraculous birth because
Speaker 1: God was the father of Jesus Christ. But the Bible
Speaker 1: tells us that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph
Speaker 1: had many other children. They're mentioned in the Bible. One
Speaker 1: of them's named James. One of them's named Jude. Jesus
Speaker 1: had half sisters. And they often came to see him speak,
Speaker 1: watched him do miracles. The interesting thing about Jesus' brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters, none of them became followers of Jesus until
Speaker 1: after Jesus died on the cross and then rose again
Speaker 1: from the dead. And when they saw him resurrected from
Speaker 1: the dead, it was like he's back. And that made
Speaker 1: a believer even of his brothers and sisters. They go,
Speaker 1: he was who he claimed to be. They watched him
Speaker 1: die and they watched him come back to life. And
Speaker 1: it was only after that happened they became followers of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And Jude and James actually became leaders. I mean,
Speaker 1: now can you imagine how difficult it would be growing
Speaker 1: up with Jesus as your brother? But in Jude, it
Speaker 1: says this. This letter is from Jude, a servant of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. If anybody could have been the ultimate name dropper,
Speaker 1: it would have been this guy. But he says, I'm
Speaker 1: just a servant of Jesus and a brother of James.
Speaker 1: Doesn't even mention that thing. And I'm writing to all
Speaker 1: who are called to live in the love of God
Speaker 1: the Father. Circle the word called. And what am I
Speaker 1: called to do? I'm called to live in the love
Speaker 1: of God the love of God the Father, and in
Speaker 1: the care of Jesus Christ. Now, if the first purpose
Speaker 1: of my life is to be loved by God, my
Speaker 1: first calling is this. I'm called to enjoy a relationship
Speaker 1: with God.
Speaker 2: Write that one down. My purpose is to let God
Speaker 2: love me.
Speaker 1: My calling is to enjoy a relationship with God. I'm
Speaker 1: called to live in the love of God. It's a relationship.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying to you This is so fundamental, is
Speaker 1: that the number one calling in your life is not
Speaker 1: to a role, it's not to a responsibility, it's not
Speaker 1: to a bunch of rules, it's not to regulations, it's
Speaker 1: not to ritual, it's not to religion, it's to a relationship.
Speaker 1: Now this is gonna surprise some of you. Christianity is
Speaker 1: not a religion. People try to make it a religion.
Speaker 1: They try to make it about rules and regulations and rituals,
Speaker 1: but it's not about it.
Speaker 2: Jesus said it's about a relationship.
Speaker 1: God sent Christ so you could have a relationship, not
Speaker 1: a religion, but a relationship to God because God is
Speaker 1: love and he.
Speaker 2: Wants you to learn to experience his love.
Speaker 3: Do you ever wonder if your life really matters? or
Speaker 3: what on earth you're here for, Pastor Rick wants to
Speaker 3: let you know that God has a good plan and
Speaker 3: purpose for your life. In his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life,
Speaker 3: he lays out a simple, life-changing roadmap to help you
Speaker 3: discover and live it. This book has transformed millions of lives,
Speaker 3: and it could transform someone you love. And great news,
Speaker 3: it's been updated for today's generation. This edition includes a
Speaker 3: video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor Rick for each chapter,
Speaker 3: and two powerful bonus chapters on the biggest barriers to
Speaker 3: living a purpose-driven life. As you go through this book,
Speaker 3: you'll uncover that your deepest meaning and fulfillment doesn't come
Speaker 3: from success or status. but from understanding and living out
Speaker 3: the purpose that God created you for. Request your copy
Speaker 3: today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope
Speaker 3: share the gospel around the world. It's our way of
Speaker 3: saying thanks.
Speaker 1: Does God want you to be his soldier and fight
Speaker 1: his battles for right and wrong in the world? No.
Speaker 2: Does God want you to be his warrior?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Does God want you to be his worker? No. Does
Speaker 2: God want you to be his employee?
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: Does God want you to be his minions?
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: God wants you to be his son or his daughter.
Speaker 1: He wants you in his family. Here's what the Bible says,
Speaker 1: Romans chapter one. Dear friends in Rome, this is Paul writing.
Speaker 2: God wants, loves you dearly. Circle that word dearly. God
Speaker 2: loves you dearly.
Speaker 1: And he has called you, there's that word, here's the
Speaker 1: calling of God, he has called you to be his
Speaker 1: very own people. So here are the three fundamental truths
Speaker 1: of everything we're doing in this campaign. The first purpose
Speaker 1: is to be loved by God. That's my first purpose.
Speaker 1: My first calling is to enjoy a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: And number three, that relationship that God wants me to
Speaker 1: have is.
Speaker 2: To be his son or daughter.
Speaker 1: The relationship God created you for is to be his
Speaker 1: son or his daughter. Now that is the most amazing
Speaker 1: truth you will ever hear in your life. That the
Speaker 1: King of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator of
Speaker 1: the universe doesn't want you to be a slave servant
Speaker 1: soldier but his son and.
Speaker 2: His daughter. and his child.
Speaker 1: God wants a family to love, and he wants you
Speaker 1: in it. Here's what the Bible says, 1 John chapter 3.
Speaker 1: What an incredible quality of love the Father has shown
Speaker 1: to us that we should be named and called and
Speaker 1: counted the children of God. And so we are. I
Speaker 1: love that in the Amplified. We're named the children of God.
Speaker 1: We're called the children of God. We're counted the children
Speaker 1: of God because we are the children of God. This
Speaker 1: is your number one calling in life. Your number one
Speaker 1: purpose in life is not to accomplish something. Your number
Speaker 1: one purpose in life is not to make something of yourself.
Speaker 1: Your number one purpose in life is not to make
Speaker 1: a lot of money, to be famous, to have a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Your number one purpose in life, God
Speaker 1: created you and called you to be loved by him,
Speaker 1: to experience that love. And most people have never truly
Speaker 1: experienced the love of God. Oh, they've heard about it.
Speaker 1: Everybody here said, oh, God loves you. Yeah, yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: God loves me. The very fact that you're bored by
Speaker 1: that means you don't get it. Because if you got it,
Speaker 1: you would be so excited about it. You've never experienced it.
Speaker 1: You've heard it in your head, but you don't have
Speaker 1: it in your heart. And a lot of people are
Speaker 1: gonna miss heaven by 18 inches. because they got it
Speaker 1: here and they don't got it here.
Speaker 2: They don't have it here.
Speaker 1: You've got to experience God's love in your life. He says,
Speaker 1: we're named and called and counted children of God. Now,
Speaker 1: why in the world would God do that in order
Speaker 1: to express his love? And God's love is extravagant and
Speaker 1: God's love is lavish And God's love is beyond comprehension.
Speaker 1: And as I've said so many times, he loves you
Speaker 1: on your good days and bad days when you feel
Speaker 1: it and don't feel it, when you think you deserve it,
Speaker 1: when you don't think you deserve it. You can't make
Speaker 1: God stop loving you. God will never love you any
Speaker 1: more than he does this second. God will never love
Speaker 1: you any less than he does this second. Because God's
Speaker 1: love is not based on who you are or what
Speaker 1: you do, it's based on who he is, God.
Speaker 2: Is love. So I'll say it again, because I want
Speaker 2: you to get it.
Speaker 1: Your number one calling in life is not to do something,
Speaker 1: to impress God with what you do. Your number one
Speaker 1: calling in life is to receive something, to let God
Speaker 1: love you. Now the Bible says this in Ephesians 3,
Speaker 1: I pray that Christ.
Speaker 2: Will be more and more at home in your hearts.
Speaker 2: as you trust.
Speaker 1: In other words, that you get more and more comfortable
Speaker 1: with Jesus in your life. May your roots go down
Speaker 1: deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. Your life
Speaker 1: needs to be rooted in the love of God. And
Speaker 1: he says, and may you have the power to understand,
Speaker 1: as all of God's people should, how wide and how
Speaker 1: high along and how high and how deep His love
Speaker 1: really is. And may you experience the love of Christ.
Speaker 1: Not just know it, circle the word experience. God says,
Speaker 1: I want you to feel love. I don't want you
Speaker 1: to know your love. I want you to feel it.
Speaker 1: I want you to feel it in every fiber of
Speaker 1: your life. May you experience emotionally the love of Christ.
Speaker 1: Though it is so great, you'll never fully understand it.
Speaker 1: Now the Bible says, that part of your calling is
Speaker 1: to understand how wide, long, high, and deep God's love
Speaker 1: for you is. So let me explain it to you.
Speaker 1: Write this down. How wide is God's love? Well, write
Speaker 1: this down. It's wide enough to be everywhere. That's how
Speaker 1: wide it is. There is no place on this planet
Speaker 1: that God's love isn't. There's no place in the universe
Speaker 1: that God's love isn't. It's in the bar where a
Speaker 1: bunch of people are drunk. It's in the red light
Speaker 1: district where people are being sold and selling their bodies.
Speaker 1: It's in the barrio, the slum, the favela, the ghetto.
Speaker 1: It's in the place of the poorest of the poor.
Speaker 1: It's in every, there is no place where God's love
Speaker 1: is not. You say, well, I don't see it there. Well,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it's there and it's not there. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of things you can't see that are real,
Speaker 1: that are reality, you just can't see them. For instance,
Speaker 1: right now through this airwave, there are radio waves going
Speaker 1: through this air between me and you. Actually, these radio
Speaker 1: waves are going through your body right now and they
Speaker 1: carry music. And there are television waves right now going
Speaker 1: through the air that are carrying colored pictures. You can't
Speaker 1: see them and you can't hear them unless you have
Speaker 1: a receiver and you are tuned in They're real, you
Speaker 1: just can't see them. We can't see God here right now.
Speaker 1: You don't see him, but he's here, he's real. And
Speaker 1: if you tune in, you'll experience it. If you get
Speaker 1: on God's wavelength, you will experience his love. You will
Speaker 1: know he is as real as I am standing here today,
Speaker 1: but you gotta tune in. And just because you can't
Speaker 1: feel him or see him right now doesn't mean he's
Speaker 1: not there. You can't see those radio waves. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that you can't see. You can't
Speaker 1: see an atom, but everything in life is composed of atoms.
Speaker 2: So how wide is life? It's wide enough to be everywhere.
Speaker 1: That means in your life, there will be no place
Speaker 1: you go where God is not. And although you may
Speaker 1: feel lonely and you may feel alone at different points
Speaker 1: in your life, you will never, ever, ever truly be
Speaker 1: alone because God's love is there whether you are aware
Speaker 1: It's wide enough to be everywhere. Number two, it's long.
Speaker 1: How long is God's love? It's long enough to last forever.
Speaker 1: Now that makes it different than human love because human
Speaker 1: love wears out and that's why we have divorces and
Speaker 1: that's why we have breakups. That's why we have conflict
Speaker 1: and that's why we have people estranged from each other
Speaker 1: that are not reconciled because human love often wears out.
Speaker 1: But God's love never wears out. God will never, never, never, never, never,
Speaker 1: never stop loving you. Even if you chose to reject
Speaker 1: him and go to hell, God will still love you.
Speaker 1: Because God's love is eternal. He made you to love you.
Speaker 1: God loves you with an everlasting love. It's long enough
Speaker 1: to last forever. How deep is God's love? It's deep
Speaker 1: enough to handle anything. Deep enough to handle no matter
Speaker 1: what pain you're going through, what problem you're going through,
Speaker 1: or what hurt you're going through. God's love is deeper still.
Speaker 1: You say, man, I'm in the pits. I've hit bottom.
Speaker 1: I'm in the pit of hell right now.
Speaker 2: I'm in the pit of despair. I can't get any
Speaker 2: lower than I am. Well, let me tell you what.
Speaker 1: God's love goes deeper and lower than your problem. There
Speaker 1: is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper.
Speaker 1: It is deeper than any problem you're going to ever have,
Speaker 1: deep enough to handle anything.
Speaker 2: And how about height? How high is God's love? Listen
Speaker 2: to this.
Speaker 1: It is high enough to overlook my sins, to overlook
Speaker 1: my faults, to overlook my mistakes. Because of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: God is able to overlook my faults, my failures, my flubs,
Speaker 1: my sin, my rebellion. And God offers forgiveness through the
Speaker 1: cross because of his love, and he offers you a
Speaker 1: fresh chance to start over. Now, one million years ago,
Speaker 1: before anything existed, God had already thought.
Speaker 2: Of you and decided to choose you and love you.
Speaker 1: And God has been waiting your entire life for this
Speaker 1: very moment where he could get you to sit still
Speaker 1: for just a minute and he could say this to you.
Speaker 2: You have no idea how much I love you. I
Speaker 2: have always loved you.
Speaker 1: There has never been a moment of your existence that
Speaker 1: I didn't love you. I was the one who planned
Speaker 1: your birth. I allowed that fertilization. I allowed that conception.
Speaker 1: I wanted you alive so I could love you. And
Speaker 1: I saw you formed in your mother's womb. I saw
Speaker 1: you take your first breath. I heard your first cry.
Speaker 1: There's been no moment of your life that I've turned
Speaker 1: my back from you, that I have not listened to you,
Speaker 1: that I have not watched you. I saw every pain
Speaker 1: you go through, every sin you've ever done, the celebrations
Speaker 1: and the sadness, the happy times and the sad times,
Speaker 1: the grief, the pain, the exhilaration. I've been there at
Speaker 1: every moment of your life. And whether you realized it
Speaker 1: or not, I was gazing on you in love because
Speaker 1: I made you To love you. So here's the question.
Speaker 1: I wrote you this on an email this week. How
Speaker 1: would your life change? How would your life be different?
Speaker 1: How would it be transformed if you began to be
Speaker 1: aware of God's unconditional, continuous, and never-ending love for you?
Speaker 1: How would your life change if when you got up
Speaker 1: in the morning, the first thing you felt was, I
Speaker 1: am deeply and unconditionally loved by God. And as you
Speaker 1: got out of bed and you went to take your shower,
Speaker 1: you'd think, I can sense God's love in my life.
Speaker 1: And how would it be as you got ready and
Speaker 1: you ate your breakfast, you felt the love of God.
Speaker 1: And as you got in your car to go to work,
Speaker 1: you felt the love of God. And as you got
Speaker 1: to work or you got to school, you felt the
Speaker 1: love of God. And when you came home and you
Speaker 1: went to a movie or you watched some TV or
Speaker 1: you worked out in your backyard, you were sensing God's love.
Speaker 2: What would it be.
Speaker 1: Like if you felt God's love unconditionally in your life
Speaker 1: totally and you were aware of it all the time?
Speaker 2: How would that change your life? Hi, everybody. This is
Speaker 2: Pastor Rick.
Speaker 1: Because of the generous support of many of you Daily
Speaker 1: Hope listeners, we're able to offer Daily Hope devotionals for
Speaker 1: free worldwide. In fact, today I have a note from
Speaker 1: Paul in Kenya that shows how God is at work
Speaker 1: through the Daily Hope devotionals. Paul wrote me, he said,
Speaker 1: I'd like to sincerely thank you with the free gift
Speaker 1: of your Daily Hope devotionals. May God receive all the glory.
Speaker 1: For some time now, your inspiring and encouraging messages, along
Speaker 1: with scripture references, have helped me push through some really
Speaker 1: tough times and get closer to God.
Speaker 2: However, Paul writes, the.
Speaker 1: Best part is that my faith in God has now
Speaker 1: grown to the point that he recently gave me the
Speaker 1: strength and wisdom to accept his free undeserved gift of
Speaker 1: grace and salvation by accepting and confessing Jesus Christ as
Speaker 1: my Lord and Savior. I feel like a new being.
Speaker 2: And I yearn to keep growing.
Speaker 1: More and more in God's word and in wisdom, surrendering
Speaker 1: my life to his will alone. So please hold my
Speaker 1: hand in this journey to the glory and honor of
Speaker 1: God through Christ Jesus. Paul, without a doubt, I will
Speaker 1: hold your hand as you journey with Jesus. There is
Speaker 1: no greater decision that you could have made than believing
Speaker 1: and receiving Jesus Christ. So congratulations. You're my brother in Christ.
Speaker 1: And I want to encourage you to be on the
Speaker 1: lookout every day to see how God guides you, how
Speaker 1: God directs you. It's an exciting journey. And by the way,
Speaker 1: keep studying his word every day. Get a Bible and
Speaker 1: read it every day. I'm so thankful that Daily Hope
Speaker 1: Devotional is helping you to do just that. Now, the
Speaker 1: Daily Hope Devotional is helping many, many people, just like Paul,
Speaker 1: all around the world, to grow closer to God. And
Speaker 1: it's free. If you're not getting it, I want to
Speaker 1: encourage you to go to dailyhopetv.com and sign up today.
Speaker 3: Do you ever wonder if your life really matters or
Speaker 3: what on earth you're here for? Pastor Rick wants to
Speaker 3: let you know that God has a good plan and
Speaker 3: purpose for your life. In his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life,
Speaker 3: he lays out a simple, life-changing roadmap to help you
Speaker 3: discover and live it. This book has transformed millions of lives,
Speaker 3: and it could transform someone you love. And great news!
Speaker 3: It's been updated for today's generation. This edition includes a
Speaker 3: video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor Rick for each chapter.
Speaker 3: and two powerful bonus chapters on the biggest barriers to
Speaker 3: living a purpose-driven life. As you go through this book,
Speaker 3: you'll uncover that your deepest meaning and fulfillment doesn't come
Speaker 3: from success or status, but from understanding and living out
Speaker 3: the purpose that God created you for. Request your copy
Speaker 3: today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope
Speaker 3: share the gospel around the world. It's our way of
Speaker 3: saying thanks. Thank you.