Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the
Speaker 1: Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. We're so excited that
Speaker 1: you've joined us today. As we continue in this powerful
Speaker 1: series how the Church meets your deepest needs. Together, we're
Speaker 1: uncovering the joy and strength that comes from being a
Speaker 1: part of God's family. All right, here we go with
Speaker 1: part one of a message called Sharing your Hope with Others.
Speaker 2: We're in part three of a forty eight day journey
Speaker 2: on how God meets your five deepest needs through a
Speaker 2: local church family. So if you get out your message notes,
Speaker 2: one of your deepest needs is to leave a legacy
Speaker 2: behind you. Now, some people try to do this through accomplishments,
Speaker 2: or through achievements, or through writing a book or building
Speaker 2: the building put their name on it. But you know what,
Speaker 2: all of those things are going to leave a temporary
Speaker 2: legacy because they're all going to fade away. The only
Speaker 2: thing that's going to asked forever that's here, alive, right
Speaker 2: now and planet Earth, is God's family, the Church and
Speaker 2: the people that are in it. So if you really
Speaker 2: want to leave a lasting legacy, if you really want
Speaker 2: to make an eternal impact, the greatest thing you can
Speaker 2: do is bring somebody else into God's family with you.
Speaker 2: The greatest thing you can do for somebody is to
Speaker 2: secure their eternal salvation, because when you do that, guess
Speaker 2: what that person will thank you for the entire rest
Speaker 2: of eternity. I'm in heaven because of you. There's no
Speaker 2: greater legacy than bringing somebody into the family of God.
Speaker 2: So today what we're gonna do is we're gonna look
Speaker 2: at sharing your hope with others one of the five
Speaker 2: purposes of God for his church and for your life.
Speaker 2: And Jesus has a lot to say about this. In fact,
Speaker 2: he talked about it over and over and over. So
Speaker 2: let's begin with me pointing out just maybe four of
Speaker 2: the many, many statements of Jesus about sharing your hope
Speaker 2: with other people. That's talking about Christ to people who
Speaker 2: do I don't know Jesus yet, who haven't began that friendship.
Speaker 2: Let's look at a few verses there at the top
Speaker 2: of your outline. In Matthew, excuse me, Mark, chapter sixteen,
Speaker 2: Verse fifteen, Jesus said, wherever you go in the world,
Speaker 2: tell everyone the good news. Now I want you to
Speaker 2: notice he says, wherever you go in. In other words, as
Speaker 2: you're going. It's not like you have to make a
Speaker 2: special trip. He says. Wherever you go, just talk to me,
Speaker 2: talk to other people about me. Anywhere. Could be at
Speaker 2: the grocery store, could be at school, could be in
Speaker 2: a workout, when you go to a soccer game, when
Speaker 2: you go to a party, he says, everywhere you go,
Speaker 2: share the good news about me. Then, Jesus says in
Speaker 2: Acts chapter one, verse eight, he says, you will be
Speaker 2: my witnesses. Now, I want you to circle that word witnesses.
Speaker 2: God has called you to be a witness for him
Speaker 2: in the world. If you're a child of God, if
Speaker 2: you're in the family of God, then he says, I
Speaker 2: want you to be my witness. Now, do you know
Speaker 2: in a courtroom the difference in an attorney and a witness,
Speaker 2: big difference. An attorney's job is to make the case.
Speaker 2: An attorney's job is to present the evidence. An attorney's
Speaker 2: job is to call for a decision. That's not your job.
Speaker 2: He says. He didn't say you will be my attorneys.
Speaker 2: He says you will be my witnesses. What does a
Speaker 2: witness do? A witness just says, I saw this. That
Speaker 2: guy walked from point A to point B. I saw
Speaker 2: this happen. All you do is tell your story. God
Speaker 2: doesn't expect you to be a defense attorney for him.
Speaker 2: He doesn't need any attorneys. But he does expect you
Speaker 2: to be a witness and say, this is what happened
Speaker 2: in my life. Now. Another verse where Jesus talks about
Speaker 2: sharing your hope is in Matthew twenty eight, verses eighteen
Speaker 2: and nineteen and twenty, which as we know, is called
Speaker 2: the Great Commission. And Jesus says, I have been given
Speaker 2: all authority. Why because he created the universe, So he's
Speaker 2: been given all authority over the universe. So he says,
Speaker 2: I've been given all authority, So go make disciples. Now,
Speaker 2: these were some of the very last words of Jesus
Speaker 2: before he goes back to heaven. It's called the Great Commission.
Speaker 2: It's what this saddlebacked church was built on. That verse,
Speaker 2: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. And we, he says,
Speaker 2: have been authorized to do this by Jesus, who owns
Speaker 2: all the authority in the universe. So really you are
Speaker 2: an agent of God. He says, I've been given all
Speaker 2: authority in the world. And so I'm authorizing you to
Speaker 2: go make disciples. That means bring people into the family
Speaker 2: of God, help them become followers of Jesus. Then one
Speaker 2: other verse that Jesus says in Matthew chapter four, verse nineteen,
Speaker 2: he actually said this verse at the very beginning of
Speaker 2: his ministry, as opposed to at the end. And he
Speaker 2: gathers a small group of of you know, fishermen and
Speaker 2: carpenters and just normal ordinary people, none of them have
Speaker 2: been to school and the higher education, and he says this,
Speaker 2: follow me, and I'll show you how to fish for people. Now,
Speaker 2: these are some of the very first words of Jesus
Speaker 2: to his followers. And I want you to note the logic.
Speaker 2: He says, follow me, and I'll teach you to fish
Speaker 2: for men. So the logic is, if you're not fishing,
Speaker 2: you're not really following. Hello, if you're not really fishing,
Speaker 2: you're not following. He says, follow me, and I'll make
Speaker 2: you a fisher of people. Teach you how to fish
Speaker 2: for people. The proof that you are truly in God's
Speaker 2: family is that you're bringing other people into God's family.
Speaker 2: Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you
Speaker 2: have you ever led anybody to faith in Christ. Now
Speaker 2: those are four verses from Jesus. Let me give you
Speaker 2: one more from Paul. In Second Corinthians, Chapter five, Verse twenty.
Speaker 2: Paul tells us we are Christ ambassadors. God uses us
Speaker 2: to speak as though Christ himself is making this appeal.
Speaker 2: God wants you to connect with Him in a friendship.
Speaker 2: The word for that in the theological term is the
Speaker 2: word reconciliation. God wants you to connect with Him in
Speaker 2: a friendship, to be reconciled to God. Now he says,
Speaker 2: we're ambassadors. What's an ambassador. Well, an ambassador is somebody
Speaker 2: who's a representative of a higher power. They don't actually
Speaker 2: have the power, but they represent the Queen of England
Speaker 2: or the president of the United States, or the government
Speaker 2: of Germany, or the government of China or Argentina or
Speaker 2: the Philippines, and these countries send out ambassadors all around
Speaker 2: the world. The Bible says that God says you you
Speaker 2: are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. That means everywhere you
Speaker 2: go you represent Jesus. Now you're either a good ambassador
Speaker 2: or a bad one. You are an ambassador, you are witness.
Speaker 2: The only question is whether you're an effective one or
Speaker 2: an ineffective one. Now, by the way, this is where
Speaker 2: the term Christian comes from. You know, the word Christian
Speaker 2: actually just means little Christ. And as the Church began
Speaker 2: to grow after Jesus was resurrected, then these little christ
Speaker 2: these ambassadors of Jesus went out all over the Middle
Speaker 2: East and then all over Europe. And that's where we
Speaker 2: get the term Christian or Christian. It means I'm just
Speaker 2: a little Christ. I'm an ambassador. Now, from just these
Speaker 2: four verses, we can conclude an important fact about your life.
Speaker 2: I want you to write this down. The four verses
Speaker 2: by Christ and the one versus quote from Paul. Write
Speaker 2: this down. My job in God's family is to an
Speaker 2: invite others to join us. My job in God's family
Speaker 2: is to invite others to join us in God's family. Now,
Speaker 2: I know what many of you are thinking. You're thinking,
Speaker 2: you know, Rick, I'm just not qualified to do this.
Speaker 2: And you think it requires some kind of special personality,
Speaker 2: or you have to be a salesman and you have
Speaker 2: to be good at closing the deal and persuading people.
Speaker 2: And maybe it requires a personality trait that you don't
Speaker 2: possess or maybe you're shy or you have no confidence
Speaker 2: in doing this. Well, what I want to do today
Speaker 2: in this message just two things. First, I want to
Speaker 2: share with you five things that you need to remember
Speaker 2: that are going to give you confidence. If you'll remember
Speaker 2: these things, you'll have confidence in being an ambassador of
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ and in sharing your hope in Christ. Five
Speaker 2: things to remember. Then I want to give you six
Speaker 2: things that you can actually do this week from God's word,
Speaker 2: practical ways of how to be an ambassador for Jesus
Speaker 2: Christ and how to share your hope with others. All right,
Speaker 2: So first let's look at five things to remember that
Speaker 2: are going to give you confidence. You ready, right, He's
Speaker 2: down Number one. Everybody I meet has the same longings
Speaker 2: that I do. Everybody you meet. Everybody I meet have
Speaker 2: the same inner longings that I do that you do.
Speaker 2: You see, you didn't stop becoming a human being when
Speaker 2: you were born again into the family of God. You
Speaker 2: still have the same basic human drives and desires and
Speaker 2: longings that everybody else does. Why Because God created us all.
Speaker 2: God put those longings in us. In the Bible and
Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse eleven. The first part of that
Speaker 2: versus this God has planted eternity in the human heart.
Speaker 2: Now what does that mean, Well, it means that we
Speaker 2: all have dreams that there's mortal life than we're experiencing.
Speaker 2: And the fact is it's true. There is a whole
Speaker 2: lot more to life than we're experiencing. Because there's so
Speaker 2: much more to life than just getting out of bed
Speaker 2: and going to work and coming home to sleep and
Speaker 2: repeating the process over and over and over. Every human
Speaker 2: being was made for so much more than just get up,
Speaker 2: go to work, sleep and go back to work. Instinctively,
Speaker 2: inside ourselves, every human being knows that something is missing,
Speaker 2: and we try to fill that heart. We try to
Speaker 2: fill that hole in our heart with many different things,
Speaker 2: but it's a God shape vacuum that only God can fill.
Speaker 2: You can't fill it with sex or salary, or status
Speaker 2: or money or passions or possession or position. We try
Speaker 2: to fill it with so many different things. You know,
Speaker 2: today many people have built their lives and trying to
Speaker 2: achieve what is called the good life, in other words,
Speaker 2: looking good, feeling good, having the goods. The only problem
Speaker 2: with the good life is it's not good enough. It
Speaker 2: leaves us unsatisfied. It doesn't quench our hunger for meaning
Speaker 2: and significance, and that hunger can only be filled, only
Speaker 2: be satisfied with what Bible calls the better life, the
Speaker 2: better life. Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse fifteen, and the
Speaker 2: message paraphrase says this, Jesus included everyone in his death
Speaker 2: so everyone could be included in his life, a resurrection life,
Speaker 2: a far better life. You might circle that if you're
Speaker 2: taking notes, a far better life than people ever lived
Speaker 2: on their own. This is not the good life. There's
Speaker 2: something better than the good life. It's the better life.
Speaker 2: Jesus says it again in John chapter ten, verse ten,
Speaker 2: again the message paraphrase. He says, I've come so that
Speaker 2: you can have real life and eternal life, real and
Speaker 2: eternal life, a better life than you ever dreamed of.
Speaker 2: So what am I saying? That when we share our
Speaker 2: hope with other people, what we have to offer people
Speaker 2: is exactly what everyone is looking for, because we all
Speaker 2: have the same deep longings in life. We all long
Speaker 2: for security, doesn't matter what religious background you have. We
Speaker 2: all long for a sense of self worth. We all
Speaker 2: long for significance. We want our lives to matter. We
Speaker 2: all have a longing for belonging, to feel that we're
Speaker 2: connected to a family. We all have a yearning for learning,
Speaker 2: to feel like we're growing and developing and becoming more
Speaker 2: than we used to be. We all have a hunger
Speaker 2: for meaning and for purpose and for direction in life.
Speaker 2: And only our Creator can provide these things. Now, what
Speaker 2: am I saying that what we're offering to people is
Speaker 2: what everybody's looking for. We all have the same basic longings. Now,
Speaker 2: not only does everybody you meet have the same longings
Speaker 2: that you do. Number two, everybody has the same questions.
Speaker 2: Everybody that you meet, whether they believer or non believer,
Speaker 2: have the exact same questions that you do. In Ecclesiastes,
Speaker 2: chapter three, verse eleven, the Bible in this part says this,
Speaker 2: none of us can ever fully understand all God has done,
Speaker 2: but He puts questions in our minds about the past
Speaker 2: and about the future. You know, all those questions you
Speaker 2: have in your mind, they're from God. What are those
Speaker 2: questions that God puts in your mind? Questions like who
Speaker 2: am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?
Speaker 2: Does my life have any purpose? What happens after I die?
Speaker 2: What is my significance? What is the meaning of everything
Speaker 2: that happens to me? These are not small questions, but
Speaker 2: are the questions that everybody asks. And so when you
Speaker 2: talk to people, the answer to the fundamental questions of
Speaker 2: life are found in Jesus Christ and in his word.
Speaker 2: Let me give you a third thing that you need
Speaker 2: to remember that'll give you confidence in sharing your hope.
Speaker 2: Number three, most people don't really know what they believe.
Speaker 2: In fact, they often contradict themselves. Often contradict themselves. You know,
Speaker 2: people are often quick to label themselves. They'll say, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a Muslim, or I'm a Buddhist, like that's gonna
Speaker 2: shut you down. Or I'm a Hindu, or I'm an Atheist,
Speaker 2: or I'm some brand of Christianity or whatever. But you
Speaker 2: know what I've discovered, having talked to thousands of people,
Speaker 2: that when you scratch beneath the surface, you often find
Speaker 2: the people who adopt a certain label don't even know
Speaker 2: what that belief system believes. Last week, I was in Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. And I started a conversation with my taxi
Speaker 2: driver and he said, I'm a Muslim. But you know what,
Speaker 2: as I engaged him, I discovered he knew almost nothing
Speaker 2: about Islam. I probably knew what needed. In fact, at
Speaker 2: one point even said, you know, I think we all
Speaker 2: believe the same thing. Well, I guarantee it. Muhammad would
Speaker 2: certainly have agreed with that. He would have disagreed with that.
Speaker 2: We don't all believe the same thing. So if you
Speaker 2: think we do, it means you don't even know what
Speaker 2: you believe. So don't be turned off by titles and
Speaker 2: labels that people use as defenses. By the way, a
Speaker 2: lot of people claim to belie leave a certain way,
Speaker 2: but they sure don't act that way. For instance, I've
Speaker 2: had a lot of people tell me, well, you know, Rick,
Speaker 2: there are no absolutes in life. Well, first place, that's nonsense.
Speaker 2: That is an absolute statement. So you're contradicting yourself by
Speaker 2: the statement itself. But they say there are no absolutes
Speaker 2: in life. But I want to ask you stop at
Speaker 2: every stop light. Well, yeah, they live by rules that
Speaker 2: are based on absolutes every single second of their lives.
Speaker 2: Most people are inconsistent, and they contradict themselves over and over,
Speaker 2: and they're confused. But when you share your hope in Christ,
Speaker 2: it helps bring clarity. Clarity to their lives. First Corinthians
Speaker 2: chapter fourteen, verse thirty three says, this God is not
Speaker 2: a god of confusion. Okay, God is not a god
Speaker 2: of confusion, but is a god of peace. And in
Speaker 2: John chapter eight, verse thirty two, Jesus said, when you
Speaker 2: know the truth, the truth will set you free from confusion,
Speaker 2: free from contradiction, free from all these other things that
Speaker 2: bind up your life. Now here's a little secret that
Speaker 2: you need to understand about human behavior. Are you ready
Speaker 2: for this? People make almost all of their decisions, make
Speaker 2: almost all of their choices in life based on emotions,
Speaker 2: and then they go look for intellectual reasons to back
Speaker 2: up their emotional decisions. We only use logic often to
Speaker 2: back up an emotional decision that we want to make,
Speaker 2: and we make it on our gut or on our feelings,
Speaker 2: on our emotions. You know, I meet so many Christians
Speaker 2: who are afraid of being a witness, of talking to
Speaker 2: anybody about the Lord because they think they're going to
Speaker 2: have to argue intellectual ideas. When the truth is, most
Speaker 2: intellectuals are making their decisions based on emotions and feeling.
Speaker 2: And anyone can deal with emotions and can deal with
Speaker 2: feelings you don't have to be an intellectual to do that.
Speaker 2: Let me give you fourth thing. Write this down. Anyone
Speaker 2: can be saved if I listen for the key to
Speaker 2: their heart. Anyone can be saved if I listen for
Speaker 2: the key to their heart, and that key is their
Speaker 2: unmet need or hidden hurt. They're unmet need or hidden hurt.
Speaker 2: You know. In Romans chapter three, verse twenty three, it
Speaker 2: says this everyone falls short of God's glorious ideal. What
Speaker 2: does that mean? Well, what it means is that I
Speaker 2: don't measure up to my own standards, much less God's
Speaker 2: perfect standards. And it means that we all have habits,
Speaker 2: and we all have hurts, and we all have hang ups,
Speaker 2: and we all live in a broken world. We all
Speaker 2: fall short of God's glorious ideals. So guess what. We
Speaker 2: all have hurts and habits, and you know, things in
Speaker 2: our lives that are secret that we don't want other
Speaker 2: people to know about. You can discern these things by
Speaker 2: listening to what is. It's the deepest hurt in a
Speaker 2: person's heart. And if you discern that, guess what you've
Speaker 2: just discovered? How to lead them to Jesus? Now listen
Speaker 2: to this. There's only one way to God the Father,
Speaker 2: and that is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am
Speaker 2: the way, the truth in life. No one comes with
Speaker 2: the Father but by me. But there are many reasons,
Speaker 2: in many ways that people come to Jesus. Did you
Speaker 2: hear that there's only one way to God the Father,
Speaker 2: that's through Jesus. But there are many reasons that people
Speaker 2: come to Jesus. Some people came to Jesus for a miracle.
Speaker 2: Some came to Jesus because of a question. Some came
Speaker 2: out of loneliness and the same as you today. Some
Speaker 2: people come with questions and loneliness. Some people come out
Speaker 2: of guilt and shame. Other people come to Christ because
Speaker 2: they're afraid. They're going through a fearful experience. Some people
Speaker 2: are looking for purpose. Some people have a physical need
Speaker 2: that draws them to God. Others have an emotional need
Speaker 2: that draws them to God. Others have a relational crisis
Speaker 2: or a finance central crisis. There are thousands of different
Speaker 2: reasons people turn to God. Stress and pain and suffering
Speaker 2: all have a way of getting our attention. Now, if
Speaker 2: you really want to reach somebody for the Lord, you
Speaker 2: find their felt need or they're hidden hurt their unmet need.
Speaker 2: And you'll find that this is the key to opening
Speaker 2: up the conversation. That means you're gonna have to listen.
Speaker 2: Number five. Fifth thing you need to remember, and this
Speaker 2: is going to give you confidence. Remember this. People have excuses,
Speaker 2: but we have God's Holy Spirit and the truth. They
Speaker 2: only have excuses, they only have You know their excuses.
Speaker 2: But we have God's Holy Spirit in us and we
Speaker 2: have the truth. And in that matchup, the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: and truth are always going to win. Eventually, you see
Speaker 2: you're not alone. When you share your hope in Christ.
Speaker 2: God is with you, and the Holy Spirit is working
Speaker 2: in that other person's heart while you're talking. They've only
Speaker 2: got themselves. You've got you and God's Holy Spirit. That
Speaker 2: should give you a lot of confidence. Tewod Timothy one
Speaker 2: seven and eight, and the Living Bible says this, the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, God's gift to you does not want you
Speaker 2: to be afraid of people. He doesn't want you to
Speaker 2: be afraid of people, but he wants you to be
Speaker 2: wise and strong and to love them and enjoy being
Speaker 2: with them. And if you will stir up this inner power,
Speaker 2: God's power inside you, his Holy Spirit. You will never
Speaker 2: be afraid to tell others about our Lord. That's sick
Speaker 2: of Timothy. You'll never be afraid to tell others about
Speaker 2: the Lord if you realize the Holy Spirit's power and
Speaker 2: God's truth is in you. You know. Another verse that
Speaker 2: deals with this is in Luke chapter twenty one, in
Speaker 2: verses thirteen to fifteen contemporary English version, Jesus says this
Speaker 2: he's talking to his followers. This will be your chance
Speaker 2: to tell others about your faith. But don't worry about
Speaker 2: what you'll say in yourself. I will give you the
Speaker 2: wisdom to know what to say. So many times we
Speaker 2: get anticipatory fear. We think, I don't know what to
Speaker 2: say to that person at the office. I don't know
Speaker 2: what to say to that person, that soccer mom, or
Speaker 2: that neighbor. Well, God says, I will tell you what
Speaker 2: to say when you need it, and you'll find that
Speaker 2: God does it in such an amazing way.
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 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 2: Great Commission. We believe it daily Hope that a great
Speaker 2: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
Speaker 2: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 2: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 2: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 2: and truth, and the power that we need to follow
Speaker 2: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 2: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 2: God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it
Speaker 2: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 2: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
Speaker 2: the website, whether you listen on a radio station or
Speaker 2: whether you listen to a podcast, You're a part of
Speaker 2: the Daily Hope family and I need your help. We
Speaker 2: could not do this without your support. We're one hundred
Speaker 2: listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast
Speaker 2: and would you continue to support us? And let write
Speaker 2: to me, let me hear from you. I absolutely love
Speaker 2: reading the stories that are sent to me. So write me,
Speaker 2: pray for me, and support this ministry, and God will
Speaker 2: bless it, and God will bless you, and we'll get
Speaker 2: to heaven, and we'll thank God for all the people
Speaker 2: 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 Pastorick dot com. That's Pastorick 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 Pastor Rick's daily hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support