Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today, Pastor Rick kicks off a
Speaker 1: series called Forty Days of Love. In these lessons, Rick
Speaker 1: looks into the Bible to help you understand God's great
Speaker 1: love for you and to empower you to love others
Speaker 1: the way Jesus does. But first, in just a bit,
Speaker 1: we'll tell you how to get Pastor Rick's forty Days
Speaker 1: of Love Bible study with six video sessions and workbook.
Speaker 1: It's perfect for individual studying and also great to do
Speaker 1: with a small group of friends. You can take a
Speaker 1: sneak peek by going to Pastorick dot com while you listen,
Speaker 1: or just text the word hope to eight hundred, six
Speaker 1: hundred five thousand and four. That's the word hope to
Speaker 1: eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,
Speaker 1: here's Pastor Rick with part one of a message called
Speaker 1: It's all about out Love.
Speaker 2: How would you complete this sentence? My number one goal
Speaker 2: in life is and I want you to think about
Speaker 2: that for a minute. My number one goal in life,
Speaker 2: what is most important to me is how would you
Speaker 2: complete that sense? What word? What phrase would you use?
Speaker 2: Would you say, my number one goal in life is
Speaker 2: to be happy, or my number one goal in life
Speaker 2: is to be loved, or my number one goal in
Speaker 2: life is to succeed at my career. How would you
Speaker 2: answer that question? My number one goal in life is comfort,
Speaker 2: or have fun, or retire or get married and raise
Speaker 2: a family. My number one goal in life is to
Speaker 2: be well known popular, How would you answer that question?
Speaker 2: It's very, very important, and if you haven't ever thought
Speaker 2: it through, you need to think it through and consciously
Speaker 2: understand it. Because however you answer that question is what
Speaker 2: I call your dominant life principle. Now, everybody's got a
Speaker 2: dominant life principle. It's the most important value to you
Speaker 2: in life. You maybe never thought it through, but you
Speaker 2: use it all the time every time you make a decision.
Speaker 2: Every time you have a choice, you access the database
Speaker 2: in your brain and you decide what you're going to
Speaker 2: do based on your dominant life value, your dominant principle
Speaker 2: of life. For instance, if my dominant life value or
Speaker 2: principle is to have fun, then this evening, if I
Speaker 2: get a couple of invitations on the phone, I'm going
Speaker 2: to tend to choose the thing that's the most fun
Speaker 2: to do, because that's what's important to me, have fun.
Speaker 2: If my dominant life principle is comfort, then I'm going
Speaker 2: to tend to choose the easiest thing to do. What's
Speaker 2: the most convenient thing. No, I'd rather just stay home
Speaker 2: and lay on the couch and watch TV. If my
Speaker 2: dominant life value our principle is safety, it's then I'm
Speaker 2: going to tend to make every decision in life based
Speaker 2: on what's the safest choice. And so I'm going to
Speaker 2: look at it that way, security issues. If my dominant
Speaker 2: life value is to be approved, to be affirmed, to
Speaker 2: be applauded, then I'm going to tend to choose things
Speaker 2: in life where I get the most affirmation. If earning
Speaker 2: approval is the most important thing to me. So it's
Speaker 2: extremely important that you think through what is going to
Speaker 2: be the most important value in your life. Now, what
Speaker 2: does God have to say about this? Well, he has
Speaker 2: a lot to say about it. And in the Bible,
Speaker 2: in the Book of First Corinthians there on your outline,
Speaker 2: chapter fourteen, verse one, he says this, let love be
Speaker 2: your greatest aim. You might want to circle that let
Speaker 2: love be your greatest aim, not status, not success, not
Speaker 2: possessions or power, or privilege, or prestige, not comfort, not money.
Speaker 2: He says you should make is the number one life value. Love.
Speaker 2: Now why does he say that, make love the highest
Speaker 2: aim of your life. Why? Because God is love and
Speaker 2: he wants you to be like him. The Bible tells
Speaker 2: us that God created everything in the universe out of love.
Speaker 2: He made everything in order to love it. Because God
Speaker 2: is love. Doesn't say he has love. He is love.
Speaker 2: He created you as an object of his love. And
Speaker 2: God wants you to be like him, and so he
Speaker 2: created you to learn how to love. In fact, you
Speaker 2: were put on this planet to learn how to love.
Speaker 2: Why didn't God just creation take you to heaven? Have
Speaker 2: you ever thought about that? Why does let you spend
Speaker 2: sixty seventy eighty ninety years here on a broken world
Speaker 2: where there is a sin, suffering, sorrow, sadness, problems, pressures, stress.
Speaker 2: Why doesn't God just create you and take you directly
Speaker 2: to Heaven. Why does he put you here on earth?
Speaker 2: He allows you here on earth in order to learn
Speaker 2: to love. Life is all about learning how to love.
Speaker 2: In fact, one day Jesus was walking down the street
Speaker 2: and the guy came up to him, and he said, Lord,
Speaker 2: what is the most important command in the Bible? Can
Speaker 2: you tell me what really matters most Jesus, Of all
Speaker 2: these things that are in the Bible, what should I
Speaker 2: really focus on? And Jesus said, I can do that.
Speaker 2: I can summarize the entire Bible for you in two sentences.
Speaker 2: And if you get these two things, you get it.
Speaker 2: You get what life is all about. It's called the
Speaker 2: Great Commandment. We've looked at it manyutes, many times. It's
Speaker 2: stare on your outline. Let's read it aloud together. In
Speaker 2: Mark chapter twelve, Jesus said, love the Lord your God
Speaker 2: with all your heart and all your soul, and all
Speaker 2: your mind and all your strength. And love your neighbor
Speaker 2: as yourself. There are no commands more important than these.
Speaker 2: Now that's pretty clear. He said, nothing in the Bible,
Speaker 2: nothing at all, is more important than these two things.
Speaker 2: Learn to love God with all your heart. And oh,
Speaker 2: by the way, learn to love everybody else. He said,
Speaker 2: if you get those two things, you got it. You
Speaker 2: get it. You understand what I put you on this
Speaker 2: planet to do. Life is all about learning to love.
Speaker 2: Everything else is excess, everything else is secondary. Make love
Speaker 2: your highest aim. He said, I want you first of
Speaker 2: all to learn to love me God, And then he says,
Speaker 2: I want you to learn to love every everybody else.
Speaker 2: And once you've done that, now you're ready to come
Speaker 2: to heaven. That's why you were alive. And if you
Speaker 2: go all through life, it doesn't matter how much you
Speaker 2: acquire and how much you achieve, and how many accomplishments
Speaker 2: you make, and how many rewards or how famous you become.
Speaker 2: None of that matters. One day you're going to stand
Speaker 2: before God and he's going to say, did you learn
Speaker 2: to love me by the way? That's why I sent
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ so you could learn to love me. And
Speaker 2: did you learn by the way to learn to love
Speaker 2: other people? Because that's what I put you on earth
Speaker 2: to do. And if you admit that, miss that wrong answer.
Speaker 2: Because life is all about love. Love God with all
Speaker 2: your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. That's what
Speaker 2: it's all about. In fact, the Bible says this one
Speaker 2: Corinthians sixteen fourteen everything you do must be done with love. Question,
Speaker 2: what does that include? How about everything everything you do
Speaker 2: must be done with love? I didn't say that, God
Speaker 2: said it. Now does that mean writing emails. Yeah, some
Speaker 2: of you need to tape this verse to your computer,
Speaker 2: and before you ever write an email, you need to think.
Speaker 2: Everything I write must be done with love. Does this
Speaker 2: include ordering fast food when you can't understand the speaker? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Everything you do must be done with love. Does it
Speaker 2: include finding a parking spot when other three other people
Speaker 2: want it? Everything you do must be done with love.
Speaker 2: Does it mean including being nice to people who vote
Speaker 2: differently than you. Everything you do must be done with love.
Speaker 2: Does it include responding to people who attack you for
Speaker 2: your faith? Yes? Everything you do must be done with love.
Speaker 2: If you don't, you are missing the point of life.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can
Speaker 1: listen online anytime at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: Jesus said there's nothing more important than loving God and
Speaker 3: loving others. That's why Pastor Rick created the forty Days
Speaker 3: of Love Bible study that comes with a sixth session
Speaker 3: DVD in workbook. In these sessions, Rick helps you understand
Speaker 3: how deep and wide. God's Love is for you and
Speaker 3: reveals how you can enjoy happy and successful relationships with
Speaker 3: us by focusing on the spiritual principles of patience, kindness, truth,
Speaker 3: and forgiveness. This resource is perfect for personal study, or
Speaker 3: you can invite a few friends over and do it
Speaker 3: in a small group setting. And today, when you give
Speaker 3: a gift to share the love of Jesus with people
Speaker 3: here and around the world, will send to you Pastor
Speaker 3: Rix forty Days of Love Bible Study to say thanks.
Speaker 3: Get yours now and experience more fulfilling relationships as you
Speaker 3: live a life powered by the love of Jesus. Go
Speaker 3: to pastorik dot com right now to get your copy,
Speaker 3: or you can call eight hundred six hundred five zero
Speaker 3: zero four that's Pastorick dot com. Or call eight hundred
Speaker 3: six hundred at five zero zero four. Thank you so
Speaker 3: much for your support, and don't forget to let us
Speaker 3: know which radio station you heard us on.
Speaker 1: Now back to more from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 2: Everything you do must be done with love? Does it
Speaker 2: mean including being nice to people who vote differently than you?
Speaker 2: Everything you do must be done with love? Does it
Speaker 2: include responding to people who attack you for your faith. Yes,
Speaker 2: everything you do must be done with love. If you don't,
Speaker 2: you are missing the point of life. I think this
Speaker 2: is a great verse verse to memorize together before we
Speaker 2: start forty Days of Love. Now you've heard me say
Speaker 2: many times that in order to learn a verse, the
Speaker 2: hardest part is to learn where it is in the Bible.
Speaker 2: The reference point. We call that the address. First Corinthians,
Speaker 2: sixteen fourteen. So when you memorize a verse, you say
Speaker 2: the address before and after, because that's the hardest part
Speaker 2: to remember. So let's look at the outline and let's
Speaker 2: read this verse together. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Everything you
Speaker 2: do must be done with love. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Okay,
Speaker 2: now here's the hand motions. Everything you do must be
Speaker 2: done with love. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Okay, let's try
Speaker 2: it together. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Everything you do must
Speaker 2: be done with love. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Some of
Speaker 2: you didn't do it. That was very unloving, So we're
Speaker 2: gonna do it again. First Corinthians, sixteen fourteen. Everything you
Speaker 2: do must be done with love. First Corinthians sixteen fourteen.
Speaker 2: Very good class. Now let's try that. Oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: what is First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. Everything you do must
Speaker 2: be done with love? First Corinthians sixteen fourteen. And today
Speaker 2: we're going to begin the journey of how you do
Speaker 2: everything with love? Now, as we begin forty days of
Speaker 2: love journey together, I thought it'd be helpful to start
Speaker 2: with the definition of love. We throw this word around
Speaker 2: and we use it now. I love hot dogs, I
Speaker 2: love salsa, I love Krispy Kreme, I love my life wife,
Speaker 2: I love America, I love God. But not all in
Speaker 2: that order, and not all in the same way. And
Speaker 2: so what does it mean to love? So I went
Speaker 2: to my twenty fourth volume encyclopedia at home, and I
Speaker 2: looked up the word love to get a definition. And
Speaker 2: I discovered that in that twenty four volume encyclopedia there
Speaker 2: was not a single article on love. In fact, if
Speaker 2: you looked up the word love, it said see emotion
Speaker 2: and sex. So I looked up emotion, and in the
Speaker 2: article on emotion, a long, long article, it used the
Speaker 2: word love one time and never defined it. So I
Speaker 2: looked up the article on sex. Three pages of article
Speaker 2: on sex defining sex. In the Encyclopedia five sentences on
Speaker 2: love and again no definition, And what does that say
Speaker 2: to us? It says we know a whole lot more
Speaker 2: about sex than we do about love. A lot of
Speaker 2: things in the world today that are called love stories,
Speaker 2: love songs, love poems are not really about love. They're
Speaker 2: about sex. When a guy gets up and sings, give
Speaker 2: it to me, give it to me. If you don't
Speaker 2: give it, I'm going to take it. That's not love.
Speaker 2: That's actually a lust song, not a love song. Lust
Speaker 2: can never wait to get, love can always wait to give.
Speaker 2: So what is love? Well, the Bible has a lot
Speaker 2: to say about it, and I've been studying it for
Speaker 2: thirty years and I'm going to be sharing that with you.
Speaker 2: You can just call me the love doctor. So today,
Speaker 2: as we kick it off, we're going to look at
Speaker 2: all that we're gonna do together in the next forty
Speaker 2: days of love. Five things the Bible says about love.
Speaker 2: Number one, if you're write and hews down, we love
Speaker 2: because God loves us. God is love, and all love
Speaker 2: comes from God. And we love because God loves us.
Speaker 2: In First John four seven and eight, it says love
Speaker 2: comes from God, for God is love. It doesn't say
Speaker 2: God has love. It says God is love. And the
Speaker 2: reason why God wants you to love, as I said,
Speaker 2: is because He is love. It is his character, in
Speaker 2: his essence. He wants us to be like him. And
Speaker 2: God is the source of all love. If God wasn't loving,
Speaker 2: there would be no love in the universe. All love
Speaker 2: comes from God. And the reason you have the ability
Speaker 2: to love is because you were made in the image
Speaker 2: of God. That's what makes you different from rocks and plants.
Speaker 2: God gave you that ability. You were made in His
Speaker 2: image so you could do the two things you were
Speaker 2: put on earth to do. Learn to love God and
Speaker 2: learn to love other people. Life is all about love now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says in fee John four nineteen, we love
Speaker 2: because God first loved us. Circle God first. God is
Speaker 2: always first in everything He takes the initiative. The only
Speaker 2: reason you can love God or love anybody else is
Speaker 2: because God first loved you, and He showed that love
Speaker 2: by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you.
Speaker 2: He showed that love by creating you, and he showed
Speaker 2: that love by everything you have in life is a
Speaker 2: gift of God's love. Love. We love because God first
Speaker 2: loved us. You know, sometimes I'll talk to believers in
Speaker 2: churches who are kind of down on themselves, and they
Speaker 2: always feel like they're not measuring up and they're not
Speaker 2: pleasing God, and God is always angry with them, and
Speaker 2: they always carry a load of guilt around the whole time.
Speaker 2: And I've heard many people say this. You know, my problem, Rick,
Speaker 2: is I just don't love God enough. And I said, no, No,
Speaker 2: that's not it. Your problem is not that you don't
Speaker 2: love God enough. Your problem is you don't realize how
Speaker 2: much He loves you. Because if you realized how much
Speaker 2: God loves you, extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love, you would have
Speaker 2: to love him back. You could not not love God.
Speaker 2: If you understood how much He loves you, you would
Speaker 2: automatically be attracted to it. And the reason you don't
Speaker 2: love God, you don't care about God, you don't serve God,
Speaker 2: is you don't understand or feel how much He loves you.
Speaker 2: So you have to start. If we're gonna talk about
Speaker 2: learning to love other people and becoming great lovers, you've
Speaker 2: got to first understand and feel how much God loves you.
Speaker 2: And that's what I want to happen in your life
Speaker 2: during these forty days. I don't want to just talk
Speaker 2: about love, read about love, talk discuss about love. I
Speaker 2: want you to experience the love of God, because the
Speaker 2: day that you finally fully understand how God loves you
Speaker 2: completely unconditionally, you can't make God stop loving you. You
Speaker 2: can try, but you will fail. When you feel that
Speaker 2: unconditional love. You know what, You're just gonna start cutting
Speaker 2: people a lot of slack. You're not gonna be as
Speaker 2: angry as you've been. You're not gonna You're gonna be
Speaker 2: more patient, You're gonna be more forgiving, You're gonna be
Speaker 2: more merciful. You're gonna let other people have grace. The
Speaker 2: reason why you see people who are judgmental, who are sarcastic,
Speaker 2: who are mean spirited. The reason why you see people
Speaker 2: who are angry, self righteous, always putting other people down,
Speaker 2: is because they're putting themselves down. They don't feel good
Speaker 2: about themselves. They don't feel loved, they don't feel forgiven,
Speaker 2: they don't feel grace, they feel guilty. They feel bad
Speaker 2: about themselves. And if I feel bad about myself, I
Speaker 2: certainly don't want you feeling good about you So during
Speaker 2: forty days of Love, we're gonna have to do some
Speaker 2: healing in your heart because you have been hurt in life.
Speaker 2: You've been hurt by parents, or you've been hurt by
Speaker 2: peers on school, or you've been hurt by professionals. Are
Speaker 2: you been hurt by partners? Maybe some of you have
Speaker 2: been abused, or you've been misused, or you've been rejected,
Speaker 2: or you've been abandoned, or you've been betrayed, and you've
Speaker 2: got scabs on your heart, and we're gonna have to
Speaker 2: do some gentle surgery on your heart because you can't
Speaker 2: love others until you feel loved. Let me say that again.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to come back to this several times
Speaker 2: this in the next forty days. You cannot give to
Speaker 2: others what you have not received yourself. You cannot give
Speaker 2: to others what you don't possess. Unlovely people are unloved people,
Speaker 2: Hurt people hurt people. It's like a bottle of toothpaste.
Speaker 2: When you squeeze a bottle of toothpaste, what's gonna come
Speaker 2: out whatever is inside it. And if you're filled with
Speaker 2: anger and you're filled with impatience, and you don't feel loved.
Speaker 2: Guess what, You're not gonna be able to love anybody else.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you've missed any
Speaker 1: part of this message, or if you'd like to find
Speaker 1: out more about Pastor Rick Warren and in this ministry,
Speaker 1: just visit Pastorick dot com where you can listen online anytime.
Speaker 1: That's Pastor Rick with two rs inthemiddle dot com, and
Speaker 1: be sure to sign up for ricks free daily email
Speaker 1: devotional while you're there. Rick will be back in just
Speaker 1: a moment. But first, one of the main reasons Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick started Daily Hope was to share the hope of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ with people around the world. And because of
Speaker 1: your prayers and financial gifts, we're now reaching over thirty
Speaker 1: five million people every month, but there are still billions
Speaker 1: of people who need to hear the good news. Would
Speaker 1: you prayerfully consider giving a gift to Daily Hope today
Speaker 1: to help reach even more people for Jesus Christ. And
Speaker 1: when you do, we'll send you Pastor ricks forty Days
Speaker 1: of Love video based Bible study to say thanks for
Speaker 1: your support of this ministry. Here's Pastor Rick to tell
Speaker 1: you more.
Speaker 2: Jesus says that the two most important things you can
Speaker 2: do while you hear on earth are to love God
Speaker 2: with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 2: In other words, life is all about love now, as believers,
Speaker 2: it's not just enough to talk about love, or to
Speaker 2: read about love, or to discuss love. We must show it.
Speaker 2: We must exhibit it by the way we treat other people. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that we do this. We learn to
Speaker 2: be genuinely loving people by relying on the love that
Speaker 2: God has for us. That's why I put together a
Speaker 2: six session study kit called forty Days of Love. It
Speaker 2: includes a study guide and a six session DVD that
Speaker 2: will teach you the habits of a loving heart. Now,
Speaker 2: you can go through it by yourself, but really, how
Speaker 2: are you going to learn to love by yourself? You
Speaker 2: need to do it in a small group with two
Speaker 2: or three friends or even more. Just get some friends
Speaker 2: and some neighbors and say, let's learn how to really love,
Speaker 2: and let's study this together for forty days. Now. Forty
Speaker 2: Days of Love is going to teach you why love
Speaker 2: matters most more than anything else, and it's going to
Speaker 2: teach you what the Bible means when it says that
Speaker 2: love is patient, and love is kind, and love speaks
Speaker 2: the truth. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love is forgiving. Now,
Speaker 2: I want to tell you something. This is a life
Speaker 2: changing study. It changed my life when I did it,
Speaker 2: and it's going to change your life and those that
Speaker 2: you share it with. And if you really want to
Speaker 2: grow spiritually, you've got to learn how to love. Now.
Speaker 2: This month, we're offering the forty Days of Love study
Speaker 2: kit for a financial gift to Daily Hope ministries. I
Speaker 2: want everybody to be able to enjoy this study, So
Speaker 2: all I ask is that you help support Daily Hope Ministries. Now,
Speaker 2: I know some of you can afford a little bit
Speaker 2: more than others, and I appreciate that it helps us
Speaker 2: keep on the air and helps us spread the message
Speaker 2: to other stations. But some of you you're going through
Speaker 2: tough times and you don't have a whole lot. That's okay.
Speaker 2: I know you work hard for what you earn. I
Speaker 2: promise that whatever you give, no matter how large or small,
Speaker 2: that every cent that you send in to support Daily
Speaker 2: Hope goes right back into the ministry. I do this
Speaker 2: ministry for free. I take no money from it, and
Speaker 2: so you can be certain that any gift you give
Speaker 2: is helping spread the hope we have in Christ here
Speaker 2: at home and even all around the world.
Speaker 1: To give a gift and receive the forty Days of
Speaker 1: Love study kit, call us now at eight hundred, six
Speaker 1: hundred five thousand and four, or just go to Pastorrick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and
Speaker 1: four or Pastorick dot com. Thanks so much for supporting
Speaker 1: this ministry, and don't forget to let us know which
Speaker 1: radio station you heard us on. Be sure to join
Speaker 1: us next time as we look into God's Word for
Speaker 1: our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope and your generous financial support.