Speaker 1: Hope is not a product. Hope is not a program.
Speaker 1: Hope is not a pill. Hope is a person. And
Speaker 1: there's only one person that you can put that hope in,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the world. Because
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ came back to life on Easter Sunday about
Speaker 1: twenty and seventeen years ago, it split history into AD
Speaker 1: and BC. We know three things for certain. Number one,
Speaker 1: you might write this down because he rose from the dead.
Speaker 1: I know that Jesus has a great purpose for my life.
Speaker 1: Jesus has a great purpose for my life. Now. One
Speaker 1: of the most important things you have to know in
Speaker 1: life is what's your purpose. If you don't ever figure
Speaker 1: out why you're here, you're gonna waste your life. You
Speaker 1: don't know why a lot of people confuse purpose with
Speaker 1: other things. Purpose is not success. You can be incredibly
Speaker 1: successful and not know your purpose. You make a whole
Speaker 1: lot of money and not know your purpose. You me
Speaker 1: incredibly famous and talented and very productive in your life
Speaker 1: and still miss the purpose for which you were made.
Speaker 1: I was talking to a guy one time and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, Rick, my life has a great cast. I
Speaker 1: just don't know the plot. And I said, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people feel that way. And another guy said,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody said, I hope my life isn't a
Speaker 1: joke because I don't get it. I don't get it. Now.
Speaker 1: When it comes to knowing your purpose in life, you
Speaker 1: really only have four choices. Only four choices. The first
Speaker 1: way is to try to figure out your purpose in
Speaker 1: life by speculation. What I mean of that is you
Speaker 1: just guess at it. You could go to some university
Speaker 1: and enroll in a philosophy course and ask all of
Speaker 1: the great questions of life. Who am I? Why am
Speaker 1: I here? What is my purpose? Does my life have meaning?
Speaker 1: Is there any significance to my life? Where am I
Speaker 1: headed in life? Why am I here? And you can
Speaker 1: take lots of philosophy courses, but the bottom line is
Speaker 1: you're just guessing, and your guess is as good as mine.
Speaker 1: It's just speculation. You're never going to find your true
Speaker 1: purpose in life by just guessing about it. It's much
Speaker 1: more important than that. Another way is imagination, not speculation
Speaker 1: of an imagination, which just basically says, make up your
Speaker 1: own purpose. You don't know your purse, Just pick one anyone.
Speaker 1: There are probably one hundred thousand self help books that
Speaker 1: teach that. And as they said, they confuse success with purpose,
Speaker 1: and they say, you know, you know, set your goals
Speaker 1: and have your dream and clarify your values and know
Speaker 1: your vision. That's all good stuff, but it's not about
Speaker 1: your purpose. It's about success in life. And you never
Speaker 1: need to confuse those two. Just make up a purpose.
Speaker 1: That's imagination. And then there's the other way that people
Speaker 1: often try to find a purpose, and I would call
Speaker 1: it introspection. And what I mean by that is it's
Speaker 1: look within. Hey, you hear this all the time in
Speaker 1: Eastern philosophies. You hear it in movies, and particularly hear
Speaker 1: it on talk shows, and they basically say, if you
Speaker 1: want to know your purpose, trust the force. Luke. Yeah,
Speaker 1: look look within, and if you look within long enough,
Speaker 1: then you'll know your purpose. Now there's one problem with that.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work. If it did, we'd all know our
Speaker 1: purpose because you've looked inside you, and I've looked inside
Speaker 1: of me. I looked inside of me. I just saw mess.
Speaker 1: I didn't get any clarity at all. Now follow me
Speaker 1: on the logic of this. You can't tell yourself what
Speaker 1: your purpose is because you didn't create you. Because you
Speaker 1: didn't make you, you don't know your purpose. If I
Speaker 1: were to hold up a object of some kind of
Speaker 1: air mechanical object, you've never seen it, I said, what
Speaker 1: do you think the purpose of this is? Uh, we
Speaker 1: could guess, we could speculate, we could look within you know,
Speaker 1: we could pretend we know. But really, the only way
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have any idea what the purpose of this
Speaker 1: object was unless either A you talk to the inventor
Speaker 1: who created it, or b you read the owner's manual.
Speaker 1: And if you do those two things, then you can
Speaker 1: find the purpose of what I was holding up. Now,
Speaker 1: the same is true for your life. The only way
Speaker 1: you're ever going to know your purpose in life is
Speaker 1: talk to the creator and read the owner's manual. If
Speaker 1: you don't do that, you're never going to know the
Speaker 1: purpose for which you were created. You could make up
Speaker 1: a purpose, but it's not the one you were created for. Now.
Speaker 1: The truth is, you are not an accident. You've heard
Speaker 1: me say this many times. There are accidental parents, accidental children,
Speaker 1: they're illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children. Your
Speaker 1: parents may not planned you, but God did. And if
Speaker 1: God had not wanted you to exist. You would not
Speaker 1: be alive right now, he said, why did God give
Speaker 1: me the parents? He gave me? God was not so
Speaker 1: much interested in their parenting skills as he was interested
Speaker 1: in their DNA, because God knew that they had just
Speaker 1: the right DNA to create you. And whether your parents
Speaker 1: were good or bad, or indifferent or maybe you even
Speaker 1: never even knew them, he knew that they would create you.
Speaker 1: And God was much more interested in creating you than
Speaker 1: he was in their parenting skills. God's plan and purpose
Speaker 1: is bigger than your parent's plan and purpose. He wanted
Speaker 1: you alive. You are not an accident, and He has
Speaker 1: a plan and purpose for your life. And so God says,
Speaker 1: I want you to know this now. He said, Rick,
Speaker 1: what does all this have to do with Easter? Well,
Speaker 1: let me show you. Look at these verses on your outline.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in the Two Corinthians, Chapter five, Jesus
Speaker 1: included everyone in his death so that everyone could also
Speaker 1: be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far
Speaker 1: better life than people ever lived on their own. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're taking notes, you might circle that phrase better life.
Speaker 1: God says, I have a purpose for your life, and
Speaker 1: it is a better life than you would ever live
Speaker 1: on your own. Now, that's not a term we talk
Speaker 1: about a lot better life. The term we talk about
Speaker 1: a lot is the good life. And in California we're
Speaker 1: supposed to be authorities on the good life. And in California,
Speaker 1: the good life basically means looking good, feeling good, and
Speaker 1: having the goods. If you look good and you feel
Speaker 1: good and you have the goods, you got the good life.
Speaker 1: There's only one problem with the good life. It's not
Speaker 1: good enough. You were made for more than just the
Speaker 1: good life. You were made for more than success. You
Speaker 1: were made for more than survival. You were made for significance.
Speaker 1: And the only way you will know your significance is
Speaker 1: by discovering God's purpose for your life. You look good,
Speaker 1: feel good, have the goods, but you need the better life.
Speaker 1: And I've talked to people who had all of those
Speaker 1: things and still felt frustrated or empty, or the nagging
Speaker 1: feeling there's got to be more. Well, of course, there's more.
Speaker 1: You weren't made just to get up in the morning,
Speaker 1: go to work, come on and watch TV, go to bed,
Speaker 1: go to party on weekend, retire and die that's not living,
Speaker 1: that's existing. Jesus said, I came that you might have life,
Speaker 1: and life to its fullest, the better life. Now where
Speaker 1: do we get that purpose? We'll look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, everything, absolutely, everything got started in Christ.
Speaker 1: He's the creator of the universe and finds his purpose
Speaker 1: its purpose in him. The only way you're going to
Speaker 1: find your purpose is in Christ, and the way Christ
Speaker 1: came back to life says I do have a purpose
Speaker 1: for your life. Look at the next verse. The Bible
Speaker 1: says this Ephesians chapter one. It is in Christ that
Speaker 1: we find out who we are and what we are
Speaker 1: living for. Who we are, what we're living for part
Speaker 1: of the overall purpose He is working. God is working
Speaker 1: out in everything and everyone. Until you get to know Christ,
Speaker 1: you're not going to know your purpose because He is
Speaker 1: the one who made you. He's the one who created you.
Speaker 1: He's the one that when he rose again, split history
Speaker 1: into AD and BC. Now you know here at saddleback,
Speaker 1: of course, we're committed to helping everybody discover and develop
Speaker 1: their purpose. We're a purpose driven church. I wrote a
Speaker 1: book about it. It is a big best seller, and
Speaker 1: I think that the reason it's sold. You know, it's
Speaker 1: the best selling book in American history, sold thirty two
Speaker 1: million copies in hardback and then we became the most
Speaker 1: translated book in the world. It's in Guinness Book of Records.
Speaker 1: Why not because I'm a good author. I'm not an author,
Speaker 1: I'm a pastor. But because it happens to be the
Speaker 1: number one need that people want to know about. Why
Speaker 1: am I here? What's my purpose? Without that? Without purpose,
Speaker 1: life is petty and pointless. And God says we find
Speaker 1: it through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, let me
Speaker 1: give you a second thing. Second bit, I'm only covering three.
Speaker 1: The second benefit we get from Jesus Christ rising from
Speaker 1: the dead is he not only says I've got a
Speaker 1: great purpose for your life. He says I have a
Speaker 1: great power for your problems. I have a great power
Speaker 1: for your problems. And Easter demonstrated the power of God.
Speaker 1: There's not much greater power than raising your yourself back
Speaker 1: to life. It is the most powerful event in history.
Speaker 1: And here's the cool thing about it, it's available to you.
Speaker 1: The same power that raised Jesus from the dead a
Speaker 1: couple millennia ago, two thousand years ago is available to
Speaker 1: you today. Let me show you some verses. This may
Speaker 1: be a benefit you didn't know about. And if you
Speaker 1: don't know about it, you can't depend on it. Fhesians
Speaker 1: chapter one the Bible says, I pray that you will
Speaker 1: begin to understand how incredibly great God's power really is,
Speaker 1: how incredibly great God's power really is to help those
Speaker 1: who believe him. It is the same mighty power that
Speaker 1: raised Christ from the dead. Say wait a minute, time
Speaker 1: out here, Rick, you're telling me that the same power
Speaker 1: that brought Jesus back to life is available to me
Speaker 1: in my daily life. That's exactly what I'm saying. That's
Speaker 1: a benefit you may have not known about. The resurrection
Speaker 1: of Jesus comes with a promise. Look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: By his power, God's by his power, God raised the
Speaker 1: Lord from the dead. And read this aloud on me,
Speaker 1: he will also raise Oh, now we're talking. The only
Speaker 1: reason you're going to be raised from the dead and
Speaker 1: have life after death is because Jesus did it. That's
Speaker 1: the reason. If Jesus doesn't raise you from the dead,
Speaker 1: you're not getting raised from the dead. By his power,
Speaker 1: God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will
Speaker 1: also raise us so you can have resurrection power in
Speaker 1: your life. Now, let me ask you a very personal question.
Speaker 1: Where do you need a resurrection in your life? I'm
Speaker 1: talking about right now. Let me phrase it another way.
Speaker 1: What's dying in your life or is dead and you
Speaker 1: know it and you need God's power to bring it
Speaker 1: back to life. Where do you need a resurrection this year?
Speaker 1: Where do you need God's resurrection power? See? The truth is,
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry about this, but some of you are
Speaker 1: in marriages that are dying. They're going south real fast,
Speaker 1: or maybe they already have died and you're just still
Speaker 1: living together. You need a resurrection in your marriage. The
Speaker 1: key to a long marriage can I've been married forty
Speaker 1: two years, is you have to learn how to fall
Speaker 1: in love over and over again. You know, fall in
Speaker 1: love just one time. You have to have resurrections in
Speaker 1: your marriage, in your life. Some of you need a
Speaker 1: resurrection in your marriage because it's dying. Some of you
Speaker 1: need a resurrection in your career. And you think, Man,
Speaker 1: I thought I'd be a whole lot further along the
Speaker 1: line than I am right now at this stage of
Speaker 1: the game. At this point in my life, I expect
Speaker 1: to be further down the road, but I'm not, and
Speaker 1: that's disappointing. And you need a resurrection in your career.
Speaker 1: Some of you need some resurrection and your energy. You say,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just tired all the time. I dragged
Speaker 1: through the day. I'm fatigued all of the time. I
Speaker 1: don't have any energy because you're living it on your
Speaker 1: power instead of God's power. God never intended for you
Speaker 1: to go through life just on your power. You don't
Speaker 1: have enough. Human power runs out, human love runs out,
Speaker 1: which is why there's divorce. You need supernatural love and
Speaker 1: you need supernatural power in your life to make it
Speaker 1: to the finish line. Some of you need a resurrection
Speaker 1: of your dream. You've had a dream in your past
Speaker 1: about something you've always wanted to be. You're always wanted
Speaker 1: to do, a talent, you wanted to develop, a goal
Speaker 1: you wanted to go after, and the dreams died. And
Speaker 1: this Eastern Resurrection Day, Jesus in the power that I
Speaker 1: raised myself back to life with. It's available to you
Speaker 1: if you plug into me. Some of you need a
Speaker 1: resurrection in your health. You're not going in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Some of you need a resurrection in your motivation. You know,
Speaker 1: I just you know, I'm just I'm motivated anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: just kind of putting in the time and waiting for
Speaker 1: the payday, checking the clock. I'm not going to motivate.
Speaker 1: Nothing motivates to me anymore. You need a resurrection of motivation.
Speaker 1: Some of you have had a split in a friendship
Speaker 1: with a dear friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or just
Speaker 1: a good friend, and there's been a rift, there's been
Speaker 1: a break, a tear, conflict. You need a resurrection in
Speaker 1: your friendship. So I'm just saying that in so many
Speaker 1: different areas. Some of you have had your heart broken recently,
Speaker 1: and as your pastor, I'm sorry, I really am, and
Speaker 1: I pray for people in our family that have a
Speaker 1: broken heart, and you need to have your heart repaired,
Speaker 1: and you need a resurrection in that area of your life.
Speaker 1: You see, this is the difference between human beings and God.
Speaker 1: God is God and we're not. Human beings can resuscitate.
Speaker 1: Only God can resurrect. If you know CPR, you know
Speaker 1: how to resuscitate somebody their heart stops, you can resuscitate
Speaker 1: them with CPR. If you're a paramedic, you've probably resuscitated
Speaker 1: hundreds of people with mouth and mouth or CPR, whatever
Speaker 1: you needed to do. Resuscitation happens when they've been dead
Speaker 1: for a minute or two or three minutes. But when
Speaker 1: you've been been dead for three days and buried in
Speaker 1: the ground, you don't need resuscitation. You need resurrection. And
Speaker 1: God says, I want to have that kind of power,
Speaker 1: not resuscitation power, but resurrection power. In the areas youth
Speaker 1: like of your life that are dying are already dead.
Speaker 1: They're already dead. And God has not only a purpose
Speaker 1: for your life because of the Cross and the resurrection,
Speaker 1: but God has a power for your life which is
Speaker 1: bigger than the problem you're going through out right now.
Speaker 1: Let me show you a couple verses First Corinthians, chapter one.
Speaker 1: Paul gives a testimony of how God helps us when
Speaker 1: we think it is hopeless. You see, some of you
Speaker 1: are on the edge of giving up right now, and
Speaker 1: if we could put an X ray to your mind,
Speaker 1: it would show you're pretty desperate. I'm glad you came
Speaker 1: because God wanted you here a thousand years before you
Speaker 1: were born. He knew you would be here at saddleback
Speaker 1: on this day so he could say this to you,
Speaker 1: don't don't give up you. Maybe you feel like giving
Speaker 1: up on your dream, or giving up on your marriage,
Speaker 1: or giving up on your health. Maybe you even feel
Speaker 1: like giving up on your life. Don't. God brought you
Speaker 1: here today so he could say this to you. You're
Speaker 1: ready for it. Here's what he wants to say to you.
Speaker 1: Don't give up. Look up, don't give up. Look up.
Speaker 1: The answer is not to quit. The answer is to
Speaker 1: get connected, find God's purpose, and get God's power in
Speaker 1: your life, and you'll have a new resurrection in your
Speaker 1: life now. Paul says it like this. He tells his
Speaker 1: own story of when he was ready to kick the bucket.
Speaker 1: This is probably the greatest Christian who ever lived, next
Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ. And Paul says, there were times when
Speaker 1: I was so depressed, I was readistered, throw in the
Speaker 1: towel and he says this in Second Corinthians, we were
Speaker 1: really crushed, and he says, we were overwhelmed, and we
Speaker 1: feared we would never live through it. Ever felt like
Speaker 1: that he crushed, overwhelmed, filled with fear. He says, we
Speaker 1: didn't think we'd live through it. We saw how powerless
Speaker 1: we were to help ourselves and you just go, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is not working. I do not have the power
Speaker 1: to get done what I need to get done in
Speaker 1: my life. I just don't have it. I got an
Speaker 1: energy shortage, I got energy crisis. I don't have the
Speaker 1: power to do what I need to do. And then
Speaker 1: Paul says, we realized we were powerless to help ourselves.
Speaker 1: But that was good. Huh, How in the world could
Speaker 1: you feel in crushed, overwhelmed, fearful and powerless to help yourself.
Speaker 1: How in the world is that good? He says, Because
Speaker 1: then we put everything into the hands of God, who
Speaker 1: alone could save us. For he can even raise the dead.
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about at Easter. He can even
Speaker 1: raise the dead, said and God did help us, and
Speaker 1: he saved us, and we expect him to do it
Speaker 1: again and again and again. If God can raise a
Speaker 1: dead Jesus, he can raise a dead marriage. If God
Speaker 1: can raise the dead Jesus, he can raise a dead friendship.
Speaker 1: He can raise a dead career. He can raise a
Speaker 1: dead dream. He can raise a part of your life
Speaker 1: that's just dying on the vine. That's the kind of
Speaker 1: God we serve. That is a benefit that was paid
Speaker 1: for you by Jesus Christ. But you can go all
Speaker 1: through life totally unplugged. If you are unplugged from God's power,
Speaker 1: you will never know God's purpose. A toaster that is
Speaker 1: never plugged in is worthless. It has no intrinsic value
Speaker 1: unless it's plugged into the power. It cannot fulfill its
Speaker 1: purpose unless it's plugged in the power. A vacuum cleaner
Speaker 1: cannot fulfill its purpose as a vacuum cleaner unless it's
Speaker 1: plugged into the power. A microwave cannot fulfill its purpose
Speaker 1: as a microwave unless it's plugged into the power. You
Speaker 1: cannot fulfill your purpose in life unless you're plugged into
Speaker 1: the power, the power of the Resurrection. And he says,
Speaker 1: you know, we got the point. We were ready to
Speaker 1: just cash it all in and we were powerless. But
Speaker 1: that was good because then we put it all in
Speaker 1: the hands of God. And God goes, well, thank God,
Speaker 1: you finally did it. I've been waiting for you to
Speaker 1: get to the end of your rope so I could
Speaker 1: take over. How about you let me have a try
Speaker 1: and empowering and guiding your life now, Just be honest,
Speaker 1: are you sick and tired of being sick? And tired.
Speaker 1: Here's what the Bible says Isaiah forty. God gives power
Speaker 1: to those who are tired and worn out, and he
Speaker 1: offers strength to the weak. He said, Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: I'm tired, I'm worn out, I'm weak. I don't feel
Speaker 1: any power. Well, let me explain how you get that power.
Speaker 1: You get it through faith. You get it through trust.
Speaker 1: You get it through believing in the Son of God,
Speaker 1: who died on the cross for you and rose again
Speaker 1: to give you that power. You can complain to God
Speaker 1: all you want. God is not moved by your complaints.
Speaker 1: You can whine all you want. God is not moved
Speaker 1: by your whining. You can gripe all you want. God
Speaker 1: is not moved by griping. But the moment you put
Speaker 1: trust in him, Bam, God moves according to your faith.
Speaker 1: It will be done unto you. God honors faith, not griping,
Speaker 1: not whining, not all these other things. He says, I'll
Speaker 1: give you that power. He said, But Rick, you just
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm facing right now. Yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: you're right. I don't. I don't know what you're facing,
Speaker 1: but I do know Luke eighteen twenty seven, which says
Speaker 1: this what is impossible with men is possible with God.
Speaker 1: What looks like a dead end, what looks like a
Speaker 1: death is prime time for a resurrection and a miracle.
Speaker 1: What looks like you're never going to overcome, God can
Speaker 1: overcome like that. And God can do more in five
Speaker 1: seconds in your life than you can do in five years,
Speaker 1: but you've got to trust him. A number of years ago,
Speaker 1: I was in China. You know, we've been doing the
Speaker 1: Peace plan in China for years and years now, and
Speaker 1: one time I was in Beijing. Actually, they were doing
Speaker 1: a state dinner in my honor in People's Hall in
Speaker 1: Tieneman Square, and the government officials were there, and I
Speaker 1: was very honored to be honored by the government in China.
Speaker 1: And while I was there, the professors over at Peking
Speaker 1: University heard that I was there, and they said, let's
Speaker 1: invite Rick Warren and his team over to talk with us.
Speaker 1: Peiking University is the only university in Beijing's still called Peiking.
Speaker 1: It's the Harvard of China. Fifty thousand students. Every communist
Speaker 1: leader in China is trained at the Harvard at China
Speaker 1: Peking University. So we went and we had a wonderful
Speaker 1: time with these professors, had a good discussion with him,
Speaker 1: was very friendly. One of the men that I met
Speaker 1: there was with a man named Professor Joe. Professor Joe
Speaker 1: was an older man. He'd been a professor there for
Speaker 1: fifty years and now was the provost of Peking University
Speaker 1: highest level. When we finished our little discussion, I said, hey,
Speaker 1: let's just go out to dinner. You find the best
Speaker 1: Chinese food. I mean, what expect tacos. You know it's Beijing.
Speaker 1: You find the best Chinese food and I'm paying, So
Speaker 1: you pick your favorite place. So we go and we
Speaker 1: sit down. We're having this wonderful dinner with some of
Speaker 1: these Chinese officials, and all of a sudden, Professor Joe
Speaker 1: opens up and he says, I'm dying. I have a
Speaker 1: brain tumor and it's inoperable and I'm terminal. And he
Speaker 1: was scared to death. This is a man facing an
Speaker 1: impossible problem. He's at the end of his rope. We
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. We see no way out
Speaker 1: of this. He had no hope in Jesus Christ. He
Speaker 1: had no hope in God's grace. He had no hope
Speaker 1: even in an after life. The way it looked to him,
Speaker 1: is I've got an incurable problem. There's no power to
Speaker 1: help me, and when I die, that's it. It's over.
Speaker 1: He was hopeless, and as he began to share that
Speaker 1: with me, I looked at him and said, you know,
Speaker 1: Professor Joe, my father's dying, because at that time, my
Speaker 1: dad was dying of cancer. Same time, I said, but
Speaker 1: you know, my dad's lived the full life. But more
Speaker 1: important than that, he knows God. He's been a friend
Speaker 1: of God's for many, many years. He knows Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And my dad is not afraid to die. He's made
Speaker 1: his peace with God, and he's not afraid to God
Speaker 1: to die, and he knows where he's going when he
Speaker 1: he dies. He has hope. And I explained to him
Speaker 1: that that kind of hope that you get and the
Speaker 1: kind of power that you get to go through those
Speaker 1: kind of situations only comes from a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: You don't earn it, you don't work for it, you
Speaker 1: don't buy it, you don't deserve it. God's power in
Speaker 1: your life is simply a gift of his grace. Because
Speaker 1: God is good, and God loves you, and he made you,
Speaker 1: and God's gift to you is free gift if you're
Speaker 1: just a friend of his son's. And to explain this
Speaker 1: to him a little bit better, I told him a
Speaker 1: story of a friend of mine, this true story. I said,
Speaker 1: I have a friend dad who he took his son
Speaker 1: to the carnival for his son's birthday, and he allowed
Speaker 1: his son to choose three friends that they would party with.
Speaker 1: And this was going to be his birthday party. So
Speaker 1: he bought a large roll of tickets, and at every
Speaker 1: one of the carnival rides, he would give his son
Speaker 1: a free ticket, and he would give his three guests,
Speaker 1: his three friends a ticket. They'd ride that ride, they
Speaker 1: go to next ride, everybody gets ticket, they ride that
Speaker 1: next ride. Everby gets ticket. And this friend of mine said,
Speaker 1: you know, Rick, on about the seventh ride. I looked
Speaker 1: down and as I was handing out tickets, I saw
Speaker 1: a fourth little hand. And I've never seen this kid
Speaker 1: at all. I've done this little kid, who are you?
Speaker 1: Little boy said, I'm your son's new friend. And your
Speaker 1: son promised that if I was his friend, that his daddy,
Speaker 1: his father, would give me a free ticket. He said, Rick,
Speaker 1: you think I gave that kid a ticket? He said
Speaker 1: he was with us the rest of the afternoon. And
Speaker 1: I looked at Professor Joe, and I said, Professor Joe,
Speaker 1: your heavenly father has a ticket for you to Heaven.
Speaker 1: You can't earn it, you can't buy it, certainly never
Speaker 1: deserve it. You'll never be good enough on your own
Speaker 1: to get to heaven because heaven's perfect and you're not,
Speaker 1: and neither am I. The only way you get this
Speaker 1: ticket to heaven salvation is by being a friend of
Speaker 1: the father's son. His name is Jesus Christ. And I
Speaker 1: looked up and this gentleman about in his eighties had
Speaker 1: tears coming down both sides of his cheek. And he
Speaker 1: looked up and he said to me in the simple
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this moment. I still get goosebumps from it.
Speaker 1: He looked at me and said in simple English, Rick,
Speaker 1: I would like one of those tickets. Now. I've been
Speaker 1: in China many, many times, and Chinese people are among
Speaker 1: the most polite people in the world. They are amazingly polite.
Speaker 1: I didn't know if he meant it, he was just
Speaker 1: kind of being nice to me. I never ever pressure
Speaker 1: anybody to make the most important decision in their life.
Speaker 1: You take the time you need to make it, because
Speaker 1: if you take the time and you're intellectually honest, you'll
Speaker 1: make the right decision. And I said, well, you know what,
Speaker 1: why don't we do this, Why don't we just set
Speaker 1: it aside for a second. Let's finish our meals, and
Speaker 1: at the end of this meal, if you still want
Speaker 1: to open your life to Jesus Christ, it would be
Speaker 1: my honor to lead you in a simple prayer to
Speaker 1: invite Christ. You know, the provost of the Harvard of China. Well,
Speaker 1: we get to the end of the meal, we've talked
Speaker 1: about a bunch of other stuff, and he brings it
Speaker 1: up again. He said, Rick, I would like one of
Speaker 1: those tickets. So there, with a table of Chinese officials,
Speaker 1: we held hands together and I led him in a
Speaker 1: simple prayer to open his life to receive all that
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ did for him by dying on the cross
Speaker 1: and rising again. It's a prayer similar to the one
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite you to pray with me in
Speaker 1: just a second. And when he finished praying that prayer,
Speaker 1: he looked up and tears were coming down his cheeks again,
Speaker 1: but this time he's smiling. Don't get I didn't know
Speaker 1: if he meant it or not. I don't ever judge
Speaker 1: anybody's motive. It's between them and God. But I gave
Speaker 1: him a Bible and some spiritual material to grow. And
Speaker 1: we've got a packet like this called fresh Start with God.
Speaker 1: I'll give to you you want to start your journey.
Speaker 1: And I gave him some material just get him started.
Speaker 1: And as we left, I thought, I'll never see that
Speaker 1: guy again. The next morning, I was preaching in the
Speaker 1: most famous church in China, chong Winmen Church, very famous church,
Speaker 1: about the size of the number of people here right now.
Speaker 1: And as I stood up to speak, who should walk
Speaker 1: in at the back door but the provost of the
Speaker 1: Harvard of China, Professor Joe. He walked to the front,
Speaker 1: to the front row, turned around, said I am publicly
Speaker 1: proclaiming my faith in Christ. And the crowd went crazy
Speaker 1: because they knew who he was. Fifty years of Communist indoctrination,
Speaker 1: which the official policy is atheism. There is no God,
Speaker 1: so official policy of Communism is none of that filled
Speaker 1: the hole in his heart when the heat was on,
Speaker 1: when he was facing his own mortality, and the folks,
Speaker 1: the fact is the mortality rate in the world is
Speaker 1: still one hundred percent. Everybody's going to die. Only fool
Speaker 1: would go through life unprepared for what you know is inevitable.
Speaker 1: That's called denial. But he gave his life to Christ,
Speaker 1: and what was impossible became possible by the way, his
Speaker 1: cancer witted to remission for about ten more years, and
Speaker 1: he began to basically be a missionary to other professors.
Speaker 1: And I wrote him many many letters over over the
Speaker 1: next ten years. But here's the promise, and I want
Speaker 1: you to have the same promise, the promise of purpose
Speaker 1: and the promise of power. First Peter chapter one, tewod
Speaker 1: Peter chapter one. As you get to know Jesus better,
Speaker 1: he will give you, through his great power, everything you
Speaker 1: need for living a truly good life. Now he said, well, Rick,
Speaker 1: I don't have everything I need. Well, then you just
Speaker 1: need to get to know Jesus better. As you get
Speaker 1: to know Jesus better, he's the source of your purpose
Speaker 1: and he's the source of your power. Now let me
Speaker 1: quick give you the third one. The third thing that
Speaker 1: I know for certain, not only does that God have
Speaker 1: a great purpose for your life, and God has a
Speaker 1: great power to solve your problems. But here's the third one.
Speaker 1: God has a great place for me after I die.
Speaker 1: We learn that from the resurrection of Jesus. We learn
Speaker 1: that there is more to life than here. And now
Speaker 1: we learn that death is not the end. One day
Speaker 1: your heart is gonna stop. That's gonna be the end
Speaker 1: of your body. But that's not gonna be the end
Speaker 1: of you. Oh no, no, no, you were made to
Speaker 1: last forever. And God says, I have proven that there's
Speaker 1: life after death. I'm raising my own son. I think
Speaker 1: Jesus knows more about the afterlife than you do or
Speaker 1: I do, because he's been there. And this gives us hope.
Speaker 1: Death is not the end. And in John chapter eleven,
Speaker 1: here's what Jesus said, I am the one who raises
Speaker 1: the dead and gives them life again. If you're gonna
Speaker 1: come back to life after your death, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Jesus who does it. Nobody else gonna do it. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be Jesus. He says, I am the one who
Speaker 1: raises the dead and gives them life. How do I
Speaker 1: know that he's telling you? Because he did it, nobody
Speaker 1: else did. It's one of the most attested to miracle
Speaker 1: in history. Jesus spent forty days in Jerusalem. After he
Speaker 1: didn't just say by to your friends, go back to heaven.
Speaker 1: After he raised himself. He walked around eight meals, talk
Speaker 1: to people one time, train five hundred people, many many
Speaker 1: white eyewitness accounts over forty days. And he says, I
Speaker 1: am the one. Anyone who believes in me, even though
Speaker 1: he dies, shall live again, and he gives he is
Speaker 1: given eternal life for believing in me, and shall never perish.
Speaker 1: How do you get eternal life? Not by doing good,
Speaker 1: not by going to church, not by promising me perfect,
Speaker 1: not by giving a whole lot of money to help
Speaker 1: the poor. What he says one thing. You believe that
Speaker 1: Jesus can raise you back from the dead too. You
Speaker 1: trust him as your savior. He is the source of hope.
Speaker 1: Now let me just summarize this. You're never going to
Speaker 1: find ultimate hope in anything you can lose. If you
Speaker 1: want to have a hope that gets you through the
Speaker 1: toughest times of life, you must put your hope and
Speaker 1: put your trust in something that cannot be taken from you.
Speaker 1: If you put your hope in your bank account, you
Speaker 1: can lose your bank account. If you put your hope
Speaker 1: in your spouse, You can lose your spouse. If you
Speaker 1: put your hope in your health, you can lose your health,
Speaker 1: you can lose your mind. You must never put your
Speaker 1: hope in something that you could lose. If you put
Speaker 1: your hope in your good looks, you've already lost them,
Speaker 1: So that that shifts sailed. Friend, I'm sorry. If you
Speaker 1: put your hope in your job, it's gonna let you down.
Speaker 1: If you put your hope in another person, they will
Speaker 1: disappoint you. Why because they're not God. You know, when
Speaker 1: I used to do marriage counseling, I discovered that one
Speaker 1: of the biggest problems for marriage problems is we expect
Speaker 1: our spouses to meet needs in our life, but only
Speaker 1: God could meet Nobody could possibly meet all your emotional, physical,
Speaker 1: spiritual needs. And you can't meet anybody else's total physical, spiritual,
Speaker 1: emotional needs. Only God can do that. And if you
Speaker 1: expect your spouse to meet all your needs, you're treating
Speaker 1: them like God. It's not only unfair to them, it's
Speaker 1: going to be frustrating and disappointed to you because it's
Speaker 1: not going to happen. You have to put your hope
Speaker 1: in something or someone that can never be taken away
Speaker 1: from you. And there's only one thing because you can
Speaker 1: lose everything else in life, and that is your relationship
Speaker 1: to God, your relationship to God. What I'm saying this
Speaker 1: Easter is that hope is not a principle. Hope is
Speaker 1: not a product. Hope is not a program. Hope is
Speaker 1: not a pill. I'll get this pilled and I'll have
Speaker 1: all the hope I need. Hope is a person, and
Speaker 1: there's only one person that you can put that hope in,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the world. That's
Speaker 1: why it's split into AD and BC. That's why your
Speaker 1: birthday is dated according to this event. You need to
Speaker 1: get to know Jesus. And since Jesus raised himself from
Speaker 1: the dead, we know that there's life after death. Here's
Speaker 1: what we have. Look at the next verse one Peter one.
Speaker 1: Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ
Speaker 1: rose from the dead, so we know death not the end.
Speaker 1: For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children.
Speaker 1: That's you who've trusted in him. It is kept in
Speaker 1: heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change.
Speaker 1: In the clay the kay and God in his mighty
Speaker 1: power will protect you until you receive this salvation because
Speaker 1: you are trusting him. What does that verse say, Well,
Speaker 1: let me summarize it all on this. Once you've trusted
Speaker 1: God for salvation, it is not your job to keep
Speaker 1: yourself saved. It's the Savior's job to keep you safe.
Speaker 1: It says he will protect you. He will make sure
Speaker 1: you get to heaven. He will guard what you've given
Speaker 1: to him. When my kids were little, Kay and I
Speaker 1: took him on vacation of the Grand Canyon, and my
Speaker 1: two youngest, the boys, Josh and Matthew, immediately jumped out
Speaker 1: of the car ran right up to the edge like this,
Speaker 1: that ain't gonna happen. So I went out and I
Speaker 1: grabbed their hands and they grabbed mine. They were fine.
Speaker 1: They put their hand in my hands. We started walking
Speaker 1: down the path and they started squirming and started trying
Speaker 1: to say, you know, I don't want to hold on
Speaker 1: to Daddy anymore, and they didn't want to hold onto
Speaker 1: my hand. But I was not gonna let go of
Speaker 1: theirs because I am a loving father. When you come
Speaker 1: to Jesus and you go God, I'm giving him my
Speaker 1: whole life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's
Speaker 1: not clean up your life and then come to Jesus,
Speaker 1: like God, here's my greasy hands, my dirty hands, my
Speaker 1: filthy hands. God, just all the mess in my life.
Speaker 1: I put my hand in your hand, and God grabs
Speaker 1: your hand. You put your hand in the hand of
Speaker 1: the man who's still the water, and he grabs your hand.
Speaker 1: And then as life goes on, there are going to
Speaker 1: be some moments that you don't want to hold onto
Speaker 1: God's hand. God. I'm going to a party tonight with
Speaker 1: a bunch of unbelievers. I'd like to not be a
Speaker 1: believer for about an hour, okay, and I like to pull.
Speaker 1: And you may want to let go of God's hand,
Speaker 1: but He's not letting go of yours. Once you have
Speaker 1: been saved, he will keep you safe. That's the hope.
Speaker 1: You have. A lot of people think I don't give
Speaker 1: my life to God because what happens if I start
Speaker 1: on it and then I kind of mess out and
Speaker 1: screw up and fail, and now I'll feel really stupid
Speaker 1: and then I lose my salvation. No, you won't. That's
Speaker 1: not what the Bible says. It is safe, secure, it's
Speaker 1: paid for, it's done, it's beyond the reach of change.
Speaker 1: In the kay, God and his mighty power will keep
Speaker 1: you saved. It's not your power. He does a saving.
Speaker 1: He didn't. He saves you, He keeps you saved. You
Speaker 1: don't save yourself. So what am I saying that the
Speaker 1: Bible tells is because of the Resurrection, we have hope
Speaker 1: because there's more to the story than just here and now.
Speaker 1: And we have hope because God protects your salvation and
Speaker 1: keeps it and you can't lose it. And that causes
Speaker 1: you to face the most difficult times in life with
Speaker 1: the whole new confidence. As a pastor, I have stood
Speaker 1: at I couldn't count the number of grave sites that
Speaker 1: I've stood at in forty years. I couldn't count the
Speaker 1: number of funerals that I've done. And so I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty good expert at knowing that differs between people who
Speaker 1: have hope and people who don't, because you can see
Speaker 1: it in their eyes. I have been at the funerals
Speaker 1: of people when nobody in the family knows God, nobody
Speaker 1: in the family has the hope of the resurrection. Nobody
Speaker 1: in the family knows the hope of heaven and for them,
Speaker 1: they're losing this person. They're never going to see him again,
Speaker 1: and it's over. That's it. It's over. And the terror
Speaker 1: in their eyes is something you don't want to see.
Speaker 1: I've seen it over and over and over. And I
Speaker 1: compare that to people who know the Lord, that when
Speaker 1: they lose a loved one who knows the Lord, they grieve,
Speaker 1: but they're not grieving for them because they know where
Speaker 1: they're going. They're grieving for themselves because they're going to
Speaker 1: miss them. And it's a whole different kind of grief.
Speaker 1: It's a grieving with hope. You know. The older I get,
Speaker 1: and the more of my family that's in heaven, and
Speaker 1: the more of my friends that are in heaven, some great,
Speaker 1: great saints who've been in this church for over thirty years,
Speaker 1: they're going on, the more of my friends and family
Speaker 1: on the other side, the more Heaven becomes attractive to me.
Speaker 1: I have to be honest with you. When I was
Speaker 1: a young man, heaven didn't seem very attractive to me
Speaker 1: in the first place. No picture of it on earth
Speaker 1: is correct. I mean, the picture of heaven on earth
Speaker 1: right now that you hear there's heaven it's all white.
Speaker 1: There's no color in heaven. There's fog up to your feet.
Speaker 1: You walk around, everybody's in a white robe with wings
Speaker 1: playing a harp. That would be hell. If that's heaven. No,
Speaker 1: thanks God. I just soon have my sunrise, a sunsets
Speaker 1: and a cool surf. That's not heaven. You can't even
Speaker 1: understand what heaven's going to be like. It's so cool.
Speaker 1: Even in a world that's broken, filled with suffering, sorrow, sadness, sickness,
Speaker 1: it's still a pretty cool place. We're enjoying it right
Speaker 1: now outside. Most of you know that four years ago,
Speaker 1: the week after Easter, our family lost to youngest member,
Speaker 1: my youngest son, Matthew, after a lifelong battle the mental illness,
Speaker 1: died and it was the worst day of my life,
Speaker 1: and his brother and sister's life, and his mom's life,
Speaker 1: and everybody else in our family who loved him. Many
Speaker 1: times over the last four years, I've been asked, how
Speaker 1: did you handle that? How did you handle the death
Speaker 1: of a son who struggled his entire life with mental illness.
Speaker 1: I want you to listen very carefully, because you're going
Speaker 1: to have loss in your life. I guarantee it there
Speaker 1: is no life without loss, There is no loss without pain,
Speaker 1: there is no pain without grief. You're going to go
Speaker 1: through this in life. So somebody who loves you is
Speaker 1: your pastor, as your spiritual coach. That's my job to
Speaker 1: help you get ready for this kind of stuff. And
Speaker 1: listen carefully. The way you live with hope in the
Speaker 1: middle of pain is to enlarge your perspective, to change
Speaker 1: your viewpoint, to get your eyes off of what's happening
Speaker 1: right here and now, shift your perspective, change your focus,
Speaker 1: and begin to live in light of eternity. As I said,
Speaker 1: your life on earth short. You get maybe one hundred years.
Speaker 1: That's not very long compared to the trillions of years
Speaker 1: you'll spend in eternity. And so you get your eyes
Speaker 1: off the here and now and you get it on eternity,
Speaker 1: and you see the hope that's there. Here's what the
Speaker 1: Bible says, look on the screen. So we don't focus
Speaker 1: on the troubles we see right now. Instead we look
Speaker 1: forward to what we don't see yet. For the troubles
Speaker 1: that we see now are temporary, but the joys that
Speaker 1: will come to last it will last, will last forever.
Speaker 1: I mean even if you had a chronic problem your
Speaker 1: entire life, it's only one hundred years or eighty or
Speaker 1: seventy nothing compared to thousands, tens of thousands, millions, and
Speaker 1: trillions of years in eternity. And the truth is what
Speaker 1: comforts me when I think about the death of my
Speaker 1: son is not thinking about the happy moments in his past,
Speaker 1: but thinking about the holy moments he's having right now.
Speaker 1: That comforts me because my hope is built on nothing
Speaker 1: less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, And because I know
Speaker 1: where he is and if he was able to talk
Speaker 1: to me, and he can't, but if he was, he say, Dad,
Speaker 1: what are you worried about? This place is so cool,
Speaker 1: it's so great. It's far better than any of the
Speaker 1: sermons you preached about it. And I can't wait for
Speaker 1: you to get here. That is my hope. We live
Speaker 1: in a society today, friends, that is filled with hopelessness.
Speaker 1: We are an epidemic of hopliness hopelessness. I think it's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why, you know, Purpose Driven Life
Speaker 1: was such a big seller, because there was no People
Speaker 1: are lacking hope and they're looking for hope and they
Speaker 1: want to know where it is. And where is it?
Speaker 1: It's in God's word. It is in God's word. Look
Speaker 1: at this next verse, people, I don't know about heaven.
Speaker 1: No eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard,
Speaker 1: no mind has ever imagined the wonderful things that God
Speaker 1: has prepared for those who love him. He has a
Speaker 1: purpose for your life right now. He has a power
Speaker 1: to help you solve the problems tomorrow, and He has
Speaker 1: a for you after you die. The reason why you
Speaker 1: can't explain heaven is because your brain power isn't big
Speaker 1: enough to handle it. It would be like an aunt
Speaker 1: trying to understand the Internet. We live in a three
Speaker 1: D world, but there are dimensions that we don't even
Speaker 1: know about. And if God built this world and it's
Speaker 1: all broken now from sin, how much cooler is Heaven
Speaker 1: going to be? Say? How do I get this? How
Speaker 1: do I get a new purpose in my life? God's purpose?
Speaker 1: How do I get a greater power in my life?
Speaker 1: And how do I get a greater place which becomes
Speaker 1: my ultimate hope that even when I'm going through tough
Speaker 1: now I'm going this is not the end of the story.
Speaker 1: I have read the last chapter of the book. We win.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always look good. But I've read the last chapter.
Speaker 1: We win. Sometimes you're going through a tough time in
Speaker 1: your life, and really what you're feeling is the world
Speaker 1: is coming to an end. And that's the way you feel.
Speaker 1: The world is coming to an end. No, a season
Speaker 1: may be coming to an end, a moment in your
Speaker 1: life may be coming to end, but it's not the
Speaker 1: end of the world. Why because when the world ends,
Speaker 1: Jesus is coming back. And that's our hope, that's bow
Speaker 1: our heads. Because of the resurrection, we know for certain
Speaker 1: that God has a great purpose for your life, has
Speaker 1: a greater power for your problems, and has a wonderful
Speaker 1: place for you after you die. How do you get
Speaker 1: these benefits? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
Speaker 1: is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
Speaker 1: Him from the dead, you will be saved. That's what
Speaker 1: the Bible says. So I want the honor and the
Speaker 1: privilege of leading you in a very simple prayer, much
Speaker 1: like Professor Joe in Beijing. It doesn't matter what your
Speaker 1: background is. You may be Buddhist or Muslim, or Mormon,
Speaker 1: or Methodist or Baptist or Buddhist or Atheist or Catholic,
Speaker 1: or doesn't matter what background you are. Jesus isn't interested
Speaker 1: in your religion. He's interested in you having a relationship
Speaker 1: with God and you just confess it to God. So
Speaker 1: why don't you pray these prayers? So I'll just say
Speaker 1: a little prayer and you it doesn't even matter the
Speaker 1: word you say. It's that you be humble. If you're
Speaker 1: humble for God and say God, I need you, that's it.
Speaker 1: So just say, Dear God, say that in your mind.
Speaker 1: Dear God, I do not want to go through life
Speaker 1: not knowing my purpose. Thank you that my life is
Speaker 1: not an accident. Thank you that you planned me, whether
Speaker 1: my parents did or not, and that You've loved me
Speaker 1: every moment of my life. And so today, as much
Speaker 1: as I know how, I want to open my life
Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for me
Speaker 1: and rose again so that I could have hope. Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I want to know God's purpose for my life, and
Speaker 1: I want to spend the rest of my life learning
Speaker 1: it and fulfilling it. In Jesus Christ, I want to
Speaker 1: put my trust in your power. I want to plug
Speaker 1: in starting today. I'm want to stop living on my
Speaker 1: own power. And start living by your power. I know
Speaker 1: that you are greater than any problem I face. In
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, I ask you to reserve a place for
Speaker 1: me in your heaven and your home. I want to
Speaker 1: learn to love you and to know you, to follow you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for loving me before I knew you. Thank
Speaker 1: you for dying for me before I even was created,
Speaker 1: but you knew I would be And so I humbly
Speaker 1: ask you to accept me into your family. Then I
Speaker 1: may experience all the benefits of what you did two
Speaker 1: thousand years ago. And I pray this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen,