Rick Warren - You Were Created to Be Loved by God (Part 2)

What happens when I learn to become aware all the time?

There's no moment that I'm not aware that I am

loved unconditionally, deeply, and eternally by God. Number one, I

feel accepted rather than ashamed. I feel accepted rather than ashamed,

and that'll change your life. Most people go through their

entire life avoiding God.

And the reason why they avoid.

God is because they are ashamed, they feel ashamed, they

feel guilty, they feel under condemnation, they feel judged, they

feel criticized. They think, God is a perfect God and

I am so not perfect. So why in the world

would I wanna hang out with a perfect God who's

simply gonna remind me of all the ways that I've failed?

Because that's not what God does. Jesus said, I didn't

come to condemn the world, I came to save it.

He said, I didn't come to condemn the world, I

came to save it. The Bible says there's no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's a no

condemnation lifestyle. Now the Bible says this, Romans 5 verse one.

By faith, we have been made acceptable by God Acceptable

to God. And now because of our Lord Jesus Christ,

we live in peace with him. We've been made acceptable

to God. Circle that word acceptable. And because of that,

God accepts me completely, totally, unconditionally because of his love.

I live at peace with God. Now let me tell

you why that's so important.

Because it sets you free from the addiction that you

have to approval. You do certain things in life, some

things you wouldn't even wanna do, but you do them

because you want the approval of other people and you

are addicted to their approval and you've been trying to

gain approval from some unpleasable people your entire life and

you're never gonna get it.

But when you realize that God loves you.

Unconditionally and without condition of any type, you realize this,

I don't need the approval of other people And it

sets you free. I don't need other people's approval to

be happy. Most of your life, you have been worried

about what other people think. And that's because you don't

feel totally unconditionally loved by God. And when you don't

feel it, then you're trying to make yourself impressive and

you're trying to get.

The approval of other people.

But when you know God loves you, criticism doesn't bother

you anymore. Because if God loves me and I like me,

you don't like me, that's your problem. Look at the

next verse, Romans 8. If God says his chosen ones

are acceptable to him, and he has, can anybody bring

charges against them? The answer is no. Or can anybody

condemn them? The answer is no. Does criticism really matter?

No, no indeed. Because I feel accepted to rather than ashamed.

That's a big one. It'll set you free.

Number two, when I experience the unconditional love of God

on a daily moment by moment basis, I am bold

in bringing my deeds to God.

I'm bold in my prayers.

Why?

Because I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter of God.

I'm a child of God. I'm a member of the family.

And so I know God loves me unconditionally and when

I pray to him, I can talk to him about

anything because.

I'm his son.

When my kids were little and they would come to me,

they could ask me anything and they would come and

just tell me what they needed. They assumed I had everything,

knew everything and could afford everything. Now you know that's

not true, and I know that's true. But with God,

it is true. The Bible says, well actually, in Romans 8,

all who are led by the Spirit of God are

children of God. So you should not be cowering like

fearful slaves. No, no, no, you should behave instead like

God's very own children.

Adopted into his family.

God adopted us into his family, calling him father, dear father.

And I love that phrase, father, dear father. The word

there is the Aramaic word, Abba. Now Abba is not

just a Swedish rock group. Abba is the word in

the Middle East, in almost all of the Semitic languages,

for daddy. It's the first word every kid in the

Middle East learns. Abba, it's easy to say, Abba, Papa. dada, mama, abba.

Abba simply means daddy. And the Bible says that when

you come to God in prayer, you come to him

and you say, dada, papa, abba, father, dear father. You

don't come to him with some fancy phrase. If my

kids had come to me and said, They needed allowance, buddy. Oh,

thou most gracious progenitor of the Warren family. Thou wonderful

observer and keeper of all.

The family funds. I'd go, huh? No, no, they just say, dad,

I need cash.

Okay, it's just like real straightforward.

Very bold, dad, I need cash.

And the Bible says that you can come to God

and say, dad.

I need cash.

Abba, Father, just in the most intimate terms. God doesn't

want you. You know all these fancy flowery prayers that

everybody prays? God's going, what are you talking to? You

were to talk to me as Abba, Father, Daddy, my Daddy.

I feel bold in bringing my request to God. Talk

to him, Father, dear Father, and since we are his children,

We will share in his treasures. In other words, I'm

a son of God, I get the family inheritance. You're

a daughter of God, you get the family inheritance. We

will share in his treasure for everything God gives to

his son, Christ is ours too. I'm a son of God.

You're a son of God, you're a daughter of God.

You get total access because he loves you that much.

He didn't say, excuse me, I'll put you on an

appointment in three months. You can come boldly to God

and talk to him about anything, anytime, anywhere, and God's

not gonna go, excuse me, I'm a little busy. I'm

trying to solve the Middle East crisis right now. No,

you're a child of God. You get special privileges. And

you're bold in bringing your needs to God. Look at

this verse, Hebrews 4.16. Let us then approach the throne

of grace.

That means prayer.

Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence. The

word is actually boldness. So that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help us when in our time

of need. You need to be bold in your prayer.

You're a son of God. You're a daughter of God.

You're loved unconditionally. And Jesus said, you can ask anything

in my name. I feel accepted rather than ashamed. And

I am bold in bringing my needs to my Abba Father,

my Papa Father. Number three, when I understand God's love

conditionally and I just experience it, not just know it,

I have peace in pain I don't understand. Peace in

pain that I don't understand. You're gonna have a lot

of things that happen in your life you don't get.

You're gonna ask the why questions of life. God, why

is this happening to me? Why is this happening to

our family?

Why now? Why here? Why this? You're gonna see things

happen in the world. Lord, why?

Now, let me just say up front, God doesn't owe

you an explanation for why he allows anything. I will

tell you this, not everything that happens in the world.

Is God's will.

God hates evil and a lot of evil's done in

the world and God could easily take away evil, really simple,

take away your freedom to do it and mine too

because you've done some evil things in life and so

have I. And he could easily get rid of all

suffering by taking away your choice and my choice and

turn us.

All into puppets.

But he wants us to voluntarily love, so he puts

up with the pain that evil caused.

In order to give you the freedom of choice.

And you're gonna go through life, and a lot of

things in life, you're not gonna understand. Losses you don't understand,

hurts you don't understand, rejection you don't understand, problems you

don't understand, but here's the thing, you don't have to

understand them to be at peace. In fact, an explanation

doesn't give you peace anyway. When someone you love dies,

if somebody told you the explanation for it, it wouldn't

make you any happier. You still have the loss. Explanations

don't cover it. What you need is not peace, I mean,

not an explanation. You need presence, the presence of God

in your life. And what you need is what the

Bible calls the peace that passes understanding. Look up here

on the screen. Philippians 4, 7 says this. The peace

of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts

and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, what is the peace

that passes understanding? It's when you feel at peace, even

though you don't understand what's going on. You have no reason,

no explanation, no discernment. You just don't know why it's happening,

but you're still at peace. And that is a supernatural

peace that comes from God, is that peace that passes understanding.

Because I don't know why this is happening.

But I do know this. I do know God is

a good God. And I do know that he loves me.

And I do know that he wants what's best for

my life. And I do know that I can trust

him even when I don't understand it. That's the peace

that passes understanding. And it comes from feeling the love

of God in your life.

Do you ever wonder if your life really matters or

what on earth you're here for? Pastor Rick wants to

let you know that God has a good plan and

purpose for your life. In his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life,

he lays out a simple, life-changing roadmap to help you

discover and live it. This book has transformed millions of lives,

and it could transform someone you love. And great news!

It's been updated for today's generation. This edition includes a

video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor Rick for each chapter.

and two powerful bonus chapters on the biggest barriers to

living a purpose-driven life. As you go through this book,

you'll uncover that your deepest meaning and fulfillment doesn't come

from success or status, but from understanding and living out

the purpose that God created you for. Request your copy

today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope

share the gospel around the world. It's our way of

saying thanks.

Now you and I know that human fathers don't have

unlimited ability, unlimited power, but your heavenly father does. And

he can handle anything. He has unlimited power and he

has unlimited love. And when you realize that he is

good and he is God and he loves you and

the things that don't make sense in your life, you

can have the peace that passes understanding. Now God's love

does not exempt you from pain or suffering in this life.

No, Christians have.

The exact same problems that non-Christians do. The difference is

we get the peace that passes understanding. Where I can

trust God in a moment when everything is falling apart

around me and I can know there's a promise in

the Bible. We just trust. Looked at it last week,

Romans 8, 28. And we know that in all things,

even the bad things, God works for the good of

those who love him, who have been called, circle that word,

called according to his purpose. Circle that, purpose. Calling and

purpose go together. And when we live the calling and

we live out our purpose and we let God love

us and we love God back, we can know that

in all things, God is working for the good of

those who love him. And that gives us the peace

that passes understanding.

Number four.

The four things that happens when I know that I'm

totally loved by God is I gain the courage to

take risks. I gain the courage to take risk. When

somebody believes in you, you are capable of accomplishing things

you would never be able to accomplish on your own

just because they believe in you. It gives you an

additional power. It gives you additional energy. You know, sometimes

when we're doing Christmas or Easter, some of these times

when I'm doing 14, 16 services.

Back to back, and along about number nine, I'll.

Start to get tired, and I think, I don't think

I got the energy to do this, And I'll look

right over here to my wife who sits right down

here and she'll wink at me and I'll think, I

could do 100 more. Because all I need her to

do is to believe in me. And it gives me

enormous energy. When someone believes in you unconditionally, the way

God does and when you experience that, it releases you.

You have dreams that have gone unfulfilled in your life

because you have been scared to death to go after them.

What if I fail? And you're gonna.

Die with unfulfilled dreams unless you key in to the

love of God. And you let him give you that

confidence that comes from him believing in you. Even if

you're old, it's not too late. When I was in

the seventh grade, we lived up in Northern California in

the Redwoods. And I was taking a, shop class in

the seventh grade and everybody was supposed to make something

for shop class and I decided for that Christmas I

was gonna make my mom and dad a redwood table.

Now a little true confession here, your pastor has zero

artistic and craft ability. I'm just not very coordinated with

my hands. I'm just not good at all. And I

decided that I was gonna make this redwood table. And

after about, I worked on it for about six months hard.

We had a barn on our property and I wouldn't

let my parents come out the barn because I was

working on it there for six months.

And after six months, it was a disaster. I mean

a mess.

And I mean nothing in this, Table looked right. I mean,

it was all wonky jawed. It was misbalanced. One edge

was longer than the other. It was at bad sanding

and parts of it were nicked off and I had

done too much lacquer at one end and not enough

at the other.

And it was a mess.

And I remember how disappointed I was in myself and

how bad I felt. I so badly wanted this to

be a nice gift for my parents. And I just

remember sitting down in that barn one day and just sobbing.

And my dad heard me. And he came up to

the barn and he asked for permission to come in

and I let him come in. And I said, dad,

I just screwed it up. I have made such a

mess of this. And I wanted it so badly.

To be nice, but it's not. And I'll never forget

what he said. He said, you know, son, it's okay.

We can start over. Not you. We can start over.

And this time, I'll help you.

Now, my dad was a master carpenter. In his lifetime,

he built about 150 churches all around the world. He

knew how to build stuff. So if my dad said,

this time I'll help you, it's a done deal. It's

gonna succeed. And this is what your heavenly father is

saying to you today. I don't care if you're 15

or 50 or 95.

God is saying, you may have really messed it up royally.

And you gave it your best shot, but it just

flat out wasn't good enough. And you're really, to be honest,

if you're honest with yourself, you're disappointed in your life.

And your Heavenly Father comes to you today and says,

it's okay, you can start over.

And this time, I'll help you. We will do it together.

Your Heavenly Father has wanted to reach out and grasp

you in his arms when you have felt like, I

just blew it. Maybe you blew it publicly, maybe you

blew it privately. And your Heavenly Father says, It's okay.

We'll start over. And this time we'll do it together.

For some of you, and some of you watching right now,

this moment, God has been waiting for this moment your

entire life. He's been waiting for this moment where you,

for the first time, would get a little inkling of

how much he loves you. I've said many times, your

problem is not that you don't love God. Your problem

is you don't know how much he loves you. Because

if you did, you could not help but love him.

And this is the moment where a million years ago,

before anything happened in your life, God chose you and

decided to create you to love you. And you have

spent your entire life afraid to surrender your total life

to God. And the reason why you've been afraid to

surrender your total life to God is because you don't

know how much he loves you.

Nobody knows what is best for you. for you.

Nobody knows what will make your life better than God does.

So this is your moment. This is your breakthrough moment.

This is the moment where you let go of fear.

The Bible says this on the screen. There is no

fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear

because fear has to do with punishment. When love comes

in the front door of your life, fear goes out

the back.

You need to stop being afraid of God.

And you need to accept his love and the fear

will drain out of your life. So, how do I

become a son of God? How do I become a

daughter of God? How do I become a child of God?

On the screen, the Bible says in John chapter one,

verse 12, to all who believed him, that's Jesus, and

accepted him.

He's already accepted you. Accepted him.

Jesus gave the right to become children of God.

So let's talk to God about it. This is your moment.

Let's bow our heads.

I want you to pray this prayer that will change

and transform the rest of your life. Dear God, just

say this in your heart. I am so amazed at

how much you love me. Thank you that your love

for me is wide enough to be everywhere I go.

Thank you.

That your love for me is long enough to last forever.

You will never stop loving me.

Thank you that your love for me is deep enough

to handle all my problems. Thank you, God, that your

love is high enough to overlook all my sins, all

my mistakes, all my faults and failures because of Jesus. God,

I want to feel accepted rather than ashamed. I want

to be bold in bringing my needs to you. I

need the peace that passes understanding. I want to have

peace even in pain that.

I don't understand.

I need your love to give me the courage to

take risks, to go after my dream. Jesus Christ, As

best I know, I surrender every particle and room of

my life. And I wanna learn to love you back

because you love me so much. And I wanna spend

the rest of my life with that first calling of

letting you love me. And I pray this in your name, amen.

The fifth things that happens when you understand the love

of God in your life is I worship instead of worry.

I worship instead of worry. What is worship?

Worship is simply expressing my love to God.

Anytime you say to God, I love you, God, that's worship.

You can worship in a small group. You can worship

in a church building, a service.

You can worship with windows rolled down your car and

the radio blaring.

Anytime you express.

Love to God, you are worshiping. Worship is always a response.

We love God because he first loved us. Look on

the screen. We love God. We love because God first

loved us. Remember, your problem is not that you don't

love God. Your problem is you don't understand how much

he loves you. Now, How do you know, and we'll

close with this, how do you know when you're not

feeling God's love? Oh, it's real simple. One simple thing, worry.

When you worry, at that moment, you have forgotten how

much God loves you. Worry is acting like an atheist.

Worry is is pretending you're an orphan. Worry is saying,

I've forgotten I have a heavenly father who loves me,

wants what's best for me, and created me, and is

watching over me. Worry is pretending like you're all on

your own.

You're not. Worry at that moment means, at this.

Point, I have forgotten how much God loves me.

And you need to choose worship over worry.

My oldest son, Josh, had to go back east this

week and He hates to fly when there's turbulence. And

because of the storms, he said, Dad, it was constant turbulence.

And he said, I had to decide, was I gonna

worry or was I gonna worship? So instead of worrying,

he said, I put in my earbuds and put on

a bunch of worship songs. You're gonna panic or pray

the rest of your life. You're gonna worry or you're

gonna worship. You're gonna look at your problem or you're

gonna look at God. Jesus said this. Don't worry about

having enough food or drink or clothing. He'll give you

all you need from day to day if you live

for him and make the kingdom of God your primary concern.

So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its

own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. And this promise,

that verse right there, is why we're doing live your calling.

Do you ever wonder if your life really matters or

what on earth you're here for? Pastor Rick wants to

let you know that God has a good plan and

purpose for your life. In his best-selling book, The Purpose

Driven Life, he lays out a simple, life-changing roadmap to

help you discover and live it. This book has transformed

millions of lives and it could transform someone you love.

And great news, it's been updated for today's generations This

edition includes a video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor

Rick for each chapter and two powerful bonus chapters on

the biggest barriers to living a purpose-driven life. As you

go through this book, you'll uncover that your deepest meaning

and fulfillment doesn't come from success or status, but from

understanding and living out the purpose that God created you for.

Request your copy today when you give a gift to

help Daily Hope share the gospel around the world. It's

our way of saying thanks.

Thank you.