Rick Warren - Being an Agent of Mercy in the World—Part Three

Hey everybody, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick

Warren and today we're closing out our series the Miracle

of Mercy. Rick has shown us how God's mercy can

lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the way

you live. If you missed any part of this series,

you'll find it on our website pastorick dot com. And

now we're going to wrap up this series with the

final part of a message called being an Agent of Mercy.

In the world, hospitality is a lost art today in

our culture. We don't know how to do this. First

we're too busy, and second we're too self centered. We

don't know how to just slow down and have hospitality

with people a cup of coffee, inviting people into your

home for a meal. You realize how radical that is

today to invite people who you know have you know,

I'm not talking about your close friends. Just invite somebody

to come for dinner. You have never been for dinner.

That's pretty unreal. But the Bible over and over emphasizes hospitality.

People are hungry for hospitality, and the Bible tells us

in Matthew twenty five that the one thing we will

be judged for at the judgment is how you treated

other people. And in that passage in Matthew twenty five,

Jesus says this, I was alone, and you welcomed me,

and you showed me hospitality. You brought me in, you

welcomed me. When was the last time you showed anybody

a stranger hospitality? I want you to hear Brandon's example

of being an agent of mercy.

This give him a warm welcome.

Well, hey, settleback. It is a gift to be here

with you.

Years ago, as a small group of young adults, we

had a little New Year's Eve party and invited some

friends of friends, some of whom weren't weren't Christians.

Dave was twenty two at the time.

He was incredibly sharp when it came to things like

philosophy and writing and deep thinking, but he was quite

socially awkward and was lonely as a result. You know

those people who sometimes their intelligence gets in the way.

Feeling uncomfortable in social settings, he spent much of his

time alone. Wanted to show some mercy. I invited him

to our little New Year's shindig. At the party, Dave

thanked me for inviting him, but he admitted with embarrassment

that this was the first time he was ever invited

to a party.

Could you imagine that in twenty two.

Years of his life, here was a guy who was

completely overlooked by the world around him. No one had

ever welcomed him to be a part of their community. Well,

our small group welcomed him in with kindness and love,

which actually completely overwhelmed him. We embraced him, We engaged

him in conversations, but we talked to him about things

that he could talk about.

Though Dave was.

Deep into Eastern philosophy and religion, our group was quick

to be hospitable to his thoughts, overlooking some of those

awkward tendencies and celebrating his bravery for taking such a

big step.

Now. That little invitation.

Was a catalyst that started a two year process, a

process where hospitality transformed strangers into friends. Dave told me

that he had never experienced such kindness from a group

of people.

We were just listening, smiling, talking, and.

He figured that there must be something special going on

in this community.

He began to show up.

To our first to our midweek small group Bible study,

and he started by asking questions and even started to

find some answers. Sometimes his quietness would turn into you know,

those twenty minute one way conversations, And with each one

of those, every time he went into that, the group

responded with smiles, with patience, with a listening ear.

It was Mercy in action.

Now Dave was not yet a Christian, but his worldview

began to be shaped by Jesus' teachings. And it wasn't

until Dave joined our small group on one of our

trips to Los Angeles' skid Row that his heart really

came alive. He said, it was weeks of watching us,

our small group, pray for those that are on the

street and handing out bottles of water. It was as

he watched that that he really started to open his

heart to Jesus.

By his third trip with us to Los.

Angeles, Dave was now joining us praying for the street

people in need. He was laying hands on them, and

he was handing out bottles of water. In fact, he

was now the one that was listening to the twenty

minute discussion coming coming towards him.

Mercy captured Dave slowly.

After two years of warmth and hospitality and kindness and mercy,

Dave handed his life over to Jesus.

He was now on mission.

Now years later, Dave graduated with a bachelor's in theology

from a Christian university and is exploring God's call for ministry.

This is amazing. Once being a stranger himself, because of

the hospitality of this group, he is now an agent

of mercy in the mission of hospitality.

That is a miracle of mercy.

Thanks Number five, the fifth way God wants you to

be an agent of mercy. See this week. Look for

people who need a second chance. Oh man, they're all over.

Everybody's had failures, everybody's stumbled, everybody's sinned, everybody has flaws,

makes mistakes. And you see people who have failed. Maybe

they've had a failed business, maybe they've had a failed marriage,

maybe they've had a failure in some relationship. And you

need to look for people who need a second chance

and show them mercy. One of the ways you know

when somebody needs the second chance is off.

And they're depressed.

They feel depressed, they feel in despair because they're being

How can I recover from this? I'm too far gone

and they're depressed. And the Bible says in second Corinthians

two seven, when people sin, you should forgive them and

you should comfort them so they won't give in to despair.

They don't fall into that slew of despondency, that trap

of depression. And giving people a second chance is one

of the most powerful ways to show mercy. I want

you to hear Matt's example of this.

Welcome him a lot, to settleback family. It's good to

see you. So years ago, I was a health and

physical education teacher and a coach at a middle school.

I shared an office with another PE teacher named Brad,

and Brad was a pretty intense guy. In fact, he

always seemed angry or frustrated, and actually he was pretty

hard on the students and wasn't very liked by the

other staff and kind of unfriendly. I once asked him, dude,

why are you so angry, and he replied, I'm just

angry with life. Then, when a relationship actually was an

engagement that ended, suddenly, Brad became suddenly even more angry

and bitter. He felt rejected and his anger then turn

to depression and despair. My coworker became so depressed that

he couldn't.

Even leave our small office.

In fact, he was completely incapacitated by depression. Bra I

couldn't get himself to go to the copy room and

make copies. He couldn't go to the lunch room just

to simply have lunch. And so this is an opportunity

for mercy. And seeing an opportunity for mercy, I started

to look for ways to help him overcome his depression.

Since we had done a lot of team teaching, I

started taking his classes and teaching them by myself. Sometimes

I teach both his and my students together, which meant

handling about eighty middle school boys at one time.

Yikes.

All right, but my heart broke for Brad, and I

look for ways to help him take small steps through

his depression. I would pray with him in our office,

and I would bring back lunch to him, make copies

for him. I shared encouraging Bible versus to him in

the office, and of course, I invited him to church

with me. About the same time, Brad's mom gave him

a book called The Purpose Driven Life, and he had

a fellow football coach that was sharing the same verses

with him.

That I was.

In his suppression.

Brad stard coming to church with me and listening with

open ears. At church, he found more merciful people, people

who loved on him, and he heard the good news

that Jesus offered him a second chance and a fresh start. So,

surrounded by love, Brad gave his life to Jesus. And

So when I first started teaching with such a difficult

person like Brad, I wondered why I was there. But

now I know why God placed me in that smelly

middle school locker room with a depressed guy. God wanted

me to be Brad's agent of mercy. Thanks, all right,

let me.

Give you one more, and this one's gonna be hard.

It's going to shock you, and I say it. Number six.

Look for people who are rude. That should not be

very hard. Look for people who are rude and be

kind to them. That will blow their mind because they

expect rudeness to be greeted with rudeness. The Bible says

in First Peter three, verse nine, don't repay evil for evil.

You're not allowed to do that if you call yourself

a Christian. Never retaliate when people insult you. Never never

say unkind things to them when they said unkind things

about you, instead pay them back with a blessing.

A blessing what, Yeah, this is.

What God wants you to do, and he will bless

you for it. If you want God's blessing on your life,

you need to learn how to be nice and how

to be kind to rude people and not be rude

back to them. I want you to hear Sean's story

of this. Give him warm, welcome.

Hey, Settleback.

Back in two thousand and five, I traveled to the

country of Malawi in Africa on a mission trip, and

one day our team was in a village ministering to

a group of people, went a very loud and obviously

drunk man showed up. I was really trying to intentionally

started creating some ruckus and just being a huge distraction

to our group. And his rudeness was clearly disrupting the

meeting and something needed to be done to stop him

and to really kind of quiet and calm him down.

So I decided to be that person and go over

to him and engage with him. Now, usually your first

reaction to an irritating person is what.

Anger.

Maybe that's a little.

Bit of what I felt was just kind of a

little bit of frustration. But I decided in that moment, though,

to treat this man politely, with respect and with mercy.

So I quietly pulled him aside and again talking gently

to him. I honestly did not know how he'd react.

I really didn't, but I felt compelled to share the

good news of Jesus with him in that moment. Now,

he was actually kind of rude and mean at first,

but I just kept listening and showing him mercy, responding

with kindness.

Instead of getting upset.

As he felt respected, he started to soften up a

little bit.

He confessed that he had a.

Drinking problem and that it caused him to do and

say some things that he was truly ashamed of, and

that it was causing his marriage to fall apart. He

felt that his mistakes could not be forgiven even by God,

and he admitted that he actually hated himself.

Now, all of this came.

Out because he felt valued and he felt safe in

that conversation with me. Now, in his brokenness, guys, I

remember looking at him and in love, I put my

arm on his shoulder and saying.

That you know what we all make mistakes.

We've all fallen short of God's glory, and even even

God will forgive us when other people cannot forgive us.

But God, in his mercy loved him deeply.

In spite of the mistakes that he's made, and that

God would forgive as we know, even the worst offense imaginable.

So I encouraged him in those words. Now, guys, it

was in that moment that I watched his expression literally change.

It went from from being broken and downtrodden to least

feeling hopeful.

Now, guys, as I as.

I walked away, actually as as I began to share

with him the good news of the godspel and the

good news of Jesus, he actually made a decision to

put his faith in trust in Jesus. In that moment, guys,

it was an incredible experience. Now we left, my team left,

and we moved moved on to the next ministry outing

that we're doing, and the end of the trip. And

fast forward to many years later now, I actually ended

up receiving a call from my dad, and during our conversation,

my dad mentioned to me that he had recently talked

to a man and from our church, which whom I

had gone on this trip with. Originally, this man had

just returned from Malawi himself. In the church that he

was serving in in Malawi, he had met the children's

pastor of that church, and he had gotten to know

that man through the time that he was there in Malawi,

and he had a chance to hear the testimony or

here the children's pastor's story, and so the children's pastor

began to share with him, and the man said this.

He said, well, I used to be the village drunk.

I was abusive to my wife and kids, and I was.

The outcast of the village.

But one day, while an American mission group was here,

I tried to break up their meeting. And while I

was drunk, I was being rude and obnoxious, doing everything

I could to cause them to be distracted. But this

young guy he pulled me away. He pulled me to

the side, and he kindly listened to me.

I was mean to him at first, but.

He kept being kind to me, so I listened to

him all the more because of the way he treated me.

My heart softened, and he led me to Jesus. That

changed everything.

And today I serve as the pastor of children in

our church. That guy who showed me kindness, his name

was Sean Guys. Of course, in that moment, I'm hearing

my dad tell me the story and I'm just weeping uncontrollably,

and it was such a beautiful moment. But I wonder,

I go back to this story in this moment. Wonder, man,

what if I would have been rude? What if I

were decide decided to say, you know what, No, he's

he's just kind of be that rude and noxious guy,

and I'm gonna I'm not going to show mercy to him.

But I made that decision today.

I made that decision that day to extend kindness in

mercy to him, and, by God's grace, God use that

moment to change his life forever.

Thanks Now, I hope you're inspired.

There's just six normal people in six normal circumstances of life.

Being an agent of mercy.

You can do this.

You can do these six things, but it will cost you.

And let me tell you what it's going to cost you.

If you you start living a lifestyle of mercy, you'll

get all kinds of benefits and blessings from it. God

will bless you in amazing ways, but it will cost you.

And what it's going to cost you is time. You

got to be willing to take the time. I got

this email this week, Pastor Rick. The first time I

met my neighbor, he told me I will never go

to church with you. First thing he said to him,

I will never go to church with you. For the

next five years, I looked for ways to witness to

my neighbor, but he was definitely not interested, he said.

Then one morning recently, I was late to work. I'm

rushing out the door when my neighbor yelled, hey, have

you got a minute. Everything in me wanted to say no,

I don't, but I could see he was in a

bad place. He was in a time of crisis, and

in that split second I decided to show mercy and

to be even later to work. So we both headed

off to Starbucks together. I listened to him for quite

a while, but in that Starbucks, my neighbor, who had

insisted that he'd never ever go to church with me,

gave his life to Christ. And for five years I

tried to make a difference in his life. But it

was an act of mercy that opened the door. I

told you in Matthew twenty five. Jesus in that passage says,

the one thing you're going to be judged for at

the judgment is how you treated other people. Jesus says

in that passage, I was hungry and you fed me.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was

naked and you clothed me. I was sick and in prison,

and you visited me. And we will say to the

Lord Lord, when did we see you naked and clothe you.

When did we see you thirsty and give you something

to drink? When did you see you hungry and feed you?

And Jesus said, and I will send to you inasmuch

as you did it under the least of these my brothers,

you did it to me. What we're talking about here

is the essence of Christianity being agents of mercy. Out

as we come to the conclusion of the campaign of mercy,

we're now going to start the lifestyle of mercy. One day,

the Bible says, God is going to reward you for

your acts of mercy. I want you to get those rewards.

I don't want you to be standing going Sorry, I

was too busy to show mercy. I was too busy

to be an agent of mercy. The Bible says in

Hebrews six' ten last, Verse god will not forget the

work that you've done and the love that you've shown

him by caring for and helping other. People let's bow

our heads for. Prayer would you say, This Dear, god

help me to start looking and listening for people's needs around.

Me i've been too busy to pay, attention BUT i,

care SO i want to be. Aware help me to

see the needs of people around the, me at, work at,

home at, school in the. Neighborhood And, lord WHEN i

come upon, people help me not to be offended by their.

Sins help me to remember that love has a way

of not looking at other. Sins to be patient and

make allowance for each other's faults because of our. Love

help me not to expect unbelievers to act like believers

until they. Are and, Then, lord help me to choose

my words, carefully to put a muzzle on my, mouth

to not say unkind, things but to only say things

that build people. Up and, Then, lord help me to

value serving and saving people over keeping, Rules to do

what matters, Most to see people brought into Your. Kingdom

now just, Say, LORD i want to be an agent

of mercy this. Week help me to look for people

in a crisis and just listen to, them to carry

their burden and fulfill the law Of. Christ, lord help

me to look for people with unmet needs and just

offer practical, help to wade right in and help. Out

thank You lord that you've done that with. Me help

me to look for people who are grieving and comfort

them with the comfort you've given. Me, lord help me

to look for people who need, friends who are, lonely

who are, shy who are on the, edges who are socially,

awkward who are, unpopular nobody pays any attention to them

at the. Office help me to seek them out and

just show, hospitality to be, kind to be, loving to

welcome them, in to invite them to the. Party And,

lord help me to find people who are going through

a tough, time a, failure a, scandal a, problem people

who need a second. Chance help me to offer for them,

mercy to be there in their corner when everybody else walks,

Out help me to walk. In And, lord help me

even with people who are rude to this, week just

instead of being rude back to be kind to, them

that your kindness and your mercy might break, through that

ultimately they.

Might Find Jesus.

CHRIST i asked you to make me an agent of,

mercy AND i humbly pray this In jesus'.

Name.

AMEN i don't know about, you BUT i am encouraged

after that. Message and let's keep the encouragement going with

a letter from one of our. Listeners Here's.

Rick have you ever taken a step of faith with

no idea what's? Next, well with the help Of Daily,

Hope nicole did just. That she wrote this note to. Me,

Hello Pastor, RICK a close friend of mine suggest THAT

i listened To Daily hope for you years. Ago and

WHILE i had faith AND i loved The, LORD i was.

Lost But Daily hope rescued. Me my relationship With jesus

grew in ways AND i never knew. Possible soon, baptized

and over the next four, YEARS i grew in boldness

and in faith in The. Lord AND i even left

a high powered and high salaried position to follow a,

different purpose driven path with The lord's. Guidance it's been

a literal step forward in faith without knowing the next.

Steps certainly not SOMETHING i was capable of years, ago

and Already god is showing me his. Goodness you, know

as my husband explores his own relationship With jesus, again

your ministry is literally A god's. Sin your ability to

teach the good news and ways that are easy to

understand and, apply it is just. Amazing we also follow

your suggestion to find a good local. Church so thanks

for all you do for believers and those who are

Seeking christ around the. World Rick you're loved and appreciated

and no doubt a vessel Of god's grace and. Mercy Signed. Nicole, Well,

Nicole i'm so glad that you've grown in your relationship

With jesus and you've taken the important step of getting.

Baptized what an important step this, is finding a church,

home really listening to The, lord and living a purpose driven.

Life all of that happens when you take time to

listen To god's. WORD i love how your friend shared

daily hope with, you and now you've shared it with your.

Husband you, know any of you can do. This anybody

can do. This you can share daily hope with your

friends and with your relatives and with people you don't even.

Know and, well then watch How god brings life to

others through his.

Word you KNOW i Share Pastor Rick's Daily hope all the.

Time and whether it's a friend or someone you meet

in a, restaurant everyone needs hope and encouragement from The

bible every. Day so tell the people you know in

love About Daily. Hope, hey be sure to join us

next time when we look Into God's word for our daily.

Hope this program is sponsored By Pastori's Daily hope and

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