Rick Warren - Living in God’s Amazing Grace—Part Two

Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher of the Daily

Hope Broadcast. Did you know that because of Easter, your

past can be forgiven, you get a purpose for living,

and you can have a home in heaven. That's good news.

Where else can you get that kind of news? Nowhere else?

And did you know that at Easter, studies have shown

people are more open to an invitation to go to

church than at any other time of the year. Don't

go to church by yourself, but bring somebody who doesn't

know Jesus Christ, a family member, a friend, a coworker,

a neighbor, a relative. And if you bring them to

that church service and they come to know Christ, You're

going to be making a friend for eternity. It'll be

the most important investment you can ever make in their lives.

And by the way, if they come to Christ, would

you let me know about it. I'd love to hear

that story that you brought somebody to Easter and they

found Jesus. You can write to me Rick at Pastorrick

dot com. That's rickat Pastorrick dot com. I would love

to hear from you. God bless you and happy Easter.

You know, none of us can earn our way into heaven,

because eternal life is a free gift when you accept Jesus.

As the Lord of your life.

Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, and today

Rick Warren brings his series Good News about Grace to

a close. You can't really truly understand the Christian life

until you understand grace. It's at the heart of your

faith and your relationship with God. And in this series

you'll discover how not to only understand grace, but experience

it and the joy it brings. Okay, and right now

it's time for the final part of a message called

living in God's Amazing Grace.

Now, in light of what Jesus Christ has done for us,

what should be our response? And in light of the

fact that all those ten things that Grace offers to

us are made possible because of what Jesus did on

the cross, how should I respect bond? Get the verse

at the bottom of the front page. So we beg

you hear the urgency in Paul's voice. We beg you

do not let the grace you receive from God be

for nothing. What do I owe Jesus Christ? I owe

him the rest of my life. I owe him all

that I've got. I owe him the past, the present,

the future, everything. And so as we conclude this ten

week series, I want to give you three ways you

can express gratitude for God's grace. Would you write these down?

Number one, I can show my gratitude for God's grace

by making my life count. By making my life count

one Corinthians six twenty says this. Don't you see that

you can't keep on living, however, you please, squandering what

God paid such a high price for. So let people

see God in and through your body. He's saying here,

you can't understand the grace of God and just keep

on living the same way you've always lived. You can't

understand the grace of God and just keep on ignoring

his commands, or just keep on wasting your time on trivia,

or just keep on spending your money any way you

think you can spend it. You can't do that anymore.

You have been bought with a price. You know. After

they've failed assassination attempt on President Reagan, I remember him saying,

I have a new sense that I was spared for

a purpose and that all my time belonged to God.

After that, well, I want to tell you something. Because

of Calvary, because of the Cross, because of what we

just celebrated, remembered, you were spared for a purpose. Jesus

Christ did not die on the cross for you to

just go on living any old way you want to.

He made you for a purpose. He created you for

a purpose. He redeemed you for a purpose. He died

for you for a purpose, and he wants you to

fulfill it. First, Peter tells us this, each person should

use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully

administering God's grace in its various forms. He says here

that the abilities and the talents, and the opportunities and

the education and the freedom and the relationships and all

the things that you have that bless your life were

not given just to be squandered, but they were given

for a purpose. And God expect you to use those

for a purpose because He has shown you his grace.

So what I say to you tonight, I beg you.

I beg you don't waste your life. Jesus Christ died

for it, and if he died for it, you better

not waste it. Make your life count. Number two, the

second way you can show gratitude for God's grace is

by becoming a generous person. By becoming a generous person,

remember the verse we read. You are familiar with the

generosity of Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave

it all away in one stroke. He became poor and

we became rich. Now let me just say this. If

you want to measure how much you understand grace, if

you want to measure how much you're living by grace,

if you want to measure how much you are grateful

for grace, look at your giving, Look at your giving.

Go what the Bible says. Each one should give what

he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly

or under compulsion, For God loves a cheerful giver, and

God is able to make all grace. Circle that all

grace abound to you, so that in all things, at

all times, having all that you need, you will abound

in every good work. Now let's circle all the alls. Okay,

all grace, all things, at all times, having all that

you need, you will abound in every there's another one,

every good work. Those are the promises related to the

person who becomes like Christ. And what was Christ like

he was a giver. God so loved the world that

he gave. You're never going to become like Jesus until

you learn to be generous, because the Christian life is

in three words, love, serve and give, Love, serve and give.

And until you learn to be generous with your time,

with your money, with your life, with your resources, with

your opportunities, you're not going to be like Christ. Nothing

is greater proof that you understand grace than that you

are lovingly gracious and generous to other people and to God.

So what I'm saying is this, if you're uptight when

I or some other pastor starts talking about giving, or

you get defensive, or you get stingy, or you get nervous,

it means you don't understand grace. Because look at that

verse again. He says if you give, cheerfully, liberally, abundantly,

what's God gonna do? He says, He will take care

of all your needs, all the time, in every way

however you need him. Here's the question, are you going

to trust to God who gave his life for you?

If you can trust him enough for salvation, can't you

trust him enough in your finances? The truth is you

really don't own anything. You don't own anything. God loans

it to you for sixty seventy eighty years and then

you give it back. You don't own anything. It's all

his in the first place. If my daughter comes to

me and I give her five bucks to buy me

a present, where's the money really coming from in the

first place? But God does that with us. He gives

to us liberally, generously, abundantly, and then he says, now

show a little gratitude, be Generson giving yourself tithe back

to me, and on and on. I just want to

why because he needs the money. No, he wants you

to be come like him. He doesn't want you to

have a stingy heart. He wants you to have a

Jesus heart, a heart that says I can't wait to

give in every area. See the Bible says you might

write this verse down Romans eight thirty two. If God,

or since God loved us enough to'll give us his

own son, won't he love us enough to take care

of every one of our other needs? That's kind of logical.

The fact is I can say that I love God,

and I can sing that I trust God and put

him first. But my wallet and my checkbook can show

a real difference. God wants me to become generous like him,

and he wants me to make my life count. Those

are ways to show gratitude. And there's a third way,

by sharing the good news of grace. By sharing the

good news of grace. Acts twenty twenty four disperse together. Okay,

read it aloud with me. The most important thing is

that I have a successful career. Doesn't say that The

most important thing is that I what complete my mission,

the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to tell

people the good news about God's grace. Now, Notice it

doesn't say the most important thing in life is to

get married. It doesn't say the most important thing in

life is to fund your retirement. It does not say

the most important thing to life is to travel a

lot and have a lot of fun. It does not

say the most important thing to life in life is

to become famous or pay off the house. It says

the most important thing in life is to fulfill your mission. Now,

if Jesus died on the cross for you and showed

his grace to you so that you could fulfill your mission.

If you don't, that's called a massive eternal waste. A

part of that mission, It's just a part of it's

not all of it. But a part of your mission

is to tell other people the good news of grace.

God puts you on this earth for a reason. God

puts you on this earth for a purpose. He has

a mission that only you can fulfill. But part of

that mission, once you step across the line is to

tell other people you know Christ because somebody told you.

Who are you going to tell? Let me just say

it like this, if you knew, I mean, if somebody

died for you, would you want to know about it? Yeah,

you would. If somebody died for you, you'd want to

know about it. And friends, that is the motivation behind

everything we do here at Saddleback Church. See, Jesus died

for every single person in southern California and the world.

And this weekend, the typical resident in Orange County will

sit at home watching TV. Got Is Hot, Coco probably

or a bud or something newspaper TV on Kickback, relaxed,

totally unaware that Jesus Christ died for him and the

grace that is available both in the past, the present,

and the future. Totally oblivious to that fact. And if

that person lives and dies without ever knowing that their

sins are forgiven, that there's a place in heaven that

the purpose for living, then for that person, Jesus Sai

Christ's death is a waste. It's a waste. Now. The

Bible tells us in Second Peter that the Lord is

not willing that any should perish, but that all should

come to repens God wants everybody in his family. Everybody

needs Jesus. And because God cares, we must care. And

one of the ways we show gratitude for our own

salvation is to share that good news with other people

and to tell them because people are dying for the

grace of God. Now, let me ask you a very

serious question. Is anybody going to be in heaven because

of you? If you died right now? Is anybody going

to be in heaven because of you? The big question

is who am I going to tell? Do not come

to Easter to share the greatest news in the world

without bringing somebody that you care about, without bringing somebody

that you love, without somebody that you're concerned that theyre

going to heaven too, not just you? And I've let

the space there at the bottom where I'd like for

you to write down the name of a non believer

who lives in this area that you care about. He said,

I can't think of anybody. Then you've got a problem.

You can't think of anybody you care about who doesn't

know the Lord in this area. Then I'd say start

praying quickly that God would open up your heart to

see the faces of people around you who are desperate

for the good news. And they're running from fad to fad,

to therapy to books, the seminars, to this New Age thing,

to that psychic thing that seminar, to the running everywhere,

trying to find the fulfillment in an affair, trying to

find it in workaholism, trying to find it in some

sport or hobby. And there's this gaping god hole in

their life that says only the grace of God can

fill it. And we have the greatest news in the world.

And the way we show our gratitude for the grace

of God is by making our own lives count, by

living a life of extravagant generosity, and by telling as

many people as we can about the good news. That's

power heads. You may need to confess your ingratitude to God. Today.

You may need to say, Jesus, please forgive me for

taking your grace for granted. You may need to confess

a fear, Mother, I've been afraid to make my life

count for you, Or maybe to say, Father, I've been

afraid to use the abilities you've given me in ministry,

or I've been afraid to tithe and put you first

in my finances, or I've been afraid to dentimie by

myself as a follower of you at work. Please forgive

me for taking your grace for granted. Invite you to

follow me in this prayer. Say Father, I want to

make my life count for you. Say that in your mind.

And I want to commit the rest of my life

to using the life you gave me in serving you

and fulfilling the purpose you made me for. I want

to fulfill my mission. And I want to become a

generous person, starting with tithing back to you in gratitude

for all you've done. And I'm going to trust you

with my finances, and I want to be used in

sharing the good news of your grace. Help me to

find at least one person this Easter to invite to

hear your word with their heads still bowed. If tonight

is we took communion, you prayed that prayer and said God.

By taking this tonight, I'm saying, Jesus, I believe in

you and I want to receive your grace, and tonight

you're accepting Christ into your life. Please let me know

about it, but just pray this Lord, thank you for

loving me enough to die for me. I don't understand

it all, but as much as I know how, I

want you to come in my life and save me

and lead me from here on out. In your name,

I pray Amen.

Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept

Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.

Just email Rick at Pastororick dot com. We'll send you

free tools to help start your relationship with Jesus. Pastor

Rick has created a beautifully illustrated book called Journey with Jesus,

and this book is stunning. It's filled with beautiful photographs,

colored mosaics that depict the sacrificial journey Jesus made to

save us.

Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.

Every year Christians from all over the world remember the

death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by traveling to Jerusalem,

where they walk the path that Jesus took on the

way to the Cross. That path is called the Via

dola rosa, which literally means the way of suffering. Now,

since you may not be able to ever travel to Jerusalem,

I want to suggest a way for you to celebrate

and reflect on and pray about what Jesus did for

you on the Cross. So I've created a brand new,

one of a kind resource that will take you through

the fifteen stops that the Bible tells us Jesus took

on the road to Calvary and his death on the Cross.

Now we're calling this resource Journey with Jesus. Journey with

Jesus is a deluxe hardcover gift edition book that's illustrated

with really beautiful photos, high quality glossy photos of mosaic

tyle artwork that reflect each of the stops that Jesus

made on his journey to the Cross. You're not ever

going to forget this gift. It's a great gift book

to keep and to study over and over again, and

make a great gift for your family and your friends too.

Be sure to request your copy of Journey with Jesus

when you give a gift to help Daily Hope share

the love of Jesus around the world. Just go to

pastorick dot com to get your copy of this great resource.

That's pastorick dot com. Or you can just text the

word hope to seven oh three oh nine. Again, that's

the word hope to seven oh three oh nine. Be

sure to join us next time as we look into

God's word for our daily hope.

This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

your generous financial support.