Rick Warren - I'm Called to Be Sent—Part One

Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This

is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Now today

we're continuing into the new year, and we're digging deeper

into one of life's biggest questions, does my life really matter?

In today's message, Rick's going to continue his powerful series

Live Your Calling?

What on Earth Am I here for?

In it, you'll discover how living out God's purpose for

your life brings real meaning, direction, and joy no.

Matter where you're starting from. Let's get right to it.

Here's part one of a message titled Called to Be Sent.

During this series, we've looked at God's five purposes for

your life. You're not an accident. They're accidental parents. There

are no accidental children. They're illegitimate parents. There are no

illegitimate children. Your parents are being not a plans you.

But God did He fans you even before the foundation.

Of the world.

And your life has value, and your life has significance,

And you are not an accident. And the Bible says

that God created you for five purposes, for five reasons,

for five assignments. The Bible calls them your callings in life,

your vocation in your life. Your vocation is far more

than your career. Oh no, no, no, it's your reason

for existence. And God says I made you for five reasons.

Now we looked first at I am called to be loved.

The number one purpose of your life is you were

made to be loved by God. And until you get that,

nothing else is going to make sense. You're made by

God and for God, and He made you to love

you in that base of love. When you feel totally

completely loved by God, then you have the capacity to

move into every area of life that He wants you

to move into and to experience life in all its fullness.

But first, you're.

Called to be loved by God. Then we looked at

the next week at your called to belong. You're called

to not just be loved, you're called to belong. You're

called to belong to His family. You were not meant

to go through life on your own. You're not alone, ranger.

You were made for connection. You were made for community,

and we find our meeting and purpose in our relationships

to each other. You're made, You're created. You're called to belong.

Then we looked at the third calling in your life.

You're called to become. God has plans for your life.

He made you to become what He wants you to be.

You can't be anybody in the world. People will tell

you that it's just not true. No matter how hard

I try, I'm never going to be an opera singer.

And no matter how hard I try, I'm never going

to be good at certain sports. I'm just not wired

that way. You can be who God has made you become.

And joy getting in the Jay zone is when you

become who God made you to be. You're called to

be loved, you're called to belong, You're called to become.

And then last week we looked at the fourth calling

in your life. You're called to bless. You're called to

bless others. God didn't put you on here to live

a selfish little claw of a life where it's all

about me. No, it's not all about you. It's all

about God. It's all about others. And we find our

true meeting and purpose only as we give our lives away.

And as I bless other people, I am blessed myself.

And as I help others, I am help myself. It's

the law of sowing and reaping. But when you sow

a seed, you don't just get one seed back, you

get multiple seeds back. So whatever you sow in life,

you're going to get back more of you sow criticism,

you get back more criticism. But you so praise, you

get back more praise. And you're called to bless other

people with your life using what we call your shape ape,

your spiritual gifts, your heart, your abilities, your personality, and

your experience. And nobody is uniquely shaped like you are.

You have a unique voice, print, iPrint, mouth, handprint, footprint, heartbeat,

emotional beat. And God doesn't want you to be anybody else.

And when you get to heaven one day, he's not

going to say why won't you more like somebody else?

He's going to say, why won't you more like you?

I made you to be you? Unless you be you,

who's going to be you?

Now?

Tonight we look at the fifth calling, and this is

the calling of being sent. I'm called to belong, I'm

called to be loved, I'm called to become, I'm called

to bless, and I'm called to be sent. Now I

want you to write this down on your outline, God's

plan for history. If you want to know the purpose

of history. Here it is He's gathering a family. God

is gathering a family that will love and live with

him forever.

Makes us very very clear.

And the message was brought to us first by the

nation of Israel. God gave this message to the Jews

to give to the rest of us, and now we

are to pass it on to others. That God's plan

for history is that He's gathering a family that will

love and live with him forever. If God hadn't wanted

a family, he wouldn't have created a universe. He wouldn't

have created the human race, he wouldn't have created you

and me. The Bible says this in Ephesians chapter one,

verse five. Look up here on the screen. His unchanging

plan has always been to adopt us into his own family.

This is God to adopt us into his own family

by bringing this to himself through Jesus Christ, and this

gave him great pleasure. All of us are created by God,

all of us are loved by God, but not everybody

is a child of God.

You got to choose to be in the family.

In fact, there's only two ways to get into family,

be born into it or be adopted into it. And

the Bible uses both of these metaphors. Spiritual rebirth and

adoption is what it means to get into God's family.

Now for that to happen, God's whole purpose in creating

the universe is to gather a group of people who

choose willingly to love him. And God gives me a

free choice love or reject him. And God says, you

ought to give everybody else the free choice to love

or object. It's not faith if it's forced. So we

don't believe in coercion. We believe in persuasion. We believe

may the best idea win. But we don't believe in

coercion because God says, I created you to love me,

and it's not love unless I could choose to not

love him. But those who choose to love him become

a part of God's family. Now, once God's family is

gathered together, we go into phase two, which is after earth,

which is after life. It's in eternity where the real

life begins. This is the preschool. This is the warm

up back. This is a dress rehearsal. This is the

first lap around before the real race begins. The race

the real life is eternity. Now for God to gather

his family. Somebody has to pass on the good news.

And here's what the Bible says in Romans chapter ten,

verses thirteen to fifteen. Anyone who calls on the name

of the Lord will be saved.

That's a promise. But he says, how can they call.

On him to save them unless they believe in him?

And how can they believe in him if they've never

heard of him? And how can they hear about him

unless someone tells them? And how can anyone go and

tell them without being sent? Circle the word sent. This

is the fifth calling of your life. You are called

to be sent. This is what the scripture means when

they say how beautiful are the feet of those who

bring good news? Now what this verse means is this

my fifth purpose in life? My fifth calling in life

is this. I'm sent to bring others into God's family.

I'm sent to bring others in God's family. The moment

I step across the line, spiritually, God wants me to

share the good news with others. You know, if I

had the cure for AIDS and I kept it a

secret and I didn't tell anybody, that would be criminal.

In fact, they had to put me in prison. If

I had that good news and didn't tell people, I

should be incarcerated. If I had the cure for cancer

and I didn't tell anybody about it, that would be criminal.

But God has given us an even greater message. How

to have our past forgiven, how to have a purpose

for living, how to have a home in heaven, and

then not share That would be criminal. So my fifth

purpose in calling in life is I'm sent to bring

others into God's family. We call us here at saddleback

the peace plan, and we base it on some verses.

Notice this verse. The Bible says in First Corinthias, Second

Corinthians five eighteen. Through Christ, God made peace between us

and himself. Then God gave us the work of bringing

others into peace with him. I want you to circle

the word peace twice there on your notes. God made

peace between us and himself through Jesus. Then God gave

us the work of bringing others into peace with him.

So God's I'm mad at you, you can be at

peace with him.

Now.

This is God's eternal peace plan. The Bible calls it

the ministry of Reconciliation. One day Jesus is walking down

the street and a guy comes up to him, says, Lord,

what's the most important verse in the Bible? And Jesus

that I can summarize the whole Bible in two sentences.

Here's cliff notes on the Bible. Here's the whole Bible

in two sentences. Love God with all your heart, and

love your neighbor as yourself. Be reconciled to God, and

be reconciled to each other. Make peace with God and

make peace with each other. Stop your war with God,

stop your war with each other. In the conflict with God,

and then you'll be able to end the conflict.

With each other.

Get the Prince of Peace in your life, and you'll

be able to live at peace. It's all about relationships.

Life is not about accomplishments. It's not about achievements. It's

not allowed about acquisitions. It's about relationships. Your relationship to God,

your relationship to yourself, and your relationship to other people.

Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbors yourself.

This is the ministry of reconciliation. This is what God

calls we call the Peace plan. Make peace with God

and then make peace with others and bring the peace

of God into their lives. Now this peace plan, of

God's eternal peace plan, will only have and if you

fulfill your fifth calling. The Bible says it like this,

John Chapter twenty, verse twenty one. In fact, let's read

this verse aloud together. Let's read it aloud with great enthusiasm.

Jesus said, peace be with you, as the Father has

sent me. I am sending you now again. Circle three words,

circle the word peace. It's the peace plan.

Peace be with you.

We get peace with God, and we give the peace

of God, and we explain the peace of God to others.

As the Father has sent me. I'm sending you. Circle

the words sent and sending. This is your fifth calling.

I'm called to be loved, I'm called to belong, I'm

called to become, I'm called to bless, and I'm called

to be sent. Now, you, guys, we live by this verse.

Jesus says, as I've been sent, I am sending you.

We don't just believe this verse. We practice it, We

live it, we do it. And this is the one

calling that most people want to shy away from. I

can imagine some people get in heaven and God says, okay,

let's go through the purposes. I created you for the

reasons you exist. Let's go through the callings that give

in your life. Did you let me love you your

call to be loved? Yes, got that one? Bingo you're

called to belong. Got that one. I did that.

You're called the bulk to become. Got that.

Did that You're called the bus others. Got that You're

called to be sent and pass it on to others? Ah,

wrong answer, I didn't do that one. And God's going

to say, and what were you thinking? You think I

put you on earth to live for yourself. Once you

have the good news, don't you pass it on to others?

Now many of you are new to Saddleback Church, So

I want to take a minute and I want to

explain to you what we call the peace plant and

how we do this at Saddleback Church, because, as I said,

we take this verse extremely sent seriously. Jesus said, as

I have been sent from God the Father to Earth,

I am sending you out to all around the world.

We call it the peace Plan. What is the peace plan?

I wrote a definition there on your outline. The peace

plan is ordinary people, empowered by God, making a difference

together wherever they are now, every one of those phrases

is important ordinary people. The Peace Plan is not for superstars.

It's not for saints and nuns and priests and missionaries.

It's for people like you and me, normal people. Ordinary

people can do the Peace Plan empowered by God.

We don't do it on our own power.

God gives us the energy and the ability to do

it making a difference together. You don't do it on

your own. We always do it in groups. We do

it in teams. We do it together. We're better together.

We're in community, and we do it wherever we are.

And so we do it here, we do it there,

we do it everywhere. Jesus said it like this, John

fifteen sixteen. You did not choose me, but I chose you,

and I appointed you to go.

Circle the word to go. I've appointed you to go.

Part of your appointment, part of your mission in life.

Your life mission is to go. You are to be

sent and you are to go. I chose you and

appointed you to go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. Now,

fruit is a metaphor for a successful life, a fulfilling life,

a productive life, a fruitful life. And Jesus said, I

want you to bear fruit. In your life that will last,

that will last. Let me now, let me be honest

with you. Most of what you do in life isn't

going to last. Most of what I do in life

isn't going to last. The things that we spend most

of our time on people aren't even going to remember

in ten years, much less thirty, fifty or one hundred.

Most of the things you do in your life, it

isn't going to last.

Nobody's going to care.

What movies you went to, what books you read, what

how you spent your summer. And Jesus said, I want

you to do something with your life that lasts. Now,

there are only two things are gonna last forever, truth

and people. Truth and people. So if you invest your

life in truth and in people, then you're investing your

life in things that last.

Can you imagine getting.

To heaven one day and somebody comes up and says,

I just want to thank you, and you say, thank you.

I don't even know you said, no, you don't know me.

But you helped in a ministry, you helped in a project,

a humanitarian effort, you helped in your church, and you

know what, you did something that caused me to get

to know God, and I'm going to be in heaven

because of you.

I'm your friend forever.

There's nothing you can do more important than help people

determine the destiny of their lives, because it's the.

Only thing that's going to outla.

It was William James who said the greatest use of

your life is to invested in that which outlasted. And

when you invest it in people who are going to

last for eternity, then you are doing fruit that will last.

What a special message from Pastor Rick.

And now let's hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope.

Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Today, I want to share a testimony from Ella, who

listens to Daily Hope in Canada, and she wrote, Pastor Rick,

like so many, I found every area of my life

flipped upside down when the pandemic hit in twenty twenty.

I graduated from the university in April that year, and

I was lost and desperate for guidance. Yet as stubborn

as I was, I searched for answers everywhere else except

in God's word. But out of desperation, I read the

purpose Driven Life and I started listening.

To Daily Hope.

Daily Hope was one of the resources that became monumental

in my journey to giving my life to Christ a

year after I started listening. And so I want to

thank you, and I want to thank everyone at Daily

Hope for all the work that you do. It must

seem so abstract when people you reach are all over

the world, but I know I'm not alone and saying

that Daily Hope has helped me find comfort and God

when I needed it most. Wow, Ella, thank you so much.

Thank you for writing, and thank you for telling me

that you've accepted Christ. You know, I know so many

people who are just like you. They're lost, They're looking

for answers, and they keep looking everywhere, but in the

right place, God's word for the truth. But praise God,

you found the word of God. You believed his word,

and you believe that Jesus is the truth. So it's

a blessing. It's a blessing to know that God is

using this broadcast to help bring you and other people

to Him on a daily basis. Now, you mentioned that

it must be unusual to reach people around the world,

even though I'm not able to meet Him face to face,

and I'd like to say this. I wish I could

meet everybody face to face. I wish I could take

every one of you out to a corner restaurant, sit

down and have a cup of coffee and just let

me hear your life story. I would Nothing would make

me feel happier than doing that. But that's why I'm blessed.

To receive letters.

Please write me, Please tell me your story. I want

to know how God is changing your life, how God

is using his word through Daily Hope to make a

difference in you. So let me know what God's doing

in your life. Let me know how He's using Daily

Hope to help you in your Christian walk, and that

way we can pray intelligently for you.

Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this

broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel

free to.

Send him an email at Rick at pastorick dot com.

That's Rick at Pastrick dot com. 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