Rick Warren - Radical Love Part 2

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

the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so

glad you've joined us today. We're continuing a powerful series

called Radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots, And in this series, Rick

will show you how to grow deep in your faith,

stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created

you to be. So let's join Rick right now for

the final part of a message called Radical Love.

The Book of Titus says the free gift, it's free

gift of eternal salvation is offered to who who everyone.

Notice there's no mention of religion there say this is

only offered to this religion or to that religion, or

to this group or to that group or that nationality.

It says, this is offered to everyone, the friends. I

don't really care what your religious background is. You may

be Catholic, Protestant, you may be Jewish, you may be

Muslim or Mormon, or Buddhist or Baptist or Hindu. You

may be atheist or agnostic. I don't really care what

your religious background is. Jesus still died for you. The

free gift of eternal salvation is offered to everyone. Doesn't

matter at all what your religious background is, because it's

not about religion. It's about a relationship to Christ. Look

at the next verse. It makes no difference who you

are or where you're from. If you want God and

you're ready to do as he says, the door is open.

He says, there regardless of your ethnic background, regardless of

your economic background, regardless of your educational background, doesn't matter

who you are, what you've done, or who you've done

it with, or how long you did it. sCOD says,

I'm not interested in that. It's all about whoever believes

on Him shall not perish. He says, it's about what

I've done for you. It's not about what you do

for me. It's amazing grace for every race. Jesus is

an equal opportunity savior. How do I accept this offer?

Whoever believes in Him shall not perish. We'll notice the

next verse. The Bible says this, If you confess with

your mouth Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead, that's what

Easter is all about. You will be saved.

Now.

The problem with that verse, we don't understand the meaning

of the word lord, because we don't. We're not in

a feudal system today. We're in a democracy in America.

We elect our presidents and our congressmen and our senators.

So we're not in a.

World of kings and queens and lords and ladies and

your lordship. We don't have vassals and counts and serfs

and knights and pages and lords. So the word lord

is not a word that we use it frequently in

our language. So what does it mean when I say

I'm going to confess Jesus is my lord. What's the

modern component to it? The modern comparison is, Jesus is

my manager, my CEO, the chairman of my board. He's

my boss, he's my supervisor. He's calling the shots.

In my life.

Jesus is sitting in the driver's seat in my car.

Jesus is the pilot of my plane. He is directing it.

When you say Jesus is lord, the best description of

that is you put on a sign that says I'm

under new management.

I'm under new management.

See, before I opened my life to Christ, I was

managing my own life. Wasn't doing a very good job

of it because I was managing my own life. So

I kept hitting a bunch of dead ends. I had

broken relationships, had a lot of stress, a lot of worry,

a lot of difficulty. I had a lot of regrets

in my life, unnecessary tension. I really wasn't quite sure

of what my purpose in life was because I was

managing my own life. And at one point I said, Okay,

time out. I'm not doing that hot a job. Whether

I think, I'm gonna go with God because he made me,

He loves me, he created me, He knows what will

make me happy more than I do.

He sent his son to die for me. He wants

me to live with him in heaven.

I think I'll let him be the manager of my

life under new management. That's what it means to say,

Jesus is the lord of my life. He says, if

you'll do that, if you'll say that, and then if

you will believe in your heart God raised him for

the dead. Notice it doesn't say believe in your head,

believe in your heart. Why because a lot of people

miss heaven by eighteen inches. They got it up here

in their brain, but they don't have it here in

their heart. In other words, they have an intellectual understanding

of Jesus, but they have no heart or emotional commitment.

So he just said, oh, I believe in Jesus.

Isn't enough.

Oh I believe Jesus died on the cross. I believe

he rose fer sins and I mean to shoot the

devil believes that. But you're not going to find him

in heaven of Americas.

Say, oh, shoot, I believe Jesus was who he said

he was.

Our whole calendar split into AD and BC by the

life of Christ. But that's not enough. What does it

really mean to believe? The word here in Greek and

the original translation means it's pistevo or pastuo. It means

to trust in, to cling to, to rely on. It

means to have a relationship with That's what God wants,

is a relationship with you. I could mention a bunch

of famous people that I could say I know that person.

You would know who I'm talking about, But I don't

really know them. I don't know what makes them tick.

I don't know their internal workings. I certainly don't have

an intimate relationship with him. But I know Jesus Christ.

I've known him for forty years. He's my best friend.

I talked to him all the time, just like I'm

talking to you. In fact, I was talking to him

about you just a few minutes ago. And I don't

have to close my eyes and I don't have to say

the e. Now I've developed the friendship that I can

hear God speak to me in my heart and I

in my head, and I can talk to him. And

you can do this too. God sent Christ not to

give you a religion. God sent Christ to give you

a relationship. In fact, what did Jesus come to do?

Look on the screen. Jesus said this. I didn't come

to judge the world, but to save it. Now, that's

a whole, big different picture of God than most people have.

Most people think God sits up in heaven waiting to

catch you doing something wrong just so he can judge you,

just so he can tell you what you did wrong,

just so he can put you down, just so we

can tell you should have done this, you should have

done that, you must do this, you shouldn't have done that,

you shouldn't have done that. Friends, that's not God, that's

your parent. Don't confuse an unpleasable parent with God. A

lot of people take their idea of their parents and

put it on God and think God is unpleasable. God

is not mad at you, He's mad about you. God

so loved the world that he sent his son to

die for you. Nobody's ever sent anybody to die for

you except God. That whosoever believes in him. That's the

great gift. I did not come to judge the world,

but to save it. And it really doesn't matter what

you've done. You know, over the many years here at Saddleback,

over twenty thousand adults have said, I confess Jesus is

my Lord. I believe in my heart. I'm opening my

life to Christ. I'm stepping across the line. I'm becoming

a part of God's family. Over twenty thousand people just

in this church, over one thousand of them have come

across his stage and told their stories. And those you've

been here for years know that you've heard the most

amazing stories you've ever heard of life transformation. Only God

can make those changes. I thought this Christmas we'd put

the testimony on video. Leo was a Cuban mafia in Miami.

He was a drug runner, making a lot of money

selling cocaine and then he found how to opened his

life to Christ and it was revolutionized and changed. I

want you to hear his story.

Listen to this.

I was born in Cuba and at the age of eleven,

my parents brought us to the United States. We lived

in the city of New Orleans, where I lived there

for over twenty years. There I went to school, and

in nineteen seventy seven, after having graduated from high school,

I decided to move to Miami. This was the disco mecca,

something that I was very involved in that was really

my lifestyle. I met a man named Manny who would

turn out to be my best friend. One night, as

we went out, we walked into this club and there

was this guy that was causing a lot of attention

and had all the girls around him, and as we

got closer, it turned out to be Manny's uncle.

He invited us.

To his table and we hung out that night, and

it wasn't long before he offered us if we'd be

interested in come to work for him. We would get

on a fast boat and we will drive out to

the open ocean where we will meet a mother boat.

This boat would unload these big belts of drugs and

we will hold them in and we would get paid

big amounts of money. After a while, we graduated to

wanting out to be distributing cocaine. And if we're making

a lot of money running the boats, this kid of

money duplicated and here we are money and I out

there at the disco with more money in our pockets

that we know what to do with. There was a

lot of competition, and there was a lot of bloodshed,

and the streets of Miami got very dangerous, and I

found myself caught up in this business of money and blood.

I would literally walk over their bodies and left person

that I knew behind to die. I spent close to

three or four years as a fugitive. Peace wasn't part

of my life. Love wasn't part of my life. It

was something that was foreign because you didn't trust anybody's

During this time that I was hiding out, if you

will in a bar, that I meet this beautiful girl

that is ten years younger than me. I wasn't out

to meet anybody. I wasn't out for a relationship, and

I kind of actually ran away from her, even though

there was a sense that there was something special about her.

In nineteen eighty nine, the law finally caught up with

me and I ended up doing close to five years

in a federal institution in Tallahassee.

I got out of.

Prison and I did my time. While at a restaurant

one night, I ran into Doris's stepfather and this is

when he breaking the news that Doris has been waiting

for me all this time, and she never gave up,

and she invited me to come to church with her.

Next day, he I'm sitting at church and I'm sitting

by myself because she was part of the choir. I

don't know how this came about, but next thing I know,

I was up front, crying like a baby, giving my

life to Jesus. I had a hard time understanding why

will God receive me after the lifestyle that I lived,

How he will love on me and accept me. That

beautiful girl that I met that dark night in my

life is today my wife. Come June sixth, it will

be a fourteenth anniversary out of this love union. We

have two beautiful children, Samuel or my little man, he's thirteen,

and Teresa, my baby girl, she's seven. So, as I

have shared this with you, I only had done it

with one thing in mind, and it's knowing that if

I went through all of these changes, and I did

all of this and yet He received me, I know

that doesn't matter what it is that you've done. Doesn't

matter what it is that you have gone through, or

even someone you love. Nothing that will hold you, that

will keep you away from that will separate you from

the love of our most wonderful creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now you may think.

God would never accept me, Well, he accepted Leo. Only

God can make changes like that. Now, let's review the

greatest verse in the world. God so loved you, the

greatest love that he gave his only begotten son, the

greatest sacrifice. Nobody's ever made that kind of sacrifice for you,

that whoever believes in him should not perish. That's the

greatest offer. But have eternal life. That's the greatest gift.

You know, you get a lot of gifts at Christmas

that don't last six months, much less sixty years. Some

of your gifts, most of your gifts you can't even

remember what you got last year. This is a gift

that will last forever, eternal life. Now what does that

mean you say, was like going to heaven. Oh yeah,

it involves heaven. But eternal life is far more than

just duration. It involves donation. It's a quality of life.

In fact, there are three parts to eternal life. It

begins the moment you open your heart to Christ. It's

your past, it's your present, in your future. It's three dimensional.

Now listen very closely. When you invite Christ into your

life and accept this salvation, three things happen. You get

your past forgiven, you get a purpose for living, You

get a home in heaven. It takes care of your past,

your present, your future, past forgiven, everything you've ever done wrong,

wiped out purpose for living while you're here on earth,

home in heaven for eternity. Where are you going to

get a deal like that? Only God can make that

kind of offer to you. And it is the free gift.

And it's what Christmas is all about. Do you know

why we give gifts at Christmas? It's because God gave

us the first gift, the first gift of his son,

Jesus Christ, and we give gifts in response to that.

The whole idea of gift giving started because God gave

you the first gift. Now, how silly would it be

to go Christmas after Christmas, after Christmas, after Christmas, after Christmas,

after Christmas, and never open your biggest gift, God's gift

to you, the whole reason for Christmas.

God so loved the world that he gave.

His son that if you will believe in Him, you

will not perish, but have everlasting life, past, forgiven, purpose

for living home in heaven.

Look of what the Bible.

Says, because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have

been given a brand new life. That's the past completely,

you know, wiped out. Get a new life, have everything

to live for that's the present, and have a future

in heaven. That's the future, and the future starts now.

I wonder how many of these dimensions are you living

in right now? Has your past been forgiven? Are you

still caring around grilt, regrets, resentment, and grudges? Don't carry

those into the new decade, leave them here, let them

go the God. Are you living with a purpose in

life or you're just going to be in drifting around

being pressured? So you'll either live by purpose or live

by pressure in life? How about heaven? Are you certain

of your home in heaven? Are you afraid of death.

I'm not afraid of death. I've been afraid of death

for years. He says, I want to give you these things,

and not only that, you become a part of God's family.

The Bible says this, God's unchanging plan has always been

to adopt us into his own family by bringing us

to himself through Jesus Christ. Now follow me very closely

on this. Everybody in the world is created by God.

Everybody in the world is loved by God. But not

everybody in the world is in the family of God.

Because that's a choice. God's not going to force you

to love him. You must choose to love his son

to get in his family, and he's not going to

force you to do that. You see, when you were

born physically, you automatically became a part of the human

You didn't have a choice. Sorry, you're part of the

human race, but you didn't become a part of any

specific family till somebody chose to take you home from

the hospital.

You must choose to be.

A part of God's family. Now, what would keep me

from accepting this gift? Well, there are a couple things.

One of them is feared. I wish somebody had told

me a long time ago that I didn't have to

have all my doubts answered and all my questions saw

before I began a relationship with Jesus Christ, I would

have done it a whole lot sooner. I just didn't

understand that. You see, I've been a friend of Christ

for over forty years now, and I read this book,

the Bible. There's still a lot of stuff in here

I don't understand. There's still things I have doubts about.

I have questions about. In fact, I've made a list,

and when I get to Heaven, I'm going to ask God, now,

why did you do this? And why did you say this?

And why did you do that? And you see, if

I had been God, I wouldn't have done that. You

ought to be glad I'm not God. I'm glad you're

not God. But there are a lot of things I

don't understand that I have doubts, I have questions about.

So what.

That didn't stop me from enjoying a relationship with Christ.

There's not a single other area in your life where

you have to have everything figured out before you enjoy

the benefit. You certainly didn't understand what it meant to

be a parent before you became a parent. I mean,

you get on planes all the time. I doubt you

understand how the physics of aerospace and aerodynamics. I certainly

don't know how a multi ton engine can fly up

in the air, but I still trust the plane to

get me somewhere. You don't understand how all a plane works,

but you trusted to get you somewhere. I don't understand

how right now there are radio and TV waves coming

through this auditorium and with sound and pictures, and they're

actually going through your body right now. I can't prove it,

but they are. But if I have a tuner, I

can tune it in and it doesn't stop me from

watching television just because.

I don't understand how it works.

I don't understand internal combustion doesn't stop me from driving

a car. Shoot, I don't understand the chemistry of digestion

or taste buds, but it stop doesn't stop me from

eating a cinnamon. How about if I said I'm never

gonna eat till I understand digestion, well, I'm never gonna happen.

You don't have to understand it all.

You just have to enjoy what you got and over

the time, you'll get to understand it better and better.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is this

guy comes to Jesus one day and he's just an

honest guy and he says, Lord, my daughter's sick and

I really she needs to be healed. And Jesus looks

at the guy and says, do you believe I could

heal her? And I love this guy because he's honest,

he's authentic. He says, well, I want to believe. Help

with my doubt. That's a classic answer, I want to believe,

help me with my doubt. And Jesus says that's good enough, bam,

and he heals her. Did you know that you can

say that today, this Christmas, that gift that's been under

the Christmas tree every year of your life and you've

never unwrapped it, the gift of salvation. You can say,

I want to believe, help me with my doubt, and

Jesus will say.

That's good enough.

The other reason that keeps us from making that acceptance

of God's gift Christmas gift us is actually hurt. Because

when we get hurt, and everybody gets hurt in life,

we typically build walls around us and we say it,

I'm never again gonna let any woman hurt me. I'm

never gonna again let any man hurt me. I'm never

gonna again let anybody get close to me. I'm not

gonna get suckered. I'm not gonna And we build up

these walls, and sometimes we even build up barriers against God.

Now God hadn't hurt you. Other people have heard you.

We say, well, my brother died, so you get mad

at God. Or I had a friend who died in

the war, so you get mad at God. God didn't

cause that. Most of it happens in the world is

not God's will. That's why I were to pray Thy

will be done on earth. Most of the things that

happen is my will, your will, and the will of

other sinful people, and all the problems God's going. Why

are you guys doing that? Now you can stop it,

real simple, take away your free will and everybody else's.

But he wants us to have a choice. Maybe you've

been hurt in a marriage, Maybe you've been hurt in

a business. Maybe you've been hurt by a friend who

betrayed you. Maybe you've been hurt by religion, maybe by

a church maybe you've been hurt by Saddleback Church, this church.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you've been hurt. But let

me give you a little friendly advice. Don't ever let

the sins of other people keep you from God.

That's stupid. God didn't hurt you.

Don't ever let the sins of other people keep you

from God. You know, Kay went shopping this week for

Christmas shopping. When she came home, she'd been to Macy's

and I was interested that the cover of the Macy's

bag says.

A million reasons to believe.

That's interesting at Christmas, a million reasons to believe. But

you know, the truth is, you don't need a million

reasons to believe. You only need one reason to believe.

God loves you. He made you, he created you, he

loves you. He sent his son to die for you,

and he did it all because God so loved you.

It's bow our heads.

Father, I want to thank you for your amazing love

for us, for your grace. I thank you that you

love us even when we don't deserve it. Thank you that,

even when we don't feel it, that you are consistent

when we're inconsistent. And Lord, there are people here today

who know about you, but they don't really know you.

They don't have a friendship with you like I do.

They don't have a personal relationship with you. You seem distant,

detached to them. So today I pray that they will experience,

not just know, but experience your love completely and receive

your Christmas gift. Now you pray, just doesn't matter what

you say. Just say yes to God. Say yes. You're

confessing Jesus as the lord of your life. He said, Well,

I them know what to pray. Okay, I'll say some words,

and if this makes sense to you, you say me too.

God.

Dear God, I haven't talked to you in a long time,

maybe never, But I thank you for loving me, thank

you for wanting me, thank you for creating me. I

admit that I often take your love and the good

things you've done in my life for granted, and I'm sorry,

and I want to be more grateful this Christmas. I

want to accept the Christmas gift of your son, Jesus Christ.

God.

I don't understand it all, but as much as I

know how, I want to open my life to you.

I want to be under new management. Jesus Christ.

I need you to be my savior because I know

I'm not perfect and I could never get into heaven

on my own. So I want to ask you to

forgive my past. I ask you to give me a

purpose in the present, and I ask you to give

me a home in heaven in the future. And I

want to learn to trust you and love you. Amen.

Wow, thank you Rick for that amazing message. You know

people are being transformed by these messages every day, but

that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,

here's Rick to share some important news with you.

Let's be honest about this time of year. At the

end of every year, there are so many ministries that

ask for you to support them in the end of

your giving. And you know what, we believe in every

ministry that proclaims the name of Jesus, and we thank

God for them. And I know it can be difficult

to decide who to give to, So let me just

give you some biblical foundations for giving, some simple guidelines

for end of your giving. You might think of these

three or four things. Number one, give to the ministry

that God tells you to support. Go to God, pray

to him, ask him, say God, who do you want

me to support and you know what, I support you

giving to whoever God tells you.

To give to.

And if it's not Daily Hope, I still support you

to give to who God tells you to give to.

So pray and ask God. Second, never give when you

feel pressured. The Bible says in Corinthians that we are

to never give under pressure or compulsion or under guilt.

So if you ever feel guilty about giving, don't give

because God tells you in the Word not to give

at that time. Give because you want to give, not

out of guilt or pressure. Number three, give to where

you support and believe in the goals of that particular ministry. Now,

every ministry has different goals. But if you believe in

and have a heart for going to the last, the least,

and the loss, this would be a ministry you should

consider supporting and then finally give where your gift will

be multiplied. For instance, at the end of every year,

there is a donor to Daily Hope who offers to

give a matching grant to apply to any donation that

we receive before the end of the year. Now what

this means is that for every dollar you are able

to give this month the Daily Hope, it's going to

be doubled. That donor will match it. That multiplies your gift.

Like the little boy who brought his loaves and fishes

to Jesus, and Jesus read the five thousand. If you

give twenty five dollars to Daily Hope this month, the

matching grant will match it at twenty five dollars. If

you're able to give one hundred dollars, the matching grant

will add another one hundred dollars. That multiplies your gift.

I would consider that as a factor in where to

give during this month. Now let me just say this.

If you can't help us financially, that's okay, I understand,

but I would ask that you pray for us. I'm

so grateful for those of you who are a financial

supporter of this ministry that monthly giving, month after month.

It means so much to me, it means much to God,

but it means so much for eternity to those who

are hearing the good news for the very first time.

And so you and I are partners together in reaching

people for Christ all around the world. Closing, let me

just ask you to continue to pray pray for me

as I pray for you, and pray that God's word

will be taught clearly, with compassion, with clarity, with simplicity

in this new year, and then it will not only

help you as you listen to these broadcasts, but it

will help us reach people for Christ and disciple believers

and build churches all around the world, especially in the

tribes that have never heard the name of Christ. Thanks

for your generosity, thanks for your prayers, and God bless you.

All this month. Every dollar you give to help Daily

Hope share the transforming love of Jesus with people around

the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.

You can give right now by going to pastor Rick

dot com, or you can just text the word hope

to seven oh three to oh nine. Again, that's pastor

Rick dot com. Or just text the word hope to

seven oh three oh nine and thank you so much

for your self. 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