Rick Warren - Growing a Heart Like Jesus—Part One

Hey, everyone, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible

teaching ministry of Rick Warren. And today we're continuing with

this powerful series called the Jesus Model. In this series,

Rick will walk you step by step through the process

of true biblical discipleship. Rick's giving you practical tools to

grow spiritually, experience God's peace, live with greater purpose, and

become more like Jesus in every area of your life. Okay,

and right now, here's part one of a message called

growing a Heart like Jesus.

You know, to follow Jesus requires movement. It means you

have to move forward. You can't just sit still. You

have to be active. We have an active faith, and

Jesus uses words like come, follow, go, obey, sin do.

This is not a faith that you just sit around

and do nothing. It is an active faith. One of

the examples is in Mark chapter sixteen, verse fifteen, where

Jesus says this, Jesus said to his followers, go everywhere

that's comfortable and talk to people about the good news

that you like. Now, that's not what he says. Jesus

said to his followers, read it with me. Go everywhere

in the world and tell the good news to everyone,

circle everywhere and everyone. That's pretty inclusive. It's pretty global now.

When Jesus said this to his disciples, it was physically impossible.

They could not go everywhere and tell everyone. They couldn't

get to Australia, they couldn't get to Latin America, they

couldn't get to North America. Most of the world was

off limits because there were no sea bearing ocean vessels

at the time. There were no planes, trains and automobiles,

no Internet, no Twitter, no Google, no cell phones, no telegraph,

no telephone. There was tell Awoman and that'll spread things

pretty fast. But oh the natives are restless Kimo sabe.

But there wasn't all of the ways that we have

the data spread the good news. They literally could not

go to all nations and tell everyone. But not anymore.

We are the first generation with this privilege where you

can go anywhere in the world in about twenty four hours.

If you don't believe that, just ask a travel agent.

All you have to do is say I'd like to

go to some mountain in the middle of Tibet or

China or up in the Himalayas. On the mountains and

they'll have you there in about twenty four hours. We

are the first generation in history to be world class.

In other words, we literally can travel to anywhere and

talk to anyone almost within twenty four hours. So we

take this verse here at saddleback very seriously, go to

everyone everywhere. Now, I don't think God brought you here

by accident. A thousand years before you were born. God

knew you were going to be here, and he didn't

bring you here to just sit soak and sour. He

brought you here to be a part of his plan

for the world that he happens to decide to use

this church at this point, how do I be a

part of it? How do I become a world changer? Well?

God says, you know, what matters is not your background.

What matters is not your fears. What matters is not

how many sins you've had in your life. What matters

is not your ability. God says, I'm looking for availability.

God isn't looking for the most talented people to use.

He's looking for the most available people to use. And

the reason why God blesses me and God uses me

is I'm available. At a very early age, I made

the decision God, I'm all in, I'm all yours, and

I don't care what it is, and I don't care

how tough it is. I'm going to say yes to

it anytime, anywhere, any place. And it has been an

adventure and the wildest journey of life in my own life.

And you can make that decision too. The Bible says,

God is looking for people to use, and he will

use you if you will just make yourself available, He

will use you. Yes, you to be a world changer.

The Bible says this here on the screen. Second Chronicle

sixteen to nine is one of my life verses. The

eyes of the Lord range they run to and fro

throughout the whole earth. In other words, God is looking

over the whole earth to find people, he says, to

strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. All

God wants from you is not super talent, super energy,

super intelligence. He wants a committed heart. And so that's

why this weekend we're going to look at how to

grow a heart like Jesus, because it starts in the heart.

How can you develop a heart like Jesus? Well, you

need to do four things. Number One, you must care

about what Jesus cares about. That's the starting point. You

must learn to care about what Jesus cares about. The

Bible says this in Ephesians chapter five, verse two. Be

full of love, following the example of Christ, who loved

you and he gave himself to God as a sacrifice

to take away your sin. He said, you want to

be like Jesus, then you're going to have to be

sacrificial in your love. You're going to follow example Christ,

and you're going to have to be full of love

for others and care about what Jesus cares about. Now,

what does Jesus care about? In a word, he cares

about two things, very deeply. Number one, he cares about

the world. He created it and he came to die

for it. And Jesus loves the world. The Bible says,

God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.

Now I love that little word so because it adds

a little extra to it. You know, we can say, oh,

I love you, I love you, I love you, But

when you say, oh, I so love you, that adds

a whole new dimension. God doesn't just love the world.

He so loves the world. He loves it so much

he was willing to die for it. The Bible calls

that compassion. You see, sympathy is when you see somebody hurting,

you say I'm sorry you hurt, you send them a card.

That's sympathy. Empathy is saying I hurt with you. I

enter into your hurt. Compassion is saying I'll do anything

I can to stop your hurt, even if it means

dying on the cross. And the Bible says it repeatedly.

Jesus was moved with compassion. It is oh yeah, I

love you. No, he was moved with compassion. God says,

that's the way I want you to be toward the world.

I want you to love the world with the people

of the world. Love those people with all your art.

Jesus loves everybody. God has never made a person he

doesn't love. He loves the people you don't love. He

loves the people you don't like. He loves the people

you disagree with. He loves the people you think are evil.

He loves the people who didn't vote the way you voted.

He loves everybody. And if you're going to have the

blessing of God on your life and you want to

be like Jesus Christ, you have to learn to love

the people Jesus made and died for, and that's the

whole world. The Bible says this in Matthew chapter nine.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.

And when we see the crowds, we worry about a

parking spot. But when he saw the crowds, he had

compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like

sheep without a shepherd. He said, I looked out on

all of humanity, asks, oh man, they're messed up. They're harassed,

they're helpless. They don't know which way to turn. They're confused,

they don't having the slightest idea what the purpose of

life is. They're worried, they're bored, they're bitter, they're guilty,

they're ashamed, they're broken hearted. They got all kinds of problems.

I don't know which way to turn. They're screwed up.

He says. I see the way people are, and my

heart goes out to them. If you're going to be

like Jesus, if you're gonna be blessed by God, if

you're gonna be a world changer, you've got to care

about the world the way Jesus does. He loves it passionately.

Not only does Jesus love the world, there's something he

loves even more, and that is his church. You're going

to have to care about the church. Why Because the

Church is Jesus's body, and he loves his body. The

church is jesus bride, and he loves his bride. The

church is Jesus flocked, and he loves his flock. The

Church is God's family, and he loves his family. And remember,

We've talked about this so many times, and I keep

repeating it because I don't want you to ever misunderstand

that the most important thing on this planet, more important

than everything else put together, is God's family. The reason

everything exists is God wanted a family. There would be

no universe, there would be no planets, there would be

no earth, there would be no human race except that

God made it all so he could create a family.

And that family is called the Church. And one day

everything else is going to be destroyed. There's going to

be a new Heaven and new Earth. But God's family

is going to go on forever. It's the only thing

that's going to last. It's more important than anything else

on the planet, because it's going to outlast. It's going

to go trillions and trillions and trillions of years. God's

family lasts forever. Now, the Bible says about Jesus Christ

loved the church and gave his life for her. You

want to know how much Jesus loves the church, look

at the cross with his arms outstretched. He is saying,

I love the Church this much. I'm willing to die

for it. I am willing to shed my blood for it.

He loves the church, and in Matthew sixteen eighteen, Jesus said,

I will build my church. He's not out building countries.

He's not outbuilding businesses. He's not outbuilding non government organizations

or parachurch organizations or charities. Jesus is in one business,

the church building business. It is his family, It is

his bride, his body as flock. I will build my church,

and all the powers of Hell will not be able

to defeat it. Now, sometimes we have skirmishes and it

looks like all the church is being put down or

its having a defeat there there. But you know what,

go read the Bible, and I've read the last chapter

of the book we win, Okay, we win. It's like

reading the last chapter of a novel. History is God's story.

God is in control. It is moving toward a focal point.

And what is that focal point? One day history is

going to end, and God's going to come and say,

all right, I'm taking my family with me and they're

going to live with me forever and ever and ever.

He says, I will build my church. And if you

want to invest your life in something that's going to

last for trillions of years, give your life the building

of God's family, because that's what's gonna matter. Now. God says,

this is what I care about. I care about the world.

I made it, I created it, I love it, and

I sent my son to die for it. And I

will love my church, which is going to outlast even

the world. Care about what Jesus cares about? Number two.

If you want to have a heart like Jesus, this

onem's going to shock you. But you must be indifferent

to what Jesus is indifferent to. We must be indifferent

to what Jesus is indifferent to. You say, well, should

followers of Jesus ever be indifferent to anything? Absolutely? Why?

Because not everything's equally valuable. Everything's equally important. Not everything

is equally going to last. Some things aren't gonna last

five minutes, some five years, some fifty years, some five

hundred years. Some are gonna last forever. You should invest

your life in things that matter and not care about

what doesn't matter. Let me tell you something. You know

what's not gonna matter. Everything that's in People magazine this

week next week, nobody's going to care about what was

in it this week. Why it's short term, fad related,

doesn't matter at all. Jesus was indifferent to a lot

of things. People don't realize this. There are a lot

of things Jesus didn't care about. He didn't care about

things that didn't fulfill the mission God had called him

to do. Jesus was indifferent to personal danger. One point,

he's over in the ship asleep during the storm. Everybody

else is freaking out. He's indifferent to danger. He's not worried.

I'm in God's hands. He was indifferent to the opinions

of other people. He was indifferent to religious traditions. Suddenly

broke the religious traditions, which made the Pharisees and the

Sadducees of religious leaders really ticked off because Jesus valued

relationships more than rules. He valued people more than principles,

and he healed people on the sabbath. Oh, you're not

supposed to do that. He did all kinds of things.

He always put the needs of people first because it's

all about love. So he was indifferent to religious traditions.

Jesus is indifferent to human timetables. People kind of sped

him up, tried to force him to do things fast,

try to get him under pressure. He always went at

his own timetable. He went with a time clock, with

the will of God. I'm just doing what God tells

me to do. Jesus was indifferent to politics. Did you

know that, couldn't care less about politics. In fact, at

one point a politician talks to him about this, and

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If

it was, I would command my servants to fight. That's

not our battle. We're not in political wars. Why Jesus says,

my kingdom is not of this world. If it was,

I'd have all my servants being involved in that. But

it's not. Jesus didn't try to overthrow the Roman Empire.

He didn't try to revise it or reform it, or

he didn't come to change the political system of Israel.

He said, my kingdom's not in his world. He was

indifferent to that, it wasn't his ultimate agenda. Sometimes when

Jesus was indifferent, actually seems like he's rude. Let me

give you an example, Luke. Chapter nine, Jesus says to

a man, follow me. But the man says, Lord, let

me first go bury my father. And here's how Jesus responds.

Jesus replied, let the dead bury the dead. That sounds

a little rude to me. Instead, you go everywhere and

tell about the Kingdom of God. Then another man said,

I'll follow you, Lord, but let me first go home

to my family. Jesus said, anybody who begins to plow

field that keeps looking back is of no use to

the Kingdom of God. Sounds rude to me. What is

Jesus saying? Well, first, you need to understand that Jesus

knew what was in their hearts. He knew whether this

was a little legitimate excuse, a reason, or just an excuse.

But it all boils down to the same phrase that

both of these men used. Want you to circle it.

He says, Lord, let me first. Circle that phrase. Both

the guys said let me first. Now you cannot say Lord,

let me first. That's a contradiction. To use the word

lord and me first in the same sentence is illogical.

Either you're going to be first in your life or

Jesus is going to be first in your life. Either

he's the lord of your life or you're the lord

of your life. Either he's the boss or you're the boss.

He's the CEO or you're the CEO. You cannot say Lord,

me first. Me first, says I'm God, I'm in charge.

Now we live in a totally me first society. Would

you agree with that? And it's a self centered, narcissistic

world where it's all about serving me. Do you remember

when we used to have full service gasoline? Any remember

that people like did it for you? And then everything's

all now self service. That has crept into our entire society.

We're a self serve world. Serve yourself, serve yourself. And

Jesus said, you, guys, it's not about you. It's about

me and my kingdom. And I'm preparing you for eternity.

So he can't say me First and Lord at the

same time. Now, what did Jesus mean when he says

let the dead bury the dead. Obviously, dead people can't

bury other dead people, so he's not talking about physically

dead people. He's talking about spiritually dead people, people who

don't have the life of Christ in him, who don't

know Him on a personal basis. He's saying, let the

those who are spiritually dead do the things that anybody

can do, and you be indispensable. He saying, if you're

a follower of Me, if you've got My spirit in you,

if you know the purpose of life, if you've been saved,

you need to make your life count. Don't waste it

on stuff that anybody can do. There's a lot of

things in the world that anybody can do, but there's

some things only a believer can do. Because you've got

God's spirit in you. He's saying, let the spiritually dead

do those things that anybody can do. You handle the

stuff that can only be done by people who have

My power in them. You be indispensable, and don't keep

looking back, because if you're looking back, then you're caring

about what they think instead of what I think. We

must be indifferent to what Jesus is indifferent to. Let

me give you a couple of very specific things that

you need to be indifferent to if you're going to

be a world changer, if you're going to let God

bless your life and use you. Jesus number one was

indifferent to impressing others. And you're going to have to

decide in life who you want to impress. You have

to decide. I'm not here to impress culture. I'm not

here to impress popular opinion. I'm not here to impress

my peer groups, or my parents, or my partners or

my boss. I'm here to do the right thing, to

do what God wants me to do. Jesus said in

John five point forty one, your approval or disapproval means

nothing to me. He was indifferent to peer pressure. Jesus

was indifferent to the expectations of others. He would never

allow anybody else, not even his own mother or father,

to defend him or to make him go a certain way.

In fact, at one time his mom asked him to

do something, he says, it's not my time, Mom. He

would not let the expectations of others control them. He

was indifferent to either the possibility of rejection or the

promise of praise. The second thing, Jesus was indifferent too.

This one's a little bit harder. He was indifferent to

getting rich. He said, life just isn't about getting rich.

He said, that's not my agenda, and it it shouldn't

be yours. Luke twelve fifteen. Life is not measured by

how much one owns. He says. The greatest things in

life aren't things. Life is not about acquisition. The person

who says the goal of life is that he who

dies with the most toys wins is a fool. He said,

it's stupid. You didn't bring any money into the world.

You're not taking any money out of the world. You

think God puts you here on earth just to pile

up a pile of things. You think that the purpose

of life is to just store up things. Oh, come on,

that's all your life's all about storing up things. You

didn't own anything before God created you. You don't own

anything when you go into eternity. Why would you spend

your entire life accumulating things you're not taking with you.

Life is not about accumulation. It's about relationships to God

and to other people. It's about preparation for eternity. And

he says, you know, don't worry about this. A man's

life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.

Your value as a person has nothing to do with

your values, and your self worth has nothing to do

with your net worth. If you tie your life to things,

then every time you have a bad investment, your view

of yourself is going to go down. Jesus said it

like this, and Matthew six, don't get preoccupied or worried

with the you know, having enough, in other words, you know,

the material things of life, like having enough to eat,

or have enough to drink, or heaven enough to wear.

He said, you know, that's what unbelievers do. Unbelievers get

so concerned, they get so stressed out by material things.

But your having the Father knows what you need. So

God knows what you need. He said. Instead, here's what

you gotta be concerned about. Be concerned first of all

with God's kingdom and what has his approval? What does

that go everywhere? And tell everyone the good news, he says,

Then all these other things will be provided for you.

God says, I know what you need, and I'll make

you promise if you will make living for me the

priorities that are living for yourself, or living for things,

or living for the approval of others, I will provide

you with all these other things you need, and I'll

bless you you just worry about doing the right thing.

Hey, everyone, thank you so much for listening to Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope. I've got something really special to share

with you today, especially if you love Christmas and God's Word.

We've got a brand new set of fifty two beautifully

designed scripture cards, each featuring a Bible verse centered on

the Christmas story and the promise of hope found in

the birth of Jesus, the true meaning of the season.

And these cards aren't just pretty, although trust me they're stunning.

These are powerful tools to help you memorize God's word

and keep it close so that you've got it right

when you need it. And while these cards are perfect

for your personal study, they're also wonderfully versatile, and they

can help keep Jesus at the center of your holiday.

You could use them as meaningful gift tags on your

Christmas presents, place one at each setting on your holiday table,

or share them individually with friends as a thoughtful gesture.

So whether you're starting a new tradition or looking for

a unique way to share the Gospel with friends and family,

well these cards are a perfect fit. And trust me,

you're going to love them.

Today.

When you give a gift to help Daily Hope take

the certain Hope of Jesus to people worldwide, be sure

to request this very special collection of Christmas scripture cards.

That's our way of saying thanks. Go to Pastorick dot

com to get your copy of this great resource. That's

Pastorick dot com. Or you could just text the word

hope to seven oh three to oh nine. That's the

word hope to seven oh three to 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