Rick Warren - Where Did We Come From — Part One

You know, we really live in a world that's full

of competing beliefs and values and choices, and what you

believe shapes how you live and ultimately who you become.

But the good news is God hasn't left us to

figure it all out alone.

No.

In fact, today, on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we're going

to continue our series Reframing Your Worldview, where Rick Warren

unpacks powerful truths from God's Word to help you see

life clearly and live it with confidence and purpose. All right, everybody,

here's Rick with part one of a message called Where

Did We Come From?

When I wrote the book Purpose Driven Life. On the

very first page of the first chapter, I begin with

a quote by a well known atheist.

That man was Bertrand Russell, and.

He said this quote, unless you assume a God, the

question of life's purpose is meaningless. I happen to agree

with him one hundred percent of that. He's right, He's

intellectually honest and saying, if you assume there's a God,

then you can assume there's a purpose in life. But

if there is no God, then the question about the

purpose of life is meaningless.

Let me get right to the point. If there is

no God.

If this is all just made up, we're just faking it,

We're just pretending we've been conned by a myth.

If there is no God.

If everything in the world is an accident, if everything

just is random chance, there is no rhyme or reason,

there is no designer, no creator in the world. If

that's true, then your life is worthless. Your life doesn't matter,

Your life has no significance.

There is no purpose to your life.

If there is no God and we're all just a

result of a random chan answer. It was the chance

you were born, and there'll be a chance that you die,

then there is no significance in the world. There is

no right or wrong. There is no basis for law,

there is no heaven or hell, there is no afterlife.

Nothing really matters.

You see, to be intellectually honest, the only logical rational

philosophy for an atheist.

If you really believe there is no God, this is all.

Just an accident, then the only rational belief position is nihilism,

which basically says nothing really matters, nothing really matters at all,

because it's all just chance.

Now, I've traveled around the world a lot of times, and.

I've met thousands and thousands of Christian believers who are

willing to live with the logical consequences, sometimes bad consequences

of what they believe, even being willing to be tortured

for it, and even being willing to die for what

they believe.

But I'll have to be honest with you.

In all of my years, I have never ever met

an atheist who had the courage to intellectually believe the

implications of what they say they believe. Every atheist I

know wants to believe there is no God, but my

life matters, Well, no it doesn't.

It doesn't.

If life is just random accident and chance, and you're

an accident, then nothing really matters. And I've never found

anybody with the courage. What they want to do is

they want to believe there's no God, but then they

want to believe that.

Their life matters, and the things about.

An world which isn't in consequential or opposite of what

you're saying you believe. Camu Albert Camu, the French atheist philosopher,

pointed us out and he said, the logical extension of

atheism is despair, and he was a philosopher of despair, now. Fortunately,

only about two percent of the people in the entire

world deny the exist distance of God. Only two percent

are genuinely atheists. And so we don't live in a

culture of despair like that. We live in a culture

that values life. Now tonight, what we're going to do

is we're going to look at this third question in

this series of the great questions on life.

Who am I? And where did I come from? And

we're going to look at the three things that.

Jesus said about who you are and where you came from?

And then, even more important than.

That, I want to look at the implications, because there

are five very profound implications that will affect the rest

of your life. If you've got your notes, why don't

you write down these three fundamental truths, these three pillars

of what we believe. First number one is that God

created everything.

God created everything.

In the first book of the Bible, in the first

chapter of that book. In the first verse of the

first chapter of the first Book of the Bible, it

says this in Genesis one to one. And by the way,

in the beginning, it says, that's a good thing to

start with in the beginning. If you're ever going to

write a book. Start it within the beginning. In the beginning, God,

let me just stop right there in the beginning.

God, If you.

Can't get back those past those four words, then really

life has no meaning. It has no purpose, it has

no significance. But the Bible says, in the beginning God,

God existed long before the universe, long before this planet,

certainly long before the human race. In the beginning, God

created the heavens and the earth. Now, the Bible tells

us that God spoke the universe into existence. He spoke

it into existence. You say, how long did that take?

I don't know. Could have taken a second gold to

take ten billion years to speak it? I don't know.

And really it doesn't matter to me that the bottom.

Line is that God could take as little or as

much time as he wanted.

To speak it. He just spoke it.

In fact, you see, when you are an eternal being,

time is irrelevant to you because you are not controlled

by time. Look at what the Bible says, this verse

up here on the screen. Second Peter three to eight says,

do not forget this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord,

a day is like a thousand years and a thousand

years is.

Like a day.

God is not constrained by time, So a one with

about nine or ten zeros behind it, that's a blink

of an eye for God. It makes no difference how

long it took. It took as long as he wanted

to take. And the Bible that din't actually say how long.

You said, well, does Rick, do you believe that God

used the theory of evolution?

No, I don't. It's a theory, but I don't happen

to believe it. Now.

We do know that species change. We do know that,

for instance, you can change the color of an orchid.

We call it hybrids. You can take a plant or

an animal and you can change their features.

You can change an.

Orchid from yellow to green. But nobody's ever changed the species.

Nobody's ever changed an orchid into an elephant, nobody's ever

changed a mouse into a monkey.

There is our change.

Sure, certainly you can show how birds can change their

beak or their colors because of winter, or the Jerusophila fruitfly,

and how you can change its life circle and span.

But no, there is absolutely zero evidence, zero evidence of

species change in.

The fossils, not at all.

There is not any fossils change prove a species changed,

So it's just a theory. Now, it's interesting that the

Bible doesn't spend a whole lot of time talking about

how God created the universe. Instead, it spends a lot

of time talking about why. And that's really what I'm

more interested in. Why did he do it? Why did

God create the universe? Why did God create the Earth?

Why did God create human beings? What did he Why

did you create the Earth? We'll look up the next verse.

The Bible says this, He did not create the Earth

to be empty, but formed it to be what inhabited.

God made the Earth to be inhabited. He made it

so it could sustain life. He didn't want it to

be a dead planet. He created it to sustain life.

And he put it just the right distance from the

sun and put it just on the right axis so

that when it's spun, it didn't get too hot or

too cold, and it could sustain life. Now, the Bible

tells us, I love this. In the message paraphrase, it says,

God didn't go to all the trouble just to leave

it empty.

He made it to be lived in.

Now, why did God create the Earth to sustain life.

While the Bible tells us in Hebrews two ten, God

is the one who made all things, and all things

are for his glory. He wanted to have many children

share his glory.

That says here.

God created it all to bring glory to himself, to

enjoy it himself.

He wanted. He did it because he wanted to do it.

And he said he wanted to have many children share

his glory.

Who's he talking about? There? You and me? You and me?

If I had time to take you through scripture, I

could show you that the Bible very clearly teaches that

God wanted a family.

Now, God wasn't lonely. He didn't need us. He didn't

need us, but he wanted us.

And the Bible says that God is love and that

we were created as objects of God's love. We were

made simply so God could love us. If you want

to know why you're sitting there right now, why you're

taking the next breath, why your heart is beating the

next beat, it's you.

Were made to be loved by God.

And if God hadn't wanted to love you, you would

not be taking the breath you're taking right now. In fact,

the Bible says that God created the entire universe just

so he could create this galaxy, just so he could

create the earth, just so he could create the human race,

just so he could create you, so he could love

you and love me. We were the idea behind creation.

God made it all possible so that he could love us. Now,

if you want a mind blowing idea, that is, in a

mind blowing experience, The Bible says God created everything, but

he did it because we are the crown of creation.

He wanted children.

He wanted to put create some individuals in his image

that could be a part of his forever family. So

God created everything. Here's the second pillar of truth. The

second pillar is God thought of us first, but he

created us last. God thought of us, the human race first,

before he thought of anything else. But he created us.

He made us last. Now, the Bible tells us in

Genesis the exact order of creation. It says God started

first by creating light. He made light, and next the

Bible says he created water. He created water, and then

he created the sky or the atmosphere. He created the atmosphere,

and then next he created the oceans and the land.

He split the oceans with dry land and wet land,

and then he created vegetation on that land. The Bible says,

after that he created the sun, the moon, and the stars.

And then it says after that he created water animals,

fish and water animals, and then after that he created birds.

And then it says after that he created land animals.

And then finally, last of all, he created man and woman.

It created human beings. He created everything else first, but

we were the reason for all the stuff that came before.

Look at the next verse.

Theesians one four says, long before he laid down the

Earth's foundations. That means before he created the world, God

had us in mind.

Not amazing.

God had us in mind, and he settled on us

as the focus of his love. He said, I'm going

to create the universe so I can create these people

so I can love them. He created us last, but

he thought of us first. We're the reason for everything else.

We are the crown of creation, the Bible says in

James one eighteen, God brought us into being through the

word of truth, so that we should have first place

among all his creatures. And you, as a human being,

are unlike anything else.

God has made.

We're going to talk about that in a little more

in a minute, but he says you're different. Now here's

the third thing that God tells us about creation. God

custom designed each of us. He custom designed each of us.

When you stop and actually think about what I'm actually

going to share with you from the Bible, it really

is indescribable. It's unbelievable. It's amazing what God did. David

says this.

In Psalm one thirty nineties, praying to God.

He says you, God made all the delicate inner parts

of my body, and you knit me together in my

mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Very few things are more complex than the human body.

Your workmanship is marvelous, and how well I know it.

You watched me, God, You watched me as I was

being formed in utter seclusion. In other words, when you

were conceived in your mother's womb.

God saw it happening.

He watched, he says, you watched me as I was

woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

God custom designed you because he had a place and

a purpose and a plan for your life. And he

oversaw that creation, and you would not have been created

without it. Now, don't ever let any professor or any

parent tell you you are an accident.

You're not an accident.

There are accidental parents, but there are no oh, accidental babies.

God planned you. Your parents may not have planned you,

but God did. And really it has nothing to do

with whether they were good parents or bad parents or

indifferent parents, or maybe you didn't even know your parents,

or maybe one of your parents died before you know

you came to know them, or whatever.

It's irrelevant.

Why did God choose your parents because they had just

the right DNA to create you. They had He wanted you,

and he had you in mind. And whether they were

good or bad people or whatever, he wanted you created,

and they had the DNA to create you. There are

illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children. God had

a plan. If you're here, it's because He wanted you here.

Now, that's amazing.

The Bible says this, look up here on the screen

Romans eleven, thirty four and thirty five. Have you ever

come across anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God,

this deep wisdom. It's way over our heads we'll never

figure it out.

Is there anyone.

Around who can explain God? And the answer is no,

No one can explain God.

If you could explain God, you'd be God. But you can't.

You trying to explain God would be like an.

Aunt trying to explain the Internet. You don't have the

brain capacity to explain God. God is so great and

so what he has done is unbelievable, indescribable, un unattainable.

It's just an amazing thing. So what should be our response?

Just thank him, thank him for his wonderful grace, for

his wonderful love. In fact, the Bible says this in

Second Corinthians nine point fifteen. It says, thanks de to

God for his indescribable gift. God created everything. God thought

of us first, but made us last, and God custom

designed you. Now what are the implications of that? Well,

there are five, and they have profound impact on your

life when you understand them. Number one first implication, your

life has sanctity. Your life has sanctity. Now what does

that mean? Sanctity comes from the word to sanctify. To

sanctify means to set apart, It means to make something special.

It means to dedicate it for a special use. If

I were to say to God, God, won't you take

my car and I want it to just be used

totally to serve humanity and to serve you, then I

could say I sanctified that car. I just made it

special by dedicating it for a special, unique use. Rick

much Yall could take his guitar and say, God, I

want to give you this guitar and I want to

use it to play music to you that makes the

world a better place. Then he would sanctify the guitar.

It just means you set it apart for special use.

And the Bible says that your life has sanctity.

Why is that?

Because human beings are uniquely different from all the rest

of creation. Why there are three and they're the next

three verses there on your outline. First, at the bottom

of the outline, it says God created people in his

own image. God patterned them after himself, male and female.

He created them. Now here's the first reason in your

life has sanctity. God designed you in his image. That

makes you different than all the animals. Cows and goats

and sheep and ducks and frogs are not designed in

the image of God. But human beings are. How are

we different? First, we have a free moral choice. You

can choose between right and wrong. You have a conscience.

Animals don't have a conscience. You can talk to God,

you can pray to God.

Animals can't do that.

You can make decisions and create decisions, and create tools,

and there are a lot of things that you can

do that are made in the image of God. And

that makes you different from all of the rest of creation.

You're not the same as animals. God designed you in

his image. In fact, here's what the Bible says. Look up,

you're on this sawmate five. You made people inferior only

to yourself. You crown them with glory and honor. God

says He's given us a certain position as human beings

in the universe because we were made in his image.

He wanted us made in his image. By the way,

do you know why in the Bible that God authorizes

governments to use capital punishment in murder cases?

God says, I allow governments.

To put people to death who've murdered other people. Why

because murder violates the sanctity of life. And God says,

if you, without any authority, take a person's life, you

murder them just because you want to, He says, then

you know what you forfeit your own life. In fact,

look at what the Bible says up here on the

screen Genesis ninety five and six.

There's just one example.

Animals that kill people must die, and any person who

murders another must be executed.

For to murder a person is to kill a living.

Being made in God's image, and when someone is murdered,

it robs God a fellowship with that person. That's why

you were made in God's image.

Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

What does it take to become more loving, live more peacefully,

develop patience, have self control?

Well?

Pastor Rick says, throughout all the years he's been a pastor,

the number one question that he's been asked is wait

for it. Why can't I change? You know, people really

want to change, but they're stock and maybe you feel

that way too. So in his book God's Power to

Change Your Life, Rick lays out the groundwork for personal transformation,

and then he offer vers biblical insights and simple steps

for ten areas of growth that can take you from

where you are right now to where you want to be.

This book really connects you with the power to actually

make the changes that you long to make. And as

you apply the truth of God's Word by the power

of His Spirit, your life will change and you'll get

on track with God's wonderful purposes for your life. So

be sure to request your copy of God's Power to

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