Rick Warren - Daring To Imagine Part One

Hello, everybody, This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you're

joining us for the first time or you've been listening

every day for ten years, we just want to say welcome,

We love you, and we pray for you every day.

So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith The

Key to Miracles. And in this series you're learning how

to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage

to impact the world around you. And if you're like me,

you'd really like to be more bold and have more

courage to share your faith in Christ. And now here's

Rick with part one of a message called Daring to Imagine.

I want us to continue with part four of Daring

Faith The Key to Miracles.

One of the.

Greatest gifts that God has given you is the gift

of imagination. It is the ability to see things in

your mind, to think, and to create with mental pictures

in your mind. God gave you this gift of imagination.

And the reason you have this gift is because God imagines.

The Bible tells us that God imagined the entire.

Universe and it was created.

He thought it up before it became reality. The Bible

says God has imagined all of history. He's already seen

it all happen, even before it's happened, because he thought

it up. He imagined it in advance. The Bible calls

that God's fore knowledge. And you are most like your

creator when you are being creative.

Does that make sense?

You are most like your creator God when you are

being creative. And God gave you the ability to create

with your imagination. And when you use your imagination for

good and for God, God smiles. Now everything starts with imagination.

Nothing becomes reality unless first somebody thinks it up.

This building did not.

Become a reality until somebody had to think it up

in their mind first. Every great business, every great company,

every piece of art, every musical note, somebody imagined it

before it became reality. Nothing happens unless somebody imagines it.

And without imagination, you couldn't even make decisions. You see,

when you start to make a decision, you imagine what

would happen if I did this, and what would happen

if I do that, and then you make the decision.

Everything that has been created on planet Earth by human

beings started in the imagination of somebody's mind. And this

is a gift from God. Now, imagination is a tool,

and it can be used for good or it can

be used for bad. And like any other gift of God,

whether it's fire or water, or sex or anything else,

anything that God gives us a gift can be misused, abused,

and perverted. And today many people are misusing their imagination

for wrong ways to be clever in their evil. And

so the Bible actually gives us three categories.

There on your outline.

There are some things the Bible says we should not imagine.

And then there are some things that we cannot imagine

because our brains aren't big enough. And then there are

some things that we should imagine. Let me just talk

about these for a second, just to open up the subject.

There are some things the Bible says that as human

beings we should not imagine, we should not allow in

our mind. And the Bible calls these evil imaginations or

vain imaginations or empty imaginations.

Worry.

Worry is a misuse of your imagination because you imagine

as something in your mind and you start getting fearful about.

It, and you go over and over and over and

over and over.

You're using your imagination every time you worry but you're

misusing it.

It is a perversion.

God didn't give you your imagination to be able to

picture something and get stressed out about it. Lust is

a misuse of imagination when you think of a lust in.

Your mind over and over and over.

Revenge is a misuse of imagination when you think, oh,

I know how I'm going to get back of that person.

You start planning and plotting in your mind, using your imagination,

how you're going to get back. And they said that

to you, and I'm going to say this back. That's

a misuse of your imagination. The Bible tells us that

the reason God flooded the earth and told Noah to

build an arc is because it's said, in those days,

all he could find was quote evil imaginations in people's lives,

and they had taken a gift of God, and they

were using their imaginations for violence, using their imaginations for perversion,

using their imaginations for the occult, for evil, for bad things,

for dark things. And today many people use their imaginations

in very very dark ways. You should not fill your

mind with those things. So there's some things we should

not imagine. But then the Bible says the second category,

there's some things that we cannot imagine. The Bible says

that God is so great, we can't even imagine how

great he is, how powerful he is. We look at

the universe and see how great the universe is, and

the universe just shows a fraction of God's greatness. The

Creator is certainly bigger than the creation. So we can't

imagine the universe. We can't even imagine the God who

created the universe. The Bible says, you cannot imagine.

Very clearly.

It says multiple times in the Bible, you can't imagine

how much God loves you. God loves you so much

your brain would explode if you understood how much He

loves you. It is God is love, it's his nature,

and so you cannot understand that. The Bible says, you

can't imagine what heaven is.

Going to be like.

Now, that's why a lot of people aren't really interested

in heaven, because it's so foreign to us. We can't

imagine those dimensions. We're limited to time and space and distance,

three three dimensions here in our world. But heaven isn't.

It has many more dimensions than three dimensions to it,

and so we can't imagine how cool, how great, how wonderful,

it's going to be like one. John three to two says, yes,

dear friends, we're already God's children, and we can't even

imagine what we will be like when Christ returns.

But we do know this.

We do know that when he comes, we will be

like him, for we will see him as he really is.

And what that verse says is that right now you

can't see Jesus directly, so you're growing to be more

like him a little bit at a time. But when

one day when Christ comes back, he says, when we

see him perfectly, you're going to become perfectly like him.

You're going to be transformed in that instant. And the

Bible says, we can't even imagine what we're going to

be like when Jesus comes back. It's you are going

to be so cool, so different, and your body will

be different. And the Bible says, we can't even imagine that.

It's hard for us to conceive. But then there are

some things we should imagine. Philippians four, fix your thoughts.

That means concentrate, It means focus, it means consider, it

means meditate, It means imagine. Fix your thoughts on what

is true and honorable and right. Think about things that

are pure and lovely and admirable. This is what God

wants you to be imagining your mind. Lovely scenes, beautiful scenes,

admirable things, things that are right, things that are good.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

These are the kind of things God wants you to imagine. Now,

what I want to do this weekend as we do

this Part four in Daring Faith is I want to

show you the relationship between your imagination and faith, and

I want to help you unlock your imagination in a

way that's never been done before.

And in order to do that, I'm not going to do.

A typical message where I take a text and do

an exposition or an explanation of that text. Instead, I

want to take texts from all over the Bible, and

I want to give you a personal testimony of eight

things that I've learned about imagination and the importance of

it in your life after walking with God for fifty years.

All right, get out your pencils and let's look at

what I've learned about God inspired imagination. This really could

make a major difference in your life. If you'll let

God expand the way you think about your family, your career,

your life, God, and everything else. Number one, the first thing,

my imagination shapes my life. My imagination shapes my life.

In other words, the way you think is going to

affect the way you feel, and the way you feel

is going to affect the way you act. And if

you want to change the way you act, you need

to change the way you think. Proverbs twenty three, verse seven.

For as a man thinks in his heart, so is

he is. It is God's way of saying, I want

you to understand that how I work in your life

is through your thoughts. As a man thinks in his heart,

so is he. For instance, the person who says I

can't do this and the person who says I can't

do this are both right. They're both right because if

you think you can't, you can't, and if you think

you can, you can. The person who says I just

can't imagine that ever happening to me, well guess what,

it won't.

It won't because.

You're already doing a self fulfilling prophecy.

Now.

The Bible says this in Proverbs four twenty three. Be

careful how you think your life is shaped by what

your thoughts circle that your your thoughts now. Because I've

always been interested in this and the power of imagination,

particularly as it relates to faith, I've collected quotes of

famous people over the years about imagination and I thought

I would just share some of them with you. Here's

the first one from Albert Einstein. Look up here on

the screen. Einstein says, imagination is more important than knowledge.

Logic will get.

You from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

There's no limit to your imagination. The true sign of

intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.

Albert Einstein. That's interesting, very interesting.

Okay, here's one George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright and poet.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire,

You will what you imagine, and then you create what

you will. In other words, Michelangelo, when he painted the

Sistine Chapel those beautiful frescoes, he.

Had to imagine it all in his mind.

He had to see it in his mind before he

could put it on the wall. C. S. Lewis, the

greatest Christian thinker of the last entry, said imagination is

the organ of meaning. Napoleon Bonaparte. Imagination rules the world.

The philosopher Pascal said, imagination decides everything. William Arthur Ward said,

if you can imagine it, you can achieve it, and

if you can dream it, you can become it. And

then that great theologian George Lucas, you can't do it

unless you imagine it. Imagine him imagining all of the

Star Wars trilogies. That took a lot of imagination. Okay,

that's George Lucas, okay. And then here are a couple

other great leaders. Walt Disney said Disneyland will never be completed.

It will continue to grow as long as there's imagination

left in the world. And then this quote, saddleback will

never stop growing. As long as there's one person who

has not heard the good news of Jesus, we will

keep reaching out. That's from the first sermon in nineteen

eighty Imagination imagination. Now God warned about the power of

imagination being misused. He tells the people in Babel, where

they were building this giant Tower of Babel, which was

going to be basically an idol.

They were going to build it to reach up to God.

And here's what God says in Genesis eleven about imagination,

The Lord said, now that they are one people speaking

one language, this is only the beginning of what they

will do. Now, nothing they have imagined they can do

will be impossible for them. Notice this is God talking.

God always speaks the truth. He says, because they are

one people with one language, and they're unified, they've got

clear communication. He said, nothing they have imagined they can

do will be impossible for them. Now this is actually

a warning, but there's also a teaching here. If you

are a businessman, I want you to listen closely. How

do you get a group of people to do the impossible?

How do you make the impossible? Maybe you've got a

project in your business that you go, man, there's no

way that's going to happen. How do you get people

to do the impossible? Well, he says, there are three things.

You need cooperation, you need communication, and you need imagination.

He said, you've got to have cooperation. They've got to

be unified one people. You've got to have clear communication

they're speaking one language. And you've got to have imagination.

And if you've got those three, that's how the impossible

becomes possible. That's a little leadership tip I just thought

i'd throw in there now. Number two. Second thing I've

learned about imagination. Imagining is a simp is essential to

living by faith. Imagination is essential to living by faith.

In fact, you cannot live by faith without using your imagination,

because since you can't see God, you've got to use

imagination to practice your faith. Now, Hebrews Chapter eleven is

the great chapter of heroes of the faith. In Hebrews eleven,

we have God's hall of fame, you know as the

Rocks rock and roll hall of Fame is baseball hall

of fame. Well, God has a hall of fame, and

it's called Hebrews chapter eleven. And in the Bible he

lists all the people who are the real heroes in

God's book, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph and Gideon and.

All these people.

And he starts off Hebrews eleven talking about faith by

saying this in verse one, defining faith.

Let's read it aloud together. What is faith?

It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is.

Going to happen.

It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Now,

notice two things. Faith is a way of seeing. And

he says here that God says, whatever you hope for

when you believe it's going to happen, not that it

might happen, that's hope. When you believe it will happen,

that's faith. And he said it's the evidence of things

we cannot yet see. God gave you two ways of seeing.

Gave every human being two ways to seeing. First you

can see through your physical eyes. That's one of seeing.

And second you can see by the imagination in your mind.

And you can picture things in your mind, and you can,

of course you dream them, but you can visualize them,

and that's another way of seeing. And when you can't

see something physically, you have to imagine it in your mind. Now,

it says here that faith is when we hope for

something and we know it's going to happen. In order

to hope for something, you have to picture it in

your mind. Do you remember when you were a kid

and at Christmas time there are gifts wrapped under the

Christmas tree, and you started you saw the ones with

your name on it, and you started imagining what was

inside that box. And you got excited because you thought

you knew what was inside that box. Because you were

picturing it in your mind. You could not see it,

but you are imagining that gift. You're imagining that toy.

And this is a tool that God says you have

to use in walking on with Christ because you can't

see God. So when you can't see God right now,

you have to imagine. God has given us tools of imagination. Communion,

the Lord's Supper, baptism. Both of those symbols engage your imagination.

They help us visualize. They help us picture the death, burial,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Going under the water coming

back out is a picture of Jesus dying and being

buried and rising again. And communion is a picture of

Jesus giving his body and blood for your salvation. They

are tools that engage your imagination. Now, when you read

the rest of Hebrews eleven about all those heroes of faith,

you realize that every one of them became heroes of

faith because they used their imagination. For instance, God says

to Abraham, Abraham, you're ninety years old and you have

no kids, but I'm going to change your name to Abram,

from Abram to Abraham, which means father of a great nation.

Now for about a decade, Abraham still has there's no kids,

and so he goes to a local restaurant and he said,

party for two, you know, table for two.

What's your name, father of a great nation? Oh? Wow,

that's need. How many kids you got none?

It'd be pretty embarrassing to be named father of a

great nation and you.

Don't have any kids.

But God always calls things that are not as though

they were. He names it in advance. And then he says,

I want you to go outside, Abraham, and he said,

I want you to count the stars at night. And

he said, that's how many grandchildren and great grandchildren, great

great grand How many are you going to have in

your family tree? That's going to be the nation visual

that's going to be how many Jews there are in

the world? Count all the stars. What is God doing

when he tells Abraham to go count the stars? He

is activating his imagination. He's saying, I want you to

visualize what I'm going to do in your life. Look

at the next verse second Corinthians four eighteen. We set

our eyes not on what we see, but on what

we cannot see. What we see will last only a

short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.

And what does that verse mean.

It means that the material is temporary and the immaterial

is eternal. For instance, everybody can see this chair right now.

It's a wooden chair. It's material, but it's not gonna last.

It won't last five hundred years. This chair will decay

and fall apart. It's not gonna last. It's material, and

anything material isn't gonna last. On the other hand, you

can't see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

but they're gonna last for eternity. You can't see your

own soul. It's gonna last for eternity. And the Bible

says you need to focus on the things that are

gonna last, which you actually can't see with your eyes.

You have to imagine them.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after

that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a

letter from one of our listeners.

Here's Rick.

I started this Daily Hope ministry because I want to

help you fulfill the great commission and the great commandment

of Jesus Christ to love God with all your heart,

love your neighbors, yourself, to make disciples, to teach them

to grow and to baptize them and bring them into

the family of God. And all of these things happen

when you do what God tells you to do. You

were part of the effort. We are a team here

at Daily Hope. Let me read your letter from Jeff

who listens to Daily Hope in Alabama and he's using

all of the resources that we produced in addition to

these broadcasts to help disciple other people in the Word.

He wrote, Dear Pastor Rick, our adult classes at Green

Valley Baptist Church here in Hoover, Alabama, just finish your

six week study kit for the series Daring Faith. I

just wanted to drop you a line tell you how

much we enjoyed that study.

And the video.

Many of our class members have been going through a

lot of personal ti tragedies, problems, and difficulties lately, and

your video spoke so strongly to how we need to

depend on God in our faith to help us get

through both the good and bad times of life. Well,

thanks Jeff for writing in first place. Second, I'm so

excited to hear that you're using these resources in addition

to the broadcast that we're preparing for groups and individuals

and even churches and my prayers that was we put

together these resources like the Daring Faithkit, that they will

be used by thousands of small groups around the world

to help people grow in faith and in knowledge.

Of Jesus Christ.

Now, for those of you who are listening today, there

are a lot of different resources that Daily Hope produces,

Bible studies, kits, manuals, scripture, memory cards, all kinds of

things that you need to be aware of. So go

to my website today pastorick dot com. If you've never

been there, take a minute and go to pastorick dot

com and see all of the resources that we've prepared

to help you grow in your faith and share your

faith with others.

We did it for you, God bless you.

Please join us next time as we look into God's

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