Rick Warren - The Word of Humanity - Part Three

Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we

continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love.

There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during

his final hours on the Cross that hold the keys

for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with the final part of

a message called the Word of Humanity.

Jesus notices the smallest of services. You know. I read

this a while back, Doud Nick Nichols. He was an

American Christian and he was living in India, and he

was trying to share the Gospel with people. He's trying

to tell people in India the good news of Jesus Christ.

He didn't speak a word of any of the Indian dialects,

and he wrote this dud Nichols. When I got tuberculosis

in India, I was forced to stay in a sanitarium

for several months. I didn't speak the language, but I

tried to give Christian literature in their language to the

patients and to the doctors and the nurses, and not

a single person accepted everybody politely refused my Christian literature.

The first few nights I was there, I woke up

around two am coughing from my tuberculosis, and during one

of my coughing spells, I noticed an older, sicker patient

across the room trying to get out of bed. He'd

sit up on the edge of the bed. He'd try

to stand, but in weakness, he'd fall back into the bed.

I didn't understand what he was trying to do. He

finally gave up, exhausted, but I could hear him crying

softly through the night. The next morning I realized that

he'd been trying to get out of bed to go

to the bathroom, and the stench in our ward was awful.

Other patients yelled insults at this man, who soiled himself.

Angry nurses moved him roughly as they cleaned up the mess.

One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled up

into a ball and he wept. The next night, I

woke up again coughing, and I noticed the same man

trying to get out of bed, and like the night before,

he fell back into his bed, whimpering. So I got

out of my bed and I went over to him.

When I touched his shoulders, his eyes opened wide with fear,

but I smiled, put my arms under him and picked

him up. He was very light due to old age

and advanced t B and I carried him to the toilet,

which was just a filthy, small room with a hole

in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms

under his armpits as he took care of himself, and

after he finished, I carried him back to bed. As

I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek.

He smiled and said something an Indian I didn't understand.

The next morning, another patient woke me up and handed

me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his

hands that he wanted a gospel tract that I had

been trying to give out. As the sun rose, other

patients approached me, and each of them indicated that they

also wanted the Christian booklets that nobody had been interested

in before. Throughout the day, nurses and interns and doctors

asked for my booklet about Jesus. Weeks later, a pastor

came who spoke the language, and he visited me, and

he told me that several people in the hospital had

put their trust in Jesus Christ as a savior as

a result of reading those booklets. So what does it

take for me to reach these dear people with the

good news? Not my ability to speak their language, not

my ability to give a persuasive presentation. I simply helped

an old man to the bathroom. What are you willing

to do to get people into heaven? Let's just pause

on that for a minute. What are you willing to

do to get people into heaven? What kind of love

do you really have for other people who are physically, spiritually,

and emotionally thirsty? Is anybody going to be in heaven

because of you? Are you willing to pick up an

old man and take into the bathroom? What are you

willing to do? Jesus said inas much. You've done it

under the least of these my brothers. You did it

to me, Have you done it to anybody? Will you

do it to anybody this next week? Will you show

that kind of love? Are you so insolated in self

centeredness and my life and my joke goals and my

problems and my needs and my family that I don't

have time to notice the people who are saying I'm

thirsty around me. We learn in the thirst of others

that I serve Jesus by serving others. And we learn

that Jesus notices even the smallest service. And the third thing,

this is the hardest one of all. Write this down.

The most christ Like service is to enemies. Oh, come on,

you know, I'm sorry, but this is the Jesus way

to live. The most christ Like service is to enemies.

I am most like Jesus. You are most like Jesus

when when you're helping people you totally disagree with. You

don't like their lifestyle, you don't like their politics, you

don't like their breath, you don't like the way they look,

you don't like their culture, you don't like the way

they talk, and on and on and on. You are

most like Jesus when you respond with kindness to the

people who don't like you, when you're building bridge bridges

to people like that. Jesus said this. The Bible says

this in Proverbs twenty five. If your enemies are hungry,

give them food, and if they're thirsty, give them water

to drink. You know, during World War Two, the Nazis

did not just send Jews to the concentration camps. They

sent six million Jews, but sent Christians, and they sent Gaze,

and they sent Gypsies, and they sent Communists and anybody

else they just didn't like. Nicholas Berdyayev was a Communist

who was sent to one of the death camps because

of his Communism, and he was converted and became a

Christian there because of the witness of a single Christian woman.

He said that one day, the Nazi officer came out

and began to call off the numbers of the prisoners

that were to be gassed that day, and one of

them was a young mother with a child that she'd

had given birth to in the concentration camp, and she

was scared to death that she was going to leave

a baby, little baby, and she was going to die.

But a Christian woman saw this taking place and realized

that the Nazi didn't care about who it was, just

cared about the number. So she walked up to the

thing and said, I'm that number, and she went to

her death. And Nicholas, a Communist, came to christ because

that woman was willing to give her life for the

Jewish lady. This act is sacrificial love, so impacted him

he said, I've got to know this, Jesus. Does your

life make anybody thirsty for Jesus? People say, you can

lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink,

But you can salt the oats. And the Bible says

we are to be salt in the world. We are

to make people thirsty to know God by our love,

not by our words, by our kindness, not by our protests,

by our compassion, not by what we're against, but the

little acts of service that we do every single day.

That's the big stuff. The most christ Like service is

to enemies. Are you willing to suffer for the benefit

of others knowing Jesus? Now let's go to this third section.

We looked at jesus thirst, We looked at the thirst

of others around you. What about your own thirst the

things that you're just so unsatisfied about, you're not fulfilled about.

You just have that ache, you just have that scratch,

you just have that itch. And how do you get

your own thirst satisfied? So the Bible says you do

three things. Write these down. Here's the only way you're

ever gonna get your life satisfied in life. Number one.

First thing realize what I'm really thirsty for. I need

to realize what I'm really thirsty for. What I think

I want is not really gonna make me happy. What

I think I want is not really gonna fulfill me.

You know, we live in this world of if I

could just and then you fill in the blank, if

I could just get married, then I'd be totally fulfilled.

Anybody want to give a testimony, Okay, anybody want to

stand them say that one ain't true. Okay. If I

could just get a boyfriend, if we could just if

I could just get a job, if I could just graduate,

if we could just have a baby. You have all

of these. They're all good things, but they're not gonna

bring you ultimate satisfaction. They're not gonna slack your spiritual thirst.

You gotta realize what you're really thirsty for. You're looking

in all the wrong places. There is no person, There

is no job, there is no experience that could possibly

meet all your needs. None, zero, not a zip, none.

There's only one person who could meet all your needs.

It's God. Anytime I look to anything else to provide

my fulfillment in life, job, golf, for anything else, I've

turned it into an idol. An idol is expecting something

to fulfill in my life what only God can fulfill.

That's an idol. You have idols, You have things in

your life you expect to be fulfilling to you that

only God can fulfill. And so I've got to start

by realizing what I'm really thirsty for. Look at these

verses Psalm sixty three. Oh God, you are my God,

and I long for you. My whole being desires you

like a dry, worn out, waterless land. My soul is

thirsty for you. You have a God shaped hole in

your life, and nothing is going to fill that hole

except God. Jesus said in Matthew five, Blessed are those

who hunger thirst for righteousness. They will be filled. Only

God can satisfy your need. And the more you get

to know Him, the more satisfied, the more fulfilled, the

more happy you're going to be in life. Realize what

I'm really thirsty for. You were made for your Creator,

and when you're separated from him, you're going to be

restless until you get to know him. Number two, I

realized that what I'm really thirsty for. Number two, I

realize that Jesus feels my pain. He understands it, he

feels it. Jesus understands your needs better than you do,

and he understands your pain better than you do. The

pain you're going through right now. Isaiah fifty three, verse

thirty five says this, he Jesus took our suffering on

himself and felt our pain for us. He took our

suffering on himself, felt our pain for us. He was

wounded for the wrongs he did. He was crushed for

the evil we did. The punishment which made us well

was given to him, and we are healed because of

his wounds. How many wounds did Jesus have on the cross, well,

we know at least three hundred and sixty five, two

in his hands, two in his feet, one his side,

wounds on his head from the thorns, the three hundred

and sixty lashes on his back. We are healed by

his wounds. And let me just say this, some of

you are in are faced chronic pain all the time.

I'm talking about physical pain. You just don't feel good

for whatever reason, your back or your body or something.

And you you, you, you are in constant chronic pain.

I'm sorry. Jesus Christ understands chronic pain. He knows what

chronic pain feels like. Some of you are in emotional

pain from a discouragement, from a defeat, from a disappointment,

from a rejection, from a betrayal, from a broken dream.

Jesus understands your pain. Some of you are in spiritual pain.

You're in mental pain. Jesus understands your pain. He understands it.

The Bible says in Hebrews four fifteen, look at this

verse on the screen, our High priest. That's Jesus understands

our weaknesses. For he faced all of the same temptations

we do. That he didn't sin. He didn't sin. He

understands what you're going through. Realize what you're really thirsty for,

and realize he understands your needs and understands your pain.

Number three third thing, Stop looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Stop

looking for fulfillment elsewhere. You know, we're always looking for

a panacea. If I could just get a different job,

if I could just then you fill in the blank.

We're always looking somewhere else, looking for life in all

the wrong places, looking for love in all the wrong places,

looking for film fulfillment in all the wrong places, and

it isn't gonna work. In the Bible, God says this

Jeremiah chapter two. My people have done two evils. They've

turned away from me. That's the first thing, the spring

of living water. And he says, they've dug their own wells,

which are broken wells and can't hold water. You know

what the problem with you is? Why you're unfulfilled? Two things.

One you turned your back on me. The second you're

digging your own well, thinking, you know, if I just

do this project, then I'll be fulfilled. If I just

do this, then I'll be fulfilled. If I just do that,

then I'll be fulfilled. What wells have you dug in

your life that ended up dry? And you're out here

digging away well, digging a well, and Niagara Falls is

right behind you, and you go, what are we thinking?

God says, I have all the water in the world.

I can fulfill every one of your deepest needs. But

you're over here digging a well, thinking, if I just

get this job, if I just get this relationship, if

I just make this much money, if I just if

I And you're digging a well, and he goes, that's dumb.

Niagara Falls is right behind you. It's like trying to,

you know, capture a fire hydrant in the thimble. You

can't handle all the blessings God's got for you. John

chapter seven. Jesus said this on the last day, the

climax of the festival. Jesus stood up and shouted, shouted.

He didn't just whisper for this, He shouted to the crowd.

And what did Jesus say to the whole crowd that

he shouted out in the top voice. If you are thirsty,

real simple, come to me. That's about as simple as

can get. You don't go to McDonald's, you don't go

to Starbucks. You come to me. If you're spiritually, emotionally thirsty,

if your life is unfulfilled, if you're bored, if you're frustrated,

if you lack meaning, if you just go there's gotta

be mortal life than this, come to me. He didn't

say come to religion. He didn't say come to church.

He doesn't say come to Bible study. He says, come

to me. The only thing that's going to fulfill you

is a intimate relationship with God, because that's what you

were made for. And most people go through life and

miss the thing they were made for. What wells have

you dug? When Niagara Falls is right behind you? He says,

if you were thirsty, come to me, If you believe

in me, come and drink. For the scriptures declare that

rivers of living water will flow out from within. He says,

I'm not gonna give you a glass of water. I'm

not gonna give you a bottle of water. I'm not

even gonna give you a pool of water. I'm gonna

put a river through your life. You're never gonna be

thirsty again. You see, here's the problem. When we're digging wells,

Sin makes you thirsty. Anytime you try to find your

thirst mastered by anything else besides God, you get thirst here.

Sin is addicting. You don't believe it. Try pornography. You

look one time. You can't just look one time. Every

sin is addicting, every single saying. If you get angry,

you don't just get angry one time in your life.

That's it. You get angry over and over and over

and over and over. If you get impatient, you don't

just get impatient once. I have to get impatient over

and over and over. It is addicting. It doesn't fulfill

It doesn't slake your thirst, it doesn't quench your thirst.

But Jesus satisfies. He says, I'll put a spring within you,

last person, your outline. Jesus said this. People soon become

thirsty again after drinking this water, the water of the world.

But the water I give them takes away thirst. That's

an amazing kind of water, takes away thirst. Altogether, it

becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.

So let me reinterpret it. If you feel unsatisfied with

your life right now, there's a word for that. You're thirsty.

You're spiritually thirsty. And the only one who can slake

that thirst, quench that thirst is Jesus Christ. Only the

one who on the cross said I thirst can take

away your thirst. And you know what, when Jesus on

the cross that I'm thirsty, I hate to tell you this,

but he's still thirsty today. He said, what do you

mean by that? He's thirsty for you to know him.

It's the reason he made you. He made you to

know him, and he's thirsty for you to know him.

That's power. Heads. Would you pray this prayer, Dear God,

I have been thirsty for so many different things in

my life that I thought would satisfy me, but they

have not. I have looked to relationships and looked to accomplishments,

and I've looked to hobbies, and I've looked at so

many everythings to fulfill my life. But I'm still thirsty.

And Lord, it's like one of those drinks that when

you drink it, it just makes you more thirsty. Thank

you Jesus Christ. Thank you that you feel my pain.

That you know what it's like to go through suffering,

that you know what it's like to be rejected, to

be criticized, to be misunderstood, to be betrayed. Lord, you've

been through everything, and you know the pain in my

own heart. You know my physical pains because you made

my body. You know my emotional pains because you made

my heart. You know my mental pains because you made

my mind. Thank you that you care about my thirst. Today,

i want to stop looking forfillment everywhere else. I'm going

to stop digging my own wells, and I'm going to

turn around to Niagara. You said, if you're thirsty, come

to me, So I'm coming to you right now. I

don't want any idols in my life, things that I've

tried to find satisfaction in that have just disappointed me.

I'm going to tear down the idols in my life,

and I want you to put a river of living

water in me. Jesus Christ, I want to know you personally.

I want to have a relationship with you. Thank you

that you died on the cross for me. Thank you

that you were truly human and that you were truly God,

and that you showed how much you loved me by

dying for me on the cross. And God, in gratitude,

I want to give the rest of my life serving you.

I want to serve you by serving others, even if

that means given a cup of cold water to a child,

or changing a diaper, or helping an elderly person across

the street. I want to do everything in your name.

Thank you that you noticed the smallest service. And God

even helped me with that one about serving my enemies.

You said, if my enemies are hungry, I'm to give

them food, and if they're thirsty, I'm to give them water. Lord,

I really don't want to do that. There are people

I don't like, but you died for them, just like

you died for me, and I pray that nothing in

my life would keep them from knowing you. And just

as the story of the man who took the elderly

gentlemen to the bathroom caused people to come to know

your love, I want my life every day to make

people thirsty for you. And I ask you to use

me for your sake and your name this next week

to meet the thirsty needs of people around me. I

want to do it in gratitude and I pray this

in your name. Amen.

Such a great message by Rick today and every day.

I sure hope you were just as an encouraged us

I was. And now here's Rick to tell you about

a resource that he created to help you in your

walk with Jesus.

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say thank you for joining me in today's broadcast. I

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