Rick Warren - Embracing the Vision The Purpose Driven Life Part Three

Pastor Rick Warren often says you were made by God and for God, and

until you understand that, life will never make sense. Welcome to Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. Today. In our series called God's Vision for the Rest of

your Life, Rick continues in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose

and vision that the Lord has for your life. Now, before we get

started, we want to let you know that a very generous friend has given

one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That means that all this

month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus

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

find out more by going to Pastorick dot com or by texting the word daily

to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com,

or the word daily to a eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part three of a message called Embracing

the Vision the purpose driven Life. Now, the number one question I'm asked

as a pastor is Rick, why is this happening to me? And I'll

tell you why. It's to help you to grow up spiritually. Everything in

life is designed to help you grow up spiritually. The good, the bad,

the ugly, the stuff you bring on yourself, the stuff that other

people do to you. God is not the author of evil. God never

does evil. But God can bring good even out of bad. That's the

cool thing about God. See, anybody can bring good out of good.

Anybody can do that, but God specializes in bringing good out of bad.

That's what Easter is all about. He turns crucifixions into resurrections. He takes

a terrible thing, the death of his son, and uses it to save

the whole world. God brings good out of bad. And there's nothing in

your life that you can't learn from if you'll just respond with the right attitude

and instead of saying God, why is this happening to me? Say God,

what do you want me to learn? What do you want me to

learn from this? Every situation in life will either make you bitter or better,

and it's your choice. It's how you choose to respond to it.

So the problem you're going through right now, you can just think of it

right now, think of the problem you're going to through. Every problem has

a purpose. Every problem has a purpose, and the purpose is to help

you grow up spiritually, to not be a spiritually immature person, but to

grow up. And the model of perfection is Jesus Christ. Notice the next

verse, let's read it aloud from Philippians. In your lives, you must

think and act like Christ Jesus. So the question then becomes, if God's

third purpose for my life is for me to grow up spiritually and become like

Jesus, what is Jesus like? Well, the Bible calls it the fruit

of the Spirit, and it says the fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self

control. These are the qualities that God wants to build in your life.

He wants you to live a life that's overflowing with love, overflowing with joy,

overflowing with peace and patience and all those things. Now, how does

God then produce those qualities in my life? How does God grow character in

you and help you grow up spiritually? How does he make you like Jesus?

I mean, are you just walking down the street one day? D

D D no alson zap God zaps you with love, and for the rest

of your life you love everybody. I don't think so. As I said,

God teaches you these qualities by putting you in the exact opposite situation.

He teaches you love by putting you around unlovely people. It's easy to love

people who are cool, people who are like you, people who get along

with But He'll put you around some unlovely people. How about joy, Joy's

not happiness. Happiness depends on happenings circumstances. I can go to Disneyland and

I'm happy. I come out, I realize how much money I spent.

I'm not happy anymore. Joy is internal, and God will teach you joy

in the middle of grief. How about peace? Oh, it's easy to

be peaceful when you're out fishing by the lake. Hey, it doesn't get

any better than this. No. God teaches you real peace in the middle

of chaos, when everything in your life is falling apart, and you say

God, I need your peace, and he puts you full of peace.

How does God teach us patience? Department of Motor Vehicles, Oh, you've

been there, traffic jams, doctor's waiting rooms, a thousand different ways to

wait now. Becoming like Christ is a lifelong journey. It's a process.

It's going to take the rest of your life for you to grow up spiritually.

Look at the next verse. The Bible says, as the spirit of

the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. Some

of you are a little behind, though, because you've been living your life

not working on this, and you've got some catching up to do now.

God uses troubles and trials and problems and pressures and other people. He uses

all kinds of things in our lives to make us mature. But write this

down. Here's the third purpose of life. To grow up spiritually. Not

just physically. You're physically mature. God wants you to be spiritually mature.

He wants you to grow up and become like Christ. He wants you to

develop spiritual depth. And you know why that is so needed because it is

the biggest problem in our culture. The biggest problem in American culture is shallow

living, no depth, shallow living. And I hate to say this,

but it's true. We are a nation of spiritual babies. What do you

mean, we'll think of what a baby is. Babies are totally self centered,

they all think about it. I gotta do what's best for me.

I gotta think of what's best for me. They're self centered, they're self

absorbed, they're impatient. They don't know how to wait. I gotta have

it now, now, now, now, now, I must have it

now, even if I have to charge it. They're unable to delay gratification.

Babies are totally focused on their feelings, totally absorbed with the here and

now. They have no long term thinking. And that's the way most adults

are. I gotta do what's best for me. I gotta do what I

feel. They're acting as if all that matters is here and now, not

in light of eternity. They're living as if today only matters. They're manipulated

by their moodsocused on their feelings, and the Bible says this. Some people

have the shallow soil of character that when their emotions wear off and difficulty arrives,

there's nothing to show for it. What you need, what I need

is spiritual depth. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

We've got some incredible news to share with you. A very generous friend

has given a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to this ministry all this month.

Every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the certain Hope of Jesus

around the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, So twenty

five dollars becomes fifty dollars, fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a

thousand. Whatever you give will be doubled by the matching grant up to one

hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty five, So please contact

us today go to Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four. If you want to make your time in prayer the best

it can be, then you're going to want to get a copy of the

brand new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's

Great Adventure for You, will help you tap into God's power and presence when

you learn how to pray with passion and purpose. Covered in soft vegan leather

with full color pages, this prayer journal has sections to pray for specific people

and situations, as well as space to express your gratitude and personal prayer requests

to God. Each page is beautifully designed and filled with inspiring Bible verses,

photos, and artwork. The God's Great Adventure for You Prayer Journal is a

spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a vibrant prayer life, connect with

God, and establish consistent daily prayer time. When you give a gift to

help daily Hope take the certain Hope of Jesus to people around the world,

will send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal to say

thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. Call eight hundred at six

hundred five zero zero four to get your Prayer Journal and have your gift matched

up to one hundred thousand dollars, or you can visit Pastorick dot com.

That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four or pastorick dot com.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again, here's Pastor Rick Warren.

God plans you for His pleasure, So the first purpose is to get to

know and love God. God formed you for his family, so the second

purpose is to get in his family and start learning to love other people.

The third purpose God created you to become like Christ. He wants you to

grow up spiritually, not just physically. Here's the fourth purpose. God shaped

me to serve him. God shaped me to serve him. The Bible says

in Psalm one thirty nine, you shaped me first inside then out. You

formed me in my mother's womb. Now, this is a truth we've taught

over and over at Saddleback Church, that you are unique. You're not one

in a million, you're one and six billion. God doesn't want you living

up to the expectations of other people. God didn't create you to live to

be what your parents wanted you to be, or what your husband or wife

wanted you to be, or what your boyfriend or girlfriend wanted you to be.

God wants you to be what He made you to be. And you

are unique. And when you die and get to heaven, God isn't going

to say why weren't you more like somebody else? He's gonna say, why

weren't you more like you? And He uniquely shaped you, notice in your

mother's womb for a purpose. Now, God says, there are illegitimate parents,

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

are no accidental babies. God had a plan for you, and I don't

care if your parents were good, are totally terrible, maybe they even abandoned

you. The reason they were your parents is God knew they had just the

right DNA to create you. And God was more interested in creating you than

he was in their parenting skills. And that's why they were your parents.

God wanted you and he uniquely shaped you. Now to help you remember how

God shapes you and makes you unique from everybody else, we use a little

cross to cure at Saddleback. Spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personality and experiences.

These are the five things that make you you. I don't have time

to get into these today. We have a class here at Saddleback. It's

a four hour class that thousands of people have gone through to discover your spiritual

shape. It helps you know what kind of career should I have, what

kind of ministry should I have? How should I be using my life?

Because God uses these spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personalities, and experience,

says to make you look on the next page, the Bible says this God

made us what we are. In other words, He shaped us. And

in Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which He planned

in advance for us to live our lives doing a circle the phrase good works.

Before you were even born, God decided in advance what contribution he wanted

you to make with your life, and he wants you to serve him on

this planet. God didn't put you on this planet just to take up space,

to breathe, to use resources, and to die. No, he

put you here to make the world a better place. He puts you on

this planet to make a unique contribution, to serve him by the shape that

He gave you, and nobody else could be you. And if you don't

serve God the way God intended you to serve him, then the world misses

that part of the jigsaw puzzle. Now another name for good works as ministry.

And anytime you use your talents and abilities to help somebody else, you

are actually ministering to them. Then notice this next verse one Peter for says

this God has given you, each of you some special abilities. Be sure

to use them to make a ton of money. Oh sorry, that's the

reviled, substandard perversion of the Bible. Let me read the correct translation here.

God has given each of you some special abilities, be sure to use

them to read it with me, help each other, passing on to others.

God's many kinds of blessings. Now get this. You know the talents

that you've got. Hate to tell you this, but they're not for your

benefit. God gave you your talents for the benefit of helping other people.

God gave me my talents for the benefits of helping other people. They're not

for me. You, the person next to you their talents, and for

the benefits of helping everybody else. God wired the universe so that we would

need each other. As I said, nobody's got it all together. I

don't have it all together. You don't have it all together. Nobody does.

That's why we need each other. And the Bible says, I want

you to serve me now. When you get to heaven. You're gonna love

God in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. You're gonna love

other people in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. You're gonna

grow spiritually in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. And you're

gonna serve God in heaven, so he wants you to practice now. Now.

Some of you have a misunderstanding of what you're gonna do in heaven.

You think that when you get to heaven you're gonna wear a white robe,

sit on a cloud and play a harp. Folks, that would be hell.

I can't think of anything more boring. If that's heaven, no thanks

God. But think about this. Think of all the thrills, all the

fun things you can do on this Earth, and this is an imperfect planet

and God created this. Think how much fun on all the thrills it's gonna

be in heaven. I mean, if look at all the fun stuff there

is to do on Earth and this is imperfect, in heaven, it's gonna

be a blast. I mean there you can do all these bike flips like

these you know guys do and never crack up. You can serve the big

waves and never wipe out. It's gonna be unbelievably fun. But one of

the things you're gonna do in heaven is served serve God. Now here's the

fourth purpose of life. To serve God by serving others. You serve God

by serving others. You see on Earth, it's impossible to serve God directly.

You can't serve him directly. The only way you can serve God on

earth is by serving other people. So anytime you help somebody else, God

says, it's like you're doing it for me. You're practicing on earth what

you're gonna do in heaven. When you are unselfish and you stop living this

little, self centered, clawed of a life and you start saying, I'm

going to help other people with my wife, God says, now you're getting

the point. You're practicing what you're going to do in eternity. We served

God by serving others. We saw a dramatic example of this just this last

week with Ashley in Atlanta. Ashley was going through she was a part of

a church that's doing forty days of Purpose and she was going through the Purpose

Driven Life book and she went out one morning, about one am in the

morning go get some cigarettes. Had no idea that if she was walking back

into her house, Brian was gonna stick up gun in her back and say

open the door, and he took her hostage. He took her inside her

house, tied her up, and put her in the bathtub, and it

looked like it was going to be murder number five. But Ashley had been

reading about God's purpose for her life. And she told Brian, you know,

Brian, you're not an accident and God has a purpose for your life.

And you were made to last forever, and God wants you to practice

on earth what you're going to do forever in eternity. And it started to

sink in. He goes, God has a purpose for me. Yes,

in spite of all the stuff I've done. Yes, there is no pit

too deep that God's love is not deeper. Still, God could reach out

to me. I've already killed some people. Yes, what could my purpose

be? Well, I don't know. But you know what, if you

turn yourself in, you go to prison, you may die for the people

you killed. But as long as your heart is beating, God has a

purpose for your life. And it could be in that prison that he wants

you to serve other people. And then Ashley not only told him that,

she said, can I read it to you? And he said sure,

So he untied her and she went and got her Bible, got a copy

of The Purpose Driven Life, and it just so happened. She was on

day thirty three, which is on how leaders, how real servants act,

and she read about how we are to serve God by serving each other.

And she even then practiced it. And she got up and she made this

guy breakfast. She served him and it melted his heart, and he turned

around and served her by fixing some curtains for her. And then she convinced

him to turn himself in and to let her go, and the killing spree

was stopped. Now you may think, well, I'm too far beyond for

God. I've done too many things in my life wrong. I've gone too

many years without a relationship with God. It's too late. You are dead

wrong. You're dead wrong. That's why God brought you here today. He

wants you to know Him in a personal way. Now number five, we

got to move quickly. This is the fifth purpose God. God made me

for a mission. God made me for a mission. Now I don't have

time to get into this, but during the next four weeks we're going to

focus on this exclusively, understanding and fulfilling your mission in life, and I

hope you'll come back for part two. Jesus said this, in the same

way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a

mission in the world. Should you decide to accept, mister Phelps, God

has a unique mission in the world that He has asked for you, and

only you can fulfill it. If you do not choose to fulfill it,

the world gets cheated. Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily

Hope. We've got some incredible news to share with you. A very generous

friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to this ministry. That

means that all this month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share

the certain Hope of Jesus around the world will be matched up to one hundred

thousand dollars. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more. 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. 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. You know the goals of Daily Hope. Our goal is

ultimately to take the good News, the Gospel to the three thousand tribes left

in the world that have no Bible, no believer, and no body of

Christ, no church. This is the final frontier. That's our goal.

It's called the Great Commission. Now, other churches and other ministries have other

goals, and that's fine. Some only have the goal of just preaching in

America. That's nothing wrong with that. But if you believe in and have

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

this would be a ministry you should consider supporting because I don't know others that

are doing what we're doing, trying to go to these final three thousand tribes

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're

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.

You know, I don't take any salary or any income from this ministry.

I serve it for free, and so you and I are partners together

in reaching people for Christ all around the world. In 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. Remember, as Rick

just shared, whatever you give today will be doubled by the matching grant up

to one hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight, December thirty first.

Anything not matched will be lost, so please contact us today. You can

give right now by going to Pastorick dot com or by calling eight hundred six

hundred five thousand and four. We'll say thanks by sending you the brand new

Daily Hope prayer journal that's Pastor Rick dot com or call eight hundred six hundred

five thousand and four. Be sure to join us again 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