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

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 two of a message called Embracing

the Vision the purpose driven Life. Now, how do you know when you're

disconnected from God? How do you know when you don't really know God?

You know about him, but you don't really know him well. There's a

warning light that comes on in your life when you are disconnected from God.

It's called stress. Stress. Are any of you familiar with this term?

Stress? Worry is the warning light that at that moment in your life,

you're disconnected from God. Whenever I'm worrying, it says, I'm acting like

I'm God. I'm acting like it all depends on me. I'm pretending I'm

the general manager of the universe, that I've got to make it all happen.

God isn't going to help me. I'm out here on my own,

and that causes stress. And the reason you're tired all the time, and

the reason you're fatigued, and the reason you're stressed out is because you're trying

to live your life disconnected from God. It's like having a radio transistor radio

with a battery pulled out. There's no power, but you plug in the

battery and get connected to God. You're gonna hear all kinds of great things.

This is God's plan for your life. He wants you to know and

love him. See the Bible says in Matthew six, people who don't know

God are always worrying why because they think it's all on their own. You

see, God has wired you with a God shaped hole in the middle of

you so that you need Him in your life. Well, there's this emptiness

inside of us now. The problem is we try to fill it with a

lot of other things instead of God. And you can try to fill that

God shaped hole with passion or position, or possessions or pleasure or popularity,

or you can try to fill that hole in your heart with sex or status

or salary. But none of those things are going to fill the whole that

only God can fill in your life. You were made by God and for

God, and until you understand that, there's going to be a hole in

your heart that leaves you empty. Here's the second purpose of life. The

Bible says, God formed me for his family. God formed me for his

family. In other words, God wanted a family. He wanted more than

creatures. He didn't want just angels and animals and plants. He wanted a

family. And the Bible says, the whole reason you exist is God wanted

you to become a part of his family, which makes you unique. And

that family is going to last forever. The Bible says this, God's unchanging

plan has always been to adopt us into his own family. This is amazing

by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ, and this gave him great pleasure.

In other words, again, he did it for his own enjoyment.

God wanted a family and he wanted you to be a part of it.

Now, your spiritual family, God's family is going to even outlast your physical

family. Physical families don't last. They grow up, they move away,

they die, there's divorce, there's death. Physical families don't last. But

the spiritual family of God is going to go on and on and on for

eternity. And the Bible says that God never meant for you to go through

life alone. In fact, God hates loneliness. When God created man,

he put him in the garden of Eden, a perfect environment, and the

first thing God said was it is not good for man to be alone.

Now he's not talking about whether you get married or not. That is irrelevant.

He's talking about the fact whether you marry or not is not the issue.

The issue is God wants to put you in a spiritual family, and

that family is the family of God. Now, when you were born physically,

you automatically became a part of the human family. You didn't have a

choice. The moment you were born, you became a part of the human

family. But becoming a part of God's family is a choice. You have

to choose to become a part of it. You're not automatically a part of

God's family. It is your choice. The Bible says this in One Peter.

God has given us the privilege of being born again, so that we

are now members of God's own family. What is born again mean? It

means I make the choice to say I don't want to just be a part

of the human family. I want to be a part of God's family,

and I'm going to follow him in his ways. It means I get a

fresh start in life. Everything I've ever done wrong, everything I've ever regretted,

all the shame, all the things I wish hadn't happened in my past.

God says, wiped out, forgiven, completely, start over. We're

gonna give you a fresh, clean slate. It's like starting over, new

life, fresh start. That's all it means. Born again, like reincarnation.

It just means you get a fresh start on life. Now. What

is God's family. We'll look at the next verse. That family is the

Church of the Living God, the support and foundation of the truth. Now

this is very important. The church is not an institution. The church is

not a bureaucracy. The church is not an organization. It's not a social

club. The church is God's family. And I don't know why some churches

don't get this, but they don't. It's not about rules and regulations and

rituals and religion. It's about relationships. The church is about those who've decided

to become a part of God's family forever and ever, and it's all about

love. It's about relationships. Now, notice it says that family is the

support and foundation of the truth. So underlying support and foundation. Now you

know what happens when a building has no support and foundation. It collapses.

We in California understand this above everybody else because we have a thing called earthquakes.

And if you don't have a good support and foundation in a building,

it's going to collapse when the earthquake comes. God says, your life is

the same way. 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 first, so please 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 a 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.

You're gonna have some earthquakes in your life, personal earthquakes, financial earthquakes.

You're gonna have health earthquakes. You may have marriage earthquakes. If you

get married, you're gonna have relational earthquakes. You're gonna have career earthquakes.

And when these tough times come along in life, if you don't have a

spiritual family, you're gonna to collapse. You cannot fulfill God's purposes by yourself.

God wired us to need each other. We need each other in the

family of God. That's why in our church we have two thousand, six

hundred small groups. The church isn't this group right here, it's the group

that meets in little groups all over southern California, two thousand, six hundred

locations, in small groups, in homes in eighty three different cities. And

when you have a problem and you're in a small group, they help you.

When you're in the hospital, they take care of your needs. When

you need a meal brought to you because you're sick, they bring meal to

you. In this church, we take care of each other. And honestly,

I feel sorry for people who don't have a spiritual family to take care

of them when they're in a crisis. Now, let's look at the next

verse. Let's read it aloud together. One Peter says this love your spiritual

family. Are you doing that. Do you love your spiritual family so well?

I don't even have one. Well, we invite you to be a

part of Saddleback. There's lots of good spiritual families in this area. Just

choose one. Now, why is this important love your spiritual family? Because

when you get to heaven, two of the things you're going to do in

heaven. One is love God and two is love the other people. That's

called worship and fellowship. And what does God wants you to do while you're

here on earth, same thing? Practice. He wants you to not only

love God, he wants you to learn to love other people. Why.

Because God is love, he wants you to practice. So write this down

on the next page. The second purpose of life is to learn to love

others. The first purpose of life is to learn to love God. The

second purpose of life is to learn to love other people. Because God wants

you to be like he is. He loves you and he loves others.

That's why you need a church home. It's the laboratory for learning to love

God's family. Now, I hear people say all the time, You know,

Rick, I don't need a church. I can go out in nature

by myself. And I could worship God by myself in nature, Well,

of course you can. Who do you think comitted nature God did? That's

why you feel so close to him in nature. Of course, you can

worship God on your own nature, but you can't love other people in nature

by yourself. That's why you need a family. And God wants us to

learn real love, which means to learn to love real people, not just

ideal people. So he puts some people around us that are a little bit

unlovable. I call him heavenly sandpaper, you know, anybody like that to

kind of just rub you the wrong way. God wants to teach you real

love. To dwell above with those we love, oh that will be a

glory. But to dwell below with those we know, that's another story.

You see, every family has an Uncle Wilbur, just a little bit out

of kilter, you know, a little bit off. You know, it's

coming to Eastern and you're going, oh, no, Uncle Wilbur's going to

be there. They're in every small group, they're in every family, they're

in every church, and God intentionally puts them there so we can learn to

love. You know, the light's on, but nobody's home a few fries

short of a happy meal. You know, the elevator doesn't go all the

way to the top. They don't get all the social clues. And in

every one of our twenty six hundred small groups, there's at least one person

like this that just needs egr extra grace required. Okay, Now, if

you don't immediately think of who I'm talking about, I hate tell you this,

but you're it. Okay. I mean, if that person didn't come

to mind, who is it in my family that's like that. I hate

to tell you. It's you. But we need you and you need us

because God wants us to learn real love. It's easy to love the lovely

people, but God puts us around people that are a little difficult to love

because you cannot fulfill God's purposes on your own. Nobody has it all together.

I don't. You don't. That's why we need each other. Look

at this next verse. The Bible says we belong to each other, and

each of us needs all the others. Let's review. Let's review number one.

You were planned for God's pleasures. So the first purpose of life is

to get to know and love God. Back. Second, God formed you

for his family So the second purpose of life is getting us spiritual family and

start learning to love other people. Love God, love other people. Number

three, the Bible says, God created me to become like Christ. God

created me to become like Christ. Now this takes a little explaining, but

once you understand it, life will make so much more sense. The bottom

line is this, God wants you to grow up spiritually. When you grow

up physically, that's automatic. You grew up automatically and you're an adult.

But God wants you to grow up spiritually too. And I know people are

twenty thirty, forty fifty, sixty years old physically and spiritually, they're still

babies. God says, I want you to grow up while you're on Earth.

Grow up spiritually. This is the kindergarten, the preschool, the dress

ursul grow up to be like my son Jesus. Christ is the model of

spiritual maturity. That's why Jesus came to earth. One of the reasons that

came to earth is to model what maturity is like. Now, notice these

verses. The Bible says, from the very beginning, God decided that those

who came to him, in other words, those who chose to become a

part of his family. And all along he knew who would should become like

his son. And look of the next verse. We look at the sun

and we see God's original purpose in everything created. Now, this is God's

Plan A, not Plan B. From the very begin he said, let

us make man in our image. God's goal has always been to make you

like himself. Now, don't misunderstand me, not to become a god,

but to become godly, to have godly character. You're never going to be

a god. Okay. There are some cults out there that teach you,

oh, you're divine, you're a god. You're no God. If you

were a god, you'd have all your problems solved by Now you're not God,

all right, You're just not God. And so what God wants you

to do is he wants you to become godly in character like integrity and generosity

and humility and all the characteristics of God. Now, God is far more

interested in what you are than what you do. Why, because you're not

taking your career to heaven, you are taking your character. Aren't you glad

you're not taking your career to heaven. Yeah, you're not gonna have to

do that one in heaven. But God says, I don't care really what

you do. There might be a dozen different jobs. He said, God,

what job do you want me to do? God says, your choice,

whatever you feel like doing, because I'm more interested in what you become

while you're doing the job rather than what you do. God isn't interested so

much in what you do as he is in what you become while you're doing

it. Does that make sense? He wants you, He's more interested in

you than your job. So any job can be used to grow up spiritually.

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's 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 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? No alson zap? God

zaps you with love, and for the rest of your life you love everybody.

I don't think though. 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 is 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 and He

puts you full of peace. How does God teach us patience? Department of

Motor Vehicles. Oh, you've been there. 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.

Did you know that today there's still almost three thousand groups of people around the

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

Christ, no church. Over three thousand of those small tribes. One of

the reasons I started Daily Hope was to help bring this awareness to the world

and and raise the funds to get a Bible, a believer, and a

body of Christ in these last three thousand tribes. I call it the final

Frontier. These people not only need to hear about the love of Jesus,

they need to grow up. They need to be discipled in their faith.

Now, I admit this is a big vision, but it's an important vision.

It's a global vision, it's a timely vision. But every vision requires

provision. And honestly, we wouldn't be able to even go after these tribes

without your help. And that's why I can't fully express how much I appreciate

your support for Daily Hope. When you give to this ministry, you're not

only supporting this broadcast, but you're supporting our efforts to go to the final

frontier, the final three thousand tribes that have no Bible, no believer,

and no body of Christ. Now, the reason I'm telling you this is

I'm excited to share we have a generous couple who's offered a one hundred thousand

dollars matching grant gift to Daily Hope. What does that mean? It means

any gift you give between now and the end of December will be doubled to

match that amount. So I want to ask you to please prayerfully consider how

you could give today help us reach the final frontier of these tribes that have

never heard the name of Christ in the coming year. Friends, even if

you can't help us financially, I want to ask you to pray, pray

for us, and pray these specific prayer requests that I will faithfully teach God's

word in a way that blesses you and penetrates the hearts of people who don't

know Christ. Pray for the Daily Hope team that God will encourage them as

they create all of our discipleship tools and materials which we want you to have

to help you. And most of all, pray for these unreached tribes and

groups of people who've never heard the name of Jesus. I'm praying for you

during this Christmas season. Thank you so much for your generosity, Thank you

for your prayers, Thank you for your support. You make it possible.

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 Pastorick 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