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

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, in just a few

moments, we're going to tell you how to get a copy of the brand

new Daily Hope twenty twenty one Prayer Journal based on the theme God's Great Adventure

for You, a great resource to help make your time in prayer the best

it can be. Go to Pastorick dot com to find out more, or

text the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's

Pastorick dot com. Or the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand

and four right now here's Pastor Rick Warren. Would part one of a message

called Embracing the Vision the purpose driven Life. God has never created anything without

a purpose. Every plant has a purpose, every rock has a purpose,

every animal has a purpose, every planet, every star, and if your

heart is beating, it means God has a purpose for your life. Now,

if you want to know the purpose of your life, you have to

start with God. I realize that in our culture a lot of people say,

you want to know your purpose, look within, like trust the force,

Luke. The only problem is that doesn't work. I tried looking within.

I didn't like what I saw. If you knew could discover your purpose

by looking within yourself, we'd all know it by now. It doesn't work.

You See, the truth is you didn't create you, so you can't

tell yourself what you were created for. Does that make sense? God says

I made you, and I'm the one who tell you what your purpose is.

If I were to hold up an invention that you'd never seen before,

and I said, tell me the purpose of this invention, well, you

wouldn't know what the purpose of it is unless you either a talk to the

inventor the creator who made it, or b read the Owner's Manual. The

only way you're ever going to know the purpose of your life is either a

talk to the creator who created you, or b read the Owner's Manual.

And so today we're going to look at what God says are the purposes of

your life. Now, if you'll open to the first page. There's a

couple verses from the Bible there. The first verse says this, it is

in Christ that we find out who we are and what we're living for part

of the overall purpose He's working out in everything and everyone. God has a

global or a universal purpose for the entire universe. He has a cosmic purpose

for history, and you are a part of that purpose. Fits into God's

grander scheme. And notice the next verse. Let's read it aloud together.

Everything, absolutely everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.

Now let me try to summarize it real simply for you. Number one,

you were made by God, and you were made for God. And until

you understand that, life isn't gonna make sense. Now, God created you

to last forever, Yes, forever. One day your heart's gonna stop,

that's gonna be the end of your body. But that's not going to be

the end of you, because you were made in God's image and you were

made to last forever because you're made in God's image. Now what that means

is this, You're going to spend more time on the other side of death

than you do on this side here on earth. You're gonna get sixty eighty

at the most, one hundred years at the most. That's really not very

long considering the fact that you're going to spend trillions and trillions and trillions of

years in eternity. You're going to spend far more time on that side of

death than you do on this side of death. So the question we're asking

this morning, then, is what on Earth am I here for? What

am I supposed to do with the sixty or eighty or at the most one

hundred years I get on this planet in preparation for the life that's in the

future. You see, the Bible says that life is preparation for eternity.

If anybody ever asks you, what is the meaning of life here, it

is life is preparation for eternity. This is the warm up act before the

real play begins. This is the dress rehearsal before the real show starts.

This is the initial warm up lap around the race before the real race begins.

Life on Earth is the kindergarten, It's the preschool. It's the get

ready stage for eternity. And as I said, you're going to spend more

on that side of eternity than you do on this side and in eternity you're

going to do a certain number of things. We're going to talk about him

this morning. And what God wants you to do while you're here on earth

is practice. God wants you to practice on earth what you're gonna do forever

in eternity. So let's get right into it. The Bible says, God

has five purposes for your life. Number one, you might write this down.

He turned the page. God planned me. God planned me for his

pleasure. God planned me for his pleasure. Everything in the universe was created

so that God could enjoy it. He created it all for his pleasure and

for his enjoyment. The Bible says this in the Book of Revelation, you,

God created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and

were created. Everything in the universe, including you, was created for God

to enjoy it. He wanted it, and so he created it for his

enjoyment. Read with me the next verse, the Lord takes pleasure in his

people. Let me ask you, how many of you are parents? Going

to see your hands? All right? Do you take pleasure in watching your

kids? You say most of the time. And I think the same thing

is true with God. Most of the time God takes pleasure in watching you

be you. I've got a little eighteen month old granddaughter now. Her name

is Kaylee, and I take pleasure just in watching Kaylee. She doesn't have

to do anything special. She can just kind of toddle around the room,

and I get so much enjoyment just watching her be her. Now. She

doesn't have to do anything spiritual, like come out and preach a sermon to

me. She doesn't have a quote a Bible verse, she doesn't have to

pray, she doesn't have to do anything quote holy. I just enjoy her

for being her. Some of you have never understood this. You think that

the only time God smiles on you is when you're doing something quote spiritual,

like when you're going to church, or when you help a poor person,

or when you show kindness to somebody, or you're reading your Bible. And

you think the only time that God is happy with you is when you are

doing something quote spiritual. And you don't realize that God gets pleasure out of

just watching you be you because He created you. You're listening to Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. Rick will be back in just a moment with the rest of

today's lesson. You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional at pastorick

dot com. That's pastorick dot com. If you want to make your time

in prayer the best 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, We'll send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily Hope Prayer

Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. You can

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

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

Daily Hope Prayer Journal. That's Pastorrick dot com. Or call eight hundred six

hundred five zero zero four. You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again.

Here's Pastor Rick Warren. Some of you have never understood this. You

think that the only time God smiles on you is when you're doing something quote

spiritual, like when you're going to church, or when you help a poor

person, or when you show kindness to somebody, or you're reading your Bible,

and you think the only time that God is happy with you is when

you are doing something quote spiritual. And you don't realize that God gets pleasure

out of just watching you be you because He created you. When my three

children were small, I used to sneak into their room at night and sit

down by the side of their bed and just watch them breathe, just watch

them sleep, and I got so much joy. I would just sit on

the edge of their beds, these little kids, and I'd watched their chests,

rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall, and I

would just watch them sleep peacefully and breathe. And I got so much pleasure

out of that. Because I was their father. I created them. They

were created simply out of my love, and I loved them. They didn't

have to be doing anything fancy. I just loved them. And that's the

way your heavenly father is toward you. God looks at you and he loves

you simply because he made you. Now, notice what the Bible says.

Look at the next verse. Long before he laid down the earth's foundations,

God had us in mind, and he settled on us as the focus of

his love. Now, let me explain this verse. Before God even created

the universe, he thought of you, and he focused on you. And

the Bible says that the entire universe was created simply so he could create the

human race, so he could love us. We are the focus of his

love unlike anything else in creation, not like animals or angels or stars or

anything else. We were created to be loved by God. Now this is

very important. Get this. The Bible says that God is love. It

doesn't say he has love. It says he is love. It is the

essence of his character, It is the nature of his being. God is

love. Now. I could go around and saying, oh, I'm so

full of love, but unless I bestow it on a person or a pet,

or an object or something, it doesn't do a whole lot of good.

The Bible says you were created as an object of God's love. Now,

get this, This is so important. The very reason you're sitting in

that chair right now, the very reason you're taking your next breath, the

very reason your heart is still beating is this. God made you simply to

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

be alive, You would not be in existence. God thought you up in

his mind and created you simply to love you, because God is love.

Now, he didn't need you. God wasn't lonely. God's never been lonely.

But he wanted you, and you were made. The number one reason

you were made is God made you simply to love you. Now listen,

If you ever grasp the profound truth I just shared with you, and you

let it sink into your psyche and into your soul, you will never again

have a problem with inferiority or insecure or low self esteem. Because when you

realize that God created the entire universe just so he can create the conditions so

human beings could exist, so he could create you to love you. That's

how much you matter to God. That's how valuable you are, and that

would take away all of those feelings of insecurity that God created you in order

to love you. Now, Unlike animals, we're made in God's image and

that gives us the capacity to know and love God back. That's what makes

you different from animals. You're never going to see a cow praying before its

meal. You're gonna never see a kiddy full its hands and say grace before

it eats. Why they're not made in God's image. But God has given

you the capacity to know and love Him back. That's what makes you uniquely

human. One day, Jesus is walking down the street and the guy walks

up to me and says, Lord, what's the most important command in the

Bible. And Jesus says this, Let's read it together. Love the Lord

your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and with all

your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Circle first and greatest.

God says, the most important thing in life is to know and love

him. Look at the next verse, God says this, I don't want

your sacrifices. I want your love. I don't want your offerings. I

want you to know me. Can you sense the passion? This verse circle

the words know and love Because that's the first purpose of life. The most

important thing you can know in life is to know that God created you to

love you. And the most important thing you can do in life is to

know and love him back. That's the number one purpose in life. Now,

what does it mean. It means that when you get up in the

morning, you probably got to do something like this, sit down on the

edge of your bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else

done today, I want to get to know you a little bit better,

and I want to get to love you a little bit more, because that's

the first purpose of life, to know and love God who created you to

be loved by Him, And I want to know you and love you a

little bit more. And if at the end of the day you have done

those two things, it doesn't matter how many things have gone wrong in your

life. If you know God a little bit better and love him a little

bit more. That day was a success. On the other hand, it

doesn't matter how many deals you close, how many sales you make, how

many achievements you rack up, how many awards you win at the end of

the day, if you don't know God a little bit better and love him

a little bit more, you have just missed the purpose of that day.

You have wasted that day, and that day is a failure. Why Because

God did not put you on this earth just to mark things off your to

do list. That's a pretty shallow way to live. God did not put

you on earth simply to get up in the morning, go to work,

come on and watch TV, and go to bed and go to party on

the weekend. He created you first and foremost to know and love Him,

to get you ready for spending eternity with Him. And if you miss that,

you've missed the first purpose. And why don't you write this down there?

The first purpose of life is to know and love God. That's who

created you. He knows you, he loves you, He wants you to

know and love him back. The first purpose is to know and love God.

You see what the tragedy is. Most people go through their entire life

missing the purpose of it. They know all kinds of other things. Oh,

they know the stocks quotes, they know the sports scores, they know

the top ten, who's on the cover of People magazine, they know all

kind of phone numbers. But they don't know God. And God says,

that's a tragedy. On the top of the next page, the Bible says

this, some people have missed the most important thing in life. They don't

know God. Now you may know about God, Oh, I know exists,

but do you really know him personally? Do you know him personally?

Do you have a relationship, a friendship, a love relationship with God?

That's what God wants you to do. 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 or 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 the battery pulled out. There's no power, but you plug in the

battery and get connected to God. You're going to 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's 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 whole 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 art 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. This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. We're so thankful that you've

chosen to spend some time with us today. If you've missed any part of

this broadcast, including portions we didn't have time for, just go to Pastorick

dot com and listen online. Anytime. Rick will be right back to close

out our time today. But first, 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. Here's

Pastor Rick to tell you more. Do you ever feel like your prayers get

stuck in a rut? Would you like to know what God told me to

do when my prayer life got stuck in a rut. It was a time

when I just felt like I was praying the same thing over and over and

over. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if God was even answering

my prayers or even listening. Maybe you felt that way sometimes, or maybe

you feel that way right now. So what did God tell me to do?

Well, here's what he told me. It was such a powerful way

to re energize my prayer life, and it was so simple that I want

to pass it on to you. God told me to do this, He

said, Rick, start writing down what you're saying to me, and then

I want you to write down what I say to you. Write down what

you say to me, and then write down what I say to you.

You see, it's really not that complicated. God just said I should start

by writing down what I'm feeling, and then I should write down what he

tells me after I've read his word. It's really just a form of journaling,

and spiritual journaling is a spiritual habit that will help your prayers stay fresh

and effective. If you've never tried it, I'm begging you try this for

a week or two and see if it doesn't reinvigorate your prayer life. Journaling

has many many benefits to your spiritual life. It'll help you stay consistent in

your prayers. It'll give you a permanent reminder of how God answers your prayers.

Because we've written him down, it shows how God is working in your

life. You can go back and review it. It'll even help you worship

God more and more. As you speak to him, God speaks to people

who care enough to write it down. So write down what God tells you.

But you've got to have a place to do that. Now. I

want to encourage you and I want to help you take this simple step of

learning this new spiritual habit in your prayers, of writing down your prayers and

writing down your prayer request. So what I did is I had my Daily

Hope team create a brand new spiritual prayer journal. It's got a real simple

to follow format that will help you put into practice God's wisdom that is found

in Philippians four to six that says this, don't worry about anything. Instead,

pray about everything, tell God what you need, and thank Him for

all he has done. Those four things are part of the format of our

prayer journal for this year. It's really cool. You're gonna love this tool.

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 versus photo work and artwork. The God's Great Adventure Sure

for You Prayer Journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a

vibrant prayer life, connect with the Lord, 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 to get your copy of this great resource. Just call eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four or go to Pastorick dot com to get yours.

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

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 Ricks Daily Hope and your

generous financial support.