Join Pastor Rick as he unpacks the freedom and opportunity that faith in Jesus Christ provides. From surviving life’s trials to thriving in faith, this episode reveals how trust and investment in God can lead to the most fulfilling and adventurous life you could ever imagine. Discussing everything from trust issues to tackling deep-seated fears, Pastor Rick emphasizes the importance of holding onto God’s promises as a source of strength and wisdom. With over 7,000 promises in the Bible, listeners are encouraged to understand these guarantees, likening them to a divine insurance policy. Moreover, we address the spirituality-athletic love
Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher for the Daily Hope broadcast. Did you know that because of Easter, your past can be forgiven, you get a purpose for living, and you can have a home in heaven? That’s good news. Where else can you get that kind of news? Nowhere else. And did you know that at Easter, studies have shown people are more open to an invitation to go to church than at any other time of the year? Don’t go to church by yourself, but bring somebody who doesn’t know Jesus Christ, a family member, a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, a relative. And if you bring them to that church service and they come to know Christ, you’re gonna be making a friend for eternity. It’ll be the most important investment you can ever make in their lives. And by the way, if they come to Christ, would you let me know about it? I’d love to hear that story that you brought somebody to Easter and they found Jesus. You can write to me, rick at pastorrick.com. That’s rick at pastorrick.com. I would love to hear from you. God bless you and happy Easter.
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Hey everyone, welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. Well, this weekend across every continent and in thousands of languages, millions of people will join together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith. But you know, it doesn’t stop there. Not only was Jesus resurrected, He is still alive. And now let’s join Pastor Rick as he shares the final part of this powerful Easter message, what it means to believe in Jesus.
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Now the third thing that it means to really believe in Jesus, the I in faith, is I invest my life in Him. I invest my life for Him. Now, friends, you got three choices with your life. You can waste your life, you can spend your life, or you can invest your life. Those are your choices. If you want to waste your life, I can give you a thousand ways to waste your life. And so will the world. If you wanna spend your life, I can give you a thousand ways to spend your life. You can spend your life making money. You can spend your life storing up possessions. You can spend your life trying to get pleasure. You could spend your life trying to have power and popularity. You can spend your life trying to become famous. There are a lot of ways you can spend your life. But the purpose of life is not to pile up a bunch of possessions. Haven’t you figured that one out yet? You didn’t bring anything into the world. You’re not taking anything out of the world. You only get to use it for 80 years and there’s more than now, here and now, there’s eternity. The purpose of life is not the acquisition of things. You’re not gonna keep them anyway. The greatest things in life aren’t things. I hope you figured that one out. Now God has a purpose for your life. He has a plan for your life. And he made you for a reason. You’re not an accident. He made you to fulfill a purpose on this planet. But he won’t force you to go with his plan. You can choose your own plan. Shoot, you can waste your life if you want to. You can just blow it. God’s not gonna stop you. God gives you the choice to either follow his purpose or follow your own plan. Now, you got the freedom of choice. He gives you that choice. But you are not free from the consequences of it. And the choices you make on this planet have eternal implications. So you better choose wisely. You better figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing because you’re betting your life on it and you don’t want to be wrong. Now God has a purpose and a plan for your life and he wants you to follow that plan. Jesus Christ did not come and die on the cross for your sins so you could go to heaven just so you could continue living a self-centered life. In fact, the Bible says this, it’s up here on the screen. It says, he died for everyone, that’s Jesus, so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. God says, what on earth are you here for? You’re here for his plan and his purpose. And God wants to use you in a way you can’t even imagine. Look at this next verse. The Bible says, give yourselves completely to God, every part of you, for you’ve been saved from death and you wanna be tools in the hands of God, tools in the hands of God to be used for his good purposes. Friends, that is the greatest adventure in life, to be used by God for the purpose he made you. Nothing comes close to this. That when you finally experience the day where you go, whoa, this is it. This is why God made me. And you know it and you go, whoa, this feels so good. Well, of course it does. It’s what God made you to be. And there’s satisfaction and there’s significance and there’s meaning and there’s fulfillment. And the greatest thrill in life, the greatest adventure in life is the feeling of being used by God for the purpose that you know you were created for. If you’ve never experienced the thrill of being used by God for the purpose you were made for, I’m sorry, but you’re missing out on it. You’re missing, there’s nothing, it’s better than sex. It’s better than making a million dollars. There’s nothing to compare to that feeling of whoa, this is why I’m here. God made me for this purpose and now I know why I’m on this planet and it’s the greatest adventure of life. God says, this is the difference between success and significance. I got a lot of successful friends. I probably know a dozen guys who are billionaires. But you know the problem with success? It doesn’t satisfy. Why? Because you always want a little bit more and because there’s always who’s got some more than you do. You were made for more than success. It’s why so many people go, well, if I’m so successful, why do I feel like a fake? Why am I so unfulfilled? Because you were made for more than success. You were made for significance. Success is just the middle level of living. You can live at the lowest level, survival, or you can live at the success level or you can live at the best level, which is the significance level. And how do you live a life of significance? Being what God created you to be. And then you know, wow, that’s what I’m here for. There’s so many stories in the Bible where Jesus talks about this concept and about investing your life. Most people don’t realize about half the stories Jesus told have to do with business. In fact, every principle of business success is in the Bible. And if you’ll do business by the book, you will prosper at it because God has given us the principles for business. And in one of the stories that Jesus told on investment, he ends his story by saying this. To those who use well and invest what they’ve been given by God, even more will be given to them. But for those who are unfaithful with what they’ve been given, even what little they have will be taken away from them. What’s he saying? God has made an investment in your life. First, he created you. Then he gave you gifts and ability and personality and experiences. And he gave you talents. And God has made an investment in your life and expects a return on the investment. And he says that if you do well with what he gave you and you use it for the right purposes, And God’s gonna say, I’m gonna give you more of it. I’m gonna give you more talent. I’ll give you more experience. I’ll give you more. One day, you’re gonna stand before God. And God’s gonna give a final exam. And here are the two questions on the final exam. First question God’s gonna ask you is this. What did you do with my son Jesus? What did you do with my son Jesus? He’s not gonna say, did you join a country club? Did you join a church? Did you have religion? He’s gonna say, what did you do with my son Jesus? You know, the one I sent to earth to die for your sins? Did you ever develop a relationship with him? Did you ever follow him? Did you ever accept his grace? Second question he’s gonna ask is, what did you do with what I gave you? Well, you know, Lord, I had a really good time and then I retired and died. What? You think I put you on earth to live for yourself? Little puny self, you gotta be kidding me. You think that the biggest thing in life was for you to live for you? If you don’t have anything greater than yourself than yourself to live for, you got a pretty puny God. You don’t have much reason to get out of bed in the morning just for you. And that’s why you get stressed out all the time. You need something greater than yourself to pull you out of yourself to make you greater than you think you could possibly be. God sees in you what you can’t even see in yourself, the ability for greatness. And God says, I want to make an investment in you and I expect a response back. What are you doing with what you’ve been given? And he says, Lord, What are we gonna do with what you’ve given us? Well, we’re to use it. And we’re not to use it just on ourselves, we’re to use it in helping other people. Now, of course, every investment has a return on it, either good or bad. Can you say Bear Stearns? Because this last week I had some friends who were millionaires and they’re now zero heirs because they lost it all. They had it all invested in Bear Stearns. You better make your investments in life wisely. What is the ROI on following Jesus? What is the return on investment if I follow God’s purpose for my life instead of my own dinky plans? Well, that’s a good question. And Peter asked it about 2,000 years ago. On the screen, Peter said in the Bible, Lord, we’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get out of it? Jesus replied, I assure you this, In heaven, anyone who has given up anything to follow me will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. Whoa. He says, whatever you give up to do God’s purpose and plan, you get restored a hundredfold in eternity. Do you know what a hundredfold is? That’s 10,000% interest. There’s not a hedge fund in the world that’ll give you those rates. There’s not a single thing you could do with your life on this planet that will give you a 10,000% return on your investment, except doing what God made you to do. And he says, and you get to enjoy that, by the way, not for 80 years, but for all of eternity. If I knew a better investment plan than give my life to Christ, believe me, I’d be doing it, because I’m not going to waste my life. But there isn’t. And so I’ve given my life to invest my life for him. Now, I want to tell you this. If you choose to join Saddleback Church at some point in your life, you need to realize that the people in this church, they get this principle. They understand it probably better than anybody else, that life is not about us. It’s about investing it for good and for God and others, and the rewards are going to be eternal. I say without fear of contradiction, this may be the most unselfish church around. I heard this week, just yesterday, I heard about a couple hundred guys in our church, business guys, who quietly, without any fanfare, have been every weekend for the last year going and feeding the homeless here in Orange County. I didn’t even know they were doing it. And then over eight, almost 8,000, 7,766 people in this church in the last four years have paid their own way to go overseas to care for the sick, assist the poor, educate the next generation, help people build stuff to help people less fortunate than us. paying their own way. Why? Because we have been blessed to be a blessing. Now, folks, we live in Southern California and in Orange County. This is a blessed area. Everybody want to agree with that? I don’t know many. I’ve been around the world many times. There are not many places in the world as blessed as Orange County. And why did God put us here? Just so we can be fat cats and spend it all on ourselves? No, he put us here, we are blessed to be a blessing to others. And it’s time for you to give back. It’s time for you to make a difference with your life in the world. So you don’t spend all your time and money just on yourself. Are you doing anything in your life that is totally unselfish? You do it for somebody less fortunate than you and you don’t get anything back from it. You just do it, it’s good for your heart. Now the T in faith, Pastor Tom is going to come and talk about the fourth facet of faith.
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And it’s trust. You trust his wisdom and strength. Trust his wisdom and strength. The Bible says this in Colossians 2, verse 6, just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him for each day’s problems too. Live in vital union with Him. That’s how it works. You trust Him at the beginning of this life of faith and then you trust Him for each day’s problems too. It’s about trust. I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to somebody. I have often as a pastor who they feel frustrated with the whole idea of faith. To them, faith just seems like one more thing to add to a too busy life. And you hear people say something like this. I’ve tried the religion thing. It just didn’t work for me. Anybody hear anybody say something like that? You know what I’m talking about? Here’s the problem with that phrase. It’s in the word tried. Faith is not about trying. It’s about trusting. In fact, if you’re taking notes, you might even write that down in your outline. It’s not trying. It’s trusting. If it’s about trying, it’s just one more thing to make me more weary. I’ve got to get up and go to church on Sunday and try to be a good person for God now. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about trusting Him to do what only He can do in my life. Trusting God’s wisdom and God’s strength in my daily life. I know some of you, you’re at the end of your trying. I mean, you’ve tried and tried in your marriage. You’ve tried to make it at school. You’ve tried in a relationship to make things work. You’ve tried to make it work in your business. You’re at the end of your trying. When we get to the end of our trying, Jesus meets us there. And he says, trust me, trust me, I will lift you up. I will give you wisdom and I will give you strength. Now you need both, I need both. I need wisdom and I need strength. Wisdom, that shows me what to do, and then strength, that gives me the power to do it. And I gotta have both. Another way to say that is I need perspective and I need power. Next couple of verses talk about those two things. Romans 8, 28 says, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who’ve been called according to his purpose. That’s perspective, that’s a different way of looking at life. Even in the worst that life throws at me, God’s working for my good. He’s working to develop me. He’s working to develop my character. Would you like to have that perspective on life? Or even the worst that comes your way, God is working. Jesus says, when you trust me, that’s what I give in your life. He gives you perspective and he gives you power. I love this next verse. It’s one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Philippians 4, 13. Would you read it with me? I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me. He gives you both when you trust him. How do you know when you’re not trusting? Well, let me tell you one of the sure signs that you’re not trusting. It’s in the little word worry. Anybody else familiar with this word know what I’m talking about? When you’re worrying, you’re not trusting. And when I’m trusting, I’m not worrying. If I’m sure that a chair I’m gonna sit on is solid, I trust and I don’t worry that it’s gonna collapse under me. But when I start worrying, I stop trusting. And one of the keys to knowing what’s going on in my life is the worry factor in my life. How much am I worrying? Jesus Christ can help you with your worries.
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Now the last facet of faith, the H in F-A-I-T-H is hold on to his promises. Hold on to his promises. Did you know that in the Bible, in this book, there are over 7,000 promises from God to you. And God says if you’ll trust him, he will make these promises true in your life because he wants you to learn to trust him. There’s promises he’ll say, I’ll take care of you. Promises of provision, I’ll meet your need. Promises of protection, I’ll watch out for you. Promises of prosperity, promises of power, promises of peace. Did you know that in this Bible that there are promises to you about success if you do certain things? Promises about health, promises about healing, promises about comfort. When you’re down about loneliness, there are over 7,000 promises. They’re like blank checks waiting for you to just write them out and send them back to God because God wants you to learn to trust him. You hold on to his promises. Now, if I have an insurance policy and I know what’s covered in that policy, I don’t worry about it when I get in an accident or I have some kind of surgery, because I know my policy’s gonna cover that. When I don’t know what my insurance covers, if all of a sudden I have some kind of accident, I go, I don’t know if it covers that, I start worrying about it. Now, you know, the reason why you worry all the time is you don’t know what’s covered in the policy. You don’t know what God’s promised to do in your life. Well, if you don’t even know it, you certainly can’t claim that promise for God to help you out. Now, I get asked all the time, is there anything that God can’t do? Is there anything impossible for God? Yes, there is. The Bible tells us there’s one thing that’s impossible for God to do. God cannot lie, because God is truth. He is ultimate truth, and God cannot lie, something impossible for him to do. And the Bible says this, there on your outline. God can’t break his word, all these promises he’s made. So we who have trusted our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and read it with me, never let go. Never let go. Now, one of the great promises in the Bible is the promise that God says, I will never stop loving you. I will never stop loving you. Look at this next verse. Here’s a promise. Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love, his love. Death can’t and life can’t, angels can’t, demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we’re high above the sky or in the deepest oceans, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God. that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You know, you might try to make God stop loving you. You can try, but you’re gonna fail. You can’t make God stop loving you, because his love isn’t based on what you do. It’s based on who he is. And he says, I will never stop loving you. Now, I don’t know how you’ve been hurt in life, but I’m sure you’ve been hurt many different ways, and I’m sorry. As your friend, as a pastor, I’m sorry about your hurt. Maybe you have been lied to. Maybe you’ve been deceived. Maybe you’ve been conned by somebody. Maybe you’ve been betrayed, and you go, I don’t know if I can believe anybody anymore. I don’t know who to trust. I’ll never trust a man again. I’ll never trust a woman again. And you say, I don’t know who I can believe. Well, Jesus says this, I am the truth. And he says, the truth will set you free. What you need in your life is freedom. You need freedom. And he will always tell you the truth. And maybe you felt battered and beaten and bruised and beat up. Maybe you’ve been abused. Maybe you’ve been abused physically or sexually. Or maybe you’ve been abused verbally or emotionally. Jesus Christ says to you, he says, I promise if you’ll trust me, I can heal your heart and I can heal that hurt if you’ll give it to me. Maybe you feel like you’ve been cast off Maybe you’ve been rejected by somebody. You’ve known that pain of rejection. And you feel like you’ve been unwanted. You’ve been discarded. Jesus says to you, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. He says, I will never abandon you. It’s in the Bible. I will never abandon you. Maybe you feel like you’ve gotten burned in life. They say, you know, I really got burned recently and my life’s just a pile of ashes. It’s all gone up in smoke. Did you know that there’s a promise in the Bible where God says, if you’ll give me all those pieces, I will restore beauty for the ashes. I will restore beauty for the ashes. You know, for so long, I couldn’t figure out how people could hear about how much God loves them and they walk away from it. I just couldn’t figure that out. You know, the Bible says, he says, I’ll give you your past forgiven, I’ll give you a purpose for living, and I’ll give you a home in heaven. Past, present, and future. Nobody can offer you that except Jesus Christ. And yet I’ve seen people walk away from it, and I couldn’t figure it out for so many years. But after talking to thousands of people, I know now why. Behind every one of it is fear. It’s fear that causes people to walk away from God. It’s fear. Now, it may look like pride, but it’s not pride. It may look like a stubbornness, but it’s not stubbornness. It may look like intellectualism. Oh, I have all these intellectual arguments. It may look like ego. It’s not ego. Underneath every single person’s life, I found this every day, it’s fear. I’m afraid of losing control. I’m afraid of giving up control to God. I’m afraid of letting God be God in my life. Now, if you’re afraid of God, who could you not be afraid of? It’s fear. I’ve seen grown men walk away from the greatest gift, say, God has a plan and purpose for your life. And I’ve seen guys walk away out of fear and cowardice. It’s fear on the inside that says, don’t give up, don’t let go, hold on, don’t give up control. That’s sad. The Bible says there’s no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear. And because Jesus came at Easter and died on the cross and rose again, it says this. Jesus said, I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies, shall live again. He’s talking about heaven. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish. And look at the next verse. The Bible says this. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, that’s what Easter’s all about, we’ve been given a brand new life. That means you get a second chance. You get to start over. And everything to live for, that’s purpose for life, including a future in heaven. That’s God’s retirement plan. And the future starts now. You say, well, how do I get it? How do I take that first step? Real simple. You give up your fear. You let go of your fear. You don’t let fear keep you from the greatest thing, what you were created to enjoy. Now I’ve written on your outline a believer’s prayer. And what I wanna do is I wanna read through it and then I want us to all pray it together. So let me just read it to you. Dear Jesus, I wanna have a real faith in you, not a fake faith. Thank you for dying for my sins and showing me the way to live. Today, I wanna become a true believer in you. I wanna follow your example. I wanna accept your gift of grace. I need your forgiveness and mercy. You made me for a purpose, and I want to invest my life in serving you. I want to trust your wisdom and strength, and I want to hold on to your promises when times are tough. Friends, this is what it means to be a true believer. Whosoever believes in me shall not perish but have everlasting life. Are you ready to accept that? Let’s bow our heads. I’m going to pray this prayer again. You don’t even have to close your eyes. You can keep them open and look at this prayer in your lap. And you can just follow along with me and go, me too, God. Or you can read it aloud in your mind as I read it. Make this your prayer. Dear Jesus, I want to have a real faith in you, not a fake faith. Thank you for dying for my sins and showing me the way to live. Today I want to become a true believer in you. I want to follow your example. I want to accept your gift of grace. I need your forgiveness and mercy. You made me for a purpose and I want to invest my life in serving you. I want to trust your wisdom and strength. I want to hold on to your promises when times are tough. Amen. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There’s something real about sharing your commitment. So write me, Rick, at PastorRick.com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ. And I’ll send you some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus, and I’ll also pray for you. God bless you.
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Pastor Rick Warren says that every word Jesus spoke was important and has life-changing power. The words that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross hold the key to finding fulfillment in your life, career, and relationships. That’s why Rick put together a powerful seven-session study kit called The Seven Greatest Words of Love. Get it now and unlock the full meaning and amazing blessings of Jesus’ last words before his resurrection. Words of forgiveness, assurance, love, trust and more. And this is a life-changing Bible study with seven video sessions and a workbook. Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com or just text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that’s the word HOPE to 70309. And really, thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us because your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the world. We hope you’ll join us next time when 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.
