God doesn’t want you to try and impress him with your prayers. He already knows everything about you—and he still loves you and accepts you. In this message, Pastor Rick continues teaching about how to draw closer to God by being yourself.
Pastor Rick teaches that, from the beginning, God’s plan has been to make you like his Son, Jesus—this is your destiny. The Bible describes Jesus as “the exact likeness of God,” “the visible image of the invisible God,” and “the exact representation of his being” (2 Corinthians 4:4 GNT, Colossians 1:15 NLT, Hebrews 1:3 NIV).
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in or if you're a regular listener, we're really excited that you're here. Well, today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover Your Destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life. spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God's incredible plan for your future. And here's Rick with the final part of a message called, How Can I Know My Destiny?
SPEAKER 03 :
Number three. Now the third thing that Esther did, she not only got disturbed, and she not only looked at what God had given her, but you've got to take the time to hear God's call on my life. I must take the time to hear God's call on my life. You need a retreat. You need a getaway. You need to get away for at least a day, maybe two or three days, where you sit down and you listen to God. You sit down, you shut up, you be quiet, and you pray and you plan and you think about the next 10 years of your life. And you think, what does God want me to do, given my gifts and given my passions and the needs I see around me? What does God want me to do? And you're not gonna do this on your own. So you gotta have like a little retreat time. Now notice this, Mordecai, who's her adopted father, they all know about this plot to kill all of the Jewish people. And in verse 13 and 14 of Esther 4, it says, Mordecai sent this word to Esther. Do not think because you're in the king's house that you alone of all Jews will escape. For if you remain silent, and he said, you can't remain silent. If you remain silent at this time, he said, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place. In other words, Mordecai said, I've got faith in God. He's not gonna let this God's chosen people be eliminated from the face of the earth. He's not gonna happen. So God will provide, but he says, if you don't do anything about it, you and your father's family will perish. Besides, he says, who knows? but that you have come to this position for such a time as this. Now remember, Esther is a 20 year old, in her 20s, young, poor, orphaned, Jewish girl. And she's now the queen of Persia. And Mordecai's going, Esther, you think this is by accident? I don't think so. Do you not think that God puts you in this position for such a time as this? This is no accident. And don't just think you can ignore these disturbing trends out there in society. You cannot remain silent. You gotta do something about it. Now I wanna tell you, that's not just true of Esther. It's true of you. Some of you young women, you're exactly where God put you for the reason he put you there. Some of you young guys, you're exactly where God put you. It doesn't matter what your age is. You are where you are for such a time as this. And God brought you to Saddleback Church not to sit, soak, and sour, but to make a difference with your life. He has a destiny for your life. God says, I brought you to this place, and I brought you to this time, and I want you to hear my call. Now you gotta take the time to hear God's call on my life. Now God has called everyone. We've talked about this before. A lot of people think God only calls preachers and missionaries and nuns and priests. Those are the called people. No, everybody is called. Your calling is your vocation. As I told you, it's this Latin word, voce, which means vocal. Your vocation is your call, your voice. Everybody has a vocation. Everybody has a calling of God. God has called every one of you to make a difference with your life. Some of you are not picking up the phone. Now here's the point. You don't call God. He calls you. You don't just go, what would I like to do with my life? Sorry, you don't get that option. Unless you don't want any blessing. God says, no, no, I created you for a purpose. I have a vision and values and I have a purpose, plan and a destiny for your life. And God calls you and you gotta pick up the phone. I wish what we were doing were just a matter of life and death. That'd be easy, but it's not. It's more important than life or death because eternity is in the balance, heaven and hell. Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven. They're real. We're not just talking about helping people now. We're talking about their eternal destinies. It's bigger than life or death. And God has brought you to this place just like he brought Esther to her place, including the good and the bad that happened. I'm sure it was no fun going and having sex with a king you didn't even love. and knowing that the night before and the night after you, it's gonna be somebody else. But God said, you know what, I can even use that. I can even use date rape. I can bring good out of anything. Esther 4, verse 15. Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai. Go and gather together all the Jews who are in Susa. They're the capital. and fast for me. Said, I want you to find everybody you can, get everybody who's Jewish, and I get everybody to fast for me, because I'm gonna have to go confront the king. And I know that this is a scary thing. She's going, you know what? First place, it's against the law for me to go to him. You only go to the king if he invites you. It's against the law for me to take the initiative and go to the king. If you read the story, she said, in fact, he hadn't called for me in 30 days, so I haven't had any contact with him in a month. So I don't know if he still loves me or what. And number two, I'm gonna have to reveal that I'm Jewish, which means I'm gonna keep it a secret from my husband. And number three, I'm gonna ask him to publicly renounce a decree he's already signed and he's gonna look foolish. to reverse a command. So I'm gonna probably die for this. I'm gonna probably lose my life for this. I'm taking my life in my own hands. So she says, you go gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. And do not eat or drink for three days or night or day. And I and my maids will fast as you do. And when this is done, Then I'll go to the king. She's saying, before I initiate any confrontation with the king, which is no light matter and can cost me my life, I'm gonna have to have a little retreat. And I'm gonna need to get off by myself and I'm gonna fast and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna think and I'm gonna plan out my words and I'm gonna give some serious time to my destiny. Now, Esther does two things that you're going to need for your destiny in the next 10 years. Number one, just like Esther, you're going to need all the support you can get. She said, go get everybody you can to pray for me. That's why you must be in a small group. Because you cannot fulfill your destiny on your own. We get well in community, we serve in community, we share in community. God meant for us to be in community. The very first thing God said to man, it is not good for men to be alone. Whether you marry or not is irrelevant. You have to be in a family. You have to be connected. You have to be in community. She says, get everybody praying for me. You're going to need that. And the second thing Esther did, and you're going to need to, you're going to need some time alone. You're going to need to go on a retreat, at least an overnighter, where you get alone. Because if I tell you, go home and make these lists of all the things that you're gifted in and make a list of all the things you care about, you know what? You're not going to do it. You're gonna walk out of here and you're gonna forget it and you're not gonna do it and you're gonna come back next week and it still won't be done. So I'm going to force you to do it. And in the next three years, I want everybody in this church to take a retreat. a life planning retreat to plan goals in all the key areas of your life. What are my goals financially? What are my goals for my family? What are my goals for my personal life? What are my goals for my health? What are my goals in learning? And I'm gonna help you. Nothing becomes dynamic till it becomes specific. Now, number four, one last thing. The fourth thing you have to do is what Esther did is that is you must make a faith commitment. You must make a faith commitment. The Bible says without faith it's impossible to please God. The Bible says according to your faith it will be done unto you. The Bible says the just shall live by faith. The Bible says all things are possible to him who believes. Now Esther says I know this is scary and I know it's a big risk and I'm scared to death to take this initiative to go to the king and tell him I'm Jewish and ask him to rescind a stupid decree that a bad guy got him to approve. But It's the right thing to do, so I'm gonna do it. She's an amazing woman. Now in Esther 4.16, she makes this faith commitment to do the thing that she's most afraid of. She says, and when this is done, you know, my three-day retreat, we've all prayed, we've all fasted, and I've thought through where I'm going. When this is done, I will go, that's a faith commitment, I will go to the king, even though it's against the law. And if I perish, I perish.
SPEAKER 02 :
What a woman. What a woman. What an amazing woman. If I perish, I perish.
SPEAKER 03 :
But I'm gonna die doing the right thing. Friend, you're not ready to live till you know what you're ready to die for. You cannot live until you have qualified and clarified in your heart what you're willing to die for. You're not ready to live the next 10 years. If you don't know what you're willing to die for, you're not living, you're just existing. Not knowing what's worth dying for makes life motion without meaning. You gotta know what's worth giving your life for. On the other hand, when you understand your destiny and you really get it, it grabs you. That calling grabs you and you go after it with total abandonment. And you say, if it takes my life, it takes my life. And if I perish, I perish. But I'm gonna die doing what God tells me to do. Now I want you to write this sentence down. I can only manage what I measure. Would you write that down? I can only manage what I measure. If you don't have measurable goals, it's just a wish, it's a dream, it's a hope, but it's not a real goal. And if you don't set some measurable goals for the next three years, in phase one of Decade of Destiny, to measure, that you can measure, you're not gonna be any different in three years, much less in 10 years. And so I'm gonna help you set some spiritual goals and I want them to be specific. And I'm telling you right now that on the last Sunday of this two month campaign, I'm going to ask you, I'm gonna challenge you to make four faith commitments. You don't have to write these down. But you'll say, four faith commitments. Number one, what do I wanna learn in the next four years, in the next three years? My goal for you is that you'll be smarter, as I said, smarter and sharper, and you'll be more skilled and more successful. What do I wanna learn? What am I gonna commit to become in the next three years? What am I gonna commit to contribute in the next three years? What am I gonna commit to do with my life in the next three years? These three year faith commitments come up in another month, because all the messages are worthless. If we don't make it measurable, I don't need it, you need it. It's not for me, it's for your benefit. So you can measure your progress over the three years. Jesus said it like this on the screen. According to your faith, it will be done to you. You know, every morning, I sit on the side of my bed and I pray a prayer. And that prayer, I pray the same prayer every day. It's a little prayer I've just written and memorized. And then I say the words to a song. I don't sing it because I can't sing, especially in the morning. But I say this as I'm sitting on the bed. I don't even get out of bed until I've done this. I say, Lord, Lord, I offer my life to you. Everything I've been through, use it for your glory. Lord, I offer my days to you. Lift up my praise to you as a living sacrifice. Lord, I offer you my life. I say it every day before I get out of bed. I think this is the attitude Esther had when she knew that going to her husband, the King of Persia would likely mean her head would be cut off because first she did admit she's Jewish. And second, she's asking him to reverse a decree that would make him seem foolish. But Esther says, Lord, I offer my life to you. Everything I've been through. My parents died. I was in the cattle call of a harem. Everything I've been through, use it for your glory. Lord, I offer my days to you. Lift up my praise to you as a living sacrifice. Lord, I offer you my life. And if I perish... I perish. And because she was willing to lay it on the line for the destiny God had planned for her, the Jewish nation was saved. You see, you wouldn't be saved without Esther. Because if the Jews had been annihilated, there would be no Jesus the Messiah. And you would be hopeless. That's the impact of Esther. Let's bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer in your heart? Dear God, I want the rest of my life to be the best of my life, I want my life to count. I don't wanna live for myself, I wanna live for you and for the destiny you've created for me. Help me to recognize the gifts that you've put in my life. Not just the assets, but even the liabilities, the limitations, the handicaps. even the hurts, and to realize that even those are part of the plan to get me where you want me to be in the time and place and what you want me to do with my life. Help me to identify the needs that stir my heart. To realize that when I see something, I go, that's wrong. That needs to be corrected. Somebody ought to do something about that. That you're speaking to me. Help me to take time to hear your call, to be quiet, to settle down. Lord, without even knowing when I'm gonna do it, I commit right now to going on retreat. And in the weeks ahead, help me to consider what faith commitments you want me to make in the key areas of my life. If you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ, regardless of your religious background, say, Jesus Christ, please make yourself real to me. I don't understand it all, but if you're real, I open up my life to you. I want to know you. I want to learn to trust you and love you. I open up my life to your plan and purpose, dear God. I want to fulfill your destiny that you have for me. In your name I pray. Amen. Hi, everybody. This is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. 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'll help you on your journey with Jesus, and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
SPEAKER 01 :
What a life-giving message from Pastor Rick. Now let's join Rick with today's offer. Thanks for listening today.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, honestly, I never paid much attention to my health until I had a little epiphany a few years back when I baptized over 800 people in a single day by immersion. Now looking at myself and everybody that I was baptizing, it was real clear that we all needed to get healthy. So I put together a team of nationally known doctors to help me develop a program for our church. I called it the Daniel Plan, based on the passage in the book of Daniel, where Daniel has a contest with King Nebuchadnezzar on who can be the healthiest. The Daniel Plan is centered on five essentials that will help you become healthier. faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends. There are a lot of diet plans out there that deal with food and fitness, but the secret sauce in the Daniel plan is focus, learning to have your mind renewed, friends, learning to grow in community, and faith, trusting God's power rather than willpower. You know, we found that when individuals addressed health issues in each of these key areas, they are transformed. In fact, in the first year of the Daniel Plan, over 15,000 people from 190 countries participated, and the results were life-changing. In fact, our own church, Saddleback Church, lost over a quarter of a million pounds in one year. Can you imagine that? What did it do for our church? It increased our energy. We started sleeping better. It reduced our need for medication. The whole church was healthier. Now, the Daniel Plan has recently been released in a book format, and I want you to have a copy of this book today so you can start getting healthier now. And I'll send you a hardcover copy of the Daniel Plan book as a very special thank you for your gift to this ministry.
SPEAKER 01 :
Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That's PastorRick.com. Or you can just text the word HOPE to 70309. That's the word HOPE to 70309. And thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope really helps us share the hope of Christ with people all over the world. Be sure to join us 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.
In this episode of Through the Bible, we delve into the powerful teachings of the book of Hosea as Dr. J. Vernon McGee guides us through the trials of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ignoring God's word not only led to spiritual adultery but also brought about God's judgment in a dramatic and prophetic transition. As we reflect on the message shared by the evangelist D.L. Moody and stories from Dr. McGee's own ministry, we're prompted to consider the essential role of scripture in our everyday lives. Throughout Hosea chapter 4, we witness the consequences that befell Israel when they neglected their sacred texts. Dr. McGee draws parallels to modern times, illustrating how turning our backs on divine guidance can lead to moral decay and personal dissatisfaction. Whether through personal anecdotes or deep scriptural insights, this episode calls listeners to introspection and a return to God’s word. Join us as we uncover the inhibitors to spiritual fulfillment and the inevitable consequences of idolatry and sin. Whether you are a long-time believer, a part of our World Prayer Team, or someone in search of spiritual clarity, this study provides profound insights. Prepare to embark on this enlightening journey through Scripture with renewed understanding.
SPEAKER 1 :
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
The evangelist D.L. Moody was right when he said, The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible. Listening to and obeying God's Word is a protection over our lives. And that's one reason that I'm so glad that you're here at Through the Bible, ready to get into God's Word with Dr. J. Verna McGee. And as you know, we're in the book of Hosea on our five-year journey through the whole word. And in this study, we're going to learn how the northern kingdom of Israel turned away from God because they forgot his word. Well, not only did they forget it, they wanted nothing to do with it. They completely turned their backs on God's ways. And you know, that's when God's man Hosea stepped up and said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge of God's word. And then he relayed God's chilling consequence. Because you forgot the law of your God, I will also forget your children. I will change your glory into shame. Wow. I don't know about you, but that sobering pronouncement makes me sit up and listen. We're in Hosea chapter four. So as you open your Bible, let's listen to Dr. McGee's introduction on why God will judge his people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now God says that he must judge the nation. And he says that he will change their glory into shame. Now the glory of Israel was actually the temple with the Shekinah glory upon it and his visible presence with the nation and his definite leading of them. And they're witness to the world of that day of monotheism. In a world of polytheism, they worship the living and the true God. That was their glory. It brought the Queen of Sheba from the ends of the earth. Now what is happening is this. God says, I will remove my glory from you. I'll remove my blessing from you. And I will judge you. I'll let the enemy come in upon you and take you away. And of course, the enemy is going to be able to say, look, they said they were God's chosen people. And look what's happening to them. And apparently their God's not a very strong God. Friends, we're seeing today in this land of ours something very similar to that. God is judging many churches and he's closing many doors today. You can look about you in this land of ours and see that God is still judging. And we are inclined to say, isn't it a shame to see a decline in a certain church? Well, maybe God closed the door. We need to recognize that only God today can afford to judge his own people, and he does that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Before jumping into our study, I invite you to join our World Prayer Team. Together we pray for listeners like Nora in the Philippines who writes this. I heard your message and want to know if you will really be forgiven. I have sinned in the past and I have thought that I am unforgivable. I got involved with another man and our entire village knows. I'm hurting and crying right now, but your words in my language of Locano comfort me and give me hope. For the first time, I feel as if God might accept me as I am. Please tell me what to do next. Please tell me more about Jesus and how I can be redeemed. Are you ready to join us for the journey? Well, hop aboard as we pray for millions of listeners like this one all over the world by signing up at ttb.org forward slash pray. And let's do that now. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you for the privilege of hearing your word. Help us to turn what distracts us and do what pleases you. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of sharing your word with the world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're off to Hosea 4 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, we got down last time through the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of Hosea. And again, I'd like to say that this sixth verse here of this fourth chapter is considered one of the most familiar verses that we have. It's one that is quoted a great deal. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And that's the way it opens. I went through it last time, and I'll not go any farther than that. But it was a lack of the knowledge of the Word of God that was the background of the sin of these people. The minute that Christian friend, you get away from the Word of God, you could not live a triumphant Christian life by any means. You could not live well-pleasing to the Lord. And I do not care how many of these method conferences you go to that have all these little gimmicks that if you do this and do that and do the other thing, that things are going to work all right for you in your home and in your place of business and in your social life, and everything will work out right. My friend, the Word of God makes it very clear that That's not by these little gimmicks, these little methods. It's by a knowledge of the Word of God. Now, that is as clear as the noonday sun in this book and certainly in other places. Now, will you notice as God continues to bring against the northern kingdom his judgment upon them, that is, he hands down a decision. He's going to judge them. And he has now proven that To them, his case, they broken the Ten Commandments. He went down the list and they had broken them. Now he says, as they were, verse 7, as they were increased, so they sinned against me. In other words, as the nation increased, God had promised to bless them by multiplying them. He told Abraham that. But all it did was just bring another sinner into the world. And after all, that's what happened when I came into the world. Just another sinner came into the world. But thank God, the grace of God reached down and somebody gave me the Word of God. And I was able to trust Christ as my Savior. But these people, they have an ignorance. They have no knowledge of the word of God. As they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore, will I change their glory into shame. God says, I'm going to turn your glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people. They set their heart on their iniquity. They not only sin, but they like to brag about it. As a young fellow, ran with a pretty fast crowd in the bank I worked in. And we always like, especially on Monday morning, to brag about our weekend, what we did. And you know what it was, either to get drunk or... some adultery or something like that. That's what you brag about. And they not only sinned, they bragged about it. And there, verse 9 now, chapter 4 of Hosea, and there shall be like people, like priests. The unfortunate thing is that the priesthood had sunk down to the level of the congregation. Now, I have always believed, and as you've heard me say, that I started out in the ministry. I wore a Prince Albert coat and a wing collar. I look like a mule looking over a whitewash fence. But I soon gave that up. I dress just like the man sitting out in the pew. And I'm no different than that man in the pew. But I want to say this, that I want in the pulpit to give out the word of God so that I don't sink down to the level of that which is the man of the world. And today there are many ministers. They're the good guys. one man boasted to me he says you know he says my preacher says you know he says he comes out to our golf club he plays golf and i'm for that i do that i think it's great to mix with folk like that says after the game says he goes in the bar room with us has a drink with us says you know said he's just one of the fellas says i sure do like him well I wonder what God thinks about him. Like people, like priests. And I'll punish them for their ways and reward them for their doings, for they shall eat and not have enough. In other words, famine is coming to the land. And who would ever have believed that this great land of ours, just last year, a few years ago, that there would be no scarcity. Whoever heard of it, that you couldn't buy meat at the meat market, you couldn't buy bread, that there would be a scarcity of anything. May I say to you, I'm not sure. I think God judged us in the dust bowl many years ago. That's when I entered the ministry. And nobody listened to God then. Then we had to fight World War II. God judged us. And we didn't come back to God even World War II. So we've been fighting somewhere ever since. Just can't give it up. They shall eat, not have enough. They shall commit harlotry and shall not increase. You know, there's one thing, friends, about adultery. And I know today that I'm talking to a great many people that have had this in their mind and their heart because we're living in this day. And you can take it from a fellow that one time in his life before he's saved, you can never, never enjoy in a way in which God really wants you to until you can enjoy it in marriage. And when you can put your arms around the woman that you have been loving and you can say to her, I love you. above everything else in the world. Now, I say when you can say that, my friend, then there'll be an increase. And it'll be wonderful. Oh, they were committing adultery then, and they're doing it today. But actually, there's really no satisfaction in it. It's just a sort of a temporary release. And you hate yourself after that. And I know that. And some of you know that, my friend. And God knows that because that's what he's saying here. God's spelling it out for you. They shall eat and not have enough. They shall commit harlotry, adultery, and they shall not increase because they have ceased to take heed to the Lord. Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart. Last time we gave you all these statistics about liquor in this country today. And nobody, and I mean nobody today, is lifting a voice against this. And I don't think I've said very much about it. But I sure have said a whole lot the past couple of days. And from time to time, we do mention it. Arlatrin wine and new wine take away the heart, my friends. And part of our problem in Washington today are these two sins, harlotry, adultery, and liquor. They're the two problems in our government today. That's the reason that men lie. That's the reason that men will do crooked things. And that is not confined to one party or just one group. The whole crowd is guilty today. One writer said that in Washington, you don't know who to trust. May I say to you, what a sad commentary on our nation today. Don't tell me the new morality is working. It didn't work for Israel. They got away from the word of God and they said, we try something new. And they went in for it. The northern kingdom, you see, they had sin galore. They put up two golden calves. And with that worship of Baal, I was connected with it, the grossest forms of idolatry and the Verse 12, my people ask counsel of their idols, and their staff declareth unto them, for the spirit of harlotry hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot departing from under their God. Now he's speaking here of the harlotry, spiritual adultery, which is turning from God. They went to inquire of idols. And today, we find people running after the gurus of India. Well, they haven't done much for India, by the way. But yet, we've had a crowd running after them. And someone has said that one of them that came over here, he said that very candidly, he came for the money. And that it was nothing in the world but a religious racket as far as he was concerned. Yet people went after him. People are going off into this type of thing today. And there's actually the worship of Satan today. I have here a clipping that comes from Daytona Beach, Florida. A group of Satan cultists tortured and beat a 17-year-old youth to death, believing he was an undercover narcotics agent, police said Wednesday. May I say to you that worship of Satan today is certainly not helping morality by any means. And these people going into idolatry, idolatry was leading them into gross immorality. Now, let me keep reading here. And They sacrifice, this is verse 13 now, chapter 4. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills under oaks and poplars and elms because the shadow of them is good. That's where they put their idols, was on top of a hill under a grove. And you hear a great deal in scripture. And they found out today, archaeologists, that the center of worship of idolatry was in these groves. It was cool there, nice place to go. Therefore, your daughters shall commit harlotry and your spouses shall commit adultery. You see, the worship of idols, and we today have turned to idolatry, covetousness, All of this today, the greed of this country today has caused many a family to try to get on in the world. They want to move to a better neighborhood. They want a swimming pool. They want a boat to take down. And they say we're doing this for their children. And then all of a sudden their children take off and there are thousands. Thousands of young people today that are wandering up and down this country and all over the world. I saw them in Hawaiian Islands. I talked to three young people in Constitution Square in Athens, Greece. Two young men and a young lady. And I'm sure that none of them were beyond their teens. One of them could have been 20. And there they sat, and they were then under the influence of drugs. I tried to talk with them, and I tried to find out who they were. And they said, we're nobody. We don't count. We've dropped out. What's happened today, friends? What's taking place today? Why, the problem is back there in the home. We're idolaters. We're worshiping the almighty dollar. We've forgotten God. We've turned away from the living and true God, and we no longer worship him. And we've not turned to a savior that can redeem us and help us. Now, verse 14. He says, I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your spouses when they commit adultery, for they themselves are separated with harlots, and they sacrifice with harlots. Therefore, the people that doth not understand shall fall. God says ignorance, so the law excuses no one. And because these people have gone on, I'm not going to judge them for the sin they're committing right now. I'm going to judge them because they've turned from the living and true God and from his way. My friend, as I said to a man, and I met him on a golf course, by the way, and he said, joined our foursome he soon left us when he found out we were three preachers and this man made a statement well he said that he guessed that he was a sinner he'd done this that and the other said yes I guess I'll go to hell and I said brother you know you're not going to hell because you commit these sins he says what do you mean I'm not going to hell because I thought that's what you preachers said I said this preacher never said that I said you're going to hell because you've rejected Jesus Christ These people were being judged not because they had become harlots. They were judged because they've turned from the living and true God. Now, will you notice he says here, though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-Avon or swear the Lord liveth. God says, I'm going to hold Judah back. I'll not judge Judah yet. And Judah, don't come up and worship these calves that they put up here. Now we come to something that's quite interesting. Verse 16. For Israel slideth back like a backsliding heifer. Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place. Now, friends, let's look at what really backsliding is. A great many people think backsliding means that you have become a Christian, joined the church, and then you drop back into sin, and that's backsliding. Now, may I say to you, that's not backsliding the way it's used here. And God illustrates it so you can't miss it. For Israel slideth back like a backsliding heifer. Now, I'm very happy the fact that as a boy, I had the privilege of living in the country and in a little town. And I think I've mentioned this before. There's a live next door to us in southern Oklahoma in a little town. We lived in a rancher. He had a big ranch and he had two boys and they were both about my age. And we three played together. We used to ride these heifers out in the lot and they would, you know, tie a rope around. As we said in that day, a belly band we'd put on them. We'd hold on to that. And then they'd buck us off. Now, every now and then, this rancher would load up. This was in the days before the automobile. In a wagon, he would load up these heifers to take them to market or take them out to the ranch. And he had a great big board. That is, it was a thing constructed out of boards that he put up at the back end of the wagon. It was a runway that you just try to run the heifer up back. Well, what they'd do, you'd put a rope around the heifer, and then you'd push her from the back. And as you'd get the heifer up, she'd go a part of the way, then she'd stiffen those front feet. She'd just put them out stiff. And you know what would happen? You couldn't pull her. She'd start sliding backwards. That's what backsliding is. Backsliding heifer. They were stiffening their front feet. And instead of being led of God, they were slipping backward all the time. And backsliding means when you turn your back on God and you step on that little neck of yours and that little mind of yours and you say, I'll have nothing to do with God. You're backsliding when you do that. You see, when you refuse to go the way God wants to lead you. Now he calls Israel here a backsliding heifer. There are a lot of backsliding heifers today and bulls also, by the way. Now, let me read the next verse. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Now, we come to another word here. The word backsliding is mentioned three times in this book, and you'll recall it's only Jeremiah and Hosea, and they spoke to a nation ready to go into captivity, accused them of doing this, refusing to be led of God, refusing to come to God. Now, Ephraim, that name occurs 36 times. He picks out one of the tribes of the 10 tribes in the north and applies it to all 10 of the tribes. And I frankly have never been able to figure out just how God uses that term. Is he using it in a way that is the term of endearment or is it a term of ridicule? Now, this time through Hosea, I've come to the conclusion that it's a term of endearment. It's a pet name. You see, Israel in the north had really no name as a nation. Judah in the south was really the nation. And these 10 tribes had revolted, you see. And now God gives them, I think, a pet name. And you'll find all the way through, it'll occur 36 times, Ephraim. And he says this in, I would say, a longing sort of way, but with a note of finality. He says here, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. God says there comes a day in a man's life that if he keeps on being in a backslidden condition, refusing to listen to God, there'll come a day when God no longer can speak to that man. Now he says to them, your drink is sour. You'll become an alcoholic if you keep at it, brother. And it's not a disease. It's a sin. Their drink is sour. They have committed harlotry continually. Her rulers love shame more than glory. And the sad thing today is that we have men in government in high places instead of using a language that is clean. And chase. They love to cuss. And they love to drink. They love the shame more than glory. The wind hath bound her up in its wing. They're carried away by every wind of doctrine. And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. God says, I'm going to make them ashamed before it's over with. Well, that brings us to the conclusion of chapter 4. Begin chapter 5 next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, Dr. McGee convinced me of the joy and peace found in living a quiet, righteous life before the Lord. How about you? We're midway through our study in Hosea now, so if you'd like to share these studies with a family member or friend, they're available on our app or at ttb.org. Or to purchase our Bible bus flash drive that conveniently holds all of Dr. McGee's five-year messages and also includes all of his notes and outlines for our studies and more than 100 of his booklets, you Shop our online store at ttb.org or call us at 1-865-BIBLE. And while you're at ttb.org, check out our new softcover Bible companions for the New Testament. Again, that's ttb.org or 1-865-BIBLE. And when you call us, please tell us how you listen. Is it by app or online? Is it YouTube, your local Christian radio station? There are so many different options. And you know, by sharing this little bit of information, you help us to be good stewards of the resources that God has so graciously provided through faithful listeners like you. Now, as we break for the weekend, join me for Dr. McGee's Sunday sermon. You can listen by app, online, or look at our radio station listing at ttb.org. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you right back here next time as we continue to make our way through the Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
We're grateful for the faithful and generous support of Through the Bible's partners, whom God uses to take the whole word to the whole world.
Explore the liberating notion of spiritual freedom as we examine the apostle Paul's message to choose righteousness over the dominion of sin. As we analyze Romans, discover how being alive in Christ offers a transformative perspective, granting believers strength to resist temptations. We delve into the ongoing battle within, how faith influences our choices, and the hope of peace found in Christ's victorious kingdom. Embark on this journey of faith and uplift your spirit with eternal truths that redefine our earthly existence.
SPEAKER 01 :
So then we're beginning to see the wide range of thought that Paul is floating in, thinking in, when he tells us, Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We don't look inside and say, are we dead indeed to sin? We look outside to the kingdom of God and say, whose kingdom is victorious? Is it Christ's or is it Satan's? Well, obviously, Satan has been defeated. He was defeated in heaven before Christ, before he was ever sent to the earth, if you're in doubt about that, read Revelation 12, and he was defeated at the cross. And this is all beautiful to us as Christians because we have to keep our faith alive by reckoning ourselves in the right kingdom. Likewise, you also then reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. That is, you are no longer alive to the sin kingdom of Adam. Now I grant you. that we're very much embroiled in the sin kingdom of Adam. We live in it. We experience its weakness, its brokenness, the death that it brings, the sorrow, the suffering, and so on. But as Christians, by faith, we recognize that Christ has beaten that kingdom, has defeated it, and we now live in the victorious kingdom of Christ. So our faith is telling us one thing, even though our bodies may be telling us another. So then Paul, to drive this home, brings verse 12, which is really interesting, and I'll tell you what the interest is in a minute. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. Now, as far as I can recall, as far as I understand the book of Romans, this is the first time Paul is talking now about what goes on inside of us. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. But notice how he teaches what goes on inside of us. He's not saying what's going on inside psychologically, but he's saying what is going on outside of us which affects us psychologically. Why do I say that and how do I know that? Because he says do not let sin reign inside You see, this truth about reigning again is so very, very important and vital. Paul is talking about kingdoms. He never uses the word kingdom, but he uses phraseology that only belongs to the kingdom, reigning and dominion. Sin shall not reign, or the law doesn't reign, or wrath doesn't reign, all of these statements. Why is he doing that? because he's recognizing that Jesus Christ is the second Adam who has brought a new kingdom into the reality of our experience by faith alone. That kingdom will, of course, reign ultimately in the world. But he says, do not let it reign. Well, now that says something, doesn't it? Do not let it, that is, do not allow it. In other words, the kingdom of Adam still exists, but we have the liberty of faith to determine whether it shall command or demand our minds. No, we're not going to let it. Well, we do let it often, don't we? We just get fed up and we want to sin or we fall or we're sick and tired of the situation of this world and we go into the kingdom of Adam because we're just lackadaisical or we're just fed up with the situation. But then our faith kicks in and we say, now, wait a minute. I am allowing right now the kingdom of Adam to reign. Well, I am now a new kingdom, rather a prince of a new kingdom. I belong to the kingdom of Christ, and I have power to shut this kingdom down. That is the kingdom of Adam. What a thought that is. You see, Paul has introduced the idea that we are in bondage to sin. Sin isn't, as I have said many times, simply something we do. It's something that does us. King Sin reigns. Sin is a power, a dominion, a force over us. Now then, here we are being told, don't let it be over us. Well, that's saying something, isn't it? It's implying that the you, the you who says don't let it, is the person who is in dominion of the kingdom of Adam's dominion. That is in charge, somebody who is over the kingdom of Adam. Well, Christ is over the kingdom of Adam, but we live and operate in Christ. And so we are free to say, I will not allow you to have dominion. Now this, again, let's go to the issue of addiction. Let's take the alcoholic who feels utterly overthrown by alcoholism, defeated by it, and each day he has to face whether he'll have another drink. But instead of facing it on the basis of, shall I do this or not, an action, he's now asking, shall I live in this kingdom or not, because I am free as a prince in Jesus Christ to say no to the kingdom. So while he's tempted to drink, and even has the wine or the beer in the mug, he's free to say, I am not going to let this kingdom reign. Now that doesn't guarantee that he will not take the drink. But it guarantees that he will not come under the identity and judgment of the kingdom of Adam. You say, well, what's the difference, Colin, if he drinks anyway? The difference is the reaction that follows. Because when you have the earthly perception of things without a knowledge of the kingdom of Christ, then a drink will bring you to judgment, depression, grief. fear that you will ruin your life. But if you, by faith, know that that kingdom is broken, your reaction is less traumatic. Oh yes, I failed, but I praise God that the kingdom is finished. I don't belong in it, I don't belong to it, and I assert my relationship with the kingdom of Christ in which I am a prince or princess. This is how we think in a different way. This is how faith operates. People have belittled faith because they have never understood its real power in the mind of a Christian. But we do, because we have heard of what Christ has done. We have seen him break the power of death. We have seen him rise from the dead. Before that, we saw him on the cross, never believing that his father had left him, even though he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Remember the thing that he said before he died, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Jesus knew. that his life with the Father, innocent, pure, not having come under the power of sin, had defeated the power of Satan. We live in him. We cannot defeat the power of Satan, but we live in him, and our faith is training itself and growing every day, seeking to operate in this way. Yes, defeats will follow, but victories will too, and calmness of soul. and freedom from this endless depression after a failure, so that we know how to bounce back, because the kingdom that we live in is not the kingdom of Adam where there is judgment, but the kingdom of Christ where there is freedom from judgment. So this is, you see, all part of this chapter on dead to sin. It's a totally different way of looking at things and thinking of it all if you are not a man or woman of faith. So Paul having said, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, then says, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. What he's saying here is, do not present your body and all its parts as a member of Adam's kingdom. So when you're facing a temptation, It's really nice and good to be able to say, sorry, I don't belong to your kingdom. I'm not presenting my members to your kingdom. I'm not presenting myself at the door of the kingdom of Adam and saying, at your service, sir. No, I'm not. I'm presenting my body in the service of Jesus Christ. Now, look, don't think of this in terms of you do it. perfectly forever afterwards, or you are defeated perfectly forever afterwards. You're doing it right one time, and you're doing it wrong the next time. But each time you do it, that is, each time you express your faith in the right way, you strengthen that ability. You know, I'm rereading a little book that I ordered from Amazon the other day called Power in Praise. Some of you may know it. Is it Merlin Carruthers? I don't think it's Merlin, but anyway, it's Carruthers by Carruthers. You can find it on Amazon for $9. And it's reminding me all over again what the implications of the Book of Romans are. He doesn't talk about the Book of Romans all that much, but I knew the Book of Romans before I knew this Power and Praise book, and when I got a hold of this book 30 or 40 years ago, I said to myself, oh yes, this is the natural consequence, that is praise, giving thanks to God for the truth and the reality that the book of Romans teaches. You see, in Romans 5 and 6 that we've studied so far, freedom from wrath and freedom from the power of sin, We are talking about what God has done for us, not what we try to do for ourselves, not how we practice. trying to overcome this or that. But what God has done, he's taken away his wrath, taken away his judgment from us so that we have peace of heart and we are reconciled to the heart of the Father and we can enter his throne room without any judgment. And he has broken the power of sin, taken away the sin kingdom of Adam by giving and introducing us to the kingdom of Christ where there is righteousness and life and peace. Well, doesn't that lead your heart to be thankful? Isn't that the first response that we give to God? Oh, thank you, dear God. Well, that's what we need to be practicing, you see, every day. To be able to thank God in the midst of all the foibles and brokenness of this world, in the midst of the disappointments and the depressions, to be able to say, now look, all I'm going through, dear God, all that you take me through that seems to be in the kingdom of Adam is actually in the kingdom of Christ, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death thou art with me. That verse in Psalm 23, the first part, the valley of the shadow of death is Adam's kingdom, and the second part, thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me, is the kingdom of Christ. And so, you see, I am walking in the kingdom of darkness in my natural body, but in my spirit, in my faith in Christ, I am walking with God, whose staff and rod comfort me. They guide me on the road. Though I can't see the path, Jesus can, and he holds up a lantern for me. This is how it is, you see. This is what faith is. Take it. Believe it. Grow with it. It's more powerful than the atom. Thank you for joining me today. Colin Cook here, and you've been listening to my program, How It Happens. This is listener-supported radio, which means that the listener who appreciates the program pays for it, makes a donation. You don't have to, of course. Don't feel guilty if you don't do it. But if you'd like to, and if it cheers your heart to do so, please send your donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160, or make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. I'll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
Join Pastor Rick as he provides a roadmap to harnessing your unique gifts for the benefit of others. Through intriguing discussions on stewardship and selflessness, he outlines how every talent we possess is meant for a greater purpose beyond personal gain. Inspired by the compelling concept of SODSAT moments, this episode challenges listeners to step up and address the cries for change they see in the world, supported by powerful Biblical promises of blessings for every act of kindness and generosity.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in or if you're a regular listener, we're really excited that you're here. Well, today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover Your Destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life. spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God's incredible plan for your future. All right, well, I can't wait to get started today. Here is part two of a message called, How Can I Know My Destiny?
SPEAKER 02 :
Unpleasant obstacles are often God-ordained opportunities for you to make a difference in the life of other people. Here's the problem. You never see it. while you're in the pain. You just can't see the purpose when you're in the pain. Let me give you an example. The story of Job, that's the book next to Esther. And you know this story, Job was the wealthiest man in the world, and one day, actually in 48 hours, he lost all his wealth, he lost all his health, he lost all his family, he contracted a very painful terminal disease, And he starts saying, God, I've served you all my life. Why is this happening? And for 39 chapters, God says nothing. And he can't figure it out. Some of you are right there right now. You're still in chapter 39 or 35. It's not until chapter 40 that God starts explaining to Job what's going on. A lot of times God is giving you a test and God seems a million miles away and you've been doing the right thing and everything still sucks in your life. And you can't feel God. Did you know that in the book of Esther, this is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God one time? God seems to be nowhere in this story. All the theologians, Jewish and Christian, say this is the hiddenness of God. And instead of God doing some fantastic miracle, he just uses normal people in normal situations, making normal decisions to change the destiny of the world. God is hidden. Now Job says it like this in Job 23, here on the screen. He's in the middle of all his problems. He says, I don't see God. I don't see God in the north, for he's hidden. So I turn to the south, but I can't find him. But he knows where I'm going. In other words, I don't know where I'm going, but God does, and I'm going to trust him. He says, and when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent. This is an exhibit, a faith. For I have stayed in God's path, even though nothing in my life makes sense. I have followed his ways, even though I'm in enormous pain. I have not turned aside even though I have lost everything. I have not departed from his commands. In other words, I'm still doing the right thing. I'm not a fair weather believer that if God doesn't bless me, I'm just gonna walk away from him. But I have treasured his word in my heart. He says, you know, I still trust God's word, God's promises, even though I don't feel him, I don't see him, and everything in my life sucks right now. He says, his mind, God's mind concerning me remains unchanged. And who can turn him from his purposes? For whatever he wants to do, he does. And here's the sign of hope. He will do for me. He will do for me. God says, Job says, he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny. Now, Nothing in your life is accidental. Zero, nada, zip. Both the pleasures and the pains, the assets and the liabilities, the limitations and the opportunities, they're all a part of the plan. In fact, even when and where you would be born and the fact that you're here today is a part of the plan. A thousand years before you were born, God knew that you would be at Saddleback Church. I don't care if you're Buddhist, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, or whatever. God knew you would be here because he wanted to say to you, I have a destiny for you. I have a destiny for you. In fact, the Bible says this. Look in Acts 17 here on the screen. God determines the time set for them and the exact places they should live. You live here and you came here or you attend here because God planned it. And God wanted you to hear this message on decade of destiny because he wants to do something in your life different than the next 10 years. In the next 10 years. He wants to do that. You're here. That's why he brought you here. Now notice this next verse, 1 Peter 4.10. In fact, let's read this verse aloud together with great gusto, whoever he is. All right, 1 Peter 4.10. Each of us, as good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gifts we have received from God. Now, very important verse, so let's leave it on the screen for just a minute. I want you to notice every phrase. Each of us, that means everybody's included. There are no no-talent people. There are no gifted-less people. You got gifts. Everybody, everybody has gifts. Everybody has talents. Each of us as good managers. The Bible word for management, if you've been in the small group studies these weeks, know is the word stewardship. The word steward means manager. The word manager means steward. Management is stewardship. It means what I have is on loan. What I think I own is only on loan. I don't really own anything. I don't own my wealth. God just loaned it to me for 80 years. If somebody's before me, it'll be somebody's after me. I don't really own my health. I don't own my body. I don't own my time. It's all on loan from God. God is the owner of everything. He owns it all. We are simply stewards. We're simply managers. We are to use what he loans, but God owns for his glory and for his purpose. Now it says, as good managers, you are to manage the gifts God gave you. It says, we must use, if you don't use it, you lose it, for the good of who? Would you circle that? For the good of others. One of the most important lessons you have to learn in life is this. Your gifts are not for you. Hate to tell you that, but your gifts are not for you. They are for the benefit of other people. Your ability to make a sale, to close a deal, to crochet a sweater, to make a meal, to teach a child, to whatever gift you've got, to, you know, Be as good as sports, be good at math, be good at music, whatever. Your gifts were given for you to bless other people. God did not put you on this earth just to live for yourself as a selfish little clod, as George Bernard Shaw used to call it. No, God put you here to live for others. And your gifts are for the benefit of others, and their gifts are for the benefit of you. Now there's a lot of things I'm not good at, but one thing I am good at is I'm good at teaching. If I don't use my gift, you get cheated. If you don't use your gift, I get cheated. No gift is more important than the others. They're all equally important. Some are hidden, some are visible, but they're all important. And God puts you here not to just be a passenger on planet Earth, but to be a part of the crew. You're a part of the crew and to make a difference with your life. So one of the major decisions you're going to have to make before we get into Decade of Destiny starting in January is why and how am I going to use my talents in the next 10 years? And am I going to use my talents simply for me or am I going to use them for the benefit of other people? God never blesses selfishness. If you think that the purpose of a decade of destiny is just so you can get a whole lot more things, you're in the wrong church. Because God never blesses selfishness. On the other hand, if you say, I want to fulfill my destiny, which I guarantee you will include benefiting other people. If you bless other people, you will be blessed so much, you won't be able to handle it. I am exhibit of A of this story. That the more you give your life away, the more God blesses your life. The more you give it away, the more you think about others, not yourself, the more God blesses your life. So you have to decide, will I be a giver or a taker in life? Takers are never happy. Givers are the happiest people in the world. Am I gonna be miserly, which is miserable? Now, here's your homework. On this step one, I want you this week to go home and make a list of what has God given me to use for good. And you make a list of all the, what's my background? Good and bad. What is my parenting and family life like? Good and bad. What are the connections? What are the opportunities? What's my wealth? What's my language? What's my health? What are the things I struggle with in my health? What's my location? What's my passion? You look at everything in your life, none of this is insignificant. It's all a part of the plan for your destiny as much as it was for Esther, this poor Jewish orphan girl who becomes queen of Persia. So you've gotta know what you've got and only until then can you then ask the question, what will be my greatest contribution? Now the second key is just as important to discovering your destiny. Gifts plus needs plus calling equal destiny. So the second thing you have to do is this. I must identify the needs that stir my heart. I must identify the needs that stir my heart. When you look around you and you say, what is it that ticks me off? When I look at the world, what irritates me? When I look around and I see a need, a hurt, an injustice, a problem, what do I look around and I go, that's not right. What is it that if you could, you'd change it right now in our society? What would you do? It's gonna be different for different people because we have different passions. What is it that keeps you awake at night? What disturbs you? What causes you to think, Somebody ought to do something about that. You see, everybody, I've learned, at some point in their life has what I call a sod sat moment. S-O-D-S-A-T, sod sat moment. A sod sat moment is when you come and you say, somebody ought to do something about that. Everybody at some point has a sod sat moment. And you look around and you go, that's just not right. That's just not right. Somebody ought to do something about that. Moses had a sod sat moment. He looked around and he saw this entire nation in slavery. He goes, this is not right. Somebody ought to do something about that. A guy named Nehemiah in the Bible looked at the city of Jerusalem that was decaying and defeated and the walls had all been broken down and Nehemiah goes, somebody ought to do something about that. We need to rebuild that wall. King David, wasn't king at the time, he sees an arrogant giant named Goliath making fun of God and all of his people and he goes, somebody ought to do something about that. Goliath guy. Yeah. There's a guy named Haggai, a little book in the end of the Old Testament. And he looks around and says, hey, we're all living in these nice, beautiful paneled homes and God doesn't even have a place of worship. Somebody ought to do something about that. There's a guy in the Bible named Amos. He wrote a little short book and he says, you know what? All these politicians, they're corrupt and they're unjust and they're ripping off the poor and the middle class. Somebody ought to do something about that. It's called the Book of Amos. Nothing happens to somebody as a sad, sad moment. Now this happens in Esther's life. She hears that her people, the Jews, are gonna be annihilated by this nutcase, Haman. And that he's got her husband, the king, to sign off on a decree that all the Jews can be put to death without fear of retribution. And there's gonna be a genocide of her entire race. And she says, somebody ought to do something about that. Now remember, she has kept her identity a secret from her husband. And she's thinking, a lot of people are going to die if I don't act. And here's what happens. Esther 4, verse 4. She gets very disturbed. It says, when Esther's servants told her what Mordecai, this is her adopted father, was doing because of this genocide thing coming up, she was deeply, deeply disturbed. Question, does anything disturb you? Or is your life so self-centered and so isolated you're not living in community? You're living such an individualistic life that nothing disturbs you as long as it's not about you. That stuff can happen all around you and you're impervious to it. You don't even notice it. You're not disturbed about anything unless it's something disturbing you. You know, the thing I'm so proud of of you in this Saddleback Church, is that we have over 300 ministries, well over 300 ministries to the community that deal with hurts and habits and hangups, that deal with problems and injustices and difficulties simply because somebody in the church said somebody ought to do something about that. None of those 300 ministries did I personally start. They were started by you and by others. I gotta tell you a story. This week I had to go up to Pasadena and I went into the Pasadena library and after it was over I walked across the street and I got a lunch, I ordered a sandwich, some coleslaw and some french fries and I said I wanna take it to go, I'll eat outside. So I have my lunch and I'm walking down Pasadena, downtown Pasadena, just looking for a place to sit down and we come upon this big stone church. and these big stone steps down the front. There are three homeless guys sitting on these steps. There's a white guy with really bright red hair. There's a black guy, African American guy, and there's a Hispanic guy. And the three guys are just sitting there, homeless. So I walk over and I sit down among them. They go, oh, you brought lunch. And I said, that's exactly what I did. And I, you know, as soon as I saw him, I thought, you gotta help these people. So I walk over and I sit down and I start dividing it all up. I kind of felt like Jesus in the 5,000 feeding, you know. The only problem was mine wasn't multiplying. And so I only got one fourth of my lunch, okay. But I'm passing the french fries around, the coleslaw around, we're splitting up the sandwich a little bit. And we had a great time just talking, chewing the fat, having a good time. It's nice, and when I got ready to leave, I didn't really have any cash to give them, and I don't like to give cash to people anyway, because I might use it for drugs or to support an alcohol habit or something. But I opened up my wallet, and I had three Starbucks cards in there. So I thought, oh, that's a good idea, because that can't be used for drugs. So I gave Meech a Starbucks card, and I said, you know, this will help you get some food. And as I'm starting to walk away, the white guy with the red hair says, I know who you are. And I go, excuse me? He says, let me tell you a story. He says, five years ago, on the other side of LA, this is 30 miles away from Pasadena, in East LA, five years ago, you pulled up to a taco shack. He said, you were going up to visit the Dream Center. And he said, you stopped there to get some tacos. And he said, you looked over and you saw me and I was homeless. And he said, you looked at me and said, hey, would you like a burrito? And I said, yeah. And you said, would you like two? And I said, yeah. So he said, you bought me two burritos. He goes, you're Rick Warren. And I'm going, now what is the likelihood of me running into the same homeless guy in a metropolitan area of 15 million people, five years later, 40 miles away, and it's the same guy? Now we were only two blocks away from Fuller Seminary. And these guys goes, we can't wait to tell all these Fuller students we had lunch with Rick Warren. Oh yeah, we're like this. We ate five years ago too, you know. The second thing to know your destiny, you gotta find a need and you go after it. You say, identify the needs that stir my heart. Now let me show you an amazing promise of God. to those who get disturbed about helping people less fortunate. I want you to notice the actions and the promises. There are actually 10 promises of God to you in this passage. Isaiah chapter 58. First he tells you what to do. He says, remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice and let the oppressed go free. There are a lot of people put down by society. He said, you are to defend the defenseless. You're to speak up for those who had no voice. Then he says, share your food with the hungry, open your homes to the homeless poor, give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives. I wish he hadn't said that last sentence. I like all the other parts. I don't like that part. Then he gives the promises, and he gives 10 promises. Then he says, number one, my favor will shine on you like the morning sun. You will be blessed if you help others. And he says, number two, your wounds will be quickly healed. You got a hurt, you want your hurt to be healed, you help somebody who's in more pain than you. I'll say it again. If you want God to help you in your hurt, You go help somebody else. You don't wait till you're finished, till you're healed. You go help somebody else in their pain, he said, and your wounds will be quickly healed. And then he says, I will always be with you to save you. How'd you like to have that as a promise in the next 10 years? And my presence will protect you on every side. That's another promise of God. And he says, when you pray, I will answer you. How'd you like to have every year prayer answered? When you call to me, I will respond. These are promises of God. If you put an end to oppression and to every gesture of contempt, what's every gesture of contempt? That's racism, friends. That's what it is. It's racism and it's wrong. And to every evil word, what's he talking about there? He's talking about being civil. that you are to treat with respect and dignity everybody, no matter what they believe, no matter what their religion, no matter what their race, no matter what their worldview is. You don't have to agree with them. You don't have to agree with their lifestyle, but you are to treat them with respect. When people give evil words on blogs, you do not retaliate. You put away every gesture of contempt and every evil word, you are positive. And if you give food to the hungry and you satisfy those who are in need, then, here's the rest of the promises, darkness around you will turn to brightness of noon. All that depression in your life, it's gonna lift. And God says, I will always guide you and I will satisfy you, satisfy you with good things. I will keep you, read this with me, strong and well. Is that an amazing promise? How'd you like to be strong and well for the next 10 years? Every one of those 10 promises is geared to how generous you are in life. Because you can spell, you spell love G-I-V-E. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. And God wants you to learn to be generous. Now here's your homework assignment. I want you to make a list of what do I see around me that disturbs me. First you make a list of all your gifts, your background, your talents, assets, and liabilities. Then you say, what is it where I want to feel like saying somebody ought to do something about that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Wow, some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast. This is letters from our listeners. And now here's Rick.
SPEAKER 02 :
Did you know that there are people listening to Daily Hope broadcasts and following our message all over the world? Here's an example of an email from a listener that just came in from Brazil. He says, hi Rick, my name is Marcelo and I'm from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Every day I listen to Daily Hope on my way to work and God has used your life to speak his truth into my life. Today, I'll be speaking to a group of retail leaders from all over Brazil about living a life of integrity. Hope you won't mind, but I've translated a lot from your message, living a life of integrity, to share with this group. That message touched me so much that I felt the need to share it with others. Well, that's so great, Marcelo. I'm so proud of you. You're being a light for Jesus Christ in his workplace. You're sharing a message of hope with business people. That is just fantastic. Now, I want to say everybody can do the same thing. It doesn't matter where you work. You can share the message of Daily Hope or any of these Daily Hope messages with your coworkers and your friends, and I want to encourage you to do that. And when you do, let me know about it. Be sure to write me and tell me your story, just like Marcelo did. Email me today, rick at pastorrick.com. Thanks for listening to Daily Hope today.
SPEAKER 01 :
Be sure to join us 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.
