December 30, 2024 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are
so glad that you're here. You know, in this world,
we all go through trials and we experience losses. But
the good news is that God is always with you
and you can never lose his love. Stay tuned today
as Rick continues his series called The Key to Hope
(00:24):
and right now, let's join Rick with the final part
of a message called how being anchored to God's word
is the Key to hope.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now, to live with hope when everything seems hopeless in
the world, no matter what happens, I have to anchor
my identity in what God says about me. And I
have to anchor my life mission in God's purpose for me.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Now what other people.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Want me to do, now, what society wants me to do, Now,
what politics wants me to do, Now, what my parents
want me to do? What God says this is what
I made you to do. I anchor my purpose, my
mission in my purpose. Third, I must anchor my future
to God's promises to me. Because remember I said, the
(01:12):
third cause of hopelessness is an uncertain future. Now follow
me on this. If you've ever bought an insurance policy
that policy promises to cover certain things. You don't have
to pay for it because the insurance commscy promises to
pay for it. Now, once you know what the policy covers,
(01:32):
you don't sweat it. You got a big hospital bill,
insurance pay for it. Your cargets thing, insurance will pay
for it. You don't worry about what's covered in the promise.
There are six thousand insurance promises to you from God
in this book. You don't even know them. That's why
you're worried. If you knew them, you wouldn't be worried.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Now, let me say it another way.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
When you're reading a novel or you reading, are you
watching a movie, a mystery movie, and.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You already know the ending.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
When it gets to the scary parts in the movie,
you don't get nervous because you know the hero.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
He's gonna make it, she's gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And so, yeah, it's little tenants, but you can relax
and not worry because there's no way this guy's gonna
die off. Okay, he's got four more in the series,
So Jason Bourne is not gonna die no matter how
bad it gets, all right, and Tom Cruise will always
come back for another. You know mission impossible or top
(02:35):
gun if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ
and you have trusted him for your salvation. And even
though you don't know what's gonna happen in the rest
of your life, and none of us do. You don't
know what's gonna happen the rest of your life. I
don't know how many years I've got left. I don't
know the highs and lows. You don't know the highs
and the lows that you're gonna go through, the ups
(02:57):
and the downs.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
But you already know one thing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You know how it's going to end in your life,
that when you die, God is going to resurrect you
to Heaven because Jesus made it possible by resurrecting himself,
and God promises to do that for you. And God
cannot lie. Who I know how to end. I know
(03:24):
how to ends. Okay, I may get dementia and lose
my mind, but I'm going to heaven. I cannot lose
my salvation. I may want to let go of God's hand,
but He's never letting go of mind. Now in Acts
chapter two, look at this verse. Peter is quoting David
and he's talking about the resurrection, and he says this,
(03:46):
I know the Lord is always with me, so I
will not be shaken, for he's right beside you. He's saying,
I don't only have God's promises, I have God's presence.
So when I go through the earthquakes of life and
everything falls apart and my ship's in the storm and
it's cracking up, he says, I know the Lord's with me.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I'm not gonna be shaken. He's right here with me.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And then he says, my body, your physical body, my
body rests in hope because God will never leave me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
In the grave. What's he talking about.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
One day you're gonna die and you're gonna be buried
in a grave, or you're gonna be cremated. That's not
the end of you. Oh no, baby, You're not going
to stay in your grave. God is going to resurrect
you if you accept his gift of salvation to his
son Jesus. That's why every Easter, two point six billion
people in the world celebrate Easter every year because it
(04:46):
says the grave is not the end. Death is not
the final story. That's not the end of the story.
Now I have the same hope that Peter has. When
I die, I'm I'm not going to stay in the grave.
God's gonna resurrect me. Paul says the same thing in
Acts twenty four. Look at this verse on the screen.
(05:08):
Paul has the same hope that I have that Peter has.
Paul says, I have the same hope in God that
they have, the hope that all people, good and bad
will surely be raised from the dead. You go, whoa, whoaa.
I never heard that before. Okay, listen to me very closely,
because it's important. Every single human being, whether the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist, whatever,
(05:36):
they're all made in God's image. God has never met
anybody he didn't love. God has never made anybody he
didn't have a purpose for. God has never made anybody
he doesn't want in heaven. But heaven is a choice
you have to ask to be.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
In about it.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Everybody's created by God, everybody's loved by God, but not
everybody is in God's family. You have because you're made
in God's image. Everybody it made in God's image. You
have an eternal soul. You have an immortal soul. That
means you were made to last forever. Everybody in the
world who's a human being was made to last forever. Okay,
(06:15):
so they're all made to last forever because they have
an immortal soul.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You're not just a body. Not just a body.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
The difference, the point is this, God's gonna resurrect everybody.
The difference is where you spend eternity after you're resurrected.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Okay, follow me on this.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You're gonna live in eternity forever, either with God or
without God, and it's your choice, and you make that choice.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
On earth.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You're either gonna live God with God because you accepted
him on earth, or you're gonna live without God because
you rejected Him on earth. I don't need salvation, I
don't need Christ. I don't need what Jesus did for
me on the Cross. That's a big difference. When we
live with God forever in eternity, that's called heaven. To
live without God forever is called well, that would be hell,
(07:08):
that would be hell. To live for eternity without God. Now,
the choice is yours. Okay, the choice is yours. You
get to make the choice with God in eternity or
without God in eternity. But I encourage you to make
the right choice, because friend, somebody who loves you, eternity
(07:29):
is a long time to be wrong. It's a long,
long long time to be wrong. So you better make
the right choice now. In first That'salon. In chapter four
we get a little bit more of the details. Look
at this on the screen. We want you to know
about believers who have died, so you will not grieve
(07:53):
as those who have no hope.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Christians grieve. We do funerals. We grieve, but we grieve
with hope. It's very different.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I have done thousands of funerals are I don't know
how many, but I've done ones for people who believers,
the ones who weren't. Big difference in the attitude. We
know that Jesus died and rose back to life again,
so because him, we also know that God raises those
who have died believing in Him. Now, at the funerals
of people who've accepted the salvation, do what Jesus did
(08:22):
for us. We don't grieve those people. We don't grieve
for the.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Person who's died. They're in heaven.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
They're where we all want to be for return it anyway,
perfect peace, Heaven, beautiful incredible. We grieve for ourselves because
we're going to miss them for all the time between
now and when we are united with them again, when
we die and go to heaven. It's not grief for
that person. We want to be there too. The older
(08:54):
I get, the more my friends have already beat me there.
I hate him for that. And I don't know how
long much time I've got here on earth, but it
means that God still has a purpose for my life.
Let me give you my testimony about being near death,
because in September I had a heart attack came out
(09:14):
of the blue, total surprise. I was standing in my
living room about nine o'clock at night, and all of
a sudden, it felt like a train was driving through
my chest and I fell over backwards on the sofa
and Kay immediately called the ambulance.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Four guys got there. They walked in.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They go, it's past your rick, Ky goes, okay, fanboys,
this is not a time for autographs and hugs. Just
get my husband to the hospital. So they take me
quickly to Mission and I'm there, I mean, like in
rapid time. Now I know everybody in Mission hospital.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I've been visiting the sick for forty four years.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I know every single room, I know all the doctors,
a third of the staff, the saddle back. It's a
very commonplace for me to be. And within seconds I'm
in the surgery room and it's bright lights, and I'm
laying on a steel table and I'm stark naked with
six people around me, three men, three women, three men
(10:19):
prepping me for surgery, one woman shaving my whole body.
There's no dignity at this moment, okay, I'm totally vulneraous, like, hey,
looking good, Pastor Rick, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Looking good, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And I actually had the presence of mind to say
before they put me under the ANTHESI I said, okay, guys,
if anybody happens to take a photograph of me, I'll
be happy to sign it after this is over. And
one of the doctors said, Pastor Rick, what happens in
Vegas stays in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I got good. I don't have time to tell you.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I had a very profound experience laying on that table
before they put me on her for surgery.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Not knowing if I was going to make it or not.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And I'll tell you that sometime, but I'll just tell
you one part of it.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I'm laying there stark.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Naked, getting ready, not knowing if I was going to
make it through or not.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And I said this, I prayed.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I said, Lord, you know my life versus Acts thirteen
thirty six. He served God's purpose in his generation and
then he died. And I said, Lord, to the best
of my ability, I've done that. I've served your purpose
in my generation. And if this is the time that
(11:38):
you want to take me home, that's okay with me.
I felt no fear at all. I felt totally calm,
totally at peace. I've been preparing for death my entire life.
I know where I'm going. I've walked with Jesus for
over fifty years.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
He's my best friend. I know him better than I
know you.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So there was there's no fear, no anxiety over death
at all in my life. And all I could think
of is Lord, I've had more blessings in my life
than I could possibly imagine, and I've had experiences that
other people haven't had, and I've got to see literally
thousands of lives changed by your grace.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And if I die, it's okay with me. It won't
be okay with Kay and it won't be okay with
my kids or my grandkids, but it's okay with me.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
And so if I don't make it through this surgery
and I wake up in Heaven, that I will be done.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
I'm happy. It's where I want to be.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Ultimately, I get to see a bunch of my friends
who are already there, including my son Matthew, and my
brother and my parents, and a bunch of other people
that I love, and members of.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
This church that I led to Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And at that moment, it wasn't a blinding light, no angels,
no music, but all of a sudden I felt completely enveloped, impure, unadulterated,
unconditional love. I can't even explain to you the joy
that I felt laying on that table, not.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Knowing if I was going to live or die.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I just felt, I love you, I love you, I
love you, and I said, Lord, I feel this love.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And if I don't make it through this.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Time, if if I wake up and Heaven fine, If
I wake up and I'm not in heaven, it means
Rick two point zero.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Okay, Rick the second act, And I just felt so loved.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Nine hours they put me under it. Nine hours later,
I woke up and I looked around and I saw
all of the you know, wires and you know things
hanging out of my body. And I'm going, well, this
ain't heaven.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So here I am. Here's Ricky. And now the reason.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I tell you that story is I don't want you
to be afraid of death, because if you know who
you are, and you know what God's called you to do,
and you know the ultimate end of your story, you
can be like me. I am fearless. I am fearless
(14:28):
because I know my future. I know where I'm going.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I can't lose. I live. I can't lose. I die.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I can't lose. For me, to live, as Christ, to
die is gain. And so that means you know what
I feel about critics.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Forget them. They can't hurt me because I am fearless.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
That's the kind of confidence you get when you're anchored
in God's word.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Now let me talk about you.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How are you to face whatever days you have left
on earth? You don't know when your time, when your
numbers pulled, when the phone call will come. But God
says this, He says that life we live life in
a broken world. Everything's broken on this planet because of sin.
The economy's broken, our bodies are broken, our relationships are broken.
(15:19):
Nothing's perfect on this planet except God's word, and he
says on a broken world, life is a daily battle.
Everybody agree with that life is a daily battle. Life
is tough. Sometimes life sucks. So God says, in this battle,
however many days you got left, You're gonna need spiritual
(15:41):
armor for protection. You're gonna need spiritual body armor to
protect your mind and your heart. What is spiritual body armor.
It's attitudes. It's the attitudes of your father in heaven
who loves you. It's faith, hope, and love. Those are
the body armors. And how do I get those? On
the over six thousand promises in God's word that he
(16:03):
wants you to trust those promises so you can face
your future with faith, hope and love. Now look at
this verse on the screen. We're getting to the end here. First,
that salone is five eight. We should wear faith and
love as a breastplate over our chest to protect us,
and hope as the salvation. The hope of salvation should
(16:25):
be our helmet. Now, the two most important things in
your body are your mind and your heart. You got
to have those all right now, what does a breastplate do?
It protects your heart? What does a helmet do? It
protects your mind and your thoughts? And you're supposed to
be protected with faith and love in your heart and
(16:48):
hope in your mind. Does that make sense? Faith and
love in your heart, love everybody, trust God, and hope
in your brain. But if you do, you don't know
God's promises. You're not anchored to the word. Friends, your
mind is unprotected. You're driving a Harley without a helmet,
(17:12):
and Satan could put any kind of negative ideas in
your mind. Now today, some of you, I'm sure, are
feeling that you're already in a storm and your ship's
about to come undone. Do you feel the way Paul
felt in Act twenty seven to twelve. Look at this
verse on the screen. He says, for many days he's
(17:32):
in the middle of a storm in the Mediterranean Ocean.
For many days we couldn't see either the sun or
the stars. Some of you are write that right now
you're in total darkness. I can't see the sun and
the day, I can't see the stars at night. I
am totally in the dark. I haven't any idea where
I'm headed we're just I'm just floating around in a
big black ocean, can't see any light.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I'm in total darkness.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And he says the storm would not let up. Many
of you are in that situation right now. The problem
you're in is relentless. It will not go away. It's relentless.
The storm would not let up. It's not like I'm
getting no relief from this problem in my life. You're there,
(18:20):
and it says it was so severe that we finally
began to just lose all hope of ever.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Coming out of it alive. Hope is the last thing
to go.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Later, in verse forty, a few verses down from that,
it says that they finally cut loose the anchors of
that ship and they began to drift.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Friends, That always happens when you're not anchored.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You just drift with no direction, and you're battered back
and forth by the winds and the waves of whatever
storm you're in. Drifting right now? Are you drifting right now?
You're not anchored anything. Some of you have been drifting
for weeks, some of you have been drifting for months.
(19:11):
Some of you have been drifting for years. Some of
you have been drifting your entire life because you have
never been anchored that something to something that is unchanging.
It is time to stop drifting. You need to anchor
yourself to the truth of the Creator, who gave you
the truth in his word, who made you, who loves you.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
And who sent Jesus to die for you. Now listen.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Filling your mind every day with God's word will give
you the faith and love to protect your heart and
give you the hope. You need to protect your mind
to defeat all those thoughts that defeat you. Thoughts of discouragement.
I feel like giving up. Thoughts of dread. I am
(19:58):
scared to death. Thoughts of disappointment. My heart is breaking.
Thoughts of depression. I can't go on another day. Thoughts
of despair. I'm thinking about giving up, maybe even taking
my life. You need faith, hope, and love from the
Word of God. Now you may be thinking right now, Rick,
(20:22):
you've been talking about this mission and all this stuff.
It's really interesting. But I'm in a shipwreck right now.
My ship has already come apart, and I'm holding on
to driftwood and I'm about to go under. And Rick,
I am just too wounded, too tired, and too weary.
And too worn out and too broken up and too
(20:45):
old or too young and too broken and busted for
God to use and to bless in a life mission.
I want you to listen to me, somebody who really
does love you and prays for you.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You are dead wrong. You're dead wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You need to start reading all the promises of God.
You need to start reading through the New Testament for
eight weeks. You need to read all the promises God
made you in this book. Tasha Leighton wrote a song
called Never, and I love this song because the Bible says,
I will never never never, never, never never never never
(21:28):
never leave you or forsake you.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
There's never been a moment in your life.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
God wasn't with you. You might not feel him. That's your problem.
He's there, he's close, He's never left you. And in
that song Never, there's a line where she says, there's never.
There's not a broken too broken for you talking to God.
There's not a broken too broken for you. It's time
(21:52):
to get healed and to get into your mission. I
want you to bow your heads right now as we pray,
and I'm going to pray for you, but I want
to pray. I want you to pray a prayer. If
you bow your heads, you don't have to close your eyes.
God knows what you're feeling, what you're thinking, He knows
every thought. You don't have to even pray this prayer aloud.
(22:13):
He knows you can say it in your mind. But
if you are tired of drifting, you're tired of having
no anchor, no stability, no ultimate security in your life,
you really need to get anchored today. That's why God
brought you here a thousand years before you were born.
(22:33):
He knew you'd be sitting in Saddleback Church so he
could say this to you.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
You matter to me.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You matter to me, and I want you in my family.
I've loved you all your life. I created you, and
I want you to learn to love me back. So
pray this simple Prayerly doesn't matter the words. It just
matters an attitude of humility that says God, I need you,
I need you. When you recognize your need and you
(23:00):
say I need a savior, I couldn't save myself, that's
all God needs. So pray this simple prayer. Say Dear God,
to say that in your mind. Dear Dear God, I
have been drifting too long. And I want to live
a life of hope anchored to your love and to
(23:23):
your promises and your word. Dear God, I want to
anchor my identity in what you say about me and
what everybody else has told me. God, I want to
anchor my life mission what I do with the rest
of my life in your purpose for me. And I
(23:45):
want to learn and study that. And God, I don't
know what's going to happen in my future. It's uncertain,
but I want to anchor my future in your promise
to resurrect me and take me into your home if
I trust you. So today I'm saying yes to your son,
(24:07):
Jesus Christ. I don't even understand how all he did
on the cross helps me. But Jesus, thank you for
loving me before I even knew it.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Thank you for dying before me, for even knew you.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I'm asking you to accept me into your family. I
humbly admit that I need a savior. I certainly can't
save myself. So today, as much as I know how,
I'm saying yes to you, and I humbly ask you
to save me in your name.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I pray, Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Did you just pray with Pastor Rick to accept Jesus. Well,
if he did, congratulations, And if you email Rick at
Pastorick dot com and let us know that you prayed
that prayer, We're going to send you some free materials
to help you on your se spiritual journey. Okay, you
know people are being transformed by these messages every day,
but that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,
(25:09):
here's Rick to tell you how you can help support
this ministry.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Did you know that today there's still almost three thousand
groups of people around the world that have no Bible,
no believer in Christ, and no body of Christ, no church.
Over three thousand of those small tribes. One of the
reasons I started Daily Hope was to help bring this
awareness to the world and raise the funds to get
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a Bible, a believer and a body of Christ in
these last three thousand tribes. I call it the final Frontier.
These people not only need to hear about the love
of Jesus, they need to grow up. They need to
be discipled in their faith. Now, I admit this is
a big vision, but it's an important vision. It's a
global vision, it's a timely vision. But every vision requires
(25:57):
provision and Honestly, we wouldn't be able to even go
after these tribes without your help. And that's why I
can't fully express how much I appreciate your support for
Daily Hope. When you give to this ministry, you're not
only supporting this broadcast, but you're supporting our efforts to
go to the final frontier, the final three thousand tribes
(26:20):
that have no Bible, no believer, and no body of Christ. Now,
the reason I'm telling you this is I'm excited to
share we have a generous couple who's offered a one
hundred thousand dollars matching grant gift to Daily Hope. What
does that mean? It means any gift you give between
now and the end of December will be doubled to
(26:41):
match that amount. So I want to ask you to
please prayerfectly consider how you could give today help us
reach the final frontier of these tribes that have never
heard the name of Christ in the coming year. Friends,
even if you can't help us financially, I want to
ask you to pray pray for us and pray these
(27:01):
specific prayer quests that I will faithfully teach God's word
in a way that blesses you and penetrates the hearts
of people who don't know Christ. Pray for the Daily
Hope team that God will encourage them as they create
all of our discipleship tools and materials which.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
We want you to have to help you. And most
of all, pray for these unreached tribes and groups of
people who've never heard the name of Jesus. I'm praying
for you during this Christmas season. Thank you so much
for your generosity, Thank you for your prayers, Thank you
for your support. You make it possible.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Today is the last day to have your gift matched
up to one hundred thousand dollars, so please don't wait.
You can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com.
Or you can just text the word hope to seven
oh three to ZHO nine Again, that's Pastorrick dot com.
Or just text the word hope to seven three nine
(28:01):
and thank you so much for your support. 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.
Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are
so glad that you're here. You know, in this world,
we all go through trials and we experience losses. But
the good news is that God is always with you
and you can never lose his love. Stay tuned today
as Rick continues his series called The Key to Hope
(00:24):
and right now, let's join Rick with the final part
of a message called how being anchored to God's word
is the Key to hope.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now, to live with hope when everything seems hopeless in
the world, no matter what happens, I have to anchor
my identity in what God says about me. And I
have to anchor my life mission in God's purpose for me.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Now what other people.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Want me to do, now, what society wants me to do, Now,
what politics wants me to do, Now, what my parents
want me to do? What God says this is what
I made you to do. I anchor my purpose, my
mission in my purpose. Third, I must anchor my future
to God's promises to me. Because remember I said, the
(01:12):
third cause of hopelessness is an uncertain future. Now follow
me on this. If you've ever bought an insurance policy
that policy promises to cover certain things. You don't have
to pay for it because the insurance commscy promises to
pay for it. Now, once you know what the policy covers,
(01:32):
you don't sweat it. You got a big hospital bill,
insurance pay for it. Your cargets thing, insurance will pay
for it. You don't worry about what's covered in the promise.
There are six thousand insurance promises to you from God
in this book. You don't even know them. That's why
you're worried. If you knew them, you wouldn't be worried.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Now, let me say it another way.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
When you're reading a novel or you reading, are you
watching a movie, a mystery movie, and.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You already know the ending.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
When it gets to the scary parts in the movie,
you don't get nervous because you know the hero.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
He's gonna make it, she's gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And so, yeah, it's little tenants, but you can relax
and not worry because there's no way this guy's gonna
die off. Okay, he's got four more in the series,
So Jason Bourne is not gonna die no matter how
bad it gets, all right, and Tom Cruise will always
come back for another. You know mission impossible or top
(02:35):
gun if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ
and you have trusted him for your salvation. And even
though you don't know what's gonna happen in the rest
of your life, and none of us do. You don't
know what's gonna happen the rest of your life. I
don't know how many years I've got left. I don't
know the highs and lows. You don't know the highs
and the lows that you're gonna go through, the ups
(02:57):
and the downs.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
But you already know one thing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You know how it's going to end in your life,
that when you die, God is going to resurrect you
to Heaven because Jesus made it possible by resurrecting himself,
and God promises to do that for you. And God
cannot lie. Who I know how to end. I know
(03:24):
how to ends. Okay, I may get dementia and lose
my mind, but I'm going to heaven. I cannot lose
my salvation. I may want to let go of God's hand,
but He's never letting go of mind. Now in Acts
chapter two, look at this verse. Peter is quoting David
and he's talking about the resurrection, and he says this,
(03:46):
I know the Lord is always with me, so I
will not be shaken, for he's right beside you. He's saying,
I don't only have God's promises, I have God's presence.
So when I go through the earthquakes of life and
everything falls apart and my ship's in the storm and
it's cracking up, he says, I know the Lord's with me.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I'm not gonna be shaken. He's right here with me.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And then he says, my body, your physical body, my
body rests in hope because God will never leave me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
In the grave. What's he talking about.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
One day you're gonna die and you're gonna be buried
in a grave, or you're gonna be cremated. That's not
the end of you. Oh no, baby, You're not going
to stay in your grave. God is going to resurrect
you if you accept his gift of salvation to his
son Jesus. That's why every Easter, two point six billion
people in the world celebrate Easter every year because it
(04:46):
says the grave is not the end. Death is not
the final story. That's not the end of the story.
Now I have the same hope that Peter has. When
I die, I'm I'm not going to stay in the grave.
God's gonna resurrect me. Paul says the same thing in
Acts twenty four. Look at this verse on the screen.
(05:08):
Paul has the same hope that I have that Peter has.
Paul says, I have the same hope in God that
they have, the hope that all people, good and bad
will surely be raised from the dead. You go, whoa, whoaa.
I never heard that before. Okay, listen to me very closely,
because it's important. Every single human being, whether the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist, whatever,
(05:36):
they're all made in God's image. God has never met
anybody he didn't love. God has never made anybody he
didn't have a purpose for. God has never made anybody
he doesn't want in heaven. But heaven is a choice
you have to ask to be.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
In about it.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Everybody's created by God, everybody's loved by God, but not
everybody is in God's family. You have because you're made
in God's image. Everybody it made in God's image. You
have an eternal soul. You have an immortal soul. That
means you were made to last forever. Everybody in the
world who's a human being was made to last forever. Okay,
(06:15):
so they're all made to last forever because they have
an immortal soul.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You're not just a body. Not just a body.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
The difference, the point is this, God's gonna resurrect everybody.
The difference is where you spend eternity after you're resurrected.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Okay, follow me on this.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You're gonna live in eternity forever, either with God or
without God, and it's your choice, and you make that choice.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
On earth.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You're either gonna live God with God because you accepted
him on earth, or you're gonna live without God because
you rejected Him on earth. I don't need salvation, I
don't need Christ. I don't need what Jesus did for
me on the Cross. That's a big difference. When we
live with God forever in eternity, that's called heaven. To
live without God forever is called well, that would be hell,
(07:08):
that would be hell. To live for eternity without God. Now,
the choice is yours. Okay, the choice is yours. You
get to make the choice with God in eternity or
without God in eternity. But I encourage you to make
the right choice, because friend, somebody who loves you, eternity
(07:29):
is a long time to be wrong. It's a long,
long long time to be wrong. So you better make
the right choice now. In first That'salon. In chapter four
we get a little bit more of the details. Look
at this on the screen. We want you to know
about believers who have died, so you will not grieve
(07:53):
as those who have no hope.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Christians grieve. We do funerals. We grieve, but we grieve
with hope. It's very different.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I have done thousands of funerals are I don't know
how many, but I've done ones for people who believers,
the ones who weren't. Big difference in the attitude. We
know that Jesus died and rose back to life again,
so because him, we also know that God raises those
who have died believing in Him. Now, at the funerals
of people who've accepted the salvation, do what Jesus did
(08:22):
for us. We don't grieve those people. We don't grieve
for the.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Person who's died. They're in heaven.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
They're where we all want to be for return it anyway,
perfect peace, Heaven, beautiful incredible. We grieve for ourselves because
we're going to miss them for all the time between
now and when we are united with them again, when
we die and go to heaven. It's not grief for
that person. We want to be there too. The older
(08:54):
I get, the more my friends have already beat me there.
I hate him for that. And I don't know how
long much time I've got here on earth, but it
means that God still has a purpose for my life.
Let me give you my testimony about being near death,
because in September I had a heart attack came out
(09:14):
of the blue, total surprise. I was standing in my
living room about nine o'clock at night, and all of
a sudden, it felt like a train was driving through
my chest and I fell over backwards on the sofa
and Kay immediately called the ambulance.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Four guys got there. They walked in.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They go, it's past your rick, Ky goes, okay, fanboys,
this is not a time for autographs and hugs. Just
get my husband to the hospital. So they take me
quickly to Mission and I'm there, I mean, like in
rapid time. Now I know everybody in Mission hospital.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I've been visiting the sick for forty four years.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I know every single room, I know all the doctors,
a third of the staff, the saddle back. It's a
very commonplace for me to be. And within seconds I'm
in the surgery room and it's bright lights, and I'm
laying on a steel table and I'm stark naked with
six people around me, three men, three women, three men
(10:19):
prepping me for surgery, one woman shaving my whole body.
There's no dignity at this moment, okay, I'm totally vulneraous, like, hey,
looking good, Pastor Rick, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Looking good, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And I actually had the presence of mind to say
before they put me under the ANTHESI I said, okay, guys,
if anybody happens to take a photograph of me, I'll
be happy to sign it after this is over. And
one of the doctors said, Pastor Rick, what happens in
Vegas stays in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I got good. I don't have time to tell you.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I had a very profound experience laying on that table
before they put me on her for surgery.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Not knowing if I was going to make it or not.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And I'll tell you that sometime, but I'll just tell
you one part of it.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I'm laying there stark.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Naked, getting ready, not knowing if I was going to
make it through or not.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And I said this, I prayed.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I said, Lord, you know my life versus Acts thirteen
thirty six. He served God's purpose in his generation and
then he died. And I said, Lord, to the best
of my ability, I've done that. I've served your purpose
in my generation. And if this is the time that
(11:38):
you want to take me home, that's okay with me.
I felt no fear at all. I felt totally calm,
totally at peace. I've been preparing for death my entire life.
I know where I'm going. I've walked with Jesus for
over fifty years.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
He's my best friend. I know him better than I
know you.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So there was there's no fear, no anxiety over death
at all in my life. And all I could think
of is Lord, I've had more blessings in my life
than I could possibly imagine, and I've had experiences that
other people haven't had, and I've got to see literally
thousands of lives changed by your grace.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And if I die, it's okay with me. It won't
be okay with Kay and it won't be okay with
my kids or my grandkids, but it's okay with me.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
And so if I don't make it through this surgery
and I wake up in Heaven, that I will be done.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
I'm happy. It's where I want to be.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Ultimately, I get to see a bunch of my friends
who are already there, including my son Matthew, and my
brother and my parents, and a bunch of other people
that I love, and members of.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
This church that I led to Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And at that moment, it wasn't a blinding light, no angels,
no music, but all of a sudden I felt completely enveloped, impure, unadulterated,
unconditional love. I can't even explain to you the joy
that I felt laying on that table, not.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Knowing if I was going to live or die.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I just felt, I love you, I love you, I
love you, and I said, Lord, I feel this love.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And if I don't make it through this.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Time, if if I wake up and Heaven fine, If
I wake up and I'm not in heaven, it means
Rick two point zero.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Okay, Rick the second act, And I just felt so loved.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Nine hours they put me under it. Nine hours later,
I woke up and I looked around and I saw
all of the you know, wires and you know things
hanging out of my body. And I'm going, well, this
ain't heaven.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So here I am. Here's Ricky. And now the reason.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I tell you that story is I don't want you
to be afraid of death, because if you know who
you are, and you know what God's called you to do,
and you know the ultimate end of your story, you
can be like me. I am fearless. I am fearless
(14:28):
because I know my future. I know where I'm going.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I can't lose. I live. I can't lose. I die.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I can't lose. For me, to live, as Christ, to
die is gain. And so that means you know what
I feel about critics.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Forget them. They can't hurt me because I am fearless.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
That's the kind of confidence you get when you're anchored
in God's word.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Now let me talk about you.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How are you to face whatever days you have left
on earth? You don't know when your time, when your
numbers pulled, when the phone call will come. But God
says this, He says that life we live life in
a broken world. Everything's broken on this planet because of sin.
The economy's broken, our bodies are broken, our relationships are broken.
(15:19):
Nothing's perfect on this planet except God's word, and he
says on a broken world, life is a daily battle.
Everybody agree with that life is a daily battle. Life
is tough. Sometimes life sucks. So God says, in this battle,
however many days you got left, You're gonna need spiritual
(15:41):
armor for protection. You're gonna need spiritual body armor to
protect your mind and your heart. What is spiritual body armor.
It's attitudes. It's the attitudes of your father in heaven
who loves you. It's faith, hope, and love. Those are
the body armors. And how do I get those? On
the over six thousand promises in God's word that he
(16:03):
wants you to trust those promises so you can face
your future with faith, hope and love. Now look at
this verse on the screen. We're getting to the end here. First,
that salone is five eight. We should wear faith and
love as a breastplate over our chest to protect us,
and hope as the salvation. The hope of salvation should
(16:25):
be our helmet. Now, the two most important things in
your body are your mind and your heart. You got
to have those all right now, what does a breastplate do?
It protects your heart? What does a helmet do? It
protects your mind and your thoughts? And you're supposed to
be protected with faith and love in your heart and
(16:48):
hope in your mind. Does that make sense? Faith and
love in your heart, love everybody, trust God, and hope
in your brain. But if you do, you don't know
God's promises. You're not anchored to the word. Friends, your
mind is unprotected. You're driving a Harley without a helmet,
(17:12):
and Satan could put any kind of negative ideas in
your mind. Now today, some of you, I'm sure, are
feeling that you're already in a storm and your ship's
about to come undone. Do you feel the way Paul
felt in Act twenty seven to twelve. Look at this
verse on the screen. He says, for many days he's
(17:32):
in the middle of a storm in the Mediterranean Ocean.
For many days we couldn't see either the sun or
the stars. Some of you are write that right now
you're in total darkness. I can't see the sun and
the day, I can't see the stars at night. I
am totally in the dark. I haven't any idea where
I'm headed we're just I'm just floating around in a
big black ocean, can't see any light.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I'm in total darkness.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And he says the storm would not let up. Many
of you are in that situation right now. The problem
you're in is relentless. It will not go away. It's relentless.
The storm would not let up. It's not like I'm
getting no relief from this problem in my life. You're there,
(18:20):
and it says it was so severe that we finally
began to just lose all hope of ever.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Coming out of it alive. Hope is the last thing
to go.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Later, in verse forty, a few verses down from that,
it says that they finally cut loose the anchors of
that ship and they began to drift.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Friends, That always happens when you're not anchored.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You just drift with no direction, and you're battered back
and forth by the winds and the waves of whatever
storm you're in. Drifting right now? Are you drifting right now?
You're not anchored anything. Some of you have been drifting
for weeks, some of you have been drifting for months.
(19:11):
Some of you have been drifting for years. Some of
you have been drifting your entire life because you have
never been anchored that something to something that is unchanging.
It is time to stop drifting. You need to anchor
yourself to the truth of the Creator, who gave you
the truth in his word, who made you, who loves you.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
And who sent Jesus to die for you. Now listen.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Filling your mind every day with God's word will give
you the faith and love to protect your heart and
give you the hope. You need to protect your mind
to defeat all those thoughts that defeat you. Thoughts of discouragement.
I feel like giving up. Thoughts of dread. I am
(19:58):
scared to death. Thoughts of disappointment. My heart is breaking.
Thoughts of depression. I can't go on another day. Thoughts
of despair. I'm thinking about giving up, maybe even taking
my life. You need faith, hope, and love from the
Word of God. Now you may be thinking right now, Rick,
(20:22):
you've been talking about this mission and all this stuff.
It's really interesting. But I'm in a shipwreck right now.
My ship has already come apart, and I'm holding on
to driftwood and I'm about to go under. And Rick,
I am just too wounded, too tired, and too weary.
And too worn out and too broken up and too
(20:45):
old or too young and too broken and busted for
God to use and to bless in a life mission.
I want you to listen to me, somebody who really
does love you and prays for you.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You are dead wrong. You're dead wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You need to start reading all the promises of God.
You need to start reading through the New Testament for
eight weeks. You need to read all the promises God
made you in this book. Tasha Leighton wrote a song
called Never, and I love this song because the Bible says,
I will never never never, never, never never never never
(21:28):
never leave you or forsake you.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
There's never been a moment in your life.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
God wasn't with you. You might not feel him. That's your problem.
He's there, he's close, He's never left you. And in
that song Never, there's a line where she says, there's never.
There's not a broken too broken for you talking to God.
There's not a broken too broken for you. It's time
(21:52):
to get healed and to get into your mission. I
want you to bow your heads right now as we pray,
and I'm going to pray for you, but I want
to pray. I want you to pray a prayer. If
you bow your heads, you don't have to close your eyes.
God knows what you're feeling, what you're thinking, He knows
every thought. You don't have to even pray this prayer aloud.
(22:13):
He knows you can say it in your mind. But
if you are tired of drifting, you're tired of having
no anchor, no stability, no ultimate security in your life,
you really need to get anchored today. That's why God
brought you here a thousand years before you were born.
(22:33):
He knew you'd be sitting in Saddleback Church so he
could say this to you.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
You matter to me.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You matter to me, and I want you in my family.
I've loved you all your life. I created you, and
I want you to learn to love me back. So
pray this simple Prayerly doesn't matter the words. It just
matters an attitude of humility that says God, I need you,
I need you. When you recognize your need and you
(23:00):
say I need a savior, I couldn't save myself, that's
all God needs. So pray this simple prayer. Say Dear God,
to say that in your mind. Dear Dear God, I
have been drifting too long. And I want to live
a life of hope anchored to your love and to
(23:23):
your promises and your word. Dear God, I want to
anchor my identity in what you say about me and
what everybody else has told me. God, I want to
anchor my life mission what I do with the rest
of my life in your purpose for me. And I
(23:45):
want to learn and study that. And God, I don't
know what's going to happen in my future. It's uncertain,
but I want to anchor my future in your promise
to resurrect me and take me into your home if
I trust you. So today I'm saying yes to your son,
(24:07):
Jesus Christ. I don't even understand how all he did
on the cross helps me. But Jesus, thank you for
loving me before I even knew it.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Thank you for dying before me, for even knew you.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I'm asking you to accept me into your family. I
humbly admit that I need a savior. I certainly can't
save myself. So today, as much as I know how,
I'm saying yes to you, and I humbly ask you
to save me in your name.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I pray, Amen.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Did you just pray with Pastor Rick to accept Jesus. Well,
if he did, congratulations, And if you email Rick at
Pastorick dot com and let us know that you prayed
that prayer, We're going to send you some free materials
to help you on your se spiritual journey. Okay, you
know people are being transformed by these messages every day,
but that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,
(25:09):
here's Rick to tell you how you can help support
this ministry.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Did you know that today there's still almost three thousand
groups of people around the world that have no Bible,
no believer in Christ, and no body of Christ, no church.
Over three thousand of those small tribes. One of the
reasons I started Daily Hope was to help bring this
awareness to the world and raise the funds to get
(25:35):
a Bible, a believer and a body of Christ in
these last three thousand tribes. I call it the final Frontier.
These people not only need to hear about the love
of Jesus, they need to grow up. They need to
be discipled in their faith. Now, I admit this is
a big vision, but it's an important vision. It's a
global vision, it's a timely vision. But every vision requires
(25:57):
provision and Honestly, we wouldn't be able to even go
after these tribes without your help. And that's why I
can't fully express how much I appreciate your support for
Daily Hope. When you give to this ministry, you're not
only supporting this broadcast, but you're supporting our efforts to
go to the final frontier, the final three thousand tribes
(26:20):
that have no Bible, no believer, and no body of Christ. Now,
the reason I'm telling you this is I'm excited to
share we have a generous couple who's offered a one
hundred thousand dollars matching grant gift to Daily Hope. What
does that mean? It means any gift you give between
now and the end of December will be doubled to
(26:41):
match that amount. So I want to ask you to
please prayerfectly consider how you could give today help us
reach the final frontier of these tribes that have never
heard the name of Christ in the coming year. Friends,
even if you can't help us financially, I want to
ask you to pray pray for us and pray these
(27:01):
specific prayer quests that I will faithfully teach God's word
in a way that blesses you and penetrates the hearts
of people who don't know Christ. Pray for the Daily
Hope team that God will encourage them as they create
all of our discipleship tools and materials which.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
We want you to have to help you. And most
of all, pray for these unreached tribes and groups of
people who've never heard the name of Jesus. I'm praying
for you during this Christmas season. Thank you so much
for your generosity, Thank you for your prayers, Thank you
for your support. You make it possible.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Today is the last day to have your gift matched
up to one hundred thousand dollars, so please don't wait.
You can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com.
Or you can just text the word hope to seven
oh three to ZHO nine Again, that's Pastorrick dot com.
Or just text the word hope to seven three nine
(28:01):
and thank you so much for your support. 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.
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