Daily Hope - Rick Warren

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher of the Daily
Hope Broadcast. Did you know that because of Easter, your
past can be forgiven, you get a purpose for living,
and you can have a home in heaven. That's good news.
Where else can you get that kind of news? Nowhere else?
And did you know that at Easter, studies have shown
people are more open to an invitation to go to
church than at any other time of the year. Don't

(00:22):
go to church by yourself, but bring somebody who doesn't
know Jesus Christ, a family member, a friend, a co worker,
a neighbor, a relative. And if you bring them to
that church service and they come to know Christ, You're
going to be making a friend for eternity. It'll be
the most important investment you can ever make in their lives.
And by the way, if they come to Christ, would

(00:43):
you let me know about it. I'd love to hear
that story that you brought somebody to Easter and they
found Jesus. You can write to me Rick at Pastorrick
dot com. That's rickat Pastorrick dot com. I would love
to hear from you. God bless you and Happy Easter.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily
Hope the audio broadcast Ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today
we bring rick series called the Seven Greatest Words of
Love to a close. There are seven words in particular
that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the Cross
that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships,

(01:27):
and even your career. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with
the final part of a message called the Word of trust.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
If you have a child in your family, and your
child loves you and grows up and learns to love you,
one day they get mad at you, they walk out
of the house by their own volition, they walk out
of house. They're still your child. They can't. Once you're born,
you can't be unborn. Once you're born again, you can't
be unborn again. You are safe. Does that make sense?

(01:58):
You are safe. You might lose the fellowship, and well,
there might be strained fellowship between this and we're not
talking to each other, but you're still my daughter, You're
still my son. And the Bible says that look at
this verse tewod John chapter one, verse seven eight, many deceivers.
There are people out there trying to mess everybody up.

(02:18):
All the time. Many deceivers who don't acknowledge Jesus as
coming in the flesh have gone out into the world.
So he said, you know, not everything you hear out
there's true. Watch out so that you don't lose what
you have worked for. Circle the phrase worked for watch
out that you don't lose what you have worked for, okay,

(02:40):
but that you will be fully rewarded. Now question, do
you work for your salvation? Huh no, So if you didn't,
this is not what he's talking about here. He's not
talking about salvation because you don't work for your salvation,
you don't earn it. We talked last week it was
all done for you. It's all that. That's the difference

(03:01):
between Christianity and every other religion. Every other religion is
due and they all have their list of dos and don'ts.
Christianity says, done has already been done for you on
the Cross by Jesus Christ. He did what we can't do.
So he's not talking about that. He's saying the rewards
that you're going to have in heaven. He could lose
some of those. Let me ask you, this one's very
personal to me. What about believers who commit suicide, okay,

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and in a moment take their own life. And the
answer is, if they were a true believer, they're going
to heaven. They're going to heaven. We'll say, isn't suicide
and unpardonable sin? The answer is no, it is not.
It is not. In fact, the Bible says there's only
one sin that is unforgivable, only one in the entire

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and it isn't suicide. By the way. In fact, some
of the greatest saints in history in the Bible were suicidal.
Some of them were very depressed and despair. Some wished
at low points if they'd never been born. David in
the Bible, Jeremiah in the Bible, Job and the Bible

(04:07):
also that I wish that I had never been born.
That's pretty depressed. And they were great believers. And there
were three people in the Bible actually asked God to
kill them, to take their lives. Moses asked God to
take his life. Elijah asked God to take his life.
Jonah asked God to take his life. That's pretty depressed.
And he said, God, just kill me, Just kill me.

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If you feel that much in despair, you feel that depressed,
do not carry it by yourself. It's not a sin
to be sick. It's not a sin to feel depressed.
The Bible says there's only one unforgivable sin, only one.
It's called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
What is blasphemy against Holy Spirit? It means rejecting God's

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grace and rejecting Christ all the way up to death.
It means to die rejecting Christ. So let me put
your mind at ease, because some of you think, have
I ever committed the unpardonable sin, the unforgivable sin? You
wonder about that? Okay? Number One, if you've ever worried
that you committed the sin, you haven't because if you had,

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you wouldn't worry about it. Okay. So if you worry
I've done the one unforgivable sin, you ain't done it.
For ends. Sorry. The fact that you're worried about it,
you're concerned about it, means you still have a conscience.
So if you've ever worried about it, you haven't done it.
Second thing is, if you're alive, you haven't committed the
sin because you can only commit it by dying rejecting Christ.

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So if you're alive. You cannot commit the sin. You
can only commit it by dying, saying forget you God,
and I croak and I die. Does that ease up
anybody's mind a little bit? Here? Okay, you can't you
can't do it without dying. Now. Number three, let's go
to the third great news. When I'm going through dark days,

(06:10):
I have a father in heaven who loves me. And
when I'm going through dark days, and remind myself that
I have a father in heaven who can be trusted.
He doesn't just love me. I can trust him with
every air of my life. And I shouldn't worry. I
should commit it and trust everything I'm worrying about to him.
Number three, my father is taking care of things I

(06:30):
can't see. This is the third thing we learned from
this passage, is that my father in heaven is taking
care of the things that I can't see. We only
see the physical things in life. We only see the
material things in life, but we know that there's a
lot of things going on in life we can't see.

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Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not real.
It's as real. It's what you see. You're what you
see is limited by your eyeball and your brain. We know,
for instance, right now there are radio waves and television
waves running through this building and actually going through your body.
You can't see them. But if you turn on a radio,

(07:13):
turn on a TV and tune in, you can get
the picture. They're they're in this air right now. There
are all kinds of radio and television waves going through
the air right now. You cannot see them. Just because
you cannot see them does not make them false. There's
far more to life than just the material. There's far
more to life than just the physical. In fact, the

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things that are gonna last are not material. All the
material stuff. This chair is not gonna last one day.
It'll fall apart because all material things, according to the
second law of thermodynamics, deteriorate. This building will one day deteriate,
the trees will deteriorate, and your body is deteriorating. Hate
to tell you that, but the physical is not getting better.

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Anybody want to give a testimony of that right now?
The physical, the spiritual is actually more real, and God
is taking care of the things that you can't see.
So when you're in your dark days, you can't see
the solution When you're in the dark. You can't see

(08:18):
the antidote, you can't see the solution, the problem that's solved.
And while you're waiting, God is working. And what you
need to do is trust. While you're waiting for that job,
while you're waiting for that answer to prayer, while you're
waiting for that change. While you're waiting, God is working.

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And that's why you need to trust. I entrust my
spirit circle that word my spirit, that implies that you're
far more than a body, and of course you are.
Life is far more than a material or physical You're
made in the image of God, which means you have
a spirit, you have a soul. One of my friends
is a brilliant businessman. His name is Peter Teal. He's

(09:04):
a good friend, and some of you know who Peter
Teal is. He's an entrepreneur's up in the Silicon Valley.
He started PayPal, became a billionaire starting PayPal. And one
day I was that one of his intellectual confabs called
the Dialogue. It's upheld at Sundance in Utah, and as
all these brainy axes, you know, nuclear physicists and stuff

(09:27):
like that, and we were in a discussion one day
and Peter Teal asked me. He said, Rick, with the
advent of it, artificial intelligence, which we know is getting
smarter and smarter and smarter, He said, Rick, are is
artificial intelligence ever going to need faith and religion? That's
a legitimate question. And the answer to that, of course

(09:50):
is no. Now, if all you were was simply an intellect,
we know that we can create machines right now that
are smarter than you, or meat. In certain things, we
human beings can create meat machines that are smarter than us.
But you're far more than intelligence. Human being, yes, has
an intellect, but you have far more than just intelligence.

(10:12):
You have spirit. You have a soul. And while we
can and create greater intelligence, we can't create a soul.
And so it's a question that's not needed now. The
Bible says that here on earth there's an unseen battle
going on for your soul between good and evil. Let
me give you a couple examples where you have to trust.

(10:32):
Job says it like this, when he talking about God,
when he is at worked in the north, I don't
see him. And when he eat God turns to the south,
I catch no glimpse of In other words, I don't
see God with my physical eyes, but he says he
God knows the way that I take, and when he

(10:54):
has tested me, I will come forth as gold. That
dark spot you're in right now, this is a test.
And although you cannot see God, he can see you,
and God can see what you cannot see, and you
can trust God that he loves you, that he cares
for you, that he can be trusted, and that he's

(11:16):
taking care of the things that you cannot see. Paul
says the same thing second Corinthians four. Our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us in eternal glory that
far outweighs them all. So he says, we fix what
is by the way, What does that part mean. He's

(11:38):
saying that the problems you're going through right now, God's
purpose is greater than the problem you're going through, and
what you need to do is get your eye on
God's purpose rather than your problem. That's what it means, Father,
I entrust myself to your care. Our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us in eternal glory, a greater
purpose that far out weighs them all. So he says,

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here's the solution. We fix our eyes not on what
is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. One
last thing you need to remember when you're going through
dark days. These are all four important, and the fourth
one is this. My father can handle anything I put

(12:23):
in his hands. My father can handle anything I put
in his hands. He loves me, he's trustworthy. He's taken
care of things I can't see, and he can handle
anything I put in his hands. That's the last part
of the phrase father. He's a loving father. I entrust

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he's trustworthy. My spirit. He handles the stuff that we
the spiritual stuff we can't even see in the spiritual world.
I entrust it into your hands. This phrase into your
hands is a beautiful expression of care and security. He's
a well known TV commercial. You're in good hands with

(13:06):
all State. Yeah, right, okay, good for you. What in
the world does that mean? What they are implying is
our insurance company will take care of you. You're in
good hands with all States. You know, my I have
big hands because my dad had big hands, and my
dad was a carpenter. And when my dad swung a
hammer and he built all of his life. The hammer

(13:29):
seemed small in his hand. He has such a giant hand,
and I got big hands as a results. But my
heavenly Father has even bigger hands, even bigger hands. He's
got the whole world in his hands. Somebody should write
a song about that. Really, I mean, that's how big

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his hands are. When can I got married? One of
the first Bible studies she did was called the hand
of the Lord. And she told me that she discovered
over two hundred times in the Bible the phrase the
hand of the Lord is used. So I just end
with this, and you can write this down real quickly.
How big is God's hands? How big are they? How
big are his hands? We'll write these down. Number one,

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God's hands are big enough to bless me. God's hands
are big enough to bless me. Jesus often put his
hands on people to bless them. In Isaiah sixty two,
it says, the Lord will hold you in his hands
for all to see, a splendid crown in the hands
of God. They're big enough to bless me. Number two,

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God's hands are big enough. They're strong enough to keep
me eternally secure. God's hands are strong enough to keep
me internally secure. If I put my life in that
lock box, in that safety deposit box, it ain't going anywhere.
Jesus said it like this very important verse. Follow me

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on it, John ten. Jesus says, I give them that's you,
each eternal life, and they will never circle the word never,
never perish. My Father has given them to me, and
He's greater than all, and no one can snatch them
out of my Father's hands. You cannot lose your salvation

(15:19):
once I've been given to you. Nobody can snatch you
out of God's hand. Even Satan can't snatch you out
of God's hands. You say, well, you can't be snatched
out of God's hands. Maybe you could jump out on
your own. How big do you think God's hand is?
You think you can get to the edge of it
and then fall off. No, God's hands so big, and
you're in God's hands, there's no way you can fall

(15:40):
out of it. When my kids were little, I'd get
in the pool and Amy and Josh and Matthew line
up on the side and I'd say, jump to me,
jump into my hands, trust me, I'll catch you. And
they were always scared to death. To do it. They

(16:00):
just got don't want to do it, old daddy. Daddy
jumped me. I'll catch you. I'll catch you in my hands.
Look I can handle it all right. And they were
just afraid to jump into my hands. But then finally
they do it. And when they jump into my hands,
of course I catch them. And then they want to

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do it one hundred more times, because once you've jumped
into your father's hands, that's flat out fun, and you
want to do it again and again and again. Once
you've learned how to trust God with your life, you
get addicted to it and you want to do it

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over and over and over, and you want to trust
God for bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and
bigger thing. And that is the story of my life
because as a little boy, I jumped into my heavenly
father's hands and he caught me. And at that point
I hain't you I can trust God, And so I

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start jumping further and further back, further and further back,
and then jumping off cliffs, and every time he has
caught me, and I'm addicted to it. It's flat out fun.
Trusting God, trusting the loving hands his hands are big
enough to bless me and strong enough to keep me

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eternally secure. And I want to just tell you today,
this God, your having a father, is waiting for you
to jump. He's standing in the pool, going, come on,
I love you, You can trust me. I'm accountable. You can
count on my faithfulness, and I'm big enough to handle you.

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Jump into my hands. You need to do that, and
you need to start doing it all the time. There's
a third thing you need to know about the hands
of God. It's this. His hands are scarred. Yes, the
hands of Jesus are scarred with the nail prints, so
that he cannot forget me. Do you know that in
heaven you're gonna have a perfect body. There will be

(18:08):
no scars in heaven. Aren't you grateful for that? No
flaws on your body in heaven. No warts, no pimples,
no scars none. The only scars that will be on
anybody in heaven will be on Jesus, from his hands
and his head, and his side and his feet. And
they're going to be their for eternity, to always be

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reminders of us of what he cost, what it cost
him to pay for our salvation. The Bible says this
Isaiah forty nine. Can a mother forget the baby at
her breast and have no compassion on the child she
is born? He obviously answers, of course, not nursing mother
could not forget her baby. Though she may forget he says,

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I'm not. God says, I'm not going to forget you.
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
When you look at the nail prints of the cross,
Jesus says, this is how much I love you. This
is how much I love you. I love you this much.
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
God has a tattoo of you. You get a tattoo

(19:15):
of people you love. God has a tattoo of you.
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands
when they were nailed to the cross. Now, I don't
know what you're going through, but I advise you to
do this. Last verse, Paul says this, I think you
ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard times that
we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and

(19:37):
we were overwhelmed, and we feared that we would never
live through it. Some of you feel that way right now,
and we felt we were doomed to die, and we
saw how powerless we were. But here's the big change.
But that was good. You know, the problems are going through,
those are good. Why for then we put everything into

(20:00):
the hands of God, who alone could save us, for
he can even raise the dead. Give it to God,
commit it, deposit it in the safety deposit box. And
I mentioned earlier that Jesus was coding Psalm thirty one,
the greatest psalm. And I mentioned that probably Mary probably

(20:20):
taught that Jesus cycle. Now I lay me down to sleep.
You know, when I was a little, a little little boy,
when i'd get scared at nighttime, I'd go in and
i'd fall asleep on my parents' bed. I'd actually tried
to get between them, and I'd try to fall asleep
between my parents and because I was felt safe there,

(20:45):
And after i'd fall asleep, my Daddy would pick me
up in his strong arms and his big hands, and
he would carry me back to my bed. After I'd
fallen asleep, and in the morning I would wake up
and something amazing would happen. I would be awake in
my own bed. Why because while I was sleeping, my

(21:13):
father would carry me with loving arms to where I belonged.
And I've thought about that a lot, as that is
a perfect picture of what it means to die as
a believer in Jesus Christ. One day you will go

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to sleep and your heavenly Father will pick you up
in his loving arms and he will take you to
where you belong for eternity. And that's what heaven is
all about. Friends. I know this has been a long message,

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but this is a theme that you need the rest
of your life. It's not something just to say when
you're dying, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.
It's something to say every single day of your life.
When you are fearful, Father, I entrust my spirit into

(22:20):
your hands. When you're angry, Father, I entrust my spirit
into your hands. When you're worried, Father, I entrust my
spirit into your hands. When you're depressed, Father, I trust
my spirit into your hands. When you're confused, Father, I
trust my spirit into your hands. When you're in despair
and you don't know which way to go, Father, I

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entrust my spirit into your hands. When you have a
big decision, Father, I trust my spirit into your hands.
You need to use this theme every day. The rest
of your life. Let's pray. If you've never said it
the first time, you need to say it right now,
just like me saying to the little kids in my family, jump,

(23:04):
Daddy will catch you. You need to jump into the
arms of a father who loves you, who is trustworthy,
who is handling the stuff that you can't see, and
can handle anything you put into his hands. So I
invite you to pray a one sentence prayer this weekend.

(23:25):
Say Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but with
all that I am, in simple humility, I say to you,
I entrust my life into your hands. Everything in your name.
I pray. Amen.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept
Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you.
Just email Rick at pass com. And now here's Rick
to tell you about a resource that he created to
help you in your walk with Jesus.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
You know, as we close today, I just want to
say thank you for joining me in today's broadcast. I
want to encourage you in another way through my free
daily hope devotionals. Are you getting those? These Daily hope
devotionals are a summarization of many of the things that
I teach on the broadcast. All you gotta do is
just go to my website and you can sign up

(24:29):
for the daily devotionals. They're free. They'll be delivered free
to your inbox seven days a week. And I want
to help you in this other way. It's another way
of reinforcing your spiritual growth.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Just go to Dailyhope Radio dot com and sign up
for this free Daily Hope devotional. 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