July 27, 2025 • 24 mins
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, I have a question for you. Are you struggling
to stand firm in your faith, push through tough times,
or make a difficult decision. Well, You're in the right
place because today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we continue
in a powerful series called Uncommon Courage. And in this
(00:22):
series you'll discover how to stand boldly for the truth,
persevere through challenges, and step out in faith. Please don't
miss a single day of Daily Hope because the courage
you need starts with God. And now again, here's Pastor
Rick with the final part of a message called standing
(00:43):
Courageously for the Truth.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Where do you need to stand for truth today? Let
me mention three very controversial areas. Number one where you're
going to need courage today to speak up and stand
up for the truth. Number one is the sanctity of life.
And the sanctity of life is this. God has a
purpose for every unborn baby. God has a purpose for
(01:09):
every unborn child. Now think about this. God planned your
life before you were born. In fact, God planned your
life before your parents was born. In fact, the Bible
tells us this is the Christian worldview that before God
created the universe, he thought of you. Now there are
(01:34):
accidental parents, but there are no accidental babies. There are
illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate babies. You may
not have planned that child, or God that your parents
may not have planned you, but God planned you. And
God is bigger than human mistakes. In fact, God is
(01:57):
bigger than human sin. In fact, God already he knows
every sin. I'm going to do it, and he goes,
I'll fit that into the plan too. He doesn't cause sin,
but God is so big he could say, I can
even take your mistakes and make it part of the plan.
And so God takes even the mistakes we make it.
He says, I've got a bigger plan than you have,
So just trust me on this. Psalmone thirty nine says this,
(02:22):
you Lord made all the delicate inner parts in my body.
In other words, God says, this is in an accident.
God designed the way you would look, and you knit
me together in my mother's womb. God is taking responsibility
for your conception and your development. He says, your workmanship
(02:43):
is marvelous. You watched me as I was being formed
in utter seclusion, in the dark of the womb. Did
you know that God was watching every moment of your
development when you were still inside your mother. That's how
much God loves you. That's how much God cares about you.
(03:05):
God says, I was watching every second of your development
from the point of conception on. In fact, I had
you in my mind before your parents conceived you. I
conceived you, I thought you up. You wouldn't exist if
God didn't want you alive. And he says, I watched
every moment in your mother's womb. You saw me before
(03:30):
I was born. Every day of my life was recorded
in your book, and every moment was laid out before
a single day had passed. Friends, it's not a fetus,
it's a person. It's you. And God says that is
a person with a purpose. Now in the Book of Proverbs,
(03:52):
the Bible says that we responsible people are to speak
up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, and
that cannot speak up for themselves more than anybody else
or the unborn. God says, you are to speak up
for the sanctity of life. And as a Christian, if
I claim to be a Christian, then I must believe
(04:13):
that every single life is sacred. It doesn't matter if
they have mental retardation. It doesn't matter if they're severely deformed.
Every life is precious. God gave them them their life.
He'll know when he wants to take them home. God
is God, and I'm not. That's not a popular opinion,
but it's the truth. And if you're going to courageously
(04:35):
stand for the truth, you have to believe in the
sanctity of life. Don't call yourself a Christian because that's
what Jesus taught, that's what you Every life is valuable
from the moment that God planned you, which was before
you even popped out of your mom Now the next
one's even more controversial, and it is the sanctity of
(04:59):
set is part of the Christian worldview. And the sanctity
of sex is this sex. It's real simple, is only
for marriage. I don't like that one. I don't like that. Well,
I may not like it. It's not my opinion. It's
in the owner's manual. Now, let's just remember who thought
(05:22):
up sex. It was God's idea. What a God, I mean,
what a god? God could have made sex. God could
have made reproduction with no pleasure attached to it. God
created those nerve endings. It was God's idea and He
created it to bond a husband and wife together. When
(05:43):
a man and woman have sex together, it releases oxytocin
in both of them. That oxytocin is the bonding chemical
that binds a husband and wife together. It brings emotional commitment.
When a woman nurses a baby, it releases oxytocin in
both the mom and in the baby. It is a
bonding agent. That's why there's no such thing as casual sex,
(06:07):
because when you ask casual sex, it releases oxytocin in you,
which is a bonding element. Whether you like it or not,
there's a bonding thing. That's why people get hurt, why
people get broken hearts, when people are cheated on. It
bothers them. Why because it's not just physical. That's nonsense.
It's not just physical. It's emotional and it's spiritual. You see,
sex isn't bad, Sex isn't dirty, Sex isn't wrong. Sex
(06:32):
is holy. And the sanctity of sex is that God
designed it for the creation of all of us and
to bring husbands and wives together and to be a
model of the union between Christ and the Church. And
I don't have time to go into all the spiritual
implications of sex, But let me tell you they're about
that long. It's not just physical. Now. The Bible says
(06:59):
this Hebrews thirteen, verse four. Marriage should be honored by all.
Whether you ever get married or not, you need to
speak well of marriage. Marriage should be honored by all,
Even single people should honor it, and the marriage bed
kept pure, for God will judge the adulter and all
(07:22):
the sexually immoral. Now this isn't popular, but let me
just be clear about it. God's instructions have never changed.
Pre marital sex. It's unacceptable to God. It always has been,
it always will be living together without getting married, and
(07:43):
the commitment of marriage and the blessing of God is
unacceptable to God, always has been, it always will be.
Adultery is unacceptable to God. It always has been, it
always will be. Pornography and the objectification of a woman's
body is unacceptable to God. It always has been, it
(08:07):
always will be. I want you to listen to this.
Attraction is not a sin. Action is a sin. You
can't control all your attractions, but you can control all
your actions. I noticed that when I married Kay thirty
seven years ago, I still found other women attractive. Big shock,
(08:32):
But I've never acted on him, and Kay Warren is
the only woman I've ever known. Attraction is not a sin.
Action is a sin. Have I been attracted other women?
Of course? I'm a man. I mean a real man.
(08:52):
I mean a manly man. Okay, uh huncle verning love man. Okay,
I mean just Have I been attracted to other women
and besides my wife? Of course I have, but I
don't act on it. Have I ever gotten mad and
had an impulse to slug some in the face, Yes,
but I don't act on it. Not everything that I
(09:14):
feel like doing, I do. You know, I noticed when
we started this Daniel plan that when I started trying
to get healthy, I was still attracted to the bad
stuff that wasn't good for me. Well, I was expecting
all those attractions ago. They didn't. Let me tell you, you know,
(09:38):
whatever attractions you got about anything, you're going to have
in the rest of your life. Now, if you're guilty
of any of these sins, saddle back to your church,
because we're all forgiven sinners. Okay, we are all forgiven sinners,
all right, So welcome to the club. Welcome to the club.
You can find forgiveness here. There is the sanctity of
(09:59):
w there's the sanctity of sex. And the third one,
This one's most controversy of all. Right now, it is
the sanctity of marriage. And the Bible is very clear
about marriage. One man and one woman for life. That
is God's intended original design. He even made the body
(10:22):
parts to fit together, and they have a purpose in
fitting together. One man and one moment for life. That's
God's intended design. He said, for Rick, what about all
the polygamy in the Bible. I mean there were guys
in the Bible had multiple wives. Listen very closely to me.
I talked about this in forty days in the word
Bible interpretation. Not everything the Bible reports the Bible approves.
(10:49):
Not everything reported in the Bible is affirmed in the
Bible by God. If you take this book and you say,
holy Bible, it's amazing as holy. It's harder to find
a book that's got more violence, more incest, rape, molestation, murder, jealousy, greed, violence.
(11:11):
Why do we call it the Holy Bible? Because this
one tells the truth. If this were a human book,
it wouldn't tell all the worts and flaws of the heroes.
It just give biographies about all their good things they did,
their great exploits. But the Bible, when it talks about
Abraham and Moses and Davy, it tells us all their weakness. Says, well,
you know what, they blew it just as much as
(11:33):
we do. They make as many mistakes, their families were
as messed up as ours are, and they had met
as many problems and addictions as everybody else. It tells
the truth. The Bible gives the examples that there's example
of Scripture where people had slaves, and yet the Bible
is clearly against slavery, well all the way back in
the very first books of the Bible. And then Jesus
(11:55):
repeated to them and says, I came to abolish, to
eliminate slavery, to release you rest. And so just because
you read something in the Bible of violence, or some
sexual deviation or something else, doesn't mean the Bible approves it.
It's just reporting the brokenness of humanity. Now here's what
(12:16):
God says about marriage, Matthew nineteen. Jesus said, from the beginning,
in other words, from the very beginning of creation, the
Creator made male and female. This is the reason a
man is to leave his father and mother and be
united to his wife, and the two become one flesh, physically, spiritually, emotionally,
(12:44):
and they are no longer two but one. And therefore
what God has joined together, let no one separate. You know,
there are many issues in life where people have goodwill
can disagree. There's no health care plan in the Bible,
(13:05):
so people of Christians can disagree on that. There's no
defense plan in the Bible. So Christians can disagree on that.
There's no economic recovery plan in the Bible. So Christians
can disagree on this. But on the sanctity of life,
and the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of sex,
these are non negotiable. If you call yourself a Christian,
you need to line up with what God says is
(13:28):
the original intent of all three of these things. And
you not only need that, you need to have the
courage to stand for it. These are clear and they're
non negotiable. You say, who says, God says, not me.
God says, Now, let's close, and let me give you
some up. How to live with courage? How do I
(13:48):
live with uncommon courage? There are two things you need
to do to live with uncommon courage. All right. Number one,
I need to accept God. God's word as my authority.
I need to accept God's word as my authority. Why
Because it's the only source that will never lie to you.
(14:12):
It will always tell you the truth, even when I
don't like it. It tells me the truth. The truth
will set you free. It makes you miserable, but it
eventually makes such free me. I don't. I mean, as
soon as I rick you're stuck up, I don't want
to hear that. But if I need to be humble,
I need to hear somebody say you're stuck up first. Okay,
(14:35):
So first, the truth makes you miserable, then it sets
you free. Okay, some of you are miserable right now,
just admit it. Okay, all right, here's the point. If
you're gonna have courage in life, you're gonna be a
person of courage, a woman of courage. You're gonna be
a man of courage. You need to build your life
on a rock that never changes. If you build your
(14:57):
life on the opinions of others, on popular opinion, you're
going to frequently have the ground pulled out from underneath you.
That gives you no stability and no courage. But if
you build your life on God said it, I believe it.
That settles it. Then you're going to build your life
(15:18):
on the word of God. God said it, I believe it,
whether I understand it or not. Hebrews six, verse eighteen.
God has given us both his promise and his oath.
Now God says, I'm keeping my oath. And these two
things are unchangeable. See, truth never changes. These two things
(15:38):
are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.
God will never lie to you. That's why you need
to hear what he says about marriage and sex and
these other things. Therefore, we who have fled to Him
for refuge can take new courage. Circle the word courage,
for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.
(15:58):
Where do I get courage by building my life on truth?
That doesn't change? Again, you will build your life either
on the world or the Word. You're gonna build your
life on what the world says, what's popular, what's politically correct,
or you're gonna build your life on the word. Now,
a lot of things, when you say stuff it's unpopular,
(16:18):
you say reck. Why do you say stuff that's unpopular
because I fear God's disapproval more than yours. I only
got to live with you for sixty eighty years, but
I'm going to be an eternity for heaven, and I
don't want to be ashamed and embarrassed that I whimped
out and I denied Christ. I have been in the
hot seat more than any of you, I'm sure on
(16:41):
a public level, because as I'm on these interview things
like Larry King and The Today Show and Good Morning
America and Oprah Winfrey, and they'll ask me questions about
these controversial issues. I want to be like you. I
wanted people to like me, and every bone in my
body wants to come compromise and not say the truth.
(17:02):
But I fear God's disapproval more than I do public disapproval.
So I'm gonna tell the truth. Second thing, You're gonna
like this one? How do I develop more courage? Spend
personal time with Jesus. The more time you spend with Jesus,
(17:26):
the less you're gonna be intimidated by the opinions of others.
And the more time you spend with Jesus, the less
other people's disagreements are gonna matter to you. Acts four
thirteen when they saw the courage of Peter and John.
These were uncommonly courageous men. This is the city council
(17:50):
who said, we're gonna kill you, We're gonna threaten you,
We're gonna put you in jail if you keep talking
about Jesus. When they saw the courage of Peter and John,
and they could see that they were unschooled, old ordinary men.
None of the disciples had advanced degrees. They didn't have PhDs,
they didn't have college degrees, they didn't high school, they
didn't have grade school degrees. These were just common fishermen.
(18:11):
They said, how can these people who are uneducated, but
they have such enormous courage, It says they were astonished,
and they took note that these men had been with
Jesus circle that ben with Jesus. The more time you
spend with Jesus, the more courage you're gonna have. And
(18:31):
when you spend time with Jesus, you pray and you
talk to him. And in Acts four thirty one, after
they had prayed, they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
and they spoke God's word without fear. I love it.
They amplified, says they spoke God's Word with freedom and
boldness and courage. Now, what I've talked to you about
(18:52):
this weekend isn't easy. Standing courageously in an unpopular opinion
is not easy to do, but the rewards of it
are enormous. The rewards of standing courageously for the truth
will last forever and ever and ever and ever and
ever and ever and ever, and not millions, but trillions
(19:14):
of years. The last verse on your outline says this,
do not lose your courage because it brings a great reward.
That reward is far greater than any disapproval you might
have to put up with. Let's bow our heads, Father,
(19:34):
I look out on our church family and I see
people that I love, and I want them to be
uncommonly courageous. I want them to be people of the Word,
not people of the word world who've built their lives
on truth, not on popular opinion. Now you pray God.
(19:58):
I want to be a person of courage. I want
to be a man of courage. I want to be
a woman of courage. I don't want to back down,
wimp out. I don't want to deny you. I don't
want other people to control what I say or think,
and I want to build my life on a biblical
God's worldview truth. So I make these two commitments today. First,
(20:25):
Jesus Christ, I accept your word as my authority. If
you say it, I believe it. That settles it, whether
I understand it or not. And you will be my
number one authority, your word. And Second, Lord, I want
(20:46):
to spend time with you every day. I want to
get to know you Jesus on a personal basis. I
want to be able to walk into a store or
into a business and be so full of joy and
so full of confidence that people go that guy's been
with Jesus. I want people to notice it in my countenance,
(21:06):
in my face, in my life, not that I'm super educated,
not that I'm super wealthy, not that I'm super beautiful.
I want them to notice that I've been with Jesus,
that I have been with you. I ask you to
help me to be fearless for the truth in your name.
(21:30):
I pray Amen.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
You know your prayers and financial support are having a
huge impact on millions of people here and around the world.
So thank you, Thank you so much. And now Rick's
going to share a letter from one of our listeners
who says Daily Hope is making a real difference in
their life.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Hi, everybody, this is pastor Rick. Because of the generous
support of many of you Daily Hope listeners, we're able
to offer Daily Hope devotionals for free worldwide. In fact,
today I have a note from Paul in Kenya that
shows how God is at work through the Daily Hope devotionals.
(22:15):
Paul wrote me. He said, I'd like to sincerely thank
you for the free gift of your Daily Hope devotionals.
May God receive all the glory. For some time now,
You're inspiring and encouraging messages, along with scripture references, have
helped me push through some really tough times and get
closer to God. However, Paul writes, the best part is
(22:37):
that my faith in God has now grown to the
point that He recently gave me the strength and wisdom
to accept His free, undeserved gift of grace and salvation.
By accepting and confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,
I feel like a new being, and I yearn to
keep growing more and more in God's word and in wisdom,
(22:58):
surrendering my life to His will alone. So please hold
my hand in this journey to the glory and honor
of God through Christ Jesus. Paul, without a doubt, I
will hold your hand as you journey with Jesus. There
is no greater decision that you could have made than
believing and receiving Jesus Christ. So congratulations, you're my brother
(23:23):
in Christ, and I want to encourage you to be
on the lookout every day to see how God guides you,
how God directs you. It's an exciting journey. And by
the way, keep studying His word every day. Get a
Bible and read it every day. I'm so thankful that
Daily Hope devotional is helping you to do just that.
The Daily Hope devotional is helping so many people like
(23:45):
Paul grow closer to God. So if you're not getting it,
I really want to encourage you to take the time
to go to Dailyhope Radio dot com and sign up
today to get these daily devotionals. They're free.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Sure to join us next time when we look into
God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored
by Pastoris's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
Hey, I have a question for you. Are you struggling
to stand firm in your faith, push through tough times,
or make a difficult decision. Well, You're in the right
place because today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we continue
in a powerful series called Uncommon Courage. And in this
(00:22):
series you'll discover how to stand boldly for the truth,
persevere through challenges, and step out in faith. Please don't
miss a single day of Daily Hope because the courage
you need starts with God. And now again, here's Pastor
Rick with the final part of a message called standing
(00:43):
Courageously for the Truth.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Where do you need to stand for truth today? Let
me mention three very controversial areas. Number one where you're
going to need courage today to speak up and stand
up for the truth. Number one is the sanctity of life.
And the sanctity of life is this. God has a
purpose for every unborn baby. God has a purpose for
(01:09):
every unborn child. Now think about this. God planned your
life before you were born. In fact, God planned your
life before your parents was born. In fact, the Bible
tells us this is the Christian worldview that before God
created the universe, he thought of you. Now there are
(01:34):
accidental parents, but there are no accidental babies. There are
illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate babies. You may
not have planned that child, or God that your parents
may not have planned you, but God planned you. And
God is bigger than human mistakes. In fact, God is
(01:57):
bigger than human sin. In fact, God already he knows
every sin. I'm going to do it, and he goes,
I'll fit that into the plan too. He doesn't cause sin,
but God is so big he could say, I can
even take your mistakes and make it part of the plan.
And so God takes even the mistakes we make it.
He says, I've got a bigger plan than you have,
So just trust me on this. Psalmone thirty nine says this,
(02:22):
you Lord made all the delicate inner parts in my body.
In other words, God says, this is in an accident.
God designed the way you would look, and you knit
me together in my mother's womb. God is taking responsibility
for your conception and your development. He says, your workmanship
(02:43):
is marvelous. You watched me as I was being formed
in utter seclusion, in the dark of the womb. Did
you know that God was watching every moment of your
development when you were still inside your mother. That's how
much God loves you. That's how much God cares about you.
(03:05):
God says, I was watching every second of your development
from the point of conception on. In fact, I had
you in my mind before your parents conceived you. I
conceived you, I thought you up. You wouldn't exist if
God didn't want you alive. And he says, I watched
every moment in your mother's womb. You saw me before
(03:30):
I was born. Every day of my life was recorded
in your book, and every moment was laid out before
a single day had passed. Friends, it's not a fetus,
it's a person. It's you. And God says that is
a person with a purpose. Now in the Book of Proverbs,
(03:52):
the Bible says that we responsible people are to speak
up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, and
that cannot speak up for themselves more than anybody else
or the unborn. God says, you are to speak up
for the sanctity of life. And as a Christian, if
I claim to be a Christian, then I must believe
(04:13):
that every single life is sacred. It doesn't matter if
they have mental retardation. It doesn't matter if they're severely deformed.
Every life is precious. God gave them them their life.
He'll know when he wants to take them home. God
is God, and I'm not. That's not a popular opinion,
but it's the truth. And if you're going to courageously
(04:35):
stand for the truth, you have to believe in the
sanctity of life. Don't call yourself a Christian because that's
what Jesus taught, that's what you Every life is valuable
from the moment that God planned you, which was before
you even popped out of your mom Now the next
one's even more controversial, and it is the sanctity of
(04:59):
set is part of the Christian worldview. And the sanctity
of sex is this sex. It's real simple, is only
for marriage. I don't like that one. I don't like that. Well,
I may not like it. It's not my opinion. It's
in the owner's manual. Now, let's just remember who thought
(05:22):
up sex. It was God's idea. What a God, I mean,
what a god? God could have made sex. God could
have made reproduction with no pleasure attached to it. God
created those nerve endings. It was God's idea and He
created it to bond a husband and wife together. When
(05:43):
a man and woman have sex together, it releases oxytocin
in both of them. That oxytocin is the bonding chemical
that binds a husband and wife together. It brings emotional commitment.
When a woman nurses a baby, it releases oxytocin in
both the mom and in the baby. It is a
bonding agent. That's why there's no such thing as casual sex,
(06:07):
because when you ask casual sex, it releases oxytocin in you,
which is a bonding element. Whether you like it or not,
there's a bonding thing. That's why people get hurt, why
people get broken hearts, when people are cheated on. It
bothers them. Why because it's not just physical. That's nonsense.
It's not just physical. It's emotional and it's spiritual. You see,
sex isn't bad, Sex isn't dirty, Sex isn't wrong. Sex
(06:32):
is holy. And the sanctity of sex is that God
designed it for the creation of all of us and
to bring husbands and wives together and to be a
model of the union between Christ and the Church. And
I don't have time to go into all the spiritual
implications of sex, But let me tell you they're about
that long. It's not just physical. Now. The Bible says
(06:59):
this Hebrews thirteen, verse four. Marriage should be honored by all.
Whether you ever get married or not, you need to
speak well of marriage. Marriage should be honored by all,
Even single people should honor it, and the marriage bed
kept pure, for God will judge the adulter and all
(07:22):
the sexually immoral. Now this isn't popular, but let me
just be clear about it. God's instructions have never changed.
Pre marital sex. It's unacceptable to God. It always has been,
it always will be living together without getting married, and
(07:43):
the commitment of marriage and the blessing of God is
unacceptable to God, always has been, it always will be.
Adultery is unacceptable to God. It always has been, it
always will be. Pornography and the objectification of a woman's
body is unacceptable to God. It always has been, it
(08:07):
always will be. I want you to listen to this.
Attraction is not a sin. Action is a sin. You
can't control all your attractions, but you can control all
your actions. I noticed that when I married Kay thirty
seven years ago, I still found other women attractive. Big shock,
(08:32):
But I've never acted on him, and Kay Warren is
the only woman I've ever known. Attraction is not a sin.
Action is a sin. Have I been attracted other women?
Of course? I'm a man. I mean a real man.
(08:52):
I mean a manly man. Okay, uh huncle verning love man. Okay,
I mean just Have I been attracted to other women
and besides my wife? Of course I have, but I
don't act on it. Have I ever gotten mad and
had an impulse to slug some in the face, Yes,
but I don't act on it. Not everything that I
(09:14):
feel like doing, I do. You know, I noticed when
we started this Daniel plan that when I started trying
to get healthy, I was still attracted to the bad
stuff that wasn't good for me. Well, I was expecting
all those attractions ago. They didn't. Let me tell you, you know,
(09:38):
whatever attractions you got about anything, you're going to have
in the rest of your life. Now, if you're guilty
of any of these sins, saddle back to your church,
because we're all forgiven sinners. Okay, we are all forgiven sinners,
all right, So welcome to the club. Welcome to the club.
You can find forgiveness here. There is the sanctity of
(09:59):
w there's the sanctity of sex. And the third one,
This one's most controversy of all. Right now, it is
the sanctity of marriage. And the Bible is very clear
about marriage. One man and one woman for life. That
is God's intended original design. He even made the body
(10:22):
parts to fit together, and they have a purpose in
fitting together. One man and one moment for life. That's
God's intended design. He said, for Rick, what about all
the polygamy in the Bible. I mean there were guys
in the Bible had multiple wives. Listen very closely to me.
I talked about this in forty days in the word
Bible interpretation. Not everything the Bible reports the Bible approves.
(10:49):
Not everything reported in the Bible is affirmed in the
Bible by God. If you take this book and you say,
holy Bible, it's amazing as holy. It's harder to find
a book that's got more violence, more incest, rape, molestation, murder, jealousy, greed, violence.
(11:11):
Why do we call it the Holy Bible? Because this
one tells the truth. If this were a human book,
it wouldn't tell all the worts and flaws of the heroes.
It just give biographies about all their good things they did,
their great exploits. But the Bible, when it talks about
Abraham and Moses and Davy, it tells us all their weakness. Says, well,
you know what, they blew it just as much as
(11:33):
we do. They make as many mistakes, their families were
as messed up as ours are, and they had met
as many problems and addictions as everybody else. It tells
the truth. The Bible gives the examples that there's example
of Scripture where people had slaves, and yet the Bible
is clearly against slavery, well all the way back in
the very first books of the Bible. And then Jesus
(11:55):
repeated to them and says, I came to abolish, to
eliminate slavery, to release you rest. And so just because
you read something in the Bible of violence, or some
sexual deviation or something else, doesn't mean the Bible approves it.
It's just reporting the brokenness of humanity. Now here's what
(12:16):
God says about marriage, Matthew nineteen. Jesus said, from the beginning,
in other words, from the very beginning of creation, the
Creator made male and female. This is the reason a
man is to leave his father and mother and be
united to his wife, and the two become one flesh, physically, spiritually, emotionally,
(12:44):
and they are no longer two but one. And therefore
what God has joined together, let no one separate. You know,
there are many issues in life where people have goodwill
can disagree. There's no health care plan in the Bible,
(13:05):
so people of Christians can disagree on that. There's no
defense plan in the Bible. So Christians can disagree on that.
There's no economic recovery plan in the Bible. So Christians
can disagree on this. But on the sanctity of life,
and the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of sex,
these are non negotiable. If you call yourself a Christian,
you need to line up with what God says is
(13:28):
the original intent of all three of these things. And
you not only need that, you need to have the
courage to stand for it. These are clear and they're
non negotiable. You say, who says, God says, not me.
God says, Now, let's close, and let me give you
some up. How to live with courage? How do I
(13:48):
live with uncommon courage? There are two things you need
to do to live with uncommon courage. All right. Number one,
I need to accept God. God's word as my authority.
I need to accept God's word as my authority. Why
Because it's the only source that will never lie to you.
(14:12):
It will always tell you the truth, even when I
don't like it. It tells me the truth. The truth
will set you free. It makes you miserable, but it
eventually makes such free me. I don't. I mean, as
soon as I rick you're stuck up, I don't want
to hear that. But if I need to be humble,
I need to hear somebody say you're stuck up first. Okay,
(14:35):
So first, the truth makes you miserable, then it sets
you free. Okay, some of you are miserable right now,
just admit it. Okay, all right, here's the point. If
you're gonna have courage in life, you're gonna be a
person of courage, a woman of courage. You're gonna be
a man of courage. You need to build your life
on a rock that never changes. If you build your
(14:57):
life on the opinions of others, on popular opinion, you're
going to frequently have the ground pulled out from underneath you.
That gives you no stability and no courage. But if
you build your life on God said it, I believe it.
That settles it. Then you're going to build your life
(15:18):
on the word of God. God said it, I believe it,
whether I understand it or not. Hebrews six, verse eighteen.
God has given us both his promise and his oath.
Now God says, I'm keeping my oath. And these two
things are unchangeable. See, truth never changes. These two things
(15:38):
are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.
God will never lie to you. That's why you need
to hear what he says about marriage and sex and
these other things. Therefore, we who have fled to Him
for refuge can take new courage. Circle the word courage,
for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.
(15:58):
Where do I get courage by building my life on truth?
That doesn't change? Again, you will build your life either
on the world or the Word. You're gonna build your
life on what the world says, what's popular, what's politically correct,
or you're gonna build your life on the word. Now,
a lot of things, when you say stuff it's unpopular,
(16:18):
you say reck. Why do you say stuff that's unpopular
because I fear God's disapproval more than yours. I only
got to live with you for sixty eighty years, but
I'm going to be an eternity for heaven, and I
don't want to be ashamed and embarrassed that I whimped
out and I denied Christ. I have been in the
hot seat more than any of you, I'm sure on
(16:41):
a public level, because as I'm on these interview things
like Larry King and The Today Show and Good Morning
America and Oprah Winfrey, and they'll ask me questions about
these controversial issues. I want to be like you. I
wanted people to like me, and every bone in my
body wants to come compromise and not say the truth.
(17:02):
But I fear God's disapproval more than I do public disapproval.
So I'm gonna tell the truth. Second thing, You're gonna
like this one? How do I develop more courage? Spend
personal time with Jesus. The more time you spend with Jesus,
(17:26):
the less you're gonna be intimidated by the opinions of others.
And the more time you spend with Jesus, the less
other people's disagreements are gonna matter to you. Acts four
thirteen when they saw the courage of Peter and John.
These were uncommonly courageous men. This is the city council
(17:50):
who said, we're gonna kill you, We're gonna threaten you,
We're gonna put you in jail if you keep talking
about Jesus. When they saw the courage of Peter and John,
and they could see that they were unschooled, old ordinary men.
None of the disciples had advanced degrees. They didn't have PhDs,
they didn't have college degrees, they didn't high school, they
didn't have grade school degrees. These were just common fishermen.
(18:11):
They said, how can these people who are uneducated, but
they have such enormous courage, It says they were astonished,
and they took note that these men had been with
Jesus circle that ben with Jesus. The more time you
spend with Jesus, the more courage you're gonna have. And
(18:31):
when you spend time with Jesus, you pray and you
talk to him. And in Acts four thirty one, after
they had prayed, they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
and they spoke God's word without fear. I love it.
They amplified, says they spoke God's Word with freedom and
boldness and courage. Now, what I've talked to you about
(18:52):
this weekend isn't easy. Standing courageously in an unpopular opinion
is not easy to do, but the rewards of it
are enormous. The rewards of standing courageously for the truth
will last forever and ever and ever and ever and
ever and ever and ever, and not millions, but trillions
(19:14):
of years. The last verse on your outline says this,
do not lose your courage because it brings a great reward.
That reward is far greater than any disapproval you might
have to put up with. Let's bow our heads, Father,
(19:34):
I look out on our church family and I see
people that I love, and I want them to be
uncommonly courageous. I want them to be people of the Word,
not people of the word world who've built their lives
on truth, not on popular opinion. Now you pray God.
(19:58):
I want to be a person of courage. I want
to be a man of courage. I want to be
a woman of courage. I don't want to back down,
wimp out. I don't want to deny you. I don't
want other people to control what I say or think,
and I want to build my life on a biblical
God's worldview truth. So I make these two commitments today. First,
(20:25):
Jesus Christ, I accept your word as my authority. If
you say it, I believe it. That settles it, whether
I understand it or not. And you will be my
number one authority, your word. And Second, Lord, I want
(20:46):
to spend time with you every day. I want to
get to know you Jesus on a personal basis. I
want to be able to walk into a store or
into a business and be so full of joy and
so full of confidence that people go that guy's been
with Jesus. I want people to notice it in my countenance,
(21:06):
in my face, in my life, not that I'm super educated,
not that I'm super wealthy, not that I'm super beautiful.
I want them to notice that I've been with Jesus,
that I have been with you. I ask you to
help me to be fearless for the truth in your name.
(21:30):
I pray Amen.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
You know your prayers and financial support are having a
huge impact on millions of people here and around the world.
So thank you, Thank you so much. And now Rick's
going to share a letter from one of our listeners
who says Daily Hope is making a real difference in
their life.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Hi, everybody, this is pastor Rick. Because of the generous
support of many of you Daily Hope listeners, we're able
to offer Daily Hope devotionals for free worldwide. In fact,
today I have a note from Paul in Kenya that
shows how God is at work through the Daily Hope devotionals.
(22:15):
Paul wrote me. He said, I'd like to sincerely thank
you for the free gift of your Daily Hope devotionals.
May God receive all the glory. For some time now,
You're inspiring and encouraging messages, along with scripture references, have
helped me push through some really tough times and get
closer to God. However, Paul writes, the best part is
(22:37):
that my faith in God has now grown to the
point that He recently gave me the strength and wisdom
to accept His free, undeserved gift of grace and salvation.
By accepting and confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,
I feel like a new being, and I yearn to
keep growing more and more in God's word and in wisdom,
(22:58):
surrendering my life to His will alone. So please hold
my hand in this journey to the glory and honor
of God through Christ Jesus. Paul, without a doubt, I
will hold your hand as you journey with Jesus. There
is no greater decision that you could have made than
believing and receiving Jesus Christ. So congratulations, you're my brother
(23:23):
in Christ, and I want to encourage you to be
on the lookout every day to see how God guides you,
how God directs you. It's an exciting journey. And by
the way, keep studying His word every day. Get a
Bible and read it every day. I'm so thankful that
Daily Hope devotional is helping you to do just that.
The Daily Hope devotional is helping so many people like
(23:45):
Paul grow closer to God. So if you're not getting it,
I really want to encourage you to take the time
to go to Dailyhope Radio dot com and sign up
today to get these daily devotionals. They're free.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Sure to join us next time when we look into
God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored
by Pastoris's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.