Daily Hope - Rick Warren

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, We're so
glad you've joined us. Today we're continuing a powerful series
called radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick
will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created

(00:25):
you to be. Okay, And now here's part one of
a message called Radical Hope.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
At the end of World War Two, there was a
United States sub coming back from the war, and as
I was coming into harbor to dock at Newport News, Virginia,
something went terribly wrong with the submarine and it sunk
to the bottom of the ocean in the harbor. Hadn't
been touched at all during the war, but it sunk
in the harbor. The Coastguard dispatched divers to go down

(00:54):
and do survey the hall to see if it had
been compromised or what had happened. And the divers herd
a sailor tapping on the wall from the inside of
the sub The words in morse code is their hope.
That's a very important question in life, is their hope?

(01:14):
Because we live in a broken world. Things don't go right,
and so hope is essential. Thousands of people are probably
asking this question today. They may be sitting in front
of a pile of bills saying is their hope. They
may be standing at the side of a fresh grave
saying is their hope? They may be sitting in a

(01:36):
doctor's office, reviewing tests and saying is their hope. They
may be waiting for a job offer after having been
laid off. Is their hope? They may be wondering, am
I ember ever going to get married? I Am I
ever going to have a child? Am I ever going
to have a family? Or whatever question. But this question

(01:56):
of hope is an essential question of life now. Because
human beings are hungry for hope, we go after all
kinds of quack ideas, gimmicks, get rich quick schemes, fads,
and grasping for straws. When you think you're dying, and
you'll try anything to stay alive, when you think you're

(02:16):
going under financially, you'll try anything to stay afloat. And
we often are gullible and we get scammed by false hopes. Now,
all discouragement and all disappointment comes from putting our hope
in something we should not have put our hope in
from false hope. There's only one thing that can give

(02:38):
you eternal hope, lasting hope, permanent hope, and that is
a relationship with Jesus Christ. This week. I was on
the internet earlier in the week and I saw an
advertisement that said eight ways to have hope for the
new Year. I thought, man, I'm speaking on this this weekend,
so I need to go check this out. So I

(02:59):
went to the website and it was false hope. I
had to look at it. But here were some of
the suggestions that were offered for building your hope for
the new year. Number one, have a cup of tea.
A cup of tea, be kind to yourself now, Friends,

(03:23):
a cup of tea may relax you and may distress you.
It's maybe great for peace of mind, but it isn't
going to give you any hope. Here was the second suggestion,
say this affirmation every day in front of a mirror.
I am the key to peace. Friend. If I'm the

(03:44):
key to piece or you're the key to piece, we're
in real trouble. We're in real trouble. We're up a
creek without a paddle. Friend, I don't have any hope
if I am the key to piece or you are
here was the third one. I'm not making these up.
Create a daily ritual where you light a candle and

(04:04):
you meditate. Now, you don't have to believe this is
direct quote. You don't have to believe in any particular
deity to make this work. Just silently reflect on the
lit candle and feel the hope again. That might put
you in a tranquil mind. I'm not knocking it as

(04:25):
a stress reliever. Looking at a candle might be, you know,
something to really, you know, wind you down, but it
ain't going to give you any hope because it can't
change your circumstance. As I said, all discouragement and all
disappointment comes from putting our hope in something that God
never intended us to hope in. When you hope in money,

(04:46):
you're going to be disappointed. When you hope put your
hope in the economy or your investments, You're going to
be disappointed. When you put your hope in the government.
You're going to be severely disappointed. When you put your
hope in in other people, or even in yourself, you're
going to let yourself down because you're not perfect, and

(05:07):
there is no person who could possibly meet all the
needs in your life. There's only one reliable source that
will never let you down. Isaiah forty thirty one. There
on your outline, it says this, those who hope in
the Lord. In the Lord will renew their strength. They
will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and

(05:29):
not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
And that is my goal for you as we face
a brand new year, that you will run and not
be weary, that you will walk and not faint, that
you will have the spiritual strength and spiritual energy you need. So,
as we continue in this series on radicalis deepening spiritual roots,

(05:49):
the radical roots of our faith, I want us to
look today at the topic of radical hope. Now to
understand hope, you have to understand what hope is not.
Hope is not wishful thinking, hope is not daydreaming. Hope
is not positive thinking. Hope is not optimism. Now I'm

(06:13):
not knocking those things. I mean positive thinking is better
than negative thinking, and optimism is certainly better than pessimism
and despair. But those things can't change your environment. They
can change you. They can change your attitude, but they're
not gonna change your circumstances. They're not gonna change your problems.
You need something much, much stronger than simply positive thinking

(06:34):
and optimism. What you need is genuine hope. Now, what's
the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is psychological. It's
based on the way you think. Hope is theological. It's
based on some facts of reality about God and about

(06:56):
his relationship to you. Big difference. Optimism is positive thinking.
Hope is passionate trusting. It's about trust. It's about trusting
someone who can make a difference. That's God. Optimism says
it's not so bad. Optimism can actually be a denial

(07:18):
of reality. Optimism can be playing Pollyanna, where you look
at the world with rose colored glasses you it's not
so bad when it really is bad. Optimism can often
put yourself in a phony world where you're wearing rose
colored glasses. The sun will come out tomorrow if it's
to be, it's up to me, and you got all
these little slogans, and you're trying to psych yourself into

(07:40):
believing something you know really isn't true. Optimism often says
it's not so bad. Hope says it's bad. Hope never
denies reality. Hope says it's bad. It's really bad. It's
really really bad. But I still believe in a God

(08:02):
and trust in a Savior who is greater than how
bad this situation is. It's not faking it, it's not pretending,
it's not psyching yourself up. It is having hope in
the reality of what God has promised in his word. Now,
if you want to study hope, you have to go

(08:23):
to the book of First Peter. First Peter is called
the Letter of Hope. It's a small book at the
end of the New Testament, written by Peter. It's over
in five chapters long, and Peter wrote it to Christians
who were suffering persecution in the Roman Empire at the time.
Wrote it, Nero was the Caesar of Rome. And you

(08:43):
know what Nero was doing. He was feeding Christians to
the lions in the Colisseum. He was nailing them to
crosses up and down the Appian Way, tarring them and
then lighting them on fire as torches. And to be
a Christian in those days meant death. You follow Jesus,
you die. It is that simple and Christians were hounded
and hunted and persecuted. And Peter writes a letter to

(09:07):
people who are suffering. If you're ever going through suffering,
you need to read the book of First Peter over
and over and over. And in the first seven verses
of the first chapter of Peter. Of First Peter, we
have the five roots of radical hope, the five reasons
why we can hope when other people feel hopeless as

(09:31):
we look at a new year. Number one, God chose
me before I chose him. That's the first thing that
gives me hope, that God chose me long before I
chose him. Now, Peter starts this in his first chapter,
and in the second verse he says, you were chosen

(09:52):
according to the purpose of God the Father, and were
made a holy people by His Spirit. And the rest
of that verse says you were bought by the blood
of Jesus to obey him. And we see the trinity
all in that one verse, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now what this verse says is, first of all, your

(10:12):
salvation was no accident. Long before you chose God, He
chose you. It was his idea. Before God even created
the universe, he decided he wanted to create you. He
made you to love you, and he thought of you
long before he did anything else. Your salvation was not
an accident. The whole thing was his idea and God

(10:35):
wants you and his family. You were chosen. Notice according
to the purpose of God. God has a purpose for
your life. And what is that purpose? He says he
wanted to make a holy people. God's purpose in creating
you and putting you on earth is to make you
holy for heaven, to get you ready for heaven. Before

(10:58):
you can get into heaven, you have to be transformed.
God has to do something in your heart so you're
transformed and ready for Heaven. Now, understanding this simple truth,
God chose me before I chose him gives you great confidence,
great hope because you know that you were chosen by God.

(11:19):
We all know how great it is to feel chosen
when you're chosen for a team. Remember in grade school,
you hated to be the last person chosen for the team.
You wanted to be the first person chosen for the team.
You loved it when somebody popular or athletic chose you
to be on their team. It built your confidence, It
built your self esteem. We love to be chosen for

(11:40):
a team. We loved to be chosen to receive recognition.
We love to be chosen to be singled out, We
love to be chosen to be proposed to. When Kay
said yes to me, my self esteem went up enormous
amount because I thought I must not be that bad.
She said yes, She said yes. Now, the highest honor
you will ever receive is this, God has chosen you

(12:06):
to spend eternity with him. Big deal. That's a big deal.
God has chosen you to spend eternity with him, and
he chose you before you chose him. Number two. Second
reason we have hope is God always treats me with mercy.
God always treats me with mercy. Now, remember Peter is

(12:31):
writing this to people who are already believers therein the
family of God. He's writing it to Christians, and he says,
this all honor to the God and Father of our Lord,
Jesus Christ. For it is by his boundless mercy circle
the word mercy. It is by his boundless mercy that

(12:52):
God has given us the privilege of being born again. Friends,
the more you understand grace, the more you're going to
be amazed by it, because it's completely undeserved. It's totally unmerited.
It is not something you can earn or deserve or
work for. It's just a free gift of God's mercy.

(13:13):
God's love for you and your salvation is not based
on your performance. It's not based on what you do.
You can't make God love you anymore than he loves
you right now, or make him love you any less.
His love is based on his mercy for you. The
Bible says this and tied us three five. He saved

(13:33):
us not only because of righteous not because of the
righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. Now,
this is very important to understand as a believer. When
you blow it, God doesn't get mad at you. God
doesn't want to get even with you. God doesn't start
planning to mess up your life. God always acts in

(13:55):
mercy towards you, Always acts in mercy towards you. Why
because you are covered in the blood and salvation of
Jesus Christ when you've accepted him, and so next year,
no matter how much you mess up, no matter how
much you blow it, God says, I respond to you
in mercy. That gives me hope. It gives me hope

(14:15):
that no matter how bad, how many mistakes I make,
God is still going to be merciful to me. And
it is by that mercy I've been spiritually born into
his family. I've been reborn. Now, you were born into
the universal family human race when you were physically born,
and when you're spiritually reborn, you invite Christ in your life.
You get into God's family. Now there are privileges. Notice

(14:38):
the word privilege. He says He's given us the privilege
of being born again. There are privileges that come from
being in God's family. For instance, one of the things
is we get to call God father. I get to
call God Daddy father because I'm in his family. And
if you've accepted Christ, you're in his family too. And
we get each other as brothers and sisters in the

(15:00):
family of God and God's family, the spiritual family is
going to go on forever, and he gives a spiritual
support here and fellowship together in eternity. But one of
the great things is that because I'm in God's family,
I can ask for whatever I need and God says,
I'm going to help you. Remember, as a father takes
care of his children, God says, I take care of

(15:20):
my family. And I told you two weeks ago that
over twenty times in the New Testament, God says ask.
God says asking, it shall be given. Seek and you'll
find Knock them. The door will be open. Ask anything
in my name, and I will do it. He says,
Ask that you may bear fruit, that the Father may
be glorified in the sun. Over and over again, the

(15:42):
Bible says, you have not because you ask not. He's
waiting to meet your needs. You have not because you
ask not. This week I got a letter from Larry D. Young,
President and chief executive officer of Snapple. And so Larry D. Young,

(16:07):
President of Doctor Pepper Snapple wrote me a letter because
I wrote him a letter about a month ago, and
I told him, I said, Larry, of course I didn't
know him. I just wrote, dear mister president, you've taken
my favorite flavor off the market. Okay. Now I want
to humbly suggest that this is a mistake. And my

(16:32):
favorite Snapple is diet plumbergranite, not pomegranate. Plumbmegranted, it's plumb
and pomegranate put together. And I think a reason a
lot of people never drank it is because they thought
it was pomegranate, but it actually it was plumb and
it tasted like plumb. So I wrote the president of Snapple.
I didn't know this guy. I wrote him a letter
and said, you know what, I think you mismarketed it.

(16:53):
Why don't you just call it plum crazy. Then people
would know that it's plumb flavor, not Plummegranted, that sounds
like some fruit you never heard of, So call it
plumb crazy and put it back on the market. I
get a letter this week, Dear doctor Warren. Isn't that nice?

(17:18):
Dear doctor Warren, thank you for your interest and passion
for Snapple. With many flavors in the Snapple family, we're
not able to offer all of them in each region. Unfortunately,
diet Plummegranite is one of those that is no longer
available on the West coast. However, please accept this case

(17:43):
of extremely limited edition private reserve plumb Crazy Snapple just
for you. I hope you and your closest friends will
enjoy this case of this private reserve with our call implements.
Well now we're talking, Okay, now Here right here on

(18:07):
the label it says you can't see this real plumb
crazy it's my name, plumb crazy. There you go, and
right here on the side of this Snapple, it says,
dear doctor Warren. Being a great tasting, all natural beverage
that brings a little smile to people's day certainly can't

(18:28):
compare to the understanding you have brought to the lives
of people every day. However, I know you give some.
I hope you give some of the other flavors a try,
because I think you'll find another one that you enjoyed
just as much as you love plummegranite. Thank you for

(18:49):
carrying enough to write your friend Snapple, so I have
a whole case of this now, all right, you have
not because you ask not? All right now, Larry, if

(19:12):
I'm so bold to calling Larry, I mean, we're like
this now, Okay, we're like this, And I'm thinking if
the president of Snapple, I'm sure he's a great guy,
but he's imperfect, just like you and me can meet
the needs of a lowly guy who asked for some plumbmegrante.
How much more would a heavenly father who loves you
and send his son to die for you take care

(19:33):
of your needs if you just simply asked you have
not because you ask not. God, your heavenly Father, wants
to supply your needs. Why, because he chose you before
you chose him, and because God always treats us with mercy.
He's waiting and wanting to meet your needs.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Such a great message by Rick today and every day.
I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.
And now here's Rick with an important message.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

(20:30):
of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great
commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
a great community. You know, I started daily hope so

(20:53):
I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
across America, but all around the world. And we want
people to know that God's word is filled with hope
and truth and the power that we need to follow
him every day is available to every single one. You
know as well as I do, that the Word of
God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes

(21:14):
new life and new love into all of our lives.
So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or
whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of
the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We
could not do this without your support. We're one hundred
percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this

(21:36):
broadcast and would you continue to support us, and let
write to me, let me hear from you. I absolutely
love reading the stories that are sent to me. So
write me, pray for me, and support this ministry, and
God will bless it, and God will bless you, and
we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for all
the people going to be in heaven because you.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Cared now in order to get God's word out to
the world. Very generous friends have pledged a matching grant
to Daily Hope, and that means any gift you give
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please give your best gift today because this very special
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(22:18):
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can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com,
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oh three to oh nine. Again, that's Pastorick dot com.
Or just text the word hope to seven oh three
oh nine and thank you so much for your support.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Be sure to.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
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.