Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello, and thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren, and today we're continuing in a series called The Miracle of Mercy. Rick will show us how God's mercy can lift your guilt, heal your wounds, and transform the way you live. Right now, here's part three of a message called God's Mercy and My Failures.

Rick Warren: Let me show you another example. Easter night, same night. That was in the morning. That night, they're still together. It says that evening, the disciples were together again with the doors locked. They're in a house, they're in a house group, they're in a home church, they're in a small group in a home, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. They're thinking, "Hey, they killed Jesus. Maybe they're going to kill us too. Maybe they're going to crucify us."

Now this is Easter, so Jesus has risen. It says suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group and said, "Peace be with you." And the disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. I guess so. Now, I've been in a small group for 35 years. I've never had Jesus suddenly show up in the middle of the group, not physically.

But I will tell you this, I've seen Jesus show up in my small group hundreds of times through the words and the emotions and the prayers of other people. I have sat in group after group after group and somebody started talking, and I knew God was talking to me right now. He's talking directly to you, Rick Warren, and you better listen. It may be their mouth, and it may be a man or it may be a woman—it doesn't really matter who it is—but God's talking to you right now, and God's presence showed up in my life in the middle of that small group.

I've seen that happen over and over and over. If you've been in a small group for any length of time, you know that God's presence, Jesus, often shows up in a small group. In fact, he promised where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there in the midst of them. Not physically, but his presence is there, his spirit is there, his love is there, his mercy is there, and he shows up in the middle of the group. If you're never in a group, he's never going to show up. You've got to get in that situation where two or three are gathered in my name. He says, "I'm there with you."

The reason this is important when you have a failure is because in a crisis, you don't think straight. The bigger the failure, the bigger the loss in your life, the more you don't think straight. You need other people around you saying, "Have you thought about this? Have you considered this?" And they just kind of calm you down, and they straighten you out, and they're there to support you, and they're there to be with you.

A third example of Peter and his small group. John chapter 20 verse 26 says, "A week later..." Remember I told you last week that when Jesus rose from the dead, he stayed around Jerusalem for another 40 days. He didn't just go right back to heaven. And so a week later, it says the disciples were together again, meeting in a home. They're having their weekly small group. They're meeting every week.

In fact, for the next 50 days after Peter's big failure and after the cross and the resurrection, about all the disciples did was go to the small group. They pretty much just hung out together, kind of processing what in the world did we just go through—the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. They're going through this trauma together, and they are coming to their small group over and over and over.

Now, I don't think I have to repeat to you the importance of a small group. I've taught on this many, many times, but let me just say this again. The best time to build the support network in your life is before the crisis. You're going to have some rogue winds in your life. You're going to have some major pain in the days ahead. Count on it. This is Earth, it's not heaven.

You're going to have losses, you're going to have deaths, you're going to have major illness, you're going to have all kinds of problems that you don't even know about, that I don't even know about. The time to get your social support system, that network in place, the time to build a small group is now, not in the crisis. It's a little late by then. Fortunately, Peter had a small group he'd been in for three and a half years, so when he had his biggest failure, he had a place to go and say, "Man, did I screw up." And they go, "Yeah, you did, but we did too. And so let's all encourage each other." And so he had a place to go.

He grieved, he let his small group support him. Third thing, a very important third thing to do when you have a failure in your life: I cast myself on God's mercy. Cast myself on God's mercy. Now, we know this and we know Peter did this because Peter wrote about it. Peter wrote two books in the Bible. The first book is called First Peter. Guess which one the second one's called? Yes, Second Peter. Yeah, you're really bright today.

But in First Peter, he starts the whole book talking about how God has shown him mercy. I mean, verse one and verse two he's saying, "Hi, it's Peter talking," and he tells who he's writing to. And so then the first thing he talks about in his book is God's mercy. First Peter chapter one verse three: "Because of his great mercy..." He knew that God had shown him mercy. "God has given us a new life." He goes, "I'm not the same old Peter. I'm a new Peter. I got a new life. I'm not the old guy. I'm a new guy now. He has given us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope."

Now, Peter has had a massive failure in his life, but he's not going around in despair. He's not going around in condemnation. He's not going around in guilt. He's not walking around in shame. He's not walking around in regret. He's not timid and going, "Well, God could never use me." No, he says, "I'm walking around in hope. My life is filled with hope. In spite of my failure, my life is filled with hope." Why? Because of the mercy of God.

Later in the same book, he says this, and he says it from personal experience. First Peter five seven: "Cast all your anxiety on him," God, "because he cares for you." He says that's what you need. Now, why did Peter tell people to do that? Because that's what he did when he failed. He just cast all his anxiety. He cast himself on the mercy of God.

Now, I went and I looked up this word "cast" in the original Greek and the original manuscripts of the Bible. The word "cast" there, it doesn't mean kind of like fly fishing casting, where you're just kind of flipping ten, two and four, you're doing back and forth, back and forth. That's an easy cast. This kind of "cast all your cares" really is more like when you're carrying a giant boulder and the boulder is so big you couldn't throw it three feet. Basically, it just means let it go. It means drop it.

When he says "cast your anxiety"—or other translations, "cast your cares"—on the Lord, he means take them and drop them. You just let it go. You don't have to throw it. You don't have to toss it. You just go, "God, I'm dropping it. I'm dropping my fear. I'm dropping my insecurity. I'm dropping my guilt. I'm dropping my shame because you are a loving and merciful God and I'm just going to drop it all on you. I'm going to cast myself on the mercy of God."

What does it mean to cast yourself on the mercy of God? Well, it means to pray something like this. You say, "God, there is no way I deserve your forgiveness. I really blew it. There's no way I deserve your mercy. I've thumbed my nose to you, I've ignored you so much of my life and I've made dumb mistakes. God, there's no way I deserve your grace, your mercy, your kindness, your love. But God, you are a kind God. You are a loving God. You are a merciful and forgiving God. In fact, you have said that you love to show mercy. So I'm throwing myself on your mercy. I need a fresh start. I don't deserve it. I couldn't earn it. But you are a merciful God, so I'm just going to ask you to do what you love to do and show me mercy." That's casting yourself on the mercy of God.

You see, that's why it's the antidote to everything Satan says to you. So much of the time, Satan is whispering in your ear, "You're not good enough. Who do you think you are? You think God could ever use you? Why do you think God would answer your prayers after all the stuff you've done, all those dumb stunts you've done? Why do you think God... you're not good enough." And as I said, he's always maximized things, "No way will God ever forgive you on that." He does not want you focused on his mercy.

I'll tell you what, the antidote to get rid of all that talk in your mind—Satan's constantly giving you those negative thoughts, and it's kind of like the teacher on the Charlie Brown movies: wah wah wah wah. You can't even hear but it's just there. What is the antidote to that? When you cast your care, you lose your despair. When you cast your care, you lose your despair because then Jesus moves into action.

The moment you say, "God, I'm throwing myself on your mercy," what does Jesus do with our failures? This is what I really want us to look at. Before Jesus even was arrested, he told Peter in advance this was going to happen. Jesus actually told Peter four things in advance of his failure. Here's what he said in Luke chapter 22, 31 and 32. He said, "Simon, Simon..." By the way, Peter's name was actually Simon Peter. So sometimes he's called Peter and sometimes he's called Simon. Now, Peter actually means "rock" in Greek, and it was Peter Bar-Jonah, which means he was the son of John. So today, Peter would have been called "Rock" Johnson. So Peter Bar-Jonah today in America would have been called the disciple "Rock" Johnson.

Simon or Peter Bar-Jonah. Okay. He says, "Simon, Simon." See the tenderness in God's voice? Jesus says, "Satan has asked to sift you like wheat." He says, "Satan wants to turn your crank, Peter. He wants to test you, he wants to turn you inside out because he doesn't think you're going to come through. I know you will, but he doesn't think you will." And so Satan wants to mess with you. He's telling him this is going to happen. You're going to get messed with, you're going to be tempted. "But," Jesus said, "I've prayed for you in advance." He says, "I've already prayed for you that your faith should not fail. So," he says, "when," not if, "when you have repented and turned back to me again," that's the third thing he said, "strengthen and build your brothers. In other words, I want you to use your pain to help other people. I want you to use your failure to build up other people, to encourage other people, to help them."

So what do we learn? We learn five things that Jesus does with our failures. Write these down. Number one: first, he isn't shocked. He isn't shocked by your failure. Jesus goes, "Satan wants to sift you." He predicted Peter's temptation long before it happened, and even said, "You're going to deny me." He already knew it. God is not ever surprised or caught off guard by anything you do, good or bad. He already knows everything in advance. He already knows your weak spots. As I said, the Message paraphrase of Matthew 26 says, "You're all going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me." He knew this was going to happen.

The Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 14, "God certainly knows what we're made of. He bears in mind that we are dust." In other words, God knows we're not God. We're not perfect. We're human beings. We mess up, we screw up, we falter, we fall, we fumble, we flub up. He knows our frame. He knows we're not perfect. Not only does he know everything about you and what's inside you, he also knows every temptation and every trick that Satan's going to throw at you. So he's not surprised. He's not shocked when you fail.

Number two, this one will surprise you: he prays for us. Jesus told Peter before he'd even failed, "Peter, this is going to happen, but I have already prayed for you that your faith will not fail." And Jesus's prayers are answered. "I've prayed for you that you will not fail." In Hebrews chapter seven, it talks about this. By the way, do you know what Jesus Christ is doing right now in heaven? Do you know what Jesus Christ is doing in heaven right now?

The Bible says he's praying for you. Now, when you pray for someone, that's called intercession. When you pray for someone, you intercede for them. And the Bible says that Jesus is interceding for you. He's living to do that in heaven right now. He's praying for you, for your temptations, for the failures you've had, and for the ones you're going to have tomorrow and the next day. The Bible says this, Hebrews 7:25: "Jesus is able to save us completely from all of our failures because in heaven, he lives to intercede on our behalf." He's always talking to the Father, asking him to help us. In heaven, Jesus is talking to the Father, praying to the Father back and forth. You say, "Wait, this is kind of weird here. God is talking to himself?" Oh, you never talk to yourself? You talk to yourself all the time.

And you're made in God's image, so if you talk to yourself all the time, God can talk to himself. And when God talks to himself about you, it's called prayer. And the Bible says God is praying for you, just like he said to Peter, "I've already prayed for you before you even failed. I've prayed that you'll make it through this." And he prays for us. Jesus is praying for you. That's the mercy of God.

Number three, third thing Jesus does when you fail: he believes in us. In fact, he expects us to recover. And that's why he told Peter even before Peter's big failure, he said, "So Peter, when you have repented and turned back to me again..." Circle the word "when." It's not "if," not "it might happen." He said "when." He goes, "I know you're going to come back to me. You're going to sin, you're going to fail, you're going to make a mistake, but you're going to come back to me." This is the mark of a true believer. Look at this verse on the screen, Proverbs 24:16. Let's read this verse aloud together. "For even though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again." Now, leave that verse up there for a minute.

You know what I love about this verse? It says even the good guys screw up. Even righteous people fall. They make mistakes. Sometimes good people make dumb decisions. I mean, sometimes good people take their lives. Doesn't mean they were evil. It means they made a dumb decision in that moment. Sometimes we all make dumb decisions. Even though a righteous man falls seven times. Even good people, even righteous people have failures. And we fail repeatedly, seven times.

I don't know if you've figured this out yet, but your biggest weaknesses are habitual. You don't just do them one time and then that's it. You do them over and over and over and over and over. And if it's a weakness of yours, you're back there within an hour falling in the same area again and again and again. Jesus says my mercy isn't just for the big one-time mess up. My mercy is for those everyday mess ups that you do 20 times an hour. When all of a sudden you take back control and you start worrying again and again and again. And you're worrying and you're worrying and you're worrying, and I've told you don't worry. But his mercy will forgive 9,000 and 10,000 and one million times because God is a merciful God. He's more willing to show mercy than you're willing to ask for it.

He's not shocked, he prays for us, he believes in us. We fail repeatedly, but God says I'm still going to believe in you. Now, we see a good example of Jesus believing in Peter from a little phrase that you might miss that happened on Easter morning. Remember a couple weeks ago at Easter, we were talking about the fact that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went up to the tomb—maybe they're taking flowers on Easter morning—and the angel meets them and says, "He's not here, he's gone. He's like he promised, he'll see you guys in Galilee. Now go tell the disciples." And notice what the angel says on that Easter morning. Mark 16, 6 and 7. The angel said to the women, "I know you were looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. But he's not here. He's risen from the dead. Now, go tell his disciples and tell Peter that he's going ahead of you to Galilee, and he'll see you there just as he promised." Did you notice any redundancy in that verse?

He says, "Go tell his disciples and tell Peter." Why did he add in Peter? Isn't Peter a disciple? Wouldn't he be included? Couldn't he just say, "Hey, go tell his disciples"? But Jesus knew how discouraged Peter would be from his failure. Jesus knew how much he needed encouragement. So he puts out an additional thing: "Go tell my disciples. Oh, and especially tell Peter." When you fail, God knows your name. And he gives you a personal word of encouragement. He says, "Go tell my disciples. Oh, and especially tell Peter. I know how bad he feels about this. I know he's taking it the hardest of all. He's taken the hit, he's feeling ashamed, he's feeling regretful, he's down in the dumps. Go tell my disciples and go tell Peter. I'm alive. I'm alive. I kept my promise." And he singles him out. Friends, that is love.

Guest (Male): What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Rick Warren: 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 neighbor as 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 of fellowship—and then he said teach them to obey everything I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the Great Commission.

We believe at 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 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 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 through a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We couldn't do this without your support. We're 100% listener-funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us? And 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 cared.

Guest (Male): Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, just go to pastorrick.com. That's pastorrick.com. Or you can text the word HOPE to 70309. That's the word HOPE to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to join us next time when 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.