Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey friends, thanks for spending some time here at Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And today, we're continuing our series with Rick Warren called Time to Dream Trusting God to Open Doors. Maybe you've been waiting for a breakthrough, an opportunity, or just some clarity about what's next. If so, you're in the right place. Rick will turn to the Bible, and you'll see how God opens doors when we trust him with our future. So, let's get started. Here's the final part of a message called Living God's Dream Despite Past Poor Decisions.

Pastor Rick Warren: Why does my sin not invalidate God's dream for me? Three reasons. I want you to write these down. Three reasons that no there is no sin you can commit that invalidates God's dream for your life. Number one, because Jesus already paid for all my sins. Because Jesus already paid for all my sins. They were paid for before you even knew God had a dream for your life. 1 John 2 2 says this. When Jesus served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for God. Not only our sin, but the whole world's sin.

All right? So, remember when Jesus died on the cross, he he paid for the sins that you haven't even done yet. So, he's already paid for all your sins. There's no way you need to pay for them. That's called double jeopardy. It's saying that that wasn't enough. Do you understand why we take communion to remember the cross? That in the cross, everything I've ever done wrong was wiped out. All those words that David said wiped out, forgiven, cleansed, purified, eliminated, forgotten. Number two, second reason. My sin doesn't invalidate God 's dream for my life is because God's goodness isn't based on my performance.

God's goodness to you is based on the fact that God is a good God. It's not based on the fact that you deserve it. It it it's just because God is a good God. So, God is good to you, and it isn't based on my performance. Titus 3 verse 5. He, Jesus, saved us not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. So, everything that God does good in my life is not cuz I deserve it. It's cuz he's a merciful God. Has nothing to do with me either earning it or deserving it or working for it.

It just doesn't work that way. It's called grace. It's called mercy. Third reason why my sin does not invalidate God's dream for me. See, number three. God's calling and gifts are given unconditionally. God's calling and God has a call on everybody's life. God has called you to a certain dream. God has called you to a certain purpose. God has called you to a certain calling, and he has given you gifts to fulfill that calling in life, and they are given unconditionally. You don't work for them. If you had to work for them, they wouldn't be called gifts.

If you have to work for something, it's not a gift. That's a wage. If if if you came and worked for me for a year, and then I paid you money, and said here's my gift, you say buddy, that's not a gift. I weren't that. A gift means you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. God's calling and gifts are given unconditionally, and they're you can't earn them. Romans 11 29. For God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. They cannot be withdrawn. Everybody, I want you just look up here, and I want to say this to you.

God's dream, original dream for your life is still in full force. You're not on plan B, no matter how many times you blew it. And what I want to do in the next 6 weeks is help you live that rest of your life with that dream. Doesn't matter how late in life you're getting started on it. It's never too late to get in to God's dream for your life. It's never too late unless you just said I'm in, and you die. Then it would be too late. Just a little humor there, wee bit of humor.

All right. Now I'm I know I'm driving this home, but you honestly accept responsibility. God, I'm not blaming anybody else for all my dumb decisions, for the evil things that I've done, for the mean things I've done, for the hateful things I've done, for the hurtful things I've done. God, I've not been a good person many times in my life. I've been selfish to the core. That's called sin. Okay? I I I don't accuse others, and I don't excuse myself. Then I humbly ask forgiveness. Like David, Lord, I need your cleansing. I need your purifying.

I need your forgiveness. I need your grace. And then I gratefully accept God's grace, and I forgive myself. Extremely important. Cuz if you don't forgive yourself, you haven't really accepted God's forgiveness. All right? Now here, number four, two more things to get you started for where we are going to go in the weeks ahead. Number four. Next, I generously forgive those who've hurt me. Uh-oh. I don't really like this part. I like being forgiven, but I don't want to forgive anybody else. Well, this is part of the plan. Generously forgive those who've hurt me. Not only do you need to let your own sin go, you need to let everybody else's sin go too against you.

Now follow me on this. There are three things that will keep you stuck in the past, that will keep you from living God's dream for your life. Grief, losses in the past, guilt, sin in the past, grudges, hurts from the past. Grief, guilt, and grudges will keep you stuck in the past. And if you let grief or guilt or grudges are all three come into your heart, you will continue to miss God's dream for your life. That's why I had to do this message on the past. You got to let go of your guilt. That 's confession.

You got to let go of your grudges. That means forgive other people. You got to forgive other people. You got to let them off the hook just like God lets you off the hook. Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 and 15 Jesus says this. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. What's he saying here? He's saying we can't expect to receive what we're unwilling to give. We cannot expect to receive what we're unwilling to give. You have to let the people who hurt you off the hook, not because they deserve it.

They don't. They don't deserve it anymore than God letting you off the hook. You don't deserve that. I don't deserve that. You got to let people off the hook so you can get on with your future. As long as you hold on to a grudge, as long as you hold on to resentment, as long as you hold on to a hurt, thinking you're hurting them by your bitterness, you're being stuck in the past. Your past is past. Those people can't hurt you anymore unless you choose to let them from your memory, and that's dumb. You don't forgive them cuz they deserve it.

They don't. Forgiveness is never deserved. You forgive them because you go I'm not going to be stuck in the past. I'm going to get on with my life in the future, and whatever days left, I'm going to make this the best days of my life. I 'm going after God's dream, and I 'm going to walk through those open doors. But you can't walk through those open doors until you let go of that bitterness. Until you let go of that hurt, you let go of that pain, you let go of that resentment. You got to let people off the hook, not for their sake, but for your sake, so you can get on with the future.

Finally, the fifth step. The fifth thing I do, I accept responsibility, humbly ask for forgiveness, gratefully accept God's grace, forgive myself, generously forgive those around me who've hurt me. Number five, courageously face the future with faith. That's what this Time to Dream and Open Doors campaign is all about, courageously facing the future with faith. And I want to close with just a couple verses, but they're very important verses. Courageously face the future with faith. In Job chapter 11, Job gets some of the best advice for recovering a dream, for recovering what has been lost in your life, for recovering God's original plan for you.

Job 11 13 to 18. Here's what he says. Devote your whole heart to God. Okay, got that. Check. Reach out to him in prayer for help. Check. If you get rid of the sins in your heart and your home. You got any sins in your home like some magazines that shouldn't be there? Get rid of the sins in your heart and your home. You will face the world again without shame. Circle that, without shame. And you'll be strong and free of fear. Then you'll forget your past troubles. Hallelujah. You'll forget your past troubles and mistakes and sins and faux pas and all of that.

You'll forget your past troubles like water under a bridge. Your life will be brighter than noonday. And even in darkness, you're going to shine like the morning. And now you'll have courage because you will have hope. I could spend 20 minutes unpacking that verse. I want you to just go home and read it and reread it and reread it and reread it because all those things to do if you do that, then you're courageously going to face the future with faith. The point I'm making is this. The Bible is full of people who got a second chance.

God is the God of second chances and 100th chances. Abraham, called the father of faith, traded away his wife. That wasn't much faith in terms of Sarah cuz he thought well, they'll kill me unless if they so tell them you're my sister. Thanks, honey. Really confident in God right there. Abraham trades away his wife. Moses murders a guy. Jonah runs from his assignment, and the word of the Lord came into Jonah a second time. Noah gets drunk and embarrasses himself after he does the biggest event of his day. Rahab's a prostitute. David commits adultery and has his lover's husband put to death.

Every one of those people I just mentioned are in God's Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. God loves to give second chances. If you had to be perfect, none of us stand a chance of of that. But we need to courageously face the future with faith, realizing that God just loves to give us chance after chance after chance. Do you know that in America there are 70 million Americans with a prison record? 70 million Americans have a prison record. Every one of them deserve a second chance because God is the God of second chance. I'll never forget.

I've told you this story before. One time I was preaching in a prison in Northern California, and there's several thousand prisoners out on the yard. And they gave me a live microphone, but nobody was asked to pay attention. So, there's guys over here playing basketball, and there's different gangs sorted out over this huge football stadium size field. And I I just needed to get their attention. So, I pulled out out of my wallet a $50 bill. And I held it up and said anybody like this $50 bill? 4,000 hands went up. I crumpled it all up.

Anybody still want it? 4,000 hands go up. I took it, and I tore a little tears in it. I put it on the ground. I stamped it into the ground into the ground. I picked it up. I spit on it. Anybody still want it? 4,000 hands went up. And I said many of you, this is what your daddy did to you or society did to you. And even spit on, and you've been put down, and maybe you've even been the victim of racism, and you've done stupid things yourself. That's why you're here. You've made some bad choices too.

And you've gotten beaten, and you've gotten torn, and you've got gotten dirtied. But you have not lost one sin of your value to God. Now it's got everybody's attention. I don't know what you've done stupid in your life, but you have not lost one cent of your value to God. When Christ died on the cross, when he died on the cross, he was saying this is how much I care about you. This is how much I love you. This is how much we're still on track. The dream is not invalidated by your sin. I still have plan A for your life because I say all things work together for the good of God, even the the the the good of those who love God, called according to his purpose.

Not everything's good, but even your dumb sins. All weave them into the plan and the dark threads and the light threads and that will make a beautiful tapestry out of it all. But if we're going to go where I want to take you as a church family in the next weeks, we're going to have to shut the door on the past today. You're going to have to give up your grief, give up your guilt, and give up your grudges so we can move forward together. This is what Jesus wants us to do. One other verse.

Isaiah 43 verses 18 and 19. Forget the former things and do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it is springing up. Do you not perceive it? I'll make a pathway through the wilderness, and I'll create streams where there's been a wasteland. Your past is past. Now it's interesting. The Bible says that we're to learn from the past, we're to celebrate the victories of the past, we're to learn the lessons of the past, but we can't live in the past. Either you got to let that go. All the past is prologue.

We're moving into the future. It's time to dream. And I'm opening doors that no man can shut. And all your future, all your life is in the future. You know, it's interesting. I started with Peter and his big three failures in life, his big three, you know, betrayals. After Peter's big fail, Jesus went out of his way to affirm him. In fact, on Easter morning, the first people who learned that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead were the women who had gone there to prepare the body. Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, the others. And the Bible says this, that the angel said to the women Jesus is alive.

He's risen from death. Now go tell the disciples and especially Peter. Why did God make sure that Peter was mentioned by name? Cuz he was the one carrying the most guilt from 2 nights before. Go tell my disciples and and tell Peter cuz I love that guy. Yeah, he blew it. He blew it. He really blew it, but I love that guy. Go tell my disciples and tell Peter. He knows your name. He said it's okay, Peter. All is forgiven. Come on home. He singles out Peter, the one who was the biggest failure. And not 50 days later, that's the guy God chooses to preach on the day of Pentecost, on the first day of the church, and 3,000 people are saved.

He chose the biggest failure for the greatest message. About a week later, after the resurrection, Peter and his friends had gone back fishing again on Sea of Galilee. Jesus comes walking by, says come on in, bring the fish in. We'll cook you some breakfast. He sits there, and they eat breakfast together, which by the way ghosts don't eat. So, it wasn't a ghost. It wasn't an apparition. It wasn't a vision. It's Jesus in the flesh. He's they they're eating. They're having fish and chips. Okay? And Jesus says this. After eating breakfast, John 21 After eating breakfast with them, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, do you love me more than these, the rest of the disciples?

Yes, Lord, Peter replied. You know I love you. Jesus said then feed my lambs. Then Jesus repeated the question. Simon, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter said you you you know you know I love you. Then take care of my sheep, Jesus said. Then a third time, Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of John, do do you truly love me? Now Peter's hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said Lord, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said then feed my sheep. Now what's going on here that Jesus asked this question three times?

He's giving the one who denied him three times the opportunity to affirm him three times. Peter who had denied Jesus three times, now Jesus three times asks him, and he lets him say it and say it and say it. He was reaffirming the three the the affirmation to overcome the three denials. But he's also doing something else. He wanted to reinforce what he had said before it even happened. He said when you recover, you're to use your pain, you're to use your sin, you're to use your mistakes to help other people. That's part of my dream for your life.

He wants to reinforce use your mistakes and pain to help others. Let's bow our heads. You are a good and gracious God. Your plans never change. Our sins cannot change your plans and dreams for our lives. Thank you. May we take these steps this week. If you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ, say Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. I want to follow you. I want to trust you. I want to know your dream for my life. I acknowledge, I admit that I've made a lot of sins and mistakes in my life, and I need your forgiveness.

And I thank you for your grace and your mercy. Help me to forgive the people who've hurt me and help me to step out in faith in the next 42 days. I pray it in your name. Amen.

Guest (Male): If you prayed that prayer for the very first time, would you let me know about it? Write me Rick at pastorrick.com and say Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment, and I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus, and I'll also pray for you.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.

Guest (Male): You know, when I started Saddleback Church over 40 years ago, just a handful of people in our living room, I also began writing a simple devotional just for the people in our church to help them start each day with hope and with truth and with peace that comes from Jesus Christ. Well, you know, that little devotional grew and grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each day, people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's promises and finding fresh strength in his word to face whatever comes their way.

Now here's the best part. It's absolutely free. Okay? We don't have any charge for this. Every day, you'll get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain than ever, I want to help you start your day centered on what never changes. And what never changes is a God's love, his unconditional love for you and his promises to you. You know, if you'll just spend just a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more peace to everything that happens in your day.

Particularly, psychologists have said that what you do with the first 5 minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So, friend, you were never meant to go through life alone. I want to personally invite you to just sign up for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God.

Pastor Rick Warren: If you'd like to sign up for the Daily Devotional, it's easy. Go to dailyhoperadio.com. That's dailyhoperadio.com. 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.