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Hi, this is Rick Warren, Bible teacher for the Daily Hope broadcast.
Did you know that because of Easter, your past can be forgiven, you get a purpose for living,
and you can have a home in heaven? That's good news. Where else can you get that kind of news?
Nowhere else? And did you know that at Easter, studies have shown people are more open to an
invitation to go to church than at any other time of the year? Don't go to church by yourself.
But bring somebody who doesn't know Jesus Christ, a family member, a friend, a co-worker,
a neighbor, a relative. And if you bring them to that church service and they come to know Christ,
you're going to be making a friend for eternity. It'll be the most important investment you can ever
make in their lives. And by the way, if they come to Christ, would you let me know about it?
I'd love to hear that story that you brought somebody to Easter and they found Jesus.
You can write to me, Rick at PastorRick.com. That's Rick at PastorRick.com. I would love to hear
from you. God bless you and happy Easter.
You know, none of us can earn our way into heaven because eternal life is a free gift when you accept
Jesus as the Lord of your life. Hey everybody, this is PastorRick's Daily Hope. And today,
Rick Warren continues a series called Good News About Grace. You can't truly understand the
Christian life until you understand grace. It's at the heart of your faith and your relationship
with God. And in this series, you're going to discover how not to only understand grace,
but how to experience it and the joy that it brings. So let's jump right in for the final
part of a message called restoring grace. Many people do not understand the difference between
fellowship and relationship. Fellowship is your current status. Relationship is your permanent
position. Can I be out of fellowship with my wife and still be married to her? Well, of course I can.
Can a child be out of fellowship with his or her parent and yet still be a child? Of course.
When you sin, you don't lose the relationship, you lose the fellowship. You see, those of you
who are parents, you have children. And as much as you try to raise them in the right way, when they
get older, they're going to make their own decisions. And I hope this doesn't happen. But you might
have a child who does the very thing you despise the most. You might even have a child who one day
in a fit of anger publicly disowns you and disavows you as a parent. And you might even have a child
who, when they get older, never even talks to you. But nothing will ever change the fact that
they're your child. Nothing will ever change that. The fellowship is damaged, but the relationship
will always be there because they were born into your family and they cannot be unborn.
When you become a believer in Christ, you are born again into God's family and you cannot be
unborn. So although the fellowship with God has been broken, the relationship is still there
and you're only one step away from returning. What should I do when I sin?
As a Christian, what should I do? You do one word. You ready for it? Here it is. Return.
Return. Come back to Christ. It's that simple. I blew it and I'm back.
Listen to these beautiful verses. Jeremiah 15, 19. God says, if you return to me,
I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. No matter what you've done, God says this
and Isaiah 118. No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean
as freshly fallen snow. That ought to be the Chlorox verse of the Bible.
Is that it doesn't matter? And no matter what you've done in Isaiah 54, 70 says, with great compassion,
I will take you back. You know, there's a happy ending to the story of Peter's denial.
If ever there was a sin that you'd think was unforgivable, it's deny Jesus three times and the
night he's betrayed. But Jesus, new Peter would deny him and even knew he would come back to him.
In fact, before it even happened, Jesus said to Peter, Peter in the upper room, Satan has
desired to sift you. But I have prayed for you. And when you have returned, strengthen the
brothers. Did you get that? When you have returned, he knew he would come back. He says, I've prayed
for you. Did you know that the Bible says, Jesus prays for you? It says that he's in heaven right now
and he liveth to make intercession for the saints. He is praying for you every day. If you could
lose your salvation, that means Jesus prayers don't work. That's impossible. Because he prays for
you every day for the Father. Jesus said, I know you're going to fall away, Peter, but when you come
back, strengthen the brothers. Jesus knew that Peter's ministry would be more effective after his
denial than it was even before. And sure enough, it was. Peter wrote two of the books of the Bible.
It's called First and Second Peter. And then he shared his memoirs with a relative called Mark,
and that's called the Gospel of Mark. And there are two poignant incidents in Peter's life that
happened after his denial. The Bible tells us that in the book of Mark chapter 16, verse 7,
on Easter morning, when the three women went to the tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother James
and Salami, and they went there and the stone was rolled away and the angel sitting on an angel
says, he is not here, he is risen. And the angel said this, listen, catch this. Go tell his disciples
and Peter.
Check that. Go tell his disciples and and Peter. Jesus knew that Peter was devastated by his denial.
He was humiliated. He was ashamed. He was depressed. He thought he could never face Jesus Christ
again for what he had done. And Jesus threw in a little special personal recognition. Go tell his
disciples and Peter. It's as if he were saying, it's okay, Peter. It's okay. All is forgiven.
Come on home. All is forgiven. That is the grace of Jesus Christ.
Come on home. It's okay. I haven't stopped loving you.
And later in John chapter 21, in one of the many incidents where Jesus appeared to people after
his resurrection, he's on the coast, on the on the border, had land of the lake. And Peter and
the fisherman are out fishing and they see Jesus on the shore. And Peter goes on, let's go in
and he goes, I'm not waiting. Then he dives in and he swims to shore. And Jesus has a little one
on one conversation with Peter. His first encounter really, the talk, personally, privately.
And Jesus says to Peter, Peter, do you love me? And Jesus and Peter says, you know, Lord, I love
you. And Jesus says, Peter, do you really, really love me? And Peter said a second time, Lord,
no, I love you. And Jesus said a third time, Peter, do you really love me?
And Peter said, you know, Lord, I love you. I do. What was going on there? A healing.
Jesus was giving Peter three times to affirm what he had denied three times.
That is the grace of God. And you may think God's forgotten you. He hasn't.
The good shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one. And he knows how you fall on a way.
And if you have, and you say, you know, I don't know how it happened. Either it was one giant
step, some big humongous sin, or as a series of petty steps where you just slipped away. And
you're not as close to Christ as you used to be. You need to pray the prayer, the David prayed
when he came back to God. And so I'm 51, which David prayed by the way after he had committed
adultery. He said, restore to me again the joy of your salvation. Notice, David did not have
to pray. God restored to me my salvation because he hadn't lost it. He had lost the joy. He'd lost
the joy. And some of you have to. So come home to Christ today. That's our heads.
I'd like to close with a time of personal evaluation. And I want you to consider a few questions.
Was there ever time in your life when you were closer to Christ than you are right now?
If so, what happened? Have you allowed the slippage? Why? What got in the way? A career, a
relationship, bills, a hobby, television? As your relationship to Christ gone stale,
are you just heartlessly glowing through the motions? Has duty replaced the light?
Let me ask you this. Have you stopped caring about the salvation of those people around you?
When was the last time you shared a positive word about Christ with a seeker?
Have you been ashamed of your relationship to Christ?
What is it that you know God wants you to do but you've been putting off in procrastinating?
Being baptized? Joining the family here at Saddleback Church?
What is it that you used to do but you've slacked off on?
Reading your Bible, tithing, giving? It's just possible that that's why you've lost your joy.
And maybe you've committed something you think I'm so ashamed and I'm so afraid to come back
to full commitment to Christ. It's just one step back. It's your pastor I want to pray for you.
Father, I know that there are people here this morning who have been fighting a civil war in their minds
and they know the right thing to do but they've been fighting it and they've wanted to do the
convenient thing or the popular thing or the easy thing and now they've lost that spark and
they're ashamed. And there are others who are here who filled with a deep regret for the things
they've done and they've been afraid to return to you. Help them to experience the freedom of
restoring grace today. Now you pray. Say, Jesus, you know I've wandered away
and my heart has started growing cold and my level of love and commitment to you is not like it used to be.
But I want to thank you for your unconditional love and I thank you that you've never stopped loving me
and I really want to thank you that my salvation isn't based on my performance
and Jesus it's almost unbelievable but I thank you for taking all the punishment for my sin
and I thank you Jesus that you understand and sympathize with my human weaknesses
and I want to thank you that you don't hold on to grudges and that you're not angry with me.
So by grace I ask you to take me back today. Then I come home to your open loving arms
and I want to follow you by grace. I come back home today. If you've never invited Christ in
your life you really need the grace of God. You need to accept it today. Say, Jesus Christ I don't
understand it all but accept what you did for me, your forgiveness, your grace and I want to be a
part of your family and I want to follow you too. In your name I pray. Amen.
You know if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted
your life to Jesus again today would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing
your commitment. So write me Rick at pastorrick.com and say Rick I prayed that prayer of commitment.
I gave my life to Christ and I'll send you some material that will help you on your journey
with Jesus and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
Hey thanks for joining us on pastorrick's daily hope. You know Rick has created a stunning
keepsake book called Journey with Jesus and it's a beautifully illustrated oversized book filled with
glossy photos and vibrant mosaics that bring to life the sacrificial journey Jesus made to save us.
You'll walk with pastor Rick through Jerusalem to Calvary uncovering biblical and historical insights
into the most powerful event in human history and experience a deeper understanding of the love
Jesus showed for you on the cross. Be sure to request your copy of Journey with Jesus when you give
a gift to help daily hope share the love of Jesus around the world. It's a one of a kind resource
you'll want to keep and give to friends and family but quantities are limited so get yours today.
Just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy of this great resource that's pastorrick.com or you can
just text the word hope to 70309 that's the word hope to 70309. Be sure to join us next time as we
look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by pastorrick's daily hope and
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Pastor Rick's Daily Hope on Oneplace.com

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope on Oneplace.com

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope on Oneplace.com