Rick Warren - You Were Created to Be Loved by God (Part 2)

0:00What happens when I learn to become aware all the time? There's no moment that I'm not aware that I am loved, unconditionally, deeply, and eternally by God. Number one, I feel accepted rather than ashamed. I feel accepted rather than ashamed, and that'll change your life. Most people go through their entire life avoiding God. And the reason why they avoid God is because they are ashamed, they feel ashamed, they feel guilty, they feel under condemnation, they feel judged, they feel criticized. They think, God is a perfect God, and I am so not perfect. So why in the world would I want to hang out with a perfect God who's simply going to remind me of all the ways that I fail? Because that's not what God does. Jesus said, I didn't condemn the world, I came to save it.

1:03He said, I didn't come to condemn the world, I came to save the Bible says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's a no condemnation lifestyle. Now the Bible says this, Romans 5 verse 1, by faith we have been made acceptable by God, acceptable to God. And now because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live in peace with Him. We've been made acceptable to God, circle that word acceptable. And because of that, God accepts me completely, totally unconditionally because of His love, I live in peace with God. Now let me tell you why that's so important, because it sets you free from the addiction that you have to approval. You do certain things in life, some things you wouldn't even wanna do, but you do them because you want the approval of other people and you are addicted to their approval.

2:05And you've been trying to gain approval from some unpleasable people your entire life and you're never gonna get it. But when you realize that God loves you unconditionally and without condition of any type, you realize this, I don't need the approval of other people. And it sets you free. I don't need other people's approval to be happy. Most of your life, you have been worried about what other people think. And that's because you don't feel totally unconditionally loved by God. And when you don't feel it, then you're trying to make yourself impressive and you're trying to get the approval of other people. But when you know God loves you, can criticism doesn't bother you anymore. Because if God loves me and I like me, you don't like me, that's your problem. Look at the next verse, Roman say, if God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him,

3:08and he has, can anybody bring charges against him? The answer is no. Or can anybody condemn them? The answer is no. Does criticism really matter? No, no indeed. Because I feel accepted rather than ashamed. That's a big one. It'll set you free. Number two, when I experience the unconditional love of God on a daily moment by moment's basis, I am bold in bringing my deeds to God. I'm bold in my prayers. Why? Because I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter of God. I'm a child of God. I'm a member of the family. And so I know God loves me unconditionally. And when I pray to him, I can talk to him about anything because I'm his son. When my kids were little and they would come to me, they could ask me anything. And they would come and just tell me what they needed. They assumed I had everything, knew everything and could afford everything.

4:10Now you know that's not true and I know that's true. But with God, it is true. The Bible says, well actually in Romans 8, all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God. So you should not be cowering like fearful slaves. No, no, no, you should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family. God adopts us in his family, calling him father, dear father. Now I love that phrase, father, dear father. The word there is the air make word, Abba. The Abba is not just a Swedish rock group. Abba is the word in the Middle East and almost all of the Semitic languages for daddy. It's the first word every kid in the Middle East learns. Abba, it's easy to say, Abba, Papa, Dadda, Mama, Abba. Abba simply means daddy.

5:11And the Bible says that when you come to God in prayer, you come to him and you say, Dadda, Papa, Abba, Father, dear father. You don't come to him with some fancy phrase. If my kids had come to me and say, they needed allowance, but he, oh, thou most gracious progenitor of the Warren family. Thou wonderful observer and keeper of all the family funds. I'd go, huh? No, no, they just say, Dad, I need cash. Okay, it's just like real straight forward. Very bold, Dad, I need cash. And the Bible says that you can come to God and say, Dad, I need cash. Abba, Father, just in the most intimate terms. God doesn't want you. You know all these fancy flowery prayers that everybody prays? God's gone, what are you talking to? You were to talk to me as Abba, Father, daddy, my daddy.

6:13I feel bold in bringing my request to God. Talk to him, Father, dear father. And since we are his children, we will share in his treasures. In other words, I'm a son of God. I get the family inheritance. You're a daughter of God. You get the family inheritance. We will share in his treasure for everything God gives to his son. Christ is ours too. I'm a son of God. You're a son of God. You're a daughter of God. You get total access because he loves you that much. He doesn't say, excuse me, I'll put you on an appointment in three months. You can come boldly to God and talk to him about anything, anytime, anywhere. And God's not going to go, excuse me, I'm a little busy. I'm trying to solve the Middle East crisis right now. No, you're a child of God. You get special privileges. And you bring bold and bring your needs to God. Look at this verse, Hebrews 4.16.

7:17Let us then approach the throne of grace. That means prayer. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence. The word is actually boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us when in our time of need. You need to be bold in your prayer. You're a son of God. You're a daughter of God. You're loved unconditionally. And Jesus said, you can ask anything in my name. I feel accepted rather than ashamed. And I am bold in bringing my needs to my Abba Father, my Papa Father. Number three, when I understand God's love conditionally, and I just experience it, not just know it, I have peace in pain. I don't understand. You're going to have a lot of things that happen in your life. You don't get. You're going to ask the why questions of life. God, why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to our family?

8:18Why now? Why here? Why this? You're going to see things happen in the world. Lord, why? Now, let me just say up front, God doesn't owe you an explanation for why he allows anything. I will tell you this. I'm going to ask you this. For why he allows anything. I will tell you this. Not everything that happens in the world is God's will. God hates the evil, and a lot of evil is done in the world. And God could easily take away evil. Really, or simple. Take away your freedom to do it. And mine too, because you've done some evil things in life, and so have I. And he could easily get rid of all suffering by taking away your choice and my choice and turn us all into puppets. But he wants us to voluntarily love. So he puts up with the pain that evil caused in order to give you the freedom of choice. And you're going to go through life and a lot of things in life, you're not going to understand. Losses you don't understand, hurts you don't understand, rejection you don't understand, problems you don't understand.

9:19But here's the thing, you don't have to understand them to be at peace. In fact, an explanation doesn't give you peace anyway. When someone you love dies, if somebody told you the explanation for it, it wouldn't get make you any happier. You still have the loss. Explanations don't cover it. What you need is not peace, I mean, not an explanation. You need presence, the presence of God in your life. And what you need is what the Bible calls the peace that passes understanding. Look up here on the screen. Philippians 4.7 says this, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now what is the peace that passes understanding? It's when you feel at peace, even though you don't understand what's going on. You have no reason, no explanation, no discernment. You just don't know why it's happening, but you're still at peace. And that is a supernatural peace that comes from God.

10:21Is that peace that passes understanding? Because I don't know why this is happening. But I do know this. I do know God is a good God. And I do know that He loves me. And I do know that He wants what's best for my life. And I do know that I can trust Him, even when I don't understand it. That's the peace that passes understanding. And it comes from feeling the love of God in your life. Do you ever wonder if your life really matters? Or what on earth you're here for? Pastor Rick wants to let you know that God has a good plan and purpose for your life. In his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, he lays out a simple life-changing road map to help you discover and live it. This book has transformed millions of lives and it could transform someone you love.

11:23And great news. It's been updated for today's generation. This edition includes a video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor Rick for each chapter. And two powerful bonus chapters on the biggest barriers to living a purpose driven life. As you go through this book, you'll uncover that your deepest meaning and fulfillment doesn't come from success or status. But from understanding and living out the purpose that God created you for. Request your copy today when you give a gift to help daily hope, share the gospel around the world. It's our way of saying thanks. Now, you and I know that human fathers don't have unlimited ability, unlimited power, but your Heavenly Father does. And he can handle anything. He has unlimited power and he has unlimited love. And when you realize that he is good and he is God

12:23and he loves you and the things that don't make sense in your life, you can have the peace that passes understanding. Now, God's love does not exempt you from pain or suffering in this life. No, Christians have the exact same problems that non-Christians do. The difference is we get the peace that passes understanding. Where I can trust God in a moment when everything is falling apart around me. And I can know there's a promise in the Bible. We just looked at it last week, Romans 8, 28. And we know that in all things, even the bad things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called, circle that word, called according to His purpose, circle that purpose. Calling in purpose to go together. And when we live the calling and we live out our purpose

13:25and we let God love us and we love God back, we can know that in all things, God is working for the good of those who love Him. And that gives us the peace of passes understanding. Number four. The fourth thing that happens when I know that I'm totally loved by God is I gain the courage to take risks. I gain the courage to take risks. When somebody believes in you, you are capable of accomplishing things. You would never be able to accomplish on your own just because they believe in you. It gives you an additional power. It gives you additional energy. You know, sometimes when we're doing Christmas or Easter, somebody's times when I'm doing 14, 16 services back to back. And along about number nine, I'll start to get tired. And I think, I don't think I got the energy to do this. And I'll look right over here to my wife who sits right down here and she'll wink at me and I'll think, I could do 100 more.

14:27Because all I need her to do is to believe in me. And it gives me enormous energy. When someone believes in you unconditionally, the way God does it when you experience that, it releases you. You have dreams that have gone unfulfilled in your life because you have been scared to death to go after them. What if I fail? And you're going to die with unfulfilled dreams, unless you key in to the love of God. And you let him give you that confidence that comes from him believing in you. Even if you're old, it's not too late. When I was in the seventh grade, we lived up in Northern California in the Redwoods. And I was taking a shop class in the seventh grade. And we, everybody was supposed to make something for shop class. And I decided for that Christmas, I was going to make my mom and dad a Redwood table.

15:30Now, a little true confession here. Your pastor has zero artistic and craftability. I'm just not very coordinated with my hands. I'm just not good at all. And I decided that I was going to make this Redwood table. And after about, I worked on it for about six months hard. We had a barn on our property. And I wouldn't let my parents come out the barn because I was working on it there for six months. And after six months, it was a disaster. I mean, a mess. And I mean, nothing in this table looked right. I mean, it was all a wampie job. It was misbalanced. The one edge was longer than the other. It was at bad sanding and parts of it were nicked off. And I had done too much lacquer at one end and not enough at the other. And it was a mess. And I remember how disappointed I was in myself. And how bad I felt. I so badly wanted this to be a nice gift for my parents.

16:33And I just remember sitting down in that barn one day and just sobbing. And my dad heard me. And he came up to the barn and he asked for permission to come in. And I let him come in. And I said, Dad, I just screwed it up. I have made such a mess of this. And I wanted it so badly to be nice. But it's not. I'll never forget what he said. He said, you know, son, it's okay. We can start over. Not you. We can start over. And this time, I'll help you. Now, my dad was a master carpenter. He built, in his lifetime, he built about 150 churches all around the world. He knew how to build stuff.

17:33So if my dad said, this time, I'll help you. It's a done deal. It's going to succeed. And this is what your heavenly father is saying to you today. I don't care if you're 15 or 50 or 95. God is saying, you may have really messed it up royally. You gave it your best shot, but it just flat out wasn't good enough. And you're really to be honest. If you're honest, you're disappointed in your life. And your heavenly father comes to you today and says, it's okay. You can start over. And this time, I'll help you. We will do it together. Your heavenly father has wanted to reach out and grasp you in his arms. When you felt like, I just blew it. Maybe you blew it publicly. Maybe you blew it privately. And your heavenly father says, it's okay. We'll start over.

18:34And this time, we'll do it together. For some of you, and some of you watching right now, this moment, God has been waiting for this moment your entire life. He's been waiting for this moment where you, for the first time, would get a little inkling of how much he loves you. I've said many times. Your problem is not that you don't love God. Your problem is you don't know how much he loves you. Because if you did, you could not help but love him. And this is the moment where a million years ago before anything happened in your life, God chose you and decided to create you to love you. And you have spent your entire life afraid to surrender your total life to God.

19:39And the reason why you've been afraid to surrender your total life to God is because you don't know how much he loves you. Nobody knows what is best for you. Nobody knows what will make your life better than God does. So this is your moment. This is your breakthrough moment. This is the moment where you let go of fear. The Bible says this on the screen. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment. When love comes in the front door of your life, fear goes out the back. You need to stop being afraid of God. And you need to accept his love and the fear will drain out of your life. So how do I become a son of God? How do I become a daughter of God? How do I become a child of God on the screen?

20:39The Bible says in John 1 verse 12, to all who believed him, that's Jesus, and accepted him. He's already accepted you. Accepted him. Jesus gave the right to become children of God. So let's talk to God about it. This is your moment. I want you to pray this prayer that will change and transform the rest of your life. Dear God, just say this in your heart, I am so amazed at how much you love me. Thank you. That your love for me is wide enough to be everywhere I go. Thank you. That your love for me is long enough to last forever. You will never stop loving me.

21:39Thank you that your love for me is deep enough to handle all my problems. Thank you, God. That your love is high enough to overlook all my sins, all my mistakes, all my faults and failures because of Jesus. God, I want to feel accepted rather than ashamed. I want to be bold in bringing my needs to you. I need the peace that passes understanding. I want to have peace even in pain that I don't understand. I need your love to give me the courage to take risks to go after my dream. Jesus Christ, as best I know I surrender every particle and room of my life. And I want to learn to love you back because you love me so much.

22:41And I want to spend the rest of my life with that first calling of letting you love me. And I pray this in your name. Amen. The fifth things that happens when you understand the love of God in your life is I worship instead of worry. I worship instead of worry. What is worship? Worship is simply expressing my love to God. Anytime you say to God, I love you, God, that's worship. You can worship in a small group, you can worship in a church, building a service, you can worship with windows rolled down your car and the radio blaring. Anytime you express love to God, you are worshiping. Worship is always response. We love God because he first loved us. Look on the screen. We love God. We love because God first loved us. Remember, your problem is not that you don't love God.

23:43Your problem is you don't understand how much he loves you. Now, how do you know, well, close with this, how do you know when you're not feeling God's love? Oh, it's real simple. One simple thing. Worry. When you worry, at that moment, you have forgotten how much God loves you. Worry is acting like an atheist. Worry is pretending you're an orphan. Worry is saying, I've forgotten. I have a heavenly father who loves me once what's best for me and created me and is watching over me. Worry is pretending like you're all on your own. You're not. Worry at that moment means, at this point, I have forgotten how much God loves you. I have forgotten how much God loves me. And you need to choose worship over worry. I owe the son, Josh, had to go back east this week and he hates to fly when there's turbulence. And because of the storm, he said, Dad, it was constant turbulence.

24:43And he said, I had to decide, was I going to worry or is I going to worship? So instead of worrying, he said, I put in my earbuds and put on a bunch of worship songs. You're going to panic or pray the rest of your life. You're going to worry or you're going to worship. You're going to look at your problem or you're going to look at God. Jesus said this. Don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. He'll give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the kingdom of God your primary concern. So don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow, we'll bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. And this promise, that verse right there, is why we're doing live your calling. Do you ever wonder if your life really matters? Or what on earth you're here for? Pastor Rick wants to let you know that God has a good plan and purpose for your life.

25:43In his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, he lays out a simple life-changing road map to help you discover and limit. This book has transformed millions of lives and it could transform someone you love. And great news. It's been updated for today's generation. This edition includes a video introduction and audio teaching from Pastor Rick for each chapter. And two powerful bonus chapters on the biggest barriers to living a purpose driven life. As you go through this book, you'll uncover that your deepest meaning and fulfillment doesn't come from success or status. But from understanding and living out the purpose that God created you for. Request your copy today when you give a gift to help daily hope. Share the gospel around the world. It's our way of saying thanks.