Rick Warren - The Beginning of a Miracle
Yeah. You're going to make me cry. Have I told you lately that I love you? Yeah, I do. Okay, sit down. Sit down. You are so tired of applauding for me. I know that. I love you too. Anybody else are? No, I'm kidding. Come on. As you know by now, today is my last message to you. As your senior pastor for 43 years. It has been been my privilege then. My privilege to love you. To love you, to pray for you, to serve you, to encourage you to be at the bedsides, to be at the graveside, to be in the counseling when you're going through a tough patch in your life, and to teach. And during these 43 years, I have preached 6500 plus messages, sermons and studies.
But in this first hour, final or last farewell message, I have decided that of all of those 6500 message plus that I want to share with you to repeat and preach, the very first message I preached to start this church. Word for word 43 years ago. One of the values, purpose driven values that we hold on to here at our church is begin with the end in mind. Whatever project you're starting. Begin with the end in mind. That's called being purpose driven. You know, your is in advance. And we knew from the very beginning what kind of church this was going to be. We didn't have a single we had no money, no members, no building, nothing. But we knew what God wanted us to do, and we announced it at that very first service.
Now, the message you're about to hear today illustrates this value of begin with the end in mind, because I wrote this message and I preached this message only one time in 43 years. The very first service it was on March 30th, 1980, a week before Easter in the little theater of Laguna Hills High School to about 50, 60 people who showed up for that trial run dress rehearsal service. The very next week was going to be Easter Sunday. 1980 was going to be our first public service. And I said, let's just go down to the high school and work out all the bugs.
So next week, it looks like we know what we're doing. 60 people read that little letter that I'd sent out and showed up, and as I looked out on that group of 60 people, almost all of them were strangers to me. I didn't recognize anybody. They didn't know me. I didn't know them. They didn't know each other. It was just 60 people who'd shown up in response to a letter that I had sent out to the community saying, We're starting a new church. So as I preached this message to them, that very first message, I was defining the type of church we were going to be to total strangers and nothing existed. It was just being spoken into existence. We didn't have anything. There was no church.
When I preach this sermon, it was the start, the very start. And those strangers, those 50, 60 people, many of them had never been in church before. Somehow my letter got through to them. They thought I might try that kind of church. And over the next several months, I baptized 60 of those people. So keep that in mind that as you listen to this message, I'm speaking to strangers about a church that doesn't exist, and most of them don't even know the Lord. Now, in the first months of that new church in 1980, one of the young couples that I had the privilege of leading to Christ were named Dave and Jenny. And Dave was so excited to come to know the Lord. And he just felt free and forgiving and really was so full of gratitude. He wanted to do something, say thank you to Jesus, say thank you to his church. And since he was a carpenter, he decided to build me a pulpit.
Today I'm standing behind that pulpit. Okay? And I use this pulpit for the first 15 years of our church, when we were without a building. And we moved around to 79 different facilities in the first 15 years, we said, We're the church. If you can figure out where we are, you get to come this week. And so this pulpit moved wherever I went, everywhere that Rick went, the pulpit was sure to go. It followed him to school one day, school one day. And good girl. All right, vigor. And I actually pushed this pulpit. We put it on wheels when 6000 people walk from Trabuco Hills High School over to this new property on the Lake Forest campus. And we put this on wheels, and I pushed it at the head of a parade of 6000 people. And we retired this pulpit the day we moved into this worship center that we're in.
So this week, the message I want to share with you, my last message is very, very different. And after I pray, I'm going to teach the original first message that I gave 45 years ago. But I'm not going to preach it to you, thousands of people. I'm going to preach it as if I was preaching it to that original group of 60 strangers in a little theater. So for you to get the full experience of this message for you to fully understand the impact of it, I'm going to have to ask you to use your imagination this this weekend. And first, I want you to imagine there's no Saddleback Church. You don't know anything about it. You never heard of it because it doesn't exist up to this point. It hasn't started yet.
Second, I want to imagine I want you to imagine that you're sitting with 50 strangers in a high school theater years ago and you don't know anybody. And you certainly don't know the guy who's talking. Imagine that. Third, this is the biggest stretch. Imagine that I'm 25 years old. What's so funny about that? I don't get I don't get it. They laughed every time I said that. I don't know. All right. So let's pray about your head's father.
May you once again use these words that you gave to me to start this church. May you use them now to launch the next generation of our church family. God, you're the same wonder, working God that you have always been. And we trust you in Jesus name. Amen.
Welcome to the very first service, the Saddleback Valley Community Church. You are making history today. And as I look out on your faces, I realize that none of us know each other. But I'm filled with gratitude and I'm filled with joy and I'm filled with expectancy because today is the beginning of a miracle and you are not here by accident. A thousand years before you were born, God knew that on this day, March 30th, 1980, you would be sitting in this Laguna Hills High School theater witnessing the launch of a brand new church. I want you to know that even though I don't know your name, God does. And I began praying for you about nine months ago. And I believe that God wants to use you to impact Orange County, Southern California and eventually the world in ways that you've never imagined. God wanted you here today for this very first service, Saddleback Valley Community Church.
Now, to launch this new place of worship, I chose a text from a very small book in the Bible called Zachariah. Here's the quick background. During Israel's war and captivity by the Babylon empire, the temple in Jerusalem was totally destroyed. And after the Israelites were allowed to return home, God encouraged the Governor of Judea to build a new place of worship. That's what I Zacharias talking about. And I believe that God's instructions to those people over 2500 years ago can apply to the launching of this new congregation today. So let me read it to you, Zachariah. Chapter four, verses 6 to 10 says this This is God's word. You will succeed.
Look at this. You will succeed not in your own power, not in your own strength or power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Nothing, not even a mountain will stand in your way. Zurab Bible, who is the priest, is laying the foundation of this temple and he will complete it. So do not look at this. Do not despise these small beginnings for the eyes of the Lord. Rejoice to see this work begin. Now I want you to notice five facts from these verses.
First, building a new place of worship can be done not by human strength, but only by God's power. It cannot be done by human power. Strength. We're going to need God's spirit to strengthen us in building a new house of worship. Number two, a solid foundation he says has to be laid there. Laying the foundation and the size and the strength of the foundation is going to determine the size and strength of our church. For decades to come. Number three, we are not to dismiss how small our beginning is, says don't despise small begin. This small group here today show no indication of how large this church family is going to become. Number four God is happy and is rejoicing to see this work began. He's smiling from heaven. And finally, number five God guarantees our success if we rely on him and follow his instructions, he says, you will succeed.
Now, some of you might be thinking, should a church even be interested in success? So let me speak to that right up front on this first verse first. God doesn't sponsor flops. And God tells us that his church is, quote, the body of Christ, which means it's a body, not a business. It's an organism, not an organization. It is alive. And all living things grow. Growth is the evidence of life. If you're not growing, you're dying. Colossians two, 19, says this under Christ's control. His whole body is nourished and held together, and it grows as God wants it to grow. It is God's will for this church to grow. It is God's will that every church be healthy and growing. But second, if you're asking about should a church want to be successful, let me define success.
Success is not size. Success is change. Live. You'll hear me say that a thousand times in the years ahead. Success has changed lives. We will focus on health, not growth. Because if you're healthy, growth is automatic. I don't have to command my kids to grow. They grow if they're healthy. Now, you may have heard people say, well, God is not called us to be successful. He's only called us to be faithful. And I'd say, you haven't read your Bible because it's only half correct. God has called us to be both faithful and fruitful, faithful and successful. The Bible term for success is fruitfulness, and repeatedly throughout his ministry, Jesus says that he expects us to be fruitful, to bear fruit, not be merely faithful.
Faithfulness is not enough. God expects fruitfulness, so we're never going to apologize for expecting to be fruitful and successful as a church family. In fact, Jesus says this in John 15 verses eight and 16. You bring glory to my father. You want to bring glory to father. Here's how you do it. You bring glory to my father. And you show you are my disciples. You want to prove you're really a follower of Christ. You show you're my disciples by bearing much fruit. Notice that word. Much fruit. God wants a big family. He says, I chose you, and I've called you to bear fruit. Fruit that will last. I want you to know this from that verse. Jesus says, God expects me and expects you and expects this church to bear much fruit.
So that's what we're going to believe God for. And even more important is that God promises and God guarantees your fruitfulness in life. If you follow certain instructions. So today in this very first message, I want to explain specifically five things we're going to do. What we're going to do in order to ensure the fruitfulness of our lives and this church for the years ahead. And I've titled this The Five Reasons This Church is Guaranteed to Succeed. Now, as you decide today on whether or not this church is for you and this very first service, I want to give you our biblical blueprint for a fruitful or successful church family. And I hope at the end you're going to want to join us, because it's going to be quite an adventure.
Number one, the first reason this church is guaranteed to succeed is this because doing God's word will be our foundation. Doing God's word will be our foundation. The only legitimate foundation for any church is the Bible, God's word. And building on any other foundation is going to guarantee failure. But God makes many, many promises about his word. Here's one of them. Isaiah 5511. He says this. My word comes out of my mouth and it will not fail. It will not fail to do. That's called success. It will not fail to do what I intend for it to do. It will accomplish everything that I desire, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I send it. God promises that anything built on His word is going to succeed. He says it will not fail. And friends I trust this book.
Now, let me go a little bit further on this. Every true church believes God's word, teaches God's word, studies God's word, even memorizes God's word. But what's going to be different about Saddleback Valley Community Church is that we're going to focus on putting God's word into practice. We're going to do God's word. Not simply study it. Not simply teach it. Not simply quote it. Not simply memorize it. We're going to focus on doing God's word in this church, not just studying. That's a little bit different. You see in the Great Commission the last instructions Jesus gave before returning back to heaven. He said this Teach them to do everything I have commanded you, not teach them to. No, not teach them to study. Not teach and remember. Remembering says teach them to do. We are to be doers of the word. We are to do it.
If you're looking, I'll just be honest with you here in this first year, if you're looking for a church where all that's required is that you just come and sit and listen to nice Bible studies every week. Friends, this isn't the church for you, because we're not just going to study the word. We're going to do it. The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge. The Bible was given to change our lives. Sadly, a lot of churches just keep people busy studying the Word of God. One study after another thinking that's all that God expects. But they never really do it. They don't do anything in the community. They don't do anything around the world. They don't make a difference. They're just studying, studying, studying.
James Chapter one, verse 25 says this. Don, deceive yourselves. Don't deceive yourselves by just listening to the word. In other words, I come to service after service. I listen and think I'm growing. And he says, Now, if you keep looking, it says, Do what it says, do what it says. If you keep looking steadily into God's word, it set you free. And if you do what it says and you don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you in all you do. We're talking about why we want to succeed and why God is guaranteed it. He says We're going to do the Word of God. God's blessing comes from doing what God says to do. Not merely listening to Bible messages.
Let me give you an example. Imagine if I said I wanted to lose weight and show how serious I was about losing weight. I go out and I buy a book on weight loss and every day I faithfully sit down in my La-Z-Boy chair and I put my feet up to read and study another chapter on weight loss. And I find it so inspiring that I can't wait to get back for another session. Now, of course, I get my coke and my chips and dip while I'm reading and maybe a candy bar in case I'm really hungry. And every day I faithfully study that weight loss book and I really enjoy it. I enjoy reading it and studying it, and I actually underline and highlight my favorite passages that inspire me in that weight loss book and maybe even memorize a few sentences.
But is that going to make me any more healthy? Is it going to change my life? Is it going to transform me? No. But a lot of church members deceive themselves the same way they think that simply going to church, listening to the Word of God means they're going. They are not at this church. We're going to focus on applying God's word to our lives actually doing it. That's why if you watch in the in the days ahead, you'll notice that I put a verb in every point of my message. Why? So that on Monday you can practice what you heard on Sunday, that you can be a doer of the word, not a hero only. And this is going to be different than a lot of other preachers.
Joshua Chapter one verse eight, says this. Think about this book. It's God's word. Think about this book day and night so that you learn to do everything written in it. You get the message here. He says. Then you will prosper and you will succeed in whatever you do. Why is this church going to see succeed? Because we're going to do the word of God. And in the years ahead, you're going to hear me say this many, many times. You only believe the parts of the Bible. You actually do. Do you believe in tithing? How do you do it now? Then you don't believe it. Do you believe in witnessing? How do you do it? No. Then you don't believe. Do you believe in forgiving your enemies? Yeah. Do you do it now? Then you don't believe it. You only believe the parts that you actually do. You know, at the conclusion of Jesus teaching.
Whenever He was teaching, he would often say, Now go and do likewise. Every one of Jesus sermons were aimed for an action. So will mine at the Saddleback Valley Community Church. Jesus made this promise in John 1317. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. You don't get blessed by knowing the Word of God. You get blessed by doing the word of God. So the very first reason this church is going to succeed, looking at all those verses we just looked at, is because doing God's word will be our foundation. Not just hearing it, not just knowing, not just studying, doing it.
Now, here's the second reason we are guaranteed to succeed as a church because fulfilling God's purposes will be our plan. Doing God's word will be our foundation. Fulfilling God's purposes will be our plan. We're not going to grow this church on our plans. We're going to structure everything around God's purposes. Proverbs 1921 says this Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that will prevail. We all have all kinds of plans. But he said, it's only the Lord's purposes that prevail. To prevail means to succeed. It means to triumph over obstacles. It means to be victorious over barriers. It means to be successful. The word says that we will prosper and we will succeed when we do God's purposes. My life verse is to follow David's example, because I think it's a definition of real success.
Acts 13:36 says this. David served God's purpose in his generation. That is so simple and that is so clear to me. That's the definition of a successful life. He did that which never changes, served God's purpose, but he did it in a world that was constantly changing. In his generation, he did the eternal in a contemporary way and a relevant way. He did the timeless in a timely way. He served God's purpose in His generation. Then he died. He won't stay around here afterwards. That's what our church is going to do. And it's the second reason we're guaranteed to succeed, because God's purposes are going to be our plan.
Now, I don't have time in this first message to explain God's five purposes to you. I'm going to do that in future messages. But the first church modeled God's five purposes in Acts two. Jesus reports on how He did the five purposes with the disciples in John 17 and Paul explains them in Ephesians four. But they're best summarized the five purposes of God in the five verbs of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus. You don't get anything else. You just get the great commandment, great commission. You're going you're going to be a great Christian.
So here's the motto of this brand new church as we announce it on our very first Sunday a great commitment to the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission will grow a great church. A great commitment to the Great Commandment. And the Great Commission will grow a great church. I'm going to unpack that in detail in the weeks and months ahead. But this church is going to succeed. It's guaranteed to succeed because doing God's will will be our foundation and fulfilling God's purposes will be our plan. And number three, because trusting God's promises will be our confidence. Trusting God's promises will be our confidence.
You know, one of the most incredible, amazing, mind shattering statements of Jesus is in John Chapter 14. And I'll be honest with you, friends, it's hard to grasp and comprehend what Jesus is saying here. It's literally mind blowing because in John Chapter 14 versus 1214, Jesus says this I tell you the truth. In other words, Jesus said, I'm not putting you on. This is not an exaggeration. I tell you the truth, Jesus says. Anybody you trust in me will be able to do even greater works than what I've done. Hello will be able to do even greater works than what I've done. Because I'm going to the Father and I will do whatever you ask in my name. That's prayer so that I, the son, may bring glory to the father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Now, when I first read that verse, I think, how in the world could anybody possibly do greater works in Jesus? What was he thinking? What was he thinking? He was thinking about the power of prayer. You see, when Jesus was here on Earth, in his physical body, he was limited to one place at one time. He could only be in one place at one time because he was in a physical body. But now, in his spiritual body, the church, Jesus can do miracles and transform lives in a million places at the same time. That's the greater works, he says, because you're going to be able to pray and ask. That's why God challenges us to think bigger and dream greater and risk more in faith than we could ever possibly imagine. It's easiest.
Chapter three Verse 20 challenges us here on this first day of this brand new church, challenges us with a vision expanding fact. Here's what Ephesians 320 says God by his mighty power work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of infinitely beyond our highest prayers, our desires, our thoughts, our hopes. I don't know about you, but I'm a pretty big dreamer. God says Rick. Think of the biggest thing you'd ever dream or hope or ask or imagine. And I can top that. What Paul is saying here in this verse is Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal. Don't base your vision on what you think you can do. Base it on how big you think God is, and imagine what He can do. We're going to go for God's vision.
So today, in front of this very small group of people who we don't even know each other yet, I'm going to go way out on a limb and I'm going to state in faith a vision that God has given to me. It's a vision that, as I've prayed and prepared over the past year for this church, God gave me this dream and I wrote it all down. You know, everything that exists in the world starts with a dream. Nothing happens until somebody starts dreaming. So here's the dream that God has given me that caused me to move here 12 weeks ago to Southern California to start this church family.
Let me paint your picture a vision of Saddleback Church in the future. It is a dream of a place where the hurting, the hopeless, the discouraged, the depressed, the frustrated and the confused will find love, acceptance, healing, hope, forgiveness, guidance, encouragement and support. It is the dream of sharing the life changing good news of Jesus Christ with hundreds of thousands of residents in South Orange County. It is a dream of welcoming 20,000. Yes, I said it 20,000 members into the fellowship of this church family loving, learning, laughing and living in harmony together, modeling God's love to the world. It is a dream of growing people to spiritual maturity and their full potential through the discipleship of Bible studies in small groups and retreats and seminars and tools to help them grow in Christ like this and fulfill the purpose of their lives.
It is a dream of equipping every member for their own ministry through our church by helping them discover their gifts and talents that God gave them. It is a dream of sending out our members by the thousands on mission to every continent and empowering every member for their personal life's mission in the world. This is a dream of training church leaders and missionaries all around the world, and it is the dream of starting at least one new daughter church every year of this church's existence. It is a dream of at least 50 acres of land one day on which we will build a large regional church campus with beautiful, yet efficient facility, including a worship center. Seating thousands. A ministry center that provides a space for counseling and prayer.
And all of our ministries to the community classrooms for Bible studies, training and outdoor recreation areas. And all of these facilities will be designed to minister to the total person spiritually, emotionally, physically, socially, and they will be set in a natural park environment with inspiring garden landscapes that refresh the soul, including beautiful flowers and green lawns and trees and picnic areas and sparkling fountains and pools for baptizing. We want people to feel relaxed when they come to our church.
Now, the day I stand before you and I stayed in constant insurance, that all of these dreams will be realized. Why? Because they're inspired by God and therefore, His glory. Now you need to hear me say this clearly. My confidence is not in self. Not at all. It's in the promises that God makes to us in this book. If we follow His instructions. So when people say, Who do you think you are? We have to say It's the wrong question. What matters is not who we think we are. What matters is who do we think God is? And second Corinthians, chapter three, verse four and five explains how I feel about this. We are confident of all of this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and our only success comes from God.
So let me review. This church is guaranteed to succeed because doing God's word will be our foundation. Fulfilling God's purposes will be our plan. Trusting God's promises will be our confit sense. And number four, because depending on God's spirit will be our strength. We are going to stay totally dependent on God for all this to happen. Now in the Bible, the word for total dependance on God, you know what it's called? Humility. Humility. Humility may be one of the most misunderstood words today. Humility is not demeaning yourself or belittling your gifts or pretending you're not talented at something. In fact, that could just be fishing for compliments. And that's false humility, which is a sin. Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. And humility is being totally 100% dependent upon God.
James 4:6 says this God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Any time I am prideful and anytime I think that I'm self-sufficient without God, that I don't need God's help. At that moment, God says I'm on the opposite side of God and I'm going to lose that battle every time. Guaranteed to lose it because your arms and my arms are too short to box with God. Every time I'm prideful, God is going to oppose me. But every time I live by faith in total dependance on God. God, you've got to do this. Then God gives us His grace. And when I get God's grace, then God can do so much more than I ever think or imagine or dream of or risk.
Did you notice in that verse it says, God gives grace to the humble. What is grace? Well, grace is when God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. Literally every good thing in our lives comes from God's grace. It's all of God's grace. Grace is the fact that God already knows every stupid mistake I'm going to make in life and as pastor of this church. And he still chose me. And Grace is the fact that God knows every mistake you're going to make in your life. But He still wants to use you to. This church is going to be built by flawed, imperfect people. That's grace.
Here's another promise of God. 1 Peter 5:6. If you humble yourself under God's mighty power, He will lift you up in his own good time. We're responsible for the depth of our ministry. God is responsible for the breath of it. And over and over. And over and over and over. In Scripture, our loving Heavenly Father says He wants to bless us if we'll just trust him. Instead of trusting ourselves, instead of trusting our feelings, instead of trusting what other people and society and culture tells us. Proverbs three, five and six is a great example of true humility and humble dependance. It says this Proverbs three, five and six Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Do not depend on your own understanding in everything you do. Put him first and he'll direct you and crown your efforts with success. That's why this church is going to succeed. Because we're going to do what that verse, just as you know, we typically think that you have to be strong for God to use you or to bless you. You have to be really strong, then God can use you. But actually, God uses our weaknesses as much as He uses our strengths. Your weaknesses are part of God's plan for your life, too. They can bring honor to God, too. And throughout history, God has always used weak people.
Physically weak, emotionally weak. Mentally weak, spiritually weak. God has always used people, but they were humbly dependent on God. You see, if God only used strong people, a lot of us would get left out. And if God only used perfect people, nothing would get done in the world because there are no perfect people. This church is going to be built by ordinary people with ordinary weaknesses. And what's going to matter is not our strengths and weaknesses, but our attitude of humbly, depending on God for strength.
Another promise that I've been holding on to for months is this one here. I love this job. Chapter eight, verse 5 to 7 says This If you look to God for help and you seek his favor and you keep yourself pure and you live with integrity, God will rouse himself on your behalf. And though you started with little look around, you'll end up with much. If ever we needed a verse to start us off, though you started with a little, you'll end up with much. That's a promise of God. I'm claiming for Saddleback Church, as you look around today, we're starting with not much. We don't even know each other yet. But you and about 50 other people took a gamble to show up at a new church.
And I honor you for being a risk taker because that's what it's going to take to build this church. It's what pioneers do. They take risks in faith. They don't do the same thing safe. People didn't show up at this service. So I honor you. Now, I imagine some of you are probably wondering, Rick, how long are you willing to stay here as pastor? It's a legitimate question when I'm challenging you to sign up. So I want to publicly announce this at our first service of Saddleback Church. God willing. And by his grace, I publicly commit to you to giving the next 40 years of my life to reaching and growing the people of this church, family.
Now, I know it's not going to be easy. Nothing great is ever accomplished without opposition, without barriers, without criticism, without difficulties. I'm counting on these to be there. But Philippians chapter one, verse six, is a promise that we're going to build this church on together. It says this. I'm confident of this, that he who began this good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. That's what we're counting on, the promises of God.
So let's review. This church is guaranteed to succeed for five reasons, according to God's word, because doing God's word is going to be our foundation. We're not just going to study it. We're going to apply it in our lives, fulfilling God's will be our plan. We're going to be built on the purposes of God. Trusting God's promises will be our confidence. We don't put confidence in ourselves depending on God's spirit will be our strength. And finally, number five, this church is guaranteed to succeed because loving God and people will be our attraction. Loving God and loving people will be our attraction.
You know, as I study Scripture, the Bible tells us that everywhere Jesus went, he attracted large crowds, not little crowds, big crowds. Those crowds grew so big they were called in the Bible multitudes. What attracted so many people to Jesus, and how does a Christlike ministry today attract crowds? What attracted people to Jesus? Well, three things. He met their needs physical, emotional, spiritual. Number two, he taught them in practical, interesting ways. The Bible says they were fascinated by how he taught. They said nobody taught like this guy before. But most important of all, Jesus loved them. Love is what attracts growing churches. Love and loving churches grow.
You know, for the past 12 weeks, I've been doing door to door. I've been just going door to door in southern Orange County. Just talking to people. Talking to people in this area about their lives. And you know what? I discovered that behind the doors of all these beautiful homes, there are a lot of lonely people. People are looking for love, just all in the wrong places. But if we as a church family genuinely love people, we'd have to lock the doors to keep people out. We want this church to be famous for its love. Not anything else. I want people to say, that's the church where you go. If you need love, they love you there. God repeatedly tells us over and over that love is the most important ingredient for the success of anything.
Look at these verses. First Corinthians 1614 says Everything you do must be done with love. That's pretty clear. Everything. Colossians 314. Love is more important than anything else. Pretty clear. Ephesians five. To be full of love for people, for others. Following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. You know, friends, I've learned that you can fake love for a short time, but you can't fake it for long term. People figure out pretty soon, pretty quickly if you really love them or not.
One of the reasons love is so important is because it is the key to endurance. If you're not doing what you do out of love, you're not going to last at it. Love keeps you going when you feel like giving up. And there will be many hard spots in the years ahead for this church. But first Corinthians 13, seven and eight says this love never gives up. Love never loses faith. Love, love is always hopeful. Love endures through every circumstance. And love never fails. In other words, if you love, you're going to be a success. Love never fails.
Notice that God says that if what you were attempting is done in love, it cannot fail. So regardless of the results, if what you're doing is being done out of love, you are already a success. Because love never fails. It was love that motivated Kay and me to move here 12 weeks ago to start this church. It was love that our little group of 15 people hand addressed and hand stamped 16,000 letters that we mailed out to start on Easter Sunday next week. It has been love that caused us to use our personal credit cards to finance this whole thing. All the preparations for today, the advertising, the building rental, the nursery equipment and everything else. We put it on our credit cards. We're not doing this for ourselves. It's because we love Jesus and we love people.
You know, years ago, I heard a story about the famous Christian Bishop, Fulton Sheen. And Bishop Sheen was visiting a leprosy colony somewhere overseas filled with poor people suffering from all kinds of skin diseases. He came up to a man lying in the dirt dying, and the man was naked, except for a cloth around his waist. And the body of this man was covered with open source, oozing with pus and liquid. And it was pretty revolting and disgusting. But Fulton Sheen leaned over this poor man to talk to him, and as he did the chain that he was wearing that was holding the cross he was wearing, for some reason, that chain came on unlinked. It broke, and the cross around Fulton Sheen's neck fell into one of the large open wounds on this man's thigh. Sheen said at first he was sickened by what he saw. It repulsed him.
What was happening. It shocked him. But he said, you know, suddenly I was overwhelmed with love for that hurting man. And I reached into that man's oozing wound and I picked up the cross. That story changed my life because when I heard it, I thought, that is the most beautiful description of what God wants Christians to do. He wants us to go out into the world where people are wounded and hurting and suffering and bleeding out into the ugly stores of life. And he wants us to take up the cross. And if we don't do that, I doubt our Christianity. Don't call yourself a Christian. You don't love like that.
So I'm telling you today, this church is going to be filled on showing compassion to people in pain regardless of the cause of their pain. When you find a man bleeding on the side of the street, you don't walk up and say, it wasn't your fault. Are you here legally? You just help the guy. And that's what we're going to do in this church. That's love. That's compassion. In the Matthew 25 judgment. Matthew, chapter 25. Jesus says that the one thing we're going to be valued for, evaluated for in that judgment is this how we treated other people. I was hungry and you fed me. I had no clothes and you gave them to me. I was sick and in prison. And you visited me. I was thirsty. You gave me something to drink. The one thing we're going to be judged for is how we treated other people.
And in this church, we're going to treat people with compassion regardless of their hurt and what caused it. You know, it's so much easier to stand on the sideline and give advice than it is to really love people and enter into their hurt. Walt Whitman once said, I don't ask a wounded man how he feels. I become that man. Sympathy is defined as saying, I'm sorry you hurt. That's sympathy. Empathy is saying I hurt with you, but compassion says I will do anything I can to stop your hurt. And the Bible says Jesus was often moved with compassion. I will do anything to stop your hurt. Even die on the cross. To stop your hurt. Real love is not words or emotions. Real love is an action. Real love is something you do. Real love is a choice. And this church is in the love business. And we're going to love thousands of people into heaven. We're going to build bridges of love between our heart and there and watch Jesus walk across.
So now, having heard all of this, you know, the charter of this new church, you know, the Constitution, you know the vision of what Saddleback Valley Community Church intends to stand for and intends to become. So now it all boils down to two words. Will you will you will you join us in this extravagant journey, this great adventure? join us in doing God's Word as the foundation of our lives? Will you join us in fulfilling God's purposes? Will you join us in trusting God's promises? Will you join us in depending on God's spirit, and will you join us loving people the way God does? As I close, I want to return to the first verse that I shared with you. Zachariah for six and ten says this You will succeed not on your own strength or your own power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.
So do not despise these small beginnings for the eyes of the Lord. Rejoice to see this work begin. Friends, I've read God's word and I've seen the future. And I can say without any apology that maybe the most significant thing you ever do with your life is join us in building this new church, this new family of God for God's glory. It will certainly outlast everything else you do. It's going to be the adventure of the lifetime. It won't be easy, but they're going to be rewards forever and eternity. And I end with this statement of Jesus in Matthew 929, Jesus said, According to your faith, it will be done unto you. You get to decide how much God is going to bless the rest of your life. Little faith, little blessing, much faith, much bless and great faith.
Great blessing according to your faith will be done to you. You get to decide how much God blesses your life. What are you expecting God to do in your life? I'll tell you what God's doing. He's doing what you expect me to do, because every time God moves out of heaven and moves on Earth and does a miracle is because somebody believe. Why does God use me? Because I deserve it? No, because I expect them to. I my faith in his grace. You need to decide, am I going to waste my life? Am I going to spend my life or am I going to invest my life for something that outlasts my life? The greatest use of your life is to invest it in that which will outlast it. This is your decision. Will you make the same promises we used to start?
This church are the same promises we used to sustain. This church, which is the same promises that we used to grow this church from a handful to tens of thousands. And it is the same church, the same promises that grew this to be a campus international church with campuses on four continents. And now they're the same promises that will guarantee the success of the next generation of our church family under the leadership of Pastor Andy and Stacy. So I want to conclude this message with the same challenge that I gave to those 50, 60 people 43 years ago. But I want to challenge you.
Will you join Pastor Andy and Stacy? Will you join them in doing God's word in the next generation, not just listening to it? Will you join them in fulfilling God's five purposes, not just talking about them? Will you join them in trusting God promises? Will you join them in depending on God's spirit? And will you join them in loving people and offering compassion to anybody, hurting regardless of the cause of their pain? Will you let me know of it? Will you? Anybody here? Anybody here? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody here? Will you will you will you commit to Andy and to Stacy to do these things? I, I love you all so much.
Let me just say this. In 1980, God was looking for just a group of ordinary, normal people with weaknesses and faults and imperfections and sins who didn't have it all together. God was just looking for a group of ordinary people that He could use in an extraordinary way. Guess what? He found them. And we're all here as a result. Okay? We're all here as a result now. And 2022, God is again looking for ordinary, normal, average, flawed, imperfect. Don't have it all together. People again that he could use in an extraordinary, airy way. He's looking for people who will say yes to God, yes, you can use us in.
The next generation of Saddleback Church with Pastor Andy and Stacy. Will you be those people? Will you be those people? What I'm trying to say to you this weekend is that, God, it's a longtime generational God. He is the same God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And in every generation he raises up new voices and new leaders. So I know without a shadow of doubt in my heart that sitting right here in this crowd right now, there are some young women that God wants to use in mighty ways, like he used gay. And I know that there are some young men sitting here right now listening to me who God wants to use, like he used me.
So let me tell you this. There is no greater joy, there's no greater feeling, there's no greater pleasure in life than the feeling of being used by God for a purpose greater than yourself. And as your pastor who's loved you, I want so badly for you to be that person in the next generation. The first lap of the journey of Saddleback Church. It's been quite a ride. Incredible. It's been an adrenaline adventure, rush of faith, taking risks day in, day out for 43 years. But the next step of the journey of this church is about to start and the train is leaving the station. I want you so badly to be on it. I don't want you to choose to be left behind. You missed much of the first lap of the journey, but the best is yet to come.
How do I know that? Because this church is destined for greatness. Destined for greatness. And it's going somewhere. Whether anybody else goes or not, it's going somewhere. It's going great places for the global glory of God. And it will continue to influence thousands, tens of thousands of other churches around the world, because this church has a destiny to serve the world and love. So I want you to do this. I want everybody in your program pull out that communication card, drill simple. Pull out that card. And I want you to write your name on it.
And I want you to write Pastor Andy and Stacy a three word note. Count on me. Count on me. I'm all in, I'm all in. Count on me. You know, I counted on some people 43 years ago, and look what happened. You got blessed because I counted on some people, ordinary people, and they stepped up for Jesus Christ and for something greater than themselves. Now it's your turn. It is your turn to take a step of faith to bless others. Believe me, friends, you don't want to miss what's about to happen with Andy and Stacy. You don't want the train to leave the station without you because you don't want to get to heaven one day and have the Lord say, What were you thinking? What else could possibly be more important in your life?
I put you in the only church in 2000 years of Christian history that has sent members to every nation. The only church that's never done that. Do you think I'm finished with Saddleback? Do you think I'm finished with you? I planned this church to be a part of your destiny. So I want you to commit today. I'm all in. Count on me next generation and I and Kirk and others, founders of this year. We're going to be on the sidelines serving, but we're going to be applauding you as you take the lead.
Let me pray for you for other in every generation you have used and you have blessed ordinary people. And today and 20, 21 and 22, you want to do it again. So together today we are volunteering. We are saying yes to God and we will follow. Pastor Andy and Stacey as we begin this next phase of our journey. We want to make history together for the global glory of God and now Father. In my last message as senior pastor, I personally pray that you will outrageously bless every man and every woman making this commitment today, bless them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.