Learn The Word of TRUST with Rick Warren

some of you know that growing up my mother was both a librarian and a Christian bookstore manager so I learned from an early age to really love books I began to read them voraciously began to collect them today my library my personal library has over 25,000 volumes in in hardback paperback and have another 30,000 volumes in ebooks so I've got about a 55,000 volume library in some periods of my life I was reading a book a day you say how do you how do you do that you read big print and big pictures okay really tiny tiny books but and in my library of about 55,000 books as I said I have several volumes that are interesting that are collections of the last words of people of famous people their dying words and I read him in that while the books are supposed to be serious some of them are actually kind of funny I thought I'd share a couple with you the last words of a guy named James Rogers he was a criminal and is about to be executed by a firing squad and they asked right before they shot him do you have any final request he said yes a bulletproof vest famous last words General John Sedgwick was a union commander in the Civil War he was killed on the battlefield looking at the enemy while saying quote those Confederates couldn't hit an elephant at this big another famous NGO Pancho Villa everybody knows who he is you know famous Mexican leader Pancho Villa's last words were don't let it end like this tell people I said something alright today we look at the most famous last words ever the last words of Jesus Christ on the cross now we have been for seven weeks looking at the seven statements that Jesus made on the cross while he was being crucified and as I told you that as a pastor I have stood at the bedside of many many people as they said their final words last words are important and when it comes to Jesus Christ the last words of Jesus Christ are extremely important and today we come to the last word of the last words the very last thing before Jesus died on the cross the Bible says it like this in Luke chapter 23 if you are new here today you can take the message notes outside of your in your program and take them out all the verses in the Bible are there on this text it says this Luke 23 by this time it was noon now Jesus has been on the cross for six hours okay it says by this time it was noon but darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock now circle the word darkness we'll come back to that in a minute because this is the word of trust and you really need to learn to trust in the darkest hours of your life when darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock now we don't know why it got dark maybe just God brought cloud cover over maybe a storm it just got dark it's not normally dark in the middle of the day that's usually the brightest time but the light from the Sun was gone and suddenly the thick veil hanging in the temple was torn apart there's a symbolism behind that we're not going to get into about making God accessible to us but it says then Jesus shouted so the final words that Jesus says he shouts out father I entrust my spirit into your hands this is what he shouted I entrust my spirit father into your hands and with those words he breathed his last breath now when the captain of the Roman soldiers that would have been a Centurion a captain of a captain was overseeing a hundred soldiers when the Centurion the captain of the Roman soldiers handling execution saw what had happened he praised God this guy is in no way a believer but he praised God and said surely surely this man was innocent and in the book of Matthew and in the Book of Luke it adds surely this man was innocent and the son of God now as a Roman centurion this is pretty amazing that a hardened soldier would look up and say the guy we just crucified surely he was innocent it something's different here as a Centurion he would have already have seen literally hundreds and hundreds of crucifixions this is not a new thing one of the tasks of Roman soldiers was to crucify people and literally in those days the Roman Empire they were crucifying hundreds a day this is not a novel thing they crucified criminals they crucified political you know figures and things like that so he has certainly seen hundreds of crucifixions but this one evidently is unlike any crucifixion he's ever seen and this hard-bitten hardened Roman centurion when he hears Jesus say the last of the seven phrases he says he must have been innocent he must have been the son of God something's different here something's unique well what made this crucifixion so different from all the other ones he'd seen the seven things that Jesus had said on the cross that we've been looking at now for seven weeks nobody ever spoke like Jesus spoke when they were being murdered when they were being crucified this Roman centurion had heard Jesus say Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing he's never heard anybody being hung on a cross forgiving the executioner's who are crucifying him and yet he heard that he had never seen anybody refused the painkiller that Jesus was offered which Jesus refused he heard Jesus say the word of assurance to the repentant thief on the cross dying by him saying today you'll be with me in paradise nobody had ever said that on a cross nobody has ever said Father forgive them nobody has ever said the word of assurance the word of love the word of substitution the word of victory all the things we've been looking at now for seven weeks and certainly nobody had ever shouted in his last breath on the cross Father I entrust my spirit into your hands nobody had ever said that before this is very different folks people don't die like this normal people don't die this way and Jesus actually gave us a model of how to die I wrote it there on your outline I don't want to cover it in detail he was at peace that is it was his time to die he was at peace he wasn't afraid to die he died with no unreconciled relationships which a lot of people do he wasn't angry he wasn't bitter he knew where he was going he's confident of heaven and he trusted God with his future I entrust my spirit into your hands so actually there are three characteristics of Jesus death wanted to write these down first Jesus Christ gave up his life voluntarily voluntarily you know when the movie the passion came out there was a big debate who killed Jesus was that the Roman soldiers who killed Jesus was that the temple religious leaders who killed Jesus was it the crowd who killed Jesus the fact is who took Jesus life the answer is Jesus gave us life he gave it up he came for the purpose of dying he had said that from the very beginning in fact he said nobody can take my life from me he gave it willingly for you believe me if Jesus had not wanted to die on the cross because he was was God in human form he would not have happened fact here's what he said look up here on the screen John chapter 10 verse 18 Jesus said no one can take my life from me he'd done all kinds of miracles he could certainly do a miracle to come down off the cross I lay down my life voluntarily for I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it back again so the death on the cross is not a tragedy it was Jesus choice he did it voluntarily if he hadn't wanted to die on the cross he would not have died on the cross and we talked the last few weeks why he had to do that but it was a voluntary decision Jesus was in no way a victim and he was not being victimized he was in complete control of the situation and nobody could do anything to Jesus without his permission literally he had the last word with his last word and the things that he said on the cross so Jesus gave up his life voluntarily the second thing he write this down he gave up his life confidently confidently in other words he shouted the word father I entrust my life I entrust my spirit into your hands now he shouts now let me say this to you I have been around as I said a lot of people as a pastoring for 40 years I have been at the bedside of many people as they took their last breath and I will tell you this dying people don't shout I've never ever heard one dying person shout they whisper not one in my entire life have I ever heard shout because in their dying moments they don't have the strength and usually they whisper out a few words at the very end and normally certainly in his crucifixion where you're having extreme torture and extreme punishment and in the last Asian crucifixion a normal person wouldn't have had the strength to even shout out beyond a weak groan and when Jesus shouts out the final word on the cross he's not shouting out an anger he's not shouting out in bitterness he's not shouting out in fear he's not shouting out in despair he's not shouting out in defeat he is shouting out in victory it is a shout of confident convinced rock-solid trust father I entrust my spirit into your hands and he says it at the top of his voice it's a shout a victory and it's a shout of trust he gave his life up voluntarily he gave his life up confidently and the third thing Jesus gave up his life trusting God trusting God now when Jesus says this phrase the very last of the seven things he says on the cross father into your hands I commit my spirit I entrust my spirit this is actually a quote from the Old Testament in fact it's a quote from Psalm chapter 31 verse 5 and not only is it a quote from 31 verse 5 it's it's a phrase that every single Jew would know by heart because this is the bedtime prayer of every Jewish child you know we teach our children um now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep and if I die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take that is taken from this from this race that's taken from Psalm 31 but now I lay me down to sleep is actually just a paraphrase of Psalm 31 without a doubt Mary probably taught this to Jesus as a little baby boy every Jewish child in fact Jews would regularly pray this as the evening prayer at the end of the day you say father I am entrusting my life I'm entrusting my spirit I'm committing myself into your hands and I'm going to bed it's a common Jewish prayer and Jesus uses what he has been saying every night since as a little boy as his last words on the cross now what's going on here I want you to write this down he focused on the father not his pain and in a minute when we get into what to do in your dark days that's one of the things you need to learn how to do that when you are in pain and when you're in your darkest days Jesus is in his darkest days he's in the cross on the cross it is literally physically dark he focuses not on his pain but he focuses on the father and he has no fear and he has no regrets he has just trust into thy hands I commit my spirit into your hands I entrust my life now this phrase that we're looking at today has been said by Christians ever since for 2,000 years it's very very common a lot of Christians throughout history have phrased use this phrase when they're facing danger when they're facing persecution when they're facing Isis like right now in Syria when they're facing discouragement and death the latinus in Manos to us and Manos to us domine commend o spiritum unum into your hands I commit my spirit father and that is that's a phrase had been used for literally thousands of years in fact the very first Christian martyr the guy named Stephen who was stoned to death in Jerusalem for following Jesus he says a version of what Jesus just said here and he says as they were scarcely were killing him Stephen says Lord Jesus receive my spirit and that's the last thing he prayed by the way while I'm talking about this up the idea of last rites that's not in the Bible it's not in the Bible it was a tradition added many many years later nobody in the Bible received last rites none of the Apostles none of the disciples nobody received what you don't need last rites to get into heaven it's a tradition that was added hundreds and hundreds of years later it's not in the Bible but Jesus says as his last words I'm committing into my into your hands God my spirit now what do we learn from this last statement of Jesus well every single word has an important truth and that's I want us to look at right now when you are going through your darkest day there are four truths you need to remember write these down number one first thing to remember is I have a father in heaven who loves me I have a father in heaven who loves me this is the first thing you need to remember when you're going through a dark day and that's why Jesus starts his last statement on the cross with the word father with the word father now remember a couple weeks ago we talked about that when Jesus was taking the punishment for every sin of mankind on himself he's cries out my God my god remember that my God my God why have you forsaken me it's the only time in the Bible when he doesn't call god father and that was because he was separated taking all of our sins on himself when Jesus taught us to pray he said you're to pray like this our Father who art in heaven that blew everybody's mind because up to this point every faith every religion taught that God is distant got us big he's powerful he's cosmic he's mighty he may be merciful but you certainly don't call him father but Jesus changed it all he blew the stereotypes and he said when you talk to God you talk to him like he's your daddy in fact the word he used in Aramaic Abba literally means daddy Papa it's it's the first word every middle-east child learns ABBA Dada Papa it's easy to say and so Jesus told us when you pray start with praying father and when Jesus is dying on the cross his last words there he starts with the word father now the judgment period for sin is all over he's now reconciled to God he's not talking of some impersonal force some uninterested distant deity he's talking to father the Bible says this John 1628 Jesus said I came from the father and I entered the world and now I'm leaving the world and I'm going back to the Father so what do we know about God since he wants us to call him father a lot of people have a problem of this because they had bad dads and their dad was distant their dad was demeaning their dad was destructive their dad was you know detached is that the way our Father in heaven is no the Bible tells us that God is a caring father he's a consistent father he's a close father and he's a capable father and he loves you more than you can even possibly imagine the Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 13 as a father has compassion on his children so the Lord that's God has compassion on those who honor him I don't know what you're going through today you may be having a financial crisis a physical crisis a conflict in your marriage I don't care well I do care but I mean I don't know what you're going through but I would say this you have a Heavenly Father in heaven who is close caring competent capable and consistent and he cares and if you're going through the dark days you need to get your eyes off the pain and onto the father father that God who knows everything is gone in your life sees everything that's going on your life cares about everything that's going on your life has the power to change everything in your life and will help you if you will trust him I want you to write this down in your outline God loves me more than I do that's probably a shock to some of you God loves me more than I do did you know that you don't love yourself as much as God loves you God loves you more than you love you because God is love God is the essence of all love it all came from him and no matter what you are facing right now you need to say I have a father in heaven who loves me that's how he starts but he doesn't just love you and here's the second thing you need to remember it's in this sentence not only do I have a father in heaven who loves me number two my father can be trusted my father talking about in heaven the God of heaven he can be trusted now you may have had a physical father who couldn't be trusted and inconsistent fathers produce insecure children my talk guy one time said I didn't know from week to week where my dad was gonna slug me you're gonna hug me I didn't know just whether he was drunk or not or whatever whatever mood he was in inconsistent father's produced insecure children but your heavenly father is not only one who loves you he's one you can trust you can trust him and this is the word of the trust a puff Jesus says father I entrust my spirit I entrust my life into your care that's why I call this the word of trust now one of the greatest decisions you're gonna have to make in life is this who are you going to trust you got to make that decision who are you going to trust who are you gonna trust with your life okay let's just throw out some options and let's vote how many would say I think I'll trust um Congress no I don't I don't see any hands going up on that one okay since they're in the bottom of the barrel right now with credibility how about I think I I'm gonna trust how about the media I think I'm gonna I'm gonna build my life on what the media says how about I'm gonna trust my life to popular opinion no how about I'm gonna trust my life to my emotions oh that's a good one how reliable are they your emotions light you all the time you know one of the simplest things that'll help you be a lot happier is this realize you don't have to believe everything your mind tells you not everything you tell yourself is true a lot of times you tell yourself things are worse off than they really are and on times you tell yourself they're better off than they really are you don't you lie to yourself all the time and your emotions lie to you all the time so I would not highly recommend that who are you gonna trust with your life I I want to make a recommendation I recommend that you put your trust into someone who a knows everything B will always put your interests first and C will always tell you the truth even if it hurts now there's one person who's always going to do that God because he's perfect and I want to suggest that you always put your trust in him father I entrust I'm going to trust you with my life I'm going through this dark period right now I don't know which way I'm going I don't know which way is up I don't know where I'm gonna be in the next five days much less five months but I'm going to trust my spirit into your care Psalm 33 verse 4 and the Bible says this for every word of the Lord holds true and everything he does is worthy of our trust friends you can't say that about anybody you can't say that about me your pastor I love you but you can't trust everything I do cuz I'm a fallible human being you can't trust any human being to always do the right thing but you can't trust God I saw a bumper sticker the other day and it said this God said it I believe it that settles it okay fine I'm gonna make a new bumper sticker that says God said it that settles it whether I believe it or not because truth is not based on whether I believe it or not I could say I don't believe the moons made a rock it still made a rock I could say I believe the moons made a cheese doesn't matter what I believe what matters is the truth God said it that settles it whether I believe it or not I'm going to put my trust in your word now when Jesus says this father I entrust my spirit in your hands this word entrust in in Greek it's some parody theme I 480 theme I actually means to deposit it's the word that they would use for a safety deposit box you know safety deposit boxes you go to bank you rent a box and you put your most valuable property in that box for safekeeping and in that safety deposit box it's locked it's safe its secure and nobody's going to get at it and you've made a deposit in that safety box that's what this word means to entrust you say god I'm going to take my life I'm going to take the good the bad and the in-between the ugly the beautiful every part and I'm going to entrust it I'm going to deposit it in your safety box and I'm going to put my life which is valuable there for your safekeeping the point is this whatever I give to God I can trust him to take care of I can give stuff to other people and I can't always trust them to take care of it but that's one of the things that God says in this verse I have a track record of faithfulness and a says I want you to make a deposit in the safety deposit box in heaven and I want you to trust me with stuff so here's the question what do you need to entrust to your heavenly father what do you need to trust our entrust to your heavenly father you say well I don't know well let me give you a little hint anything you worry about that's what you need to entrust your heavenly father anything you worry about you worried about your health you need then trust back to your heavenly father you worried about your future you need to entrust that to everything father you worry about your marriage you're getting married you're having a baby or raising the kids or a new job you need to try anything you were worried about needs to be entrusted your heavenly father I told you this before worry is practical atheism it's acting like there's no God no Heavenly Father who loves you and can be trusted every time you worry it's a warning light you stop trusting God it is an evidence of unbelief it's a failure to trust now the most difficult time to trust God of course is when you're in pain remember Jesus is on the cross he's just had six hours of torture on the cross and hours and hours of torture before that he's an enormous pain loss of blood loss asleep no water dehydrated bleeding to death and in his worst pain he says I entrust and that's when you're in pain went that you need to trust the most Paul knew this look at the next verse it's up here on the screen Paul says I'm suffering here in prison but I'm not ashamed of it for I know the one in whom I trust and I am sure that's confident I am sure that he is able to protect and keep that means put in the safety deposit box I am sure that the one I trust in he's able to protect and keep what I've entrusted to him until the day of his return that's what it means to trust God God I'm gonna trust you to do what what I can't do I'm gonna trust you and the point is that he does of keeping now you know sometimes I talk to people and say you know I would follow Jesus Christ but I don't know that I could be consistent I'm afraid I would kind of flake out I'm afraid that I'd get weak and I'd walk away I'd like to be saved I'd like to have experienced salvation in my life but I'm not afraid that I can keep my commitment let me let you in on a little secret you don't do the keeping he does it he does the keeping you put your life in a safety deposit box he turns the key he keeps it safe it is not your job to keep yourself saved it is God's job to keep you saved to keep to make sure that you make it to heaven and God will save whatever I put in that safety deposit box now a lot of people think well you know but what if I let go I've told you this story before one time we went to the Grand Canyon and we the family we were there and Matthew and Joshua little boys and we walked up to the edge and I grabbed hold of both hands and my boys were both they have this adventuresome spirit I think they get it from their mother and there but there they were risk takers and and they always wanted to get closer to the edge then I would want them to be now they're squirming and they let go of my hand do you think I'm gonna let go of there's not a chance why because I am their loving father and your heavenly father holds on to your once you come to Christ and you say Jesus Christ I'm putting my hand in your hand I'm trusting you today he grabs on now they're gonna be times in your life you want to let go god it's not really convenient to believe in you right now it's not really convenient to follow the Word of God right now it's not really convenient to be a follower of Jesus Christ I want to let go you may want to let go he's never letting go he is able to keep what you've committed he does the keeping you just do the trusting now while I'm on this let me just cover a couple of special occasions so people often ask about I don't ever get a chance to talk about it people often ask me well what about babies and mentally you know ill or mentally incapacitated or mentally people who won't have the capacity to believe in Jesus Christ and can't commit themselves to Christ where they gonna go to head where they're gonna go when they die the answer is real quick heaven they're going to heaven a baby of a baby dies or someone who's mentally incapacitated die immediately go to heaven the Bible says Psalm 116 verse 6 the Lord protects the simple-hearted 1 in 1 example I could give you a lot of these when King David's baby infant son died in 2nd samuel chapter 1 he said can i bring him back to me can I bring him back in the answer's no I will go to him someday but he will not return to me so if a baby or a child who has not learned the difference bein right and wrong doesn't have the capacity except the salvation of God's grace immediately goes into the presence of gods that make sense okay so there's one here's another question I'm often asked what about people who were true believers and then later on in life stop believing are they gonna fall away are they gonna you know they kind of fall away from their faith here what's gonna happen to those people maybe I go join a cult or something or and what happens to them the answer is this they do not lose heaven they do lose some reward in heaven they do not lose their salvation now let me explain it this way I was born into my dad and mother's family and I was in that family and I had great fellowship with them with joy and love and had a great relationship with my parents but let's say one day I had decided to become an international drug runner and I get involved in terrorism and acts of genocide and all kinds of things the relationship would be strained the fellowship would be broken but I don't care if the fellowships broken I'm still their son nothing will ever make me not their son if you have a child in your family and your child loves you and grows up and learns to love you one day they get mad at you they walk out of the house by their own volition they walk out of house there's still your child they can't once you're born you can't be unborn once you're born again you can't be unborn again you are safe does that make sense you are safe you you might lose the fellowship and well there might be strained fellowship between us we're not talking each other but you're still my daughter you're still my son and the Bible says that look at this verse 2nd John chapter 1 verse 7 8 many deceivers that there are people out there trying to mess everybody up all the time many deceivers who don't acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world so he said you know not everything you hear out there is true watch out so that you don't lose what you have worked for circle the phrase worked for watch out that you don't lose what you have worked for okay but that you will be fully rewarded now question do you work for your salvation huh no so if you didn't this is not what he's talking about here it's not talking about salvation cuz you don't work for your salvation you don't earn it we've talked last week it's them it was all done for you you know work work it's all that that's the difference between Christianity and every other religion every other religion is to do and they all had their lists of do's and don'ts Christianity has done has already been done for you on the cross by Jesus Christ he did what we can't do so he's not talking about that he's saying the rewards that you're gonna have in heaven he could lose some of those let me ask you this one's very personal me what about believers who commit suicide okay and in a moment take their own life and the answer is if they were a true believer they're going to heaven they're going to heaven well say isn't isn't suicide an unpardonable sin the answer's no it is not it is not in fact the Bible says there's only one sin that is unforgivable only one in the entire and it isn't suicide by the way in fact some of the greatest Saints in history in the Bible were suicidal some of them were very depressed and despair some wished at low points that they'd never been boring David in the Bible Jeremiah in the Bible Jobe in the Bible all said I wish that I had never been born that's pretty depressed and they were great believers and there were three people in the Bible actually asked God to kill him to take their lives Moses asked God to take his life Elijah asked God to take his life Jonah asked God to take his life that's pretty depressed he said God just kill me okay just just kill me uh so if you have felt that way let us help you at Saddleback Church we have counseling that we can help you we have people who care we have courses don't go through that pain by yourself in three weeks we're doing the the big gathering on mental health and the church and it's a three-day October 7 8 9 and and world leaders are coming from all over the world and the Surgeon General of the United States is gonna be here in about 40 big speakers if you're if you feel that much in despair you feel that depressed do not carry it by yourself it's not a sin to be sick it's not a sin to feel depressed we can help you out and we will help you out the Bible says there's only one unforgivable sin only one it's called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit what does that mean what is blasphemy it's Holy Spirit it means rejecting God's brace and rejecting Christ all the way up to death it means to die rejecting Christ so let me put your mind at ease because some of you think I have I ever committed the unpardonable sin the unforgettables and you wonder about that okay number one if you've ever worried that you committed the sin you haven't because if you had you wouldn't worry about it okay so if you worry I've done the one unforgivable sin you ain't done it friends sorry the fact that you're worried about it you're concerned about it means you they'll have a conscience so if you've ever worried about you haven't done it second thing is if you're alive you haven't committed the sin because you can only commit it by dying rejecting Christ so if you're alive you cannot commit the sin you could only commit it by dying saying forget you God and I croak and I die does that ease up anybody's mind a little bit here okay you can't you can't do it without dying No number three let's go to the third great news when I'm going through dark days I have a father in heaven who loves me and when I'm going through dark days or remind myself that I have a father in heaven who can be trusted he doesn't just love me I can trust him with every hair of my life and I shouldn't worry I should commit it and trust everything I'm worrying about to him number three my father is taking care of things I can't see this is the third thing we learn from this passage is that my father in heaven is taking care of the things that I can't see we only see the physical things in life we only see the material things in life but we know that there's a lot of things going on in life we can't see just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not real it's this real it's what you see you're what you see is limited by your eyeball and your brain we know for instance right now there are radio waves and television waves running through this building and actually going through your body you can't see them but if you turn on a radio turn on a TV and tune in you can get the picture they're there they're in this air right now there are all kinds of radio and television waves going through the air right now you cannot see them just because you cannot see them does not make them false there's far more to life than just the material there's far more to life than just the physical in fact the things that are going to last are not material all the material stuff this chair is not going to last one day it'll fall apart because all material things according to the second law of thermodynamics deteriorate this building will one day deteriorate the trees with the theory in it your body is deteriorating I hate to tell you that but the physical is not getting better anybody want to give a testimony of that right now the physical the spiritual is actually more real and God is taking care of the things that you can't see so when you're in your dark days you can't see the solution when you're in the dark you can't see the antidote you can't see the solution the problem that's solved and while you're waiting God is working and what you need to do is trust while you're waiting for that job while you're waiting for that answer to prayer while you're waiting for that change while you're waiting God is working and that's why you need to trust I entrust my spirit circle that word my spirit that implies that you're far more than a body and of course you are life is far more than material or physical you're made in the image of God which means you have a spirit you have a soul one of my friends is a brilliant businessman his name is Peter teal he's a good friend and some of you know who Peter teal is he's a entrepreneurs up in the Silicon Valley he started PayPal became a billionaire starting PayPal and one day I was at one of his intellectual conf ABS called the dialog it's up held at Sundance in Utah and as all these Brainiac sees you know nuclear physicists and stuff like that and and we were in a discussion one day and Peter teal asked me he said Rick with the advent of it artificial intelligence which we know is getting smarter and smarter and smarter he said Rick our art is artificial intelligence ever going to need faith in a religion that's a legitimate question and the answer to that of course is no now if all you were was simply an in select we know that we can create machines right now that are smarter than you or me in certain things we human beings can create meat machines that are smarter than us but you're far more than intelligence human being yes has intellect but you have far more than just intelligence you have spirit you have a soul and while we couldn't create greater intelligence we can't create a soul and so that's a it's a question that's not needed now the Bible says it here on earth there's an unseen battle going on for your soul between good and evil let me give you a couple examples where you have to trust Jobe says it like this when he talking about God when he is at worked in the north I don't see him and when he God turns to the South I catch no glimpse of in other words I don't see God with my physical eyes but he says he God knows the way that I take and when he has tested me I will come forth as gold that dark spot you're in right now this is a test and although you cannot see God you can see you and God can see what you cannot see and you can trust God that he loves you that he cares for you that he can be trusted and that he's taking care of the things that you cannot see Paul says the same thing 2nd Corinthians for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so he says we fix what is by the way what does that part mean he said that the problems you're going through right now God's purpose is greater than the problem you're going through and what you need to do is get your eye on God's purpose rather than your problem that's what it means father I entrust myself to your care our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory a greater purpose that far outweighs them all so he says here's the solution we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal one last thing you need to remember when you're going through dark days these are all four important and the fourth one is this my father can handle anything I put in his hands my father can handle anything I put in his hands he loves me he's trustworthy he's taking care of things I can't see and he can handle anything I put in his hands that's the last part of the phrase father he's a loving father I entrust he's trustworthy my spirit he handles the stuff that we the spiritual stuff we can't even see in the spiritual world i entrusted into your hands this phrase into your hands is a beautiful expression of hearing security you know there's a well-known TV commercial you're in good hands with Allstate Yeah right okay good for you what in the world does that mean what they are implying is our insurance company will take care of you you're in good hands with Allstate you know my I have big hands because my dad had big hands and my dad was a carpenter and when my dad swung a hammer and he built all of his life the hammer seemed small in his hand he had such a giant hand and and I got big hands result but my Heavenly Father has even bigger hands even bigger hands he's got the whole world in his hands somebody should write a song about that really okay I mean that's how big his hands are when Kay and I got married one of the first Bible studies she did was called the hand of the Lord and she told me that she discovered over 200 times in the Bible the phrase the hand of the Lord is used so I just end with this and you can write this down real quickly how big is God's hands how big are they how big are his hands well write this down number one God's hands are bigger than to bless me God's hands are big enough to bless me Jesus often put his hands on people to bless them in Isaiah 62 it says the Lord will hold you in his hands for all to see a splendid crown in the hands of God they're big enough to bless me number two God's hands are big enough they're strong enough to keep me eternally secure God's hands are strong enough to keep me internally secure if I put my life in that lockbox in that safety deposit box it hadn't gone anywhere Jesus said it like this very important verse follow me on it John 10 Jesus says I give them that's you eternal life and they will never circle the word never never perish my father has given them to me and he's greater than all and no one can snatch them out of my father's hands you cannot lose your salvation once I've been given to you nobody can snatch you out of God that even Satan can't snatch you out of God's hands you say well you can't be snatched out of God's hands maybe you could jump out on your own how big do you think God's hand is you think you can get to the edge of it and then fall off no God stands so big and you're in God's hands there's no way you fall out of it when my kids were little I get in the pool and Amy and Josh and Matthew line up on the side and I'd say jump to me jump into my hands trust me I'll catch you and they were always scared to death to do it the first time they just got on - Oh daddy daddy jumped me I'll catch you I'll catch you in my hands look I can handle it alright and and they and they were just afraid to afraid to jump into my hands but then finally they do it and when they jump into my hands of course I catch them and then they want to do it 100 more times because once you jumped into your father's hands that's flat-out fun and you want to do it again and again and again once you've learned how to trust God with your life you get addicted to it and you want to do it over and over and over and you want to trust God for bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger thing and that is the story of my life because as a little boy I jumped into my heavenly father's hands and he caught me and at that point I knew I can trust God and so I start jumping further and further back further and further back and then jumping off cliffs and every time he has caught me and I'm addicted to it it's flat-out fun trust in God trusting the loving hands his hands are big enough to bless me and strong enough to keep me eternally secure and I want to just tell you today this God your heavenly Father is waiting for you to jump he's standing in the pool gone come on I love you you can trust me I'm accountable I'm but you can you can count on my faithfulness and I'm big enough to handle you jump into my hands you need to do that and you need to start doing it all the time there's a third thing you need to know about the hands of God it's this his hands are scarred yes the hands of Jesus are scarred with the nail prints so that he cannot forget me do you know that in heaven you're gonna have a perfect body there will be no scars in heaven aren't you grateful for that no flaws on your body in heaven no warts no pimples no scars none the only scars that will be on anybody in heaven will be on Jesus from his hands and his head and the side and his feet and they're going to be there for eternity to always be reminders of us of what he cost what cost him to pay for our salvation the Bible says this Isaiah 49 kind of mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she is born the obviously answer is of course not nursing mother could not forget her baby though she may forget he says I'm not God says I'm not going to forget you I have engraved you on the palms of my hands when you look at the nail prints of the Cross Jesus says this is how much I love you this is how much I love you I love you this much I have engraved you on the palms of my hands God has a tattoo of you you get a tattoo of people you love God has a tattoo of you I have engraved you on the palms of my hands when they were nailed to the cross now I don't know what you're going through but I advise you to do this last verse Paul says this I think you ought to know dear brothers about the hard times that we went through in Asia we were really crushed and we were overwhelmed and we feared we feared that we would never live through it some of you feel that way right now and we felt we were doomed to die and we saw how powerless we were but here's the big change but that was good you know the problems are going through those are good why for then we put everything into the hands of God who alone could save us so he can even raise the dead give it to God commit it deposit it in the safety deposit box and I mentioned earlier that Jesus was quoting Psalm 31 the greatest Psalm and I mentioned that probably Mary probably taught that Jesus cycled now I lay me down to sleep you know when I was little a little little boy when I'd get scared at nighttime I'd go in and I'd fall asleep on my parents bed I've actually tried to get between him and I try to fall asleep between my parents and because it was felt safe there and after I'd fall asleep my daddy would pick me up in his strong arms and his big hands and he would carry me back to my bed after I'd fallen asleep and in the morning I would wake up and something amazing would happen I would be awake in my own bed why because while I was sleeping my father would carry me with loving arms to where I belonged and I've thought about that a lot as that is a perfect picture of what it means to die as a believer in Jesus Christ one day you will go to sleep and your heavenly Father will pick you up in his loving arms and he will take you to where you belong for eternity and that's what heaven is all about friends I know it's been a long message but this is a theme that you need the rest of your life it's not something just to say when you're dying father into your hands I commit my spirit it's something to say every single day of your life when you are fearful father I entrust my spirit into your hands when you're angry father I entrust my spirit into your hands when you're worried father I entrust my spirit into your hands when you're depressed father I trust my spirit into your hands when you're confused father I trust my spirit into your hands when you're in despair and you don't know which way to go father I entrust my spirit into your hands when you have a big decision father I trust my spirit into your hands you need to use this theme every day the of your life let's pray if you've never said it the first time you need to say it right now just like me saying to the little kids in my family jump daddy we'll catch you you need to jump into the arms of a father who loves you who is trustworthy who is handling the stuff that you can't see and can handle anything you put into his hands so I invite you to pray a one-sentence prayer this weekend say Jesus Christ I don't understand at all but it with all that I am in simple humility I say to you I entrust my life into your hands everything in your name I pray amen

Channel: Saddleback Church

Views: 255,383

Keywords: Rick Warren (Musical Artist), Word (Literature Subject), Saddleback Church, Trust, Words of Love, Christianity (Religion), God, Love, Jesus

Id: nmE0jHAMsiY

Length: 55min 54sec (3354 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2015