“You don’t need to be afraid to surrender to God. The bottom is gonna fall out in your life at some point. Bad things are gonna happen to you in your life. Tragedies may occur,” Kay explained. “God is a good God, and a God that we can trust.”
Fear drives us to make deals with God in order to protect things in our life. “I will follow you as long as…[fill in the blank],” Kay said, giving different examples of how we attempt to protect what we care most about.
“The pursuit of the American dream in and of itself, the pursuit of health, wealth and happiness; if that is at the center of who you are, it will ruin you,” Kay shared, pointing out that being part of building God’s kingdom will ruin what you and many others perceive as a normal life.
RELATED: Saddleback Church Says Report Clears Andy Wood, Rick Warren’s Successor
In closing, Kay asked, “Will you let Him ruin you for the mundane and meaninglessness of the pursuit of the American dream?”
Kay explained that when a Christian does that, they become “dangerously surrendered, seriously disturbed, and gloriously ruined disciple of Jesus Christ, who knows every day what your job is—who knows what your task is in this world. It is to make the invisible God visible.”
Rick’s Warren’s Message
Rick said that Kay’s message of saying “Yes” to God is simple, but it’s not easy because it involves more than just words, adding, “It’s a radical restructuring of our priorities.”
The Saddleback Church senior pastor told the congregation, “If I could only say one last thing to you as your pastor, I want to say this: live a life of love.”
“Inject love into everything you do and express love to everyone you meet,” Rick encouraged. “I’m not talking about loving your family and loving your friends. That’s easy to do. Anybody, even an atheist, can do that. Loving those who are lovable doesn’t require God’s Spirit in your life…Living a life of love means you make a conscious effort to show love to anybody and everybody and all people with no exceptions, regardless of how they look, what they believe, how they vote, and every other difference that we see in our society.”
Rick explained that living a life of love sounds simple but has deep implications.
God’s model for learning to love everybody is Jesus, Rick said. Christ-like love is sacrificial and never waits for someone to ask for it, the pastor taught, pointing to Jesus’ death on the Cross.
RELATED: Rick Warren Tells Saddleback Church They Will Begin the Search For His Successor
