Floatingaxe Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 62 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 9,613 Content Per Day: 1.45 Reputation: 656 Days Won: 9 Joined: 03/11/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/31/1952 Share Posted September 5, 2006 This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren , "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from the book sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyRaven Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,981 Content Per Day: 0.30 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/22/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/20/1964 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Is this from the interview they did for Fox News? That piece was really inspiring and informative as a whole hour program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floatingaxe Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 62 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 9,613 Content Per Day: 1.45 Reputation: 656 Days Won: 9 Joined: 03/11/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/31/1952 Author Share Posted September 5, 2006 Is this from the interview they did for Fox News? That piece was really inspiring and informative as a whole hour program. I really don't know! My best friend emailed it to me! I loved what he said and wanted to share it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyRaven Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,981 Content Per Day: 0.30 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/22/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/20/1964 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Is this from the interview they did for Fox News? That piece was really inspiring and informative as a whole hour program. I really don't know! My best friend emailed it to me! I loved what he said and wanted to share it! Cool. If you ever get a chance to see the program Fox did, watch it, it's very good. It touches alot of what was talked about in that interview above and showed footage of his work in Africa with Aids... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomi Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 367 Content Per Day: 0.06 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/26/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/23/1959 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Very nice interview. Thanks for sharing it Floatingaxe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redeemed098 Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 489 Content Per Day: 0.07 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/19/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/12/1964 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Thanks floatingaxe.... Very inspiring. Regards, Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marnie Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 811 Topics Per Day: 0.12 Content Count: 7,338 Content Per Day: 1.08 Reputation: 76 Days Won: 2 Joined: 10/06/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted September 5, 2006 Lots of "me" and "I" and "us" in the piece, but very little Christ. Rick will never be effective for the Kingdom until he preaches the GOSPEL. I pray for his wife and wish them well. Fox had been running a lot of Rick Warren interviews for good reason: Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Zondervan, publishers and hockers of Warren's books. From the Lighthouse has a good article on this as does Frontline. The piece is full of theological errors: The chief aim of Christians is not preparation for eternity. Eternity is prepared for us and we have been prepared by Christ. The purpose of our lives is to glorify G-d and to be obedient to His Word. We are never told in Scripture to focus on our purpose. We are to focus on Christ. Our purpose comes from a relationship with Him. Also, nobody's book "all of a sudden" sells 15 million copies. It was carefully crafted to appeal to the greatest number of people possible to make money for the publisher, and the author. Rick's "nobility" points of giving away all his money, yada, yada, yada have been well documented in the many interviews he has given all over the world. Everybody loves a generous, gregarious man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted September 5, 2006 Lots of "me" and "I" and "us" in the piece, but very little Christ. Rick will never be effective for the Kingdom until he preaches the GOSPEL. I pray for his wife and wish them well. Fox had been running a lot of Rick Warren interviews for good reason: Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Zondervan, publishers and hockers of Warren's books. From the Lighthouse has a good article on this as does Frontline. The piece is full of theological errors: The chief aim of Christians is not preparation for eternity. Eternity is prepared for us and we have been prepared by Christ. The purpose of our lives is to glorify G-d and to be obedient to His Word. We are never told in Scripture to focus on our purpose. We are to focus on Christ. Our purpose comes from a relationship with Him. Also, nobody's book "all of a sudden" sells 15 million copies. It was carefully crafted to appeal to the greatest number of people possible to make money for the publisher, and the author. Rick's "nobility" points of giving away all his money, yada, yada, yada have been well documented in the many interviews he has given all over the world. Everybody loves a generous, gregarious man. There is so much here it is difficult to know how to respond. In a way it seems like you may be slicing the baloney a little finely in terms of the "theological errors". Jesus spoke many times of the importance of being ready for eternity. I have read Rick Warren's materials and heard him speak and repeatedly he talks about the importance of glorifying God. Warren is not speaking about our own purpose that we come up with. He is speaking of purposes that the bible seems to indicate do bring glory to God, because God has stated that they do (Things like worship, and evangelism, and service). The scriptures seem to make it clear that there are things we can do on this earth that will impact eternity In terms of book sales, you must have an inside knowledge into what Rick Warren is motivated by. I find your statement about his giving troubling. It seems that no matter what he does, you are not going to be impressed. If he makes money he is wrong. If he gives it away he is wrong. Just some observations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted September 5, 2006 I thought our purpose was to spread the gospel and serve Christ. When did this change to "preparing for eternity." That's a selfcentered purpose, not a Christ centered purpose. Jesus challenged people several times to make sure they were "ready" for His return. In fact, the 5 purposes in purpose driven life: Worship Fellowship Discipleship Service Evangelism are a good summary of how we as believers can prepare to hear "well done my good and faithful servant". Jesus told us to work for eternal riches, not temporal ones But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. Matthew 6:20 CSB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagleswings Posted September 5, 2006 Group: Senior Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 91 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 613 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 7 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/09/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/02/1959 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Marnie I,m with You 10000000000% on this one, You Preach it girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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