A short interview with ​Rick Warren (BEST selling Author, Inspirational Speaker)

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with ​Rick Warren,​
​'Purpose Driven Life'​ author and
Pastor of ​Saddleback Church in California.​

--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 not 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,​ OR ​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.​

--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.​

--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.​