“Unfortunately, we forget the cruel details of the agonizing sacrifice God made on our behalf. Familiarity breeds complacency. Even before his crucifixion, the Son of God was stripped naked, beaten until almost unrecognizable, whipped, scorned and mocked, crowned with thorns, and spit on contemptuously.
Abused and ridiculed by heartless men, he was treated worse than an animal.
Then, nearly unconscious fromblood loss, he was forced to drag a cumbersome cross up a hill, was nailed to it, and was left to die the slow, excruciating torture of death by crucifixion. While his lifeblood drained out, hecklers stood by and shouted insults, making fun of his pain and challenging his claim to be God.”
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Rick Warren
“It is a fatal mistake to assume that God’s goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or even ministry. Never focus on temporary crowns.”
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Rick Warren
“You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.
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Rick Warren
“Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him.”
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Rick Warren
“We bring God glory by worshiping him. Worship is our first responsibility to God. We worship God by enjoying him.”
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Rick Warren
“What you do with your body sets the tone for everything else. Physical health influences your mental health, your spiritual health, your emotional health, your relational health, and even your financial health.”
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Rick Warren
“It is usually meaningless work, not overwork, that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy.”
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Rick Warren
“Many people are driven by materialism. Their desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. This drive to always want more is based on the misconceptions that having more will make me more happy, more important, and more secure, but all three ideas are untrue. Possessions only provide temporary happiness. Because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then want newer, bigger, better versions.”
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Rick Warren
“The difference between being a church attender and a church member is commitment. Attenders are spectators from the sidelines; members get involved in the ministry. Attenders are consumers; members are contributors. Attenders want the benefits of a church without sharing the responsibility. They are like couples who want to live together without committing to a marriage.”
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Rick Warren
“Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.”
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Rick Warren
“When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when He wants to make a giant oak, He takes a hundred years. Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process.”
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Rick Warren
“hand God a blank sheet with your name signed at the bottom and tell him to fill in the details. The Bible says, “Give yourselves completely to God — every part of you … to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.”
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Rick Warren
“While life on earth offers many choices, eternity offers only two: heaven or hell. Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity.”
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Rick Warren
“We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.”
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Rick Warren
