“IT IS YOUR JOB TO PROTECT THE UNITY OF YOUR CHURCH. Unity in the church is so important that the New Testament gives more attention to it than to either heaven or hell. God deeply desires that we experience oneness and harmony with each other. Unity is the soul of fellowship. Destroy it, and you rip the heart out of Christ’s Body. It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in his church. Our supreme model for unity is the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are completely unified as one. God himself is the highest example of sacrificial love, humble other-centeredness, and perfect harmony.”
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Rick Warren
“God has … planted eternity in the human heart. ECCLESIASTES 3:11 (NLT) Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality. ABRAHAM LINCOLN”
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Rick Warren
“God has never made a person he didn’t love. Everybody matters to him.”
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Rick Warren
“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. God’s purpose is not limited by your past.”
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Rick Warren
“If you want French fries, then make them yourself from whole potatoes and unrefined, unprocessed oil.”
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Rick Warren
“Father, I know you’re going to do some incredible things in your world today. Please give me the privilege of getting in on some of what you’re doing.” In other words, church leaders should stop praying, “Lord, bless what I’m doing” and start praying, “Lord, help me to do what you are blessing.”
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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
“Cuando entiendes que la vida es una prueba, te das cuenta de que nada es insignificante para ti. Aun los percances más pequeños tienen significado para el desarrollo de tu carácter. Cada día es importante y cada segundo es una oportunidad para hacer crecer y profundizar tu carácter, para demostrar amor y depender de Dios. Algunas pruebas parecen abrumadoras y otras ni siquiera las sientes. Pero todas ellas tienen implicaciones eternas. Lo bueno es que Dios desea que sobrepases las pruebas de la vida, y él nunca permite que las que enfrentas sean mayores que la gracia que él te otorga para sobrellevarlas. La Escritura dice: «Pero Dios es fiel, y no permitirá que ustedes sean tentados más allá de lo que puedan aguantar. Más bien, cuando llegue la tentación, él les dará también una salida a fin de que puedan resistir».3 Cada vez que superas una prueba, Dios toma nota y hace planes para recompensarte en la eternidad. Santiago dice: «Dichoso el que resiste la tentación porque, al salir aprobado, recibirá la corona de la vida que Dios ha prometido a quienes lo aman».
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Rick Warren
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”
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Rick Warren
“Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving lepers. Nothing was beneath him, because he came to serve. It wasn’t in spite of his greatness that he did these things, but because of it, and he expects us to follow his example.”
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Rick Warren
“Paul said, “You may brag about yourself, but the only approval that counts is the Lord’s approval.”
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Rick Warren
“Worship is far more than praising, singing, and praying to God. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes.”
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Rick Warren
“The New testament commanded to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, admonish each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, honor each other, bear each other's burdens, forgive each other, submit to each other, be devoted each other, and many other mutual tasks. This is biblical membership!”
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Rick Warren
“Get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to — the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness” (Ephesians 4:22 – 24”
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Rick Warren
“Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe.”
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Rick Warren