We get 80 years, maybe at the most 100. Trillions of years in eternity. This life is preparation for the next. This is the warm-up back, this is the dress rehearsal, this is the get ready, this is the first lap around the track before the real race begins because it is in eternity.
Rick WarrenThe heart of the issue is an issue of the heart. And that's why I'm a pastor, not a politician. Because I think only - only God can change hearts. And only God can take the evil out. I don't think you can legislate the evil out of people.
Rick WarrenI do know I'm going to heaven. I have read all of the Scriptures and the passages that define paradise and things like that. To me, what matters is I'm going to be with Jesus and I'm going to be in his presence. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. At that point, you know some to judgment, some to salvation.
Rick WarrenJesus meets every one of our deepest needs. And what we need to do is accept his gift of a pastor-given, purposeful living home in heaven.
Rick WarrenFailure isn't a character quality. It's just an event. How you respond to failure is your character.
Rick WarrenWhat we can't do in heaven is sin and witness. And obviously God didn't leave us here to sin.
Rick WarrenYou are not an accident. Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. ... Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you!
Rick WarrenYou were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.
Rick WarrenThe easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life's purpose: Ask God.
Rick WarrenThe Bible isn't meant to just inform us, it is meant to transform us. 40 Days in the Word will teach you how to be not just a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the Word!
Rick WarrenAnd you know, when you've experienced grace and you feel like you've been forgiven, you're a lot more forgiving of other people. You're a lot more gracious to others.
Rick WarrenIntegrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be prideful; and endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up.
Rick WarrenWhen 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.
Rick WarrenThe fact is, ministry is too unpredictable to be motivated by security. It’s too unprofitable to be motivated by money. It’s too demanding to be motivated by pleasure, and it’s too criticized to be motivated by fame. Our ministry should be motivated by the pleasure of God, and God is pleased when we have a ministry powered by faith.
Rick WarrenThe way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.
Rick WarrenWe’re not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.
Rick WarrenIrrelevance happens when the speed of change outside an organization is greater than speed of change inside an organization.
Rick WarrenBible makes that really clear that there are rewards in heaven. I believe there is reassignment. In other words, faithful in little things I will trust you in much. And if you have not been faithful with that which is not his own, who will give you your own. And if you've been unfaithful with unrighteous mammon who's going to trust you the true riches of heaven.
Rick WarrenYou were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back.
Rick WarrenI absolutely believe that people should show respect to everybody, regardless of their lifestyle, regardless of their beliefs, religious beliefs or any other kind of belief.
Rick WarrenSurrender . . .sacrificing my life or suffering in order to change what needs to be changed
Rick WarrenThe Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do three things. He came to have my past forgiven, you get a purpose for living and a home in Heaven.
Rick WarrenWar is and always has been a brutal exercise that destroys lives, families and communities. It is never something for which we hope.
Rick WarrenI really do feel that these people are brothers and sisters in God's family. I am looking to build bridges with the Orthodox Church, looking to build bridges with the Catholic Church, with the Anglican church.
Rick WarrenI believe in the five solas. One hundred percent believe in the five solas. And I am - to those of you who know about this - I'm a monergist [someone that believes in the doctrine that says spiritual renewal is exclusively the activity of the Holy Spirit].
Rick WarrenEven through such simple acts as telling the truth, being kind, and encouraging others, we bring a smile to God's face.
Rick WarrenFear is a self imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.
Rick WarrenGod uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice. You can't claim to be good if you have never been tempted to be bad.
Rick Warren