In Chapter 10 (“The Heart of Worship”) of The Purpose Driven Life, author Rick Warren discusses 3 barriers that block our total surrender to God. These barriers are significant because surrender is the heart of worship. 1. Fear- the opposite of fear, trust, is an essential ingredient of surrender. Surrender to God is not possible […]
Pastor Rick Warren begins Chapter 9 (“What Makes God Smile?”) of The Purpose Driven Life by stating that Noah’s life was a clear example of a life that makes God smile. From Noah’s life we can find 5 acts of worship that bring God pleasure (the author’s words are in bold type): 1. God smiles […]
In Chapter 8 of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren revisits a concept he discussed in Chapter 2- that we are not an accident. Stated positively, we were planned for God’s pleasure: “The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. He wanted you alive, […]
Pastor Rick Warren devotes Chapter 7 (“The Reason for Everything”) of The Purpose Driven Life to describing God’s 5 purposes for our lives. As St. Iranaeus once said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” The author’s words are in bold type. 1. We bring God glory by worshiping him. Rick states […]
Pastor Rick Warren offers a third and final metaphor to teach us God’s view of life in Chapter 6 of The Purpose Driven Life: 3. Life is a temporary assignment. Since our time on earth is brief, we shouldn’t get too attached. Just as citizens of a foreign country working in the United States must carry […]
Pastor Rick Warren begins Chapter 5 (“Seeing Life from God’s View”) of The Purpose Driven Life with this quote from French-born American writer and diarist Anais Nin (1903-1977): “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Rick adds that how we picture life is our life metaphor, a description of […]
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”- Psalm 38:8a In Chapter 2 (“You Are Not an Accident”) of The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren begins by unequivocally affirming that our birth was planned by God, conceived in His mind long before our own physical birth. God has planned every aspect of our life […]
Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has published an expanded 10th anniversary edition of his classic book The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For? This edition contains 2 additional chapters that incorporate a fresh understanding of the barriers keeping us from finding our purpose in life. In Chapter 1 (“It All Starts with […]
In Chapter 3 of When I Don’t Desire God, Pastor John Piper gives 5 reasons why the fight for joy is a good fight of faith: 1. Evil is the enemy of our joy. When we delight ourselves in God more than in our accomplishments and ministry or job identity, we are opposing Satan and […]
John Piper notes in Chapter 3 of When I Don’t Desire God that, at first glance, linking fighting with joy seems absurd. We don’t fight to like physical tastes like hot fudge sundaes. Physical tastes are morally neutral, neither right nor wrong. But having a spiritual taste for Christ is not morally neutral. Pastor Piper […]
In Chapter 2 of When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, author John Piper asserts that while both desire and delight enable us to glorify God, only God is the ultimate goal. Pastor Piper begins by observing that, contrary to Western culture, in the Bible words like desire and delight can be […]
Pastor John Piper begins Chapter 1 of When I Don’t Desire God by introducing and defining the concept of Christian Hedonism, which forms the foundation of the book. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines hedonism from a secular perspective: “the self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life.” Christian Hedonism, in contrast, trumpets the truth […]