It looks like each term we will be assigned a book to read and this first round was The Purpose Driven Life by Pastor Rick Warren. For me this book was like going to a chiropractor and helped adjust my life in more accordance with Gods word and to a great extent to the interpretation of popular pastor voice today.
Listed below are the thoughts and principals that I would like to remember and keep at the forefront of my modus operandi:
- God is not the starting point of my life, he is the source of it. page 27
- Character is both developed and revealed by test, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather! He watches the simplest actions such as when you open a door for others, when you pick up a piece of trash, or when you're polite toward a clerk or waitress. page 56
- Throughout history, God has revealed his glory to people in different settings. He revealed it first in the garden of Eden, then to Moses, then in the tabernacle and the temple, then through Jesus, and now through the church. page 71
- We bring glory to God by telling other about him. page 75
- Bringing pleasure to God is called "worship" page 82
- We worship for God's benefit. When we worship, our goal is to bring pleasure to God, not to ourselves. page 85
- ...we will never understand some commands until you obey them first. Obedience unlocks understanding. page 92
- Every human activity, expect sin, ca be done for God's pleasure if you do it with an attitude of praise page 95
- The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar, so you have to surrender your life fifty times a day. page 108
- In the Bible, the friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining...God defended Job for being honest, and he rebuked Job's friends for being inauthentic. page 121
- Four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God while the other six deal with our relationships with people. But all ten are about relationships! Page 160
- Real maturity shows up in relationships. page 172
- He created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and power to live on. page 174
- Once a group becomes larger than about ten people, someone stops participating - usually the quietest person - and a few people will dominate the group. page 178
- ...the Bible tells that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships. page 196
- Christlike is all about transforming your character, not your personality. page 221
- Every problem is a character-building opportunity page 252
- Temptation simply provides the choice. While temptation is Satan's primary weapon to destroy you, God wants to use it to develop you. page 257
- Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity. page 258
- We naturally move toward whatever we focus our attention on. The more you think about something, the stronger it takes hold on you. page 270
- While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned about how strong we grow. page 279
- Discipleship is the process of conforming to Christ. page 280
- Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you're needed at the moment. page 329
- We serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our own goals. That is manipulation, not ministry. The whole time we're really thinking about ourselves and how noble and wonderful we are. page 340
- Kingdom Builders and Wealth Builders. Both are gifted at making a business grow, making deals or sales, and making a profit. Wealth Builders continue to amass wealth for themselves no matter how much they make, but Kingdom Builders change the rules of the game. They still try to make as much money as they can, but they do it in order to give it away. They use the wealth to fund God's church and its mission in the world. page 343
- Everyone has weaknesses. In fact, you have a bundle of flaws and imperfections: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. You may also have uncontrollable circumstances that weaken you, such as financial or relational limitations. The more important issue is what you do with these. page 348
- God is never limited by our limitations. In fact, he enjoys putting his great power into our ordinary containers.
- He made you to be a member of his family, a model of his character, a magnifier of his glory, a minister of his grace, and a messenger of his Good News to others. Of these five purposes, the fifth can only be done on earth. page 378
- People are most receptive to God when they are under tension or transition. page 385
- Happiness is a choice. You are as happy as you choose to be. What other people think of you cannot rob your happiness unless you allow then to rob it.
It is a fact that life on our broken planet filled with broken people, there will always be those who will demean how you look, dislike what you do, disapprove of what you believe, dispute what you say, and disrespect who you are. page 432
enclosure
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