Rick Warren Quotes

Rick Warren shares straightforward, uplifting guidance on purpose and faith, perfect for anyone seeking practical life leadership.

38 quotes

1. Before something can be dynamic it must first be specific.

2. Never stop learning. All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. Growing churches require growing pastors. The moment you stop growing, your church stops growing.

3. A church is either structured for growth or control.

4. A church should be judged not on its seating capacity, but on its sending capacity.

5. Never compare your ministry: for two reasons. First, you'll always find someone doing a better job that you and you'll get discouraged. Second, you'll always find someone that you're doing a better job than, and get full of pride. Either way, you'll be dead in the water.

6. What we normally do in the structure of a message is that we do interpretation and then application of a point, then the next interpretation and the next application, the next interpretation and the next application. I am suggesting that if you want to reach the unchurched, you just reverse that procedure. You still get both - it's just the way you do it.

7. People respond to responsibility.

8. It is not enough for us to simply proclaim that 'Christ is the answer,' we must show the unchurched how Christ is the answer. Sermons that exhort people to change without sharing the practical steps of how to do it end up just producing more guilt and frustration.

9. It's not about you. The Purpose Driven Life p. 17

10. Life is preparation for eternity.

11. You were planned for God's pleasure.

12. You were formed for God's family.

13. You were created to be like Christ.

14. You were SHAPED to serve God by serving others.

15. You were made for a mission.

16. When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.

17. You are not an accident. p. 22

18. The way you see your life shapes your life.

19. It is more rewarding to resolve a relationship that to dissolve it. It's also more Christlike.

20. God gets the greatest glory when we attack the greatest giants.

21. Before I pay for it, I pray for it.

22. Behind every successful child is an adult who believed in him.

23. Change always starts in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act.

24. If Jesus is king in heaven then the Kingdom of God is in heaven. If Jesus is king, reign on earth then the Kingdom of Heaven is on earth. If Jesus is king in my heart, then the Kingdom of God is in me.

25. If it grows on a plant, it's healthy. If it's made in a plant, don't eat it.

26. Those that innovate the future understand history the best.

27. When you jump across a canyon, cautious small steps and vacillation won't work. Sometimes you just have to go for it.

28. We often miss hearing God's voice simply because we aren't paying attention.

29. Law is downstream from culture. By the time you make a law about something, you're reacting, not acting. I'd rather shape the culture.

30. It is mind-boggling to me that the Almighty power created everything I see; the Bible says that God created the entire universe just so he could create this galaxy just so he could create Earth so he could create human beings so he could create a family.

31. The role of the church and the government are fundamentally different. The church must always show compassion - always.

32. Well actually I don't think it's a bunch of bad things that send us to hell. I think it is rejection of God's grace.

33. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

34. That's God's number one purpose, to make us like Christ.

35. Temptation always starts in your mind, not in circumstances.

36. One day it's all going to be clear. It's all going to make sense. You're going to be able to say, "So that's why God allowed that in my life!" Until then, God wants you to trust him.

37. Any time you get serious about using your life the way God wants you to use it, there are going to be people who oppose it.

38. There's nothing in your life you can't learn from, if you respond with the right attitude.