The Teachings of Rick Warren

Question 1

What are the qualities that we need to cultivate in order to having the blessing of God in our lives, the power of God in our ministry, and the annointing of God in all that we do?

Answer 1

1. Integrity
2. Humility
3. Generosity
4. Faith

The first three are the antidotes to the most common traps of leaderships, and the last one is the one in which God works in/for/through me.

Question 2

What are 6 things that Rick Warren has learned

about opportunities from God’s Word?

Answer 2

1. I must say no to good opportunities so that I can say yes to great ones.
   
   • You can’t keep adding things to your schedule without cutting things out to make room for them.
   • What do I need to stop doing because I don’t have time for it or because it doesn’t serve my ultimate purpose.
   • Just because and opportunity is good doesn’t mean I should take it.
2. Every opportunity must be evaluated - in terms of:
   
   • Time
   • Energy
   • Money
   • Relationships
   • 5 Questions to Evaluate Opportunities
     
     • What do I need to know - and who knows it?
     • What might be the unintended consequences of this decision?
       
       • Life
       • Health
       • Energy
       • Relationships
       • Money
     • The Bible says to expect the best (faith) and plan for the worst
     • What is my motivation?
       
       • Philippians 2:3: Never let selfishness or pride be your guide when you do things.
3. Opportunities come when I least expect them.
4. I must stay flexible to be ready.
5. Every opportunity will have opposition.
   
   • Opportunity + Opposition = God’s Will
6. Great opportunities bring great responsibility

Question 3

How does Satan mess up our lives?

Answer 3

1. Through habits you can’t break
2. Through hurts that you won’t let go of
3. Through problems and circumstances
4. Through relationships that break your heart.

Question 4

How do we know we are still holding on to a sin?

Answer 4

We still feel guilty.

Question 5

What are the 5 things that we need

to remember to give us hope in a hopeless situation?

Answer 5

1. Remember that God is with me.
2. Remember that God cares about me.
3. God knows my situation, and sees what I’m going through
4. God has power that I don’t have
5. He has promised to help me if I turn to him.

Question 6

What is meekness?

Answer 6

Meekness is not weakness. There’s a big difference. Meekness means “strength under control.” Picture a wild stallion that has been broken and is now tamed. That stallion still has as much power as when he was wild, but now that power is bottled up for the master’s use.

Only two people in the Bible were called meek: Jesus and Moses. Neither of them were weaklings or wimps. They were strong men of conviction.

Question 7

What is the purpose of life, according to the Purpose-Driven Life?

Answer 7

1. I was planned for God’s pleasure
2. I was formed for God’s family
3. I was created to become more like Christ
4. I was shaped for serving God
5. I was made for a mission

Question 8

What are the three things we need to do to handle our problems, according to the book of James?

Answer 8

1. Problems purify my faith. He uses the word “testing”, as in testing gold and silver. You would heat them up very hot until the impurities – the dross – was burned off. Job said. Your faith develops when things don’t go as planned. Your faith develops when you don’t feel like doing what’s right. It purifies your faith.
2. Problems fortify our patience. James is talking about staying power, not a passive patience, but staying power, endurance. The ability to keep on keeping on, the ability to hang in there. The Greek here is literally “the ability to stay under pressure.” We don’t like pressure and we do everything we can to avoid it. But God uses problems in our lives to teach us how to handle pressure, how to never give up. How does God teach you patience? By everything going your way? No. God teaches you patience in traffic jams, in grocery lines, the waiting periods of life.
3. Problems sanctify my character. They make me like Jesus. They help me mature. They help me to grow. “The testing of your faith produces perseverance that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” That’s God’s long range goal. His ultimate purpose is maturity. God wants you to grow up. He wants you to mature. In the Christian life, character is the bottom line. God’s number one purpose in your life is to make you like Jesus Christ. God is much more interested in building my character than in making me comfortable. If God is going to make me like Jesus, He’s going to take me through the things Jesus went through. There were times when Jesus was lonely, fatigued, tempted to be depressed and discouraged.

Question 9

What do I need to remember when I run out of resources?

Answer 9

1. Whatever I need more of – give all I have to God
2. Whatever I have the least of – give that to God (this is the exact opposite of the world’s way of thinking. The world says whatever you have extra of give it away)
3. I don’t give to get a blessing but to be a blessing

Question 10

What are some lessons for a recession?

Answer 10

1. God is all I need. I don’t need the government, I don’t even need a job. God could have ravens bring food to me
2. Where God guides, God provides
3. I must trust God one day at a time
4. God’s promises and on my obedience

Question 11

What are three things to remember hen the “brook” dries up in our lives?

Answer 11

There are three reasons brooks dry up in our lives:

1. To keep me from depending on the brook - instead of God
2. To move me to a better place. Sometimes God allows something to drive in our life in order to move us. What we think will destroy us often will develop us – setbacks are often blessings in disguise
3. To prove God hasn’t forgotten me.

Question 12

What are 7 reasons that i can trust the Bible?

Answer 12

1. It is historically accurate
2. It is scientifically accurate
3. It is prophetically accurate
4. It is thematically unified (it has the same theme throughout the entire book)
5. It is confirmed by Jesus
6. It has survived all attacks against it
7. It has transforming power

Question 13

What are the 4 life-shaping choices of Moses?

Answer 13

1. He refused to be defined by others.
2. He chose short-term pain for long-term gain.
3. Choose God’s values, not the world’s
   
   • Gor’s purpose is more valuable than popularity
   • People are more valuable than pleasure
   • Peace of mind is more valuable than posessions
4. Choose to live by faith, not by fear!

Question 14

What is the difference between envy and people-pleasing?

Answer 14

1. Envy says that I need to be like you to be happy.
2. People-pleasing says that I must be liked by you to be happy.

Question 15

What is a Lament?

Answer 15

1. It is a passionate prayer to God.
2. God not only wants us to praise him and to confess to him – he also wants us to complain to him. It is an act of worship if we complain to him.
3. You can lament out of anger, frustration, fatigue, disappointment, fear, etc.
4. What am I tired of tolerating in my life? Turn that into a Lament.

Question 16

What is the Biblical pattern for laments?

Answer 16

The pattern of laments in the Bible is as follows, and can be summarized by the acrostic CARE

C – Complain

• When are you going to answer my prayer?
• What are you doing?
• How long is this going to take?
• Do something God!
• Tell God what I think is unfair or painful

A – I appeal to God’s nature

• God, are you not?

R – I remind God of what he said, and is promises

• God, did you not?

E – I express trust in God’s wisdom

• God will you not?

Question 17

What are two keys to a Biblical Lament?

Answer 17

1. Complain to God
2. You complain in faith

• I believe God will hears me
• I believe God can accept this
• I believe that God can help

Question 18

What are the steps I need to take to turn from emptiness to overflowing in my life?

(Based on Luke 5:1-11)

Answer 18

The disciples in this story took the following 4 steps of faith:

1. Give Jesus complete access to my life

• Get Jesus in my boat,” i.e., how I make a living)
• Let Jesus use my career as a platform

2. Admit that my way isn’t working

Question 19

What are 5 ways to be blessed by God?

Answer 19

1. I depend on God’s wisdom, not my own.
   
   • We get God’s wisdom by praying througout the day and reading the Bible on a daily basis.
2. I depend on God’s strength, not mine.
3. I depend on God’s timing, not mine
   
   • While I’m waiting, God is working
   • God always gives his best to those who wait.
4. I depend on God’s defense, not mine.

Question 20

What are five signs that I might be sinking?

Answer 20

1. I can’t see my way - I’m in the dark.
2. When I feel that I’m on my own
3. I’m out of my comfort zone
4. Strong forces are against me
5. I’m struggling, but I’m failing

Question 21

What is God doing everytime I go through a storm?

Answer 21

1. Jesus prayers for me, before I get into it
   2.

Question 22

What are the six steps for hearing from God,

as outlined in the book of Habbukuk?

(This card is not yet completed)

Answer 22

1. I must want to hear from God, be willing to listen, and to desire to do God’s will.
2. I withdraw and get into a quiet place in order to hear God’s voice.
3. I will be still until I hear from God.

Question 23

Why was David a man after God’s heart, in spite of his many sins?

Answer 23

He wanted passionately to hear from God,

and committed in advance to do what God told him to do.

Question 24

What are some of the basics of the Christian Life?

What prayer can I pray in order to know God’s will from my life?

Answer 24

• Are you reading your Bible? Are you in a small group? Are you tithing? Are you talking with me?” You need to start doing what you already know to be the revealed will of God for your life.
• “Pray this prayer today: “Lord, I need your guidance in my life. I ask in faith that you direct me. Help me to listen for your response, to not get so busy that I can’t hear you. Father, when I don’t understand it, help me to trust you and understand that you have a path that is for my good. God, what’s my next step? Help me to do what I already know I should do. Help me to not get frustrated. Help me to not be fearful but to trust in you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

Question 25

According to Rick Warren,

what are the four ways that God speaks to us?

Answer 25

Here are four of the channels that God uses:

God speaks to us through the Bible. It’s your guidebook for life. It shows you the right step to take. That is why you need to read God’s Word every day. If you’re not having a daily quiet time and reading the Bible, God is getting a busy signal when he wants to speak to you. You have to keep a constant connection, because God’s will is found in God’s Word.
God speaks to us through teachers. Have you ever been in a church service and felt like what the teacher was saying was a direct message from God to you? There’s no way I or any other teacher could figure out exactly what to say to meet every need. But God knows. So before every service I pray, “God, you know the people and the needs out there. Give me the right things to say.” Somehow, in the way only he can, God uses my teaching and the teaching of other pastors to meet the needs of people who are listening.
God speaks to us through impressions. There are two extremes to this. One extreme is the rationalist who believes no impression can be from God; it all has to be logical. At the other extreme is the mystical belief that every impression is from God. You need to get in the middle and realize that every impression has to match God’s Word.

God speaks to us through our circumstances. If we’re going to live a life of significance, God’s got to make constant course corrections, and one of the things he uses to do that is the circumstances that come into our lives

Question 26

According to Rick Warren,

what are the 4 steps to stop worrying?

Answer 26

It’s going to take more than your willpower to stop worrying. It takes four things:

1. Get to know God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:32, “People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things” (MSG). If you don’t have a relationship with God, you have every reason to worry. You’ve got to get to know God! As a believer, you have a heavenly Father who has promised to take care of you. You are God’s child, and children get special privileges. When you worry, God says, “You’re my child. Why are you acting like an orphan?”
2. Put God first in every area of your life. Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing …. Your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to” (TLB). Any time you take God out of the center of your life and put anything else there — no matter how good it is — you’re going to worry.
3. Live one day at a time. The Bible says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34 NCV). If you’re worrying about tomorrow, you can’t enjoy today. You miss today’s blessings. It’s OK to plan for tomorrow, but you have to live for today. Right now, you only need enough power for today.
4. Trust God to care. “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT, second edition). How do you do that? One way is to memorize God’s promises in the Bible. They’re like an insurance policy for believers. When you know something’s covered, you don’t worry about it anymore. Another way is to pray. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a lot less to worry about.

Question 27

According to Rick Warren, why shouldn’t we worry?

Answer 27

Jesus actually gives four reasons you don’t need to worry in his Sermon on the Mount.

1. Worry is unreasonable. Matthew 6:25 says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (NIV) Jesus is saying, if it’s not going to last, don’t worry about it. To worry about something you can change is stupid. To worry about something you can’t change is useless. Either way, it’s unreasonable to worry.
2. Worry is unnatural. Jesus gives us an illustration from nature in Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” There’s only one thing in all of God’s creation that worries: human beings. We’re the only things God has created that don’t trust him, and God says this is unnatural.
3. Worry is unhelpful. It doesn’t change anything. Matthew 6:27 says, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” When you worry about a problem, it doesn’t bring you one inch closer to the solution. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair — a lot of activity, energy, and motion, but no progress. Worry doesn’t change anything except you. It makes you miserable!
4. Worry is unnecessary. Matthew 6:30 says, “If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you, O men of little faith?” (TLB) If you trust in God, you don’t need to worry. Why? Because he has promised to take care of all your needs: “God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV).

Does that include bills? Yes. Does that include relational conflicts? Yes. Does that include your dreams and goals and ambitions? Yes. Does that include the health issues you don’t know what to do with? Yes. God will meet all your needs in Christ.

Don’t worry about it!

Question 28

According to Rick Warren,

why should we keep praying when there is no answer/

Answer 28

When you pray a prayer request over and over, it’s not to remind God. He doesn’t need to be reminded! It’s to remind yourself who the source of your answer and all your needs is. If every prayer you ever prayed were instantly answered, two things would be true. First, prayer would become a weapon of destruction in your life. And, you’d never think about God, because he would become a vending machine. If every time you prayed you instantly got results, all you’d think about is the blessing. God wants you to think about the Blesser.

Persistent prayer clarifies your request.

1. A delayed answer gives you time to clarify exactly what you want and to refine your prayers. When you pray persistently to your heavenly Father and you say something over and over again, it separates deep longings from mere whims. It says, “God, I really care about this.” It’s not that God doesn’t want to answer your prayers. He does. It’s just that he wants you to be certain that that’s what you really want.
2. Persistent prayer tests your faith. James 1:3-4 says, “When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” The only way you can grow to spiritual maturity is to have your faith tested. One of the ways God’s going to test your faith is by delaying some answers to your prayers.
3. Persistent prayer prepares your heart for the answer. When you make a request of God, God almost always wants to answer in a bigger and better way than you’ve prayed. Sometimes God denies your prayer requests because you’re thinking and asking too small. He wants to give you something bigger and better. But first, he has to prepare you for it. So God uses delays in answering prayer to help you grow, to help you get ready, to help prepare you for a bigger and better answer.

Remember, “God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20 NCV).

Question 29

According to Rick Warren, what are the 5 steps in the choice to let Christ have control of my life?

Answer 29

What are the steps in this choice to let Christ have control?

1. Admit that you’ve been trying to play God.
2. Admit that you can’t change on your own.
3. Humbly ask God to help you change.
4. Be honest with someone else about the things that need to change in your life.
5. Give Jesus Christ total ownership of your life.