John 17:3 - What Is The Purpose Of Life? [Testimony by Rick Warren]

John 17:3  - What Is The Purpose Of Life? [Testimony by Rick 
Warren] 

John 17:3 (KJV)  And this is life eternal, that they might know 
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

John 17:3 (AMP)  And this is eternal life: [it means] to know 
(to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) 
You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus 
[as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have 
sent. 

Following is a testimony by Rick Warren from an interview with 
Paul Bradshaw.  It took place  after his wife now has cancer and he 
has acquired  'wealth' from his book sales. In this absolutely 
incredible testimony Rick said: 

  People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
  And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for 
eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with 
Him in Heaven. 
  One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of 
my body-- but not the end of me. 
  I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend 
trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress 
rehearsal.. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in 
eternity. 
  We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that 
out, life isn't going to make sense. 
  Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, 
you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into 
another one. 
  The reason for this is that God is more interested in your 
character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life 
holy than He is in making your life happy. 
  We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the 
goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. 
  This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also 
the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. 
  I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go 
through a dark time then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I 
don't believe that anymore. 
  Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's 
kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have 
something good and something bad in your life. 
  No matter how good things are in your life, there is always 
something bad that needs to be worked on. 
  And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always 
something good you can thank God for.. 
  You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your 
problems: 
  If you focus on your problems, you're going into 
self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But 
one of the easiest 
 ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto 
God and others. 
  We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds 
of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it 
easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has 
strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, 
given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. 
  You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of 
life. 
  Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. 
For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 
million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. 
  It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to 
deal with before. 
  I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own 
ego or for you to live a life of ease.. 
  So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, 
notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me 
decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. 
  First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not 
change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases. 
  Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a 
salary from the church. 
  Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The 
Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for 
the sick, and educate the next generation. 
  Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 
years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was 
liberating to be able to serve God for free. 
  We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? 
Popularity? 
  Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? 
Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? 
  When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and 
say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You 
more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill 
a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. 
  That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
  Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
  Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
  Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
  Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
  Every moment, THANK GOD. [Rick Warren testimony from interview 
with Paul Bradshaw] 
 
CLOSING THOUGHTS

What then does it mean to know God?  Undoubtedly there is an 
element of intellectual knowledge. It means, at least in part, to know 
what God is like; and to know that does make the most tremendous 
difference to life. . . We enter into a new life, we share something of the 
life of God himself, when, through the work of Jesus, we discover 
what God is like. It is eternal life to know what God is like. . . . 
The Old Testament regularly uses know for sexual knowledge. "Adam 
knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bore Cain" (Gen 4:1). Now 
the knowledge of husband and wife is the most intimate there can be. 
Husband and wife are no longer two; they are one flesh. The sexual act 
itself is not the important thing; the important thing is the intimacy 
of heart and mind and soul which in true love precede that act. To 
know God is therefore not merely to have intellectual knowledge of 
him; it is to have an intimate personal relationship with him, which 
is like the nearest and dearest relationship in life. . . . To know 
God is to know what he is like, and to be on the most intimate terms 
of friendship with him. [Barclay Commentary] 

Every day I have the honor of sitting down with a book that 
contains the words of the One who created me. Every day I have the 
opportunity to let him give me a thought or two on how to live. If I don't 
do what he says, he doesn't burn the book or cancel my 
subscription. If I disagree with what he says, lightning doesn't split my 
swivel chair or an angel doesn't mark my name off the holy list. If I 
don't understand what he says, he doesn't call me a dummy. In fact, he 
calls me "Son," and on a different page explains what I don't 
understand. by Max Lucado [Inspirational SB]