PDL Seminar Teaching Notes-Seminar On Disc PDF

International Seminar
PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren

PDL Seminar – Teaching Notes 2005 Version 1.0
1
Purpose Driven Life Seminar
Teaching Notes
Table Of Contents
Note to Teacher ............................................................................................................2
Welcome .......................................................................................................................4
Introduction: What On Earth Am I Here For ................................................................13
Purpose #1: You Were Planned For God’s Pleasure ..................................................19
Purpose #2: You Were Formed For God’s Family ......................................................25
Purpose #3 You Were Created To Become Like Christ ..............................................33
Purpose #4 You Were Shaped For Serving God ........................................................44
Purpose #5 You Were Made For A Mission ................................................................56
SHAPE Addendum......................................................................................................70
PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 1

Note to Teacher
1. Prior to teaching, it is a good idea to review the notes that follow.
If you have never taught in the region before, you will want to do
some research about that area, making notes about the culture,
languages, religions, industry, political situations, etc. There are
places within the teaching transcript where you can modify the
points, humor or comments to custom tailor them to meet the
culture where you are teaching. If you have an in-country contact,
you can work with them to accomplish these modifications.
2. These Teaching Notes contain both the transcript and the

Student Outline. Any note or scripture that is found in the Student
Outline has been bolded in these notes. The fill-ins for the Student
Outline are underlined with the type reversed. This will show you
what the students have in their notes as you teach through these
notes.
3. There are icons, as shown, in the left margin, that give the
location and number of the corresponding PowerPoint slide in the
2
presentation. Note that some of the PowerPoint slides may contain
more than one student fill-in or scripture. When this occurs, the
PowerPoint icon that appears in your notes will be numbered as
2.1, 2.2, etc.
4. You may want to make a second hard copy of these Teaching

Notes to give to the PowerPoint operator. The icons will make it
easy to bring up the right slide during the seminar.
5. You’ll see “Teaching Tips” throughout this material that will give
suggestions to you as the teacher and will explain options in the
manner of teaching.
6. These notes are taken from a transcript by Rick Warren. We

have left his personal stories in the text. When you see a personal
story from Rick, you can tell a story from your own life and ministry
instead. Or, you can use Rick’s story, letting people know it’s an
example from his life. Some cultures may prefer to hear a little
about Saddleback and more about your personal journey, or vice
versa. You may want to check with the local pastor where you will
be teaching and adjust your teaching to fit that preference.
7. For those pastors teaching in international settings, we’ve

highlighted many of the phrases or terms that may not relate well in
other languages, and their meanings can be found, sequentially, by
session, in the Table of Meanings on the Seminar-on-Disc. We
have also chosen to leave in sections describing life in the area
around Saddleback Church, which are highlighted, so that you may
use a different story, joke or statement that is more suitable in the
culture where you are teaching.
8 We have left the right margins blank for you to write personal
notes, as needed.
9. Teach these truths and principles with a sense of faith that God
is going to use you to make a difference! We’ve seen these
principles impact hundreds of thousands of people in many cultures
globally.
10. There are no PowerPoint slides for the Welcome section of the
Teaching notes. The Student Outline has a page with the main
points and the scriptures of the Welcome that you will discuss
during your teaching.
11. The SHAPE Addendum, appearing at the end of these notes,

has a separate Student Outline and PowerPoint on the disc. This
can be used if you teach SHAPE as a separate session.

Welcome
WELCOME!
We’re so excited that you are here for the Purpose Driven Life
Seminar. You are about to join an alumni group of over
400,000 pastors and church leaders globally who have taken
Purpose Driven training. It is my prayer that God will use you
to fulfill His purposes in your own congregation and
throughout the world.
Teaching Tip
As you teach through this first section, remember that during

the first moments you are establishing your relationship with
your audience. Instead of immediately diving into the “content”,
this section gives your audience some time to get to know you:
your background, your values, your heart. There are a number
of values in this section which will help you to build a bridge
towards those you are teaching. (It goes without saying that
these values must come from the heart!)
1. Honor
They’ve made the commitment to come and to learn: that
should be honored.
2. Humility
We are all fellow learners.
3. Humor
We are friends and family…. we can laugh together.
4. Unity
If you communicate at the beginning of the session that it
is not the SIZE of the church that matters, it helps
everyone to realize that we’re on the same team. “Big is
not better, small is not better…better is better!”
I want to welcome you to the Purpose Driven Life Seminar. Today

you are joining over 400,000 other pastors and church leaders who
have been through Purpose Driven training all around the world.
We’ve taught it in 162 countries and to about 70 different
denominations.

Welcome
Teaching Tip
The next sentence gives you the opportunity to recognize
attending pastors that are from other denominations or
countries. This recognition brings home the point that this
training is truly “Global”. It also gives the pastors an
opportunity to connect with each other.
Even today, we have church leaders and pastors from

________________________ (You may want to say something
about the number of different denominations or countries that you
have represented in this seminar.) joining us.
We’ve done this seminar many, many times, but I want to begin by
thanking you from the bottom of my heart for coming. We never
take these seminars for granted. We’re always thrilled to see
people who have come for the first time or those who are returning.
I say this each time I teach a seminar: “It says more about you than
it does about us. It says that you are a learner.” That is a valuable
concept to me because all leaders are learners. The moment you
stop learning, you stop leading. The moment I think I’ve got it all
figured out, I'm dead in the water. I am constantly learning,
constantly growing. So I honor you for being here today.
Teaching Tip
The following section discusses the goals of the conference.

You can elect to discuss these during the workshop, or you
can skip over them and allow the participants to read them on
their own following the workshop.
Your time is valuable and we don’t want to waste it – so let’s begin

with the four seminar goals.
Our first goal is to encourage your spirit.
1. TO ENCOURAGE YOUR SPIRIT

We want to encourage you. Ministry is difficult. Would you agree
that ministry is tough? Ministry today is more difficult than it was in
the previous generation. In fact, everyone is having a tough time.
“Encourage one another and build each other up.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11(NLT)

Welcome
That’s what we want to do. We want you to be encouraged at the

close of this seminar. We’re not here to discourage, we’re not here
to criticize. We’re here to encourage each other because we’re all
on the same team.
We want to encourage each other personally. Galatians 6:9 tells

us,
“Let us not get tired in doing what is right for after a

while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get
discouraged and give up.” Galatians 6:19 (LB)
You may think that your ministry is small and insignificant, but you
are wrong! Your ministry matters to God. God knows why you’re
here and God put you where you are. I don’t care what your
background is, what your country is, what your language is, what
the color of your skin is, what your denomination is. If you love
Jesus, we’re in the same family. And you are my brother and my
sister. I love you and I want to encourage you.
The second goal is to stretch your mind.
2. TO STRETCH YOUR MIND
The Bible says in Proverbs 19:8
“Do yourself a favor and learn all you can. Then

remember what you learned and you will prosper.”
Proverbs 19:8 (TEV)
Let me first encourage you by saying I’m proud of you for being
here. It says whole lot more about you than it does about me or
anyone else. What it says about you is that you are a learner. I
admire you for that. I tell the pastors and the people at Saddleback
church, all leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning you
stop leading. Growing churches require growing leaders. The
moment I stop growing, the moment I think I’ve got it all figured out,
that I’ve got all the answers and know it all, I’m dead in the water.
You must always keep growing yourself if your church is going to
keep growing. The way we do that is by learning.
I have discovered that everyone is ignorant, just on different

subjects. The person next to you knows things that you don’t. I
know some things that they don’t know. The Bible says when we
get together and share, iron sharpens iron.

Welcome
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)
No one knows it all. I have discovered that you can learn from
anyone if you ask the right questions and if you are teachable. We
can all learn from each other. You must ALWAYS be in a
teachable mode that conveys “God, I want to learn what You want
to teach me.” [Psalm 25:4, Exodus 33:13b; Psalm 86:11; Psalm
27:11; Psalm 51:6 (NIV)] We need each other.
The Bible says this in Romans 2:21
“How can you teach others if you refuse to learn?”

Romans 2:21 (CEV)
The most important pages in these conference notes are the

Application Questions at the end of each session. These are
questions about your church.
This is where you will want to take some time to think through some
of the implications we’ve talked about for your church. This
conference is not about our church. It’s about your church. It is far
more important what you discover about your church than what
you discover about our church. It’s about how God wants to do His
purposes in your church. That’s what we’re going to talk about.
We want you to apply these things.
The Bible says this
“The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In

fact, he looks for them.” Proverbs 18:15 (LB)
A willingness to learn is the indication of brilliance – so we have a

brilliant group here today!
Our third goal is to sharpen your skills.
3. TO SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS
Ecclesiastes 10:10 is one of my life verses.
“If the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more

strength is needed, but skill will bring success."
Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NIV)
Circle “skill.” The Bible says skill will bring success. Not
dedication, not commitment, but skill.

Welcome
A farmer needs to have the right skills in order to harvest his crop.
If he doesn’t have the right skills, he will not be able to harvest any
crop regardless of how much he prays. If I try to harvest corn and I
haven’t developed any skills about how and when and what tools to
use for harvesting – I will not be successful. If I try to harvest
bananas using a grape picker I will not be successful. I can pray all
I want but if I don’t have the right skills, if I don’t know how to do it
correctly, I’m not going to bring in a harvest. Skill will bring
success.
I’m tired of going to pastors conferences that make you feel guilty.
Many of those conferences tell you, “If you just prayed more/loved
people more/if you were just more dedicated then your church
would grow.” That’s just not true. Somebody needs to stand up
and say that’s not true. I’ve met tens of thousands of pastors who
are dedicated, who love the Lord, who are totally committed to
Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, love people, love God’s Word and
yet their church grows at a very slow pace, has plateaued or is
declining. Why? Because it takes more than commitment and
dedication and desire. It has nothing to do with your level of
dedication. The fact that you are here today shows your dedication
to the calling of Jesus Christ. The Bible says it takes skill and we’re
going to talk about developing some skills today.
You need to understand that as we share we’re just fellow pastors

– we’re ordinary people, just like you. We’re not the Supreme
Authority. God is. We’re just fellow Christians and leaders like you.
We are students of church health and church growth. At
Saddleback Church, I’ll be honest with you, we have done more
things that didn’t work than did. Someday I’m going to write a book
called A Thousand Ways to Not Grow a Church because I know
every one of them. We try 100 things and 99 of them will fail, but 1
will work. We just keep trying because we are just not afraid to fail.
We fail a lot. We’re just like everybody else - we figure it out by trial
and error.
So if you learn something that we can also learn - share it with us.
I’m not proud. I can learn from anybody. Every time I see
someone that’s doing a good job I say, “Amen, brother! Keep on
doing it. Show me how to do it too.” I just want to learn. If you
can’t learn from other people you’ve got an ego problem. That’s
why God says
“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6 (TEV)

Welcome
I learned long ago God hasn’t called me to be original. He’s called

me to be effective. I have also learned that I don’t have to think up
everything...So I use all the bright minds I can. I make myself
available to learn from everyone.
I once heard about a guy who said, “I’m going to be original or

nothing.” And he was both. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The
person who never quotes anybody else will never be quoted
himself.” So we need to learn from each other. We’re all on the
same team. If you get a good idea, share it with me. If I get an
idea I’ll share it with you. We’re just all trying to help each other
out. We’re all on the same team together. I want you to teach
these concepts to your church, your congregation and wherever
you have influence - because we all have the same goal, winning
lives for Christ.
The fourth goal is to strengthen your church.
4. TO STRENGTHEN YOUR CHURCH
The Bible says this in Ephesians 4:16
“Under Christ’s direction the whole body is fitted

together perfectly and as each part does its own special
work it helps the other parts grow so that the whole
body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)
This applies not only in the local church where all the parts help
each other and the local church grows. This principle applies to the
church globally. We need to help each other. The church in Asia
needs to help the church in South America. The church in South
America helps the church in Africa. The church in Africa helps the
church in North America and the church in North America helps the
church in Europe. And the church in Europe helps the church in
Antarctica – is there a church down there? We need to help each
other. That’s the big idea. And we need to learn from everyone.
I believe that every church in the world should be a sending church.

We should all help each other and we want this for the global glory
of God.
What have we learned? This is the overview of assumptions.

Welcome
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

We used to call these “Rick’s Rules”. These are the five rules that
the seminar is based upon.
• There is no correlation between the size and strength of a

church!
A church can be big and strong. Or it can be big and flabby. A

church can be small and strong. Or it can be small and wimpy. Big
is not necessarily better. Small is not necessarily better. Better is
better. Healthy is better. This is a seminar about church health.
And by the way, there is no insignificant church in God’s eyes.
Every church is a church that Jesus Christ died on the cross for.
So there’s no correlation between size and strength.
Rick began Saddleback Church with his wife, their daughter, and
one family, so he can relate to every size of church. When you say,
“We’ve got a church of fifteen people.” He can remember when we
had fifteen people. If you say, “We’ve got a church of 25 people.”
He can remember when we had 25 people. He can relate to every
single sized church in this conference today because his church
began very small, too.. So he has watched the church grow at
each stage remembering what it was like to have 60 people. It
wasn’t that long ago. He still remembers what it was like to have
150 people. So this is important – there’s no correlation between
the size and the strength of the church.
• There is more than one way to grow a church, so never

criticize what God is blessing!
How many would agree with that? Because there’s more than one
way to grow a church, we should never criticize what God is
blessing. I have discovered that God likes to bless people that I
don’t understand. He sometimes even blesses people I disagree
with. Why does He do that? I don’t know. He even blesses people
I have doctrinal differences with. How could that be? God says,
“I’m all about Jesus.”
If you’re getting the job done, I like that. It may not be my style. It
may not be what God’s calling me to do. But I can show you 2
churches that are doing the exact opposite thing or 2 churches
doing the same thing but in different ways, and they’re both healthy.
• It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people!

Welcome
Have you figured out that God likes to do things in different ways?
That God loves variety? Just look down your row! Thank God we
don’t all look the same, we don’t all think the same, act the same,
even smell the same. God loves variety. So He says I want you to
learn from each other. We don’t want any clones. Each church
has to have its own unique thumbprint, but the church must be
based on God’s eternal purposes. Those 5 eternal purposes aren’t
optional.
• If a principle is biblical, it is trans-cultural. It will work

anywhere!
Being purpose driven is not a North American strategy. In fact,

there are now more purpose driven churches outside of America
than there are in America. So this is not an American strategy.
This is a biblical strategy. It is from the Bible and it will work in any
culture and country. We now have Purpose Driven churches in 162
countries. Methods are many, principles are few, methods change
often but principles never do. I could even tell you about a bunch of
houseboat churches on the Amazon River- There are Purpose
Driven houseboat churches and purpose driven churches all
around the world.
• We must never confuse our methods with God’s message!

The message must never change, but the methods
must continually change!
This is very important. The message of God, of Christ, must never

change. As Jude 1:3 (NASB) says, “…It is the faith once delivered
for the saints.” We do not have the right to change the Word of
God. His Word is unchangeable, inerrant, eternal. So we can’t
change it. If you do that, you’re a heretic. The message must
never change. But the methods have to change with every
generation. They have to change because the world is changing.
It is an unchanging message in a constantly changing world.
I do want to say that when I use the word “Pastor”, please interpret
that as “church leader”. If you are at this seminar, you are
obviously a church leader and one of the people who carry the
burden of the church in ministry.
You will quickly discover as we get into this seminar that

Saddleback leaders and pastors are just ordinary people. As we
Welcome
begin to share some of the insights we’re doing to live this Purpose
Driven Life, you will say, “Anybody can do that!”
That’s the point! What we are doing here is not a strategy for
superstars. People often think that the strategy we are suggesting
is only for big churches or mega churches. It is not. Remember,
that every big church began as a small church. That strategy has
allowed us to continue to grow.
Teaching Tip
The following scripture is in the student notes and you can

have the participants read aloud with you as a prayer to open
the teaching sessions.
Thank you for coming to the Purpose Driven Life Seminar. It is my

prayer that each one of you will become a more effective servant of
Christ as a result of being with us today.
Let me pray for you
“By the grace of God, I laid a foundation as an expert

builder…but each one should be careful how he
builds….his work will be shown for what it is….the fire
will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has
built survives, he will receive his reward.”
1 Corinthians 3:10-14 (NIV)
Teaching Tip
If you give the audience the guidelines that follow and a few
minutes to talk with each other, you will be amazed at how it
will warm up the room. The humorous line at the end of the
next paragraph will also give people a chance to laugh and
this will put them at ease. It’s also a good break as you
prepare to go into a long teaching section.
We want you to enjoy this seminar, and to get comfortable right at

the start. And we want you to meet some new friends while you are
here. It doesn’t matter where you serve, if you love Jesus, we’re on
the same team. I want to ask you to stand, turn around and meet
someone you haven’t met before. That should be easy. Tell them
your name, where you’re from and your secret, unconfessed sin!

Introduction – What On Earth Am I Here For?
1
INTRODUCTION: WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE
FOR?
The most important question you can ask in life is: What is my
purpose? Why am I here? What on earth am I here for? Let me
start by saying, It’s not about you.
1a It is not about YOU
If you want to know why you were put on this planet, you’ve got to
look at God not yourself. It’s not about you. Say, it’s not about me.
(Pause) Focusing on yourself will never reveal your life’s purpose.
It’s the wrong starting point.
I once got lost in the mountains going to a youth retreat I was to

speak at. I stopped to ask directions and the guy said, “You can’t
get there from here. It’s on the other side of the mountain.”
If you want to know the purpose of your life, you can’t get there by
starting with yourself. I have probably 60 or 70 books I’ve
purchased over the years that have the word “purpose” in the title.
“How to Know your Purpose”. They would all be classified as what
I call “Self Help” books. They all say the same thing: “Look within
yourself, think about your dreams, consider your aptitudes, set
high goals, go for it, plan your life, believe you can achieve, get
other people to help you, never give up.” All those things are good
and you can become a success if you do those things. But you can
become successful in life and still miss your purpose. Success and
knowing your purpose and having meaning in life are not the same
thing. I minister to people all the time who are extremely successful
and have no meaning in their life, because they don’t know their
purpose.
If I handed you an invention and you had never seen that invention,
you would not know what its purpose was. You couldn’t ask the
invention, “What’s your purpose?” If you could figure out your
purpose by looking within, everybody would have figured it out a
long time ago. But you don’t do it that way. You must go to the
creator of the invention and ask him the purpose of the invention, or
you have to look in the owner’s manual.
“For everything – absolutely everything – above and

2 below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in
him and finds its purpose in him.”
Colossians 1:16 (MSG)
You were made by God and you were made for God. Until you
figure that out, life will not make sense. Let me say that again: you
were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life is
never going to make sense. You were not put on this earth for your
own satisfaction. You were not put on this earth for your own
fulfillment. You were not put on this earth for your own happiness.
God made you for His purposes.
God has never created anything without a purpose. Every rock,

plant, animal and human being He made for a purpose. If your
heart is beating it means God has a purpose for your life.
How do you discover that purpose? You only have two options –
speculation or revelation. Speculation is, you go buy a coffee, go to
the local university and sit down with the philosophy professor and
you talk about questions like, “Why am I here? Where am I going?
What is the meaning of it all? Is there a purpose to life?” You can
come up with some really creative answers but you’re just
guessing. You’re really just guessing. It’s just speculation.
3 • SPECULATION
The other way is revelation.
3a • REVELATION
And that is to go to God’s word and say, “God, what did You put me
here on earth for?” That’s what we’re going to look at. God has
made it very clear what He’s put us on earth for.
“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what

4
we’re living for… part of the overall purpose he is
working out in everything and everyone.”
Ephesians 1:11 (MSG)
This verse gives us two very profound insights into God’s purpose
for our lives.
First, we discover our life’s purpose through a relationship with

Jesus Christ. It’s in Christ.
Second, the purpose of your life fits into a much larger purpose that
God has designed for eternity. We’re just kind of a cog in a wheel.
It’s a much bigger purpose than just my own life. Let’s read the next
verse.

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundation he had us

5
in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love…”
Ephesians 1:4a (MSG)
This is how much God loves and values you. God designed this
planet so we could live on it. We weren’t made for the planet; the
planet was made for us. We are the focus of His love, the most
valuable of all His creation. And the Bible says,
6 “The Lord has made everything for his own purposes…”

Proverbs 16:4 (NLT)
You are not an accident. You are NOT an accident. God had you in
mind from the foundation of the world. Regardless of the
circumstances of your birth, you’re not an accident. There are
illegitimate parents but there are no illegitimate children. God had a
purpose.
The first thing that the Bible tells us is that Life is a Test, a Trust,
and a Temporary Assignment.
7 Life is a TEST, TRUST and a TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT
God is testing your character, your faith, your obedience, your love
and a whole lot more. God is measuring your trustworthiness.
That’s the principle of stewardship. One day He’s going to ask you,
“What did you do with what I gave you?”
God is preparing you for eternity. Now let’s read some of the
verses.
8 “I am here on earth for just a little while…”

Psalm 119:19 (TEV)
The Bible is full of metaphors that teach the brevity of life. It’s
transitory, it’s temporary. The Bible calls life a mist, a vapor, a
shadow, a weaver’s spindle moving fast, a wisp of smoke. You are
going to spend far more time on that side of eternity than you do on
this side. At most, you get 60, 80, maybe 100 years ‘at the most’
on earth. You’re going to spend billions and gazillions of years on
that side of eternity. So this side of eternity is the warm up act.
This is the dress rehearsal. This is the preparation for eternity.
This is the preschool, this is the starting point, the getting-ready lap
for the real race. You will spend far more time on that side of
eternity than on this side. And life is preparation for eternity. It’s
the dress rehearsal, the trial run.
9
“So if you call God your Father, live your time as
temporary residents on earth…” 1 Peter 1:17 (GW)
Teaching Tip
The mention of a “Green Card” may be a sensitive subject in

some cultures. Below is an example of how one teacher has
successfully addressed this issue.
“In order for me (as the teacher) to enter your country, I

needed my passport (visually show them your passport,
holding it high in the air), because this passport shows where
I’m from - it shows where I belong. But you see it isn’t true!
Because my passport is from Belgium, while I live in the USA,
and come to teach in the republic of
(country where the seminar is). My real identity is not Belgium,
USA or any other man-made country. My true identity is in the
Promised Land. My true identity is in Heaven. Every Christian
should have a spiritual passport…”
In California, many people from other countries come to work and

they are required to carry a registration card called a “Green Card”
which says you’re not a citizen, but you’re allowed to work here.
Every Christian should be required to carry a “spiritual Green Card”.
This is not your home. This planet is not all there is. Other people
may live as if all this is all there is - the here and now, but you know
better. Life is preparation for eternity. And your true identity is in
heaven.
The Bible says this in The Message paraphrase,
“Friend, this world is not your home, so don’t make

10 yourself cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the
expense of your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11 (MSG)
Life is about preparing for eternity. Your true identify is in heaven.

This world is not your home. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense
of your soul. Life is about preparing for something better.
The second thing the Bible tells us is that
11 It’s all FOR GOD’S GLORY

11a
“For everything comes from God alone. Everything
lives by his power, and everything is for his glory...”
Romans 11:36 (LB)
Circle the word “everything”. Everything comes from God,

everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory.
How can I bring glory to God? That’s what this seminar is all about.
The Bible tells us that we bring glory to God by fulfilling the
purposes for which He created us.
And there are five purposes. And when we build our lives around
these things, we bring glory to God.
Read what Jesus said in John 17:4 with me:
12 “I brought glory to you here on earth, by doing

everything you told me to do.” John 17:4 (NLT)
And, we bring glory to God the same way, by doing what He tells us
to do. Anytime anything fulfills the purpose God created it for, it
brings glory to God. Birds bring glory to God by chirping, by flying,
and by building nests, by doing “birdy” things that birds are created
for. Even worms bring glory to God, by being “wormy”. And God
enjoys watching you be you. Iraeneus, the philosopher said, “The
glory of God is a human being - fully alive.” And so you bring glory
to God by fulfilling His purposes for your life.
13
There are three amazing secrets to the glory of God. Let me
mention just one of them.
13a
The Bible teaches us that if you fulfill God’s purposes on
earth, then you’re going to share in God’s glory in eternity.
That is an amazing truth. If you fulfill God’s purposes here on earth

with my life, you will share in God’s glory in eternity, and He says it
over and over all through the New Testament.
The Bible says in Peter 5:4
14
“And when the head Shepherd comes, your reward will
be a never-ending share in his glory and honor.”
1 Peter 5:4 (NLT)

So, you have two choices to make: Will I live for temporary
pleasures, or am I going to live for God’s eternal purposes? My
temporary pleasures or God’s eternal purposes?
Read Psalm 33:11 with me
15
“But his (God’s) plans endure forever; his purposes last
eternally.” Psalm 33:11 (TEV)
What are you going to live for? My temporary pleasure, my

fulfillment, my satisfaction, my joy, my comfort, or am I going to live
for God’s purposes? One road leads to a dead-end, the other
leads to meaning. And you’ve got to have meaning.

Purpose #1-You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure
16 PURPOSE #1:
16a You were planned FOR GOD’S PLEASURE
The Bible says in Revelations 4:11
17 “…For you (God) created everything, and it is for your

pleasure (circle that) that they exist and were created.”
Revelation 4:11 (NLT)
The Bible says in Psalm 149:4

18
“The Lord takes pleasure in his people…”
Psalm 149:4 (TEV)
How many of you are parents? Can I see your hands? Do you
take pleasure in watching your kids? Most of the time. Same with
God. God takes pleasure in watching you be you. You were made
to bring enjoyment to God. God did not need to create you. He
wanted to create you. You were created for His delight, for His
pleasure. You exist for His benefit, His glory, His purpose, and His
pleasure. And the moment you were born into this world, whether it
was in a hospital or somewhere else, God was there at that
delivery, at the point of your delivery, smiling at your arrival into the
world, because God wanted you alive. He took pleasure watching
you be born.
Bringing enjoyment and living for God’s pleasure is your first

purpose. When you fully understand this truth you will never again
have a problem with insecurity or inferiority. When you fully
understand this, this proves your worth. Think about this: if you
were this important to God that God considered you valuable
enough to create, and considered you valuable enough to keep
with Him for the rest of eternity, what greater significance could you
have than the fact that God wanted you alive? He didn’t have to
make you, but He did.
19 “The Lord is pleased only with those who worship

him…” Psalm 147:11 (CEV)
Circle the word “worship” and draw a line to the word “pleased”,
because bringing pleasure to God is called worship.
20 Bringing pleasure to God is called: WORSHIP

Worship is bringing pleasure to God. Any time you bring pleasure

to God, you are worshipping Him.
21
“…Worship him continually.” Psalm 105:4 (TEV)
Today, this word “worship” has been abused, misused and

misapplied. Today worship is basically a synonym for music. “At
our church, first we have the worship and then we have the
teaching.” As if it’s not all worship. It’s just the music that’s the
worship part. Even worse, today’s worship is being used as a
“style” of music. In other words, if it’s fast music, it’s considered
“praise” and if it’s slow and intimate, it’s called “worship”. I’ve
actually heard people say, “First, we sang a hymn, then a praise
song, then a worship song.” That’s a total misuse of the term.
They’ll say, “I like the fast praise songs but I really enjoy the slow
worship songs.” As if fast and loud with brass is praise. And slow
and quiet and intimate with guitar is worship.
Worship has nothing to do with the style or the speed or the volume
of a song. God loves every kind of music because He invented
music. You may not like it but He does, as long as it’s done in spirit
and in truth.
22 “God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit

and in truth.” John 4:24 (NIV)
As you’ve heard it said in the Purpose Driven Church Conferences,

there’s no such thing as Christian music. There are only Christian
lyrics. If I were to put on a vinyl record up here (remember what
records were?) and it was instrumental, and I played it, you
wouldn’t know if it was a Christian song or not. It’s not the tune.
There is no spiritual tune. God loves all kinds of tunes. It’s the
words that make a song sacred.
People will say, “I just didn’t get anything out of worship today.” It
wasn’t for you. If you say, “I didn’t get anything out of worship,” you
worshipped for the wrong reason. It’s NOT for you! It’s not ABOUT
you! It’s about God. We don’t worship for our pleasure, we
worship for His pleasure. Worship is bringing pleasure to God.
Worship is far more than music. Worship is, (Write this down):
23
Worship is A LIFESTYLE

Worship is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that brings pleasure to God.

There are many elements of the lifestyle of worship.
24 ELEMENTS OF LIFESTYLE WORSHIP
24a We worship God whenever we....
24b 1. LOVE him supremely.
The first element is we worship God when we love Him supremely.

Read Hosea 6:6 with me
25
“I don’t want your sacrifices -- I want your love; I don’t
want your offerings -- I want you to know me.”
Hosea 6:6 (LB)
Circle the word “love” and the word “know”. That is the first purpose
of your life – to know God and to love God. To know Him and to
love Him. That’s the first purpose of your life. The Bible calls it
worship. That’s the most important thing. The most important thing
to know in life is that God loves you. And the most important thing
to do in life is to love Him back.
Because you are made in God’s image, you are different from
animals and you’re given the capacity to do something that animals
can’t do. You’ll never see a dog kneeling in prayer before it eats.
You’ll never see a cow meditating. But this is the privilege of being
a human being. So every morning when you get up in the morning
you should say, “God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want
to get to know You a little bit better and I want to love You a little bit
more.” Because if you don’t do that, you’ve just missed the first
purpose of your life. You’ve just wasted that day. You were put
here to know and love God. Nothing is more important.
Jesus called it The Greatest Commandment. Read it with me from

Matthew 22,
“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your
26 heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This
is the first and greatest commandment.”
Matthew 22: 37-38 (NIV)
Circle “first” and “greatest”. The Bible says,
27 “God is love.” 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16 (NIV)

It doesn’t say He has love. It says He is love. Because God is

love, He wants to bestow it on something. God didn’t need you.
He is in a relationship to Himself in the Trinity. The Father loves
the Son and the Son loves the Father and the Spirit loves them.
They all love each other. God is in a relationship to Himself. But
He created you to love you. You were created as an object of
God’s love. He made you to love you and God wants you to know
Him and love Him back.
The second way we worship is when we trust Him completely.
28 We worship God whenever we....
28a 2. TRUST him completely.

The Bible says,
29 “But he takes pleasure… in those who trust in his

constant love.” Psalm 147:11 (TEV)
Are you happy when your kids trust you? Sure. And the Bible
says,
30 “And without faith, it is impossible to please God...”

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
So we worship God when we trust Him.
Third, we worship God when we obey Him wholeheartedly.

31
We worship God whenever we....
31a
3. OBEY him wholeheartedly.
This is the attitude of the psalmist in Psalm 119,
32 “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it, Lord. As long as I

live I’ll wholeheartedly obey.” Psalm 119:33 (LB)
And fourth, we worship God when we surrender to Him absolutely.

33
We worship God whenever we....
33a 4. SURRENDER to him absolutely.

The Bible says,
34 “…give yourself to God…and surrender your whole

being to him to be used for righteous purposes.”
Romans 6:13 (TEV)
“Surrender” is not a popular word. It’s disliked almost as much as

the word “submission”. We don’t like this word. It implies losing
and nobody wants to be a loser. Surrender means admitting defeat
in a battle or forfeiting a game or yielding to a stronger opponent, -
captured criminals surrender to authorities. We don’t like this word
“surrender.” And very often in our competitive world, it’s just not
popular. Even Christians don’t use it. We’d much rather talk about
winning, overcoming, victory, battle, succeeding. But surrendering
is the heart of worship. Surrender IS the heart of worship. Write
that down.
35 Surrender is the HEART OF WORSHIP.
The heart of worship is surrender. Let’s read this verse, Romans

12:1 in the Good News translation
“…offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God,

36
dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the
true worship that you should offer.” Romans 12:1 (TEV)
Notice the word that begins and ends that verse. Circle it. It begins
with “offer” and it ends with “offer.” That is what worship is all
about. Offering yourself to God, surrendering yourself to God. In
the Old Testament they offered animals for worship. In the New
Testament God wants us.
The Bible says in Psalm 51
37 “The sacrifices to God are a broken spirit; a broken and

contrite heart…” Psalm 51:17 (NIV)
With each of these purposes today, I want you to do a little

personal evaluation. Rate yourself in a personal assessment.
Knowing this fuller meaning of worship. That worship is far more
than just praising God and singing to God, and shouting to God and
thanking God. It’s a whole lifestyle. I want you to rate yourself on
the lifestyle of worship. In each of these purposes, some you’re
going to do better than others. Don’t get discouraged about this.
But rate yourself – a rating of “one” means you need a lot of work,
“five” means you are well developed. Rate yourself on the lifestyle

of worship – loving God supremely, trusting Him completely,

obeying Him wholeheartedly, and surrendering to Him absolutely.
Teaching Tip
Give people a moment here to rate themselves. If you don’t

wait on them and encourage them to do this, they simply
won’t. By having people rate themselves, you are helping
them to not be overwhelmed at the end of the study. They will
be able to see the one or two places that they can get started
in growing in God’s purposes.
Rate yourself on a lifestyle of worship:

38
Needs work 1- 2 -3- 4- 5 Well Developed
Matt Redmond was a worship leader in England. He tells how his

pastor taught their church the true meaning of worship by banning
music. He said they were worshipping worship. They were coming
just for the whole idea of what it did for them. So the pastor banned
music. And for about six months, they had no singing as they
learned to worship with their lives.
Think about how you define worship.

Purpose #2-You Were Formed for God’s Family
39
PURPOSE #2:
39a
YOU WERE FORMED FOR GOD’S FAMILY
The Bible says this in Hebrews 2:10
“God is the One who made all things, and all things are
40
for his glory. He wanted to have many children share in
his glory...” Hebrews 2:10 (NCV)
God wanted children. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:5
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into

41 his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus
Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
You were formed for God’s family.
Now, because God is love, He loves relationships. As I told you,

He is in relationship to Himself in the Trinity. He even uses family
terms – Father and Son. Because God exists in a loving
relationship, He’s never been lonely. But God wanted a family and
He wanted you in His family. He didn’t need it, He just desired it.
So He devised a plan to create us, bring us into His family and
share with us all that He has. You were created because God
wanted you in His family for eternity.
This spiritual family is going to far outlast your physical family. The
physical family is just a shadow. It’s so inferior to the spiritual
family that God is preparing for eternity.
How do we get into God’s family? The Bible tells us
42
“…(God) has given us the privilege of being born again
so that we are now members of God’s own family…”
1 Peter 1:3b (LB)
There’s only one way. You’ve got to be born into His family.
Spiritually born. Born Again.
The next verse makes an amazing statement. Hebrews 2:11 tells

us

“Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the

43 same family. This is why he isn’t ashamed to call them
his brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:11 (CEV)
Let that amazing truth sink in! Because Jesus makes you holy,
God is proud of you. Jesus is not ashamed to call you His brother
or His sister. Being included in God’s family is the highest privilege
and the greatest honor you will ever have on earth – being a part of
God’s family. Nothing even comes close.
44
Your Christian life is not just a matter of BELIEVING.
It is also a matter of BELONGING.
The Bible says that if you become a believer, you belong to the
family of God and you belong to the body of Christ. And the Bible
says that all the members belong to each other. We belong to each
other. I want you to turn to the person seated next to you and say,
“You belong to me.” (pause). Now say, “I belong to you.” (pause)
The Christian life is not just believing, it is belonging. That is a truth
that is not emphasized enough today. Wherever we live, we live
with a spirit of independent individualism that says, It’s Jesus and
me. We’ve got our own thing going. We don’t need anybody to tell
us what it’s all about. But you do. When you became a believer,
you became a “belonger”, and you belong to me and I belong to
you. We are in the family of God together and we are not
independent. We are dependent upon each other.
What is God’s family on earth? You know what it is. It’s the church.
45 GOD’S FAMILY IS CALLED THE CHURCH
The Bible says in 1Timothy 3:15
45a
“…God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar
and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15b (GW)
Circle the word “foundation”. What happens when a building has

no foundation? It collapses. And God says you can’t make it in the
Christian life without a church family. A Christian without a church
family is an orphan.
What is the church? The church is a body, not a business. It is an

organism not an organization, a family and not an institution. We’re
part of the family.

Why is this so important? Let’s look at Romans 12:4-5 in the

Message paraphrase.
46
“Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole,
not the other way around. The body we’re talking about
is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our
meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a
chopped-off finger or a cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount
to much, would we?” Romans 12:4-5 (MSG)
That kind of lays it out there, doesn’t it? If an organ gets severed
from its body, it shrivels and dies. The Bible says we find our
meaning in connection not in independence, that our value and
our meaning comes as what we are a part of – the body of Christ.
Membership in the family of God is not something to be casually
ignored or tossed away as something not important. We need each
other far more than we realize. It’s the Second Purpose of your life.
To bring pleasure to God and to be a part of His family – worship
and fellowship.
The Bible says throughout the New Testament, that we’re put
together, we’re joined together, we’re built together, we’re
members together, we’re heirs together, we’re linked together,
we’re held together and we will be caught up together. It’s not any
of this individual stuff you hear about in the media. While your
relationship to God is personal, it is not private. That is a radical
thought in today’s world. The Bible says it’s personal but it is not
private. Because we belong to each other. You are connected to
every other believer and we’ll all belong to each other for eternity.
In America we have these “floating believers” who kind of float
around from church to church – go here this week, go there next
week, somewhere else the next week. If you’re the liver in the body
of Christ and one week you connect to this and then you get
severed and then you’re the liver in another body and the next
week you’re disconnected and you’re over there. You’re going to
shrivel up and die. It is a misunderstanding of the importance of
your role in the body of Christ.
I had a lady tell me one time, “I’m a part of the invisible church.” I
said, “That’s wonderful! When you get sick and you’re in the
hospital, who visits you? The invisible pastor? Where do you give
your invisible tithes? Where do you give your invisible service?
Where do you get the invisible support you need?” It’s visible in the
body of Christ. People say, “I like Jesus. I just don’t need the
church.” The Bible says the church is the body of Christ. How
about if I were to say to you, “I like you, I just can’t stand your

body.” You’d be offended! The Bible says the church is the bride
of Christ. What if I said, “I like you, I just can’t stand your wife.”?
Jesus would be offended and I would, too.
The more mature you grow in your faith, the more you’re going to
love the church, treasure the church and sacrifice for the church.
Jesus gave His life for the church. That’s how important it is. He
died for the church. The Bible says He died for the church. The
more you become like Christ, the more you’re going to love the
church. Whenever I find somebody who doesn’t understand the
importance of the church, I know they’re an immature believer.
They’ll say, “I like people in the abstract, just not in the concrete.”
“To dwell above with those we love, oh, that will be a glory. But to
dwell below with those we know, well, that’s another story!”
If you don’t like fellowshipping with Christians on earth, then you’re
not going to like heaven. Because Christians are the only people
who will be there!
The church is the bride of Christ. I’ve discovered that some people
today want to casually date the bride of Christ. Or they want to live
together without commitment. Or they want to practice serial
marriage. Or they want to practice wife swapping every week.
We’re talking about serious stuff here. This is the bride of Christ.
And Jesus died for the bride of Christ.
In God’s family, you have some family responsibilities. In the Bible,

they’re called the “one another’s.” Fifty-eight times in the New
Testament the phrase “one another” is used. Love one another,
care for one another, pray for one another, help one another,
encourage one another, support one another, greet one another –
on and on. If you’re not tied into a local body, where are you going
to do that? Where are you going to do the 58 “one another’s”? If
you ever find the perfect church, don’t join it because once you join
it, it won’t be perfect any more.
The bible says this in Colossians 3:15
47 “Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you

were chosen to live together in peace...””
Colossians 3:15 (CEV)
Circle the phrase “live together”. That’s the second purpose of your
life – experiencing life together with other children of the family of
God is called fellowship.
48 EXPERIENCING LIFE TOGETHER IS CALLED FELLOWSHIP

It’s the second purpose of your life. Worship is the first purpose
and fellowship is the second purpose of your life.
The word “fellowship” is like the word “worship”. It’s often

misunderstood. It’s often misused. Today the word “fellowship” is
often reduced to cookies and coffee in the Fellowship Hall which is
the worst place in the church. Utilitarian chairs and bare walls –
everything to kill fellowship. Today, when we say, “Stay around for
fellowship,” we either mean a social get-together (pot luck) or
casual conversation.
Or, you ask people, “Where do you fellowship?” What that means
is, “Where do you attend?” Most Christians have never
experienced genuine, biblical, New Testament, intimate, deep
fellowship. Fellowship is life together. Real fellowship is being as
committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ. Most people
know John 3:16, but most Christians don’t know 1 John 3:16, which
says,
49 “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

1 John 3:16b (NIV)
That’s the kind of commitment. Koinonia - real fellowship is being

as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.
49a “Dear friends, let us love one another….”

1 John 4:7 (NIV)
There are several biblical marks of real fellowship; briefly, let me

describe three.
50 THREE BIBLICAL MARKS OF REAL FELLOWSHIP ARE:
50a 1. 1. AUTHENTICITY
The first is Authenticity. Fellowship happens – real fellowship,

genuine fellowship happens when people stop pretending. When
they drop their masks, when they get real and they get honest with
each other. Not phony, fake, superficial, shallow chit-chat. That’s
not fellowship. Fellowship is sharing life together. Authentically.
Dropping our masks and getting real.
Read 1 John 1: 7-8 with me

“But if we live in the light , as God is in the light, we can

51 share fellowship with each other… If we say we have no
sin we are only fooling ourselves…” 1 John 1:7-8 (NCV)
Notice the connection to the confession of sin and fellowship. It

says “if we live in the light”. The world thinks intimacy happens in
the dark. God says real intimacy happens in the light. It’s the exact
opposite of what the world believes. We use the darkness to cover
our hurts, to cover our faults, to cover our fears, to cover our
failures, to cover our flaws. That’s what we use the dark for. We
don’t want people to see our warts. But you shine the light on and
all of a sudden we bring it out into the open and we admit who we
really are. And that is real fellowship.
Of course that’s quite a risk. If I really tell you why I am afraid to tell
you who I am, it’s because, if I tell you who I am and you don’t like
me, I’m “up a creek without a paddle”. Because I’m all I’ve got!
Real fellowship means facing our fears. Yet our fear of exposure,
our fear of rejection, our fear of being hurt by other people holds us
back from risking. Why would anybody take such a risk? Because
it is the only way to grow as a Christian. You only grow through
exposure, honesty and authenticity.
52
The second mark of biblical fellowship is:
52a 2 . MERCY
The second mark is Mercy. Mercy is a biblical mark of fellowship

because you can’t have fellowship without forgiveness. The reason
is because we’re all sinners. We hurt each other. In life,
sometimes you’ll be hurt intentionally and sometimes you’ll be hurt
unintentionally. It really doesn’t matter. You still have to offer and
accept forgiveness. The Bible says
“You must make allowances for each other’s faults and

53 forgive the person who offends you. Remember the
Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
Colossians 3:13 (NLT)
Have you noticed that in every church God puts some “heavenly
sandpaper people”? They are (known as) EGRs—“Extra Grace
Required”. If you don’t instantly think of them right now, guess
what? You’re IT! If they didn’t instantly come to mind, you’re IT!
We need these people in the body of Christ. It’s the only way we
grow. It’s easy to love lovely people. If God’s going to teach you
real love, He’ll put you around some unlovely people.

Every time you get hurt, you’ve got a choice to make. Am I going to
use my energy for retaliation or resolution? And you can’t use it on
both.
54
The third mark of biblical fellowship is:
54a 3. UNITY
The third biblical mark of real fellowship is unity. God loves unity.
God cherishes unity. He loves it when His family gets along, when
there’s harmony.
55
“How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to
live together in harmony.” Psalm 133:1 (TEV)
Ten times in the first five chapters of the book of Acts, the word
“one” is used – they were in one accord, they were all in one place,
they were all together, they were of one heart. We will have the
power of Acts when we have the unity of Acts. Unity – God loves it.
Over and over in the Bible we are commanded to have unity.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:3
56 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through

the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)
Teaching Tip
The next paragraph talks about the ways to protect the unity of
your church. You can review these methods in Chapter 21 of
“The Purpose Driven Life”. If people have questions, you can
refer them to that chapter.
If you are a believer, it is your responsibility to preserve the unity of

your church as it says in 1 Corinthians 1:10
“Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions

57
in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united
in thought and purpose.” 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)
You are an agent of unity in your church. God holds you

responsible to protect your church. There are many ways to protect
your church, and every Christian needs to know how to protect your
church. You are held accountable by God to protect the unity of
your church, if you are a Christian.
There are many ways to protect that unity. Let me mention one.
Focus on what we share in common, not our differences.
58 Focus on what we share in common, not our differences.
Look at the next verse.
58a
“So let us concentrate on the things which make for
harmony, and on the growth of one another’s character”
Romans 14:19 (Ph)
We don’t focus on our differences. We focus on the things we have

together.
The local church lab – and it is a lab – is a lab for learning to love.
Why does God want us to fellowship on earth? Because the rest of
your life in eternity, you’re going to be fellowshipping with other
believers. So here He’s giving you time to practice. The church is
the laboratory here on earth to practice learning to love. Why?
Because God is love and God wants you to learn to love. So He
puts you in a church with some unlovely people, so you can learn to
love and so you can be prepared for eternity. We’re to practice it
here on earth.
I want you to rate yourself on this Second Purpose of your life.

Fellowship – authenticity, mercy, unity. How would you rate
yourself? Need work? Well developed? Somewhere in between?
Rate yourself on real fellowship:

59
The Bible says
60
“…And since we’re all one body in Christ, we belong to
each other, and each of us needs all the others.”
Romans 12:5 (NLT)
Circle the phrase “needs all the others”.
One of the most important truths that we all have to learn in life is
that we all need each other.

Purpose #3-You Were Created to Become Like Christ
61 PURPOSE #3:
61a YOU WERE CREATED TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST.
The Bible says in Romans 8:29
“From the very beginning God decided that those who

62 came to him--and all along he knew who would--should
become like his Son, (circle this) so that his Son would
be the First, with many brothers.” Romans 8:29 (LB)
From the very beginning, God decided you would become like His
Son. You were created to become like Christ. The Bible says
63
“We look at this Son, and see God’s original purpose in
everything created.” Colossians 1:15 (MSG)
From the very beginning. This is not God’s Plan B. God’s plan has
always been to make people like himself. God announced it at
creation. He didn’t just think it up halfway after He created the
world. It’s been His plan from the beginning. Remember at
creation in Genesis 1:26
64 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our

likeness...’ ” Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
From the very beginning of time, God has wanted to make us in His
image.
Let me be very clear about this: God wants you to become godly,
not a god. You will never, ever become a god. That’s Satan’s lie.
There are whole cults built on that one. You’re never going to
become a god. God is God, and you’re not. But God does want
you to become godly, take on His moral character, and He wants
you to become like His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now God is far more interested in what you are than in what you
do, because you’re not going to take your career into heaven. You
are going to take your character. So God doesn’t care about your
career. You could have 100 different careers, and these would all
be in the will of God. What He’s much more interested in is what
you become within that career. He’s much more interested in your
character than He is anything else. The Bible says in Philippians
2:5 that Jesus prayed,

65 “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 2:5 (NCV)
So, if I’m to think and act like Jesus Christ, become like Jesus
Christ, what is Jesus Christ like?
What is Jesus Christ like? I think the best picture of Jesus Christ in
the Bible is Galatians 5:22-23
66 What is Jesus Christ like? THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

67 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-
control…” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
Jesus is total love, total joy, total peace, total patience—all those
things wrapped up in one—are what Christ is all about.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18
“…And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we

68 become more and more like him and reflect his glory even
more.” 2 Corinthians 3:18b (NLT)
Now, what does that mean? It means that Christlikeness is

produced by letting Jesus Christ live through you. Listen: it’s NOT
a matter of imitation; it’s a matter of inhabitation. It’s NOT about
trying to be like Jesus, it’s letting Him be Himself, through you.
Nobody can be Jesus like Jesus can. And so, God wants to make
me like His Son, and as His spirit lives through me, and manifests
the different fruit of the Spirit.
So then the question becomes: if He does it this way, how does

the Holy Spirit make us like Jesus? Well, He does it three ways
(write these down):
69
THE HOLY SPIRIT USES THREE THINGS TO DEVELOP
CHRISTLIKE CHARACTER
69a 1. The Holy Spirit uses TRUTH to produce Christlike character

within us.
It takes truth to transform us. Let’s read these next three verses
aloud together in Acts 20:32 and the ones following:
70 “…our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make

you into what he wants us to be…” Acts 20:32 (MSG)
71 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

John 17:17 (NIV)
72
“Through the Word we are put together and shaped up
for the tasks God has for us.” 2 Timothy 3:17 (MSG)
When Jesus prayed: “Sanctify them by the truth….” He used the

word “sanctify” which simply means to make me like Jesus. God’s
goal has never changed from the beginning. He wants to make us
into His image, and it started way back in creation, creating man in
His image. Only man blew it—we sinned, we fell, our image was
damaged. And so, Christ has come to redeem us, to restore that
image. And from the very beginning of time, that’s been God’s
plan. And the first way God builds us is to transform us into
Christlikeness with the truth. The more I look at the word of God,
read, hear, study, memorize, meditate the word of God--that’s a
whole other seminar—the five ways to get into God’s word—of
receiving it through your ears, of reading it with your eyes,
researching it with your hands, remembering it with your mind, and
then reflecting on it in your meditation--the more you fill your mind
with the word of God, the more you’re going to become like Jesus
Christ.
73 2. The Holy Spirit uses PEOPLE to produce Christlike

character.
Now the second way that God makes us like Jesus Christ is, he
uses people to make us Christlike, to produce Christlike character.
There are many, many passages of scripture in the Bible about this.
So many times we pray for miracles in our lives, but most of the
time, God chooses to use people to change us. Sometimes those
people are a little irritating, but God wants to “sand off” the rough
edges in our lives. And God uses people to make us more like
Jesus. But the one I really want to focus on in this session is:
74
3. The Holy Spirit uses CIRCUMSTANCES to produce
Christlike character.
He uses truth, he uses people and he uses circumstances. The

Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:17
75
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)

Now, we often ask the question, “Why is this happening to me?”

The answer’s real simple: it’s to make you like Jesus. If God is
going to make you like Jesus Christ, then He’s going to take you
through every circumstance that Jesus went through.
Were there times when Jesus was lonely? Yes.
Were there times when Jesus was tired? Yes.
Were there times when Jesus was tempted? Yes.
Were there times when Jesus was tempted to be discouraged?

Yes.
If God allowed Jesus Christ to feel all those things, the Bible says,
Jesus learned obedience through suffering and the Bible tells us
Jesus was made perfect through suffering. Both those verses are in
the book of Hebrews. Why would God use anything else in your
life? Why would He exempt you from what He did not exempt His
own Son? So God is going to take you through some tough times.
Now God uses these three ways—the truth, people, and

circumstances—and I’m convinced that He uses the third way more
than the previous two, especially the Word. Why? Because even if
you read the word, studied the Bible three hours a day, that still
leaves 21 hours of your life unaccounted for. On the other hand,
how many hours a day do you have circumstances? Constantly.
So God uses circumstances more than the word to mold us, to
fashion us, and to make us. The Bible uses all kinds of words to
describe this, - like trials, and temptations, and difficulties.
The question is: How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in our
lives? Do I just walk down the street one day and ZAP! I’m filled
with love? I’m just walking down the street and BAM! I’m just filled
with joy! No. Let me give you the key. This is one of the most
important spiritual truths you’ll ever learn: God produces the fruit of
the spirit in your life by allowing you the exact opposite experience,
in order to provide the opportunity for Christlike character to be
developed.
Key: God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing
76 you to experience circumstances where you’re tempted to
express the exact OPPOSITE QUALITY!
For instance, as I’ve said earlier, If God wants to teach you about
love, it’s easy to love you. You’re lovely. So he’s going to put you
around un-lovely people, to teach you ABOUT real love.

How about joy? There’s a difference between joy and happiness.

Joy is internal, happiness is external and relies upon external
happenings for happiness. For example, I go to Disneyland and I’m
happy; I come home and I’m sad, because I realize how much I
spent at Disneyland. Joy is constant. God teaches you joy in the
middle of sorrow. Real joy, inner joy.
How about peace? Where do you learn peace? Sitting out by a

beautiful stream fishing, and drinking a Dr. Pepper, saying, “It
doesn’t get any better than THIS!” Well, anybody can be at peace
in the Rocky Mountains. Where God will teach you real peace is in
the middle of chaos: the phone rings, the doorbell rings, the dog
starts barking, the beans are boiling over, the kids are having a
fight, and that’s where you learn inner peace—in the middle of
chaos.
Where do you learn patience? By having everything go your way?

No! You learn patience in traffic jams, in doctors’ offices, in waiting
in line for your driver’s license. I remember one time, I was praying
for patience in my life, as there were so many trials going on, and I
said, “God, give me patience”, and instead of the trials getting
better, they got worse. So I said, “God, give me patience…” and
things got much worse. Then I begged, “God, really give me
patience!” And things got worse. After six months, I realized that I
was a LOT more patient than when I started out.
God produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you in a
situation where you have a choice to do the opposite. You cannot
say you’re faithful, if you’ve never been tempted to be unfaithful.
You cannot say you are good if you’ve never been tempted to be
bad. You cannot say you’ve got self-control, if you’ve never been
tempted by your weakness like in an ice-cream parlor! God will
allow you (to be) in the exact opposite situation to make you like
Christ. Now, once you understand this, life makes a whole lot more
sense. You stop asking, “Why is this happening to me?” It’s for
your character development! It’s the only way you’re going to learn.
You don’t learn character through comfortable situations. And
there is no situation in life you cannot learn from, if you’ll just
respond with the right attitude.
What am I saying? God has a purpose behind every problem.

There’s ALWAYS a purpose behind every problem. The Bible says
this in Romans 8: 28-29. We all know verse 28, but verse 28
doesn’t make sense without 29.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together

77 for the good of those who love God and are called
according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 (NLT)
This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. First, it

doesn’t say all things are good. They’re not! There’s a lot of bad
in the world. It does say, “We know” NOT, (or) “We guess” that
God causes—there is a divine encounter here. “Everything”-- not
just some things, to work together FOR good. They’re not ALL
good, but they all work together for good. When you bake a cake,
you take flour, shortening, raw egg, some sugar—eat any of those
individually, each ingredient is pretty tasteless—but, put together,
they make something good—it’s called a doughnut! Now,
individually, I don’t want to eat lard, I don’t want to eat raw sugar, I
don’t want to eat flour, —all things are not tasty alone, but all things
work together for good. Why? Verse 28 doesn’t make sense until
you read Verse 29,
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them

77a
to become like his Son...” Romans 8:29 (NLT)
The reason all things work together for good is that they are there
to make us like Jesus, which is the Third Purpose for my life. God
is using circumstances to make me like Christ.
Now, this process of becoming like Christ is called “discipleship”.

78 The process of becoming like Christ is called: DISCIPLESHIP
Discipleship. And that is the Third Purpose of your life. Worship,

Fellowship, Discipleship: planned for God’s pleasure, formed for
God’s family, created to be like Christ. And, the more you become
like Christ, the more you become a disciple. And that process that
God uses of truth, and trouble and temptation and trials, and people
and circumstances is called the process of discipleship.
Now, you need to understand that in this process, there are four
kinds of problems, which I will quickly explain.
79
THERE ARE FOUR KINDS OF PROBLEMS THAT WE HAVE IN
LIFE and most times we get these mixed up.
First, there are trials or situations designed by God to draw us

closer to Him and to build our character.

79a 1. Trials are situations designed BY GOD to draw us closer to

Him and to build our character.
Each trial is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult

it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral
fiber. The Bible often compares trials to a metal refiner’s fire that
burns away the impurities.
Paul said,
80 “We know that these troubles produce patience. And

patience produces character.” Romans 5:3-4 (NCV)
Peter said,
81 “These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure.

This purity of faith is worth more than gold…”
1 Peter 1:7a (NCV)
Second, temptations are situations designed by the devil to draw us

away from God, and to destroy our character. The Bible makes it
very clear that God definitely tries us, but He never tempts us.
The Bible does say in James 1:13
“And remember, no one who wants to do wrong should

82 ever say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to
do wrong and he never tempts anyone else.”
James 1:13 (NLT)
And, we are to pray, “Lead us not into temptation…” So God does

test us and try us, but He never tempts us. The devil tempts us to
draw us away from God and destroy our character.
83 2. Temptations are situations designed BY THE DEVIL to draw

us away from God, and to destroy our character.
Third, trespasses are hurts that are caused by the sins of others.
When you’re hurt by another person, that’s not a temptation, it’s not
a trial. That’s a trespass.
84 3. Trespasses are hurts that are caused by the SINS OF

OTHERS.

And that’s why the Bible says that we are to pray;

84a
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us…” Matthew 6:12 paraphrase
These are problems caused by other people.
And the fourth are troubles. And troubles are usually, but not
always, the consequences of our own sinful choices.
85 4. Troubles are usually, but not always, THE CONSEQUENCES

of our own sinful choices.
And David says, “I brought this trouble on myself.” Most of the time
when we’re worried about the devil, the devil doesn’t have to bother
with us—we’re bringing on the trouble ourselves. The devil’s
probably saying, “Man I haven’t thought of you in 30 years! Why
should I worry about you?! You’re a ‘basket-case’! You caused
yourself enough problems. The world and the flesh can take care
of you.” You say, “Oh, it’s the devil!” Well, maybe not. It just may
be other people trespassing against you.
Now, here’s the problem. We often get these confused, and

sometimes when the devil hassles us, we blame God. You ask,
“God, why are you doing this?” And sometimes, it’s God allowing
something, and we blame the devil, or we blame other people, and
we get it all confused.
86 Now, each of these problems requires a different response.

For instance,
86a
If it’s a trial from God, then I need to relax in it. I just need to
REST and trust God - let go, and let God.
I just need to rest, let go and let God.
86b If it’s a temptation from Satan, the Bible says you need to
RESIST it.
If it’s from the devil, I am to resist it.
87 If it’s a trespass from somebody else, you need to RELEASE it,

through forgiveness—I need to let it go.

87a If the trouble is your own fault, the Bible says, you need to
REPENT of it.
If I get a heart attack because I’m overweight, I shouldn’t blame

God or the devil; I just need to repent of it.
If I cause the problem - if it’s me, I need to repent of it.
Jonah got into a storm because it was his own fault; he was out of
the will of God. Paul, on the other hand, got into a storm because
he was IN the will of God. Actually, the disciples were in the will of
God - they went out in the middle of a storm in a boat. Paul got into
a storm because there were other people who were out of the will
of God. So, storms can be caused by other people, or caused by
yourself, or by could be caused by God. You need to understand
the differences.
Regardless of all these, you need to understand -
88 There are no shortcuts to maturity. It takes time.
Let’s read this verse together in Ephesians 4:13
89 “We arrive at real maturity, that measure of development

which is meant by the fullness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:13 (Ph)
There’s no such thing as “instant” maturity. There’s instant

breakfast, instant oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, but no instant
maturity. Circle the word “arrive”. Maturity is something you arrive
at. And that journey is going to take a lifetime. It isn’t going to
happen overnight.
In the sessions we’ve looked at so far, we’ve seen this journey

involves believing - that’s worship; it involves belonging - that’s
fellowship; and it involves becoming - that’s discipleship.
Everyday, God wants you to become more and more like Jesus
Christ. Notice 2 Corinthians 3:18, I love the version written in The
Message,
“…our lives gradually (circle the word “gradually”)

90 become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our
lives and we become like him.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 (MSG)
Although God could transform us instantly, He has chosen to do it

slowly. One of the important lessons to learn in life is that God is
never in a hurry. Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn’t?
That is one of the most frustrating places to be in life.
God is looking at it in light of eternity, and He’s got an entire lifetime

to make you into what He wants you to be. Someone said when
God wants to make a mushroom, He takes 6 hours, but when He
wants to make an oak tree, He takes 60 years. Do you want to be
a mushroom or an oak tree?
91 ANYTHING THAT’S OF VALUE TAKES TIME!
I can tell you how to mature in Christ, but I cannot tell you how to
do it quickly. It’ll take you the rest of your life.
91a NOW, WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?
—this becoming like Christ? Well, one reason is, we’re slow
learners! Another reason that the process is so is that we have to
“unlearn” a lot of stuff— stuff we did in the past that was wrong.
91b
One of the reasons it takes so long is because we are afraid to
HUMBLE ourselves and FACE the truth.
Sometimes it takes years for people to come to the truth about

themselves. When you became a Christian, you gave your life to
Christ as much as you knew how. But, there were whole areas of
your life you didn’t know about. So you gave as much as you knew
how to, and for the rest of your life, God keeps saying, “Now what
about this area?” Oh, I didn’t even know that area needed to be
given. Yes, it does. And that growth area is often painful, it’s often
scary, and so it takes time.
The other reason that Christlike character takes a long time to

develop is that:
92 CHARACTER IS BASICALLY BUILT UPON HABITS.
You cannot become like Christ without having Christlike habits.

Habits are what form your character. For instance, I can’t say I’m
faithful unless I’m habitually faithful. I can’t say I’m honest unless
it’s my habit to be honest all the time. If I were to say to my wife,
“Honey, I’ll be faithful to you 29 days a month”, that’s not
faithfulness—it’s unfaithfulness. Your character is the sum total of
your habits, and habits take time to develop. There’s no such thing
as instant habits. You have to develop these habits over time.

Now, I want you to rate yourself in this area of Christlike

discipleship. How much like Jesus am I, in the fruit of the Spirit? Is
this an area of my character that needs work? Is it well-developed?
Go ahead and rate yourself on a scale from 1-5.
Rate yourself on real discipleship:

93
If you didn’t rate yourself very high on this one, and you are
thinking, “I’m not too much like Jesus”, don’t be discouraged.
You’re not what you’re supposed to be, what you’re going to be.
But, you’re not what you used to be either. Thank God, you’re not
the same anymore. You’re different and you need to stop
periodically and think about how your life has changed.
And, you ought to treat other people the same way. Those people
in your church - not as far along as you - don’t look at how far
they’ve got to go—look how far they’ve come. Some of them have
had horrible backgrounds, so look at how far they’ve come! This is
why I absolutely love watching baptisms, and can’t watch them
without crying. We’ve baptized about 15,000 in the last ten years,
and every time I watch, it reminds me of God’s power to change
lives, and it reminds me of God’s power in my life, how He has
changed me. If you ever get cynical about the Christian life, or
apathetic about ministry, just go watch a baptism, and remind
yourself that God is in the life changing business. Look at this next
verse:
“When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a

94 brand new person inside. He is not the same any more.
A new life has begun.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (LB)

Purpose #4-You Were Shaped for Serving God
95
PURPOSE #4:
95a You were shaped FOR SERVING GOD.
The Bible tells us this principle very clearly in many passages,

including Ephesians 2:10
“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God

96
made us to do good works…”
Circle the words “good works”.
96a
“… which God planned in advance for us to live our
lives doing.” Ephesians 2:10 (NCV)
Before you were even born, God planned the way that He wanted
you to serve Him: your ministry, your service. He planned it in
advance and He SHAPED’d you for that service.
Today, there are a lot of popular books that explain how to get the
most out of life. But, that’s not why God put you on earth. God did
not put you on earth to get the most out of life. He put you on this
earth to add to life, not to take from it. He made you to be a
contributor, not a consumer. He did not put you on earth just to
take up space, breathe, use resources, retire, and die. He made
you to make a difference on this planet, to be a contributor, not just
a consumer. You were put here to serve God by serving others.
And this is the Fourth Purpose of your life.
Teaching Tips
In the following paragraph, Rick refers to the scriptures about

how we were shaped and the purpose of our creation. This is a
great place to make a reference to “The Purpose Driven Life”.
The points following are in chapter 29 and the scripture
references to support that we were created, saved and called to
serve are:
Ephesians 2:10b TEV; Colossians 3:23-24; Matthew 25: 34-45,
Ephesians 6:7; Jeremiah 1:5 NCV; 2 Timothy 1:9 LB; 1
Corinthians 6:20 CEV; Romans 12:1 TEV; 1 John 3:14 CEV:
Matthew 8:15 NCV; Ephesians 4:4-14: Romans 1:6-7: Romans
8:28-30; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Corinthians 9:26; 1 Corinthians
7:17; Philippians 3:4; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 1:9
TEV; 1 Peter 2:9 GW; Romans 7:4 TEV; 1 Corinthians 12:27

As you go through the New Testament, the Bible says very clearly
that we were created to serve, we are saved to serve, we are
called to serve, we are gifted to serve, we are commanded to
serve, we are commissioned to serve, and, we are shaped to
serve. The Bible says in Isaiah 43
97 “The people I have shaped for myself will broadcast my

praises.” Isaiah 43: 21 (NJB)
What does it mean to be SHAPED’d by God? God formed every

single creature on this planet with a unique role in mind. And so,
every creature has a special area of expertise. Some animals run,
some animals fly, some animals burrow, some animals swim, some
hop. They all have a specific role to play in life, based on what they
were shaped to do.
Teaching Tip
In the following paragraph, there is an opportunity for a bit of

humor. If you have not taught in this region before check with a
local pastor so that you can make the humor appropriate for the
culture.
And the same is true for us. God has shaped each of us
individually. Notice this next verse: “God has given each of you
some special abilities. Be sure to use them to make a lot of money
and retire…..” (Pause) Oh, that’s not what it says!… Let me try it
again:
Teaching Tip
After giving the conference participants a moment of levity, you

should pause again, making a noticeable change in your tone,
reading the following scripture in a strong voice.
“God has given each of you some special abilities; be

98 sure to use them to help each other, passing on to
others God’s many kinds of blessings.”
1 Peter 4:10 (LB)

Teaching Tip
If you are teaching this PDL seminar separate from a full

conference (where you would do a more in-depth teaching on
SHAPE), you may need to take some additional time to talk
about SHAPE here.
Begin with the definition of each of the words in the acrostic.

Next, describe how God uses all kinds of experiences,
especially our painful experiences, in our growth. Remind
the participants that God never wastes a hurt and that it is
often our greatest hurts that become the foundation for our
greatest ministries. We have attached an addendum at the
end of these teaching notes that describes SHAPE in greater
detail. If the leadership in the region of this seminar realizes
that their members are not serving, then you can teach
through this material as an add-on to the seminar. This
additional teaching would take about 1 hour, when done
without interpretation. Keep in mind that language
interpretation doubles the presentation time. There is also a
sermon series by Rick Warren titled, “SHAPED for
Significance”, www.pastors.com, that you can refer to or you
can direct the leadership to use as sermons or for the further
development and service of the leadership and church
members.
The shape that you have been given is not for your benefit. The
shape that you have been given is for the benefit of others, to help
other people. The gifts that I have been given are for your benefit,
not my own, and vice versa.
In Psalm 139 the Bible says
99
“You shaped me, first inside, then out, you formed me in
my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 (MSG)
Teaching Tip
The scriptures following the components of SHAPE below will

allow for further study about our God-given gifts and talents.

Now, those of you who have been through the Purpose Driven
Church Conference, or have read the book , “The Purpose Driven
Life”, or have been through Class 301, you know that there are five
things that God uses to shape you. God has used:
S PIRITUAL GIFTS (1 Corinthians 12: Romans 8; Ephesians 4)

H EART (Matthew 12:34; Proverbs 4:23; Psalm 37:4)
100 A BILITIES (Exodus 31:3: 1 Corinthians 12:5)
P ERSONALITY (1 Corinthians 2:11)
E XPERIENCES (Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 1)
101
THESE 5 GIFTS DETERMINE WHAT IS TO BE YOUR AREA OF
SERVICE OR MINISTRY.
SHAPE. These five things wired you or shaped you, and they
determine what is to be your area of service, what is to be your
ministry.
101a GOD WANTS YOU TO:
101b ACCEPT your SHAPE.
He wants you to:
101c ENJOY your SHAPE.
He wants you to:
101d DEVELOP your SHAPE because it’s unique.
102 GOD DOESN’T WANT YOU COMPARING YOURSELF TO

ANYBODY ELSE!
And, He doesn’t want you wishing you were somebody else, or had
their heart or personality or experiences.
In Romans 9, the Bible says
“What right do you have, a human being, to cross-

103 examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter,
‘Why did you make me this shape?’ Surely, a potter can
do what he likes with the clay.” Romans 9:20-21(JB)

Now, using my SHAPE to serve others is called “ministry”.
104 Using my SHAPE to serve others is called MINISTRY
And that is the Fourth Purpose of your life, and again, like worship
and fellowship, we have another word that is often misunderstood
and abused. Because a lot of people today think that ministry is
just for pastors or missionaries or paid professionals. But the Bible
says every member, EVERY MEMBER, is a minister. Need
scripture?
104a THE BIBLE SAYS THAT EVERY MEMBER IS A MINISTER.
What is ministry? Ministry is, loving your neighbor as yourself.

Anytime you use your gifts, your abilities, your talents, your heart,
your personality, your experiences, your SHAPE to help somebody
else, you are ministering to them.
Although your SHAPE is important—and it is—it helps determine

what your ministry is—and even more important than that, is
developing a servant’s heart.
Notice what Jesus said. Read with me in Matthew 20
105
“Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah,
did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my
life...” Matthew 20:28 (LB)
Circle the words “serve” and “give”. Those two words serve and
give, summarize the Christian life. The Christian life is all about
serving and giving. Somebody told a pastor, “That’s all you talk
about is: give, give, give!” Well, that’s the best definition of a
Christian I know:
106 “…For God so loved the world that he gave…”

John 3:16 (NIV)
Teaching Tip
This is a good place to emphasize the repetition that occurs in

the scriptures. The more important a point is, the more often it
is repeated. God really wants us to GET IT!

Now, Jesus said,
107 “Whoever wants to be great, must be a servant.”

Matthew 20:26 (NIV)
Teaching Tip
The characteristic of humble servanthood is a keystone in the

life of a follower of Christ, and is repeated many times
throughout the Bible. References to the humility of servanthood
are also found in Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35; Mark 10:44.
The world defines greatness in terms of power, and possession,

and prestige, and position. But Jesus measured greatness in terms
of service, not status. And it’s not how many people serve you,
it’s how many people you serve that determines your greatness.
Now, let me say it like this, and you want to write this down: my
SHAPE reveals my ministry--my Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities,
Personality, and Experiences reveal my ministry, but my servant’s
heart reveals my maturity.
108 My SHAPE reveals MY MINISTRY—but my servant’s heart

reveals MY MATURITY.
Without your servant’s heart, your SHAPE will be used in a carnal

way. For instance, if someone falls into a ditch, and you say, “Well,
that’s not my SHAPE—I don’t have the gift of mercy”, OR, “I’m not
SHAPE’d to pick up trash.” Well, who is? It’s just something we all
do, in servant-heartedness, to be like Jesus Christ. Have you
noticed—maybe this is not true in your church—but, have you
noticed that sometimes people serve God for the wrong reason? Is
that ever vaguely familiar in your church? Did you know that it is
possible to serve in a church your entire life, and NEVER be a
servant? It is possible to serve in a ministry your entire life and
never have a servant’s heart. Because you’re doing it for the
applause of other people or the approval of other people, or it’s a
power play. There are numerous wrong motivations for serving
God. So, it’s important that when we come to this Fourth Purpose
of our lives, that we do it for the right reasons.

Teaching Tip
Rick discusses only three of the six characteristics of a real

servant in this seminar. You can expand on these if time
permits or you can suggest a further study. The six
characteristics can be found in The Purpose Driven Life,
chapter 33. Below is the list with scripture references:
Real servants:
1. Make themselves available to serve.
2 Timothy 2:4 (NASB)
2. Pay attention to needs. Galatians 6:10 (GW)
3. Do their best with what they have.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)
4. Do every task with equal dedication. Colossians 3:23
5. Are faithful to their ministry. Matthew 25:23 (NLT)
6. Maintain a low profile. Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
Now, in the New Testament, (2 Timothy 2:4 (NASB), Galatians 6:10

(GW), Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT), Colossians 3:23, Matthew 25:23
(NLT), Galatians 1:10 (NIV)), there are six characteristics of a
real servant. Let’s talk about three of them.
The first is.
109 1. Real servants do every task with EQUAL DEDICATION.
That’s the first sign of a real servant—they do every task with equal
dedication. The Bible says
“Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as

110
working for the Lord, not for men,”
Colossians 3:23 (NIV)
So, the size of a task is irrelevant to a servant. The only issue to be

considered is: “Does it need to be done?” A servant looks around
the church and asks, “What needs to be done? What needs to be
done? I’ll do it, doesn’t matter if it’s big or little, it needs to be done,
I’ll get it done.”
You’re never going to arrive at the state in life where you are too
important for mundane tasks. You will never arrive at the state in

life where you are too important for menial jobs. It’s part of your
character development.
In Galatians 6:3, the Bible says
“If you think you are too important to help someone in

111 need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a
nobody.” Galatians 6:3 (NLT)
I like that translation.
Real servants do every task with equal dedication. Big task, little
task, known task, unknown task—hidden or upfront—they do it all
with equal joy and equal energy.
Second:
112 2. Real servants maintain a LOW PROFILE.
They don’t call attention to themselves. Self-promotion and

servant-hood don’t mix. Did you know that in America, there are
over 750 different halls of fame? That’s more than the rest of the
world put together! And there are over 450 “Who’s Who”
publications. But you will rarely find real servants in that
publication. Why? They’re just not concerned with service. If the
real servants get in there, it’s usually by accident. In other words,
servants may get notoriety, but they certainly didn’t go after it. It
just happened. Why? Because they realize fame doesn’t last.
You see, real servants don’t serve for the applause and approval of
others. They live for an audience of One. JESUS.
113 Real servants serve for an audience of “ONE”. JESUS!
They keep a low profile. Paul said,
113a “…If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a

servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10b (NIV)
Did you hear that? You’ve got to decide who you’re going to serve.
Are you going to serve for denominational rewards, or are you
going to serve for Christ? Are you going to serve for glory in your
local congregation, or are you going to serve for Christ?

Teaching Tip
Rick uses one of his physical features to illustrate the point

between prominence and significance. You can personalize
this point.
Never confuse the difference between prominence and

significance. Prominence and significance are not the same. On
my body, my nose is a very prominent feature. It is certainly not
significant. I could lose my nose and live the rest of my life. But
there are some things on my body that are not prominent at all, and
that, if I lost them, I would die—I would die. They are significant,
but they are not prominent. Just because someone is well-known,
that doesn’t make them significant –there is a big, big difference.
When we get to heaven, God’s going to reward the most invisible
and unknown servants—people you and I have never heard of, who
cleaned wash basins for the elderly, and changed diapers, and
nursed AIDS patients, and did a thousand other things that none of
us have ever known about.
In Acts 20:19, the Bible says
114
“I served the Lord with great humility and with tears,
although I was severely tested…” Acts 20:19 (NIV)
Some of you might need to memorize that verse. Listen: if God

knows what you’re doing, fame is irrelevant. It is irrelevant. Some
of you are saying, “Wait a minute! Why did God put all these great
gifts in me, and put me in this two-bunk town?” Or, “Why did God
put me here, in the middle of nowhere?” Listen: God’s got your
number. He’s got every hair in your head numbered. He has your
phone number, and if He wants to move you, He can move you.
But, you’d better stay put until He chooses to move you.
Teaching Tips
Rick uses this opportunity to recognize the seminar volunteers

that are serving and to allow the seminar participants to show
their appreciation by applause. You may want to pause here to
recognize the volunteers helping with this seminar where you
are teaching. This reinforces the need for all of us to become
more aware and appreciative of those who serve silently.

When you’re “put”, you’d better stay put, until God says, “Okay, I’m
going to move you somewhere else.” This week, you’re going to be
served by many volunteers, none of whom are being paid. They do
it because they have a servant’s heart. In fact, I see some of them
here. If you’re here serving, would you raise your hand? Now, let’s
just appreciate them—I see some of them at the back. God bless
you guys. Thank you, thank you.
Here’s the third important characteristic of a real servant:
115 3. Real servants don’t worry about WHAT OTHER

SERVANTS ARE DOING.
Real servants don’t worry about what other servants are doing.
They’re just too busy doing the work that God has given them. So,
they don’t have time to criticize, or compare, or compete with other
servants, or with other ministries.
One minute spent on comparison is a minute wasted. Look at

these verses in Galatians 5:26
“…we will not compare ourselves with each other as if

116 one were better and another worse. We have far more
interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an
original.” Galatians 5:26 (MSG)
In Romans 14:4 -I’d like to put this one in every Christian magazine:
“Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The

117 Lord will determine whether his servant has been
successful...” Romans 14:4 (GW)
118 Real servants don’t compare or compete with other servants!
You see, competition between God’s servants is illogical.
The Bible says,
“Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy
119 the personal satisfaction of having done your work well,
and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone
else.” Galatians 6:4 (NLT)
If you are a real servant, competition is illogical. It’s illogical for four
reasons:

120
COMPETITION BETWEEN GOD’S SERVANTS IS ILLOGICAL
BECAUSE:
• We’re all on the same team

120a
• Our goal is to make God look good, not us
• We’ve all been given different assignments
• We’re ALL uniquely SHAPE’d.
So there’s no place for petty jealousy in the ministry. There’s no

place for jealousy between servants. And it is not our job—it’s not
MY job to evaluate anyone else’s ministry, or to criticize a servant
of God in some other area.
So, rate yourself on a servant’s heart in ministry, on just these three

character qualities:
Equal dedication to every task

121 Maintaining a low profile
Not caring about what other servants are doing
Rate yourself on having a servant’s heart in ministry:

121a
Do you need to work on this one? Or is it well developed?
Now when you start to get discouraged in ministry and it will

happen, when you get discouraged in serving God, remember
these next three verses, which I will read to you:
Jesus said:
“…and if, as my representatives, you give even a cup of

122 cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.”
Matthew 10:42 (LB)
The Bible says,
“…He will not forget how hard you have worked for him,
123 and how you have shown your love to him by caring for
other Christians...” Hebrews 6:10 (NLT)

And the Bible also says,
“…Throw yourselves into the work of the Master,

124 confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time
or effort.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (MSG)
Remember those verses when you start to feel down about serving.
Now, maybe you’ve been feeling a little burned out in service lately
or burned out in ministry. What do you do? You do what Paul told
Timothy:
125 “…kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you...”

2 Timothy 1:6 (NASB)

Purpose #5 – You Were Made For A Mission
126
PURPOSE #5:
126a You were made FOR A MISSION.
The Fifth Purpose of your life is this: You were made for a mission.
You were made for a mission. And the Bible makes this very, very
clear, over and over again. God put you on earth for a mission. In
John 17, verse 18, Jesus said:
127
“In the same way that you gave me a mission in the
world, I give them a mission in the world.”
John 17:18 (MSG)
Would you circle the phrase “in the world”?
“…in the world…” -- Now this is very important. To have balance in

your Christian life, every Christian needs a ministry in the church
and a mission in the world.
128 To have balance in your life, every Christian needs:
128a A ministry in the CHURCH and a mission in the WORLD!
They are different. You need a ministry for believers and a mission
to unbelievers. You need both. You need a ministry to the body of
Christ, and you need a mission in the world.
Jesus said, “In the same way that you gave me a

129 mission in the world, I give them a mission in the
world.” John 17:18 (MSG)
And you need both, you need a ministry of service to the body of
Christ, to the family of God, to believers. And, you need a mission
to unbelievers in the world.
Jesus said:
130 “...As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

John 20:21 (NIV)
Now what is my mission? Well, it’s very, very clear: Let’s read this
one verse among many we could have used - 2 Corinthians 5:18 &
20:

Purpose #5-You Were Made for a Mission
“…through Christ, God made peace between us and

131 himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone
about the peace we can have with him. So we have
been sent to speak for Christ…”
2 Corinthians 5:18 & 20 (NCV)
So, “We have been sent to speak for Christ.” Now listen: If you
want God’s blessing on your life in a great way, you must care
about what God cares about most. And what does He care about
most? He wants His lost children found. Does God care about
lost people? I guess so. How much does God care about a lost
world?
Look at Jesus on the cross: He says, “This much (arms extended

wide). This much is how much I care about lost people. I’m willing
to let them put nails in my hands, and my life’s blood drain out of
me. That’s how much I care…” And, if you want God’s blessing on
your life, you must care about the things that God cares about
most, and God cares about lost people. It’s not just some casual
thing like, "Maybe if I can find time to do it, I’ll share my faith." No!
The dearest thing to the heart of God is the death of His Son, Jesus
Christ, and the second dearest thing to the heart of God is when
His children share that Good News with other people. It is our
mission.
Paul was passionate about this particular purpose. In Acts 20:24,

he says
“…The most important thing is that I complete my

132 mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me- to tell
people the Good News about God’s grace.”
Acts 20:24 (NCV)
Now, there’s a word for this. Fulfilling my mission is called

“evangelism.”
133 Fulfilling my mission is called EVANGELISM.
Here is another word that’s misunderstood. Almost every one of

these words has been abused, misused and watered down.
The Fifth Purpose of your life is to tell other people the Good News.
Now, why is my mission so important? Well, there are at least a
dozen reasons we could cover, but let me give you four reasons.

FULFILLING MY MISSION IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE:

134
1. It is COMMANDED BY JESUS.
It’s commanded by Jesus. He calls us not only to come to Him, but

also to go for Him. In fact, your mission is so important that Jesus
repeated it five times, in five different ways, in five different books of
the Bible. It’s as if He’s saying, “I really want you to get this.”
There’s not one Great Commission, there are five: one in Matthew
28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8.
Now, the Bible says this in Matthew:
“Go to the people of all nations and make them my

135
disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do
everything that I have told you.”
Matthew 28: 19-20 (CEV)
Now, this Great Commission is given to every believer. It’s not just
for pastors or missionaries, and by the way, it’s not the “Great
Suggestion”. Your mission is mandatory. It is not optional. Are
you aware that God holds you responsible for the unbelievers in
your life? He does. Look at this next verse:
“…you must warn them so that they may live. If you

136
don’t speak out and warn the wicked to stop their evil
ways, they will die in their sin. But, I will hold you
responsible for their death.” Ezekiel 3:18 (NCV)
We could end right there, on that one. But there’s more. The
second reason:
137 2. It is the GREATEST THING I CAN DO FOR ANYONE.
It’s the greatest thing I can do for someone. It’s the greatest thing I
can do for anybody. God has given us the privilege of urging
everyone to come into His favor and to be reconciled to Him. If
your neighbor had cancer or AIDS, and you knew the cure, and you
didn’t tell them, what would you call that? I’d call it criminal. And
yet we have something better: the way to peace, purpose,
forgiveness, power, eternal life—the world is far more ready to
receive the Good News than we are willing to share it. Part of the
problem is, we forget how hopeless it is without Christ. We forget
how good the Good News REALLY is.

The third reason is: my mission gives my life meaning.
138 3. It gives my life MEANING
The Bible says
“Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and
138a for the sake of the Good News, will ever know what it
means to really live.” Mark 8:35 (LB)
William James said: “The best use of life is to invest in that which
will outlast it.” Well, there’s only one thing that will outlast life here
on earth —the kingdom of God. It’s the only thing that’s going to
last. Everything else is going to burn up at the judgment.
The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 3:10
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The
139 heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be
destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will
be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:10 (NIV)
Given enough time, one day, all your trophies are going to be trash.
I hate to tell you that, but your kids aren’t going to keep your
trophies. Your purpose gives life meaning.
And, fourth—God’s timetable for history’s conclusion is connected

to the completion of the commission we’ve been given.
140
4. God’s timetable for history’s conclusion is connected
to the completion of the Commission we’ve been given.
You know, prophecy scholars are always trying to figure out the
signs of the time. I always think that’s kind of interesting, since
Jesus said in Matthew 24:36
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the
141
angels, nor the Son, but only the Father...”
Matthew 24:36 (NIV)
Jesus said, “Even I don’t know the sign for the return, only the
Father knows….” If only the Father knows, how am I going to figure
it out on my own?
What we do know is this: Jesus is not going to return until

everyone He wants to hear the Good News has heard it.
Read the next verse:
“The Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached

142
in all the world, to every nation. Then the end will
come.” Matthew 24:14 (NCV)
Now, to fulfill your mission, you’ve got to think like a “World-Class”

Christian. How do you do that? Here’s how you do it: You shift
from temporal, or temporary, to eternal thinking. Shift from
temporal to eternal thinking. Focus on the eternal not the temporal.
143 A World Class Christian focuses on the ETERNAL not the

TEMPORAL.
Here are some suggestions. First,
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is

144 unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
Realize that there’s more to life than just here and now. Fix your
eyes on eternity. Live in light of eternity. There’s more to life than
just this.
Second, look at this next verse:
“Those in frequent contact with the things of the world

145 should make good use of them without becoming
attached to them, for this world and all it contains will
soon pass away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31 (NLT)
You know, so much of what we do with our time and our energy
isn’t going to last a year from now, much less for eternity. It just
isn’t going to matter. How much of what we do isn’t going to matter,
even ten years from now? So don’t “major on minors”. Know the
difference between what’s urgent and what’s ultimate, and focus on
that.
Third,
146
“…let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds
us back...” Hebrews 12:1 (LB)
What is keeping you from fulfilling your mission on earth - sharing

the Good News? Whatever it is, let it go. Let it go.
The Bible says,

147 “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish…”

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
God is not willing that any should perish—He wants His lost
children found. The church that basically says, “We don’t want to
grow” is saying to the world: “You can go to hell. We’re all saved,
we’re happy little clams, we’re all going to heaven, and the rest of
the world can go to hell.” As long as there is one person within a
comfortable traveling distance of your church, you have to keep
growing. You don’t grow for your benefit. You grow because
people without Christ go into an eternity without Christ. Love
demands, Love leaves no choice: we have to care, because God
cares. And, as long as there’s one person who doesn’t know
Christ, we still have the Great Commission to fulfill.
I want you to rate yourself on this one: How well are you
completing your mission of evangelism? How important would God
say it is to you? Would you just write that down?
Rate yourself on completing your mission of evangelism:

148
Teaching Tips
This next section is a personal story about the last hours before
Rick Warrens father passed away. We have left this story in to
inspire you and to serve as an example of how you can tell people
about recognizing the purpose of your life and focusing on the
eternal.
You have two options – You can share Rick’s story, telling the
conference that it is Rick’s story or you may want to relay a
personal story that demonstrates the same truths.
You know, my dad was a man on a mission. He was a pastor and

a minister for over 50 years. He died of cancer a couple of years
ago. During his last week, he was delirious; he was awake almost
24 hours a day in his last week. And he would dream aloud, and
talk aloud the last week of his life. You can learn a lot about a
person by listening to their dreams. And as I listened to my dad,
dreaming out loud the last week of his life - he never talked about
fishing, which he dearly loved. He didn’t talk about the battles in
World War II and the South Pacific that he was involved in. He

didn’t talk about books he’d read or movies he’d gone to. He talked
about the things that mattered most to him—building churches.
My dad was an average pastor, average preacher, but he was a

carpenter. And in his lifetime, he built well over a hundred church
buildings around the world, on every continent: Siberia,
Guatemala, he even built a church at the North Pole. Wherever
there was an earthquake, wherever there was disaster relief, he’d
be there. When Saddam chased the Kurds out of Northern Iraq,
my dad was there, building wells for them, and building a church for
them. And he would say, in his dreamlike state, “You guys take
that lumber over there, and make sure that team gets back from
lunch on time, and put that joist together over there, and don’t get
electrocuted when you put that socket in…”—he’d just dream aloud
about building churches -- what he’d done all his life.
One night, just a few days before he died, my wife and my niece,
Alyssa, were in his room. When all of a sudden, my dad became
agitated and tried to get up, all the while in this dreamlike state.
And my wife, Kay, said: “Jimmy, you’ve got to lie down, you’re
frail.” And he kept trying to get out of bed. And she said: “Jimmy,
why are you trying to get out of bed?” And he said, “Gotta save
one more for Jesus. Gotta save one more for Jesus. Gotta save
one more for Jesus.” He kept saying this, over and over and over,
“Save one more for Jesus, save one more for Jesus, gotta save
one more for Jesus.” He said this maybe a hundred times in the
next hour.
As I sat next to the side of his bed, I put my head down, tears were
coming down my cheeks, and my dad reached out and put his hand
on my head, almost like a blessing, and said: “Save one more for
Jesus. Save one more for Jesus.” I intend for that to be the theme
for the rest of my life. I DON’T KNOW a more important task!
If you know a more important thing than to bring people to Christ,

build them up to maturity, train them for their ministry, and send
them out on their life mission, I invite you to stand up right now, and
TELL US! Because I want to know it!
I decided a long time ago, I’m NOT going to waste my life. And IF
there is something more important, I want to know. But there is
NOT. There is NOTHING more important than bringing people into

His kingdom, building them into the family of God in fellowship,
helping them to grow into Christlikeness, helping them discover
their SHAPE for ministry, and sending them out on missions, for the

Glory of God. Living a life of worship. Nothing matters more, and

nothing will leave a longer-lasting legacy.
Teaching Tips
The first sentence of the next paragraph gives statistics for

California and the United States. If you have access to the
statistics in the region where you are teaching, you can replace
these numbers with the appropriate regional numbers..
In the next 365 days, 234,000 Californians will die, and most of
them will go into an eternity without Christ. In the next 365 days,
2.3 million Americans will die. And most of them will go into an
eternity without Jesus Christ. In the next 365 days, 54 million
people in the world will die, and most of them will go into an eternity
without Jesus Christ.
Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you?
I can’t imagine a greater thrill than getting to heaven and having

someone come up and say, “You know, I just wanted to thank you.”
And I say, “What?” “Yeah, thank you. I’m in heaven because of
you.” And you may say, “Well, I don’t know you.” “Yeah, I know
you don’t know me. But you were one of the pioneers in such-and-
such church, in such-and-such town, and you helped build that
church. And you helped preserve the unity, and you protected that
church, and you served, and you sacrificed, and you gave, and you
shared, and you served, and you did everything possible to build
that church. And fifty years after you died, that church reached me
for Jesus Christ, and now I’m in heaven thanks to you.” I don’t
know a better legacy than that. Why in the world are we wasting
our time on irrelevant other subjects and objects?
I want to challenge you to reach one more for Jesus.

Teaching Tips
This is a good place to take a moment and pause to add

emphasis to the points made at the end of the last paragraph.
We have found that the pause should be just long enough to
make the audience slightly uncomfortable. During this pause,
make eye contact with the conference participants as you look
around the venue. The next question should be emphasized and
strongly spoken - more of a strong, emotional request rather than
a statement.

149 What are you going to do about what you’ve just heard?
(Pause)
What are you going to do about what you’ve just heard?

(Pause)
150
Will you commit the rest of your life to the eternal purposes of
God? The Bible says,
150a
“…We beg you, Please don’t squander one bit of this
marvelous life God has given us.”
2 Corinthians 6:1 (MSG)
Will you have the focus of Paul, who said
151 “So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every

step…” 1 Corinthians 9:26 (NLT)
The Purpose Driven Life is nothing new. It can be summarized in

one sentence:
“A Great Commitment
152
to the Great Commandment
and the Great Commission
will grow a Great Christian.”
Teaching Tips
We have found that repetition is a key to learning, especially in

oral cultures. You may want to ask the group to stand and
repeat this statement aloud with you. It will also give them a
chance to stretch - you could even have them say this to the
person next to them, and the person in front of them. Have fun
with this!
Let’s read The Great Commandment and The Great Commission

together.

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
Matthew 22 says:
“ ‘LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD with all your heart and with all
153 your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself’. All the Law and Prophets
hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
154 “Love God with all your heart”—that’s worship.
155 “Love your neighbor as yourself”—that’s ministry.
THE GREAT COMMISSION
“GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, BAPTIZING THEM

156 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and TEACHING THEM TO DO everything I have
commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great

Commission will grow a Great Christian—it’s what life’s all about. If
you get only two verses in life, make sure they are the Great
Commandment and the Great Commission. You’ve got the five
purposes of God (which are):
157 “Go make disciples”—that’s evangelism.
158 “Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit”—that’s bringing them into the family and into the
fellowship.
159 “Teach them to do everything that I commanded you”—
that’s discipleship
Jesus said:
“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if

160
you do them.” John 13:17 (NIV)
“…IF you DO them.” The starting point is to write a personal life

purpose statement. I would like to encourage you to find some
quiet time this week and begin to answer the following five critical
questions, which form a life purpose statement:

161 LIFE’S FIVE GREATEST QUESTIONS

PREPARING YOUR LIFE PURPOSE STATEMENT
161a 1. What will be the center of my life?

That’s the question of worship.
Will God be the center of your life?
162 2. What will be the community of my life?

That’s the question of fellowship.
Will the church be the community of your life?
163 3. What will be the character of my life?

That’s the question of discipleship.
Will you grow into developing Christlike character?
164 4. What will be the contribution of my life?

That’s the question of ministry.
Who will you serve?
165 5. What will be the communication of my life?

That’s the question of mission.
Who will you reach through your ministry?
I hope you’ll start on that. But it all begins with a simple “yes”. My
life was changed many years ago, with a single verse. It’s an
unusual verse, tucked away in Acts 13:36,
166 “David served God’s purpose in his generation.”
The rest of the verse says,
166a “Then he died.” Acts 13:36 (NASB)
Who wants to stay around here anyway when God’s through with
you? Now think about this. David served God’s purposes. He did
that which is timeless. But he did it in his generation. He did it in a
timely way - the timeless in a timely way. Jesus served God’s
purposes—that which was eternal. He did it in a contemporary way.
He served that which never changes in an environment that is
always changing. He was biblical and relevant at the same time.

He served God’s purposes in his generation. What an epitaph! I

can’t think of a better thing to have on your tombstone. You served
God’s purposes in your generation, and then you died.
With all my heart, I want people to say that about me when I die:
that I served God’s purposes in my generation. Then I died. But I
also want people to be able to say that about you, too. That you
served God’s purposes in your generation, then you died. If you
came here discouraged, you need to start focusing on God’s
eternal purposes.
The Bible says
“And if we think that our present service for him is hard,

167
just remember that someday, we are going to sit with
him, and rule with him...” 2 Timothy 2:12a (LB)
And one day, we’re going to stand and we’re going to shout,
“Worthy, O Master! Yes! Our God! Take the glory! the

168 honor!, the power!. You created it all; It was created
because you wanted it.” Revelation 4:11 (MSG)
Teaching Tip
Ask people to come forward and to get on their knees with you and
pray. Ask them, “If you are willing to commit your life to God’s
purposes – as one who takes risks and believes God and who is
choosing to never give up – would you come forward right now and
join me on my knees as we pray together.” If the front fills up quickly,
invite people to get on their knees in the aisle or right where they are.
Invite them to follow you in this prayer (or a prayer like it) OUT LOUD.
(You pray a phrase, and then let them pray that phrase)
Father,
I want to be used by You. Use me for your purposes, God. Anytime,
Anyplace, Anywhere. Give me the faith to trust you, and the courage
to act on that faith. By your grace, I am choosing to never give up.
Use me to bring people into your family, to build people up to maturity,
to train your people for ministry and to send your people out for their
life mission. All to your glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
After praying this prayer, take a few moments to personally pray for
them.
If you have a music team, sing together and worship as you close the
conference.

169
Will you live the rest of your life for the purposes of God? Will
you?
Let’s bow our heads. If you would say, “More than anything else, I
want God’s blessing on my life, and on my ministry, my family, and
I want to refocus my life on these five eternal purposes that God
has created me for.”
Then I invite you to follow me in this prayer, and I invite you to pray
it aloud: If you’re ashamed to be identified in front of a bunch of
other believers, you’ll certainly never do it in the world. So just
repeat this after me, where you’re seated:
Father, more than anything else, I want to fulfill the purposes that
You created me for. I want You to use me any time, any way, any
place. I want my life to bring You pleasure. I surrender my heart in
worship. And I want to grow in loving You. I want to be used to
build Your fellowship, instead of tearing it down. Thank You for the
privilege of being a part of Your family. It is my heart’s desire to
become like You, Jesus. Do whatever it takes to cause that to
happen in my life. If that means pain, so be it. Help me to discover
my SHAPE for ministry. And help me to have a servant’s heart,
and not worry about what other servants are doing.
Forgive me for my criticism, and my jealousy, and my competition.

Father, I want to fulfill my mission in life. I want to bring others to
You. Give me a burden for others around me, for those who don’t
know You. I want to serve Your purpose in my generation. And I
want to be a part of what You’re doing in this world. I want to be a
part of Your movement of God. From this day forward, I want to
build my life around Your eternal purposes for me. And I want to
help our church fulfill those same purposes. Help me to reach “one
more for Jesus.”
Father, I want to thank you for these who prayed this prayer. Even
before we were born, You knew we’d be here today in Southern
California, in May of 2002. May this be a turning point—may we
never be the same again. May we serve Your purposes in our
generation. Father, for those who are discouraged, give them
encouragement. Help them to realize how much You love them.
That You planned them for Your pleasure. You created them, You
formed them. You fashioned them for a ministry in the church and
for a mission in the world. And we want to give glory to You. We
want You to take the honor, the power. You created all for Your
glory!

Lord, help us to remember that it’s not about us. It’s ALL about
You. And we exist for Your glory, Your pleasure, Your benefit, Your
desire. To the best of our abilities, we commit to live a life that is
pleasing to You, and to fulfill these purposes.
In Jesus’ name, Amen

SHAPE Addendum
1 GOD USES FIVE FACTORS TO SHAPE US FOR

EFFECTIVE MINISTRY
How do you know which ministry you should be involved in? All of
us need to be taught that God has uniquely shaped us for a
ministry. And there are five factors that God uses to shape us or
make us or create us for effective ministry. Let me explain what
those five factors are.
2
1. Spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 8; Ephesians 4)
First, God uses the spiritual gifts that he gave you to shape you.
The moment that you become a believer, you are given spiritual
gifts. These are mentioned in the book of Romans, the book of
Ephesians and the book of I Corinthians.
The Bible tells us that some are given the gift of teaching, and
some are given the gift of wisdom, and some are given the gift of
helps and encouragement, and on and on. And so we want to help
people discover their spiritual gift, because if you’re gifted to be a
teacher, then you should be a teacher in the body of Christ. If
you’re gifted at being a leader, then you should be a leader in the
body of Christ.
2. Heart (passion) (Matthew 12:34; Proverbs 4:23; Psalm

2a
37:4)
But your spiritual gifts are not the only thing that you’re given. The
Bible also says that God gives you a unique heartbeat. That is a
passion that is what you love to do. Have you noticed that there
are some things that you just love to do? And there are other
things that you do not care about. There are some things that get
you really excited and enthusiastic and there are other things that
you have no interest in at all. Where do you think that came from?
That inborn desire comes from God. And God gives each of us
different heartbeats, emotionally as well as physically. Did you
know that every human being’s heart has a different beat? A
different pattern to it? Just like you have a different thumb print,
you have a different foot print, you have a different heartbeat, God
also gives you a different emotional heartbeat. And that’s why you
like some things that other people don’t like and other people like
things you don’t. God gives us all different interests so that
everything that needs to be done in the world gets done.
Now let’s say, that I have the gift of teaching. My heart will also
influence that gift. For instance, if I am gifted at teaching but I have
SHAPE Addendum
a heart for children or I have a heart for poor people or I have a

heart, a passion for working with teenagers, that’s going to make a
difference in where I use my teaching gift. So you are given gifts by
God, but you are also given an emotional heartbeat. What do you
love to do?
2a
3. Abilities (Exodus 31:3; 1 Corinthians 12:5)
The third thing to look at in discovering your ministry are your
abilities. And God gives each of us natural abilities. Some people
are really good with animals. Some people are really good with
mechanical things, like repairing machines or repairing cars. Some
people are really good with words, they can think or speak well or
they can write well. Some people are good in working with people.
Some people are good at working with abstract theories and some
people are better at working with day to day, concrete ideas. Why
is this? Because God makes us different for a reason! He gives us
each different abilities so that we will need each other. Some
people are good with numbers, and they’re good at adding and
subtracting, and others of us are not very good at numbers. Your
abilities are not given to you simply for you to use on yourself. God
gave you your abilities, just like he gave you your spiritual gifts and
the desires of your heart, for a purpose. And that purpose is to
serve him, to serve him in ministry.
2a 4. Personality (1 Corinthians 2:11)

A fourth thing that determines your ministry in life is your
personality. And God, again, gives us different personalities.
Some people have a very outgoing personality and they are very
excited and exuberant and they love to talk with people and they
love being in large groups and they love being the center of
attention. Other people have a shy personality and they kind of
withdrawn and they would rather talk with one person, not a big
group. Some people like routine, to do the same thing every day,
day in and day out. Other people like variety, and they want to do
something different every day. Well that’s not a matter of right or
wrong or good or bad. It’s just the way God has shaped you. And
your personality is large part of what makes you, you. And it is one
of the things you need to look at when you are discovering, “What
does God want me to do in the church. What should be my place in
the body of Christ?” I look at my spiritual gifts, I look at my desires
and the things I love to do, I look at my natural abilities, and I look
at my personality.
The Bible gives us plenty of proof that God uses all types of
personalities. Peter was a sanguine. Paul was a choleric. Jeremiah
was a melancholy. When you look at the personality differences in

SHAPE Addendum
the twelve disciples, it’s easy to see why they sometimes had
interpersonal conflict. There is no “right” or “wrong” temperament
for ministry. We need all kinds of personalities to balance the
church and give it flavor.
2a 5. Experiences (Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 1)
And then the last thing you look at are the experiences you have
had. God never wastes an experience. And there are four kinds of
experiences that you have had that help determine what your
ministry should be in your church.
3 Four kinds of experiences that prepare you for ministry
3a 1. educational
God looks at your educational experiences. I’m not just talking
about going to school, I’m talking about the things you have learned
in life – the things you’ve learned from parents, the things you’ve
learned from relatives, aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters.
The things you’ve learned from friends, those are educational
experiences.
3a
2. vocational
God also uses vocational experiences, jobs that you’ve had, skills
that you’ve learned in different jobs that you’ve developed over the
years of your life.
3a 3. spiritual
Next, God uses spiritual experiences to shape you and to make you
the kind of person he wants you to be and to make you effective for
ministry. Spiritual experiences that were a turning point in your life
are especially important in your development. God uses times of
commitment to the Lord, church services or spiritual experiences at
a camp retreat or a conference. You may have read a book,
listened to a tape or attended a seminar that added to these
spiritual experiences. God even uses the words spoken to us by
other Christians as an opportunity for spiritual growth
3a 4. painful
But most importantly of all, God uses painful experiences to shape
us. Did you know that the Bible says in II Corinthians chapter 1 that
God intentionally takes us through certain problems, trials and
difficulties in our life. He takes us through those difficult
experiences and comforts us in our sorrow and in our pain, so that

SHAPE Addendum
we can then turn around and comfort others with the same comfort
that we have been given. God never wastes a hurt. And one of the
ways that you can learn what you ministry is to be, is to look at the
painful experiences that you have gone through in life. For
instance, who could help a parent grieve the loss of a child better
than another parent who has lost a child? Who could help
someone with a disease such as cancer better than someone who
has had cancer in their own life? Who could help someone recover
from a problem or an addiction like a drug addiction or alcoholism
better than someone who has dealt with the same addiction? And
who could help someone who has had a spouse die or divorce
them better than someone who had a spouse die or divorce them?
What I am saying is this – when you look at your life, you need to
go back and examine all of the painful experiences you have had,
because God often wants to use the very thing that has hurt you
the most in order to help and to heal other people.
When you are teaching people “every member is a minister”, you

must teach them this important concept,
-that God has uniquely shaped or designed each one of

4
us using spiritual gifts and personality and abilities and
heart and experiences to make us exactly who God
wants us to be in order for us to play the role He wants
us to play in the church.


PDL Seminar Teaching Notes-Seminar On Disc PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

PDL Seminar Teaching Notes-Seminar On Disc PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

International Seminar

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren

Introduction: What On Earth Am I Here For ................................................................13

Purpose #1: You Were Planned For God’s Pleasure ..................................................19

Purpose #2: You Were Formed For God’s Family ......................................................25

Purpose #3 You Were Created To Become Like Christ ..............................................33

Purpose #4 You Were Shaped For Serving God ........................................................44

Purpose #5 You Were Made For A Mission ................................................................56

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 1

2. These Teaching Notes contain both the transcript and the

4. You may want to make a second hard copy of these Teaching

6. These notes are taken from a transcript by Rick Warren. We

7. For those pastors teaching in international settings, we’ve

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 2

11. The SHAPE Addendum, appearing at the end of these notes,

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 3

As you teach through this first section, remember that during

I want to welcome you to the Purpose Driven Life Seminar. Today

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 4

Even today, we have church leaders and pastors from

The following section discusses the goals of the conference.

Your time is valuable and we don’t want to waste it – so let’s begin

Our first goal is to encourage your spirit.

1. TO ENCOURAGE YOUR SPIRIT

“Encourage one another and build each other up.”

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 5

That’s what we want to do. We want you to be encouraged at the

We want to encourage each other personally. Galatians 6:9 tells

“Let us not get tired in doing what is right for after a

The second goal is to stretch your mind.

2. TO STRETCH YOUR MIND

The Bible says in Proverbs 19:8

“Do yourself a favor and learn all you can. Then

I have discovered that everyone is ignorant, just on different

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 6

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

The Bible says this in Romans 2:21

“How can you teach others if you refuse to learn?”

The most important pages in these conference notes are the

The Bible says this

“The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In

A willingness to learn is the indication of brilliance – so we have a

Our third goal is to sharpen your skills.

3. TO SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

Ecclesiastes 10:10 is one of my life verses.

“If the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 7

You need to understand that as we share we’re just fellow pastors

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 8

I learned long ago God hasn’t called me to be original. He’s called

I once heard about a guy who said, “I’m going to be original or

The fourth goal is to strengthen your church.

4. TO STRENGTHEN YOUR CHURCH

The Bible says this in Ephesians 4:16

“Under Christ’s direction the whole body is fitted

I believe that every church in the world should be a sending church.

What have we learned? This is the overview of assumptions.

PurposeDriven ® Rick Warren 9

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

• There is no correlation between the size and strength of a

A church can be big and strong. Or it can be big and flabby. A

• There is more than one way to grow a church, so never