E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiWarren pointed to his own personal success as a case in point, having gone from tithing ten percent of his income to 90 percent over the past 33 years.
“Do you know why God blessed ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ book and made it the best-selling book in the world and the best-selling hardback in history?” he asked, referring to his 2002 devotional book which has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. “You know why I think it went? ’Cause God knew that He could trust me with the money. He knew that we weren’t going to spend it on ourselves.”
After referring to a passage in Proverbs, Warren said the kind of leader that America needs is someone who says “We’ve been so blessed. How are we going to speak for others?”
“The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence,” Warren explained.
It is “not so that we can be powerful,” he added. “The purpose of influence is to use it to do good, to be generous with what God’s given to us.”
And according to Warren, the three characteristics – integrity, humility, and generosity – are the antidotes to the three basic traps of leadership – “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life” – which Warren noted as being as old as mankind.
“Lust of the flesh” is the temptation to feel good, and the only antidote is integrity, Warren stated. “Lust of the eyes” is the temptation to have. And it is generosity that breaks that grip on materials. And the antidote for “pride of life,” naturally, is humility.
“This is why if you focus on these three things in your life and if leaders will focus on them, they will be the kind of person that God blesses.”
In closing, Warren urged churchgoers to pray – for the candidates, for themselves, and for wisdom. He then urged them to check out the candidates and, more than the issues, what the character of each is. Lastly, Warren encouraged them to register to vote and then vote.
“I’ve been around the world, and there are many places around the world who would die to have the freedom to vote,” he reminded.
Warren has not made known publicly who he plans to vote for and has not offered a personal endorsement as he believes it to be inappropriate for pastors to do so for political candidates.
According to a poll conducted by his denomination’s research arm in June, however, 80 percent of Southern Baptist pastors said they plan to vote for McCain. Only one percent said they plan to vote for Obama, and the rest were undecided.
Joe12234 »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
