Mark
The power that comes from popularity is all about connection. This dynamic is at work all over the place. In middle school and high school, this is how the mean girls function: they maintain power by socially connecting their enemies with undesirable qualities. This is how our legislative system works:
The Christian worldview may cause people to think you’re strange. Jesus doesn’t call us to the path that makes the most money. Jesus doesn’t call us to the path that makes us the most popular. Jesus calls us to a path that glorifies God. Jesus calls us
Mark
How does Jesus know you? Are you the quiet kid who sits in the back of the room silently soaking up everything you can learn about Him? Are you the kid in the front row who wants to interact with Him as often as possible, frequently wrong but still putting
Mark
What does the process of being an apostle look like? One of my favorite ways of expressing the call of apostleship is becoming like Jesus so much that when people take notice of us they actually see Christ instead. That image affects my actions whenever I am in leadership. I
Mark
Who do you trust? What do you trust with other people? How do you determine who can be trusted with what? Is it easy or difficult for you to place trust in others? How do people earn your trust? Closing out the passage about Jesus and the crowds, notice Mark
Mark
Establishing meaningful boundaries is an important survival skill. Sometimes you should put the phone down and not answer it, even if it makes your friends mad. Maybe you don't answer that text as soon as it comes in. There is a right time to say no, even to
Mark
What will Jesus use you to restore today? Some days my hope is to merely survive the day and return to my pillow alive. Other days my hope is to return to the pillow not just alive but a different man than I left it. Perhaps more often I should
Mark
Are you willing to follow Jesus? If this is a Sunday School question, the answer is yes. Following Jesus is the effect that comes with a restored relationship with God. Becoming more like Jesus is one of our primary goals. What Christian wouldn’t follow Jesus, right? Jesus once more
Mark
Doing God’s work is never wrong. Don’t confuse this with thinking that God’s work is easy. Doing what God asks may be difficult. It might involve sacrifice. It might put us at odds with other people. It might give other people cause to raise their eyebrows and
Mark
Experience is the best teacher of all things. Anyone who has made it into adulthood and wrestled with random life events can attest to this fact. Much of what I can do today are things I’ve learned along the way because it needed to get done, and frequently having
Mark
New things can be both exciting and scary. I remember driving for the first time – convinced someone was about to die yet thrilled at the control at my fingertips. I remember the first time I taught in a classroom or preached my first sermon – scared to death of saying something
Mark
How frequently is life a celebration? Jesus is questioned about fasting. Prior to getting into Jesus’ teaching, two thoughts need highlighting. First, compare this story in Mark with the parallel story in Matthew 9:14-17. In Mark, Jesus says, “Can the wedding guests fast as long as the bridegroom is