There is a fine line between success and failure. Often, that fine line begins with how we respond when given an opportunity. A proper response opens the door of opportunity and helps turn it into something greater. An improper response closes the door and the opportunity is missed. As Jesus
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Good mentors use parables all the time. Parables open doors for conversation. Parables reveal social dynamics in community. Parables give room for interpretation. A good parable may be one of the most effective tools in a mentor’s toolbox. When Jesus was alone with the disciples, He asks them about
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Choices have consequences. Everyone is in love with the freedom to make their own choices. Most people aren’t quite as enamored with embracing the consequences of their choices. The two go hand in hand, however. You can’t have the freedom to choose without also embracing the consequences of
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Are you ready? Are you willing? Is your mindset right? Did you prepare? Do you believe you can? These are all important questions to ask whenever we set out to accomplish something. It can be a small something like making breakfast or a large something like passing a major exam
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Family is those who have a parent in common. Family can be blood related. Family can be made through adoption. Family can be tight. Family can be loose. Family comes in all shapes and sizes. When the crowds tell Jesus that His mother and brothers are outside, Jesus gives what
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Jesus has patience and wisdom like no other. How many times am I the victim of other people’s sinfulness and I want to lash out and expose how violated I feel? How many times do I want to turn around and gossip about how wrong the other person was?
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To receive forgiveness, relationship must exist. If I do something wrong and hurt another person, unless I have relationship with them, I cannot apologize to them. Likewise, unless they have relationship with me, they cannot express forgiveness to me. Relationship is not forgiveness. Relationship is the conduit through which forgiveness
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Jesus doesn’t mess around. One might say He came to take the world by storm. He knows there is no question about His role as teacher, disciple maker, and savior. The Father sent Him to accomplish a particular mission and nothing is going to get in His way. Jesus
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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
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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
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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