Choose The Life
leadership and the committed life
Sunday, December 9, 2007
A disciple…
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Submits to a teacher who teaches him or her how to follow Jesus
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Learns Jesus’ words
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Learns Jesus’ way of ministry
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Imitates Jesus’ life and character
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Finds and teaches other disciples
5 "I am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart
from me you can do nothing.
13 You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart.
12 When he
had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his
place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.
13 "You call me 'Teacher' and
'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
15 I have set you an example that
you should do as I have done for you.
16 I tell you the truth, no servant
is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent
him.
17 Now that you know these things,
you will be blessed if you do them.
Mentors
Maintain Positive
Attitudes
31 What, then, shall we say in
response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
11 I have told you this so that my
joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
28 Do you not know? Have you not
heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and
weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run
and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Mentors Live the Word
22 Do not merely listen to the
word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
23 Anyone who listens to the word
but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
24 and, after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But the man who looks intently
into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone considers himself
religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself
and his religion is worthless.
27 Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in
their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.