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    Winning at Life: Jesus' Secrets Revealed
    Winning at Life: Jesus' Secrets Revealed
    Winning at Life: Jesus' Secrets Revealed
    Ebook103 pages56 minutes

    Winning at Life: Jesus' Secrets Revealed

    By Mark Ashton

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    About this ebook

    The Reality Check series makes just one assumption: that you’re serious enough about your spiritual journey to investigate Christianity with an open mind. This isn’t about joining anyone’s religious club—it’s about being real with yourself and with the others in your group. Since no one has all the answers, there’s plenty of room for discussion. After all, if there is any truth to the Bible’s stories about Jesus, then one thing he’d welcome are questions and opinions that come from honest, earnest hearts.What does it take to win at life? A good education? A lucrative career? A loving family? Jesus had a lot to say about winning—and losing—in life. He also had a way of connecting with his listeners through stories that cut straight to the heart of their personal lives and values. Winning at Life revisits six of those stories. Some will challenge you. Some will encourage you. All of them offer a clearer vision of what life is really about.Winning at Life includes these sessions: Rollover Investments Four Kinds of Dirt An Unexpected Homecoming Warning Signs Lame Excuses Unlikely Hero For the Group LeaderReality Check is for spiritual seekers of every persuasion. Uncompromisingly Christian in its perspective, it steers wide of pat answers and aims at honesty. This innovative and thought-provoking series will challenge you and those in your group to connect heart to heart as together you explore the interface between Jesus, the Bible, and the realities of this world in which we live.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateFeb 23, 2010
    ISBN9780310868019
    Winning at Life: Jesus' Secrets Revealed
    Author

    Mark Ashton

    Mark Ashton is the director of seeker small groups at Willow Creek Community Church. In addition, he supervises the staff for more than 40 new believer groups, 80 seeker groups, and Willow's Internationals ministry. He is also the director of TruthQuest - Willow's ministry that answers tough questions about Jesus and Christianity. Mark is a frequent speaker at conferences and is the author of Absolute Truth?

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      Book preview

      Winning at Life - Mark Ashton

      Reality Check Series

      Clear Evidence: Eyewitness Reports of Jesus

      Future Shock: Jesus and the End of the World

      Hot Issues: Jesus Confronts Today’s Controversies

      Jesus’ Greatest Moments: The Week That Changed Everything

      Leadership Jesus Style: The Master and His Mission

      Sudden Impact: Powerful Encounters with the Real Jesus

      When Tragedy Strikes: Jesus’ Response to a World Gone Wrong

      Winning at Life: Jesus’ Secrets Revealed

      Title page with Zondervan logo

      ZONDERVAN

      Winning a Life

      Copyright © 2002 by Willow Creek Association

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

      ePub Edition September 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-86801-9

      Requests for information should be addressed to:

      Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

      ISBN: 978-0-310-31148-5

      Although the majority of Scripture quotations in this book have been paraphrased for modern context and readability, every effort has been made by the author to assure that the original intent of Jesus’ words has not been changed from its primary message.

      All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

      All rights reserved. The original purchaser of this product shall have the right to make unlimited print-form copies here of, provided such copies are not resold or distributed to the general public.

      Interior design by Sherri L. Hoffman

      Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

      Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

      EBOOK INSTRUCTIONS

      In this ebook edition, please use your device’s note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response Here]. Use your device’s highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

      To Caleb,

      a lover of Jesus stories.

      May his Story always define your life.

      CONTENTS

      Ebook Instructions

      The Power of Story

      Discussion 1 Rollover Investments

      Discussion 2 Four Kinds of Dirt

      Discussion 3 An Unexpected Homecoming

      Discussion 4 Warning Signs

      Discussion 5 Lame Excuses

      Discussion 6 Unlikely Hero

      A Surprising Penalty

      Leader’s Guide

      Introduction

      How to Lead a Great Discussion

      Notes for Each Discussion

      Acknowledgments

      About the Publisher

      INTRODUCTION

      THE POWER OF STORY

      I love a good story, don’t you?

      There’s just something about it that satisfies both mind and heart. Since the beginnings of human community, stories have been used to bond people together, explain behavioral principles, and give meaning to life.

      We’re surrounded by stories in all forms—books, television, movies, songs, the Internet. But the best-known stories of human history are actually stories that Jesus told while he walked on the earth.

      Surprised?

      Jesus’ illustrative tales (also called parables) were used for many purposes: to blast through the stereotypes of his day, expose religious hypocrisy, illuminate minds to spiritual truth, and inspire people to win at life—by living Jesus’ way.

      Jesus was no boring storyteller either. His anecdotes were masterful— verbal dynamite that blasted through the stone-cold hearts of his detractors. They also provided highly memorable pictures for his followers. Snapshots of truth so strong that many of his followers traveled the world retelling those stories.

      But you might be wondering, aren’t Jesus’ stories old—told for his day only, so long ago? Why should you bother to study what he said after all those years?

      The answer is simple: because the very stories he told affect your understanding of yourself, your priorities, your relationships with people and God, and your response in times of crisis and stress.

      In his stories Jesus used heroes, people groups, occupations, and practices that would be well-known to his audience. Yet because he lived in first-century Palestine, these same illustrations are much less familiar to audiences two thousand years later—and on the other side of the globe.

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