We praise God because, at the cross, Jesus entered the darkness to rescue us out of it (Colossians 1:13), and now, by His Spirit, He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). As Paul says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.)” (Ephesians 5:8-9).
We praise God because, at one time, we, Gentiles, were not a people, but, at the cross, we became the people of God (1 Peter 2:10). If you look at the cross, you see Jesus bringing us who were previously far away very near to God, paying the price to adopt us into the family of God and making us heirs together with Christ (Romans 8:17). Because of the cross, all believers are the people of God!
We praise God because previously we had received no mercy, but at the cross we have received mercy (1 Peter 2:10): mercy to forgive our every transgression, mercy to pardon us from our sins, mercy to save us from God’s wrath, mercy to reconcile us to God, mercy to set us free from sins.
The cross of Christ is the mercy of God to us, the mercy that rescued us out of darkness, the mercy that brought us into the light, the mercy that made us the people of God. Mercy was purchased for us at the cross, mercy flows to us from the cross, and mercy is applied to us by the Spirit. So the cross becomes the motivation for praising God.
There are many references to the cross of Christ in 2 Peter 2: 4-10; it is as if Peter is pointing to it with every sentence, certainly in every thought. As a supervisor, we must implement this language as well so that we can help new mentors to reference the cross in their every communication continually. In this way, we are helping both our new mentors and their students to view the cross and see it as the message of power, love, and freedom that draws forth praise from our hearts!
Question 5. Why is it important to point to the cross of Jesus Christ continually as we supervise new mentors?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
Learning to communicate in a cross-focused way is a tremendous blessing, not only to those with whom we interact but to ourselves as well.
As we close this lesson, I want to give you a sample communication from a fictitious Mentor-In-Training and discuss ways that we could help him word his response to his student in a more cross-focused way.
Communication from Mentor-In-Training “Jim” to his student:
Jim: “I appreciate how you said that you need to make Jesus your Rock, your solid foundation, how you need to make Him the center of your life. Amen, that’s something that we all need to do!”
Question 6. Why is the above communication from our sample Mentor-In-Training not adequate to send to the student?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.