Quotes from Mark Batterson

We give people political labels, sexual labels, and religious labels. But in the process, we strip them of their individuality and complexity. Prejudice is pre-judging. It's assuming that bad stories end badly, but Jesus is in the business of turning bad beginnings into happily ever afters. ... God cannot give up on you. It's not in His nature. His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. All you have to do is turn around. All you have to do is crash the party!

For nearly thirty years, the One who had crafted the universe with His voice crafted furniture with His hands. And He was good at what He did—no crooked table legs ever came out of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth.1 But Jesus was more than a master carpenter. He was also God incognito. His miraculous powers rank as history's best-kept secret for nearly three decades, but all that changed the day water blushed in the face of its Creator.

We need to study the Word of God diligently. But we don't need to know more. We need to do more with what we know. At the end of the day, God will not say, "Well thought, Intellectual," or "Well said, Orator." There is only one commendation: "Well done, good and faithful servant!

If we don't control our calendar, our calendar will end up controlling us.

Faithfulness is not holding the fort. It's storming the gates of hell and taking back enemy territory that belongs to God. I'm afraid we've reduced righteousness to the absence of wrongness, but goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Remember the parable of the bags of gold? Breaking even is bad. You've got to ante up everything.

if you learn from every mistake, then there is no such thing as failure anyway.

When we do what's right, regardless of circumstances or consequences, we set the table for God to turn the tables. All we need to do is stand up, step in, or step out.

When your life is over, the world will ask you only one question: 'Did you do what you were supposed to do?'" That's not just a good question. That's the question... It cannot be answered with words. It must be answered with your life.

God is great not just because nothing is too big for Him; God is also great because nothing is too small.

Can our prayers change our circumstances? Absolutely! But when our circumstances don't change, it's often an indication that God is trying to change us.

In the words of Corrie ten Boom, "There is no pit too deep that God's grace isn't deeper still.

Jesus proclaimed the favor of God in His very first sermon. Then He sealed the deal with His death and resurrection. Favor is a function of surrender. If we don't hold out on God, God will not hold out on us.