SATURDAY, April 19th, 2008

Hey everyone! Great Job on staying faithful! We will be talking about the next chapter of devotions in Sunday School tomorrow. So make sure you are in Sunday School to get credit for doing your devotions tomorrow! If you need a ride then please call me! I would love to help you get to church!

This passage is pretty great! It explains to us that every one of us are given gift from Jesus Christ. When did He start giving gifts? Right when he ascended (that was when Christ went back to Heaven after he rose from the dead!) Christ "gave gift to men" (vs.8) Then verse 9 and 10 explain to us that Christ descended to earth (in the form of a baby) then He raised above the heavens! Now comes the good part!!! in verses 11- 13 we see what those gifts are: the gift of prophecy (explaining the truth), evangelists (people who are good at soul-winning), even pastors like me, or teachers. (We all have gifts like these we just need to figure out how to use them)
Find out what your gift is and use it! The last verse tells us why it is so important: so that we can work effectively and build the body of the church!!! (By teaching people about Christ!)

Ephesians 4:

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.