THURSDAY, July 17th, 2008

Hey Everyone! I am so glad you came on the blog today! I want us to do what I mentioned Last Night in the service. We are going to post Who our Partner is and if you are on here and you do not have a partner then say that when you comment, I will find you a partner.

The next Big Reward Trip will be around November and we will be doing something great! Make sure that you and your partner are doing your devotions every day! If for some reason it is impossible to get your partner to do their devotions then let me know and we will find you another partner. Remember: TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE, BECAUSE THEY RECEIVE GREATER REWARD FOR THEIR LABOR!!! Be faithful to your devos! You will be rewarded! (in more ways than one)

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Brooke: Thanks for the brownies yesterday! They were GREAT!
Jessica B and Alex: We missed you guys last night! I hope you had a great time with your Dad!
Grace: It was good to see you last night!
Lucy: Great Question about Jesus being God... I am glad it caught your attention. The fact is Jesus is saying that they are one in the same... If you believe in God, then you should believe in Me! (Because He was God in the Flesh)
Josh S: Thanks for the nice poetry!
TRICIA! Thanks for the devos! What a great Job! I especially liked the thorough definition of the word Amen!... Amen! (I affirm everything before this to be correct! :)
Kervin: I love you man! But, you are making a poor choice, Is there absolutely nothing I can do to talk you into changing your mind?
2 Cents: I must say thank you for making the devos a little more exciting for all of us! I almost wish we did not know who you were so that we could keep the excitement going. :)
Rachel: That was great! you are excatly right about how other religions can't understand how something so amazing can be free. But the truth is, If we could "earn" it, then it would not be nearly as valuable.
Mallory: Thanks for the encouragement about last nights message! I enjoyed it as well!
Jessica M: I love it when I have teenagers that are on the right track trying to please God with their thoughts and actions! Thanks for being an encouragement!
Ryan: Hey Man! Thanks for coming on! Stay faithful! We love to see you on here!
JONATHAN MASSEY: I told you that you should do them earlier in the day! Because If you put it off until midnight then it is easier to forget about! DO THEM IN THE MORNING!!!! :)


John 14:
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Sing it with me... There are no strangers!!!! Ther are No Outcast!!!! There are No Orphans, of God!!!!! If you do not know that song then you should go to this link and listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4anyzSLX9U&feature=related

Now, Lets start back at the top of this passage:
WOW! Jesus Tells us that if we think that the Works that He did were Great, THEN JUST WAIT, because the works we do have the potential to be even greater!
God says that our works have the potential to be greater than turning water into wine, walking on water, and raising someone from the dead! Wow!!!! God has Has GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR US!!!

Think of the endless abilities and potential we have! God explains that He will give us ANYTHING THAT WE ASK, if we ask in His name for His Glory!!! What great things have you asked God to do recently! Remeber: We have not because we ASK NOT!

Verse 15 is so powerful! If you Love Jesus Christ, Then you are supposed to strive to keep His Commandments!! Do you strive to obey Jesus?

Finally verses 16 and 17 tell us about the wonderful Gift that God has given to us... The Holy Spirit. Once you accept Christ as your savior, then you immediately have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Praise God, that we will never be orphans in the sight of God, we will always have Gods protection and provision as long as we place our faith in Him.

DONT FORGET TO POST THE NAMES OF YOUR PARTNER!! LET ME KNOW WHO YOU ARE TEAMING UP WITH!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

We don't have to worry about how our needs are going to be met. Just ask Jesus and if it is His will, then it will be done. God will take care of you if you are His child.

We show our love for God by obeying Him and keeping His commandments, pray for strength to obey and trust that God will take care of you.

I like at the end where it says that the Spirit of truth dwells in us and will be with us, Jesus didn't leave us orphans, but left us with the Holy Spirit to lead us in darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tricia~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone!!!!!
Pastor lee my partener is lucy janusz.


okay so in todays passage jesus tells us that if we believe in him and his works we have potential to do even greater works!WOW!!!!!!next jesus says that whatever we ask for we will recieve.its cool to know that by just asking for something jesus finds some way to give it to us.INCREDIBLE!!!!then in verse 15 we jesus says if you love me than obey my commandments.and then to finish it off jesus says i'm not going to leave you orphans,i will come to you.and that verse is awesome because jesus never leaves us, he leads us through life good times and bad and again al you have to do is pray for guidence(remember ask and you will recieve).

Anonymous said...

Hello Peeps!
MY PARTNER:JESSICA BEALS

Ok so this is a cool passage, it's cool that he says in verse 12 about if we go to the father we can do greater things than what he did(and if you read Pastor Lee's post after the passage then you will know what i am talking about.)
and later in the passage it says that God will give us "anything" if we just ask!!
and then 15 reminds me of that one video we watched in sunday school the week Pastor Lee had will, when the boy went on the fishing trip with his dad and he goes fishing by himself and his dad tells him to stay on the deck thing because there are alligators in the water but he goes in the water anyway and the alligator tips over the boat and the kid s screaming and the dad runs and jumps in the water and the alligator attacks him and bites his arm off or something. but he lives and when he goes into the ambulence the boy says I love you and the dad says "son, if you love me why didn't u obey me." WHOA that was a lot of writing!

weird high school kid said...

I am sorry to say but this will be my last post for a long time. Last night I angered my mother when she was already not having a good day just like I was. Now I must pay for my actions by being restricted from anything technological. I am currently at the library and after today will continue my devotions on my own without a computer. Sorry Brooke but you need to find a new partner.

So for my last devotion, WOW this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside like Bontakun but better. Jesus loves us to give us what we need if we are to ask of it. If we all love him, which I do, and keep his commandments, which I try to do, he will give us what we need and more. Not only that but he assures us in this passage that he is always with us. Kinda like if your mom was to die and your dad says "don't worry son she may be gone but she will always be here in your heart." or some kind of cheesey sappy junk like that, but with jesus that is for real. At anytime we can call upon him to tell him our problems and to ask for guidence and help with our daily struggles. Personally I think its kind of like a telephone that you never hang up just somebody there for you to relieve all your stress and problems. Jesus is like your best friend and I am proud to know that I know him on a personall basis and will be seeing him when I die and go to heaven.

So I'm off got to go and apply at taco bell right next to cracker barrel, I-75, or phillips house whatever you want to relate it to. BYE-BEE

FoOtBaLl XtReMiSt (cary) said...

MY PARTNER IS: JOSH SANDEFEUR.

the devos:

it is sooo cool to know that whatever you NEED, if you ask in gods name, he will give it to you!

and its a cool passage because god will always take care of us no matter what situation... that dosent mean god will always give us what we want right-a-way. this dosent mean that god wont give us any hard times in our life... but what he promises is that god will always help us through the storm.

AND THAT IS SOOO COMFORTING. :D

PEACE.

Amy :) said...

my partner : Grace Lockhart

Pastor Lee you should so make a book of the first year of devotions, like wright them out and then publish a book like a workbook or something I would sooo do it. but the internet thing is AWESOME too.

I was singing this song the other day and i was thinking that God knows everybody and loves and cares for everybody in the whole ENTIRE world!!!!! WOW!! we r like ants to God and so insignificant to Him He is just the GREATEST!! Nothing could compare to His love toward us!!

I love Jesus but I know I don't always keep His commandments. This is what I try to do, I think of what i'm about to say and if its a lie i just say never mind. I have been working on it. Same thing with other stuff too. At the end where it says that there r no orphans of God? That is sooo amazing to me that He will never leave us nor forsake us!!

Anonymous said...

HMM...NO PARTNER NOW...(its ok josh)

this made me feel all tingly inside!!!corny but WHATEVER!!!the whole time i was thinkin of my friend Amanda...

verse 16 hit me HARD
16] And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

SHE'S THAT PERSON 4 ME &its SOOO cool how when i asked when i was strugglin a few months ago4 sum1/sumthin...God sent HER JUST 4ME!!!that he chose HER 2 HELP ME OUT!hand picked, & cant get no better than that!!!that's...SPECIAL...it chokes me up cuz he listened & gave even tho i wasnt so faithful 2 him b4...

he sent sum1 so...soo...sooo...WONDERFUL & ENCOURAGING who REALLY DOES lift me up & REFUSES 2 let me fall back down=]& that i should do the same4 her...

& dont laugh but this has almost got me cryin(there's A tear) cuz i never completly appreciated her till last night & even MORE SO NOW!!!knowin that got sent her ESPECIALLY 4me...& boy did he do a GREAT job, cuz she understands what im goin thru & we've got alota same old issues...& she REALLY holds me accountable...

ya know Pastor Lee...this is BYFAR my fav & most insperational devo's...thank u SOOO much 4 preachin what u did last night & devo's 2day...made me realize what i've got& thank goodness i didnt have 2 lose her b4 i realized i had her...

in fact...im gonna call her up right after she gets offa work & tell her how much i love her & appreciate how much she does 4me=]

we're a 3string chord thats not easily gonna b broken=]

FoOtBaLl XtReMiSt (cary) said...

JOSH... UR OBSESSED WITH TABBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kacey! said...

Me and Rachel are partners, (:

It's hard to believe that we can do greater things than Jesus. We are sinful humans, and He is the perfect Son of God. But it says right here that we can. I think that's referring to how many people we can potentially lead to Christ. There was only one of Him, and there are billions of us. We can easily share the word of God to more people than Jesus did. Also if we love God, we should strive to obey Him. That makes perfect sense! You wouldn't disobey someone if you loved them so much! But because we are human and we have a sin nature, then we still do. Thank goodness that God is so forgiving!

Aznricerunr[PN] said...

This is saying that who believes in Jesus will do works that Jesus does like spreading the gospel and acting like Jesus while he walk on earth.If you pray to him and abide by his rules he will bless you with grace and with things like family a great job. Just like how Pastor lee always says that he is so blessed because he is and I believe him when he says that. He has a awesome wife an adorable baby Will and a job that he loves and he has all these things because he believes in Jesus and follows his rules. We need to follow his rules because they are the rules of life and if we do we will be blessed and blessed and blessed.

Anonymous said...

This passage is really interesting. It talks about whatever we ask for we will receive. It is really interesting to me that right after that it says "if you love me, keep my commandments." I think that this is really pointing out that if we love Christ and keep His commandmennts (which in the next verse He promises He will help us) then we will be right on track with Him. If we are doing right what Christ wants us to do, do you think that we would ask for anything against Him- of course not! We have an awesome God who wants our desires to be His desire, and wants to give them to us! We just need to trust Him, and choose to live for Him daily. If we do this, we will truly have a blessed life!

FoOtBaLl XtReMiSt (cary) said...

PASTOR LEE DID YOU FIND OUT WHO MY TWO CENTS IS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? PLZ TELL!!!!!1

red head said...

my partner is cary grimmett


hey my computer is working

i think this is saying who ever believes in me will walk the way i walk and when you pray he anwsers your prayers and if you love him then obey his commandments

Tylermon33 said...

MY PARTNER IS KERVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this starts out by Jesus saying that He will do greater works that He has already done, which is amazing considering that He rose someone from the dead. then He goes on to say that whatever you ask in Me I will do (it is comforting to know that Jesus will do anything for us), and He also says that if you love Me then keep My commandments. then He goes on to say that He will give us a partner so we can abide better in the Lord, which is kind of what pastor lee talked about yesterday: TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE (unless it is canser.....lol). then He says that the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit) will dwell within us if we believe, and finally He says He will not leave us orphans and that He will come to us (which is again comforting to know that Jesus wont ever leave us). so we know that Jesus will do anything and everything for us, so we should return the favor by being obedient to God and obeying His commandments.

Aznricerunr[PN] said...

PASTOR LEE I LEARNED GAINER TODAY! thats a backflip going forward its sick ill show you at the park sunday! were going to the park next to the north port pool for brizzles bday.

Anonymous said...

Manly sandels last night really. :)

I think that I should keep his commandments more like when i get mad at my mom. Well i keep his commandments mostly but i should start striving to do so.

Anonymous said...

Don't even pretend that you know who I is, you must have fallen down and bumped your head! I to get a little kick out of this, consider it a bonus salt life.

How cool is it that Jesus says "whatever you ask in My name, that I will do" Im here to tell you I know my God takes care of all my needs (and some wants).
This whole passage tells of Gods love for us. First Jesus says we will do greater works than him. Thats not a gift you give to someone you don't love. Then Jesus says just ask me and I will give it to you, wow thats incredible. Then without asking Jesus gives us a lifelong helper(Holy ghost?). To end this passage he tells the orphans, the ones that are abandoned, that he will come for them. Nothing but love here..
see yall later man

Anonymous said...

My partner is Tyler.

This passage basically said to me keeping His commandments is the right thing to do, but as everyone knows sin is all around us and that makes keeping the commandments one of the most difficult things to do. If keeping the commandments is showing your love for God then we all nedd to give our all in keeping the ten commandments.

Jessica M said...

GREAT SONG :) HA! your funny!

We can forever say that we love God, but HE says if you truly do love HIM than you will keep HIS commandments and obey what HE or our life. So I need to learn to keep full trust in God. He is in control. We can asked God anything through pray in HIS name and if it is God's will it will be done. By putting your faith in Christ that HE has everything in control (and I think that has been a lesson that I learned this week) than things will just fall into place they way they are suppose to. Even if at first we think, what is going on? Why is God allowing me to suffer like this? We see God working...

Another I want to share that I learned this week is... even though we pray for someone because they are in the wrong doesn't mean we will see a change in them but in ourselves and in our hearts!!


goodnight

Jess

Mallory B (basketball team) said...

Yea... my 8th time on!!!My partner IS jessica massey...

I think its cool how some of the shortest verses are some of the most powerful and meaningful!! Anything that Jesus says even if its 1 or 2 words can mean so much!
Something that I KNOW EVERYONE needs to work on is Keeping His commndments just like He says in verse 15. (Obey Him and PRAY that He will guide you through everyday life.)In verse 18 He basically is telling us that He will not leave us ALONE...He will come to us. I will c u all later. BYE!

Anonymous said...

Ok so Basically what Jesus is saying is that if you keep His commandments and follow Him then anything you ask in His name will be given 2 you but by anything correct me is im wrong but that doesnt mean that car i want if i ask Jesus in His name He will give it to me thats not how it works bubba.
P.S.Batman The Dark Knight comes out to night at 12:00 go see it its gonna be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Heres the trailer watch it > http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj9MDHtRHTg

Rachel☺; said...

so i kinda have two parteners if thats allowed;
Kacey + Ryan

andd i cant/havent talk(ed) to ryan today so,
he probably will forget.
but ill remind him a lottt starting tomorrow (:

And im sorry if my devos are short today but i have sarah over and
she says hi. ?

Hmmm, so i love all of the security and promise we get from the bible. Sometimes i forget all of the good things i gain with God.
The orphan reference reminds me of how abandoned -like orphans- people are without Jesus and then how amazing things can be when they just accept His way and gain that new life.

RYAN said...

WOW. its great how Jesus thinks we can do greater things than what he has done. i like how Jesus said we will never be orphans it makes me feel comforted knowing that no matter what we will always have jesus and will never be abandoned as long as we have axepted him as our personal savior.

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