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.
FRIDAY, April, 18th, 2008
Hey Everyone! Stay faithful this weekend! Dont slack off, make it a priority! Be in Sunday School on Sunday at 9:15 am! Sorry Kasey for spelling your name as Kacey :)
Enjoy your day everyone! My parent will be here Sunday morning! Make sure you say hey to them! They love to come see you guys!
Ephesians 4:1-6
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
This passage is about the unity that we share as Christians and the unity in Christ Jesus. First of all it jumps out at me, that Paul is not bragging about How great of a Christian he is. No, He is humbly calling himself the prisoner of the Lord. He has given himself over to God permanently because He was called to do so. Paul then tells us that we need to walk, (or live) worthy of our calling. In other words, God has called us to do Great and Mighty Things! We need to live like it! Lets live like we have a higher calling than just wasting our life away. Then, when we walk worthy of our calling, we need to do so, humbly like Paul did. And the word that sticks me everytime is that word longsuffering! I usually dont have the attitude that I am willing to "Suffer long" for something. I usuallly tell myself that "I dont deserve this". But God says, show your love to me by being willing to suffer if that is what happens. Lets be longsuffering!
Enjoy your day everyone! My parent will be here Sunday morning! Make sure you say hey to them! They love to come see you guys!
Ephesians 4:1-6
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
This passage is about the unity that we share as Christians and the unity in Christ Jesus. First of all it jumps out at me, that Paul is not bragging about How great of a Christian he is. No, He is humbly calling himself the prisoner of the Lord. He has given himself over to God permanently because He was called to do so. Paul then tells us that we need to walk, (or live) worthy of our calling. In other words, God has called us to do Great and Mighty Things! We need to live like it! Lets live like we have a higher calling than just wasting our life away. Then, when we walk worthy of our calling, we need to do so, humbly like Paul did. And the word that sticks me everytime is that word longsuffering! I usually dont have the attitude that I am willing to "Suffer long" for something. I usuallly tell myself that "I dont deserve this". But God says, show your love to me by being willing to suffer if that is what happens. Lets be longsuffering!
THURSDAY, April 17th 2008
Hey Everyone~ Give a shout out to Kasey! She is turning 15 today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASEY!!!
Ephesians 2:12-22
12 At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Wow, This passage is packed full so bear with me. In the Old testeament, God mainly focuses on his "chosen people" which are the children of Israel, (known today as the Jews). God used the Children of Israel to show his provision and protection for a group of people. Ok, there is alot more information about that, but I will move on, or this could get really long. So the pride and prejudices of The Jews vs. The Gentiles were huge. During these new testament times, the Jews thought that they were still "all that" and the Gentiles thought that they were "all that" so they all hated each other. Literally to the point that there was a wall outside of the temple that showed the Gentiles how close they could get before they would get killed. Now we come all the way back to the passage: Hopefully it should make a little more sense for you now!
The Gentiles, (people who were not jewish, like you and me) had no hope!! (vs. 12) But because of the blood of Christ, we now, (who are not jewish) can have the hope of salvation! Christ broke down the middle wall of separation! (The wall that kept us out of the temple) (14) And now we all have access to God (18) We are no longer strangers to God! He died for us and we are his! I am so glad that God was not prejudice to his people alone (the Jews) I am so thankful that he made salvation available to the Gentiles! (YOU AND ME!!!)
So Today was a little Deep! But also it was so powerful! STAY FAITHFUL IN THE WORD! GREAT JOB!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASEY!!!
Ephesians 2:12-22
12 At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Wow, This passage is packed full so bear with me. In the Old testeament, God mainly focuses on his "chosen people" which are the children of Israel, (known today as the Jews). God used the Children of Israel to show his provision and protection for a group of people. Ok, there is alot more information about that, but I will move on, or this could get really long. So the pride and prejudices of The Jews vs. The Gentiles were huge. During these new testament times, the Jews thought that they were still "all that" and the Gentiles thought that they were "all that" so they all hated each other. Literally to the point that there was a wall outside of the temple that showed the Gentiles how close they could get before they would get killed. Now we come all the way back to the passage: Hopefully it should make a little more sense for you now!
The Gentiles, (people who were not jewish, like you and me) had no hope!! (vs. 12) But because of the blood of Christ, we now, (who are not jewish) can have the hope of salvation! Christ broke down the middle wall of separation! (The wall that kept us out of the temple) (14) And now we all have access to God (18) We are no longer strangers to God! He died for us and we are his! I am so glad that God was not prejudice to his people alone (the Jews) I am so thankful that he made salvation available to the Gentiles! (YOU AND ME!!!)
So Today was a little Deep! But also it was so powerful! STAY FAITHFUL IN THE WORD! GREAT JOB!
WEDNESDAY, April 16th, 2008
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
This passage was written to us to show us what we came from and what we have now. So, where did we come from? Verses 2 and 3 make that clear: We followed the pathway of Satan (the prince of the power of the air) and we lived like the world. We followed our own lusts and our fleshly desires. We were followes of the world and therefore followers of Satan. BUT! God saw us while we were dead in sin and He made us alive as we read in verse 1 and verse 4. So we were low-life pond scum and Christ took us, made us alive, raised us up, and will put us in heavenly places all because of His grace! Now that is some AMAZING GRACE! There is nothing that I could have done to save myself! I WAS DEAD! But God saw this dead man and chose you and I to be his "workmanship", His most prized creation, so that we would live for Him. I am so glad that God chose me! Arent you glad that he poured his grace on you and made you alive?
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
This passage was written to us to show us what we came from and what we have now. So, where did we come from? Verses 2 and 3 make that clear: We followed the pathway of Satan (the prince of the power of the air) and we lived like the world. We followed our own lusts and our fleshly desires. We were followes of the world and therefore followers of Satan. BUT! God saw us while we were dead in sin and He made us alive as we read in verse 1 and verse 4. So we were low-life pond scum and Christ took us, made us alive, raised us up, and will put us in heavenly places all because of His grace! Now that is some AMAZING GRACE! There is nothing that I could have done to save myself! I WAS DEAD! But God saw this dead man and chose you and I to be his "workmanship", His most prized creation, so that we would live for Him. I am so glad that God chose me! Arent you glad that he poured his grace on you and made you alive?
TUESDAY, April 15th, 2008
Ephesians 1:15-23
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Paul cares so much about the people of the church at Ephesus that he does not cease to pray for them. In other words he is praying for them every time he thinks about them. In the Red we see Paul tell them that he is praying for them, and then in the orange we see all of the things that Paul prays for. Lets start the convition this way: What friend do you have that you pray for every time you think of them? What friend do you have that you pray for on a weekly basis?...ok What friend do you have that you have EVER prayed for? Well hopefuilly the answer in not "none". It is something that you may not think of often, but it is something that we see here is SO IMPORTANT! Lets take a look at what Paul prays for his friends about.
First Paul prays that they will have Gods wisdom and Revelation: Do you know anyone that might need those things? (If you cant think of someone, THEN PRAY FOR ME THAT WAY!!)
Second, Paul prays that they will have open eyes to see what Gods calling is for their life!
Thirdly, Paul prays that His friends will see the Power of God in their life, and he goes on to explain that they can see that same power that raised God from the dead!!
I need to pray for my friends more!!!!! I think you probably do to!! Lets take 5 minutes after this devotion and make a list of friends we can pray for: whether it be for Salvation, for their spiritual growth, maybe even their family or their job... Whatever the case: take some time and pray for your friends today, and keep that list close by so that you can do it again tomorrow!
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Paul cares so much about the people of the church at Ephesus that he does not cease to pray for them. In other words he is praying for them every time he thinks about them. In the Red we see Paul tell them that he is praying for them, and then in the orange we see all of the things that Paul prays for. Lets start the convition this way: What friend do you have that you pray for every time you think of them? What friend do you have that you pray for on a weekly basis?...ok What friend do you have that you have EVER prayed for? Well hopefuilly the answer in not "none". It is something that you may not think of often, but it is something that we see here is SO IMPORTANT! Lets take a look at what Paul prays for his friends about.
First Paul prays that they will have Gods wisdom and Revelation: Do you know anyone that might need those things? (If you cant think of someone, THEN PRAY FOR ME THAT WAY!!)
Second, Paul prays that they will have open eyes to see what Gods calling is for their life!
Thirdly, Paul prays that His friends will see the Power of God in their life, and he goes on to explain that they can see that same power that raised God from the dead!!
I need to pray for my friends more!!!!! I think you probably do to!! Lets take 5 minutes after this devotion and make a list of friends we can pray for: whether it be for Salvation, for their spiritual growth, maybe even their family or their job... Whatever the case: take some time and pray for your friends today, and keep that list close by so that you can do it again tomorrow!
MONDAY, April 14th, 2008
Ephesians 1:1-
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Lee, The Youth Pastor of Suncoast Youth Group at Suncoast Baptist Church in Port Charlotte writes this blog to you for the Glory of God...
That is exactly how Paul started the book of ephesians. Back in His day, you started out a letter by letting the person who is reading it know who wrote it. Have you ever read a whole letter not knowing who wrote it, until you got to the very end? Well, Paul was keeping that from happening. I think it is wonderful to see how much glory that Paul gave to God. The first few verses just go on and on talking about how great God is. Can you relate? Do you ever talk about How great God is? Then the remainder of the passage talks about several things, but as you can see from the highlighted portion, The theme is that God chose you! (that is also what predesitined means) God looked at you from before time and hand picked you! Wow! You are so blessed! Would you have chosen yourself? Well, if you knew how unfaithful you would be, you probably wouldnt have chosen yourself if you were in charge, But I am so Glad that God is in charge and He chose us! He Chose Me!!!! Thank you God!
The idea that He knew me, he knew every thought I would think, every word I would say, and yet God still chose me to bless and pour his love and grace all over! Wow! I want to live for Him to the best of my ability!!!
What do you think?
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Lee, The Youth Pastor of Suncoast Youth Group at Suncoast Baptist Church in Port Charlotte writes this blog to you for the Glory of God...
That is exactly how Paul started the book of ephesians. Back in His day, you started out a letter by letting the person who is reading it know who wrote it. Have you ever read a whole letter not knowing who wrote it, until you got to the very end? Well, Paul was keeping that from happening. I think it is wonderful to see how much glory that Paul gave to God. The first few verses just go on and on talking about how great God is. Can you relate? Do you ever talk about How great God is? Then the remainder of the passage talks about several things, but as you can see from the highlighted portion, The theme is that God chose you! (that is also what predesitined means) God looked at you from before time and hand picked you! Wow! You are so blessed! Would you have chosen yourself? Well, if you knew how unfaithful you would be, you probably wouldnt have chosen yourself if you were in charge, But I am so Glad that God is in charge and He chose us! He Chose Me!!!! Thank you God!
The idea that He knew me, he knew every thought I would think, every word I would say, and yet God still chose me to bless and pour his love and grace all over! Wow! I want to live for Him to the best of my ability!!!
What do you think?
SUNDAY, April 13th, 2008
THANKS FOR COMING TO SUNDAY SCHOOL!
We will begin studying the book of Ephesians tomorrow morning!
Stay faithful to your devotions! We will be giving out more information about our reward trip soon. Please stay involved and stay faithful so you can join us on this great trip!
Pastor Lee
We will begin studying the book of Ephesians tomorrow morning!
Stay faithful to your devotions! We will be giving out more information about our reward trip soon. Please stay involved and stay faithful so you can join us on this great trip!
Pastor Lee
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