Congratulations to the boys teen class who won the bible trivia contest on teen night. It was a close contest and the girls only trailed by two points. The teachers did an excellent job and the students knew their stuff. Thanks to all of the parents and teachers who helped to make it a success. I look forward to the next one!
Mat 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
According to Matthew 10:1, Judas, one of the twelve, had been given power to cast out unclean spirits and to heal. He became an example of betrayal and his name is synonymous with being a traitor. What happened? He was given power, but didn't use it. Instead of casting out the unclean spirits, he became a friend to them and they entered him....satan entered into him.(Luke 22:3)
For those of you who don't already know, the Lord directed our steps back to the United States. We served nearly 4 and 1/2 years in the Philippines and will miss many of the people who became our friends, brothers and sisters.
We are now pastoring a church in St. Louis and the Lord is blessing us. We have settled in for the most part, and enjoying the challenge set before us.
Keep us in your prayers.
Follow @ddevonshireWhen David came to the valley of Elah, he was concerned about the "uncircumcised Philistine" the giant Goliath, and the reproach that he brought to God by his boasting. No one had stepped up to accept the challenge for the Lord. David, motivated for God's glory, stood and defeated this blow-hard.
Later, David's sin with Bathsheba, was a reason that the enemies could blaspheme against the Lord.
What happened? David went from concern that no one would stand up for God, to actually being the one to bring shame to God!
One clue might be found in the aftermath, he instructed Joab to send Uriah, Bathsheba's husband to his death and then when informed about it, he told Joab "Let not this thing displease thee..." He was concerned how Joab would view his treacherous actions, how his IMAGE would be in the eyes of Joab. He was not concerned about how he looked in God's eyes! Note that the bible used the same word a few verses later... "The thing that David did displeased the Lord."
We enter dangerous territory when we are more concerned about what man thinks, then about what God thinks of us. When we are thinking about our image and about what our peers think, instead of what will bring glory to God, we are certain to misstep.
It is this image consciousness that prevents us from doing some of the things that God beckons us to do. We are concerned how others might react to our actions. "What will they think?" Let us pray that God delivers us from that question and instead we ask the more important one: "What will HE (God) think?"
Follow @ddevonshireThe little boy had the task of making a sentence and gave the teacher this one, "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher said, you must not understand what that word means. Do you know what pregnant means? Sure, the little boy replied, It means carrying a child!
I am not the only one pregnant, the apostle Paul was too...
Could we not also describe one who is pregnant as expecting, as in "I am expecting." or one who is full of life and about to give birth? One who longs to give life to another.
That is what I mean when I say I am pregnant. I am expecting and I am full of life inside of my spirit and soul.
And where does that life come from? From an intimate relationship with God. He is the one that puts that life within us!
So then we like Paul can say "I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." If you are a Christian, you ought to be pregnant too, and today is the delivery day.
Follow @ddevonshireMore than conquerors? To conquer is to completely defeat your enemy. So what then is being more then conquerors? John Piper in his book "Don't Waste Your Life" (which can be downloaded for free here) gives some insight. He shares, a conqueror subjugates his foe, but one that is more than a conqueror, makes that foe his slave. The conquered enemy starts working for you. Paul said "This light affliction worketh for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory..."
The enemy which came Paul's way was affliction. Paul conquered it by not letting it separate him from Christ, but then went on to be more than a conqueror by making that affliction work for him that "exceeding weight of glory!"
Earlier in the chapter Paul tells us "All things work together for good to them that love God..."
When the trials, struggles and affliction come to fight us and destroy us, we become more than conquerors and those same problems start working for us.
So then we like Joseph can say, "You meant it for my evil, but God meant it for my good!"
