Ephesians 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.



Thanks Giving. A holiday where people family's come to together in a meal in which we are celebrating our thankfulness. In this passage in Paul is giving his thanks to the Ephesians for their love in the Lord. He has them in his prayers that the Lord might work and move in them. He prays that's God would give them the eyes and hearts to live as they are called to live. He preaches that our Lord is the Lord of all, the he'd of all church's, our savior.
This thanks giving I also give my praise and thanks giving for my friends and silly and everybody else. Often times our holidays are spent with people slaving over a meal, fighting, and awkward moments. But this year I challenge you sand back and appreciate all that God has given us. Look at our families. Our friends. Our jobs and everything in-between. James tells us that we are to be thankful for the good times and bad and that God uses even the worst moments in our life to make His glory known to the world.
This year I am thankful for all that he has done for me. I am thankful for Sammy yelling at the tv playing football. I am thankful for awesome his from Ellie. I am thankful for stupid jokes and B rate movies with Sarah. Thankful for worship with Rachel. Heart to hearts with Uncle Tony. Reality checks with Aunt Karen. Awkward moments with Anna. Loving parents. Amazing new friends from church. My brothers in Christ at Tim's House. Teasing Kris and gets joked back. Lunches with Tim. Spending Fridays with my awesome 1st-5th graders from Kids Klub. And my friends back in Colorado.
This year I got the opportunity to share in a thanks giving meal with my friends from Timothy Ministry. Some of these men have no family's to go home to or anybody to share the holiday with but we're still thankful for all that God has given them. Over the past four months these men became good friends who I look forward to sharing in the Gospel with each Friday morning. I then spend 2 hours cleaning the kitchen, and I would have to say that this has been the best thanks giving yet, worry less about myself and more about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
As Thanks Giving comes to an end I give my praise and thanks to God for each of your lives. I hope that God bless you with abundance and with burden. I pay that you open your heart up to Gods will and his blessing. Give thanks to our God for he is good. He is all we need and will always provide.


I pray for you and your walk with Christ.

Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22

Abraham Tested

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.


I don't know about you but something my faith in God is not the greatest. It is an act that is easier said then done. Often times I have conversation with people about how life is going and tell them that if they put their faith in God he will always come through, then with some events in life try to go about them without God in mind. And often times, when we do things on our own we are just setting our selves up to fail. God instructs all of us to put our lives into His hands and He will protect and watch over us. He has a funny way of coming through and can see the bigger picture long before we could even imagine it.
During the past week and a half I have been in a bad emotional, physical, and spiritual state. I had gotten in an argument with everybody from my roommate to my family, thinking that what I was doing was right. (See where the I comes into place). I had gotten into a fight with my younger cousin. I was spending less time in Gods word and "just getting by" with my faith. All of these things helped to jump start my underlying depressive syptomns. On top of all of these things I was scheduled to work on Friday which was my times serving God and I was not happy about having to work. With all of these things happening I was putting less and less faith into Gods plan for my life.
God knew from the start that my spiritual life and relationship with Him was being effected on a deeper level and that I needed to be drawn back closer to him. As I sit here on this Friday where I should have been at Kids Klub, I instead was given the opprotunity to emirs myself in the Lord. God has planned my "retreat" away from my duties at church and home months before I could have imagined. Having spent the last six hours reading the bible, listening to sermons, worshiping and praying I realized God was calling me back to Him and used my job to bring me back to Him. If I had been putting my entire faith into Gods plan this revelation would not have come as such a shock to my life.
In this passage in Genesis we see one of the greatest acts of faith in the Old Testament, maybe one of the greatest in the entire bible. Abraham being a man of God yet fully human has his test of faith and even his own rocks of faith. Not thinking that he was going to be able to have a son of his own, his son Isaac was the joy of his life. God has given Abraham the ultimate test of faith, coming to Abraham he commanded that he take Isaac his beloved son and use him as a burnt offering to God. Not being a parent yet I can not imagine the amount of faith Abraham had to even contemplate this command. The next morning, being the man of faith that Abraham is, he prepared his donkeys, two servants and his son Isaac and set out to the region of Moriah. Upon arrival Abraham and Isaac left the servants and went up the mountain God had showed them and began to prepare the alter for the sacrifice. As Isaac helped in the preparation he began to notice that they had forgotten to bring the lamb for the offering and he began to inquire on the situation. His father explained that God would provide an offering for the alter and they continued their preparation of the alter, Isaac caring the wood and knife for this own death.
After the alter was completed Abraham bound and tied Isaac up and placed him on the alter. Now the bible dosnt state this but can you imagine the fear, the thoughts that were swirling in Isaac mind as this was all going on! I can almost guarantee that Isaac was scared out of his mind. As Abraham was just about sacrifice his son and angel of the Lord called out to him commanding him to stop! He acknowledged Abraham for his fear in the Lord and his strong faith in the Lord because he did not withhold his son from the Lord. Abraham then saw a ram caught in the thistle and he caught the ram and used it as a burnt offering to the Lord. Because of Abrahams faith in the Lord the Lord promised him that God would bless him and his decadents would be as nurmous as the stars.
Can you imagine having the faith strong enough to sacrifice a loved one to God? Sure at times our kids, siblings and loved ones bug us to the point we wouldn't mind it but at the end of the day that is a huge leap of faith. This is why Abraham is labeled the Father of Faith, he trusted in Gods plan for Him to such a extent that he would even sacrifice his one true son to the Lord. Luckily for us the Lord has made a promise to us that he will never ask of that magnitude again. Or does He? God sent his one and only son to be a sacrifice for each and everyone us so that our sins would be forgiven and we can have eternal life in the Lord. And although we are not called to physical "die" we are called to die of ourselves and be born again into the Lord. Giving our own lives entirely to Him, who gave up His life for ourselves and our sins. This passage in Genesis is an amazing example of the type of faith we are to be living on a daily bases. Give all of your trust to the Lord.
This evening I was supposed to teach at Kids and had to switch lessons with another leader. This is where God was working even more in my life that is beyond amazing. As I began to prepare for my lesson I will be teaching in two weeks this passage was the one that I will be teaching on. This lesson: one faith in the Lord, the one I was to be teaching, was a lesson that I had to learn on my own first hand. Had I gotten the Friday off I would have had a different lesson to teach and not been impacted like I was tonight. God has a plan for each and every aspect of our lives we just need to trust in Him and His plan. We wants control of every aspect of our lives. Give it to Him! My God is a God of understand, forgiveness, Love, joy and grace. And He wants that for our lives! How crazy is that? That such a powerful God wants to provide for us, who are unworthy of such a love!
Next week...no starting now, I want you to look at your life! Are you putting your faith in God? Do you have somebody who you can talk to about your walk with Christ? Somebody who can hold you accountable? I challenge you to re-read this passage and pray on it, study it, learn from it just like I am. Abraham is a amazing example of the faith we should all have. Try to have faith like his for one week, if it dosnt effect you, email me and we will go get coffee, my treat!

I pray for you and your walk with Christ.