Dec 5

John 7:28-29
28 While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him.
29 But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.”

George Balanchine was a famous ballet teacher/choreographer. Maury Wills was a baseball player, one of the speediest base runners of all time. Fra Filippo Lippi was a great Italian painter in the fifteenth century. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights leader of the sixties. Christopher Wren was a renowned architect, who rebuilt much of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Each of these individuals excelled at something-baseball, painting, statesman-ship. But there is something else that each of them had in common with the others: They not only did something well, they taught others. Balanchine's students seemed to dance like no one else; his style and genius was evident in the techniques of those who learned from him. Lippi was a great artist, but the fame of his students-such as Sandro Botticelli and his own son, Filippino Lippi-equaled or excelled his own. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the face of American politics; those who learned from him (such as Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson) extended his influence. Christopher Wren was a genius in the field of architecture, but many young architects since his time have been influenced by his work. Those people were "masters," individuals who became so good at what they did that other people worked hard to learn from them and imitate them. Well, when it comes to morality-knowing and doing what is right-there is only one Master, and that is God. Everyone else among us fumbles around, sometimes doing right but often doing wrong. Only God is good (Mark 10:18). And he is good all the time. He is the Master we must all learn from. Not only that, unlike Balanchine, Lippi, King, and Wren, God is not only skilled in his "field," he is the Creator and originator of everything that is good. In other words, the reason honesty is right (for example), is because God is true. There is nothing false in him. And because God is always true, he wants us to tell the truth and to be honest in everything we do.

REFLECT: How many schoolteachers (including Sunday school) do you think you've had? Which teacher do you think has had the most influence on you in the area of honesty? Do you think people would describe you as real and truthful? Would you describe yourself that way? How can you be more like the "Master" in truthfulness?

PRAY: "God, I need your help to be truthful to______________ today."

This one kinda forced me to read the actual written paragraph for me to get anything down, but it was a nice read. It was kinda suckish to have very few verses from the Bible though. Oh well.

I think this one really seeks to explain that even though that we are really a huge community building to become God's Kingdom, he could've easily done it with one pinky of His. It sort of seeks to explain how from every part we contribute, it's as if he has to worry about one less thing. But really, it shows how might our God really is. It's odd that we really don't fear him whatsoever in our everyday lives. We have to be slapped silly by the Bible every time we decide to take a peek at Revelations, and only then do we realize; "Oh right, he can simply get rid of us if he wants to" and really, because he doesn't and he shows so much compassion for our people we have to be thankful and cry in gratefulness everyday. Building the relationship with God also means building up in gratefulness for what he's done for us.

I think it's important to FEAR God as much as we RESPECT HIM.
He's the allmighty Lord, and really, he thinks from a totally different dimensional point of view.

No clue where the devo story came from in terms of talking about truth, but that's cool I guess.
Though I didn't get much from the devo, I did get that God is supposed to be our #1 influence. No matter what we do, we should be following in God's footsteps, and there's no other way to get to be like him besides doing that. Every decision we make, we should be asking ourselves whether or not God would be happy with it, in this case, it's being truthful. Though we can almost certainly never become "masters" at being Christlike, we can certainly lead by example. Every step closer we take to being like God, we are leading others in this direction as well. Upholding the virtues that Christ has instilled in us is the most effective way to get the gospel out there. We have to be acting on our faith for others to understand what we're all about. So even apart from church, try to be like God in everything you do.

Must get some more sleep.....

Well, This is what I've got for today:
as we grow in our faith we learn. I know it sounds a little confusing but we get stronger when we are weak.
Learn from our mistakes and grow. Make the choices that god wants you to make. Follow his words and you're going the right way. Have god your role model and the shape of your life. Listen to him and also talk to him. He knows Everything about you and is eager to see his children mature in faith.

That's pretty much it....good night!
~Audrey~

You know those people that you really want to be like when you're older?
Perhaps it's your parent, teacher, favourite musician, or favourite athlete.
But I think this devo is telling us that, no matter who you aspire to be like, God should be the number one influence in your life. There is probably so much that God wants to teach us, but unfortunately humans will never be able to fully learn every single detail. Be like God as much as possible, follow in his steps, and think twice before you make any hasty decisions.

God should be our number 1 influence in our lives. he is our creater and he teaches us so many different things in a single day. he send his one and only son to earth to set an example for us and to show his glory to all. we should try as we go on with our daily lives to follow the path of Jesus and the example he has set here on earth. before you do anything, think whether or not what you are doing is something that God would disapprove of; think twice before you do anything like what Sarah said. it is definitely hard but it should be something that we are willing to take the risk into doing.

To be honest, I think pastor Dan has been one of the greatest influences for me, especially with him serving as a youth pastor as well. He's shown me when it's appropriate to fool around but when to be serious and get down to business. God uses these influences in our individual lives, as men does truly sharpen another. And he's shown me how to behave, especially when it comes to telling the truth. Pastor Dan has been much like a second father to me, guiding me through that intended path, made by God.

Ive definately had over 15 different teachers thoughout my lifetime. and the ones that influenced me the most... wer emy sunday school teachers. To school teachers, id lie and do anything to stay out of trouble... but to my sunday school teachers... its not an option to lie to get out of class or in trouble. there is no point to it... id like to say that im a truthful person.. and lie only when it is needed and is necessary. We all sin by lying... we could be more like God if we do try to prevent sin from happening and also not partaking in sin ourselves. Lying is a big sin but we do it naturally... we should keep the knowledge in our heads that lying is a major sin and should be stoppped...