Sunday, June 29, 2008
Leaving on Tuesday...
I just wanted to update you before i left for Alaska. I leave this coming Tuesday, July 1st from the Savannah Airport leaving around 9:15 in the morning. Arriving in Atlanta. 4 hour layover then 8 hour plan ride to Ancourage. 12 hour layover in Ancourage then July 2nd we head to Kotzebue Alaska. While we are there we will be doing a day of games with the children. A day of crafts with the children. Participate in their 4th of July festivities & help in the remodeling of their church. Thank you all so much already for your prayers and support through the many months of planning. You will never know how much this means to me! Thank you thank you thank you for your support!
A few prayer requset:
-Safe traveling mercies
-Good health for our team
-for our luggage to arrive with us
-for our hearts to be open
-that in all we say and do that we will bring glory to God
-that the people of Kotzebue would be open to the word
Heres a list of the team that i am traveling with:
KayCAndersonNikki BerryNathan CarpenterRonaldLCox, Jr.StephanieLDealWileneRDickeyDeborahCEdwardsKristy SGarnerJamesFGarner, IIIBrianRHoltBonnieDHowardSandra JeffriesReneeNMcKenziePaul MooreChristineOOglesbyBarbaraDPabstGeorgeCPabstLynroseMParrishAnnJPrice
While i'm in Alaska i will have limited phone access but will have access to the internet. To keep everyone as informed as possible i have set up a blog it is
http://godsgirll.blogspot.com
Thank you all!
Love,
Stephanie Deal
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Unity in the Body!
This morning in church we began talking about Unity & how before Jesus died He talked to His disciples leaving these words from John chapter 17 vs. 6-26
Jesus Prays for His Disciples 6"I have revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jesus Prays for All Believers 20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Wow! What powerful words! So I began thinking more about unity. Dictionary.com states Unity as ‘a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one’ So shouldn’t the church (not the different buildings but the body of Believers be able to join together for the common goal? To win souls for Christ? We must live in UNITY AS THE BODY OF BELIEVERS in order to bring glory to God. We can’t have a struggle or disagreement among our brothers and sisters and still effectively witness & live for Christ. Unity within the Body of Christ allows us to reach other for HIS glory!
My pastor described it in this way…When those that are called to fish, don’t fish; they fight. We should all be fishing, that is our job in this world. We are to never give up & daily fish for lost souls by loving them & caring for them but when we are not fishing as the Lord commands, we tend to fight. That really hit me hard…how many times do I fight with my parents or my sister. Those are Brothers and sisters in Christ…& I am not effectively bringing Glory to HIM b/c I am fighting with my brothers & sisters.
So How can we become One? By praying for those that persecute us, pray for those that are sick, pray for those & thank God for those people in your life that encourage you & push you in the right direction. & never forget to Thank God for all of His blessing each day. Ask Him to bring unity to your church & to the Body of Believers. I’m praying will you join me?
Jesus Prays for His Disciples 6"I have revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jesus Prays for All Believers 20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Wow! What powerful words! So I began thinking more about unity. Dictionary.com states Unity as ‘a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one’ So shouldn’t the church (not the different buildings but the body of Believers be able to join together for the common goal? To win souls for Christ? We must live in UNITY AS THE BODY OF BELIEVERS in order to bring glory to God. We can’t have a struggle or disagreement among our brothers and sisters and still effectively witness & live for Christ. Unity within the Body of Christ allows us to reach other for HIS glory!
My pastor described it in this way…When those that are called to fish, don’t fish; they fight. We should all be fishing, that is our job in this world. We are to never give up & daily fish for lost souls by loving them & caring for them but when we are not fishing as the Lord commands, we tend to fight. That really hit me hard…how many times do I fight with my parents or my sister. Those are Brothers and sisters in Christ…& I am not effectively bringing Glory to HIM b/c I am fighting with my brothers & sisters.
So How can we become One? By praying for those that persecute us, pray for those that are sick, pray for those & thank God for those people in your life that encourage you & push you in the right direction. & never forget to Thank God for all of His blessing each day. Ask Him to bring unity to your church & to the Body of Believers. I’m praying will you join me?
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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