October 7, 2019
Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
New International Version (NIV)
                 We come from a long line of church planters.  On my dad’s side, my 3-Great Grandfather planted churches in the Powell valley of Tennessee in the Cumberland Mountains.  My maternal grandparents planted a couple of churches as lay-leaders in Amarillo.  Grandma who loved children kept the nursery in those churches.  As I grow older, their love for planting churches means more to me as we sponsor a church-planting center at Tallowood.

                All Christians share in the heritage of church planting.  Paul and Barnabas were among the very first church planters.  After they preached in Derbe, they went back to their previous churches and helped them establish leaders.  Finding leaders and planting churches requires a lot of prayer.  So intense was their focus that they coupled their prayer with fasting.  Jesus had said, “When you fast . . .” assuming his disciples would do so. 

                Like Paul and Barnabas we want the best for our Christian friends.  Sometimes we can’t help them, personally.  What do we do for people over whom we have no ultimate control?  I’m thinking about our kids when they grow up and our Christian friends who are struggling in some way.  Paul and Barnabas show the way:  “They committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”  When we know our loved ones know the Lord, we can safely open our hands, let go of them and leave them in God’s hands.  They have believed in the Lord and he wants the very best for them.  As much as we love our friends and former ministers, God loves them even more.  So we commit them to him, and trust the God who not only plants churches but plants lives and grows them up into Oaks of Righteousness.  
Pray with me:       
Father, thank you for planting the truth in our souls.  Help us to grow up in our relationship with Christ.  Today we commit those whom we love to you, in whom they have believed.  Faithful God, increase their faith and ours, we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  
This year our Every Day with Jesus readings will follow The Bible Project Read Scripture Plan.  Copies of this reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download 
the app at readscripture.org.  Read through the Bible with us in 2019!
Joyfully, 
Duane 

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