Weekly Newsletter 3/22-3/29
FBC Marysville Weekly Newsletter
Announcements:
- Reminder: We will gather as we regularly do on both Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, but will hold an additional 6pm service on Good Friday 4/3.
- Missions: April will be our big missions give month! We will collect offerings and donations for the entire month of April which will be designated to the specific local, state, national, and international missions we support. This is a new step in faith for our church to focus more intimately on the greater impact our church can have outside of our property line. Let's faithfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially serve God's kingdom through giving to this effort.
- Serving: Ask Pastor Anthony about serving opportunities in our church family. There are many ways you can be a part of our Sunday morning teams which run the a/v booth, pray before and after gatherings, greet those coming in, and a few others. What a joy to serve the Lord and one another in this family.
Prayer Requests:
- Continue praying for Russ and Betty Williams as they deal with their health struggles as of late. Pray these loving and faithful servants of the Lord would be restored in full as soon as possible.
- Pray for your one! That person who the Lord is laying on your heart who you are to pursue with the gospel. Pray that God would place someone on your heart, if He has not already, who you will actively pray for and share Jesus with.
- Pray for those loved ones in our church family who have not been able to attend recently. Pray God would minister to them and build them up as we long for them to be back in fellowship with us.
Weekly Devotion from Acts 19:11-20
In this past week's sermon text, we discussed the work that God was doing through Paul to heal the sick and free those oppressed by evil spirits. We also spoke of the people in Ephesus becoming incredibly reverent of the name of Jesus and many who believed began to leave their old ways, confess their sin, and spread the Word of God more than they previously had. God was doing great work, and what I'm struck by this week is the middle section of this passage where there is a contrast between the false and true servants of the Lord.
"Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, 'I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.' Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?'"(Ac. 19:11-20 ESV).
This particular section of the passage is lingering in my mind this week again, because of the contrast depicted. See, in prior verses, Luke explains that Paul was being used by God to heal so powerfully, that people were taking garments of his and bringing them to the sick and afflicted in order that they would be restored. Then, we get this almost comical picture of some itinerant exorcists who have witnessed Paul's Christ-centered ministry and they try to mimic his tactics to no avail. See, many will use the name of Christ, many will claim to be God-fearing or spiritual, but the Lord knows those who are His. God had blessed the ministry of Paul who invoked the name of His Savior and Lord in these situations, but the reason the evil Spirit had no fear of the sons of Sceva was because they were not marked by Christ at all. Paul was marked by Christ because he had repented of his sin and believed in Jesus for his salvation, and joined God's mission for world redemption as a result. Those who were questioned by the demon had done no such thing. They invoked He who they did not know. May it never be the same for us. Measure yourself to the true gospel and respond to it by turning from sin and looking to Jesus.
The demon replied to those who wrongly used the name of Jesus by stating, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?' This is interesting and extraordinary for many purposes, but one which jumps off the page is that Paul was so useful to God and made such a kingdom impact for the Lord against evil that the demons recognized him. We should strive to achieve the same. Are we a people who the enemy is not concerned about? Are we a people who have not made a big enough impact for the demons to recognize us for our work? These questions are not to scare you, they are to cause reflection. We should not run and hide from the enemy. We are to go on offense against evil as soldiers vetted by God Himself to take up arms and reach the globe with His gracious gospel of hope for a lost and dying world.
Spurgeon said, "The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil, the crack and sound of which makes all hell shake." The Christian Paul used this tool often and so should we. Work hard against the kingdom of evil and let us be a people so useful to God that the enemies working hard against us recognize our very names.
Pastor Anthony Lampron