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Divine Imperatives August 18 Devotional

by David Joynt on August 18, 2023


MATTHEW 10:5-7 | 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

 

Jesus’ investment in His disciples was strategic. Not only did He have a cohort for support, but He could multiply His ministry. What He taught, they could share with others. What He did, they could model for others. That is why, right at the start, He emphasized that His fishermen friends would “learn to fish for people.” Learning from Jesus was less like sitting in a lecture and more like being apprenticed to a skilled craftsmen or artist or healer. The disciples were doing ministry, not just watching it. They knew about lures and bait and wind and tides, now they got a chance to grasp depth psychology, to discern attitudes, to ask questions, and to respond to needs.

 

Have you been an apprentice? Are you mentoring anyone?

 

 

Gracious God,

Put me into the game. Help me invest in others and learn to fish for people.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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