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The Upside Down World, Week 2, Day 5

by David Joynt on September 21, 2017


DAY 12

THURSDAY|SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

MATTHEW 15:4-8; 11:20-24

 

Jesus is a realist about ministry! Three quarters of the soils do not yield a crop! After great ministry successes in Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has gathered a crowd by healing and teaching. The people have spiritual needs and are like “sheep without a shepherd.” He commands prayers for workers to go out into the “plentiful harvest” in Chapter 9 and sends disciples out in Chapter 10. But he does so with the warning that there will be opposition and persecution and rebuffs coming. Chapters 11 and 12 show John the Baptist’s struggles and Galilean towns like Bethsaida and Capernaum not responding to Jesus. Then in Chapter 13 comes the parable of the soils.

 

Are you realistic about ministry?

 

FAMILY TIME—

What does it look like to succeed?

In baseball, getting a hit one out of three times makes you an all star. Even great hitters strike out.

In the Christian life, we strive to be fruitful and let God handle the results.

 

Tags: ministry

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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