Real people

Saturday saw the beginning of what is now going to be a series on temptation. The passage to be the focal point of this series is Matthew 4:1-11 on the temptation of our Lord. The original plan was to speak on the whole passage but there was just so much in the first verse that demanded going back to gleaning a deeper understanding of temptation itself and what Scripture says about it. We talked about the object of temptation, which is our flesh and how the Bible describes this. This was good in setting the stage for an understanding of how Christ was tempted and did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).
This opportunity was a huge learning process in my own inadequacy that is pointing me more and more to God's power. I was discouraged however, at how I seemed to deviate from my original message but it was humbling at the same time in how God uses such times to show me my weakness. It seemed to me that what I spoke did not flow. My prayer is that God uses His Word that was spoken as I grow in proclaiming it.
One thing that really blew me away though this Saturday was on the pain and suffering people go through. Marriages are broken, children are filled with so much anger, and the men there are in so much anguish trying to make it one day at a time. These are real people with real problems and really broken, well, at least most of them. At times when I hear the degree of enslavement they are in I am speechless. I am thankful though that we have a great High Priest who sympathizes with out weakness. I am thankful that in those times when I don't know what to say, I know who to point them to. Lets continue praying for these men.

John - He had a stroke recently and has lost part of his speech. Be in prayer that God might grant him healing.
Justin - Be in prayer for his family and children. Please pray for restoration with his family, and wife especially, as they are going to be divorced. Also, pray that God would reveal himself to him and that he would be able to trust in Him.
Ricardo - Pray for his family and friends.
Anthony - He asks prayer for his brother, that he might be set free from his enslavement. Also, pray for his children and his wife during his time in rehab and that he would learn to control his tongue and his anger.
Edmund - He desires to remain clean from now on. Pray for him that God would show him his need for a Savior.
Steven - Pray for his family and friends, especially those who are encouraging him to change. May he be changed by Christ and follow in obedience to him. He has been thinking about the legacy that he wants to leave behind, and you can pray that it would cause him to think about his life and his need for Christ.
Eddie - Continue to pray for his wife and seven children. His wife just got diagnosed with cancer. Pray that God would use those circumstances to work in both, Eddie and his wife, that they would be obedient to God and desire to please Him with their decisions.