Memory Verse:  ' Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. '  

James 1:12

Sermon Sentence: Idolatry is anytime we replace anything or anyone in between God and what He deserves.

Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-22
In most Bibles, 1 Corinthians 10 is not broken up into a new section until after verse 22.  In our study, we did last week’s sermon on verses 1-13 and then this week we handled 14-22.  The reason for this is the sheer volume of examples and things Paul seems to say in those small runs.  The amount of Old Testament that he was covering was quite overwhelming.  So we have taken each of those passages in the devotions, and tried to familiarize ourselves with them.  In doing that, we don’t want to also get distracted away from Paul’s main point.  So we will look at more of those stories, but we want to focus today on our passage in 1 Corinthians.  

You would think that idolatry was a pretty serious issue the way that Paul is focusing so much time on it.  The assumption is that you could go into the majority of the homes in Corinth and find a majority of idols and statues.  I would guess that the reality of that situation is more akin to something between what we expressed here and what we experience in our lives.  Certainly it was a problem and more prevalent than what we experience.  But many of us have heard the comparisons to our own modern day “idols.”  I read a book recently that was about how we take that analogy too far and that is not a good application of these texts.  I would tend to disagree with this book, as it did not do a good job convincing me of its position, which is not the same that I was raised with.  Idolatry is nothing more than taking the very character and gifts of God and attributing them to a created person or thing.  It is a transfer of the awe and wonder that belongs to God going to someone or something else.  Maybe even simpler- giving God’s credit to anyone or anything else. Then again, the Golden Calf story that we will return to at the end of these devotions, tells a story where an idol is made and God is still declared a version of the recipient, so maybe we need a next step.  Idolatry is anytime we place anything or anyone in between God and what He deserves.  

What do you think of this definition of idolatry?

How does this help illustrate the point Paul is making here?

With this logic, make sense of verse 20 and explain what Paul is meaning.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Numbers 16:11-35
Almost every single time there is leadership, there is also an uprising against that leadership.  Add to that idea the idea that this was God’s clear direction that these guys were rising up against, and you have a good setting for unpacking this story.  This is not about leadership and its struggles, but rather about God’s clear provision and word being spoken against and the attempt of a group of men to influence and build rebellion against the story God is writing.  That is why you get all of the seemingly big theatrics going on here.  

Paul references this story in 1 Corinthians because he is illustrating the point of how not everyone that left Egypt made it to the Promised Land, or were even on God’s good side.  This story illustrates an attempt at overthrowing the leadership and anointing of Moses and Aaron to install a new leadership. Their argument is that Moses and Aaron are not the only ones that have this special place.  

Imagine you are one of the Hebrew people and you overhear a man by the name of Korah saying things like he says in verse 3.  Imagine that is the campaign he runs on. Do you agree or do you disagree and how do you convince those around you of your position?
How do you reconcile what this story seems to be teaching and what the rest of the Bible also teaches?

This will not be an easy question to answer and it may take some reflection.  

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Numbers 21:1-9
As most of you know, I absolutely love studying the Old Testament and its stories. I feel that one of my gifts is the ability to unpack God’s character and teach from these characters and stories.  With all of that being said, I have to admit to you, this is one I just do not feel I get.  I have included it in the devotions to illustrate that we should spend time with the ones that we don’t really understand as well.  I have traced all of the lines and I have chased all of the references, but this one just doesn’t seem to land in my mind.  There may be someone out there that this is their most favorite story in the Old Testament and it totally clicks in their mind.  For me, I want to sit and hear from that person, to learn beside them.  

What do you take away from this story?

The idea that I have always heard is that this is a picture of Jesus on the cross.  How do you see that and what do you think of that being the significance of this story?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Deuteronomy 1:19-46
There is a pattern in most all of these stories that we have been looking at for the devotions.  The people just refuse or don’t want to believe God’s words. They have questioned where it came from.  They have questioned who it comes from.  They have questioned what God actually said.  They have even seemed to question the motives behind it.  Their struggle is nothing more than asking what they actually want to gamble, or give up their lives on.  Consider the weight that is needed for them to trust what they are trusting.  Their families are at stake.  They're in the middle of the wilderness with nothing.  This so much more than a trip to the altar and praying a prayer.  They have to put all of their chips into this basket.  

The very fact that we can even build an argument like that makes me realize that maybe we are missing the point in what we are deciding when we choose to follow Jesus.  Every single day we wake up with the same struggle asking if we are going to take God’s word or not.  The decisions feel much smaller and the cost way less.  Most of the time, if we get it wrong it's no big deal, just a simple reset. The fact that people can walk away from God and it really does not impact their lives any more than a schedule change on some Sundays is a sad thought.  It is these sorts of things that make you wonder what faith really is.  It is there sorts of stories that help illustrate that as we wrestle through it in our own lives. 

If the stories of the Old Testament are meant to be allegorical in nature- or a reflection of our own reality wrapped up in a historical story- how do you unpack these teachings and arrive at an application for your own life?

Many people struggle with drawing lessons out of the historical stories. How do you get better at this and grow in this way of reading?

What do you learn for your life in this story?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Exodus 32
In those few verses in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul packed 10 Old Testament examples.  Those were the obvious ones, at least.  I think the reader could find a few more and even a couple of the examples could have been Paul lumping different stories with the same idea together.  Either way, we have spent 10 days studying these examples.  

When we come to this one, it is probably the most known of the stories in this collection.  Which means you have read it.  If you follow along with these devotions, then you will know that you just recently read it. We often repeat sections in the devotions.  The attempt here is to illustrate that the Bible is not something to read through once and then feel you get it.  I was raised on these stories and they became embedded in my heart and mind long before the value and the meaning came to me later in life. I could tell you these stories way before I could understand them.  When I watch a movie, I am usually done with the movie for a while.  I appreciate the surprise and the reveals in the storyline that feel empty when I go back knowing what is coming next.   The Bible is no movie like this.  If I watch Spiderman and hear the uncle declare “With great powers comes greater responsibility.”  I learned an invaluable lesson.  But it was easy to get.  The repeated story of this collection of tales is that time and time again people hear it, thought they got it, and walk away forgetting it.  It's not because they didn’t read it slowly enough or memorize it enough, but rather because these are the lessons that need to be revisited time and time again.  This is part of my case for reading through the Bible every year.  

When you read stories that you have read before, do you skip through them in your mind or do you take the time to think about them in a fresh and new way?

What are some things you could do to keep the focus where it feels like repetition?

What is God teaching you in this story this time you read it?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Memory Verse:  'Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. '

James 3:13

Sermon Sentence: Remain vigilant and trust that God has provided what you need to make it through where you are.  

Read Exodus 14
The story of the people of Israel crossing over the Red Sea, has all of the elements needed to be a great salvation analogy.  You will remember that they have started out from a place of slavery to the Egyptians for 400 years.  Slavery is the analogy for sin that is used by Paul in Romans 6.  Jesus also stated this in places like John 8:34.  Other places include Hebrews 2 and 2 Peter 2.  The point being, it is a pretty well known idea that is common biblical language.  In this story, a man like them, born an Israelite but royal by way of being raised in Pharoah’s home, rescues the people and promises to deliver them to a land flowing with milk and honey.  The root of the promise is in the idea that they would be in a relationship with God.  

The beginning of that journey starts when they find themselves stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptians army, looking to destroy them.  Their only escape is through the water.  So God parts the Red Sea and they walk through on dry land.  You surely get the images of baptism that are meant to be considered?  The text that we read on Sunday in 1 Corinthians 10, helped to draw those conclusions as well.  In fact, it would probably be beneficial to take a few moments and think through all of the major stories in the Old Testament that use the story of water to share their message.

This week and next week, we will take the time to walk through each of the stories and ideas referenced in that passage in 1 Corinthians 10.  Paul’s overall point includes his goal to highlight the value and the teaching that are found in the stories that are clearly more than just for the telling of good stories.  
How does this become part of your prayer today?

What are the stories that you can think of from the Old Testament that have water as a theme in them?

Explain how you can see the salvation story being reflected in this story.

What are some applications that you could consider from this story today?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Exodus 16
Much like the story of the Red Sea, this story is packed full of images that are meant to illustrate an idea more than tell a set of historical facts.  The reader has to only spend some time imagining what these events would have been like to witness to draw from its teachings.  No more going to the grocery store or even the ultra convenient way that we do it now of ordering online and picking up the groceries.  These ways of gathering food seem closer to our reality than they would have been to the person living in these very moments.  Food whenever we need it?  We got a way to process that.  Access for everyone with a source that is but a few miles away?  We can understand that.  Now, take away the idea of having to have the money to bring it all home and we are starting to get close to amazement.  But these people were used to food being even harder than that.  Now consider that they were living in the wilderness, or the desert, and you see why this became more and more amazing.  

The story is a great highlight of a key way God is towards us.  He is the Provider.  Not just sometimes, but at the very heart of every ounce and sliver of provision is God’s hand somewhere, doing the work of propping it all up.  I get a paycheck because I work and there is a system that makes that possible.  Sure.  But in the background of that is the ability and events that God planned from the spark of a beginning to make that system happen.  And God’s provision does not stop on that first layer.  Then I go back to the realization that I exist in a country that God has allowed to be a world power and we start to see the layers of provision that we take for granted unfold before our eyes.  In fact, I feel we are probably less aware of provisions in our life because of the sheer number that they show up at.  We can read the story of manna bread from heaven and wonder how these jokers even got close to forgetting what it was that was happening.  But here we are…forgetting our own favored situations.

Spend some time writing a list of things that God has provided for you in the last 6 months that you have not paid attention to.

How have you seen “manna like” provisions in your life before?

What does reflecting on these things make you think about God and his love for you?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Exodus 17
Right when manna seems like it is the most amazing provision you could imagine, these Hebrew people get water from the most unlikely of sources.  I guess the reality of the whole story is that bread doesn’t make sense coming from heaven and water doesn’t make sense coming from a rock.  Imagine seeing that!  You line up with your container to see about getting the water that your family needs and as you get closer, your mind is blown away more and more.  Where is it coming into the rock from, let alone that it is coming out of a rock?!  This is, need I to remind you, the desert of all places.  

Personally, I have seen many resources and places provide sustenance in what was not supposed to be able to provide what it gave.  As we came to the Pittsburgh area to plant a church, we were armed with nothing more than a couple hundred cards marked with a check in a box that promised they would send money each month.  They could easily forget.  They could easily need it themselves after unexpected moments.  They could have easily lost interest in a place they never would go themselves.  But somehow, with all of those factors in place and also very genuine, water constantly flowed from what seemed like nothing more than the rocks.  Each month, I went to the place where sustenance wasn’t supposed to be from, and there it was.  Flowing with no end.  That is a humbling way to live.  To be fair, I was my own fair share of naive in those moments to.  Even to believe that such a thing was possible to start a family. Months turned into years.  Years and years.  And the flow never stopped.  You would think I would never even have the chance or the opportunity to grumble or complain.  But as much as the provision flowed from the proverbial rock, my complaints flowed just as freely.  

This whole reflection thing reminds you of the goodness of God.  Of the overwhelming endless pursuit of God, despite my own ways of being. That is reason enough to start this day with worship.  The water is still flowing.  

Where is the most memorable time in your life that you found what was needed where it shouldn’t have been able to be found?

What's the best way you can worship God today with the realization that He is the endless pursuer of you? 


How does this become your prayer today?

Read Numbers 25:1-9
What is enough for God to convince us humans?  I found myself struggling through that last week.  There I was again. The same old place of compromise and foolishness.  It was where I said I was not going back, because I saw in God far more than I could accomplish where I don’t belong.  It is not like I got there by myself.  You know, after staring long and hard at a great spreadsheet that made the fact that I knew what God wanted obvious.  That would give me way too much credit, and even though I tend to always have an inclination to believe that about my accomplishments, it's so foolish in light  of the manna and rock water I have lived off.  

I am sure you read this story and it seems really cruel.  I don’t think I can fully explain it, but God knew something that clearly Israel did not know.  For God to be considered out of line here would leave us assuming we know the danger He was protecting them from when He told them not to fall into the relationship trap with the Midianites.  So there is this element of God trying to protect His people from something really dangerous and that is the very thing that they find themselves in. I don’t think it was the marriage that God was against.  That is why each time He sprinkles in the language of “if you marry them, you will end up in idolatry.”  You can’t get that close.  But how do you get heaven bread eating and rock water drinking people to even consider the idea of worshipping another god? You have to capture their hearts and move them really close first.  Idolatry, for Israel is no “first move” fall.  It was a slow fade.  It started when a boy met a girl and the two started focusing on themselves and their love.  That was the way to bridge the two worlds. Otherwise these two cultures would have never worked together. Then families meet and cultures mingle and everything starts to make you put down your guard.  Eventually you find yourself trying to merge together two very different cultures and the only way that two cultures can merge is to compromise.  I know that Numbers 25 does not really say any of this, I am just speculating, looking for the lesson.

I have to understand.  It matters to me. That is why the Old Testament stories are valuable and why we should still be reading them.   It is an odd story that doesn’t seem really relevant.  But on the other hand, it feels so normal…like it is reflecting something back at me that is valuable.  

The story seems to change in tone dramatically in verse 6.  While they were weeping for their sin…right in plain sight of Moses, this guy just keeps going.  Why do you think it matters that the details of this story are shared like this?

Where do you see blatant sin that seems to be out in the open and nothing is said?

What are the parts of this story that you struggle with or make you uncomfortable?  When you read something in the Bible and feel like that, what should you do from there?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Numbers 14:1-19
We are on the part from 1 Corinthians where we explore the “grumble as some of them did” idea Paul wanted to communicate.  Which seems really like an odd placement in the grand scheme of things.  Here is what I mean: rate the two sins on a scale of 1 to 10- Sexual immorality and grumbling.  One is the rating for the lightweightness of sin and 10 is the harshest rating for a sin.  I would bet you anything “grumbling” scored a lower number.  Some of you may have struggled to put it on the scale because this is the first you are thinking about it even being a sin!  

You know how I was always taught the main idea of this story?  “You don’t rise up against the man of God or God will get you quicker than He will get you for anything else!”  Truly.  That is what the take away that was given to me, in more than one instance, as this story was explained.  Is that element present in this story?  Yes, but only in this sense, the people are rising up against God’s word and questioning God’s promises, not just the character of Moses.  The lie is first, not the hatred for the leader.  The lie was that this whole Promise Land idea is a pipe dream and they have been duped!  This is the moment in the wilderness and the struggle that the grumblings start against what God has already put before them all.  “Is it really true that God said…”  It sounds like the Garden of Eden language, doesn’t it?  Now when that happens, you need to be reminded of the promises that God said before you started to feel this way.  I am sure it was refreshing that day to see Aaron on his knees in prayer beside Moses.  Then to hear the assurance from the voice of another leader that is carrying the torch now, Joshua.  

This is where the story starts to fall apart.  “Let’s find a leader that will take us back!”  Here is how I see the problem:  it is one thing to question the leadership, struggle with the promises, not believe the good that is ahead of you, and give up in the fight.  It is a whole next level thing to start to look for a leader that can lead you back to the lie.  The biggest problem with that is that you will find them.  That’s the problem with grumbling.  It leaves room for the lie to grow.  When the lie takes root, it spreads like a poison.  When the poison gets too many people, they will come up with the idea to go back.  The next piece is to just find the name they want to chant while they follow them back.  

'For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. '

2 Timothy 4:3-4

How have you seen another version of this story played out in your life?

Why do you think that God puts a story against grumbling in the Bible for us to consider?

Where is the grumbling in your life and how do you see that as a problem that needs to be addressed?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Memory Verse:  'Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. '

James 3:13

Sermon Sentence: The goal of making disciples should reflect a lot of consideration on how we are living our lives and will leave us with plenty of opportunity to grow personally.

Read 1 Corinthians 9

I know that we only covered a few of these verses in this sermon, but I wanted to go back.  Going back is important because these verses are used differently than they were meant to be.  You will remember that Paul is making the case about serving others in order to bring them the gospel.  He has talked about how our actions have to consider where people are and what will be assumed as well as the straight laced moral ideas of our actions.  That is the burden of love.  We live and give up rights and oughts as allowed by God’s word, in hopes of being able to show love to other people and open the door for them to hear and witness the Gospel.  

Paul is not writing verses about bad days and tough times.  The sacrifices here are not the sacrifices of getting to first place and finishing on top.  The race analogy may have led many people to go that direction, but the truth is that there is not one prize given to one winner in the story of salvation. The first runner across the line doesn’t win heaven at the expense of all of the rest.  Paul’s point seems to be a bit more complicated than that.  He is talking about the discipline and the training that is needed to live a careful and deliberate life that brings the gospel to the ends of the earth.  Paul is writing about his ministry and calling by God in this chapter.  That does not mean verses 24-27 only apply to his ministry, because he has already invited us to imitate him and will return to that invitation in 11:1.

There is a long debate about what exactly Paul is talking about losing here.  Is he referring to salvation or to rewards?  What is your take and what do you think after sitting with it for a while?

What are some ways that the section from Sunday (verses 24-27) can be used not like they were intended to be used?

What are the careful parameters that need to be considered when working out the application of this section?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Philippians 3:1-11

Paul’s faith must have been an intense thing to experience in person.  Listening to speakers for many years, you eventually learn that there is a certain drama that can be put on.  Even in the art of words, you can get wrapped up in the moment and the setting.  As many of you have probably noticed, real life is played out in times when a person is acting out what they believe more than when they are just talking about it.  It is the example of Paul’s insanely dedicated life that, in my mind, makes verses 7-8 seem to have so much more power behind them.  This came from a very accomplished religious person.  Paul has declared how he had risen to the top of the Pharisaical order and was considered a leader from there.  He did not kind of do anything it seems.

With all of the credentials and merits that the religious system he worked his way up through had to offer, it was not worth anything compared to knowing Jesus.  Think about that!  He spent his whole life filling his wall with merits and trophies, probably starting when he was young.  He gave everything he could to the system and became all that you could be in that system.  It was when he was knocked down that day and met Jesus that his life changed.  He was fighting against Jesus, but then had an encounter with Him.  It was in that very moment that all of the years of labor and work amounted to nothing compared to who he just met for the very first time.  Now, at the time of writing this, he is seasoned and still on that road, and still counts this the prize above all the other things.  Don’t you wish your heart still burned for knowing Jesus’ like Paul’s did?

How do you think Paul kept that passion going in his life?

What do you think Paul would say to advise those from his past religious places to consider?

What do you think it looks like to know Jesus more in your life?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Philippians 3:12-21

This is a great thought to spend some time with in your day today.  Paul is explaining something that needs to be understood properly, because it can sound like you are saved by works if you don’t understand it well.  He ended the last section with talking about attaining the resurrection of the dead.  In other words, the promise that the believer holds that death is not the end of life for us.  When you look at it at first glance, it may seem that Paul is actually saying that we have to obtain it.  He talks about his efforts to make it his own.  This can easily sound like the effort is the thing that is securing it.  In our text in 1 Corinthians 9:23-27, he carried the same language and probably could be accused of making people think the same thing.  But he also labors at explaining that this is not what he is saying. He is clearly not saying he has reached perfection and therefore it is secured by him.  But rather he is saying that Jesus has given it to him, and that is why he can act as if he has already obtained it.  The effort is because he is already aware that the gift is his, so he tries to live in light of that reality. 

For Paul, this is a mark of maturity.  It is what the maturity of living in the light of God and what He has done for us looks like.  Paul calls for us to hold true to what we have already attained.  It does not make sense to say that we have been saved from sin and moved from death to life and then live as if we were still dead in our sins.  This is good practical advice that should hold us accountable as we consider what Paul is inviting us to join him in.  

What does it mean when Paul encourages us to hold true to what we have obtained?

What does Paul make you think of when he talks about forgetting what lies behind and straining for what lies ahead?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Romans 6:1-14

Romans 6 is Paul’s long form version of what he talked about in 1 Corinthians 9:23-27.  I like to see those other places that a writer works through a thought in a different way.  There are times that I have had a message that God has laid on my heart and then I preach it.  When I am sharing that message with a different church in a different place, the message will be a little bit different.  The setting has changed, so you address the audience that is before you.  That is the way to think about this.  Paul is not writing to the same culture or the same people in Romans.  The teaching points may be the same, but he is going at the idea in a different way.  

Here is the bottom line: Sin has no place in the life of the believer.  Your life story narrative has changed.  You were dead, but now you have been raised with Jesus. This is what you declared to everyone in baptism.  This is a key point that we should pay close attention to.  The resurrection is not only a thing that is applied after we have passed on from life.  It is not a tool or an idea that we store away for a day that we need it.  It is a present reality.  As we are right now, we WERE dead in sins, but now, we have been raised from that dead life to the new eternal life.  Eternal life is not something that starts when life ends, but rather something that is now at work in us.  So we are free to not live in sin.  All the power needed to leave death and chaos behind has been given to us and is at work within us right now.  

What does it mean for you to “not let sin reign in your body?”

Why do you think it is important to realize the power and purpose of the resurrection now as opposed to it being like a tool that you will need for later?

Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 9 that was similar to this passage, was about living in a way that allowed us to reach people with the gospel.  How does this passage tie in to that one?


How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Romans 12:9-21

When I try to sum up what Paul is discussing in our passage in 1 Corinthians 9 and the surrounding places, it boils down to the call to love, genuinely love people. Most of society tends to think that is a feeling that happens when you change your mind.  It can be, but it is certainly not only that.  It takes work.  This is why Paul used the analogy of the runner in 1 Corinthians 9:23-27.   It’s not even always fun work.  It is hard work that requires the giving of ourselves.  Why would you do that?  Because the goal is in sight.  We are genuinely trying to be people that are growing the Kingdom of God.  That is the work we were called to and the goal that was set before us.  

This section of scripture just lays out some of that work.  It is the list of practical application to all that Paul taught about in the book of Romans, but its application carries over for the thoughts we have been working through.  Much like a skill that you are developing to perfection, if you have 19 different coaches, you will get almost 19 different opinions.  It's the same when it comes to this subject.  Why not spend today with just this much?  Just let Coach Paul talk to you about the things right here and see where you can spend some time working in your life?

What is the piece of teaching that you feel you should pay the most attention to at this point?

How do you apply this?

What will be the results of seeing this applied in your life this week?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Memory Verse:  'Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. '

James 3:13

Sermon Sentence: The call of God will always lead us to an action of the gospel being shared.

Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-23

Let me go out on a limb of assumption and not be charged with trying to make a case for something the Bible actually says.  I kind of think that Paul would have been a bit of a difficult person to understand face to face.  He reads better when you consider his life as a whole and his mission in the long term, than he would have seemed in the moment and just knowing him from one of the many perspectives that you could have known him from.  Remember, I am assuming a lot and just trying to play out the stories in my mind.  It doesn’t inform or change any of his teaching when I think this. 

For instance, imagine knowing Paul only from going to the church in Corinth.  You don’t have all of his other books to consider.  Paul is a guy that you know of that came around the church for a while.  Now he is gone and everyone says he is traveling and starting churches everywhere.  But everyone still talks about him and holds him up pretty high.  Then, often, the church gets letters from him and they are not ever really easy, great letters.  He is a difficult person.  But in the latest letter, there is this section that you just read. This reads differently than your experiences.  This is a guy that is passionate about what he does and overly confident in what he does.  It is the piece that explains all of the language that he uses and the way he talks in the rest of the letters.  He loves the Gospel and preaching it!  He is not just meddling in everyone’s business, he is invested in their eternity.  

There are a lot of people that claim that God “called” them to do something or be something or go somewhere, but when Paul says it, it hits differently when you know his heart and passions.  

What do you think it would have been like to know Paul and why do you say that?

What are the arguments that Paul is making about being paid for what he does here in this passage?

When Paul talks about becoming all things to all people, what do you think he is saying and how can this be taken too far?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Acts 9:1-19

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul talked about the “necessity” to preach (as translated in the ESV).  He says that he does not preach out of a volunteer position.  In other words, he did not sign up for this because there was a need and someone was asked to fill the need.  That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to preach.  That is not the point that he is making.  His point is that unlike others, he was knocked off of a donkey in a supernatural experience that was the beginning of a complete life change and led to him preaching.  That is an origin story that you don’t just slowly forget!  You are always aware of that experience and can go back to it over and over again, even sitting in prison when you start to question how you got there and if it was worth it.  
Have you ever met someone that is overly confident about who they are and what their mission in life is? In my view, I see Paul as a super intense person that was difficult to be around in regular life.  This chapter lends a whole lot of context to that idea.  No wonder he was so confident in his calling!  Wouldn’t you love to know what you are to be doing in life in an obvious way like this?  It doesn’t leave a whole lot of questions on the table for sure!
What are some other ways that you know God speaks to people or calls them?
How can you know what is the voice of God and what is the voice of our own or others desires?  
How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Isaiah 6

Two things I have always believed:  God does not call the most skilled person, even in the area of the calling.  And God does not call the person that could be the most successful.  Now that I have typed that out, maybe that is the same thing?  Here is what I mean: when we are looking for the person to accomplish a task, they need to have the skills and the best chance at being successful.  This is how we determine who is in the lead.  God just calls the person and then makes them able to be skilled for the task.  The subtlety of what is being communicated there may seem insignificant , but I do think that it is important.  

For Isaiah, he, like Paul, was compelled on a mission for God.  He was compelled to go and prophecy to Israel of the things that God would give him.  The interesting thing here is that success in that mission was only measured by the faithfulness, not the accomplishment in the people’s response to the message.  Notice that God tells him to go not with the end goal of everyone getting the message, but with the end goal of “until there is not a message needed anymore.”  In fact, he is told that they will not listen to him.  Essentially God has called him to be the messenger to a bunch of people that will not even care or get the message.  That feels like a waste.  But this is God that is creating the standards and the call, not us.  

That is a great lesson to process and work through.  Let’s carry that over to the New Testament.  We are called to “go and make disciples.”  Maybe you hear in that call that success will be measured in the amount of disciples that we make.  But that is not the same thing as success that is found in the fact that we are going and we are a part of the making.  The goals may seem similar, but they are slightly different.  We are not told to make disciples with the result being we actually made this many disciples.  We are told to go and make disciples with the reality that we are found going and making for as long as the mission is set before us.  

How have you found yourself caught up in the confusion of God’s call to success as illustrated here?

Why is it important that Isaiah was called to go and preach rather than go and make them get it all?

How can you apply this same idea to your life right now?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read 1 Peter 5

When Peter was writing about the position of the pastor, or as he called it, an “elder” in the church, he had some pretty direct thoughts that are worth considering.  He referred to himself here as a “fellow elder”, thus making the thing that he is talking about part of his experience and expertise.  It is also that whole “pointing one finger out and four more are pointing back” idea.  When I read this, I also see the idea of the call to those that are “among you.”  In other words, I do not see this as a call to pastor the whole world, the biggest online following, or anything in that vein.  It is a local, small idea that is considered here.  The pastor is not given an authority that can be lorded over all people and in all things.  

It may strike you as strange to consider a pastor that is doing the job because they have to and not because they want to, but the distinction is very much realized in the daily process.  Consider the language that is all over this text calling for humility, gentleness, and leadership by example, not pushiness and overbearingness. The work with people will always weigh on you and eventually it feels easier to be louder, more pushy, or even more demanding in your approaches, and this is the very thing that takes the joy out of the work.  Think back about Isaiah from yesterday’s reading.  When you are trying to get a message out and no one is listening, and therefore you think that you are a failure because they won’t listen, it very much becomes a struggle to do the work and in that depression, you can fall into the trap of doing what you do because you are compelled to, not because you willingly love what it is that God is doing in those around you.  It is also easy to fall into the trap of feeling you deserve more than you have and therefore the ministry becomes one geared toward gain and not what it is supposed to be.  This anger and personal gain that slides to the front of the heart, loses the power of influence that is needed to compel people toward the message that the corrupted person is not displaying in their own life.  Why answer the call to surrender one’s life when the messenger has certainly refused to surrender his own life?  These are all the beginnings of the struggles that so many of us have watched happen to church leaders and churches throughout the culture that we are a part of.  The pastor would do well to constantly find himself back at the challenges found in 1 Peter 5 week in and week out. 

What trait that is called for in the life of the pastor is the one that you look for the most in a pastor?  Why is that?

How have you seen examples of shameful gain displayed in the churches you have been a part of?

Verse 10 is really good stuff.  What do you see that it is saying?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read 1 Samuel 3

This is probably one of my more favorite chapters about God’s calling in the Bible.  The setting is wrapped up in subtle words that require you to work through it slowly.  This all went down in a dark time.  Eli was the priest in charge, but his sons were not panning out to be fit for the work they would inherit.  If you don’t know the context, they were corrupt.  Add to that the fact that the text tells us that in these days, the word of the Lord was rare.  As you read the story and see Samuel’s confusion about what is going on here, you can understand that he is a young man and just doesn’t get it.  But then, add to that the extra weight that even those that were in the work of the temple were just not accustomed, or used to the idea of God speaking anything to anyone.  So it makes sense that young Samuel didn’t get it at first.  He didn’t know who was saying what.  

I see this as a picture that I fear.  I don’t want to be in a place where we stop hearing from God because we have closed off the channels as a nation or as a church.  Especially as a church.  The other side of that fear is a generation that is young and able to do the work of the Lord, but just have no clue how to hear from the Lord or find His word.  We need to pray for more Samuels.  We need to pray that God raises up young people among us to be ready to hear the word of the Lord and share it as much as possible when their time comes.  Even those Samuels that are in the homes that have hindered the message and teachings of the Bible.  God can still make them hear.  Even in those churches that have not been faithful with the gospel and have no future.  God can still make the call heard in the darkest of places.  

How can we do better at helping the next generation hear the call of God?

What is your part in all of this?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Type your new text here.

Memory Verse: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58  

Sermon Sentence: When considering how I should act in a world that needs to see Jesus followers, knowledge is not the only thing to consider.  

Read Galatians 1

I have a growing and developing understanding of Paul.  The more I study him, the more I wonder if we would not have enjoyed hanging out together.  Paul was a man that was shaped and molded by his past and there were plenty of changes in his present that seemed to fuel his ministry and thoughts.  Paul was a Pharisee.  According to his own testimony, a Pharisee of Pharisees.  It was that religious mindset that he was so steeped in and that sent him running the other direction too.  As I study the story of these apostles starting the Gospel around the world, it is fascinating to imagine all of the different backgrounds, jobs, and focuses that each one seemed to approach.  Peter was preaching to the Jewish people and so were many of the other disciples. They saw great growth, but they also were constantly battling with the traditions and struggles of where those converts came from religiously.  Paul was all about reaching the Gentiles and that seemed to match his persona of being a hardnose against the religious establishment.  Did you know that Peter and Paul evne had conflict over this?  Paul had a few different conflicts with people over various issues.  Which makes me think he really believed what he believed and wrestled with it.  Or he was a difficult person.  I guess both could be true?  

I want to walk us through the struggles that seemed to lead to what we read in 1 Corinthians 8 this week.  So let’s get some of the backstory as we head in that direction.  

Why do you think Paul comes out in this letter with a stronger approach than his other letters?

Why do you think Paul’s story of his process before becoming an apostle was important for him to share?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Galatians 2

This is the rest of the story from yesterday’s reading. Now you are starting to see what I mean about Paul’s conflict with Peter.  I think it is interesting that all of these stories in the Bible seem to happen around food and the idea of sharing a table with others. In 1 Corinthians, Paul will be discussing the Lord’s Supper as well as a meal that needed to be handled correctly.  As most of us know, it seems that the family table is probably one of the easiest places to get into conflict and discussion, and I guess that just plays out in the Bible as well!  At this meal, Paul felt Peter was giving fear of other people a bit too big of a place in his life.  He was worried about how Peter was acting, but he was also worried about how this impacted the young ministry workers that were standing by watching.  Namely a man called Barnabus.  

Peter was ina  tough spot.  He was witnessing to people that were Gentiles, or not Jewish.  That was the good part.  The bad part came when the Jewish people showed up and the assumption was that Peter would be viewed in a bad light if he was seen eating with Gentiles.  That was a cultural issue.  If I were guessing, he tried to make this a quiet and unnoticed shift in position, but there was a message that was sent and therefore a problem that came out of that.  So Paul uses this example as a time when the traditions of expectations overshadowed the Gospel.  This is the beginning of the struggle with legalism in the church.  It is the beginning of the struggle with what we do with the Law now that Jesus has come.  It's the classic Old Testament vs. New Testament battle.  

What do you think Paul’s main point was to Peter in this moment and why do you think it mattered?

How do you see a version of this struggle now?

Why do you think Barnabas being wrapped up in this situation mattered to Paul’s consideration?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Galatians 5

In America we have a way of doing things.  You know, the “American way.”  I recently saw a commercial for America's 250th celebration on YouTube from a coffee company.  In the commercial, the goal was to make the most American defining display ever.  So they got the biggest trucks and the coolest toys and a really loud guitar player and some extreme sports things and then they flew the largest flag to ever be flown behind a moving vehicle and it all ended with huge explosions of red, white, and blue and a Blackhawk helicopter.  All of this was filmed in the desert.  I kind of didn’t get it.  I don’t have any of those vehicles and don’t even really like the coffee that sponsored the whole thing.  But it was supposed to be super American!

I have my rights and my freedoms and that means that I am free from anything that you could tell me to do or from any threat you may make to take my rights from me.  If we are trying to define freedom the way that we process it as Americans, it would include an unhitched and totally selfish approach of me and my own and how no one has any rights to what is mine.  I am exaggerating what most people would say, but you surely understand the mentality that I am making a caricature of.  I don’t have any real problems with all of this when it comes to the nationality issues, but when I start to struggle is when this is then equated with the Biblical approach.  

The Bible paints a different idea of freedom.  It's the idea that you are never really that kind of free.  Real freedom is nothing more than the freedom to submit yourself to someone or something.  Everyone will do that.  There is no way to be totally free from the idea of submitting to someone or something.  But you do have the choice to decide who or what that will be.  That is the kind of freedom that Paul is describing here and in 1 Corinthians 8.  It is the type of freedom that submits to love of other people over parading and declaring my rights and how they are about me.

How do you understand the type of freedom Paul is talking about here?

How is being under the Law different from freedom in Christ?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Colossians 2:16-23

You may notice the other side of the pendulum that we have been discussing, cropping up in Paul’s writing in this passage.  Does he want us to be free from those expectations that come with religion or not?  Here he is making the case that you don’t let someone hold you in judgment on any questions about Holy days being specific or about what you should and should not eat because of religious lines in the sand.  Which seems strange when you consider that he has spent so much time in 1 Corinthians 8 talking about how we give up those things in consideration of what other people may think.  It seems like Paul speaks out of both sides of his mouth!

Paul is here, addressing not a teaching about weaker believers that may need to be guided and considered in what they see you doing, but rather in those arrogant and seemingly overly religious people that demand that you have to be exactly their flavor or way to be right with God.  This is a different type of person that is being railed against here.  I get the part of them being arrogant from where Paul talks about them being puffed up and full of knowledge.  Notice that is the language that he almost always uses in these instances.  In 1 Corinthian 8, he started by telling the reader that knowledge is not the answer to everything, but rather seems to cause people to be puffed up.  

Walk through verse 23 and explain what Paul means here.

What are some circumstances that you have seen that you would apply these verses to?

Why do you think that religious people make such a big deal out of these type of things?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Romans 14

As we have been exploring the topic of our actions and how they impact the weaker believers around us vs. the world watching us vs. the religious zealots among us, we have bounced around quite a bit.  You probably hoped we would land in the place of stating official things that make answers to the questions of “Is this right or wrong?” an easier approach.  That is the very thing that 1 Corinthians 8 warned against, in my opinion.  Facts do not answer the questions by themselves the way we would really like to declare.  Knowledge puffs up. Stop being arrogant.  That is the lesson from this week. 

 And now that we have learned that lesson, here comes Paul with one of the best chapters for working through things and teaching behavior.  Why did we not start here?  Because it is not the best place to start.  It is the best place to land, but you first have to get rid of the arrogance that fueled you to want to be right and them wrong.  You have to first search your heart and ask why you are doing or thinking what you are thinking.  If it is tradition, that is great!  If it is upbringing, that is great!  If it is obscure verses that seem to lean your direction, that is great!  All of those things are valuable and worth considering in your approach to understanding what you think.  But not everyone has your tradition, upbringing, or understands that obscure verse the way that you did.  So sit with a person that disagrees with you and listen to what they have to say.  The Bible is plenty strong and complete in its revelation to give us what is needed.  God desires to give wisdom to those who seek it, so humbly seek it.  

And then, last of all: don’t be right for the sake of winning.  Consider other people, and certainly consider those that need to grow in the faith.  No you do not have to pattern your life after the religious zealot that demands that you act like them.  But it certainly doesn’t hurt to give them an ear and find some value in what they are saying, if you can get past all of the bitter and condescending comments!  But you certainly should be humble enough to look around and wonder what message you are sending to those that are around you.  

Do you feel you have a good handle on understanding how to approach issues like we have talked about in a communal setting?

Paul comes back to the issues of 1 Corinthians 5, 6, 7, and 8 in chapter 10.  He doubles down on the idea that sexual immorality is sin, just in case the reader would try to twist his words to what they are not.  We will be getting there.  But for now, do you think that you could articulate how to find the lines of sin versus disagreements?

How would you walk through these things with a new Christian and what are the dangers of what you could say?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Memory Verse: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58  

Sermon Sentence: Paul spent an awkward amount of time discussing sexual immorality to the church at Corinth, so we should consider the wisdom in doing the same thing.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-19
For the last three sermons, we have tried to frame this difficult passage of scripture into the logic that Paul is working through.  It is important that context is considered as a whole idea here to arrive at the place of teaching that Paul lands in.  There was a situation of extreme sexual immorality with a man and his (possibly) step-mom that was associated with the church in Corinth in a way that should have been embarrassing.  Paul busts into the middle of the situation, furious with words and declaring that the person be removed from the church.  Almost instantly, Paul begins defending his logic and explaining how he arrived at where he did in his judgement.  He explained how judgement and court considerations should be handled by Christians vs non-Christians and made sure they saw the difference.  Now in this text, he returns to what he had been saying to explain the Biblical direction of why he went so far so to declare that the person be removed.  The reader should take verse 19 as the conclusion of this argument.  

Interestingly enough, often is this verse quoted and rarely is it used in this context.  Paul made the argument that “every other sin, is outside the body,”  but sexual immorality is against the body.  Then he goes back and forth using the plural forms and the singular forms of words in the same sentence.  He is equating his logic for the individual to apply to the corporate church as well.  Therefore, sexual immorality does not work because of what our bodies are supposed to be and what it means with what we understand about who we are.  But it also doesn’t work in the Body of Christ, so therefore the distorted part of the “Body” needs to be removed.  It feels like we took a long time to get here, but in my opinion, this seems to be the best way to understand chapters 5 and 6 in the entirety.

How would you apply Paul’s logic in a modern day church setting and how does this work in light of “cancel culture”, “political land mines”, “being politically correct,” and trying to reach the unchurched people?

Do you think it would be proper to apply verse 19 to anything other than sexual immorality?  Why or why not?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Acts 15:1-35
Throughout all of time and history in the church, there have always been the cultural hot button discussions.  It has gone from things like marriage in the priesthood to discussions about alcohol.  There is not a time period in the history of the church that you won’t find a version of disagreement about a cultural topic.  In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul seems to be laying out two quotes that some believe were attributed to him, but seem to be a bit deeper than that.  One is “All things are lawful for me.”  The other is “food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.”  I think these two quotes are based off of the relevant cultural argument that was happening in the early church.  My reasoning for this is because of the appearance of the idea of food offered to idols and the call to abstain from sexual immorality in this section of scripture.  It seems that when the Gentiles started to follow Jesus, which was a largely Jewish thing to do because of the way the disciples were sent out, things started to get a bit muddy.  They had all of these teachings and the Jewish person that converted to following Jesus did not seem to have to make a big jump in practice change.  The Gentile, or the unbeliever was bringing in a lot more baggage that seemed to be further away from the ideas of the Bible.  So when the apostles began this discussion, they landed on majoring on these specific issues.  They thought they were the most difficult to reconcile if you were following Jesus.

That is not the same thing as saying this was the only thing they were to do to follow Jesus.  That is not the case.  In fact, Paul brings up the discussion of food offered to idols and seems to argue against what the Jerusalem Council decided in chapters 8 and 10 of 1 Corinthians.  It makes me think that Paul was not in agreement with what was decided at the council, but was willing to submit.  The freedom to still teach through what he thought was still there.  But he did not vary on the idea of sexual immorality!

What do you think of the process that seemed to happen here and how that decision was past around?

Do you agree that these are the best things to major on even today in our current culture or do you think that there would be different things majored on now?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read 1 Corinthians 7:1-16
So we read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and talked about how Paul was working through that logic.  He was addressing sexual immorality and the church and covered it all quite well.  But after he made his teaching about the body being for the Lord and then the applications that came from that, there were still some lingering questions in this topic that needed to be addressed.  That is what we have here in this section, the way that I see it.  Paul is just cleaning up some specifics that he feels will arise as people in different situations are trying to figure out how far his teaching can be applied. What does this have to do with married people?  What does this all have to do with single people?  Paul is not trying to cover everything that he can, but rather a few things that may come up in light of it all.  

What do you learn about what Paul is saying in this section?

What do you think Paul was trying to do by addressing these issues on the heels of chapter 6?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Matthew 5:17-37
Recently, I was studying the 10 Commandments and this section of Jesus Sermon on the Mount just came alive for me.  I have been raised around the teachings of the church and have my whole life, heard the discussion about the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  It was always taught to me that Jesus made things different, but the way that was explained or articulated just didn’t seem right.  This was the section they always pointed to. You see, the Old Testament was just that “old” and therefore old things are not needed things…so you can throw them out.  Especially with the new version, why keep the old around?  

If you do not know by now, I absolutely do not agree with that logic anymore.  Whether or not it was taught to me or where my mind processed it, is another discussion.  When I go back to the beginning, as I very often think is helpful, Genesis told me a story that helped set a pattern. There were two trees.  One was the tree of life and one was the knowledge of good and bad.  The classic and very much modern choice battle was set long ago.  You can either go off of any form or source of wisdom that you want to, or you can choose life.  Only one wisdom has at its heart life.  Only one wisdom leads to life.  That is the one God gives us access to.  The Law, or the line that you could cross, is not able to save us.  It is only able to show us that there was a line and that we have crossed it.  Jesus came to give us wisdom.  So he took the line, the line of things like murder, and said, I will pay the penalty of the sin so that you can live on the other side of the line and learn the life that is in the wisdom.  So don’t murder.  Then, spend time meditating on the ideas around why murder is not good and all of its cousins and siblings of anger, rage, and hatred, all things that are on the way to murder, and all things that will lead to death.  Jesus came to show us life and be the way of life.  He “filled full” the commandment of not murdering, because in the wisdom that He offers to us we not only are saved from the penalty of murder, but also walked in the wisdom that would allow something like murder to rob the fullness of our lives.  Life is more than just breath and a heartbeat.  It is the fullness that is found in the wisdom that we are freely given access to.  

How do you understand what Jesus is saying in verse 17?

I worked through the idea of murder in this devotion.  You take the time to work out the reason behind the other three examples Jesus lays out in this passage: lust, divorce, and oaths.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Proverbs 5
Yesterday, we explored a bit of the process of wisdom and how it starts from a commandment or a law, and then expands out from there.  Wisdom is not the line that we learn we should not cross, but rather also the understanding of the journey and process to the line and how that those things that are not good for us start in many other forms, drawing us closer to our destruction.  This is part of the idea of what Jesus did when He came to “fill full” the Law, not do away with our need for it totally.  

The wisdom approach is something that is taught in the book of Proverbs.  The goal of Proverbs is not to give us the line that we shouldn’t cross (Thou shalt not…), but rather to point out to us the ideas that lead to the destruction we should avoid and why it is like that.  In this Proverb, the fatherly writer is explaining the path to destruction that is contained in the commandment “You shall not commit adultery.” The goal of the Proverb is to show how the traps and landmines around adultery draw the person in.  It is a bad place to be when you realize that you have fallen into the trap of adultery.  The wise person considers all the of the elements around the problem and therefore avoids the philosophy and journey that is on the way to the problem.  Maybe it is helpful to say it like this: Knowledge is to know that adultery is not good.  Wisdom is to understand how adultery works in our deceptive hearts and minds and draws us into its death grip.  Knowledge is good, but it, by itself, does not save us from the problem. 

In verse 12, the Proverb talks about being found in the trap of adultery and after looking back, realizing that the path to where the trap is was riddled with a “hatred of discipline and a despising of reproof.”  How are you in danger of these traps in your life?

Do you understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge?  Attempt to explain it.

What do you take away from this Proverb?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Luke 14:27  "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."

When People are Big and God is Small
Chapter 5: “Know the Fear of the Lord”

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Luke 10:2

When People are Big and God is Small
Chapter 4: “The World wants me to fear people”

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Memory Verse: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58  

Sermon Sentence: Paul believed unity in the church would be enough to fairly and justly navigate life’s difficult decisions between believers.

Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11
We took, what seemed like, a long break from our series in 1 Corinthians.  In that break, I took the opportunity to spend extra time studying for what was coming next in the series, chapter 6.  It is a really tough passage to find application to the everyday believer, because the content of the beginning of the chapter seems to be not widely applicable.  For instance, I have not been in any lawsuits.  So it is tough for me to preach about them or give application to the whole church about them.  The rest of chapter 6 talks about something that becomes really uncomfortable to discuss in mixed crowds.  

But chapter breaks are not from the original text.  That is what the heart of my argument is against all of the commentaries that I have spent time with.  They section 6:1-11 off by itself.  Which has some wisdom and great learning to be gleaned, but it is not the point of what Paul is trying to say.  To get the point of what he is saying and not feel like he is running off on a tangent, you have to read the end of 5 and the rest of 6.  Paul is not trying to give a discourse on why the Christian shouldn’t suit the Christian.  He talks about it briefly, but as a sub-point, not his main point.  His main point is how the Christian should be accountable to the Christian because of the logic derived from the discussion about secular courts.  

But again, I am going against what the majority of the commentaries are saying.  That is why I include my thought process here for you to consider.  I don’t disagree with all of the commentaries that I have read, I just simply think they don’t land the discussion where Paul wanted to go.  

What do you think about my take on this text?

How important is the context of these verses to get the point of what Paul is saying?

If you were to sum up all of Paul’s point in Chapters 5-6, in two to three sentences, how would you do that?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Acts 22:1-21
In our passage for this week, we find this verse:

'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ' 1 Corinthians 6:11

Today, we will focus on Paul’s appeal to the idea of being washed.  We do this thing that may seem weird to the outsider, but is genuine in its teaching and application.  We baptize people.  What does that mean?  We put them under water in a symbolic representation of sins being washed away.  Water is a running theme in the Bible and the idea of water as a washing agent is connected to the idea of purifying, or making good for use.  Ritually, there are countless places that illustrate this idea in religious practices and then also in allegorical tales of water.  So when we start to draw the parallels to the symbolic display that is baptism, it is not a far jump in our minds.  If we believe that sin is connected to the ideas of dirt and staining, then we can also connect the ideas of being done with sin and the idea of washing clean.  The ritual is not the actual washing, but rather the symbolic representation of that idea.  This is why we have the same Greek word from 1 Corinthians 6 used here in Acts 22.  Paul lumps the ideas altogether here by talking about “rising”, “being baptized,” and “calling on His name.”  There are all things that should be done, but they are also all symbolically talked about.  

Have you followed in obedience to being baptized as it is discussed in the Bible?

What else do you learn from Paul’s sermon here?

What is your main takeaway from this story?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Hebrews 10
In our passage for this week, we find this verse:

'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ' 1 Corinthians 6:11

Today we will be focusing on the word “sanctified” from our text in 1 Corinthians.  I by no means declare that this is an easy concept or even that this chapter is an easy chapter.  Its not!  I struggle so much through it.  But I do understand that “sanctification” is the idea of being made holy.  So, sanctification is something we experience when we are saved through Jesus.  We are made holy.  We are set apart for God.  But it is also something that we are becoming.  We are becoming holy, set apart.  How can it be both?  That is the work of Jesus in our lives.  This truth is also the reason we can say that we are forgiven for our sins: past sins, present sins, and future sins.  We confess our sins, not because we need forgiveness to be in right standing with God, but because we are in right standing with our God.  Our confession is not agreeing with God that this was a sin and therefore is not a part of our lives, because we have been forgiven.  We were and are sanctified.  So therefore we can live like we are becoming sanctified.  

Notice in verse 10 that Jesus' sacrifice was for our sanctification “once for all.”  So it was complete in its work for our sins and universal in its offer to everyone.  Not universal in its acceptance by everyone, but certainly in the offer to all.  Verse 14 backs this up even further.  

What is sanctification?

How do you understand sanctification now and in the future in light of this?

What does this passage teach you about sanctification that you have not fully understood before?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Romans 3
In our passage for this week, we find this verse:

'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ' 1 Corinthians 6:11

“Righteousness” is one of those types of words that you only hear in church.  For me personally, that has always hung me up and made it a bit of a difficult word to get in the quick processing part of my mind.  Think of it close to goodness, but maybe a bit more fuller in moral categories. It is the idea of being declared good in the standing of the judge.  The problem becomes bleak when we understand that Paul is using that very idea to talk about our standing before God.  There is none that is righteous. Not even one.  That is bleak and condemning in its isolation.  It is also not where Paul lands.

Paul goes on to talk about a hope that can be breathed into this situation of life that we all need.  “No one is righteous.”  It really is that bad.  If no one is righteous and we believe in justice, or the fact that things that are not right will be dealt with, then how can we ever expect to see justification, or the act of declaring that something is back to balance and good?  This is where Paul starts to teach about the righteousness of God in verse 21.  There is none that is righteous, but God.  That means all that is righteous must come from God.  So how can those who are the unrighteous become the righteous?  That happens in a transfer that happens “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”  When we receive righteousness, even the righteousness of God, it comes through faith in Jesus. So work this formula out: we are unrighteous, everyone of us. God’s righteousness is the only hope of being declared righteous and that is received by faith in Jesus for all that believe.   When we receive the gift of God’s righteousness we are declared justified.  This is the idea of justification as it is expressed in our key text. 

How would you explain “justification?”

Why is it important to understand that “there is none righteous” in life?

Take a look at verse 26 and explain how it makes sense in your life.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
This is one of those texts that I have had to go back to many, many times to understand.  The first pass didn’t work in my mind.  And then the next 100 passes haven’t really helped either. It is only in spending time with it and really breaking it down that I feel I have a good grasp on the point of it.  So revisit our text before we dive into the stuff that is a bit easier to apply. 

You may feel like we have talked about two different things this week: lawsuits among believers and then this explanation of “washed, sanctified, and justified”, but they do all go together if you understand the point.  Don’t leave out the third idea from this passage that is just lurking in the background and will require that we bring out to get a full understanding: it's the idea of sexual immorality in the church.

So here is my flow of thought the way that I understand it now:  Paul is livid that there is a situation of blatant and ridiculous sexual immorality in the church.  His judgement feels swift and heavy.  So he backs it up by explaining that he feels he has the authority and backing to be this strong against the sin.  Why?  Because there is a judgement place that is given to the follower of Jesus that arises out of the fact that we have all submitted ourselves to the same teachings of Jesus.  The secular law and court system is not the place that we should be judging each other, because we have a collection of ideas that we have said we will submit ourselves to.  So why would the unbeliever judge the believer?  Or why would the believer judge the unbeliever?  They don’t even have the same ideas.  Which lands him in his last point: the unbelievers shouldn’t be expected to live or think like the believers.  And that very idea is what separates you.  You once were the unbeliever.  But now you are a follower of Jesus.  So therefore, act like what you claim that you believe and stop looking more like the unbelievers. You can not mix the ideas of unbelief and then claim to be a believer. Nor can we stand for it when others do.  

How does this help you understand what is going on in this passage?

If someone were to ask you what 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 was about, how would you explain it to them?

How would you explain what 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 specifically is about?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Memory Verse:
'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. '- John 15:5

Sermon Sentence: The Bible teaches from cover to cover that there is only one God and He exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Read John 17:1-19
It is in the very substance and the smallest of details that Jesus' most controversial statements have to be wrestled with.  To say that He was a great teacher and a great prophet alone, just will not work.  The reason it all falls apart on that is because you have to ask: “What kind of a great teacher or prophet would make that kind of a claim and it not be true?” I have listened to people make strange and bizarre claims that make me question their character or integrity or even the validity of the other things that they say, but none of those people that I begin to question are making claims this strange.  When I worked at the Rescue Mission in downtown Nashville years ago, I met a man that said that he was Jesus.  Not like had the name Jesus, but he said he was actually the Jesus and claimed to be the Messiah. I didn’t buy it.  Now, when I say I didn’t buy it, you have to get that it was such an outlandish claim, considering all of the circumstances, that I didn’t wait to have proof to not buy the claim.  I just denied it instantly.  I didn’t counter his claim with a request for a miracle to prove it as if I was only one miracle away from believing him.  I just did not even come close to believing him.  

I get that you would not believe that either.  I don’t for a second think that you could have been fooled by this drunk homeless man claiming to be Jesus in downtown Nashville.  In John 17, Jesus is praying out loud.  He is not talking to the disciples and hoping they pick up on a few things He wants to get across to them only.  He is speaking His heart and we are invited in.  It was no mystery at all what Jesus believed about Himself.  He was claiming to be God’s son.  He was claiming to have access to eternal life and willing to give it to everyone who would take it, by others knowing what He knew about Himself.  This alone is no small weird speak that can just be glossed over for the more truthful thing.  It is either true in the complete sense, or Jesus is easily to be written off based on that statement alone.  You have to face this at some point.  After Jesus said that, you are either in or you are out.

What do you see as the work that Jesus was to accomplish on earth according to his prayer here?

How did Jesus do this and why was that important?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Isaiah 63
This is not the best or most detailed set up for this chapter, but basically what we can see here is a chapter that takes some time to wrestle with the character of God.  By that I mean we get a glimpse into what God is like and how He interacts with the people of the story.  I know there is way more going on here, but our main task this week is to try and learn what the Bible teaches about the Trinity.  
One of the arguments against the Trinity that we mentioned on Sunday was the teaching of Modalism.  This is a tough teaching to nail down due to its many holes and logical missteps, but basically it is the idea that God has been in three different forms, in different times, and with different roles.  In the book of Genesis and most of the Old Testament we see Him as God in Heaven.  Then when Jesus comes, God is in the form of a man and nothing else.  Then after Jesus rises and returns to the Heavens, we get God in the form of the Holy Spirit.  

Isaiah 63 is one of the chapters that does a good job showing the real problems with this teaching that would make God not really omnipresent, or in all places at all times.  Isaiah is talking about God, here in the Old Testament, in ways where he connects the Holy Spirit to the Old Testament and also seems to be showing Jesus in the story of the Exodus, which would be the Old Testament.  This is not a far fetched idea, because it shows up in another place in the bible in the book of Jude.  
Where do you see each of the persons of the Trinity in this chapter?

Father
Son
Holy Spirit

Why do you think it is important to have an idea of the Trinity to understand the character of God?  What other things fall apart in the teaching of modalism according to God’s character?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Isaiah 53
Yesterday we read Isaiah 63 and worked through some key images in that passage. One of the things that is mentioned there is the “arm of the Lord” which seems to be addressed as a person. We get further confirmation of that idea in Isaiah 53 and it appears enough in the Bible that it seems to be something worth paying attention to.  The chapter starts out asking two questions: “Who had believed what he has heard from us?” and “To whom has the arm of the Lord been extended?”  From here, the person that is talked about is constantly referred to as a person and given the pronoun “he.”  After collecting all of the evidence and working it through what we know about the story of the crucifixion and the life of Jesus, it becomes pretty obvious that Jesus is who is being talked about here.  Therefore, Jesus, a person, is referred to as the arm of the Lord.  That is the same thing that we unfolded in Isaiah 63 yesterday.

You may not think that matters much, but it holds a lot of weight.  The reason we can not stand for a teaching that claims that Jesus was only a man that showed up in the flesh when he was born, is because that is not the teaching the Bible gives us of Jesus. It is a way that our minds have tried to process what we can understand, but when we are confronted with more scripture and understanding, we have to decide what we will do with what we now know, not just what we can understand.  Jesus shows up multiple times in the Old Testament, from the moment of Creation and He is at the end of the book for the moments of eternity.  He is without beginning and without end.  He is the first and the last.  Therefore He is fully God.  Not a version of God that was different, but fully God.  To know Jesus (John 17) is to know God.  

If you read John 3:16 in the KJV, how do you explain the idea of Jesus being eternal when the verse says that He was begotten?

In this Old Testament teaching of who Jesus was, what are the comforting things that you learn about Him?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Matthew 3

There are a lot of different declarations of “the way.” In the popular show “The Mandalorian” you can hear the key phrase of the Mandalorians being “This is the way.”  It is a small declaration that appeals to a higher idea in this fictional world.  There is a higher idea that all other ideas are filtered through, and everything else yields to this “way.”  Jesus is not declaring “the way” like that.  In John 14:6, He is declaring that He IS the way.  Not that He knows the way.  Not that He is on the way.  He is saying that He is the way.  That is a much bigger declaration than it is given credit and it would need a lot more credentials than just an everyday good teaching on morality and good living.  In fact, for Jesus to declare He is the way would be for Him to shove morality to a second level to Himself.  

The confirmation that is seen in that declaration starts with a scene that contains Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, who preached a gospel of repentance and turning back toward God, outside the city, or in the wilderness.  His message was sealed with people being baptized as a way of symbolizing their decision to follow God in this way.  That was not bizarre in that people didn’t know what baptism was, but it was bizarre in that he was describing following God as repenting and turning toward God.  If all of the religious leaders were teaching a different version of this, how do we know that John’s is the one to go with? That is when Jesus comes along, John declares that He is the Messiah, and then Jesus asks to be baptized by John.  There seems to be no better confirmation than to actually follow in the practice.  The irony is that Jesus did not have sin to be cleansed of, so what was He doing following in the symbolic ritualistic idea of washing clean from sins and turning back to God?  He was stamping it with the most amount of approval and call to obedience that He could.  There is not wiggling out of this one…Jesus was baptized and therefore fully approved of what we understand baptism to be.  The question now becomes what will we do with His example?  Follow it, or continue to declare that we are following Him while refusing, ignoring, or glossing over what He actually did?

If you have been baptized, what do you remember of that experience?

What does baptism mean, can you explain it?

If baptism is required, what do we do with the thief on the cross that clearly was not baptized but Jesus said he would be with Him in paradise (Luke 23:43)?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Romans 6

To continue on the thoughts around baptism and as we plan to have a baptism at the church soon, let's look at this passage and try to understand the point Paul is making.  To be fair, the point that he is trying to make is not a defense of baptism, but rather that baptism is used to make the defense of something else he is trying to explain.  I like this passage because of its ability to paint the picture of what baptism is symbolizing as it is the visual lesson of the heart declaration that we have already made.  That means that we are teaching that baptism is not salvation, but rather it is the symbolic representation of salvation.  This leads so many people down the road of argument in points to arrive at the place of whether or not you need, or have to get baptized.  It is true that the Bible does not land in the place of making the argument that a person can not get into Heaven without being baptized, but that truth does not help the reality of the point that the Bible takes this idea pretty seriously and puts a lot of weight on it.  The weight is mainly from a few places: first of all, the example of Jesus.  It is really tough to declare that you are following Jesus but then refuse baptism.  Second, is the teaching contained in this text as Paul explains what it is all about and why it all matters. I challenge you to wrestle with this idea and try to understand his point. 

What does Paul seem to believe about baptism?

Why the actual mode of baptism and how would you defend immersion (completely going under the water, not just sprinkling) from this text?

Have you followed Jesus in baptism? If not, why not make that decision to do that now?

How does this become your prayer today?

'And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  '

Luke 9:23

When People Are Big And God Is Small
Chapter: 3- People Will Physically Hurt Me

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

'And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.   '

Luke 6:31 

When People Are Big And God Is Small
Chapter: 2

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Memory Verse:
'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. '- John 15:5

Sermon Sentence: The Bible is without error and cannot fail in its presentation of truth and therefore must only be accepted in its entirety.  

Read John 17:1-19
If you are fair and open to a good discussion, you can concede that John 17 is a really odd chapter displaying a really odd thing.  Many people have gone to this chapter to disprove the Trinity and the reliability of the Bible, but I think it actually is a set of nails in the coffin that are those two arguments.  

This is where the dilemma comes in: Jesus, who we claim to be God…is praying to God.  So is He talking to Himself or what in the world is going on here?!  That’s a fair question and I think we will spend some time unpacking that in the next sermon in this series, but for now, we need  to ask a bigger question.  Doesn’t Jesus clearly make the connection between what He teaches to the disciples and what God’s words are, and that we have the truth even today in its complete and uncorrupted totality?  That is a BIG question!  If you believe there is a truth, you also surely have to believe there is a way to get to that truth.  How absurd would it be to require a truth with which we will all be guided and judged by but then land in a place of thinking there is no access to that truth anymore?  How discouraging to believe that there is a way that is perfect and good for all people at all times, but at this time we do not have an ability to know it?  

I believe that if Truth is powerful enough to be true, then it is also powerful enough to be preserved and kept.  It is not hidden, but rather accessible and ready to be understood.  This is what Jesus was praying for in John 17:17.  God is the keeper of Truth.  Truth is still accessible and has not been corrupted.  Jesus is the key to that Truth. 

Do you think a god that declared life to be what it is, then allowed the truth in that life to be hidden or corrupted, would be a good god?  Why or why not?

Why is truth more important than a distortion of truth, half truth, or a lie?

How is the Bible Truth?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Psalm 119:1-16
Two of the greatest things that happen in reading the Bible as the Truth, is that it reveals to us first and foremost, who God is, and then after that, who we are.  If you understand how those two ideas correlate, you would realize that is not two different things so much as it is one motion.  The reason that we do not accept another set of books as truth the way that we accept the Bible is because if we believe that God can be known, wants to be known, and invites us to know Him, then we surely get that He would also very much be interested in protecting who He is.  

Have you ever watched those movies where a guy falls in love with a girl and the guy has been lying about something about who he really is and the whole conflict of the movie is the struggle between the dishonesty and the result of the love?  Even though most of those movies are terrible stories, the point is illustrated for our thought here.  If God is interested in being known, because He is the source and giver of life, surely we get why it would be incredibly important to be specific and direct about who He actually is.  We would also see the power that one could steal by declaring to have a new or different version of a revelation about who God is.  

In this Psalm, I see the idea presented of the Psalmists seeking God, storing up His words, delighting in his teachings, meditating on them, declaring them, and not turning away from them.  There are a lot of lessons in that for me to pay attention to.

How do you see yourself as a reader and studier of the words of God as illustrated in the 6 ways above?

What do you think it looks like to become more like the Psalmists with God’s word for you personally?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Psalm 119:33-48
When I was preparing these devotions, I had this section picked out.  My plan was to write here about the idea of the text and share something about all of the verses.  I got stuck on verse 36.  I have never put those two thoughts together properly.  Have you?  Break down the two parts here:

• Incline my heart to your testimonies.
• And not to selfish gain.

The whole story of the Bible wraps up in that comparison!  It’s the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad all over again.  You can have the wisdom that comes from the world, or you can suspend that and have in its place the wisdom that God desires to give you.  If I take of the wisdom from the world, I will notice the good that it is to look at and the mass amounts of benefits that I could convince myself of, because I am full of desires!  But my one and only true desire, which God is fully aware of, is fulfilled only in the wisdom that is from God. 
To wrap it together for our study here, if there is a Truth that is greater and grander and more true than all of the other versions, and if this world was created for me, and if I have a purpose and a belonging in this whole thing, then surely I can see that my desires that keep getting in the way of a life that is flourishing are not what are worth spending all of my time, money, and efforts on.  To quote a song: I was made for more.

Spend some time with verse 37 and look at its two parts and how they apply to you.

Verse 42 talks of the writer being taunted and God’s word being the answer to deal with that.  When is a time in your life that verse would be applicable and how does it help you?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Psalm 119:49-64
If you are self aware, there is a moment you come to where you will find yourself protecting yourself from those that you have thought were dangerous.  Maybe they are dangerous.  But there are also times when we just feel attacked or challenged in a way that is not easy to explain, but is certainly real in the sense that it is taking your attention and focus and causing you to turn in.  When I am expecting to be hurt or hit, I have a quicker tendency to flinch.  Emotionally this looks like me reacting out of anger faster than I would normally do and avoiding people that I would expect to be hit or hurt by.  To be clear, this thought should be approached in a much different way to the person that is actually being hit or hurt, but I am not referring to that in this moment.  I am referring to those times that my mind lies to me.  Or maybe lying to me is too strong of an idea for this, but it surely gets hyper focused on a someone that is making me feel threatened.  
In our example here, I have started to believe the lies.  Not all lies are the opposite of truth, some of them just anticipate a reality that is not on the horizon.  You may not call that a lie, and I understand what you mean.  My point here is simply that I felt all of this was a good thought to travel down when I was reading this passage.  He talked of affliction and needing comfort.  He talked of the insolent deriding him. Then he concluded on the truth of the words of God as opposed to the stirrings brought up in those thoughts and feelings we just looked at.  I could certainly see the help in meditating on these words.

How have you experienced the perceived danger or the expectation of hurt around other people lately?

How have you handled the feelings and the tendency to retract emotionally or to hide personally?

How does God’s words help with this in your life right now?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Psalm 119:65-80
I can remember coming home from school and thinking about how much of my life and time is spent in that stupid place!  That is what every single kid thinks, right?  It is part of the reason that I am blown away at people my age thinking about returning to school and giving it a different go.  I did well enough in school, but I never enjoyed it. The way I viewed it was to do my time and then it would be behind me.  That was a pretty significant section of my life.  It was pretty consuming from that time and age, but now, in consideration of the many, many years out of school, it seems like I was overreacting!  I have actually been out of school longer than I was in school at this age!  Oddly enough, I would also tend to say that I have learned more outside of school than I did in school.  Whether or not that is true or feelings, I guess can’t really be measured.  They say you never stop learning and I have certainly experienced that.  I also am totally pro-school for my kids, even at this stage of life!
Have you ever approached the word of God with this idea as your prayer?  Verse 66 is what brought all of these thoughts to my mind. Even at this stage in my life, with all of the book learning and all of the real life experience, I pray for “good judgement and knowledge” from God.  Never will I not need those things.  I have not learned enough from God’s word.  I am incapable of coasting on the judgement that I have collected thus far. I need to go back to the well that is God’s word.  I don’t graduate.  I won’t reach the end.  I shouldn’t stop learning.

How have you grown in knowledge and good judgement from God’s word lately?

What do you need to do this week to continue growing and understanding?

How does this become your prayer today?

'For nothing will be impossible with God.” '

Luke 1:37
 

When People Are Big And God Is Small
Chapter: 1

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Memory Verse:
'I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. '- John 15:5

Sermon Sentence: Paul’s guidance and encouragement to Titus as he led his church in ancient Greece is directly applicable to us today.

Read Romans 13:1-14

Our key text for the week was Titus 3:1-9.  Paul, writing to Titus, gives him specific instructions that he is to remind the church of.  In the devotions this week, we will work through some of these things and see what we need to learn as well.  So be sure to follow along by revisiting that text as well.

Paul told Titus to remind the church to be submissive to rulers and authorities in Titus 3:1.  I wonder if that doesn’t strike you as a strange thing for a church to be paying attention to?  When you consider it from the world they lived in, it may seem even more strange.  The government was not exactly their friend and it certainly did not represent their values and concerns.  Therefore, it may seem strange to tell people to be submissive to the very entity that seems to want to do as much as kill them.  In the book of Romans, Paul returns to this idea again. 

I think the value of the lesson is not in the ability to obey the government, but rather in the posture of being a person that knows how to humble themselves to a place of submission.  Oftentimes we teach that when a child becomes an adult, they will then be able to make their own decisions or guide their own life.  While the basic premise is true, the reality is that the moment we become unwilling or uninterested in placing ourselves under someone, is the moment that we find real danger.  All of the Christian life is one of submission.  Not forced submission, but certainly willing submission.  The bulk of the point is in the practice that we learn as we are doing it. 

There seems to be two halves to this chapter: one on ruling authorities and one on fulfilling the law in love.  How could these two ideas actually be tied together rather than two separate points?

Assume the government were to ask the reader of this passage to do something against the Bible, how does this passage still apply and how would you work through the wisdom of considering everything here?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Ephesians 2:1-10

 Paul is making his appeal to Titus in Titus 3:1-9, for the church, by calling out the truth of their past.  For the church, that idea should be different from the view of their current lives.  They were not following Jesus; but now they are following Jesus.  There should be a difference there.  Paul does not spend a small amount of time in his ministry on this point.  Over and over again he keeps going back to that idea in most all of his letters to the churches.  

Is it something that really needs to be said?  Think about it.  If I have been changed from being a sinner to now living like a follower of Jesus, I can get hung up on the change that has made me a better person.  I can come out of this whole thing just thankful that I am not like I was, if I am convinced that how I was was not a good way to be.  But Paul is appealing to the next level here.  We were saved, changed and then called to good works.  Not to just be a good work.  Sure!  We should show off the good work in us and be thankful and let everyone know it was God working in us, but if it all stopped there, we would be missing the point.  For if God has worked a good work in us, then we are His workmanship and God’s workmanship is for the good works He is doing.  I am that work.  And therefore I am to look for the good works that I can be a part of because that is what God did in me.  

Why is it important to understand that is was God that saved us to fully understand the idea that we are to be looking for the good works He has saved us for?

What does it mean to be saved “by grace through faith?”


How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Ephesians 4:17-32

In Titus 3:2, Paul challenges Titus to remind the people “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward people.”  It seems like those would all be good practices for people that follow Jesus, but it also stands to reason that if we need to be told to do this, there is a breakdown somewhere! In the letter to Ephesus, Paul was right back at talking these same things over. The reason that is given to approach all people with these attitudes in place, is because we were once the type of people that would provoke a reaction that is opposite these things.  Again, as Pastor Pat taught about on Sunday, it was the grace of God that has changed us only.  For Paul, the formula seems to be obvious: lost, hurting people treat people out of lost, hurting ways.  Saved, changed people treat others out of that reality.  Maybe it is not that much different but it is like saying “I treat people like I do because of who I am.” Not “I treat people like I do because they are who they are.”  

Many times, the values of Ephesians 4:29-32 seem to be the things that are not really elevated as a higher way of living in the world today.  But for us to understand what it means to follow Jesus, in part takes a mind that also realizes how Jesus saw other people and ministered to them.  He was certainly careful in his speech and kind in His approach.  The arguments that we make against that truth feel more like us trying to justify what we want to do, rather than how we are supposed to be.  

Which thing called out in these verses could use some attention in your life this week?

Why does the gospel change the way you treat people that annoy, frustrate, or anger you?

How far should you take Ephesians 4:29 in what you are facing today?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Titus 3:1-9

The Gospel message is vital for the local church. I don’t want you to take that statement lightly.  I want you to understand that I mean it in the fullest and most obvious way that it could be meant.  The very idea that God loved us so much that He sent our Savior, out of mercy, and for the purpose and goal of saving us from our sins, is the centerpiece of why we gather week after week.  If we do not have that, we lose the very reason to show up each week.  We lose the very reason to worship like we do.  We lose the very reason to go out and spread the message to the world.  How foolish would it be to present to the world a solution to its problems that we only kind of think could work?  This is the very argument that Paul is making to Titus.  He is encouraging this pastor to hang on to the very pieces of the Gospel and put them before the people all of the time.  Why?  Because it is excellent…or of high value.  It is excellent because it is profitable for all of the people.  The reason we proclaim it to all people is because all people need to hear it. 
Therefore, today, devote yourself to good works.  The “good” is those things of the Gospel.  There is no other thing that is considered good.  Some things have an appearance of good or even a flavor of a bit of good, but it is the Gospel that is good!  It is work because it is undoing something that needs undone.  It is bringing back to life that which has died.  It is reviving that which is not moving and therefore it is a work.  So find a good work to devote yourself to today, because a good work has been done in you!

What is a good work you should devote yourself to today?

What do you think Paul was specifically referring to in verse 9?


How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Acts 4:23-31

The story that has happened before this section is where Peter and John found themselves in trouble with the law for preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  Well, it was the religious leaders that actually came after them, but they were interested in invoking the laws to punish them.  While in the trial, they preached the Gospel to the courts.  So they were arrested for preaching the Gospel, then they took the opportunity to preach the Gospel while they were on trial. It would be like being in court for a trial about stealing something from  a store and then while the trial is going on, sticking things in your pocket to steal! It was a pretty open and shut case, but they had trouble applying a punishment for the crime they made up and so they were sent away with a reprimand.  They did not take that too well either and left declaring they would be listening to God. 

This is where we picked up the story.  It is here that they make a decision about what just happened to them.  They could lay low and take it easy, let the fires burn out and then try a relaunch later.  But that is not what they decided.  It was taken to God in prayer and found in that moment that this declaring the Gospel was not just a small thing or a sometimes thing, but it was THE THING!  So they doubled down on their mission and calling and stepped out to get to work….the same work they had just been tried for.   

I really like that image for the work of the followers of Jesus.  May we do that.


How does this become your prayer today?

'Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. '

1 Timothy 6:12

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Final Chapter : Epilogue

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Memory Verse:

 'I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. '

John 10:9

Sermon Sentence: The disciples of Jesus share the heart and urgency of the work that Jesus did.

Read Matthew 9:35-38

Today’s devotion written by Pastor Len Scott.

Jesus Felt.
I write this while sitting at the airport. Airline can be wonderful or a nightmare, and I've experienced both. When Jesus saw the multitudes He noticed they were “weary”. That word means “to be tired from a long journey”. Many times I've thought to myself “I just want to be home” when a trip isn't going as planned.

When Jesus saw the crowds He was moved with compassion for them. He entered into their pain and He did something about it.

But there's another, underlying and unspoken emotion that Jesus expresses. It's a combination of anger, frustration, bewilderment, sadness, and so much more. With a broken heart Jesus says that the problem is not the size of the task. It's not that the hurts and pains are too great. The problem is that there are not enough workers.

A Christian song from decades ago lamented that “I'm so tired of being stirred but not being changed.” Make no mistake, feelings are right and good, but if they don't lead to change then they are worthless.

Get out of your comfort zone, go to the places where people are hurting. See what Jesus sees, feel what Jesus feels…..but don't stop there. Do something about the problems you see. Far too many Christians shed some tears and feel like they've done something. True followers of Jesus feel the emotions and do something. And when the emotions are gone, they still show up and do what Jesus would do. 

Lord, stir us and change us.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Matthew 9:35-38

Today’s devotion written by Pastor Len Scott.

Jesus Felt.
I write this while sitting at the airport. Airline can be wonderful or a nightmare, and I've experienced both. When Jesus saw the multitudes He noticed they were “weary”. That word means “to be tired from a long journey”. Many times I've thought to myself “I just want to be home” when a trip isn't going as planned.

When Jesus saw the crowds He was moved with compassion for them. He entered into their pain and He did something about it.

But there's another, underlying and unspoken emotion that Jesus expresses. It's a combination of anger, frustration, bewilderment, sadness, and so much more. With a broken heart Jesus says that the problem is not the size of the task. It's not that the hurts and pains are too great. The problem is that there are not enough workers.

A Christian song from decades ago lamented that “I'm so tired of being stirred but not being changed.” Make no mistake, feelings are right and good, but if they don't lead to change then they are worthless.

Get out of your comfort zone, go to the places where people are hurting. See what Jesus sees, feel what Jesus feels…..but don't stop there. Do something about the problems you see. Far too many Christians shed some tears and feel like they've done something. True followers of Jesus feel the emotions and do something. And when the emotions are gone, they still show up and do what Jesus would do. 

Lord, stir us and change us.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Matthew 9:35-38

Today’s devotion written by Michael Brittenham.

Jesus Spoke.
If you've ever been hurt by someone's words, you know how powerful words can be.  The children's rhyme about "sticks and stones" couldn't be more untrue.  Our words can do more harm and be more destructive than any physical blow.  One of the greatest examples is that Jesus is himself called "The Word" as one of His many names.  This seems unusual to us but John 1:14 says "The Word became flesh".  He is the same Word that created everything that was then called by God, "very good".  In Matthew 9 when Jesus sees the crowd we know He has the power to feed them, to heal them, and even raise the dead.  Instead, he invites His disciples into the moment and tells them to pray.  To use their words to access the very Power of God so that he would send laborers to the harvest.  We are familiar with prayer, and many of us have seen the power of prayer firsthand.  I think though, that we often underestimate the power that prayer commands and at the same time look for answers from the outside.  When Jesus told the disciples to prey, they probably didn't realize that many of them would also be the answer to that prayer.  There is a lesson here about the power of prayer to change lives, about having faith in the Lord of the harvest to hear us, but also about looking for answers in unexpected places.  

Have you had compassion like Jesus that drove you to your knees in prayer for others?

When you pray, what are you expecting to happen?

Are you prepared to be the answer to the prayer you pray?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read John 17:1-22

Jesus went.
While reading along with the D-Groups through the book of John, I was hung up for a little while on Jesus’ words in verse 6.  Clearly, Jesus is seen unanimously as a successful life.  I do not really think there would be too much argument there. If you did argue against a point such as that, you would probably not find yourself reading this devotion, therefore we can assume the room is on the same page.  Back at our point though, in the grand scheme of time and the world, Jesus did not really move around too much.  I am certain back then it seemed like it was quite a bit, but technology has added to the perspective.  The world feels really big and those feelings seem to be backed up by the fact that the world is really big.  There also seems to be a lot of people.  Which is why the Great Commission can feel like a daunting task to be given.  

John 17:6 gives me a perspective of Jesus’ success in light of these realizations.  He claims that he has manifested, or made known, God’s name to all of those that were entrusted to Him.  I am under the impression that Jesus came to save the world, and it seems like the same weight given to us in the Great Commission rests on that reality. That leaves a lot to do.  But Jesus' assessment at the end of His life was that He was successful in what He accomplished. He made God known to the ones that God placed on His specific plate and therefore He was successful in reaching out to the world with the Gospel as well.  I want that as a testimony when it is all said and done.  I want to be able to say that I was faithful with the very task that I was given to reach the world with the Gospel.  That is why my success will not be measured on how large the church is, how big my following on social media or anything like that, was, or how famous I got.  My success will be measured in the specific sphere that I was given to be faithful to the relationships by sharing the Gospel to those in front of me this moment.

How are you doing with making God known to those that He has entrusted you with?

What do you notice in Jesus' prayer about this very thing in our text?

How do you make today your best attempt at making God known to those around you?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read John 16:1-15

Jesus Worked.
In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, the promise that Jesus ends with is that He is with us to the end of the ages.  Then He leaves.  That is a tough way to say it, but it is also a true way to say it.  It does not represent all of the pieces that are going on here, but, once again, it is true.  As tough as it is for us to process this, we should also consider the perspective of the disciples as they were processing it. 

To get the rest of the story, John 16 is a great place to rest our worries and concerns.  Jesus was sending the Helper, the Holy Spirit.  The work of the Holy Spirit would be the guarantee that we would not have to sort through it all on our own, but rather, in our call to study and learn this complicated and higher set of ideas, there would be someone walking right with us through the whole thing, teaching us to understand and giving us the words to teach.  Jesus’ life showed this pattern daily and so the promise coming from Him was surely a helpful and comforting thought.  

Do you feel that you understand the work of the Holy Spirit, or is this still something that you are figuring out in learning the Bible?

What else do you see as the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?

What is a time that you are certain the Holy Spirit was working in your life?

How does this become your prayer today?

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 8: Reproduction

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

John 20:21-22

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 7: Supervision

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

John 16:20

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 6: Delegation

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

Memory Verse: 'I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. '

John 10:9

Sermon Sentence:  The reason that accountability can work in the church is because we have all placed ourselves under the same Bible.

Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

The fact that verses are divided in our modern day versions of the Bible is so helpful.  It makes it so much easier to navigate the whole Bible and keep everyone on the same page.  I would say that it has to be one of the most beneficial and helpful inventions in Bible study.  With that being said, it has also created some problems in our modern, lazy approaches to the Bible.  We want to cut off thoughts with verses to make them easier to know or understand or even quicker to process.  That can be good.  But it can also create some real problems.  For instance, we want to talk about who should the follower of Jesus spend time with.  Therefore, we take verses from our section today and chop them out of the context and try to create a formula that works all the time.  But, formulas rarely work all the time.  

Matthew 9:10-17 tells the story of Jesus spending time with the tax collectors and sinners and getting flack for that from the religious leaders.  In our quick edits and carry over ideas, we might struggle with the contradictions that seem to exist in Paul telling us not to associate with such people in 1 Corinthians 5, while Jesus demonstrated spending time in meals with them.  This is the work that context brings as a fight against chopping out verses.  The context of 1 Corinthians 5 is vital for the thoughts at the end of the chapter.  I would even argue that the chapters around this section are vital as well.  Paul was not sporadic in his thoughts and commands, he was thoughtful and careful in his approach. I would encourage us to be the same with these delicate topics as we process through what the Bible is saying.  

Paul says in verse 6, “Your boating is not good.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” What is the idea that Paul seems to be communicating here?

Explain verse 12 with an equivalent example, the way that you understand it.

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Matthew 9:9-17
I was raised up in ministry through an era of time where the visitor was considered the most considered person for the work and movement of the church.  If you read that and are not understanding what I mean, but rather screaming back at this devotion “Well of course it should be!  We have to reach the lost!”  Then I would venture to bet that you have been steeped in the same poor teaching.  So therefore, I must be anti-reaching lost people and therefore there is a huge issue here, right? No.  I think there is another way to process through all of this that I would love to walk out.  I believe that we should preach the gospel and attempt to reach every person we can.  I think that would be a good practice for today, tomorrow, and all of the other days.  I think it should rise to the place of consideration of importance above most everything else.  I even think that we should consider all aspects of our service on Sunday to view it from the way the lost person may see it and they may be compelled to come follow Jesus. But I don’t think that is the only or even main purpose of the local church as it meets together for a Sunday morning worship.  I think that is one of the main purposes of the individual follower of Jesus.  

This passage helps to illustrate my point.  Jesus was willing to walk, talk, eat, and share in some aspects of life with the sinners and tax collectors.  But notice how He approached the tax collector called Matthew.  He approached him as a tax collector, but He also called him away from that.  He told him to follow Him.  And that is a story captured in a book by the name of “Matthew”, because the tax collector stopped being what he was and followed Jesus.  

I tried to make a point of highlighting a difference in approach.  I may not have done a good job here.  So what was I trying to communicate and what is the difference?

Do you agree or disagree with what I was saying?  Why?

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
The most famous use of 6:14 when I was growing up was for the Christian and why they should not date or marry a non-Christian.  And by “most famous” I mean the literal only time I ever heard it talked about was in that context.  I grew up thinking this verse was only about dating and marriage!  Imagine my surprise when I read it and discovered that the context has absolutely no mention or leaning toward dating or marriage. 
Now that you have read that much, you should challenge what I just said.  Does it have anything to do with that or not?  If you just took another look at the passage, I bet you are able to see the value in that approach. Well, I guess that depends on what lens you view relationships through.  This passage is about the idea of considering that if we live in the presence of God, because that is what our Theology leads us to believe, that God is everywhere and in us, then we have to consider every single aspect of our life from that perspective.  Now we ask things like “Should I bring that into the presence of God? Or does it belong in a place that is considered holy?”  

What are some other ways you see that this section of verses could be properly applied?

Why do you think this idea was important enough for Paul to write about, especially considering that it was to the church at Corinth?

How does this become your prayer today?

Read Matthew 18:15-20
I really wonder what it would have been like to hang out with Jesus in real life?  To watch His demeanor as He got frustrated and see how He actually interacted with those friends and family members that just did regular friend and family member stuff.  It is easy to imagine that Jesus was conflict free and easy going with everyone, but what was it like when things got really raw?  

This passage makes me realize that Jesus surely was not a pushover.  Even though most of the images and ideas that I hear presented of Him make me want to think that.  So many people want this to be a formula with the goal of figuring out how to get someone out of our lives.  It helps us answer the question of when is enough enough and how do we deal with the real bottom dwelling problems.  But I do not really think that was the point here.  I think Jesus is just acknowledging what we all deal with in relationships and certainly He did too: conflict. If someone sins against you, you don’t have to be walked all over.  You also shouldn’t retaliate.  Jesus has a much better way.  It is a way that digs at getting to the heart of the wrong done against you.  It is not comfortable and most of the time we want to avoid everything about it all and just harbor a grudge or shoot back with a temper, but neither of those ends of the spectrum are good or worth considering.

In the context of this teaching, explain what Jesus meant by saying “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them?”

When you are faced with being wronged by someone, do you tend to lash out in anger, or harbor the hurt and avoid confrontation?

Why is that response not the best according to what you learn here?


How does this become part of your prayer today?

Read Psalm 67
This Psalm is a blessing that was to be spoken over the listener in hopes that something good and gracious is spoken into their lives.  I enjoyed reading it last week with my family and encourage you to read it as well.  Spend time thinking about what it is saying and what it means.  I pray this over your family and your week!

How does this become part of your prayer today?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 5: Demonstration

**If you group meets on Sunday, your Day 1 is Monday, and Day 6 is Saturday, Sunday is an off day.  

*If your group meets on Monday, your Day 1 is Tuesday and Day 6 is Sunday, Monday is an off day

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

John 10:27-28

The Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 4: Impartation