Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 100 Q.

Baptism symbolizes you've been washed with the costliest of all detergents. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 70 Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit? A. To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for me in his sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life. Summary In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul writes of the redemption we have through the blood of Christ. Redemption is deliverance through a price or ransom that is paid. The redemption to which Paul is speaking is the deliverance from the guilt of sin which has been paid by the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross. Redemption is not free; there is a price that must be paid. That price has been paid by Jesus and is offered freely to those who believe in Him for salvation. Dig Deeper When Katie and I were first married, she worked for a ministry out of Sioux Falls, SD named LifeLight. LifeLight’s claim to fame is being the largest outdoor free Christian music festival. Being a free music festival there was no required entrance fee, however that does not mean that there were no costs. As you can imagine, it can be quite expensive to hire some of the best Christian bands in the world to come sing at the festival, plus all the other costs (electricity, water, etc.) that come with hosting a festival. And while entry was free, these costs still had to be paid. LifeLight ran on donations. While many enjoyed a free experience, others would donate above and beyond to make sure there was enough to cover the festival. Essentially, some people gave more than the value they received in order that others could come for free and hear the gospel proclaimed. In this case, some paid for the many. When it comes to redemption it is not some, but the one who has paid for all. The people of God receive this gift via the grace of God seen in the blood of Christ poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross. In baptism, we are reminded of Christ’s death on our behalf. This sacrament points to the redemption found in Christ and the price paid for our deliverance. Recognizing the price that has been paid on your behalf, live as one who has been forgiven, turning away from the vices of this world and living a life full of gratitude for the gift of grace found in Christ. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who lavishes grace and forgiveness of sin upon us, His children; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will understand more and more the cost of your salvation so that more and more your life will reflect the necessary gratitude for such a gift; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Philemon

We're not even 10% of the way into God's law, and already the load is crushing.

Don't get so consumed in your daily battles that you forget your primary orders. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 116 Q. Why do Christians need to pray? A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking him for them. Summary This passage, often entitled The Armor of God, is familiar to most of us. I was a bit surprised to notice that we'd not yet covered this passage in our readings this year, but it makes sense we come to it now, as we've been focused lately on living out the salvation that's been won for us. Today we're not going to focus as much on the particular pieces of armor we must put on, but rather on the specific orders we've been given to fulfill as soldiers of the Lord. To understand your mission, you must first identify the enemy that you'll be struggling against (literally: wrestling with). It might be surprising to be reminded that the daily problems you wrestle with - which certainly are real and may be very painful - are not the enemy that you've been called to struggle against. The real enemy - who very well may be the source of your daily problems - are the "rulers, authorities, and power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (!!)" who are shooting "flaming arrows" at you. Your orders are as follows: to put on / take up your armor, to stand your ground, and to extinguish the flaming arrows. But your primary tactic is quite surprising: it's not to engage in hand to hand combat, but to be praying in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests... for all of the Lord's saints (v18). Dig Deeper We're beginning the final section of our catechism today, which is focused on prayer. We'll be going through the Lord's prayer over these next couple of months, but before we can do that we have to stop and ask a question that we don't stop to ask enough in life: Why? Why must we pray? You're likely inundated with things that need to be done, both good things that will bring God honor and glory, and things that need to be taken care of to keep your world from collapsing in upon itself. Maybe you've got a couple of these pieces of spiritual armor on but feel ready to go nonetheless, or maybe you're fully suited up and ready for battle. Why waste time praying? Two reasons. First, and foremost, because your King has ordered you to do so. This ought to be reason enough. "Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us." But there's more! "God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly." In other words, no matter how awesome your armor is (and it is!), it won't do you one bit of good unless you use it on your knees. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who rules all things through our Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords and calls us to battle; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God to keep you from being distracted by the fog of daily battle so that you fulfill your orders to pray continually; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - John 16

Jesus began teaching us how to pray 1,000 years before He was born! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 128 Q. What does your conclusion to this prayer mean? A. “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” means, We have made all these requests of you because, as our all-powerful king, you not only want to, but are able to give us all that is good; and because your holy name, and not we ourselves, should receive all the praise, forever. Summary It's so easy to short circuit our prayers by bypassing the first two steps Jesus taught us - acknowledging who God is and then aligning our lives with His will - and jumping right to the matter that likely drove us to pray in the first place: asking God for what we need. One thing that seems to be missing from this AAA prayer pattern is any sort of thanksgiving or even confession of sin. It's not that those components aren't important; they're critical! But King David here demonstrates that when we acknowledge and align well, the elements of thanksgiving and confession will naturally be included. As David extols God's attributes, he quickly concludes that since "everything in heaven and earth is yours (v11)," and that "wealth and honor come from you... you give strength to all (v12)," then it's fitting to "give you thanks, and praise your glorious name (v13)." Dig Deeper It might surprise you when you go to read the Lord's Prayer in the accounts where Jesus first taught it, which are recorded in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. It seems like a big chunk of what we've come to call the Lord's Prayer isn't even mentioned by Jesus! The words "For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory" are missing from the gospels. What's going on here? Is this the result of some big conspiracy to add words to the Bible that were never there in the first place? Of course not. Jesus did speak these words, just not in the instances where he taught His disciples (that's us) to pray. This past year, we've been unpacking our only comfort, that we belong body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Our journey has taken us through 259 (we'll finish up at 260 tomorrow!) passages. We've read from at least 47 different books of the Bible, spending just slightly more time in the New Testament than what we did in the Old Testament. Of course all of these words we've read are the words of God Himself. The comfort Jesus speaks to you comes through the entire Bible, not just in the red letters of the gospels! Remember, in teaching you this prayer, Jesus isn't commanding you to simply mutter the same words over and over as if they're a magic spell. Rather, He taught a pattern in which your prayers should ordinarily conform to. So it's fitting that we end the prayer Jesus taught us in the gospels with the words He spoke through His Holy Spirit in inspiring David to pray 1,000 years before Jesus came to Earth: Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor... Yours, LORD is the kingdom; you are exalted over all (v11). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Praise be to you, LORD, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Since wealth and honor comes from God, and He is the ruler of all things, pray that you will use the blessings He's given you in a way that honors and glorifies Him; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 21

Communion is full participation in the body and blood of Christ. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 78 Q. Are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ? A. No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ’s blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply God’s sign and assurance, so too the bread of the Lord’s Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments. Summary This is my body; this is my blood. On one hand, there's no way Jesus could have been clearer as He commanded the Church to "do this in remembrance of me." On the other hand, no other words of the Bible have created so much division in the Church over the centuries. Does Jesus mean that the bread & wine somehow literally turn into His flesh & blood, or is He speaking metaphorically? There are three main schools of thought as to the relationship of Jesus' body and blood and the communion elements: Roman Catholic: The elements trans-substantiate: The bread & wine somehow become the flesh and blood of Christ after they've been consecrated by a priest; Lutheran: The elements con-substantiate: The bread & wine don't physically change, but Christ's presence coexists with them as they are consumed; Reformed: The elements are spiritually substantial: The bread and wine possess a spiritual substance that conveys the true presence of Christ to believers. One of the primary passages Reformed theologians lean on for this understanding is v16 from our reading today: the cup and the bread are a participation in the blood and body of Christ. Dig Deeper The Lord's Supper is perhaps better known in our churches as communion. There is a relationship between the Latin word communio and the Greek word translated as 'participation' that Paul uses in v16: koinōnía. Both words are derived from a common root and share similar meanings. The Latin word communio means "common" or "shared." It refers to the act of sharing, participating, or having something in common with others. In a broader sense, it can also convey the idea of community, fellowship, or communion. Similarly, the Greek word koinōnía also means "common" or "shared." Κoinōnía encompasses the notions of fellowship, partnership, and participation. When Jesus first invited His disciples, and later us, to understand that the bread and wine are His body & blood, He was speaking of something much bigger and broader than His physical body. As you participate in communion, know that you are spiritually in the very presence of Jesus Christ, and that you are being joined to His body which is the Church, and as such you receive all of the blessings, benefits & responsibilities that come with it. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, in heaven; Holy is His name! ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will flee idolatry and live your life in a way that's consistent with one who's participating in the body and blood of Jesus. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 15

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 101 Q.

Being excited about God is good... but make sure your zeal is based on knowledge! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 19 Q. How do you come to know this? A. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear Son. Summary With these words Paul expresses his desire that his fellow Jews would be saved. What Paul sees in many of his brethren is a zeal for keeping to the laws of the Old Testament, but a lack of understanding that adherence to the law does not equate righteousness. No matter how you might try, even your best efforts to establish your own righteousness cannot stand up to God’s perfect standard. It's still important for us to strive to live out the teachings of Jesus, as this is the appropriate response of gratitude to the grace of Jesus. Just as Paul’s concern for the Jews was not their zeal for upholding the law, the real concern is a mindset of upholding adherence to the law as a replacement for the righteousness of Christ. Attempts to be “good enough”, instead of depending upon the grace of Jesus, are nothing more than a flawed attempt to circumvent God’s plan of redemption. As Paul writes, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. Christ being the “end of the law” carries with it multiple, non-mutually exclusive meanings. First, this points to Jesus as the purpose or end goal the law was working towards. Secondly, Jesus marks for believers an end to our attempts to pursue righteousness via the law. Dig Deeper Every good story has a climax. If Belle had never gone looking for her father none of us would have heard about Beauty and the Beast. Without that action forward, the story would have remained at a standstill and never reached its exciting climax. While the Bible consists of 66 books written by various authors, it is also the ongoing story of God’s interaction with his creation. God’s handiwork can be seen throughout all of human history, culminating with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is undoubtedly the climax of human history. There are many reasons to open up your Bible, and chief among them is that you might come to know your faithful savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is what pushes history forward. Without Jesus, the story of humanity would be a standstill as we would still be waiting for our redeemer. Praise God that he has saved you from your misery, that a redeemer has come, just as God had planned from the beginning. Trust not in yourself for righteousness, but in Jesus. As a dear saint would often remind me, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and HE will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Father, you set the standard for righteousness, and you sent your Son that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will give you a zeal for Him based on knowledge of His Word. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 14

Think of the 10 Commandments.

Does the way you handle money now make you trustworthy to handle true riches? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 110 Q. What does God forbid in the eighth commandment? A. He forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law. But in God’s sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as: inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume; fraudulent merchandising; counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God. In addition he forbids all greed and pointless squandering of his gifts. Summary These words of Jesus, spoken at the tail end of the parable of the dishonest manager speak to a matter of stewardship. Those who are faithful in very little are also said to be faithful in much. Likewise, those who are dishonest in very little are also dishonest in much. With these words, Jesus is encouraging the Disciples to remain faithful in small matters for their faithfulness in the seemingly minute will better prepare them to remain faithful in matters of the highest importance. Dig Deeper In this teaching, Jesus is speaking to more than the stewardship of monetary resources. The way in which you steward your earthly possessions is an indicator of whether you can be trusted with spiritual wealth. If you are unwilling to be faithful in that which is of the world and therefore temporary, how then can you be trusted with true riches, such as the immeasurable treasure of the Gospel? As the Body of Christ, we have been entrusted with the Gospel message. However, if your focus is solely upon the building of your financial household, how then are you able to give proper stewardship to the Gospel? As Jesus states in verse 13, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” The Greek term translated here as “serve” more literally means to “be a slave of”. Jesus is warning the Disciples against allowing money to make them its slave. He says as much, closing this teaching with the words, “you cannot serve God and money”. If your focus in life is upon your own wealth and comfort, this will choke out all room to faithfully serve our Lord and Savior. Devotion to earthly riches is by nature at odds with one’s devotion to Christ. Both cannot be your master, either you belong to Christ, or you belong to the riches of this world. As you remain devoted to Jesus and show yourself as a faithful steward of earthly resources, you also demonstrate your trustworthiness in matters of spiritual wealth. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who has trusted us with much; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God for the strength to resist the temptations of the world that seek to drag you away from your one true Master; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - John 4