Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 72 Q.

In verse 7 he gives a gentle reminder to not let anyone lead you astray.

Evaluate your position in life from God's perspective, not the world's. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 124 Q. What does the third request mean? A. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” means, Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven. Summary Some consider this passage to be controversial, alleging that the 19th century American church used it as an excuse to continue the practice of slavery. But this allegation doesn't hold much water, since immediately after telling slaves to be content in their situation, Paul encourages them to gain their freedom if possible (v21). Far from being a rationale for the oppressors to continue their oppression (as so many in our day and age want to think the Bible does), this passage completely dismantles the human class system that supposedly defines the level of a person's status in society. As Christians, you are to consider yourself as the Lord eternally defines you, rather than the way others see you based on your current temporal situation. Our sinful instinct is to see the wealthy upper crust as intrinsically better people than the poor and downtrodden, so, especially as Americans, we do all we can to improve our upward mobility. While it's not wrong in and of itself for you to want to better yourself, this desire quickly turns into a dominating sin when your entire self image becomes based on the subjective standards that have been foisted upon you by society rather than responding to God's calling. Dig Deeper The entire doctrine taught in this passage is encapsulated in the opening verse (v17): Each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. In other words, be content no matter what your societal status is, with two very important caveats. First, be certain that the Lord has "assigned" you the position that you're in. If you can fully serve the Lord and grow in faith in your current life situation, it's a good indication that you're where the Lord has assigned you to be, no matter what the rest of the world thinks about it. But if you sense growth opportunities which require doing the hard work to change stations in life by moving either up or even down(!!) the societal ladder, then perhaps God is changing your assignment in life and you must respond. Second, and somewhat similarly, are you where God has "called" you? You may have found a very comfortable niche in life that you'd just as soon remain in, but by doing so you might be evading God's calling, putting you in a dangerous situation. Think of how comfortable Jonah was sleeping in the hold of the ship before God sent a storm to remind Jonah of his calling. Evaluating life from a divine perspective rather than the world's wisdom is massively difficult. Just remember, it doesn't matter what other people think. "Keeping God's commands is what counts (v19)." This is why your prayers must often include the words "Thy will be done." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who called you and assigned you the life you're living; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and that He'll help you to discern where He's assigned you to be; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 6

You read that correctly, 700 years later the people were burning incense to the same bronze snake that

The warning Jesus shares in Matthew 7:15 is to be aware of false prophets. image; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 7

reward is something that Jesus talks about often, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)

Your biggest problem is you were born in sin, so God's solution is for you to be re-born. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 8 Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil? A. Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God. Summary Heidelberg Q&A 8 elaborates more on our corrupt human nature and asks if we can do any good. This question gets at how severe and embedded the problem of sin is. It is not as if we need to clean up a bit, but it affects everything all the way down—from desires to thoughts to actions. But it does not leave us without hope by only answering the question, “yes.” God is not at fault for our problem of an evil and corrupt nature, but He uses His Spirit to regenerate / recreate us. John 3 illustrates this supernatural work of God and where the often used phrase “born again” originates. Nicodemus came at night because he did not want the other Pharisees of the time to see him giving respect to Jesus. He knew Jesus was speaking with power and authority, though. He thought maybe Jesus would give him a method he could use or a rule to follow, but instead, Jesus revealed that life only comes from the Spirit of God. Jesus is teaching that all humans are essentially dead and in need of new life. And much like our first birth, it is not something we can take credit for but is a work of God. Dig Deeper Do you celebrate your birthday because of something you accomplished when you took your first breath of air, or is it a way to celebrate your years of life and what you mean to friends and family? Similarly, you can celebrate your second birth through God’s gracious Spirit, not because of anything you did to make that happen, but because of the new life that God has given you, which is everlasting life. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead works in you so that you can share in that supernatural resurrected life and be made a renewed person who can enter into the kingdom of God where the “perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:53). Our first birth is of this world and merely makes us fit for life as mortals on earth. The second birth is from above and is divine, making one ready for God’s kingdom, which is everlasting. Do not approach Jesus merely as a teacher as Nicodemus did or read the Bible only looking to acquire some new knowledge, but go to him as the King of Glory with faith in the one who has the words of eternal life (John 6:68). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The God who gives us second birth and a new life in Christ that is everlasting and imperishable. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for God’s Spirit to renew and transform you to walk in the good works He has prepared for you (Eph. 2:10). ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Mark 15

ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 3

Right now, at this very moment, Jesus is in heaven pleading your cause before God! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 49 Q. How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us? A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven— a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Summary We've looked at this important concept of covenant often this year. A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties based on a contingency; in other words, a covenant is a promise from one person to do this if the other person will do that. This covenantal obligation formed the basis for God's relationship with Adam, as well as His relationship with the Israelites in which He promised to be their God if they obeyed Him and lived as His people. But neither Adam nor the Israelites held up their end of the deal. That's why the gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news. Through Christ, we are put back into a covenantal relationship with God, but this time it's no longer contingent. In v22 we read that "Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant." Those whose faith is rooted in Christ have fully met the righteous contingency required to live in peace with our God and Father! Because of Christ's finished work, He is able to save completely those who come to God. The key to not only gaining this salvation, but keeping this salvation is to come to God through Jesus by completely trusting not just in His righteousness on your behalf, but also trusting in Him as He "lives to intercede for" you. Dig Deeper Imagine if passages like this one were not in the Bible; if all you had was the initial gift of righteousness from Jesus, but then He said something to the effect of, "Ok, I've paid the debt of your sins and made you right with God. If you just keep this righteousness I've given to you, my Father will be obligated to accept you on my behalf." That wouldn't be good news at all, since we've all demonstrated over and over our inability to keep God's righteous requirements on our own! So what a tremendous promise it is that Jesus "lives to intercede" for you. This means that every moment of every day, your risen Savior is at the right hand of God asking Him to give you what you need. But it's more than just 'stuff' that Jesus is asking God to provide for you. Yes, you need stuff, and yes, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are advocating that the Father gives you the stuff you need. But the catechism puts it well in describing Jesus as pleading your cause in heaven in the presence of His Father. Jesus continually asks God to always look at you through the lens of the covenant that Jesus guaranteed! Since you through faith are included in Christ, Jesus continually reminds God the Father of His obligation to extend His covenant blessings to you! And that's an obligation our Father is more than happy to meet! AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God Almighty, who always remains faithful to those He's covenanted with; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank Jesus for always interceding for you, and ask for the peace and contentment that comes from Jesus guaranteeing covenant blessings on your behalf. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 21

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 79 Q.