John 14:25–27 (NIV) 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit Summary A big portion of John's gospel account consists of Jesus speaking to His disciples right before Throughout the ages, many have tried to deny the divinity of both Christ and the Spirit, but John makes We find an example of this in the Gospel of John. John 2:19-22 reads, 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

Today: Mark 16

God takes worship seriously. Do you? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 96 Q. What is God’s will for us in the second commandment? A. That we in no way make any image of God nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word. Summary Just as God gives the Law to the people in the book of Leviticus, He also gives them directions on worship practices. He informs the priests as to what they are to wear. He outlines various festivals that the people are to celebrate. He tells them to make burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt offerings. Not just anyone could make these offerings. Only the priests were to make these offerings on behalf of the people, and they are to be done in a very specific way - the way God had explicitly commanded. Aaron (Moses’ brother) and his sons were ordained as priests for the people of Israel. They had begun to lead the people of Israel in worship. Unfortunately, rather quickly after being ordained as priests, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu make a critical error: they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD - meaning they had taken their coals from a different source than what God had commanded. As one commentator put it, Nadab and Abihu did not do something God had prohibited, they were punished because they had did not do exactly what God had commanded. God burned up Nadab and Abihu for offering unauthorized fire before him. At first glance, this seems like an incredibly harsh punishment. Nadab and Abihu were worshiping God after all, so why does it matter if they used fire incorrectly? It was not that they used it incorrectly, it is that they went against the command of the Lord. They were worshipping God in a way different from how He had commanded in His Word. Dig Deeper The Lord had given the people of Israel explicit instructions on worship practices. He had set the priests over them to lead them in worship. When God gave these commands to the people of Israel, He did so to shape them into His people. He had chosen them, and set them apart. As such, they were to live differently from those around them. They were to worship the Lord alone, and they were to worship Him exactly as He had instructed them. Nadab and Abihu were careless as worship leaders, offering unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command. As such, they were leading the people falsely in worship; they were leading people to worship God in a way that was contrary to His commands. Worship is about God. We worship God because He is holy, just, merciful, and so much more. When we worship the Lord, our worship practices must be based on His command, on how God wants to be worshiped. There is a general pattern that we follow to ensure we are worshiping God based on what we read in scripture: Approach, Word, Response. The Approach to God is the first part of the worship service where we come before the Lord with singing, prayer, and scripture reading. We lift the name of the Lord, as we come before our holy God. The Word is where we hear from God’s Word, the Bible. Not only is scripture read, but a sermon is given. This is the central part of our worship service because God is central to our lives. We want to hear from God, and be shaped by Him. The Lord’s Supper and baptism are a part of the Word portion of worship. We end with the Response. We have heard from God, and now we are responding to the Lord as we sing a doxology and leave the worship service to go serve the Lord faithfully. As the people of God, we do not add things to our worship hoping to please God, nor do we take things away to save on time. We worship God as He wants to be worshiped. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is worthy of praise; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: May I worship you as you want to be worshiped, not doing what is pleasing in my sight, but is pleasing to yours; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Corinthians 5

you, was a child of God, chosen by the King of kings, even before the universe was created (Ephesians 1:

Paul provides his own response and summary of God’s work of redemption in Ephesians 1:3–14. The only action attributed to the recipients of this amazing grace is hearing and believing it (1:13) salvation; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will respond to the gospel like Paul in Ephesians 1: Holy Spirit; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 15

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 122 Q. In Mark 1:15, he proclaims that we are to repent and believe the good news.

In Genesis 15, God assures Abram (before he is known as Abraham) that his reward will be greater than devastating nature and condemnation of sin before a completely Holy God (see yesterday’s passage Eph. 2:1– 10). Yes, faith includes knowledge, but as we see in Genesis 15, it also takes wholehearted trust that God is for you; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Ephesians 1

that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves" (John John 6:60–69 (NASB95) 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult

Find out how to escape. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (NIV) 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 15: The Doctrine of Original Sin original sin, which instills in us a propensity to sin, and the wages of this sin is death (Genesis 2:17 Today: Matthew 19

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 126 Q. this, for the Bible often equates Jesus with forgiveness (Matt. 26:28, Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38, Acts 10 :43, Acts 13:38, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:13-14, 1 John 2:12, just to name a few). those who cross His good and perfect will, making forgiveness possible, as Paul writes in Ephesians 1: your sin; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 13