ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 1

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

Then let go of your stuff. 1 Timothy 6:17–19 (NIV) 17 Command those who are rich in this present world uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this The first verse makes a great elaboration of passages like we read in 1 Timothy 6, but the final two Today: Acts 18

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 102 Q. will be established; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 127 Q. he's not; if anything, Peter is using quite restrained language here, compared to the vivid war scene John reports in Revelation 12. the devil; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 19

In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul states that we are adopted through Jesus Christ.

Imagine being there, hearing these words come out of the fire (Dt. 10:4), accompanied by thunder and ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 15

If you think the Bible is boring, you haven't read Ezekiel 37! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 53 Q. What do you believe concerning “the Holy Spirit”? A. First, he, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. Second, he has been given to me personally, so that, by true faith, he makes me share in Christ and all his blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever. Summary The Old Testament book of Ezekiel can be one of the hardest to understand in the whole Bible. Ezekiel paints fantastic word pictures and describes often unimaginable scenes of God's glory that are not only hard to picture but sometimes even harder to interpret. But this episode we read today is one of Ezekiel's most famous, and although it presents a striking story of dry, dead bones morphing back into living beings, this story isn't difficult to interpret (it helps that Ezekiel tells us exactly what it means in the following verses). The bones represent God's people, who described themselves as dried up and hopeless. What's amazing is that God uses the same tool to save them that He uses on you: He sends them a preacher to prophesy, a word we often associate with predicting the future, but which actually means to proclaim God's Word on His behalf. Ezekiel's preaching has an immediate effect. Imagine what the 'rattling' sounded like as bones reconnected to each other in exactly the right sequence, and what it looked like as they were then suddenly yet incrementally fleshed out into full bodies! But as powerful as preaching is, it has a big limitation. It can reassemble broken bones, build up muscle and tendon, and cover it all with a thick skin, but it can not restore life to that which is dead. Ezekiel had witnessed a true miracle in that dry bones were transformed into healthy bodies; healthy, but still dead. But God still had use for the tool He'd given to Ezekiel, and He called Him to use it one more time. Preach, God said, but this time not to the bones, but rather to the breath. Whose breath, Ezekiel must have wondered! Certainly not the bodies laying before him, for "there was no breath in them (v8)." Here's where it helps to have read lots of the Bible. You probably remember reading that as soon as God finished forming Adam from the dust of the ground, He put His own breath into Him, and he became a living being (Gen. 2:7). Both in Hebrew (the language Ezekiel was written in) and in Greek (the language of the New Testament), the word for breath / wind is the same exact word as is used for spirit. God makes it clear who the breath Ezekiel summoned belonged to in v14 - I will open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live... Dig Deeper We spent the opening months of this year being reminded that we were born dead in sin, as dry and lifeless as the bones God brought Ezekiel to. The primary tool God has used to reanimate you is preaching - certainly on the Lord's Day from the pulpit, but also from teachers, elders and parents as they shared the Bible with you in various ways. The story of the dry bones is an excellent example of why you need even more preaching if you want to be healthy and strong. But all the preaching in the world is in vain without the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who turns hearts of stone into hearts of flesh that accept God's Word through faith. Don't miss the command God gave to Ezekiel to "preach to the Breath." You can do that by praying that the Holy Spirit will strengthen your faith and breath into the sin-slain people around you that they may live (v9). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the creator of life who sends out preachers to restore life; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Prophesy to the breath... pray that the Holy Spirit will further enliven you and bring new life to the spiritually dead around you. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 2

ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 14

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 104 Q.