is pleasing to yours; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2

In Romans 4:2, Paul drives home that it was faith, not works, that declares one legally right before devastating nature and condemnation of sin before a completely Holy God (see yesterday’s passage Eph. 2: 1–10). is for you; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Ephesians 1

Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 1 We all believe in our hearts and

In Mark 1:15, he proclaims that we are to repent and believe the good news. every part of your life; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 of your life; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Peter 2

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 25 Q. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 24

Ecclesiastes 2 (NIV) 2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? A.

taking her as his wife to coverup the pregnancy that would have evidenced their scandalous affair. 2 Samuel 12:1–23 (NIV) 12 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.   2  Deeper   David could break free from the guilt and move after his son's death for two key reasons: 1) Total and complete confession is the key to experiencing total and complete forgiveness. 2) His theology

Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Article 1: God’s Right -23 - Great Is Thy Faithfulness John 3:16-18 - Simple Beauty 1 John 4:8-10 - This Is Love Psalm 103 - Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel 1 Timothy 2:1-7 - God Our Savior Isaiah 52.7 - Good News! 7:1-10 - Set Apart John 17:1-5 - Sovereign Submission John 17:6-12 - Given Psalm 115 - God Does What 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9-

You will enter the Promised Land by grace alone, just as God's people always have. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 79 Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood? (Paul uses the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood.) A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins. Summary It's often easy to think that God's plan of salvation changed when Jesus arrived. In plan A, God entered into a covenant with Moses, giving His people a clear set of expectations for them to follow in order to gain a reward. Indeed we see language like that in this passage from Deuteronomy that every Israelite would have known so well: keep the commandments so that you may enjoy long life; be careful to obey so that it might go well with you; follow these rules so that you might increase. Having given the Israelites plenty of time to get their act together, it might seem like God finally gave up on plan A for the grace-filled plan B that Jesus would inaugurate, in which His covenant people would now be saved by the fact that Jesus perfectly kept the law on our behalf. But as we keep reading in Deuteronomy 6, it becomes clear that God has always had one plan of salvation for all people, and it has always been completely grace based. God was bringing His people - then, and now - through their wilderness wanderings and into the Promised Land, which flowed with milk and honey. They would enjoy flourishing cities, nicely appointed houses, wells, vineyards and olive groves. All of this would be a gift: they would not need to build, provide, dig or plant. Another word for gift is grace. Certainly they had a covenantal obligation to keep the law, an obligation they couldn't keep. What they didn't know then was that Christ would provide that covenant faithfulness for them, as He has for you. So inhabiting the Promised Land was a pure gift; it was never an obligation God owed them. So the reminder God gives to Israel - the recipients of His grace then - is just as valid for us, the recipients of His grace now: Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (v12). Dig Deeper The next time you see the bread broken and the wine poured out, remember that all you have - the good things here and now, and especially an eternity with Christ are all a gift of grace made possible because Jesus suffered vicariously on your behalf. As the Catechism puts it, "all of His suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Start your prayer the way God's people have for millenia, by reciting the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will be careful to obey God's laws, to love God with all of your heart, soul and strength, and that you'll impress the gospel on the generations that follow you out of gratitude for the grace given to you. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 18

Numbers 16:1-32 (NIV) Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent 2  and rose up against Moses. 23  Then the LORD said to Moses, 24  “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan And so, all who withdraw from the church or do not join it act contrary to God’s ordinance. Today: 2 Corinthians 12