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

Grace does much more than just save you, it teaches you to pray that God's will be done in your life. 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 We live in a day and age that seeks to limit the gospel's effect in our lives, that as long as a person is vaguely familiar with Jesus, then they can count themselves a Christian regardless of their lifestyle. The truth is, while this "Christianity Lite" attitude is certainly present in our day and age, it has always been a factor; it's nothing new! Paul had to instruct one of the earliest pastors on how to counteract this warped thinking. The grace that God offers certainly does offer salvation to each and every person who "declares with their mouth that 'Jesus is Lord' and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9)." It is just that easy to be saved! But here we read that after bringing a person to a knowledge of their salvation, grace keeps on working! Grace goes on to "teach us to say 'no' to ungodliness and worldly passions (v12)." In other words, it teaches us that, as the catechism puts it, "God's will alone is good." So God's grace not only teaches you about salvation, it teaches you to "live a self-controlled, upright and godly life in this present age (v12)." Dig Deeper Christianity is much more than a 'deep relationship' with Jesus. It's a lifelong process, in which grace begins by turning your obstinate heart of stone into a believing heart of flesh (a moment that most of us who were raised in the church may not remember in particular). The Christian life - fueled from the very beginning by this gift of grace alone, delivered through faith alone, because of the work of Christ alone - is a life that increasingly learns how to pray with conviction one simple prayer in every realm of life: Thy will be done. You have been "redeemed from all wickedness and been purified by Christ to be his very own." Therefore, be a disciple who is "eager to do what is good (v14)." Since only God's will is good, pray often that His will be done in your life as it is in heaven. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who by grace offers salvation to all people; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 5

Peter is speaking to that put Jesus to death and nailed him to the cross (and far be it from us living 2,000 Good sermons will always revolve around the elements Peter uses here in Acts 2.

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 24 Q. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 23

God's expectations have been clear since day one: Obey Him and live. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 40 Q. Why did Christ have to go all the way to death? A. Because God’s justice and truth demand it: only the death of God’s Son could pay for our sin. Summary When Adam was placed into the Garden of Eden to work the land, God commanded him to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all the fruit of the trees in the garden, only the fruit of this one tree was forbidden. This was a choice God did not have to give Adam. God could have hidden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil away from Adam, or created Adam without an ability to choose. Yet God did neither of these. Instead, God gave this command and Adam was given a choice between obedience and rebellion. The cost of rebellion was steep, for Adam and all whom he represented, disobedience meant that he would surely die. This consequence would not be an immediate physical death for Adam, but that death would become a certainty. Dig Deeper In Genesis 3 we find the account of the fall, where Adam and Eve as the first humans “fell” from grace through the first act of human disobedience. Despite God’s clear command that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off-limits and the warning of the consequences of rebellion, they chose to partake of it. With this act of disobedience death began its reign in mankind. The only remedy for the fallen state of mankind is the supervening grace of God. This is why Jesus was born into this world and suffered death, to intervene in the fate of a fallen humanity. With this first act of rebellion came the certainty of death. God’s justice and truth require payment for our debt of sin. And nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God. Because of Jesus, the fall is more than the origin story of the misery of mankind and how we came to be in a state of rebellion against God. The fall is part of God’s larger plan of redemption. God certainly didn't want Adam to fail, yet He knew that Adam and Eve would disobey in the garden. This is why a means of grace was already part of God's plan of redemption. Jesus is God’s intervention for a fallen humanity. Only the Son of God could pay our debt of sin. Thank God that Jesus intervenes in humanity’s state of misery, rescuing us from the consequences of our rebellion of sin. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our covenant God, the creator of all that is who has called us to a life of righteousness. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that through Christ you've earned everlasting life, and pray for wisdom to fulfill your purpose of ensuring God's creation reflects His holiness. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 8

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be

Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Open your prayer the same way Daniel did: pray the words in v19-23

Summary The focus of 2 Corinthians 5 is reconciliation.

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 21 Q.

Photo credit: Gantas Vaičiulėnas via Unsplash Jeremiah 10:23–24 23   LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. 24   Discipline me, LORD, but only in due Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Today: 1 Timothy 6