2 Samuel 8:1-15 (NIV) 8 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines. 2  David also defeated the Moabites. Ps.2; Isa. 11:3b–5; Joel 3:9–17; Zech. 14:1–5, 12–15; 2 Thess. 1:7b–8, 2:8–10). against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me ( Romans 7:23

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel 1 Timothy 2:1-7 - God Our Savior Isaiah 52.7 - Good News! 7:25-29 - Many Schemes Ephesians 2:8 - The Gift of God Philippians 1:27-30 - Granted Psalm 95 - The 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- - God's Second Residence 2 Peter 1:3-10 - Make Every Effort Isaiah 42:1-9 - The Sovereign & His Servant

Summary We're jumping into a discussion here in 1 Corinthians 3 in which Paul is helping these early

Being excited about God is good... but make sure your zeal is based on knowledge! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 19 Q. How do you come to know this? A. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear Son. Summary With these words Paul expresses his desire that his fellow Jews would be saved. What Paul sees in many of his brethren is a zeal for keeping to the laws of the Old Testament, but a lack of understanding that adherence to the law does not equate righteousness. No matter how you might try, even your best efforts to establish your own righteousness cannot stand up to God’s perfect standard. It's still important for us to strive to live out the teachings of Jesus, as this is the appropriate response of gratitude to the grace of Jesus. Just as Paul’s concern for the Jews was not their zeal for upholding the law, the real concern is a mindset of upholding adherence to the law as a replacement for the righteousness of Christ. Attempts to be “good enough”, instead of depending upon the grace of Jesus, are nothing more than a flawed attempt to circumvent God’s plan of redemption. As Paul writes, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. Christ being the “end of the law” carries with it multiple, non-mutually exclusive meanings. First, this points to Jesus as the purpose or end goal the law was working towards. Secondly, Jesus marks for believers an end to our attempts to pursue righteousness via the law. Dig Deeper Every good story has a climax. If Belle had never gone looking for her father none of us would have heard about Beauty and the Beast. Without that action forward, the story would have remained at a standstill and never reached its exciting climax. While the Bible consists of 66 books written by various authors, it is also the ongoing story of God’s interaction with his creation. God’s handiwork can be seen throughout all of human history, culminating with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is undoubtedly the climax of human history. There are many reasons to open up your Bible, and chief among them is that you might come to know your faithful savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is what pushes history forward. Without Jesus, the story of humanity would be a standstill as we would still be waiting for our redeemer. Praise God that he has saved you from your misery, that a redeemer has come, just as God had planned from the beginning. Trust not in yourself for righteousness, but in Jesus. As a dear saint would often remind me, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and HE will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Father, you set the standard for righteousness, and you sent your Son that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will give you a zeal for Him based on knowledge of His Word. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 14

Great Is Thy Faithfulness John 3:16-18 - Simple Beauty 1 John 4:8-10 - This Is Love Psalm 103 - Praise Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel 1 Timothy 2:1-7 - God Our Savior Isaiah 52.7 - Good News! 7:25-29 - Many Schemes Ephesians 2:8 - The Gift of God Philippians 1:27-30 - Granted Psalm 95 - The 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-

Jesus tells us in the Great Commission (Matthews 28:19-20) to go and make disciples of all nations and

communion, know that you are spiritually in the very presence of Jesus Christ, and that you are being joined

A bite sized piece of bread & tiny cup of wine is able to nourish your soul for eternal life. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 75 Q. How does the Lord’s Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts? A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood. Summary One of the most indelible marks of man's fall into sin is our propensity to be controlled by our appetite. The forbidden fruit 'was 'good for food and pleasing to the eye (Gen 3:6).' The Israelites who had just been freed from slavery in Egypt longed to go back because they were tired of eating manna. So it's not surprising that the first tactic the devil uses to tempt Jesus is by way of His stomach. After fasting for forty days it only makes sense that Jesus hungered in a way that most of us can't even begin to imagine, so the devil seizes the opportunity by planting an idea which doesn't seem all that unreasonable. He tempts the one who turned water into wine and multiplied a few baskets of bread to feed 5,000 to simply turn the surrounding stones into a some loaves of bread - bread that Jesus desperately needs at this point. Certainly it's not wrong to eat, so why would it have been wrong for Jesus to give into this temptation? Because Jesus wasn't in the wilderness on His own accord, He had been led there by the Spirit for the express purpose of withstanding the devil's temptations, reasonable though they may be. The Spirit had not yet given Jesus permission to resume eating yet, so it would have been sinful for Him to do so. Jesus responds to each of the devil's temptations by quoting scripture, which is just one more reason for you to know scripture well. This first time, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, which is a promise God makes to bless Israel if they put following 'every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord' ahead of their own appetites in life. Dig Deeper We come to this passage today in the context of understanding the significance of participation in the Lord's Supper. The entire sacrament is predicated on God's command to Israel to not live on bread alone, but to rather be fully dependent upon everything God has spoken in His Word. But God knows our weakness, and how central our physical appetites are to our decision making process, so what a blessing it is that God communicates the gospel to us physically through bread and wine. Notice the language the catechism uses to summarize scripture: the bread and cup nourish and refreshes your soul for eternal life. In most churches, the communion bread is a tiny bite sized square and the wine comes in the smallest of all cups. These portions aren't going to physically nourish or refresh anyone! Yet the spiritual nourishment you receive as you participate in the Lord's Supper, which is always accompanied by the proclamation of God's Word, surely feeds your soul with the assurance of God's grace enabling you to realize His blessing in your life. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose every word is more necessary than bread; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Praise God that Jesus put God's Word ahead of His appetite on your behalf, and pray for the strength to do the same. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 10

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 28 Q. In Ephesians 1:14, Paul calls the Holy Spirit the downpayment from God, guaranteeing our inheritance

it only makes sense that true perfection can not be fully attained until both parts are once again joined