Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 11 Q. in fact their fate was sealed a few chapters earlier when they were cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19 :11-15). Christ came so that you might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 11 Q.

[and] death reigned through that one man (v16-17)." ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Mark 15

In fact, Jesus' words in Matthew 22:39 appear to come as a direct quote of Leviticus 19:18. When considering what it means to love your neighbor, much of what is described in Leviticus 19 falls When you have time, read Leviticus 19:9-19 again, it essentially contains a list of what NOT to do if

Having your sins washed away is not just a figure of speech! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 73 Q. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins? A. God has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ wash away our sins just as water washes away dirt from our bodies. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that the washing away of our sins spiritually is as real as physical washing with water. Summary The Apostle Paul is speaking these words to a large crowd in Jerusalem after having been placed under arrest for his own protection from this same crowd who wanted to kill him. He tells his amazing Damascus Road experience, where he was instantly converted to Christ while traveling to persecute Christians. The bright light Paul encountered had blinded him, and after Jesus finished speaking to him from the light, Paul was brought to the house of a man named Ananias. He restored Paul's sight, and commissioned him to be Christ's witness to all people. Ananias' words to Paul were straightforward and to the point, giving Paul four instructions: Get up: Paul has just gone through a massive experience that knocked him down physically, emotionally and especially spiritually. But Ananias has no time to sit around contemplating what just happened when there's so much work for Paul to get done. Be baptized: We've been seeing these last few days that baptism is a sign and seal of the promises Christians have in Christ, so it makes sense that all new Christians be initiated with this sacrament. Wash your sins away: I wonder what Paul, a brand new Christian at this point, thought of this instruction. As a devout Jew, he would have been very familiar with the concept of the forgiveness of sins, but for him such an action was always connected to sacrifices made in the temple, although the process there did involve ceremonial washings. I wonder if he instantly remembered David's confession and plea to God in Psalm 51:2 to wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin? I wonder if he connected the concept of baptism and washing away sin? [Continue] calling on His name: It's not the hard work Paul would put in nor the baptism he received that would enable his sins to be washed away and his mission to be completed. Paul would need to fully depend on Christ, not just at the beginning of his career, but every moment along the way. Dig Deeper We often use the phrase 'wash your sins away' in a strictly metaphorical sense. Obviously we don't take a scrub brush and power washer to a person. We've also been reminded now that the physical experience of baptism is just a sign - a reminder of the washing away of sins that we've experienced. But be sure to hold these metaphors in tension. The reason we baptize a person with real water, rather than just talking about it, is because we want to demonstrate that the person has undergone a real washing. Part of our problem is that we tend to view our physical selves as being 'real,' while we consider our spiritual selves as something less than that. We know our spiritual self certainly isn't imaginary, but we often consider it as something different, or even less, than being 'real.' But that's not the case. Your spiritual self is just as real as your hand is in front of your face, and baptism - real, flowing water - is there to remind you that having been initiated into Christ, your whole self - body and soul - has been washed clean and made acceptable to God. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The God of our fathers, who has revealed His will and has sent His Righteous One; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you, having been baptized in Christ, will continue calling on His name; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 6

Baptism doesn't make you a Christian, it's always been a core part of Christianity. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 71 Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism? A. In the institution of baptism where he says: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins. Summary Matthew’s Gospel closes with Jesus giving the Great Commission to the Disciples. This passage has been quoted as the rallying cry behind countless outreach and discipleship efforts. While commanding the eleven remaining disciples to go and make more disciples, Jesus teaches them how to do this: by baptizing and teaching. Dig Deeper Jesus’ command to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit was taken seriously by the first disciples. In the history of the Christian Church, there is no time that we are aware of where the people of God were without baptism. On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit poured out on the Disciples, Peter preached what is considered the first Christian sermon. This is the response of the crowd and Peter’s reply from Acts 2:37-38: When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thousands came to faith in Christ that day and what was it they were commanded to do? Repent and be baptized. From the beginning, the Church has taken Jesus’ command to baptize seriously. It would be hard to deny that there has been a cultural shift in the United States in the last few decades. With the rise of the “nones” (those without a declared faith), there is an increasing number of people in the United States who are not baptized. As the Church reaches out to these people groups, the discussion around baptism will grow ever more important. Are we, the Body of Christ, ready for those discussions? If you have never been baptized yourself, what is holding you back from taking this step of faith? If you have been baptized, do you feel prepared to share the significance of baptism with someone who asks? AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who has equipped us His children and commissions us to gather those He's called into His Kingdom; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for your baptism, or if you haven't been baptized, pray that you will step forward and request it; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 2

You can discover your Spiritual gifts today and immediately use them tomorrow. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 55 Q. What do you understand by “the communion of saints”? A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members. Summary Throughout his letters, Paul often uses the image of the body as an analogy for the Church. It's amazing just how many systems within your body need to be working well and in harmony with other internal systems in order for you to be healthy. So it is, Paul writes, with the Church. As Americans, we're a fiercely independent bunch, which in many realms of society is a good thing. We know that society as a whole does better when each individual looks out for his own interests rather than depending on more socialistic systems. But this passage commands us to shelve that individualistic attitude when it comes to the Church. In the Church, "each member belongs to all the others." This means that the particular gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you do not belong just to you. As we noted yesterday, these gifts you've been given come with strings attached. Not only are you obligated to utilize them to build up the church, but you must use them to benefit your fellow church members. The final two verses of today's passage form a comprehensive but not exhaustive catalog of gifts, as well as a repeated command to utilize what you've been given. Notice how the final few commands include an adverb to add emphasis that your gift sharing efforts must be more than mediocre. Give generously. Lead diligently. Show mercy cheerfully. Dig Deeper When we cleaned our truck repair shop out years ago before selling it, we found all sorts of things in the warehouse that we forgot we had. What made that especially painful was the realization that we had bought that same part several times over at tremendous cost when we had a dozen of them in storage. What a waste! As we've mentioned before, you can't use what you don't know you have. You've been given a gift that Christ not only expects you to use, but in a sense depends on you to use it to build His Church. Your fellow members are being shortchanged if you're not sharing your gift with them. And you can't do any of this if you don't know what your gifts are! What a waste! We have two resources available to help you identify your gifts and become the productive body part that God created you to be. One is a large catalog of different gifts, many of which you probably didn't even know were Spiritual gifts. That same page has a link to an assessment you can take online which will point out what kinds of gifts you likely have. Both resources can be found at wgtncrc.org/gifts. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is in heaven. His name is holy. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the gifts He's given you, and pray that you'll know what they are, how to use them and that you'll use them cheerfully! ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 7

Why do Protestants confess to believing in a holy catholic church? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 54 Q. What do you believe concerning “the holy catholic church”? A. I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member. Summary Put yourself in the place of the disciples. Everything you've heard Jesus teach on has been mind blowing and has shattered nearly every preconceived notion that they had prior to meeting Him. So every time Jesus asked a question, they probably sweat bullets hoping that Jesus wouldn't pick them to answer, because chances are they'd get it wrong. But here Jesus asks a question that's easy to answer: "who do others say that I am?" It's always easy to report what others say, so the disciples are quick to give an answer to this first question. It's the second question that gets them. "Who do you say that I am?" You can imagine the awkward silence that followed the question. Finally the boldest of the group spoke up, and I don't think it was with a wavering voice. Peter finally gets it. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus rewards Peter's bravery and correct answer with a new name: Petros - the Rock. What comes next has been the subject of oceans of ink: "on this rock - petra - I will build my church." You can see the slight difference in the Greek words. Does this mean that Simon Peter is the rock that the church is built on, or is 'this rock' that Jesus refers to a different rock - perhaps Himself? But focusing on the slight variation in wording misses the point of this passage. Don't miss Jesus' huge promise here: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Peter plays an important role for sure in church history, but clearly the foundation, architect, builder and finisher of the Church is our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Dig Deeper The doctrine of the Church (known as ecclesiology) is one of the primary differences between the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) understands Jesus here to be appointing Peter as the head of the Church, and they then extrapolate from this other doctrines like apostolic succession and the papacy. Since those concepts lack Biblical support, the Reformers turned away from them. So it often seems odd to us in Protestant churches to recite the line from the Apostles' Creed stating that we "believe a holy catholic church." After all, the reason we're called protestants is because we're protesting the Catholic Church! But understand the Apostles' Creed far predates the formal RCC, so it's referring to something different when it uses the word catholic (small c). The Latin word it originally used is catholicus, a word that simply means 'universal.' So when you confess to "believe in the holy catholic church" you are confessing that Jesus Christ has been and still continues to build His church over all times and places and among every language, tribe, and people. He's making His Church holy, that is, He's separating you and every other member of His Church from the sinful world we live in. Praise God that the gates of hell will never overcome it! AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who revealed to His elect that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for making you a member of His Church, and pray that it will be the biggest priority in your life. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 5

You can find immense comfort in the fact that Jesus' dead body was buried. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 41 Q. Why was he “buried”? A. His burial testifies that he really died. Summary Following the crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea was granted permission by Pilate to take the body of Jesus so that he may be put to rest. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, provided the myrrh and aloes that would be used as part of the burial process. This amount of burial spices, 75 lbs of myrrh and aloes, far exceeded the typical amount used for the burial custom. Using this many burial spices would have been considered a showing of respect towards Jesus; one that came at a very high price, since these ingredients were very expensive. Dig Deeper Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took great personal risk in ensuring Jesus received a proper burial. And while their actions are commendable, the most important aspect of this passage was not their bravery, but the fact that Jesus indeed had died and was buried. Jesus' body created from dust seemed like it was well on the way to becoming dust again. The miracle of the resurrection is that Jesus, who had died and was buried, became alive again. The logical order of events dictates that indeed, if Jesus was going to rise from the dead, that He first be dead. This simple act of the burial of Jesus plays an important part in the Biblical accounts of the resurrection. This importance can be seen in how the burial account is included in all four of the Gospels. The reality of Jesus’ death and burial can also be seen in the chief priests’ response to the burial. Fearing that the disciples might try to steal away Jesus’ body, they asked Pilate to lend them soldiers to secure and guard the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66). Certainly, part of securing the tomb was to ensure that Jesus’ deceased body remained inside. Between the witnesses of Jesus’ death on the cross, those who prepared his body for burial, and those who secured his body in the tomb; there are more than enough witnesses to verify that Jesus really had died. Because Jesus had died and was buried, we rejoice in the miracle that on the third day he rose again from the dead. Today's catechism question, emphasizing the fact that Jesus was indeed buried, seems out of place in a year long study of what your only comfort in life and in death is. But this little question, with its seemingly simplistic answer - that Jesus' burial indicates that He was in fact actually dead - will give you immense comfort the next time you're looking at the casket of a loved one that's about to be lowered into the ground. Just as Jesus' lifeless body was made to live again after it had already been sealed in a tomb, so too will that loved one whose faith was in the resurrected Savior rise from the grave when Christ returns. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who seemed so distant and far away from Joseph and Nicodemus as they placed Jesus' body in the ground; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Both Joseph & Nicodemus had followed Jesus in secret. Pray that you will have the courage to follow Christ in a way that's visible to all. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 9

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