Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26 Q. because there is no created being powerful enough to thwart Him or turn back His outstretched hand (v24 & 27 ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 26

This is the seed sown along the path. 20  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21  But since they have no root, they last only a short time but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Today: 1 Corinthians 4

Matthew 13:3–23 (NIV) This week we'll be working our way through various verses in this passage. 3   This is the seed sown along the path. 20  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Today: 1 Corinthians 3

One short daily prayer can alleviate so much of your stress & anxiety. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 125 Q. What does the fourth request mean? A. “Give us today our daily bread” means, Do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good, and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put trust in you alone. Summary The opening word to today's teaching from Jesus functions like a big STOP sign. When you see the word therefore, you have to stop and ask, what is it there for? In this case, Jesus is saying that because you should be focused on building up treasure in heaven rather than on earth, which is what He says in the preceding passage, therefore do not worry about your physical needs in this life. If even the birds of the air and the flowers of the field thrive by simply relying upon what your Father provides for them, you can too, since you're much more valuable than they are, says Jesus. But don't jump too far ahead here. Jesus isn't calling you to take a life long vacation as you count on your daily bread getting shipped down from heaven each day. His command here is to not worry, not to not work hard. Think of how busy the birds keep from dawn to dusk and how the flower is doing what it was created to do whenever the sun is shining. You don't need to look far - perhaps even within your own life - to see the awful result of running after all sorts of worldly stuff like the pagans do. They might gain a bunch of things, but they have no rest, no peace and no certainty that whatever they've accumulated today will be here tomorrow. In short, they're often drowning in anxiety. Instead, Jesus calls you to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and He makes an extraordinary promise to those who do: all these things you need will be given to you as well. Dig Deeper Jesus here is telling you to make a shift in attitude more so than a change in your daily activities. If you're at the point in life where you're part of the workforce, don't quit your job. When you're at your job, keep your head down and be productive. Remember, working is one of the primary ways God calls us to worship Him! But do some quick mental math and tally up how many hours a day you spend productively working versus how many hours a day you spend worrying, stressing, and fretting about the gulf between what you have and what you want. How different would things look for you if you had focused your resources on seeking the kingdom rather than worrying about stuff? That's the brilliance of the short line that Jesus commanded you to pray: "give me each day the bread I need today." He goes on here to tell you to not worry about the other things in life, or even about what will happen tomorrow. It's not that other stuff or planning for the future isn't important, it's just not worth worrying about when you can be absolutely certain your Father will provide. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who created the birds and flowers, and provides for all His creatures' needs; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will seek first the Kingdom and that you'll be able to trust that your Father will give you the things you need; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 8

It's good to pray for what you want, but it's better to pray that you'll want what God wants. 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 Jesus explains the discipleship paradox: if you want to be Jesus' disciple, you must deny what you want. He goes on to explain that whoever wants to get what they want will not only not get what they want, but they'll end up getting what they don't want. When viewed on their own, Jesus' words here don't make very much sense. But when we look at the context they come in, in which Peter is trying to make Jesus into the savior that both he the world really wants, rather than one who provides sacrificial obedience, then what Jesus is saying here comes into sharper focus. What Jesus is telling Peter, and us, is that if you want to be His disciple, then you must want what Jesus wants, not what the world wants. He says that following Him requires you to stop wanting worldly things which end up sucking the life out of your soul. Instead, you must want to nail these worldly wants to the cross. Yet even as you follow Him, you'll get what you both truly want and need: eternal reward from the Son of Man. Dig Deeper If all of this talk about what you want seems confusing, Jesus presents this entire concept much more simply when He taught us to pray: "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." When you pray those very simple words, or ones like them, you're praying for a very profound thing: that God, through the Holy Spirit, will help you to reject your sin-stained will and obey God's holy and perfect will without any hesitation or back talk. This is the simplest definition of what a disciple is: a person who wants to do what God wants done. Make alignment a key element in every prayer that you pray, that you would deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose Son will come in His Father's glory with His angels to reward each person according to what they have done; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would not want worldly things, but would instead want what your Father wants. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 4

The last thing you want to hear back from Jesus when you say 'amen' is "Get behind me, Satan!" 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 Peter's recognition that Jesus is the Son of God forms a hinge in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke); it's the point at which things change significantly in Jesus' earthly ministry. This is noticeable in the way that Matthew begins this passage which immediately follows Peter's confession with the words "from that time on...". Many of the people, including the disciples, thought that Jesus had come in order to make life on earth a little better. Perhaps someday He'd even be their king like what David was and would free them from Rome's oppressive yoke. But Jesus makes clear that His purpose is different: He was headed to Jerusalem to "suffer many things... be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (v21)" Suffering and being killed didn't match up with what Peter's concept of Jesus' ministry should be (notice that Peter is so taken aback by Jesus saying He'd be killed that he completely misses Jesus saying He'd be raised to life!). Peter, being the speak first and think later type of guy he was, "rebuked" Jesus! Suffering and death didn't fit into any sort of picture of worldly success. We're used to seeing Jesus respond to the Pharisees and other bad guys with sharp language, but the most stinging of all of Jesus' words are the ones He spoke to His chief disciple: "Get behind me, Satan!" Dig Deeper Imagine the look of horror on Peter's face upon hearing the very man he'd just identified as the Messianic Son of God call him Satan. Certainly Peter's outburst could be considered back talk, to borrow language from the catechism, but why did it warrant such a dramatic response from our Lord? Theologian Louis Berkhof writes, "The name 'Satan' points to him as 'the Adversary,' not in the first place of man, but of God." In other words, anytime our own will becomes, as Jesus called it, "a stumbling block" to what God has ordained, our actions are by definition satanic. How much of your life is consumed with the things of man rather than the things of God? How often are your prayers filled with trying to lobby God to support your own concerns rather than praying that His will be done in your own life just as it is in heaven? How many times would Jesus be justified in responding "Get behind me, Satan," the moment you say "amen?" This is why it is so critically important that you pray consistently and often that your will is aligned with God's will. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is in heaven and whose name is holy; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Your will be done, on earth (and in my life) just as it is in heaven; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 3

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 20 Q.

A Psalm of David. 1      I waited patiently for the L ORD ; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2       He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock Belgic Confession Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members We believe that since this holy assembly But all people are obliged to join and unite with it, keeping the unity of the church by submitting to

Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Point 3 - Total Depravity Article 2: The Spread of Corruption Human beings brought forth children  of the same nature as themselves year , and because of its importance, there's a good chance we'll land on it again before we wrap the 2025

Canons of Dordt Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election Point 2 - Limited Atonement Articles 1- 8 Article