All who remain in him will die, but God sent a new Adam, one born of a woman, but yet not descended from

5:12-14 - Mis-Markmanship Deuteronomy 28:15-20 - Not A Tame Lion Genesis 2:15-17 - Or Else Luke 15:11 - The Gift of God Philippians 1:27-30 - Granted Psalm 95 - The LORD is OUR God ​ Article 6: God’s Eternal A Single Decree of Election Romans 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Romans 4:18-25 - Faithfully Face the Facts Hebrews 11:39-40 - Promises Kept Psalm 33 - God's Control, Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up!

As Paul wrote to the Romans, if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we shall also be

God's power is best experienced as you hear His Word preached. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 84 Q. How does preaching the gospel open and close the kingdom of heaven? A. According to the command of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to all believers, each and every one, that, as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of what Christ has done, truly forgives all their sins. The kingdom of heaven is closed, however, by proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that, as long as they do not repent, the anger of God and eternal condemnation rest on them. God’s judgment, both in this life and in the life to come, is based on this gospel testimony. Summary Verses 9-10 are a great example of how simply the gospel can be presented, and they're well worth memorizing: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. But your heart and mouth do not operate independently... well, they often do, but that usually doesn't turn out well because your brain is supposed to be in control. Salvation requires that mental connection as well. The Israelites were lost in sin because they first got lost intellectually. Paul writes that "Since they did not know the righteousness of God, they sought to establish their own (v3)." It makes sense that before a person can accept the gospel (good news), he must have some understanding of what the gospel entails: that Jesus is Lord, and that God raised him from the dead. In the entire course of human history, nobody has ever come to this conclusion on their own. Everyone who has received salvation received it after they were informed about it. Sometimes (but not very often) a person comes to understand the gospel as a result of her own independent study of scripture. The ordinary way that God brings salvation to people is through the preached proclamation of His Word. This is why Paul finishes this passage as he does in v14-15: BELIEF IN CHRIST requires HEARING ABOUT CHRIST which requires PREACHING which requires PREACHERS BE SENT OUT. Dig Deeper It's really good that you're taking the time to read God's Word for yourself. You need this in a big way, and it's such a shame that most people - most Christians, even - do not take the time to benefit from this simply daily discipline. God's Word is certainly powerful and transforming as you read it, but there's something different that adds even more power as you hear it proclaimed on the Lord's Day. The great reformer, John Calvin, mentions three big reasons you must regularly be present to hear the preached Word, even (especially) after you've believed in the gospel message: The preached Word is the very voice of God. When the preacher reads and explains the Bible, it's as if God is speaking directly to you; God is present in the preached Word. You may feel God's presence fishing on a peaceful lake or in some other happy place, but to truly experience the fullness of God's presence, come and listen to His Word being proclaimed. Preaching is the sceptre with which Christ rules all things. "Preaching is not only the sceptre by which Christ rules within His Church but also the sword in the hand of the Church by which, secretly and unknown even to itself, the Church rules or brings judgment amongst the nations." Calvin goes on to list five more benefits of preaching, so be assured that if you truly desire to experience the peace of Christ in your life, you need to faithfully hear the Word preached every Lord's Day. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who reveals Himself to us through His Word, which is to be publicly proclaimed; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your zeal for God would be based on the true knowledge of the gospel; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 1

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 28 Q. Summary There are many gospel assurances in the book of Romans and living by faith alone. In Romans 5, Paul weaves together the truth of salvation in Jesus through faith that is secure in the confident that God will make good on His promises and that nothing will separate us from his love (Rom. 8: In Romans 5, Paul assures us that our hope in God will not be put to shame and that we can even boast

Your ability to love depends on your growing knowledge of Christ. bibleversestogo.com Hebrews 13:1-8 5:12-14 - Mis-Markmanship Deuteronomy 28:15-20 - Not A Tame Lion Genesis 2:15-17 - Or Else Luke 15:11 - The Gift of God Philippians 1:27-30 - Granted Psalm 95 - The LORD is OUR God ​ Article 6: God’s Eternal A Single Decree of Election Romans 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up!

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

Romans 9:10-24 (NIV) CONTEXT: We began this passage yesterday. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is Today: Romans 4

results in overflowing hope as you trust in Him Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans