DAY 27 ( MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ Consider What It Means to Live as the Creator Intended "In the face of Jesus Christ, marred for us, we see that God is not against the sinner, but for him; that He is not an enemy, but his Friend; that in Christ He has not set new and unattainable standards, but has come to offer forgiveness, peace, and new life to those who have fallen down on every standard there is." - Roy and Revel Hession from We Would See Jesus SCRIPTURE READING ~ Psalm 1 Blessed is the man[a] who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law[b] of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1 compares a person who is living as he/she is designed to a tree with deep roots. Through its roots, a tree gets nourishment to fully live out its potential. Likewise, we are designed to live according to God s law if we are to flourish as we re intended. Following God s design for how we re created takes discipline, constant intention and attention. If I commit myself to meditate on how God designed me, like a tree planted in a good place I ll drink deeply of what makes me strong, whole, and healthy, and what gives my life meaning. Lord Jesus, show me through Scripture, worship, and my community how to look at the decisions of life that point me in the direction of either your will or destruction. Provide a mirror to show how I m either following you or listening to other voices that seduce and promise good, but deliver emptiness and destruction. Amen COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ Galatians 3: 22 The Scripture declares that everyone is imprisoned by sin, so that what was promised might be given to those who believe, through faith in Jesus Christ.
DAY 28 ( MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ The Measure of the Heart You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You. - St. Augustine, Confessions SCRIPTURE READING ~ Luke 18: 18-25 18 And a ruler asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 19 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother. 21 And he said, All these I have kept from my youth. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. What must I do to inherit eternal life? In response to this question, Jesus gets at the heart of the issue... the heart. The kind of questions that we ask can be a mirror the condition of our heart. Where do our questions lead? Do they lead to a deeper understanding, a deeper faith? Or, do they reveal shallowness, even stagnation? Gracious God, help us to be courageous, thoughtful, willing disciples. May we not become stagnant blinded by those things that do not bring us life, but rather may we ask questions that bring us a deeper relationship with you. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ 1 John 3: 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
DAY 29 ( MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ There is a Light that Never Goes Out Only when we have come in touch with our own life experiences and have learned to listen to our inner cravings for liberation and new life can we realize that Jesus did not just speak, but that he reached out to us in our most personal needs. The Gospel doesn t just contain ideas worth remembering. It is a message responding to our individual human condition. The Church is not an institution forcing us to follow its rules. It is a community of people inviting us to still our hunger and thirst at its tables. Doctrines are not alien formulations which we must adhere to but the documentation of the most profound human experiences which, transcending time and place, are handed over from generation to generation as a light in our darkness. - Henri J. M. Nouwen SCRIPTURE READING ~ Matthew 5: 14-16 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[a] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Here Jesus delivers perhaps his most well known lesson: the Sermon on the Mount. And if he s the teacher, the disciples are his students. Discipleship involves sincerely following Christ s commands. In essence, it s about living a life that emulates His life on earth keeping our every thought and gesture in accordance with His guidance. Jesus instructs us to make manifest the transformative power of our relationship with him to stand out as a lamp on a stand. When we re truly abiding in Christ, we harbor little desire to hide that relationship and its transformative powers from others. In Christ, we can t help but stand out as different from the rest of the world. As we follow his example, we ll put service before personal gain, grace before retribution, and humility before pride, among other things. In this way, our light will burn bright for all to see whether we think about it or not. Father, may we shine bright to those around us, through the grace and love of Christ, and may others in turn glorify you after witnessing our example. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ 1 Corinthians 5: 21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
DAY 30 ( MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ Sacrifice = Flourishing SCRIPTURE READING ~ Exodus 20: 1-17 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before[a] me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder.[c] 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. One of the most misrepresented, misused, and misunderstood passages of the Bible, is the Ten Commandment. Many times they are whittled down to merely a Book of Rules. Have you heard it said that Christianity is no more than a ethical religion aimed to influence and control moral behavior? In Christ, we can t help but stand out as different from the rest of the world. As we follow his example, we ll put service before personal gain, grace before retribution, and humility before pride, among other things. In this way, our light will burn bright for all to see whether we think about it or not. The commandments are not intended to force obedience, rather they are intended as boundary lines with which we all can flourish in our relationship with God and with one another. The rub is these boundaries require sacrifice. Sacrifice equals flourishing and true flourishing is dependent upon the well-being of others. Do you desire to flourish? Lord God, we all desire to flourish. Help us to give up those things that hinder us in our relationship with you and with others. Through your boundaries, may we come to understand more and more the joy of sacrificing and letting you be the only God in our lives. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ Galatians 3: 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
DAY 31 (MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ A Call to Blazing Holiness Let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. The Message SCRIPTURE READING ~ 1 Peter: 13-16 (A translation by N.T. Wright) With minds alert and fully engaged, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus returns. You must live as God s obedient children. Don t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, You must be holy because I am holy. This letter is a call to holiness, shaped for those who first received it. Peter assumed his audience had a former way of living a life of pleasure-seeking, often accompanied by greed, immorality, and selfgratification at the expense of others. The Bible does not condemn pleasure in and of itself. Pleasure belongs to human experience and is something good. But when the pursuit of pleasure obscures reality and relationship and brings pain and disadvantage to others, it is a distortion of what it means to be human. The Bible says that this self-focused life is not pursued necessarily from malicious motives, but from ignorance. Peter describes it as your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. Spiritual transformation happens in the process of relationship with God and with the people of God. Do you want a God-shaped life? If so, do as Eugene Peterson writes in his translation of this passage: Let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. Lord God, we all desire to flourish. Help us to give up those things that hinder us in our relationship with you and with others. Through your boundaries, may we come to understand more and more the joy of sacrificing and letting you be the only God in our lives. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ Philippians 3: 7-10 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
DAY 32 (MARCH 27- APRIL 2 ~ CONSIDER DISCIPLESHIP) THEME ~ Jesus Satisfies The Incarnation took all that properly belongs to our humanity and delivered it back to us, redeemed. All of our inclinations and appetites and capacities and yearnings and proclivities are purified and gathered up and glorified by Christ. He did not come to thin out human life; He came to set it free. All the dancing and feasting and processing and singing and building and sculpting and baking and merrymaking that belong to us, and that were stolen away into the service of false gods, are returned to us in the gospel. - Thomas Howard SCRIPTURE READING ~ Galatians 5: 22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. In this passage, Paul gives us a glimpse of what life could be like. We could have a life filled with joy, peace, love, patience, and kindness. Who does not want that? When we look at what our life looks like compared to what Paul says it could be, we have the temptation to dismiss Paul. Our hearts long for what Paul calls the fruit of the spirit, and our minds seem to scream, Give me a break! That can t happen to me. And yet, we know that life has more to offer than what we have. If we want the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we need to let the Spirit bring about fruit in time. The things we all want in our lives come only from God. It is only through Christ that we are satisfied. Jesus promises to give us our heart s deepest longings through relationship with Him, but we must prepare the way for Him to work in our lives. Holy Spirit, I invite you into my life. I am open to you. Work in me, I pray, to bear the fruit that you have promised. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
DAY 33 (FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT ) THEME ~ Following Jesus My weight is my love. Wherever I am carried, my love is carrying me. -Saint Augustine SCRIPTURE READING ~ Mark 1: 16-20 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. [f] 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. In Mark 1, while Jesus was passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he called Simon and Andrew saying Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Over the years of his ministry he called the other disciples and mentored them to radically Love God, Love People and Love Life. After the cross and resurrection, Jesus then instructed them to Go and make disciples. This was extended into the church. Paul was converted and we see him led, coach, mentor and disciple Silas, Timothy, Titus and Barnabas. Discipleship is about a pilgrimage into change. It is a guided tour into the holy. Gospel discipleship is not just another religious thing to take you out of the world. It is not just another Bible Study. No! Gospel discipleship is about walking together to better understand that we are made for more, we are made for glory. This comes as we build relationships in coaching, leading, mentoring and discipleship. Gospel discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction. Gospel Discipleship is a deliberate, surprise-filled, joy-enchanted, conversation and friendship with Jesus. Jesus is out to change you more than you can imagine. Is this change safe? No, but as CS Lewis Safe? Of course he isn t safe but he is good, He is the king I tell you. Because of Your love for us, O Lord, You have opened our eyes that we might see Christ, take Him, receive Him, possess Him and love Him. Would you, most merciful Father, so renew our hearts so that we might turn from the inordinate loves of this fading world and cause us to be more surely fastened upon our blessed Savior at whose right hand are found eternal pleasures? Grant that we might worship Him in all our ways and seek Him all our days. In Christ s name, we pray, AMEN. COMFORT FROM THE GOSPEL ~ 1 Timothy 1:15 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.