Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 5:1-2 In Ephesians 5:1-2, Paul continues his instructions for Christian living that we are to follow Christ’s example. For example, in Luke 7:36 Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee for dinner. Jesus goes to the house of one of the people who is against...
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Genesis 11:27-12:2; Matthew 2:1-12 Anyone doubting that God’s ways are infinitely higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9) need only consider the strange call of Abram (Abraham) by God. Abram was born nearly 300 years after the Great Flood, nine generations removed from Noah. He hailed from “Ur of...
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 4:1 (in several different versions) Our Calling “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” (Ephesians 4:1 NLT) Paul was a prisoner, living out a time of house arrest...
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 3:1 “For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—” (Ephesians 3:1) Christ has a purpose in our hard places. Paul went through many hardships throughout his ministerial life. The letter of Ephesians is considered one of his “prison...
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 2:11-22; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 As believers, we are called to unity in Christ—union and community are common themes throughout Paul’s epistles. In Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul reminds Gentile believers in Ephesus of how they were former outsiders alienated from Christ and thereby hopelessly stumbling toward God’s judgment....
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 2:5; Ezekiel 36:26; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Heart Transplant “[God] has made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions.” (Ephesians 2:5) Is it possible that God can do this, that He can “raise us from the dead” as Jesus raised Lazarus (John...
Click for a PDF version Monday Read Ephesians 1:1-4 God’s Vision for His Church “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” (Ephesians 1:4) From the very beginning, God envisioned a people united in Christ. His purpose was not just for individual...
Click for PDF version Monday Read Romans 12:1-5, 8:15 Peculiar Communities ARE UNIQUE We should remind ourselves that the preferred definition of “peculiar” is not “strange” or “odd”; the dictionary says that its primary meaning is “to belong exclusively to.” There can be few terms more appropriate, therefore, to describe the people of God,...
Click for PDF version Monday Read Matthew 5:14-16, 24:14, 28:18-20; Revelation 7:9-12 This week’s devo series, supporting next Sunday’s message, considers “the state of the church.” Today’s focus: the professing global Christian church. “Christianity’s [global growth exceeds the general] population’s growth. From 2020 to … mid-2024, the world’s population [projects growth] from … 7.84...
Click for PDF version Monday Read Romans 12:3, 11:11-32 Paul starts his letter to the Romans by saying, “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (1:7a). He is writing to a mixed community of Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). One of his goals is for this group of...
