Lenten Devotional #17 • Exalted Lord over the Sabbath

Read Psalm 46 and John 5:1-16 Your life is probably busy. You have too many things to do and not enough time to do them. And what does God tell you to do about that? He says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In the midst of all the busyness and commotion of life, God says to be …

Lenten Devotional #16 • The Davidic Covenant

Read 2 Samuel 7:1-16 Last week Psalm 95 gave us an example of how to worship God as a mighty creator exalted above his creation. This week we are brought deeper into the life of King David, the worshipper-in-chief of the nation.  The ark of the covenant has returned to the City of David. David humbled himself “dancing with all …

Lenten Devotional #15

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT Read Hosea 14 and Mark 12:28-34 It is time for the question & answer period and you know Jesus is going to love this! The self-righteousscribes and Sadducees’ have amassed hundreds of laws. – 613 by one historian’s count! Some religiousleaders tried to distinguish between major & minor laws, and some taught that all laws were equallybinding …

Lenten Devotional #14 • Jonathan Pugh

Overcoming Demons Read Psalm 95 and Luke 11:14-23 What does it mean to acknowledge the greatness of God? How exactly are we to relate to Jesusas a king? The Psalms have many such songs where praise is going up to God as the Almightypowerful and strong King. Psalm 95 is one such example. It begins with a call to enter …

What’s Worth Fighting Over?

Galatians 2:1-14 Discussion Guide One of the saddest statements about the American church in recent years is that we are mostlyknown for arguments and disagreements with other Christians. Some of these disagreementsare over important matters, but others of them appear stupid and petty to everyone who is notdirectly engaged in the argument. One of the great characteristics of Paul in …

Lenten Devotional #13 • Josh Sugg

Keeping the Law Read Deuteronomy 4:1-9 and Matthew 5:17-1 You must obey. Those are three very difficult words to hear. They’re repulsive. Because of sin, we’re naturally hardwired to fight back against ultimatums like this. Why would you blindly obey someone just because they told you to? Were it a teacher or a boss who demanded your obedience, no matter …

Lenten Devotional #12 • Justin Whitener

Read Psalm 25:1-10 & Matthew 18:21-35 Forgiveness is defined as “the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven.”  Christians and non-Christians alike understand that the process of forgiveness implies the work of two people to reconcile a relationship.  It should not come as a surprise that God created us and desired a relationship with us, but as soon as …

Lenten Devotional #11 • Jennifer Primm

Outsiders Being Healed Over Insiders Read 2 Kings 5: 1-15 and Luke 4: 16-30 Jesus changed things.  When Jesus left heaven to come to earth, the people of Israel had been through hundreds of years of silence from God.  Crickets.  This left plenty of time to envision what the long-awaited Messiah would look like and what He would do for …

Galatians 1:10-24 Discussion Guide

Galatians 1:10-24 Paul’s great concern in writing to the churches of Galatia is the purity of the Gospel as itwas handed to him and as he gave it to them. As with nearly every generation ofChristians since, the churches were being tempted to add to the Good News ofsalvation by grace through faith.Paul is adamant that if you add anything …

Lenten Devotional #10 • David Murphy

We learn in the New Testament that Jesus used stories on a regular basis to teach eternal lessons.These stories are called parables, and one such parable is found in Matthew 21:33-46. This storyis known as The Parable of the Tenants (see also Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-18; Isaiah 5:1-7). InMatthew 21:23, we read that the chief priests and elders questioned Jesus’ …