Weekends: Read any passages of your choice or catch up if you’ve fallen behind 🙂
28 Days 2020: Day 23
The Power of Demonstration
- Acts 5:12-16 (NIV) 12 The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
Do a SOUL Journal on this passage paying attention to explore what happened as a result of the miracles, signs and wonders?
28 Days 2020: Day 22
Some People Need More than the Proclamation
- Romans 15:17-19 (NIV) 17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done– 19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
- Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV) 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
- John 4:46-54 (NIV) 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed. 54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Was Jesus upset when He said what He said in verse 48?
Did it stop him from performing the miracle?
What happened when the child was healed?
28 Days 2020: Day 20
THE GOOD NEWS IN SEVEN STEPS
Creation: God created mankind to be sinless, righteous, and in right, intimate, cooperative relationship with Himself;
Sin: We all fail by disobeying God and doing our own thing out of our own self-centered will (this is called “sin”);
- Romans 5:12 (TLB) 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.
- Psalm 51:5 (NLT2) For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
- Romans 3:23 (NLT2) For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
- Romans 3:10-18 (TLB) 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent.” 11 No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to. 12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one. 13 Their talk is foul and filthy like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are loaded with lies. Everything they say has in it the sting and poison of deadly snakes. 14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. 15 They are quick to kill, hating anyone who disagrees with them. 16 Wherever they go they leave misery and trouble behind them, 17 and they have never known what it is to feel secure or enjoy God’s blessing. 18 They care nothing about God nor what he thinks of them.
Death & Hell: The penalty for our sin is death and hell. We cannot remove this penalty ourselves no matter how hard we try; in our sin, we are all finished, condemned, and without hope, unless something above, beyond and outside of ourselves changes that;
- Romans 6:23 (NIV) For the wages of sin is death…
Redemption: God stepped into time and space and took all our punishment for sin on Himself by offering His righteous Son up to a criminal’s death in our place; He raised Christ from death to life that we might also be raised from death to life, free from the penalty of sin;
- John 3:16-17 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
- Romans 4:25 – He [Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.ß A good “short version” of “The Gospel” to memorize!
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-6 – …I want to remind you of the gospel …By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. …For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred…
- Romans 5:15-19 – … …The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Belief & Faith: If we have faith in Jesus Christ who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification, and if we believe and have faith that He died, was resurrected to life, and is the eternal King of Kings, then we will be saved from death and hell;
- Romans 3:20-30 – no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known… Thisrighteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement … so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. …we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Salvation by grace: When we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, then we are no longer “under” law or any requirement to perform “well enough” to save ourselves, which would be impossible in the first place;
- Ephesians 2:8-9 – For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith … it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.
Freedom: We are both free and called in Christ to pursue and observe His commands without fear of condemnation when we fail; we are free to have a close, growing relationship with God and with each other in the Kingdom of God and in the fellowship of faith, and we are called and privileged to share this Gospel with others.
- Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
28 Days 2020: Day 19
Called to Preach…the gospel
- Romans 8
Do a SOUL Journal.
- Freedom:In our newfound freedom from sin and death, we are called to pursue and observe Christ’s commands without fear of failure or condemnation; we are free in God’s grace to have a close, growing relationship with Him and with each other in the Kingdom of God and in the fellowship of faith; and we are called and privileged to share this Gospel (good news!) with others, to both be and make disciples.
28 Days 2020: day 18
Called to preach…the gospel
- Romans 1:1-17
Do a SOUL Journal about what this passage says about the gospel. See especially vs 16-17
- Redemption:God stepped into time and space and took on human flesh, in order to live the righteous life we could not, and to take our punishment for sin on Himself by dying a criminal’s death in our place; He rose again from the grave so we might also be raised to life, free from the penalty of sin;
- Belief in Christ: If we have faith in Jesus Christ who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification, that is, if we believe He died and was resurrected for us, and that He is who He is – the eternal God and King of Kings – then we will be saved from death and hell – we are as good as innocent in God’s courtroom;
- Salvation by grace:When we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, then we are no longer “under” judgment of the law, nor any requirement to perform “well enough” to save ourselves, which is not possible in the first place; rather we are “justified” (proclaimed innocent!);
28 Days 2020: Day 17
CALLED TO PREACH…THE GOSPEL
- Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV) 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Acts 8:9-40
The Gospel is the indicator and stamp of what is truly the Church and what is not. The presence of the Gospel identifies the Church as the Church. Wherever we do not have evidence of the Gospel, we do not have trustworthy evidence of the Church.
Over the next few days we will take a look at the gospel in seven steps. As we have discovered the gospel is Good News but in order for there to be good news there must also be some bad news. So in the seven steps there is some bad news and some good news.
Here are the first three steps…
- Creation:God created man to be in right, intimate, obedient, cooperative relationship with Himself; Man was at first innocent;
- Sin:Adam fell into sin, as we all fail by disobeying God; in countless ways we insist on our own self-centered will, rather than doing God’s will;
- Death & Hell:The just penalty for our sin is death and hell. We cannot remove this sentence ourselves no matter how hard we try; in our sin, we are all finished, condemned, and without hope, unless something above, beyond and outside of ourselves changes that;
28 Days 2020: Day 16
CALLED TO PREACH…TO EVERYONE!
28 Days 2020: Day 15
Called to Preach
- Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV) 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
According to the dictionary the act of preaching is declaring or making something known. Jesus calls all His disciples to be preachers.
From the passage…
Where are we to preach? Where do you believe that is? Who do you think that represents?
What are we to preach?
Read the following passages and answer the question, “What was being preached or what are we to preach?”
- Matthew 3:1
- Matthew 4:17
- Matthew 26:13
- Mark 1:14
- Romans 1:14-16
Are you living in your calling as a preacher?
28 Days 2020: Day 13
GIFTS THAT COME WITH AUTHORIZATION
One of the ways that the Holy Spirit helps us and authorizes us is by sharing His gifts with us. Those gifts, when used properly, gives credence to our calling. It demonstrates the authority we have been delegated. The authority still belongs to God but when we allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be operational in us then we live in the delegated authority we have been given and we find that we can be successful in fulfilling the mission God has called us to. Let’s take a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
- Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Can you list the 9 gifts that Paul says are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
It is my belief that those gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit on believers when needed. All of us can operate in those gifts as we continue to obey Jesus and be about His work. When we operate in these gifts there is much authority that is associated with it.
Do you see these gifts at work in your life?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit can and will bestow those gifts on you?
Let’s walk in God’s authority to fulfill the mission He has called us to.
Next week we will be looking more closely at this mission and calling.
28 Days 2020: Day 12
The source of our authority
We need outside help so Jesus gives us help…Acts 1:8
What is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives?