Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV) But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under Christ We believe that by being thus conceived the person of the Son has been inseparably united and joined In this opening section of Galatians chapter 4, Paul speaks to our redemption and adoption. Today: Ephesians 1

You will enter the Promised Land by grace alone, just as God's people always have. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 79 Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood? (Paul uses the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood.) A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins. Summary It's often easy to think that God's plan of salvation changed when Jesus arrived. In plan A, God entered into a covenant with Moses, giving His people a clear set of expectations for them to follow in order to gain a reward. Indeed we see language like that in this passage from Deuteronomy that every Israelite would have known so well: keep the commandments so that you may enjoy long life; be careful to obey so that it might go well with you; follow these rules so that you might increase. Having given the Israelites plenty of time to get their act together, it might seem like God finally gave up on plan A for the grace-filled plan B that Jesus would inaugurate, in which His covenant people would now be saved by the fact that Jesus perfectly kept the law on our behalf. But as we keep reading in Deuteronomy 6, it becomes clear that God has always had one plan of salvation for all people, and it has always been completely grace based. God was bringing His people - then, and now - through their wilderness wanderings and into the Promised Land, which flowed with milk and honey. They would enjoy flourishing cities, nicely appointed houses, wells, vineyards and olive groves. All of this would be a gift: they would not need to build, provide, dig or plant. Another word for gift is grace. Certainly they had a covenantal obligation to keep the law, an obligation they couldn't keep. What they didn't know then was that Christ would provide that covenant faithfulness for them, as He has for you. So inhabiting the Promised Land was a pure gift; it was never an obligation God owed them. So the reminder God gives to Israel - the recipients of His grace then - is just as valid for us, the recipients of His grace now: Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (v12). Dig Deeper The next time you see the bread broken and the wine poured out, remember that all you have - the good things here and now, and especially an eternity with Christ are all a gift of grace made possible because Jesus suffered vicariously on your behalf. As the Catechism puts it, "all of His suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Start your prayer the way God's people have for millenia, by reciting the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will be careful to obey God's laws, to love God with all of your heart, soul and strength, and that you'll impress the gospel on the generations that follow you out of gratitude for the grace given to you. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 18

proof answer 6 points to is the beginning of the universe and the first chapter of the Bible: Genesis 1. At the end of each day, there is a phrase pattern repeated seven times in Genesis 1, “And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, & 31). Paul in the New Testament reminds us in 1 Timothy 4:4, “For everything God created is good, and nothing whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— [may I] think about such things (Phil. 4:

In Mark 1:15, he proclaims that we are to repent and believe the good news.

Baptism symbolizes you've been washed with the costliest of all detergents. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 70 Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit? A. To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for me in his sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life. Summary In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul writes of the redemption we have through the blood of Christ. Redemption is deliverance through a price or ransom that is paid. The redemption to which Paul is speaking is the deliverance from the guilt of sin which has been paid by the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross. Redemption is not free; there is a price that must be paid. That price has been paid by Jesus and is offered freely to those who believe in Him for salvation. Dig Deeper When Katie and I were first married, she worked for a ministry out of Sioux Falls, SD named LifeLight. LifeLight’s claim to fame is being the largest outdoor free Christian music festival. Being a free music festival there was no required entrance fee, however that does not mean that there were no costs. As you can imagine, it can be quite expensive to hire some of the best Christian bands in the world to come sing at the festival, plus all the other costs (electricity, water, etc.) that come with hosting a festival. And while entry was free, these costs still had to be paid. LifeLight ran on donations. While many enjoyed a free experience, others would donate above and beyond to make sure there was enough to cover the festival. Essentially, some people gave more than the value they received in order that others could come for free and hear the gospel proclaimed. In this case, some paid for the many. When it comes to redemption it is not some, but the one who has paid for all. The people of God receive this gift via the grace of God seen in the blood of Christ poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross. In baptism, we are reminded of Christ’s death on our behalf. This sacrament points to the redemption found in Christ and the price paid for our deliverance. Recognizing the price that has been paid on your behalf, live as one who has been forgiven, turning away from the vices of this world and living a life full of gratitude for the gift of grace found in Christ. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who lavishes grace and forgiveness of sin upon us, His children; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will understand more and more the cost of your salvation so that more and more your life will reflect the necessary gratitude for such a gift; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Philemon

Genesis 1:26–27 reveals that human beings were the pinnacle of God’s good creation because they were Following God’s lead in the creation act of Genesis 1, humans were tasked to work and rest. Genesis 1:26 points explicitly to the ruling aspect over all the other creatures. When Paul speaks of being created in the image of God in Ephesians 4:24, he then goes on in the rest being sinful in our anger, doing honest work, and forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you (4:

As the Father powerfully called things into being that were not (Rom. 4:17), the Son was right there, We know this because of several passages in the Bible like Colossians 1:16.

In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul states that we are adopted through Jesus Christ.

When God says "you would do well to pay attention," you probably should. Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 3: The Written Word of God We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of men, but that holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit, as Peter says. Afterwards our God— because of the special care he has for us and our salvation— commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit this revealed Word to writing. He himself wrote with his own finger the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures. Summary "Cleverly devised stories." The Greek word that this phrase translates is where we get the English word 'sophistry.' What a perfect way to explain what the Bible would be if its primary claim that it is the very Word of God were not true. These cleverly devised stories, even if totally fabricated, would still be the most amazing work of literature ever produced, in that the Bible combines dozens of writings from men who lived in vastly different ages, cultures and languages; yet its message remains consistent and is without contradiction. But of course the Bible is not just a collection of stories and myths. Peter was an eyewitness to the life, death and resurrection of Christ. He heard the very voice of God expressing His pleasure and love for His Son. Peter would go to his death testifying to the veracity of his claims, as would many of the other New Testament writers. But here Peter says in a sense, don't take my word for it! Rather than trying to unhitch Christianity from the embarrassing baggage of the Old Testament (as some modern day evangelicals think of it), Peter doubles down on it. He writes that the "prophetic message" (what we call the Old Testament) is "something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as a light shining in a dark place... (v20)" In other words, every word of the Old Testament is shining its light on what would be revealed in the gospels and explained in the epistles: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. Dig Deeper The Bible isn't authoritative simply because its words are consistent, inerrant (without error), and infallible (it doesn't fail to convey God's truth). The Bible is authoritative because it's God's Word. As Peter says, the scriptures aren't just "cleverly devised stories," rather, the men who wrote it "spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." These men wrote of their own experiences, and their unique voices and personalities come through in the expressions and various writing styles they used, and while it's true to say that the Bible is comprised of the words of Moses, David, Peter, Paul and others, it's much more accurate to describe every syllable as the very Word of God, since the Holy Spirit was speaking through each of these men's voices (more on that later). These words are unlike anything else ever written, which is why as a Christian, you are called to dedicate so much of your time and energy to know and understand them. Unfortunately, you can't expect society to help reinforce Biblical truth anymore as it once did in Western Civilization. You must do this hard work of learning this sometimes difficult truth yourself so that you can teach it to those whom God has given you responsibility over. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God our Father, whose voice rings out through His Word from the Majestic Glory (v17); ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for His Word, and pray for the strength and desire to "pay attention to it (v19);" ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Mark 16

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 42 Q.