Today: Acts 1

A bite sized piece of bread & tiny cup of wine is able to nourish your soul for eternal life. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 75 Q. How does the Lord’s Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts? A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood. Summary One of the most indelible marks of man's fall into sin is our propensity to be controlled by our appetite. The forbidden fruit 'was 'good for food and pleasing to the eye (Gen 3:6).' The Israelites who had just been freed from slavery in Egypt longed to go back because they were tired of eating manna. So it's not surprising that the first tactic the devil uses to tempt Jesus is by way of His stomach. After fasting for forty days it only makes sense that Jesus hungered in a way that most of us can't even begin to imagine, so the devil seizes the opportunity by planting an idea which doesn't seem all that unreasonable. He tempts the one who turned water into wine and multiplied a few baskets of bread to feed 5,000 to simply turn the surrounding stones into a some loaves of bread - bread that Jesus desperately needs at this point. Certainly it's not wrong to eat, so why would it have been wrong for Jesus to give into this temptation? Because Jesus wasn't in the wilderness on His own accord, He had been led there by the Spirit for the express purpose of withstanding the devil's temptations, reasonable though they may be. The Spirit had not yet given Jesus permission to resume eating yet, so it would have been sinful for Him to do so. Jesus responds to each of the devil's temptations by quoting scripture, which is just one more reason for you to know scripture well. This first time, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, which is a promise God makes to bless Israel if they put following 'every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord' ahead of their own appetites in life. Dig Deeper We come to this passage today in the context of understanding the significance of participation in the Lord's Supper. The entire sacrament is predicated on God's command to Israel to not live on bread alone, but to rather be fully dependent upon everything God has spoken in His Word. But God knows our weakness, and how central our physical appetites are to our decision making process, so what a blessing it is that God communicates the gospel to us physically through bread and wine. Notice the language the catechism uses to summarize scripture: the bread and cup nourish and refreshes your soul for eternal life. In most churches, the communion bread is a tiny bite sized square and the wine comes in the smallest of all cups. These portions aren't going to physically nourish or refresh anyone! Yet the spiritual nourishment you receive as you participate in the Lord's Supper, which is always accompanied by the proclamation of God's Word, surely feeds your soul with the assurance of God's grace enabling you to realize His blessing in your life. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose every word is more necessary than bread; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Praise God that Jesus put God's Word ahead of His appetite on your behalf, and pray for the strength to do the same. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 10

these boxes, rather the point here is to be praying often - continually, even, as Paul mentions in 1 will know salvation; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 John 2

Psalm 90:1–4 (ESV) A prayer of Moses the man of God. 1  Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all 4  For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night As you begin preparing for another Lord's Day, let your momentary troubles (2 Corinthians 4:17) fade Today: Hebrews 1

This is what makes it possible for you to fulfill the Bible's command to pray constantly (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Colossians 4:2, Ephesians 6:18). Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - John 20

Psalm 89:34-37(NIV) A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. 1  I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 4   But it is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world, though still joined and united in heart

Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 4: The Canonical Books This week In the New Testament, the four gospels— Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the , and to the Hebrews; the seven letters of the other apostles— one of James; two of Peter; three of John ; one of Jude; and the Revelation of the apostle John. We want to get to the good stuff, so we often jump in at verse 3 or 4 of the first chapter.

ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Romans 1

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 45 Q. Notice the timeline that's set out in v3-4: PAST You died (in that you were included in Christ when He

'Keep your head in all situations' and don't follow your 'itching ears.' 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NIV) In the they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4   Certainly it means scripture itself, but the Greek word logos is also used as a name for Jesus (John 1:1, 14).