TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 1:1-24
The gospel I preached is not something that man made up . . . I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. - Galatians 1:11-12
TODAY IN THE WORD
In Colin Smith's book, The Ten Greatest Struggles of Your Life, he unpacks the theology of the Ten Commandments. The second commandment, which warns against idolatry, seems easy at first glance. But in Smith's words, it is the more difficult challenge to “embrace [God] unconditionally. . . . We know Him not by cultivating our imagination, but by believing His revelation.”

As sinners, we prefer to define God according to needs. When the cultural winds of religious preference blow, it is only divine revelation that anchors us in truth. God's Word keeps us from making of God something that He is not. In fact, the entire defense of the gospel rests in the argument of divine revelation. If the gospel is indeed God's message, authored and delivered by Him who does not change, it follows that the gospel itself cannot be changed. It is not subject to historical or cultural revision. There is one gospel message and no other: Jesus Christ has died to save sinners.

The Galatians were teetering on a theological cliff. Through Paul's ministry, they had embraced the grace of Jesus Christ. But having been visited by some who argued the necessity of circumcision for salvation, they were confused. Perhaps faith in Christ alone didn't really save. Maybe they ought also to observe the Jewish law.

Today's text uncovers Satan's strategy for undermining the gospel. We might anticipate a frontal attack—temptation to abandon the gospel entirely. The temptation facing the Galatians was more subtle and ultimately more dangerous. They didn't believe that they were rejecting Christ entirely. This “addition” was considered just a slight modification. What they regarded as an “add-on” to the gospel was in fact a categorical departure from orthodox Christian belief.

Today, the gospel suffers attack just as it did in the first century, and the church is called to vigilance when it comes to defining who Jesus is and why He came.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Read Paul's harsh words for those who would preach anything other than the gospel (v. 9). Too often, we disagree and divide over nonessential matters. But about the gospel, we can never be careless. We must hold fast to the essential truths of the gospel in our churches. This happens as we devote ourselves to a faithful study of the Scriptures, which we hope to do this month as we study what the gospel is and our identity as people of the gospel.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:10-21
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. - 2 Corinthians 4:4
TODAY IN THE WORD
Medical advances are making it possible for the visually impaired to see. In 1948, Dr. Jose Barraquer of Bogotá, Colombia, performed the first vision correction procedure, removing 60 percent of the patient's cornea to freeze it, reshape it, and then sew it back into place. Today, patients with blurred vision can elect Lasik surgery. And soon implantations of a “retinal prosthesis” may become available to those who are completely blind.

Blindness and seeing, just like light and dark, are common metaphors used in Scripture to speak about one's spiritual state. These metaphors illumine what happens to someone transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only does he receive a “heart” transplant, he gets a new pair of “eyes.” He begins to see the world in a completely new way.

This new line of sight brings into focus a fundamental problem. Seeing with “gospel” eyes means first admitting the distance between God and humanity. We, who are made by God and for God, have insisted on doing life on our own terms. The Bible calls this sin. And sin hasn't just affected us on individualistic terms. All of creation suffers the loss of intimacy with their Creator (cf. Rom. 8:21).

Fundamental to the gospel is an accurate understanding of this problem. The source of the problem isn't too little money or too much violence. The problem isn't something we could blame someone or something other than ourselves. The problem is the depravity of every human heart. Until there is personal reconciliation with God through Christ, we will not experience the change we hope to see in ourselves, our families, and our nations.

The world shuns this idea of original sin. It sneers at the idea of divine atonement. It disavows hope for real change. Through faith in the gospel, however, we abandon their blame, disbelief, and despair. God has provided a remedy, a solution through the gospel of Christ.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Gospel people are people who see the world in a different way. We understand the importance of that future day which God has appointed to judge the world by His Son (v. 10). Like Paul, people who embrace faith in Christ are energized by this gospel. They are urgent in the way that they live and communicate, especially with an unbelieving world: “Christ's love compels us” (v. 14). Has the gospel inspired you to love a lost and hurting world?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 1:26-31; 2:15-25
You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet. - Psalm 8:6
TODAY IN THE WORD
Literary theories present arguments about how to interpret a work of literature. Some emphasize the historical background of a piece of literature. Others search for hidden, psychological meanings. Another literary theory tries to understand what an author meant to say. It seems to make sense to search for authorial intent. If we could know what an author wanted to say, we might make important progress towards understanding his work.

The same is true for making sense of God's world. If we could understand God's original design, perhaps we might understand better what the gospel aims to restore. This is what we call redemption: the restorative work of the gospel. A day is coming when God will make a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Rev. 21:1) and redeem all of creation.

Originally, human beings were Imago Dei—made in the image of God. Our passages today from Genesis highlight two ways in which we share God's likeness: freedom and authority. In the very first chapter of the Bible, we discover a self-existent, self-determining God. He is not compelled to act by any force outside of Himself. He is free. And in His free will, He decided to make the world. In this world He has made, God has ultimate authority and power. It is His Word that governs the garden and everything in it.

God shares freedom and authority with humankind. He made people who are free to create and to govern, just like He is, though they operate under the constraints of created beings. By His decree, they can “create” their own progeny by obeying the command to “be fruitful and increase in number” (1:28). They are free and ultimately responsible for their own moral choices, and they govern not only themselves but also the rest of creation. He gives them dominion and names them co-regents.

When God finishes His creative work, He proclaims it very good (1:31).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Our key verse from Psalm 8 leads us to Hebrews 2 where the humanity of Jesus Christ is exalted. Unlike any other creature, Adam and Eve shared unique dignity and responsibility in the garden. When sin entered (as we'll see tomorrow), shattering God's original design for the people He has made, God didn't give up. Read Hebrews 2:5-18 to understand more about why it was necessary that God enter our world as a human being and how, in Christ, He restores the Imago Dei.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 3:1-24
I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. - John 8:34
TODAY IN THE WORD
When a person is convicted of a felony, one likely consequence is time spent in a correctional facility. The collateral consequences (excluding having a criminal record) can greatly exceed time in prison. Depending on the state and the crime, the felon might lose the right to vote, certain professional licenses, or even the ability to coach Little League.

Losing personal freedoms can be a logical consequence for making wrong choices. Adam and Eve learned that lesson, as their sin cost them aspects of their freedom and authority that they had shared as part of the Imago Dei.

At the opening of Genesis 3, the serpent comes on to the stage. He has set out to undermine God's Word. His first tactic was the power of suggestion: “Did God really say?” His second was outright deception: “You will not surely die.” God had always respected the freedom of His people by telling the truth without ever coercing their obedience. The serpent, on the other hand, exploited human freedom by manipulation and lies.

Succumbing to temptation had painful results. The Imago Dei was marred. Freedom and authority were lost. Where Adam and Eve had once been free to rule creation, now creation exercised mastery over them. Each year's harvest would demand blood, sweat, and tears. Where Adam and Eve were meant to enjoy the power of procreation, it would now cost Eve greatly in the excruciating pain of childbirth. Where they had once been free to govern their moral choices, they could now no longer choose from which tree they would eat. They were banished from the Garden and from free access to the Tree of Life.

Adam and Eve had despised God's Word, preferring the impulse of their own senses (v. 6). And their story is ours. Because of our sin nature, we reject God's Word, and we forfeit God's presence. And without the rescue of God's grace, we will continue to be slaves of sin.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Despite the bleak landscape of Genesis 3, hints of the gospel emerge. Verse 15 is prophetic of Jesus Christ, the God-Man who will crush the power of sin and the Evil One. The gospel is also foreshadowed in God's generous gesture to clothe the nakedness of His people. God's judgment against sin is real, but His mercy is no less active. Memorize this verse describing God's character: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 12:1-9
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” - Galatians 3:8
TODAY IN THE WORD
Published in 1954, William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, tells the story of a group of boys stranded on an island together. Without any civilizing forces around them, the boys cast off moral inhibitions. Selfish ambition festers, the boys divide into two factions, and the struggle for power turns cruel, even murderous. It is a sobering picture of the depths of human depravity.

This depiction of the true nature of humanity isn't just found in a modern novel; it's also a biblical perspective. After Genesis 3, sin grew completely out of hand. The story of the Bible could have ended at Genesis 6:7 where God considered, “I will wipe out mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.”

God chose, however, to show mercy. He destroyed the earth with a flood but rescued Noah, determined to bless him and his family (cf. Gen. 9:1). This leads us to Genesis 12, where we meet Abram.

Galatians 3 tells us that it is here in Genesis 12 that the gospel is first preached—here we hear the good news of God's blessing. We start to understand that it is God's favor toward people and not their own accomplishment, which is at the heart of the gospel.

First, the gospel announces blessing by declaring that God comes near to His people. Two small phrases are especially significant in this passage: “The Lord had said to Abram . . . ” (v. 1), and “The Lord appeared to Abram . . . ” (v. 7). God's Word, rejected in the Garden of Eden, and God's presence, forfeited in the Garden of Eden, are both restored in part by God as He initiated a covenant relationship with Abram.

Second, the gospel announces blessing by heralding the way of faith. The text gives no reason for why Abram deserved this divine favor. Instead, Scripture makes clear that the gospel of God is about His grace.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Why does it matter that we see the gospel in the pages of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament? Some people hear and believe the myth that the God of the Old Testament is vengeful while the God of the New Testament is merciful. Seeing the gospel as far back as Genesis teaches us about the consistent character of God. Additionally, the Old Testament prophecies, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, prove the reliability of the gospel.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Exodus 19:1-9
Out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. - Exodus 19:5
TODAY IN THE WORD
After his conversion to Christ, the eighteenth-century British legislator, William Wilberforce, was haunted by the injustice suffered by the African slaves. He spent two decades trying to abolish the British slave trade. At great cost to his political career and even his own health, he worked tirelessly for their freedom. In February 1807, tears streaming down his cheeks, Wilberforce listened as the votes were counted in final defeat of the slave trade.

Hundreds of years after Abraham, God's people were living as slaves in Egypt. Their cry reached God, who delivered them miraculously. Our text takes us to the time, three months after the Exodus, when God was preparing to give His people the Law by which they were to live. Exodus 19 is an important prelude to the Ten Commandments found in chapter 20.

Here we find God once again drawing near to His people. By His initiative, He rescued them from Egypt. But that is only half of the gospel. They are not only rescued from something. They are rescued for Someone. “ brought you to myself” (v. 4).

What defines the gospel is God's grace bringing sinners back to Himself. This passage establishes a new identity for Israel as the people of God. They are now entirely defined by their relationship to God. To whom will they listen? Whom will they obey? Love? Serve? To whom would they now belong? At their very core, these are gospel questions. It's when we've come to see ourselves as God's people, owing allegiance to Him alone, that we've heard and received the good news.

Exodus 19 is only a taste of the gospel of Christ. Though God was restoring men and women to a relationship with Himself in the nation of Israel, it was through the work of a mediator. The people did not enjoy the privilege of direct access to God as was made possible through the Word of Jesus. Instead, Moses stood between God and the nation of Israel. The gospel would be fulfilled when the final Mediator, Jesus Christ Himself, came (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Look again at some of the gospel questions that emerge from our text today. To whom do you listen most in your life? Have you allowed the voice of God, heard through the Scriptures and the wise counsel of believers in your life, to be the authority in your life? Is your identity rooted in the firm sense of belonging ultimately to God? Have you submitted your own ambitions to Him, choosing to serve Him? What does your checkbook and your calendar say about these priorities in your life?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jeremiah 2:1-19
My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns. - Jeremiah 2:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
“If we have learned anything else,” writes Norman Cousins in his book, Human Options, “it is that the ideas of poets and artists penetrate where everything else has failed.” Cousins advances the notion that ideas are communicated most powerfully through pictures.

The Exodus story is so crucial to the whole of the Old Testament because it is the central picture by which the people of Israel were to understand God and their relationship to Him. The Old Testament writers, like Jeremiah from our text today, return again to the Exodus as a critical point of reference.

The Exodus story depicts a God who is not impersonal or abstract. He is no divine recluse. He longs to connect intimately with the people that He has made. And He'll go to extraordinary lengths to win them to Himself.

Because the Exodus story illuminates God's love and grace, the Old Testament writers find themselves returning to it when the people of Israel abandon faith. They seem to ask, “How can it be that we, the nation of Israel, who saw the parting of the Red Sea, who ate the manna, could abandon our Savior?” The question is put by God Himself in verse 5: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me?”

This text seems to despair of the people of Israel. If miraculous rescue from slavery and deliverance into the Promised Land aren't sufficient grounds for trusting and following the Lord, what will it take? They seemed insistent on choosing anything lesser than God.

Jeremiah 2 is an important gospel text because it reveals the weakness of the Old Covenant and the necessity of the New. Until there is genuine spiritual change in human hearts, even the most compelling of miracles, such as those witnessed during the Exodus, will not ultimately establish lasting faith in God.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Verse 19 in today's passage speaks an important word about the destructive nature of sin. It may feel fun momentarily. We can rationalize certain behaviors as “no big deal.” And our deception is cemented further when our struggle is with seemingly “invisible” sins. What motivation do we have for repentance? Perhaps it means starting to recognize, “how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jeremiah 31:1-34
I have loved you with an everlasting love. - Jeremiah 31:3
TODAY IN THE WORD
“There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.” Jonathan Edwards' sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” would shock many contemporary audiences. We've grown accustomed to preaching that emphasizes themes of God's love, not His just punishment of sin.

Like Jonathan Edwards, Jeremiah's preaching ministry also emphasized the violent judgment of God. He suffered terribly for his “gloom-and-doom” preaching, almost losing his life.

How strange the words from Jeremiah 31 must have sounded, then, to the listening crowd. Among vociferous warnings of God's impending judgment, suddenly Jeremiah's tone changed. Instead of wrath, he spoke of love. He predicted a future time when God's blessings, physical and spiritual, will be restored to His people. It seemed incomprehensible among the warnings that Judah would soon be overthrown and taken into captivity.

Jeremiah foretold the coming of a New Covenant, unlike the Old. Formerly, God had led His people by the hand, but His people were unruly children, always tugging and twisting to break free. They had a pattern of disobedience and rebellion. Through the New Covenant, God would bring a people back to Himself who would be faithful. They would not depend on spiritual handholding for their obedience, having instead an internal locus of love and devotion to God. The Word of God would be imprinted on their hearts and their minds.

The New Covenant assures God's people of His forgiveness and His invitation to return to Him. It declares God's deliberate act of “remember[ing] their sins no more” (v. 34).

God initiates the New Covenant because of who He is: eternally faithful (v. 3), a loving Father (v. 9), a gracious God (v. 14), and a Promise Keeper (v. 37).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The gospel announces to us God's gracious and deliberate choice to “forgive [our] wickedness and remember [our] sins no more.” What God chooses to forget, however, we sometimes insist on remembering. Calling to mind past sins which we've confessed and for which we received forgiveness is a temptation to which we cannot give in. Christ's sacrifice has secured for us the privilege of a clean conscience. Read Hebrews 10 to learn more about our freedom from guilt.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word. - John 1:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
CBS has the rights to a revival of the 1950s game show, Name That Tune, and has named Donny Osmond as the new host. Instead of pitting two individuals against one another, the new format will include competing teams of varying ages. And the final round will pay one million dollars to the contestant who can name fifteen songs in 60 seconds.

In John 1, we immediately hear familiar melody lines from other Scriptures, most notably from the Creation account: “In the beginning . . .” As John begins his Gospel, he traces the origins of Jesus Christ. When it seemed that the world was only just beginning, the Word already “was.” He was responsible for everything created: sky, rivers, mountains, man. Everything. Jesus Christ has existed since before the beginning of time, long before He became a man in ancient Palestine.

Here in this passage, John refers to Jesus Christ as the Word. We cannot mistake the significance of this title given to Jesus. The Word speaks and tells us something of God. He is proof positive that God longs to reveal Himself to His people. The Word delivers the message of God coming near and announces God's grace. He is the final act of the dramatic events we've been watching as God persists to reconcile creation to Himself. He's made covenants with Noah, with Abraham, and with the Israelite nation, but He's never come as close to His people as in the Man, Jesus Christ. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (v. 14). The Word, God's presence incarnated, restores lost access to God's presence and makes known the truth of Who the Father is.

For all the similarities between Genesis 1 and John 1, we can't help but also notice the stark difference between the worlds described in each. In the first couple of chapters of Genesis, it is clear that the world described is God's world, made by Him and for Him. But in John 1, the world mentioned is estranged from God. Jesus comes to this world, but there He is scarcely recognized and welcomed.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
God wants us to know Him. Through Jesus Christ, the Word, He is speaking. This is especially encouraging when we consider our close friends and family who don't know Him. God's impulse is always to draw people near to Him. How can you expose the unbelievers in your life to Jesus Christ? Some ideas include encouraging them to read a book like The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, or even to watch a film like The Passion of the Christ or the Jesus film produced by Campus Crusade for Christ.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 1:1-45
God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets . . . In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. - Hebrews 1:1-2
TODAY IN THE WORD
Will Durant, one of last century's most able historians, had planned to serve in ministry. His faith foundered, however, when he discovered authors anathema to his Christian faith, like Darwin and Huxley. Later, when writing The Story of Civilization, he rejected the divinity of Christ, found in Him hypocrisy, and attributed to Him “no new moral ideas.” Durant had wandered far from his childhood faith.

Durant's story is not an exception. We've known people, even entire churches and denominations, who walk away from the historic Christian faith. As our study turns now to a New Testament presentation of the gospel, the critical question emerges: Who is Jesus Christ?

The Old Testament has shown us important elements of God's character, particularly that He loves the people He has made and wants to recover intimacy with them. Our initial premise has been the Garden of Eden, understanding the gospel as a return to that original design of God's fellowship with humanity.

But we come only so far with the Old Testament. It's in the New Testament that God's character and God's plan are finally and fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Without a biblical understanding of who Jesus is and what He did on our behalf, there is no gospel.

Mark 1 provides an important framework for our next several days of exploration. In succinct form, it outlines basic truths about the gospel of Jesus. First, central to the gospel is Jesus. Mark makes clear that Jesus is part of the Old Testament story, fulfilling prophecies such as the one mentioned here from Isaiah (vv. 2, 3). Not mere man, He is the Son of God (v. 1). As a minister, He preached truths from God (v. 15) but also brought healing from God (v. 31). His authoritative call is compelling: He comes ultimately to be Master (v. 17). And finally, He models for us what it means to be in intimate relationship with the Father (v. 35).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Many churches purport to be Christian, but they have in fact rejected some of the most basic doctrines about Christ. When we consider attending a church, we should carefully investigate its Christology, that is, its doctrine of Christ. Do they accept Jesus as fully God and fully man? Do they attest to the truth of His physical death and bodily resurrection from the dead? Do they proclaim Jesus Christ as the only way to a restored relationship with God?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 24:13-35
Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. - Luke 24:27
TODAY IN THE WORD
In Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell explains that the likelihood of Jesus fulfilling even just eight of the Old Testament messianic prophecies is nearly a mathematical impossibility. It would be as likely as covering the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, blindfolding a man, and asking him to find one specifically designated coin.

That Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies, written centuries before His life and including details about His birth (cf. Micah 5:2), childhood (Hosea 11:1), even His burial place (Isa. 53:9), insures credibility of the gospel. The Gospel writers, Matthew in particular, defend Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. They want their primarily Jewish audience to understand that Jesus is not a departure from the stories of Abraham and Moses. Rather, He is the fulfillment of Jewish longings for God.

Here, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus emphasizes this continuity. Before they recognized Him, two of His disciples explained the heartbreaking events of the last three days. They buried Him whom they had received as a prophet of God, and they buried their hope for a better future. As if His death weren't perplexing enough, now some women who had visited His tomb early that morning claimed that He had risen from the dead.

Jesus rebuked them. He insisted that the gospel story should have been self-evident from Old Testament Scriptures: “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (v. 25). Jesus launched into an explanation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and it's not unlikely that He lingered at passages that we, in this month's study, have also explored.

Notice how the two disciples responded to the living Word of God: “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (v. 32). The Scriptures are compelling because they are breathed by the very life of God (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Often today, worship services and Bible studies focus on topical themes that declare that they are “relevant” to a modern audience. While there is nothing inherently wrong with discussing topics like the family or addressing issues such as worry, this must always be secondary to a careful exposition of the Scriptures. It is God's Word that inspires the believer, convicts the sinner, and guides the church. We need a renewed emphasis on biblical preaching today.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 8:31-49
One . . . has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. - Hebrews 7:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
Neale Donald Walsch explains that his book, Conversations with God, originated when he began to transcribe his discussions with the “Divine.” In the course of those conversations, he heard—much to his relief—that God wasn't intending to punish the world for unbelief. “We are all going to heaven,” says Walsh. An important question must be answered: Why believe this guy? What credibility do we lend to someone who claims to have a revolutionary new word from God?

The same question was asked about Jesus in John 8, and it is a relevant and important question still today. Does Jesus have credibility? Can His message be trusted? We learn that people answer that question not simply from the proof they're offered, but on the basis of their willingness to understand a personal need for salvation.

Jesus offered sufficient proof to His audiences throughout the Gospels, but He was rejected by many. Here, the Jews rejected Jesus' message because they rejected His concept of salvation. He called them slaves in need of rescue. This offended their sense of heritage, of being children of God simply because they were children of Abraham.

Jesus defended His Abrahamic heritage. The covenant blessings come through Abraham, no doubt. But Jesus insisted that if the Jews were truly sons of Abraham, they would receive Him. There is one God, one Father. If you know the Father, you embrace the Son. These Jewish leaders, in rejecting the Son, were ultimately turning their backs on their heritage of faith.

Jesus' authority depended ultimately on His deity. He made this claim by asserting His immortality. Death equalizes all of us as humans, but the Son of God, existing before birth and defying the grave, proved that He had come from God. The ultimate proof that Jesus can be trusted is His resurrection from the dead!
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Peter Kreeft, a Christian apologist, maintains that belief in the divinity of Christ is “the central Christian doctrine, for it is like a skeleton key that opens all the others.” As you talk with others about the gospel, this doctrine is one you must be able to understand and capably explain. In order to do so, you will want to know passages like this, and others, where Jesus clearly claims divinity. Furthermore, you will want to be able to defend why these Bible passages are historically reliable.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 4:14-22
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. - Matthew 4:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
“God helps those who help themselves,” said Benjamin Franklin. Not a professing Christian, Franklin did write prolifically on themes of virtue and self-improvement. He had made it his personal aim to strive for “moral perfection.” To that end, he made lifetime resolutions toward frugality, honesty, industry, and charity.

Benjamin Franklin did bring important moral teachings to his generation, lessons from which we can still learn today. What's unfortunate is that many would place the person of Jesus Christ alongside such figures as Benjamin Franklin. They would attribute to Jesus important moral teachings, such as “Turn the other cheek,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But they would fail to understand that He came to do more than to inspire our sense of good morals. They might think that following Franklin's resolutions would yield the same result as following Christ.

Jesus' first sermon is no spiritual self-help text. Here He identified Himself clearly with the teachings of the Old Testament, and the context of His ministry launch was unmistakably “religious.” After His baptism and temptation, He preached His first sermon in the synagogue, using an important text from Isaiah. The text has both moral and spiritual implications. “Good news to the poor,” “liberty to the captives,” “sight of the blind,” and “liberty [for] the oppressed” are not exclusively spiritual claims. Jesus was no doubt claiming good news for the spiritually destitute, blind, and oppressed, but He was also declaring an earthly dimension to His ministry objectives. He would, in tangible ways, bring hope to those most oppressed in society. His preoccupation was not private morality but spiritual and physical healing for the hurting.

What's notably absent in this first sermon is any mention of moral commands. What is fundamental to the gospel is not moral effort but an encounter with Jesus Christ. So Jesus' sermon declared His own divine identity: as One sent from God, One with divine purpose and authority, One upon whom the Spirit of God rests.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Our key verse from Matthew reminds us of the first word of the Christian journey: “Repent.” When we share the gospel with nonbelievers, we must be careful not to address first what we perceive to be their moral shortcomings. It isn't as if a person has to first obey the moral teachings of Christ to become a believer. No, the first step is repentance. That simply means confessing one's sinfulness and need for Christ's forgiveness and righteousness.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 8:23-9:7
God was pleased . . . through [Christ] to reconcile to himself all things. - Colossians 1:19, 20
TODAY IN THE WORD
Eastern religions make a clear distinction between the spiritual and physical realms. In Hinduism and Buddhism, for example, spirituality requires detachment from the illusory physical realm. The soul's ambition is to be liberated from all that is material and elevated to a higher spiritual plane.

Christianity has an integrated worldview. God has created both the heavens and the earth, the invisible and the visible, the spiritual as well as the earthly. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus addresses both the physical and the spiritual realms. He is Master over both dimensions. He cares about bodies, and He cares about souls. We have three stories from our reading today that demonstrate this and teach us important concerns of the gospel.

The first story, that of Jesus calming the wind and the waves, shows us that when Jesus' power is displayed visibly on earth, our faith grows. This miraculous silencing of the storm certainly astonished the disciples. “What kind of man is this?” (v. 27). No doubt events like these over the time of Jesus' ministry—miracles of healing, feeding the crowds, and raising the dead—convinced them of Jesus' deity. And today, Jesus, by His Spirit, continues to invade the physical realm as a means of revealing His power and inspiring our faith.

The second story, that of the two demon-possessed men, shows us that the physical and the spiritual are not separate realms but interconnected realities. Their spiritual affliction affected not just their souls, but also their bodies. In delivering them from the demons, Jesus not only restored them spiritually but gave them an opportunity to become whole persons again.

The third story shows us that Jesus' first concern is to restore people to God. When the paralytic was brought to Him, He deliberately chose to forgive his sins before healing his legs. But after beginning with the spiritual needs, He then showed His care for the physical needs.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
An unfortunate split took place in churches at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some churches abandoned the gospel of spiritual redemption in favor of the “social gospel,” a kind of social activism. Other churches faithfully preached personal evangelism but neglected to address important physical needs. As our reading today demonstrates, the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to both. Think of ways in which you can minister both spiritually and materially to a nonbeliever in your life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9-13; 28:19-20
‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. - Matthew 9:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
Some have called the Bible, “God's Instruction Manual.” By that, they mean that it's here we find all the knowledge that we need. True, the Bible is an inexhaustible source of wisdom, both the Old and New Testaments. The notion of the Bible as “instruction manual,” however, can reduce the richness of Scripture to just life principles. The Bible is more accurately described as a narrative. It is the story of a personal God working actively in the lives of men and women. The names of individuals and families (even the genealogies!) of the Bible aren't incidental, but central to the gospel story.

Our stories from Matthew today show how people matter to God. We find Simon and his brother, Andrew, fishing on the Sea of Galilee. We meet James and John, the sons of Zebedee, in the boat with their father, preparing their nets. Behind the tax collector's booth sat Matthew. Each of these men seems to us very ordinary, yet the stories themselves are intimate and personal. We encounter these men, busy at work in the course of a normal day, not as pawns in God's story, but real human beings with names and families and jobs.

In Matthew 9, Jesus shared a meal with His disciples at Matthew's house, and Matthew's house was soon overrun by curious friends and colleagues. These men weren't normally well received by the ruling religious right of their day. They were despised as Jewish traitors, regarded as corrupt sell-outs. But interestingly enough, they felt comfortable enough to join Jesus for dinner. They didn't sense the rejection they faced elsewhere. Here, with Jesus, was a place where they were respected and valued.

Jesus reproved those who criticized Him for keeping company with sinners. The Pharisees preferred religious rules and regulations. To them, Jesus insisted, “I desire mercy.” Mercy is not abstract; it is particular and personal. He turns our attention, not to what we do as much as whom we love. In essence, He underscores the centrality of relationship in the gospel.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The gospel call is clearly set forth in Matthew 28: “Go and make disciples.” As people of the gospel, our lives should look like Jesus' ministry. Our calling is to get to know sinners, learn their names, care about their lives, and in the context of that relationship, reveal to them Who is Jesus Christ. The programs and evangelistic events of churches or other organizations shouldn't supplant the kind of loving relationships that we as believers must establish with an unbelieving world.