Devotional Guide for the Week:
Monday, April 9. Read 1 Peter 2:21-25. 1) What did God call us to do? 2) Who is our example for this and where did it lead him? 3) Based on Peter’s text, what would you say about the life of Jesus?
Tuesday, April 10. Read 1 John 3:7-10. 1) How is righteousness demonstrated? 2) What change occurs when someone becomes part of God’s family? 3) What did the Son of God come to do?
Wednesday, April 11. Read Colossians 2:13-23. 1) What is the personal cost of sin? 2) What did Christ do for us? 3) What is the result of Christ’s work for us?
Thursday, April 12. Read Hebrews 2:14-18. 1) Why did Jesus become “flesh and blood,” according to the Hebrews writer? 2) What did Jesus do in his flesh and blood form? 3) Why do you think the writer called Jesus our “high priest?”
Friday, April 15. Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. 1) What did Paul say about the source of his message to the Corinthians? 2) What did Paul say the function of the bread and wine are for the Christian? 3) What are we doing when we participate in the Lord’s Supper?
Saturday, April 14. Read Hebrews 10:1-18. This is Sunday’s sermon text.
Prayer of the Week:
Dear Lord Jesus, By your death on the cross, you have taken away our sins, once and for all. Nothing is left undone. Now we can cry out, “We have been made righteous in Christ forever! Blessed be the name of our God and Savior, Jesus—the Lamb of God who has taken away our sin; the Lord of all, who is making all things new.”
And now, having completely justified us by your finished work, you are perfecting us by your glorious gospel. It’s all of grace, from beginning to end. We who have been declared perfectly righteous will be made perfectly holy—O blessed and happy hope. One Day we will be as lovely and as loving as you, Lord Jesus. There is no greater longing, no greater joy, and no greater future—none.
Even as we rest in your finished work, so we rejoice in your present reign, Lord Jesus. Atoned for sin will be abolished sin; defeated evil will be eradicated evil; vanquished enemies will be eliminated enemies. May the joy of this good news buckle our knees in humble adoration and empower our hands for neighbor edification.
So now we can only say, “praise to our Reedeemer” and “glory be to God.” Amen we pray.
Hymn of the Week:
I will sing of my Redeemer
by P.P.Bliss, 1876
I will sing of my Redeemer
and his wondrous love to me;
on the cruel cross he suffered,
from the curse to set me free.
Sing, O sing of my Redeemer!
With his blood he purchased me;
on the cross he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free.
I will tell the wondrous story,
how my lost estate to save,
in his boundless love and mercy,
he the ransom freely gave.
I will praise my dear Redeemer,
his triumphant power I’ll tell:
how the victory he gives me
over sin and death and hell.
I will sing of my Redeemer
and his heavenly love for me;
he from death to life has brought me,
Son of God, with him to be.
Sing, O sing of my Redeemer!
With his blood he purchased me;
on the cross he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free.
Devotional Article of the Week:
Sweet Redemption: What does it mean to really be redeemed?
by Phillip Morrison
Boston preacher Dr. S. D. Gordon took a rusted and battered birdcage to his pulpit one Easter Sunday and left his audience to wonder until he was ready to tell the story. A man had met a street urchin carrying the cage with several birds inside. When he asked how much the boy wanted for the cage and birds, the boy said, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. They’re just plain old birds that can’t sing or anything. I’m just going to poke at them and play with them until I get tired, and then give them to my cat.” “I understand,” said the man, “but I want them anyway; how much?”
Never believing anyone would pay his price, the boy tentatively asked, “Two dollars?” The man counted out the two dollars and the boy ran before his customer could change his mind.
The man then stepped around the corner, opened the cage, and set the birds free. Dr. Gordon explained that Jesus had done something infinitely more important at the cross. Paying a price that could not be calculated, he gave his life that we might reclaim ours and be free from the burden and torment of sin.
As this Easter season approaches and we remember Jesus’ passion and resurrection, picture the Christ with outstretched arms, inviting whosoever will to come and be set free…
If you don’t already know the iconic figure, you will see it again and again over the next several months. The television crews choosing pictures for the World Cup matches in June and the Summer Olympics in 2016 will focus on Brazil’s most familiar landmark.
On top of the 2,300 foot Corcovado Mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro, on a huge pedestal reaching another 26 feet into the sky, stands the 98-foot-tall Cristo Redentor — Christ the Redeemer — statue, arms outstretched in both invitation and assurance of the constant presence and protection of Jesus. As is often the case with national monuments, this one was planned for a long time before it was actually built. Since the 1850s, there had been several attempts to agree on a design and location, but the actual construction didn’t begin until 1922, and the monument opened on October 12, 1931.
Spread out before an observer is one of the great cities of the world with a population of 6.5 million in Rio proper and a total population of perhaps 18 million, depending on how large an area one wants to include. The waters of Guanabara Bay, punctuated by Sugarloaf Mountain, and bordered by the famed Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches all provide photo ops hardly matched anywhere else in the world. Not so visible are the slums or favelas where poverty, crime, disease, and squalor of every kind make up the Rio not found on travel posters.
Over this city of extreme wealth and indescribable poverty stands Christ the Redeemer, arms open in invitation by day and by night, reminding, calling, and inviting. The mansions on the hilltops, some with their own helipads and cantilevered access roads, and the cardboard shanties alike all contain people needing redemption.
The redemption theme was carried out in literature by a Leo Tolstoy play and a Leon Uris novel. In the music world, it caught the attention of performers from Johnny Cash to Bob Marley. The idea that we need to reclaim something already owned fascinates thoughtful people of all kinds.
Redeeming a lost soul is a profound act. The Apostle Paul seemed to be searching for just the right word when he described Jesus as “wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). I can redeem my shirts with a piece of paper or a plastic card, but “it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed… but with the precious blood of Christ…” (1 Peter 1:18-19). The outstretched arms of Cristo Redentor reach 92 feet from fingertip to fingertip, but the outstretched arms of Christ the Redeemer reach to infinity, embracing all who will come.
