Foundations August 1, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Revelations 13-15
SCRIPTURE READING
Proverbs 2:1-2, 5 (NIV); My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding…then you will understand the
fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
Wisdom, knowledge and the fear of the Lord are all closely related. In our quest to discover the
truth about grace last month, we touched upon the fear of the Lord. We will never be able to wholly
follow God unless we uphold Him in reverence and awe. The proverbs of Solomon instruct us to
tune our ears to wisdom and apply it to our hearts. Then we will understand the fear of the Lord
and the knowledge of God will be given to the upright. The scripture does not promise just any
knowledge to the one who fears the Lord, but the knowledge of God.
As human beings made in the image of an all-wise and all-knowing Creator, we are born with the
abilities to learn and understand. We acquire knowledge of all kinds; however this base knowledge
does not compare to the knowledge of God – an impartation of knowledge and understanding from
the One who created and sustains all things! Wisdom is given readily to all who desire it, primarily
through the word of God. As we heed this wisdom and seek to understand it, treasuring it in our
hearts, we will grow to fear this awe-inspiring Saviour God and He will reveal to us some of the
very mysteries of His great and awesome mind!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. How have you been growing in the fear of the Lord? How is the fear of the Lord evident in
your life?
2. Have you been trying to get God’s knowledge without giving Him the reverence and awe He
deserves? Or how have you sought to use your own knowledge without seeking the Lord?
Confess any instances that come to mind.
3. Ask God to show you an area where He wants you to seek His knowledge instead of your
own, and spend some time listening to His wisdom.

Foundations July 31, 2011

SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 23:12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself
will be exalted

Today we are going to look at some of the characteristics of humility. Humble people:
• Desire to be friends with God, to know Him and take the time to grow in their
relationship with Him. Humble hearts want a friendship with God more than they
want to minister.
• Are willing to acknowledge when they don’t know something
• Are willing to submit to a process
• Are flexible and willing to change
• View their weaknesses as opportunities for God to demonstrate His power
• Desire to spend time in prayer because meeting with Him is seen not only as a
blessing but a desperate need
• Do not exalt themselves above others
• Rely on others without becoming more dependent on them than on God
• Desire to obey God and come into alignment with His plans and purposes
• Are willing to count the cost, even when it is a personal cost to themselves for the
benefit of His Kingdom and of others
Humility is servanthood and obedience to Jesus and to others.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. How do you think the church would be changed if all believers walked out these
characteristics of humility?
2. Ask the Lord to show you a few characteristics that He specifically wants you to focus
praying for, then pray that you would grow in those areas.
3. Pray that God would grow you in servanthood and humility and that through you many
lives would be touched by the goodness of God. Pray that you would keep growing
and not be worried about having it all figured out right now.

Foundations July 30, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Revelation 10-12
SCRIPTURE READING
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but wisdom is with the humble.
Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility goes before honour.

Yesterday, we looked at the link between pride and servanthood. Today we are going to look at
how pride manifests itself in our lives. Prideful people:
• struggle with admitting they are wrong
• feel they have achieved their accomplishments on their own “self-made” success
• struggle with self reliance
• tend to boast about their accomplishments either outwardly or inwardly
• think grandiose thoughts about themselves
• feel like they need to know everything
• tend to like to have control over other people
• are inflexible, not wanting to change unless they have initiated it
• want to have their own way
• make assumptions and tend to want to speak first and be heard, struggle with
listening to others
• tend to think they are better than other people
• tend to harbour grudges and don’t easily forgive
• feel self-righteous about their offenses
• struggle with deep surrender to God and others
If we are honest, we will find some sort of pride within ourselves.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you ever thought of the above feelings and attitudes as being rooted in pride?
2. Look at the list of prideful attributes listed above. Do you struggle in any of these areas?
Confess each one you are guilty of asking God to forgive you.
3. Pray that God would break strongholds of pride in your life. Ask Him to teach you to put
others before yourself.

Foundations July 29, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Revelations 7-9
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 20:26-27 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be
your servant, 27and whoever would be first among you must be your slave (ESV)

Jesus teachings were often considered to be quite radical for His day and age. Even when
we read them today, we can see how Jesus spoke with spiritual authority, He didn’t beat
around the bush but and got right down to the heart of the matter. Jesus often talked about
servanthood and we can see from today’s passage that Jesus was revealing a new paradigm
for greatness. As Christians, it’s easy to get caught up in doing things the world’s way but
Jesus teaches that it is better to be great in His sight than in the sight of men. The cool thing
about His type of greatness is that it is available to all people however the means to which we
pursue this greatness is foreign to many believers. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches what
greatness really is - it is being a servant. If we want to be great in God’s Kingdom we must
pursue meekness and servanthood. What keeps us from growing in servanthood? Basically,
it’s pride. We think we deserve better, we think certain jobs are beneath us, we think that
others should be serving us. The proud cannot be servants because all forms of pride end up
with one result – self glorification. The sin of pride is poisonous, it is venomous, it’s blinding.
Surrender to Jesus is our antidote to pride, not just as a onetime act but daily surrender.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to reveal to you where pride has gotten a grip in your life. Confess this as
sin, asking Him to forgive you.
2. Ask the Lord to show you some practical ways to grow in servanthood. What are some
ways that you can be a servant at home, at your job or in the church?
3. Pray that God would grow you in humility and servanthood, that you would pursue
meekness and seek God’s Kingdom first.

Foundations July 28, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Revelations 4-6
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 28:19-20 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

For years the church has missed out on a huge aspect of the Great Commission. In these
verses, we are not commanded to go and make converts of all nations but rather go and
make DISCIPLES of all nations. Jesus even tells us what this looks like when He mentions
that we are to teach them to observe all that He has commanded. Jesus is looking for
obedience. As Christians, if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission, we are going to
need to walk with people and teach them how to live for the Lord. This will take work and
time. We can’t merely tell them about Jesus, get them to say the sinner’s prayer and be
done with it. No, God wants us to take the hungry and the thirsty and teach them, lead them
and walk with them. This is no small task, for it can’t be done if we are consumed with the
cares and pleasures of this world. Discipling someone means that you have to give of your
time, it will cost you money, maybe even a business deal or two. It will cut into your down
time, it will require effort, it will require dependence on God because you won’t have all the
answers and you will need to listen in prayer and let Him do the leading. It will require that
you keep growing yourself because you can’t disciple someone if you have become stagnant
in your own walk with God. It doesn’t mean that you have to have everything figured out and
be perfect but rather it means that you are pressing into God and that you desire to take as
many people with you on the journey as possible. That is true discipleship!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to reveal to you the things that are holding you back from discipling others.
Are you willing to count the cost? What does this mean for you?
2. Ask the Lord to grow your dependence on Him, to lead you and be functional Lord of
your life. Commit to taking your decision to Him in prayer. What decisions should you
spend praying about today?
3. Pray that you will be willing to walk with the hungry and thirsty and teach them, lead
them and disciple them.

Foundations July 27, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Revelation 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 25:41-46 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me
no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome
me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then
they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying,
‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (ESV)

Often we think of sin only in the terms of bad things that we do, yet there are sins of
omission. There are good things that we are supposed to do and if we don’t do them
then we are sinning. There is a judgement for the work that we do and do not do. When
we are so distracted by our selfish agenda that we don’t even see anyone that’s sick or
needing clothes then we know that we are in serious trouble. If we go to church and don’t
ever recognize that anyone has needs because all we live for is ourselves and our own
comfort then something is seriously wrong. In this passage of scripture Jesus is teaching
that helping others is a natural part of loving Jesus. We should be able to tell the difference
between believers and non believers by how they treat people. Are you indifferent toward
the hurting people around you? What is your attitude towards those who are less fortunate
than you? Do you find it easier to write a cheque to satisfy your conscience or are you
willing to get your hands dirty and get to know the less fortunate?

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Re-read the scripture passage for today. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you some
practical things that you can do to tangibly show love to the people around you.
2. Ask the Lord to reveal to you any other sins of omission – that is, things that you should
be doing that you are not doing. Confess these things as sin, and commit to following
through on what God has shown you.
3. Ask the Lord to root selfishness out of your life and grow generosity.

Foundations July 26, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 2 John; 3 John; Jude
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 9:35-38 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every
affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (ESV)

Jesus loved people! He loved healing them, talking with them and telling them the
good news of the gospel. Many times throughout the gospels, Jesus is seen as having
“compassion” for people. In this particular passage, Jesus compassion is seen because
the people were helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus told the disciples that the
harvest was ripe but that there were few workers. There are many good things that we can
spend time praying for but when we look at this passage of scripture, Jesus is telling us to
pray for workers. There is a lack of good shepherds to guide the sheep. In the Canadian
Church today, many churches are losing ground. The church is losing its voice. We must
pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out more WORKERS! Good shepherds take people
deeper into Jesus; they give of their time and energy to further His Kingdom. God is looking
for workers...will you answer the call?

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. What is holding you back from rising to become a good shepherd? Are you too busy?
Do you waste a lot of time with recreation, leisure activities, media & entertainment?
Ask the Lord to show you what some of the things are in your life that are preventing
you from being a better labourer.
2. Do you love and have a compassion for people the way that Jesus did? Are you
concerned about the lost ones around you? Pray that God would grow you and the
church in compassion for people.
3. Pray that God would raise up an army of workers to take in the harvest. Pray that these
workers would love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, that they would be
obedient and live holy and righteous lives.

Foundations July 25, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 John 3-5
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 10:21-22 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children
will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my
name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (ESV)

One of the reasons that it is important to have a correct view of salvation is because if you
think of ‘getting saved’ as something you did in the PAST, you’re going to ignore and/or miss
one of the most consistent and important admonitions which the New Testament writers made
throughout the New Testament – the admonition to endure to the end. It’s not how you start
the race that matters, its how you finish. This should give us much hope, since God wants us
to be overcomers! He’s on our side! Staying on the path isn’t complicated, it just requires that
we keep the ‘yes’ in your spirit towards Him: that we want to please Him and we want to follow
Him. If we have that, then He will empower us by His grace to stay on the path and nothing
and no-one will be able to knock us off! Take some encouragement from Jude 1: 24-25
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the
presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time praising the Lord for the truths in the passage of Jude. Thank God
for being able to keep you from stumbling. Give God the glory He deserves, give Him
dominion over your life, give Him authority to rule your life...
2. Now ask the Lord if you are allowing Him to keep you from stumbling or if you are trying
to keep from stumbling on your own strength. Confess any self-sufficiency as sin, repent
of it and ask the Lord to empower you to walk without stumbling.
3. Pray that you will endure to the end, that you will finish the race strong, that you will
endure!

Foundations July 24, 2011

SCRIPTURE READING
1 Cor 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. (ESV)
1 Cor 15:1-2 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you
received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, IF you hold fast to the word I
preached to you— unless you believed in vain. (ESV)

In order to have a correct view of the life that God is calling us to live as Christians, we must
have a correct view of salvation. We have to get away from this idea we have that salvation
is a test you pass at some point in your life, and then it’s done, and you get your diploma that
says ‘I’m saved’ and you hang it on the wall, and everything’s good no matter what you do
after that. No! Salvation is a process that takes all your life to complete; it’s a journey; and it’s
a pathway on which you walk! Your salvation started in the past (when you received Christ
into your heart), it is continuing now and it will be completed in the future if you continue on
the right path. That’s why the first name for Christianity before it was called ‘The WAY’ and
you’ll find that name used in a bunch of different places throughout the book of Acts (see Acts
9:1-2; 24:14-15). This is beautiful language! It captures that salvation isn’t a onetime event in
your life. Salvation isn’t a little prayer that you said; it’s a way of life. It’s a path you walk. It’s
not something you once did; it’s a path you walk all your life. And everyone else can see that
you’re walking this path, because it’s a totally different path then the world walks. Christianity
isn’t a label on your wall, “I’m a Christian,” rather it’s a way of life.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to give you a word, thought or picture about the path that you are walking
on? Are you going the right way?
2. Can those around you (your family, friends, co-workers, neighbours) see the path that
you are on by your lifestyle? How is your path different from the world’s path?
3. Now ask the Lord to reveal to you areas where your path is similar to the world’s path.
Ask the Lord to forgive you for walking like they do. Pray that God would strengthen you
to completely surrender to Him.

Foundations July 23, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 John 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
James 5:16-18 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you
may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was
a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years
and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and
the earth bore its fruit. (ESV)

Many Christians often misquote this passage of scripture. Look closely, the Bible teaches
that the prayer of a RIGHTEOUS person has great power. And who is the righteous person
according to this passage? The person who has been confessing their sins! This is why we do
encounters here at Southland. Confession and repentance are one of the primary pipelines
through which God’s grace can flow into your life. And so, Encounter Retreats are the practical
tool we have put together to help people do that and to teach people how to do that. If you’ve
never been on an Encounter Retreat I want to HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you do that! If
you’ve only ever been on one retreat I highly recommend that you go again! And if you have
any major sin issues in your life that need to be dealt with I highly recommend that you sign up
for one of those retreats. And it’s not that you have to go on a retreat in order to confess and
repent – not at all! But when you’re on the retreat you’re going to learn all kinds of principles of
confession and repentance, and you’re going to learn how to bring these principles into the rest
of your life.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Southland now offers three retreats – Encounter is the first one, once you go to that one
you can then go to Empower and if you are married you can go to the Marriage Retreat.
Spend some time in prayer, asking the Lord if He would like you to go to a retreat. Which
one?
2. Another way to grow in righteousness is to join a cell group. In fall, Connect Cell will start
up again for married couples of any age and singles over the age of 25. Pray about your
involvement in a cell group.
3. Ask the Lord to help you grow in daily repentance and confession.

Foundations July 22, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 2 Peter 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 66:18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. (NLT)
Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (ESV)

Today’s verses were written by David. We all know that David did some pretty big sins
(adultery and murder), yet was a man after God’s own heart. This seems like a contradiction
to us, yet David took his sin seriously and humbled himself before the Lord in repentance. It
was only then that he could enter into fellowship with God. It’s the same with us; we must get
a revelation of the seriousness of sin and of the fact that we are supposed to be saved from
our sins. Then confession and repentance start to look very attractive! When the Fear of God
begins to take root in our hearts we start to HATE the sin in our lives and feel remorse for our
character weaknesses. Confession and repentance become our best friends as they restore
our relationship with the Lord. When we acknowledge sin to the Lord instead of ignoring them;
when we confess sin to the Lord in brokenness, and say, “I’m sorry, please help me,” what we
are doing is humbling ourselves before God and God loves that! Scripture tells us that “God
opposes the proud, but gives GRACE to the humble.” According to James 4:6-10 one of the
key ways to humble ourselves is by cleansing ourselves from sin, which is confession and
repentance. This is amazing news! We don’t have to be perfect in order to have God on our
side; we only have to be humble. When we go to God and confess our sins and admit our
weaknesses, His Grace and power pours into our lives and we begin to be transformed into
new people!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Pray that you would get a revelation of the seriousness of sin and that God would
continue to reveal to you the depths of the fear of the Lord. Pray that you would hate the
sin in your life and feel remorse for your character weaknesses.
2. Pray that you would grow in humility and dependence on God.
3. Praise God, that He pours His grace into our lives as we confess our sins and that He will
transform us into a new people!

Foundations July 21, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Peter 3-5
SCRIPTURE READING
1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. (ESV)

After reading yesterday’s devotional, if you feel like your life is more label than power or if
you’re worried that you have got Christian religion but that you are not a new creation, there
is hope! God is calling you today to grow and mature and He wants to show you a few
simple steps. The first step is to recognize that being saved without being a new creation is a
contradiction. This is a really important first step because right now hundreds of thousands of
Christians in the West have been duped into thinking that you can be saved without actually
ever being radically changed and born-again in your lifestyle and behaviour. And as long
as people have that false belief in their heads, they’ll have a correspondingly false sense of
security about their salvation which breeds spiritual sloth and stupor and apathy towards sin,
which keeps people from step two, which is repent of your sins and become radical about
holiness. Once you realize that it’s not okay to be saved and steeped in sin and that in fact,
you may not be saved if you are unrepentantly steeped in sin, the resulting uncomfortable
feeling and fear that results in your life should move you to confession and repentance. That’s
a good thing! That’s the hope and beauty of the gospel – getting right with God is as easy as
saying you’re sorry and repenting of your sins. Getting right with God is not complicated or
difficult; there are no hoops to jump through, there are no skill-testing questions to answer,
and you don’t have to earn His forgiveness – all you have to do is say you’re sorry and turn
from your wicked ways.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Praise the Lord that there is hope for all, that God will forgive the repentant and that they
can be made new! Thank Him that getting right with God is not complicated or difficult,
that you don’t have to earn His forgiveness, that all you have to do is turn from your sin
and say you’re sorry.
2. Ask God to reveal to you any sins that you have been apathetic towards. Confess as
necessary.
3. Pray that you would continue to live a life of repentance!

Foundations July 20, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Peter 1-2
SCRIPTURE READING
2 Tim 3:1-5 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For
people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
(ESV)

In this passage, Paul is speaking to Christians. Most Christians read this passage and
don’t apply it to themselves, or the Church, because they automatically assume that Paul
is talking about unbelievers in this passage. So they assume that Paul is prophesying that
unbelievers will behave like this in the last days – and they will, no question about it. But
Paul is not talking about unbelievers here. Would Paul tell Christians to avoid unbelievers?
No way! Let’s look at some of the characteristics that Paul identifies in these so-called
Christians: they are lovers of self; lovers of money; lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God and they have the appearance of godliness but no power. They have some Christian
form on the outside, but no power on the inside; they go to church every week; they think of
themselves as Christians; they tell people they are Christians; they have Christian beliefs in
their heads – in other words they have the Christian label on their life but there’s no power to
change – in their character and behaviour they’re not much different from anyone else; they
are self-centered, materialistic, lovers of money and pleasure, rebellious, angry, disobedient
and unsubmissive. Paul says that in the last days the church will be full of people just like this.
But the real problem is that the label “Christian” doesn’t save you, but there’s hope...more on
that tomorrow.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Do a bit of a self-examination by going through this passage of scripture. Ask yourself:
am I a lover of self? A lover of money? Proud? Arrogant? Abusive? Disobedient? Etc.
Confess as necessary.
2. Pray for much understanding in the church in the area of living a righteous and holy life
and fear of the Lord. Pray that God would grant wisdom to those who are pursuing Him.

Foundations July 19, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: James 4-5
SCRIPTURE READING
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ [ie. saved], he is a new creation . The old has
passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV)

In this verse, Paul is saying that getting saved is being made new. When you get saved you get
made into a new person – you’re not the same as you used to be. Your desires aren’t the same;
your actions aren’t the same; your behaviour isn’t the same - everything is new because you got
re-made into a new creation. That’s what getting saved is. When you get saved you get born
again out of that old, hideous lifestyle you used to live: you used to be self-centred and worldly
and unforgiving and negative and critical and proud and rebellious and drunken and greedy
and lustful and angry. What a terrible way to live! So then you got saved and you got born again
by the power of the Holy Spirit out of that lifestyle, and you got saved to a new lifestyle: you
got saved to a new lifestyle of being radically others-centred; of being humble; of being kind
(even when others are harsh); of being generous and of being submissive and peaceful. You
got saved to a new lifestyle of forgiving absolutely everyone who hurts you and mistreats you.
That’s salvation! You got saved from an ugly destructive path to a righteous and loving one.
Now, let me ask a question: if you ’re NOT a NEW person , are you saved ? If you’re
the same bitter, unforgiving, angry, worldly, selfish, lustful, slanderous person now as you were
before you got saved, or would be if you weren’t saved, then are you really saved? No! Paul
says, here, ‘IF’ anyone is in Christ, then ‘he is a new creation.’ In other words if you’re not a new
creation then you aren’t in Christ.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Pray that the church would understand the importance of being transformed into a new
creation. Pray that people would repent and turn from their old wicked ways and follow
God wholeheartedly.
2. Pray that the apathetic and rebellious would be shaken and awakened to see that they are
on a wrong path. Pray that they would be stirred to submit to God and be transformed into
a new person.
3. Pray that you would be a good testimony by living your life as racially others-centred, being
humble, being kind and forgiving.

Foundations July 18, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: James 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 1:20-21 20But as he [Joseph] considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your
wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (ESV)

When asked the question; “What are we saved from?” most Christians would answer “Hell”
or “God’s wrath and judgement” and they would certainly be right. Hell and God’s wrath are
two important things which Grace saves us from – but they are not the only things. In fact,
they’re not even the main thing; the Bible tells us that being saved from hell and wrath is
a by-product of being saved from something else. In Matt 1:20-21, the angel tells Joseph
what the main purpose of Jesus first coming – “to save his people from their sins”. Jesus
came to save us from the cause, not the effect. Hell and God’s wrath is the effect, not the
cause. Sin is the reason people have to go to hell and suffer God’s wrath. Sin is the cause.
Jesus came to save us from the root problem facing mankind which is sin. Many people are
only concerned about avoiding hell, in fact, many people overemphasis hell as the problem
when the actual problem is sin. It is extremely important that we understand this because
Jesus will not save us from the effects of sin unless we’re on the narrow path of being saved
from the cause which is sin itself. We need to change the FOCUS of the Christian life;
we need to stop thinking of salvation primarily as being saved from a PLACE (Hell) in the
FUTURE, to being saved from a LIFESTYLE in the PRESENT.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time worshipping Jesus for being our Saviour, for saving us from the
‘cause’, from the root problem, from saving us from sin!
2. Pray that many people would see that Jesus came to save them from a sinful lifestyle.
Pray that more people would receive healing and deliverance from strongholds in their
lives. Pray that as a church, we would be known for our righteousness.

Foundations July 17, 2011

SCRIPTURE READING
Eph 2:8-9 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

If we are going to come to a proper understanding of grace then we need to look at the topic
of salvation. Many Christians quote Ephesians 2:8-9 saying “I’ve been saved by grace.”
Unfortunately, few know what that actually means. What has grace saved me from? What has
grace saved me for? Did Grace save me in the past or will it save me in the future? These are
very important questions to understand grace properly. They are also extremely important
questions for understanding what the Christian life is about and what God expects from us and
how we can find assurance of salvation. Over the next few days we will be looking at these
things in order to get a deeper understanding of grace.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Go back over the last few weeks of devotionals. Are there any steps of obedience that
God has revealed to you that you have struggled putting into practice? Spend some time
praying about these things, asking God to help you obey Him in these areas.
2. Reflect upon what God has already been teaching you about grace. How have your
beliefs about grace changed? Do you feel like you have a fuller understanding of grace
now?
3. Thank the Lord for His grace, for His desire to help you grow and mature. Praise Him for
His forgiveness and for the many blessings in your life.

Foundations July 16, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 11-13
SCRIPTURE READING
Phil 3: 12-14 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to
make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider
that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining
forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of
God in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

There is a BIG difference between immature people who are struggling to grow and mature
in their walk with God and people who are rebellious. The immature are on the right path
and moving in the right general direction. They have lots of struggles in their lives life, and
lots of problems and lots of weaknesses and character issues, but somewhere deep down
inside underneath all of that – in their heart of hearts – they have a desire to say ‘yes’ to
God; they have a desire to do right; they have a desire to please Him. Therefore, they keep
heading towards God, their immaturities and weaknesses become very evident and their
path isn’t a straight bee-line for God – there’s all kinds of detours and roundabouts and
back-tracks; and they fall off the path many times. But in all of this they are repenting and
confessing sins and weaknesses to God. God views this life with a huge smile of delight
and He has an INFINITE SUPPLY of patience for human weaknesses and immaturity,
when the cry of a person’s heart is ‘yes’ towards Him. It’s not that there isn’t discipline or
consequences for their sin, but they are disciplined by a loving and tender Heavenly Father.
On the other hand, rebellious people are totally in love with the world, and are intent on
doing their own thing. The rebellious heart is busy blazing their own trail and doing their
own thing and though they may have a bunch of Christian beliefs in their head, the cry of
their heart is not ‘yes’ to God – it’s ‘yes’ to themselves. For this person God’s discipline is not
that of a tender-loving Father, but of an angry father. And if, over time, they persist in their
rebellion, it will change into the punishment of an angry God.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to help you press on, to work through your struggles, to repent and
confess sin regularly and pick yourself up and keep moving towards Him.

Foundations July 15, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 8-10
SCRIPTURE READING
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

In this passage of scripture, Paul is teaching us that we can never deserve salvation. We are
not saved by works or effort. Salvation is a free gift of God! You’ll never be able to deserve
God’s forgiveness! This is a super, mega-important point for all of us to always remember
because it will set you free from condemnation and release you to truly repent and pursue God.
When you sin, there’s only one thing you need to do – go to God and ask for forgiveness. But
that’s not what we human beings tend to do. There’s something in us that makes us always
feel like we have to earn it first. So whenever we sin we try to punish ourselves first – we put
ourselves through a week or a month of purgatory before we feel like we have a right to go to
God and ask for His forgiveness. We don’t think we can go to God immediately and ask for
forgiveness, because we feel like hypocrites. Here’s why this is such an important truth – as
long as you feel like you first have to deserve God’s forgiveness before you can ask Him for
forgiveness, you’ll never actually go to Him for forgiveness because you’ll never deserve it.
The very fact that you have to ask for forgiveness is because it is impossible to earn! It’s a
GIFT. Here’s the truth about forgiveness: the MOMENT AFTER you sin – the moment a
spirit of repentance comes over you, and you say “I can’t believe I did that! I hate that I did that;
please forgive me Father, I’m so sorry,” that very moment you are forgiven. You don’t have to
put yourself through a month of purgatory first; you don’t have to be good for a week first. No!
Forgiveness is a gift! Now that’s an important part of GRACE!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Praise God for forgiveness! That you don’t have to deserve it but that it is a free gift
available to all!
2. Ask God what your pattern is when you sin. Do you run to Him and ask for forgiveness or
do you put yourself through purgatory. Maybe your response changes depending on the
sin?
3. Ask the Lord to help you receive His grace and forgiveness when you sin and to learn to
forgive yourself.

Foundations July 14, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 5-7
SCRIPTURE READING
James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily
food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving
them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not
have works, is dead. (ESV)

In this passage, James asks a good question. Can a person be saved just by believing in
Jesus in their head, and saying they believe in Jesus, and praying a prayer one time to ‘ask
Him into their heart,’ but not having the works of Jesus come out in their actions? Our current
Christian culture screams, “Yes! That’s grace!” Our current Christian culture does not allow
for anyone’s salvation to be questioned, no matter how stubbornly they persist in apathy
and unrepentant sin, so long as they once prayed a prayer to receive Jesus and believed in
Him in their minds. But what does James argue here? Look at verse 17 “faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead”. In other words, mental belief in Jesus, without a relationship
with Him and corresponding works of salvation is dead – you may as well not have it all. It’s
not real. We have got to put to death this false idea that faith and works can be completely
divorced from each other. This idea that you’re saved by faith and hopefully you’ll become
a decent person and have some works to show for it, but if not, don’t worry because you’re
saved anyway regardless of your works is FALSE! Faith that doesn’t lead to good works is
dead faith that can’t save you. We’ll see what Paul says about grace and faith tomorrow.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you been depending on a salvation prayer for your eternal security or are you
living out your faith, can your faith be seen by your actions?
2. Pray for the many Christians who persist in apathy and unrepentant sin. Pray that they
will see the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus, that mental belief is not
enough.
3. Thank the Lord for His gift of salvation, that we can actually know Him personally and
that through Him we can live a life of faith that has corresponding works.

Foundations July 13, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 3-4
SCRIPTURE READING
1 Cor 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice
homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God. (ESV)

There is something important to notice from this scripture passage, something that is shocking
to our Western sensibilities – Paul does not say, here, that UNBELIEVERS will not inherit the
kingdom of God, he says that the UNRIGHTEOUS will not inherit the kingdom of God – there’s
a big difference there, isn’t there? We Christians in the West tend to think of the issue of who
goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell as being an issue that is solely determined by whether
a person believes rightly or wrongly in their head about Jesus. So if a person believes wrongly
about Jesus he goes to Hell; but if a person believes rightly about Jesus he goes to Heaven, no
matter how he behaves on the earth. There’s a lot of truth in that! It is true that the only way to be
saved is through believing in Jesus Christ. No question about it! And, it is only through believing
in Jesus Christ that a person can even begin to bear good fruit. But there has to be more to the
equation than just a mental belief in Jesus because in this passage Paul clearly teaches that it
is not just wrong beliefs about Jesus that can cause a person to miss out on heaven, but wrong
actions. And he specifically names a bunch of actions which, people who persist in these things
unrepentantly cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Go through the scripture passage, using it as a self-examination: am I greedy? Am I a
reviler? (In other words, am I critical of authority? Am I a mocker and a disrespectful person
who cuts others down?) Am I a swindler? (Do I take advantage of people in business?) Am I
an idolater or and adulterer? Etc. Confess as necessary.
2. Pray that seriousness of living a life of righteousness would infiltrate the Canadian church.
That many Pastors would see that they must preach these truths from Scripture!

Foundations July 12, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 1-2
SCRIPTURE READING
Gal 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (ESV)

Paul writes; ‘the fruit of the Spirit IS . . .’ In other words, the behaviour and the works of a
person who has the Spirit of God are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness etc.
etc. I want you to notice here that Paul defines the life of the Spirit by a set of actions not a
set of beliefs. According to Paul, the sign that a person has the Spirit of God working in them
is not that they have a certain set of beliefs in their head – though obviously it would include
that – but that they have a certain set of actions and behaviours that are consistently pouring
out of them. Works matter in the Christian life, behaviour matters. Works are a sign of what
is happening inside of you. If the Spirit of God really is in you, then there will be proof in the
pudding of your actions and behaviour. Notice also verse 24; ‘And those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’ Who are the type of people
who belong to Jesus? The people that crucify their flesh with all of its passions and desires
belong to Jesus. Notice that Paul does not say that some people who belong to Jesus do
this, and some do not. No: all people who actually belong to Jesus, this is something they all
have in common – they crucify their flesh, with all of its passions and desires. This is graphic
language and crucifying the flesh is painful. Paul is telling us that people who actually belong
to Jesus are not content to leave sin in their lives: they’re not content with their sinful attitudes;
they’re not content with their dirty thoughts; they’re not content with their sinful habits and the
selfishness and greed and apathy in their lives. No – they are painfully crucifying and putting
to death their flesh. They are confessing and repenting and getting help and turning from their
selfish and worldly ways! Praise the Lord!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Pray that as a church, we would grow in crucifying the flesh and that we would not be
content to leave sin in our lives.
2. Pray that the Canadian church would see the importance of confession and repentance
and would turn from their wicked ways.

Foundations July 11, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Philemon
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 7:16-20 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes,
or figs from thistles? 17So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears
bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will
recognize them by their fruits. (ESV)

In this passage Jesus completely refutes the idea that works don’t matter and that a person
who is bearing all kinds of bad fruit can feel safe. According to Jesus, if you’re bearing lots
of bad fruit that means something very serious is wrong on your insides, and the whole tree
might be bad – in which case you are in danger of judgment! Jesus did not have a category
for the carnal Christian whereby a person can believe in Jesus and be saved on one hand but
then on the other hand be bearing all kinds of horrible fruit, and be fully in love with the world
and steeped in sin, without any repentance. In Jesus’ theology you’re either a good tree, in
which case you bear good fruit, or you’re a bad tree, in which case you bear bad fruit. Now of
course we realize that none of us are perfect, we all have had bad days, and bad weeks, and
we mess up, and we say terrible things and sometimes we act in awful, unloving ways . . . but
the question is, when you mess up does it bother you? Do you feel remorse? Do you repent
and make things right? Do you ask God to grow you in these areas? Can you look back over
your life and see that you are growing, little by little, in all of these areas? If the Spirit of God
is in you, then there’s going to be a certain kind of fruit, because that’s what He does! A good
tree has good fruit and a bad tree has bad fruit.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask God to show you some of the good fruit in your life. Where have you been growing
little by little, over the last few weeks or months?
2. Now ask God if there is any bad fruit in your life. What are a few things that you need to
confess and clean up? Ask God to forgive you and make things right with God.
3. Ask God that He would put in you a hatred of sin, that you would feel remorse when you
sin, that it truly would bother you.

Foundations July 10, 2011

SCRIPTURE READING
Phil 2:12-13 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now
that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation,
obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13For God is working in you, giving you the desire
and the power to do what pleases him. (NLT)

A working definition of grace is the power God gives you to do what pleases Him; the
provision He supplies for you to carry out His Will. When God makes His grace abound to you,
you will have everything you need in all things and at all times to abound in the good works
He is calling you to. So that means the moment you take a step of obedience towards God
He responds by making His grace abound to you so that you have the energy you need and
the revelation you need and the resources you need and the ability you need and the finances
you need to do the things He’s calling you to do. That’s Grace – He calls you to do something
you can’t do on your own, and then He provides everything you need to carry it out, piece by
piece, as you step out in obedience. Notice the importance of OBEDIENCE for the release
of Grace. Now I want you to notice something very important here in this passage: Grace
is predicated on obedience. ‘. . . obeying God with deep reverence and fear.’ This is really
important because a lot of people think of grace as something that God does 100% of the
work – He does it all, and I do nothing but enjoy the benefits of it. That’s not true – the amount
of God’s grace – His desires and power – that can flow into my heart is directly correlated to
the amount of obedience in my life.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you ever thought about this definition of grace – that real grace is the power God
gives you to do what pleases Him; the provision He supplies for you to carry out His will.
How does this change the way you feel about embracing the tough stuff for Him?
2. Have you been tapping into the true grace of God? What are some practical ways that
you can tap into this sort of grace? Are there areas of disobedience that are preventing
you from getting a full measure of the grace of God?
3. Spend some time thanking God for giving you the resources and ability to do the things
that He is calling you to do.

Foundations July 9, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: Titus 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
1 Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former
ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is
written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (ESV)

When we first look at this verse, it feels like God arbitrarily sets standards that are too high for
us to reach but this is not true. God makes provision for us to do what pleases Him (Grace!).
It is true that God’s standards of holiness are too high for us to reach on our own strength. His
standard of holiness is His own holiness and perfection, and none of us can get anywhere close
to achieving that sort of perfection on our own strength in this lifetime. It’s utterly impossible.
The call to holiness in the Bible is the call to the radical PURSUIT of holiness, not that you will
actually attain perfection in all of your actions, all the time, while here on earth. This is where
grace comes in. God looks down from heaven and He says “Be holy as I am holy.” And we look
up to God and we say, “But it’s impossible – we’ve got weaknesses, and strongholds and habits
and messed up thinking that keep dragging us down and tripping us up.” And God answers,
“You’re right! I’m going to have to help you meet my standards. That’s grace. God EMPOWERS
US, GIVES US HELP, and ENABLES us to do the things He’s calling us to do.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you ever thought about this definition of grace – that real grace is God empowering us
and enabling us to do the things that He’s calling us to do? How does this take the pressure
off a bit, while yet keeping the standard for holiness extremely high?
2. One of the biggest things that oppose grace is when people try to obey God and live holy
lives in their own strength. Ask the Lord to show you areas of self-reliance in your life.
Confess these areas as sin and ask Him to forgive you.
3. Pray that as a church we would learn to live fully empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit
to live lives of righteousness and holiness. Pray that this church would truly learn to live by
grace in this way!

Foundations July 8, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 2 Timothy 1-4
SCRIPTURE READING
1 Tim 2:3-4 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people
to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)
Ez 33:11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways,
for why will you die, O house of Israel? (ESV)

These verses tell us another thing about God’s love. He takes no pleasure in punishing people.
He doesn’t want to have to punish you. This is very important to understand. God is not trying
to set people up to get punished. He’s not trying to set you up to get punished because He
doesn’t want to have to punish you. He won’t trick people into getting punished. It’s not like He
sets standards that are too high for us, and then when we fail to reach those standards that He
joyfully sets about punishing us . . . No! The Bible is very clear that God desires every person to
be saved and to overcome and to have victory in their life. This is God’s heart towards you. He
doesn’t want you to miss the mark in your life; He doesn’t want you to end up in judgment; His
heart for you is that you would finish your life well and receive the maximum possible reward
from Him on the Day of Judgment. Every time you make good choices; every time you humble
yourself and repent and confess your sins to Him; every time you turn to Him for help and seek
to change your ways and do righteousness; every time you war against the temptations of your
heart and say ‘no’ to the sinful temptations you really want to partake of – GOD DELIGHTS IN
YOU. He loves that! He loves your pursuit of doing right, even when it’s imperfect. He loves your
repentance when you confess your sins and ask for His help to not do them again. He loves your
attempts to be radical about removing sin from your life – even when you occasionally slip up.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Thank the Lord for His compassionate heart towards humanity. Praise Him for His desire to
see that all are saved.
2. Confess that we have had a wrong view of God and that we have been judgemental of Him.
3. Ask the Lord to grow our understanding of who He really is.

Foundations July 7, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Timothy 4-6
SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 15:8-10 8”Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a
lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9And when she has found it, she
calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I
had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
(ESV)

In the parable of the lost coin Jesus tells the story of a poor woman with 10 valuable coins. These
coins are this woman’s life savings. They are extremely valuable to her: they are how she is
going to eat; they are how she is going to survive; they are how she is going to pay for things. But
she loses one. So what does she do? Well this coin has incredible value to her so she turns the
house upside down looking for it – she lights a lamp and sweeps every last corner of the house
until she finds it. When she finally finds it she throws a huge party and invites all of her neighbors
because she is so happy to have found her precious coin. So, what is the point of this parable?
Again, Jesus is giving us a picture of God’s heart and how valuable each human being is to Him.
You and I are His precious coins !! If you go missing, He notices: He lights a lamp and He
turns the world upside down coming after you to come and get you again. So God pursues us, He
searches for us and He deeply values each one of us. ISN’T THE LOVE OF GOD AWESOME?
When we repent of our sin and pursue holiness, there is much rejoicing in heaven.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time thanking God for His love for you, that you are valuable to Him and that He
cares deeply for you. Ask Him to reveal these things to you in a deeper and more meaningful
way.
2. In listening prayer, ask God to give you a word, thought or picture of your value to Him.
3. Read the parable again, ask the Lord to speak to you through this Scripture passage. What
else does God want to reveal to you through this passage of scripture?

Foundations July 6, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Timothy 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 15:4-5 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does
not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds
it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. (ESV)

In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who has 100 sheep, but
1 goes missing and so the shepherd leaves the 99 to go looking for the 1 that is lost. He
looks and he looks and he looks until he finds that sheep and brings it home safely. Now
that parable is a wonderful picture of how God views each of us as human beings. He’s not
indifferent towards us; He doesn’t shrug His shoulders and say, “I don’t care if so-and-so
gets saved;” He doesn’t shrug His shoulders and say, “I don’t care if so-and-so leaves the
path of righteousness to wander into judgment.” No! He knows exactly who you are and
He knows when you go missing, and He comes looking for you and searching for you – He
pursues you – in order to carry you back into the fold. God really loves you. Right now God
is pursuing you. He is hedging you in, and putting circumstances in your life, and calling
out to you, to get your attention and to hopefully cause you to look up to Him and to jump
into His arms so that He can carry you and hold you and take you with Him into His fold.
We won’t always have victory in every area in our lives but God is pleased when we set our
hearts to war in our areas of weakness. We must call sin what it is, confess and sincerely
try to get out of positions of compromise. We must not give up. Even if we don’t get free
for a long time the fact that we are warring against sin shows our sincerity and we can have
assurance that God enjoys us.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Thank God for His pursuit of you and that He desires to help you conquer the areas of
sin in your life!
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you are area where you are trying to fight sin on your own
instead of letting God “carry” you? What are the steps to conquer that area of sin with
God’s help instead of on your own?
3. Pray that many who are struggling with sin will run to God and ask for His help instead
of trying to figure it out on their own.

Foundations July 5, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 2 Thessalonians 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Read: John 8:1-11

Today’s’ devotional is about the adulterous woman. Notice from this passage of scripture,
that Jesus saved the woman from her sins! This woman is a new disciple, a new follower
of Jesus. After Jesus saves her, he gives her a very valuable piece of advice. Now, if you
had only one piece of advice to give to a new Christian, what would it be? When you’re
discipling a new believer what is one of the main things you should disciple them in? If you
were in Jesus’ shoes, here, what would you tell this woman? Many of us would teach her
about her identity in Christ, others would tell her about how much God loves her but this is
not Jesus’ advice. He tells her in verse 11 “Go now and leave your life of sin”. Now this is
Jesus, the Son of God. We’re supposed to be like Him. We’re supposed to be emulating and
copying Him – and one of His primary discipleship goals was to get people to stop sinning!
Somewhere along the way we have lost our way as Christians here in North America, we’ve
lost sight of the fact that one of the core components of being a Christian is that you leave
your life of sin. Christianity is not an insurance policy by which you get Jesus in your heart,
so that you can love the world while you’re here on earth and then go to heaven when you’re
done. No! One of the primary components of becoming a Christian is that you leave your life
of sin.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time thanking the Lord for His forgiveness of your sins. Thank Him for not
condemning us when we repent but for forgiving us every single time!
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if you are balanced in your discipleship of others. Do
you tell people about the love of God without letting them about the components of
repentance and obedience?
3. Pray that Christians would see the importance of warning people of the consequences
of their sins. Pray for genuine compassion and love for people that lead us to share
with them the truths about scripture. Pray that we won’t fear man and only tell them the
easy stuff but that we would fear God and tell people the whole truth.

Foundations July 4, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Thessalonians 4-5
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better
for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (NIV)

This teaching comes from the longest sermon that we have recorded for us in the Bible, the
Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus teaches about many practical things, one of
which is the seriousness of sin. Basically, in today’s passage, Jesus is saying that if you
have strongholds of sin in your life you better be radical about cutting those things out of your
life because if you are casual about those sins, they have the potential to drag you down
into Hell. According to Jesus, sin is that serious! But according to the most popular grace
teachers of our day sin is not that serious, because grace has negated Hell and judgment
for believers no matter what you do. The truth is that grace has not done that. Yes, grace
has done wonderful, amazing, incredible things for those who repent of their sins and pursue
righteousness – and we’ll get to those things at the end of this series – but it has not erased
the possibility of Hell and Judgment for Christians who are casual about their sins and persist
in their sins unrepentantly. This is why Jesus was always so serious about sin in all of His
teachings. Never once in any of Jesus’ teaching does He ever give the impression that a
person can continue in sin and still be saved from judgment. So, looking at our passage,
we need to be radical about the things in our lives that cause us to sin. If the internet is a
problem then we need to get rid of it. If having a data plan on our phone is causing us to
sin – eliminate it. If we find that certain friends are causing us to stumble, then we need to
remove ourselves from their influence. For some, the cost may be high but the alternative is
even more costly, if we don’t pursue holiness.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Are you willing to get radical about sin in your life?
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you two or three things that cause you to fall into sin.
Then ask Him for a strategy in getting rid of those things from your life.

Foundations July 3, 2011

SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 12:4-5 4”I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have
nothing more that they can do. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has
killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Some say that Jesus doesn’t want us to fear, but this is contrary to what the Scriptures
teach. Jesus preached fear, Hell and stop sinning messages more than anyone else in the
New Testament – fear of Hell was one of the main components of His teaching ministry! The
popular myth of our day is that if you’re a believer you shouldn’t fear the consequences of
sin or hell, that you just need to be more confident in God’s love and grace. False! That’s the
opposite of what Jesus here teaches. Yes, we should be confident in God’s love and grace
(and we’ll get to that yet), but ONLY IF we are living in repentance and righteousness before
Him, and pursuing a wholehearted relationship with Him. Even then we should still maintain
a HEALTHY FEAR of the consequences of sin and what will happen to us should we wander
from the path of righteousness, because Jesus here tells His FRIENDS that they should
fear God because He has the power to cast them into Hell should they leave the right path!
Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10). This kind of
fear is not being scared of God but rather is having reverence and awe for who He really is as
the one who has the authority to cast people into hell. One of the signs that you are growing
in your walk with God is that you are growing in loving Him more AND fearing Him more. The
two go hand in hand, they are both essential elements of a vibrant walk with God.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. What could possibly happen if you don’t have proper fear of the Lord?
2. Do you fear God? How is this evident in your walk with Him?
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you steps that you need to take in order to have more fear of
the Lord. What are some practical things that you can do in order to grow in fear of the
Lord?
4. Pray that as a church, we would grow in fear of the Lord. Pray that individual people
would answer the Holy Spirit’s call to live lives of repentance and wholeheartedness.

Foundations July 2, 2011

New Testament Reading Plan: 1 Thessalonians 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 7:21-23 21”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many
will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your
name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never
knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV)

This passage of scripture is not one commonly preached on in today’s churches. It sort of
makes us feel uncomfortable and maybe even causes a few of us to worry. This is actually
a healthy response; we should look at our lives and judge ourselves so that we can be
sure that we are living up to God’s standard. You see, not everyone who thinks they’re
covered by grace is covered by grace. Not everyone who says Jesus is Lord, and believes
in their head that He died on the cross and rose again; not everyone who has prayed the
sinners prayer to ‘receive’ Jesus into their heart is covered by grace. Many prevalent
‘grace’ doctrines of our day are deceptive – we’ve been taught that grace covers anyone
and everyone who prays a prayer and believes a few correct doctrinal statements. No!
The issue is OBEDIENCE – ‘but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’
Grace doesn’t just cover everyone who calls themselves a Christian, it covers the obedient!
This passage uses the word “MANY”– Jesus does not say ‘some;’ He does not say ‘a few
here and there’, He says ‘MANY.’ This will not be a rare event, or a low-percentage event.
This will include a large chunk of people who thought of themselves as Christians – it will
almost certainly include people you know. These people will be surprised. ‘Did we not
prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in
your name?’ These people will be surprised: I led a cell group, I went on a mission’s trip, I
said ‘Jesus was my Lord and Saviour on my baptism testimony. BUT DID YOU OBEY? Did
you pursue righteousness?

PRAYER and  MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to reveal an area of disobedience in your life. Then commit to obeying
Him in this area.
2. Pray that you will live a life of obedience in ALL things, that you will surrender your
rights and follow Jesus completely.