Based on an eight-day devotional series freely offered by Lifeway. It was for use by anyone who wanted to use it during the covid lockdown during Easter in 2021. Talking points in the episode and show notes are my own. Additional questions are from the devotion series. Each of these installments combines 2 of the daily sessions.
DAY THREE
BURNING HOT FOR GOD:
Mark 11:15-17 CSB
“They came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple
and began to throw out those buying and selling.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the chairs of those selling doves,
and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.
He was teaching them:
‘Is it not written,
My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?
But you have made it a den of thieves!’”
Worship drives everything. We obey God because we love God and follow Him. Even unbelievers are driven by something. That thing might be anything, but it represents a god of their choosing.
In worshipping the one true God, we need to be wary of the danger of complacency. Worship should never be reduced to a simple matter of ticking a checkbox off our list. Even hearts that once burned hot for God can grow cold. Jesus considered our internal thoughts to be important, even as important as our external practices. Daily practices without a God-centered purpose can lead even those with the best of intentions astray. We see this in the custom that developed in exchanging sacrificial animals in the temple.
QUESTIONS
- According to Jesus, what types of attitudes seem to be important for believers as they worship?
- (internal, external, and showing proper honor to God.)
- What types of things cause us to become complacent in our true worship of the Lord?
Romans 12:1-2 NASB
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, `to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you may prove what the will of God is,
that which is good and acceptable and perfect. - How can we burn hot in our approach to worship?
- Whatever you do, do it while still retaining the message of Christ.
DAY FOUR
THE BETRAYAL:
Mark 14:1-2 NASB
1 Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away;
and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;
2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”
<’/blockquote>The Jewish rulers had had enough. In a secret plot, they looked for ways to arrest, kill, and be rid of Jesus forever. Their timing was important. For their reasons, they were willing to wait until after all the festivities and ceremonies of Passover were behind them. Killing a rival during the holiday just might cause a riot.
Then Judas Iscariot changed everything. through his betrayal, he handed them an unexpected gift. It’s easy to pick on Judas because his betrayal was based on his desire for money. There are others, however, Peter denied Christ, the disciples scattered, the unjust judgment of Pilate, the scourging of the soldiers, the taunts of the crowd, and the mocking of the thieves on the cross are some examples.
But what about us today?
Every time sin occurs, and we all do it, we are guilty of betraying Christ at some level?What is needed is forgiveness. Forgiven betrayers need to remember the Betrayed.
QUESTIONS
- Was Judas’s timing for the betrayal in God’s will? Why or why not?
li> What do you need to confess to Christ?Romans 8:1-11 NASB
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who does not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit?
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mindset on the flesh is death,
but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God;
for it does not subject itself to the law of God,
for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but the Spirit,
if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin,
yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.Spend some time sharing your thoughts and feelings with God and with a close, trusted family member or friend. Share your faith. At least take time to ask questions and listen. What do you mean by that? How did you come to that conclusion? Where did you hear that? Tell me more about that. Listen.
Scriptures in the show notes and episodes are quoted from the NASB. “Scripture is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”
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- Was Judas’s timing for the betrayal in God’s will? Why or why not?