...[Y]ou were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1 Peter 1:18-19

...[Y]ou were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #28: To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry.  Here, John Piper, describes how the power of Jesus Christ is able break the cycle of pain that is associated with the "wounding of abusive, codependent, emotionally distant parents." Piper shares that in these families where this wounding occurs, "there is a sense of fatalism that we are bound to live with the curse or the wounds from our ancestry. The future seems futile and void of happiness."  Piper then refers us to 1 Peter 1:18-19 where the text shares that upon Christ's death on the cross, believers are ransomed not with silver and gold but with the blood of Christ, which is infinitely more valuable.  Piper writes: "[w]hen Christ died, God had a view to the relationship between us and our ancestors. He meant to set us free from the futility we inherited from them. That is one of the great reasons Christ died."  Piper expands: the implication is that "[w]hen Jesus died, all the blessings of heaven were purchased for those who trust him. And when God blesses, none can curse."  Piper makes it explicitly clear that, where none can curse, this includes those circumstances in families where people feel trapped (enslaved) by ancestral cycles. When God redeems you, the power of Him working in You, initiated by His blood on the cross, has the power to overcome anything.  Repent, believe and experience the power of Christ in Your life!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are infinitely more valuable than silver or gold and You ransomed/redeemed me with Your blood.  Thank You Father God for saving me and for giving me the power of the Holy Spirit in my life.  I am not deserving of my salvation nor how You give me the Holy Spirit and work in my life.  My sins are great and they continue...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.  

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #27: To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest.  Here, John Piper highlights how Jesus is not just interceding on our behalf to the Father, but that he is doing so as someone who experienced "a lifetime of temptation climaxing in spectacular abuse and abandonment[, and that] gave Jesus an unparalleled ability to sympathize with tempted and suffering people." Despite how Jesus experienced this level of temptation, He never succumbed to the pressure to sin.  Piper shares that "He knows what it is to be tempted with fullest force."  Hebrews 4:15-16 then shares that, therefore, Jesus is able to sympathize with us as we are tempted and we are weak.  This then gives us confidence to approach Him in our time of need to bring Him our cares, concerns, and struggles - He will give us mercy and grace.  Piper concludes the devotion by sharing: "He feels with us, not against us. This awareness of Christ’s sympathy makes us bold to come. He knows our cry. He tasted our struggle. He bids us come with confidence when we feel our need." Rejoice and have confidence in Christ who is able to help us in our time of need!

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My Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving me Your Son who is able to sympathize with me in my time of need and give me mercy and grace! I am not deserving of such a God.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God[.]

Hebrews 7:23-27, 9:24-26, and 10:11-12

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #26: To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become the Eternal High Priest.  Here, John Piper highlights three sections of text:

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. Hebrews 7:23-27

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:24-26

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God[.] Hebrews 10:11-12

Piper starts the devotion by defining "once for all," as "something happened that was decisive. The act accomplished so much that it need never be repeated."  This of course is what Christ accomplished through His death on the cross.  The necessity of such a decisive act hearkens back to the inadequacy of the Old Testament animal sacrifices.  These sacrifices had to be repeated year after year as both a reminder of sin and as a means to seek God's forgiveness.  See also Hebrews 10:3.  Yet these sacrifices were insufficient as Piper describes because "[t]he people knew that when they laid their hands on the head of a bull to transfer their sins to the animal, it would all have to be done again. No animal could suffice to suffer for human sins. Sinful priests had to sacrifice for their own sins. Mortal priests had to be replaced. Bulls and goats had no moral life and could not bear the guilt of man."  See also Hebrews 10:4.  Despite the inadequacy of the OT sacrificial system, Piper shares how God honored this system (He created it) and He knew that "one day he would send a servant qualified to complete what these priests could not perform—to put away sin once for all."  Jesus Christ is both this final Priest and Sacrifice.  Rejoice in Jesus Christ who is the Spotless One and Only True Lamb who sits at the right hand of God interceding for us as our Mediator and Advocate.  Rejoice in Christ who took upon Himself the wrath of God so that we could have forgiveness of sin, freedom in Christ in this life, and eternal life with Him.

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an incredible God who sent His Son to take upon Himself the wrath of God to end and replace the inadequacy of the OT sacrificial system.  Jesus then became the Great High Priest who is at Your right hand continuously interceding for me.  Awesome and thank You God.  I am not deserving of such blessings and of my salvation.  My sin is great and it continues....daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.      

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

John 2:19-21

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. John 2:19-21

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #25: To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God.  Here, John Piper shares with believers what I find to be a deeply profound truth - certainly for myself.  What is surprising for me is that up until this morning, I had yet to recognize this truth or that more accurately God had yet to reveal it to me. Using John 2:19-21 as the emphasized text for the devotion today, Piper shares: "[w]hy did Jesus draw the connection between the Jewish temple and his own body? Because he came to take the place of the temple as the meeting place with God. With the coming of the Son of God in human flesh, ritual and worship would undergo profound change. Christ himself would become the final Passover lamb, the final priest, the final temple. They would all pass away, and he would remain." This is both a subtle but very important truth to discern and recognize - believers easily understand how the OT ceremonial law and ritual practices (animal sacrifice, etc.) passed away, and they also understand that we no longer need to go to a specific place to meet with Jesus, but they may not understand how Jesus became the place to meet with God.  The text today is echoed of course elsewhere as Piper points to Matthew 12:6, Colossians 2:9, and 1 Timothy 2:5.  Piper then describes how, unlike other faiths such as Judaism and Islam, "Christianity has no geographical center."  Simply put, it we want to see God we must repent, believe and we will see/experience Christ. Piper concludes the devotion for today but referring us to John 14:9, Matthew 10:40, 1 John 2:23, and John 5:23. Repent, believe in Christ and experience and see God!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an amazing God who sent His Son so that I could see and experience You, not just now but for eternity.  Thank You Father God.  I am not deserving of how You sent Your One and Only Son to die for me so that I could experience You in this life and for eternity in Heaven.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself energy and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh[.]

Hebrews 10:19-20

 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh[.] Hebrews 10:19-20

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #24: To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place.  Here, Piper describes how the instructions from God to Moses in Exodus 25:40 - and later referenced in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:5 - for how to build the tabernacle or tent of worship reveal how the Old Testament tabernacle served as a foreshadow for things to come later through Christ. Piper shares: "[j]ust as there were holy rooms in the tabernacle, where the priest repeatedly took the blood of the animal sacrifices and met with God, so there are infinitely superior “holy places,” as it were, in heaven, where Christ entered with his own blood, not repeatedly, but once for all."  See also Hebrews 9:7, 11-12.  The devotion then pivots to the implication, which is that whereas previously (in the Old Testament) only the Jewish priests could enter the most holy place in the tabernacle, now all who believe in Christ can "go with Christ into all the holiest places of God’s presence."  In the OT tabernacle, the curtain protected the most holy place where the priest could enter the presence of the glory of God and upon Christ's death the curtain was torn (Matthew 27:51) allowing believers to enter the most holy places.  We are referred to Hebrews 10:19-20 and Piper summarizes for us: "[w]ithout Christ the holiness of God had to be protected from us. He would have been dishonored, and we would have been consumed because of our sin. But now, because of Christ, we may come near and feast our hearts on the fullness of the flaming beauty of God’s holiness."  Repent, believe and experience and enjoy the fullness of God's glory!

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My Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving me access to Yourself and the most holy places, and for saving a place in Heaven for me where I will meet You face to face.  Incredible!  I am not deserving of course as my sin continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom, energy and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. 

[Y]ou also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead[.]...You are not your own, for you were bought with a price....Care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Romans 7:4, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and Acts 20:28

[Y]ou also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead[.]...You are not your own, for you were bought with a price....Care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Romans 7:4, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Acts 20:28

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #23: So That We Might Belong to Him.  Here, John Piper shares what is likely to be very controversial for those who are not believers and perhaps openly hostile to God; that is that "[t]here is no autonomy in the fallen world. We are governed by sin or governed by God."  This should be non-controversial for for believers, at least those familiar with scripture - for example, Piper refers us to Romans 6:16, 20, 22 on this question.  Piper then elaborates: "[m]ost of the time we are free to do what we want. But we are not free to want what we ought. For that we need a new power based on a divine purchase. The power is God’s." We are then referred to Romans 6:17 and 2 Timothy 2:25-26.  For those that believe, Christ's death on the cross (and subsequent resurrection) gives us (He purchases) our freedom from enslavement to sin. Piper points to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and Acts 20:28 for scriptural support on this. Piper concludes the devotion to share how once we are no longer slave to sin, as believers we become slaves to God which Piper describes as not autonomous or independent but free (and desirous of) to "want what is good." Obedience to the OT law meant rules - instead believers in Christ die to this way of life and live a new life in Christ - see also Romans 7:4. Repent, believe, and experience freedom in Christ!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God that gives me true freedom...freedom in You!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how I belong to You and have this freedom.  My sin continues and it is great.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from this sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God[.] ...But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

1 Peter 3:18 and Ephesians 2:13

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God[.] ...But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 3:18, Ephesians 2:13

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #22: To Bring Us to God.  Here, John Piper highlights what he believes is "crucial" for believers to comprehend: "what is the ultimate good in the good news? It all ends in one thing: God himself. All the words of the gospel lead to him, or they are not gospel."  Piper expands on this by sharing that none of doctrine (salvation, forgiveness, justification, redemption, adoption, etc.) is "good news" without a relationship with God where a believer deeply desires Him and is thoroughly satisfied with Him above anything else.  Piper states: "[t]his is the greatest thing Christ died for. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18)....Long before Christ came, God revealed himself as the source of full and lasting pleasure. 'You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore' (Psalm 16:11). Then he sent Christ to suffer 'that he might bring us to God.' This means he sent Christ to bring us to the deepest, longest joy a human can have. Hear then the invitation: Turn from 'the fleeting pleasures of sin' (Hebrews 11:25) and come to 'pleasures forevermore.'" Repent, believe in Him and enjoy Christ as Savior and the source of our greatest joy forevermore.

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God and my source of inexpressible joy - there is nothing else I enjoy more than You.  I am undeserving of how full of grace for me that You provide such joy for me.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me turn from and overcome such sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses for Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.