Day 28 - Sunday, November 8th
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LIFE Journal
This Week's Memory Verse
I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure. Psalm 16:8-9
Devotional
Three words changed the course of history for all time: he is risen. Two women walked to the place where his lifeless body was wrapped and laid, only to find the unimaginable. He is risen. Three simple words would have the kind of power to bring to life generations who were dead in their sin against their creator. He is risen. Three simple words would spark controversy and conspiracy theories throughout the ages. He is risen. Three simple words would offer a lost and broken world the greatest hope they’d ever known.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:1-10 NIV
The tomb was empty. Death had been defeated. And so two women sprinted to share the news: He is risen. A mix of fear and joy, sweat and tears rolled down their forehead and hearts. The good news, the gospel, was rocketed into the world and from that moment on, droves of tombs have been emptied. The things that made us dead: our sin, our past, our brokenness was conquered when those three words were spoken: He is risen. Where death and decay sought to destroy us, revival happened. Where breath leaked out, resuscitation occurred. Through all our spiritual disciplines, we cannot keep coming back to these words enough.
You may have heard that as believers we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. If you didn’t grow up in church, that instruction may not make any sense. In essence what is meant is that we keep coming back to the resurrection. We keep coming back to the fact that our sin separated us from our kind and gracious Creator. We were rebels willing to give up communion with Him for the taste of the forbidden. We were exiles with no home. And yet, God made a way for us in our desert wandering, a way to draw us back to Himself. It would require the sacrifice of the most precious thing, His Son.
Jesus lived a perfect life, the one we should have, for us and then, he stood trial in our place, accepting the sentence fit for a criminal, you and me. And for three days, the world waited with bated breath. He is risen. Life flowed through what was once thought to be gone forever and because of his death, we could find life. Reconciled to God through his blood on that cross, everything once thought dead, awoke. Those three words change everything.
Preaching the gospel to ourselves means that each and every day we live in light of them. He is risen so I can forgive. He is risen so I can have peace. He is risen so I can turn from my sin. He is risen so I can love. He is risen so I can live. When you understand what those three words truly mean, you cannot help to run to tell the world.
Think On This Verse:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 NIV
Ask and Answer:
He is risen are three words that should change everything. How has the gospel changed your entire life? How do you live in light of it each and every day? In what ways have you forgotten the victory you have over the things that were once dead in your life? How can you preach the gospel to yourself daily?
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:1-10 NIV
The tomb was empty. Death had been defeated. And so two women sprinted to share the news: He is risen. A mix of fear and joy, sweat and tears rolled down their forehead and hearts. The good news, the gospel, was rocketed into the world and from that moment on, droves of tombs have been emptied. The things that made us dead: our sin, our past, our brokenness was conquered when those three words were spoken: He is risen. Where death and decay sought to destroy us, revival happened. Where breath leaked out, resuscitation occurred. Through all our spiritual disciplines, we cannot keep coming back to these words enough.
You may have heard that as believers we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. If you didn’t grow up in church, that instruction may not make any sense. In essence what is meant is that we keep coming back to the resurrection. We keep coming back to the fact that our sin separated us from our kind and gracious Creator. We were rebels willing to give up communion with Him for the taste of the forbidden. We were exiles with no home. And yet, God made a way for us in our desert wandering, a way to draw us back to Himself. It would require the sacrifice of the most precious thing, His Son.
Jesus lived a perfect life, the one we should have, for us and then, he stood trial in our place, accepting the sentence fit for a criminal, you and me. And for three days, the world waited with bated breath. He is risen. Life flowed through what was once thought to be gone forever and because of his death, we could find life. Reconciled to God through his blood on that cross, everything once thought dead, awoke. Those three words change everything.
Preaching the gospel to ourselves means that each and every day we live in light of them. He is risen so I can forgive. He is risen so I can have peace. He is risen so I can turn from my sin. He is risen so I can love. He is risen so I can live. When you understand what those three words truly mean, you cannot help to run to tell the world.
Think On This Verse:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 NIV
Ask and Answer:
He is risen are three words that should change everything. How has the gospel changed your entire life? How do you live in light of it each and every day? In what ways have you forgotten the victory you have over the things that were once dead in your life? How can you preach the gospel to yourself daily?
Prayer
Father God, Thank you for such a beautiful plan of redemption you created before we even sinned and
fell short of your glory. The gospel is a beautiful promise of life in places where death and decay had been. Help me to live in such a way that reflects knowing the truth of what your Son did for me on the cross
and what he conquered through his resurrection. Set me free from any chains that I continue to encumber myself from and remind me that He is risen so I am free from the death I once knew. In your name I pray, Amen.
fell short of your glory. The gospel is a beautiful promise of life in places where death and decay had been. Help me to live in such a way that reflects knowing the truth of what your Son did for me on the cross
and what he conquered through his resurrection. Set me free from any chains that I continue to encumber myself from and remind me that He is risen so I am free from the death I once knew. In your name I pray, Amen.