First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: Ephesians 1:15-23

Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:15-23

Helpful thoughts:

  • Paul gives thanks for the Church in Ephesus because they are bringing glory to God.
  • Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Church:
    • That knowing God would result in wisdom and understanding of the truth.
    • That they would know what it is they are looking forward to. (Think Philippians 3:14)
    • That they would understand just how powerful God is, now and forever.
  • Jesus Christ is the Head.  The Church is His body.

Questions to consider:

  1. What is our greatest prize and inheritance?  Is anything better than God Himself?
  2. If there are other things that you prize MORE HIGHLY than being with God and being without sin, then what is your definition of Heaven?  What is your definition of the bad news (What is my greatest problem)? And what is your definition of the good news, the Gospel?
  3. To Whom does the Church belong?  How does that decide our purpose and function?  How does that truth change us from consumers to contributors when we think of “church”?

Devotional: Ephesians 1:11-14

Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:11-14

Helpful thoughts:

  • If Jesus is your Lord, you are also His joint-heir!
  • Salvation comes from hearing the word of truth – the Gospel – and then believing.
  • One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to serve as a guarantee of our inheritance.
    • You receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, not later.
    • The Holy Spirit will not stop serving as a guarantee/down payment until you receive your whole inheritance.

Questions to consider:

  1. Why were we predestined?  Who gave God counsel?  How does this glorify God?
  2. What was God’s motivation?  How can you bring Him glory today?
  3. How does the promised ministry of the Holy Spirit give you confidence in the permanence of your salvation?  Can you choose to lose something which God has guaranteed of His own volition and for His own glory?

Devotional: Ephesians 1:3-10

Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:3-10

Helpful thoughts:

  • There has been a plan from before the foundations of the earth to unite all things in Jesus Christ.
    • If you are in Christ (If you are saved), you are and always were a part of that grand plan!
  • Christians were predestined to become God’s children through adoption in love.
  • All of this loving planning and working has been done by God for the praise of His glorious grace!

Questions to consider:

  1. Does this grand plan for glory seem to focus on you and me, or on someone else?  (Not so subtle hint: It’s not about you!) Who deserves all the honor, glory and praise?  Who gets the pleasure and joy of glorying in and praising Jesus Christ?
  2. Did God choose you because you chose Him – OR – Did you choose God because He chose you?
  3. Where does unity come from?  What (Or better…WHO) is the source, means and goal of our unity?

Devotional: Ephesians 1:1-2

Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:1-2

Helpful thoughts:

  • Paul did not become an apostle because it was his life’s dream.  He was fully engaged in persecuting Christians.  But God had other plans.
  • To be a saint is to be set apart as God’s holy people.  Again, God is the one doing the “setting apart.”
  • Grace is unmerited favor.
  • True peace comes from God, through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Questions to consider:

  1. Why would a zealous Jewish Pharisee and group of Gentiles from Turkey have anything to do with each other?  Who orchestrated this connection?  Who changed the hearts of all these people to make them have a love and respect for each other?
  2. Why did Paul, the Ephesian Church, and you and I, need God’s grace?  What is the Gospel message?
  3. What should be the result of God’s grace in a group of people?  Why should there be peace and unity in our Church?

Devotional: Psalm 41

Today’s passage: Psalm 41

Helpful thoughts:

  •  With greater responsibilities and greater wealth come unique challenges.  Riches and power do not make life easy.
  • It is important to remember in reading the Davidic Psalms that God had appointed David to be king of His chosen people Israel.  For David to seek to repay his enemies and not see them triumph over him is a little different than for you and me.
  • David learned that the One who cares for the poor and for kings alike is the Lord, and all desperately need Him the same.

Questions to consider:

  1. Where must we find our safety and integrity?  If we trust in the world and in people alone, what would eventually happen?
  2. How would hoping in the “empty words” of man cause us anxiety and hurt?  How are we sometimes tempted to share “empty words” in order to fake peace with others?
  3. Why was David right to praise God even before he saw his enemies fall?  How is all of this going to end for those who are in Christ Jesus? (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)

Devotional: Psalm 40

Today’s passage: Psalm 40

Helpful thoughts:

  • Nothing else we might put our trust in comes close to the faithfulness and power of God.
    • We must trust Him when evils come from without…
  • Proclaiming the goodness of God to others is the opposite of actively concealing it according to David.
  • We need the gracious intervention of God to overcome our own sin.
    • …and we must trust Him when evils come from within.

Questions to consider:

  1. How can we continually remind ourselves that God is superior to all of the things/people in this world (Including ourselves!) we would run to when there is trouble?
  2. Who would benefit from your willingness to share God’s goodness (Especially in the Gospel)?  How could it also be encouraging and helpful to you if you shared?
  3. Why might we think that we can’t cry out to God in the midst of our sin?  Do we need to “fix” ourselves before we talk to God?  How does that thinking prevent us from succeeding in our repentance?

Devotional: Psalm 39

Today’s passage: Psalm 39

Helpful thoughts:

  • David gives testimony of a desire to hold his tongue…and his subsequent failure to do so.
  • In his repentance, he recounts his inability to accomplish that which only the Lord can do.
    • Man is a vapor, helpless without the Lord.
    • The Lord is our eternal maker who can deliver us from transgressions.
  • God’s deliverance in this instance came through the loving discipline of his child David.

Questions to consider:

  1. If David’s repentance included remembering that God is big and man is small, then what wrong thinking preceded his sinful speech?  What was he convinced he could accomplish before he opened his mouth?
  2. What makes God’s discipline seem more severe, the weight of His hand or the immense affection we have for the things of this world that He must take away from us?
  3. How does a low view of God encourage sin?  How does a high view of God encourage righteousness?

Devotional: Psalm 38

Today’s passage: Psalm 38

Helpful thoughts:

  • Sin did not bring happiness to David’s life.
  • Sin did not bring true friends or companionship into David’s life.
  • Sin did not prevent the wicked from pursuing the destruction of David’s life.
  • 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Questions to consider:

  1. What did sin bring into David’s life?
  2. What are the things we desire the most that push us toward sin?  How can you renew your mind (Change your thinking) about those desires?
  3. Even though this Psalm doesn’t tell us how God responded to David’s confession, how do we know God responded?  How does God’s faithfulness to love us even after we sin encourage us to love and be faithful to Him?

Devotional: Psalm 37:23-40

Today’s passage: Psalm 37:23-40

Helpful thoughts:

  • Praise God that he holds us up even when we fall!
  • Delighting in the Lord will result in the Word of God being implanted in our hearts and minds.  A Christian who delights in the Lord will be a Christian who loves the Word.
  • Salvation is from the Lord.  Delighting in the Lord is not the way to salvation, it’s the fruit of it.

Questions to consider:

  1. How does verse 23 compare with verse 4?
  2. Why would it make sense that those who delight in the Lord would not have to beg for bread?  What would be true of their walk and their work that would prevent the need if given the opportunity?
  3. What are some examples of times I have seen my study in the Bible directly result in a change in my desires and actions?