10/6 – 10/12

Life seems to be full of choices. Some options are similar, yet there are times when two different options lead to two completely different outcomes. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were told they could eat fruit from “every tree” except one (Genesis 2:16-17). Making the choice to eat from all of the trees other than the forbidden one enabled their bodies to be fed and nourished, while enjoying healthy relationships with God, one another, and God’s creation. Yet when Eve and Adam “saw that the tree” of the knowledge of good and evil “was good for food, and that…the tree was to be desired to make one wise” they ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6 NRSV). Because of their choice human beings became sinners. The relationship of humans with God, humans with one another, and human beings with the created world suffered because of the consequences of sins. We continue seeing and experiencing those consequences today.

9/29 – 10/5

On Sunday morning, September 29th, we are focusing on “Life as Family,” which includes life within households and life together as the family of God known as the church. For the first two days of the week this devotional will guide us to read verses about family and living as the household of God. Beginning on October 1st, the devotional will switch to a reading plan going through the book of Proverbs from the Old Testament. There are 31 Proverbs and 31 days during the month of October, so we are going to read one Proverb per day until the end of the month.

 

The format of this plan is designed for you to use as much or little as you have time to use each day. Below is a guide for the daily use of this devotional:

9/22-9/28 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

How did you become a Christian? Who introduced you to Christ? Who is a Christian because you introduced them to the God revealed through Jesus? For many of us, we were born into a Christian family and raised as a follower of Christ. If you are a parent or grandparent, you probably helped, or are currently helping, to introduce your children, and grandchildren, to Jesus. What if the earliest followers of Jesus did not seek to fulfill the mission Jesus gave us, to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NLT)? We probably would not be Christians today here in America if those earliest followers of Christ had not sought to live their faith as Jesus commanded and commissioned them.

9/15-9/21 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

Since the beginning of August, we have been reading and studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, while reading and studying the Gospel According to Matthew. This week we will continue our journey within Matthew’s gospel to the climax of Jesus’ life, ministry, and story that is revealed in his crucifixion and resurrection. As you read and study, listen and look for what Jesus’ teachings, life, death, and resurrection reveal about the God who came to be with us in and through Christ our Lord (Matthew 1:23). Jesus reveals God’s grace, truth, love, and glory (John 1:14; 15:9). When we see Jesus, and listen to him, we are seeing and hearing our heavenly Father (John 14:9; 12:49-50). He came to live and fulfill God’s will, the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (John 6:38; Matthew 6:10). As we seek to continue faithfully following our Savior, this week you are invited to genuinely pray a portion of the Lord’s Prayer each day, submit to God’s reign, and live according to our heavenly Father’s will by loving God and people (Matthew 22:37-40).

9/8-9/14 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

In the prayer Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, he instructed his followers to pray, “Our Father in heaven…Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10 NRSV). This points towards an intimacy with God by referring to him as “Father.” Jesus had a oneness with God that he invites us to experience and live as well, which includes daily time alone with God through prayer. The Lord’s Prayer also reveals the ultimate desire of the God of grace and love, that His will is done here on earth and throughout creation, just as it is done in the kingdom of heaven. Much like the sermon Jesus shared on the mountain in Matthew 5 through 7, he revealed his divine glory and oneness with God the Father on a mountain in Matthew 17, with Peter, James, and John as witnesses (Matthew 17:1-8). On the mountain the three disciples heard God the Father say, “this is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well please; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 NRSV). We are God’s adopted children through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5). We are people made in God’s image and likeness for his glory (Genesis 1:26).

9/1-9/7 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

During the past few weeks, we have slowly read and studied Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7 during the first half of the all-church worship and small group series. This week we will move beyond the sermon in Matthew’s Gospel to read and study chapters 8 through 16. Within these chapters we will experience Jesus bringing the kingdom of God into the lives of hurting people, hear his teachings through the use of parables, witness various miracles and responses to Christ by those who encountered him during his ministry, hear Peter’s declaration about the Messiah, as well as receive Jesus’ invitation to be his followers through self-denial, taking up our cross, and faithfully following.

8/25-8/31 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

Have you tasted bland food that needed salt? What did adding salt do for the flavor after it had been added? Did it make whatever you were eating taste better? Salt can enhance the flavor of food. It can be used as a preservative. Salt can even be used for cleaning various things. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13 NRSV). Do you think of Christians as people who enhance the lives of others, making their lives better? Do you think of disciples of Christ as people who help preserve lives? Do you think of believers as people who help the world to become a cleaner place for everyone to live?

The light from the sun and moon mark days and seasons. Plants utilized the sun’s light for harnessing energy to create food that enables them to grow. Early in Matthew’s Gospel it is noted that a star guided the wise men to Jesus (Matthew 2:1-2).

8/18-8/24 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus is portrayed as a new Moses providing clarity about the God-given laws of the Israelites that were being used to form a new people through Jesus’ disciples. Matthew includes this incredibly important statement from Jesus in the gospel account, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets,” the Old Testament commandments of the Hebrew Bible, “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17 NRSV). In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus goes on to teach, “you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…But I say to you” (Matthew 5:21-22 NRSV). In her book about Jesus’ sermon Dr. Amy-Jill Levine writes, “Jesus is not opposing Torah; he is extending it.” She also explains that “Jesus fulfills Torah…by getting to the core values of the commandments. By following the commandments, as Jesus interprets them, his disciples walk as if they have one foot already in the kingdom of heaven.”

8/11-8/17 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

If you compiled a greatest hits version of Jesus’ teachings, what would you include? For Matthew, the gospel writer, he includes all that is in the Sermon on the Mount. According to author and professor Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, the Sermon on the Mount provides us with a guide for understanding the kingdom of heaven. Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). He taught his disciples to pray about God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10-11 NRSV). He embodied the kingdom of heaven through his life, ministry, death and resurrection. This week this Living Faith Devotional will guide us to read Jesus’ entire sermon from Matthew 5-7, which is the basis for the Avon UMC worship and small group series during August and September.

8/4-8/10 Matthew’s Gospel Reading Plan

Introduction

As Jesus’ ministry began he proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17 NRSV). In the next chapter of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus went up on a mountain, sat with his followers, and began teaching them (Matthew 5:1-2). The sermon Christ spoke to the disciples on the mountain in Galilee shortly after his ministry began is often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. According to author and professor Amy-Jill Levine,

the Sermon on the Mount provides us with a guide for understanding the kingdom of heaven that Jesus proclaimed. Levine also believes that the sermon contains some of Jesus’ greatest teachings. During August and September the AUMC Sunday morning worship services, as well as small group discussions, will be based upon Levine’s book and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.