Today’s Devotion:

Fruitfulness to the Glory of God

Read John 15:1-5

The scene takes place right after the Last Supper.  Judas has gone off to do his wicked deed, and Jesus has just washed the feet of the disciples, teaching them a lesson about servant leadership.  Jesus and His disciples left the Upper Room and walked toward the Garden of Gethsemane.  Passing the temple, they could not help but notice that one of the chief ornaments on the gate was a golden vine with a cluster of grapes as large as a man, which, to the Apostles, represented the nation of Israel.  Jesus is about to change the direction of their focus.  He told them that they were the branches, that Jesus was the true vine, and the Father was the vinedresser.

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Today’s Devotion:

Ransomed From the Power of the Grave

Read Hosea 13:14

The greatest ransom ever reported in modern times was $60 million dollars for the release of the brothers Jorge and Juan Born, paid to the left-wing urban guerrilla group Montoneros, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 20, 1975.

The greatest ransom ever was paid in full by the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  He has ransomed us, not from Satan, but from the death penalty for sin, decreed by the righteous decree of the Father.  It is to Him alone that the ransom was owed, and to Him that it was paid.
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Today’s Devotion:

The Cost of Discipleship

Read Matthew 8:18-22

This passage stresses the radical demands of following the call of Jesus.  A crowd had gathered around Jesus, and out of it came a scribe who said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go”.  How little he realized what following the Master would really mean.  He was moved by the emotion surrounding Jesus, but had no concept of what it was to make the fateful decision to become a true follower, a disciple, of Jesus.  He had not counted the cost.  If he had, he would have realized that to be a disciple of Jesus is to submit all of one’s desires, hopes, dreams, expectations, and allegiance to Him and Him alone.  To be a true disciple is to “take up the cross”, and follow Him.  One thing that was certain in Jesus’ day, if you saw a man walking out of town carrying a cross, followed by a contingent of Roman soldiers, you knew he was not coming back.
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What IS 40 days with Jesus? Simply, a churchwide campaign to prepare our hearts and reach out to our friends at Easter 2011. From March 14th through Easter Sunday everyone at First Assembly is being challenged to read together through a series of daily Bible readings about the life of Jesus and the prophecies about Him from the Old Testament.  Then a couple of weeks before Easter we’re asking everyone to give away a second book, “The Risen Savior”, to a friend or family member with a personal invitation for them to come to church on Easter Sunday morning.

Today’s Devotion:

Whose Business?

Read Luke 2:39-49

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Each day of this week, leading up to Resurrection Sunday, we are emailing an early morning devotional out to First Assembly from our Pastoral Team. You can read them all right here.

The 5th Saying of Jesus on the Cross

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. (John 19:28-29)

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