CTK Family Devotions Week #80

NO need to RSVP, as it is our Lent evening schedule. Questions/need more info? Text/call Joe

Reminder: There will be on sunday (3/23) an area youth event at the Rock youth center in Tyler (7-9pm)

Thursday (3/20/2025)

Salvation through Christ alone means that there is no room for boasting in ourselves or what we’ve done.

Romans 3:26–31 (ESV) — 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

1) Paul’s been building a case in Romans that all of us need a Savior. How would you tell this truth to a friend?

2) Here, Paul focuses on God’s genius in being just & still able to save us. How would you share about this work?

3) If salvation is entirely a work of God, a gift given through Christ, then can you boast in yourself? Why not?

4) Take time to thank God for His perfect saving work. Then, ask for boldness to share His Gospel with a friend!

Friday (3/21/2025)

Without a doubt, God alone is the one who can save us from our enemies.

Psalm 18:16–19 (ESV) — 16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. 19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

1) Have you ever been in a situation where someone had to come rescue you? Share your experience (or one you saw)

2) In what ways has God saved His people before? In what ways (or from what) has He delivered you?

3) Is anyone else besides God strong enough to deal with our worst enemies? (Sin, Death, Satan) Why not?

Saturday (3/22/2025)

Jesus died to bring life to all who believe in Him, enacting God’s plan to save us from sin, death, and the devil.

John 3:31–36 (ESV) — 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

1) What is our natural spiritual condition? (Dead, condemned, destined for wrath because of our sin).

2) Who sends the Holy Spirit? (Jesus) How does He send Him to us? (In His Word) For what purpose? (See John 16)

3) Knowing the key truths of God’s plan above, ask to be equipped even more at church tomorrow with His Word!

Sunday (3/23/2025) – Prayer and Praise Requests

1) Praise God for the season of Lent. Look for opportunities to focus your eyes on the savior who died for you.

2) Ask for discernment in how best to serve others around you using the gifts God has given you.

3) Pray for all those recovering from illness, surgery, and even grief. Ask for God to comfort them.

4) Lift up those preparing for spring activities. They will need strength, wisdom in scheduling, & time to rest!

5) Keep the students and adults preparing for FLY in your prayers. This includes the staff planning the event!

LENT EVENING SERVICE PLAN FOR Sunday (3/23/2025)

430pm: Family games > 5: soup supper > 530: youth time > 6: worship. (Questions? Call/text Joe)

Reminder: area youth event at the Rock youth center in Tyler (7-9pm)

CTK Family Devotions Week #81

Main Topic: Salvation Provides a Living Faith (1/3) — (True Christianity Book 1, Chapter 35)

Reminder: These devotions are only a tool to use to help you run family devotions in a way that your family needs. Whether you do it daily, tie it to a prayer or sharing time, or have everyone read these verses on their own time is up to you. My aim is to equip you all to be in the Word as a family by giving you Scripture and questions to consider. Each day you will find a main idea to consider, a Scripture passage to read, and some questions to ask to help discuss the reading and tie it to the main idea. Reminder: Lent Sundays = 430 games>supper>youth>service

Monday (3/24/2025)

A true and living faith in Christ leads to a life of good works, just like a healthy tree bears fruit in season.

Matthew 7:15–21 (ESV) — 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

1) Have you ever eaten a rotten fruit or vegetable? Describe the taste (or the smell, if found on the ground).

2) In what ways are good works done for our own glory like rotten fruit? (Might look good, but are worthless).

3) In what ways can God use our good works for others and His glory? (Nourish others, seeds of Gospel, etc.)

Tuesday (3/25/2025)

Christ sends His Spirit to work in us new life, putting to death our old selves so that we can love others.

Galatians 5:16–24 (ESV) — 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

1) Find two magnets and try to push the same poles against eachother. What happens? (They repel eachother)

2) How does the Holy Spirit work in us like the magnets above? (He sticks with us, but pushes off our old evil).

3) Which of the evils listed here are hardest for you to flee from? How can the Spirit work to turn you from them?

4) Take time to ask for God to continue to draw you into good things and repel the evil that your flesh wants.

Wednesday (3/26/2025)

Only a union with Christ through faith can produce true love for others and not just a ritualistic spirit of religion.

Hosea 6:1–6 (ESV) — 1 “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

1) V.2 sounds a little like Jesus’ resurrection. Explain the connection between that event & our new life of love.

2) Re-read verse 4. Is that sort of love a good or bad thing? When has your love for God or others been like this?

3) God changes internally by His external Word. In what way will this internal change affect your external love?

NO need to RSVP, as it is our Lent evening schedule. Questions/need more info? Text/call Joe

Thursday (3/27/2025)

God’s people struggle to truly do good because they serve for themselves, not as a result of God working in them

Zechariah 7:4–10 (ESV) — 4 Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’ ” 8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

1) Have you ever done something nice for someone just to feel better about yourself? (Or seen someone else do this)

2) Re-read verse 9. Does true repentance & faith lead to love and justice? How can you specifically practice both?

3) Ask God for a heart that is kind to others, full of good deeds, and is quick to repent of sin & seek God’s mercy.

Friday (3/28/2025)

Contrast: we are set free from trying to keep God’s Law to save ourselves, so now we can love for others’ sake.

Romans 7:4–6 (ESV) — 4 Likewise, my brothers, you 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, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

1) Will you ever be let into heaven based on the good that you do? How will you enter? (Faith in Christ alone)

2) Knowing that Christ has won life for us, why do we serve others? (It’s how God made us/told us to do; they need it)

3) Make a plan this weekend for how to best meet some needs of those God has put in your life (siblings, parents, etc.)

Saturday (3/29/2025)

Even our praise is simply a returning back to God of how He has sent His steadfast love to save us and the world.

Psalm 33:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

1) What does praising and worshipping God include? (Song, prayers, service, time in His Word, and more!)

2) Why do we praise God? (He is worthy) What specific actions on His part call forth more praise? (Saving, providing)

3) Does God need praise? Do we need God’s gifts that we praise Him for? What does this teach us about God?

4) Lift up a song & then prayer of praise. Focus on how God gives all that you need out of His generous love!

Sunday (3/30/2025) – Prayer and Praise Requests

1) Praise God for the season of Lent. Look for opportunities to focus your eyes on the savior who died for you.

2) Ask for discernment in how best to serve others around you using the gifts God has given you.

3) Pray for all those recovering from illness, surgery, and even grief. Ask for God to comfort them.

4) Lift up those preparing for spring activities. They will need strength, wisdom in scheduling, & time to rest!

5) Keep the students and adults preparing for FLY in your prayers. This includes the staff planning the event!

LENT EVENING SERVICE PLAN FOR Sunday (3/30/2025)

430pm: Family games > 5: soup supper > 530: youth time > 6: worship. (Questions? Call/text Joe)