Bible Reading Plan: 40 Days on Grace
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BIBLE READING PLAN: 40 DAYS ON GRACE 24 1 Day 39 〉 Grace of our resurrection Read 〉 1 Corinthians 15 Contemplate 〉 The substance of the Christian hope is the end-times physical resurrection of the dead and a new heavens and new earth. How is Jesus’ own resurrection a promise of our own bodily resurrection? How is Jesus’ resurrection “firstfruits” of the general resurrection to come? Is there anything you think we can do to earn our resurrection and defeat of death? What difference does it make to know that whatever happens to you in this life you cannot be defeated because of God’s promise to raise you from the dead? What difference does it make to know that all prayers for healing are ultimately and fully answered in the resurrection? How does this grace of resurrection enable us to live life differently? In this context of the resurrection and the new creation, how does the promise that “your labour in the Lord is not in vain” empower you to live now? Day 40 〉 Grace for the consummation of the kingdom Read 〉 Revelation 21-22 Contemplate 〉 In this passage the holy city comes down from heaven indicating that it was built by God and not by human hands. How does this point to the grace of God? How amazing is the image of God dwelling among his people and wiping every tear from our eyes? What does this picture of God’s gentleness and grace show us about Him? In chapter 22, it says there will no longer be any curse, overturning everything that happened as a result of the fall. Do you see here the grace of God’s ultimate plan for redemption? WRITTEN BY REBECCA WALKER LAYOUT BY SYE ROBERTSON What does this passage tell us about who God is? How does this vision of PRODUCED (2011) BY THE SALVATION ARMY God’s goodness and kindness compare with the thunder-bolt throwing image AUSTRALIA SOUTHERN TERRITORY CORPS PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT of God that people often have? SALVATIONARMY.ORG.AU/CORPSRESOURCES 2 23 Day 37 〉 Grace in resurrection Read 〉 John 11 Contemplate 〉 Death was one of the consequences of the fall and is one of the parts of life that is so difficult to deal with. How does Jesus’ role as “the resurrection and the life” deal with the problem of death? How did Jesus feel about Lazarus’ death and the grief of his family? What does this reveal about how God feels about death? Is there any point at which there is any indication that resurrection is something that we can earn by our good works? Did Lazarus do anything to get Jesus to raise him from the dead? How does this passage show us God’s grace? BIBLE READING PLAN: 40 DAYS ON GRACE God is an amazing God. He eclipses our human understanding. We usually do not have any trouble believing that God is angry about sin. Which is defi nitely true. But we need to hold that truth in tension with other truths about God. One of those other great truths is that God is also a God of mercy and grace. God’s mercy means that He does not give us what our sins deserve; His grace means that He gives us blessings that we do not deserve. Mercy brings our spiritual ‘bank balance’ back to zero, Grace makes us spiritual millionaires. Let’s Day 38 〉 Grace of the new creation spend forty days together, learning to understand better what it means to live Read 〉 Romans 8 life under the Grace of God. The journey will take us through the Old and New Testaments to buld up a biblical pricture of the doctrine of grace. Contemplate 〉 What does this passage tell us about the relationship between sin and grace? How does the gracious gift of the Spirit enable us to live holy lives? How does the gracious gift of the Spirit bring us into a new relationship with the Father? What is creation groaning for? What does this passage indicate is the hope for the whole creation? What does God want to do for not only us but the whole creation? How big is God’s gracious plan for redemption? What do you think Paul means when he says that “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things”? Is there anything that you or I can face, that God’s grace will not enable us to have victory over? 22 3 TIPS FOR BIBLE READING Day 35 〉 Grace is not our way Read 〉 Isaiah 55 1. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand, and to show you what He wants Contemplate 〉 In verses 1-2, what point about grace being made by the apparent you to see. When a passage is particularly diffi cult, pray and ask the Lord to illogic of “buying without money”? reveal to you what it means. Sometimes the answer will come immediately; sometimes the answer will arrive sometime later. Why do you think God makes a point in verse 3 about this covenant he is going to make being like the everlasting covenant (i.e. it was not conditional on 2. The bible is one big story of God’s plan to redeem the world. Whenever you obedience) with David? What does this mean in regards to the way God will deal are reading a passage, consider how it fi ts into God’s overarching plan, into with those under grace? the big story. God promises in verses 6-7 that free forgiveness is available for those who repent. Why do you think God then says “For my thoughts are not your 3. Look for the big idea behind each passage. Read in paragraphs. A paragraph thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”? In what way is this kind of grace not represents one idea, each verse within that builds up a picture of that idea. “our way”? The collection of ideas in a passage should lead to one big idea. Sometimes the verse and chapter breaks and headings disrupt the natural fl ow of the God then promises joy, peace and abundance to his people, and it is in this text, sometimes ignoring them helps to better understand the point the context that he says, “my word that goes out from my mouth… will not return to writer was trying to make. me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”. How then is the word of God itself a manifestation of God’s grace? 4. The style of writing in a passage gives hints about how to interpret it. For example, Psalms are poetry and so are full of metaphors and picture language. In comparison, books like Kings and Chronicles are historical accounts; Ephesians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Timothy are letters. Interpret a passage based on its style of writing, for example you would not interpret Shakespeare in the same way you would a news story on a natural disaster. The same applies for the diff erent books in the bible. Day 36 〉 Grace in providing basic needs 5. The more you read of the bible, even the trickier or more boring bits, will Read 〉 John 6 help with understanding other parts of the bible. For example, the book of Contemplate 〉 Compare this passage back to Exodus 15:22-17:7 that we Hebrews makes a lot more sense after reading Leviticus. If you can manage studied in Day 3. What point is Jesus making about Himself through the to read the whole bible cover to cover at least a few times things will begin feeding of the five thousand? How is that in continuity with how God provided to click into place a lot more easily. Read in big chunks as much as possible, for His people in the Old Testament? with shorter books it’s great to read them in one sitting. Reading large portions helps you see much more easily the main points that the writer was How does Jesus’ claim that He is the bread of life come down from heaven trying to make throughout the whole text. introduce a discontinuity with the Jewish understanding of how God provided for His people in the Old Testament? Why do you think the people found this to be hard teaching and deserted Jesus? How easy is it to accept Jesus’ provision both of our physical and spiritual needs as something so freely given? And something so not of our own doing? How can we stay in that place of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood and not falling back into trying to save ourselves? 4 21 GRACE IN ABUNDANCE WHAT IS GRACE? All of our life is bound up in God’s grace. In creation, in redemption and in the The whole of our life is bound up in the Grace of God. Each breath we take is fi nal glorifi cation there is grace, grace and more grace! In this section we will only through the undeserved love and favour of God. That He even created us look at some other examples of how God’s grace overfl ows like a never-ending is purely His gift, He did not need to make us, and we had not done anything fountain of blessing in all of life. We will also look at how His grace is the thing to deserve to be created.