Tuesday: Brave

Day 2

Scripture Reading: 

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Devotional:  Today, we focus on BEFORE I MET CHRIST.  This is like the BEFORE in the BEFORE and AFTER pictures that you see on home improvement or makeover reality shows. I had a pastor named Mark Haumschilt that said numerous times: “You’ve gotta get lost before you get saved.”  By “Get lost”, he meant that you have to understand that you are lost. Understanding lostness is the beginning to becoming born again. Here is a brief demo of my 

BEFORE STORY:

“I (Chris) thought I was good enough before I came to Christ. I thought I had it all figured out. I never murdered anyone or anything like that. But the Bible told me that EVERYONE had sinned and fell short of God's glory. I hated hearing that. Honestly, I was offended and upset to think I wasn't "good" enough. But I learned that Jesus died to forgive me.”

Application:

Your story might be similar or it might be filled with many twists and turns. Don’t overthink it. Try and put it in a couple paragraphs.  The main thing is that you state that all your best efforts came up short.  And you realized you were not good enough for God and not good enough for heaven. 

Take some time and begin writing or typing out your before story.  By the time you are reading this, there should be a few more examples at this page on the church website: 

Book of Life

Songs for the day: 

“Death Arrested” by NorthPoint: Click the link for the song: RIGHT HERE

“Red Letters” by David Crowder: Click the link for the song: RIGHT HERE