Monday: A Psalm That Is Repeated

Theme: Slightly Different Psalms

In this week’s lessons we look carefully at both what sin is and what it does, and then contrast that with our need for the Savior, who alone can deliver us from our sin.

Scripture: Psalm 53:1-6

For the first time in our study we have come to a psalm that is a very close repetition of one we have already examined. The repeated psalm is Psalm 14, appearing again as Psalm 53, except for a few minor changes and the last three lines of verse 5. This suggests two questions: Why is it repeated? and What can I say about the psalm the second time?

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Just in Time

We should long to be confident in a godly way, and for the right reasons. As we work towards that end, we can be confident in the God providentially cares for our infant souls in His time. The lateness of the world, I am convinced, is the providential exactitude of God our Father. He is always on time, and he always delivers.

Some months ago, my mother handed me two old yellow sheets of notebook paper—the kind with dull green lines for text and a red double-lined sidebar. This was always the kind of paper I considered most cheap: the last-resort paper. On the backside of the paper, I found my name penned in my father’s small-cap script: “Taylor.”

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: As Safe as You Know How

Theme: An Inescapable Surrender

In this week’s Easter lessons we note the futility of those who tried to keep shut the tomb that was soon going to be empty, and of the need for everyone to submit to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 27:65-66

I wonder if you have been confronted by the power of that resurrection. The chief priests and Pharisees tried to secure their ecclesiastical world against Jesus. Saul tried to secure his religious traditions and life. Satan had been trying to secure his evil kingdom. Perhaps you too have been trying to secure your own way of doing things or your own values or your own mastery of your time. You have heard Christ's gospel, but you have tried to keep it politely in its place. Jesus is not that easily contained. You push him back, but he comes forward again. You banish him but he intrudes when you are least expecting it.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: As Safe as You Know How

Theme: A Thriving Fellowship

In this week’s Easter lessons we note the futility of those who tried to keep shut the tomb that was soon going to be empty, and of the need for everyone to submit to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 27:65-66

There was another character who got into the act. In fact, he had been leading the battle against the Lord Jesus Christ for centuries. His name is Satan. We see him first in the Garden of Eden, where he tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and thus participates in the ruin of the race. We see him in Egypt and in other nations as they persecuted God’s people, through whom the Messiah was to come. At last we see him waging war against the incarnate Jesus.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: As Safe as You Know How

Theme: A Blinding Light

In this week’s Easter lessons we note the futility of those who tried to keep shut the tomb that was soon going to be empty, and of the need for everyone to submit to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 27:65-66

So the first thing Saul was trying to secure was his Judaism. But there was also a second item that he was desperately trying to secure, namely, himself. Later his situation during this period was described as trying to “kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14), like an animal fighting one who is prodding it to go in a right direction. This meant that, although Saul was fighting against the Christians with intense zeal, he was at the same time fighting an even more intense struggle within the secret chambers of his heart.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: As Safe as You Know How

Theme: A Violent Earthquake

In this week’s Easter lessons we note the futility of those who tried to keep shut the tomb that was soon going to be empty, and of the need for everyone to submit to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 27:65-66

Well if the Jewish leaders did not fear the disciples, what did they fear then? I am sure they would not have voiced this openly, but in my judgment what they actually feared was the resurrection. After all, they were not imperceptive, and they had been observing Jesus for the better part of three years. They had seen him heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cleanse the lepers, restore strength to the impotent.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Monday: As Safe as You Know How

Theme: Securing the Tomb

In this week’s Easter lessons we note the futility of those who tried to keep shut the tomb that was soon going to be empty, and of the need for everyone to submit to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Matthew 27:65-66

Usually the Bible is not a funny book. The issues with which it deals are too grave. But the Bible is an honest book, and when it reports situations in life which are naturally funny it reflects them honestly and therefore with an appropriate sense of humor.

Usually the Bible is not a funny book. The issues with which it deals are too grave. But the Bible is an honest book, and when it reports situations in life which are naturally funny it reflects them honestly and therefore with an appropriate sense of humor.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

The Cursed Tree of Good

How did the gruesome spectacle of a public execution on a Roman cross come to be known as “Good Friday”? What is so good about this?

How did the gruesome spectacle of a public execution on a Roman cross come to be known as “Good Friday”? What is so good about this? Some linguists argue that an antiquated form of “good” actually meant holy. But the name “Good Friday,” as we understand “good” today, seems counterintuitive to what happened on that day. I think, however, as we reflect on that event, we’ll come to see that it was, indeed, good. I’d like to explain by way of an analogy.

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: The Arrival of the King

Theme: The Only Kingdom That Will Remain

During this week leading up to Easter Sunday, we look at the story of Jesus’ coming into Jerusalem and learn about the nature of his kingdom as seen in his own suffering and death for sinners.

Scripture: Matthew 21:4-5

And then finally, you see the devil tempting Him to a shortcut to a great kingdom. He said to Him, "If you'll just fall down and worship me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world and their glory." I've noticed the plural there. All the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I supposed that's a contrast to that little kingdom of Judah. It's almost as if the devil would say, "Why are you going to waste your time on this little people, this far- off corner of the world? It's ridiculous. Who even cares who is the king of Judah? But if you'll fall down and worship me, I'll give you something that's worth being king of. I'll give you the glory of Greece and the grandeur of Rome. I'll give you the power of Europe in the Middle Ages. I'll give you England. I'll give you the United States. All of that can be yours if you'll just fall down and worship me."

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Three Act Night

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus set before his disciples three symbolic acts that pointed forward to what he would accomplish on the cross.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus set before his disciples three symbolic acts that pointed forward to what he would accomplish on the cross. First, there was the Passover/Lord's Supper; second, there was the foot washing in the Upper Room; and, third, there was the cup in the Garden. In all three of these acts, Jesus was helping his disciples to understand what he had come to do and to embrace his atoning death as the central work of the Kingdom of God.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

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