2026- The Best Year Ever
Memory Verse: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
Sermon Sentence: Have your daily habits influenced your instinctive response so that those around you know who your Savior is?
Joshua 1:9
Sermon Sentence: Have your daily habits influenced your instinctive response so that those around you know who your Savior is?
Day 1
Read Matthew 21:28-32
It is the parable that all parents can relate to. The struggle between being told “hold on” or “I will…” after telling the child to do something, then watching to see if they really ever do follow through is a classic parenting annoyance. How many times do we have to explain to children that “I forgot…” although it may be true, is not an excuse for why it was ok to forget something. The goal is to stop the forgetting and replace it with some action.
There is also the struggle with actual commitment to something. But that is not so much about parenting, because it hits a bit closer to home for everyone. How many times do we find ourselves treating God the same way when we say that we need to do something, ought to do something, or even that we thought about doing something? That problem is not that we can not get enough responses, but that there seems to be a lack of actual action behind our beliefs. All good parenting lessons also help reflect our own spiritual struggles back in the mirror. The reason parenting is referred to as one of the greatest places to learn how to be a disciple is because we are often humbled by the reality of how we are when we are leading other people through how they are. This parable plays the part of revealing to us something that we should search our hearts for.
How have you played the part of the son that said he would do something but didn’t?
How have you played the part of the son who said that he would not do something, but then did?
How does this parable teach you about obedience to God’s call?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
It is the parable that all parents can relate to. The struggle between being told “hold on” or “I will…” after telling the child to do something, then watching to see if they really ever do follow through is a classic parenting annoyance. How many times do we have to explain to children that “I forgot…” although it may be true, is not an excuse for why it was ok to forget something. The goal is to stop the forgetting and replace it with some action.
There is also the struggle with actual commitment to something. But that is not so much about parenting, because it hits a bit closer to home for everyone. How many times do we find ourselves treating God the same way when we say that we need to do something, ought to do something, or even that we thought about doing something? That problem is not that we can not get enough responses, but that there seems to be a lack of actual action behind our beliefs. All good parenting lessons also help reflect our own spiritual struggles back in the mirror. The reason parenting is referred to as one of the greatest places to learn how to be a disciple is because we are often humbled by the reality of how we are when we are leading other people through how they are. This parable plays the part of revealing to us something that we should search our hearts for.
How have you played the part of the son that said he would do something but didn’t?
How have you played the part of the son who said that he would not do something, but then did?
How does this parable teach you about obedience to God’s call?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read 2 Timothy 2:1-13
This will be the year that you hear more about discipleship than you ever have, if you are at Keystone Church. You will hear about D-Groups and probably have heard more about them than you care. We do not want you to miss the point that we are doubling down on: Following Jesus IS discipleship. Salvation is just as much about where you are going as it is where you came from. Here is how John Petroy summed it up recently: “When Jesus said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me…’ I don’t think he was saying he was some sort of messenger that gets our prayers to God. By saying ‘through me’ He also meant to live like the Son lived, do what the Son did, and follow what the Son said, this brings you to the Father.”
The problem is that we have fallen into a trap of defining two different things here: we get saved, but then we could possibly, at another time, decide to follow Jesus. Jesus doesn’t ever seem to call anyone to be saved and then not also be inviting them to follow Him with their lives. Paul writes to Timothy in this chapter, on these basic ideas. For Paul, a good practical example can be found in three roles in life: The farmer, the soldier, and the athlete. These three roles serve a great illustration that helps us understand what it looks like to be following Jesus.
How does the image of the athlete illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does the image of the farmer illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does the image of the soldier help illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
This will be the year that you hear more about discipleship than you ever have, if you are at Keystone Church. You will hear about D-Groups and probably have heard more about them than you care. We do not want you to miss the point that we are doubling down on: Following Jesus IS discipleship. Salvation is just as much about where you are going as it is where you came from. Here is how John Petroy summed it up recently: “When Jesus said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me…’ I don’t think he was saying he was some sort of messenger that gets our prayers to God. By saying ‘through me’ He also meant to live like the Son lived, do what the Son did, and follow what the Son said, this brings you to the Father.”
The problem is that we have fallen into a trap of defining two different things here: we get saved, but then we could possibly, at another time, decide to follow Jesus. Jesus doesn’t ever seem to call anyone to be saved and then not also be inviting them to follow Him with their lives. Paul writes to Timothy in this chapter, on these basic ideas. For Paul, a good practical example can be found in three roles in life: The farmer, the soldier, and the athlete. These three roles serve a great illustration that helps us understand what it looks like to be following Jesus.
How does the image of the athlete illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does the image of the farmer illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does the image of the soldier help illustrate Paul’s point and how is that practical for your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read 2 Timothy 2:14-26
If you will remember, 1 and 2 Timothy are letters written to a young pastor from Paul, as a mentor. His instructions in these letters are a good base foundation that could be considered for all newer churches, or even newer followers of Jesus. One of the hardest things to do in leading a church, is to speak in a way that addresses every single person on all of the different levels of spiritual maturity. Not everyone is a brand new follower of Jesus and not everyone is coming into the conversation with all of the deep foundations that some people are. Therefore the goal becomes to keep the church together in unity. So Paul’s approach here may seem a bit strange for a general audience of the whole church, but it is very strategic. It seems that he is saying that a really good idea the whole church should latch on to is the danger of the false teachings that steer people in a direction that is not the same as following Jesus.
But take notice of the change. Paul is not fighting people that are just so far out of left field that they are attacking the church’s foundations with a different religion altogether. He is warning them about the people that are teaching most of the truth, then changing a small bit. They do not deny the resurrection, but rather change the small point of disarming the power of the resurrection by saying that it has already happened. Had it happened? Or was this just a teaching that was far out of bounds? Of course a resurrection had happened! Jesus rose from the dead and that is what started this whole thing. So was it wrong to say that it had happened? Not really. But yes. Much like the Garden of Eden, when the snake barely twisted the words of God, it happens again here and Paul warns against it. Why major on that? Because a small change in the words of God has a dramatic change in the behavior of God’s people. That is why he ends this section like he does. He encourages the church together in unity of teaching knowing that will bring them together in unity of action.
How have you seen this strategy of the enemy used around you: twist a small part of God’s word and it will bring about disunity?
How do you think that we, as individuals, should combat this sort of trap?
According to this text, what do you see as “youthful passions” and why is it important to “flee’ those?
How does this become your prayer today?
If you will remember, 1 and 2 Timothy are letters written to a young pastor from Paul, as a mentor. His instructions in these letters are a good base foundation that could be considered for all newer churches, or even newer followers of Jesus. One of the hardest things to do in leading a church, is to speak in a way that addresses every single person on all of the different levels of spiritual maturity. Not everyone is a brand new follower of Jesus and not everyone is coming into the conversation with all of the deep foundations that some people are. Therefore the goal becomes to keep the church together in unity. So Paul’s approach here may seem a bit strange for a general audience of the whole church, but it is very strategic. It seems that he is saying that a really good idea the whole church should latch on to is the danger of the false teachings that steer people in a direction that is not the same as following Jesus.
But take notice of the change. Paul is not fighting people that are just so far out of left field that they are attacking the church’s foundations with a different religion altogether. He is warning them about the people that are teaching most of the truth, then changing a small bit. They do not deny the resurrection, but rather change the small point of disarming the power of the resurrection by saying that it has already happened. Had it happened? Or was this just a teaching that was far out of bounds? Of course a resurrection had happened! Jesus rose from the dead and that is what started this whole thing. So was it wrong to say that it had happened? Not really. But yes. Much like the Garden of Eden, when the snake barely twisted the words of God, it happens again here and Paul warns against it. Why major on that? Because a small change in the words of God has a dramatic change in the behavior of God’s people. That is why he ends this section like he does. He encourages the church together in unity of teaching knowing that will bring them together in unity of action.
How have you seen this strategy of the enemy used around you: twist a small part of God’s word and it will bring about disunity?
How do you think that we, as individuals, should combat this sort of trap?
According to this text, what do you see as “youthful passions” and why is it important to “flee’ those?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read John 17:1-23
We end each day with prayer as a family. There is nothing groundbreaking or creative about it, really. In fact, my prayer for my family is pretty much the exact same every single night. I would bet you that my family could rehearse it to you right now if you were to ask them to. It is important to me to have those specific things that I ask for and pray about over my family. So I do not have a problem with that being a repeated thing over and over again. But as I was reading this prayer by Jesus, I slowed down to process what He was doing here.
Notice how conversational this prayer is. He is not working out truths that He doesn’t know or even informing God of things He just learned. He is repeating what He knows and going back over the really valuable truths that He has clearly already established in His life, but need to be called up in this moment because of the situation that is unfolding. That is the part I am wanting to dial into this year. The patterns in my prayer are good and the specifics of repetition are valuable, but also valuable are the inner wrestlings and remindings of the things that I know to be true, spoken in a moment so that those around me know I am holding on to them, but also to do the work of reminding myself of what it is that I believe. Moments will change that and situations will move that. My prayers are a reminder of me staying focused on what the Holy Spirit has already reminded me of and saying that back to God. Not because God needs to hear it, but because it does me good to be reminded of it.
For instance, I am fully aware that God is the Provider of all that is needed. I know that. I have that locked away. But it will be helpful to remind God that I believe that when I feel the squeeze of life’s scarcity. Not because God needs to hear it, but because I need to be called up to what I believe.
What part of Jesus' prayer here sticks out to you the most?
Why do you think Jesus prayed to God and informed Him that He has sent out the disciples for the same mission that Jesus was on?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
We end each day with prayer as a family. There is nothing groundbreaking or creative about it, really. In fact, my prayer for my family is pretty much the exact same every single night. I would bet you that my family could rehearse it to you right now if you were to ask them to. It is important to me to have those specific things that I ask for and pray about over my family. So I do not have a problem with that being a repeated thing over and over again. But as I was reading this prayer by Jesus, I slowed down to process what He was doing here.
Notice how conversational this prayer is. He is not working out truths that He doesn’t know or even informing God of things He just learned. He is repeating what He knows and going back over the really valuable truths that He has clearly already established in His life, but need to be called up in this moment because of the situation that is unfolding. That is the part I am wanting to dial into this year. The patterns in my prayer are good and the specifics of repetition are valuable, but also valuable are the inner wrestlings and remindings of the things that I know to be true, spoken in a moment so that those around me know I am holding on to them, but also to do the work of reminding myself of what it is that I believe. Moments will change that and situations will move that. My prayers are a reminder of me staying focused on what the Holy Spirit has already reminded me of and saying that back to God. Not because God needs to hear it, but because it does me good to be reminded of it.
For instance, I am fully aware that God is the Provider of all that is needed. I know that. I have that locked away. But it will be helpful to remind God that I believe that when I feel the squeeze of life’s scarcity. Not because God needs to hear it, but because I need to be called up to what I believe.
What part of Jesus' prayer here sticks out to you the most?
Why do you think Jesus prayed to God and informed Him that He has sent out the disciples for the same mission that Jesus was on?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Romans 2:12-29
This is a really difficult passage from a really difficult book. I have always had to slow down my reading pace and increase my passes over sentences when I get to this letter of Paul to the Romans. I did not grow up in a world that he seems to be writing to. There is certainly a cultural difference in the audience and myself. That does not mean the work through this passage is not beneficial. I encourage you to understand it. If you didn’t get it that first time, repetition will be helpful.
THe Jewish people had the Law. Or in other words, they were known as the people of the Law. The assumption would then go that the moral code of the Law was for the Jewish people. But Paul is arguing against that idea. He brings up that all of human nature seems to point to the idea of a basic understanding of right and wrong, of good and bad, and of clean and unclean. He is not saying that everyone had the exact same ideas here, but rather that there definitely seems to be a universal moral idea. Therefore, it becomes difficult to assume morality in your version of belief without applying the whole of what you believe to every single person. You are not morally superior to everyone around you because you think your moral code (the pieces you have picked and chosen about what is really important) make a person the most Holy, like yourself. But rather, you are in the same moral problem as every other person and in need of the universal moral ideas the Law stands for. You don’t need some of it and therefore others around you need the some of it that you have. But everyone needs all of it, because it is about all of us and Holiness is contained in the whole of it, not your part of it.
What is the point that Paul seems to be making about those that teach the Law and their actions?
How do you explain verse 13 to people that do not understand the Bible?
How does this become your prayer today?
This is a really difficult passage from a really difficult book. I have always had to slow down my reading pace and increase my passes over sentences when I get to this letter of Paul to the Romans. I did not grow up in a world that he seems to be writing to. There is certainly a cultural difference in the audience and myself. That does not mean the work through this passage is not beneficial. I encourage you to understand it. If you didn’t get it that first time, repetition will be helpful.
THe Jewish people had the Law. Or in other words, they were known as the people of the Law. The assumption would then go that the moral code of the Law was for the Jewish people. But Paul is arguing against that idea. He brings up that all of human nature seems to point to the idea of a basic understanding of right and wrong, of good and bad, and of clean and unclean. He is not saying that everyone had the exact same ideas here, but rather that there definitely seems to be a universal moral idea. Therefore, it becomes difficult to assume morality in your version of belief without applying the whole of what you believe to every single person. You are not morally superior to everyone around you because you think your moral code (the pieces you have picked and chosen about what is really important) make a person the most Holy, like yourself. But rather, you are in the same moral problem as every other person and in need of the universal moral ideas the Law stands for. You don’t need some of it and therefore others around you need the some of it that you have. But everyone needs all of it, because it is about all of us and Holiness is contained in the whole of it, not your part of it.
What is the point that Paul seems to be making about those that teach the Law and their actions?
How do you explain verse 13 to people that do not understand the Bible?
How does this become your prayer today?
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