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God, thank You for caring about what I care about. I'm grateful that You don't just listen to my problems, but You want to give me peace-despite my problems. Jesus, I praise You for all that You've done and all that You're still going to do. You are always good, no matter what my situation looks like. Thank You for being my true and constant source of hope. In Jesus' name, Amen

DAILY BIBLE READING: DEUTERONOMY 26-27 MARK 14:27-53 HARVEST OFFERINGS AND TITHES put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and bring it to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored. A CALL TO OBEY THE LORD'S COMMANDS The Lord has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure, just as he promised, and that you must obey all his commands. 19And if you do, he will set you high above all the other nations he has made. Then you will receive praise, honor, and renown. You will be a nation that is holy to the Lord your God, just as he promised.” THE ALTAR ON MOUNT EBAL CURSES FROM MOUNT EBAL JESUS PREDITCS PETER'S DENIAL JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE 36“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” JESUS IS BETRAYED AND ARRESTED

MATTHEW 5:13-16 TEACHING ABOUT SALT AND LIGHT 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. INSIGHT In Matthew 4:16, Jesus quotes from the Old Testament (Isaiah 9:2) to point to Himself as the fulfillment of prophecy: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” He’s “the true light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9; see 8:12; 9:5). Now that He’s no longer in the world, those who believe in Him “are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). As “children of the light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5), we’re called to shine our light into a dark world that desperately needs hope. We do this through the Holy Spirit, who guides and empowers us to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) instead of in the wicked ways of the world. He grows in us the fruit of the Spirit (vv. 22-23) that draws others to God, the source of our hope.

By: Alyson Kieda

BEING A LIGHT FOR CHRIST When schools around the globe sent their students home for health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, their buildings and stadiums stood empty. While acknowledging many were experiencing greater afflictions from the virus, teachers sought ways to show their students they missed them and to encourage them to press on through a difficult time. Many schools initiated what they called the “Be the Light” challenge, in which they burned the empty stadium’s lights each night.

During His earthly life, Jesus issued His own kind of “be the light” challenge, saying that we who follow Him are to “let [our] light shine before others” (Matthew 5:16). His charge had a loftier goal than encouragement or moral support; instead, our willingness to reveal the light He’s put in us shows the watching world who God is. The way we live our lives, in both word and deed, reveals the hope Jesus gives us, making it visible to all those around us, like a lamp on a stand.

Jesus calls us “the light of the world” and challenges us to illuminate the paths of others with His light radiating through us when they’re walking a dark road. For those who don’t yet know the hope Jesus offers, sharing His light through the way we live can point them toward God as the source of all hope.

By: Kirsten Holmberg

REFLECT AND PRAY In whom do you see the light of Jesus? How can you cast His light into the lives of others?

Dear Jesus, thank You for giving me hope. Use me, please, to show Your light in this world through the way I live. In Jesus' name, Amen.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WHO IS JESUS? Welcome to the book of John! The Bible is made up of 66 different books, and divided into two parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament. John (written by the apostle John, one of Jesus' disciples), is the fourth book of the New Testament, and a great place to start when you want know more about Jesus. It's our hope that this 21-day journey through the book of John helps to jumpstart your faith as a new believer and deepen your relationship with Christ.

We learn in the first chapter of the book of John that Jesus is the Light, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world. As John the Baptist said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The apostle John begins his Gospel with the concept of Jesus as "the Word," or in the Greek, "logos." This idea is one familiar to anyone who was in the Greek-speaking Roman Empire at the time. It was a word used to attribute credit to something you couldn’t really understand. It conveys the relationship between a thought and speech; between an idea and its expression. John shows how Jesus, this “logos” that he describes as fully God, took on flesh and dwelt on earth in such a way that man could behold the glory of the Father.

God can be difficult to get our brain around, but Jesus is a concept we have an easier time understanding—God made visible and packaged in a way we can process. By coming down to our level He made Himself relatable. We can't use the excuse that Jesus doesn't know what it's like to be us. John is raw and real about Jesus' humanity. Throughout this book, you'll find Jesus weary from walking, hungry, full of emotion, weeping with anguish, and thirsty as his dehydrated body hangs from the cross. Through Jesus, fully God and fully man, the glory of God has been given a face that we can see. All because God chose to become flesh and dwell among us.

Remember: Jesus is God made visible.