The Ministry of Jesus E-Book

Peter DeHaan

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Holiday Celebration Bible Study Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 128

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Delve into the life and teachings of Jesus like never before with The Ministry of Jesus. 

This 50-day devotional is perfect for individuals, families, and small groups who want to keep the work of Jesus fresh in your minds and hearts throughout the year. 

With insightful wisdom and heart-felt teachings that offer lasting spiritual encouragement, devoted Christian author Peter DeHaan takes you on a spiritual journey to explore the biblical events between the birth of Jesus and his death and resurrection. 

Benefits from reading The Ministry of Jesus: 

 - Learn how to draw closer to God, nourishing your soul as well as your mind. 

 - Discover relevant perspectives on biblical events instead of the same old stories rehashed and served up the same tired way. 

 - Experience grace and mercy instead of judgement and guilt. 

 - Be inspired to celebrate the life-changing impact of Jesus every day. 

What’s included in The Ministry of Jesus: 

 - Insights into the life and teachings of Jesus 

 - Heart-felt teachings that offer lasting spiritual encouragement 

 - A chance to skip the fluff of a typical devotional without getting bogged down by a lot of academic pomp 

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity.

Buy The Ministry of Jesus and celebrate all that our Savior did!

Leseprobe

The Ministry of Jesus

A Devotional Celebrating the Work, Words, and Witness of Christ

Peter DeHaan

The Ministry of Jesus: A Devotional Celebrating the Work, Words, and Witness of Christ

Copyright © 2023 by Peter DeHaan.

Book 2 in the Holiday Celebration Bible Study Series.

All rights reserved: No part of this book may be reproduced, disseminated, or transmitted in any form, by any means, or for any purpose, without the express written consent of the author or his legal representatives. The only exceptions are the cover image and brief excerpts for reviews or academic research. For permissions: PeterDeHaan.com/contact.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ISBNs:

979-8-88809-054-1 (e-book)

979-8-88809-055-8 (paperback)

979-8-88809-056-5 (hardcover)

979-8-88809-057-2 (audiobook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 9798888090558

Published by Rock Rooster Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Credits:

Developmental editor: Julie Harbison

Copy editor: Robyn Mulder

Cover design: Cassidy Wierks

Author photo: Chelsie Jensen Photography

To Dave Sue

Contents

Celebrating the Ministry of Jesus

Day 1: John Prepares the Way

Day 2: Do What Is Proper

Day 3: Satan Strikes Out

Day 4: Fishing for People

Day 5: A Wedding to Remember

Day 6: Consumed with Zeal

Day 7: You Must Be Born Again

Day 8: Drink Living Water

Day 9: Scripture Fulfilled

Day 10: Jesus’s Authority

Day 11: Jesus Heals and Saves

Day 12: Picking Grain on the Sabbath

Day 13: Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Day 14: A Firm Foundation

Day 15: The Faith of the Centurion

Day 16: Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son

Day 17: Anointed for Ministry

Day 18: A Bumper Crop

Day 19: Authority over Creation

Day 20: Jesus Heals the Demon-Possessed Man

Day 21: Wake the Dead

Day 22: Offended

Day 23: Heal and Teach

Day 24: A Miracle Meal

Day 25: Faith and Doubt

Day 26: The Bread of Life

Day 27: Jews and Gentiles Too

Day 28: Jesus Is the Christ

Day 29: Pick Up Your Cross

Day 30: Jesus Glows

Day 31: Nothing Is Impossible

Day 32: The Spirits Submit

Day 33: An Unlikely Hero

Day 34: Sisters in Conflict

Day 35: Teach Us to Pray

Day 36: The Great Feast in Heaven

Day 37: Count the Cost

Day 38: Lost and Found

Day 39: Thank You, Jesus

Day 40: Be Ready

Day 41: Seek Justice

Day 42: Offer Mercy

Day 43: See and Believe

Day 44: One Flock

Day 45: One Flesh

Day 46: Put Jesus First

Day 47: Two Responses to Jesus

Day 48: The Top Two Commands

Day 49: Jesus Comforts Martha

Day 50: Blessed Is He

Books in the Holiday Celebration Series

If You’re New to the Bible

About Peter DeHaan

Books by Peter DeHaan

Celebrating the Ministry of Jesus

The “Holiday Celebration Series” looks at times when Christians gather to rejoice in their faith and praise God for who he is and what he has done. Depending on your practices and preferences, the labels used and scope of the festivities change, but in general terms, we celebrate Christmas and Easter.

We cover the Christmas season (which can include Advent and Epiphany) in the devotional book The Advent of Jesus. And we celebrate the Easter season (which can encompass Lent, Good Friday, Ascension Day, and Pentecost) in the devotional books The Passion of Jesus and The Victory of Jesus.

This book, The Ministry of Jesus, doesn’t address these specific holiday seasons but instead revels in the space between them, sometimes called Ordinary Time—but there’s nothing ordinary about it.

In the Christmas season, we observe the Messiah coming as a baby to save us. In the Easter season we remember the resurrected Savior who has successfully completed his mission.

The church calendar has but a few weeks between these two holy seasons, yet historically there are three decades between them: thirty-three years transpire between Jesus’s birth and his resurrection from the dead.

The last three years of Jesus’s life are when his ministry on earth occurs. This is what we’ll cover in this devotional, which is also the bulk of what’s addressed in the four biographies of Jesus in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

For our purposes, we’ll use the timeline in Mark’s gospel of Jesus to guide us. We’ll weave in Matthew, Luke, and John as appropriate to look at Jesus’s words, work, and witness.

You can use this devotional in the period between the Christmas season and the Easter season, which spans a few weeks. Or you can read it in the time after Easter and prior to Christmas, which lasts about six months. Or do both.

However you proceed, may God speak to you, inspire you, and bless you through this devotional as you immerse yourself in wonder over the ministry of Jesus and what he has done for us.

Day 1: John Prepares the Way

Today’s passage: Mark 1:1–8, with Matthew 3:1–12 and Luke 3:1–18

Focus verse: “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:8)

Our story of Jesus’s ministry begins with John the Baptist. In the area around the Jordan River, John preaches a message of repentance. The people wonder if John is the one—foretold by the Old Testament prophets—who will come to save them.

He is not. John comes to prepare the way for Jesus. Mark cites two passages of Scripture that predict John the Baptist’s mission and purpose. The first is from Malachi 3:1, and the second is from Isaiah 40:3. In Luke’s biography of Jesus, he quotes a longer passage from Isaiah, going through to verse 5.

John acknowledges Jesus is more powerful and more important than him—much more so. The apostle doesn’t even deem himself worthy to stoop to untie Jesus’s sandals.

From this we get the image of a servant washing the feet of his master at the end of the day. The servant stoops to untie and remove his master’s sandals. He washes the day’s filth from his master’s feet. The lowest of servants would handle this disgusting job.

Yet John deems himself unworthy to do even this for Jesus.

John proclaims a message of repentance to the people, urging them to acknowledge remorse over the wrong things they have done. For those who want to publicly show their repentance—committing to make a U-turn with their lives—John baptizes them.

Once they admit their guilt and receive his baptism, he urges them to change their behavior. It starts with repentance and baptism. Changing their lifestyle happens later. It’s a response to their commitment.

John tells the people that he baptizes them with water, whereas the one who will come after him—Jesus—will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. Matthew and Luke both expand on this, saying that Jesus will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

All who believe in Jesus will receive baptism with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). The second phrase, baptism by fire, refers to judgment. This is not judgment for those who follow Jesus, but it’s judgment for those who do not.

Questions: How should we react to the idea of Jesus baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and with fire? Is John’s baptism for repentance enough (see Acts 18:24–26)?

Prayer: Jesus, may we receive Holy Spirit baptism and follow you for the rest of our lives.

Day 2: Do What Is Proper

Today’s passage: Mark 1:9–11, with Matthew 3:13–17, Luke 3:21–22, and John 1:29–34

Focus verse: A voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)

At this point, Jesus asks John to baptize him. This seems strange because John’s message is one of repentance from sins, and Jesus is sinless (1 John 3:5). Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized to make a public declaration that he’s repenting from the wrong things he’s done. He’s done nothing wrong.

In Matthew 3, John recognizes this and objects. The lesser should not baptize the one who is greater. If anything, Jesus should baptize John.

John is the greatest man to ever live (Luke 7:28). But he isn’t perfect. He struggles with sin the same as everyone else. Though he can’t baptize himself, Jesus could. But Jesus won’t. He refuses.

Jesus simply says it’s proper for John to baptize him. This will fulfill all righteousness—that is, to do what is right and what is required. In this way, Jesus—while remaining sinless—demonstrates that he associates with sinners. Since we all have sinned, he identifies with us in our predicament of sinfulness.

At last, John agrees to baptize Jesus (Matthew 3:15).

Imagine what John must think as he baptizes the Messiah, a man so important that John considers himself unworthy to even unlace his sandals. John lowers Jesus into the water, the same as he’s done hundreds of times for sinners who repented. But Jesus has nothing to repent from.

John lifts Jesus out of the water. This completes his public display of repentance and shows a picture of cleansing. Though this is where John’s other baptisms end, it doesn’t mark the end of Jesus’s.

At this point, heaven opens, and God’s Spirit descends. It looks like a dove and moves toward Jesus, resting on him. This shows God’s pleasure over Jesus’s baptism and proves it’s like no other.

Verifying this visual confirmation of Jesus’s uniqueness comes an audible affirmation as well. A voice booms from heaven. “This is my Son,” Father God says. “I love him so much and am most pleased with who he is and what he’s done.”

Now John and everyone gathered around knows that Jesus is special, that he’s the Son of God. Though it will be a while before most people fully comprehend this, God confirms it to be true before Jesus starts his public ministry.

But this isn’t the only time we hear the voice of God affirming Jesus. We’ll cover it again in Day 30, toward the end of Jesus’s ministry here on earth.

Questions: What do we think about Jesus being baptized? Though we may have never heard the audible voice of God, in what other ways has God spoken to us?

Prayer: Father God, when you speak to us, may we hear, listen, and obey.

Day 3: Satan Strikes Out

Today’s passage: Mark 1:12–13, with Matthew 4:1–11 and Luke 4:1–13

Focus verse: At once the Spirit sent [Jesus] out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. (Mark 1:12–13)

The conclusion of Jesus’s baptism verifies he is the Son of God and shows that the Holy Spirit lives within him. The first thing the Holy Spirit does is prompt Jesus to go to the wilderness. There, Satan tempts Jesus for forty days.

Though Mark doesn’t tell us about Jesus’s temptation, Matthew and Luke do. Let’s look at what happens in Luke’s account.

Jesus fasts for these forty days. He eats nothing while in the desert. His body is weak and his resolve, lessened. In case we miss the obvious, Luke says Jesus is hungry. It’s now, when Jesus is at his weakest, that the devil sees his best opportunity to tempt the Savior into aborting his mission.

The devil taunts Jesus.

Capitalizing on Jesus’s hunger, Satan encourages Jesus to turn a stone into a loaf of bread. Then he’ll have something to eat. Performing a miracle will also confirm his power.

But Jesus doesn’t fall for the enemy’s trap. Jesus quotes Scripture, saying that we don’t live by bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3). This states that we should live on every word that comes from God’s mouth. What God says matters more than what we eat.

After Jesus thwarts the devil’s first attempt to distract him from his ministry, Satan tries again. He takes Jesus to a lofty vantage point where they can survey all the nations in the entire world. Satan, having control over the world for a time, promises to cede it to Jesus if he will merely bow down and worship him.

Jesus won’t. He quotes Scripture again. It says we are to worship and serve only the Lord God (Deuteronomy 6:13).

The devil has now failed twice to tempt Jesus. But he has another idea. This time he’ll quote Scripture to Jesus. The enemy will use the Word of God to try to manipulate him.

From the highest point of the temple, Satan taunts Jesus. He says, “If you are the Son of God, jump. Scripture says God will send his angels to protect you and keep you from harm” (Psalm 91:11–12).

Notice that the devil questions Jesus’s divinity as God’s Son. This begs for Jesus to defend his identity. But he doesn’t take the bait. Instead, he responds with a Scripture verse of his own. He says to not test the Lord God (Deuteronomy 6:16).

At this point, Satan retreats from tempting Jesus and waits for a more opportune time.

Questions: Do we know the Bible well enough to use it to defend ourselves when Satan attacks us? How should we react when the devil throws Scripture at us?

Prayer: Father God, may we hide your Word in our heart so that we will not sin against you (Psalm 119:11).

Day 4: Fishing for People

Today’s passage: Mark 1:14–20, with Matthew 4:18–22, Luke 5:1–11, and John 1:35–51

Focus verse: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” (Mark 1:17)

Having been victorious over Satan’s attempts to distract Jesus from pursuing his mission—his calling—Jesus invites his first followers. In Mark’s concise account of this event, Jesus tells the crowd, “It’s time! God’s kingdom is within reach. Repent and believe this good news.”

After he shares his message, Jesus invites two fishermen, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, to come and follow him. Jesus will teach them how to fish for people. Abandoning their nets and their boats, the brothers do just that.

Further down the shore, Jesus calls two more fishermen, James and John, to follow him as well. They, too, walk away from their life’s work, leaving their father Zebedee, and his hired hands, behind.

In Luke’s more detailed account, we see Jesus preaching to a crowd gathered at Lake Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Knowing that sound travels better over water, Jesus gets into Simon Peter’s boat and asks him to row out a bit from shore. From this vantage, Jesus preaches to the crowd.

Though Luke doesn’t share Jesus’s message, Matthew and Mark both give brief summaries of what the teacher says: repent for God’s kingdom is near. None of the gospel accounts, however, share the crowd’s reaction, but Luke tells us that after Jesus ends his message, he asks Peter to go into deeper waters and cast their nets.

Peter objects, explaining that they fished all night and caught nothing. But for some reason, Peter does what Jesus asks, even though they’re tired and the ideal time to fish has passed.