Week 36: Underground Jesus: Mission
September 7-11
DAY 1
Day 1: You Were Made On Purpose
Reading: Psalm 139:13-16 -- The psalmist reflects on how God intimately formed each person before birth, declaring that every day of a person's life was written in God's book before a single one came to be.
Devotional: You did not arrive here by accident. Before your name was spoken by anyone on earth, God had already written your story. The same God who spoke the heavens into existence spoke you into being with intention and purpose. Science tells us that matter is neither created nor destroyed -- everything here was placed here deliberately. That includes you. Your struggles, your background, your personality -- none of it disqualifies you from the mission God designed you to carry. Today, resist the lie that your life is insignificant. You are not a mistake. You are a mission.
Reading: Psalm 139:13-16 -- The psalmist reflects on how God intimately formed each person before birth, declaring that every day of a person's life was written in God's book before a single one came to be.
Devotional: You did not arrive here by accident. Before your name was spoken by anyone on earth, God had already written your story. The same God who spoke the heavens into existence spoke you into being with intention and purpose. Science tells us that matter is neither created nor destroyed -- everything here was placed here deliberately. That includes you. Your struggles, your background, your personality -- none of it disqualifies you from the mission God designed you to carry. Today, resist the lie that your life is insignificant. You are not a mistake. You are a mission.
DAY 2
Day 2: The Church Is a Hospital, Not a Museum
Reading: Luke 15:1-7 -- Jesus tells the parable of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for the one that is lost, and who rejoices greatly when it is found.
Devotional: The people who frustrated the religious leaders most were the very people Jesus pursued most deliberately. He did not come for those who had already found their way -- he came for those who were wandering, broken, and far from home. The church was never designed to be a showcase of spiritual achievement. It was designed to be a place of rescue and restoration. If you have been found by God, you know what it felt like to be lost. That memory is not a source of shame -- it is the fuel for your compassion toward others who are still wandering.
Reading: Luke 15:1-7 -- Jesus tells the parable of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for the one that is lost, and who rejoices greatly when it is found.
Devotional: The people who frustrated the religious leaders most were the very people Jesus pursued most deliberately. He did not come for those who had already found their way -- he came for those who were wandering, broken, and far from home. The church was never designed to be a showcase of spiritual achievement. It was designed to be a place of rescue and restoration. If you have been found by God, you know what it felt like to be lost. That memory is not a source of shame -- it is the fuel for your compassion toward others who are still wandering.
DAY 3
Day 3: Go Back to Your Own People
Reading: Mark 5:18-20 -- After Jesus frees a man from a legion of demons, the man begs to follow Jesus. Instead, Jesus sends him home to his own people to tell them what God has done for him, and the man goes and declares it throughout the region.
Devotional: The most natural response after an encounter with Jesus is to want to stay close to him and never leave. But Jesus, in his wisdom, sends the restored man back -- not away from him, but on mission for him. The people in that region would not have listened to Jesus. But they could not ignore the man they had once chained in a graveyard now standing before them clothed and in his right mind. Your testimony carries weight that no sermon can replicate. The people in your life who are far from God are not far from you. Go back to your own people.
Reading: Mark 5:18-20 -- After Jesus frees a man from a legion of demons, the man begs to follow Jesus. Instead, Jesus sends him home to his own people to tell them what God has done for him, and the man goes and declares it throughout the region.
Devotional: The most natural response after an encounter with Jesus is to want to stay close to him and never leave. But Jesus, in his wisdom, sends the restored man back -- not away from him, but on mission for him. The people in that region would not have listened to Jesus. But they could not ignore the man they had once chained in a graveyard now standing before them clothed and in his right mind. Your testimony carries weight that no sermon can replicate. The people in your life who are far from God are not far from you. Go back to your own people.
DAY 4
Day 4: Fear or Fire -- Which One Drives You?
Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-7 -- Paul urges Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God within him, reminding him that God has not given believers a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
Devotional: The townspeople in Mark 5 saw a man completely restored and responded with fear. They asked Jesus to leave. Fear of change, fear of disruption, fear of what genuine transformation might cost them -- it paralyzed them. Many believers live the same way. They have experienced the grace of God but allow fear to keep them parked, comfortable, and disengaged from the mission. The Holy Spirit inside you is not a spirit of timidity. He is fire shut up in your bones. He creates urgency. He creates boldness. He compels you toward the lost. Fan that flame today. Do not let fear win.
Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-7 -- Paul urges Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God within him, reminding him that God has not given believers a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
Devotional: The townspeople in Mark 5 saw a man completely restored and responded with fear. They asked Jesus to leave. Fear of change, fear of disruption, fear of what genuine transformation might cost them -- it paralyzed them. Many believers live the same way. They have experienced the grace of God but allow fear to keep them parked, comfortable, and disengaged from the mission. The Holy Spirit inside you is not a spirit of timidity. He is fire shut up in your bones. He creates urgency. He creates boldness. He compels you toward the lost. Fan that flame today. Do not let fear win.
DAY 5
Day 5: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Mission
Reading: Acts 1:8 -- Jesus tells his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will receive power and will be his witnesses in their immediate surroundings, in surrounding regions, and to the ends of the earth.
Devotional: Jesus did not wait for extraordinary people to carry his mission. He chose fishermen, tax collectors, and former demon-possessed men. He chose people with complicated histories and uncertain futures. He chose ordinary people and gave them the Holy Spirit so that their ordinary lives could accomplish extraordinary things. The church is not a building -- it is a movement of people who have surrendered their everyday lives to God and allowed him to use every moment, every relationship, and every conversation for his kingdom. You are not waiting for a platform. Your life is the platform. Go be his witness today.
Reading: Acts 1:8 -- Jesus tells his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will receive power and will be his witnesses in their immediate surroundings, in surrounding regions, and to the ends of the earth.
Devotional: Jesus did not wait for extraordinary people to carry his mission. He chose fishermen, tax collectors, and former demon-possessed men. He chose people with complicated histories and uncertain futures. He chose ordinary people and gave them the Holy Spirit so that their ordinary lives could accomplish extraordinary things. The church is not a building -- it is a movement of people who have surrendered their everyday lives to God and allowed him to use every moment, every relationship, and every conversation for his kingdom. You are not waiting for a platform. Your life is the platform. Go be his witness today.