October 9 | Jesus' Authority - Brentwood Baptist

Today’s Reading:

Read Matthew 8:1-4, 9:1-17, 12:1-21; Mark 1:40-3:21; Luke 5:12-6:19

Make a mess! Sound fun? Do something today that will create a mess that needs to be cleaned up. When you’re finished, try this fun trick for cleanup. Say these words, “Mess, you are no longer dirty. You are clean.” Look around, did the mess disappear? Or do you still have some cleaning up to do? It would be nice if we could just say something out loud and automatically the mess would be cleaned up, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of authority or power. In our reading today, we read about how Jesus does have that kind of authority. His authority wasn’t just to clean up a mess, it was to forgive people for their sins. Pretty powerful, right?

As Jesus met with sick people, He healed them. Not only did He heal them, but He also told them their sins were forgiven. This confused the leaders because according to the law, the only way for sins to be forgiven was for sacrifices to be made and certain rituals to be followed. Jesus understood the law. He even reminded the people that He healed to still follow Moses’ law and present an offering to God. (Matthew 8:4) When Jesus healed the sick and forgave their sins, He was showing his power and authority.

Jesus was a Jew. He was from an Israelite family, and he understood God’s plan for His chosen people. As Jesus began his ministry, a lot of what the Jewish people saw looked different than what they were expecting. Jesus combined the new teaching he was bringing with the tradition as well. At the end of our reading today we read about Jesus choosing some special helpers called disciples. How many did he choose? 12! Do you remember how many tribes of Israel there were? There were 12. Jesus understood the significance of the history of Israel. It was all a part of God’s plan.

Application/Prayer:

Be sure to work together as a family to actually clean up the mess you made! As you do, thank God for sending Jesus and for giving Him the authority and power to forgive our sins.

October Memory Verse:

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”

Psalm 56:3

Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:

Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.