Grow • Pray • Study
daily Devotional Guide
Our Grow • Pray • Study (GPS) Guide offers daily readings and thoughts that follow along the Scriptural themes of our Sunday Worship services.
In the month of May, we'll focus on the Gospel of Matthew. Join us as we highlight Matthew's emphasis on God's faithfulness to the people of Israel even as God surprises us with Jesus. The GPS will be updated weekly, so check back here often!
In the month of May, we'll focus on the Gospel of Matthew. Join us as we highlight Matthew's emphasis on God's faithfulness to the people of Israel even as God surprises us with Jesus. The GPS will be updated weekly, so check back here often!
G•P•S - Grow, Pray, Study Guide, 5/26/25 – 5/31/25
Faith UMC
MONDAY 5/26/25: Matthew 26:69-75, Peter denies knowing Jesus . . .
Jesus is arrested and being questioned by religious and political leaders in the middle of the night, and everyone knows this is leading to an execution. Here we find Peter, Jesus’ fiercest follower, doing what he swore he would never do––denying that he is associated with Jesus. We live in clearly different circumstances, but the text forces us to ask the question: What does it mean to deny Jesus today?
TUESDAY 5/27/25: Matthew 27:45-56, The king dies, the dead rise . . .
When Jesus died, the earth shook. It was a cosmic event. The universe was changed. A strange thing happened. Matthew tells us that many saints rose from their graves in that moment. The other Gospels do not report this. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning. For Matthew, there is an exchange, and it is immediate. Christ died so that we could live. It hearkens back to God’s promise in Isaiah 26:19. The dead will live. Through Christ’s sacrifice, the universe is different.
WEDNESDAY 5/28/25: Matthew 28:1-20, Then Jesus said, “Hi!” …
Matthew’s account of the resurrection has a more apocalyptic flare, with an earthquake and an angel’s face like lightning. However, when Jesus appears to the women (v. 9), he appears and says, “Hi!” Most translations will say, “Greetings” but the Greek word is the diminutive form of “hello,” and in English, that’s “hi!” The resurrected Jesus greets them with the most normal and human greeting: “Hi.” How does that change this encounter for you?
THURSDAY 5/29/25: Isaiah 43:14-21, I am doing a new thing...
In Isaiah, God declares that God doesn’t always do things the way God has done them in the past. God recalls to “making dry land in the sea” (parting the Red Sea), but then tells us to perceive a new thing: bringing water to the dry land. God’s new thing can be the opposite of what God has done, but it is still faithful. God is always doing new things. The question before us is, “Do you perceive it?” Take a moment to open up to God’s possibilities and new things. Look for God today.
FRIDAY 5/30/25: Colossians 1:24-2:5, God’s secret plan is revealed . . .
Paul continues to mention this “secret plan” of God. Perhaps “surprise plan” is a better way of understanding. All of Israel was hoping for God’s Messiah to come and rescue Israel, but no one was expecting God to come and be that Messiah with us and for us. Neither was anyone expecting this Messiah to bless all people everywhere. This is God’s surprise plan, that God would come to us, unmediated, dwell with us, dwell in us, and fill us with all love so that we can bless the world. What does it mean for us to have “Christ in us”?
SATURDAY 5/31/25: Acts 1:1-11, Love Ascends…
Tomorrow is Ascension Sunday, one of the 5 biggest Holy Days in the Christian calendar, only, we don’t really treat it that way. Ascension doesn’t have the quite the impact of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, or Pentecost have. At the Ascension, Jesus just kind of floats away. Is that good news? Join us in worship tomorrow as we listen again for the good news that Jesus, the one who is human in every way we are human, is at the right hand of God. You matter to God.
Faith UMC
MONDAY 5/26/25: Matthew 26:69-75, Peter denies knowing Jesus . . .
Jesus is arrested and being questioned by religious and political leaders in the middle of the night, and everyone knows this is leading to an execution. Here we find Peter, Jesus’ fiercest follower, doing what he swore he would never do––denying that he is associated with Jesus. We live in clearly different circumstances, but the text forces us to ask the question: What does it mean to deny Jesus today?
TUESDAY 5/27/25: Matthew 27:45-56, The king dies, the dead rise . . .
When Jesus died, the earth shook. It was a cosmic event. The universe was changed. A strange thing happened. Matthew tells us that many saints rose from their graves in that moment. The other Gospels do not report this. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning. For Matthew, there is an exchange, and it is immediate. Christ died so that we could live. It hearkens back to God’s promise in Isaiah 26:19. The dead will live. Through Christ’s sacrifice, the universe is different.
WEDNESDAY 5/28/25: Matthew 28:1-20, Then Jesus said, “Hi!” …
Matthew’s account of the resurrection has a more apocalyptic flare, with an earthquake and an angel’s face like lightning. However, when Jesus appears to the women (v. 9), he appears and says, “Hi!” Most translations will say, “Greetings” but the Greek word is the diminutive form of “hello,” and in English, that’s “hi!” The resurrected Jesus greets them with the most normal and human greeting: “Hi.” How does that change this encounter for you?
THURSDAY 5/29/25: Isaiah 43:14-21, I am doing a new thing...
In Isaiah, God declares that God doesn’t always do things the way God has done them in the past. God recalls to “making dry land in the sea” (parting the Red Sea), but then tells us to perceive a new thing: bringing water to the dry land. God’s new thing can be the opposite of what God has done, but it is still faithful. God is always doing new things. The question before us is, “Do you perceive it?” Take a moment to open up to God’s possibilities and new things. Look for God today.
FRIDAY 5/30/25: Colossians 1:24-2:5, God’s secret plan is revealed . . .
Paul continues to mention this “secret plan” of God. Perhaps “surprise plan” is a better way of understanding. All of Israel was hoping for God’s Messiah to come and rescue Israel, but no one was expecting God to come and be that Messiah with us and for us. Neither was anyone expecting this Messiah to bless all people everywhere. This is God’s surprise plan, that God would come to us, unmediated, dwell with us, dwell in us, and fill us with all love so that we can bless the world. What does it mean for us to have “Christ in us”?
SATURDAY 5/31/25: Acts 1:1-11, Love Ascends…
Tomorrow is Ascension Sunday, one of the 5 biggest Holy Days in the Christian calendar, only, we don’t really treat it that way. Ascension doesn’t have the quite the impact of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, or Pentecost have. At the Ascension, Jesus just kind of floats away. Is that good news? Join us in worship tomorrow as we listen again for the good news that Jesus, the one who is human in every way we are human, is at the right hand of God. You matter to God.