Day 1: SOAP Through Luke 8:4-15

  1. Read Luke 8:4-15, then use the SOAP acronym to study it. It would be helpful to have a notebook to write these out. You could also use your phone's notes app.
    1. Scripture- Write down one or more verses that stood out to you.
    2. Observation- What is an observation you have from this passage?
    3. Application- How can you apply this passage to your life today?
    4. Pray- Write a short prayer in response to today's passage.
  2. Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before question 1 (Pgs. 55-56) and answer question 1 on page 56.
  3. Finish in prayer.

Day 2: SOAP Through Malachi 1:6-14

  1. Read the Paragraphs before question 2 on pages 56-57.
  2. The, read Malachi 1:6-14, then use the SOAP acronym to study it. It would be helpful to have a notebook to write these out. You could also use your phone's notes app.
    1. Scripture- Write down one or more verses that stood out to you.
    2. Observation- What is an observation you have from this passage?
    3. Application- How can you apply this passage to your life today?
    4. Pray- Write a short prayer in response to today's passage.
  3. Then, in your Crazy Love workbook answer questions 2-4 on page 57.
  4. Then read the paragraphs before question 5 on page 58, then answer question 5.
  5. Finish in prayer.

Day 3: "Self or Salvation" (Matthew 16:24-25)

  1. Read the devotional Below.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (25) For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25
Today, we look at one of the main barriers that people face when wanting to trust God for their salvation. It is generally easy for us to understand that we aren’t good enough on our own and need Jesus, but it can be difficult for us to take action against ourselves. That’s what Jesus is calling for in this passage. He asks us to take up our cross and lose our life. That does not sound like an easy thing to me. However, when we look at the cost vs. reward, it really is a no-contest.
First Jesus tells them that this is the way to be a disciple. Disciple obviously comes from the same root as discipline. It involves a high amount of self-control and self-denial. This is our calling as followers of Christ. We are to be holy, which means “set apart” as He is holy. We should look, act, think, desire, talk, walk, and live in a way that is different than the way that we naturally want to. That’s hard. I find myself in a constant struggle in my own discipleship where I feel a bit like Paul in Romans 7 and have this inner conflict between my own desires and the desires that I know that I should have as a disciple of Christ. This conflict is part of the journey though, as self-denial is a major part of discipleship.

Jesus goes on to further give the extent of how much self-denial we should have. He says three main points: 1) Take up your cross. 2) Follow me. 3) Lose your life. Taking up your cross is a phrase used in the church often, but maybe not well explained. Tom Constable in his commentary notes on Matthew explains it well: “The Romans customarily compelled someone condemned to crucifixion to carry at least part of his own cross to the site of his execution. This act gave public testimony to the fact that he was under and submissive to the authority that he had opposed. This was both a punishment and a humiliation. Likewise, Jesus' disciples must publicly declare their submission to the One whom they formerly rebelled against.”

Jesus also calls us to lose our life. This is clearly closely related to taking up our cross. He wants us to follow Him, but we must do that fully. Otherwise, we aren’t truly trusting Him as both our Lord and our Savior. It is one thing to say that we love and follow Jesus, but it is another to thing to fully follow Jesus without leaving any options for a back up plan. It is definitely a scary thing, but as Jesus says...it is the only way to truly find life. Spoiler: He is the Life Giver, and He is so worth it.

  • Now, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before questions 6-7 (Pgs. 58-59) and answer questions 6 and 7 on page 59.
  • Finish in prayer.

Day 4: "Looked Up and Saw a Ram" (Genesis 22:1-19)

  • Read the devotional Below.
“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22:2 (CSB)

If you have time, read the rest of Genesis 22.

The Binding of Isaac is one of the wildest stories in all of the Old Testament, and that is saying a lot (There is some bonkers stuff in the first thirty-nine books). At least at first glance, I think it is so shocking because it seems to fall outside God's character. Yet upon closer reading, it is one of the most complete images of God we get in the Old Testament.

The account is seemingly so out of character for God that Moses lets us know in the first verse that this whole ordeal is a test for Abraham. Remember though, Abraham did not have this information. You see, Abraham was a pagan before he encountered Yahweh. Human and child sacrifice were regular occurrences in those cultures, but Yahweh was supposed to be different! You can imagine how it could have been shocking for Abraham to get this command from God. Not just to kill one of his sons, but his "only son." Not just his only son, but the "Son he loved." If you know Abraham's story, Isaac was the promised miracle child. When Abraham's wife Sara could not get pregnant, and it seemed like God's promise to make a nation out of Abraham would not come true, God miraculously opened her womb and she conceived a baby boy that they named Isaac (Which means laughter because it was such a crazy situation). Now God wanted Abraham to sacrifice this boy. This seems horrific.

But notice, Abraham does not argue. Not one word. And he is not against arguing with God (Genesis 18). He wake up, got the servants and Isaac together, and they went for a three-day hike to Mount Moriah. Over the past few decades, Abraham has changed. He went from a doubting scoundrel and schemer to a man of complete trust in God. We know this because as Isaac and Abraham walked up the mountain, Isaac asked a reasonable question, "Uh, Dad, where is the sacrifice?" (My paraphrase). Awkward right? Abraham could have said, "You are!" Or he could have ignored him. But he responded interestingly, "God himself will provide the lamb..." (v. 8). Abraham was filled with so much faith that he did not even question God. He never argued with God because he had come to know the character of God. Yahweh's promises always come true. Always.

This is not in the text, but it does seem to be implied. God knew the depth of Abraham's trust, so he wanted to push him even farther. Rather than providing a sacrificial lamb when they got to the top, he made Abraham build the altar. Every stone and every timber must have made his heart beat faster. I would be thinking, "Where is the lamb God? Any minute now......." Nothing. Altar built, no lamb. Then he tied up his only son whom he loved. Then he placed him on the altar. Then raised his knife. It is the moment the knife is at its apex that The Angel of the Lord finally steps in and commanded him to stop. Abraham's faith was shown to be complete.

But Abraham's faith was ever deeper than Genesis tells us. He would have gone through with the sacrifice. Hebrews tells us...

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead... Hebrews 11:17-19a

In other words, Abraham's faith in Yahweh God was so deep and immense that he was going to kill his own son with full trust that God would resurrect him to fulfill his promises. That is uncanny faith. I think I would have failed the test. How about you?

This story is about Abraham's faith, but it's also about the gospel. And those two things are not all that different. You see, when God makes a promise of salvation he follows through. When Isaac was on the altar to be sacrificed (Seemingly willingly), God provided a lamb to take his place and die on the altar built for him. I hope you can see the parallels to Christ. I will spell it out. When the altar of judgment was built for us, the Father provided his one and only son whom he loved to take our place and give us salvation.

God is not asking you to do anything of this magnitude. This was a one time occurrence and we do not see anything like in the rest of the Scriptures. But here is the lesson. You can trust God. When life is good, trust him. When life is bad, trust him. When things get absolutely wild and you cannot see a way out of the situation, have the trust to say, "God himself will provide." Then keep going until he does. You know that Christ has already provided eternal life for you by taking your place on the cross. So many people trust God with their eternities, but don't trust him with their lives. If he can do that for sinners like you and me, we can trust him for everything else. 
  • Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs above question 8 then answer questions 8 on pages 59-60.
  • Finish in prayer.

Day 5: "Leftovers for God"

  1. Watch the video above.
  2. In your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before questions 9 (Pg. 60).
  3. Then answer questions 9-11 in your book (Pg. 61).
  4. Finish in prayer.

Final Day: Attend Community Group

Congrats! You made it through week 5 of Crazy Love. Now go to community group and share, learn, and enjoy time with your church family.