Devotionals For Gulf Coast Community Church

📖 5-Day Devotional

How Can They Believe?

(Romans 10:14–15, Revelation 1:5)

“If we cannot believe unless we hear, then what we hear will determine what we can believe.”

Each day walks through one facet of the full gospel: the crucified, resurrected, and reigning King - the message that must be heard so the world can believe.

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🌿 Day 1: The Message They Must Hear

📖 Scripture – Romans 10:14–15 (NIV)

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

💬 Quote:

“Only if they hear about Him can they see Him with the eyes of faith.”

🪞 Reflection:

Our faith hinges on hearing. And what we hear shapes what we can believe. That means we have a responsibility — not to argue, but to tell the whole story: of the crucified, resurrected, and reigning King.

❓ Questions to Consider:

• Have you limited your view of the gospel to one part of the story (e.g. only forgiveness, not lordship)?

• Who in your life may not have heard the full gospel of Jesus?

🙏 Prayer Prompt:

Jesus, open my ears to Your whole gospel. Let me not settle for a thin faith. Help me speak clearly and live courageously in a way that helps others believe.

✅ Action Step:

Write out your own 1–2 sentence version of the gospel using the three words: crucified, resurrected, reigning. Let it shape a conversation this week.

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✝️ Day 2: The Crucified King

📖 Scripture – 1 Corinthians 2:1–3 (NIV)

“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters.

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.”

💬 Quote:

“Peter wanted a crown without a cross. Jesus insisted that the cross is the way that the crown comes.”

🪞 Reflection:

The world demands strength and power, but Jesus chose weakness and suffering. He conquered not by domination but by sacrificial love. That’s our King. And that’s our call.

❓ Questions to Consider:

• Where in your life are you tempted to seek power rather than humility?

• How might you reign with Christ by laying your life down?

🙏 Prayer Prompt:

Lord, forgive me for reaching for the world's crown without embracing Your cross. Help me reign by serving. Shape me by the pattern of Jesus, the crucified King.

✅ Action Step:

Choose one way to “take up your cross” today. Maybe by forgiving, serving, or surrendering your will to someone else's need.

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🌅 Day 3: The Resurrected King

📖 Scripture – Acts 2:32–36 (NIV)

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

💬 Quote:

“Our salvation is surer than death itself.”

🪞 Reflection:

The resurrection is not a one-day-a-year doctrine, it's the daily power that reminds us we are more than conquerors through Christ. Not even death can stop the gospel. That’s the foundation of real hope.

❓ Questions to Consider:

• How often do you live as if resurrection is real, today?

• Where do you need to replace fear with resurrection hope?

🙏 Prayer Prompt:

Jesus, You are alive. You conquered death, and You’ve given me new life. Let that truth sink deep today — and let resurrection reshape my fears, decisions, and dreams.

✅ Action Step:

Share with someone today, even briefly, how Jesus’ resurrection gives you hope in your specific circumstances.

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👑 Day 4: The Reigning King

📖 Scripture – Ephesians 1:20–22 (NIV)

“He exerted [this power] when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church…”

💬 Quote:

“Jesus reigns at the right hand of God over everything, not one day, today.”

🪞 Reflection:

Jesus isn’t waiting for authority, He already has it. His kingdom is breaking in now through the obedience of His people. When we walk in His ways, we become agents of restoration.

❓ Questions to Consider:

• In what areas of your life are you living as if Jesus isn’t in charge?

• What might it look like to live under His reign today?

🙏 Prayer Prompt:

King Jesus, You reign now. Help me submit every area of my life to You - my fears, my time, my relationships. Use me to bring Your restoration wherever I go.

✅ Action Step:

Practice “kingdom obedience” today by choosing to obey Jesus in one area you’ve been resisting - generosity, gentleness, confession, or courage.

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🕊️ Day 5: Gossiping the Gospel

📖 Scripture – Colossians 1:19–20 (NIV)

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,

by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

💬 Quote:

“The world needs to hear the whole story - the gospel of the crucified King, the resurrected King, and the reigning King.”

🪞 Reflection:

You don’t have to preach a sermon to share the gospel. You just need to gossip the good news - quietly, naturally, honestly — in conversations, in grief, in joy. People are listening for a better story. Tell them the true one.

❓ Questions to Consider:

• What’s one “entry point” in your conversations where you could mention Jesus naturally?

• Who in your life might be waiting for someone to share this kind of hope?

🙏 Prayer Prompt:

Holy Spirit, give me open eyes, open ears, and an open mouth. Let me listen with compassion and speak with clarity. Show me when to speak the gospel story, and how.

✅ Action Step:

Pray for one specific person today who needs to hear good news. Look for an opportunity this week to “gossip the gospel” to them with love and humility.