Posts with the category “bible-reading-plan-2026”

God’s movement is not controlled by our preferences. The Spirit is not limited to our comfort zones. The risen Jesus keeps calling, sending, healing, forgiving, restoring, and disrupting whatever stands in the way of the good news.  Read More

The problem was never that Ananias and Sapphira kept some of the money. Peter makes it clear that the property belonged to them. They were free to give all of it, some of it, or none of it. The issue was the lie. They wanted the reputation of sacrificial generosity without actually being sacrificial. They wanted the appearance of holiness without the reality of it. In a church filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, that kind of deception could not remain hidden.  Read More

The believers in Acts did not build their prayer around their fear. They built it around who God is and what God had already spoken. They began by calling upon the God who created heaven, earth, sea, and everything in them. Then they remembered the words of Psalm 2, which describe the nations and rulers resisting God and his anointed King.  Read More

We may not have stood beside the empty tomb, but we have experienced his grace. We have known forgiveness when we were carrying shame. We have received strength when we thought we could not continue. We have found hope in grief, peace in uncertainty, and a new direction when our lives had wandered far from God. Have we grown so familiar with grace that we have stopped talking about it?  Read More

When we turn back to God, our sins are wiped away. The image Peter uses is beautiful. The accusations written against us are erased. The guilt that clings to us is removed. The burden we were never meant to carry is lifted by grace.  Read More

Peter explains what has happened by reaching back into Israel’s Scriptures. God’s people had waited for generations for the promised day when God would act decisively, pour out the Spirit, rescue the people, and begin making all things new. Peter announces that this long-awaited work has begun.  Read More

Pentecost reminds us that Christianity was never meant to be a private belief system. The Holy Spirit fills ordinary people with heaven’s power so they can bear witness to Jesus. The same Spirit who filled that upper room still works today, and perhaps the most faithful response to Acts 2 is not simply to explain Pentecost, but to surrender ourselves to the Spirit’s work and allow God to transform us by grace.  Read More

Before Jesus ascends, the disciples ask a familiar kind of question: Is this finally the time when God will restore the kingdom to Israel? They want a schedule. Jesus gives them a mission.  Read More

John closes his Gospel by reminding us that countless other stories could have been told. The world itself could not contain all that Jesus did. Maybe that's the whole point — the story was never meant to end with a book. The Word became flesh, and now the testimony continues through the lives of His followers. We are sent into the world to live the story, bear witness to the resurrection, and reflect the love of Christ wherever He places us.  Read More

The resurrection is the announcement that God’s new creation has begun. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on His disciples, echoing God’s breath of life in Genesis. He speaks peace over fearful people. He sends them into the world just as the Father sent Him. The result is more than forgiveness of sins. It is new life.  Read More

ohn wants us to see that Jesus is not a tragic victim caught in the machinery of Rome. He is not a failed Messiah whose mission has collapsed. He is the righteous sufferer of Psalm 22. He is the true King. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Read More

The religious leaders look at Jesus, the true King standing before them, and cry out for his crucifixion. Then, when Pilate asks, “Do you want me to crucify your king?” they answer, “We have no king except the emperor.” Those tragic words show just how far the religious leaders had strayed from God...  Read More

Denial is not always loud rebellion. Sometimes denial sounds like silence, or blending in. Sometimes denial sounds like avoiding the conversation, or saying “I’m not,” when everything about our lives should say, “I belong to him.”  Read More

For a moment, the arresting party gets a glimpse of the truth. The vulnerable man in the garden is not powerless. The one they have come to bind is the eternal Son. The one standing in torchlight is the true Light. The one being handed over is still Lord.  Read More

Jesus knows He is about to leave His disciples. He entrusts them to the Father who has faithfully cared for Him throughout His earthly ministry. And the same prayer extends to us. Jesus prayed for His first disciples, but He also prayed for those who would believe through their witness—including you and me. The Son of God prayed that we would be protected from evil, formed by truth, united in love, and sent into the world as His witnesses!  Read More

Because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, we don't stand at a distance wondering if God will hear us. We have direct access to the Father. Jesus tells His disciples that the Father Himself loves them. The door is open. The invitation is extended. We are welcomed into the presence of God through Christ. That truth connects deeply with our understanding of grace.  Read More

The Holy Spirit comes as Advocate, like one who stands in the courtroom and tells the truth. The world believes it knows how to judge sin, righteousness, and condemnation. But according to Jesus, the world has gotten the verdict wrong.  Read More

Branches don’t produce fruit by trying harder. They bear fruit because they remain connected to the vine. Their life comes from the vine itself. We know this, but remaining in Christ also means submitting to the Father’s pruning work... That’s the part many of us would rather avoid. We naturally drift inward. We become consumed with our own ambitions, comforts, preferences, hurts, and distractions. We spend energy on things that don’t produce lasting fruit. We can even become so focused on ourselves that we block the very light we were meant to grow toward. Yet, the Father lovingly cuts away whatever keeps us from becoming who He created us to be.  Read More

We walk the way because the Spirit walks with us. This also means the church’s witness has to look like Jesus. Wright says that only when Jesus’ followers continue doing what Jesus did will they be believed when they speak the truth he spoke. We need to hear and embody this message.  Read More

And right there, in the middle of betrayal, denial, fear, and confusion, Jesus speaks about love... are we paying attention, because that should tell us something really important about the pattern of love we are to follow.  Read More

The foot washing is more than an act of hospitality. It points to the cross itself. The One who laid aside his outer robe would soon lay down his life. The One who washed the disciples’ feet would soon cleanse the world through his sacrifice.  Read More

Walk in the light. Believe in the light. Become people whose lives are determined by the light. That is the invitation... and the challenge. John tells us that when some Greeks arrive wanting to see Jesus, He immediately realizes something significant has changed. The moment has come. The hour He has been speaking about since Cana has finally arrived.  Read More

Will we follow Jesus only when He meets our expectations, rr will we trust Him when His kingdom unfolds differently than we imagined? The story is moving toward a moment when Jesus will be lifted up—not on a throne, but on a cross. From that place He will draw all people to Himself. That remains our calling as well. Not just to admire the King, or remember what He has done... But to become part of the witness that points others toward Him.  Read More

The God revealed in Jesus is not indifferent to our pain. He is the God who stands beside a tomb and cries. That truth has become increasingly real to me over the past months. There are questions that remain unanswered. There are losses that cannot simply be explained away. There are moments when resurrection still feels far off. Yet Jesus comes near... not always with immediate explanations or solutions, but with His presence.  Read More

The disciples know returning to Judea is dangerous. They are anxious, confused, and trying to talk Jesus out of going. From their perspective, it feels reckless. But Jesus moves according to a different timetable. John’s Gospel keeps showing us this. Jesus is never rushed, never panicked, never reactive. He moves in step with the Father, even when His timing confuses everyone around Him.  Read More

The same Jesus who speaks of knowing His sheep by name, laying down His life for them, and giving them eternal life now finds Himself standing in the Temple surrounded by people who want Him dead. Why? Because the question underneath the entire chapter has never really been about sheep. It is about authority, about who rules, about whose voice we trust, and whether God is truly at work in Jesus.  Read More

There are countless voices trying to shape us: fear, outrage, politics, consumerism, self-protection, ambition, anxiety, tribalism, even religion used without love. Some voices steal, kill, and destroy. But, the Shepherd’s voice is different...  Read More

Faith is not always instant full understanding. Sometimes it is the slow opening of the eyes. The gradual realization that Jesus is more than we first imagined. John keeps weaving creation imagery through the story too. This isn't just about repairing damaged eyesight. This is new creation breaking into the old world. Light entering darkness again.  Read More

Fear narrows vision. Fear protects systems over people. Fear silences testimony. Fear resists transformation. Fear clings to certainty instead of surrender. But, new creation has a way of disrupting old categories.  Read More

This passage forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about ourselves. Can people become so convinced they are defending God that they actually resist Him? Can religion become so tied to power, pride, fear, or identity that it loses the ability to recognize truth? Can darkness wear respectable clothing? John’s answer seems to be yes.  Read More

Sin isn't just isolated bad choices, but a power that entangles people, families, cultures, systems, and nations. We like to think of ourselves as autonomous and free, but Jesus describes humanity as far more captive than we realize. We know this instinctively, but it's easier to deny the potential than to choose to see patterns we cannot break, wounds that shape generations, habits that master us that show up in anger, greed, lust, pride, bitterness, addiction, fear, self-righteousness, violence, exploitation. The chains may not be visible, but they are real. That’s why Jesus speaks about freedom so personally: “If the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”  Read More

The religious leaders know the law well enough to quote it. What they seem unable to recognize is the heart of the God who gave it. Somewhere along the way, holiness became more about separation, superiority, and control than about restoration, mercy, and truth. And honestly, the church still drifts into that temptation. It’s easy to carry stones. Easy to expose someone else’s failure. Easy to confuse moral correctness with Christlikeness. It's much harder to stand in the light ourselves.  Read More

Our world is spiritually dehydrated. People are exhausted, angry, anxious, distracted, lonely, cynical, over-stimulated, and deeply thirsty for meaning, hope, peace, and life. We keep digging cisterns that cannot hold water — success, politics, consumption, entertainment, outrage, even religion detached from genuine communion with God.  Read More

Jesus points toward the Father. The church is called to point toward Christ. And when the church truly lives with sacrificial love, humility, holiness, and grace, it becomes evident that its goal is not self-preservation or self-promotion, but bearing witness to the Kingdom of God.  Read More

There are moments when we desperately want Jesus to hand us bread while keeping a safe emotional distance. We want solutions more than surrender. Relief more than relationship, answers more than abiding presence... But, Jesus keeps drawing us deeper because every lesser bread leaves us hungry again eventually. Physical bread sustains for a day. Success fades. Comfort disappears. Health fluctuates. Certainty slips through our fingers. Only Christ can sustain the soul.  Read More

His life is given for ours. His body broken. His blood poured out. His death becoming the source of life. That is why the Lord’s Table matters. Bread and cup are not magic, but they're not empty symbols either. They are signs that point us toward real participation in the life of Christ, received by faith and sustained by the Spirit. That same truth shapes the life of every disciple. Following Jesus is not just agreeing with what He says. It is learning to abide in Him, trust Him, and let His life reshape ours.  Read More

Most of us spend our lives focusing on what we lack: not enough strength, enough certainty, enough resources, enough influence, enough faith, enough time. But the Kingdom of God has always had a way of beginning with surrendered insufficiency. The invitation is not to manufacture abundance ourselves. The invitation is simply to bring what we have to Jesus and trust Him with it.  Read More

Following Jesus requires more thought, not less. The movement is always meant to continue beyond analysis into worship, prayer, obedience, adoration, and personal knowledge of Christ. From Scripture to Messiah and back again. An upward spiral.  Read More

In John’s Gospel, healing is connected to new creation itself. Jesus is not simply fixing isolated problems. He is launching the restoration of the world. Sometimes we struggle because we are still measuring life according to the old time zone while Jesus is already speaking the language of resurrection. That does not make suffering easy. It does not erase grief, fear, exhaustion, or disappointment. But it does reframe them.  Read More

Anyone can believe after the miracle arrives. But, the official walked home believing before he saw anything at all. That is faith. And maybe that’s the invitation for us today: Don't just chase signs… trust the Savior to let the signs lead us to the treasure. To let the flesh lead us to the Word. To hear, and believe.  Read More