Studies, reading plans and every single day within them, alongside devotionals and articles. Search by title, book of the Bible, passage or topic.
Bible Memory collection
A promise is only as strong as the one who gives it. These passages teach both the certainty of God's word and the promises worth carrying daily. 2 Corinthians 1:20 All God's promises find their yes in Christ, and through him we say amen to the glory of God. Joshua 21:45 Not one word of all the…
Bible Memory verse
The Lord will come down with a loud command, the dead in Christ will rise first, and we will be with the Lord forever. Paul wrote it to comfort grieving believers, so it is pastoral before it is prophetic. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 John 5:28-29 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Father, I will see the believers…
Bible Memory verse
All God's promises find their yes in Christ, and through him we say amen to the glory of God. It teaches you to read every promise through Jesus rather than claiming verses at random. Hebrews 6:17-18 Romans 15:8 Galatians 3:16 Father, every promise you made is yes in Christ. Teach me to receive…
Bible Memory verse
Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wants to be first shall be servant of all, for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The teaching answers two disciples asking for the best seats. It gives the…
Bible Memory verse
Do nothing from selfish ambition, but in humility consider others better than yourselves, looking to their interests too. It is the cure for most conflict in homes and churches, and the next verses ground it in Christ's own example. Philippians 2:5-8 Romans 12:10 Galatians 5:13 Lord Jesus, you…
Chapter study
John 15 is spoken in motion. Jesus has just finished the Passover meal with His disciples, and John 14 ends with the words 'arise, let us go hence.' Many readers take that sentence as the close of a scene rather than…
Chapter study
Romans 8 is quoted more than it is studied. Most believers can recite verse 28 and verse 38 and have never traced the argument that makes either of them true. Paul is not writing a collection of encouraging lines. He…
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? The argument runs from the greater to the lesser. If God has already given the…
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Work together, not are good. And the promise is addressed to a specific group,…
Bible study
The chapter that holds the Christian life from beginning to end Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.…
Dig Deeper
John 15:4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. The Greek verb meno means to remain, to stay, to continue in a…
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The verdict is attached to a location, not to a performance level.…
Verse study
πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν panta sunergei eis agathon Greek Sunergei is where we get synergy. The verb does not say the ingredients are good. It says they are being worked together toward one end by someone with a…
Verse study
ὅς γε τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο hos ge tou idiou huiou ouk epheisato Greek Ouk epheisato, did not spare, is the same phrasing the Greek Old Testament uses in Genesis 22:16 of Abraham not withholding Isaac. An…
Verse study
οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα oute tis ktisis hetera Greek Ktisis means anything created. Since only God is uncreated, the phrase excludes everything that exists apart from God Himself. Why death and life come first Death…
Reading plan
John writes so that you may believe. Watch for the signs he selects and the way each one interprets who Jesus claims to be. Faith Identity in Christ Eternal Life The Gospel never names its author, but early Christian…
Verse study
A sentence, not a feeling Katakrima is a courtroom word. Paul is not saying that believers stop feeling guilty. He is saying that the sentence which their guilt deserved has already been carried out. That distinction…
52 Week Journey
Scripture is a book of promises: to Abraham, to David, through the prophets, to a scattered and waiting people. Read alone, any one of these promises can look unfinished, deferred, or only partly kept. Read together,…
52 Week Journey
Scripture's final hope is not escape from a physical world into a purely spiritual one. It is a new heaven and a new earth, a city coming down, a resurrection body, a wedding supper. The Bible ends where it began, in a…
Devotional
Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and…
Devotional
Revelation 21:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. WEB John does not see souls departing the earth for a disembodied heaven. He sees a…
Devotional
2 Samuel 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever. WEB David wants to build God a house, a temple. God answers by promising to build David a house,…
Article
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; Paul reaches for the language of dressing when he wants to describe…
Devotional
Matthew 12:36-37 I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. WEB Jesus is not…
Devotional
Matthew 5:17 "Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill." WEB Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount by ruling out a misunderstanding before it can take hold. He…
Devotional
Revelation 21:3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. WEB The verse…
Devotional
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” WEB Moses asks what to say when Israel asks for God's name. The answer is not a…
Devotional
Genesis 22:18 In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. WEB This is the last and largest of the promises to Abraham, spoken after he does not withhold Isaac. It…
Devotional
John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself;…
Devotional
Psalm 34:18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. WEB This verse does not say God is near to those who have recovered from their broken heart. It says He is near to…
Devotional
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away. WEB The image is personal, God…
Devotional
Joshua 21:45 Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. WEB This verse comes at the close of the conquest narrative, after the land has been distributed to the…
Devotional
Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, WEB Paul writes to a Roman colony, Philippi, whose citizens were proud of their Roman citizenship even…
Devotional
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.…
Devotional
Genesis 18:25 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do…
Devotional
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep. WEB Firstfruits was a harvest term. The first portion of a crop, offered to God, proved by its very…
Devotional
Galatians 3:24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. WEB Paul pictures the law as a tutor, the household servant in the ancient world responsible for…
Devotional
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and…
Devotional
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep. WEB Paul is correcting believers in Corinth who doubted a future bodily resurrection. His argument…
Devotional
Genesis 3:15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel. WEB This sentence is spoken to the serpent in the…
Devotional
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. WEB Isaiah 53 describes a servant of the LORD…
Devotional
Revelation 19:9 He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.” WEB Revelation pictures the culmination of redemption as a…
Devotional
John 1:14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. WEB John has just spent thirteen verses on the Word who was with God…
Devotional
Luke 4:21 He began to tell them, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." WEB Jesus stands in the synagogue at Nazareth, reads from Isaiah 61 about good news to the poor, freedom for captives, and…
Word and phrase
Grace is favour that is not earned. Ephesians 2:8 says salvation is by grace through faith, and that it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Scripture also uses grace for God's ongoing help. 2…
Biblical concept
The kingdom of God is God's rule, not a territory. Mark opens the ministry of Jesus with the announcement that the kingdom of God has come near, and calls for repentance and faith as the response. Scripture speaks of…
Biblical concept
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, and that old things have passed away. The change is described as God's work, not self improvement. Revelation 21 extends the same word to the…
Biblical concept
Jesus says he is the true vine and his followers are branches, and that a branch bears fruit only while it stays joined to the vine. Apart from me you can do nothing is the plainest sentence in the passage. The Old…
Christian Living
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. WEB 2-corinthians 5 The decisive words are in Christ. Identity in the New…
Christian Living
Ephesians 2:8-9 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. WEB ephesians 2 Paul removes every ground for boasting in two…
Bible question
1 John 5:14 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. WEB Before anything is explained, hear God speak about your prayers in his own words. 1 John…
Bible question
2 Peter 1:3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; WEB God speaks about growth before we…
Bible question
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” WEB Read three passages before any argument. One is a claim Jesus made, one is what his hearers understood by it, one is what a disciple said to his face. John 8:58…
Bible question
Luke 9:23-24 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake,…
Bible question
Psalms 68:6 God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land. WEB Hear God's answer to loneliness before any explanation of it. Psalms 68:5-6 A…
Bible question
Colossians 3:23-24 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. WEB Three passages give…
Bible question
Acts 16:30-31 and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." WEB The question in the title of this study…
Bible question
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.…
Bible question
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. WEB This question deserves God's words before ours. Read these passages…
Bible question
Psalms 2:7 I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father. WEB The title has a history. Read where it comes from, then hear it spoken over Jesus, then hear how his…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.