Week 18

April 28-May 2
[M] 1 Sam 18-19; 1 Chr 3; Ps 59; Acts 13
[T] 1 Sam 20; 1 Chr 4; Ps 56, 57, 142; Acts 14
[W] 1 Sam 21-22; 1 Chr 5; Ps 52; Acts 15
[T] 1 Sam 23-24;1 Chr 6; Ps 54; Acts 16
[F] 1 Sam 25; 1 Chr 7; Acts 17

Dwell Plan Day 86-90 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
1 Samuel 18:1 | David’s relationship with Jonathan is so beautiful and intimate. There’s been a cultural revision of this story, trying to claim that this is an example of a homosexual relationship between them. That’s an intellectually dishonest interpretation, reading something modern into an ancient context. And it misses the point catastrophically. This is meant to reveal a work that God does, uniting us together in spiritual ways that connect us with a holy intimacy. What this story of mutual love reveals is the possibility of redemptive and transformative friendships. If David can find a Jonathan, so can you. The Scripture are opening up new possibilities for us to think of intimacy and friendship in new ways in God’s kingdom. This wonderful friendship anticipates what Jesus says to his disciples before his crucifixion: “I call you friends.” Praise Him.

Psalm 59 | A number of the poems in this week’s reading have a superscription. That’s the text right above the first verse, in the title of the poem, with a reference to an event in David’s life. There’s only a handful of these poems, with this connection to the Biblical story, but they give us so much insight. They tell us the internal and spiritual dimension of the story, what’s going on in David’s heart and mind. It invites us to “connect the dots” between the poem and story. Try to do that, asking for the Spirit to reveal things to you.
David’s attitudes and words in certain circumstances can seem strange or disconnected to the experience. But it’s what he was really thinking at the time, and how he was processing his faith and worship along with his suffering and conflicts. The challenge is to “get inside his head” as you read and study.  It’s remarkable to meditate on, because it teaches us what a godly response to hatred, plots against you, and fear of others looks like. As we explore David’s thought life in these poems, we’re challenged to examine our own thoughts and responses to our circumstances. 

Acts 13:1 | This verse gives us a striking glimpse into the beautiful diversity of the early church. Among the leaders in Antioch, we meet Barnabas, a Jewish man from Cyprus; Simeon who was likely a dark-skinned African; Lucius from Cyrene in North Africa; Manaen, who grew up in privilege alongside royalty; and Paul, a former Pharisee with an intensely religious background.
By every earthly standard, these people had nothing in common. Different cultures, different classes, different stories. And yet here they are—worshiping, praying, and leading together. Why? Because the gospel of Jesus has brought them together. Grace has done what nothing else could: it has united them into one family.
This is a picture of what the church is meant to be—a community formed not by similarity, but by shared salvation.

Acts 13:48 | and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed | There is an interesting dual perspective here. On the one side of the coin, we have Paul and Barnabas working to spread the gospel (this is the first missionary trip), but on the other side we see that the people who came to faith did so because God appointed them to eternal life. What are we to make of this? Here it is: God is sovereign in salvation from beginning to end, and in that sovereignty, He has appointed to use regular folks like us to accomplish His plan. The encouragement is obvious then, get out there and do the work of ministry trusting that our Father will gather people to His life.

Tuesday
1 Samuel 20 | These chapters have a bit of back and forth in them. The writer is telling a story that has lots of moving pieces and details. You’ll notice that Saul seems increasingly erratic as we go through the story. As Saul seems to fall apart and wildly change his mind from day to day, David is just trying to survive. If you get confused by the narrative, don’t be frustrated. Some of the chaos that was happening between Saul, Jonathan, Michal, and David is really captured by how the Biblical text tells the story. It goes back and forth sometimes, but that’s more proof of how historical it actually is. It’s a story full of faith, craziness, demonic possession, jealousy, and fear. It’s family drama and pathos at its worst. Good to know this is the stuff that God works with in His kingdom.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 | The prayer of Jabez! It’s just a passing note by the writer. There’s a bunch of these little notes scattered throughout the genealogies: little historical details of interest and geography. It was all really important and practical for them. But the point of including these little people, these folks that we know nothing about except the dozen words describing their lives, is to keep revealing how God’s kingdom works.
The whole Jabez prayer/promise was a big thing for a month or so in American Evangelicalism a few years ago. You see these flashes of popular teaching over and over again in the story of the church. The Jabez story was used to encourage folks to ask God boldly for things. That’s okay teaching, but the point is sharper than that. Jabez is a nobody. He doesn’t really “count” in the big things of the world. He’s insignificant, a footnote sort of detail in a long list of strange sounding names. And God answered him. Why wouldn’t He answer you? 

Psalm 56:8 | David describes God with such loving detail and tenderness. Even with all of this conflict raging around him, David is captivated by the steadfast love of God. He praises it, celebrates it, and puts his trust in it. In this verse he describes God’s heart so beautifully. He says that God collects his tears. Then he says that God counts every time he turns over at night in restless fitful sleep. What do we collect and what do we count? We might count money, likes, and follows on social media. Only what is most precious to us, what we value most in this life, what we love and enjoy. So what is of value beyond price to our God? What does He carefully record and set aside for His own collection? Our suffering and the stuff that breaks our hearts, the stuff that keeps us up at night. Our Father is telling us how much all that stuff matters to Him—what a loving and tender God.

Wednesday
1 Samuel 21 | Jesus refers to this little story in Mark 2. David is actually on the run and is hiding that fact. Because he left so quickly, he didn’t have food. He gets to the tabernacle, which is their version of “church” back then, and asks the priest for something to eat. But the priest doesn’t have anything except the “showbread” which was bread cooked to be presented to God. Priests could eat some of the sacrifices, but only priests. The food was holy so the person eating had to be holy. David understands that and tells the priest how holy he and his men are. And they eat the showbread. How is that ok? Only the priests could snack on that, God’s rules are quite clear. So that’s how Jesus uses this story! Very religious folks are often experts on following rules. Their expertise is even better at making up more rules to follow. Jesus uses the story about David to upset the rule keepers. After all, David is the apple of God’s eye, so how could he be so disobedient? Why isn’t he condemned? God’s kingdom reveals something here. Sometimes being technically disobedient can actually be holy, and sometimes being technically holy can be pure disobedience. How can that be? Jesus uses David’s story to expose the empty posturing righteousness of religious people: following rules earnestly and loving no one graciously. 

Acts 15 | This chapter can be a bit confusing at first. It almost sounds like the early church is saying, “Yes, we’re saved by grace—just follow a few extra rules and you’re in.” But that’s not what’s happening. The apostles make it clear: salvation is by grace alone, through faith in Jesus. Full stop.
The guidance they offer to the Gentile believers isn’t about earning salvation, it’s about promoting unity. These new Christians were entering a community with deep Jewish roots, and the apostles wanted to remove barriers to fellowship. This is a moment of pastoral wisdom, not theological compromise. It reminds us that while grace saves us, love guides how we live together in the church.

Thursday
1 Samuel 23 | You’ll see this phrase over and over in David’s life: David inquired of the Lord. He checked in. When he had to make a decision, when he needed intel on his enemies, when he needed to know whether to go left or right—David inquired of the Lord. He asked God. What this means in this story is quite clear: he would ask the priest to throw the “holy dice” called the Urim and the Thummim that stayed in the high priest’s pocket, on his chest. So David would ask, and the priest would roll the dice. It’s amazing.
We don’t need dice anymore, we’ve got 66 books and the Holy Spirit inside of us. Between those two things, we have what we need to “inquire of the Lord.” And if one thing is clear from this story, it’s this: ask God about everything. Like that old song teaches, take it to the Lord in prayer.
But there’s another reason the writer includes this phrase over and over in David’s life. It’s so you take notice of this terrible thing that happens—which you might miss as you read this story. What terrible thing? It’s when this phrase “David inquired of the Lord” disappears from the story. And then David’s life and family go into a tailspin. 

Acts 16:6-10 | It always strikes me as strange that the Spirit would “forbid” them to preach the gospel in Asia (or, quite frankly, it’s just odd that the Spirit would forbid going anywhere at all! Doesn’t God want everyone to hear about Jesus?) But this question reveals the heart behind the question. Do we think we are more loving than God and His plans? That’s ridiculous. So what do we learn? We can’t trust our own hearts or our own ideas about what’s best. We like to plan and prepare and strategize, but then God seems to come along and scuttle all of our plans. It’s bewildering at times. But notice the simple and straightforward obedience of the apostles. Our attitude should be the same, and we shouldn’t be surprised that our plans get superseded or overruled by His. In fact, we should be thankful, because our God does all things well. We’re servants and we are to go wherever we’re told, whenever we are told to. It won’t always be so crystal clear, and sometimes it will just feel like uncontrollable circumstances. It isn’t. You can trust Him to direct you, and He will put you right where He wants you. And sometimes He just slams the door shut.

Friday
Acts 17:10–15 | The Bereans give us one of the best pictures in Scripture of how to respond to teaching: they listened eagerly to Paul, but they didn’t just take his word for it. They went straight to the Scriptures, examining them daily to see if what he said was true.
That’s the kind of heart God honors—open to truth, but grounded in His Word. In a world full of opinions, sermons, and social media takes, the Bereans remind us where our anchor is. Scripture is still the final authority, and God still calls us to be people who test everything by it. Don’t just absorb the teaching you hear, search the Word. God speaks through it; and when we go there first, we’ll grow in wisdom, discernment, and confidence in the gospel.

Week 17

April 21-25
[M] 1 Samuel 9-10; Acts 8
[T] 1 Sam 11-13; Psalm 38; Acts 9
[W] 1 Sam 14; Psalm 124; Acts 10
[T] 1 Sam 15-16; 1 Chr 1; Ps 39; Acts 11
[F] 1 Sam 17; 1 Chr 2; Acts 12

Dwell Plan Day 81-85 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
1 Samuel 9:2, 18 | Hebrew storytelling is thoughtful and careful. It likes to show you details and let you put it together. Remember Hannah’s song from chapter 2; it’s the golden key to interpret and understand these texts, to read between the lines.
Let’s take a look at some “suggestive” details. None of these are disqualifications; they just raise some questions, don’t they? First, Saul is good looking and tall. That’s not a problem in itself, but anyone who knows God’s wisdom knows that outward appearances can be deceiving. Not always, but you’ve got to pay attention. Saul looks like a quarterback, he’s head and shoulders taller and he’s rich. Any warning bells ringing yet?
Notice that it’s Saul’s servant who comes up with the idea to find the prophet. It’s Saul’s servant who knows where the prophet Samuel lives, it’s Saul’s servant who knows what to do. It’s Saul’s servant who has a gift for the prophet. What’s the problem here? The servant is wiser, better prepared, and more spiritually aware than his master. Verse 18 says it all in a very funny moment. Saul walks right up to Samuel to ask him where he can find Samuel! It’s pure comedy! But it’s also a chilling moment. Samuel is the great religious leader of his day. Samuel the great pastor of God’s people and is leading them as their judge. What’s the point of Saul not recognizing Samuel? Saul is spiritually disconnected and ignorant. He goes to worship God so infrequently, he doesn’t even know who Samuel is. Now the warning signs are blaring at us. See if you can find other details that point out Saul’s inherent flaws and inability to lead! (Hint: in 1 Sam 10:22 he’s hiding in the baggage when they make him king.)

Acts 8:4 | Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. | Saul and the religious leaders thought they could shut down the Jesus movement by cracking down hard—violence, threats, arrests. But God wasn’t caught off guard. In fact, He used it. As believers were forced to flee Jerusalem, they didn’t go silent, they took the gospel with them. Everywhere they went, they shared the good news. What looked like a setback turned into a gospel wildfire. It’s such a good reminder that even when things feel out of control, God is still in control and He can turn even opposition into opportunity.

Acts 8:17 | Pentecost actually happens three times in Acts. First in Acts 2 in Jerusalem. Acts 8 is the Samaritan Pentecost. The Gentile Pentecost is coming up in Acts 10. Why does God repeat this dramatic outpouring of the Spirit? It’s to make something crystal clear: the gospel isn’t just for one group. The Samaritans and Gentiles aren’t second-class citizens in the kingdom. They’re fully welcomed, fully filled, and fully part of God’s family, just like the first believers in Jerusalem. 

Tuesday
1 Samuel 12:5 | The leaders in God’s kingdom have always been held to a higher standard of character, and this is revealed clearly in God’s descriptions of the Godly elders and leaders He wants for His churches. This consistency runs through the course of all Scripture. God’s kingdom is the same kingdom. Same rules, same holiness, same grace. Praise Him!

1 Samuel 13:8 | This is a leadership test straight from God. Wait seven days for my prophet is the instruction, but Samuel seems to be running late. Saul is now king and he’s nervous about it. What will the people think? They’re outgunned and outclassed by the Philistines. The Philistines have better tech for sharpening swords. Folks are starting to desert him and get scared. Waiting for the prophet isn’t working. It’s all falling apart and he’s barely begun to be king. He has to do something! Anything! Waiting for God to do something is just lazy isn’t it? Maybe Samuel marked the date wrong on his calendar. Where is he? This crisis grinds Saul down and he caves in. He doesn’t wait.
God tests many of us this way at some point. Will we be faithful when it’s difficult and it looks like the losing strategy? It’s a hard, hard test for us. Our self reliance and bias for action are tools for our pride and fear to take control with, and that ends disastrously for us time and time again.
Saul is meant to be a mirror for us, a mirror for our flesh and our broken unbelief. Saul has it all—God’s call, the power of the Spirit, a prophet behind him, success at everything he’s done so far, detailed descriptions of the future so he’d know it was God’s miraculous power. None of that matters. Saul is a cautionary tale for us, a picture of someone who has every opportunity to know God, and even appears to know God, but it’s all false. What a warning to us today.

1 Samuel 13:10–12 | What’s the difference between David and Saul? Both are leaders who think that their power and status puts them above the law. Both fall into grievous sin. When David is confronted by Nathan (we’ll get there soon), he repents and writes Psalm 51. When Saul is confronted by Samuel, he passes the blame off and makes excuses for his sin. That lack of repentance and hatred of sin shows us what’s going on in his heart, and it’s not devotion to YHWH.

Psalm 38 | Feeling beat up? Feel like God is taking you to the woodshed and disciplining you? This is your poem. Are you suffering and in horrible pain? This is your poem. Do folks avoid you because you’re so miserable? This is your poem. Have you been so wicked in your thoughts that it dismays you and discourages you? This is your poem. Feel like you’re about to completely give up? This is your poem. Need to ask God to hurry, to be closer to you, to not abandon you? This is your poem. This is your song and your anthem for all of those low down times, when you see how you messed everything up, when you can’t see a way out, when your internal world is complete chaos. And this is our God giving us a poem we can pray and express ourselves through, to give voice to our deep frustration with our sins and failures and all the disappointments we bring into the world. What a sweet God we have, that He gives us words like this, because sometimes these are the only words that make sense to us. What a message of grace this poem/prayer is for us to enact and pray for ourselves. Praise Him.

Acts 9:4 | This is how deeply Jesus is united to his people. Saul was persecuting the followers of Jesus, but when Jesus confronted him, He asked, “Why are you persecuting ME?” Think about what that means for how much He loves you.

Acts 9:26–27 | Think about this: when Saul tried to meet with the apostles after his conversion, they were terrified of him, and honestly, who could blame them? This was the guy who had been hunting down Christians. But then Barnabas stepped in. His name literally means “son of encouragement,” and he really lived up to it. He listened to Saul’s story, believed in what God had done, and personally brought him to the apostles, saying, “You turkeys need to hear this guy’s story.” Barnabas’s response is such a beautiful picture of the gospel in action. He believed that even someone with Saul’s past wasn’t beyond the reach of grace.

Wednesday
1 Samuel 14:44 | Rash leaders and their proud decisions are on display here. Saul’s folly seems to increase as he goes on his career as king. He makes commitments that are absurd. Telling the soldiers to not eat on pain of death, while you’ve got eight solid hours of combat ahead, that’s just plain stupid. And then, on top of stupid, to add stubbornness and saving face in front of everyone. Saul is ready to kill his own son just to not look dumb for a stupid decision he made. Saul can’t admit that. It reveals a heart more passionately concerned for his own reputation than he is for the life of his own boy. Makes you wonder how Jonathan felt. Watch leaders for this sort of foolishness. Saul is a warning about the destruction that an insecure and unspiritual leader creates in their wake. He’s also a warning to us in our own pride and anger. Don’t get blinded in your arrogance, and because of it limit the success and growth of God’s kingdom. It’s as much a problem today as it was thousands of years ago.

Thursday
1 Samuel 15:22 | Saul has been showing his true colors now. We’re seeing him for who he is. We’re seeing what a judgment he is on God’s people as well. This final test of Saul is what destroys him. It’s the Jericho test, the “things devoted to destruction” test. Remember that from Joshua? It’s rare, but several times God commands this kind of utter annihilation of a people group or city. It’s meant to be God’s people carrying out God’s justice. It’s severe and scary. It’s also very hard to do, because—as we saw with Achan at Jericho—there’s a lot of incentives to take some stuff for yourself. There’s incentives to let kings live too. After all, it’s just détente. In other words, if you don’t kill kings and you show some respect, then when you’re defeated in battle, the same respect will be shown to you. Kings do fight other kings for their stuff, but they also look out for each other. It’s just good foreign policy. God isn’t interested in Saul’s policy decisions. Saul fails the “devoting things to destruction” test. It’s a catastrophic failure. For him and for us. Father, help us pass this test of our hearts by the power of your Spirit. Amen.

1 Samuel 16:7 | This is the biblical principle that Christ puts into action again and again, seeing past the outward show that folks put on, and seeing into the heart. That’s how God sees stuff. That’s how God looks at our motives and desires and goals, weighing our actions against our hearts. Everything flows from the heart. This wisdom is all over the Scriptures. This crashes past our fakery, our pretensions to spiritual maturity, our desire to look good to others. 

1 Chronicles 1 | You’re going to be tempted to skip this part. That’s okay. Try skimming through to catch the little details. One family names their kid after an earthquake (Peleg) and another has kids through a slave and another has a different issue. So why are these lists of folks and their little penny-ante problems in our Bibles? No little people! That’s God’s kingdom for you! There are no nobodies in God’s kingdom. You may find these names hard to pronounce and meaningless. That’s okay. They may be pointless and meaningless to you. But they aren’t to God, and that’s the point. Do you think that Peleg ever even knew his name would be written down in a book that would last thousands of years? Of course not. But there it is, he’s honored by God by being mentioned in a list of other folks we don’t know anything about. And there’s the joy for us. God is just as interested in your life as he was in Peleg’s. There are no people who are unimportant and don’t matter. That’s how the world works, not our God and not His kingdom. This is how we are to act as well. We’re to adopt the same sort of attitude that is on these pages. It’s only God that makes you matter, and when you matter to Him, you matter to eternal purposes. You’re a part of His grand design, however insignificant and unimportant you feel. You’re more than a conqueror. You. Wow, what a God and what a savior. 

Acts 11 | The early church in its first days goes through some real changes. After Jesus ascended, the disciples are now trying to work out God’s kingdom. They don’t see it all yet. They’re still culturally Jews, and that comes with a lot of baggage. There’s dietary rules and rules for associating with sinners and rules for just about everything in life. That’s the heritage of the Old Testament law. And the rabbis had added many more rules “just to be on the safe side.”  They weren’t supposed to do that. God said don’t add to My law. But they did it anyway. So these early church leaders had a lot to sort through. And God helped them. Here we see these Godly leaders processing all the stuff that’s happening. They’re looking for the evidences of God’s true work, and they can’t deny what Peter has seen and experienced. God’s kingdom is expanding and driving outwards, just like Jesus said it would. The church is trying to play catch up with God’s works! That’s comforting, because it seems we still have the same sorts of issues, and this is showing us we still have the same God to solve them. This encourages us to constantly process what God is doing and how He is moving and how we can align ourselves with that. 


Friday
1 Samuel 17:26 | The living God! This is one of my favorite names for our Father. This leaps off the page for me.
What does it mean for him to be living? First, He’s active in the world. This isn’t a God removed from life, but a God engaged with life in Himself as much as with us.
Second, this reveals how His eternity is actually personal. What is living is personal, not impersonal and distant. Gravity is a force. It’s impersonal and has no life. What it does, pulling us all towards the ground, it does unthinkingly. It merely is. But not our God! He’s alive and engaged. He can be known.
Third, if He is the living God, where did His life come from? It comes from Himself. It can’t come from anywhere else, or there would be something or someone greater than Him. It’s absurd and ridiculous to think anything is greater than God, because then He would no longer be God. Why? A part of what defines God as God is that He is greater than any being that you can even think of in your head. So His life, His living, is from Himself. Remember, from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. And the One who has life in Himself doesn’t need anyone else to give Him life.
This leads to the fourth implication: we live because He lives. Our personhood, our living self, is ours because our God is the living God, and he made us to be like Him—living creatures. He did this first in the work of creating the world, and then He did it again in His second great work of saving the world. In His first work, He breathed life into us, giving us living souls. (That’s what died when Adam sinned.) In His second redeeming work through Jesus, Jesus died and was resurrected. Why? It’s obvious: He’s the living God, He can’t be dead! And now this new living life is in us. The living God has gone further than before. At first we were a copy of Him. Living like He is living. Through Jesus we’re more than a copy or an image bearer. Now the eternal part of the living God’s life in Himself is being shared with us. Now if you trust in Jesus, you are a new creation. A new living person filled and transformed and united to the Living God. Praise Him! Praise the Living God!

Week 16

April 14-18
[M] Ruth 1-2; Acts 3
[T] Ruth 3-4; Psalm 37; Acts 4
[W] 1 Samuel 1-2; Psalm 120; Acts 5
[T] 1 Sam 3-5; Psalm 23; Acts 6
[F] 1 Sam 6-8; Acts 7

Dwell Plan Day 76-80 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Ruth 1:16-17 | Ruth’s words in these verses are a striking declaration of faith—especially coming from a Moabite. As an outsider, Ruth had no natural claim to Israel’s God, yet she chooses to leave behind her land, her people, and her idols to follow Naomi and trust in the LORD. Her loyalty isn’t just to Naomi; it’s a heartfelt conversion to the God of Israel. In her quiet steadfast faith, we see the grace of God reaching beyond the borders of the land of Israel.
Ruth’s story is a preview of God’s larger redemptive plan—to gather the nations to Himself. Though she was once far off, she is welcomed in, even becoming part of the lineage of Christ. Her faith reminds us that God’s kingdom is open to all who trust in Him, regardless of background. The same grace that brought Ruth in is the grace that brings us in too.

Ruth 2:2 | In the Old Testament, gleaning was a built-in provision for the poor, the foreigner, and the widow—God commanded landowners not to harvest the edges of their fields or pick up what was dropped during the harvest (Leviticus 19:9–10). This wasn’t charity as an afterthought; it was justice woven into the structure of Israel’s economy. Ruth, a poor Moabite widow, enters this story by gleaning, and through it, she not only finds sustenance but is drawn into the family line of the Messiah. In God’s upside-down kingdom, the last are seen, the lowly are lifted, and the margins become places of divine encounter. Gleaning reminds us that true faith always bears fruit in care for the vulnerable—and that God often works His greatest redemption through the humble and the overlooked.

Acts 3:8 | This miracle is amazing, elevating the disciples to the kind of power that Jesus displayed. This establishes a true continuity; this is the work of a risen and living Jesus. But notice how the miracle is both healing and full restoration. There’s no physical therapy or learning to walk. We know through modern medicine how these processes are absolutely necessary in the world’s form of healing. Not in the kingdom! It’s a picture of the full reach and extent and raw power of God. Christ is making clear, and the Holy Spirit is displaying it: ask whatever you wish in My Name, and I will do it for you. And in these heady early days of this new and beautiful kingdom, huge signs and wonders are happening as proofs and encouragements. It should make us bold to hope and to ask for works that will advance his kingdom now, whatever he chooses for those to be.

Tuesday
Ruth 2-3 | In ancient Israel, the kinsman redeemer (or goel) was a close relative responsible for rescuing family members from poverty, slavery, or the loss of land (Leviticus 25). Boaz steps into this role for Ruth—not out of obligation, but with compassion and covenant love—redeeming her from her vulnerable state and securing her future. In doing so, he becomes a powerful foreshadowing of Christ, our greater Redeemer, who took on flesh to rescue us—not just from material need, but from sin and death itself. Like Boaz, Jesus didn’t redeem us because He had to, but because He loved us. And like Ruth, we bring nothing but need, and receive everything in return.

Ruth 4:17 | As we peer back through Christ’s genealogy, you get this sense of the master plan, a glimpse of the meta story that’s going on. First we see God’s caring and providing providence, putting together His story in His way to His glory! The “happenstance” of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz’s lives are all superintended by the loving grace and choices of our God. Watch it unfold in Scripture and you’ll begin to see a similar unfolding in the “chaos” of your own life.
Next it reveals, in a backwards sort of way, the trajectory of Jesus’ love and kingdom. After all, his bloodline comes from all over—different people groups—revealing the Lord’s purpose that the nations be folded into his kingdom. We’re in that trajectory today as God’s loving kingdom is still growing in us and through us, reaching the nations. Wow, what a God, and what a plan.

Psalm 37 | This poem is a meditation on the difficulty of handling evil people in this world. It’s hard emotionally: it makes you constantly angry. It’s hard personally: they’re opportunists, waiting to take advantage of you. It’s hard mentally: they take and take and never give back. We all have people like this in our lives. We can try to get away from toxic folks, but sometimes we don’t have a choice about family or work or other circumstances. This is a poem you turn to when you’re fretting—or getting hot under the collar—about how wicked people will often look like they are “winning” at life through their despicable tactics. We might be tempted to use some of those tactics ourselves. This poem is meant to warn you and guide you through those relationships, driving you back again and again to trust in the Lord even more. 

Psalm 37:11 | “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace” | Sound familiar? 

Acts 4:23-31 | This is one of my (Jon) favorite prayers in Scripture. After being released, the apostles don’t pray for safety or to avoid arrest again. Instead, with the church, they pray and focus on two things. First, they declare who God is—sovereign, creator, and in control of all things. Second, they pray for boldness to keep speaking the word. It’s an amazing prayer, and God answers it. As we keep reading Acts, we’ll see exactly what they prayed for: the people of God speaking with boldness, and many coming to faith.

Wednesday
1 Samuel 1:14 | Hannah’s earnest prayer is so emotional that the priest thinks she’s drunk. Not sure what theological point this makes, except for the startling parallel with Acts 2. The disciples were accused of being day drinkers! Again the work of God is mistaken for drunkenness. Have you been so “intoxicated” with God that someone might mistake your passion or joy for something else?
But there’s also something else here, isn’t there? Perceiving God’s kingdom is something that God has to give you. Eli is spiritually blind. We find out how badly in the next few chapters, with his inability to restrain his son's wickedness. What’s happening here? We need God’s wisdom and grace, His Spirit in us, to perceive what He is doing. Even when it’s staring us right in the face. This becomes a constant refrain—as John tells us “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Let’s ask our Father to make us ready and discerning of His kingdom.

1 Samuel 2 | Hannah’s prayer here and Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1 ring with the same melody of praise: both women magnify the Lord who lifts up the lowly and brings down the proud. Hannah rejoices in a God who gives strength to the weak and raises the poor from the dust. Mary, centuries later, sings of that same God who exalts the humble and fills the hungry with good things. The similarities show us what a godly woman Mary was. In the biggest moment of her life, what bubbles up? Scripture. Her prayer echoes the prayer of Hannah.
Both prayers celebrate not just personal blessings, but the character of YHWH—faithful, just, and merciful. These women saw beyond their own stories to the bigger picture: a God who is turning the world upside down with His grace. Their prayers invite us to trust that no one is too small for God to use and no situation too broken for Him to redeem.

1 Samuel 2 | There is also another dynamic here. The medium—in this case a nobody, a random country girl dealing with fertility issues—is also the message. Hannah reflects that her problems, which would look pretty insignificant to most folks, just aren’t viewed that way by God. She then describes how God’s upside down kingdom actually works. It values what no one else values. And so Hannah becomes the interpretive jewel for all of the histories that follow. A random country girl we never hear about again—she’s the one who understands what kings and wise men cannot. Her poem here becomes the way to interpret everything that follows. Wow. What a kingdom! And this further implies that however insignificant we might feel we are, God has other notions and a different perspective. 

Acts 5:20-21a | “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. | The angel tells the apostles to go right back and do the very thing that just got them arrested. And the amazing thing? They actually do it. These are the same men who fled when Jesus was arrested—afraid, hiding, denying they even knew Him. So what changed? The only explanation is that they saw the resurrected Jesus. Nothing else could have turned their fear into fearless obedience.

 

Thursday
1 Samuel 3 | Read this chapter slowly and carefully, imagining all the details.
It's very quiet at night in the countryside, which you can only experience in remote areas in our time. The Scriptures talk again and again about God’s “call.” In this story, which still gives me chills all these years later, we get to see that idea of “call” fleshed out for us. This is a picture of what I pray to happen spiritually in all of us, both as we experience God in prayer, and as we read His word together. A sense of God calling you, personally addressing you, inviting you to know Him and trust Him in ways you never have before. And notice, this call to follow God is tested right away. Samuel has to tell all that God has told Him to tell. He doesn’t hold back. This is our God seeking us and chasing us and pursuing us. This reveals His invitation to us to personally know Him and how it’s possible. There it is—today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. Just tell Him “Here I am. Speak, your servant is ready to listen.”

1 Samuel 3:19 | None of his words fell to the ground. Or, in other words, everything he said came true and was true. God was behind them all. Gravity and time don’t affect God’s words—they stay standing. And if God is with a person, a man or woman who speaks His words, then the things they say will also be true and come true. It’s how you know if someone is really a prophet of God. It’s the test. You get to use that test too. One of the folks to ace that particular test is Jesus!

1 Samuel 5 | In this chapter, the ark of the covenant is captured by the Philistines and placed in the temple of their god Dagon. But instead of symbolizing defeat, this moment becomes a powerful declaration of God’s supremacy. The next morning, Dagon is found face down before the ark. The day after that, he’s broken to pieces. No one touched him—YHWH simply will not share His glory. This isn’t just a story of national rivalry; it’s a theological showdown. God is making clear that He is not one among many, but the one true and living God.
The Old Testament is filled with moments like this—clear, intentional polemics against false gods. From Egypt’s plagues, to Elijah on Mount Carmel, Scripture repeatedly shows that idols have no power, no life, and no voice. They fall before the presence of the Lord. And that same God still topples our modern idols—whether they be comfort, control, success, or self. The call is the same now as it was then: turn from what cannot save, and trust in the God who cannot be defeated.

Psalm 23 | If you do not know this poem as a treasure chest, as a spring of hope in the face of exhaustion, fear, conflict and suffering, then you have been robbed. Maybe you’ve read it too much. Then memorize it. Reading it through every once and while just doesn’t get these treasures into your heart properly. Meditate on it for a week. Rewrite it in your own words. Just make it yours so you can use it and pray it.  I have prayed this while fighting panic 500 feet up a rock wall. I have prayed it while fearing for my son’s life. I have prayed it at lonely hours of confusion and fear. I have prayed it when all hope felt gone. I have prayed it when I can’t understand why things are so hard or painful. I have prayed it when I have nothing left in my tank. I have prayed it before intense meetings and in the middle of conflict. May you do the same.

Acts 6:5 | …They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. | This verse speaks volumes about the unity and humility of the early church. When the Greek-speaking widows felt overlooked, the church didn’t ignore the concern—they came together to solve it. And what’s remarkable is who they chose: seven men, all with Greek names. Not a balanced mix to keep everyone happy. The Hebrew-speaking believers weren’t focused on protecting their own interests, they were focused on loving their sisters in Christ. By affirming these Greek leaders, the church prioritized justice and unity over representation, and in doing so, they avoided what could have become a major ethnic divide.

Friday
1 Samuel 7:12 | After God gives Israel victory over the Philistines, Samuel sets up a stone and names it Ebenezer, saying, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” The word Ebenezer means “stone of help” and serves as a visible reminder of God’s faithfulness. When we sing “here I raise mine Ebenezer” in Come Thou Fount, we’re echoing that same gratitude—acknowledging that every step of our journey has been sustained by God’s grace.

1 Samuel 8 | In this chapter, Israel demands a king so that they could be like the other nations, rejecting God as their true King. God grants their request, but not without warning—they will get a king who takes more than he gives. This chapter leaves us longing for a better King, one who doesn’t take but gives everything for His people—and in Jesus, the true and perfect King, that longing is finally fulfilled.

Acts 7 | Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 is the longest in the book of Acts, and it’s all about Jesus. Standing before the Jewish council, Stephen walks through Israel’s history, not to give a mere lesson, but to show how all of it leads to Christ. From Abraham to Moses to David, Stephen highlights how God was always working through imperfect people to fulfill His promises. He shows that God’s presence was never confined to a building or a place, preparing the way to reveal that Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of all these hopes.
At the heart of Stephen’s message is a bold claim: just as their ancestors rejected the prophets, so have they rejected the Righteous One—Jesus. But even in the face of rejection, Stephen’s words are full of truth and grace. He doesn’t preach to win an argument, but to bear witness. His sermon calls his hearers—and us—to see Jesus as the true Savior, the One greater than Moses, the final temple, the fulfillment of all God’s promises.
What makes Stephen’s sermon even more powerful is how it ends—not just in death, but in a vision of glory. As he is being stoned, Stephen looks up and sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God, welcoming him home. His final words echo Jesus’ own: asking God to receive his spirit and forgive his killers. Stephen’s life, sermon, and death all point to Christ—not just as a message to believe, but a Savior worth dying for.

Acts 7:60 | This is what happens when the Spirit is working in all His fullness. Stephen is filled with Christ’s own words from the cross. “Forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” But it isn’t just words. Stephen is filled with Christ’s own heart at the cross. Stephen is filled with grace equal to and even greater than the horror and suffering of that moment. So much so that he breathes and radiates forgiving love to those who hate him, in real time as another rock smashes his head. It’s supernatural and amazing. It’s the fullness of how the Spirit makes us like Jesus that we should all ask for, that we should all seek.

Week 15

April 7-11
[M] Judges 7-8; Luke 22
[T] Judges 9-11; Psalm 17; Luke 23
[W] Judges 12-16; Psalm 146; Luke 24
[T] Judges 17-18; Psalm 21; Acts 1
[F] Judges 19-21; Acts 2

Dwell Plan Day 71-75 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris


Monday
Judges 7 gives us a striking principle: God doesn’t operate the way we expect him to. From our sinful, culturally shaped perspective, so much of what He does seems backwards. Really think about it—what military logic is there in shrinking your army before a major battle? But in verse 2, God explains exactly why he does it: Lest Israel boast over me, saying, “My own hand has saved me.” He wanted to make it clear that the victory belonged to Him, not to their strength.
That same pattern runs through the entire story of redemption. God doesn’t just help us get saved—He saves us entirely. It’s not 99% God and 1% me. It’s all God, from beginning to end. Just like He stripped Gideon’s army down to show that the victory was His, He makes salvation entirely His work so that we can’t boast in ourselves.
Look at how Paul puts it: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9) God chose what is low and despised in the world… so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:28–31)

Judges 8:27 | The conclusion of Gideon’s story is a stark warning for us all. Despite his many faithful deeds in service to the Lord, he ended up fashioning an idol that led the people away from YHWH. This teaches us that we require the same measure of grace and sanctification during times of prosperity as we do in times of hardship—those moments of peace and comfort can be just as vulnerable to the enemy’s influence.

Luke 22:15 | It seems odd that Jesus talks about what He most wants here. You can see the original Aramaic that Jesus spoke (Aramaic is a later dialect of Hebrew, common in Jesus’ time) in the grammar. It literally says that Jesus “desired, desired” just like that, repeating the word. This repeated word construction is not Greek syntax. This little repetition, used all the time in Hebrew, means a perfect version of whatever the word is. “Peace, peace” becomes “perfect peace.” Here “desired, desired” means the most powerful and perfect desire. And what is Jesus desiring? This last supper, this meal that he shares with them before His death on the cross, this meal that He instructs them to keep having, to keep doing and remembering Him and what He’s doing at that cross. Wow. Do you approach communion with such an all consuming desire to feed on Jesus? To have our God? Jesus’ perfect desire is everything the communion meal teaches and illustrates. Jesus loves sinners and comes to rescue them. Praise Him.  

Luke 22:54-62 | How do we know these details about Peter’s denials? It was just Peter standing there, warming himself by the fire, waiting to see what might happen to Jesus. What this implies is that Peter told everyone what he did. That may seem like a small detail, but it’s wildly important. The apostles lead us in two ways: by their lives and by their words. What we learn and see in their lives is humility. They tell the truth about their failures and weaknesses; they own their mistakes and even point them out for you. Why? Because there are no heroes but Jesus, and there is no righteousness except Jesus’, and there is no strength outside of Jesus. Peter knew that his failures would preach Jesus to you, so he made sure you knew them. This unleashes God’s power in the world: when we don’t look to our strength and glory and reputation but only to Jesus’. As we read both the Old and New Testaments, we see this strange emphasis—it isn’t about any human accomplishment or a particular person’s heroic story. Everyone is shown with their warts and pimples. And this reveals just what kind of slobby, warty, pimply people our God came to save. 

Tuesday
Judges 9:56 | After Abimelech’s death, the author steps in with a clear editorial note: it was God who brought justice, using even the unlikely means of a woman with a millstone to do it.
This chapter reveals two powerful truths. First, humanity is deeply sinful. What we see in Abimelech and the people of Shechem is not an anomaly—it’s a snapshot of the human condition throughout history. Second, God is a God of justice. He doesn’t overlook sin; He responds to it with righteous wrath.
Both of these truths are essential to understanding the gospel. You’re not meant to see yourself as the hero in this story—you’re meant to see yourself in Abimelech: self-centered, power-hungry, and under judgment. And that should lead to fear—unless you know the gospel.
Abimelech suffered a shameful death under the justice of God. So did Jesus. But Jesus didn’t die for His own sin—He died for yours. He took the punishment we deserved, and He did it out of love. Through Jesus, our sin is atoned for, and God’s justice is fully satisfied. That’s the hope of the gospel.

Judges 11:34-40 | This is insane. And this particular form of insanity is important for us to notice. At times in the Bible, folks will be described as having a lot of zeal or passion. And at times that is a passion that is uninformed by complete biblical truth. Jephthah has a real passion for God—but he doesn’t seem to really know the law, because he makes a rash vow before God and follows through in sacrificing his own daughter as a burnt offering. This was never God’s intention or desire or command. But ignorance wins the day, which it seems to win often. Biblical literacy isn’t much better in our day, and this same chaos—of uninformed or misinformed passion for God—still destroys families and communities and faith. We live in a time a lot like the time of the judges now. Pray against the insanity of this age for the glory of Jesus.

Psalm 17:8 | Practice the beauty of asking God to keep you as His favorite, or as the Hebrew literally says “watch over me like I’m the pupil in your eyeball.” You’re allowed to ask God to make you His favorite! The scriptures have always applied the same remedy for sinners: seek intimacy of relationship with God, and look for Him to make that intimacy happen. Seek first the kingdom.

Luke 23:9 | Like a sheep standing  in front of a butcher, He didn’t say a bleat. This is Christ’s grandeur, because it fulfills a prophecy, but it’s also a picture of His majesty. Pilate is using Jesus to win points with Herod. Herod is questioning Jesus because he’s curious, like he was curious about John the Baptist. But Christ is no victim, and Christ plays no games. What majesty and poise Jesus has here! Jesus does the worst thing He could do: He bores the tyrant and isn’t afraid. Jesus invites us into His majesty and poise by the Holy Spirit, so that when we face moments of testing and trial, we can have an answer. Or know not to answer. What a savior we have in Jesus. 

Wednesday
Judges 13-16 | The story of Samson is not a biblical version of a comic book hero—a man with super strength defeating villains with a little help from God. Instead, it’s the story of God’s relentless faithfulness to work through a deeply broken and sinful man. Samson’s life is not one of consistent obedience or noble character; rather, it’s a testimony to God’s ability to bring about deliverance even through human weakness and failure.
On the positive side, Samson’s story intentionally echoes elements of Christ’s: Both have miraculous births announced by angels. Both are set apart from the womb and called to save God’s people. Both are empowered by the Spirit, rejected by their own, and both achieve a kind of victory through their deaths. These parallels are not accidental—they point forward to Jesus as the greater deliverer.
But the contrasts are just as important, if not more so. Where Samson failed, Jesus triumphed. Samson was a moral disaster, breaking every part of his Nazirite vow. Jesus was perfectly obedient, fulfilling every requirement of God’s law. Samson lived for himself—driven by lust, pride, and revenge. Jesus lived for others—marked by humility, purity, and self-sacrifice. Samson was a man of violence, ruled by impulse. Jesus was a man of peace, ruled by love. The story of Samson shows us our need for a better Savior. And in every way Samson falls short, Jesus shines all the brighter.

Psalm 146:1 | One thing the Biblical poets teach us is how to talk to ourselves. Talking to yourself like this is an action, a proclamation to your own mind and consciousness. It’s different from “listening to yourself” which is more passive, something we experience often. When we listen to ourselves, we often act impulsively and reactively, making choices out of fear or a sudden desire. We hear thoughts, doubts, complaints, and excuses like a constant echo chamber in our souls. It can be a bit noisy in our thoughts at times. What can we do? Talk to yourself the way the Bible teaches you to! Look at how the poet starts with a command directed at his own being—praise the LORD! He tells himself what to do. No excuses or options are presented. This is self talk from God for us. This grabs God’s promises and hopes in Him through self talk. Use it.

Luke 24:27 | We used to joke in seminary, “How many credit hours do you think you could get if you had been one of the disciples on the way to Emmaus?” The answer was always zero—Jesus sought the accreditation of no man! But kidding aside, it’s a true “wow moment” in the Bible.
We all now know that from Moses all the way through the prophets you can find stuff about Jesus: predicting Jesus, describing Jesus, anticipating Jesus. The funny thing is that no details of the conversation are given to us! Why? How will we ever know what’s about Jesus and what isn’t?! That’s why we’re doing this whole Bible reading plan to begin with. It isn’t to make you more religious. It’s to show you, as much as we can,  it’s all about Jesus. And this little note from Luke invites us to do lots of thinking, reading, and studying to figure it out for ourselves! 

Thursday
Judges 17:6 | Two times in this book (here and the very last words of the book, Judges 21:25) we will come across this expression from Deuteronomy 12:8)—where God very plainly and directly tells his people, don’t do what is right “in your own eyes.” This is a social, religious, spiritual, and moral condition where everyone decides their own standards. This whole book, with all of its many stories, isn’t even clearly chronological. It’s chaos, and it often reads chaotically. Each story in the book describes a new cycle, often in a very different part of Palestine. It reveals the moral and spiritual chaos of God’s people all across the twelve tribes of Israel, a universal failure that seems inevitable time after time. There should be no surprises when we look at the modern church after reading this book; or perhaps it is better to say, we should always be delightfully surprised by those times when God’s people seek Him and His holiness. 

Judges 17:6 | In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. | This verse sums up the spiritual and moral decline that defines the book of Judges—a people rejecting God’s rule and replacing it with self-rule. The theme appears repeatedly, showing how Israel’s rebellion leads to deeper cycles of chaos and suffering (Judges 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Each time we hear that “there was no king in Israel,” we’re reminded that without God’s authority, people define right and wrong on their own terms. The result isn’t freedom, it’s disorder and destruction. But this longing for a true king points us forward to Jesus, the righteous King who brings peace, justice, and order to those who submit to His reign.

Psalm 21 | The psalm speaks of a king who receives length of days forever and ever (v. 4). This promise finds its perfect fulfillment in Jesus, the risen and reigning King who lives forever. In Him, we receive eternal life as co-heirs of His victory.

Acts 1:8 | This is the most important verse in the book of Acts. Just before His ascension, Jesus gives His disciples a final word—not a farewell, but a commission. Acts 1:8 is more than just a promise of power; it’s a roadmap for the mission of the church. In this single verse, Jesus outlines the entire flow of the book of Acts: the gospel starts in Jerusalem, spreads to Judea and Samaria, and then goes to the ends of the earth.
But notice the pattern: the Spirit comes first, and then the mission begins. Jesus never sends His people out in their own strength. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead now empowers the church to carry the message of life to the world. And that mission hasn’t ended—it continues with us.
Your church in San Francisco is part of this unfolding story. You’re not a footnote in the mission of God—you’re a continuation of Acts 1:8. The gospel that started in Jerusalem has reached you, and now you carry it to your city, your neighbors, and beyond. San Francisco may not look like Judea or Samaria, but it is very much one of the “ends of the earth” where Christ’s name must be proclaimed.
And, let’s be honest, San Francisco isn’t always easy soil. The spiritual climate can be hard. The culture is often indifferent—or even hostile. But that’s exactly why Jesus doesn’t just call us—He empowers us. The Holy Spirit is not a relic of Pentecost; He is the ever-present fuel of the mission. You are filled with the Spirit to bear witness to Jesus—right where you are.

Acts 1 | Here is a link to one of my (Jon) favorite sermons of all time. It’s by Tim Keller and it’s about the ascension of Jesus. If you have time, give it a listen.

Friday
Judges 19 | Quick literary/study note: This chapter mirrors Genesis 19 (the story of Sodom), highlighting that Israel has become as depraved as the nations God once judged.

Judges 20:13 | Civil war is erupting in Israel because of this obscene thing that the tribe of Benjamin did. They have become like Sodom. But the most chilling moment is right here. When confronted, they just won’t listen. This creates an enormously bloody and sad conflict, with brother killing brother by the thousands. One of the things that divides the people of God is holiness, and sometimes that division is from God. Parts of God’s kingdom in His church will sometimes fall into complacency and compromise. They lack the will or strength to deal with wrongdoers in their communities. They protect themselves rather than humble themselves and admit there’s something wrong, and this creates the worst sorts of conflict. This story plays itself out again and again in individual churches and whole denominations. When those divisions are holy, they must happen for the sake of righteousness.
But this brings up a New Testament reality that is consistent with this experience. Paul warns the Ephesians that after he leaves wolves would rise up both inside the church and come from the outside to deceive. We will always be a kingdom in conflict; that’s a promise from Christ himself. At times that conflict is with the world. At times it’s with the parts of the church that have been seduced by the world. We must be ready for these things. The Scripture is consistent in its warnings. Don’t over-idealize the church or romanticize community. We are a kingdom in conflict until He returns.

Acts 2:3–4 | As the disciples gathered at Pentecost, something astonishing happened—tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. This wasn’t random or merely symbolic. It was a powerful declaration that God’s presence had moved.
In the Old Testament, fire was a visible sign of God’s presence. When the tabernacle was dedicated, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the tent (Leviticus 9:24). Later, when Solomon dedicated the temple, fire again fell, and the glory of God filled the house (2 Chronicles 7:1). In both cases, the fire meant the same thing: God had moved in.
But now, in Acts 2, the fire doesn’t fall on a building—it falls on people. Tongues of fire rest on each believer, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The message is unmistakable: God no longer dwells in temples made by human hands. He now lives in His people. The church has become the new temple, and every believer is a living sanctuary of His presence.
This is both an incredible privilege and a sober calling. The same holy fire that once filled the tabernacle now burns within you. You carry the presence of the living God. So walk in holiness. Live with boldness. And remember: the fire of God is not behind a veil—it’s alive in you.

Week 14

March 31-April 4
[M] Joshua 14-17; Luke 17
[T] Josh 18-21; Psalm 15; Luke 18
[W] Josh 22-24; Psalm 116; Luke 19
[T] Judges 1-3; Psalm 16; Luke 20
[F] Judges 4-6; Luke 21

Dwell Plan Day 66-70 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Joshua 14:6–15 | This passage highlights the remarkable faith of Caleb, one of only two men from the wilderness generation permitted to enter the Promised Land and one of the most remarkable men of faith in the history of God’s people. While an entire generation perished in unbelief, Caleb stood firm, trusting God’s promise when others gave in to fear. At 85, his strength had not waned, and his faith had not dimmed—he was still ready to take the hill country God had promised. When we read about Caleb, we are supposed to want to see more of this faithfulness in the Biblical story. Then, when we come to Christ, we see it fully and perfectly. Caleb’s wholehearted devotion reminds us of Jesus, who perfectly trusted the Father and secured the greater inheritance of eternal life for all who believe. 

Joshua 16:10 | However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day. | This is a massive bummer and it’ll come back to bite them later on.

Joshua 14-19 | For many of us, this will be tedious and boring reading. That’s the challenge of these detailed texts. It’s location and name after location and name—and you might recognize 1% of the names and places. It isn’t our turf or our homeland, so none of this minutiae is directly relevant to us. Or is it?
As you are reading, remember that this is Holy and inspired Scripture. This is telling you something important—God is about real estate. Why do they call it “real” estate? Because you may own a lot of things, but 99% of those things don’t last. They wear out or break. But land, land is permanent. That’s why they call it “real” estate, it’s property that lasts over generations. It’s practical, it’s walkable, and it’s workable land.
For most of human history only the rich owned land. Or the king. Not in God’s kingdom. There’s abundance and provision for everyone! This reflects Jesus’ comfort to His disciples in John 14:2. What an odd thing for Jesus to say. But it bears out—Jesus knows these land grants and inheritance for His people in the book of Joshua are just temporary blessings, and He promises a new and better heaven and earth. That’s the point being taught in these boring texts, God is committed to the day in and day out rescue of His people, to their ordinary and boring concerns about housing and shelter. His rescue and salvation are complete in every part. Praise Him.

Luke 17:5 | The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” | What’s striking is that Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for asking—He welcomes the request. This shows us that growing in faith isn’t something we accomplish by sheer determination or effort. Instead, faith is a gift that we humbly ask for. Rather than striving to muster it up on our own, we are invited to turn to the Lord and earnestly plead, “Give me more.” He is not offended by our weakness; He delights in our dependence.

Luke 17:11-19 | Ten lepers get healed. Only one says thanks. Besides being good preparation for general human rudeness, what else is in this story? It’s the Samaritan, the outsider in the group of leprous outsiders, who praises God. The good news is always erupting and pushing its way out, pushing the boundaries of grace and love out into the nations. This is the trajectory of God’s kingdom. That’s the forward and visionary message of this story.
But there’s also more. We’ve read the skin regulations about rashes and leprous spots in the law. What does that reveal about Jesus and His power? It keeps bringing us back to how it's all about revealing Jesus. He told us He didn’t come to get rid of all of those laws. No, He came to fulfill them and make sense of them. This is a message of hope and freedom from the law and its regulations, as well as good news of hope for those outside the kingdom—there is a way in through Jesus’ healing power and redemptive love. 

Tuesday
Joshua 20 | God sets up solutions to real world problems. Justice is a constant human problem, and folks don’t often take time to figure out if you killed their brother by accident or out of malice. They’re just upset that you hurt their family and they want to get revenge. It’s an ancient and thorny issue, and because of the complications and emotions involved, God sets aside cities of refuge. These are places of safety when demands for justice are being made.
What a picture of Jesus’ kingdom and His church, and what an enticing vision for us to seek in our time and from our God. The modern idea of sanctuary cities is similar, but it really isn’t the same. Sanctuary cities are political statements against policies. Cities of refuge are redemptive statements against human vengeance. But as we read, let us personalize this. There aren’t many truly safe places in this world. It seems that God has a vision of His people being such a place, and it’s something we should pray for God to build us into.

Psalm 15 opens with a piercing question: “O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” What follows is a list of the kind of blameless, righteous life required to stand in God’s holy presence—a life marked by integrity, justice, truth, and purity. If we’re honest, reading this list should crush us, because we know we fall far short. On our own, we have no hope of dwelling with God. But then Jesus steps onto the scene—the only One who has ever truly lived Psalm 15. In His perfect obedience, both in action and in heart, He fulfills every requirement. And through what theologians call the great exchange, His righteousness is credited to us, while our sin is laid on Him. Now, because of Christ, we are welcomed into God’s presence—not as intruders, but as beloved children who belong.

Luke 18:9–14 | This is one of my (Jon) favorite sections in all of scripture. It’s so comforting, and it really shows us the beauty of the gospel story. In this parable Jesus teaches “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” One man—the Pharisee—stood tall, listing his spiritual accomplishments like a résumé before God. He fasted, tithed, avoided certain sins, and measured his worth by comparison to others. The other—the tax collector—stood at a distance, wouldn’t lift his eyes to heaven, and simply prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And Jesus says only one of them went home justified, and it wasn’t the one who looked the part.
This parable hits close to home for many churchgoing evangelicals in the U.S. It’s easy to slip into a version of Christianity that measures faith by attendance, giving, and visible morality—mistaking performance for righteousness. But Jesus shows us that God is not impressed by outward religion or moral résumé. What He desires is a heart that knows its need. We must come to Jesus not clothed in pride, but in brokenness—not pointing to our achievements, but pleading for mercy. The good news is that when we do, we find a Savior who justifies the humble and lifts up the lowly.

Wednesday
Joshua 23:6-8 |This is Joshua’s parting advice for the people he has led. And basically, as soon as he kicks the bucket, the people ignore this advice and spend 400+ years during the period of judges in a cycle of turning away from YHWH.

Joshua 24:14-15 | Joshua tells the people to make a choice for God, and that call to “make a decision” has been an evangelical call for saving faith all of my life. But reread these verses carefully, and try to remove your American evangelical glasses for a moment.
Verse 14 has four commands in this order: fear God, serve God, put away idols, and serve God. Four imperatives, which in other languages is an emphatic order. In English, we would put an exclamation mark to make the same urgent point: Fear God! Serve God! Put away idols! Serve God! That’s pretty dramatic and strong and reflects the actual Hebrew grammar. None of those commands are options. They aren’t choices to be made. If there is a choice, it’s simply between what’s morally right and wrong, but that’s not what Joshua is saying. He’s ordering them to do these things.
Now notice what is jarringly said next. If you think it’s a wrong or evil or a bad choice to follow God, to obey these four direct orders, then just go ahead and choose whatever god you want. It’s on you. So it isn’t really about your choices. As broken and ruined people, we’re not that good at choosing well. Our choosing ability is broken too, something that exposes how democracy can’t really save the world. We will choose wrong over and over. Joshua tells them that even their “choice” for God is false, because they won’t really follow through.
What does this reveal that God needs to do? We need Him to do everything. We need Him to choose to fill our choices with the Holy Spirit and His new life in us. Otherwise we can’t do anything. Isn’t it amazing how the Old and New Testament are so unified in this: God loves sinners, and loves to make them new, to make new choices to fear, serve, and love Him. 

Psalm 116:1 | Let me share my (Jon) new favorite quote with you. It’s a little long, but I’m thinking if I use a small font, I could get this tattooed on my face. It’s that good. It’s from the late, great R.C. Sproul, “You can’t demand mercy. Mercy by definition is voluntary. The moment you think you’re owed mercy, it’s no longer mercy—it’s justice. You can’t demand mercy; you can only beg for it.”


Thursday
Judges | The entire book follows a repeated cycle that reveals both Israel’s unfaithfulness and God’s mercy. It begins with Israel’s sin—turning away from God to worship idols—which leads to God’s judgment through foreign oppression. In their distress, the people cry out to the Lord, and He responds by raising up a judge, a temporary deliverer who rescues them and leads them for a time. But after each judge dies, the people return to sin, and the cycle begins again, often worsening with each generation. Importantly, each judge (whether it’s Gideon, Samson, or Jephthah) is an imperfect savior, marked by flaws and failures, reminding us that no human leader can bring lasting peace or righteousness. These broken deliverers point us forward to Jesus Christ, the perfect and final Savior, who breaks the cycle of sin and delivers His people once and for all.

Judges 1:7 | Here’s a glimpse into the ancient wickedness and cruelty of the nations around Israel. This king, Adoni-bezek, had seventy kings he had conquered. When he defeated those kings, he humiliated them by cutting off their thumbs and big toes. Now, unable to walk or pick things up, they groveled every day at his banquet table, fighting for scraps of food to survive. What a horror. This is cruelty as sport, delighting in the destruction and suffering of others. So many of these ancient cultures had degraded themselves and others. It’s just a snapshot, but it gets at why God describes His own experience as being “fed up” with human evil. How could He not be?

Judges 1:20, 26 | In many parts of the Bible there are references like this: “it’s still like that to this day” or some version of that. It makes you aware of how the Bible is a living document, something written in real people’s lives, capturing their real experiences. These little notes ground the story for the reader. The writer is saying in effect: look, all of these things I’m telling you about, they all really happened. This isn’t “once upon a time” storytime, this is history, and the effects of that history are all around us and define us. Let these little notes encourage you, the person who wrote these things wants you to be encouraged. Our God is living and real. This isn’t abstraction or fable. It’s connected to your world. Just look around and you’ll see. And as you’re reading the Bible, remember this glorious fact: It tells us the truth of who we are and who our saving God is. And to this very day, we are the same needy people, and He is the same God who loves sinners. 

Judges 3:12–30 | This text recounts one of the most unexpected stories in Scripture—a left-handed man named Ehud delivering Israel from the oppressive hand of Eglon, the king of Moab. This moment in Israel’s history is more than just a clever underdog story; it’s rich with biblical theology and gospel echoes. The people of Israel had once again done evil in the sight of the Lord, and as a result, God gave them over to Moabite oppression for eighteen years. But in mercy, God raised up Ehud—a Benjamite (ironically, from the “son of the right hand”) who used his left hand to carry out a bold and unlikely rescue.
Ehud’s story reminds us that God often uses the weak, the unlikely, and the unconventional to accomplish His purposes. In the ancient Near East, left-handedness was often viewed with suspicion or weakness, yet God chose precisely that weakness as the means of deliverance. Ehud’s victory is a foreshadowing of the upside-down nature of the gospel, where strength comes through weakness and victory through apparent defeat. Just as Ehud penetrated the enemy’s stronghold and struck a decisive blow that led to Israel’s freedom, so Jesus Christ, in a far greater way, entered enemy territory, not with a hidden dagger, but with a cross—and there, through His death, struck the fatal blow to sin, Satan, and death.
Judges 3 leaves us not only with a historical rescue but with a longing for a greater Deliverer, one who would not merely bring eighty years of peace, but eternal redemption. Jesus is that true and better Ehud—unexpected, misunderstood, yet perfectly chosen by God to rescue His people. When we feel the weight of sin and the oppression of the enemy, may we remember that our salvation doesn’t come by our strength or strategy, but by looking to the Savior who won our freedom through weakness.

Psalm 16:8, 11 | Poetic imagery takes pictures and metaphors and uses them to play off of each other. In this poem it is “the right hand.” At first, in a surprising twist, God is the poet’s right hand! That seems reversed, wouldn’t it? And it would be, if it weren’t for the intimacy between God and the poet. The tension of the image is finally resolved in verse 11. Now he finds eternal pleasures where? In God’s right hand! The poetic images make deeply bold claims about intimacy with God. This becomes a picture of operative grace back and forth, as God is active in us and we are active in Him. This sounds like an echo of those New Testament texts where we are “seated in the heavenly places” in Ephesians, while still having to wrestle with spiritual forces in this world. In this poem, we get a model for how God works in us and we in Him, and so we can have hope against death and our own corruption. 

Luke 20 | Here, Jesus enters into a series of public confrontations with the religious leaders—a kind of ancient theological “rap battle” common in Jewish culture, where rival teachers debated in the temple courts and the crowd judged whose wisdom prevailed. Each group—Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes—takes their shot, but Jesus responds with unmatched authority, silencing them one by one. The people marvel, not just at His answers, but at the authority behind them. This scene reminds us that Jesus isn’t just another voice in the crowd—He is the true Word made flesh, whose wisdom exposes pride and whose authority demands our trust and surrender.


Friday
Judges 4–5 | These two chapters tell the story of Deborah, Barak, and Jael: three unlikely instruments God uses to deliver Israel from the powerful Canaanite oppressor Sisera. In a time of spiritual and moral chaos, God shows that He doesn’t need the strong or expected to accomplish His will—He works through the willing and faithful. The victory song in Judges 5 celebrates not just human bravery, but the God who goes before His people in battle. This story points us to Jesus, the greater Deliverer, who brings victory not through a sword or tent peg, but through a cross. Like Israel, we don’t need to be strong—we just need to trust the One who fights for us and sings over us in triumph.

Judges 5 | This is great and amazing poetry in its own right, but I love these prayers and songs by women in the Bible. Like Hannah in 1 Samuel 2 or Mary’s song in Luke1:46-55. Notice how similar these prayers are as well, the way that they reach into the heart of God’s kingdom values. A conservative denomination made a decision years ago to not allow women to read the Scripture out loud in worship. The decision made me angry. It is so outside the word of God as it is actually written. My response was and still is, “Huh, isn’t that funny? You’re not going to let a woman read the Bible out loud in worship? And yet more of the Bible was written by more women than by any man living. So tell me, does this mean Spirit made them write it, but stopped short of letting them read it? How does that work or make our Father’s kingdom anything but a joke?” 

Judges 6:36–40 | In this text, Gideon asks God for signs with a fleece—not once, but twice—because he’s struggling to trust God’s promise. While God graciously responds, this isn’t a model for how we should seek guidance today. We don’t need to lay out fleeces, because we have something far greater: the clear Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Instead of testing God, we’re invited to trust Him, knowing He’s already given us everything we need to follow Him faithfully.

Luke 21:20-24 | This is a very accurate picture of the destruction of Jerusalem over 40 years later in 70 CE. Because of that, most elite modern scholars teach that Luke had to be written some time after that date. It has to be. Modern elite scholars do not, can not, and will not believe that anyone can tell the future. That’s absurd nonsense to them. And so, since the elite modern scholars say it, many Christians uncritically believe it. But these modern folks do not know God’s word or His power. This prediction in Luke 21 happens alongside other predictions. In Luke 19:28-40 and Luke 22:7-13, Jesus describes the immediate future in amazing detail, telling His disciples what they will find as they walk along, what folks will say to them, and what they should say in response. Perfect knowledge of events in sequence, 40 minutes or more into the future. No one who has ever lived, other than Christ, could do that.
Hear what the word is telling you: trust God’s words. Jesus did tell the future, because Jesus was not merely a man. He told us what would happen. These prophecies are meant to reveal to everyone how Jesus must be the Son of God. Who else would know such things with such clarity and accuracy? Instead of humbling themselves before this God, they mock His words as artificial and phony, written after the events to make it look like it was said before. So they make the Scriptures into just a clever lie. But that is not where the clever lying is actually happening. They’re doing that to themselves.

Week 13

March 24-28
[M] Deut 27-31; Luke 12
[T] Deut 32-34; Psalm 13; Luke 13
[W] Joshua 1-4; Psalm 143; Luke 14
[T] Joshua 5-8; Psalm 14; Luke 15
[F] Joshua 9-13; Luke 16

Dwell Plan Day 61-65 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Deuteronomy 27-28 | This passage covers two ideas: curses and blessings. Both sides of this point us to Jesus.
Take a look at how this works: God lays out the curses for anyone who doesn’t keep His law perfectly—which means we’re all in trouble. Since we could never live up to that standard, Jesus stepped in to do what we couldn’t, fulfilling the law both in His obedience and by taking its punishment. On the cross, He took the curse we deserved, just like Galatians 3:13 says: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” When we put our trust in Him, we’re not just forgiven, we’re also credited with His perfect obedience. Instead of living under the weight of failure, we get to live in the freedom and blessing of His righteousness.

Deuteronomy 27:5 | This command comes up a few times in the Scripture, and an “uncut stone” (one not touched or chiseled or tooled by a human) is in Daniel’s vision of judgment. What is in this odd little detail of rocks that haven’t been touched by people? What is being taught here? This expresses a kingdom principle deep inside the Bible and our faith—our God alone is the one who saves us, not ourselves! Again and again God reveals this in story after story. Our strength, our goodness, our works—our “chiseling” of our bodies, lives, and careers—are not how God reveals His power to save. This is the teaching of our total inability to even make an altar good enough for sacrifice, and the complementary teaching: His grace alone is enough.  

Deuteronomy 27:15-26 | As we read this year, I can’t help but notice liturgy in the Bible: scripts that are read back and forth between people. It’s hard not to notice these things as we at Cross & Crown consider becoming Anglican. Here we have a simple one: one group speaks the curse and another group speaks back (which is what antiphon means) to the first group. God’s people have always used liturgy to affirm and remember God’s words. 

Deuteronomy 28 | Remember all of these curses when we get to the exile later in Kings and as we read the exiled prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

Deuteronomy 29:19 | It’s all about your heart and change inside. It always has been. Obedience as a form of performance, with your true thoughts and desires masked behind pious words and actions, is evil. Christ himself points out this problem of hypocrisy and outward fake spirituality again and again. So much that they can’t wait to kill him. 

Deuteronomy 29:29 | Memory verse alert! This is one of the key texts in the whole Bible. There are things that God has revealed, and there are things that God keeps secret. Period. We don’t know the secret stuff, it belongs to Him. We’d sure like to know secret things, but that’s the problem: curiosity isn’t holiness. We have a whole lot of revealed truth that we barely know and remember already! Take care and commit this verse to your heart. There are so many things that you will not understand in this life, and even more that you won’t have any answer for. That’s deeply true to our experiences and suffering in this world. When we give up prying and desiring the “secret info” that we think we need, we’re then free to trust God with what He has made clear: He works all things for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes.

Luke 12:1 | Christ targets hypocrisy in these next chapters, focusing on the super religious folks of his day and their self-righteous fakery. That’s the essence of hypocrisy: it’s presenting to people a false self and not the true you. This is the core problem of all human religious activities—we can appear as better than we are. Many people will even think you are better than you are; it’s the biggest payoff for outward religious actions, and it’s dangerous. Notice how closely this follows Deuteronomy. You can’t fake out God, just other people. God wants our hearts.

Luke 12:49-53 | Jesus sure doesn’t talk like a hippie. These words almost seem like God put them in just to check whether you’re really reading this or not! But this is unvarnished truth: Jesus came to divide as much as he came to unify. Jesus accepts no compromise, and yet offers an unimaginable grace. What a savior.


Tuesday
Deuteronomy 32-33 | Look in the song and the blessing of these chapters for the name Jeshurun. It’s another name for Israel, and only Isaiah uses it again in the Bible to refer to Israel (Isaiah 44:2.) It means “straight, upright, and level.” What kind of name is that for Israel? Seriously, how have they lived up to that? In fact, God has already predicted that they will turn away after Moses is gone; God tells Moses that will happen. So why this name? Is it aspirational? I don’t think so.
This is the presence and proclamation of our Father’s deepest mercy. God names his people not for what He hopes they might someday be—but for who He will make them in Jesus. It’s such a precious promise to be renamed by God; it’s also promised to every believer. God will rename us all. and it will truly describe us. I wonder what my name will be!

Deuteronomy 32:51 | It doesn’t matter how amazing or holy or faithful you are in God’s kingdom. God doesn’t play favorites. Moses is disciplined just like any other man. Let us all take note and turn from our sins, no matter our age or prestige or maturity. God will not be mocked.

Luke 13:3, 5 | “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.… No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” | The more that I read the gospels, the more I am baffled by the modern portrayal of Jesus as some peace loving hippie who just accepts people for who they are, no matter how sinful. That version of Jesus ignores His clear call to repentance and the reality that He is both Savior and Judge. You can only believe in a watered-down Jesus if you avoid reading what He actually says. Our goal isn’t to shape Jesus into who we want Him to be, but to worship Him for who He truly is—our Lord and King.

Psalm 13:1 | How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? | David wrote this psalm, but honestly, it could be the cry of any believer throughout history. There are moments when we feel exactly like this—forgotten, unseen, and alone. But the irony is this: it’s not that God forgets us; it’s that we forget Him. Even in our darkest moments, He is still there, faithful as ever.

Luke 13:33 | Holy sarcasm?! It looks like it. Who kills and hurts and rejects and despises God’s messengers and servants? God’s people do, again and again. The lesson is hard and a bit scary. If you think you’re at the center of God’s will and plan, and that He specially loves you, and that you’re being pretty holy and good—then you’re in a very very dangerous place. A “good times” and “good feelings” religion doesn’t work because it isn’t real. It’s just a prosperity gospel cashing in on pleasure. As Jesus puts it, anyone doing that has already gotten their reward. Joy in our salvation is a completely different matter, because it comes from realizing God’s love is for sinners, even the worst sorts. Even folks like me. 


Wednesday
The Book of Joshua | Today, we’re starting the book of Joshua where the Israelites take the promised land through the destruction of the Canaanites. If you have been skipping the Bible Project videos, please take a minute to go and watch the one on this book. Not only does Tim give a great outline of the book that will help you understand the flow, he also tackles the destruction of the Canaanites and the violence in this book.

Joshua 1 | Count how many times God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. It’s a lot! Then in verse 18, the people all say it to him. And if you go and read the end of Deuteronomy again you’ll see that Moses says it to Joshua too. What’s the point of all this encouragement? They all agree—God, Moses, and the people—that Joshua needs to hear it! Joshua has spent most of his life as the number two guy: he was Moses’ assistant. He isn’t the number one kind of guy, but that doesn’t matter to God! He hasn’t led out front and doesn’t have that kind of personality. So what? Our God uses us to do things outside of our comfort and gifts and abilities. Why? So God can get all of the glory. 

Joshua 2 | This text tells the story of Rahab, a Canaanite woman who chose to trust in Yahweh rather than the gods of her people. Though an outsider and a prostitute, she acted in faith by hiding the Israelite spies and declaring, “For the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). Her faith wasn’t just words—she risked everything to align herself with God’s people. If you really think about it, all she had to go on was rumors and whispers. She had very little information, but she still took a leap of faith and decided to forsake the gods of her people and follow the God of these wandering-in-the-desert people.
Because of her trust in Yahweh, she and her family were spared when Jericho fell, and she became part of Israel. Amazingly, Rahab’s faith led to her inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5), proving that God’s grace reaches beyond Israel to all who believe. Her story reminds us that no one is too far gone for redemption, and that God welcomes all who put their trust in Him.
Just like Rahab, we are saved not by our background or good works but by faith in the true and living God who offers grace to all kinds of people.


Thursday
Joshua 5:13-15 | The Commander of the Lord’s Army | There is a lot here in this little text but I want you to see a great insight from the Bible Project video on the book of Joshua: Tim Mackie points out that this passage shows us that we are constantly wanting God to be on our side but the real question should be, “Am I on God’s side?”

Joshua 5:13-15 | This person that Joshua meets here sure looks like, sounds like, and acts like Jesus. Scholars call this kind of appearing of God as human in the Old Testament a “theophany.” That’s just a fancy word for “God appearance.” This person accepts worship from Joshua and has the killer title “God’s army commander.” Some have thought maybe it was an angel, but angels get very antsy and irritated when you worship them; they correct you right away. The most logical and consistent explanation is that this is Jesus. A pre-incarnate Jesus, which is another fancy way of saying it’s just Jesus before He became the God/man person in the New Testament. The Bible is quite clear that Jesus is eternal. That means He doesn’t have a beginning or an end. He’s greater than time. So these theophanies are little glimpses of how Jesus lives beyond time and space. It’s mysterious, it’s supernatural, and it’s stunning. It’s who God is. Praise Him!

Luke 15:11-32 | In this passage Jesus tells the parable that we have come to call “The Prodigal Son.” The problem is, that name is a bit misleading. The story isn’t just about the runaway son. As Tim Keller points out in one of my (Jon’s) favorite books of all time, The Prodigal God, this story is about two lost sons. The younger son rebels openly, wasting his inheritance on reckless living, but the older son is equally lost—resentful, self-righteous, and unwilling to celebrate his brother’s return. Both sons misunderstand their father’s love: one thinks he must run away to find happiness, while the other believes he must earn it through obedience. But the father’s love is extravagant, welcoming the wayward son home with open arms and pleading with the older son to join the feast. This parable shows us that sin isn’t just about breaking the rules; it’s also about trying to be our own savior. Whether we rebel like the younger son or rely on our own goodness like the older son, we all need the Father’s grace. The good news is that Jesus, the true older brother, came to seek and save the lost, offering His life to bring us home. God’s love is prodigal—recklessly lavish—and He invites us to stop striving and simply receive it.

Joshua 6 | You’re going to read a phrase again and again in Joshua from this chapter onwards. It’s this expression about things and people as “devoted to destruction.” The Hebrew word is herem. There is no English equivalent. It describes a total act of judgment by God, to be carried out by his people. Its meaning is unambiguous. It describes the act of obliterating everything. This can be a bit disturbing, and it should be. It includes women, children, animals, and property. This has led many to judge God and reject the Bible, claiming that, in the end, it rationalizes genocide. Some scholars go on to say that the book of Joshua is written to make excuses for wholesale murder and expansionist imperialism.
But that is not what the Bible teaches us, and these scholars either don’t trust the Bible to truly be God’s words or they don’t believe what God says: God tells us that these people groups are very very wicked. We can only guess how bad it was from all the laws that God gave them—a bunch of those rules about incest and idolatry reflect the everyday practices of these people groups. All the way back in Genesis, over 400 years before these events, God told Abraham that these local people groups were adding up their wickedness until it was full. When it got full, God would judge them. So why the extreme violence? These folks serve as a picture of the final judgment. This is a big big moment in redemptive history, in God’s saving acts of grace. Because of that, eternal realities are out in the open. Life and death, blessing and judgment, they’re all super visible and clear.
It’s also a picture of how a culture can drift so far from God that He brings judgment on it. We’re learning who this God really is. As we see this holy violence in Joshua, remember what Jesus said about the cities that rejected Him. It would be worse for them on the day of judgment than it will be for Sodom. Do you need a real life picture of the judgment Jesus is talking about? Read the book of Joshua. And as you read that phrase “devoted to destruction” in the book of Joshua remember this: it was Jesus who was devoted to His own destruction on the cross—that saves sinners like you and me. Hallelujah, what a savior!

Joshua 7:11 | It was just one man’s sin, but God says that Israel sinned. How can one person’s sin scuttle the holiness of the whole group? Our holiness is a corporate thing as much as it’s a personal thing. Your holiness belongs to others and to your God, not just to you. And the corollary is in this chapter: your sins affect your community in ways that you don’t get, or understand, or fear. You can personally destroy church ministry by your own private unfaithfulness and sin. That’s sobering isn’t it? I wonder how many churches have failed or drifted for just this reason. There is no sin that doesn’t hurt others, is there? That’s a lie right out of hell itself, and this chapter reveals it. Your covetousness, idolatry, and selfishness can destroy in God’s kingdom, so let’s at least repent for the sake of others if we won’t be moved to do it for Jesus or for ourselves.

Joshua 8 | The Fall of Ai | I (Jon) grew up in what I call an evan-jelly church. And in that church, I remember one of my Sunday school teachers getting really excited to tell us how the capture of Ai is still taught at West Point in classes about military strategy (I don’t even know if that’s true or if it’s one of those preacher stories that nobody ever bothered to check). And even as a youth group age kid, I remember thinking, “Isn’t the point of this that God was on their side—not that they were amazing military tacticians?” 

Psalm 14 | How bad is it out there in the world? The Bible never hesitates to speak clearly: It’s really bad. God can see it. It’s universal and awful. Your experience of how terrible people can be is accurate. But don’t be discouraged. The scripture paints such a dark picture because it’s the truth, but it also serves another purpose. The rescue and protection and restoration of God’s people shines all the brighter! That is God’s business, and the only people terrified in verse 5 aren’t the poor and weak, it’s the wicked ones who don’t believe in Him. Trust the Bible; it tells you the truth of what the world is really like. That’s why you can trust God’s rescue is the real thing.  


Friday
Joshua 10:12-13 | Remember what genre of literature you’re reading: fantastical non-fiction. Or you can call it supernatural non-fiction. And for anyone who cares to ask, yes I believe this is cold historical fact. That’s the way it’s told. It’s so odd, because the text doesn’t create much fanfare. It just tells you what God did in a few sentences. In a few words God does something with the orbit of the earth around our sun, something so remarkable and incredible that it beggars the mind. Sort of like dead people rising. That’s the kind of stuff this God does. Trust these words and stories. He’s that reliable. Trust in Him.

Joshua 13:14, 33 | I always get a small thrill over the allotment given to the Levites. They serve God in his temple and so they don’t have a normal portion of land, like the rest of God’s people. This is a preview of all professional ministry, including pastors and worship leaders and church staff. And what is their portion or allotment? It comes from the fire of the altar of sacrifice; it comes in the presence of God himself as their inheritance. The Levites are then not just a picture of professional ministry are they? No, that’s why Peter calls us a kingdom of priests. So these little notes, where God mentions how the Levites will be taken care of, paint a picture of how God specially cares for those in the ministry and how God fully loves all of his people as his ministers.

Luke 16:1-13 | The Parable of the Dishonest Manager | Phillip Ryker has a great note on this parable in his commentary on Luke. He says, “Jesus used this story to set up some very practical advice about how to use our money for spiritual gain. There are three principles in this parable: first, use your worldly wealth to make everlasting friends (Luke 16:9); second, be faithful with what you have so you can receive something even better (Luke 16:10–12); and third, do not make money your master (Luke 16:13).”

Luke 16:19-31 | The rich man and Lazarus | I remember hearing a sermon at one point where the pastor pointed out that the rich man is never named but Lazarus is. We’re supposed to see that and realize that the rich man is probably not named because his wealth had become his identity. He’s no longer Jeff or George or whoever—he’s just a guy with money and no hope.

Week 12

March 17-21
[M] Deuteronomy 6-9; Luke 7
[T] Deut 10-14; Psalm 5; Luke 8
[W] Deut 15-18; Psalm 115; Luke 9
[T] Deut 19-22; Psalm 6; Luke 10
[F] Deut 23-26; Luke 11

Dwell Plan Day 56-60 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Deuteronomy 6:7-9 | In Orthodox Jewish homes, these commands are taken quite literally. You’ll still see mezuzahs on their doors to this day, little capsules on the doorjamb which have a copy of the law wrapped up inside. In this way they “write them on their doorposts.”
But you can do all that and still miss Jesus! Even the strictest and most diligent duty can be empty religious observance. These verses aren’t meant to direct us to write detailed inscriptions on our doorways—not at all. Doorways are the most common thing you use, and this makes all of these directions make sense. It’s about love for God not being abstract in your life, not being just an idea. It’s to fill your conversation and thoughts with as much regularity as walking through a door. It’s comprehensive and integrated truth. It’s truth that fills your talk the way it fills your life. We are supposed to drip truth and wear it like a favorite sweater. This is a vision of a life saturated with God and the good news. Praise Him!

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 | This is one of those examples of how God works with patterns. In this passage, He reminds Israel that the Promised Land is a gift they did not earn. They didn’t dig the wells, plant the vineyards, or build the cities—they simply received what God had prepared for them. And their response? They must not forget the One who provided it all.
This same pattern unfolds on an even greater scale in Christ. Your salvation is a gift, freely given, not something you achieved or deserved. You did not earn it; it was accomplished for you. And your response should be the same—never forget the greatness of your Savior.

Deuteronomy 8:19 | And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. | Keep this in mind as we move through the rest of the Old Testament. Ask: do the people leave YHWH to worship other gods?

Luke 7:9 | It must’ve felt pretty good to get a compliment from Jesus. And the compliment itself is amazing—the greatest faith Jesus finds is outside of His people! This would be a worthy pursuit for your whole life, to have Christ just say “wow” about your radical trust in Him. I want to amaze Him that way. Is that too much to hope for? Is it too much to pray? Of course not. You see, Jesus just has to say “Be filled with faith,” and it will be so. You see, I call for a rideshare, and it comes; and I send a package to my friends, and it goes there. How much more will anything that Jesus says or does happen if He orders it! What will you ask Him for today? 

Luke 7:11-35 | The last words of this section are “wisdom is justified by all her children.” Luke puts the story of  the widow’s son right alongside the story of John the Baptist. Why this arrangement? Raising widows’ sons is a big clue here—because that’s the same miracle that Elijah performed—and John the Baptist was also a reprise of Elijah’s ministry. What’s the point? Wisdom has come, and wisdom is bearing kids! Jesus is this wisdom if you have eyes to see it and ears to hear it. Jesus is the fulfillment of those Old Testament stories. They all anticipate Him and prepare us to understand Him. Are you one of wisdom’s children? That’s the implicit challenge.

Tuesday
Luke 8:25b | “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” | Who is this guy? That’s the most important question in human history.

Deuteronomy 12:16 | We need circumcised hearts? It’s so easy to just focus on the physical. We did what God asked, isn’t that enough? No! It’s always been about spirit, because the flesh counts for nothing. Christ told us that, and you can see it in these verses here. God’s kingdom and love have always been about the heart, about internal change, about transformation from the inside out. Again we see the new covenant of Jesus poking its way into the Old Testament law, demanding and defining love as the point of the law. 

Deuteronomy 12:31 | You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. | Remember this when we get to Joshua.

Wednesday
Deuteronomy 17:16-20 | This is the playbook for everything that went wrong with Solomon. We’ll get there in Kings/Chronicles.

Deuteronomy 18:15 | “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen…” | This verse is referenced in the Gospel of John and explicitly quoted multiple times in Acts. The apostles understood it as a prophecy pointing to the coming Messiah, and they were convinced that Jesus was its ultimate fulfillment. He was the prophet greater than Moses, the one to whom all must listen. Just as Israel was called to heed God’s chosen messenger, we are called to listen to Jesus—God’s final and perfect revelation.

Deuteronomy 18:22 | This rule is such a gift to us! If you know any man or woman who has prophesied that something will happen, and it didn’t, then you don’t have to take that person seriously any more. What a relief! Use this rule consistently. This is just an old version of the New Testament rule: test the spirits. God never lies and is never wrong. He cannot be and still be God. So anyone speaking in His name and claiming that kind of authority has to submit to the same standard. Apply it and observe it; it cuts through a lot of spiritual mustard. 

Luke 9:16 | In the miracle of feeding the 5,000 it’s the details that reveal the kingdom. The miracle of “multiplication” in the baguettes and sardines happens in the disciples hands, not in Jesus’. This becomes the paradigm for all ministry afterwards: we serve out of the overflow of the Spirit, where God does His miracle of provision and salvation in and through us. Scale is irrelevant to Jesus and always will be. We are the ones who think about the economy of scaling for crowds, who can’t imagine how it could happen, whose foresight is limited by practical concerns and feasibility. In some sense we repeat this miracle every week in the table, where God’s mercies are multiplied for us when we feed on Jesus, where a morsel of bread and a taste of wine express laying hold of grace, where crumbs and a sip promise us eternal life in Him. 

Luke 9:23-27 | Here, Jesus calls His followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him. That might sound like a heavy burden, but here’s the good news—Jesus already carried the ultimate cross for us. He gave up His life so we could have true life, losing everything so we could gain eternity. Yes, following Him comes with challenges, but we’re never alone. The world tries to offer us success and comfort. The world says put down that cross and come get comfortable over here. But the gospel tells us that no comfort can compare to what Jesus has already won for us—salvation, joy, and a life that never ends. Whatever we give up for Him is nothing compared to what we gain in Him. Because of what He’s done, we can trust that following Him is always worth it.

Luke 10:20 | Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. | Near the end of his life, while he was sick, the great preacher D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was asked by a friend if he was doing okay now that he couldn’t preach anymore. His answer was to quote this verse. In essence, he was saying, “Doing ministry is good. Being a child of God is great.”

Psalm 6:2 | Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing | I should probably get this tattooed on my face.

Thursday
Deuteronomy 21:10-14 | This text addressing how Israelite men were to treat captive women in times of war was a significant step above other ancient law codes in terms of dignity and protection. In many ancient societies, captured women were treated as mere property, without rights, subject to immediate rape, abuse, or enslavement. However, this passage establishes boundaries that reflect God’s concern for human dignity. Instead of immediate exploitation, the Israelite man was required to give the woman time to mourn, treating her with respect rather than as an object. If he later chose not to marry her, he was not allowed to sell or enslave her but had to let her go free. Compared to the brutal norms of the time, this law introduced compassion, restraint, and basic rights for vulnerable women—pointing forward to the greater justice and mercy found in the Kingdom of God.

Deuteronomy 21:23 | This passage says that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed by God. Paul later ties this directly to Jesus in Galatians 3:13, explaining that Christ became a curse for us. Many first-century Jews struggled to believe Jesus was the Messiah because He died under a curse. But the apostles saw it differently—they proclaimed that His very suffering proved He was the Messiah. On the cross, Jesus took the full weight of God’s judgment—not for His own sin, but for ours. He bore the curse we deserved so that we could be set free from sin and death. In exchange, He gives us what He alone deserves: righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life.

Psalm 6 | Bring God your tears. Notice how Christ takes these poems—because He teaches this: blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Christ didn’t make that up out of nowhere; it’s the attitude of faith of all those who suffer and know God is real. The scripture has a deep deep unity in its good news. Praise Him.

Friday
Deuteronomy 24:6 | If you take away a man’s livelihood, you take away his life—especially if you take from him what he needs to produce food for himself. This principle of justice breathes with compassion: you don’t let folks sell or leverage what they actually need to live. This is a place where all societies would benefit from some of these basic rights as expressed in God’s law, and we see the deep principles of grace and mercy that sit right inside the law itself. The New Testament finds its deep roots in the legal principles of God’s righteousness, which is always the same with our Heavenly Father.

Deuteronomy 25:4 | You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain. | This is a very rare thing in the ancient world: laws about compassion on animals. The idea is that while the ox is working for you, don’t starve him in order to save a few bucks; It’s not kind or compassionate, and we have stewardship over this creation, including the experience of farm animals! This is such a powerful idea that it becomes a principle for caring for folks in ministry—you don’t let folks go hungry while they’re working for the kingdom. It’s a principle of care and freedom built right into the law itself. No wonder the law is summed up in the word love. 

Deuteronomy 26 | It’s a binary thing for God: you’re either blessed or cursed. That’s the choice. Notice two things. This is that Hittite contract detail again. Curses and blessings were always included in the covenant contract. But the parallel with Jesus is what strikes me. In Matthew 23, Christ lists the woes (curses) for the falsely religious folks of His day. In this way, Christ styles Himself to be the new Moses, the one greater than Moses. Christ is assuming the role of the covenant maker. The covenant we will break; the covenant He will keep for us in His body and blood. Same God, same relationships, same stakes, same faith and obedience, and the same salvation. 

Luke 11:24-27 | We understand very little of how the spiritual world actually works, so it’s vital for us to pay special attention to anything Christ tells us about it. In this instance, Christ describes a heart that is orderly and swept. Tidy. But that tidiness is just an invitation to spiritual forces to return seven times stronger. What a precarious picture of the human soul and its vulnerability. We’re often encouraged in this generation (in self help books or from life coaches) to “empty our minds” and practice a meditation of mindfulness that lets our thoughts go. But don’t miss how important this is: you can tidy yourself up and get your mind in order, you can be disciplined and clean inside, and all of that is just cleaning out your soul so a demon can live there with a bunch of his buddies. None of that self help will help. Jesus needs to take up residence in our hearts. That’s the only solution. Invite Jesus over for company in your soul, and no evil spirit will come knocking to live there.

Week 11

March 10-14
[M] Numbers 26-29; Luke 2
[T] Num 30-33; Psalm 35; Luke 3
[W] Num 34-36; Luke 4
[T] Deuteronomy 1-3; Ps 36; Luke 5
[F] Deut 4-5; Luke 6

Dwell Plan Day 51-55 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Luke 2:52 | And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.  This is one of the most important verses when it comes to thinking about the humanity of Christ. I think that it’s really easy to, in our mind's eye, when we think about Christ, to lean towards his divinity. He raised people from the dead. He healed countless people. He walked on water and calmed the storm. 
But He also grew up. He had to learn how to walk. He had to learn how to read. He went to synagogue and did Bible lessons with a Rabbi. He lived His life as a real human, but filled with the Holy Spirit. 
This is important for a few reasons: First, as a real human being, Jesus can represent us before the Father. Second, because He was a real human being, He can sympathize with us in our weakness. Third, because He was a real human being, He understands our suffering. 
What an amazing God we serve!

Numbers 26:2 | A census is taken | In the Old Testament, sometimes God calls His people to number themselves, to count how many folks there are. Then, at other times, taking a census is a sin, as when David does it later. What’s the difference? Whatever is not of faith is sin—that’s the principle we see—and we see it in the Old Testament as much as the New Testament. Counting can be an act of unbelief and fear, depending and focusing and relying on human “strength in numbers,” so to speak. But His strength isn’t revealed in ours, is it? It never has been. The kingdom principles are still the same, where we are weak He is most strong.

Numbers 27:12-23 | Joshua is (along with Caleb) one of the only folks from the Exodus generation who comes into the promised land. Moses, the lawgiver, led Israel to the edge of the land but could not bring them in. That task fell to Joshua, a foreshadowing of how the law reveals our need for salvation but cannot save us—only Jesus, the true Joshua, can lead us into the ultimate Promised Land.


Tuesday
Luke 3:1 | In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene | One of the criticisms we’ll often hear about the scriptures is that they are just myths that developed over time. It’s generally a popular-level critique and not one held by even most unbelieving scholars.
There is a lot of evidence that a) the New Testament was written very early and b) the New Testament authors write as if they are writing real historical accounts. This verse is one of the keys in that discussion. Look at all these names and titles. Luke (who also wrote Acts) is very precise in his historical accounting.
C.S. Lewis said, “I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, and myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this. Of this text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage… or else, some unknown writer… without known predecessors or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic, realistic narrative. The reader who doesn’t see this has simply not learned to read.”

Numbers 30 | Jesus teaches us not to take vows or oaths in His preaching. Why would He do that? His instructions were plain: let your yes be yes and your no be no. But that doesn’t really line up with Numbers 30. At first it seems like a big difference and leaves you wondering; but that misses the weight of what Christ is actually saying. He’s saying our “yes” is equal to a solemn oath and the most holy vow. The importance and value of integrity isn’t diminished here, nor is the vitality and necessity of commitment.
As we become a people of the Word, and as we see Christ is that Word made flesh, we begin to see how the words we speak, even just a little “yes” from us, is meant to be God’s words taking shape in our flesh. And so our yes is now God’s yes through us and in us.

Numbers 31 | Here is the note from the Biblical Theology Study Bible: Vengeance on the Midianites. The Israelites fulfill the Lord’s earlier command (see 25:16–18 and note). This victory is another foretaste of the victories the Lord will give them in the promised land.

Numbers 33:52 | There’s a lot of moral crisis for modern Christians when we read about God’s program, His instructions to His people that they had to exterminate the folks who lived in the promised land. I can’t and won’t answer all of those objections or concerns, but there is something to consider as you read this.
Most of the ancient archaeological excavations in Palestine, and all across the world for that matter, are a record of one people wiping out another people. Genocide after genocide happens in the ancient world, and all we are left with are the ashy layers of culture after culture being extinguished. Conqueror after conqueror coming through. What’s the point?
In this one instance, with the people of God being God’s punishment on the evils of the local population, we are getting to see the mechanism of God’s perfect grinding justice. His justice is always pure and always has been. We’re sinful and under judgment. Death, war, and suffering are His fair response to human wickedness. Here we get to see how that judgment is truly personal for God, and how His judgment scales to include whole people groups. It’s happened again and again in human history, only this time you’re getting an insight into the why. You might be tempted to judge God for this, but He does not submit to our judgments.
So, this conquering program that God has His people on, it achieves His justice and punishment through their actions. This becomes a lens through which we can now see that all human cultures and societies will be judged by God. When the Israelites enter the promised land, it’s just a glimpse of God’s eternal and final justice “breaking in” for us to see it clearly in real time. When these mighty moments of redemptive history are happening, heaven and hell, eternal life and judgment, salvation and destruction—they are all heightened and deepened. They don’t satisfy all of our questions about justice, but they do call us to trust and know God on His terms. 

Psalm 35 | This a poem and a prayer of David for God to fight against his enemies. These kinds of prayers often feel strange to us; somehow contrary to the gospel of Christ’s love. Perhaps with the wrong spirit they would be, but something else is happening here: this poem anticipates the coming kingdom of Jesus and the conflicts it will create. David is complaining how bitter and full of betrayal his opponents are. It doesn’t make any sense to him and it’s destroying him. Why are they so intent on hurting him? He doesn’t know, and complains how they return evil for the good he does for them. This becomes the experience of Jesus! There is a kind of natural “unnatural” rejection of God and Jesus by people. Jesus warns us about it. They hated me, they will hate you. These poems are a script for us, a guide for how to respond to these kinds of attacks. It normalizes them. Don’t be alarmed. This struggle against irrational enemies is a part of the battle between the kingdoms of darkness and light. We need songs and prayers for that struggle, and God has provided them for us.


Wednesday
Luke 4:41 | And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. | There is a theological idea called the "Messianic Secret.” Throughout the gospels, these demons are constantly saying that Jesus is the Messiah and then he tells them to zip it. Why?
The answer is pretty simple: imagine that you made a movie. And you thought it was really good. And then you read an article where Bill Cosby and Kevin Spacey both say that they loved this movie. You’d think, “Thanks, but that’s not helping.” That’s the idea here. These demonic forces are the enemies of humanity. These are the baddies. Jesus doesn’t want or need them talking about him.

Luke 4:1 | Pastor Drew taught from this passage that the Holy Spirit leads, but the devil misleads. That’s a great way to sum up this story of temptation, but Drew’s words lingered in my mind. It seemed to me to be worth noting this: the Holy Spirit leads, and notice where He leads. Directly into a place of temptation and trial! He doesn’t always lead us that way, and we pray that He won’t. But sometimes He does. At times when you’re being tempted, it’s vital to remember that God’s Spirit might be the reason you’re there! Our God tests us, to see what’s in our hearts and show it to us. 

Numbers 35:9 | Whole cities that are pictures of God’s mercy, rescue, and love: cities of refuge. It’s a call for a community to function in ways that reveal God’s love. To form and commit to this very purpose: you find refuge and safety here.  This becomes a paradigm for the church community that God creates in the New Testament, where the entire purpose of the new kingdom community is salvation! We are now the place of refuge as we preach and practice the saving love of God in Jesus Christ His Son. His community continues to function the same way today in and through us. 


Thursday
Luke 5:13 | And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. | What a beautiful picture of the heart of the Lord. He could have healed this leper without touching him. But this man, because of his disease, probably hadn’t felt human contact in a very long time. And so Jesus didn’t just heal him (as amazing as that is); He touched him and let this man feel like a real person again.

Psalm 36:1 | Transgression speaks to the wicked; deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. | When we read verses like this, our instinct is to think of someone else—those who reject God, the obviously sinful, the truly wicked. But Scripture holds up a mirror, not a magnifying glass. This verse isn’t just about them, it’s about us.
This was who we were before Christ saved us. Sin wasn’t just something we did; it was rooted deep in our hearts. We didn’t fear God. We didn’t seek Him. We weren’t worthy or righteous. And yet, in His mercy, He saved us anyway. Our salvation was never about our goodness, but about His grace. The more we remember where we came from, the more we’ll rejoice in the love that rescued us. Do you still marvel at God’s grace in saving you? 

Deuteronomy | Check out the ESV introduction to the book of Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy, which means “second law,” is a retelling by Moses of the teachings and events of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It includes an extended review of the Ten Commandments (4:44–5:33) and Moses’ farewell address to a new generation of Israelites as they stand ready to take possession of the Promised Land. Moses reminds them of God’s faithfulness and love, but also of God’s wrath on the previous generation of Israelites because of their rebellion. Repeatedly, he charges Israel to keep the Law. Deuteronomy is a solemn call to love and obey the one true God. There are blessings for faithfulness and curses for unfaithfulness. The book closes with the selection of Joshua as Israel’s new leader and the death of Moses.

Deuteronomy 1-5 | This is a recap of the previous four books, and it’s worth paying attention to how Moses interprets the events of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. This historical summation is important.
We did not know, until the 20th century, that Deuteronomy is actually written in an ancient format. Scholars found a number of 4,000 year old Hittite treaties and they all start with this same kind of historical recap. It’s a summing up of the story of the relationship between a lord or a king and a vassal or a subject. They would “cut a covenant” as cutting a deal. Deuteronomy has all of the detailed structure of those Hittite documents. Right after the “recap” you have the law in ch. 5—that’s also a part of Hittite treaty structure. After the history lesson, the standards of the covenant are listed: what you’re commanded to do. Being aware of this meta-structure can help you as you read. This whole book is in the form of an ancient contract—the same contract that Christ refers to at the table. “This cup is the cup of the covenant in My blood, shed for the forgiveness of sin.” Praise Him!


Friday
Luke 6:12-16 | The Calling of the Twelve | At the 1992 Olympics, the U.S. put together what many consider the greatest basketball team of all time—the Dream Team. Some might argue that 2024’s squad with all of our favorite Warriors players was even better, but that’s a debate for another time.
What made both teams so dominant was their sheer talent: Jordan, Magic, Bird, KD, Steph. It makes sense to us: assemble the best, gather the most skilled, and you’ll achieve greatness. But that’s not the approach Jesus took when He chose the twelve. He didn’t pick the most brilliant minds, the most influential leaders, or the most religiously devout. These men weren’t spiritual giants.
Yet, this small unimpressive group turned the world upside-down. How? How did a handful of uneducated fishermen and a despised tax collector transform history? The answer is simple: they didn’t. The Holy Spirit did. They were merely the instruments God used. This is our prayer as leaders for both of our churches: We don’t want the best or brightest. We don’t want the most brilliant scholars. We just want our churches to be filled with people who want to be used by God.

Deuteronomy 5 | The Law | Compare this list with the ten commandments from Exodus 20. You’ll notice one strong difference. Can you explain it? In the first list, God’s creation of the world is mentioned. In the second list, God’s saving power from Egypt is mentioned. Why the difference? What’s changed in the 40 years in between? Pondering this change and thinking through it is important. It prepares you for how the Old and New Testaments are vitally and truly connected. We believe in the full counsel of God, not the part counsel. Creation and redemption are the two mightiest works of our God. And they both together are reason to truly rest.

Week 10

March 3-7
[M] Numbers 8-11; Colossians 1
[T] Num 12-14; Psalm 28; Col 2
[W] Num 15-18; Psalm 113; Col 3
[T] Num 19-21; Col 4
[F] Num 22-25; Luke 1

Dwell Plan Day 46--50 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Colossians 1:9 | And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. It's really exciting that you have made it to week ten in the reading plan. But as we progress, it looks like Paul wants you to remember something. This reading plan and knowledge of God’s word isn’t about pride or brownie points. We should be reading for the three reasons he gives us here: 1) Knowledge of His will. 2) Spiritual wisdom. 3) Spiritual understanding. As you keep going into week ten and beyond, try and keep the goal of this project in mind.

Numbers 8:25 |  I wonder sometimes if pastors should retire at 50. There is something about ministry that really wears you out, and this rule certainly seems to get it!

Numbers 9:15 | This image of the glory cloud reappears again in the Scripture. It also happens when the temple is dedicated by Solomon. It’s also described as leaving the temple during the exile in Babylon. But then it appears again in the most surprising place: on the mountain of Transfiguration. Notice this: the glory cloud does two things—it both reveals and conceals. This becomes a tension throughout the Scripture itself, and this revealing/concealing action is happening every time God shows up. To some the gospel smells like life; to some it stinks like death.

Numbers 11 | Complaining | One of the biggest mistakes we make when reading the Bible is assuming we’re better than the people in the stories. But think about it, Israel wandered in the desert and complained. Haven’t you grumbled over far less? I know I have.
As you read about their rebellion and complaints, don’t just shake your head at them. See yourself in them. We’re not the heroes of the story—God is. And the more we use these narratives as a mirror to recognize our own weakness, the more we’ll see our need for His grace. And the more we’ll come to appreciate what an amazing savior we have.

Numbers 11:29 | Moses expresses a desire for all of God’s people to be prophets. Listen to how the prophet speaks prophetically even when he doesn’t know it! This foreshadowing and longing of Moses is the heart of God for us—that we would all be filled with the Spirit. Moses is like Jesus, and the things he wants for God’s people are the very things that God wants.
Moses is like Jesus, and so we call him a “type” of Christ. Pay attention to these “types” and you’ll start noticing them all over the Bible. Pay special attention, because the way they look and sound like Jesus—those are ways we can also learn to look like Him!

Colossians 1:15-20 | This can be prayed to Christ as a prayer of adoration. These verses are worth the time to meditate and reflect on, letting God’s word take you to a place of praise and exaltation.


Tuesday
Numbers 12:3 | Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

 
 


Wednesday
Numbers 16:3 | Korah’s rebellion comes up in the New Testament. Their rebellion is of a different kind, which is now rejecting God’s chain of command. They’re saying “we’re all holy, so why are you in charge?” There have been many different attempts to say that in God’s kingdom there is no hierarchy. In fact, we now live in a time where authority is naturally questioned and the assumption is hierarchy, where one person is in charge of another, is wrong. Not so in the Bible—again and again leaders are told to lead through service, to not lord it over others, and to humble themselves through sacrifice. Being a leader still isn’t about being important or being in charge! But as the Bible teaches this amazing servant leadership, it never denies or diminishes or gets rid of authority. That’s a human idea, not one from our God.

Psalm 113:7-9 | The Upside-Down Kingdom | He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,  to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.  He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!
A few years ago, I (Jon) read through the Bible with a specific focus: marking every passage that showed how God’s kingdom is upside down compared to the world’s empires. I used an upside-down triangle in the margins whenever I saw this truth—how the world’s way is about power and oppression, but God’s way is about humility and service.
By the end of the year, my Bible was full of these marks, and I realized this theme is everywhere—far more than I expected. I’m not asking you to do the same, but as you read, keep an eye out. Notice how often God flips human expectations upside down. His kingdom is different, and that’s good news!

Colossians 3:1-2 | If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Note the order here: if you have been raised with Christ, seek kingdom things. It’s not: do kingdom things so that you can be raised with Christ. We don’t earn our salvation by good works; we live differently because Christ is transforming us.
Getting this wrong turns the gospel into a heavy burden. But when we rest in His grace, seeking His kingdom becomes a joyful response, not a desperate effort. Today, live in the freedom of what Christ has already done!

Colossians 3:5 | We’ve been reading the Old Testament law a lot, and if there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that capital punishment—the death penalty—was used in ancient Israel. The severity of the law can be offputting to us, but it is helpful to remember that Old Testament law is far more merciful and mild than the other legal codes we have from those times. The Code of Hammurabi is from roughly the same time period, and the death penalty is applied to practically everything!
But the connection we should see here is about our spiritual lives. The Old Testament law might seem severe, but a part of its severity is to teach the nature of sin and the holiness of God. This command here to “put to death” sin is an echo—a loud crashing echo—of the law now applied to the personal life of the believer. So in that sense, we are still practicing the principles taught in God’s law as we fight sin!

Thursday
Numbers 21:4-9 | The Bronze Serpent | In John 3:14, Jesus directly connects this event to his own death. The question is: what’s the connection? The answer lies in looking at the way salvation is received.
The people in Numbers aren’t saved from death by doing anything except looking in faith. The same is true with our salvation. Christ was lifted up, just like the bronze serpent. And by gazing at the cross with faith, we are saved. That’s it. No works. No earning. No spiritual effort. Just looking with faith.

Numbers 20:2-13 | Moses has an anger problem. Read this chapter carefully. Moses is judged by God for what he does, and he’s told he won’t lead the people into their destination, the promised land. Why is it important that God also judges Moses? Don’t you think Moses is justifiably a bit tired and worn out by the people of God? Doesn’t matter, God is holy. Consider the goodness and severity of God. Always consider them.

Friday
Numbers 22-24 | This amazing little story is one of the best in the Bible! Balak is a king. He wants to hire Balaam, a local prophet, but note, he’s not a Jew. Even so, he seems to know who God is. The king hires the prophet to come and attack the people of Israel spiritually, by putting a curse on them. But he can’t, even though he tries (the king is paying him a lot of money.) But he keeps trying. And he keeps taking the money. And God keeps stopping him from cursing. The king believes that gods are stronger on some mountains than they are on others, which is why he keeps paying for the prophet to try it! You can’t stand against God. It just doesn’t work. We see this same sort of character in Acts, in Simon the magician. There’s a warning in each story too.

Luke 1:1-4 | This is one of those rare moments when a writer in the Bible tells you his process, how he gathered data, and why he put it all together. It underscores what the Bible already assumes: it’s history and not fiction. There are witnesses and they’ve been checked. What a glorious testimony to the word of God in every book and chapter. Remember the genre you’re reading: it’s fantastical non-fiction.

Week 9

February 24-28
[M] Lev 24-25; Psalm 81; Hebrews 9
[T] Lev 26-27; Psalm 112; Heb 10
[W] Numbers 1-2; Psalm 64; Heb 11
[T] Num 3-5; Heb 12
[F] Num 6-7; Heb 13

Dwell Plan Day 41-45 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

 

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Leviticus 24:17-23 | An Eye for an Eye | The ancient world was a harsh and violent place, and the law of “an eye for an eye” wasn’t about encouraging revenge, it was about ensuring justice. God gave this law to keep punishment fair, preventing people from taking matters into their own hands and escalating violence. It was meant to guide Israel’s leaders in upholding justice (see Exodus 21:18-19).
But this law wasn’t just about personal behavior; it was about building a just society. Then Jesus came along and took it even further in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38-42). He taught that in His kingdom, our response to wrongdoing shouldn’t be retaliation, but radical love. Instead of demanding payback, we’re called to serve—even those who hurt us.
That’s not natural, right? But this is exactly what Jesus did for us. While we were still sinners—fully deserving of judgment—He took our punishment on Himself. Instead of an eye for an eye, He gave His life so we could be forgiven. Now, as His people, He calls us to live out that same grace in our daily lives.

Leviticus 25 | Sabbath and Jubilee | For centuries, God’s people ignored His commands about the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee—times when the land was supposed to rest, debts were to be forgiven, and people were given a fresh start. Instead of trusting God’s provision, they kept working the land and living as if His commands didn’t matter.
But God wasn’t going to let their disobedience go unchecked forever. When the exile came, He made it clear: “You owe me 70 Sabbath years.” And so, just as they had skipped 70 Sabbath years, they spent 70 years in exile (2 Chronicles 36:20-21; Leviticus 26:33-35). God’s discipline wasn’t random: it was measured, just, and purposeful. The exile wasn’t just punishment; it was God resetting what His people had neglected. But even in judgment, God’s mercy was at work, because after 70 years, He brought His people home with a renewed sense of His presence.

Leviticus 25 | What sort of God is this? And what does this rhythm of years tell us about God’s goals for us? How do you see Jesus in the Jubilee?

Psalm 81:10 | “I am the LORD your God” is something that God says again and again, as if that statement alone explains everything. It also happens frequently in Leviticus. Everything we’re reading is grounded somehow in revealing God’s character as a person. You may not like it, and you might find Him offensive or strange. It doesn’t matter, because He is who He is, now who we wish He would be.  This becomes the ultimate rationale that God says to us, and we can’t go any further, “It’s because of Who I AM,” God says repeatedly. It’s an early form of what Paul says later that “of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.” God’s character and personhood ground everything in scripture.


Tuesday
Hebrews 10:12-14 | Do you remember Psalm 110:1? We just read it last week. I love reading the Bible like this and seeing how it’s all woven together.

Hebrews 10:19 | Our access to God isn’t all that stunning to us, unless you’re reading Leviticus at the same time as Hebrews! The wonder and joy of the early Christians must have been infectious and powerful. Having lived under the shadow and dominion of the law, of the tabernacle and all of its rules, of the holiness that means death for sinners–to know that you can just saunter on in to the holy places is mind boggling to them. Draw near! Get in as close as you can!

Leviticus 26-27 | Congrats: you made it through Leviticus. :)


Wednesday
Numbers 1 | We all have lists of people we know, people we’re related to, and people we work with. The lists go on and on in our lives. Our own circle of good friends might be pretty small, but our larger set of contacts, acquaintances, and old friends is bigger than we often realize. And each name means something to us–some memory or connection.
That’s what these lists originally felt like to the first readers! Just imagine if your family was even mentioned in your holy scriptures–wouldn’t that be amazingly affirming? These lists and genealogies don’t mean much to us, but they meant the world to someone at some point (and here’s the kicker) they actually matter to God Himself. He has no regard for how important someone is! His attention, love, and care are the same for the very least person we know. And His attention, love, and care are eternal for each and every individual! That’s the power of an eternal God. He never gets tired and never loses absolute focus on you and your problems and your circle of friends. That’s the promise in these lists.
And it’s also an offer to you and me: bring Him your lists! He loves lists, doesn’t ever get tired of them, and never stops intimately caring about all the folks we intimately care about. It’s truly amazing that all of these anonymous people are mentioned. You may feel anonymous at times: a cog in a wheel, or employee #564539, but to our God, you are precious enough to sing over and redeem. Praise Him!

Psalm 64 | It’s quite important to learn how to complain in a Godly manner. And it’s possible. We need to learn and reproduce the moods, attitudes, and life of true faith. Sometimes that means asking God to stop bad folks from doing bad things. We get to pray for that sort of thing, and God takes it quite personally on our behalf. Go, and in the power of the Spirit, learn to complain the way that pleases God. After all, it is Wednesday!

Hebrews 11 | You’ve been reading the Old Testament for the past six weeks or so. When you read this chapter, ask yourself a question: do you read the Bible the way that the writer of Hebrews does? Do you see the story of constant faith? Can you line up your faith with theirs and see the contrasts and similarities? This chapter is a tour de force in Bible interpretation, inviting us to see all the folks of the Bible as having the same struggles and faith that we ourselves have. Ask the Spirit to give you a “Hebrews 11” view of your Bible!

Hebrews 11:10, 16 | One of the key marks of deep faith is living with a real eternal perspective—not just believing in eternity, but letting that reality shape daily life. Abraham was willing to live as a wanderer, without a permanent home, because he knew his true inheritance in God’s kingdom was just around the corner (Hebrews 11:9-10). In the book of Acts, believers sold their homes and possessions to care for one another, because they understood that their eternal home was coming soon (Acts 4:32-35).
As we read scripture together this year, our hope is that you’ll gain a renewed sense of the inheritance that is yours in Christ. Because through Jesus, you’ve been adopted into God’s family—and that means your future is secure, your hope is certain, and the best is yet to come. 


Thursday
Numbers 3:40 | All of this focus on the “firstborn” can seem culturally odd to us. It isn’t about their culture though, this “firstborn” claim has bigger implications: God’s claim over every firstborn of all the people of God is staking a claim. It’s God previewing for us what is most precious to Him as He is revealing it to us in His word. The “firstborn” from the dead is Jesus Himself. He is the promise that this cultural practice anticipates. The “firstborn” of Adam and Eve was a murderer. That’s what sin creates. God’s “firstborn” is the eternal Son of God, who, when He becomes man, He is then the first among many brothers–because we’re all adopted into the family. These ancient ideas are all a setup: they’re equipping and preparing us to see and believe something that no one could have expected or made up. The scriptures have a wholeness and a unity that is mysterious and remarkable, pointing to their author–the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 12:2 | This is one of the most incredible verses in all of Scripture because it gives us a glimpse into the very heart of Christ. The cross was brutal. He endured torture, shame, and the full wrath of the Father. The author of Hebrews says, “He endured the cross…” But why? “For the joy that was set before Him…”
So here’s the big question: What was the joy? What made it all worth it? The answer is you. You were the joy set before Him. He went through the suffering of the cross because He wanted you–redeemed, restored, and with Him forever. That’s how much He loves you.
So, the next time you sin and feel flooded with shame, thinking, “God must love me less. There’s no way He still wants anything to do with me,” remember this verse. He didn’t go to the cross reluctantly. Nobody made Him do it. He went joyfully, because you are His joy, His prize, the apple of His eye.


Friday
Leviticus 6:1-21 | The Nazarite Vow | Take a careful look at this section and remember it when we get to the story of Samson in the book of Judges. Samson takes this vow and then breaks pretty much every part of it.

Leviticus 6:22-27 | This blessing will be fully realized when we enter into eternity and God shines his face upon us. I can’t wait.

Hebrews 13:7 | This is the writer’s interpretive principle: Jesus never changes. Therefore, all of the details of the law and the tabernacle and the sacrificial system have power to teach us. Even the way that Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem is predicted in the rules of the law! You had to go outside the camp in the law to deal with the ugliness of sin and the demands of atonement. In the same way that you had to leave the camp, they also left the city to crucify Jesus. They enacted the law of the atonement sacrifice without even intending to, revealing to us all of these thousands of years later that the events in the Bible simply aren’t fiction. They are a revelation of the consistent saving work of a loving God across all of history.

Week 8

February 17-21
[M] Leviticus 8-11; Ps 110; Hebrews 4
[T] Lev 12-14; Psalm 111; Heb 5
[W] Lev 15-18; Psalm 31; Heb 6
[T] Lev 19-20; Heb 7
[F] Lev 21-23; Heb 8

Dwell Plan Day 36-40 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Leviticus 8-10 |There is a drama here that happens across these three chapters. We began Leviticus with details on the offerings. It’s fairly dry stuff at times. It’s hard to keep track of all the differing types of offerings and their purposes. But the story pivots in chapter to 8 to focus on Aaron and his sons. This is extremely important. As you read it, notice how much blood and sacrifice is required just for Aaron and his sons to do their work. It’s a lot, covering them from head to toe, splashed on the altar, sprinkled all over their clothes. This culminates in God responding with fire, dramatically coming from His presence, licking up the offering off the altar. Everyone saw it and had a real worship moment. (Leviticus 9:24)
But then something horrible happens: two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, decide to do some of the offerings their own way. The Bible calls it “unauthorized fire”, and they pay for it with their lives–right in front of their dad. And then Moses says to him, and to their uncles, that they’re not allowed to grieve until all of their work of consecration is done.
It’s a grim scene. It makes me pray double for my own sons. It’s what the writer of Hebrews has in mind when he writes that our God is a consuming fire. This isn’t a different OT God of wrath either. Remember Ananias and Saphira? One interpretive help is to see the similarities there: In the book of Acts, God is creating His first church, much like in Exodus, God is creating His people in taking them out of Egypt. When the church is just getting started, there are miracles happening with a heightened sense of redemptive drama. Some of those miracles are also judgments, as in Ananias and his wife. We see the same kind of intensity in the book of Exodus, as the first tabernacle and the first priesthood are just being consecrated. Astounding miracles are happening around them, proving this is God’s work, increasing the redemptive arc and also bringing immediate judgments.
In these moments, what the Bible sometimes calls the “fulness of time,” we actually see ultimate reality breaking into our reality. Eternity is “breaking in” to time and space, in both Exodus and Acts. In those dramatic moments of God’s saving work, the eternal realities of blessing or judgment begin to become more and more visible. They reveal God is at work, and what kind of God He is.

Leviticus 9 | In this chapter, Aaron offers blood sacrifices for himself and the people, and when atonement is made, God’s glory appears, consuming the offering with fire. This points us to Jesus, our perfect High Priest, who shed His own blood on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice to fully atone for sin and bring us into God’s presence. Just like in Leviticus, where the shedding of blood was necessary for forgiveness, Christ’s blood secures our eternal redemption—proven by His resurrection, which shows that His sacrifice was accepted once and for all.

Psalm 110:1 | The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Out of all the amazing verses in the Old Testament, this verse is the most frequently quoted Old Testament passage by New Testament authors. It reveals Jesus as the exalted Messiah who reigns at God’s right hand (Matthew 22:44; Acts 2:34-35; Hebrews 1:13). Theologically, it affirms Christ’s divine authority, his ongoing reign, and the certainty of His final victory over the enemy. For us believers, this psalm is a reminder that Jesus is not only our Savior but also our King; ruling now, and ensuring that all things will ultimately be brought into submission to him. It’s incredibly comforting to think that right now, from heaven, Jesus is seated on his throne and ruling the world through his sovereign power.

Psalm 110:1 | Jesus loved this verse especially because it bugged the religious hotshots of the day. No one could explain what the heck David was saying back then. It wasn’t until Christ conquered death and revealed clearly he is the Son of God that this little riddle of a verse started to have clarity.
But don’t only focus on the amazing truth revealed. Notice also the wise way that Christ used spiritual truth. He knew what it meant. He also knew they didn’t. So he’s intentionally being enigmatic, playful, and impossible to pin down. Why? I think he’s hoping they’ll try to figure out his little riddle, and later, it might lead them to faith. It did for some! But also importantly, for us in our day, he’s wisely avoiding letting anyone just put him in a box.
When we depend on the Spirit, we will find the same sort of wisdom that Christ had. It is the wisdom of surprising truth, because when we say the really remarkable stuff the Bible says in some places, it’s just not like anything anyone is posting or saying or teaching in this world. Here’s one I like to share with all sorts of people: God’s advice when you’re around really wealthy people and you want their beautiful things is to imagine there’s a razor being pressed right up against your carotid artery. (Proverbs 23:1-4) That’s how dangerous it is to really want other people’s stuff. The Bible is weird. Move toward its weirdness like Jesus did.

Hebrews 4:12 | For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This is our memory verse for February, but it could also be our theme verse for the whole year. Take a look at each clause one more time slowly and see the depth of the power of God’s word in our lives. Slowly reread each clause to experience the profound power of God's word in our lives.


Tuesday
Hebrews 5 | Do you see how the author of Hebrews connects the work of Christ with all that we are reading in Leviticus?

Psalm 111 | As you read this wonderful little poem, notice the use of the word “works.” In the Hebrew the same word appears in verses 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. But in verse 8 and 10 the ESV uses the English words “performed” and “practice” to translate the word “works.” But that misses a truth of the New Testament scripture, which may have been based on this poem: Remember that Paul tells us we are God’s “workmanship” created in Christ Jesus for “good works” so we can go and do them? This is the language of Ephesians 2:10, revealing that God is at work as we are at work. In this little poem of praise, the poet exalts and praises all of the many works of God, describing their power, faithfulness, and love. Then he connects us to God’s work, encouraging us in praise and adoration to claim our work as God’s in us.

Leviticus 12 | Remember as you read this chapter that is so odd to our ears, that being unclean or in a state of impurity wasn’t about being in a state of sin.

Leviticus 13-14 | The laws about leprosy in Leviticus cover a wide range of skin diseases, not just what we call “leprosy” today. The key idea behind these laws is that impurity spreads—if you touch someone unclean, you become unclean too. For generations, this was the norm in Israel. But then Jesus comes along, and everything changes.
In Luke 5:13 (also recorded in Matthew 8:3 and Mark 1:41), a leper approaches Jesus, desperate for healing. There’s a small but shocking detail—Jesus touches him. On the surface, it’s a beautiful moment: this man, likely untouched for years, feels human contact again. But something deeper is happening. In the Old Testament, impurity spreads outward, contaminating everything it touches. But when Jesus, the source of life and holiness, touches the leper, the opposite happens—instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the leper becomes clean. Instead of death spreading, life flows from Jesus to the sick man. This moment is a picture of the gospel itself. Jesus doesn’t just heal disease; he takes what is unclean, broken, and sinful, and he makes it whole.


Wednesday
Leviticus 16 | This chapter lays out the Day of Atonement, the one day each year when the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Two goats were involved—one was sacrificed, and the other, called the scapegoat, was sent into the wilderness symbolizing sin being taken away. This whole ritual was a preview of what Jesus would do for us. As our perfect High Priest, he didn’t just offer a sacrifice—he became the sacrifice, shedding his blood to fully pay for sin once and for all (Hebrews 9:11-12). And just like the scapegoat, Jesus carried our sins away, suffering outside the city, so that we could be brought near to God (Hebrews 13:12). Now, because of Him, we don’t need yearly sacrifices—our atonement is finished, and our redemption is secure.

Psalm 31 | In his desperation, David writes this poem. The ESV translation captures the staccato rhythms of the Hebrew, creating a sense of tension in four imperatives in the first two verses. He then praises God for rescuing him out of their net, and tells God “into your hand I commit my spirit.” (v. 5)
By the Holy Spirit, these lines become the words of Jesus himself to his Father on the cross as he died. This makes this one of the “messianic psalms,” each of which refers somehow to Christ. As words from Jesus’ mouth, they have a special relevance to us. Notice the verse goes on to say “You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” Christ’s committing his spirit was an act of trust in God’s redeeming faithfulness.
As the poem goes on, we discover just how desperate David has gotten and how vicious his enemies are. Then in verse 20 there seems to be a deepening understanding. He’s become aware that God is his deepest need. His true shelter and safety is in God’s presence–literally the “hiding place of Your Face.” What the Holy Spirit revealed to David and through David, may he also reveal to us.


Thursday
Hebrews 7 | In this section of Hebrews, the author is making the case that Jesus is greater than the Levitical priesthood. There is a lot in here that I’d love to parse out in 20 sermons someday, but for now, I’d like you to notice what he says in verses 25-27. There are two ideas that, when properly understood, should bring us all into a posture of worship and adoration: 
When you went to the temple, a priest would sacrifice an animal on your behalf and maybe say a blessing over you. But this wasn’t a one-time thing; it had to be repeated over and over, year after year. Honestly, that must have been exhausting.
But then Jesus comes along (Hebrews 7:27), and his sacrifice is different—it’s once and done. No need to repeat it, no way to add to it, no way to make it better. It never fades, never wears off, and never needs to be reapplied.
That alone is incredible, but the author of Hebrews gives us one more reason why Jesus is greater than the priests: in the temple, a priest might pray for you, but then you’d move on, and he’d move on, probably never thinking about you again. Jesus, however, never stops interceding for you (Hebrews 7:25). He not only died to save you—he lives to pray for you. Imagine a first-century Jewish person hearing this after a lifetime in the temple system—what an amazing Savior!

Leviticus 19:18 | This little verse is just tucked away in here, but it becomes core to Jesus’ whole teaching. Love your neighbor as yourself. As you read the law, this is what’s at the core of it, the principle that’s being worked out time and time again.
This is what love looks like: we don’t do these awful things to people. But you might have noticed that the morals of the law are squished in with the laws about being clean and unclean and having nasty bodily “discharges.” It just sounds gross–and it is–but remember, nothing in the Bible is sacred except for God. Our stuff, our moral perversity and general slobbiness as humans, is all discussed in the Bible. And it all matters to God. Lots of these specific rules would make so much sense if you knew the original context. These original hearers did. They knew the point that God kept making: you are not like these other people around you. Don’t do the stuff they do; it’s awful. I want you to be different in tons of detailed ways, just to show how different you really are. 

Leviticus 20:1-7 | Child Sacrifice. I don’t want to make this long because I can hardly read this chapter without thinking about why these laws were necessary. All I want to say here is this: remember this chapter for when we get to the later Old Testament books. Verse 23 makes it clear that God wants them to be different from the people around them, but the people of Israel eventually follow their evil neighbors and turn to child sacrifice.


Friday
Leviticus 23 | In his book The Knowledge of the Holy, AW Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Many people envision God as a stern, distant figure—one who saves, yet watches with expectation for failure, ready to judge. This perception paints Him as grumpy, perhaps even unkind.
However, the God revealed in Scripture is entirely different. He is undeniably holy, yet also a God of profound joy and unfailing love. Rather than waiting for our failure, he calls us into his grace, inviting us to know him as he truly is. Look at what we see in this chapter: a God who tells his people, “Here, I have a command for you. Don’t forget to party and celebrate. In fact, build the whole rhythm of your life around these celebrations. And as you do this, remember all that I have done for you and be filled with joy!” Now that’s a God I want to know!

Hebrews 8:5 | Copies and shadows. There’s something so bright and beautiful about heaven, something so shiny and glorious, that all we can really see here are shadows. Shadows are all we can handle. But don’t you just want to peek at what’s behind the curtain? All of those details from Exodus about the tent and all the stuff in it are all pure, eternal, and glorious realities in heaven. Imagination is the servant girl of faith for us here, and the writer of Hebrews is setting us up for a flight of praiseful imagination!
At the same time we’re also being invited to consider the reality of the spiritual. The copies remind us that all of this “spiritual furniture” of heaven is even more real and durable than the couch in your living room. There is another reality, another spiritual dimension, that’s all around us. In some parts of the Bible that’s a warning about spiritual warfare, but here it’s an invitation to every child of God. God’s “home,” which is his Presence, is a place we’re always welcomed to find shelter and fellowship with him. And it’s as close as closed eyes in prayer, crying out to Him in faith. And voila! You’re actually there, before his majesty. That’s what makes Jesus’ promises so much better.

Week 7

February 10-14
[M] Exodus 32-34; Philippians 3
[T] Exodus 35-37; Psalm 26; Phil 4
[W] Exodus 38-40; Hebrews 1
[T] Leviticus 1-3; Psalm 27; Heb 2
[F] Lev 4-7; Heb 3

Dwell Plan Day 31-35 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Exodus 32:24 | This might be one of the lamest excuses for sin written in the Bible. You see the same pattern from Adam and Eve–blame someone else! He doesn’t take real responsibility for what happened, and we’re going to see how this works out later: Aaron’s divided faith winds up destroying his family. But, in this moment, here he’s almost comical, until you realize that you’ve done the same sorts of things and played the same sorts of blame games. But what’s so astonishing is how this is a direct contradiction of everything they’ve heard and seen. It’s like the last 31 chapters didn’t even happen or didn’t make a dent in their thinking. Notice though: this is always the story. The disciples act the same way–blundering and misunderstanding the kingdom of God all the time. We should take great courage in this. As God’s people we consistently mess it all up. And as the God of grace, He consistently forgives, repairs, and provides. 

Exodus 32:7-14 | Moses intercedes for the people of God again and again. His prayer argument against God’s judgments makes Moses a preview of Jesus and His intercession. What do we learn? Argue for God’s glory, argue for His protection against a bad reputation, argue from His promises. Argue with Him on His terms and His character. Why else is this story here, but to also teach us how to wrestle with the Almighty? Our Savior is doing this actual work at this very moment. Let’s join Him at the throne.

Exodus 33:11 | True relationship with God is real, personal, and possible. In these ancient stories it’s rarer, but in the coming of Christ and His kingdom, Jesus calls His disciples friends. Moses is a picture of what’s possible for even the littlest faith, because we have the fullness of the Spirit now. Praise Him! 

Exodus 33:18 | “Please show me Your glory,” asks Moses. He meets with God as a friend, he performs miracles in God’s Name, he just spent 40 days and nights on the mountain with God, and what does Moses ask for? Gimme more. Even Moses’s request points to Jesus, because only Jesus could be the true answer to such a cry to God. What a rebuke to our self indulgent hearts–that we can indulge ourselves endlessly in Him. Let’s seek that together in Jesus and ask for it daily. Give us more.

Exodus 33:19 | “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (NIV)  Remember this verse when we get to Romans 9.

Exodus 34:14 | We think of jealousy as a negative trait, and most folks are probably weirded out when this word is applied to God. But think about what it would mean to lose this attribute of God: What would it look like if God wasn’t jealous over his people? What would it mean if God didn’t care when people sought after idols? It would mean he didn’t love. Real love, of course, goes hand in hand with jealousy. When God says that he is jealous, what he’s really telling us is that he loves us so much that he can’t stand our chasing after lesser gods.

Exodus 34:29 | Moses is shining! When Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah on what we call the “Mount of Transfiguration,” he’s super shiny too. The language of Mark is that He was a brighter and purer light, cleaner than the best detergents could create. Christ is the second Moses! Again and again Moses has these little things in his life that point to Jesus. This is exciting because of the way it ties the whole story of the Bible together, making it one story about God’s love for sinners.
But there’s more excitement here to look for! If Moses can shine like Jesus with God’s Presence on him, what’s possible now? Or rather, what’s impossible for us? You don’t think whole mountains could jump into the sea, do you? Actually, if I stop a moment to remember His glory and power, I realize Twin Peaks and the other 47 hills in this city don’t have a chance. Not if we are a people seeking His face, reflecting His glory, and shining in the great darkness of this generation. Praise Him.

Tuesday
Exodus 35:21 | This is one of the early “offering basket” moments in God’s kingdom. It’s a fundraising program for building God’s house, something we’re all familiar with to this very day. But notice what it says, everyone gave “whose heart stirred him.” There’s something freeing about God’s kingdom–free of manipulation and coercion. God has a love and joy in the giver who gives out of the overflow of their hearts, out of gratitude and thankfulness, out of freedom and worship. Compulsion, guilt trips, and demands are not the way of our Father’s kingdom. These details in God’s ancient laws are little previews of Jesus and the whole New Testament, revealing the inner beauty of what our God builds by faith. He always has.

Exodus 35:31-35 | This little note is so encouraging. What is the work of the Spirit? He actually has two works in us. God gives us the Holy Spirit so we can do holy and good stuff. Quite practically, it is “skill, intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship” for Bezalel and Oholiab. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of action!
But notice how important the second part of His work is: they also get filled with the Spirit to reproduce and multiply their work through teaching! That’s also a work of the Spirit, and reveals how we should always seek the Spirit’s fulness.
The Spirit’s fulness isn’t really a spectacular worship event with tons of good feelings. It may have all that or not, but one part of His work at all times is to reproduce and multiply dependence on Him. Let’s all seek the fullest work of the Spirit in this age and this generation: to make Jesus–and His salvation–beautiful to all people. 

Psalm 26 | Some of David’s poems can be difficult to own for ourselves. At times we can’t relate, and some of that is cultural. These are poems that come from a different time and culture, and we can feel the disconnect.
But in this poem, it can feel even worse. David is writing a poem about how good he really is! That certainly doesn’t seem to sound right. Where’s his humility? Where’s his awareness of sin? But here’s where we can grow in spiritual maturity: You can’t take just one slice of David’s poetry and have the whole picture of who he is. He’s a complex and multi-dimensional person, a lot like you and me. His faith (and writing) at times does express his sins, failures, doubts, and complaints as well as his joys, wonder, and thankfulness at the goodness of God. David is a picture of a whole life lived for God, not just part.
In verse three, David tells us his real presuppositions. What he assumes is that he is walking in God’s faithfulness, not his own! So as David lists his good deeds, he’s just giving glory to God. And so the Spirit is teaching us too–revealing to us how to see our good works as works of God. And if they are works of God, they should be celebrated and praised and listed. You and I must do this too at times, especially when we feel so accused in our hearts about our sins and failures. It isn’t really David’s righteousness that he’s talking about, and he knows it. It is God’s steadfast love, right in front of his eyes. 

Philippians 4:4-9 | Memorize this. Ingest it deeply. Let your soul soak in it again and again. Bring it up to God, and ask for the promise it makes to be true. Channel your mind with this instruction on what to think about. Think of your heart, and of your worries and anxieties as things that harden your heart. They make it tough and resistant to God’s love and grace. This is the natural drift of who we are in this world.
But take this lesson from the cheapest cuts of meat off the cow: if you marinate even the most leathery top round, it becomes tender and juicy. Marinating your toughened heart in a text like this, by memorization and meditation on its truth, will soften and tenderize your heart and mind. 

Philippians 4:13 | “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
This is one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible. This is not a call to strength and power, “I can do whatever I want ‘cause Jesus is on my team.” Look at the context: Paul is talking about suffering for Jesus, and then he says, “I can even suffer for him because he gives me strength.” So, when put in context, this is not a call to strength, but perseverance though suffering for the name of Christ Jesus.

Wednesday
Exodus 38-40 | Blueprints are hard to describe with just words. It isn’t easy to picture all of this stuff they’re making in your mind, so search the internet for “Old Testament Tabernacle” under images. You’ll get to see a whole bunch of guesses about what this big tent actually looked like.
And notice: God’s people are living in tents, therefore God lives in a tent. When God’s people live in houses, then God also lives in a house–called the temple. God is making a point here about His intentions, isn’t He? We all live in bodies of flesh in order to be human, so guess what God’s going to do: He too will live with us in a physical body. And that’s just the part before it gets even better. In a turnabout that exalts His kingdom, we get new bodies in His glory that are even better, so He can fellowship with us forever. Wow. And it all began with camping. Who would have thought? 

Hebrews | Today, we start the book of Hebrews. Tomorrow, we’ll start Leviticus. I want you to think about why the folks who put this plan together did that. The book of Leviticus isn’t a random set of weird sacrifice laws that are completely disconnected from New Testament theology. The law of Moses was fulfilled in Christ and that connection is made most clearly in the New Testament when we read the book of Hebrews.

Thursday
Leviticus | As we jump into Leviticus, please take a look at the Bible project video first. I promise it’s gonna help you see what’s going on here and how it all points us to Christ. Also, as you read this whole section on sacrifices and offerings (Chapters 1-7), ask yourself, “What was the point of this ritual? For sin? Peace? Thanksgiving?”

Leviticus 1-7 | This book is joked about as boring, and it can feel a bit inaccessible. We don’t slaughter animals for offerings in our culture. It’s viewed as distasteful even to slaughter animals publicly. Most of it happens behind closed doors. It offends our sensibilities.
But in Romans 12, we were told to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices.” (NIV) How can you know what that means, unless you learn about what sacrifices are? They show us that God is most holy. They reveal that nothing about us is holy. They reveal how necessary blood is for our rescue from guilt. They show how worship reflects the breadth of our Christian experience, as the sacrificial offerings represent guilt and thanksgiving, sin and peace. Ask the Spirit to show you how to offer up sacrifices of prayer and praise in all of these ways.
In its dry way, this book is slowly revealing just how huge the scope of God’s saving grace really is. Just how far it reaches. What kind of God is this? This book has a secret depth we can begin to see: The cross of Jesus represents all of the offerings combined, and the Spirit creates a “levitical” dimension to our daily worship and walk in repentance and faith.

Leviticus 5:15 | You are responsible before God, for all of the sins you did unintentionally and unknowingly. Think about that the next time you confess your sins to God. There’s an old expression that captures this. “There’s no ‘little sin’ in this world, because there’s no ‘little God’ to sin against.” He is a great and awesome and pure God, and we need a whole lot more forgiving than we’re even aware of. Christ had to die for all of that too. What a savior! Leviticus leads us to treasure Jesus. 

Psalm 27 | A poem for you when you’re scared! A part of being really frightened is getting overwhelmed. Problems and fears loom in your consciousness with a size you can’t manage.
David cuts through this with a beautiful simplicity. He seeks only one thing: to know God, which he describes in three different ways.
This clarity is a lot like the clarity Christ calls us to when He says to seek first the kingdom of God. When Christ teaches this, He goes on to say that everything else will then be added to you.
Notice how consistent the message of God’s love is across Scripture. List how many requests to God come out of this poem in verses 7-12! Gospel simplicity is the foundation for living in life’s complexity.

Hebrews 2:17 | Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
This is one of those verses that you could memorize, think about every day for years, and still not hit the bottom of its depths. Take a minute later today or tomorrow and just read it a few times. Look at all that this verse says about who Christ is and why he became one of us.

Friday
Leviticus 4 | Here is a great note from the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible: “The promise of forgiveness is fulfilled in Christ’s giving himself as a sacrifice for sin (Rom. 8:3; Heb. 10:1–10).”

Hebrews 3:7-8 | This ancient warning is always in front of us, always a danger, always a call to awaken. There is an urgency about the good news that’s always been a part of it. This life is a window of grace, an open opportunity to know the living God. And in our lives there are particular windows of grace that open up, where God seems more real, and we have a greater desire to follow. Perhaps there’s a church or community that’s inviting you, that’s proving how true it all is. Or it’s a preacher that you connect with, who makes you want to believe. Or it’s an amazing answer to prayer that you just can’t explain other than Jesus.
Hear God say to you through all of these things: If you hear Me speaking–hear it in your heart and see it all around you–don’t resist it, and don’t be proud.
It’s so vital–and such a risk–that the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 three different times in this chapter and the next: Don’t harden your attitude or thoughts or heart about it. And hear the writer’s urgency about your “today,” because now that we know Christ, the stakes are eternal all around us. And we don’t know when our allotment of “todays” ends.

Week 6

February 3-7
[M] Exodus 16-18; Eph 4
[T] Ex 19-21; Psalm 33; Eph 5
[W] Ex 22-24; Psalm 109; Eph 6
[T] Ex 25-27; Psalm 90; Philippians 1
[F] Ex 28-31; Philippians 2

Dwell Plan Day 26-30 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris


Monday
Exodus 16 | Take note at how this narrative shines a light at the gracious character of God. Think about the order of events. First, God saves the people twice (plagues and the Red Sea crossing), they worship him some (chapter 15) and then immediately they start the complaining. If you are a parent, you know the frustration that God must have felt. But instead of taking away iPad time, God blessed them even more and provided bread and quail for them to eat. Take a minute and really think about what this teaches us about His character. When we are awful, he is good. When we let our hearts sink into sin, he is filled with grace.

Exodus 16:20, 27 | We’re going to see this over and over again: very plain and clear instructions are not followed by God’s people. The “rules” don’t really work, and that’s something that these stories prove over and over and over. This becomes the proof for us all–laws and rules just make us want to disobey them and aren't of any use to us, except to reveal just how ruined we really are. The rules worked back then to show us our inability to rescue ourselves, how we can’t even follow simple instructions, and that just demonstrates how it’s all by grace alone. 

Exodus 17 | Make a mental note to remember this story of the Amalakites. It’ll come up again over and over.

Exodus 17:11 | What would your prayer life look like if you knew it had this effect? How would you act if your prayers starting or stopping were the difference between success and failure? Christ Himself takes the lesson–we know that because He’s constantly interceding. This picture of Moses is a picture of Jesus now! But it’s also an encouragement to us in our daily walk–our prayers for our pastors, our leaders, and our communities are just like that of Moses. It’s almost like Moses read Hebrews 4, boldly going to the throne of grace and grabbing it by his hand! 

Ephesians 4:8-10 | The ESV Study Bible has a helpful note on these confusing verses:
“lower regions, the earth: In the incarnation, Christ descended from the highest heavens to the lowest regions (i.e., to the earth), where he suffered, died, and was buried, but where he also defeated death and rose again. He then ascended (Acts 1:9) 40 days later to be seated in the highest heavens at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33).”


Tuesday
Exodus 19 I Have you ever wondered how powerful our sin nature is? Think about this. These people who witnessed God at Sinai will soon rebel against him. You’ve probably thought, “If only I could have been there to see something like this…” If you had been there, you’d have rebelled too. You were born with that same sin nature corrupting your very being. While thinking about this can be a massive bummer, it also leads us to see the beauty of the work of Christ. His death and resurrection remade you and the Spirit that lives in you now is even stronger than the sin that held power over you.

Exodus 20-23 | Lots and lots of rules here, with punishments listed. As you read, the death sentence looks pretty common for many sins, which can sound pretty severe. Some of this is context. Compared to other ancient legal codes, it’s actually quite merciful! But it’s also wise to read these laws and punishments as standards to help with judicial thinking. Some interpreters think this represents the maximum sentence permissible, not the required sentence at all times. Each situation had to be measured and judged individually with wisdom. By teaching the maximum sentencing of the law, the rules continue to reveal our need for grace–a grace greater than God’s mercy–as well as the absolute holiness of God.

Exodus 20:3 | “You shall have no other gods before me.” Here is a great bit by Martin Luther from his Larger Catechism. The idea is that this first commandment is the foundation that the others rest on. You can’t break any of the others without also breaking this one.
“Now, I say that whatever you set your heart on and rely on is really your god. The purpose of this commandment is to require true faith and confidence of the heart, which flies straight to the one true God and clings to Him alone. It is like saying, ‘See to it that you let Me alone be your God, and never seek another.’ In other words, ‘Whatever you lack of good things, expect it from Me, and look to Me for it. And whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, crawl and cling to Me. I, yes I, will give you enough and help you out of every need. Only do not let your heart cleave to or rest on any other.’”

Exodus 21 | One of the most common attacks on the scriptures is that they promote slavery. We’ll probably cover this topic in more detail later on, but let’s begin the discussion by noting a few key ideas: 

  • First, note the context of these laws is the Exodus–the freeing of the people from slavery. It’s a leap to call a story about the freeing of a people from slavery “pro slavery.”

  • Second, these laws were not meant to promote slavery, but to limit it and protect slaves in a time where slavery was the norm and humanity had no chance of eradicating it. When compared to other ancient law codes and cultures, it’s clear that God was moving his people towards a world of justice and love, but that he was doing it one step at a time. In the ancient world, slaves had no rights and were treated as property. These laws prevented that. 

  • Third, the ancient world was a brutal and unforgiving world. A lot of slavery was self imposed indentured servitude due to poverty. And in fact, verse 16 specifically prohibits the “stealing of a man,” like we saw in the Transatlantic slave trade. 

  • Fourth, slavery was an institution in every single society until the Christian abolitionist movement led by people of faith like Harriet Tubman, William Wilberforce, Frederick Douglass and the like. The way that they applied the idea of the Imago Dei and the inclusion of all mankind into the people of God led to the idea that slavery was evil and needed to be wiped out (we’ll talk more about this when we get to the New Testament epistle of Philemon). 

  • Lastly, this isn’t to say that the church has clean hands. The church is filled with sinners shaped by culture more than we realize, and this has held true in church history with the institution of slavery. Some of our faith heroes were people who enslaved others and lived their entire lives with sinful blind spots to Biblical truth in this area (Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield are examples). We, as the people of God, should own up to our history but at the same time we should appreciate the way that the Bible calls us to love and serve all people. We should be thankful for the truth of the upside-down kingdom of God that will find its pinnacle in the New Heaven and Earth where people from all races and social standings will join in one voice worshipping the Lord for (to borrow a phrase from Tolkien) making all the terribleness of our current world “come untrue.”

If you want to dive deeper into this topic, here are a few resources:
Gavin Ortlund Article (This is probably the best quick read) https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/is-bible-pro-slavery/
Confronting Christianity, Chapter 10, by Rebecca McLaughlin.
Ownership: The Evangelical Legacy of Slavery in Edwards, Wesley, and Whitefield by Sean McGever.
NSBT: Slave of Christ (New Studies in Biblical Theology) by Murray J Harris
The Bible Project - https://bibleproject.com/classroom/exodus-overview-carmen-imes/sessions/20
Andrew Judd Article (https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/bible-slavery/)

Exodus 21:23-25 | As we read the law and its many rules, look for the principles. The inner principles of God’s morality tell us about Him and the way the world really works. These few verses bring up a principle that all of these laws and rules are based on–this is the principle of restitution here–and as we look at the greater principle of justice it describes, we realize we have the basis for how the cross would work: There can be a payment for a crime or a loss or a sin as long as that payment is equal to or greater than the original loss. Christ’s payment in His righteous obedience and sacrificial blood meets the requirements of equity in the law. God is consistent and so is His rescue of sinners.


Wednesday
Exodus 24:10-11 | Dinner with God in His presence! This wouldn’t happen again until Jesus sat down with His disciples. That’s how we know this elders’ dinner is truly a promise of life in and with and before God! A little tasting sample of the coming marriage supper of the Lamb!

Ephesians 6:17-18 | “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and praying at all times in the Spirit” Paul is teaching that Spirit filled prayer is prayer that uses the word of God. That’s the sense of the grammar in those verses, and the repetition of the word Spirit. This is meant to encourage you–pray the way the Bible shows you to pray! Use its teaching to inform and shape and embolden your prayer life. This is a direct response to spiritual warfare around you and against you. Reading the Bible in a year is also meant to sharpen your prayer life! The sword play of reading our Bibles makes our prayers watchful and informed as we learn more about who God is and what He is like.


Thursday
Exodus 25-27 | As you read each one of these sections, ask yourself how each one of these aspects of the Tabernacle points to Jesus. Remember that the Old Testament is filled with images and patterns that are meant to point the people of God to the coming of Jesus.

Philippians 1:21-24 | I love the depth of faith that we see with Paul in these verses. “I’d rather die than live ‘cause if I die, I get to see Jesus face to face. But if he wants me to live a little longer to do more ministry, I guess that’s okay too.” What an amazing example of how the gospel gives us a new perspective on life and death!

Psalm 90 | This is the only poem by Moses in the Psalms. When you read it, think about his long life, his frustrations and failures as a leader, his passion for God, his suffering for his own mistakes, and his discouragement as the leader of God’s people. This poem has a lot of longing in it, as well as a sense of how short life is. This is the poem of an old and faithful servant of God as he considers his own life and what will remain after he’s gone. Learn from his wisdom. It was hard earned and filled with the Spirit.


Friday
Exodus 29:20 | This is where Aaron and his sons are consecrated for their priestly ministry. Two things to note as you read. First, all of this preparation and sacrifice and consecration–it all happens right before Aaron goes and leads the people to worship the golden calves. Yup. Right after learning all of this, Aaron goes and worships an idol. It’s like none of this ever even happened. Like God hadn’t spoken and appeared in fire and smoke on the mountain, saying that idolatry is the very first thing you must not do. Crazy.  But that’s why you have verse 20. Because, secondly, Aaron and his boys get the sacrificial blood on their right ear, their right thumb, and their right big toe. What’s the point of that? They are covered by the sacrificial blood, literally and figuratively head to toe, to signify a complete forgiveness for the whole person. And that’s exactly Aaron’s deepest need, because he’s going to quickly discover that he’s a failure too. The need is clear in our Bibles from the very start: our sinful condition is that bad and only a complete rescue will work. That’s the story of Exodus and Romans–the good news that God loves sinners and He provided a complete sacrifice to save us. 


Exodus 31:3 | This is the first time folks are filled with the Spirit in the Bible! Notice this–it isn’t about a charismatic experience or a spiritual high. It’s about being able to do stuff, to make things that are beautiful, to make art for worship! Not only does this make art holy, it teaches us that the Holy Spirit is, above all things, practical. We need Him for the most basic actions of obedience and faith! Inviting the Holy Spirit into your life and heart is an invitation to action!

Week 5

January 27-31

[M] Exodus 1-3; Gal 5
[T] Ex 4-6; Gal 6
[W] Ex 7-9; Psalm 105; Ephesians 1
[T] Ex 10-12; Eph 2
[F] Ex 13-15; Psalm 114; Eph 3

Dwell Plan Day 21-25 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris


Monday
Exodus 3:14 | One of the strangest and most spiritually ironic stories comes out of this verse. In this book, in 17 chapters or so, we’re going to be introduced to the ten commandments. They’re pretty famous and well known, but one of those commandments is specifically about God’s Name. You’re not to speak God’s Name in a vain way—as a worthless thing. This is an old usage of the word “vain” to mean something empty and meaningless. This word is also used to describe idols! The ancient scribes, who copied the Old Testament by hand, were very religious. But being “religious” in the bible isn’t a compliment. It means being more about rules than about relationships - especially a relationship with God. Anyway, they were overachievers and wanted to do extra “homework” on this commandment, just to be sure that they would obey it. (Nevermind that God said not to add or to take away from His law; see Deuteronomy 4:2.) So, what’s the best way to make sure that no one uses God’s Name wrong? Misspell it! Yes, that’s right, they intentionally misspelled God’s name so folks would see God’s Name and not accidentally say it. If they did, they would be saying it wrong and thereby not disobey it. Sounds kind of clever, doesn’t it? They took the vowels from the word Adonai, which means master, and put them into God’s personal Name. To this day, when the bible is read in the synagogue the reader says out loud “ADONAI” when they see God’s Name misspelled, to keep up the ancient tradition. But get this, those scribes were so thorough in their religiosity, we actually have no records of God’s Name in the Hebrew with the original spelling! Imagine that, the one word we don’t know how to spell in our bibles is God’s Name! Here’s the irony though. By rejecting Jesus, the religious Jews who didn’t accept Him (remember that many did) missed the same personal relationship with God the same way they missed it  in changing the spelling of God’s personal Name! It’s just a religion to those who make up silly rules, it isn’t personal or intimate. It’s more of a game of holiness than any personal transformation. What the scribes couldn’t see, was that God offering His personal Name was the invitation to know Him as a Person. Misguided religious zeal does what it always does, it hides the beautiful grace that moves an eternal love.

Galatians 5:12 | If you want to know how upset Paul is about religious “rules” instead of grace, you just need to read this verse. He’s telling them they aren’t going far enough on this whole circumcision thing. They aren’t committed enough. If you’re going to obey the law, you better go all the way. Please cut the whole thing off! Paul tells it like it is, but more importantly, this reveals how strongly and violently we are to oppose all self righteousness, including our own! 

Galatians 5:16 | There’s something in the core of our faith that is utterly supernatural. You want victory over the desires of your flesh? Walk by the Spirit! How do you get more of the Spirit? How do you walk in step with the Spirit?  You ask Jesus and look for it. It’s unnatural from beginning to end. Praise Him!

Tuesday
Exodus 4:21 | Take notice in the next handful of chapters of the back and forth between God hardening Pharaoh's heart and Pharaoh hardening his own heart. It brings up the question, “Who is doing the hardening?” Here is an excerpt from the note in the Biblical Theology Study Bible that doesn’t go in-depth but helps us not lose perspective:
“But, however we resolve the problem of Pharaoh’s heart, two important points must be remembered: (1) The main concern in this section of the book is to demonstrate that the Lord, not Pharaoh, is ultimately in control, as indicated by the recurring phrase “as the Lord had said” (7:13; 8:15, 19; 9:12, 35). (2) God’s sovereign control of these affairs does not absolve Pharaoh of blame because, like all sinners, he remains fully responsible for his refusal to obey God (Rom 9:16–18).”

Wednesday
Psalm 105 | I love the way this reading plan connects Psalms to the readings of historical situations. We just read about the plagues in Egypt, and now we get to Psalm 105.  This Psalm is a prayer of remembrance that points the hearts of the people back to the work of God in Exodus. I think there is an encouragement here, not just in the content of the Psalm, but in the form. It’s so easy to pray as if we are the center of the gospel story. But we aren’t at the center. God is. What would your prayer life look like if you spent more time praying like the author of this Psalm? Maybe give it a try. Sit down for a few minutes and just thank and praise God for his work (both in the stories of scripture and in your own lived experience)

Ephesians 1 | As we dive into the book of Ephesians (just like we did with Galatians), I want to share an encouraging thought with you: remember, we’re here to read, not to scrutinize every single word. It's easy to get caught up in the pressure of "I have to catch every detail," and let that turn into feelings of inadequacy.

Take a moment to consider this: when Martyn Lloyd Jones preached through Ephesians, he covered chapter 1 in 37 sermons! That just goes to show how much depth there is in these epistles. So, as you read, focus on the bigger picture, and give yourself the freedom to revisit the details later on.

Ephesians 1:3 | These “heavenly places” are only referred to in Ephesians and there’s a reason for that. Ephesus had the temple of Artemis. Its claim to fame was a statue of Artemis, made from a meteor. Literally they thought they had a god who had fallen out of heaven! So, in answer to that and to encourage the Christians who had to live in this town, around this super popular worship spot, Paul mentions our blessing and our position “in heavenly places.” After this verse he mentions it 4 more times - Ephesians 1:20, 2:6; 3:10; and 6:12. Don’t fear the “gods” who come from heaven, in Jesus you’re already seated there! This also teaches us to read Paul carefully. He isn’t rambling in his letters, he’s carefully encouraging and teaching folks in practical ways that apply to their situation. That’s real pastoral care. 

Thursday
Exodus 12 | The Passover: This is the clearest instance in the Old Testament of God sovereignly ordaining an event to come to pass in order to create patterns to teach his people. In Biblical studies, we call this “Typology.” There is a small idea that points to a bigger one. In Exodus 12, a lamb dies, and blood is painted on the doorposts in order to let judgment and death pass over the households of the people of God. The lamb typology is developed all throughout the Old Testament until it finds its peak in the life and death of Christ. Take a look at what John the Baptist says, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29) Or think about how the death of Jesus took place at Passover. Or think about the lamb imagery all through Revelation (don’t worry… we’ll get there eventually). This idea is so crucial to our faith. A lamb dies, and his blood covers the people of God so that they avoid the judgment of God. What happens in Exodus 12 with the Passover lamb is important. What happens with the Lamb of God the foundation of our salvation.

Exodus 12:7 | Blood on the door, staining the jambs and dripping from the lintel. Again and again, it’s all about the blood. Gory and visceral, it reaches into the guts of life and connects our God and our rescue with the most elemental things of this world. So much blood, so much sin and judgment, so much grace for sinners. This is all preaching and shouting “Jesus!” How will God not judge us? He will pass over our sins because of the cross, stained and dripping with the blood that rescues us all. This makes their faith the same faith as our faith, trusting in God for a sacrifice that could deliver from judgment. These folks are our brothers and sisters, just with a much shorter Bible! Same salvation, different day!

Exodus 12:38 | “A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.” In this middle of all this exciting stuff about plagues, Passover, and exodus is this weird little, often overlooked, but crucially important verse. We live in a world of sinful division, racism, and clan mentality. The ancient world was the same way. That’s the way of Babylon. But the way of the kingdom is upside-down. So, if Babylon is about sinful division, the kingdom of God is about unity. We see this clearly in Acts 2 at Pentecost and then fleshed out in the rest of the New Testament, especially in Revelation, where the army of the Lamb is comprised of people from every nation and tribe. But what I want you to see is that this image doesn’t start in Acts 2; it begins in the Old Testament. We see it here: the group that left Egypt and headed to Sinai wasn’t just made up of ethnic Hebrews. It was a mixed-up group of people. In his book From Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race (which I highly recommend), the theologian and Bible scholar J. Daniel Hays makes the case that this group included Hebrews, Egyptians, and dark-skinned African Cushites. He says that from the beginning of the Exodus, what glued the people of God together wasn’t ethnicity, but theology. As we move into the sections of the Torah about the law, and later into the history and prophets, keep this in mind. The Old Testament Covenant was always meant to chip away at the structures of racism and tribalism that are produced by the human heart until the New Testament Church comes along to smash its very foundations.

Friday
Exodus 13:21–22 | And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

When Moses met God at the burning bush, God was in the fire. Here, a pillar of fire leads the people around the desert. In a little bit, we will read about the fire of God’s presence at Sinai. Then we’ll see the fire of God at the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and in a few hundred years, at the dedication of Solomon’s temple. When the ancient people thought of the presence of God, they thought of this fire. But it was always localized. If you wanted to be near God, you needed to head up to the temple in Jerusalem. 

Maybe you can see where I’m headed with this? Think about Acts 2:3 “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” In the Old Testament, the fire is way over there somewhere. But after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2, the very presence of God indwells his people. We are all walking temples, carrying around the Spirit of God everywhere we go. I’ve always wondered how the Exodus generation could be such blockheads after witnessing the plagues and the fire of God and all that cool stuff. But now they’re all dead, and thery’re all probably wondering how I can be such an idiot when I carry around that fire and the presence of God the Holy Spirit in my very soul. Ironic, isn’t it?

Exodus 13:22 | It’s so easy to think, “Wow, if I saw a pillar of fire or smoke, I’d believe all of this stuff easily!” But you’re telling on yourself when you think things like that. You think it’s about seeing. It’s isn’t about proof, or even seeing someone rise from the dead. If your heart is dead, you’ll just explain it away and won’t believe. The only way to understand anything is by the Spirit. Period. So you're telling on yourself more deeply than you think. In effect, you’re saying “I’m clever enough and wise enough to see those amazing things and realize it’s got to be God. I wouldn’t need any help if I saw wonders like that.” And that’s just proud independence—you know—the kind that God opposes. Ask Him to enlarge your faith today!

Ephesians 3:14-21 | Paul can’t do his theology in the abstract. Not at all, because it’s all real to him. His “theology” is totally devotional, popping out of his writing in prayer and praise in every letter he wrote. In fact, his goal is that we would experience God the way he does—it’s what he prays for! This is your homework this next week: pray this prayer for yourself and others around you for a whole week. See what it does to your “theology”!

Week 4

January 20-24
[M] Genesis 41-42; Mark 16
[T] Gen 43-44; Psalm 24; Galatians 1
[W] Gen 45-46; Psalm 108; Gal 2
[T] Gen 47-48; Psalm 25; Gal 3
[F] Gen 49-50; Gal 4

Dwell Plan Day 16-20 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Genesis 41 | Christ’s kingdom is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Look at Joseph, he’s a living example of how the last will be first in God’s kingdom. God exalts the lowly and the humble, but opposes the proud.

Genesis 42:6 | The brothers bow down in fulfillment of Joseph’s dream in chapter 37.

Mark 16:7 | “…and Peter…” Imagine the shame and guilt that has flooded into Peter’s heart at this point. Peter has denied the Lord and now he’s dead. He’s probably hopeless and lost. But then, the angel tells the women, “Go and tell everyone that Jesus has resurrected. And make sure that you especially tell Peter.” What an amazing picture of grace. This was God’s way of telling Peter that, “You messed up but I’m not done with you yet.”

Mark 16:9-20 | Here is the note from the Biblical Theology Study Bible that explains what’s going on with the ending of the Gospel of Mark:“Scholars almost universally agree that this section is a later attempt, perhaps by a second-century scribe, to rectify the perceived problem of v. 8 (see note on v. 8). The earliest and best manuscripts do not have these verses; they are unknown to a number of early church fathers; and the vocabulary and style differ from the rest of Mark.”


Tuesday
Genesis 44:33-34 | “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.” 
This verse is the pinnacle moment in this whole section of Genesis. Joseph isn’t pulling all these pranks on his brothers because he is starting a hidden camera YouTube channel. He’s doing all of this as a test of character. And here, with the life of Benjamin on the line, we see that the character of the brothers is not what it was before. Years ago, they sold Joseph into slavery to get rid of him. Now, Judah is willing to give up his own life to save his brother. Their hearts have been changed. They have been transformed by YHWH.

Psalm 24 | The poetry here is beautiful, as David personifies the gates of the city and commands them to open for God. This poem is about ascending up the hill to go to the tabernacle, but then it switches on you. God is the one entering in, the King of Glory! What a promise of intimacy with God and hope in His glory and power. The idea that God walks through gates like a human isn’t just metaphorical, it is a promise of the God who becomes human to live with us. This is the God who enters into our world, and we are His dwelling place now. What a picture this becomes of the church and our own hearts!

Galatians 1:5-6 | Notice Paul’s startling use of contrasts here in his prose. “Glory to God forever and ever. Amen.” is classic Paul: he’s writing and praising at the same time. He can’t write theology without doing the work of praising God. But look at the stark contrast his worship creates. “I’m astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ.” His worship of God and praise of His grace is a foil, dramatically revealing how contrary to God’s glory their distorted gospel truly is. This is good writing, where the grammar and word choices reveal how true abandonment of the gospel is a rejection of God’s eternal glory.

Galatians 1:8 | Paul takes the gospel very seriously. This word for accursed in Greek has crept into the English language: it’s the word anathema, which has come to mean in the dictionary “something wholly contrary to one's beliefs or values.” In Greek it’s a stronger word with a more desperate sense: “something delivered up to divine wrath, dedicated to destruction and brought under a curse.” It’s something faithful preachers have been saying ever since: the good news is good news because God loves sinners and only requires trust in Him for salvation. It is that free and that good and that complete. Anyone who says different, even me, don’t listen to them.

Galatians 1:10 | Good pastor tattoo, but it applies to all of us. It’s binary: a or b. You can please humans or you can please God. You can’t do both and be Christ’s servant. Period. I think I need this tattooed on my heart!

Galatians 1:24 | “And they glorified God because of me.” It’s interesting how many of us have taken the path of Oprah-self-help stuff. We make resolutions every January, we write affirmations on mirrors, we read books about habits, we diet, and we do all kinds of these things. And there is nothing inherently wrong with improving ourselves, but I think it’s very easy to put all of our energy on temporal improvement. If you lose weight, that’s great. But eventually, your body is going to die and be eaten by worms. If you manage your schedule well, that’s a good thing. But eventually, all that you accomplish will fade away and in a generation or two you will be forgotten and nobody will remember that you were a super organized person.
I love Paul’s attitude in this section of Galatians. He’s excited about one thing: that his life led to the glory of God. Spending time working to glorify the name of God is a pursuit that impacts eternal things. I’m sure that he was organized, and with all of his walking around the Mediterranean world, I’m sure he was in great shape. But he doesn’t put any real value or trust in that. All he values is the glory of God.


Wednesday
Galatians 2:11-14 | Peter (Cephas) knew Jesus personally. He ate with him after the resurrection. He was filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. He healed people. He brought a woman back from the dead. And then he fell into sin and had to be confronted by Paul. Don’t ever get to the point where you let your guard down. You will battle sin until you see Jesus face to face. Until then, wage war.


Thursday
Genesis 48:14-20 | Israel blesses the younger brother. He’s keeping the pattern going with the upside-down kingdom of God.

Psalm 25:7 | Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions, according to your steadfast love remember me
Also, maybe, remember not the sins of my not-so-youth.

Psalm 25:11 | For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great Look at the reason David gives when he asks for grace. We are so selfish that we think our salvation is all about us. But the scriptures consistently tell us that even our salvation is more about the glory of God than it is about us.

Galatians 3:3 | This makes a good memory verse. It’s short and to the point, and the point is always relevant. We all get started by faith and by the Spirit. That’s how we become Christians! We trusted in Christ and the Holy Spirit did His work in rebirth. But there’s a detour we can take right here, a wrong turn in our walk with God. We can imagine “God has done this amazing thing in me, and now I have all the tools I need to go and live a holy life, I just need to follow the rules and be righteous.” It’s a bit naive and an easy error. God did this wonderful thing for me, and now I need to do good things for Him. That makes sense to our flesh, our worldly point of view. But what Paul is saying is: this is wrong. It’s proud independence and totally contrary to the heart of grace. There is no earning any longer. None! And there is no independence either. None! The Spirit who began new life in us is the same Spirit who sustains that new life in us! It’s grace upon grace for us. 


Friday
Genesis 49:10 | A whole bunch of foreshadowing is going on here: predicting the character and experience of God’s people centuries later. Each tribe of Israel is described in Jacob’s blessing his sons.  Notice how Jacob is prophetic specifically about Judah. He’s predicting that the royal line will come out of him,  as it will in David. But if we look more closely, we see how the promise is too big—this is a scepter that never leaves Judah— and we know it did in 587 BC. This is a messianic prophecy, hinting at a king who is coming, a king greater than any other king. 

Genesis 50 | The patriarchs make a lot of fuss about where they’re buried. It isn’t superstition or preference or tradition driving that. They are supposed to remember God’s promises. Egypt is not their home and never really will be. This is another consistent theme of God’s kingdom we see over and over again. We are sojourners here, and this world is not our home. God has prepared a place for us in heaven, just like He did for His people in Palestine. By being buried in the land that God had promised to their descendants, they were claiming those promises. It’s an entirely different way to live, setting our eyes and hopes on a city whose builder and maker are God. It’s the way God’s people have always lived. 

Genesis 50:20 | As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
This is a pattern that we see in scripture. God uses the evil of humanity to bring out his ultimate purpose. Here, the brothers meant evil against Joseph, but God used this to save everyone in the land from starvation. This pattern finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
In Acts 2:23, Peter echoes this idea “…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Just as the brothers meant evil against Joseph, the people meant evil against Jesus. But even the evil in this world in under the sovereignty of God, and the plan for his glory and our salvation will be accomplished.

 

Week 3

January 13-17
[M] Genesis 28-29; Mark 11
[T] Gen 30-31; Psalm 11; Mark 12
[W] Gen 32-34; Psalm 145; Mark 13
[T] Gen 35-37; Psalm 12; Mark 14
[F] Gen 38-40; Mark 15

Dwell Plan Day 11-15 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Monday
Genesis 28:6-9 | Even when Esau tries to do what pleases his mom and dad, he misses the mark. He thinks he gets it, by now going to get a wife from extended family, but that isn’t what they really want. Even his best efforts are still wrong. You will see this kind of “missing the mark” in folks who are trying to be religious, but not out of faith. This is here to create questions in our hearts. Do we have real faith?

Genesis 29:15-25 | If you have time listen to this Tim Keller sermon.

Mark 11:9-10 | Hosanna actually means “save us” which is quite an ironic thing for all of these folks to be shouting. That’s what He’s doing, saving them—even though these same voices will be shouting “crucify Him” in a few days. He answers both cries in His sacrifice. God will not be mocked, He accomplishes everything—even through, and despite, and in our cursing souls.

Mark 11:12-26 | This passage is what we call a “Mark Sandwich.” The technical term is chiasm. A chiasm involves two stories. The author takes one story, splits it in half, and jams another story in the middle, in order to make a point. Here, the story of the fig tree is split with the cleansing of the temple as the meat of the sandwich. The fig tree was a national symbol of Israel (kinda like a bald eagle for the USA). So Jesus curses the fig tree. Cleanses the temple. Then the fig tree is dead. The religion of Israel was always meant to point to Christ. Now that he was here as the true and better lamb of God, it was no longer necessary.


Tuesday
Genesis 30 | Multiple Wives? It is very important not to confuse the didactic with the descriptive. Or to put it more plainly, don’t confuse the parts of the Bible where we are taught the law and will of God with the parts of the Bible that simply describe what happened with sinful people. In the teaching parts of scripture, it’s clear that God’s plan for marriage is for a loving relationship between a woman and man (see Ephesians 5:22-33). In the narrative parts of scripture, in every instance where someone goes along with the cultural norm in the ancient world of having multiple wives (or concubines), it goes horribly wrong. It happens here with Jacob’s sons. It happened with Abraham (Sarah and Hagar). And it’ll happen with David and Solomon too.

Genesis 31 | Where does success come from? And when it comes, what do we do with the problems it creates? How do we handle jealousy in God’s kingdom? These are the kinds of questions that are presented to us. Prosperity brings liabilities and jealousies. We should not be surprised by this sort of thing. But Jacob does everything he can to do the right thing and to be a blessing to Laban, even though Laban is using him. God protects and blesses Jacob anyway. We can see these kinds of dynamics at work, where our labors are taken advantage of, as folks get rich off of our diligence. Don’t be afraid of that stuff. Trust God’s promise to Jacob which also comes to you, reiterated and doubled down on by Jesus: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Mark 12:13-40 | In the ancient Near East, there was this method of debate that was very similar to our modern rap battles. Two theologians or scribes would debate in front of the crowd and the crowd would decide when it was over and who won. This section is one of those theological rap battles, and Jesus clearly comes out on top.

Mark 12:36 | Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1. This is the single most quoted or alluded to Old Testament verse in the New Testament. The apostles really loved this verse.


Wednesday
Genesis 32 | Jacob gets a new name from God: Israel. Jacob means “liar” and Israel means  “one who wrestles with God.” What kind of character arc is Jacob on here? He leaves this encounter wounded for the rest of his life. This reminds me of the wounds that Christ bears even after His resurrection. The ways that God wounds us in our intimacy with Him are precious, they are wounds that shine into eternity with God’s glory. There are parts of our brokenness here in this world that are going to mark us, and the way they mark us and the way we carry them, these all point to the glory and work of Jesus in us. 

Genesis 34  | This chapter is extraordinarily sad. G.K. Chesterton once said, “It is surprising that people have rejected the doctrine of original sin because it is the only doctrine that can be empirically verified.” We see that clearly here.
This is also a bit of foreshadowing. The people of God would again and again use the covenant, which had as its sign circumcision, as an excuse for being wicked. The judgment on them is obvious, taking the very sign of God’s loving relationship with them, and using it as a surprise tactic to destroy others. The people of God haven’t materially changed all that much, have we?

Mark 13 | The Olivet Discourse is one of the more confusing and misinterpreted passages in the scriptures. Remember, we aren’t after an exhaustive knowledge in our 2025 read-through. Don’t feel bad that this is confusing. Just read it through prayerfully and let your questions sit there. That’s ok.
However, if you want to dive in a little more and have some free time today, the late great theologian R.C. Sproul preached this passage in two sermons.
https://learn.ligonier.org/sermons/mark-olivet-discourse-part-1
https://learn.ligonier.org/sermons/mark-olivet-discourse-part-2


Thursday
Genesis 35 | Jacob does an idol inventory and gets rid of them all—and this is long after he’s expressed faith and worship. He sees the idols as obstacles now, as something offensive and impure. He tolerated them before, but now he’s repenting. This describes something we all need to be doing, especially as we grow in Christ and begin to see, as we draw close to Him, what really offends Him in our lives.

Genesis 36 | There’s a lot of these lists coming in the Bible, endless names and genealogies that mean nothing to us. Why do we read these then? It’s a reminder: These lists meant something very practical to the original readers. They explain the politics and complex relationships all around them in Palestine. There are ongoing stories all around them and the point is this: God is also God of those who don’t know Him or follow Him. And every person is important, however anonymous they seem. Their generations are under His care in every detail. What these lists do for us is remind us of our own lists. You could write up a list too, of everyone you know and everyone you’re somehow related to. God cares for that list as much as the one here in Genesis! If we can read these ancient lists and know they’re in God’s word, how much more can we also pray through our own lists of people and hope for God’s work in them! Pray through your lists—lists please God!

Genesis 37 | Joseph must have been so annoying as a teenager, so much so that even his dad has to tell him off. It creates quite a character arc for “daddy’s little favorite,” doesn’t it?

Psalm 12 | Be encouraged that the words you’re reading, they’re perfect words. But notice that the poet doesn’t teach the purity of God’s word to win an argument. Not at all! The purpose of God’s inspiration of Scripture is so the needy and the pushed down have sure and certain promises! The perfections of God’s words are the great personal treasure of those who need God’s promises the most!

Mark 14 | Jesus has been predicting horrible things will happen to Him, and time after time the disciples don’t get it. They’re mystified and confused. How is it then, that this anonymous woman anoints Him for burial? How does she get it? One of the glories of God’s kingdom is how He reveals things to the folks no one is listening to, who no one feels are important. What an invitation to seek the work of God’s Spirit in us, even if we’re nobodies!


Friday
Genesis 38 | This chapter takes a break in the Joseph story to give us this incredibly disturbing story of Judah and Tamar. As we read this story, a big question arises, “Why include this here? What’s the point of this story?” Well, there is a lot here, but the big idea can be seen at the end of the chapter. 
Tamar has twins from prostituting herself with her father-in-law, Judah. And following the pattern of God’s upside-down kingdom, it’s the second twin, not the first, who is blessed. That second boy was named Perez. He was an ancestor of Boaz, the great-grandad of King David. And even more importantly, he is listed in both Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33 as an ancestor of Christ himself. And so, again, we see that God is faithful to use sinful people and circumstances to bring about a fulfillment of Genesis 3:15. Through the sinful descendants of Eve, a redeemer would come and put this broken world back together. 

Genesis 39 | Frequently in Joseph’s story, even as things go very wrong for him, God blesses him. God gives him favor in everything he does. This idea of God’s favor is very powerful, and it creates a longing in those who know God: to seek the favor of our God above everything else. Joseph is a picture of that, to encourage us to seek first God’s kingdom and all of these other things—they will be added to you. He’s an ancient picture of what Christ would teach about His kingdom! Track the way Joseph humbly walks, serves, and loves. He’s a picture of flourishing, faith, and faithfulness in a place of idolatry and immorality. He’s a sojourner who invests himself in where God has put him, a model to us and for us in our walk of faith. We have so much more than he did, knowing our favor with God is something secured by Jesus at the cross. Let’s walk in that favor everywhere we go!

Week 2

January 6-10
[M] Genesis 16-18; Mark 6
[T] Gen 19-20; Psalm 1; Mark 7
[W] Gen 21-23; Psalm 107; Mark 8
[T] Gen 24-25; Psalm 4; Mark 9
[F] Gen 26-27; Mark 10

Dwell Plan Day 6-10 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Genesis 16-27 | Notice the cycles of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They’re all very different in personality, but there are striking similarities in their actions and stories. The Bible is giving us a multi-generational perspective, so we can see how sins and character flaws, as well as faith and growth in grace, are passed on from generation to generation. We also see other patterns. Some kids embrace the faith, some not so much. It describes how normal our own family dysfunctions and blessings really are.

Genesis 18:1-16 | Many of us have heard the expression “be kind to visitors, some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Well, this is where that expression comes from, this strange visit of three men, who are described as somehow representing the actual presence of God Himself. But it gets even stranger—we’re given an insight into God’s thinking! The text describes an internal debate that God seems to be having. Some of this is anthropomorphic. That’s a fancy word for saying God is just portraying Himself like a human in order to connect with us and help us understand. This happens a lot in the Bible. It’s God’s form of baby talk, stooping down to speak in words and ideas that are easy for us to understand. Even so, we’re peeking into the mysteries of why God does things. There’s also a promise in this: somehow a human can actually be God speaking to us. That’s something to remember.  But it’s also an even bigger promise and hint of God’s intentions—He would become a human!

Genesis 18:22 | This is an amazing text when you know the Hebrew and the Masoretic tradition—which is the ancient Jewish tradition of handling the Bible. The text actually originally read like this (which is noted as a kind of footnote called a “toqueni sopherim.”) “The LORD remained standing before Abraham.” The ancient Jewish scribes felt that this idea of God standing in front of Abraham sounded wrong and impious. God doesn’t stand in front of us, we stand in front of Him! This makes God sound like a common house servant. Our modern translations continue the tradition of translating it according to the Jewish scribes for two reasons. First because the first English translators didn’t know about the Masoretic tradition. They didn’t understand the way they footnoted things. Secondly, even though we know now, most scholars agree that we should stay consistent with the Jewish traditions out of respect and consistency with the history of translations. But is that right? I’m not so sure. God taking the attitude and position of a servant is exactly what Jesus does. Seems like this is an ancient promise of God becoming human in Jesus again!

Mark 6:20 | I’ve always loved this little note—that king Herod loved to listen to John, even though he couldn’t really understand anything he was saying! I’ve had that happen in ministry, and this little verse has always given me hope. It’s also given me insight. The gospel sometimes does attract people who don’t believe, even if they don’t have the Holy Spirit or faith. That can be a bit confusing to a pastor, when someone is interested, but only superficially. You think it’s the Spirit, but then later on you realize they’re just curious about stuff they don’t understand. 

Genesis 19 | This is one of the most infamous parts of the scripture. There are a few ways Modern Westerners handle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The first temptation is to judge God. “I think he went too far.” The second temptation is to mythologize this passage. “It never really happened, it’s more like Aesop’s fables.” Both of those reactions to this passage force us to lose the purpose of this narrative in the storyline of scripture. 

What do we learn here, then? Three things. First, God hates sin. He’s not just annoyed by it. He hates it. Like we all hate the Dodgers level of hate. Second, he is right to judge sin. We don’t get to tell God what to do about sin. He is God, and we are not. But third, if you mythologize this story or tell God he is wrong, you miss out on the fullness of salvation. This passage teaches us about the depth of what Jesus went through on the cross. God hates sin, and he will judge it. But the good news is that Christ took all of that wrath in a real moment in history as he hung from a Roman cross. And so we look at this story and say, “The sin that God hates so much has roots deep in my heart. I deserve what these folks received and more. But I won’t face the wrath of God because I have a savior. A redeemer. A substitute. Thanks be to God!”

Genesis 19:30-38 | This is a morally repulsive and disgusting story about incest. So why is it in the Bible? One obvious reason is how it explains the beginnings of the two nations that God’s people would face many centuries later. It’s an origin story. But there’s something else here. God’s people, God’s faithful, all have problems. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are shown with their warts and faults. Here’s a basic principle for reading your Bible: there’s nothing sacred or holy in the Bible except for God. Our sinful wickedness and the awful things people do are all talked about and described. There’s nothing sacred about humans in their sins, and the Bible doesn’t flinch from speaking the truth.

There’s also a further implication for us to see, an insight into the larger Old Testament context. These surrounding nations, who don’t really know God or follow Him, they’re all just crazy wicked and disturbing. What’s the point of telling us this? God is showing to us just how bad it gets when you don’t know or follow Him. How did these two girls think of sleeping with their dad and think it was a good plan and okay? Look at where they lived. This was the state of morality of the town they lived in, the one that just got annihilated. They had seen this sort of stuff already. Ugh. These girls were raised in it. It's a mercy to be born in any culture that’s been influenced by biblical morality. Once you go outside of those boundaries, things get morally dark and weird pretty darn quick. That’s not to say that biblically influenced cultures aren’t awfully wicked themselves. They certainly are—it just can get a whole lot worse than you think. 

Genesis 20:7 | Abraham is a prophet! Isn’t that cool! Who knew?

Psalm 1 | I love the word delight in this Psalm. Here is the problem: sometimes doing our reading plan, being in scripture, and meditating on God’s word feels more like work than delight. What gives? J.I. Packer wrote a book on prayer and the tagline was “From duty to delight.” That works with scripture too, not just prayer. There is this idea that on the other side of duty lies delight. It’s like when you first start working out or eating healthy (or so I’ve heard from people who do those two things). Eventually, they get to a place where missing a day working out is a massive bummer. 

I’ve done a reading plan almost every year for the last handful of years. As someone who has done this a bunch, I just want to encourage you as you enter into week 2 of 52. At some point soon, you’ll say to yourself “Is this worth 20 minutes every day?” I promise that if you stick with it and read the scriptures to commune with God and not just for information, there is an overwhelming sense of delight on the other side of the duty and work.

Genesis 22 | This story seems nuts until you realize that God stayed the hand of Abraham and Isaac’s life was spared, but if you fast forward a few thousand years, on the same mountain, God was in a similar position, but the life of his son wasn’t spared. Remember that the Bible has been providentially ordered with patterns of small to great. This story is more than a test of faith. It’s a pattern guided by the hand of God to help his people understand better what Jesus did for them on the cross.

Psalm 107 | This poem has a more easily seen structure than many of the Psalms. Verses 1-3 are an intro and verses 33-43 are a kind of conclusion. In between, in verses 4, 10, 17, and 23 the poet talks about four different kinds of folks in four different situations. Wanderers, rebels, fools, and travelers. Each one suffers and finds an answer in God’s grace. Each one is told to be thankful to God for His grace. Guess the only question we’re supposed to ask ourselves is which one are we?!

Mark 8:17-18 | And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?”

It’s really easy to read about how dumb the disciples were and how Jesus was constantly correcting them and think, “If that was me…” The truth is, if you were there, you’d do the same stupid things. You’d be at least as dumb as they were. Your heart is blinded by sin too. The real difference isn’t you. The real difference is that you live on this side of Pentecost. You have been given access to the Spirit who gives what Jonathan Edwards called “A divine and supernatural light.” So instead of being smug and judgmental, we should all be filled with thankful hearts for the Spirit of God who lives within us.

Mark 6:30-43; 8:1-9 | Why the repetition? Critical scholars, who don’t believe in inspiration, think these early writers got similar stories confused. When Christ explains the two feedings in Mark 8:20, they say that’s just the writer explaining away why both stories are included. But these scholars aren’t really listening to Jesus’ question in 8:21, are they? What is the point of Jesus feeding so many thousands several times? He’s asking them if they get the point. “Do you not yet understand?” This is the same sort of miracle that the people of Israel experienced in the desert! And the implication—Jesus is that same God! Do you understand that yet?

Mark 8:31 | Notice this: Jesus doesn’t tell them about His suffering, death, and resurrection until they’ve realized who He really is. That’s what Peter just did here. This is something to remember, that we all progress in truth which leads to a deeper understanding later, when we can handle it. Be patient with folks. People can’t really understand spiritual things until God shows it to them. And when that happens, there’s always more to grow into and understand. Even here Peter’s understanding is not complete in any way, but it’s a start. Let’s all look and pray for a start, both in ourselves and in others!

Mark 8:36 | God’s special verse of grace for over achievers and those who love success!

Genesis 24:47 | God’s people have worn nose rings! Should we start a new Christian trend?! 

Genesis 25:23 | “…the older shall serve the younger.” 

Here in Genesis, we see that God is very intentional in teaching his people that his Kingdom is not like Babylon (the kingdom of this world). In a culture where primogeniture was the way of life (where the older brother was the head of the family and the most important), God keeps on choosing the younger. Abel was younger than Cain. Isaac was younger than Ishmael. Here, Jacob is younger than Esau. David was the runt of the litter. Solomon wasn’t the firstborn. He does this to show his people that his ways are not our ways.

We’ll read more about this principle in our Mark passage for today (If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.) The ultimate example of this is Christ himself. The way he saves his people and defeats death is by giving his life. He is raised up by lowering himself. He brings life by dying. He wins by losing. The kingdom of God is (from the perspective of our world) completely backward and upside-down.

Mark 9:24 | Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

This is my favorite prayer in the whole Bible. It's so honest and it’s so relatable. 

Mark 9:29 | You’ll read this again and again in your Bible “some manuscripts add” or some version of that footnote. We have thousands of ancient hand written copies of these books. Much much more than any other ancient documents—most ancient books have ancient copies in the single digits. So we’ve got a lot of data! This includes extra phrases in some of those copies at times and this is one of those times. Don’t be alarmed! It doesn’t affect the meaning anyway. I always include it, because it seems to point out how extra measures are sometimes necessary in our faith. This isn’t works: fasting is a deep dependence on God, not a righteous act. When we face a problem that ordinary stuff doesn’t work for, we have to double down. Remember, fasting is just a way of praying with your body to our God. 

Mark 9:42 | Some things seem to really tick Jesus off a lot. We should pay careful attention to those kinds of things, don’t you think?

Mark 10:27 | Did you know that this idea of God doing the impossible is only expressed in the New Testament? That doesn’t mean the Old Testament doesn’t teach it, it just does it by example! (Parting seas, raising dead kids, manna in the wilderness, etc.) Jesus is just expressing with new clarity just how powerful God really is. He’s preparing them for how He’s going to show them that truth in his death and resurrection!

Mark 10:45 | Memorize this verse!

Week 1

December 30 - January 3
[M] Genesis 1-2; Psalm 19; Mark 1
[T] Gen 3-5; Mark 2
[W] Gen 6-8; Psalm 104; Mark 3
[T] Gen 9-11; Mark 4
[F] Gen 12-15; Psalm 148; Mark 5

Dwell Plan Day 1-5 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF

Notes from Jon & Chris

Help for reading Genesis | The best thing for Genesis is to just read it and get familiar with it. The Bible is full of genres of literature that we don't encounter much in our modern world. It's fantastical non-fiction. It doesn't claim to be a fairy tale or a bunch of myths about the origins of the universe. It claims to be God's words to us about our origins. Is it all of it literal? Is it meant to be figurative? Those are important questions, but before we get to them, read the text and suspend your disbelief. You've heard and were taught many theories and ideas about how it all got started—how the universe came to be and how life began. Make your reading more about getting the right info. Read now to know what it says before you start asking how accurate it is.

And just so you know, I do take it to be accurate. I don't think we understand all of it and the glimpse it gives us of an ancient world, but I think it's all true. But I believe that's possible because God is real. The miraculous and fantastic is not explained by science, but it’s also not disproved. The miraculous and fantastic is not a bug in our faith, it's a feature. And if I do find something that I think sounds unbelievable, I just assume there's something I don't understand yet. I can trust my heavenly Father. 

But remember also that the Bible isn't a science book—it's pre-scientific. That doesn't mean it's not true; it just means that it isn't concerned with physical explanations or the details of human history in a modern sense. It isn't written with those ideas in mind. It's about God and His plan and His character. Because of this, you also need spiritual wisdom as you read. The Holy Spirit, who filled and inspired these writers, is absolutely necessary for understanding and trusting the Bible. Always pray before and while reading! It's a spiritual practice, not just a religious duty. 

As you read, write down questions you can ask me over coffee! It's one of my favorite things to do: to talk about Scripture and its truth. There's going to be plenty of questions you'll have, so save them up and ask me about them!

Psalm 19 | A few years ago, I read the whole Bible in three weeks (humble brag…). One of the things I noticed while reading all 66 books so fast was how much of the Bible builds on and connects to other parts. One of the reasons we chose the five-day reading plan for our churches, as opposed to other great reading plans, is that we love the way it’s organized. On day 1, we begin with the creation story in Genesis 1-2, and instead of reading Psalm 1 next, we jump to Psalm 19 because it’s a song that begins with the worship of YHWH for his work of creation.

We encourage you to pay attention to these connections all year as you move through the reading plan. Try to note how the Bible is layered and builds on previous sections. It is amazing how the God who inspired all of these words masterfully put it all together.

Psalm 19 | Note how the writer compares how creation talks and how the Bible talks. How do you compare them?

Mark | Look for eyewitness details in Mark that are striking. Also, notice the word "immediately" used again and again. What sort of narrative style is the writer going for here? Why do you think Mark gives so little introduction?