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?

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