21 DAY READING PLAN

DAY 1

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • What do Andrew and Phillip do right after meeting Jesus? Why is this significant and what implication does it have for believers?

  • What is the significance of Jesus's response, "Come and see"?

  • Write down personal reflections about the commentaries and additional readings-anything you learned about God, about people, or anything the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

PRAY

  • Take some time to pray about this fast-that you would be faithful and intensely depend on and seek God during these 21 days, and that God would reveal Himself to you in a powerful way.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 2

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • The area that Jesus is "raiding" is the place in the temple designated for the Gentiles to worship and pray to the Lord. He quotes Isaiah, where He says His house will be a house of prayer, but He also in that section talks about it being a house of prayer FOR ALL NATIONS. So when Jesus goes and raides the money-changers and drives them out and speaks about His house being a house of prayer, it is not as though Jesus would be saying, "don't sell coffee or books in your church building," but instead He's saying, "Quit prioritizing your convenience and worship and gain over making space for all peoples to come and pray to the Lord." Based off of this chapter, what do we see as one of God's priorities for the existence of a place of worship and for His church-and what can that look like in our church?

PRAY

  • Pray as you feel led.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 3

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Are you truly born again? Do you see character change in your life over the past couple years? Do you have a strong desire to imitate Jesus? Is He more beautiful to you now than months ago? Looking over your life, when do you think you were truly born again? Not just deciding to work hard to follow the patterns of the Christian life, but truly sensing the Holy Spirit inside of you constantly transforming your heart?

  • What does John the Baptist say about his relationship to Jesus? Does your relationship with Jesus relate at all to John's & Jesus'? Why or why not?

  • Is it clear to others in your life that your "deeds" are carried out "in God?" (verse 21) Why or why not?

PRAY

  • Ask God to show you what He has been doing and what He wants to do in your heart to make you more like Him.

  • Ask Him to show you what it looks like to serve others in a way that points to Him and gives Him credit and glory.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 4

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • "Whatever work we do as Christ’s followers is filled with the glory of God, because Christ has already worked the same fields to prepare them for us." We believe Christ is "laboring" in Fredericksburg; where do you see Christ "laboring" that we as the body of Christ can harvest because we know it is ripe? How can you join Christ in the labor He is already doing in Fredericksburg?

  • In her book, "Chasing Vines," Beth Moore says, "In co-laboring, egos shrink." When we realize God's design for us is to co-labor both with Him and with His church instead of just on our own, we find that we have way less to boast about. In the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus alludes to His disciples that the harvest of Samaritans will be ripe because of the woman's "labor" of testifying about Jesus and because of Jesus's work He did with the woman to begin with. What is some harvesting you've been able to do because of someone else's labor? What does it look like for you to co-labor with our church family?

PRAY

  • Pray for the areas in Fredericksburg and beyond where you see a ripe harvest and pray for more laborers.

  • Ask God to show you what it can look like for you to co-labor both with Him as well as with your church family this season.

GO EVEN DEEPER:

  • Watch/listen to this sermon on John 4 from The Village Church. - estimated time: 46 minutes


DAY 5

  • READ JOHN 5 - estimated time: 8 minutes

  • READ THIS COMMENTARY ON JOHN 5:1-15 - estimated time: 5 minutes

  • READ THIS ESV STUDY BIBLE NOTE ON VERSE 10:

    • "Nothing in the OT specifically prohibited such an innocent activity as carrying one's bedroll on the Sabbath day (cf. Ex. 20:8-11), but the man was violating later Jewish traditions that had developed hundreds of minutely detailed and burdensome rules about what kind of 'work' was prohibited, including a code that forbade carrying an object 'from one domain into another' (Mishnah, Shabbat 7.2). Nonetheless, Jesus does not defend himself by getting into a rabbinic discussion on the nature of work. Rather, he claims he is working, just like God (John 5:17), and hence is, as the Synoptics teach, the lord of the Sabbath (cf. Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).”

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • What does the implication that God is always working currently, even on the sabbath, mean for us? Describe the relationship Jesus describes between Him and His Father, what does he do and not do with and because of the Father? What implication does that relationship have for our relationship with God?

  • "The light of God's love brings division (3:16-21); one is heading toward either life or death" "Jesus is healing one who is totally unworthy, and in doing so he reveals God's graciousness. Here we have revealed God's love, which embraces even one who betrays him. The light of God's glory is shining at its brightest in this manifestation of his love for his enemies." What are your thoughts about this commentary?

  • Is there anything that you think you may sometimes add to God’s Word that may actually be hindering you from obeying God’s Word?

PRAY

  • Pray through your answers to the questions above.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 6

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • "The apparent prohibition against working for temporal gain is a hyperbolic expression designed to focus on mending the crowd’s relationship to God." Is there anything you're working toward or striving for that you need to realize you don't actually need any more of and you have enough to be faithful to God and obedient to Him? (salt) That it may even be harmful to continue putting such a high priority on whatever it is even though it may be a good thing?

  • Some of Jesus’ teaching is really hard to accept and this causes a number of His followers to leave. Is there any teaching in the Bible that you either don't fully understand or is hard for you to accept that keeps you from fully following Jesus?

  • What do you think about the crowd's reaction to Jesus' miracle, when their response is to take Him and make Him King? What does this reveal about human nature?

  • Jesus makes so many parallels with the OT, especially with Moses. God miraculously gave the people of Israel edible manna through Moses. God isn't just miraculously giving His people edible bread through Jesus in this story, like with Moses, He's giving them eternal life through Jesus. That's something Moses couldn't be used by God to give. The physical is important, but by itself, it is temporal. The Israelites who ate the manna eventually perished. Jesus is pointing out the futility of feeding the flesh ALONE to sustain it, without anything concerning the Spirit. How often do you think about things that are not your immediate physical needs? How grateful do you find yourself for things that do not necessarily meet your physical needs? How often do you ask God what He wants to give you rather than asking specific things from Him, like the crowd did in trying to make Him their earthly king?

PRAY

  • Talk to God about what you wrote as your answers to the questions. Write down anything you think He may be saying to you.

GO EVEN DEEPER:

  • Watch/listen to this sermon on John 6 from The Village Church - estimated time: 47 minutes


DAY 7

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Jesus aims to reveal the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by showing them that they have missed the heart behind the commands, the reason for the commands. He does this by alluding to the question of, “How can it be okay to do a work that cuts away flesh in circumcision on the sabbath, but NOT be okay to do a work that brings wholeness to the flesh on the Sabbath?” Do you see God's heart behind His commands in the Scripture? Write down some examples of commands God gives and what they reveal about His character and heart.

  • What specific hurtles have you seen so far that the Pharisees can't seem to get over, thus keeping them from seeing and accepting Jesus for who He is?

Based only on this chapter and not what else you might know from any other Scriptures:

  • What do you learn about God from this passage?

  • What do you learn about people from this passage?

  • Is the Holy Spirit speaking anything to you through this passage?

PRAY

  • Pray that God would reveal His power to believers and unbelievers alike, that His Work would be revealed and realized.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 8

  • READ JOHN 8 - estimated time: 8 minutes

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Based only on verses 2-11 of this chapter and not what else you might know from any other Scriptures:

  • What do you learn about God from this passage?

  • What do you learn about people from this passage?

  • Is the Holy Spirit speaking anything to you through this passage?

  • Vs 31-32, Jesus says if you abide in my word, you're truly my disciples. Look up the word Abide on the Blueletterbible site, (look up the verse, click Tools, click Strong's number-G3306-then "Show Strong's Info" as well as any other parts you'd like to read.) The Pharisees studied God's word and knew it like no one else, why aren't they considered true disciples?

  • What does Jesus say qualifies us to be in the Father's family instead of being slaves to sin? Is every person God's child? How do we know which father we are following? (vs. 34-46)

  • So often when someone questions Jesus' identity, why do you think the He so often says something about the Father?

  • How often do you mention God-YOUR father-when you meet someone new and they're trying to get to know you?

PRAY

  • Talk to God about what you wrote as your answers to the questions. Write down anything you think He may be saying.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 9

QUESTION TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • What do you think is the significance of Jesus using mud to heal the blind man?

  • What is Jesus saying in verse 39?

  • From the article: "When Jesus says, the purpose of this blindness is “that the works of God might be displayed in him,” he assumes the manifestation of the works of God, has a value that outweighs years and years of blindness. Both for the man and his parents. In order to embrace that, we have to value the manifestation of the works of God more than we value seeing." Do you value the manifestation of the works of God more than "seeing?"

PRAY

  • Pray that God would give you His compassion for people, that you would see people as He sees them and have the humility and boldness to serve them how He served them. Pray for opportunities.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 10

  • READ JOHN 10 - estimated time: 8 minutes

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Do you know God's voice so well that you can follow Him when He speaks? That you can discern when it's NOT Him speaking so you can reject the "stranger's" voice? What would it take for you to KNOW God's voice so well that you can recognize it all the time?

  • Who do you think the "hired hand" is in this metaphor Jesus is using?

  • "So there will be one flock, one shepherd." (vs. 16) Do you think of God's church in this way? All the life-giving churches in Fredericksburg, the ones you personally don't like and the ones you do, as ONE flock with one shepherd? The life-giving churches in the Middle East and at Alive, as ONE flock with one shepherd? What are the challenges of seeing the church this way? What is the beauty in seeing the church this way?

  • In vs. 34, we see Jesus quoting Psalm 82 (read Psalm 82, maybe in several versions including the Message version to be a bit more understandable.) God commissioned man and gave him the word of God (the Bible) and they completely failed to carry out His words, according to the Psalm. So now the Word of God Himself has come and will do what humans couldn't do and will not fail.

  • Jesus says many times in the book of John something along the lines of "If you don't believe me because of my words, at least believe me because of my works." He uses words AND works to reveal Himself and the Father. Do you feel like you can trust God's words, both when He speaks to you personally or when you read the Bible, or do you often find yourself wanting Him to prove Himself with a demonstration of His power-an answered prayer, laying out a "fleece," etc.?

PRAY

  • Spend some time thanking God for doing what humans couldn't do. Ask Jesus, the WORD of God, to speak to you, especially during this time of prayer and fasting. Ask Him to help you recognize His voice and be able to discern it from a stranger's.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 11

  • READ JOHN 11 - estimated time: 8 minutes

An excerpt from “Love Thy Body” by Nancy R. Pearcey:
Why did Jesus weep at the tomb of Lazarus even though he knew he was about to raise him from the dead?…The text says twice that Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33, 38). In the original Greek, this phrase actually means furious indignation. It was used, for example, of war horses rearing up just before charging into battle. Os Guinness, formerly at L’Abri, explains: Standing before the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus “is outraged. Why? Evil is not normal.” The world was created good and beautiful. But now “He’d entered His Father’s world that had become ruined and broken. And his reaction? He was furious.” Jesus wept at the pain and sorrow caused by the enemy invasion that had devastated His beautiful creation.
Christians are never admonished to accept death as a natural part of creation…Scripture portrays death as something alien—an enemy that entered creation with the fall…As Paul writes, death is “the last enemy to be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 15:26)…When the Bible speaks of redemption, it does not mean only going to heaven when we die. It means the redemption of all creation. Paul writes that the whole creation suffers pain and brokenness but that it will be liberated at the end of time: “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage of decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The gospel message is that the entire physical world will be transformed. Humans will not be saved out of the material creation but will be saved together with the material creation.

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Based off Nancy Pearcey’s excerpt, we see that God’s creation was good and beautiful, and we see Jesus in John 11 reacting to the effects of sin on His creation. Take some time to think about what it must have been like for God to walk the earth that He created, witnessing all the awful effects of its corruption, and write some of those thoughts down.

  • How does Jesus’ raising Lazarus’ dead body to life foreshadow His desire and plan to redeem His physical creation?

  • Jesus waited to go to Lazarus, even though He knew he was very sick. We also see Jesus at times doing miracles and other work in private, other times publicly and telling others to share His works with people. God has prepared works in advance for all of us to do, and some of them are to be done in patience and anonymity, others with a crowd, and still others in mysterious ways that we don't fully understand His reasoning. Different times and contexts call for different types of work. What type of work do you feel called to right now at home? In your Church? In your neighborhood?

PRAY

  • Ask God to give you His heart for seeing His creation redeemed and to show you what that looks like.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 12

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • In the first paragraph, Jesus says, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” What did Jesus mean by saying this? What do we learn about God based off of this story?

  • A crowd finds Jesus and starts proclaiming that He is King of Israel. Instead of avoiding this like Jesus did before when the crowd tried to force Him to be King, He lets it happen, even seemingly leans into it. Why do you think Jesus acts differently this time than He did before? Maybe something to do with fulfilling prophecy? Or that His time to be crucified is almost here? Or that this crowd's motives are different than the last crowd's?

  • We see there were Pharisees who believed in Jesus, but they feared...they would have to lose the glory that they received from men in order to follow Jesus. So because they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God, they didn't follow Jesus. The Scripture talks about the cost of following Jesus in so many places. What has following Jesus cost you?

  • What are you afraid to lose if you were to follow Jesus in EVERY area of your life, not just some?

PRAY

  • Talk to God about the cost of following Jesus. Pray for those who are paying dearly for following Jesus, even some with their lives.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 13

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • To what extent is Jesus’ work an example for our own work? It would be easy to answer, “Not at all.” None of us are the Lord. None of us die for the sins of the world. But when he washes the disciples’ feet, Jesus explicitly tells them — and by extension us — that we are to follow his example. “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example”

  • Whose feet do you need to wash? What are some ways you can remind yourself to labor with a habitual attitude of honor and humility?

  • List anything Jesus says about Himself

PRAY

  • Ask God whose feet you need to wash (metaphorically.) Ask Him what it needs to look like for you specifically to imitate Him in His work and join in His labor.


DAY 14

QUESTIONS TO WRITE AND REFLECT ON:

  • Phillip and Thomas are having a conversation with Jesus. He tells them to believe Him, or at least believe Him based on the works He does. This is interesting since Thomas later on, after Jesus resurrects, does not believe Jesus is who He says He is until He is able to touch Jesus' pierced hands. He needs evidence. And Jesus is so gracious to give Him evidence. But Jesus also tells Him later on that blessed is the man who believes without seeing. How often do you require evidence from God in order to trust what He says? Is there any specific way right now that you're struggling to trust God?

  • There is a continual parallel between loving God and keeping His commands throughout the whole Bible. (Check out Psalm 119 sometime!) Jesus says that God will give the Holy Spirit to HELP them, right after He tells them to obey His commands. There is nothing God commands us that He won't give us the strength to do. Have you ever asked the Holy Spirit to help you obey God??

  • What else does Jesus say about the role of the Holy Spirit?

PRAY

  • Ask God to give you an unwavering trust in who He says He is. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you live in obedience to Him.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 15

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • What fruit have you seen in your life recently? What do you think bearing fruit individually and bearing fruit communally look like?

  • What does it mean to "remain" or "abide" in Jesus?

  • How does your answer from the last question make you any different from what the Pharisees did (they studied God's word, memorized it, and tried to follow His commands)

  • What does it look like for you to "testify" about God? Talk to someone from the church about your answer.

PRAY

  • Ask God to help you discern the difference between knowing about the Father and abiding in Jesus, between working hard on your own and depending on the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for more fruit in your life.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 16

  • READ JOHN 16 - estimated time: 8 minutes

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Jesus says that people who kill the disciples will think they're doing it in service to God. Have you ever done something you thought was honoring to God but found out it was actually something that breaks His heart?

  • In vs. 7, Jesus says it's to the disciples' advantage that Jesus leaves them because the Holy Spirit will be with them. We can think "how much greater and easier and more clarifying and more powerful would life be if I could walk and talk with Jesus?!" But it's actually to our advantage to have the Holy Spirit with us. Why is this, and are you taking full advantage of the Holy Spirit in your life?

  • In her book, Holy Labor, Aubry G. Smith says, "Our new birth was not achieved apart from the anguished labor of Jesus, who has given us new birth into [the kingdom of God.]" Jesus uses the metaphor of childbirth to talk to the disciples about their sorrow, but seemingly also as a foreshadowing of what He was about to go through on the cross. We have studied God's view of "labor" throughout John so far; what parallels do you see with the idea of the labor of childbirth and the gospel?

  • The way Jesus describes the Holy Spirit's relationship to Him sure sounds a lot alike to how He talked so often about His relationship to the Father! What would it look like for you to not speak on your own authority but to speak what you hear from the Holy Spirit?

PRAY

  • Pray through your answers to the questions. Ask God to help you take full advantage of your access to the Holy Spirit in your life.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 17

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • What are your initial thoughts/observations about Jesus' prayer when you compare it to what you know about prayer?

  • “The call to share in the love is inextricable from the call to share in the labor." Meditate on this perspective — of the Father and the Son's relationship, and our relationship with God mirroring their relationship — and write out your initial thoughts.

  • What would it look like for you to have love for the people at Alive similar to the Father's and Jesus' love for one another? What would it look like for the people in Alive to be one as the Father and Jesus are one??

  • When was the last time you worked with someone else to join God in His redeeming work in the world? What could that look like in your local church?

PRAY

  • Ask God what He may want you to do in your church to join others in laboring alongside Him.

  • Pray that God would give you a deeper love for the people in your church. Ask Him to give us unity in Him.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 18

  • READ JOHN 18 - estimated time: 8 minutes

  • From the ESV Study Bible: "Barabbas means 'son of the father' (Gk. bar-abbas). Ironically, the people wanted Barabbas released rather than the true Son of the Father, Jesus. The word translated robber (Gk. lestes) sometimes means 'insurrectionist,' but the meaning 'robber' is much more common in the NT . . . Each Gospel contributes something to the picture of Barabbas as the man who had committed multiple crimes, including robbery, insurrection, and murder"

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Here we see an officer hit Jesus for His answer to the high priest, justifying it by something along the lines of, "That's how you talk to the high priest?!" Do you see the irony of this exchange? That JESUS is our High Priest? What do Jesus' responses to all of these injustices toward Him tell us about Him?

  • What do we learn about the Kingdom of God from this passage?

PRAY

  • Process with God. Pray as you feel led.

GO EVEN DEEPER:

  • Listen to this sermon on John 18:1-11 by Timothy Keller - estimated time: 36 minutes


DAY 19

  • READ JOHN 19 - estimated time: 8 minutes

  • WATCH THIS VIDEO ON SACRIFICE AND ATONEMENT FROM THE BIBLE PROJECT - estimated time: the length the video says

  • Read this excerpt from the ESV Study Bible on verse 15: "By professing to acknowledge Caesar alone as their king, the Jewish leaders betray their national heritage (in which God himself is their ultimate King; cf. Judge. 8:23; 1 Sam. 8:7) and deny their own messianic expectations based on the promises of Scripture.)

  • Read this excerpt from the ESV Study Bible on verse 19: "The purpose of the inscription was to indicate a person's specific crime, presumably to deter others from committing similar acts. The King of the Jews. Pilate's words again are true in a much more profound way than he or the Jewish people realized."

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • In Jesus' last moments before His death, he tells John, "Behold, your mother" and we see that John takes her to his home. In all His agony in saving the world's souls, He looks out for His mother's physical needs, as she was most likely a widow at this point, by entreating John to take care of her. What does this speak about the God we serve?

  • Jesus endured SO much mentally, emotionally, and physically during the crucifixion. He watched His mother watch Him be tortured, dying. He endured the Father's wrath poured out on Him for the sins of the world. He was mocked by His creation and rejected by His friends. He has truly endured so many of the sufferings we do, and it was and still is the greatest injustice that has happened in the history of the world. Write out a prayer of gratefulness to Jesus for what He endured for you and what you love about Him. After writing your prayer, read it to God.

GO EVEN DEEPER:

Watch/Listen to this sermon on John 19:28-30 from The Village Church - estimated time: 31 minutes


DAY 20

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • We often see Jesus fulfilling things that were spoken by prophets in the past as well as fulfilling things He spoke of Himself. In vs. 11-12, when Jesus calls Mary by name, she finally recognizes Him, just like He taught in chapter 10, when He said that He calls His sheep by name and they follow Him because they know His voice. Where else have you seen either Jesus fulfilling prophecy or Jesus demonstrating things He taught throughout this book?

  • We've seen that Jesus so often said the Father had sent Him. Now He says, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." The one who was sent has become the sender, and the whole trinity is involved in this command. What is significant about this commissioning and what does this mean for us?

PRAY

  • In your own words, write out a prayer to God submitted to His will, expressing your willingness and desire to obey His commission to followers of Jesus.

GO EVEN DEEPER:


DAY 21

  • READ JOHN 21 - estimated time: 8 minutes

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND WRITE ON:

  • Based only on verses 1-14 of this chapter and not what else you might know from any other Scriptures:

  • What do you learn about God from this passage?

  • What do you learn about people from this passage?

  • Is the Holy Spirit speaking anything to you through this passage?

  • What do you think is the significance of Jesus doing the same miracle of helping the disciples catch fish as he did earlier on before His death?

  • Yet again as in chapter 17, we see that with Jesus asking Peter if he loves Him, then telling Him to feed and shepherd His sheep—that love and labor go together. Again, this is Jesus' invitation into His labor because of a love that goes both ways. We see John then identifying himself as the one whom Jesus loves. What ways is your love and labor tied together currently? What can you do to make that go hand-in-hand?

PRAY

  • Pray that seeds would be sown and laborers would harvest. That God would revive His Church's heart.

  • Pray that you would love God more and better and labor with/for Him in a greater way, participating with Him.

GO EVEN DEEPER: