Dave Miller's 2025 Bible Reading Challenge

   Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Luke 7:36-8:3, 19-2 1 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     In Luke 7:36-8:3, we see two stories that show Jesus' concern and compassion for a group of people that the religious world often forgot, discounted, or disrespected - women. Jesus treated them as people, as co-bearers of the image of God, and as people of worth and value. At the end of Luke 7, we have a shocking story of Jesus showing compassion for a woman of low character, someone the religious leaders would uniformly shun. He gave grace and forgiveness to the wom...

   Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Matthew 8:1-17, Luke 7:1-17 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     After a side-trip into the early chapters of John and an excursion in Matthew and Luke in the wonderful teachings of the Sermon on the Mount (and its cousin, the Sermon on the Plain), we return to the early Galilean ministry of Jesus in today's readings. After years of obscurity, Jesus appeared before John and was baptized, went into the wilderness to be tempted, and then, under the fullness of the Spirit, headed into Galilee to begin his ministry. He proclaime...

   Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Luke 6:17-49, 11:1-36 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Did Jesus preach the same sermon twice, with a few tweaks, or did Luke and Matthew just disagree about the details of the same sermon? That's the question that faces us as we look at today's passage in Luke 6. It is clearly a retelling of the Sermon on the Mount, but there is quite a bit that is different. The setting is different - Jesus is on a level place, not a mountain. The message is different. Jesus talks about the poor, not the poor in spirit. He balances his...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Matthew 6:19-7:29 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     In one of my favorite movies, Inigo Montoya tells Vizzini that the word he keeps using, "inconceivable," doesn't mean what he thinks it means. Today's reading has some of the most misunderstood and misapplied scriptures in the Bible. Some of its teachings do not mean what people seem to think that they mean.  After dealing with the law and with religion, Jesus in the remainder of the Sermon turns his attention to a series of ten teachings on life in the kingdom of God. Th...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Matthew 5:1-6:18 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Another long background section as we begin to read the Sermon on the Mount.  Background:     Sometimes the teachings of Jesus are so shocking that we tend to ignore them, redefine them, or put them in some special classification to justify the fact that we do not live them out. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount fall in that category. Several of the words Jesus spoke act like ice-cold water on a hot day to our souls. Beside the Sea of Galilee, there is a natural amphitheater on the...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   John 5 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Fair warning - I may be a little wordy in the background section today, but this is a key passage in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity. Background:     When two people are in conflict, my first goal is to discern what the fight is actually all about. The stated source of conflict is often not the trigger point – there may be deep resentments or hidden agendas. A husband and wife may be bickering over some small decision, but the real issue is respect or control. Parents and teens are locked...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   John 4 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Jesus regularly shocked the religious leaders, those who practiced an empty and dead religion. He followed God, but he refused to bow to human rules that corrupted God's truth and enslaved people. In today's reading, it was his own disciples that he was shocked by breaking cultural rules that hindered the spread of his truth. There were two in particular that were common to that culture.  First, there was a widespread loathing for Samaritans, so much so that Jews went around Samaria...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   John 3 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     If there is one verse in all the Bible known more universally than John 3:16, I can't imagine what it is. God loved the world and gave his Son that those who believe would have eternal life. This great truth is part of an exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee. Evidently, not all those who were part of the religion of the day stood in opposition to Jesus. Some, like our Nicodemus, were seekers, inquirers, interested in finding truth. Jesus always gave frustrating answers to tho...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   John 2 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     "We need to take a fresh look at this, get a different set of eyes on the problem." Ever heard something like that? John is a fresh set of eyes on the life of Christ. The Synoptic Gospels, in spite of their many similarities, share much in common, but John comes at things from a very different perspective, a more theological perspective. For the next four days, we will leave behind the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and read the early chapters of John. Each day we will take one story. T...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Mark 3:1-35, Luke 6:1-1 6 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     In today's readings, we see some of the counterintuitive behavior of Jesus Christ. When he was at the height of his popularity, when thousands were following him, when his name was on the tongues of every person in Israel, he did something strange. He did not capitalize on his fame. He withdrew with his disciples and appointed twelve men to be his inner circle. He realized that building into those men was more important to his lasting success than building his fame. We...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Mark 2:13-28, Luke 5:27-39   In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Because we are devoting half the year to the New Testament, which is only about 1/4 of the Bible by content, we will have some days when our readings are not as long. This gives you time to be thoughtful and prayerful about these wonderful truths. Background:     As I was driving on a Christmas vacation a while back, I noticed a marker on the side of the road. It read, "38th Parallel." It was a memorial to Korean War veterans (my father included) who served and died because of...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Mark 1:40-2:12, Luke 5:1-26 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     This is a continuation of the early ministry of Jesus - more of the calling of the disciples, more of the early miracles and preaching of Jesus. There are two significant stories in these shorter readings; one speaks to the heart of Jesus' ministry and focus, and the other is the first hint of the conflict with the religious leaders that would grow in the years ahead into open war, resulting (at least in human terms) in the crucifixion of Christ. First, we see Jesus ...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Matthew 4:12-25, Mark 1:14-39, Luke 4:14-44, John 1:35-51 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Today's readings record the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus Christ. After the arrest of John, Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth, and then to Capernaum, where he began  to preach, "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is near." His message, like John's, called Israel to turn from their sin and seek God. He then began to do miracles that drew a great crowd. His fame spread rapidly.  Perhaps the most significant thing he d...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     It was time for the rematch. In the Garden, the serpent appeared and tempted Adam and Eve to see if they would follow God or if they would go their own way. They failed, chose sin, and plunged the race into darkness. Now, having been baptized, Jesus was ready to face the enemy in round 2 of this cosmic conflict. In 1 John 2, John speaks of the "lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life." Three temptations for us - lust, greed, and pride....