Going Deeper Sept 2025 - Feb 2026
Ready, Set, Grow, Evangel
Our Bible Reading Plan begins this Monday, SEPTEMBER 8th and we are so excited to dig deeper into the Word of God as we start reading the New Testament together. Over the course of the next six months, we will work our way from Matthew to Revelation. Let's dive whole-heartedly into God's word this Fall and allow the truth to transform us from the inside out! There is so much to unpack in these precious books of the bible, so it is sure to be a powerful time together in God's word.
Print the Reading plan or keep it on your desktop or tablet. The plan runs from Monday to Friday, Saturdays are the best days to catch up on what you may have missed. Sundays are your Sabbath and we want to encourage you to attend church and take a day of rest!
It's time to go deeper,
Follow along with our Bible Reading Plan!
Overview of
Matthew
"Matthew's gospel presents Jesus in a rich, many-sided way. He appears as the Messiah of Israel, the King who will rule and save the world. He comes before us as the Teacher, greater even than Moses. And, of course, He is presented as the Son of Man, giving His life for all of us. Matthew lays it all out step by step and invites us
to learn the wisdom of the Gospel message and the new way that results from it." -Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Promised King
Content
The story of Jesus, including large blocks of teaching, from the announcement of His birth to the commissioning of the disciples to make disciples of the Gentiles.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
Papias (ca. A.D. 125) attributes "the first Gospel" to the apostle Matthew; scholarship is divided. The date is unknown (since he used Mark, very likely written in the (70's or 80's). The recipients are almost certainly Jewish Christians committed to the Gentile mission, most commonly thought to have lived in and around Antioch of Syria.
The emphasis: Jesus is the Son of God, the (messianic) King of the Jews; Jesus is God present with us in miraculous power; Jesus is the church's Lord; the teaching of Jesus has continuing importance for God's people; the gospel of the kingdom is for all peoples - Jew and Gentile alike.
Mark
"Mark's gospel is the shortest and sharpest of the stories about Jesus. Many people think Mark's gospel was the first to be written, and certainly, it has all the zip and punch of a quick, hasty story that's meant to grab you by the collar and make you face the truth about Jesus, about God, and yourself." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our True God
Content
The story of Jesus from His baptism to His resurrection, about two-thirds of which tells of His ministry in Galilee, while the last third narrates His final week in Jerusalem.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
The author: anonymous; attributed (by Papias, ca. A.D. 125) to John Mark, a sometime companion of Paul (Col 4:10) and later of Peter (1 Pet 5:13). The date: ca. A.D. 65 (according to Papias, soon after the deaths of Paul and Peter in Rome). The recipients: the church in Rome (according to Papias), which accounts for its preservation along with the longer Matthew and Luke.
The emphasis would be the time of God's rule (the kingdom of God) has come with Jesus; Jesus has brought about the new exodus promised in Isaiah; the kingly Messiah came in weakness, His identity a secret except to those to whom it is revealed; the way of the new exodus leads to Jesus' death in Jerusalem; the way of discipleship is to take up a cross and follow him.
Luke
"Luke's gospel opens up one of the most brilliant writings in early Christianity. Luke tells us that he had had a chance to stand back from the extraordinary events that had been going on, to talk to the people involved, to read some earlier writings, and to make his own quite full version so that readers could know the truth about the things to do with Jesus. He was educated and cultured, the first real historian to write about Jesus. His book places Jesus not only at the heart of the Jewish world of the first century but at the heart of the Roman world into which the Christian gospel exploded and which it was destined to change so radically." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Continued Mission
Content
The story of Jesus as part 1 of Luke/Acts is the story of the salvation of "Israel," which Christ and the Spirit have brought about. It begins with the announcement of Jesus' birth by the Spirit and carries through to the ascension.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
According to very early tradition, Luke was the physician and sometime companion of the apostle Paul (see Col. 4:14) and the only Gentile author in the Bible. The date: scholars are divided between a date believed before the death of Paul (ca. A.D. 64; see Acts 28:30-31) and after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). The recipients are implied to be readers as Gentile Christians.
The emphasis: God's Messiah has come to His people with the promised inclusion of Gentiles; Jesus came to save the lost, including every kind of marginalized person whom traditional religion would put outside the boundaries; Jesus' ministry is carried out under the power of the Holy Spirit; the necessity of Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness
John
"John's gospel has always been a favourite for many. At one level, it is the simplest of all the gospels; at another level, it is the most profound. It gives the appearance of being written by someone who was a very close friend of Jesus, and who spent the rest of his life mulling over, more and more deeply, what Jesus had done and said and achieved, praying it through from every angle, and helping others to understand it.." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Great I Am
Content
The story of Jesus, Messiah and Son of God, told from the perspective of post-resurrection insights; in His incarnation, Jesus made God known and made His life available to all through the cross.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
The beloved disciple who "wrote [these things] down" (21:24; cf. 13:23; 19:25-27; 20:2; 21:7) most likely refers to John the apostle, son of Zebedee (otherwise not named in this Gospel); the "we" of 21:24 suggests another person is responsible for the Gospel in its final form. The date: unknown; probably ca. A.D. 90-95. The recipients: see 1 John, to which this Gospel is closely related.
The emphasis: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; in His incarnation and the crucifixion, He both revealed God's love and redeemed humanity; discipleship means to "remain in the vine" (Jesus) and to bear fruit (to love as He loved; the Holy Spirit will be given to His people to continue His work.
Acts
"The book of Acts is full of the energy and excitement of the early Christians as they found God doing new things all over the place and learned to take the good news of Jesus around the world. It's also full of the puzzles and problems that churches faced then and face today - crises over leadership, money, ethnic divisions, theology, and ethics, not to mention serious clashes with political and religious authorities. It's comforting to know that church life, even in the time of the first apostles, was neither trouble-free nor plain sailing, just as it's encouraging to know that even amid all their difficulties, the early church could take the gospel forward in such dynamic ways. There isn't a dull page in Acts. But, equally importantly, the whole book reminds us that whatever journey we are making in our own lives, our spirituality, our following of Jesus, and our work for his kingdom, his spirit will guide us too, and make us fruitful in his service." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Gracious Saviour
Content
Acts can also be thought of as Part 2 of Luke's account of the good news about Jesus; how by the power of the Spirit, the good news spread from Jerusalem to Rome.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
According to very early tradition, Luke was the physician and sometime companion of the apostle Paul (see Col 4:14. the only Gentile author in the Bible. The date: scholars are divided between a date believed before the death of Paul (ca. A.D. 64; see Acts 28:30-31) and after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). The recipients are implied to be Gentile Christians.
The emphasis: The good news of God's salvation through Jesus is for Jew and Gentile alike, thus fulfilling Old Testament expectations; the Holy Spirit guides the church in spreading the good news; the church has the good sense to side with God regarding His salvation, and the inclusion of the Gentiles, salvation for all is God's thing, and nothing can hinder it; the good news is accepted in joy by some and rejected in anger by others.
Romans
"Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome is his masterpiece. It covers many different topics from many different angles, bringing them all together into a fast-moving and compelling line of thought. Reading it sometimes feels like being swept along in a small boat on a swirling, bubbling river. The reason is obvious: because Romans is all about the God who, as Paul says, unveils His power and grace through the good news about Jesus." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Eternal Salvation
Content
A letter of instruction and exhortation setting for Paul's understanding of the gospel - that Jew and Gentile together form one people of God, based on God's righteousness received through faith in Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
-The Apostle Paul.
-A.D. 57
-The Church in Rome
Jews and Gentiles together as the one people of God; the role of the Jews in God's salvation through Christ; salvation by grace alone, received through faith in Christ Jesus and effected by the Spirit; the failure of the law and success of the Spirit in producing true righteousness; the need to be transformed in mind (by the Spirit) to live in unity as God's people in the present.
Corinthians
"Paul's letter to Corinth - a lively seaport where people and cultures of every sort jostled together, just like so many places in today's world - is full of wisdom and challenge. His second letter is different from the first. Something terrible has
happened. Corinthians leads us from tragedy back to the sunlight." - Tom Wright.
Jesus: Our Hope for Change
Content
The first is a letter of correction, in which Paul stands over against the Corinthians on issue after issue, mostly behavioural, but which are nevertheless a betrayal of the gospel of Christ. The second letter, probably two letters combined into one, deals primarily with Paul's tenuous relationship with the Corinthian church.
Author, Date, Recipients, & Emphasis
The Apostle Paul. A.D. 53-55. The Church in Corinth (comprised mostly of Gentiles).
First Corinthians is the most difficult of the New Testament letters to summarize because Paul deals with no less than eleven different issues, sometimes in a length similar to some of his shorter letters.
Second Corinthians is like turning on the TV during a complicated episode. This letter from Corinthians gives one the sense of entering a new world. Few of the issues raised in the earlier letter appear here, but the passage dealing with the glory of the new covenant is "worth the price of the book." Read and enjoy!