5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide

Based on Themes from the Sermon at First Baptist

Day 1: The Seed You Plant

Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 — Paul teaches that generous, cheerful giving produces an abundant harvest, and God loves a giver who does not act out of reluctant obligation but from a willing heart.

Devotional:

A man walked 25 miles to receive a Bible. Then he walked 25 miles back. And because of that one Bible, an entire village came to Christ. You may never walk 25 miles for anything. But you carry something just as powerful — the willingness to give. Every seed you plant in faith, whether it is money, time, prayer, or a word spoken in love, goes somewhere you may never go. It reaches someone you may never meet. It changes an eternal destination you may never know about this side of heaven. Do not despise the smallness of what you hold in your hand. God does not. He multiplies it. He sends it. He blesses the soil it falls into. Your contribution is not small. It is seed. And seed, planted in faith, never returns void.

Reflection: What seed are you holding back today that God may be calling you to release?

Day 2: The First Day

Reading: John 20:19-23 — On the evening of the first day of the week, the risen Jesus appeared to His gathered disciples, spoke peace over them, showed them His wounds, and sent them out with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Devotional:

The disciples gathered on that first Sunday not out of celebration but out of fear. The doors were shut. The world outside was hostile. Their hearts were confused. And yet they gathered. And into that gathering, Jesus came. He stood in the midst of them. He spoke peace. He showed His hands. He breathed on them. What a picture of what Sunday can still be for the believer. You do not have to arrive at church with everything figured out. You do not have to arrive with your emotions in order or your circumstances resolved. You simply have to gather. Because where His people gather, Jesus shows up. And where Jesus shows up, peace follows. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. You can be glad today for the same reason. He is still alive. He is still present. He is still speaking.

Reflection: What fear or confusion are you bringing into God's presence today that needs to hear the words "Peace be with you"?

Day 3: Peace That Passes Understanding

Reading: Philippians 4:6-7 — Paul urges believers not to be anxious but to bring every concern to God in prayer with thanksgiving, promising that the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Devotional:

There is a woman who is 55 years old and has never known a day of peace in her life. She has searched for it in alcohol and isolation, and it has only taken more from her than it has given. Her story is not unique. The world is full of people trying to fill a peace-shaped void with things that were never designed to fill it. But the peace that Jesus offers is not the absence of trouble. It is a presence within the trouble. It is a settled assurance that God is in control when everything around you says otherwise. The disciples were afraid. The doors were shut. And then Jesus stood in the midst. He did not remove the danger outside those doors. He brought peace inside the room. That same peace is available to you right now, not because your circumstances have changed, but because He has not.

Reflection: Where in your life are you seeking peace in the wrong places? What would it look like to surrender that area to Christ today?

Day 4: Sent

Reading: John 20:21 — Jesus tells His disciples that just as the Father sent Him into the world with purpose and mission, He is now sending them in the same way.

Devotional:

God did not save you to simply secure your eternal destination and leave you to drift through the rest of your days. He saved you to send you. The very first Sunday service after the resurrection was not a celebration without a commission. Jesus spoke peace and then spoke purpose. He said, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. You have a mission. That mission gives your life meaning that no career, no relationship, and no achievement can match. A taxi cab driver in a foreign city had been reading his Bible for a year trying to understand it. He had ordered a children's Bible to help him. And one conversation in a car on the way to an airport changed his eternity. You are surrounded by people like that driver every single day. They are searching. They are reading. They are ordering children's Bibles. They are waiting for someone to explain it. You are sent to them.

Reflection: Who has God placed in your daily path that may be waiting for someone to share the message of forgiveness with them?

Day 5: Gladness in His Presence

Reading: Psalm 16:11 — The psalmist declares that God makes known the path of life, that in His presence there is fullness of joy, and that at His right hand are pleasures that endure forever.

Devotional:

The disciples gathered in sadness. They had heard the report that Jesus was alive, but they had not yet seen Him themselves. And that is an important distinction. You cannot live on someone else's encounter with Jesus. You need your own. When they finally saw Him, the Bible says they were glad. Not relieved. Not cautiously optimistic. Glad. Full, genuine gladness. That gladness is not reserved for the disciples in that upper room. It is available to every believer who gathers with God's people and opens their heart to His presence. The church is where He reminds you that this world is not your home, that He has the final word, that eternity is real, and that you are not alone. Come to His presence not as a religious obligation but as a desperate and joyful child who knows that fullness of joy is found in one place alone. In Him.

Reflection: What would change about the way you approach Sunday worship if you came expecting a genuine encounter with the risen Jesus rather than simply attending a service?