10/19/2026
Bible Reading Plan
Week of October 19-23
Monday October 19th
“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how He died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39
When Jesus was arrested, put on trial, and nailed to the cross, many who witnessed the events in real-time couldn’t believe what they were seeing. This was the Messiah. The One they’d waited so long to arrive. The One they believed would rescue them once and for all. So, to see Him take His last breath had to have been a faith-shaking moment for many. But for the centurion in this verse, it was a faith building moment. As part of his profession, this man had likely seen many executions. He’d witnessed the deaths of many before, but in witnessing Jesus’ death— the crying out to His Father, the giving up of His spirit, the tearing of the veil—this man saw his faith in God grow. Just like that, he believed that Jesus was exactly who He’d claimed to be, the Son of God. Because of what He witnessed, His faith in God grew. While we can’t witness these events the way the centurion did thousands of years ago, Jesus’ death and resurrection can be the lynchpin of our faith. They can be the very events that inspire us to believe that God is all He promised us to be.
Revisit Mark 15 and read the chapter in its entirety. Let it remind you of the truth that Jesus’ death and resurrection saved us and allow us to live in relationship with God, both now and for eternity.
Tuesday October 20th
“When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Mark 16:4-6
Have you ever lost something? Maybe a family heirloom, or an expensive piece of jewelry, or your wallet. If you have, then you know just how surprising it is to realize it’s missing. You look exactly where you left it only to discover it’s no longer there. No explanation, no idea, no clue where it’s gone. Well, imagine if you were one of Jesus’ loved ones visiting His grave in this moment! They’d seen Him be crucified. They’d witnessed Him take His final breath. They’d seen His burial place. So, when they made the trip to visit His tomb only to find it empty, they freaked out! And when they were greeted with an angel proclaiming the news of Jesus’ resurrection, they couldn’t believe it. But this was the plan all along. Jesus was never really lost or gone. He was overcoming death and defeating the power of sin once and for all. He was making a way for us to be close to God once more. He was changing the very foundation of our faith.
This week, keep your eyes open for Jesus at work in your life. Don’t run the risk of missing Him or losing sight of Him. Instead, pray that God would grow your faith in Jesus and His resurrection by the way you experience Him in your everyday life.
Wednesday October 21st
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”. 1 Corinthians 15:14
If you’ve ever seen a house built on a shaky, unstable foundation, you know just how dangerous that can be. In day-to-day life, you may not notice it shifting beneath your feet. But when the environment changes—when the winds grow, the rain comes, and the storm rolls in suddenly, you realize that the ground underneath you cannot hold. It’s scary, right? Well, faith works in a similar way. When we build it on things that don’t last, we are laying a shaky foundation at best. When we root our faith in outcomes, feelings, or experiences alone, we aren’t securing it in something strong enough to hold when the tides change. But when we put our faith in Jesus’ resurrection, we’re laying a foundation that can stand in the midst of any storm, question, doubt, or earth-shaking event in our lives. Because without the resurrection, we have no reason to have faith in the first place! But with it, everything changes about the way we can live and believe here on Earth, and forever with God in eternity.
Share this verse with someone in your life this week. Talk to them about what it means to build your faith on the resurrection. Then, challenge each other to do just that as you walk with and follow Jesus.
Thursday October 22nd
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:54-55
One of the most difficult parts of the human experience is the finite nature of it. Our days are numbered, but we don’t know how many we have left. Our lives are limited, but we have little control over how limited they may be. We simply know that, as humans, death will be a part of all our lives. We’ll lose loved ones along the way, and eventually, we’ll be the ones lost to the life we know on Earth. If that is all there is to life, frankly, it would be an incredibly depressing and hopeless thought. It would feel like it was the end of the story. But thanks to Jesus, that is most definitely not where the story ends. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, He didn’t just come back to life for His own sake. No, He came back for the sake of all who believe in Him. Because of that resurrection, we can hold on to the hope that death isn’t the end of our story. While we’ll still lose those we love and one day pass on ourselves, we’ll do so knowing that there is so much more waiting for us.
Because of Jesus, there is real, lasting eternal life in heaven with God.
Friday October 23rd
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. John 3:16
This is one of the most well-known and used verses in the Bible. You see it posted on billboards, shared on social media, quoted in sermons, and said in passing by believers and unbelievers alike. Its common use may make us gloss over this verse when we read it, but doing so might mean we miss its value. The reality is this is one of the most important verses for the development of our faith. In this one sentence, the power of the resurrection is uncovered. Because of God’s love for us, He sent Jesus to this world to save us. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we no longer have to wonder what will come of us or fear what’s on the other side of death. No, we can be sure that, if our faith is rooted in Jesus and what He did to save us, we will never fully perish. Instead, we will live for eternity with God. That’s the gift of Christ to us. And that’s the power of His resurrection to develop our faith.
Post this verse in a place you’ll see it often. Don’t just glance at it or gloss past its familiar words. Instead, meditate on the power of Christ’s death and resurrection for your life and faith.
