Hello and thanks for joining me in this Digging into Scripture Ourselves (DISO) study of John 3:1-21. I’m glad you’re here!

This is the third of seven studies I’m calling Restoration. I explored these passages years ago using my original “20 Questions” version of DISO, but those posts are no longer available online. To minimize confusion, I’ll be working through the texts again, this time using the current process. I can’t wait to see what new revelations the Holy Spirit will show us this time!

Let’s Study John 3:1-21! 

This week, I’ll begin by praying and surveying John 3:1-21. If you want to study on your own, too, here’s what I recommend you have ready:

1. A copy of John 3:1-21, plus access to the entire Gospel of John.
   I like to refer often to the text I’m studying and sometimes make notes on it, so I copy the passage from https://www.blueletterbible.org, paste it into a word processing program like Google docs or MS Word, change the formatting to suit my preferences, and print it out. If you want to use the ESV translation, here’s a pdf of my Scripture study sheet with lots of room for doodles and notes.
   NOTE: for the first time, I noticed footnotes in this passage! Most are interpretation-related, so I went ahead and included them on my study sheet for consideration in Step 3.
2. A study journal.
   We’ll spend the next seven weeks immersed in and learning about John 3:1-21. And the work we’ll do each week builds on what came before, so plan to record at least some highlights from your work over the coming weeks. I’m old-school and like the pen-and-paper method for journaling my studies, but it’s okay if that doesn’t work for you. If you don’t have time to write out or type your notes, consider dictating them into a notes app, or recording audio files, instead.

Or, you may decide to just read the posts I publish here. That’s good, too, because you’ll become familiar with the process and see how the Spirit speaks to my situation. You may find that’s enough to make it worth your while to keep checking in with me, even if you can’t dig into John 3:1-21 yourself now.

Dig-In Challenges

So, here’s how I’ll be studying this week:

1. PRAY: I’ll be creating a prayer with which I’ll start my weekly study sessions. I’m going to write it in my study journal, so I’ll have it handy every time.
2. SURVEY:  Then I’ll read John 3:1-21, noting anything that makes me say, “huh?” (as in, “I wonder what that means?”) or “wow” (as in, “that is so awesome!”). I’ll record these and later ask the Spirit to direct me to the one I should dig deepest into right now.

If you’d like more information about these steps, check out this printable summary of the process I’ll be using over the next eight weeks. Or, you can always reach out to me with your questions through my contact page or at [email protected].

I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover in this process with you, along with relevant snippets of my previous study from 2020, so I hope you’ll keep checking in with me each week!