These booklets by Dr. McGee on a wide variety of topics are all designed to teach, challenge, inspire, or comfort you from the truth of God's Word.
Please read, download, and share these booklets. You don't need permission from us as long as you give them away with the same generosity in which they are being shared with you--completely free. If you have any questions, read our Copyright Policy. (You'll need to download Adobe's Reader to view and print out pdf files. If you don't already have Reader installed on your computer, it's available here free.)
Bible Companions:
These summaries of Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s teaching heard on THRU the BIBLE get to the heart of Bible passages and are intended to stir your own thinking, prayer, and study. After every lesson, several questions are listed for your personal consideration or, if you’re reading with a group, for your discussion. Read it with your Bible open and your heart ready to go deeper as the Lord leads you through His Word.
1 Corinthians Bible Companion
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Who hasn’t struggled to keep Jesus Christ at the center of their life? The Corinthians did, too. In this letter that draws beauty from ashes, we learn diversity is a gift, freedom in Christ is forever, and our unity flows from God’s love and His Spirit in us. Trusted Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee helps us navigate this book with confidence in God’s grace and compassion for each other.
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Acts Bible Companion
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The book of Acts, sometimes called the fifth Gospel, picks up where the Gospels leave off. “Take this good news to the world” was Jesus’ last words as He returned to heaven. Travel alongside the early Christians in these beginning days of a great adventure that continues even today.
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Romans Bible Companion
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Romans lays down the foundation for our faith. Salvation is a free gift, received through faith alone in God. By His grace we are dead to sin and forever alive in Christ. In 15 summaries, discover how this letter follows the road to salvation, from death to life. Our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, “It’s just as if it came by special delivery mail to us today.”
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Ruth Bible Companion
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The book of Ruth is one of the most passionate, pure love stories of all time. “The beauty and excellence of this story cannot escape even the most casual reader,” says Dr. J. Vernon McGee. God uses Ruth’s story to show us how His love breaks down racial and religious barriers. Discover the Savior in Ruth as our ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer—the One whose love made redemption possible.
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Matthew Bible Companion
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The Gospel of Matthew bridges the gap between the testaments, swinging back to gather up prophecies and going forward into the future, the first to mention the church by name. Matthew presents Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and King. And though originally written to Jewish people, we today can see Jesus Christ in a fresh new light.
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Mark Bible Companion
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What makes Mark’s Gospel unique from the others? The difference is in the details. Mark, telling the disciple Peter’s story, gives a private glimpse of how Jesus served. He’s constantly acting on others’ behalf. He lays aside a king’s royal robes (like we saw in Matthew) and girds Himself with the towel of service. These 9 lessons from Dr. J. Vernon McGee will stir your heart to serve like Jesus.
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Luke Bible Companion
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If ever you wondered if Jesus is really human, study Luke’s Gospel. As a doctor, Luke revealed the down-to-earth compassion that pervaded Jesus’ life, revealing Him as God in the flesh. Our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, leads us in seeing how Jesus is the Son of God, our great High Priest, touched with the feelings of our weaknesses, able to extend help, mercy, and love to us.
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John Bible Companion
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The Gospel of John, a favorite book of the Bible, gives us the story behind the stories of the Gospels. Though it is one of the easiest books to read, John is also one of the most profound books to understand.
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Revelation Bible Companion
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The subject of Revelation is not beasts and bowls of wrath. The real subject is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Sin-bearer bringing creation to its rightful place. If today you’ve wondered why God doesn’t deal with the evil in the world, look to a day yet future. Jesus is called “Faithful and True” because He comes to execute the long-time program of God. He will make good on God’s promises.
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Featured Booklets:
Beloved: Love Lessons from the Song of Solomon
- The Song of Solomon is one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible—yet not many people read it. The Jews called it the Holy of Holies of Scripture. What’s good to remember when you study this controversial book is that Solomon wrote this love story about married love as a parable of God’s love for Israel, and now we see it also as Jesus’ love for the church and His love for us, individually. (From the Sunday Sermon, "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.")
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Bitter to Sweet: God's Answers to Life's Disappointments
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Expectations are cruel companions. Rarely do they deliver and most assuredly, they leave us disappointed. Dr. J. Vernon McGee—who was no stranger to life’s challenges—leads us back to the wilderness to learn how not to turn bitter in those moments of dashed expectations but, instead, how to turn to God. (Was "Changing Bitter Waters to Sweet.")
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The Christmas Story
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Tired of the hustle of the season and want to focus your heart on what really matters? A perfect read for the season, “The Christmas Story,” takes you on a journey through Scripture—beginning in the Garden of Eden, to the manger in Bethlehem and Jesus’ death on the cross—as you are reminded of Christmas’ true meaning and God’s great love for each of us. (Was "The Story of Christmas.")
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The Cross Through Jesus' Eyes
- (Psalm 22) Instead of standing beneath the cross and passively listening to Jesus utter His seven last sayings, view the crucifixion of Christ from a new position—from the cross itself. Look with Him on those beneath His cross and see what went on in His heart and in His mind as He hung there. Examine what occurred in His soul as He became the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Because as He was suspended there between heaven and earth, He became the ladder let down from heaven to this earth so we might have a way to God. (Was "An X-Ray of the Cross.")
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The Dark Side of God's Love
- John is known as the apostle of love, but Zephaniah is the prophet of love. He tells us about another side of God's love, though—the love of the Great Physician who is willing to take His children into painful surgery to root out the disease of sin in our lives. Learn that God loves you just as much when He is subjecting you to surgery as when He overwhelms you with gifts. (Was "The Dark Side of Love.")
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The Faith Equation: Faith + 0 = Salvation
- The only way God can accept a sinner and make him righteous is through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the great truth being left out of churches today. God refuses to accept law-keeping or good works. The very moment someone says, “I’m depending on doing this or that for my salvation,” it means two things: He is trusting his works, and he is not trusting Christ. Salvation is only by faith in Christ.
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Firm Up Your Faith: How to Have Confidence in God
- As part of God’s design for us as humans, we are made up of three parts—the intellect, the emotions, and the will. God directs the gospel to all three, and He invites us to respond in all three parts of our being. That's the way to have a full-bodied faith. (From the Sunday Sermon, "Looking at Faith in the Laboratory of Life.")
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For Those Who Grieve
- The Spirit of God is called to help you, to strengthen you, to relieve the loneliness, ease the grief, and calm your fears. He is your advocate in time of fear and trouble, with you in the desperate hour of life. When our soul cries out for the Comforter, He comes alongside us. When we know for sure that "the God of all mercies" is with us in all life’s troubles, we can live by faith and not by fear.
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Forget About It: How to Put the Past Behind You
- Do you have a problem with stewing over the sins of your past? Forget about it. Do you stay up at night thinking about dumb things you said or did? Forget about it. That's the counsel Dr. McGee gives based on Philippians 3:13-14. Learn how to put the past behind you. You'll be so glad you did. (From the Sunday Sermon, "What Do You Do With Your Past?")
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Fruitful Living: Discover God's Purpose for Your Life
- God made you for a reason. Do you believe that? Jesus Himself told us our life’s purpose as a child of God: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.” Explore what that fruit is and how you can grow it in your life. (From the audio message "The Holy Spirit and Fruit Bearing" and the Sunday Sermon "Fruit, More Fruit, Much Fruit.")
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Gifts of the Spirit: How and Why to Use Yours
- (1 Corinthians 12-14) Every believer has a gift from the Holy Spirit. God sovereignly gives the gifts, and He gives them as it pleases Him. Why? So the body can function. There’s nothing more thrilling than to know God has given you gifts to function in this world, and that we can be partners with Jesus Christ in the tremendous enterprise of making Him known.
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God of the Second Chance: The Real Story of Jonah
- Dig into the book of Jonah with Dr. J. Vernon McGee and you’ll discover the whale is just a prop God used. The real story is so much better. It’s really about how the Lord gave Jonah a second chance. “Only God will do that—including for you and me,” Dr. McGee says. Follow Jonah on His journey back to God. (Was "Jonah: Dead or Alive?")
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God So Loved
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The words of John 3:16—arguably the most well-known verse in the Bible—are simple. But they are also so profound that it's a wonder any one of us really knows what they mean. Why did our Lord enter and pass through this world? Because you were here, and He wanted to save you.
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The God Who Weeps
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It was a profound revelation for the ancient world to learn there are tears in God’s eyes. God in tears? It’s a startling thought. But the Bible tells us that God has been in tears. The Gospel writers record three times in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ when He wept, and those tears reveal the heart of God.
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God's Grand Finale: Introduction to Revelation
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Revelation does not originate or begin anything, but it brings to complete conclusion what began somewhere else in Scripture. At least ten great subjects of prophecy find their fulfillment in Revelation. It is like an airport with ten great airlines coming into it. We need to understand where each began and how it was developed as it arrives in Revelation.
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How to Have Fellowship With God
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In one of the last conversations Jesus had with His disciples before the Cross, He told them He wanted to continue having fellowship with them even though He would be in heaven and they'd be on earth. This was a new way to have fellowship—something they’d never seen before. Then He showed them what He meant. We, too, can have that sweet fellowship with God.
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How to Have Peace in Anxious Times
- Anxiety shines a spotlight for us on how much we need the Lord. That's what Dr. McGee reminds us of as we explore God's Word and discover His solution to the things that keep us up at night. Be willing to do this one thing and be ready to receive God's unexplainable peace. (From the Sunday Sermon, "When Prayer Does Not Change Things.")
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How to Understand the Bible
- When you seriously study the Word of God, you see His road map in your life and in the patterns of history. Wouldn’t you like to understand the Bible like that? This eBook is a beautiful new digital rendering of Dr. McGee's valuable and long-loved "Guidelines for the Understanding of the Scriptures."
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Let Us Pray
- (Matthew 6:9-13) A study of the Lord's Prayer lays on the heart of God’s people the urgency for knocking on His door, the necessity of asking, and the importunity for seeking. Dr. McGee gave this message with the prayer that it would stimulate God’s people to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
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Living for God in a World That Has Forgotten Him
- (Jude 20-25) This booklet could very easily be called, “What’s Wrong with the Church Today?” But the real question to ask when a particular church or teacher seems off is—Do they know and follow the real Jesus Christ? If the answer is no, then they are apostate. Dr. McGee gives us a historical review of how the church got in this place and then seven timely words of instruction from the book of Jude of how God’s people can survive these “latter” days in which we now live. (Was "What Can Believers Do in Days of Apostasy?")
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Living the Christian Life God's Way
- (Romans 8) Dr. McGee considered Romans 8 to be one of the greatest chapters of the Bible. It opens with “no condemnation,” closes with “no separation,” and in between “all things work together for good to those who love God.”
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Masterpiece: Your Life in God’s Hands
- Dr. McGee’s message from Jeremiah 18 reminds us that our God is the great Potter, and in His hands the broken shards of our lives can be molded and crafted into new vessels—living works of art that honor Him. (Was "What the Clay Can Do With the Potter"; from the Sunday Sermon, "The Potter and the Clay.")
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The Most Important Question: Who is Jesus?
- This question has caused more confusion, difference of opinion, and division than any other. It has always been so. Some think it’s not really important that He was who He said He was. But we cannot trust Him unless we have confidence in His person. The real test for anyone is: “What do you think about the Christ?” (Matthew 22:42). (From the Sunday Sermon, "Did Jesus Say He Would Build the Church on Simon Peter?")
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The "Not So Bad" Sin
- God said, “I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.” What a strange thing for God to say. What does it mean? We find out in the little book of Obadiah. Here’s a preview: God hated Esau because of his pride. Really? you might say. Is that all? It makes very little impression on us, because we have lost our sense of the proportion of sin. But pride says, “I can live without God.” Find out what God thinks of that. (Was "Evolution and You.")
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On the Other Side of Prayer: What happens in heaven when we pray on earth
- Most of our trouble and problems can be traced back to the poverty of our prayer lives. In the Gospel of Luke, our Lord uses a few brushstrokes to paint four portraits of prayer. They are simply snapshots to carry with you in your Christian walk, very practical. Put these snapshots together for a composite picture of prayer. (Was "What Jesus Said About Prayer.")
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One Hour in Romans: For Personal or Small Group Study
- Dr. McGee originally prepared this booklet as a survey to give you a broad brush over the book as foundation to the more in-depth study of Romans on our Bible Bus journey. We’ve added a few questions at the end of each section to encourage you to stop and ask—“What did I just learn?” and “How might God want me to apply this to my life?” These prompts can be engaged with individually or as a group.
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Only God: When He is All You Have
- Songs have a way of touching us in the hardest seasons of life. This is especially true for those who write and compose songs. David experienced this—you can read his story and identify with how he faced problems similar to ours. He wrote Psalm 62 as a song, just one in the great hymnbook of the Bible, the book of Psalms. He wrote out of profound experience. His psalms encompass his own life, and Psalm 62 expresses David’s heart during the greatest crisis of his life. In it, we can see the depth of his soul laid bare. (Was "The 'Only' Psalm.")
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The Radical Cost of the Cross
- The cross of Christ is the most recognizable symbol in the world, yet no one fully knows its meaning. It is a profound mystery. On it, Christ paid a tremendous price for you. God is satisfied with what Jesus did for you on the cross. Are you? (Was "When God Flexes His Muscles.")
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The Real Songs of Christmas
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After the angel Gabriel brought the message of redeeming love and the remembered joyful concern of God for man—first to Zacharias, then to Mary, and then to Joseph—it was time for man to respond … only it was the women who broke forth in song. Before the story of shepherds and angels, there was this story of two women and two songs. Together they provide a proper perspective of the real Christmas story. (Was "Elisabeth: The First Person to Worship Jesus.")
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Rest Assured: Conquering Your Doubts About Your Salvation
- (1 John 5) Can you know with certainty that you are saved and are forever a child of God? Peace of mind cannot be wrapped in a box, but to every Christian, God gives this valuable gift. Millions long for it, but find it just out of reach. This intangible prize, a real gift of the spiritual realm, is of inestimable value and is purchased only by the blood of Jesus Christ. (Was "How You Can Have the Assurance of Salvation.")
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Right On Time: Expecting Jesus, Then and Now
- Was it a surprise when Jesus, God’s Son, was born in Bethlehem? Not if you read the Old Testament carefully. His first coming was prophesied for centuries. Will it be a surprise when Jesus returns for His church? Not if we read the New Testament carefully. In fact, the faithful are already expecting Him. In this brief doctrinal survey, Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us the secret to expecting Jesus, then and now. It’s as simple as this: Believe Him. (Was "They Should Have Expected Him, and So Should We.")
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Stand Up: Lessons of Courage from the Book of Daniel
- In every generation, courage wears the face of the ordinary person who refuses to back down to evil or injustice but instead chooses to stand up for what is right or righteous. We’d recognize some of their names, but most are known only to silent witnesses and some only to God. But God sees them all. Here’s a true account of a man named Daniel who repeatedly stood up for God, even when it cost him everything. See what God thought of that in this stirring message from Dr. McGee. (Was "Daniel: Choosing to Stand Alone.")
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Tested and True: Lessons on Faith from God's Classroom
- James seems to have little in common with contemporary Christianity as we know it today. James was austere, rugged, serious, and solemn. He was also very practical. He believed Christianity had to be put in shoe leather. If you couldn’t walk it out, then it wasn’t true Christianity. So he took us to God's classroom and described what a faith that works looks like. Practically speaking, he wrote about the skills and techniques we need to faithfully live the Christian life. (From the Sunday Sermon, "The Entrance Exams to God's University.")
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True Worship: What It Takes to Really Praise the Lord
- (Psalm 150) What does it take to really worship God? If you’re honest, you know what it means to stand in church and sing the words with everyone else (maybe even pray or kneel or lift up your hands and face to God) but wonder if what you’re doing is really worship. The truth is, maybe it is—and maybe it isn’t. Find out what God loves to hear from you in this honest study in Psalm 150. One little verse will change the way you sing and praise Him for the rest of your life. (Was "What is Worship?")
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Under the Tree: Eight Gifts Jesus Gives You at the Cross
- We don't know the historical basis of the Christmas tree. But here's something to take to heart at this season: God has His own Christmas tree, and underneath are gifts for His children. Though they’re not wrapped with paper and ribbon, they are of infinite beauty. They come straight from heaven and were purchased with the precious blood of Christ. (Was "The Cross is God's Christmas Tree.")
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What it Takes to be Forgiven
- Aside from killing Goliath, David is probably best known for his sin with Bathsheba. This message presents four things that happen to every believer when they sin, while at the same time asserting that God offers forgiveness to those who love Him. David repented and was forgiven—if God hadn't forgiven him, there would be no hope for our own forgiveness. (From the Sunday Sermon, "David and the Wife of Uriah.")
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What to Do When Life is Hard
- Modern life can seem like an obstacle course of problems, temptations, and hardships. If we’re honest, these obstacles sometimes feel insurmountable. As a follower of Christ, where can you find help and hope? (From the Sunday Sermon, "God's Answer to Problems in Times Like These.")
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Why Do God's Children Suffer?
- Dr. McGee says "the most important thing to do in our suffering is to draw near to God. When we do, He promises to draw near to us.” In this popular message, he gives us seven reasons Scripture says we suffer, and also suggests four benefits of suffering for the believer.
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Why Doesn't God Do Something?
- When crises in the world . . . or in your own spirit . . . turn your face to God, look to His Word for answers and perspective. When the prophet Habakkuk asked God, “Why aren’t You doing something?,” God showed him (and us) how to walk by faith—and find Him on the other side. (Was "Life's Biggest Question and God's Answer.")
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Why Four Gospels?
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Have you ever wondered why God gave us exactly four Gospels? Each was written by a different author and includes different details than the others. Some might wonder if this diminishes the credibility of the Bible. Dr. McGee teaches that this slight differentiation enhances the credibility and intentionality of God’s Word. Discover the four audiences each Gospel is geared toward—one was written for you.
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