While many of us know some Bible stories, most of us don’t know The Bible Story. Big difference. The backstory of how we got the Bible gives us a way to approach it that begins with something other than “In the beginning …”. This way to approach the Bible makes it far more difficult to discount the stories we read in it.
Join us for a 4-part series to learn the backstory that helps us understand the Bible’s message to all of us.
(1) LAST THINGS FIRST: Sunday, January 5th
Most of us know some Bible stories, but very few of us know the story of the Bible. And you may be surprised to discover it’s a story that doesn’t actually begin “in the beginning …”. It begins with the accounts of a few men who sat down to record the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It begins with the words of his first century followers who were compelled to document the events that they had seen.
These events they had witnessed had changed everything for them and they knew they could change everything for us.
Last Things First Message Notes
(2) IN THE BEGINNING: Sunday, January 12th
“In the beginning …” can be a loaded phrase – a phrase that forces us into debate and doubt. But maybe we’re missing the point of Moses in Genesis 1:1 – a point he was making to the world where violence and injustice of the gods justified and legitimized the violence and injustice of human rulers. Perhaps Moses was introducing a radically different, unparalleled, and untested worldview. A worldview where we are not the result of a cosmic conflict between the gods. Where we were not created by the universe. A worldview where we are here on purpose for a purpose. Where God wanted his own image-bearers who could know him and one another.
In The Beginning Message Notes
(3) the Old Testament, sunday, january 19th
The Old Testament chronicles God’s redemptive, sequential activity in history. It’s a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Jewish people in which, over and over, Israel is reminded that they are a divine means to an end. So instead of seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook or a storyline that needs to be tidied up, maybe we should see it as something better – the history of God preparing the world for a Savior.
The storyline of the Old Testament should cause us to drop to our knees. It’s the story of our God, who waded into the mess we had made in order to write a story of redemption.
The Old Testament Message Notes
(4) for the world: sunday, january 26th
The Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity is the result of an event (the resurrection) that created a movement (the church) that produced sacred and reliable texts that were collected and bound into one book (The Bible). But how do we approach not being at peace with everything that we read in the Bible? Paul – the Apostle, Pharisee, author, preacher and church planter – offers us clarity and confidence to move forward.
Paul offers us an explanation of the story of the Bible. A story that is both extraordinary and personal and that has implications for all of us because of what Jesus did for all of us. Paul offers an explanation with good news!
