Your Bible

We are going to be talking about YOUR BIBLE.

Your Bible is an important book. It is God’s Word.
Your Bible reveals…

• Truth
• God’s identity
• Your identity

It would be good to read your Bible, but few have read it.

 

Your Bible is a complicated book.

• Not a single book, but a book of books. 66 books!
• A story of many stories.

Long Story Short

In this series we want to help you understand your Bible.

We are going to focus on significant stories in the Bible…

• We are going to make them short and simple as possible.
• We are going to help reveal the singular common theme to all these stories.

There is a common thread that runs throughout your Bible. Do you know it?

John 5:39 (NIV) You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

#LONGSTORYSHORT #ALLaboutJESUS

The hundreds of stories in your Bible are about 1 story – the story of Jesus. This simplifies things.

As we make a “long story short” we are always going to come back to Jesus.

As Jesus said, these stories testify of HIM!

 

Creation – Genesis 1-2

There are a lot of arguments over the first chapter of your Bible. Most of these arguments are over faith and science.

Science says the world is billions of years old.
The Bible seems to suggest the world is thousands of years old.

Science says big bang theory and evolution.
The Bible says God created everything.

How does the Bible compare to science?

The Bible is not a science book. It really does not make sense to treat it like a science book.

Would you treat Harry Potter like a science book? Harry Potter is not written as a science book.

Ask this question: What is Genesis 1 & 2 trying to show us?

 

Creation: Who vs How

Science describes how… the Bible describes who.

HOW did distinct animals and vegetation come into being? Did they evolve over time from a single cell?
The Bible does not spend much time on HOW… it focuses on who.

Genesis 1:11-12 (NIV) Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Focus on WHO rather than HOW.

The scripture does not endorse nor negate evolution.

Science books are written by SCIENTISTS.
Genesis is written by a SHEPHERD named Moses.

Imagine:  God- “Moses, evolution, it is a thing.”    Moses – “Thank you Lord. What’s evolution?”

Moses and the rest of the ancient world was not concerned with the Scientific how… but WHO.

All of the creation story centers on the CREATOR.

 

The Creation story is meant to PERSONIFY the CREATOR

What does personify mean?

• To give personal qualities and movements to a subject.
• The wind caused the trees to dance.

I drew a picture of God.

God is…

• Invisible
• Omnipresent
• Spirit
• Holy

How do you have a relationship with an invisible God?

Genesis is helping us get a picture of God.

Genesis 1:2 (NIV) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit(BREATH) of God was hovering over the waters.

God has breath.. God hovers… God draws near

Genesis 1:3 (NIV) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

God said…  God talks!
God saw… God sees!

Genesis 2:7 (NIV) Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

God forms from dust… God has hands.
Our breath is his breath…

Genesis is helping us get a picture of God, so that we can have a relationship with Him.

 

The Creator God provides everything we need

On what day does God create man?

God creates man on the 6th day.

If God had created man on day 1…

• No air… Atmosphere was day 2
• Can’t see… Light day 1
• Drowns in water… Ground day 3

 

The Creator God provides everything we need BEFORE WE NEED IT

You are not an after thought. God not only created you but everything you would need, before you need it.

God also created Adams good works in advance… He created the plants for Adam to tend and the animals for Adam to name.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God has created what you need in advance.  He has created your calling and purpose in advance.

The Creator God provides everything we need BEFORE WE NEED IT

Except for one thing… Can you guess what it is?

Relationship and Rest

God creates Adam without a soul mate.

God creates Adam before resting on the 7th day.

Why would He do that? This is a break from the pattern of providing what we need before we need it.

 

God did this out of order to teach Adam what he needed.
Adam remembers a time before Eve, when he was alone.
Adam remembers how God reached into Him and brought out the relationship he needed.

Adam remembers a time before rest.
Adam remembers how God taught him to rest.
That 7th day was God’s day of rest called Sabbath.

Who provided the relationship for Adam?  God did.
When you need a relationship, go to God.  God will do something on the inside…

Who provided rest for Adam? God did.
When you need rest and peace, go to God. God will provide.
 

God is a Personal Provider

This is the theme of Genesis 1-2.

Everything Adam & Eve needed was provided by a God they had a personal relationship with.

IS THIS YOUR STORY?

If God is a personal provider, why would we seek provision anywhere else?

So with a personal provider God, they all lives happily ever after…

 

Although God provided everything that Adam & Eve would ever need, they looked for provision elsewhere.

Do you know what it is called when we look for provision outside of God’s will?
 

Sin – Looking for provision outside of God

In Genesis 3 a snake slithered up and everything changed.

The snake spoke and convinced Eve to not look to God for provision. Who is this snake?  The devil, our enemy.

Adam & Eve both ate of a fruit that God had not provided for them to eat.

 

At once the way they viewed the world, themselves, and others changed.
They died spiritually and they eventually died physically.

God created them to live and not die…  But sin brings death

 

Looking for provision outside of God will never lead to life.

 

How does God respond to Adam & Eve?

God could have erased all of his creation.
God could have tortured Adam and Eve.
God could have destroyed Adam & Eve instantly.
 

The God who was a personal provider in Genesis 1 & 2 remained a personal provider in Genesis 3.

And this is where Jesus shows up in our message today…

Genesis 3:15 (NIV) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This is the first prophesy of Jesus in your Bible.

The seed/child of the serpent and the seed/child of Eve will be enemies.

But one of the woman’s children will crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent will bruise his heel.

 

Who is Jesus?

When mankind needed a savior, God provided Jesus as savior.
When we needed someone to defeat the enemy, the devil, God provided Jesus the King of Kings.
When we needed someone to cover our sins, God sent Jesus the perfect lamb and sacrifice.

Jesus is our personal provider

Jesus is that same God who created the world.

Jesus is that same God we could not see, but now we see.

Jesus is that same God, born into humanity so that He could personally provide everything we need.

When you picture the God of creation, you should picture Jesus.

Colossians 1:15-16 (NIV) 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Jesus is the God we met in Genesis 1.

In Jesus, God is more personal than ever.

Jesus is our personal provider

Jesus is here…

• Personal
• Provider