Long Story Short: God's History of the World
Interpreting the Bible: Part II
March 28
I am holding the Words of God in my hand
God’s Grand Story
Creation/ Fall/ Redemption/ Restoration
Reason behind the Story?
To intimately know God and enjoy him forever!
Read the Bible like a normal set of books
Read the Bible like a Christian
Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Leviticus 20:23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
Deut. 9:4 It is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you
Genesis 6:5-6 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
Jeremiah 6:6 This is the city to be punished, for she is wicked through and through
Luke 19:41-44 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying… For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Rev. 16:1, 5, 11 You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments… You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments… But they did not repent of their evil deeds and turn to God.
We allow the Bible to shape our values, we don’t force our values on the Bible
2 Tim. 3:16a All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives
We read for Information We read for Transformation
Logos = What is true
2 Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word… For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths
Rhema = God speaking to my heart
Ephesians 1:17-18 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spiritof wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Matthew 4:3 If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
Matthew 4:4 It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word [rhema] that comes from the mouth of God.’
Pray Read Listen
Pray for illumination
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.
“I prayed for faith and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightening. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, “Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible, and prayed for Faith. I now reopened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.” Spurgeon
Read with anticipation
We err when we read the Scriptures in a hurried or distracted manner.
Listen for God
Psalm 95:6-7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice
Nehemiah 7:5 Then God put it in my heart
Pray, Read, Listen
