Living in the Real World
The Greatest Story • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We live in a time where we are told that we can make our own reality, “If you can dream it, you can be it” we are told.
It is a time where many believe that truth is relative, where we can create our own truth, nothing is off limits.
We are experiencing a “reality crisis”.
It is a time of AI and virtual reality, where an undiscovered world is literally at our fingertips.
This virtual world is one where there is no real consequences, no imminent danger, and where the possibilities of entertainment are endless.
Granted, these are exciting times, but.... if we’re honest, there is a great emptiness in all of these things.
Don’t you feel it?
What is lacking in all of these pursuits to create our own reality?
Realness
It’s not the world that we were created for and we know it.
Mission trip to the Gambia
The Bible tells us about a different story, the story of reality.
Life the way that God created it to be.
The Bible tells us the way things really are, not how we want them to be.
Science may be able to answer the question of how, but only God can answer the question of why.
And this is the question at the heart of humanity, not just how, but why?
Thankfully God has given us His Word, which addresses this very question. Why?
I want to challenge us through this series to dive into the story of reality, rather than putting our heads in the sand and trying to create our own reality.
Like plunging into the water at the midnight hole.
Let’s embrace the world as God created it to be, rather than twisting it to make it what we want it to be.
God alone determines what is real and what is false.
Any attempt to create for ourselves a reality that is in opposition to the Bible is destined to fail.
This series is basically going to be a biblical overview. To show us the main themes that run from beginning to end. To teach us that the Bible is not just a random collection of ancient writings but an unfolding story of redemption.
It is The Greatest Story.
I want to show us that in this Book we find real answers to real problems.
If you want to live life in a fairytale, this Book will do you no good, for this is no fairytale, it is the story of reality.
But if you want to live your life in the real world, and do real things that really matter.
If you want to take real risks, and face real dangers, and find real fulfillment and purpose in your life, than this Book is for you.
Let us briefly answer the question:
What is the Bible?
To say that the Bible is unique would be a gross understatement.
As of 2023, some portion of Scripture has been translated into 3,658 languages, giving access to 7.23 billion people, 97% of the world’s population to some portion of the Bible.
This far surpasses any other book in history.
But the Bible will only do us good, if we read it, and believe it.
Many throughout history have sought to destroy it, and yet God’s Word has prevailed against all odds.
Even today, the Bible is under attack.
31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Let’s talk about the character of this great Book that sets it apart from every other book that has ever been written.
The Bible is made up of 66 books, written in 3 languages, over a period of about 1,500 years, by 40 different authors.
The human authors of Holy Scripture varied greatly one from another.
Among them were kings, herdsman, soldiers, fishermen, priests, prophets, a tax collector, a tentmaker and a physician.
The works themselves make up many different types of literature, history, law, poetry, parables, allegory, biography, personal memoirs, as well as prophetic and apocalyptic writings.
With all of these varied differences in time of writing, authors, and styles yet the entire Bible is tied together with several common themes that join to unfold one grand story of redemption. Only God!!
As if all this wasn’t enough, the message itself is just as unique, when compared to other religious texts.
Among these unique themes:
The Trinity
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The Incarnation
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Many religions talk of men becoming gods but only Christianity speaks of God becoming man in the way that we see in the Bible.
Salvation by Faith
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
It was this message that took 12 unlikely disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, equipped with nothing else but the Word of God, and turned the ancient world upside down.
6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
Within 300 years the known world was radically transformed by the message of the Bible, and for more than a thousand years it dominated every aspect of western civilization.
What could God do with a group this size that devoted themselves fully to the Word of God?
When we open up this Book what we find in it is something real, something this world can’t offer us.
God’s Word shows us who we are, who God is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do in the future.
God’s Word answers the question, Why?
It shows us the life that we were made for, but we have to choose to believe it!
We have to choose to take our heads out of the sand, stop trying to create our own reality!
The greatest battle that we face is the battle of unbelief.
If we don’t believe what God’s Word says it will never do us any good.