Great Commission
1. Characters—every story needs characters.
a. Not all of them can be of equal importance. All characters are important. All contribute in one way or another.
b. The characters that we find in this book are God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, Satan and his minions, and humanity.
2. Plot—every story needs a sequence of events.
a. Beginning
i. A good beginning—every story needs a good beginning.
1. Genesis 1, esp. verse 31 (page 2).
2. Perfection.
b. Rising action
i. Conflict
1. Conflict –every story needs something to stir up the plot, to provide the driving force behind the story. Genesis 3. Interruption of sin.
2. Complication.
ii. Crisis
1. Choices—do I follow God or not; do I follow Him the way that I want to or do I follow Him in the way that He wants me to?
2. Genesis 4: 1-8; we see interaction between the characters; real life—reality shows
iii. Foreshadowing
1. Genesis 3:15—who is the “he”?
2. Galatians 3:16 (p. 1034)—Abraham’s “seed” pointed to someone.
3. Sacrificial system points to someone.
4. Psalm 22 (p. 489) points to someone.
5. Isaiah 53 (p. 660) points to someone.
6. At the end of the OT, the foreshadowing stopped
c. Climax
i. John 1 (p. 942)—Jesus arrives, lives a perfect life, dies a horrible death on a cross which was due to us as a penalty for our sin, and raises from the dead on the third day.
ii. Matthew 28:18-20 (p. 888); Acts 1:8 (p. 967); Jesus ascends into Heaven
d. Resolution
i. Acts. 1:9—Jesus is coming back. Revelation 21:1-5a (p. 1099)—all things will be made new
e. Falling action
i. This is where we find ourselves. Though the writing of the Bible has been completed, the story continues through the church. It started in Acts and continues through today. It will end with the return of Jesus.
ii. As those who know the beginning, the conflict, the rising action, the climax, we see a theme that has been developing since the beginning: redemption.
re•deem \ri-ˈdēm\ vt
1 a : to buy back : repurchase
b : to get or win back
2 : to free from what distresses or harms: as
a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom
b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental
c : to release from blame or debt : clear
d : to free from the consequences of sin
3 : to change for the better : reform
4 : repair, restore
5 a : to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured thereby
b (1) : to remove the obligation of by payment 〈the U.S. Treasury redeems savings bonds on demand〉
(2) : to exchange for something of value 〈redeem trading stamps〉
c : to make good : fulfill
6 a : to atone for : expiate 〈redeem an error〉
b (1) : to offset the bad effect of
(2) : to make worthwhile : retrieve syn see rescue
iii. We find ourselves right in the middle of this story. We are in both the crisis portion and in the falling action portion. This redemption story includes everyone in this room. You are either on the outside of redemption looking in, or you are in on this redemption. If you are on the outside looking in, you have a crisis, a choice—you can either be redeemed by believing in Jesus or you can risk it all and live life without Jesus. You can take the risk that what I am talking about here is just pure bunk. That’s quite a risk. If you are familiar with Texas Hold ‘em Poker, you know that you can “go all in.” Your choice is all or none. It’s “all in.”
iv. If you are already in on redemption, then you are a part of the falling action. God had a marvelous plan to redeem the world. [Discuss plan; Matt. 28:18-20 (p. 888)]
1. So, is the redemption story of the Bible going through you to others, or is it going to you and stopping right there?
a. Matt. 5:14-15 (p. 860)
b. John 1:40 (p. 943)
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