The Bible

The Bible

Lord willing we are going to be studying the whole Bible this year. The Bible in its entirety. I can think of no better way to inaugurate my official pastorate than biting off way more than I can chew. It’s an ambitious goal and pretty unrealistic if we study the text as we are generally used to word by word and verse by verse. That isn’t going to get us there. That is like studying the shapes of snowflakes when we are standing in the midst of the Himalayas. No we need to look the overall picture so we are going to cover at a shallow level - lets call it the 250,000 foot level. We will see the mighty peaks of major biblical events and discover their importance in relation to our life and faith. In this way I hope to expose us to some of the darker, dustier portions of our text - like Joel or Obadiah. If I am not mistaken most of us would have a bit of difficulty finding Habakkuk in our Bibles and struggle even more to tell anyone why these books are included in the Canon.

My goal today is to lay out this 250,000 foot map so we can see the point of it. We need to determine for ourselves that this map is trustworthy. That it is accurate. We want to know if it is correct in showing where we are and where we are going.

If you don’t know where you are or where you are going any old road will take you there. This journey in 2021 is taking us through biblical history beyond today and into the prophesied future. In the text we discover God’s plan of redemption. In the text we will see foreshadowing’s of Christ.

I personally believe the Bible because of who has attempted to discredit it. Way back in 2004, I was a dust covered corporal in the United States Marine Corp’s 1st Marine Division. Our slogan was “No better friend, No worse enemy.” We tried to live it out by being very generous to informants and those that helped the coalition and ruthlessly killing Al-Quieda. But those opportunities to hunt and kill were rare and few and far between. Most of the time we just watched and waited and cleaned our weapons. Killing time in Iraq and waiting to come home. I read voraciously. I read the Bible from a sense of duty and because its familiarity was a source of comfort. I was the only believer and coming from an upbringing where I spent 6 out of every 7 days at the church building I needed those comforting words. I also read everything else I could get my hands on. I once picked up a book that was incredibly dangerous. This book made audacious claims one of which shook me to my core, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” I thought could it be true? For several years I pondered on that until ultimately I discovered that was not true at all. Jesus did claim to be God… multiple times, John 10:30 for example. I was rudely awakened by this fact. I had been lied to! Well the tables turned so they say. I realized I was in a spiritual warzone and the enemies propaganda had jeopardized my effectiveness. I was angry. Really angry. “No better friend, no worse enemy.” The liar had made an enemy for life. I am here now as a result of that miscalculation.

Why believe the Bible

The Bible says it is true

The Bible claims to speak for God

The Bible is inerrant, infallible, inspired truth

Why do I believe the Bible

I believe the Bible because I have witnessed its truth in my life.

Why study the Bible?

The Bible tells us about our sin and our need of a Savior

The Bible tells us about our Savior

The Bible describes how to live as God desires 2 Peter 1:3

What is the Bible

What does “Bible” mean?

The word Bible comes from Biblia or “the books”

What does the Bible say?

What is the point?

Jesus is the focus and the point of the Bible

In the Old Testament Jesus is foretold

In the Gospels Jesus is revealed

In Acts Jesus is preached

In the Epistles Jesus is explained

In Revelation Jesus is expected

Who wrote the Bible?

Authors

Emphasis on the Holy Spirit

What criteria was used in creating the Biblical Canon

Canon=rule or law

The 66 books of the canon were ratified with the following criteria

Written by a recognized prophet or apostle

Written by those associated with a recognized prophet or apostle

Truthfulness

Faithfulness in previously accepted canonical writings

Confirmed by Christ, prophet, apostle (e.g. Luke 24:44, 2 Peter 3:16)

Church usage

Council of Carthage AD 397 ratified the full 66 books of the Canon

When was it written?

A brief history

How the Bible came into being

Various Facts regarding the Bible

Biblia means “Books”

There are 66 books in the Bible - the Catholic Bible has 80

Of the 66 books

39 are in the Old Testament

Old Covenant

27 are in the New Testament

New Covenant - Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Hebrews 8:6

Methodologies for translations of the Bible

Dynamic (NIV/Amplified)=”Thought for thought”

Formal equivalence (NASB/KJV/ESV)=”Word for word”

Ultimately, it matters what Bible you actually read.

Goal for 2021

Cover the breadth of the Bible in 2021

Exceptions noted for very recently studied, or currently studied books of the Bible

Bring out major themes of the BIble

Jesus Christ

Savior

Lord

Covenants

Redemption