Unveiling the Mysteries of the Bible

Purpose

Follow the Great Commission

Matthew 28:19–20 NASB95

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Make disciples - top trait of a disciple is a learner

Growing up I was exposed the the Bible formally 4 times per week: Sunday School, Worship Service, BTU, Bible Study

with plenty of Three O’clock services and VBS and Youth Meetings thrown in

now that has been cut in half (with a shorter Bible Study)

We do live in different times, but learning what we believe is still important (feels funny that I have to say that)

and some times, you have to get down to the nuts and bolts

fits the give you a fish or teach you how to fish analogy . . . this is teach you how to fish teaching

Assumptions

This teaching assumes that You believe the Bible to be God’s Holy Word - God’s revelation about himself, mankind, and history

This is not a “I’m going to prove that the Bible is God’s Word” type teaching

“Why’s” and “How’s”are for another day

Why should you believe it ? - that will be for another day

How did God tell the people what to write?

The goal is to help people who believe that the Bible is God’s Word, learn how to better and more effectively use God’s Word

Common Attitudes towards the Bible

see if any of these fit you

Spooky with guns - “What do I do, what do I do?!!!” Don’t even want to hold a gun

guns were made for regular people (not just officers, crooks, and soldiers)

Spooky with the Bible - For some the Bible seems so mysterious that it is unreadable, unsolvable, don’t even want to read it out loud

problem with that thinking: God did not give us something that we couldn’t use, He wants to be known

Reckless with guns - careless with it, cocky about it, don’t treat guns with respect, so bad accidents might happen, hurt themselves or loved ones

they believe some of the things they see in movies about guns (but it’s not that way

Reckless with the Bible - for some they think it is easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, cocky about their knowledge; they’ve learned a few things, but they feel too comfortable with their Biblical knowledge

problem: They often careless with God’s word, and can get hurt, or hurt someone they care about by using it recklessly; They will be wrong about just as many things as they are right about

they accept some things that are traditional as biblical

Decent Knowledge about guns - have more knowledge than most, go to the range sometimes, but not ready for a war (not like a soldier knows his gun)

Decent Knowledge - know a good deal more than most, but there is still plenty to learn

problem: some problems, modern issues, or dealing with the mindset of the world, will take better knowledge

The Basics

The Word Bible means book

The Word Holy means - unique, special, set apart

This book is made up of 66 books that God inspired men to write

these 66 books are divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament

39 in the Old, and 27 in the New

simplest way is to think of the Old and New, is before Jesus and after Jesus (just like we do time BC, AD)

also, Testament means contract, agreement, covenant (old and new covenant) . . . with God’s people

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NASB95

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

First book Genesis, last book Revelation

Names of each book, give you a key to understanding - topic, time, subject, author (or combo)

Genesis - beginning

Exodus - exit, leaving Egypt

Kings - history of the kings

Chronicles - Houston Chronicle (news, history)

Lamentations - lament, cry (book about a sad event)

Isaiah - was written by Isaiah

The One’s

all of these “one’s” will help you understand the Bible as a whole, and certain scriptures

One Book

You should not think of the Bible as a library of books, or a book store . . . there is one story

think of it as one book with 66 chapters

So you need to read the whole book to truly understand the whole book

people often misunderstand the Bible when they treat the Bible like a book store

pick and choose what you want, and one book doesn’t effect the others

book about chess doesn’t affect the the book about gardening

the 66 books are connected, no book, chapter, or verse stands alone

it is not old testament vs new testament

they work together

you cannot really understand one without the other

Matthew 5:17 NASB95

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Old Testament quotes Old Testament (verses work together)

Jonah 4:2 NASB95

2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

Jonah summarized the 34th chapter of Exodus, verse 6

Exodus 34:6 NASB95

6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;

New Testament quotes Old Testament all the time

Jesus quoted Genesis when asked about marriage

Sermon about Palm Sunday, John quotes Zechariah

The Old Testament was the Bible for people of the New Testament

One Book - context is a word I will use a lot

getting a full understanding of a verse by understanding . . .

the rest of that chapter

the book that chapter is in

The testament that Book is in

how that relates to the other testament

One God

God does not change, always has the same character

Different parts of the Bible reveal and/or emphasize certain aspects of God, But God is the same throughout

not a mean God of the Old Testament, and a nicer God of the New Testament

Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . always there . . . just revealed more in the NT

you can look back and see it better, after you read the NT

Hebrews 13:8 NASB95

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

John 14:9 NASB95

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

and vice versa

One Family

The bible is about the whole human race/family (creation, fall, flood ) til Genesis 12

Then it becomes about Abraham and what happens to his family - almost every major character from then on is related to Abraham

this family we call the Jews, the Hebrews, the Children of Israel

Few exceptions like Ruth - but she married into Abraham’s family (twice)

The Bible shows God’s dealing with this one family and their dealings with Him (it’s not pretty)

Yet, Abraham’s family is called out so that the whole human race can be blessed

Genesis 12:3 NASB95

3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

and what God does through Abraham’s family ends with . . .

Revelation 7:9 NASB95

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

One Problem

Sin . . . .humanity as a sin problem, being evil problem, rebelling against God problem

And the Bible is God’s revelation of it and what He did about it

Romans 3:10–12 NASB95

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

the Scripture in Jeremiah about the covenant ended with, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more”

also, this is another example New Testament quoting Old Testament

no race has dibs on being bad or evil - at certain times you see a race doing more evil, but they’re they ones who have the opportunity to do evil at the time.

Abraham’s family represents how all families act towards God

go look at another time period or area, and you will see the same thing

One Response

Faith!

this new testament scripture then goes on to give examples from the Old Testament

Trusting in God will always have to occurr, no matter where you are in the Bible

One Direction

Culmination

all evil defeated

Revelation 21:1–2 NASB95

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

One Commandment

Matthew 22:37–38 NASB95

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.

loving God which leads to serving God - serve him because you love him

Christians are saved by grace through faith . . . then we respond by loving God (with all our . . . .)

we love him, because he first loved us

One Book, One God, One Family, One Problem , One Response, One Direction, One Commandment

The Bile should be read with this understanding

Jesus - One Book

Old Testament prophecies about Him

New Testament is about His life, what His disciples did and wrote, and Jesus coming back

Jesus - One God

He is God

John 1:1 - in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God

Jesus - One Family

descendant of Abraham, Jewish

For God so loved THE WORLD

He told his disciples to start at home and go to the world

Jesus - One Problem

He came to die for our sins

Jesus - One Response - Faith

We h ave to put our faith in Jesus to be saved

Jesus - One Direction

Revelation 22:12–13 NASB95

12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Example of Reading the Scriptures

Mark 15:34 NASB95

34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

if you read it without understanding

Jesus is in great anguish - true

God has forsaken Jesus, and Jesus is disturbed by that fact . . . not so fast my friend

One Book - quoting Psalms 22

One God - it can look bad, but God does not forsake his people (character)

so if you know that, you will be bothered enough by this statement to investigate and find Psalms 22

One God - calling on the God of the Old Testament

Psalm 22:4–5 NASB95

4 In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. 5 To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.

One Family - Psalms 22 written by ancestor of Jesus (David), and David’s ancestor was Abraham

Psalm 22:27 NASB95

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.

One Problem - quoted on the cross, where Jesus is paying for our sins

One Response - Faith

takes faith to praise on the Cross

One Direction

Psalm 22:30 NLT

30 Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.

One Commandment

Jesus said this while he was demonstrating for us what loving and serving was all about

“not my will but thine be done”

Class Assignment - David

One Book, One God, One Family, One Problem , One Response, One Direction, One Commandment

Announcements

Resurrection Sunday this Sunday

probably can’t do really anything special . . . being there is special

but if anyone has any social distant ideas that you could implement, call or text me, cause this week has been moving fast

Again, I believe God has told me to open the church back up at this time for those who want to meet in person

He has not told me that everybody needs to be there

Member Updates

Sis. Caver in Rehab

Alston back home

Alisha back home

Mentor Moment

you might be a better plan away from solving some issues

cleaning up

financial

job related

disciplining children

sit down, pray, and think - (Book of James says to pray for wisdom)

for me it was multi-tasking that actually works

get steps in and clean up

listen to scripture when I drive

lift weights at beginning of my on-line class