Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Bill Church. My name's Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here. Good morning. Um, I wanna have a special call out to those of you who are already setting up Christmas decorations. Stop it in Jesus name. Amen. That is the, the rule is at the day after Thanksgiving, you're allowed to set up Christmas decorations, <laugh>, unless you never took down last year's, and they're still up, we honor you. All the men in the room say, Well done. Good and faithful servant. All right, uh, we're on week number four of our series on the Bible. And, uh, we are helping you understand the Bible. Its story where the Old Testament came from, where the New Testament came from. And there's been a very different series than what we usually do at Village Church. And so we want to make sure that you have the utmost confidence in God, His word we want equip you to engage it.
Speaker 1 00:00:59 If there's one thing we know about Christians in America, particularly in the 21st century, um, we have been profoundly negligent of God's word in our personal lives. And so what we wanna do is just encourage you and equip you to make God's word, a part of not just your general life, but your daily time and relationship with God. So, uh, I get to meet a lot of new people and sometimes I will ask somebody this question, So tell me your story. Now, when somebody asks me this question, I freeze because they think to myself, Where do I start? What do I say? How do I organize my story in a coherent way that will make sense? And so usually what we do is we organize our story with the defining milestone moments of our life. Uh, these are the kind of moments that when they happen, they redefine every single moment after that.
Speaker 1 00:01:54 So, for example, when I went to high school, my life was never the same when I moved out of the house, when I graduated, when I got married, when I came to Village Church in high school, when I broke up with that girl or when I had kids. All of these are these milestone moments that as I look back, they literally change every moment after that. Milestone moments can be generally categor categorized in four ways. And so here's the first way, Uh, number one is deep pain. These are unexpected moments of tragedy or loss or hurt. From this moment on your life is never going to be the same. Number two is unforgettable joys. This would be your wedding, a once in a lifetime vacation. The birth of a child. Number three is profound revelation. You learn something new about yourself or your family or your past or somebody else.
Speaker 1 00:02:47 That literally changes how you see and live in the world. Number four is significant transitions, marriage, moving, divorce, changing churches, pastors leaving, friends, moving these milestone moments. They redefine every day from that moment on. And what these milestones do is they usher us into brand new chapters of our life. Now, what, what if you could ask God and say, Hey, God, tell me your story. The Bible is God telling you his story. Now he's eternal past, but it's at least the beginning of God telling his story from the moment that time and matter were created. This is going to be a shock for some of you. The Bible is not primarily your story, and it's not primarily the story of humanity, although it involves humanity. The Bible is primarily the story of God and characters come in and out, but who is the constant from beginning to end?
Speaker 1 00:03:54 And it's God. And so to understand God's story, we need to understand the milestones in the story. Uh, but it doesn't stop there. So to really understand a person, you also need to understand their heart and what these milestones did to them personally, what it revealed about their heart, how it changed them from that moment on. And so there, there are kind of two parts of the Bible's story, if you're gonna understand this. Part number one is the milestones, the defining moments. We're gonna talk about that this morning. But the other second part is the heart of the main character, is you look at each of these milestone moments, What does it reveal about the heart of God? Because it's one thing to know the facts of someone's story. It's a totally different thing for somebody to understand the heart of the storyteller. And so we, what we wanna do is we need to understand these important moments, but I want you to dig deeper, and I want you to get into the very heart of God because that matters.
Speaker 1 00:04:49 So let me introduce you to a term that I think could help us bring this together. Uh, the term is called meta narrative comes from two words, meta, which means all encompassing. So Facebook just rebranded themselves as meta, right? Uh, sort of a term of hubris. They want to be the all in all for all. But meta means all encompassing narrative is a story. So what is a narrative? A meta narrative? It is an all encompassing story. It is the truest story. It is the high story. It is the one story that when all of history is done will end up being the grand story from beginning to end. It it, it is the narrative by which all other little stories are actually a part of. Let me, let me illustrate this for you. A Muslim jihadist has a very clear meta-narrative, a very clear, all encompassing story that they believe their entire life and all of history and eternity fit into.
Speaker 1 00:05:47 So he believes in his story that aah not himself. Aah is the center. He is the most important character. And when he blows himself up to the core of his being, he believes this is what's waiting for him. They shall recline on jeweled couches face to face, and their show wait for them immortal youths, all women with bowls of purest wine. And of course he'll be served by these women for all of eternity to the core of his being. This is the grand story, the ultimate truth. And because he believes this, he is willing to do unspeakable things. And so when you see somebody make a huge decision, and you look at them and go, What are they thinking? That is backwards. It is likely a symptom that you both have opposing meta narratives that they believe that that decision that they made is gonna work out for them.
Speaker 1 00:06:44 The way they see the world is a part of a larger story. So a couple facts about meta narrative. Number one is not everyone has a conscious meta narrative. Not everybody is aware that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Just ask your friends, your family, your neighbors, the following question. But I want to warn you, if you ask 'em this question for most people in your life, it will begin the process of undoing them if they allow themselves to think about it. What is the purpose of life? Do you know that the vast majority of people cannot answer that question simply and clearly most people experience life like they're picking up this really, really large novel that will take them years to read, and they're parachuting in the middle of it and they have no idea why they're here or what's going on. And I have really good news for you. When you showed up on Planet Earth, you showed up in the middle of a story that's been going on for millennia. You, you are one of billions of subplots, smaller stories. And there is something, I know this is crazy. You can blow your mind bigger than you going on. I know. Can you guys believe it? All the narcissists in the room are like he see, but he has no what he's talking about <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:08:06 Here's the second fact about meta narrative. In the end, only one meta-narrative can be true. We, we could have a hundred different meta narratives that we personally believe in, right? One big grand story of reality, it doesn't actually matter because history is told by the winners. And really good news for all of you who believe in Jesus, he is the winner of the of history. And so it's his story that started with creation, and it's gonna be his story that ends, and he's gonna be the one to tell the story of, of history because at the end of the day, he wins. And there are so many competing meta narratives. Here's, here's one. The atheist meta narrative says this, There's no purpose in life. And there are people walking around you, they're at work with you, some of them are in your home, and they literally do not believe there are anything more about a cosmic accident.
Speaker 1 00:08:49 The hedon is a meta narrative. The only only purpose in life is to be happy most. I think most dangerous of all is the religion meta narrative. The purpose of life is to be good so you can get to heaven. That is not the Christian meta-narrative. By the way. Here's the problem with every single meta-narrative that isn't Jesus' meta narrative or the Bibles. Number one, they are the result of Satanic deception. Number two, they're designed to destroy you. And number three, they will send you to hell forever. It is imperative that you don't just figure out what is the story of this world? What is going on and why am I here? But it is imperative for every soul on the planet that we align our subplot story to God's story. And, and, and so really one of the goals is to help you understand, Hey guys, what is going on in human history?
Speaker 1 00:09:46 What story is the Bible trying to tell us? And the story of God, it's not just your story, it is the only story. It, it might feel like there's some competing meta narratives. They will come and go and they will pass away the story of you and your life and every other person is actually the story of God. So in order to help you understand the Bible's big story, it's structure, et cetera, um, we need to start actually looking at its structure. Now, I want to tell you this. Um, if you have been around the Bible or Village church for a long time, uh, it is easy to assume most people are like you or at least have some sort of basis of information that you have. That is not the case. The more people I talk to, the more I'm learning that many people are attending Village church are brand new to the Bible.
Speaker 1 00:10:34 So we're gonna do, there's gonna be some parts of this that are very remedial and you might think to yourself, Yeah, yeah, yeah, got it. Know it. Then there are gonna be parts that are gonna go a bit deeper. And, and, and I hope these things encourage you and they challenge your soul bigger than that. Here's my question. For all of you who have mastered the Bible, if someone sits down with you and says, What's the story of the Bible? Can you simply and clearly articulate the story of God and human history is revealed in the Bible? And if you are making a disciple, are you equipped to walk them through? It might take an hour or two in some Bible teaching, but are you equipped to help a new believer understand what's happening in the Bible when, when you parachute into the book of judges, like, what's going on there?
Speaker 1 00:11:15 When you parachute into the gospels, what's happening? Who is Israel? Who is the church? What is our hope? Are you equipped and able to sit down with somebody and to disciple them and walk them through this? All right, the Bible's big structure. Let's first look at the Bible's book ends, uh, Genesis chapter one verse one. Very first, first of the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth. Now go all the way to the end of the Bible, the very, very last chapter, some of the last verses. Here's what Revelation 22, verse five says, For the Lord, God will be their light and they will reign. What are the words forever endeavor. Verse 20, right at the end says this, He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. The Bible tells the story of human history from the very beginning, all the way to forever and ever.
Speaker 1 00:12:15 And the Bible actually ends with the next milestone that every one of us should be waiting for, which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. What's what's next in the timeline of history? Jesus is going to come back. Now, let's get a little bit deeper into this. The Bible has two big sections. Section one is called the Old Testament. This is the story. God's story before Jesus' birth makes up roughly 75% of the entire scriptures. So it goes from in the beginning to about 450 or 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. So this is everything happening before Jesus. So if you open up your Bibles, this could be valuable for you. And you look up the list of books in the Bible if you're kind of newer to it, every single thing from Genesis all the way to the book of Malachi, all of these books all happened before Jesus Christ was born.
Speaker 1 00:13:05 Section two is the New Testament. This is everything in the New Testament, 27 books, Matthew, to revelation. Everything in the New Testament takes place in the first century ad everything. It monitors the around the, the birth and conception of Jesus, all the way to the Book of Revelation, about 80, 90, 95, all written in the first century articulating events that are happening in the first century. That's the New Testament, Two big sections. Now what you can do is you can take the whole Bible. We're gonna break this up for practical purpose and into into six chapters. And here's a flyover of the six chapters. Uh, chapter number one, if you will, of the story of the Bible is creation. This happens in Genesis Chapters one and two. Uh, chapter number two of the story of the Bible is gonna be what we call the fall. This is Genesis chapters three through 11.
Speaker 1 00:13:52 Uh, chapter number three is gonna be what we call just Israel. This is Genesis chapter 12, all the way through Malachi chapter four is what we're gonna call redemption. This is really the story of the four gospels. Chapter five is gonna be the church. This is the chapter we find ourselves in. This is gonna be the book of Acts all the way to Revelation. And finally, the last chapter is recreation. This is Revelation chapters 19 through 22. Now, don't get me wrong, all the chapters talk about each other, but when you open up your Bible, these are the dominant themes of each of the six major sections of scriptures. So what I wanna do is I want to briefly explore these with you, and I want you to remember this. We're gonna look at some of the key milestones. We're gonna look at the heart of God in each of these.
Speaker 1 00:14:36 But what I want you to remember is that when you parachute into a book of the Bible, understanding its flow in God's story is really, really important. For example, if you start reading Old Testament law written to National Israel and you start applying it to yourselves, you're gonna be in big trouble because you're gonna make a lot of errors. And, and when somebody says to you, Well, you don't eat meat. So the Bible contradicts itself. You're not consistent with the word of God. You have no category to answer, some of the most, by the way, ridiculous arguments against the trustworthy of scripture if you don't understand some of these basic separations. So chapter number one, creation, Genesis one to two. And here's the milestone event that launches chapter one. It's Jesus creating the world. And each of these chapters, you're gonna see that they answer the most significant questions of life.
Speaker 1 00:15:32 Here are the questions, Chapter one answers, Where did I come from? Who am I? Why was I made, where did I come from? The Bible starts with the words in the beginning, but I wanna be clear before in the beginning, did God exist? Absolutely. In, in the beginning is the the beginning of space, time and matter. And what's striking is that the very first chapter of the Bible reveals so much about God. God is beyond space. He's transcendent. God is beyond time. He is timeless. God is beyond matter. He is immaterial. He is beyond the scope of all potential energy. He's pretty powerful. He is conscious, uh, living things by the way, or only ever be gap by living things. He is orderly. He brought order out of incredible chaos. He is unco the one grand unca cause of them all. He's intelligent. He designed life outta chaos.
Speaker 1 00:16:29 He's communicative. We're reading his word. He's personal. He has a name. So here, here's my question. What do we call the spaceless? Timeless, immaterial, powerful, conscious, eternal, orderly, intelligent, communicative and personal. Unco being who created our world, God. And so right off the bat, God is revealing himself. Okay? So that's God. Uh, are any of you described like that? Uh, beyond space, time matter, <laugh>, you're conscious like him, that's for sure. Semi-intelligent, but not nearly as smart as he is. Okay, so who am I? And Genesis one tells us with clarity, God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. So God created man in his own image and the image of God. He created him, male and female, he created them. Could you imagine if every single student in America understood this? Who am I? What is what? What is sacred about me?
Speaker 1 00:17:33 In God's eyes, I am either male or female by design. Th this reality is infused into my dna in physiology, it is sacred. I I am unique of an all of creation. I'm different than animals in plants. I'm unique in all of creation. I'm created to be in relationship with God. Right at the beginning, we learn the most fundamental questions of our own reality and God's reality, just by Genesis one and two, why was I made? Verse 28 tells us, says this, and God bless them, I was made to be a blessed child of God. Here's why this is important. This is an Old Testament speak, the fatherly blessing that he puts over his children. God is positioning himself as a dad, blessing the kids and Adam and Eve as his children, whom he wants to give the gift of creation to delight and enjoy.
Speaker 1 00:18:37 28 goes on. And it also tells us that we were made to lovingly rule over all of creation, plants, animals, and land in coordination with God. God bless them. He said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over all of it. Could you, could you imagine if people from a young age knew from the time they could think God made you different? He made you to be in relationship with him. He want to bless you. He designed your body wonderfully. All of it is the image of God. God wants to be in relationship with you. Can we just explore one implication of this? And by the way, in the whole flow of this sermon, I'll probably take the most amount of time on chapter one and we'll go a little bit quicker through the rest. One implication of this, there is a value hierarchy in the world.
Speaker 1 00:19:31 So let me prove this to you. Who's more important? And there's only one, one right answer to this, by the way. So who's more important? You or God? Okay, good. So value hierarchy, God, you all right? Who's or what is more important? You or animals? People or animals? What is more inherent value? Of course. Now, does God love animals? For sure. But automatically we know only by reading scripture that humanity has a different value infused into them because only we are made in the image of God. Okay? What's more valuable? An animal or a plant, something with a soul in life or something without soul in life in the same way most people are gonna say, definitely, definitely animal. So you see that there's this value hierarchy automatically in the first two chapters. God isn't just laying out how the world was made, but he's telling you all about himself, all about you, and how you relate to your own physical body, how you relate in the family unit, and how you relate in the world.
Speaker 1 00:20:36 This is genius. God has not left us wondering what he was up to, what he values, and the intention for which he made everything. So what do I learn about God's heart in chapter one? God loves humanity more than anything else. In all of creation, in all the created world, everything was good. But when Adam and Eve made, they were very, very good. If you leave remembering one thing from chapter one, God loves you. He loves people. All right, Chapter two, the fall, Genesis three to 11, the milestone event that launches this new chapter is Adam and Eve Sinning Chapter two answers these questions. Why is everyone so broken? Why is God so distant? And if we're being honest, what is wrong with me? So when you, when you read Genesis three to 11, you're, you're reading about how all of creation was corrupted by the virus of sin.
Speaker 1 00:21:42 And though it is just nine chapters, it takes up 2000 years of human history. And the scope of humanities, utter brokenness by sin is illustrated perfectly in this season of human history. Why is everyone so broken? Genesis two actually tells us why we're so broken. God tells Adam and Eve before they ever sin, Uh uh, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Genesis chapter three, verse six shows us the very moment when it happened in this moment, sin was infused into all of creation. It it begs the next question, which is why is God so distant? And we're gonna find in Genesis 3 24 is this. He drove the man out at the east of the garden.
Speaker 1 00:22:35 He placed the Cher Bim angels and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from each other in sin. They were actually permanently cast out of the presence of God. This was a terrible moment. And then the virus of sin didn't just infect them relationally, but their bodies, they began to die. They were spiritually dead. They were going to inevitably physically die. And then the virus of sin infected every single atom and all of creation from right in front of their toes all the way to the nearest farthest galaxies and stars as far away as the, I could see everything began the process of death in that moment. What is wrong with me? By Genesis four, there's murder. By Genesis six, we see that the virus has taken its toll, and I want you to just grasp the weight of these words.
Speaker 1 00:23:27 Genesis chapter six, verse five, The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that I just quantify this, this would be you without divine intervention, every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Continually let that just sit only evil continually. That is a massive statement about how dark, evil, and rebellious every human being on earth had become. Does God even care? Well, we get to see his heart very clearly. In the very next verse, verse six, The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. I mean, shortly after these verses, there is cosmic justice by God through a flood. But do not for a moment perceive God as cold hearted. The moment you forget God's heart from chapter one, God loves humanity, but God is also just and fair.
Speaker 1 00:24:43 And you've heard me say this a thousand times, Village Church, if you knew what God knew, you would do what God does every time. And what we have a tendency to think is that maybe the people before the flood were sort of like my non-Christian neighbors. Oh no. Oh no. There's a level of vial and evil. And if you start reading Genesis three to 11, you're going to get real time illustrations of the utter rebellion and disgusting nature that sin had created. What do I learn about God's heart in chapter two? No one can break God's heart more than his children. Chapter three is Israel. This is Genesis chapter 12, all the way through Malachi. And here's the milestone event that launched this enormous chapter. It's the vast majority of the Old Testament. It's God creating a new chosen nation through the Pagan Abram pop quiz.
Speaker 1 00:25:33 Who did Abram become Abraham? Here are the questions that chapter three answers. Can God still love me? Will he forgive me or abandon me? Now, can God still love me? Chapter three, the majority of the Old Testament 920 chapters in the Old Testament, chapter three makes up 99% of them. When you, when you're reading about Genesis 12, three, Malachi, you're reading about a nation, Israel, you're, you're reading about a nation created by God that got plucked out in shows. But here, here's the crazy part of the nation of Israel. Abram was a terrible, terrible human being. The the New Testament cast him as as as fit full of faith. And don't get me wrong, he had moments that were full of faith. And I'm so God glad that God remembers my highlights and not my lowlights when he tells my story, right? Amen. Or when he looks at me, he's not like, Remember that time you're so dumb like God.
Speaker 1 00:26:28 God sees like, I'm so thankful they're covered by the blood of Christ. Abram was a moron. Abram was a pagan. There was no reason on earth that God should have said, eh, Abram, he's more faithful than the rest. And his story is him making one ridiculous mistake after another is he tries to figure out what it means to be in relationship with Yawe. Can God still love me? Great news. If God can pluck out the pagan Abram, give him a new name and new identity, God could absolutely love you. But here's the question for many of us, but if I'm bad enough, will he abandon me? Chapter three, 909, chapters of heartache, pain, adultery, murder, backstabbing, And I'm just talking the people of God to God.
Speaker 1 00:27:20 God is faithful to his people despite the faithlessness of his people. Could you imagine coming into a relationship with God brand new and believing and knowing in your soul, no matter how faithless you are, God will never give up on you. He is faithful. He will stick by you like every one of us in this room, if we're being honest, there are these moments where we said, I have royally messed up. How could you still put up with me? And we are told from Genesis chapter 12, all the way to Malachi, we are shown narrative after narrative, story after story of rebellion, adultery, heartache, idolatry, murder, you name it. And God still is faithful to his people. Just yes, but faithful. So Genesis three to Malachi, uh, they're recorded for three big reasons. Number one, to reveal God progressively to and through the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1 00:28:14 And so I'm so thankful we have all these books of the Bible because we know so much about God because of the stories and the way he interacted with humanity. The written number two, to illustrate humanity's severe brokenness, Amen. And our need for a savior. The the reason Jesus makes sense is because of all the stories of the Old Testament and humanity's brokenness. By the time you get to Jesus, you are desperate for him. You, you cannot read Genesis 12 all the way to Malachi and not come to this conclusion. Holy smokes, people are terrible. God is good, and humanity is bad. How much is a world who says people are basically good, need the message of the Bible so they can see the world as it really is? Number three, to prepare the world for a savior king through the nation of Israel. Pop quiz, his name is Jesus, brings us to chapter four redemption.
Speaker 1 00:29:02 This is the four gospels, the milestone event that launched. This was the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And chapter four answers these questions. How specifically will God forgive my sin? Who can be forgiven? So how will he forgive my sin? When you're reading the four gospels, you are reading these soul antidote for sin, period. The most genius being in all of the known world and unknown is God. And I am sure he filtered through all options in ways that he could actually forgive sin of anybody who wants to be forgiven. And this is the sole way, the best way that the sin of humanity, the sin of any person who wants forgiveness, that they can be forgiven. Uh, there are so many people who say, Well, why could God just look past it? Can he just forgive everybody? If he could, he would.
Speaker 1 00:29:59 But that would make him then unjust that that would make him actually evil just like the other people, that God actually does have to deal rightly with sin. I I, if you have a child who does terrible and atrocious things and you just go forgiven, no big deal, it's like it never happened. Every other parent would cry, unjust, inappropriate. You're a terrible mom and dad. God is good, and everything he does is good and right, and every way he parents is good and right. So who can be forgiven? Christianity's, funda fundamentally different than every other religion on the planet because every religious meta-narrative basically comes down to this, Be good, go to heaven. Don't make God mad so you can go to heaven. That's what it comes down to. Christianity is fundamentally different. And it says, You'll never be good enough. God loves you. God made a way of salvation for you.
Speaker 1 00:30:56 Jesus was good enough for you on the cross. Jesus actually took your righteous punishment, which you should have gotten for you and your place. And anybody who trust in him, anybody who believes in him can be forgiven without question. Doesn't matter how evil you were, how big you were, the blood of Christ, more potent able to save anybody who trusts in Jesus Christ. Are you able to be saved? Absolutely. Is anybody able to be saved? Absolutely, but only in one way. And that is through trusting in Jesus Christ. And the four gospels point us to Jesus and say this, this is the way Jesus was perfect. His life showed it. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was raised from the dead. And this is the only pathway for salvation. What do I learn about God's heart? And chapter four, There's no length. God would not go to save his children.
Speaker 1 00:31:48 God loves you. There's no length to which God would not go to save his children. And he gave his only Son. Chapter five, The church acts through Revelation, the milestone event that launched. This is in Acts chapter two. It's the Holy Spirit leaves the temple and fills Jesus' followers on what's called Pentecost. It's a Jewish holiday. If you're new to the Bible, open up Acts one and two, and you're gonna read the story. Previously, the presence of God was, was bound up in a building. And now for the church, it would be bound up in the new building, which is not made with bricks and mortar, but it's the people in chapter five answers these questions. What is God doing now? And how can I be a part of it? So what's God doing now? And the Old Testament, God created the kingdom of Israel and they were landlocked.
Speaker 1 00:32:41 Their job was to be an incubator for the Messiah, the Savior Jesus. They fulfilled their purpose. The presence of God leaves the temple and it fills anybody who trusts in Jesus Christ. And so when you, when you read the New Testament, you're reading the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Israel, that one day the kingdom of God, it's gonna leave a nation and it's gonna overtake the world. And so what's happening, person by person, soul by soul is people are turning from sin When they hear the gospel, they are believing in Jesus to the tune of billions throughout history. And this is what God is doing in the church. We have the privilege to share the gospel story. And when people hear it, it is the power of God for salvation. And when they hear it, they believe this is what God is up to.
Speaker 1 00:33:34 So how do I get to be a part of it? Um, very simple. It starts with believing, trusting in Jesus. It starts by you going to God and saying, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe that he was raised from the dead. I believe he's coming back. I'm done trying to earn my way to heaven. That is a wrong meta narrative about the world and life. I I am here and I I am believing in your word. Anybody who trusts in Jesus Christ will be forgiven. And say, this starts with that. Then you get baptized. Second service, we have, uh, two people being baptized, so excited to celebrate what God has done in their life. Baptism is an external declaration. I don't just believe in my head. I, my my life believes in Jesus. I am giving my life over to Jesus Christ into the building of his kingdom.
Speaker 1 00:34:19 And, and then what we do is we learn and we obey His word. Whatever his word says is good and right and true. And then we go do it. And when we don't, we throw ourselves in the blood of Christ and say, Thank you for forgiving me. And then we share the gospel. We don't just do it through our actions. We actually learn to do this with our words because the words, the actual message of the gospel is the only means by which someone can be saved. Someone cannot be saved until they hear the good news of Jesus Christ. God loves you. He died for your sins. He was raised from the dead. Anybody who trusts in Jesus can have eternal life. This is our powerful message. Every one of us are Christians. If we have trusted in Jesus because someone somewhere told us the good news and we it in Christ, no one is saved.
Speaker 1 00:35:02 And so they hear and understand the good news of Jesus Christ. What do I learn about God's heart in chapter five, God wants to be with me in relationship with me and wants to partner with each one of us to bring more lost children. Home. Chapter six, recreation Sue shorted period of amount, amount of chapters very long in terms of years in human history. The milestone event that will launch. This is the second coming of Jesus Christ. And chapter six answers these questions. How does all this end? Will evil win forever? And what does eternity look like? How does this end? Revelation 1911, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, the one sitting on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he judges and he makes war. Jesus Christ is coming back for one final battle and he will judge the living and the dead and he will usher an eternity.
Speaker 1 00:36:04 We'll, evil win forever. No. What does eternity look like? Gets Revelation chapter 21. Verse one says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven of the first earth passed away. Verse three says, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God, it's with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Amen. Death shall be no more. Neither should there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former, things have passed away.
Speaker 1 00:36:43 What what we know about human history is that it is not aimless and it's not random. But because of the Bible, we know that human history is not a very meticulous and clear trajectory towards the second coming of Christ and the recreation of this world. A brand new Eden where we dwell with God, but better. What do I learn about God's heart in chapter six? God loves justice and he is faithful, faithful to finish what he started. All right, let's get really practical. Three. So what's for you? So a number one, get your story straight. Let me come back to your story. The way we tell our story assumes that we are the main character, right?
Speaker 1 00:37:31 And the way you tell it is important because you can either tell your story as a narcissist or as a subplot in a larger story. And that becomes really important. Don't get me wrong, your story is important, but you don't live in the Truman Show. You are not the main character. You never have been. You never will be. You were born and millennial of history already happened. God has been moving and at work, and when you die, he will continue to work. We are support characters, and I think it's really important. This is why in our membership class and people get baptize, we want you to tell your story. And yes, your story is important because it's God's intervention in your personal life. But let's, let's be really clear to follow Christ is not to make yourself your prosperity, your health, your wealth, and your will the main priority of your life.
Speaker 1 00:38:30 You become a supporting character and God is the lead role and and your job is to make much of him and to let him shine. Because at the end of the day, it's his story. It's his story. In case you're tempted, which all of us are to make yourself the main character, we already have a story of somebody who tried to do that. His name is Satan and how to go for him not well. So what number two, answer with clarity. The big questions of life. And not just for you, but for those you disciple. I want to read these again to you because since if you grew up and these were answered for you, praise God, the vast majority of people around you don't have clear answers to the majority of these. And if they do, they're off. Where did I come from? Who am I?
Speaker 1 00:39:30 Why was I made? Those are from chapter one. Chapter two. Why is everyone so broken? Why is God so distant? What is wrong with me? Chapter three, How can God still love me? Will he forgive me or abandon me? Chapter four, How specifically will God forgive my sin? Who can be forgiven? Chapter five, what is God doing now? How can I be a part of it? Chapter six, How does all this end? Will evil win forever? What does eternity look like? The human heart is desperate for these answers, and you will not find them anywhere except for in the Bible. So if you have any clarity to these, it's because someone somewhere loved you enough to tell them, and they didn't get them from their own little brain or a secret time with God that got 'em in the Bible. So at number three, the story of the Bible is centered on Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:40:20 Jesus is the creator In chapter one, Jesus was shadowed in chapter two, and God sacrificed an animal to cover Adam and Eve's sin. He makes a promise that he's gonna crush the head of the servant. We know that's Jesus. Jesus was shadowed in chapter three through the nation of Israel, through every aspect of this, of this nation from law to sacrifice to prophet, to priest, to king Jesus was the promise redeemer that we meet in chapter four in the gospels, the fulfillment of millennia of promise. The people of God waiting for this. Jesus is the head of the church in chapter five. Jesus is the king of kings coming back to rule into reign forever. In chapter six. It really actually doesn't matter what scripture you drop into. If you read deep enough and long enough, you're gonna find out that all of it is designed to point you back to Jesus Christ so that you and God could be reconciled in your relationship with God could flourish.
Speaker 1 00:41:15 And so you could be a part right now in chapter five, the church of building the kingdom of Jesus Christ, one person at a time. Um, years ago I taught on this and I wanna close and I wanna just read for you, um, something that I'd written about the Bible based on this, this, this, um, subject, The Bible's not just any book, it's a story of the spaceless, timeless, immaterial, powerful, conscious, eternal unco, God revealing himself in space and time. The Bible's not simple like a story book, but rather it's nuanced, thrilling, complex, filled with numerous sub plots, twists and turns. I would expect the greatest storyteller of all time and beyond to tell nothing less than the greatest and most interesting story. The Bible is not a self-help book. Not only is it infinitely more engaging, unpredictable, and exciting, but it is the story of God.
Speaker 1 00:42:11 It is the story that makes sense of all other stories. And when all is said and done, it will be the only enduring story. The Bible's, God's story from beginning to end and beyond centered in Jesus, God in the flesh who is coming back to finish the story and bring the kingdom of heaven fully to earth. The Bible's an invitation to every person who hears or reads it to know God, Be in relationship with God from now into all eternity, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it's not a random aimless book that dropped out of heaven on a, in a leather bound. I don't know, scroll <laugh>. I'm just thankful for the way you organize and orchestrated it from beginning to end, from oral tradition, to writing it to manuscripts, to preserving it, to copying it, to actually this day, having it in our our hands.
Speaker 1 00:43:05 And we can freely, joyfully read it and see your heart, to see the milestones of human history of your story that you've documented. Thank you for not leaving us groping and wondering where we came from, why we're here, who you are, why you feel so distant, how to be reconciled to you, what you want us to do, where we're going, who wins. Thank you. Honestly, sincerely, I would never want to grow up not having the answers to those questions. So on a personal level, I thank you for my mom who you saved. I thank you for my church that taught me these things. And Lord, I thank you for each behalf of every one of my fellow believers in this room for the the man, woman, student, child, preacher on TV or something that brought them the gospel for the first time that unfolded your word, to show them the answers to all these questions.
Speaker 1 00:44:00 I just love how there are people all over the world, all in different positions, whether it's neighbors or teachers, pastors or otherwise, or missionaries seeking to bring the answer to life's greatest questions from your word to the minds and hearts of people. And thank you for the gospel, Lord Mayville Church, to be known as a church that loves you and worships you, but takes seriously the mission you've given us to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. We love you, we worship you, and we praise you. We do all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Village Church, and amen.
