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The Bible in 100 Words

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The Bible in 100 Words God created Adam disobeyed Noah arked Abraham went Covenant made Moses called Pharaoh plagued Sea divided Commandments guided Promise landed Judges led David trusted David busted Solomon prayed God provided Kings ruled God desires Prophets warned Messiah promised Hope rose Jesus born God enfleshed Son grew John baptized The sermon series at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church for 2015-2016 Satan tempted was entitled “The Bible in 100 Words.” The goal of the series was to Disciples called express the main events of the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, in 50 Love talked word pairs, which are listed to the right. People healed Jesus revealed Each Sunday we introduced the word pair accompanied by a Disciples prepared supporting Scripture. We often provided a weekly handout that Jesus rode covered additional events that occurred “in the meantime” Judas betrayed Peter denied between each Sunday’s words. The handouts were also used to Anger crucified provide further explanation or give more detail about the event Love rose described by the word pair. Thomas doubted Peter restored This booklet contains each word pair, an accompanying Scripture Mission imparted excerpt, and the material provided in the weekly bulletin inserts, Jesus departed which appears as gray-shaded excurses. Jesus remembered Disciples waited Many thanks to Steve Bowser, Charlotte Gibson, Anita Herbert, Spirit blew John Lynch, Judi Rogers, and Pam Suter for providing the content Peter preached for these handouts. Thanks as well to Christal Marshall for Church grew designing the logo for the series. And finally, thanks also to Charity Leaders equipped Stephens who composed a song inspired by the series, and to Joelle Paul wrote Doriani for the choral arrangement. Word spread Church corrected The Bible in 100 Words—let it come alive! Love unfailing 1 God prevailing 2 God created—Genesis 1:1-2:3 1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:1, 27-31 In the beginning God… In the Bible, creation refers both to the act by which God created the universe and to the product of that process. The prime text is the creation story in Genesis 1, but that account is richly embellished with a host of later references to creation. Underlying the individual image patterns is the premise that the telos of creation is to serve and glorify God. The Christ hymn of Colossians 1 asserts regarding Christ that “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16), while the song of the elders in Revelation 4 ascribes glory to God because he has “created all things, and for his pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). God’s act of creation is a great ordering process. The earth begins “without form and voice” (Gen 1:2); God proceeds to organize this primal chaos. This motif takes its place in an ancient context of rival creation myths that centered around the ordering of chaos. Mesopotamian, Egyptian and even Vedic Indian mythologies all talk about a chaos that is hostile to the creator god. In each case, the creator god beats back the chaos to provide order, though chaos always remains a threat. The Bible’s creation story is partly similar, inasmuch as God brings order out of chaos, but the biblical account is totally free of any sense of threat or hostility in the chaos that God molds. The emphasis throughout the Bible is that God controls the forces that seek to lead to dissolution rather than wholeness in the world. As God orders the elements, he utters commands that instantaneously produce objects. Some of his specific acts are acts of ordering, with verbs such as “made,” separated” and “placed” dominant in the process. The story itself follows a fixed pattern for each day of creation, consisting of five formulaic parts: announcement (“and God said”), command (“let there be”), report (“and it was so” or “and God made”), evaluation (“it was very good”) and placement in a temporal framework. Even the division into days lends an orderly quality to the creation. Another dominant image is the image of “the good earth.” The fact that God personally brings the material world into being and labels it “good” and “very good” stands in marked contrast to later Greek and other philosophical and theological perspective, which view the material realm as intrinsically evil and morally suspect. But that simple observation hardly does justice to the enthusiasm with which God views the work he has done. God’s declaration is both a benediction and an expression of joy. Good means “It’s wonderful!” Very good is equivalent to saying, “It’s perfect!” Although the Bible does not make quite as much of the fact that God created the universe out of nothing as Christian theology has (Creation ex Nihilo), it is nonetheless an important motif. Hebrews 11:3 is the most explicit text: “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear”. This picture of creation has implications for our understanding of God (he is distinguished from what he created) and the creation itself (it totally depends on God but does not emanate from him). Biblical images of creation distinguish with great care between the Creator and the creation (Rom 1:25). Indeed, the second commandment against graven images (Ex 20:4-6) reflects the language of Genesis 1 and makes 3 it clear that God is extremely jealous that he not be identified with anything within the realm of creation. But the same view of creation that empties nature of divinity also makes it a revelation of God and leaves it filled with pointers to God. The fact that all things find their origin in the creative work of God means that everything, in some way, bears witness to the creation and is revelatory of the Creator. According to the Bible every rock and tree and creature can be said to testify of God, declare his glory and show forth his handiwork (Ps 8:1; 19:1; 104; 148). A final motif is the biblical writers’ treatment of redemption as a crowning work of God’s creation. This is not surprising, since much of what is important in creation has been damaged or destroyed by the Fall. As we might expect, therefor, redemption and creation are intertwined in the Bible. Christ’s work of redemption is described as restoring those aspects of the creation that were lost or damaged as a consequence of the Fall. The person who is regenerated in Christ is a “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). While the Fall subjected the whole creation to futility, it waits eagerly for the time when it will be set free from its present bondage to decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom 8:19-21). Creation is a spectator of human redemption, inasmuch as its own liberation is vested in the liberation of the sons and daughters of God. While the original creation was marred by sin, Christ’s work of redemption and restoration will bring about a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (Rev. 21:1). From article “Creation” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, gen. eds: Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), pp. 179-182. Adam disobeyed—Genesis 3:1-21 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:6-7 Noah arked—Genesis 6:1-22 5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:5-8 In the meantime… (Genesis 6-12) Covenant Made--The entire flood account can be found in Genesis 6-9.
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