Bible Video Or Dvd

Part One: Overview. This five part series is designed to help Bible readers understand the big picture of the entire Bible so they can better understand their daily reading. Remy gives a complete overview from Genesis through the book of Acts, complete with graphs and maps! A must read for people looking to better understand the Bible.

Video Skit: Jeopardized Faith. A Jeopardy-like game show reveals that contestants don’t know the Bible at all.

The point here is that we don’t know the Bible very well, do we? I don’t think you can ever know the Bible well enough. I know I don’t. The Bible is so rich and so deep. There’s always another layer of insight that can be gained from its stories.

Listen to Psalm 119… How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! … Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:103,105

I read recently that rabbi’s used to tell their students to dip their fingers in honey and lick their fingers as they taught from the Bible so their students would associate God’s word with something sweet. Let me ask you…how sweet is the Bible to you? Is it something that you look forward to reading? Or is it a chore or a burden to you?

I’m thrilled that a number of people have told me that after they’ve been coming to church here they’ve started to read the Bible. And they like it! It’s sweet to them.

This psalm also says that God’s word is like “a lamp to my feet”. With that analogy, how bright is the path that you are walking? Is the Bible lighting your path?

My hope is that over the next five weeks the Bible will become sweeter and your path will become brighter as a result of you knowing the Bible better.

The Timeline Now, you might wonder how I’m going to teach an overview of the Bible in just five weeks. A few years ago I went down to Nicaragua to teach in a leadership training school for Campus Crusade for Christ. My job was to teach an overview of the Old Testament in ten days. They sent me this big thick manual to teach from and I knew that if I taught from that thing I was going to put people to sleep!

So I came up with a timeline to teach from (see below). Every day I gave them a quick overview of the entire Old Testament and then I taught them individual stories from the

1 timeline. I told them from the beginning that their final exam would be to stand up and give the same overview of the Old Testament on the last day. They didn’t think it was possible but all 16 students passed with flying colors. So, if you stick with me for the next five weeks, I think you’ll be able to do the same thing. I really believe that you will look back on this study as a time that your understanding of the Bible really opened up.

The Bible is HIS-tory So let’s get started! Now, it’s important to understand that the Bible is primarily a history of Israel (as compared to a book with individual chapters on how to be virtuous or wise sayings). But it’s not your typical history like a history book you’d read in school. It’s a history through the lens of what God was doing. If you were to take an Old Testament Jew and show them one of our American History text books they’d wonder what it was. They’d say, “What’s this? This is just a bunch of names and facts and events. It doesn’t tell us anything about God.” You see, to a Jew, history was about HIS-Story – God’s story. So, as I take you through this overview it’s going to sound like a history class – because it is. But the focus is always on God.

Creation The Bible starts by telling us that… “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Why did God create? He wasn’t looking for something to do. He wasn’t bored. God created out of his fullness. God is like a fountain that is always overflowing. It’s out of this fullness that God overflowed with love and wisdom and power to create the heavens and the earth. He can’t be contained. And he created everything with a plan. The Bible says… 4Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy(set apart) and without fault in his eyes. 5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1

God created us to be a part of his family. I have no idea why. If I were God I wouldn’t have done that! But for some reason God says that it has brought him great pleasure. He likes being in relationship with us! In a nutshell, that’s the Bible’s BIG story. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of God calling people to be set apart as his family.

The Fall God’s family started with Adam and Eve. At first the relationship between Adam and Eve was good as well as their relationship with God. There was peace – a peace that none of us have known. But then Adam and Eve made a selfish choice and it rocked God’s creation. It was like taking a baseball bat to one of these speakers. Everything still worked but now it was distorted. And the peace quickly turned to violence. The Bible says…

2 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. Genesis 6:11,12

Because violence had permeated the earth, God sent a flood to judge the earth and start over. The only survivors of the Flood were Noah and his family. Noah and family were like the new Adam and Eve. God started his family over through them. But this fresh start didn’t take long to go wrong.

In Genesis 11 it records a misstep by the people. In the city of Babel the people said… 4Let's build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies--a monument to our greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world."

5But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6"Look!" he said. "If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them! 7Come, let's go down and give them different languages. Then they won't be able to understand each other." Genesis 11

Selfishness once again led them away from God’s plan. They came together in community, but it wasn’t God-centered community. God said, “I didn’t create you to have community with each other. I created you to have community with each other and ME.”

Creation The Bible’s B I G Story Sin Enters d o

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2000 B. C. 1000 B.C.

Starting Over So now, after eleven chapters in Genesis we’ve had two false starts at developing God’s community – Adam and Eve and Noah and his family. But God didn’t give up on humanity. God called another person – Abraham - to again be the start of his people on earth.

3 1Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12

Throughout the entire Bible, Abraham is mentioned as the father of the faith because God’s people got their start through his obedience. Abraham left for the land that became known as Israel. Genesis tells the story of how his family grew. But because of a famine, they eventually had to go to Egypt to find food. Egypt became more than a place for food. It became their home for 400 years. When they went to Egypt they were given a favorable tract of land to farm. They stayed there and prospered but the final Pharaoh in their stay was threatened by their success. He feared that they were a threat to rebel so he put them in bondage. They became slaves in the brickyard, most likely making bricks that helped build the pyramids.

Enter Moses Because of their suffering, God called a man by the name of Moses to lead the people back to the land of Israel. They left with high drama. God sent twelve plagues on Egypt forcing the Pharaoh to finally let them go. And as they left, God parted the Red Sea to help them escape.

They made it safe to the Sinai Peninsula where Moses climbed Mt. Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. This was a great moment in the forming of God’s family. The Ten Commandments were “terms of engagement” for their relationship with God – an important step before they returned to the Promised Land.

But even after all that God had done, the people doubted God’s ability to establish them in their own land. They wanted to go back to Egypt. God was insulted and said… The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? Numbers 14:11

If you were to keep reading in Numbers God told them that the consequence of their doubt was that they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. The adult population would have to die off in the Wilderness and only then would their children be allowed to enter. That’s exactly what happened. The books of Numbers and Deuteronomy record the story of the

4 “Wilderness Wanderings”. When Moses died, God raised up Joshua to bring them into the Promised Land.

Creation The Bible’s B I G Story Sin Enters

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2000 B. C. 1000 B.C.

The Promised Land The stories in the book of Joshua are of the conquest of Canaan (Israel). That’s where we read the story of Jericho and the walls falling down. But as soon as Joshua died, everything changed. The book of Judges tells us how the people immediately turned to worshipping other gods…

And the Israelites served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua … 10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight and worshiped the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They chased after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD. 13 They abandoned the LORD to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.

16 Then the LORD raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their enemies. 17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves to other gods, bowing down to them. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the LORD's commands. 18 Whenever the LORD placed a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge's lifetime. For the LORD took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They followed other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

20 So the LORD burned with anger against Israel. He said, "Because these people have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors and have ignored my commands, 21 I

5 will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. 22 I did this to test Israel – to see whether or not they would obey the LORD as their ancestors did." 23 That is why the LORD did not quickly drive the nations out or allow Joshua to conquer them all. Judges 2

God raised up a number of judges to rule over Israel but as soon as each judge died, the people immediately went back to worshipping other gods.

David & Solomon’s Kingdom Then, a woman by the name of Hannah cried out for a son and God answered her prayer. She named him Samuel. Samuel was both judge and prophet for Israel. You see, in those days there was no political bureaucracy. Israel consisted of twelve tribes of farmers spread throughout the land of Canaan. There was no standing army or political parties or organized religion like other nations had. The purpose of the judges was simply to resolve disputes among the people. It was because of this undeveloped nature of Israel that the people asked Samuel for a king like the other nations. Samuel in turn asked God and God consented by giving them their first king – Saul.

Saul started off well but some significant acts of disobedience put him on the “outs” with God. God turned to the young man who killed the Philistine giant – Goliath – to be the next king. His name was David. The transition from Saul to David took a number of years, with Saul resisting David and actively seeking to kill him. But when Saul finally died in battle, David was able to take the throne.

It was under David that the nation expanded and became known throughout the world. David did what the city of Babel failed to do- put God at the center of their community. With David, worship came front and center in Israel. He had musicians worship God 24 hours a day and put in motion the idea of building a temple to worship God. For all of David’s faults, he was praised by God for having a heart of worship.

When David died, his son Solomon continued to expand the kingdom and its wealth. The kingdom was so rich and Solomon was so wise that many people thought that God’s kingdom had come to earth. People were calling Solomon the anointed one, which means “messiah”.

6 Creation The Bible’s B I G Story Sin Enters Solomon •David d

o •Saul The Flood Joshua G

t •Samuel Moses n o i t a l Judges e

R Babel Wilderness Wanderings Abraham

2000 B. C. 1000 B.C.

The Kingdom Divides But it must have all gone to Solomon’s head because his fame was not only the beginning of his demise but the demise of the entire nation. Solomon dabbled in a variety of pagan worship as well as a lust for women, fame and fortune. After Solomon died, the kingdom experienced a civil war, splitting the nation into two countries – Israel and Judah. Israel consisted of ten tribes in the north while Judah consisted of two tribes in the south.

This little fact is very helpful in understanding the books of the prophets. You need to be careful in your Bible reading to know when the book you are reading was written. If it refers to Israel before the time of Solomon, it’s referring to the united kingdom. If it’s referring to Israel after Solomon, it’s referring to the northern kingdom of ten tribes – a separate entity from Judah where Jerusalem was.

Jesus said that “A kingdom divided against itself can not stand”. He was most likely referring to Israel because that’s what happened to them. As soon as they divided they were not able to stand. Each kingdom was eventually destroyed.

Israel & Judah are Destroyed First, Assyria came down and invaded Israel in 722 B.C. They took away a number of people in exile but they also flooded the area with Assyrians, intermarried with them and mixed their religion with their Jewish religion1. 2 Kings tell it like this…

1 This is how the “lost tribes of Israel” were lost. They were totally assimilated by the Assyrian culture. This is in contrast to Judah. Because the Babylonians either left the people in Judah or took them to Babylon and allowed them to live in their own ghetto, their culture and religion survived. People we call “Jews” today descend from Judah.

7 Finally, in the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign, Samaria fell, and the people of Israel were exiled to Assyria. They were settled in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and among the cities of the Medes.

And the king of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. So the Assyrians took over Samaria and the other towns of Israel. 2 Kings 17:6,24

One of the Assyrian inscriptions reads: "At the beginning of my rule, in the very first year I reigned…I set siege to and conquered Samaria…I carried away into captivity 27,290 persons who lived there; I took fifty fine chariots for my royal equipment."

It took another 150 years, but the Babylonians came down and destroyed Judah, demolishing not only the wall around Jerusalem but the temple and every home. Then they burned the city, killed the king and took all the elite back to Babylon where they were held in captivity for 70 years.

On August 14 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city. Then the captain of the guard supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, then took as exiles those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the people and the troops who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon. But the captain of the guard allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields. 2 Kings 25:8-12

d Kingdom Divides o G

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70 years Babylonian Captivity

2000 B. C. 1000 B.C.

8 So much for God’s family. Imagine if an invading army came to Menomonie and tore down all of Stout, the Medical Clinic, every business, every school and church and then bulldozed every house. Then, before leaving, they burned the entire city to the ground and took away the brightest people in exile. That’s what happened to Jerusalem.

It’s interesting to look at a map because Abraham came from Babylon to start God’s family. But God’s family fell apart and returned to Babylon, the exact opposite of God’s intention.

Can you see the pattern? God tries to establish a people set apart for himself. But selfishness always leads to their destruction.

After 70 years in exile, the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem, headed by Nehemiah. The book with his name tells about this rebuilding process. Then God speaks through the prophet Haggai (another small book in the Bible) challenging the people to rebuild the Temple as well. He said that the glory of the new temple would be greater than Solomon’s temple – which got them very excited that this might be the time of the Messiah. But instead of the Messiah, they were met with 400 years of prophetic silence. God stopped speaking to the Jews.

Messiah Comes It was because of this long drought of not hearing God’s word that John the Baptist’s preaching drew so many people to hear him in the wilderness. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Matthew 3:1-3

John wasn’t announcing that the Messiah was coming. He was announcing that God’s Messiah was here. And what is the first thing that we see Jesus do? He doesn’t build buildings. He doesn’t build an institution or start a religion. He builds relationships. He calls people to follow him and then he tells his followers to love each other. It’s their love for each other that will show the world that they are truly his followers.

Jesus came to right the wrong that Adam and Eve had done and every person since them has perpetuated. His death paid for our transgression and his resurrection defeated death. But before Jesus returned to heaven he told his disciples to wait for something that had never happened before. God’s Spirit was going to enter them and empower them to live the life that they’ve always wanted. And that’s exactly what happened.

9 God’s Spirit Comes to Help In Acts chapter 2, the reverse of Babel took place. Instead of God separating people by not understanding each other, God united people by giving them the ability to understand each other. But the real miracle of Acts 2 was how the coming of God’s Spirit affected the lives of the followers of Jesus. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every one was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

It’s amazing to me that what Old Testament believers failed to accomplish in two thousand years, New Testament believers were able to accomplish in a matter of days because of the presence of God’s Spirit in their lives.

The rest of the book of Acts tells the history of the spread of the faith during the first thirty years after Jesus died and rose again.

So, that’s the Bible’s BIG story!

Observations Let me close by making three observations:

1. God is continually calling a people of his own. Starting with Adam and Eve, God has always been calling together a people to be his family. So the question for you today is this, “How have you responded to this call?” God didn’t call us to merely an hour meeting on Sundays or to simply read our Bible and pray. He called us to be a part of a spiritual family. That’s what God has created here at Cedarbrook Church. You may not be called to join us here, but God has called you to join some spiritual family to become actively involved with them.

2. Selfishness destroys God’s purpose. Every time the timeline dips it’s out of someone’s selfishness. So, what selfishness are you allowing in your life right now that is taking you away from God’s purpose for your life?

3. Returning (repentance) restores people to God’s purpose. Whenever the timeline swung up it was a result of someone returning to God. The great thing about this graph is that it always goes back up! God always gives us another chance to turn to him! Hosea says…

Come, let us return to the LORD! ...In just a short time, he will restore us so we can live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he

10 will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring." Hosea 6:1-3

We all need to return to the Lord. Some of us may have been away from God for years. Some of us may be considering following God today for the first time. And some of us may be in church on a regular basis but our heart is still far from God. So check your heart today. What is God saying? Is he calling you to turn or return to him? Maybe that’s why you are here today (or reading this now).

My goal for you over the next five weeks is for you to learn the Bible’s big story. But more than that, I want you to learn to live the Bible’s big story. What good is it for you to know more information about the Bible if it doesn’t change your life?

Prayer: Father, thank you for your great love for us. The Bible can seem so complicated at times but it all seems so simple right now…you simply want us to be set apart as your family. I pray for everyone here right now, that we would hear your call and respond. Might we turn from our selfishness and return to you. Amen.

Creation •Saul Sin Enters •David •Samuel Jesus

The Flood Kingdom Divides Joshua

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a John the Baptist l

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R Wilderness Wanderings 400 Years of Silence 70 years Abraham Babylonian Captivity Jews Return/Temple Built

2000 B. C. 1000 B.C.