WOW! What a great study going through 30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders! By better understanding how the Bible's main themes all fit together, we were able to gain a better glimpse of God's story of redemption. It is SO easy to miss the flow of Scripture, but always good to see the "big picture" of His story throughout history (which really IS History). As we understand the main themes and storyline of God’s Word, we are then able to better understand who we are as believers today and the uniqueness of our time in history. We have His Spirit permanently living in us, empowering us to overcome sin in our lives (something Old Testament saints never imagined). No sacrificial system, no temple, no priests, no law. Today, we are free in Christ! This freedom was the result of Christ dying for us, which freed us from sin… but not, of course, to live however we desire. Freedom is having the ability to do the right thing, not to do whatever we want. The person who is overcoming sin and experiencing peace and joy is the person who is really free (freedom is only found by yielding and submitting our desires to Him). This is why Jesus came to die! Why time and time again, He rescued mankind from themselves. The common theme in each era was the stupidity of man, and the graciousness of God.
When we looked at the various eras in Scripture, we clearly saw the patience God displays toward His people. We saw His powerful, sovereign hand in events, which paved the way for what He wanted to accomplish. We also saw how He uses people to accomplish His purposes. And as His church today, God desires to use us to spread the message of hope to a lost world.
Now that we have a better understanding of the flow of the Bible, how do we engage our culture with the truths of God’s Word? This leads us into our next area of study. We will be following along with the new sermon series at Mountain View, but taking it deeper into more application and discussion. Jude encourages every believer to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). We will learn what it means to “contend for the faith.” We will be studying a variety of topics that will help us to better “contend” for our faith in a culture that is unbelieving (and a Christian culture that has lost sight of truth). Is God really good if He allows evil? Don’t the Scriptures have a lot of errors? If that’s the case, can we really trust the Bible? Why is the concept of Hell so important? Does God really have control over events? How does our free will fit into His sovereignty? Is Jesus really the only way to heaven? What are the key elements to the gospel? These are just a few of the many important topics we will tackle in the next study. As always, we will come from the approach of Scripture so that we know what God says on these matters!
