Accessibility Tools

2024 Messages

Messages with tag - Story of the Bible

Abraham and the Promise: Genesis 12, 15, Study 03
05-05-2024
Abraham and the Promise: Study 3 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.
When do you find it hardest to trust God? Are there certain times or seasons or events in your life where it has been hard to trust God?

We often read one story in the Bible that reminds us of elements in another story in the Bible. That’s what we are starting to see here in God’s promises to Abraham. The promises of blessing in Eden are now being repeated - and progressed. The Bible is a book that often repeats itself by establishing a pattern, and then repeating it, to advance the story towards fulfilment (Promise & Fulfilment).

For now the Scriptures tell us that Abram ‘believed God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness’, and that Abraham’s faith is how we need to respond to God’s promises to us in Jesus.

The Fall: Genesis 3, Study 02
28-04-2024
The Fall: Study 2 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.

The story of the fall unravels all that is good and very good in God’s World. God’s Word has not only been distorted but now disobeyed. Order has been thrown into chaos. One tree in Eden has been selected over the other. Life was on offer in Eden but humankind chose death. In eating of the forbidden tree, intimate relationships are exchanged for exploding ones. ‘Unashamed and naked’ now turns to exposure, shame and blame. And this new pattern of sin and self-justification and blame is not only repeated down through the story of the whole Bible but repeated daily the whole world over.

Sin is the unlawful exchange of our rightful place in God’s World. Sin takes what is not ours, believing it will elevate us, but only leaves us deflated. Sin promises so much but only delivers guilt and shame.

God the Maker & King: Genesis 1-2, Study 01
21-04-2024
God the Maker & King: Study 1 in the series "Three Trees: The story of the whole Bible" in 10 studies.>

In wanting to understand the story of the whole Bible, the best place to start is… In the Beginning.

In the creation record, we notice the following pattern in Genesis 1:1-2:3.
• And God said: Let there be…
• God called…
• And it was so…
• And God saw that it was good…
• And there was evening and there was morning, the …. day.

In Genesis 1-2 we’ve already discovered our first two trees; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 1:31 says God looks at his world and says it’s very good… but how would you describe the world you look at and live in?