#thestory

If you don’t follow along through social media you might have missed the announcement of reading through the Bible together. The goal is to read through the entire Bible together in one year. The reading takes place through the Bible app. It is a free app that you can download today.  It’s not too late to start reading together. You can join along and read the story here.
 
If we haven’t met I’m Brandyn Jaymes. I’m a husband, a seminary student, a youth pastor, and I have an awesome beard. This page is dedicated to sharing the story of God through teaching, conversation, and authenticity. Since we will be reading through the Bible this year this post is going to be looking at what the full story of the Bible is. It is not just words on a page but the very word of God and these words tell a story. 

What is the story of the Bible?

​If you didn’t grow up in church or didn’t have a religious family, then the Bible may seem like just a book. Maybe your only reference to the Bible is through music, movies, or the random book you find in the drawer at hotels. The Bible though is more than that. It is a book that tells a story. A story that we are a part of. 

​The story has four main parts. There is the creation of the world. God, who is eternal, spoke the world into being. This can be seen in the first few pages of the Bible in a book called Genesis. One of the created things was humankind. God created humanity and gave humanity free will. God spoke to the humans and said that they had one rule and if broken death would ensue. Well if you know how stories go then you probably guessed that conflict is the next piece of the story. Mankind did the exact thing God said not to do. Through this disobedience, humanity fell. 

​Humanity’s fall left then entire world broken. There was a separation between God and his creation. You may think it’s not fair that God would punish all people for the mistakes of a few, but this fall doesn’t end. We see the fall intensify in the children of the first humans. A set of brothers, Cain and Abel, fight and Cain murders his brother able. As you read through the Bible you will continue to see examples of humanity continuing to fall. You can even see the fall in your own life. Selfishness, greed, hatred, gossip, and so many other everyday actions are ways we participate in the fall. Though we all fall God refuses to let separation be the final outcome. God has a plan. 

​Through, what is known as, the Old Testament we read of God choosing a nation to call his own. This nation would be the people who he used and worked through to end the separation. He was going to save humanity from the repercussions of the fall. He promises a family that they will have an heir and that one day their family will be so large that it will outnumber the stars. That family ends up being the nation of Israel. Israel ends up in slavery but God leads them out. He gives them instructions on how to live and survive as a people. He provides everything for them, but the people want their own way. 

Israel constantly falls into worshiping fake gods. They make statues and worship those instead of the God who protects them and promised to bless them. God honors his commitment though. He sends prophets who speak to the people. The prophets confront the people of their continuation in the fallen ways and tell them to turn back to God. Through the prophets, we also get the promise that God is going to send salvation to the world. That salvation comes through a person. That person is Jesus.

​Jesus’ birth meant God’s promise was true. Salvation had come to the world. Salvation had come through God himself. Jesus was both fully God and fully man. The Bible tells of the life of Jesus in the Gospels. We see Jesus perform miracles, he heals the blind, raises the dead, and lives a life completely free from the fall. Jesus leads for a short time and eventually is put to death. He committed no crimes but his death was part of the plan. Jesus took the punishment from the fall on himself. He truly brought salvation. Three days after his death Jesus rose from the dead. Salvation now is believing the message of Jesus, accepting his death as salvation, and attempting to follow his example and live free from the fall. This part of the story is known as redemption.

​After Jesus rose from the dead the church started. The early church sought to proclaim God to all people. The church started with the people who followed Jesus while he walked the earth and it continues with each person who follows Jesus as their restoration today. The church has hope just as the nation of Israel did. The world may seem bleak and the effects of the fall may seem to be overpowering but our God is still the one with a plan. Jesus will return to establish his unending kingdom. A kingdom where we are fully connected with God again. 

A story of Hope

This is a brief overview of the story. It is a story that offers hope to every person who puts their trust in the God who is able to save. It is a story that shows a God who refuses to let his creation perish. It is a story of hope for life, hope for others, and hope for the future. To share the story is to embrace this hope in our own lives and offer this hope to others. #sharethestory