One Big Story
God is sovereign! He was sovereign in Moses’ birth. He was sovereign in Moses’ call. And He was sovereign in His dealings with the Egyptians. He will be sovereign in the situations we face in our lives as well. God is calling us to do great things for Him. The first step toward following God’s call on your life is identifying yourself with God. Step two is to listen to all the Lord speaks to you through His Word, through wise counsel and through the guidance of His Spirit. Step three is trusting in God’s power and presence in the life and ministry to which you have been called.
In the life of Joseph we are able to see what is referred to as a “Type” of Christ because there are aspects of their lives that correspond to one another. In other words, as we look at the life of Joseph, it is a picture of what God promised He would do for mankind to save them from the desperate state of sinfulness that we are in because of Adam and Eve. We must be careful in considering Joseph as a “Type” of Christ; in that, we must not deify him in any way. He was a man, lost in his sin and disgrace, which trusted God and it was credited to him for righteousness—just like his great-grandfather, Abraham. In this study, we will look at some of the corresponding attributes of the lives of Joseph and Jesus.
As we continue our journey through God’s One Big Story of Scripture, we come to a story that for some people is impossible to understand what God was thinking. Our focus will be the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac, and the promises that God made to them. In Genesis 15:6, the Bible says that “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” There is no doubt that the Bible teaches salvation as a free gift of God received from Him by faith alone—not by deeds we have done. This is a story about Abraham’s faith for sure, but it is even more so a story about the faithfulness of God.
As we continue looking at the “One Big Story” of Scripture, I believe that it is vitally important that we understand God’s motivation for redeeming mankind out of the degenerate state of sin that we are in. Isaiah 43:6-7 says: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth [says the Lord] . . . everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” It is God’s goal for us to bring glory to His Name! It is God’s desire that we pursue His glory in and through our lives, but we are unable to do that without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
After the fall of man in Genesis 2-3, there were very few ‘bright spots’ mentioned in Scripture. Mankind seemed to be spiraling further downward into sin and self-indulgence. By the time we come to Genesis 6, the Lord looked down upon the earth and saw only wickedness—except in the heart of a man named Noah. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. In this study, we will take some time to consider the well-known account of Noah and his ark. In keeping with our sermon series—One Big Story: God’s Redemptive Story through Scripture—we will not be focusing on all the details of Genesis 6-8. Our focus will be on the foreshadowing of God’s redemptive work through His Son, Jesus, in this chronicle concerning the ark.
After completing His creation, God placed Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden—a beautiful garden that provided for all their needs. There in the garden, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. They were friends! But when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, that friendship was destroyed. The consequence of their disobedience was death—both physical death and a spiritual separation from God. There was nothing that Adam and Eve could do to restore that relationship; and there is nothing that we are able to do either. But God made provision for us by His mercy and grace to be reconciled to Him.
God will be the focus of this study. Of course we will learn about many other historical characters as we crisscross the pages of Scripture, but God is the Hero of this story. The Bible is His book and it is One Big Story. We will begin our study of this One Big Story in the beginning—the very beginning—when God created man and woman in His own image. God made man in His image so that man would be able to know God and communicate with Him. It is God’s desire to know everyone personally. That’s why He created us!