Journey Through the Pentateuch - Intro

A Journey Through the Word of God

I. What is the Bible?
A. Secular Views
i. Ancient collection of edited religious texts
ii. DaVinci Code Stuff
iii. Just like any other ancient Book.
B. Christian view
i. Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, Joshua 1:8, Hebrews 4:12)
a) Inspired (2 Timothy 3:16)
• Words & Ideas (Matthew 5:18)
b) Love Letter
• Deut 4:36-37: “From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them.”
• Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
• 1 John 4:16: “And we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
c) God's means of Growth
• Colossians 1: 25-28: “I have become it's servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in it's fullness-the mystery that has been kiept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”
• John 20:31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
• Romans 10:17: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
• D.L. Moody: “I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, 'Now faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study and faith has been growing ever since.”
II. Evidence 
A. Internal
i. Psalm 12:6 : “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”
ii. Psalm 93:5: “Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord.”
iii. Isaiah 55:10: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
iv. Jeremiah 23:29: “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
v. 2 Timothy 2:15: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
B. External
i. Its Continuity
ii. The Extent of it's Revelation
iii. Its Output (it's influence and spread)
iv. Its Subject matter
v. As literature
vi. Unpredjudiced Authority
vii. The Supreme Character
viii. Christ (The Living Word) and the Bible (written Word) compared.
III. What Makes up the Bible
A. 66 books
i. 39 in the Old Testament (“Old” has 3 letters, “Testament” has 9 letters, so we can remember the Old Testament has 39 books)
ii. 27 in the New Testament (“New” - 3 letters, “Testament” -9 letters; 3 x 9 = 27 books in the New Testament)
iii. More than 40 different authors. 
B. Main Themes
i. Jesus Christ is the Major theme of the Bible. We behold Christ throughout the Bible in countless different ways. 
ii. One Sentence themes from each of the Bible Books: See Handout.
iii. God's revelation of Himself to Man.
iv. God's revelation of Man to Man.
v. God's revelation of his plan and purpose for creation. 
C. Divisions
i. Old Testament
a) Law (the Pentateuch)
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
b) History
• Joshua 
• Judges 
• Ruth
• 1&2 Samuel
• 1&2 Kings
• 1&2 Chronicles
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
c) Poetry
• Job
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Songs
d) Prophetic Books
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi
ii. New Testament
a) Historical
• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• John
• Acts
b) Letters
• 1&2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1&2 Thessalonians
• 1&2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 & 2 Peter
• 1, 2 & 3 John
• Jude
c) Prophecy
• Revelation


D. How do you read?
iii. How do you read a Newspaper? The same way you read a poem? Do you read a street sign differently? 
iv. In the same way that you read signs, poems, newspapers, textbooks, differently the way in which a Bible book is written dictates how we will understand it.

Take Home
God invented language. He created it as His vehicle to communicate Himself, and His message of salvation, to mankind. Reading the Word of God is the tool that he has given us to grow in knowledge and likeness of Jesus Christ and be conformed to his image. We need to be serious about pursuing, understanding and sharing His message with others!