God’s Story, Our Story

Intro:

Narrator (Dave Rozema)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

CREATION:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light.”

He separated light from all that dark matter in the universe…. And God saw that it was good.  

He gathered the water and lands… And saw that it was good.

He produced the most beautiful flowers and fruits…. And saw that it was good.

He set the stars and the moon & the sun in the sky…. And it was good.

God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

IMAGE:

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
  

Narrator:

God had created a beautiful world and filled it with glorious, diverse creatures. Of all his creation, he singled out two humans to build a relationship with – Adam & Eve. These two people were blessed to share this paradise with God and with each other, so why would they want anything else?

FALL:

Genesis 3:1,4-8

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” “You will not certainly die for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Narrator:

The tragic accounts of the sin of Adam and Eve are echoed in later stories of hardship and tragedy for their children and their children’s children. As people began to populate the globe, humanity’s legacy of hate, anger, murder, and deception play out as people begin to neglect their relationship with God…. 

FLOOD

Genesis 6:

…. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.  Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

Narrator:

The earth recovered from this great flood…animal and plant life flourished and Noah’s family repopulated the earth. The cycle of life began to continue. But as time passed, the people continued rebel against God and sought to make a name for themselves rather than seek God’s glory. It was there at Babel, that God confused their language and scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Relationally, sin continued to drive people further from God and from each other.  It was time for God’s next move, time to build a nation that would become the cultural and ethnic home to…..well, that part of the story is yet to come.

PATRIARCHS:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”[b]

 “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them–So shall your offspring be.” Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Narrator:

God’s story of promise and prosperity moves from Abraham to his son Isaac to his son Jacob, but this family’s story is far from over. Jacob’s 12 sons, in a moment of jealous anger, sold their youngest brother Joseph into slavery to Egypt. Joseph faced many hardships in his time in Egypt, yet he trusted in God’s bigger plan and was strengthened to rise up from slave to a position of power in the land of Egypt. With this new position, Joseph, who was a savior before The Savior, was able to save his family from drought and famine and brought them to live with him in the land of Egypt.

EXODUS:

 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor.

And the Lord said to Moses, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land.

THE PROMISED LAND

Joshua 1:

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

JUDGES:

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.  Then the Lord raised up judges,[c] who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

Narrator:
The Israelites continued their pattern of spiritual compromise during this sad period of their history. Enter Ruth, a young Moabite woman, into God’s story. Ruth was a loyal, determined, and bold woman who became a part of the lineage of King David. More important, she was God’s choice to illustrate His providence in the every day mundane details of people’s lives. God’s fulfillment of His plan of redemption was still unfolding…

KINGS:
God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.  Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.  After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

But King Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 

SPLIT & EXILE

Narrator:

God had chosen Israel to be a unique nation that would be a blessing to other nations around the world. But rather than blessing, they chose to be like everyone else and asked God for a human king to lead them. These kings would lead Israel from blessing back to the continual pattern of neglecting God and what He had called them to be as a nation. Eventually, the house divided, civil war ensued, and the kingdom split into two separate nations. The two nations, now Israel and Judah, would be invaded by Assyria and Babylon and go into exile for the next several hundred years. 

Israel had neglected God’s heart for worship, justice, and His heart for reaching the world…Yet God’s heart is most clearly seen for His people, when those people seem to be furthest from Him. It’s in this time of exile that He would send prophets to His people to call them back to the heart of God…

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 

Hosea 6:6

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me 

more than I want burnt offerings. 

Narrator:
God had promised the people that some day He would bring them back to their land, and as promised, the people began to return to their home. Returning from exile would be a time of renewal for God’s people as Ezra and Nehemiah took a serious interest in making sure God’s law was heard and followed again and the walls of the city were rebuilt. 

Hundreds of years would pass and God’s people would continue to experience social and political upheaval. When the set time had fully come, God spoke again. This time, the people could see the personified, gracious, compassionate and loving God right before their eyes.

INCARNATION

John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Narrator:
Through Christ came the fulfillment of a new and better promise. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people would continually fail to obey Him and keep the covenant they promised to follow….but God is always faithful to His promises. . .from Abraham to Moses to David and now to Christ….the pinnacle of God’s story is now on the horizon.  

REDEMPTION 

Philippians 2:6-11

Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature[a]  God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

1 Corinthians 15

“So Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHURCH

Romans 8:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Narrator:

By the power of God, the Church is born. God’s Spirit is present in His CHURCH, bonding our community as a family and fueling us for the cause of Christ. God is working to fulfill His mission through the Church, through you and through me, to bring redemption to the world.  

LETTERS 

1 Peter 2

As you come to him, the living Stone, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Acts 1

And You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Narrator:

As the story nears its end, God’s message rings out loud and clear: “I have opened the door; I have made a way—- come to me and have life!”

God’s Word is true and He has fulfilled all of His promises. The Good News has gone out to the world, bringing forth an incredible wake of transformation to all cultures and peoples! As God fulfills His mission through His Church, we await– with obedience and expectation – for Christ to come again. . . . He will restore all that is broken and mangled by sin, but the question remains….How will YOU respond to His free gift of life?

SECOND COMING…

Revelation 22:3-5, 12-13, 17

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.