Palm Springs Drive Church of Christ

Series: Basic Bible Doctrine

Service: Adult Class

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Brian Messerli

This quarter, we’re starting a new class on Basic Bible Doctrines.  In Paul’s letter to a preacher named Titus, he wrote…

Titus 2:1 - Doctrine just means “teaching” or “instruction.”

Illustration:  Recently, my martial arts instructor showed me a quote that said, “There are two kinds of people who focus on the fundamentals: beginners and the very advanced.”  Now he showed me this to get me to focus on fundamentals in martial arts, but this applies to everything, including Christianity.  And most of us understand why it’s important for new Christians and those who aren’t Christians yet, but it may be seem odd to think “advanced” Christians should do the same.  I mean, after all, they already know this stuff, right?

Question:  Why do you think it’s important for “advanced” Christians to go back to the basics and focus on the fundamentals too?

1) In my experience, sometimes the more “advanced” we get, the more we get lost in the weeds of things that just don’t matter as much.  As someone once said, “We tend to start majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors.”  The fundamentals of the faith are the major, most important things, but once we’ve convinced ourselves we already know all those things, sometimes we venture beyond things we don’t know about and into things we CAN’T know about.  Then our religious conversations turn more theoretical than practical, and we may even create needless controversy over things the Bible just doesn’t focus much on.  We end up putting all our time and energy into things God doesn’t even emphasize in His word.  2)  The basics serve as the foundation for everything else we learn and for how we live.  They’re like the North Star for our faith and life, and sometimes we drift away from God spiritually because we’re abandoning the basic principles of the faith and are being seduced by things in our culture that sound so much more sophisticated and only for the enlightened or very “advanced.”  3) We forget things.  Even if we already know the basics, it’s good to be reminded.  4) Every time we go back to learn the basics, we’re in a different place spiritually and things will land differently for us.  We might also hear it presented in a fresh way that helps us consider it from a new angle we never have before, or maybe we realize we’ve only really understood the basics on a surface level, but without much depth.

1 Timothy 6:3-5 - The people Paul is describing would have considered themselves advanced Christians, and yet it’s clear they had completely lost sight of the fundamentals of sound Christian doctrine, which is why they’ve drifted off into Godless living, majoring in the minors, stirring up needless controversy and division, getting in pointless arguments, and their minds were corrupted by falsehood.

So I just wanted to start this quarter stressing the importance of this quarter, not JUST for beginners, but for all of us, no matter where we are in our spiritual growth.

Comments/Questions?

For this morning’s class, we are starting with the most important and fundamental doctrine of all:  there is a God and I am not Him.  And in order to understand that, we need to ask the question, “Who is God?”

Genesis 1:1 - Think about how massive the Bible is!  Depending on your font size, it’s over 1,500 pages!  In my Bible, the last page is 1,642, and yet all of that content is built on this foundational premise:  “In the beginning God.”

There was a preacher in the early 1900’s named AW Tozer who was a very deep thinker and writer, and he said, “The most important thing about you is what you think about when you hear the word ‘God.’”

Question:  Why would that be the case?

Our view of God shapes everything about our life!  It affects how we feel, how we think, and how we act!  It shapes how we handle adversity, how we handle prosperity, it affects our character, our hope for the future, our attitude and whether we lift people up or tear people down, and I appreciate how Tozer recognized the importance of our perception of God.  If, when we hear the word “God,” we think of words like, “Cold, uncaring, distant, mean” we won’t want anything to do with Him.  If we think of words like, “All love, never gets angry, a grandpa in the sky who just pats us on our head and tells us how great we are,” we won’t respect His authority and we’ll treat sin like it’s no big deal.  Most of the time, we don’t really relate to God as He is, but as we THINK He is, and that’s why it’s so important to come back to a fundamental class like “Who is God?” so we can bring our perception of Him into alignment with the reality of Him.

And it’s a pretty tall order with the time we have left this morning to adequately answer this question, but I think there are 7 core descriptors of God in the Bible, and they all fall under the category of one general descriptor:  that God is Holy.

Isaiah 6:3 - To be holy means to be unique and set apart in a superior way.  There is no one like God in wisdom, character, power, or majesty.  Hosts means “armies,” so He has angelic armies at His command, and the whole earth is filled with His glory, which means “the magnitude, or weight, of His greatness.”

Isaiah 46:9b - So the Bible is clear God is set apart in a universe of His own; no angels, no humans, no part of His creation even come close to being like Him in glory.  And that’s because there 7 core descriptors in the Bible that make Him completely unique.

1. Creator

• Genesis 1:1 - I love that the Bible starts with this line, because this is THE distinguishing attribute of God that sets Him apart.
  • Psalm 96:4-6 - All the so called gods people worship are false because they are not the Creator.  Question:  How should God being our Creator affect our heart posture towards Him, the way we respond to Him, and the way we live?
    • 1) It should cause us to worship Him in humility!  When we look out at the wonders of His creation, the vastness of space, the beauty of the earth and the skies, the mind-boggling complexity of the human body, it speaks to His power and His wisdom.  Even the most complex things we’ve created as human beings are like balls of plato compared to the complexity of God’s design.   2) It should cause us to trust Him because He is the Creator and knows what He’s doing!  Yet so often when things don’t go our way in life, we question His wisdom, and it’s like clay arguing with the potter!
      • Isaiah 45:9
      • 3) It should prevent us from worshiping the creation rather than the creator.  God knew His creation was so great that we would be tempted to worship the creation ITSELF as God!  And that’s what countless cultures have done throughout history.  Like the Egyptians, they would worship multiple gods; the god of the sun, the god of the rainstorm, the god of frogs, and each of these gods ruled over their own territory, and they could be manipulated by people into giving them what they wanted.  But the Bible makes clear there’s only one God and these aren’t gods at all, they’re just parts of God’s creation who doesn’t just rule over one territory, but over the entire created world!

2.  Father

• Isaiah 64:8 - This is directly tied to God being our Creator, because it means He is our life giver and life sustainer, just like a Father for His children.  If we only think of Him as a potter and we as clay, it’s an inadequate image because a potter doesn’t love His clay pots.  No, a potter will actually sell his pots to someone else.  But God is our Father, which means He loves us more than we can possibly comprehend, and He’s patient and compassionate towards our weaknesses!
  • Psalm 103:13-14 - Just like a father doesn’t hold a grudge against a 5 year old because he knows he’s only 5, so too God understands our frailty and limited understanding as humans, so He’s patient with our sins and compassionate when we fail Him.  However, as our Father He wants what’s best for us so He gives us instruction to shape us and guide us in the right direction, and when we veer off the path into evil, God disciplines us for our good!
    • Deuteronomy 8:5 - If a Father never disciplined His children, we’d accuse Him of not caring for His children’s wellbeing.  There’s a false idea of God called “deism,” which views God as winding up the universe like a clock and then just letting it run without any involvement at all.  That’s SO far from the picture of God in Scripture because He is actively involved in our lives, He is personally invested in our well-being, He loves us and only wants what’s best for us, and it also means we were designed for a relationship with Him!  Many ancient religions taught that human beings were created merely to be slaves for the gods to serve them and do their bidding.  Yet the one True God of the Bible created us to be His children, and while we’re certainly called to serve Him, the God of the Bible serves US FAR more than we serve Him.
      • Question:  How should God being our Father affect our heart posture towards Him, the way we respond to Him, and the way we live?

3.  Eternal

• The general word for God in Scripture is “El,” and usually you’ll see something added to “El” to highlight something about God’s character.  So El-ohim emphasizes His majesty as Creator.  El-Shaddai = God Almighty.  El-Elyon = God Most High.  But sometimes He’s called “El-Olam” which means “God Everlasting.” (Gen. 21:33)
  • Since He is the Creator of all things, it means He is eternal and has always existed.  He is everlasting.  In fact, His personal name in Scripture is “Yhwh.”
    • Exodus 3:14-15 - So in v. 14 God describes Himself as “I AM,” in the first person and in v. 15 He identifies His name as “Yhwh” in the third person, like when other people refer to Him.  This is usually marked in the Old Testament by the word Lord in all capital letters.  When you see the word LORD in all caps, that’s God’s personal name, “Yhwh” which literally means, “He is.”
      • It means He has always existed and always will.  He just is, He is reality.  And it also connotes the idea that He is perfect and cannot be improved upon.  If He said, “I am love,” that would be true, but it might imply there are other good things than love which He is not, but He is all the things that are good and perfect.  In fact, when Moses later asked to see the fulness of God’s glory, He explained that His true glory is in His character.
        • Exodus 34:6-8 - This verse is the most often repeated description of God’s character in the Bible.  It captures His perfect love in forgiving our sins, but also His perfect justice as someone who cannot allow sin to go unpunished.  It’s part of what makes Him perfectly I AM, and it leads Moses to fall on his face and worship.  He is not just eternal, but eternally good.
          • And one more thing about His eternal nature; since He exists outside of time, He sees the future with perfect clarity, and no human and no other so called god can do that.
            • Isaiah 46:9-10 - This gives us tremendous peace when life doesn’t go our way and we’re confused because we know God is in control and not only knows all of human history before it unfolds, He is sovereign over it and influences time to bend to His will.

4.  Judge

• Genesis 18:25
• Ecclesiastes 12:14 - God is not only a loving Father, He’s a just judge which means He must punish evil and cannot let law-breakers off the hook.  It also means we’re accountable for how we live. None of our deeds are hidden from Him, His sees everything, and eventually we’ll have to stand before His judgment seat and give an answer for our actions, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes.

5.  King

• Psalm 47:7-8 - As Americans, this is a hard concept for us, because our country was established in rebellion against having a king.  We hate the idea of one person being in authority over us and we want a vote, yet the Bible doesn’t give us a vote because God is King.  He is the supreme ruler over all other rulers; He is the king of kings, and Lord of Lords, which means He has the authority to tell us what to do and how to live, whether we like it or not.
  • Genesis 1:26 - Later one of the 10 commandments will say we are NOT to craft God into an image of any likeness from creation.  And that’s because He is the one who has crafted us into His image!  Human beings are the only images that can adequately represent Him in the world.  And the whole concept of an image came from ancient kings who would set up statues of themselves throughout their kingdom to remind their citizens of their authority and goodness.  That means human beings are like walking, talking statues who are free to roam the earth as reflections of God’s authority as King!  In fact, God calls us to be co-rulers with Him and to reflect the nature of His kingship in the world, which means we should rule with the same character and intent with which He does!  We rule in love, patience, and kindness, we seek to promote life and prevent death, and to pursue good and shun evil, and instead of ruling like harsh dictators, we lead through service and self-sacrifice.
    • • In our modern world, we recoil at the idea of a king because all throughout history kingship has, for the most part, been horribly abused and human rulers have NOT ruled like God at all.  BUT in the ancient world, if you actually had a good and benevolent king, it was an INCREDIBLE blessing that led to peace, safety, and prosperity, and the Bible presents God as the King you WANT more than anyone to rule over you, and more than anyone to emulate as you rule and manage your own life and the world around you.
        • Question:  How should God being Eternal, our Judge, and our King affect our heart posture towards Him, the way we respond to Him, and the way we live?

6.  Savior

• Isaiah 33:22 - A few classes from now, we’ll discuss the problem of sin and how our own foolish choices so often get us in horrible jams, and He knows we cannot get out of these jams on our own.  We need Him to constantly come and rescue us.  There’s a consistent theme repeated throughout the Bible that we are weak and powerless to save ourselves from our sin, and we need to put all our trust in Him to save us.
  • Isaiah 45:21-22 - One of the main ways salvation is described in Scripture is redemption.  To redeem someone is to buy them out of captivity, because salvation in the Bible always costs something; not money, but blood because something or someone has to die before we can be set free.  We’ll talk more about this in our class on sin.

7.  Triune

• Triune means three-in-one.  The Bible doesn’t use the word “triune,” or “trinity” as its sometimes referred to, but the concept is definitely there.
  • Deuteronomy 6:4 - There’s only one being who is God, and yet there are verses referring to one divine being called the Father, another divine being called the Son, and a third divine being called the Holy Spirit.  We’ve already seen verses about God our Father.
    • 1 Corinthians 8:6 - He is calling both the Father and the Son Jesus Christ God, or Lord.
    • Titus 2:13 - He calls Jesus God, also calls Him Savior, the same descriptor of the Father we read earlier.
    • 2 Corinthians 3:17 - So Jesus was called the Lord and so is the Holy Spirit.
      • What we find in Scripture is that there is only one divine being who is God, yet there are 3 persons who fulfill different roles, yet who are all fully and equally God.  If we were to put it in chart form it would look like this.
        • I wish I had an earthly analogy to try to make this clearer, but anyone you use will fall short.  For instance, one of my favorite analogies is that as human beings, there are 3 parts to us too because we have a mind, a body, and a soul.  That’s kind of helpful, but it falls short because our mind is only part of us, but not fully us.  Our body is only part of us, not fully us.  It basically presents ourselves as divided into 3rds, where as the Father isn’t just 1/3 part of God, He IS fully God.  The Son isn’t 1/3 part of God, He IS God, and same with the Spirit.
          • And they all play different roles, because the Father is the author of salvation, the Son is the accomplisher of salvation, and the Spirit is the assistant of salvation.  This is very simplified of course, but even though they play different roles, they’re all perfectly unified, so that Paul can say this to the Corinthians…
            • 2 Corinthians 13:14
            • This means from all eternity God is communal and relational in nature.  John says God is love, and love, by definition, must be shared, and this eternally loving and relational God is inviting us from page 1 of the Bible to have a relationship with Him and to be in fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit.

Series: N/A

Service: Lord’s Supper Service

Type: Lord's Supper Talk

Speaker: Ryan Crozier

Series: N/A

Service: Wednesday Night

Type: Invitation

Speaker: Daniel Fritz

Series: N/A

Service: Lord’s Supper Service

Type: Lord's Supper Talk

Speaker: Jason Bray

Series: 1 Peter

Service: Praise and Preaching Service

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

There is a reason "praise God for the government" doesn't land the same way as "praise God for His grace." One feels natural. The other feels like a test.

And in many ways, it is. The Christian call to submit to governing authorities is one of the most practically demanding — and most frequently avoided — teachings in the New Testament. It's demanding not because it requires some exotic sacrifice, but because it cuts directly against a deeply human impulse: the desire to be governed only by what we agree with.

First Peter 2 and Romans 13 don't give us that option. But they also don't give us a blank check to uncritical obedience. What they give us is something more nuanced and more useful: a framework for how to live faithfully under authority in a world where authority is often exercised badly.

God designed government for a specific purpose. First Peter 2:13-14 is clear: governing authorities exist "for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good." Romans 13 echoes it — the ruler is "God's minister to you for good," a restraint on evil so that ordinary people can live ordinary lives without constant threat.

Most people, whatever their politics, understand this intuitively. We want order. We want the freedom to go about our lives without being harmed. We want someone to stand between us and those who would do us violence. Government, at its best, is the answer to that universal human need. That's why even nations that overthrew their governments almost always created new ones quickly — because the alternative, a world where every family defends itself against every other, is one that virtually no one actually wants.

The Israelites understood this. When they clamored for a king in 1 Samuel 8, they weren't confused about what they were asking for — they wanted the protection and stability they associated with centralized authority. God granted the request while warning them plainly about what kings tend to do over time. They wanted safety. He gave it to them, along with the honest disclosure that the one providing the safety would also be the one taking from them.

That tension — government as both protector and taker — hasn't resolved in the thousands of years since. It's simply the nature of an institution populated by human beings.

When the Pharisees came to trap Jesus with a question about taxes, they thought they had him. Affirm Roman taxes, and he alienates the Jewish nationalists. Oppose them, and he's a political agitator. Either way, he's caught.

His response became one of the most quoted things he ever said, and the reason it landed with such force — the text says his questioners "marveled" — is that it was genuinely simple without being simplistic.

"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

A coin bears Caesar's image. Give it to him. You bear God's image. Give yourself to him. The obligations don't cancel each other out — they operate on entirely different levels.

Taxes, respect, prayers for those in authority, compliance with laws — these are owed to Caesar. Our ultimate loyalty, our conscience, our worship, the deepest commitments of our lives — these belong to God alone. Jesus didn't pretend there was no tension between those two things. He just clarified which things go where.

Romans 13 fills in the detail: we owe the governing authorities subjection, taxes, customs, fear, and honor. That list is worth sitting with. It doesn't say we owe agreement. It doesn't require enthusiasm. But it does require something more than grudging minimum compliance — it requires the posture of someone who understands that all authority is ultimately delegated from God, and that submitting to a governing authority is, in a meaningful sense, submitting to the order God has established.

Here is the piece of this that is easy to miss: the New Testament was written to people under Roman rule. Not to citizens of a republic with rights of appeal and elected representatives, but to subjects of an empire where the emperor's word was law and Christians were being actively persecuted.

Peter wrote his letter to people who had real and immediate reasons to resent their government. And he still told them to submit.

The reason he could ask that — the reason it made sense to ask it — is found in John 8. When Jesus spoke to the Jews about freedom, they pushed back: we've never been enslaved to anyone. He responded by redefining the terms. The slavery that matters isn't political. It's the slavery of sin. And the freedom that matters isn't political either.

"If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Christians are, in a profound sense, the freest people in the world regardless of what government they live under. The deepest chains have been broken. The most important verdict has already been rendered. That internal freedom makes it possible to navigate external authority — even unjust authority — without being destroyed by it, because the external situation doesn't touch the most important thing.

That's not passive resignation. It's a foundation that makes faithful action possible without desperation.

The ideal — a government that rewards good and restrains evil — doesn't always hold. History makes that plain, and Scripture doesn't look away from it. Ahab and Jezebel used the power of the throne to have an innocent man killed because the king wanted his vineyard. Pharaoh enslaved an entire nation and used the machinery of state to order the murder of their children. The early church was hunted not by criminals but by government officials acting on official orders. Saul "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1) wasn't a rogue actor — he had the high priest's letters in his hand.

When government becomes the source of oppression rather than the protection from it, the question becomes urgent: what then?

The biblical examples give us a range of responses, all of them more active than simple endurance.

The Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and made their case — the brick quota without straw was impossible, and they said so directly. This was petition: going to the authority itself and appealing for a change. In Acts, Peter and John, ordered to stop preaching, told the authorities plainly: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge." That's principled refusal, stated openly and without concealment. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told Nebuchadnezzar that they would not bow to his idol — and that whether God delivered them or not, their answer wouldn't change.

None of these responses are rebellious in spirit. None of them involve rage, contempt, or the desire to tear down authority itself. They are forms of faithful resistance that operate within recognizable moral limits: say what you believe, do what God requires, and accept the consequences.

The willingness to accept consequences is not incidental. It's part of what distinguishes principled resistance from mere defiance. The apostles were imprisoned. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a furnace. Most of the apostles were eventually executed. They didn't resist the consequences — they accepted them as the cost of obedience to a higher authority. That posture is what separates courage from rebellion.

Romans 13 closes with a practical summary: "Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

Honor is worth pausing on. It doesn't mean agreement. It doesn't mean praise. It means treating those in authority as people who hold a real office with real responsibility, not as targets for contempt or mockery. This is harder than it sounds in an era where public ridicule of political figures is practically a sport. It requires something uncommon: the ability to disagree without degrading.

First Timothy 2 adds another dimension. Paul instructs that prayers be made for "kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." The prayer isn't primarily for the benefit of the leaders — it's for the conditions that allow ordinary people to live faithfully. But it requires praying for people we may deeply disagree with, across partisan lines, because the instruction doesn't say to pray for those you agree with.

The practical implications in a country like the United States go further than in many of the settings the New Testament addresses. Citizens here have legal avenues for influence that most people in history have never had. The right to vote. The ability to contact elected representatives. The freedom to write, organize, petition, advocate, and donate within the system. These are not just political options — they are, for someone who cares about what government does and what their grandchildren will inherit, forms of stewardship.

What those actions must not include is a spirit of rebellion — the contempt-fueled, burn-it-down posture that treats authority as inherently illegitimate and opposition as its own virtue. That spirit is specifically named in Scripture as incompatible with Christian character. We can disagree loudly and persistently. We cannot hold the authorities themselves in contempt without violating something more fundamental than a political preference.

All of this has a limit. The New Testament is unambiguous.

When a law requires direct violation of God's law — when obeying the government means disobeying God — Christians are obligated to obey God. There is no way around this. Acts 4:19 presents it as a simple question: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge." The answer is obvious, and Peter and John acted on it.

What falls on either side of that line will sometimes be a matter of genuine Christian disagreement. Different believers, reading the same Scripture and holding the same convictions, may reach different conclusions about where the line falls in specific situations. That's not theological failure — it's the honest reality of applying first-century principles to twenty-first-century circumstances. The diversity of conclusions should be navigated with the same posture demanded of us in every other area of disagreement: with love for one another, not in spite of those differences, but through them.

The two things that are not negotiable on either end: we cannot have a rebellious spirit that refuses to submit to authority as a matter of principle, and we cannot submit to authority when that submission requires us to sin against God. Between those two limits lies a lot of territory that requires wisdom, prayer, and humility rather than a predetermined answer.

Governments tend to grow more demanding over time. That pattern has held across cultures and centuries, and there's no particular reason to think it will reverse. The warning that came with the Israelites' request for a king — take, take, take — reads less like ancient prophecy and more like institutional description.

That doesn't produce fatalism. It produces urgency about using the tools available while they are available, and about thinking beyond personal preference to what will shape the world that children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will inhabit. What laws are built now, what precedents are set, what culture surrounds and shapes the government — these are not merely present-tense concerns for present-tense people.

But underneath all of it — under the policy debates and the election cycles and the contested questions about where any individual line falls — is a simpler reality that the New Testament keeps returning to.

The most important kingdom is not one whose borders can be drawn on a map or whose laws can be enforced by courts. It is entered not by birth or citizenship but by surrender. And its King, unlike every earthly ruler, uses His power entirely for the good of the people He governs.

Render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But everything deeper than a coin — everything that bears the image of God — belongs somewhere else entirely.

Series: N/A

Service: Wednesday Singing Night

Type: Invitation

Speaker: Jason Bray

Series: N/A

Service: Praise and Preaching Service

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Understanding the Bible as One Story: Finding Jesus from Beginning to End

One of the great blessings we share is this: we have the Bible, and we can understand it.

That may not seem remarkable at first, but it truly is. Consider what the Bible is—a collection of 66 books, written over roughly 1,400 years, by multiple authors, in different languages. For someone opening it for the first time, it can feel overwhelming. Where do you begin? How do all the parts fit together?

Yet God did not give us His word to confuse us. He gave it to reveal Himself, to guide us, and ultimately to bring us back to Him.

This lesson is designed to provide a simple foundation—especially for those new to the Bible—so that anyone can begin reading with confidence and clarity. At the heart of it all is one key truth:

The Bible is not a collection of disconnected writings. It is one unified story—and that story centers on one person: Jesus Christ.

The Challenge of Reading the Bible

If you open your Bible to the table of contents, you will notice some helpful structure. The books are divided into the Old Testament and New Testament. There are categories like historical books, poetry, prophets, Gospels, and letters.

That organization helps—but it can also be misleading.

For example, books like Ezra and Nehemiah appear early in the Old Testament, but they actually record events near the end of Old Testament history. The prophets are scattered throughout, and it can be difficult to know where they fit.

So, if someone simply starts in Genesis and reads straight through, they may miss the larger picture.

That is why it is important to understand the Bible not just as a list of books, but as a single unfolding story.

The Story Begins: A Promise in the Garden

The story of the Bible truly begins in Book of Genesis.

In Genesis 1–2, God creates a perfect world. In Genesis 3, that world is broken by sin when Adam and Eve disobey God.

But even in that moment of failure, God introduces a plan.

In Genesis 3:15, He promises that one day a descendant of the woman will come. This individual will be wounded by Satan, but will ultimately defeat him—crushing his head.

This is the first glimpse of hope.

From that point forward, the rest of the Bible is asking one central question:

Who is this promised person?

The Promise Narrows: Abraham

In Genesis 12, God narrows the focus.

He calls Abraham and makes three key promises:

1. He will become a great nation
2. His descendants will receive a land
3. Through one of his descendants, all nations will be blessed

That third promise is the most important. It connects directly back to Genesis 3.

Now we know:

• The promised Savior will be human
• He will come from Abraham’s family
• His impact will be global

The Promise Narrows Further: Judah

By the end of Genesis, the promise narrows again.

In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons and declares that the ruler—the one who will ultimately lead—will come from the tribe of Judah.

Now the identity becomes even more specific:

• Not just any descendant of Abraham
• But from a particular tribe

If someone claimed to be the Savior but came from another tribe, they could be ruled out.

God Keeps His Promises: Nation and Land

As the story continues into Book of Exodus, God fulfills the first promise.

The descendants of Abraham have become a great nation. God delivers them from slavery in Egypt and establishes them as His people.

Later, in the book of Joshua, God fulfills the second promise—giving them the land He had promised.

At this point, two of the three promises made to Abraham have been clearly fulfilled:

• A great nation
• A land

Now the story continues with anticipation:

When will the third promise be fulfilled?

The Promise Narrows Again: David

In 2 Samuel 7, God speaks to King David and makes another crucial promise.

He tells David that one of his descendants will establish an eternal kingdom.

Now we know even more:

• The promised Savior will come from Abraham
• From the tribe of Judah
• From the family of David

The Bible is steadily narrowing the focus, guiding us toward one specific individual.

The Arrival: Jesus Christ

When we open the New Testament, we are introduced to Gospel of Matthew.

The very first verse identifies Jesus as:

• The son of David
• The son of Abraham

This is not accidental. It is deliberate.

The Bible is telling us: Pay attention. This is the one.

The genealogy that follows traces His lineage through Abraham, Judah, and David—exactly as the promises required.

The Mission of Jesus

The central message of the Bible comes into focus in First Epistle to the Corinthians, particularly in chapter 15.

There, we learn:

• Jesus died for our sins
• He was buried
• He rose again on the third day

And this was not done in secret. He appeared to many witnesses—over 500 people at one time.

This is the fulfillment of everything promised since Genesis.

The “seed of the woman” has come.

He was wounded—crucified.

But through His resurrection, He defeated sin and death.

From Adam to Christ

Paul makes a powerful comparison.

Through Adam, sin entered the world, and death followed.

Through Christ, life is restored.

What Adam lost, Jesus reclaimed.

The story that began in the garden finds its resolution at the cross and the empty tomb.

Victory Over Death

The story does not end with Jesus’ resurrection—it extends to us.

Because He rose, we can rise.

Because He conquered death, death no longer has the final word.

As Paul writes, death has lost its sting. Victory comes through Jesus Christ.

This is the hope offered to every person.

You Are Part of the Story

The Bible is not just ancient history.

It is God’s story—and we are living in it right now.

Each day, we make choices that determine how we respond to what God has done.

Through Jesus, forgiveness is offered. Sin can be removed. A relationship with God can be restored.

And that leads to an important realization:

The Bible is not just about knowing the story. It is about responding to it.

Where Should You Start Reading?

For those new to the Bible, knowing where to begin can make all the difference.

Here is a simple and effective approach:

1. Start with Genesis

This is the foundation. It introduces creation, sin, and God’s initial promises.

2. Read Exodus

This book shows God as a Redeemer—rescuing His people and establishing His authority.

3. Read Luke

Gospel of Luke provides a carefully researched, orderly account of Jesus’ life based on eyewitness testimony.

4. Read Acts

Acts of the Apostles explains what happened after Jesus’ resurrection—how the message spread and how people responded.

5. Read Hebrews

Epistle to the Hebrews helps connect everything, showing how Jesus fulfills and surpasses the Old Testament system.

The Consistency of the Message

One of the most striking things about the Bible is its consistency.

Across centuries, authors, and cultures, it tells one unified story.

God makes promises—and God keeps them.

From Genesis to the New Testament, everything points to Jesus.

The Invitation

The story of the Bible reaches its climax in Jesus—but it does not end there.

It continues in the lives of those who respond to Him.

Through His death, burial, and resurrection, forgiveness is available.

Through obedience to Him, a person can be freed from sin and given new life.

The message is clear, consistent, and powerful:

Victory comes through Jesus Christ.

If you’d like help understanding the story of the Bible, email me at [email protected]

Series: Cultural Issue

Service: Adult Class

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Lord’s Supper Service

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Brian Messerli

Series: N/A

Service: Wed Bible Study

Type: Invitation

Speaker: Jason Bray