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(click on a study, copy and paste it---and it's yours)The Story of the World (and Us) (leader)
Introduction
Hello! How are you? What’s your name? Where were you born? What was your life like when you were a child? What have you done in the last 10 years?
Together, the answers to these types of questions form a story, the story of our lives. They say something about who we are. Each of us has a story that is similar to but also different from the story of others.
The Bible tells a story too, but it tells a story about the world: how it came to be, what happened to it, what its future will be.
It tells us about God: who he is and what he is like.
It also tells us about ourselves: who we are and what we were meant to be like.
Since you and I are part of the world, the Bible also tells our story: Who we were meant to be, why we are like we are, and who we can become.
Many scholars have pointed out that the story the Bible tells has six parts:
- Part 1: Creation (Genesis 1-2)
- Part 2: Disaster! (Geneses 3-11)
- Part 3: Restoration Begun (Genesis 12 – Malachi 4)
- Part 4: Someone Special (Matthew 1 – John 21)
- Part 5: A New Community (Acts 1 – Jude)
- Part 6: Restoration Completed (Revelation)
The Bible is a love story, for it talks about God’s love for us, even though we do horrible things against him and to one another. It’s a story about life—beautiful life that was ours in the beginning and, thanks to God, will be ours at the end.
We trust that you will enjoy reading this story. It might become yours!