Bible overview final weeks readings

1. Revelation 1
1. What does this chapter tell us about God?
2. What does it tell us about people?
3. Revelation is written as a comfort and encouragement to God’s people facing uncertain times. What is there here that provides comfort and encouragement?

2. Revelation 4
1. What is John being allowed to see?
2. Why is God worshipped and how?
3. What here is there that you can use to help you worship God today?

3. Revelation 5
1. Who worships whom and why?
2. What does this teach us about who the Lamb is?
3. God is on the throne, the lamb has won and secured this future for his people – how will you respond to that?

4. Revelation 21
1. What is the believer’s future?
2. What are the defining marks of the new creation?
3. What is the key to the new creation?
4. How will knowing this is your future secured for you in Christ shape the way you live your life as worship?

Readings for next week in Bible Overview

1. Jeremiah 7
1. What are Israel relying on?
2. What does God require of Israel is they are not to be carried off into exile?
3. What disgusts God about Israel’s behaviour?
4. What does this chapter teach us about worship?

2. Jeremiah 31:31-40
1. What is God’s promise?
2. List the benefits of the New Covenant?
3. How is it different from the Old Covenant?
4. What does it mean for us to be under the New Covenant? Praise God for those things now.

3.Amos 5:18-27
1. What shouldn’t Israel long for and why?
2. How does God feel about their ‘worship’?
3. What would God rather have? How does this help us understand what worshipping God really is?
4. Examine your own worship; am I in danger of going through the motions? Do I do worship on Sunday but not during the week? Is worship The activity of my life or an activity in it?

4. Malachi 2:17-3:5
1. What is the question Israel ask of God?
2. What is God’s answer (note: look for the two comings)?
3. What will the Lord do when he comes to his temple?
4. How does this help us understand what Jesus comes to do?

Bible Overview Readings

Here are the 4 readings that go with teh Bible overview for next week.

1. Deuteronomy 17:14-20
1. What are the requirements God sets for a king?
2. What is the job of the King?
3. What is the promise that comes with obedience?

2. 1 Samuel 8
1. If God has set the pattern for kingship, why is it wrong for Israel to ask for a king here?
2. As God reviews Israel’s history what is his conclusion about Israel (v7-9)?
3. How would you describes Israel’s attitude to God?
4. What does this chapter teach us about God, worship and the human heart?

3. 1 Samuel 16:1-13
1. What is God’s concern as he looks for a king?
2. What does God provide for David, how does this help him rule (c/f Psalm 51)?
3. Yet even David was not perfect, Read 1 Sam 11, what causes David to fail?
4. What lessons can we learn from the life of David about worship?

4. 2 Chronicles 36:15-23
1. How is God’s grace to his people seen?
2. “God is faithful to his word, even when we would rather he wasn’t”, how is this seen here?
3. How serious is not worshipping God rightly? What ought this to teach us?
The book ends with a note of hope, as Cyrus allows the people to return. God is not finished with his plan yet.

Bible Readings for next week

1. Joshua 1
1. What does God call Joshua to do? What promises does he give him as he does so?
2. What phrase is repeated in this chapter? What do you think it looked like in practice?
3. How is worship seen in this chapter?

2. Joshua 24
1. In Joshua’s recounting of Israel’s history what stands out about God and the people?
2. Joshua calls them to fear God and serve him with all faithfulness, what does that mean they give up and what do they replace it with?
3. Why do you think Joshua initially says they cannot serve God (v19-20)?
4. What does this chapter teach us about us, God and worship?

3. Judges 2:1-19
1. What recurring pattern does this summary of the book set up?
2. What is the purpose of the judges?
3. What does this chapter teach about the hearts of Israel and the grace and love of God?

4. Ruth
1. Read through the book – what do you see of the character of Ruth and Boaz?
2. How is Boaz worship of God seen practically in the way he acts?
3. What is the purpose of the genealogy in v18-22? (c/f Matthew 1) What does it show us about the place of the Gentiles and God’s promise to bless all nations?

Bible Overview

We're nearly half way through our ten week Bible overview and it is proving every bit as challenging as I thought it might. We have spent 3 weeks looking at the book of Genesis; the first on chapters 1 and 2, the second on chapters 3-11 and last week on 12-50. Now it picks up pace, this week we're looking at Exodus-Deuteronomy under the heading 'A Nation of Worshippers', here are some of the challenges it poses:

1. The challenge to root yourself in one passage which you expound - It is tempting to do a skim through, but our commitment to expository preaching means I want to anchor my overview in one passage which summarises the main themes. This means investing time to discover the main themes and then locate such a passage.
2. The challenge of selectivity - By its very nature that means you are not saying everything good that there is to say. It is a great reminder that scripture is bursting with lessons we need to learn and such a series forces you to prayerfully choose.
3. The challenge of theme - Having picked the theme of worship I am endeavouring to stay anchored in this theme and have been amazed at the way the Exodus can be viewed as a battle for worship between God and Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt, as well as the way small things like the ordering of the Israelite camp in Numbers 2 draw attention to God's centrality, the definition of worship in Deuteronomy 10-11 are breathtaking. But there is also so much that it means we don't touch on.
4. The challenge of application - There are so many areas of our contemporary worship that this series touches on; our fundamental misunderstanding of worship - it is THE activity of our lives not an activity in it. Worship is obedience to God's word but is not just legalism - something I fear is being lost. The challenge of teaching right worship to our children (Deuteronomy 6 and 11) in every day life. And so on that I seem to reach this point every week with application overload - so many applications so little time!

It needs to drive me back to prayer; 'Father God teach me by your word, open my eyes, my understanding and my heart.' It drives us back to trust in the word of God to do the work of God by the Spirit of God among those he will gather to hear his word on Sunday.

Bible overview readings for next week

1. Gen 50
1. On what basis did the Patriarchs worship God?
2. How far has God fulfilled the Quad promise he has made to Abraham at this point?
3. How is worship seen in Joseph’s final words? What similar promises do we have about our future?

2. Exodus 3
1. List the ways Moses responds to God in this chapter. What do we learn about his character?
2. How does God reveal himself and what does this mean?
3. What is God’s purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt? (esp. v12, 18)
4. What does this chapter teach us about God and about worship?

3. Exodus 20
1. Why is the law given? (c/f 19:3-8, Deut 5:1-4)
2. Looking at the commandments they cover most of life. What does that tell us about true worship?
3. Read Ex 32 – What do we learn about the people, the law, worship and God?

4. Deuteronomy 6
1. How is worship defined in Deuteronomy? (c/f 11:1, 8, 13, 22, 26-8)
2. How is worship to be learned?
3. What does this look like practically today? What changes does it mean making to our priorities and diaries?

Readings for next week in Bible Overview

I've spent some time this week putting together readings to accompany the series we are doing on Sunday mornings. I've decided to do 4 a week and include questions with them to start people thinking about the material we'll cover on Sundays.

1. Gen 4
1. Why does God reject Cain’s offering? (I John 3:10-15, Heb 11:4, Jude 11)
2. What do we learn about worship, and about God, from Genesis 4?
3. How in Genesis 4 is worship seen to be the activity of life rather than just an activity in it. How does my life stand up to this? Pray about it, ask God to by his Spirit help you change?

2. Gen 12
1. What is the cause of Abram’s worship of God? (12:1-9, Acts 7:2-3, Joshua 24:2-3)
2. How like us is Abram and why?

3. Gen 22
1. What does this incident teach us about worship? (Heb 11:17-19)
2. “the faithful worshipper, will obediently surrender to God whatever he asks, trusting in God’s promises of provision and blessing” How is Abram exercising faith here?
3. What things would be hardest for God to ask of us? Examine your heart are they an idol? Pray about this.

4. Gen 39
1. How is Joseph’s worship of God seen here? What practical actions does it result in?
2. What is his ‘reward’ for his worship of God?
3. (v2, 23) What hope is there in the despair? How does that affect Joseph? What similar hope do we have, and how ought it to effect us? Does it?

The Battle for Worship Begins

Bible Readings to accompany Bible Overview series - week 2:

Day 1: Genesis 2 (Recap)
1. How is Adam and Eve's worship described?

2. Why is marriage given? How should that affect our marriages and thoughts about marriage?

3. Worship is not an activity in our life but the activity of our lives. How will that change your thinking, actions and living this week?

Day 2: Genesis 3
1. How does Satan subvert worship?

2. What are the consequences of wrong worship for Adam and Eve?

3. What would it have looked like for Adam and Eve to have worshipped God rightly in Genesis 3?

Day 3: Genesis 4
1. Why does God reject Cain's offering? (1 John 3:10-15, Heb 11:4, Jude 11)

2. What does Genesis 4 teach us about worship and God?

Day 4: Genesis 5
1. Why do you think the genealogy is included?

2. What does the character of Enoch teach us about right worship?

3. What does it mean to walk faithfully with the Lord?

Day 5: Genesis 6-9 (part 1)
1. What is emphasised about Noah in contrast to the rest of humanity?

2. What is the context of Noah's relationship with God (6:8)?

3. Is sin serious? How is it seen?

Day 6: Genesis 11 (part 2)

1. What is emphasized about the building materials(v3)?

2. What does the incident at Babel tell us about man and his worship?

3. Sin is failure to worship God, how does this failure keep repeating itself?

Day 7: Review
1. What does Genesis 3-11 teach us about sin? How does that apply to us today?

2. God has shown tremendous grace to mankind despite its failure to worship and ruin of creation. List all the instances of grace.

3. "The God of the Old Testament is vengeful and judgemental, whereas in the New Testament we see a loving and gracious God." How would you use Genesis 3-11 to counter such a wrong view?

A Bible Overview - the Battle for Worship

This coming Sunday we are starting a new series, its a Bible overview on the theme of worship. I've preached one before on the theme of kingdom, and looked for myself at the theme of covenant, but I've never preached a Bible Overview using the theme of worship.

In part the series is based on something I did three years ago for a small group on Tuesday mornings, except this is much longer and is to be preached to a Sunday morning congregation. Here's how the series looks

1. Genesis 1-2 - Worship and Creation
2. Genesis 3-11 - The Battle for Worship Begins
3. Genesis 12-50 - Worship and the Promise
4. Exodus-Deuteronomy - A Nation of Worshippers?
5. Joshua-Ruth - The Battle for Worship in the Land
6. 1 Samuel-2 Chronicles - Worship with a King
7. Isaiah-Malachi - The Watchdogs of Worship
8. Matthew-John - Perfect Worship
9. Acts-Jude - Worship in God's New Community
10. Revelation - The Past, Present and Future of Worship

Why do a Bible overview? Because we consistently teach expositionally through Bible books and the danger is that we get the micro picture but miss the big sweep of Bible narrative. A Bible overview is a chance to stand back and be amazed at what God has done in history. Its also a great way to familiarize young Christians with the whole Bible.

Its a series which provides many challenges for those preaching in terms of preparation. Firstly their is the sheer amount to be covered in each session, finding a text or a couple of texts to hang things on which represent the story of the whole, there is also the challenge of picking the big themes, selection, editing, and finally application to the people God has given us to teach. And then preaching it rather than lecturing it.

But it is phenomenally exciting; just in beginning preparation on Genesis 1-2 I am reminded what a great God we worship, so great that he has been worshipped from eternity past, that the whole of creation sings his praises and that amazingly he creates man and places him in the midst of this worshipping creation to worship him. Then there is the mode of worship for man - it is in obeying the word of God and fulfilling the mandate God gives him (what a great antidote to the 'worship(singing/music) wars' and 'worship' pastors we see in churches today!!!). And then there is the place of marriage in worship, if Adam and Eve are made to worship God by their ruling over the earth as God's regents and Eve is given to Adam to help in that task - then marriage is about worshipping God - how phenomenally liberating and counter cultural even in our churches!!!

Now the challenge is to teach those things that God has graciously reminded and amazed me with on Sunday.