Learning to See the Bible As Manageable & Meaningful

Transcription

1 Learning to See the Bible As Manageable & Meaningful Using the New Testament to Learn the Old A Free Download from BethDemme.com

2 Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

3 BIBLE 100: USING THE NEW TESTAMENT TO LEARN THE OLD 3 Bible 100: Using the New Testament to Learn the Old 1. The Heroes of the Faith: Hebrews 11: Stephen s speech to the Sanhedrin before his martyrdom: Acts 7: The Apostle Paul s first recorded sermon: Acts 13:16-23 We begin with the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel and Cain By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. (Hebrews 11:4) Enoch Bible 100 enhances other Bible studies by providing participants with an overview of the entire Bible. By faith, Enoch [Noah s Great-Grandfather (Genesis 5:21-29)] was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Noah By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. (Hebrews 11:7) Abraham By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8) The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. Leave your country and your people, God said, and go to the land I will show you. (Acts 7:2-3) So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to [the place that become Israel]. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. (Acts 7:4-5) God spoke to him in this way: For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place. (Acts 7:6-7)

4 BIBLE 100: USING THE NEW TESTAMENT TO LEARN THE OLD 4 Isaac Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. (Acts 7:8) By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. (Hebrews 11:9) For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:10) And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. (Hebrews 11:11) And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. (Hebrews 11:12) (See also Matthew 1:2: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. ) By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. (Hebrews 11:17-18) Jacob and Joseph By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. (Hebrews 11:20) Because the patriarchs [the sons of Jacob] were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. (Acts 7:9-10) Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. (Acts 7:11) When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. (Acts 7:12) On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph s family. (Acts 7:13) After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventyfive in all. (Acts 7:14) Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. (Acts 7:15) By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. (Hebrews 11:21)

5 BIBLE 100: USING THE NEW TESTAMENT TO LEARN THE OLD 5 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. (Hebrews 11:22) Moses As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. (Acts 7:17) Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. (Acts 7:18) He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. (Acts 7:19) Take your Small Group through the entire Bible in only 5 weeks, or a single 100-minute session. Learn more at Bible100 By faith Moses parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king s edict. (Hebrews 11:23; see also Acts 7:20) When he was placed outside, Pharaoh s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. (Acts 7:21) Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (Acts 7:22) Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:24-25) When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. (Acts 7:23-24) Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other? (Acts 7:25-26) But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (Acts 7:27-29) After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. (Acts 7:30-32) Then the Lord said to him, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free.

6 BIBLE 100: USING THE NEW TESTAMENT TO LEARN THE OLD 6 Now come, I will send you back to Egypt. (Acts 7:33-34) This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, Who made you ruler and judge? He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. (Acts 7:35-36) By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. (Hebrews 11:27-28) The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country. (Acts 13:17-18) [T]he people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. (Hebrews 11:29) [F]or about forty years [God and Moses] endured their conduct in the wilderness. (Acts 13: 18) Moses was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. (Acts 7:38) But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we don t know what has happened to him! (Acts 7:39-40) That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. (Acts 7:41) But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. (Acts 7:42-43, paraphrasing Amos 5:25-27)

7 BIBLE 100: USING THE NEW TESTAMENT TO LEARN THE OLD 7 Joshua Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. (Acts 7:44-45) By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. (Hebrews 11:30) By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. (Hebrews 11:31) [God] overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years. (Acts 13:19-20) Visit Bible100 For more resources. Saul After this, 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. (Acts 13:20-21) David 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. (Acts 13:22) The tablets of the law remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. (Acts 7:46-47) However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? (Acts 7:48-50) Save 25% on Bible 100 Small Group Kit The Bible 100 Small Group Kit includes everything you need to lead your group through the entire Bible in only 5 meetings: Leader s Guide, DVD, Workbooks, and more. Use Promo Code: Take25 to save 25% (now thru July 30, 2016)