Becoming Part of God's Grand Narrative
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I am deeply grateful to be here in Kenya, sharing the profound story of the Bible with you. Our journey today is to explore the comprehensive narrative of the Bible, understanding it not as a collection of isolated stories but as a unified story centered on Jesus Christ. Many approach the Christian life by trying to fit Jesus into their personal narrative, but the true call is to become part of His story, where He is the lead actor, and we are supporting characters in His grand narrative. [00:00:23]
Some people think that Jesus is someone to add to their story. I'm living my life, I'm doing my thing, I have my hopes and my dreams, and you know what, if I added Jesus to my story, it would make it a lot better. And that's how a lot of people think. It's as if they're filming a movie, and who's the lead actor in their movie? Well, they are, of course. [00:01:39]
We know that the real way to live the Christian Life, the way that Jesus spoke to us about laying down our lives for his sake and taking up a cross and following him, really translates into this kind of picture: when we come to Jesus, we come to have a part in his story. He becomes the lead actor, he becomes the most important character in our life, and anything we do, we do in support of him. [00:02:36]
The Bible tells us in sort of this broad comprehensive way what God's story is. So let me just give you a little basic background about the Bible. And let me, I want to apologize because I know that for many of you, you know this that I'm going to talk to you about, but I would say I can imagine with this many people here this afternoon that not all of you know what I'm going to be talking about here. [00:03:31]
Friends, I want you to understand that when you hold a Bible in your hand, you're not just holding a book, you're holding a library. You're holding 66 books that are arranged together and have different approaches, different messages that they communicate. For example, the first many books of the Bible are historical in nature. Those ones that you see right there with the yellow border around them, those are the historical books of the Bible. [00:05:48]
The Old Testament covers history from the very beginning of creation, somewhere about the very beginning of creation right there is when it starts in Genesis chapter 1, and then it continues all the way to about 400 BC. That's the span of the Old Testament. That's a long time, that's thousands of years. But do you understand the New Testament, the historical timeline for the New Testament is a little bit less than a hundred years. [00:10:20]
You could say, I think accurately so, that Jesus is presented in every single book of the Bible. I kind of made up a list some time ago. So if you're okay with this, it's a long list for me. There's 66 books in the Bible. I'm going to read through the list of the 66 books of the Bible and just mention one way, I'm sure we could come with many more if we took the time to do it, but one way that Jesus is presented in every one of the books of the Bible. [00:13:44]
God's ultimate plan is to bring together, to sum up, to resolve everything in Jesus Christ. At the end of it all, when Jesus Christ has returned in glory, when all of humanity has stood before God in judgment, when everything is resolved by God's perfect Justice, then everything will be resolved in Christ, either with Jesus Christ as the king of heaven or Jesus Christ as the Lord over hell. [00:27:13]
The answer to your problem and the problem of all humanity is found in Jesus Christ, the son of man who came and walked this earth. And the highest aspiration of life should be for us to know Jesus better and for us to truly follow him as disciples, as people that just did as they did in the days of the books of the gospels, the gospel accounts, that we would follow Jesus and be his servants. [00:33:49]
There is a day when every wrong will be righted, when every matter will be resolved according to God's holy love and his Justice. And I'm here to tell you that it will happen. God will resolve all things in Jesus Christ. And I said to you before, the end of the story is already written. But if you just want to imagine one more time in your mind that Blackboard that I asked you to picture, you and I and every one of us here, we're a mark on that Blackboard. [00:34:23]
I'd rather have a small role in the greatest production that the Universe has ever seen than have the leading role in my own sorry life. I want the smallest of roles in God's unfolding plan of the ages, and God invites me, he invites you to say lay down the story of your own life. Stop trying to make it all about you. [00:35:21]
We come to Jesus and we say I surrender to you completely, and I want the smallest role in your great plan of the ages. And Jesus says come along, you've got your role, and your role is important. Now let me give just a brief introduction to what we're going to do in the second part after we have our question and answer time. The end of the story is already written. [00:36:42]
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Some people think that Jesus is someone to add to their story. I'm living my life, I'm doing my thing, I have my hopes and my dreams, and you know what, if I added Jesus to my story, it would make it a lot better. And that's how a lot of people think. It's as if they're filming a movie, and who's the lead actor in their movie? Well, they are, of course. [00:01:39]
We know that the real way to live the Christian Life, the way that Jesus spoke to us about laying down our lives for his sake and taking up a cross and following him, really translates into this kind of picture: when we come to Jesus, we come to have a part in his story. He becomes the lead actor, he becomes the most important character in our life, and anything we do, we do in support of him. [00:02:36]
The Bible tells us in sort of this broad comprehensive way what God's story is. So let me just give you a little basic background about the Bible. And let me, I want to apologize because I know that for many of you, you know this that I'm going to talk to you about, but I would say I can imagine with this many people here this afternoon that not all of you know what I'm going to be talking about here. [00:03:31]
Friends, I want you to understand that when you hold a Bible in your hand, you're not just holding a book, you're holding a library. You're holding 66 books that are arranged together and have different approaches, different messages that they communicate. For example, the first many books of the Bible are historical in nature. Those ones that you see right there with the yellow border around them, those are the historical books of the Bible. [00:05:48]
The Old Testament covers history from the very beginning of creation, somewhere about the very beginning of creation right there is when it starts in Genesis chapter 1, and then it continues all the way to about 400 BC. That's the span of the Old Testament. That's a long time, that's thousands of years. But do you understand the New Testament, the historical timeline for the New Testament is a little bit less than a hundred years. [00:10:20]
You could say, I think accurately so, that Jesus is presented in every single book of the Bible. I kind of made up a list some time ago. So if you're okay with this, it's a long list for me. There's 66 books in the Bible. I'm going to read through the list of the 66 books of the Bible and just mention one way, I'm sure we could come with many more if we took the time to do it, but one way that Jesus is presented in every one of the books of the Bible. [00:13:44]
God's ultimate plan is to bring together, to sum up, to resolve everything in Jesus Christ. At the end of it all, when Jesus Christ has returned in glory, when all of humanity has stood before God in judgment, when everything is resolved by God's perfect Justice, then everything will be resolved in Christ, either with Jesus Christ as the king of heaven or Jesus Christ as the Lord over hell. [00:27:13]
The answer to your problem and the problem of all humanity is found in Jesus Christ, the son of man who came and walked this earth. And the highest aspiration of life should be for us to know Jesus better and for us to truly follow him as disciples, as people that just did as they did in the days of the books of the gospels, the gospel accounts, that we would follow Jesus and be his servants. [00:33:49]
There is a day when every wrong will be righted, when every matter will be resolved according to God's holy love and his Justice. And I'm here to tell you that it will happen. God will resolve all things in Jesus Christ. And I said to you before, the end of the story is already written. But if you just want to imagine one more time in your mind that Blackboard that I asked you to picture, you and I and every one of us here, we're a mark on that Blackboard. [00:34:23]
I'd rather have a small role in the greatest production that the Universe has ever seen than have the leading role in my own sorry life. I want the smallest of roles in God's unfolding plan of the ages, and God invites me, he invites you to say lay down the story of your own life. Stop trying to make it all about you. [00:35:21]
We come to Jesus and we say I surrender to you completely, and I want the smallest role in your great plan of the ages. And Jesus says come along, you've got your role, and your role is important. Now let me give just a brief introduction to what we're going to do in the second part after we have our question and answer time. The end of the story is already written. [00:36:42]
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