THE STORY: Chapter 2 God Works in the Midst of Our Dysfunction (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 30, 2017)

There is no such thing as a perfect family.  They just don't exist.  We all have our issues, our dysfunction, our stuff.  The story of God building a nation illustrates how God works in the midst of who we are in spite of who we are.  He uses real people, not perfect people.

I thank God that He works in midst of my family as imperfect as their father and husband might be.  God is so good to us.  His grace is overwhelming.

How has God used your family in spite of your failures?  How is God working in you?  What promise are you waiting for God to fulfill?

Have faith.

THE STORY: Chapter 2 God Builds a Nation (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 30, 2017)

The creation is a fitting place to start The Story.  The Book of Genesis (Beginnings in the Hebrew Bible) tells us a good deal about how things began- the universe, humanity, sin, family, redemption (making Adam and Eve leave the garden, the flood, etc.).

Chapter 2: God Builds a Nation takes us to another beginning, the beginning of God's people.  The story of Abram forms the beginning of how God would work through a group of people to bring redemption and hope to all the peoples of the world.

Read Chapter 2 this week for our message this Sunday, April 30.  Good reading.

READING SCHEDULE FOR THE STORY: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People (a blogpost for a sermon series to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, from April 23 until November 26, 2017)

The Story Reading Schedule for 2017

4-23                       THE STORY          Ch. 1      Creation: The Beginning of Life

4-30                       THE STORY          Ch. 2      God Builds a Nation

5-7                         THE STORY          Ch. 3      Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh

5-14                       THE STORY          Ch. 4      Deliverance                                       

5-21                       THE STORY          Ch. 5      New Commands and a New Covenant

5-28                       THE STORY          Ch. 6      Wandering

6-4                         THE STORY          Ch. 7      The Battle Begins

6-11                       THE STORY          Ch. 8      A Few Good Men . . . and Women

6-18                       THE STORY          Ch. 9      The Faith of a Foreign Woman

6-25                       THE STORY          Ch. 10    Standing Tall, Falling Hard

7-2                         THE STORY          Ch. 11    From Shepherd to King

7-9                         THE STORY          Ch. 12    The Trials of a King

7-16                       THE STORY          Ch. 13    The King Who Had It All

7-23                       THE STORY          Ch. 14    A Kingdom Torn in Two

7-30                       THE STORY          Ch. 15    God’s Messengers

               

8-6                         THE STORY          Ch. 16    The Beginning of the End (of the Kingdom of Israel)

8-13                       THE STORY          Ch. 17    The Kingdom’s Fall

8-20                       THE STORY          Ch. 18    Daniel in Exile

8-27                       THE STORY          Ch. 19    The Return Home

               

9-3                         THE STORY          Ch. 20    The Queen of Beauty and Courage

9-10                       THE STORY          Ch. 21    Rebuilding the Walls

9-17                       THE STORY          Ch. 22    The Birth of the King

9-24                       THE STORY          Ch. 23    Jesus’ Ministry Begins

10-1                       THE STORY          Ch. 24    No Ordinary Man

10-8                       THE STORY          Ch. 25    Jesus, the Son of God

10-15                     THE STORY          Ch. 26    The Hour of Darkness

10-22                     THE STORY          Ch. 27    The Resurrection

10-29                     THE STORY          Ch. 28    New Beginnings

11-5                       THE STORY          Ch. 29    Paul’s Mission

11-12                     THE STORY          Ch. 30    Paul’s Final Days

11-19                     THE STORY          Ch. 31    The End of Time

THE STORY: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 23, 2017)

For the next 31 weeks we are going to follow along with the Scriptures from the beginning of the Bible ;until the very end.  We will not traverse the pages in numerical order but in a chronological order.  "The Story" has been broken down into 31 chapters with the material of the NIV Bible placed in chronological order.  If you read with us for the next 31 weeks, you can check off "reading the Bible" from your bucket list.  (To be fair, every verse of the NIV Bible is not in "The Story," but when you complete this study you can pick up your Bible and find the rest in there.)

The goal of this study is to help us all become more familiar with the story about God and His people.  For many of us, we know the major stories but lack a cohesion of the bigger picture.  We know the story of David and Bathsheba but have never read Psalm 51 where David repents of his sin in the same context as the narrative story.  This series will give us that opportunity.

I will be preaching a message from the material found in Chapter 1 of "The Story" on April 23.  Please read this first chapter so you can have a greater understanding of the message as it pertains to your story.  Please continue reading one chapter per week for the next 30 weeks.  At Thanksgiving we will celebrate that we have gone through the Bible as a church family.  What a reason to celebrate!

Additional copies of "The Story" are available on Sunday mornings.  See you Sunday!