Mike Pilavachi - Storylines: Your Map to Understanding the Bible

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy

Bible, New International Version . NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by

International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright

by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used

by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations marked

KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.)

The authors have added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2009910648

ISBN 978-1-4347-6475-1

eISBN 978-1-4347-0037-7

2008 Andrew Croft and Michael Pilavachi

First edition published by Kingsway Communications in 2008

Andrew Croft and Mike Pilavachi, ISBN 978-1-84291-384-0.

The Team: Richard Herkes, Melanie Larson, Amy Kiechlin, Caitlyn York, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Sarah Schultz

Cover Image: Veer

Second Edition 2010

Dedications

Andy: To Mum and Dadslow to anger and rich in love.

Mike: To Nicky and Pippa Gumbelthank you for showing me more of the grace, humility, compassion, and integrity of Jesus. It means more than you know.

Contents

Acknowledgments

A big fat thank you to all those who have helped us draw out some of the themes of the Bible: Richard Herkes, Steve Croft, Ali Martin, Avner Boskey, Jon White, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, Derek Morphew, Beth Coulson, Frog and Amy Orr Ewing, Jason Fout, Anna Williams, Melanie Larson, and Bishop David Pytches. Your time, patience, encouragement, and correction have been invaluable. We couldnt have done it without you!

Wed also like to thank Richard and Diana for their home away from homeyour salad dressing is a catalyst for deep thinking.

Finally, it wouldnt be right for this book to be published without the two of us openly admitting we nicked most of the stuff in it from other people. To all those people who have taught and changed the way we read Scripture, who have opened our eyes to things we never would have seen ourselves, we are deeply indebted. Please dont sue

Introduction

This is a book about a Book.

Its about a Book that tells of the birth of the cosmos. A Book that describes everything from the earthy cries of grieving mothers to the mysteries of the human soul. A Book with potential to restore our hearts and guide our lives, a Book upon which entire nations have based their worldview. This Book has literally changed the course of history. Its a Book over which people have fought and because of which people have died.

This is a book about a Book that tells a story. A true story. Gods story our story. So why write another book about the Bible?

First, we need the money. (Just kidding. Sorta.)

And secondly, more seriously, we are worried. These days there seem to be lots of followers of the God of the Bible who dont know where to begin reading it, who dont understand whats in it, and who are intimidated by it. And truthfully we often struggle to read the Bible ourselves. But we have also discovered that abandoning this Book puts our lives in peril. We have discovered that the Bible is the Book of truth and the Book of life. It feeds us, it challenges us, it guides us, and it comforts us. But more than anything else, the Bible points us beyond itself to its author, God. To put it bluntly, its very hard to get to know God without reading the Bible.

As weve dug deeper into the Bible, weve glimpsed and unearthed treasures that we had no idea were hidden there. We have discovered just a few of the wonders of the Bible, and like two excited children who have found a secret garden, we want to show everyone wholl come and look.

Both Mike and I (Im Andy, and Im the one typingunfortunately Mike has a typing speed of around ten words per hour) have been realizing over the past year or so that the best way for us to get to grips with the whole Bible is to understand the whole story. As followers of Jesus this isnt always as easy as wed expect. Church services, youth group meetings, and Bible studies usually focus on only a small section of the story. This is definitely important, and because the Bible is so rich, we need to do this. At the same time, it can mean we grow up as Christians without ever getting the big picture. We can sit through Sunday school for years, trot out the right answers, have a nice discussion about particular biblical charactersand still not get it. Going through the Bible one snapshot at a time is like watching a movie frame by frame. Sometimes we just need to press play and watch it from start to finish. Then when we do come back to watching the individual frames, were much more likely to understand them because we get the big picture.

Heres a quick map of what to expect in this book: We want to give a brief yet full overview of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We could have done this in many different ways, but the way weve chosen is to paint the story. It may be that some people who picked up a copy of Storylines are more familiar with the outline of the Bible story than others. For those readers who are a little unsure about the story of Israel in the Old Testament (the call of Israel, the split of the kingdom, and the captivity and exile), as well as the life of Jesus and the events of the early church, you may find it helpful to begin by first reading The Bible in 20 Pages, Appendix A at the back of the book. This gives a whistle-stop tour of the narrative of Scripture and it explores how the whole of the Bible is the love story of God calling us into relationship with himself.

For those who feel like they already have a sketch outline of the story, we want to start to shade in the many contrasting and complementing colors by telling the story again through the different windows of the great themes of the Bible. Some verses will be looked at more than once; this is deliberate as we attempt to look through these different windows. At the end of each chapter youll find a paperchase. In case you arent familiar with the word, a paperchase is a childs thinga playful following of a trail to see where it goes. In this book our paperchase will be similar; some fun trail-following. Well do this by giving a summary of some of the key scriptures for that particular storyline. You may find it helpful to sit and read through them yourself, following the trail that God shows you. We know well have missed loads of amazing insights and wouldnt want you to lose outthe Bible is our ultimate picture and authority. There will also be two or three questions that you may want to read and think about yourself, or you may enjoy chatting about them with your friends.

Although every storyline follows the story of the Bible, each is very different and unique. Yet as we discover them, we begin to see that the Bible isnt just a random collection of sixty-six books; its a stunningly coherent whole with an amazing purpose and a transforming message. Well search out Jesusthe focus of the Bibleand realize the extent to which his life forms the plot of the whole story. Well examine the covenants of the Bible and see afresh Gods commitment to us from beginning to end. Well experience the presence of God and come to know the point of it all is that we can be with him. Well wonder at the mighty plan of salvation forging itself from Genesis to Revelation, and well stand in awe as the kingdom of God is brought about on earth as it is in heaven. Well taste some of the worship of the Bible and recognize that the Scriptures are one long journey into praising God. If we understand these great themes, then we understand the story of the Bible, and even more importantly we understand God in a way that weve never understood him before.