Floodgates 101_Issue2_2019_FINAL

Events
a span of 1600 years by 40 different authors, it points to one
story. And that is only possible when there is a divine being
who inspires the words in the Bible through human beings –
God Himself.
The Biblical Narrative
It is vitally important that people know the overarching
storyline of the Bible – Creation, Fall, Redemption and
Consummation. If we are to live as Christians in a fallen
world, we must be shaped by the grand narrative of Scripture.
The one story line of the Bible is God’s salvation plan
through Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament points
forward to the promised Messiah, and everything in the
New Testament points back to Jesus Christ, the promised
Messiah, God Himself who ushered in the kingdom of
God – born through a virgin birth, lived a sinless life, died
a substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of humanity,
resurrected bodily, ascended to heaven and today reigns in
heaven at God’s right hand, reconciling us back to God.
The more we read the Bible, the more we see that God is
the main character, not us. Bearing in mind the big story of
Scripture helps us keep our focus on Jesus, and off ourselves.
It is vitally
important that
people know
the overarching
storyline
of the Bible –
Creation, Fall,
Redemption and
Consummation.
WHY WE ANCHOR ON THE WORD
1. To know God
Christianity is founded upon the theology of God revealing
Himself. It is not what we understand, assume or think about
God. Scripture is a fundamental path towards knowing God.
We need to grow to know who He is, what He is like, what He
is doing, and what His ways are. Otherwise we worship a God
of our imagination, we make Him conform to our image and
we build our own kingdom, not His.
God desires that His people know Him. In the book of Ezekiel
alone, seventy-two times God said “that they may know that
I am God”.
Knowing God is critical for a Christian to live in this broken
world. J.I. Packer, in his book, Knowing God says, “Knowing
God is crucially important for the living of our lives. The
world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a
disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not
know God.”
A.W. Tozer similarly says, “What comes to our minds when we
think about God, is the most important thing about us.” How
we see God is critical because you become what you behold.
What absorbs our interest? What do we give our attention
to most? What shapes our thinking and trains our affections?
For example, if you are absorbed with money, soon you will
look like money, or if you keep focusing on your problems,
you will end up looking like your problems!
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