Getting to Know "The Good Book"

A preview of our next series and some news and notes for Aldersgate Church

New Series Begins October 1

Mention “The Good Book” and most people will know that you’re talking about the Bible. It’s a term that speaks to the fact that this particular book has influenced the world unlike any other. Christians know the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, but despite the fact that it is the bestselling book of all time, has shaped cultures for thousands of years, and changed billions of lives, many people have never understood the Bible as the singular story of the relationship between God, humanity, and creation. Indeed, while the Bible is the most prolific book in history, it’s also one of the least read, especially cover to cover.

When we understand that “The Good Book” is actually an overarching story, however, we begin to see just what kind of “good” it is—a witness to the goodness of God in creating, sustaining, and redeeming the world he created, and making all things good despite the sinful human tendency to work against that good. The good news in the good book is that God can even take those sinful humans and remake them by entering into his creation in person and giving them new life.

In this eight-week sermon series, I’ll be offering an overview of the entire story of The Good Book from Genesis to Revelation, pointing out the threads and plot lines that lead toward a spectacular, open-ended conclusion—a story of which we are all a part. We’ll explore the major themes, seminal moments, and transformational movements that are part of this grand story contained in a library of 66 books with literary genres from history to poetry to apocalypse. It’s a chance to see the Bible as not only a good book, but the book that offers us the way to the good life.

As part of this series, I encourage you to bring your Bible to worship. Use this series to get even more familiar with the text, to understand the context, and to explore parts of the Bible you may have never read before. When we merely put verses on the screen, we often miss the surrounding texts and how they work together to bring the full meaning intended by the author, inspired by God. Using your Bible will give yo you the chance to ruminate over the text and visualize it for later reading and understanding. It doesn’t matter if you’re using the same translation—every translation contributes to our understanding of the text. Someone once asked me which Bible translation is best and my answer is always the same—it’s the one you will read regularly!

We’ll also give you some daily reading prompts that will help you navigate through the story during the week. I’ll use this blog space to add some more detail and context as we move through the series. I hope you’ll plan to be present and invite someone to join you for this important series.

“The Aldersgate Vision” Series: Share Jesus

Before we get to “The Good Book,” I’ll wrap up the series on the Aldersgate Vision with the third part of our vision statement: to “share Jesus.” We talked a little about evangelism a few weeks ago using the Great Commission as our text. For this one, however, we’re going to shift to John’s Gospel and his approach to telling people about Jesus. If the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (“synoptic” meaning “seen together”) highlight Jesus’ command to “go and tell,” John’s story of Jesus is about inviting people to “come and see.” We’ll look at the unique origin story of Jesus’ disciples in John 1 and the figures of Andrew and Philip, who instigate some enthusiastic introductions of their friends to the Lord. Their model of evangelism offers another way that all of us can “share Jesus” with the people in our circles, too. See you Sunday, September 24, as we celebrate our vision and take in new members, too!

The New Room Conference

I’ll be heading out this week to join thousands of colleagues for The New Room Conference in Houston. This is the tenth year for the conference, and I’ve never missed it. It’s a three-day celebration of Holy Spirit awakening sponsored by Seedbed, featuring great speakers, incredible worship, and deep times of prayer. It’s my annual opportunity to have some personal spiritual renewal and see a lot of old friends from seminary as well as colleagues around the Methodist world. I’ll be back before Sunday and look forward bringing the glow of Holy Spirit fire with me to worship this week!

Blessings on your week!

Quote of the Week:

“I’ve read the last page of the Bible; it’s all going to turn out alright.” -Billy Graham