True Story Day #15: One month of Bible readings to help you understand what the Bible is about.
Introduction:
Over the course of a month, I want to help you appreciate the Bible more by helping you get a better understanding of the story the Bible tells.
As Tim Keller has written, “We usually read the Bible as a series of disconnected stories, each with a “moral” for how we should live our lives. It is not. Rather, it comprises a single story, telling us how the human race got into its present condition, and how God through Jesus Christ has come and will come to put things right.”
These Bible readings will help you write your own summary of that single story by taking you to various passages throughout the Scripture that clarify exactly how God is doing that.
Helps for Getting the Most from Your Study
* Review where you are in the story so far
*Read the passages for each day out loud
* Get out a notebook and answer the following questions for each day:
- What stands out to you the most after having read through these Scriptures?
- If someone asked you what the passages you read that day were mostly about, what would you say?
- What do you think was the main point of what you were reading?
- What did these passages teach you about the character of God? What did they teach you about us as humans? What did they teach you about how God saves people?
- Write one paragraph that summarizes the part of the gospel story these passages tell.
Day Fifteen
Acts 2:22-24
22 “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazareneby doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.
Acts 4:8-12
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people,9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? 10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ 12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
Acts 10:34-43
34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”