Preached 11 August 2024 at Christ Church, Billericay. It is based on Holy Habits in Messy Church. I will add the slides later, so that it will make better sense.
The recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX8AAlUgffM from 28:15
I did go a bit off script at the end.
[Slide 1 – Title]
Prayer
Introduction
[Slide 2 – Mealtime cards]
Favourite story about Jesus?
What is your favourite story about Jesus?
[get answers]
My favourite story about Jesus is: His conversation with Pilate in John 18. Jesus is under extreme pressure, and being sentenced to death, but He has the presence of mind to have a conversation with Pilate that really unsettles him and makes him think about who Jesus is.
Bible at home? Would you like one?
If you haven’t got a Bible at home, would you like one?
[get answers]
Most (all?) of us have – I have loads – many different translations and different sizes – small ones that are difficult to read now, and larger ones with embedded cross-references. I also, have access to multiple versions on my phone.
If you have got a Bible, where is it kept?
[get answers]
My main one is next to my bed.
Activity 1 – Minute to Win it
[Slide 3 – Books of the Bible]
Time for an activity. Hopefully you haven’t opened your envelopes yet – because if you have, that would be cheating! We’re going to have a look at how much you know about the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible. In your envelopes you will find the names of 14 of those books on slips of coloured paper. Your task is to put them in the correct order. The colours of the paper are not significant. If you are fortunate, you will have two slips with the same names on them, although I hope not. If you aren’t fortunate you will have an extra slip, but again, I hope not.
If you’re doing this from home, and don’t have a pack, try working out those on the screen.
So when the next slide comes up, you have one minute to get as many of them as you can.
[Slide 4 – Minute to win it video autoplay and auto advance to 5]
How did you do, check your list with the index page of a Bible?
[get answers]
What is the Bible?
So, what is the Bible? And Why is it so important to Christians?
It is a collection of writings (or books), from around 3200 years ago, to about 2000 years ago. In many cases, the writings are recording events that have come to their hearers by being told and re-told over many generations. The writings record peoples interactions with God, and how they behaved because of, or despite, those interactions. It tells us of their ups and downs, their successes and failures. They recorded songs, poetry, prophecy, biography, letters, and philosophical thoughts as well as a little history. All aspects of their lives are covered. All the writings are focussed on God and His people. We can see how His promises are fulfilled, and most importantly, how His plan for the redemption of the world is progressing.
Sequence
The writings are kept in a particular sequence, as we have seen. This is not a historical sequence, even though the first book deals with creation and the last with the end of this world and the establishment of the next. Rather, Jewish writing that make up our Old Testament are first, and the Christian writings that make up the New Testament are second, after that the sequence loosely categorises the writings by type.
Important
The Bible is important because it is the word of God. Each of the books is inspired by God, and eventually, written down and then copied and copied again by people who recognised its importance. The Bible stories we read, both the historical ones, and the made up ones, like the parables, tell us something about ourselves and how we relate to God. They also tell us something about God and how He relates to us. The Bible itself says that these writings are sufficient for us, so during the reformation, in 1561, this confession was written:
[Slide 6 – Belgic Confession]
“We believe that those
Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever
man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.”
and in the following century the Westminster Assembly said:
[Slide 7 – Westminster Assembly]
“The whole counsel of God
concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation,
faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good
and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which
nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the
Spirit, or traditions of men [Gal. 1:8–9; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Tim.
3:15–17].”
So our Bible has everything we need to live our lives as God wants us to. We just have to work out the what and the how.
Activity – What’s Missing
Slide 8 – What’s Missing
One of the ways we can use the Bible is for guidance. In the following activity, the guidance the items provide will help us get from one place to another.
Watch the screen carefully. You will have only 30 seconds to study it’s contents and store them in your short term memory. Then, the picture will change and one of the things will be missing. Now, normally this game would be played with a tray and a cloth covering it, I would them take an item and uncover it. But it’s almost impossible to show a tray of items to those who worship from home, so I’ve created a video.
Right, here goes:
[Slide
9 – 9 items that give direction
Slide 10, slide 11 follow
automatically]
What was missing?
Did you manage to see what was missing?
[get answers]
[Slide 12 The Missing Item]
So, there it is, a small black arrow, I hope you spotted it.>
Life as a Journey
[Slide 13 What does the Bible say about]
It’s a bit of a cliché these days to say life is a journey, but that is still a valid way of looking at life. Often we find ourselves lost and don’t know what to do next, or how to respond to a certain situation.
Many years ago, as a young Christian, I was given a book, simply called ‘Help’. Each chapter, consisted of a page or two of Bible verses that answered some question about life, or gave indications of how to pray and respond. These days we simply have to do an internet search “What does the Bible say about …?”. But we have to be careful when we look at the results and only read results that list Bible verses. If the Bible is to give direction, we don’t necessarily want other peoples interpretations. Read the verses, and perhaps check to see if there are any other references that relate to those verses. It’s rarely a good idea just to read one or two when there are about 31,100 to choose from.
Road to Emmaus
[Slide 14 Road to Emmaus pictures]
In our reading today, the disciples on the road to Emmaus were lost and confused, because the man they thought was the Messiah was dead. Then an apparent stranger comes along and speaks to them about their scriptures, and shows them how all the scriptures point to Jesus, and His death and resurrection. They didn’t recognise Him until he broke bread with them, then they understood.
It can work in similar ways for us, if we are prepared to listen to and absorb the contents of the Bible, and to learn from it, not just remember it. Then, when we have need the words and their meening will come back to us and provide us with clarity and understanding.
Amen
