little book
1. HOW IT ALL BEGAN
BIG
2. WHAT WENT WRONG God had told Adam & Eve not to eat fruit from a special tree. But a crafty serpent tempted them into eating it and disobeying God. Because of this, all of us want our own way and disobey God. This is what the Bible calls Sin. Sadly, sin makes it impossible for any humans to live forever with God.
PICTURE
3. GOD MAKES PROMISES (AND KEEPS THEM!)
Genesis chapter 3
The Bible isn’t just a bunch of books bundled together, it is one story from beginning to end. It’s the story of God and the people He’s created, including you and me. And it’s the story of His Son Jesus and the amazing thing He did for us. But you can find all that out for yourself. Let’s start at the very beginning...
From the very beginning, God promised He would send a rescuer. And His promises kept coming... to Abraham, whose children would be the Israelites. God promised they would live in a special land, and that through one of Abraham’s descendants (Jesus), all nations would be blessed. God’s plan to put people right had started.
In the beginning, God created EVERYTHING: the earth; day & night; sky, land & sea; plants & trees; sun, moon & stars; fish, birds & animals. And finally, human beings to rule over the earth. And God was pleased with it all. Everything He made was just brilliant! Genesis chapters 1-2
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Genesis chapters 12-50. 2000 BC
4. GOD THE RESCUER: THE EXODUS God’s chosen people (the Israelites) were living in Egypt, when an evil king (Pharaoh) started to treat them badly. The Israelites cried out to God to rescue them from slavery. So God sent 10 plagues on the Egyptians and chose Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. This great event showed that God not only loves and cares for His people, but acts powerfully to rescue them. Exodus chapters 1-12 1400 BC
5. GOD IS HOLY: THE LAW
God gave Moses and the Israelites 10 Commandments to show them how to live for Him. He also gave them lots more detailed rules to live by, called the law. God had rescued them from Egypt, now they had to get on with living for Him. The law showed how pure and Holy God is. It also showed how people could never be right with God by themselves: they needed a sacrifice that would make them acceptable to Him. Exodus chapter 20+
1400 BC
6. GOD PROVIDES: THE PROMISED LAND
7. GOD’S KING: KING DAVID
The Israelites lived in the desert for 40 years. They often didn’t keep God’s law. Even so, God led them into the Promised Land (Canaan) that He’d promised Abraham years before. God kept rescuing them from the trouble they got into. Yet the people still disobeyed God and wanted a human king to rule them instead of God...
Even though the Israelites disobeyed God, He still gave them the king He’d promised. King Saul proved to be a big disappointment. So God put David on the throne instead. King David brought the Israelites together under God and made Jerusalem the capital. He defeated Giants and won great battles. But David was not the perfect king who would defeat evil forever. God promised David that one of his descendants would reign forever. That king would come in the future...
Joshua and Judges 1400-1000 BC
1 & 2 Samuel
1000 BC