Valleys intro sampler - Flipbook - Page 15
It’s easy to get lost in the vast amount of information in the Bible, so we’re going
to explore the storyline of Scripture in four parts. And as you locate your experience in the story of the Bible, I hope the story of redemption becomes your own.
PART 1: GOD MADE SOMETHING GOOD.
The big story––God’s story of redemption––started in a garden. When God
launched his project for humanity, he purposed all of us—his image bearers—to
flourish and co-create with him. In the beginning there was peace, beauty, order,
and abundant life. The soil was good. Life was good. We rarely hear this part of
our story, but it doesn’t make it less true. God created something good—and that
includes you.
PART 2: WE MESSED IT UP.
If you’ve ever thought, This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, you’re right. It’s not. We
messed up God’s good world. Do you ever feel like you’ve won gold medals
in messing things up? Me too. All humanity shares in that brokenness. We are
imperfect. The people we love are imperfect. Our systems are jacked, and our
world is broken. And that’s on us. We made the mess, and we literally can’t help
ourselves. We need to be rescued from our circumstances, the systems in which
we live, and ourselves.
PART 3: JESUS MAKES IT RIGHT.
The good news is that God can clean up all our messes, and he does so through
the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No one denies that Jesus lived and
died. That’s just history. It’s the empty tomb and the hundreds of eyewitnesses
who saw Jesus after his death that make us scratch our heads. Because science can
only prove something that is repeatable, we are dependent upon the eyewitness
testimonies of Jesus’ resurrection for this once-in-history moment. If Jesus rose
from the dead—and I believe he did—Jesus is exactly who he said he was, and he
accomplished exactly what had been predicted for thousands of years. He restored
us. Jesus made it, all of it, right. He can forgive your sins and connect you to the
holy God through his life, death, and resurrection.
xiv
VA L L E YS