Firm Foundations Lesson 1 Introducing…The Bible! Memory verse: II Timothy 3:16

Introducing…The Bible The most wonderful book in the world Like a letter from God

God is the focus of our study God wants us to know Him He is the central character of the Bible You will learn what He’s like  Who He is  What He does  What He’s like – His personality

Timeline

We will study the Bible chronologically Bible is history from God’s point of view We’ll study history in order  What was there before the beginning?  Do you know where angels came from?  Where is God right now? Time line  Shows things in order they happened  Example: Who came first, Moses or Abraham?  Next lesson is from Genesis Foundation of the Bible

Foundation for understanding Ever seen a house being built?  Do builders start with the roof?  No! Built on firm foundation, one piece at a time  What if foundation is weak or built wrong? Attend every lesson  Every lesson builds a foundation for future ones

A look at the Bible What’s inside  Table of contents  Old Testament  New Testament  Chapter & verse numbers  Footnotes & helps Bible is God’s Word  Just the text of the Bible, not footnotes, etc.

The Bible is the Word of God II Timothy 3:16 Prophets  God spoke exact messages He wanted in Bible  Sometimes out loud  Sometimes in visions  Sometimes directly into their minds  Exact! II Peter 1:20-21 God tells us what we need to know!  No other book written this way Written in an interesting way  40 men  1,600 years  One author!

Bible came through the Jews All but one Bible writer was Jewish  Guess which one was a Gentile? God’s message is for the whole world, through Israel Isaiah 45:22  Israel was God’s megaphone

Israel

Bible was passed down intact 1. God’s prophets wrote down God’s exact message 2. Original copies wore out, new copies had to be made 3. Copying done with care Number of letters counted, middle letters marked More copies of Bible than any other ancient book All manuscripts found say same thing

Dead Sea scrolls 1947, shepherd boy discovered them Scrolls hidden in 1 st century before Christ Same content as other scriptures found 1,000 years earlier

Bible in many languages Originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek For many centuries, only a few could have copies God enabled men to translate Bible into many languages We now have many versions in our language Bible has been translated more than any other book

Bible is accurate history What is an archaeologist?  Studies the past  Digs up things left by ancient civilizations  Archaeologists have found evidence for the Bible Locations of cities Names Dates Bible never needs to be updated or changed  School textbooks and encyclopedias do! Psalm 119:89

Bible is God’s personal message to us Different from any other book  Tells us about God  Tells us what God thinks of us  God wrote the Bible for each one of us!

Conclusion: The Bible Printed more times than any other book Translated into more languages than any other book Personal message to us