Friday, April 11, 2008

Explore the Bible for Yourself, Part 33 of 52

IDEA: Narratives illustrate how God works with His people in the past; they do not necessarily give you specific instruction on how to live in the present.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand how narrative is to be used in application to their lives.

Do you think it's a good idea to study history? What can you learn from the study of history? Is there a danger in studying history?

I. Let me give you an illustration and see how you respond.

For example, if I say to you, how did you become a citizen of the United States? If you tell me you were born a citizen, I might say, "That's ridiculous. George Washington, the father of this country, did not become a citizen that way. He was not born an American citizen. Neither were Thomas Jefferson or John Adams. So what makes you think you're so much better than the founders of our country?" How would you respond to that?

II. We can make the same mistake when we're reading the Bible.

While we can learn principles about how God deals with His people, we don't necessarily get instruction about how God is going to deal with us.

Putting out the fleece, Judges 6.

In the narrative of Acts, we can see how God dealt with the early church, but we're not necessarily instructed in how God deals with us.

Day of Pentecost: along with speaking in tongues are also fire and a mighty wind.

God did miracles in Acts; it doesn't necessarily follow that He will do a miracle for me today.

Elijah on Mt. Carmel called down fire from heaven. Can we bring down fire from heaven?

III. The principle is that we have to turn to other places in the Scripture where a principle is taught explicitly in order to get guidance for our lives.

These stories may illustrate the principle, but the principle is not necessarily in the story.

Conclusion: If you ask how a person becomes a citizen of the USA, I would cite the constitution. History may give me some illustrations of folks becoming citizens, but the authority for my citizenship rests not on their experience but on the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution and on the U.S. Nationality Act of 1940. You don't read Revolutionary War history to get the answer to that question.