Equipped for Life: Jubilee Bible School
Following our November introductory session, January saw the ‘official’ launch of Jubilee Bible School. The vision for the Bible School has come out of our desire to be people equipped for living out lives which glorify God. We believe that one way to do this is to encounter God as we experience the power of God’s Word.
The Bible is such a large book that many of us need help to find our way around it. The aim of the Bible School is therefore to study the Bible together knowing that ‘the unfolding of God’s words gives light’ (Psalm 119:130). When the ‘word of Christ richly dwells in our hearts’ (Colossians 3:16) it means we are able to live lives which are consistent with being disciples of the King.
So, the Bible School began by spending an evening – yes, just one! – looking at an overview of the Old Testament. The most we could hope to do in the available time was to provide an historical framework which placed key events in the order in which they happened. The reason for this is so that in our reading of the Old Testament we have an idea of how things fit together.
A timeline
We began the evening by pegging nearly 70 different of events and character on a piece of string across the room to create a ‘timeline’ of the Old Testament.
Following this we spent time exploring the way God interacted with His people at the start of the Old Testament. We considered people such as Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David and saw how they encountered God and how God made covenants with them. The thread of God’s grace was inescapable as we saw how He remained faithful even when His people didn’t.
In the final part of the evening Paul Norris took us through the events in Israel from the time of King David to the end of the Old Testament. He outlined how the nation split into two kingdoms, went into exile, and eventually return in stages to the Promised Land.
It was a whistle-stop tour but the whole evening pointed us towards the One who would come and fulfil all the promises, and would establish the people of God. His name is Jesus and we’ll hear more of Him in September!
What’s next?
Well, our next big theme on Friday 24th March is ‘God’. (And you thought the Old Testament in an evening was ambitious!) The evening will have a slightly different feel to it from the fast-paced historical tour of January. We will start by considering the mystery of the Trinity and think about some of the implications of that truth. The rest of the evening will be spent digging around in Scripture together as we explore who the Bible reveals God to be. Our aim is to show how some simple approaches to reading the Bible can really feed our minds and hearts with truth.
Our focus will be on seeing afresh how utterly magnificent God is. I expect to be amazed again at how awesome He is.
Why don’t you join us?
To register your place simply click on this Bible School registration link and enter your details.
