Equipping the Saints

Discovering the Intentions of God: Understanding His CovenantMany people approach the Bible like an instruction manual to life or a "how-to succeed" book. They want 10 verses to lower stress, 10 steps to freedom, or 10 verses to increase my faith.Others use it like the legal code of the kingdom of God. They research to find the statute or verse that benefits them or validates their feelings, and then argue their case for a verdict on their truth.Some genuinely want to read the Bible to know God and spend time with Him, but even then, they can find it difficult to understand. This can lead to innocently developing an incorrect or incomplete view of God and what He is saying to them.The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. It’s His story with us. It’s our story with Him. We can’t understand it if we read it like an instructional manual or a legal code or a textbook. To understand the story of the relationship between God and man, we must learn that this story is told through a series of covenants God made with us. A covenant defines the legal terms of an unbreakable relationship agreement that contains promises and vows made by each party to the other. To interpret God’s Word, we must understand that the context of every word He speaks comes from the foundation of His covenants with us.This part contains an overview of God's covenants and an in-depth look at God's covenant with Abraham, the covenant of faith, which we are an heir to through Jesus (Gal. 3:5-29; Rom. 4:13-25).

Discovering the Intentions of God: Knowing His CharacterMany people approach the Bible like an instruction manual to life or a "how-to succeed" book. They want 10 verses to lower stress, 10 steps to freedom, or 10 verses to increase my faith.Others use it like the legal code of the kingdom of God. They research to find the statute or verse that benefits them or validates their feelings, and then argue their case for a verdict on their truth.Some genuinely want to read the Bible to know God and spend time with Him, but even then, they can find it difficult to understand. This can lead to innocently developing an incorrect or incomplete view of God and what He is saying to them.The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. It’s His story with us. It’s our story with Him. We can’t understand it if we read it like an instructional manual or a legal code or a textbook. It’s an autobiography about the Person of God. To understand God's Word, we must begin by knowing His character.