{"id":5481,"date":"2014-06-17T11:10:57","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/?p=5481"},"modified":"2014-06-17T11:10:57","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:10:57","slug":"gods-big-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/17\/gods-big-story\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Big Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10041\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We’re in the midst of a sermon series on God’s Story. This week, we’ll dwell on the Fall. Life makes so much more sense when you realize that the world and all that is in it is not as it should be.<\/p>\n

From Scotty Smith:<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Story comes to us as a redemptive drama in four parts.<\/p>\n

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  1. Creation<\/strong>\u00a0– when everything was as God meant it to be.<\/li>\n
  2. Fall<\/strong>\u00a0– the tragic intrusion of sin and death, resulting in the pervasive brokenness of all people and everything God has made.<\/li>\n
  3. Redemption<\/strong>\u00a0– God\u2019s astonishing promise to redeem his fallen image-bearers and creation through the grace-full work of his Son, Jesus Christ.<\/li>\n
  4. Consummation<\/strong>\u00a0– the magnificent fulfillment of God\u2019s plan to gather and cherish a people forever, and to live with them in a more-than-restored world, called \u201cthe new heaven and new earth.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Each panel of the painting presents one of the four interrelated parts of God\u2019s Story, and each is replete with well chosen symbols. First you notice that a tree is the predominant image in each panel; each tree is tagged with an identifying word: life, loss, love, and again, life. Why was a tree chosen as the best symbol to tell God\u2019s Story? When God first created mankind, he placed Adam and Eve in a garden paradise, called Eden. In the middle of the Garden was the tree of life, a clear statement and celebration of the fact that God is so very good and generous. It is from God that we receive life and it is from him that all blessings flow.<\/p>\n

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    Read the story\u00a0behind the painting and more about God’s Story<\/a><\/p>\n