Getting Your Story Straight is a summary I’ve written of the story of the Bible. It’s designed for you to hand to a person far from God (or point him to it online below), ask him to read it, and then follow up later with a conversation about it. This summary is based on the conviction that people today need a chance to hear the whole story of Scripture. Many have such little knowledge of the Biblethat they have a difficult time putting into perspective the smaller pieces, even the story of Jesus. Getting Your Story Straight gives them a chance to hear the flow of the entire Bible and thus helps them make sense of the various pieces of the Bible. It also helps them see that the Bible really has one seamless plotline.
Getting Your Story Straight is oriented around 4 ideas: “Where We Are,” “Where We Were,” “Where We’re Going,” and “How We’re Going.”
- “Where We Are” discusses the present chaos, brokenness, and challenge of life in the 21st century. It points out our broken relationship with others, with nature, with God, and with the future.
- “Where We Were” demonstrates that things were not always this way. God originally created a world that was whole and complete. This section also demonstrates how human choices resulted in that transformation of the where-we-were-world of Genesis to the where-we-are-world of today.
- The section entitled “Where We’re Going” highlights God’s work to return us to the world he originally created. It focuses on God’s vision for what life can be with God back in charge.
- “How We’re Going” shows how God is bringing about his desired future through a person who comes with a message about that future and a people who strive to model that future. It further reveals that God is acting as our partner—one with the means to achieve his future. This section climaxes with the story of Jesus as the one who finally and fully brings God’s future into the present.
“Getting Your Story Straight” ends with an explanation of how to make God’s story your story.
Click below for the online PDF.
