HEATHFIEL BAPTIST CHURCH

CHURCH’S MANUAL & CHURCH MANUAL

Level 1

CHURCH’S MANUAL
Heathfield Baptist Church

Welcome
To the Levels of Church Growing

Level 1 New Beginnings

By Pastor José Celis & Paulene Solomon

CHURCH’S MANUAL

We are glad you want to know about Jesus Christ! These Levels are the basic
introduction to the Heathfield Baptist Church, as we have diverse backgrounds of
faith and life, but we are all focused, as a family of faith, on the knowledge of God,
His Son, and His Word in the power of His Holy Spirit.

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These Levels are being designed to explain who makes up our Church and what it
is; and to reaffirm our relationship with our Father God.

This Guideline has 6 Levels Will be leading by: Pastor James October, Sheena
Hendricks, Pastor Jose Celis & Paulene Solomon.

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 Outline of Content:

 Biblical Basis
 What is the structure of our Church like?
 The nature of the Church determines its structure
 KEY THRUTS
 We are one body, - ¡no a business!
 We are an organism - not an organization!
 Knowing & growing in Christ Levels
 THE NEW STRATYEGY OF HBC
 The Creation
 Who is God?
 The Personal God of Genesis 2
 Life in the Garden
 The Bible
 Studying the Right Book for the Wrong Reasons
 To Teach Us about Ourselves and the World We Live In
 To Enable Us to Live Godly Lives
 To Facilitate a Relationship with God
 To Exalt Jesus
 To Prepare Us for Our God-Given Mission
 Approaching the Mind of God
 Before You Move On
 Why Study the Bible?
 Sin - The Fall
 The World Became a Different Place
 From Cain to Babel
 The Story Continues in Spite of Sin
 God’s Covenant with Abraham
 God’s Promise of Redemption
 The Covenant Confirmed
 The Promise Fulfilled The Birth of Christ
 The Good News of the Kingdom of God
 Steps of salvation
 Propitiation
 Reconciliation
 Atonement
 The Significance of Christ's Resurrection

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 Biblical Basis

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the
saints, and of the household of God;” Ephesians 2:19 (KJV)

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the
saints.”
Let all things be done decently and in order”.
1 Corinthians 14:33, 40 (KJV)

What is the structure of our Church like?

The structure of our Church is not determined by ___________

, _________ ,

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 The nature of the Church determines its structure
The Church is ___________
”And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers”. Acts 2:42 KJV

A top priority in fellowship is:

HARMONY __________ AND __________
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
Ephesians 4:3 KJV
“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another”.
Romans 14:19 KJV

KEY THRUTS

A.- The Church is: ___ __________.

B.- God expects Every one of the Church’s family memberships to_____
and ________ in Christ.
C- A Christian without a family/church: _____ ____ _______.
" Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as
brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: I Peter 3:8 (NKJV)
Galatians 6:10; Hebrews 2:10-12; I Peter 4:17

So, we operate based on___________ and not________

“Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as
brethren”;
I Timothy 5:1 KJV

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One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church
of God?)
I Timothy 3:4,5 KJV

The Church is _____ ________

1 Corinthians 12:27; Efessians5:23; 1:22,2; Colossians 1:18; 2:19

We are one body, - ¡no a business!

We are an organism - not an organization!

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same
office:
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of
another” Romans 12:4,5.

In an ________, "maintenance" becomes the primary focus, but in an _______,

"Ministry" is the primary focus.

At the Heathfield Baptist Church we have a simple structure so that we can increase
______________.

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ: Ephesians 4:11,12

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Knowing & Growing in Christ
Levels

Level I.
New Beginnings

Level II.
To Know Christ &
Level VI. Knowing my Church
Leadership

Level III.
Discovering my Membership
V. Discipleship

Level IV.
Discover My Gifts

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“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”:
(Ephesians 4:13 KJV)

The goal is that once you’ve walked through the material, you can turn around
and guide someone else through it.

I will commit myself to CHRIST and to HBC as my FAMILY OF FAITH.

THE NEW STRATYEGY OF HBC

Principles that HBC would be;

 INSPIRING church Sunday Service (Acts 2:42, 46, 47)

 INTEGRAL CELLS Groups (Acts 5:42)
 DRIVEN WITH PURPOSE (Mt. 22:36-40; 28:19-20)
 EVANGELISM ACCORDING TO THE NEEDS (Colossians 4:5)
 FERVENT SPIRITUALITY (Romans 12:11, 12)
 FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURES (Luke 5:37)
 MINISTRY ACCORDING TO GIFTS (Romans 12:5,6)
 PRACTICAL PREACHING (James 1:22)
 TRAINING LEADERSHIP (2 Timothy 2: 1, 2)
 AFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS (Romans 12:10)
 DISCIPLESHIP

This material is designed for a leader and a disciple to work through together.

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Lesson 1.
The Creation

In this section, we see the world as it should be.

We see God crafting a world that is everything He desires it to be—no sin, no
imperfection, everything glorifies God perfectly.

Begin --------- Start-------- Commence--------Open-----.

There’s something refreshing and optimistic about these words, Genesis means
“Beginnings”, or “origin,” and it unfolds the records of the beginning of the
World, of human history, of family, of civilization, of salvation.
It is the Story of God’s purpose and plan of his creation,

It reveals the person and nature of God (Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Redeemer).
The value and Dignity of human beings (made in God’s image, saved
Saved by grace,

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Used By God in the world);
The tragedy and consequences of sin (The fall, separation from God, Judgement);
Ant the promise and assurance of salvation (Covenant, forgiveness, promised
Messiah).
God Creating the world in a majestic display of power and purpose, culminating
with a man and woman made like himself (Genesis 1:16,17)

But before long sin entered the world, and satan was __________
Creation was shattered by ____ ___ (the willful disobedience of Adam and Eve).

Fellowship with God_____ ________

________ _______ _________ its destructive web.

In rapid Succession, we read how Adam and EVE were expelled from the beautiful
garden,

Their first son turned murderer.

And many other consequences come to the next generation until the present
time.

Understanding this first part of the story will help us understand

everything that follows.
1. Read Genesis 1–2. As you read, look for elements that will help orient you
to the biblical story.

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 2. Who Is God?

He is the First and the Last, the King of kings, and Lord of
lords.

In Chapter 1 of the book of Genesis, God is referred to by the title of “Elohim,”

The term "Elohim" means “supreme one” or “mighty one.”
Elohim is a Hebrew word that denotes “God” or “god.” It is one of the most
common names for God in the Old Testament, starting in the very first verse: “In
the beginning [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
The story begins with familiar words: “In the beginning, God _____ the heavens
and the earth.”

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God is ____ _________ __ __________________ _______
With these words we are introduced to the most important character in the story.
It’s interesting that although these are the first words in the entire Bible, the
author.
He is the only eternal person or in the universe.
Immediately before our world began, God existed and that’s it!
Then God began creating our world out of nothing simply by speaking.
He told land to form and it obeyed.
He called light into being and it happened.
Try to get a feel for the absolute difference between this all-powerful God who
has always existed and the creation that He called forth through the repeated
refrain:
“Let there be _________.” There is no person, force, or thing that can compete
with God or claim any importance in comparison with Him.

It is this absolute distinction between God and everything else that leads the
angels in heaven to cry out, _______ ______ ________

If we were to begin with our own perception of the world, we might get the sense
that the world belongs to us, that we are the rightful rulers of this planet.
But Genesis tells a different story.
God lovingly and powerfully created this world.
No person or thing had any place in this world until God put it in its proper place.
God alone can claim __________ of this world because He spoke it into existence.
We are not the center of the universe.
God created this Creation

How should God’s power, authority, and ownership affect the way
we view our place in this world?
In the ______ __ ______

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After creating every detail of every aspect of the universe in which we
live, God looked at everything He had made and declared it good.
Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth Multiply and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Gen. 1:26).

God created us like Him in some respect and then set us in the
midst of this world __ ___________ ___ !

In your own words, describe why it is significant that God created

us “in His image.”
How should this affect the way we view ourselves
and the people around us?

The Personal God of Genesis 2

“Yahweh Elohim,” This is significant because God tends to use His personal
name,
Yahweh, when He is relating to His people in a personal way.
Notice also that God spoke directly with the man in chapter 2. He told Adam
about the garden
in particular, He told Adam what he could and could not eat.
Right away we see that humanity was made to __________ ___ ____ .
Even in his perfect state (before sin entered the world), God did not want man to
________ __ ___________________.
God solved Adam’s loneliness by creating a wife for him, but keep in mind that
Eve was not just a wife—she was another human being.

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In other words, God designed human beings to live in ________________ with
other

What can we learn about human beings and their relationship with God and each
other by reading Genesis 2?

Life in the Garden

Genesis 1–2 also gives us an amazing vision of what God originally intended the world
to be.
After creating the earth and everything in it, God took the time to plant a garden (2:8).
God placed people in the midst of this garden and gave them the specific task of
“working it and keeping it” (Gen. 2:15).

We sometimes think that work is the product of the fall, a punishment for sin.
When humanity sinned, God cursed the ground, and labor became frustrating and
painful (Gen. 3:17–19).
But God’s original intention for people was that we would be actively involved in
caring for the creation.
God placed Adam in the garden (keep in mind that a garden is different from a
wilderness or jungle in that it is tended, planned, and ordered) and gave him the
specific task of working it.

Take some time to consider the picture of the world presented in Genesis 1–2.
Why is this picture so appealing?
Which aspects of life in the garden of Eden should we long to see restored in our
world?

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 3. The Bible

Why Study the Bible?

As we have said, an important part of making disciples is teaching people to obey
everything Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:20).

How can we teach people to follow Jesus if we haven’t observed His ministry and
listened to His teaching?

For a Christian, nothing should seem more natural than reading the Bible.
Peter, one of Jesus’s first disciples, compared it to a baby’s natural craving for milk:
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up
into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:2–3).

As a newborn depends on milk to survive and to grow, we should equally depend on the
________ __ ____________for our ________ _________ ___ _________.

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The words of the Bible have impacted millions of lives over thousands of years, and
God wants it to _________ ___ _____ __ ____.

Perhaps the strongest thing we can say about the Bible is that it is the “ _____ __ ___
.”
When we talk about the Bible, we’re actually talking about something that the all-
powerful, all-knowing, transcendent God decided to write to us!

Think of how you would respond to hearing a voice from heaven speaking directly to
you. We should approach the Bible with the same reverence.

It ought __ ______ every aspect of our existence.

It should _______ the decisions we make in life.
If God is the _________ ___ _________ __ ____ ______, if He made us and placed us
on this earth, and if He has taken the time to tell us who He is,
who we are,
and how this world operates, then what could be more important to us than the ______?

But even after we decide that the Bible is important, we still need to learn to approach it
in the _____ _______ and with the______ _________.
The purpose of this session is to help you think through the nature of the Bible, why it is
important to study, and how it should _____________ ___ ______.

Studying the Right Book

for the Wrong Reasons

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Before you go any further, ask yourself why you study the Bible.

 Don’t be overly optimistic with this; try to assess your heart.

 When you pick up the Bible and begin to read it, what is motivating you?
 Do you have a desire to know God more fully?
 Are you looking for arguments against other perspectives?

 God is pleased when we treasure His Word,

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  listening to what God wants to teach you, allowing the Bible to transform
you in unexpected ways?

 To Teach Us about Himself

 One reason that seems obvious is that He wanted to describe Himself to
us.
 Everything in this book is God centered.
 God in heaven wants us to know certain things about Himself, and He uses
the Scriptures to reveal these things.

People naturally want to believe in a human-centered world, so God gave us the

Bible, which shows that everything revolves around God.

To Teach Us about Ourselves and the World We Live In

God also gave us the Bible so that we can understand the world we live in.
It is a grand narrative that explains where we came from,
why the world is the way it is, and where everything is headed.

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It explains who we are as human beings and how we should think about our
existence.

The Bible gives us_________ to all of life’s _____ _______ ______ _________.
The Bible gives us much more than “religious truths”;
it accurately explains the world we live in.
The God who wrote the Bible is the God who designed this world.
Since this is His world, it only makes sense to view the world from ____
_________ and live according to His principles.
All of this means that as we study the Bible, we should be seeking to understand
our God, our world, and ourselves. Rather than pursuing and ________ _______
emotional experience or trying to accumulate religious knowledge, we should be
learning to live in the world that God made.

To Enable Us to Live Godly Lives

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Another reason that God gave us the Bible is to enable us to live godly lives.
Peter said that God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and
excellence” (2 Pet. 1:3).

Paul said that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
First, Paul said that Scripture is literally “_____ ___ __ ___”.
Though He used human authors to write each book of the Bible, God Himself is
the ultimate source of these words.

“that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So why
did God give us the Bible?
He gave it to us so that we would be __________, _______ ________. who are
equipped and ready to do anything God asks us to do.

This means that as we study the Bible, we should be looking to change.

Hebrews 4:12 warns us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and
of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

If you ever find yourself reading your Bible and not changing, then you can be
sure that you’re approaching the Bible in the wrong way.

To Facilitate a Relationship with God

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Every relationship requires __________ the loving expression of each person’s
thoughts, emotions, concerns, and dreams that strengthens the relationship and
deepens intimacy.

From the day He placed Adam in the garden, God has maintained a relationship with
mankind, and communication has always been central to that relationship.
When we open the Bible, therefore, we are ________ ____ ______ to us. He chose
specific words to say to specific people at specific times.
He chose sixty-six books to preserve for us so that we could know Him better.
out by God”words delivered from the mouth of God Himself—then reading the Bible is
listening to the ______ __ ___.

If we approach the Bible with humility, eagerly listening for God to speak to us,
waiting to hear what God has to say rather than what we want to hear,
then we are drawing closer to the one we were made to be in relationship with.
True Bible study must always have ______ with God as a ______ _______l.

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To Exalt Jesus

God uses the Scriptures to explain how and why He has exalted Jesus to the highest
place.

All of the events in biblical history point to His Son.

The law was given to show us our sinfulness and our need for Jesus.

Old Testament priests and sacrifices point to our need for the greater high priest and
ultimate sacrifice.

The Gospels record the loving words and actions of the Son of God.

The epistles explain how it is only through His work on the cross that we can be saved
from sin and filled with the Spirit.

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Revelation shows how He will one day return to judge and restore the earth, and reign
with His followers forever. All of this is written to exalt Jesus to the glory of God the
Father. These words should move us to exalt Jesus in our everyday lives.

To Prepare Us for Our God-Given Mission

From the very beginning, God has had a mission for humanity.
After God finished creating the world and everything in it, He created the first man and
placed him in the garden “to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15)

Approaching the Mind of God

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Ultimately, when we read the Bible, we are approaching the mind of God.
Every time you open the Bible, you ought to prepare yourself for an ________ ___ ___
________ of the universe.
So how do you prepare yourself for this type of encounter?

Every time you find yourself struggling to accept something the Bible says, you’ve found
an area of your life that needs to be brought into submission to Christ.
Unfortunately, we often _______ ______ ___________ by finding ways to explain away
what the Bible is saying to us.

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Before You Move On

To sum it all up, the right way to approach the Bible is to first let go of everything that we
want and expect,
and to let God tell us exactly what __ ____ and what to do.
Of course, this is contrary to our natural tendencies, so we need God to work in our
hearts to remove ___ ___ ________ and give us a pure longing for His Word.

Why Study the Bible?

1. Take a few minutes to examine your motivations and write down a few
thoughts below.

Take a minute to think through why God gave us the Bible.

How should these things affect the way you think about studying the Bible?

How do you tend to respond to the Bible’s teaching?

Would you say that you approach it humbly with a desire to change?
How do you need to adjust your approach to studying the Bible?
Take a minute to meditate on 1 Peter 2:1–2. What would your life look like if you
desired the Word as Peter described?

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 4. Sin - The Fall

You may not realize this, but you felt the result of Adam and Eve’s
sin today.
Every aspect of God’s creation has been in some way ________ __ ________ __
__________.
Everywhere we look we see pain, rebellion, brokenness, hopelessness, despair.

Even in our own hearts, we see the influence of sin.

We are in a battle, and we feel it every day.
Sin screams at us from all sides, begging us to rebel against God and pursue our
own desires.
We struggle with temptations, and we have a hard time making sense of the
things we see happening around us.

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Every one of us has a profound sense that the world is not now as it was
intended to be.

Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s tragic failure—their fall

into sin and the devastating impact this has had on our world.

We refer to this tragic part of the story as “the fall,” and it has affected each of us
to the core of our being.

Read Genesis 3.
why was it such a big deal for Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Pay attention to a key observation from this story:

Satan is subtle. He does not show up dressed in a red cape with a pitchfork
saying, “I am Satan, and I am here to destroy you.
Follow me.”
Instead, he comes to us in ways that we would not expect and offers us things
that seem good.
This is what he did in the garden, and he does it to us today.
He __________ people by making ________ ___________.
___ _______ _____ __ _______
and makes it appear beautiful.
He takes truth and twists it.
It is also important to notice that Satan enters the biblical scene
as part of God’s creation.
This means that __ __ ___ ___ _____________.
He is only alive because God gives him life. He is a _________ ___________, but
his power is infinitely less than God’s power.

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So we shouldn’t be terrified of Satan’s power, but ___ ___ _____ __ __ _____ of
his lies and manipulation.
In the case of Adam and Eve, Satan cleverly avoided asking them
to reject God outright.
Instead, he offered them the knowledge of good and evil. He gave them an
opportunity to be in charge, to
decide for themselves the difference between good and evil.
God made people to be dependent on Him,
Sin is always a declaration of autonomy.
Whenever we disobey His commands, we are rejecting His authority and
asserting our own.
We basically say, “God, You may be the author of my life,
but You’re not the authority in my life. _ ______________ ______ _ _, not You.
I’m in control here, not You.”

Analyze the sin in your life in light of the rebellion of Adam and Eve
in Genesis 3.
Do you see the same tendency toward independence
and rebellion in your actions? How so?

The World Became a Different Place

From this point on, the biblical story is saturated with the effects of the fall.
Suddenly people find themselves separated from God,
those around them, and the creation.

Whereas Adam and Eve once enjoyed perfect fellowship with God, they now hid
from Him in shame and were sent as exiles out of the paradise that had been their
home.

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They once enjoyed a perfect relationship with each another, but now their
relationship was filled with shame, ______ , ___ ______ .
Adam and Eve once happily cared for the creation, but now they would
experience pain in childbearing, the curse upon the ground, and the promise of
toil in the work they had once enjoyed.

The effects of the fall are also known as” __ ____”

In response to the sin of the first human beings, God cursed
(1) the serpent,
(2) Eve,
(3) Adam, and
(4) the rest of creation.

1. The
serpent

2. Eve

3. Adam

4.The rest of
the creation

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  The serpent was cursed to crawl around on his belly and, along with his
offspring, to live in enmity against the offspring of the woman.
 Eve was cursed through pain in childbearing and strife with her spouse.
 Adam was cursed with pain and frustration in working the ground.

 And on Adam’s account, the rest of the creation was cursed to produce
thorns and thistles, or as Paul later stated it, the creation was “subjected to
futility” and was placed in “bondage to corruption” (Rom. 8:20–21).

Of course, the greatest consequence was death _______ ______ __________, and
physical death eventually.

Many Christians have heard the story of the fall so many times they have become
anesthetized to just how tragic this event was. We don’t know how long Adam
and Eve lived in the garden, but they literally lived in Paradise.

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They inhabited a perfect world where everything and everyone did exactly what
God designed them to do.

They actually experienced a perfect human relationship! They enjoyed

relationship with God—to the point that they would walk with Him through the
garden!
We are so far from this reality that it is entirely unimaginable.

But then they lost it.

The action itself might appear harmless (how much harm can a piece of fruit
cause?),
but the outward act represented something far more sinister.
__ ____ ____ ____ rebellion, idolatry, treason, and pride, all rolled into a single
bite. Both Adam and Eve made a conscious choice to rebel against their Creator
and live on their own terms.
And we imitate their decision every time we choose our desires over God’s.

Think back to the world of Genesis 2. Spend a few minutes imagining what our
world would look like without sin, if everything had stayed the way God intended
it to be. Make some notes below.
Now consider the ways that sin has affected our world.
How is our experience of the world shaped by the fall? Be specific and describe
how it affects you today.

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From Cain to Babel

As we keep turning pages from Genesis 3, we see the effects of sin continuing to
play themselves out.
 First we see Cain kill Abel.
When his _________ _______ _____ _____ and his own did not, ___ ____ __ _____
passion and committed the first murder.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, we immediately find Lamech writing the first poem
recorded in the Bible in order to brag about being more vengeful than Cain.
Clearly a trend has begun in the wrong direction.

In fact, sin and__________ spread so quickly that before we get very far into the
story, God felt the need to destroy the whole world.
It’s a stark reminder of the devastation that so quickly comes upon us when we
live independently of God.

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  Genesis 6 opens with a disturbing analysis: “The LORD saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v. 5).

 The creature whom God crafted into His image to be His representative on
the earth had now become so twisted that his mind and will were described
as “only evil continually.”
 Next, God__________ them for their __________. He sent a flood that
destroyed every person on the face of the earth with the exception of Noah
and his family.
God’s purpose for the human race would start over through Noah and his
descendants.
You would think that the horror of the flood would cause Noah’s descendants to
live in obedience, but soon after the flood we find humanity joined together in
rebellion against God.

 This time people gathered together at Babel to build a tower to the

heavens. Their purpose was to unite themselves in this great project and
make a name for themselves.
Once again, God looked down on humanity’s declaration of autonomy and
_______ ______ ___ __ ________ rebellion. This time He confused their language
and scattered them across the face of the earth.
As we come to the end of Genesis 11, humanity’s ability to accurately represent
God on earth—to live as His image bearers—is in serious question.

Think about the current state of the world. In what ways is humanity still caught
in the rebellion that led to the flood and the tower of Babel?

In what ways are you involved in this rebellion?

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The Story Continues in Spite of Sin
Thankfully, the biblical story does not end with Genesis 11!

We need to understand that the Bible could have stopped at Genesis 11, and God
would have been completely fair and loving to end the human race right there.
But in His perfect wisdom, God kept the story in motion.
Now the stage was set for God’s plan __ ___________.
God gave humanity a responsibility, but they completely _______, and now they
needed someone to redeem them.

Immediately after Adam and Eve rebelled against God, we read God’s promise in
Genesis 3:15 that there will be enmity between the serpent and the woman, and
between the serpent’s offspring and the woman’s offspring.

God says, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This imagery is a picture of a forthcoming battle between Christ and the serpent,
and we are guaranteed that the serpent will be crushed.

When we arrive in the New Testament, we find Paul encouraging Christians in

Rome by promising that,
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20).

We receive even more hope when God makes a covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:18,
9:9). A covenant is a promise from God, an agreement between God and His
people that He will bless them in accordance with certain terms. As the story
unfolds, we see God establishing a people through covenants.
These covenants play a major role in how God relates to His people. With Noah,
the covenant was about saving a people for Himself.
Amid all of the people who would justly experience His judgment, God made a
covenant with Noah. He called out a people by His grace and promised to
preserve His creation.

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The plan will continue to unfold as we continue in the biblical story, but Genesis
1–11 lays the groundwork and orients us to what is coming.
As you think back over Genesis 1–3 (and even the events we discussed from
chapters 4–11), briefly describe how these chapters lay the groundwork for what
is to come in the biblical story.

How should our understanding of the first chapters of the Bible affect the way we
view ourselves and the world around us?

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God’s Covenant with Abraham

But just when we think that humanity has no hope, God launched a plan of
redemption that was global: to create a people for Himself who would embody
and spread His salvation to every group of people on the planet.
After cursing and scattering humanity, God made a ________ to bless all of the
nations.
And God set this plan in motion by calling one man living in the middle of an idol
worshipping nation away from everything he once knew.
And He promised to change the _______ __ _________ through this man and his
offspring.

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God’s Promise of Redemption

God’s plan to rescue the world from sin started very quietly. God chose one man,
Abraham, and said:
Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I
will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make
your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed. (Gen. 12:1–3).

As soon___ ___ entered the world, God began __ ____ His plan to reverse the
effects of the fall.

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He would restore us and the world around us to what He originally created—and
more.
God made a promise to Adam and Eve, then to Noah, and here God made a
covenant with Abraham.
At a few key points in Abraham’s life (Gen. 12:1–9; 15:1–21; 17:1–14), God spoke
with Abraham and revealed more about His plan.
But the basics are clear from the beginning: God promised to make Abraham into
a great nation, to make his name great, and to bless him so that he would be a
blessing to “every family of the earth.”

1. Take some time to read and meditate on Genesis 12:1–9, 15:1–21, and
17:1–14. What stands out to you from reading the promises that God gave
to Abraham?
2. What does God’s covenant with Abraham reveal to us about God?
3. What does God’s covenant with Abraham reveal about God’s plan of
redemption?
4. Consider the biblical pattern: people sin, people suffer the consequences,
God redeems. How have you seen this pattern in your own life?

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The Covenant Confirmed
Land was an important part of God’s promise to Abraham.
God’s initial call to Abraham involved leaving his own land and going to the land
that God called him to (12:1), a land that God ____ ______ __ _____ __
_______________ and his offspring (12:7; 15:7, 18–20). God was going to
establish His people in the land of Canaan, the “promised land.”
It would belong to Abraham and his descendants.
In many ways, the rest of the Old Testament (and much of subsequent history)
revolves around this land.
When God promised to give this land to Abraham, Abraham asked,” _____ __ I to
know ____ _ _____ _________ __ _” God’s answer to Abraham was to confirm His
covenant by walking in between the separated halves of dead (sacrificed) animals
(Gen. 15:9–17).

5. The Promise Fulfilled

The Birth of Christ

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When, in the plan of God, "the time had fully come" (Gal. 4:4), Jesus Christ, the
promised Savior and King, was miraculously conceived by the power of God’s
holy Spirit and then born into the world (Luke 1:26-2:38).

The Good News of the Kingdom of God

Jesus began his public ministry at the age of thirty after being anointed with the
power of the holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-23; 4:1621).

At that time he made it his chief mission to proclaim, expound and demonstrate
the true nature of the _________ _________ __ ___ which he was to establish.
All four of the Gospels -
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - show this.
Look, for example, at the Gospels of Mark and Luke:
'The time has come,' he said.

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'The kingdom of God is near. Repent [turn to God] and believe the good news!'
(Mark 1:15).

Redemption Through Sacrifice: Atonement, Blood, and Forgiveness

Steps of salvation

Hear the Gospel: Learn about the Gospel (Romans 10:17, John 8:32)
Believe the Gospel: Accept the Gospel as true (Hebrews 11:6, John 20:31)
Repent: Turn away from sin and toward God (Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30)

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Confess: Acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:10, Matthew 10:32)
Be baptized: Be buried and resurrected with Chris (t3:27, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38)

Other aspects of salvation

Sanctification: Reconciliation:
Become pure and holy of the Be restored to a relationship
heart with God

Forgivenes: Owness of life: Be given a

Be freed from the penalty of sin new life

Justification: Adoption: Be adopted into

Be declared righteous by God God's family

Redemption:
Be saved from evil and Be faithful unto death
(Revelation 2:10)
oppression

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Propitiation and Expiation

“And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only but also for the whole world.” (1John 2:2 NKJV)

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1John
4:10 NKJV)

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“whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through
faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were
previously committed,” (Rom 3:25).

Reconciliation

To reconcile means “to make friends and bring together those who are at
variance, or at enmity” or “to cause to be conformed to, or adjusted to, a
specified norm or standard”.

With regard to the relationship between God and man _____ ____ ____, it is God
who took the initiative to affect reconciliation.

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God did not need to be ________ __ ____, but man to God.
The ‘debit’ on the ‘account’ was on man’s side and God made the adjustment to
reconcile the account in terms of satisfying God’s justice

and imputing His righteousness to man. He did through Christ Jesus.

Atonement

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to
make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat
blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.”
(Leviticus 17:11–12 KJV)

“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you
to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13 KJV)

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The Significance of Christ's Resurrection

1. Jesus’ Resurrection means that his sacrificial death on the

cross was_________, and therefore our sins can ______
________.

Paul emphasizes this in 1 Corinthians 15, reminding us that “Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (vv. 3-4). Then, in verse 17, he
argues that “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in
your sins.”

In other words, Paul saw a direct connection between the resurrection of Jesus
and the sufficiency of his death to atone for our sins.

When Jesus rose again on the third day, it was the public announcement that
God was fully satisfied with the sacrificial death of his Son.
up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).[2].

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Jesus’ Resurrection means that death is defeated once and for all.

As Peter proclaimed on the Day of Pentecost, “God raised [Jesus] from the dead,
freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep
its hold on him” (Acts 2:24). Death lost its grip on Jesus!

But the resurrection means that Jesus not only defeated death for himself, but
that he defeated it for us.

He died and rose as a new representative for humanity, as the Second Adam.
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,” writes Paul, “the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all
be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). His resurrection guarantees ours.

The empty tomb assures us that sickness and suffering, death and disease will
not have the final word.

Though we wait for the full consummation of new creation, the Scriptures also
teach that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is already working within us
(Ephesians 1:19-20).

The resurrection, you see, not only assures of God’s forgiveness and comforts us
in suffering as we anticipate the final reversal of death, disease, and decay; it also
motivates and empowers us to push back the tide of suffering and evil in the
present world, through word and deed, in mercy and justice, all in Jesus’ name.

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