A Biblical Timeline Chart Offers A Graphic Representation To Help Teach Biblical Events And Characters And Principles
In our Bible group some years ago, a lady who had been a Christian and been involved in the Church for many years, asserted that,"Yes, but Abraham had the Law and so he understood about......" (they were not referring to the pre-Moses law) I wonder just how many Christians will actually notice the error in this assertion. Moses existed 500 years after Abraham and so it is impossible. I have since put together a Bible chronology chart and explained in a more graphic way the time period of people and events.
Unfortunately, a many Pastors and Bible teachers in our churches go on and preach flimsy, superficial, light weight, shallow sermons and their members barely grow in biblical knowledge and understanding. Preachers love to preach'moral essays' and'warming affirmations' because supposedly, if we really love our people this is what we'll do. Regrettable it seems, if God's people are falling through the cracks'for a lack of knowledge' so long as we're positive and loving to all. In truth, the more like our world, the less relevant we're to our world.
Years ago, I was preaching on the resurrection, life, burial and death of Jesus, and a retired minister and powerful preacher of Scripture, who had been in the ministry for 40 years, marched up and reproved me smartly over some interesting points I made and he stated 1Ti 1:4'Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.' I humbly asked him if I had been saying anything of a heretical nature in any way, to which he answered"No". I continued on to spell out that in the case of that particular Scripture, it wasn't referring to examining Scripture but to the false teaching and philosophy of Gnosticism, but he wouldn't have it. Let me ask, how can a 40 year preacher & worker in the Gospel, not know and understand about something that possibly half the books of the New Testament discuss?
How could he study and preach the Bible fully without being aware of something that was so influential in the New Testament church? And then how can the congregation hope to comprehend these things and be able to interpret their Bible well, if they are not told?
Why do we get stuck in a rut of our pet themes and feel good sermons?
We preach on a text from Titus and a narrative about Jesus and a topic from the book of Judges and then the obedience of John the Baptist or the miracles of Jesus - parts from here and everywhere, but we do not put it all together in an apparent understandable, easy to remember, perspective with a good Bible TimeLine including Church History as well. Constantly we're bombarded with new books, modernist ideas, a number of them hazardously leaning toward Progressive theology, when if we were to be taught the basic principles of Church history, we then wouldn't be so bound to repeat it.
Let's us as teachers and preachers stitch together the aspects of the Bible and His plan into a seamless tapestry that our people can draw on for the rest of their lives, helping them to comprehend God, His Eternal Plan, the function of the Church and ways to better interpret the Bible to order our lives by.
It is not difficult to do, and it is not boring if we're prepared to put in a bit of study with prayer and fervor, and just maybe you can employ a Bible Timeline too.
For added info concerning a Bible TimeLine check out our Bible TimeLine Chart web site and consider the biblical study tool.
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