A Bible Timeline And Instructing The Bible

Not long back I had a retired Pastor reprove me very sharply, for making some interesting points while preaching on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. He was very old school, and he referred to 1 Tim 1.4 “nor to be taken up with with myths and never ending genealogies.. ”

I quietly and respectfully asked him if I had said anything that was heretical or inappropriate to which he answered. “No”. I explained that this Scripture was never meant to exclude genuine enquiry into the Bible, but rather it was targeting the false philosophy of Gnosticism. But he would not have it.

You would think that with 40 years experience this past and would have had some understanding of what Paul was referring to in this letter and the problem of Gnosticism. We have a problem here, how can a congregation understand these things either and be able to interpret their Bible?

It is unfortunate that so many pastors in our churches will preach shallow and light weight messages, and the result is that their people will hardly grow in and Scripture and interpretation. Preachers love to give to us ‘moral essays’ and ‘warming affirmations’ because, supposedly, if we truly ‘love’ others this is what we will do.

It seems that the most important thing is, that we are very positive and ‘nice’ to everybody. It’s just too bad, if God’s people are falling through the cracks ‘for a lack of knowledge’ (oracle).

Think about it, the more ‘relevant’ Christians become, to the world, the less relevant christians are in reality, to the world.

Our staple diet from pastors seems to be favorite topics and ‘feel good’ messages. Ministers preach on a verse from 1 Peter as well as a passage about a hero from 1 Kings; topical sermon from Hosea and then the belief in God of Aaron or the humanity of King David.

Bits from here and there, but we don’t put it all together, in a clear understandable, easy to remember perspective with a good Bible TimeLine including Church History.

Constantly we are bombarded with new publications and modernist ideas, some of them dangerously leaning toward Liberal theology. We are repeating history, but if we were to teach the basics of Church history, we would be more equipped to avoid repeating that history.

Our role as teachers of the flock is to take the fragments of God’s Word and plan certain together in a beautiful tapestry that the Church can draw on, helping them to understand God, the Bible and the Church.

This is not difficult to attain, if we put in some good prayer and study.

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the Truth: Thy Word is Truth. (AV)

Need a simple yet complete Bible timeline? consider our webpage and find a great teaching chart and personal Biblical events timeline resource.