The Story: Part 1
Recovering Eden
Return from Exile
December 5, 2021 • Tyler Wilson
God gathers his people out of exile, prompting and providing for their successful return to Jerusalem to, in the face of opposition, rebuild the temple and city wall, renew their commitment to the Lord, and remember their need for His restoration still to come.
Prophets
November 21, 2021 • Terrell Spears
Through the loving admonition of the prophets, God denounces the idolatry and spiritual adultery of His covenant people, displays His justice in the coming exile for their covenant breaking, and boldly declares His covenant promise to heal, restore, and bless all the nations through His covenant love in the coming Messiah.
The Divided Kingdom
November 14, 2021 • Tyler Wilson
Despite the completion of the temple for the nation’s centralized worship, Israel’s devotion to God drifts in the wake of its newfound success and comfort, with Solomon’s divided heart leading to a divided monarchy as the slow drift of syncretistic sin splinters Israel & Judah and sends them spiraling in decline.
The United Kingdom
November 7, 2021 • Tyler Wilson
In the absence of leadership and destructive spread of self-rule, Israel demands a king for their young nation, rejecting God in the process as their source of direction, protection, and validation and further highlighting God’s gracious promise to David of the coming king whose throne will be eternal.
The Wilderness Wandering
October 24, 2021 • Tyler Wilson
In loving discipline for their unbelief God takes His people through the wilderness, patiently weaning them off their distrusting, self-reliant patterns of the past and re-training them in daily trust of Him as their leader and all-satisfying Lord moving forward.
Isaac & Jacob
September 19, 2021 • Terrell Spears
God’s faithfulness to fulfill His covenant promise is not deterred by man’s distrust and disobedience, and despite man’s attempts to secure divine blessing through cunningly deceptive schemes, it is only experienced through His patient and merciful grace.
Primeval
September 5, 2021 • Tyler Wilson
As sin accelerates and pervades the earth, man’s attempts to appease, obey, and achieve their way back to Eden fail miserably, further accentuating the desperate need for an outside rescue to deliver from death and address the fundamental problem of the human heart.