Introduction Study Notes
Well, hello friends, Bishop Andy C. Luter here, and I want to welcome you to what is a series of what I'm calling the Bishop's Bible Study. I am doing this on behalf of as we make efforts to resume and restore our Christian education ministry. But as I'm sure many of you are aware that the pandemic has interrupted so much of what we used to call the norm. And so our ministry has recently resumed and attempted to restore our Christian education ministry. our Christian education ministry,
0:52
and I'm doing this as a compliment, and even as a supplement to their efforts. Now, let me share with you what the format for this study is. It consists of a video lecture, as you're watching now, that will be somewhere between five to seven minutes in length. For those of you who prefer learning via reading comprehension. There will also be study notes available so that you can read the lesson as opposed to
1:21
watching or listening to the lesson. Each lesson will also include study questions that will measure your retention of the material. Just study. And then I also will offer some general questions in the event that some of you gathered together in small group ministries and would like to have a group discussion on those things that are being discussed. Now, as you can see here on the screen, my first topic is on the first lesson is going to be a very fundamental, a very basic, non-complicated rendering of the story itself. I'm going to simply tell the story of Adam and Eve in as
2:17
simple and in as basic a way as I can. I'll then come back in the subsequent lessons and look at some of the more doctrinal, some of the theological, and some of the beliefs that are associated with this lesson. Now, again, it's not intended to be too complicated or too involved, and I have no doubt that all of you who are sharing with me will be able to keep pace with each of the lessons. This will be our lesson for this series. It will be four in number, and then we'll do another one in the future. And hopefully, you'll have a lesson to consider and to consume each and every week. So with that said, I am anxious. If you're ready,
3:11
perhaps you want to get pen, paper, something to write with, take some notes with, that is totally up to you. All of these items are free of charge and we give them to you with the hope that it will ingratiate you to our ministry and that it will whet your appetite for more. Now, let me take just a quick minute and talk about why this Bible study is so important. I go to the pulpit every Sunday, and I preach sermons that are based upon my assumption that the people who are watching are already familiar with the narrative or the scripture or the story that I am telling them. Now, I make that assumption because for the most part, people I know grew up in church, they went to Sunday school, they went to BTU, they had Christian educational opportunities, so that by the time they get to me in the
4:12
context of a sermon, I can safely assume that they know what I'm talking about. They know the Adams and the Abrahams and the Moseses and the Davids and the Jesuses and the Pauls. But in these last 30 to 40 years, that has not necessarily been the case. And I have discovered that we cannot necessarily assume that people know the biblical narrative. And because of this recent interruption of Christian education, even Sunday school, something as simple and as basic as Sunday school, has not been readily available. So I have taken the initiative to simply tell some Bible stories. These are the Bible stories that I grew up on, perhaps there are the Bible stories that you grew up on, but if not, they're Bible stories
5:00
that are so fundamental, you certainly would want to know them for yourselves. And so, I am taking the opportunity and the occasion to acquaint you with this fundamental material and information with the hopes that we can raise the level of biblical literacy in our churches and in our congregations and get back to the time when preachers like me can safely assume that you know what I'm talking about and we don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time teaching the storyline, the plot, or the narrative of the story, because you're already familiar with the same. And so that is why we're doing this. That is why this approach is being taken. And I And so that is why we're doing this. That is why this approach is being taken. And I pray that it proves to be a blessing to you.
Study Notes Lesson 1
So, let's begin here. Who were Adam and Eve? They were the crowning glory of God's creation. God took six days to create the world. He did it in phases and in segments. And the and segments and the crowning glory at the close of that creative act he created Adam and Eve. And so I want to use a particular passage of Scripture and I'm not going to use the Scripture in its entirety but I want to use just enough of it to give you an inkling and a basic understanding of what the Bible has to say. Now you will recall that I say that this is the first story that we have in the Bible. And it being the first story, friends, it occurs in the first book. And it occurs in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. Then God said, let us make
1:22
mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So, God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Now, again, as I unfold and simply tell you this story, I'm suggesting to you that after God
2:16
had made everything else, after God had created the light and the darkness, the ground, the land, the sea, the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beast of the ground. He comes to the crescendo of his creation and everything that he had made had innately honored him as God. But God wanted something in his creation that was different than the rest of his creation. Something that would worship him not out of habit, not out of nature,
2:56
not out of instinct, but because that item of his creation wanted to worship him. That is why he created both man and woman. Now, he does this in the Garden of Eden. You'll notice as you took a look at the scripture, and as I continue to tell you this story, God gives them very simple commands. He says, I have created an enormous creation that is filled and
3:29
populated with fish that are in the sea, birds that are in the air, creatures that are on the ground, but I want you to subdue all of them, to have authority over them, to rule over them as the crowning glory of my creation. I'm going to make you separate from everything else, and while everything else will obey me because it is their nature to obey me, I am going to instill in you something different different than the rest of creation, and that is free will, which means that you will have
4:06
the option and the choice and the ability to choose that which you are going to do. And then God plants them, I'm giving all of this to you with one single requirement, and that is that you not partake of the tree that I identify as the tree of knowledge and good. Now, one of the items that God put in the garden was a serpent. Now, we'll learn later on, and I don't want to confuse you, because it's later on that we get the background and the history of the serpent, that he originally was a part of the angelic choir.
5:03
He was part of the heavenly host. He got kicked out of heaven, and he resided on earth. This serpent approaches both man and woman, but initially the woman. He approaches Eve, and he challenges Eve, and he suggests to Eve that she will not pay the consequences if she partakes of the fruit of the tree, you will surely die. And of course, the serpent confused Eve, convinced Eve that they would not surely die. And as a result of that item. Now, the result of their disobedience, the two of them, even though they were in the same state that they had always been in, after
6:17
eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they realize their own nakedness. They become ashamed and knowing that they have done wrong and that they have disobeyed the commandment of God, they run and hide. So much so, until God himself has to go looking for both man and woman. After eating the fruit, the two realized just how naked they are, just how exposed they are, and how vulnerable they are in the presence of God. And when God finally catches up with them, God knows that something is wrong because they did not possess that prior to this, and he wants to know, who is it that told you that you were naked? God already knows that there can only be one outcome
7:24
and one result, and that is that there had been interaction between the serpent and both man and woman. When God finds them, he announces their punishment, and they forfeit, watch this, beloved, they forfeit everything that God had blessed them with up until that time. Now, I want to be specific for just a moment here and go over with you exactly what it was. What was the consequences of their disobedient act? Well, in the case of Adam, in the case of man, he now had to work by the sweat of his brow. In the case of Eve,
8:17
she now would later bear children, but she would bear children in pain. And these were the consequences, these were the outcomes, this was the punishment that the two of them had to pay for not being totally dependent upon God and totally obedient to what God had told them to do. And even what God had told them not to do. Adam and Eve are driven away out of this beautiful garden called Eden, this place of paradise, and they leave in shame and guilt, but they leave, watch this beloved, with the hope that one day they might restore their relationship and covenant with God and be able to return to the place that they had been banished from as a result of their disobedience. Now, this is very, very important because in some of the subsequent lessons, as I talk
9:28
about the impact and the influence of this, I want you to kind of etch this in your mind that they are banished from paradise and from that time forward, where I'm going, from that time forward, man has been trying to get back to the place that he lost in paradise. Paradise lost and he has spent the remainder of that time up until this very day, seeking paradise regain. Now, this is fundamental, friends, and you really need to understand this story because this story becomes the basis for all of the other stories that I'm going to tell you that
10:13
is in this book that we call the Bible. Well, that takes up just about all of my time for this particular lesson. I hope that it has made sense to you. There will be study questions and discussion questions available to you. There will also be a transcript of the audio portion. So for those of you who prefer to read what I have shared with you and what I have gone over, that will be available This is just one of four lessons that I'm doing on the topic of Adam and Eve, the first This is just one of four lessons that I'm doing on the topic of Adam and Eve, the first story in the Bible. I pray that it is blessed to you, and I so look forward to seeing you next time.