The Story of God
God’s story is bigger than any of us, yet He invites us to find our place in it.
This series walks us through Scripture not as a manual of rules but as a library of narratives where God speaks, acts, and writes Himself into His grand story and the plot of our lives.
As the weeks unfold, we move from creation, through the fracture of sin, into the rescue of Christ, and onward into the shaping work of the Spirit and the Church, until we glimpse the renewal of all things. Along the way, we’ll embrace spiritual practices, read Scripture with intention, and reflect on what it means to live inside this grand story.
Weekly Overview and Practices
God creates humans in His image to bear His glory and steward His world. But the story bends. The image is cracked. The world groans, and exile begins. Just as a shattered mirror still reflects the beauty of its Creator, we are both breathtaking and broken — treasures with a fracture line. Sin isn’t just misbehaving. It’s misplaced worship, a betrayal of the plot. It’s a relational problem, as Augustine frames it: sin is distorted love. It breaks God’s heart because it breaks us.
Simple Practice: Employ curiosity, confession, and repair. Ask God, “How have I moved outside Your will and how have my relationships been harmed, with You and others?” Confess what the Spirit reveals, and bring whatever repair you’re able to bring: an apology, a prayerful repentance, or an act of restitution, etc.
The Author of Life writes Himself into the middle of the drama. Jesus enters, fully God, fully human, walking our roads, carrying our curse, conquering death. That’s why salvation is not advice. It’s an invasion. Jesus is the Hero who wins a battle with death and sin that enslaved us. The Cross is a plot twist. The empty tomb is a triumph and the turning point of all history. Salvation offers us a great reversal, turning us from death to life.
Practice: Create communion and community as a living memory of Acts 3 by gathering a few friends or family around a table this week for a meal. Read Acts 3:1–10, and let the story of healing and witness shape your time together. Share bread and cup in communion, remembering that Jesus’ life binds you together. As you eat, tell stories of where you’ve seen God at work in your own life or in others.
After the Resurrection, the Spirit falls upon the disciples as Jesus promised, and the church is born. Ordinary people become living temples, storytellers, and ambassadors from a better kingdom. The Spirit’s work among Jesus’ followers is known as sanctification, where the Holy Spirit writes Christ’s character into our lives, forming us through presence and practice. Throughout this, the Church bears witness to the new humanity, rehearsing heaven now.
Simple Practice: If you haven’t already, incorporate these three small rhythms into your daily routine: reading God’s Word, spending time in prayer, and offering yourself as a faithful presence by consistently demonstrating Christ’s love to others in everyday relationships.
Every community has rituals that keep the story alive, such as birthday candles, wedding rings, national anthems, or a family table where stories are retold again and again. The church has her own: the Word, table, water, prayer, and witness. These aren’t empty traditions. They are God’s appointed ways to rehearse and relive the Gospel until it sinks in. They help shape our faith like the unceasing waves of the ocean shape a stone.
Simple Practice: Engage one of the five practices listed above with fresh intentionality this week!
The God who creates also speaks the first words: “Let there be…” This Word calls worlds into being and still calls us into life. We didn’t invent God. He introduces Himself in Scripture, which is the ongoing script of the Author who hasn’t stopped speaking. The Bible is more than a book. It’s a library where every volume whispers “Jesus.”
Simple Practice: Embrace daily Bible reading during this series as a way of stepping into the story.
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Consider using this seven-day reading plan, which is built around the themes of this week’s message.
Day 1 – Scripture as Our Foundation: 2 Timothy 3:14–17
Focus: The Bible equips us for every good work.
Prompt: Where do I need God’s Word to guide me this week?
Day 2 – God-Breathed Word: 2 Peter 1:19–21
Focus: Scripture is both human and divine in origin.
Prompt: How does this shape the way I approach the Bible?
Day 3 – God’s Word Gives Life: Psalm 119:97–105
Focus: The Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path.
Prompt: What area of my life feels dark or unclear right now?
Day 4 – Core Truth: Jesus is Lord: Philippians 2:5–11
Focus: At the center of the story is Christ.
Prompt: How can I honor Jesus’ lordship in my actions today?
Day 5 – Essentials and Unity: Ephesians 4:1–6
Focus: One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith.
Prompt: How can I pursue unity with Christians who see things differently?
Day 6 – Living Out Orthodoxy (Orthopraxy): James 1:21–25
Focus: Don’t just listen to the Word—do what it says.
Prompt: What’s one practical way I can live out my faith this week?
Day 7 – The Story Points to Jesus: Luke 24:25–32
Focus: All Scripture points us to Christ.
Prompt: How have I seen Jesus more clearly through this week’s readings?
Every good story longs for resolution. Scripture ends not with escape, but with a grand renewal, Heaven and Earth finally reunited. Tears wiped. Worship roaring. With that in mind, eschatology, or “last things,” is not a scary chart of unfolding disaster. It’s a wedding with a giant invitation. Even better, the beginning and the end of God’s story make sense of its middle.
Simple Practice: Commit to an act of renewal by repairing something broken, reconciling a strained relationship, planting something, or serving someone in a way that restores their dignity.
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES
We will add to this list weekly.
Week 1: A New Humanity
In The Disciple: On Becoming Truly Human, author, professor, and pastor Lucy Peppiatt offers a way forward with Jesus into a restored and renewed humanity. Through Christ, as the Promise One who reverses the curse that fell upon humanity, God forms us into the likeness of his Son and leads us into a life of hope, healing, freedom, and flourishing.
Week 1: Rescue and Reconcilliation
Based on an encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen probes the depths of this famous parable. He examines the younger son’s return, the father’s restoration of sonship, the elder son’s resentfulness, and the father’s compassion. Themes such as homecoming, affirmation, the gaze of beloved delight, and reconciliation resonate throughout this modern classic.
Week 1: Returning God's Loving Gaze
As he mentioned during his message and in his book, His Face Like Mine, Pastor Russell was born with a rare craniofacial disorder called Goldenhar syndrome, where the left side of his face was not formed. Years of patchwork surgeries made him more outwardly presentable, but not without deep pain and physical and emotional scars. But a life-changing encounter broke through to him with a power he never thought possible. He learned how the broken places of our lives can be transformed when Jesus meets us in the realities of our woundedness. God doesn’t love us despite our wounds but through those very wounds.
Week 2: Receiving God's Love
Adapted from Ortlund’s bestselling Gentle and Lowly, this book is for a wide audience. It features easy-to-read terms and helpful explanations. The chapters are also short enough to read devotionally at bedtime, around the dinner table, or during lunchtime. The Heart of Jesus dives deep into the Bible, revealing who Christ is and what He’s done for us in ways that comfort and sustain readers with the affections of Christ for His people.
Week 2: Joy with Jesus
Michael Reeves, author of Delighting in the Trinity, offers readers the glory and wonder of Christ, painting a bigger and more exciting picture than many have imagined. Jesus didn’t just bring us the good news. He IS the good news. Reeves helps us celebrate who Christ is, His work on earth, His death and resurrection, His anticipated return, and how we can share in His life.
Rejoicing in Christ aims for something deeper than a new technique or a call to action. In an age that compels us to gaze at ourselves, Reeves calls us to look at Jesus. As we focus our hearts on Him, we see how He is our life, our righteousness, our holiness, and our hope.
Week 3: God's Abiding Presence
For over 300 years, Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God has inspired countless Christians around the world. Now, this timeless spiritual classic comes alive in a modern, easy-to-read translation—making it more accessible than ever. Join the millions of readers cultivating a continuous awareness of the Spirit’s Presence through the life and wisdom of a humble cook.
Week 4 - Shaped to Be Like Jesus
Peterson Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places firmly grounds spiritual formation once more in a relational, Trinitarian theology and offers a clear, practical statement of what it means to actually live out the Christian life in our modern world.