Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Nineteenth-century hymn writer Fanny Crosby once pleaded through song:

Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart ev’ry word;
tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard.

While few may ask to hear about Jesus with such fervency, we live in a world of people seeking meaning to their own story. What makes the story of Jesus so precious is every human story is rightly found in relation to His. Why? Because Jesus’s story is the story of the Bible, and the story of all of history – beginning to end. Meaning in life can only be truly found, as we see how the story of Jesus tells us about the God who loves us so much, He took on our human story to live, die and rise again that we might have an eternal story in His presence. This is the story of Scripture – the Story of Jesus.

This summer, we began a 10-month journey through many of the stories of the Bible, discovering together how they all tell one great story – the Story of Jesus. Each week will include a corresponding reading for children from The Jesus Storybook Bible, as well as a story from the Old or New Testament that responds to the plea: Tell Me the Story of Jesus.

FALL SERMONS:

• September 14: “God of Providence” – Genesis 49:33-50:3,15-21, JSB 9
• September 21: “Passover Lamb” – Exodus 12:1-13, 21-28, JSB 10
• September 28: “Redeemer” – Exodus 14:1-14, JSB 11
• October 5: “Covenant” – Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1-17, JSB 12
• October 12: “The God Who Fights Our Battles” – Joshua 5:13-6:7, JSB 13
• October 19: “Covenant King” – 1 Samuel 16:1-13, 2 Samuel 7:8-16, JSB 14
• October 26: “Deliverer” – 1 Samuel 17:19-27, 32-37, JSB 15
• November 2: “Shepherd King” – Psalm 23, JSB 16
• November 9: “Healer of Nations” – 2 Kings 5:1-14, JSB 17
• November 16: “Savior of the World” – Jonah 1:1-17*, JSB 20*
• November 23: “Suffering Servant” – Isaiah 52:13-53:12, JSB 18*

To help you prepare for each week, below is a suggested weekly Bible reading schedule that includes passages and themes that help tell the story of Jesus. These are designed for you to read throughout the week at your own pace.

The scripture reading for this Sunday will be:

Genesis 49:33-50:3,15-21 (ESV)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016).
Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.