- [Narrator] The Bible, what
is it and why does it matter? The Bible is one of the
bestselling books of all time, selling 2.5 billion copies worldwide. Not to mention nearly 400
million people have downloaded the YouVersion Bible app. But many people have questions or strong feelings about the Bible. Maybe you've grown up with
the Bible in your house, but never paid much attention to it. Maybe you've attempted to
connect with the Bible, but found it too confusing. Maybe you love the Bible and wanna gain a better
understanding of it. Or maybe you've had a bad
experience with a Christian who used the Bible to point
out your faults and failures. Regardless of your thoughts on the Bible, it's impact on culture is profound. The Bible has influenced
famous art pieces, phrases we use in everyday conversation, movies and even song lyrics. The Bible was inspired by
God, but written by people. It documents the event
Christian faith rests on, Jesus dying on a cross,
resurrecting from the dead and paving the way for us to
have a relationship with God. It's made up of 66 books, written
over a span of 1500 years, in three original languages,
Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. By more than 40 authors,
some unknown, some prophets, some eyewitnesses to the death
or resurrection of Jesus, okay, that's a lot, but it's
not as confusing as it sounds. The Bible project makes
videos like this one, about understanding the Bible. The Bible is a collection of many books telling one unified story
from beginning to end. But all those books were written in different literary styles. Yeah, think of it like
walking into a bookstore where every aisle has a
different kind of literature. There's history or poetry or nonfiction, and when you choose an
aisle and pick up a book, you're gonna have very
different expectations, different things that you're looking for. Right, they're all literature, but they communicate in
really different ways. Yes, and so the same thing
is true for the Bible. If you don't pay attention to
what style it's written in, you will miss out on the
brilliance of each book. So what are the main types
of literature in the Bible? Well, first and foremost is narrative, it makes up a whopping 43% of the Bible, after that is poetry,
which is 33% of the Bible. And then there's what you
could call prose discourse, which makes up the remaining 24%. Still confused? Here's how those different
literary styles connect. The Bible is one long epic narrative with multiple movements or acts. The Old Testament recounts
the first series of acts that give you everything
you need to make sense of the story to follow. And then in the New Testament,
these are all picked up and carried forward to the
stories culmination and Jesus. Let me show you what I mean. The first act is about
God and all of humanity. God provides a sweet
garden temple for humans, who are made to be God's
partners in ruling the world. But the humans are foolish and they give into a dark temptation and rebel against God's wisdom. So they're exiled into a wilderness where they start killing each other. They build cities that
spread their selfishness and oppression leading up to
the big, bad City of Babylon. But God loves the world
and it's foolish humans, so He sets in motion, a rescue plan, by promising the arrival of
a new human who will destroy the evil that has lured
us into self-destruction. The next act of the biblical
story is about God and Israel, and it develops the themes
and patterns of the first act. God calls a new humanity out of Babylon, into a sweet garden land. Abraham, Sarah and his
descendants, the Israelites. God promises that through them, divine blessing will be
restored to all of the nations. Surely these are the new
humans that we're waiting for, but the Israelites repeat
humanity's rebellion against God, building their own violent cities that lead to self destruction
and another exile in Babylon. But God sustains His promise,
that the new human will come from Abraham's lineage. It will be a priest king,
who will now have to rescue both Israel and humanity from Babylon to restore God's blessing to the world. Bible tells the story of not
only God, but also His people. Meaning that it details,
but not necessarily endorses every behavior from those people, which is why the Bible
can be a little messy, because it's about flawed
people like you and me. It details how God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect purpose. It gives us a glimpse of the
unchanging character of God, who always keeps His promises
and remains faithful, no matter how faithless we are. Toya discovered this
principle in her own life, as God used one verse to
reveal His faithfulness to her. - So prior to me having
my aha moment with God, you know, grew up in a two parent home, nothing too out of the ordinary, and the focus in our home
was to go to college. And I found myself in college, like my parents told me to go. Got my degrees, got married, had that kind of picture
perfect ordinary life that you strive for. So I felt like that was that
moment, looking at my life, I'm just kind of living for others and doing what I hear I'm 'posed to do. But it came to halt for me when I ended up rock bottom homeless. Rock bottom was literally rock bottom. I was married, I'm in a
marriage for seven years, serving at the church,
three beautiful children. To anyone else, my life
looks picture perfect. And then my husband has an affair and I stick that out even
after that, but then he's like, "I don't wanna be in
this marriage anymore." And so prior to that, being a
stay at home mom and a wife, nothing was in my name. Only thing I owned were
the clothes on my back. The judge even gave him the
kids because I'm homeless, what judge would give me
kids in their right mind? And so it's like he moved me out, get out, and moved his new one in. So in a homeless shelter
and I'm just like boiling, I'm confused, I'm upset, I'm
angry, all these emotions. I felt like, even though
that was the rock bottom, but that was my up. The scripture that God
gave me in that timeframe was Matthew 10-39, "If you lose your life, you'll find your life in me." And that's when I felt,
Him telling me, "Let go of what you wanted or what people told you and hear my instructions and walk in purpose from this day on." Him coming to me, talking to
me like He did in that shelter, was so phenomenal and
I wanted to serve Him, and I wanted to do what
He'd called me to do. And I did not want anything
that was a part of sin or the world to be attached to me. And I had so much peace, so much joy. And that was probably
the best time in my life, as far as living whole in Jesus. So many things God did
because I chose to walk pure and I chose to walk in His will. In 2016, I got married and
I've been married to this man for three years and it's been incredible. And my kids, I'm able to
be a part of their life, I'm able to be involved in them, and He's brought so much
healing, listen to this, He's brought so much healing
for me and my ex husband. When I tell you God is so
faithful, He is so amazing. And if you put your trust
in Him, have you seek Him for your life, lose the life
that you think you have, seek Him for the life that He has for you, is no comparison, none. - [Narrator] Her story
is a powerful reminder that God's word is more than just a book. Not to mention people in culture
are trying to manufacture what God sent into motion since creation. Hang with us on that. People in the technology industry, particularly Silicon Valley, have coined the term secular sabbath, to talk about a day of rest from work. A day without technology,
a day to do nothing, sound familiar? After creating the world,
God took a day to rest and rejoice in what He had created. This became a regular
practice for God's people for thousands of years. And Jesus reinforces the
importance of Sabbath during His ministry on earth. So creation, that's us, is craving something the
creator already created. That's not the only example. Generosity has proven
to increase happiness and even lower blood pressure. Gratitude has been linked
to an increased happiness, greater empathy levels
and more relationships. Again, two concepts that
we find in scripture, that culture recreates. Clearly, there's something
about these ideas that resonates in our human hearts. It's probably because scripture is a way for God to speak to us. It's breathed by God to transform us into someone more like God. It's an anchor in a changing
world with a time-tested truth. You may be thinking, it
sounds good in theory, but why add something
else to your to do list? Who's got the time and isn't it just a bunch
of rules or religion? Scripture isn't about
following a bunch of rules, but finding Jesus and following Him. Will there be things you should follow? Yes, but healthy discipline and
boundaries are good for you. In fact, there's a study from the American Society
of Landscape Architects, about children on playgrounds,
that's really helpful to us when we're thinking about boundaries. They gathered one group of kids and took them to a playground
with no fences or boundaries. Then they took the same
group of kids to a different, but similar playground
where there was a fence, aka, a visible boundary. On the playground without boundaries, the children huddled together,
stay close to their teacher and only explored a little
bit of the playground. However, on the playground
with a fence, a boundary, the children explored the whole area, played independently of their teacher and reported that they felt safer. God's word brings us freeing boundaries and time tested disciplines to help us become better at life. Still not convinced? Imagine if everyone treated you the way Jesus taught them to in His word. Imagine a world in which love prevailed. Jesus often said things like, "You have heard it said, but I say." Culture says, "compete, compare, there's not enough for everyone. Eye for an eye, hurt those who hurt you." Think about number one, Jesus says, "You are complete because of me. There's plenty to go around. Pray for those who hurt you. Forgive those who don't deserve it. Go the extra mile for someone else." Imagine if we, the body of Christ, we're known for living out what
Jesus taught us in His word. Imagine if we forgave freely, love deeply and served extravagantly. Now imagine your life without ever hearing
or reading those words. Did you know that some people have never read the Bible
in their own language? Meaning they've never experienced
the Bible for themselves. In fact, thousands of
the world's languages don't even have a complete New Testament. And more than a thousand
of those languages, only have a few scriptures, ranging from a few verses to
maybe one or two chapters. But the amazing thing
about the Bible is that, it's the living and active word of God that transforms people
from the inside out. In fact, look at what happens
when a group of people who have never heard the
Bible in their language, hears it for the first time. (woman speaking in foreign dialect) Imagine hearing the scriptures read to you in a language you
couldn't fully understand. That's the problem facing
over 1 billion people in the world today. The YouVersion community is passionate about ending Bible poverty. And in partnership with Life
Church, has given $1.5 million to Bible translation
efforts around the world. (uplifting music) On July of 2018, Life
Church had the opportunity to witness the Obamba
and Teke people groups in Gabon, Africa, received
their very first portion of scripture written in a language they can truly understand. The second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the Christmas story.
(singing) Together, we'll continue the
work that God has called us to, eradicating Bible poverty. Can't you sense the joy those people feel? God's power moves in and through
His word to change lives, and it's a way God speaks to us. (soft uplifting music) If you've still got Bible
questions, that's okay, ask God to fill in the gaps. Keep watching, find some
friends to talk about it with.
