Study Guide The Bible's
Big Story
The Bible is a book like no other - the #1 global bestseller, written over 1,500 years across 60 generations by around 40 different authors. Yet one central story weaves through this vast collection: a story about God's kingdom and its king, Jesus. This course takes you through the Bible's big story in 13 key moments. Grasp the story, see how it connects to Jesus, and how it changes everything.
Key moments
Resources
God's Kingdom
What is God's kingdom?
God's people living in God's place, blessed under God's rule -
enjoying the benefits and fulfilling the responsibilities - and being a blessing to the world
Blessed under God's rule
Enjoying the benefits: life as it’s supposed to be; connection and
closeness to God; wholeness; harmony; healthy relationship with ourselves (how we think and feel about
ourselves); healthy relationships
with others (how we relate to and interact with them); beauty, life and light.
Fulfilling the responsibilities: accepting his definition of good and evil; living life in the way he’s defined; following his instruction and direction; submitting ourselves under his rule; trusting him.
Fulfilling the responsibilities: accepting his definition of good and evil; living life in the way he’s defined; following his instruction and direction; submitting ourselves under his rule; trusting him.
Being a blessing to the world
Means: joining in with what God is doing; reflecting him; representing him; acting
like
him;
forming the formless earth; taming the wild; ordering the chaos; creating form, structure, beauty;
filling the empty earth; creating life, energy and potential; establishing God’s kingdom on earth;
bringing it from heaven to earth; expanding and spreading his kingdom; a worldwide kingdom, everywhere
for everyone.
Our problem
Is: rejecting God as king; refusing to live under his rule; rejecting the
responsibilities; losing the benefits; ignoring God's definition of good and evil and making up our
own;
asserting ourselves over God’s rule; trusting ourselves; having a sin problem; having snake-hearted
instincts; forming and filling the earth with chaos, death and darkness; spiralling downwards towards
self-destruction; becoming disconnected and distanced from God; needing saving from our enemies and
saving from ourselves.
Timeline
Full Summary
Recap Questions
Notes for Course Leaders
Structuring the course
This course is designed to be run flexibly. The 13 sections can be grouped differently, depending on how many weeks you want the course to run for.
5 weeks
video heavy
1. Creation, Fall, Promise
2. Rescue, Law, Land
3. Kings, Split, Exile, Return
4. Jesus
5. Church, Forever After
7 weeks
balanced discussions
1. Creation, Fall
2. Promise, Rescue
3. Law
4. Land, Kings
5. Split, Exile, Return
6. Jesus
7. Church, Forever After
13 weeks
in-depth Bible studies
1 section per week
Structuring each week
Recap
- Begin each week with a recap. As a group, recall the key moments you have covered so far in the course - the name of each section. Discuss what God's kingdom looks like at each moment using the four-part definition: God's people living in God's place, blessed under God's rule (enjoying the benefits and fulfilling the responsibilities), and being a blessing to the world.
- Use the recap questions to remind yourselves of the content you have covered so far. You could select questions from all sections, or just focus on the sections covered during the previous week.
- Watch the recap video connected to the first section you're looking at this week — it briefly summarises everything covered so far.
Content
- Watch the video for the section.
- Have a short time of open discussion — share initial reactions or ask clarifying questions.
- Use the discussion questions for the section. Depending on how much time you have session and the depth of discussions, there may not be time for all of them.
- Repeat this pattern for each section being covered.
Bible Study
- Each section includes Bible passages for further study — key passages directly referenced in the video or closely related to the content.
- If you are following the 13 week course (i.e. 1 section per week), use one of these passages as a Bible study during the session. This can be done either before or after the video. The suggested passage is marked with a . Focus on: what the story of the passage is, how it links to the overall Bible story, and how it links to the different dimensions of God's kingdom.
- As a group, you could commit to reading these passages between weeks, whatever length of course you are following.