Two Year
Bible Trek
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  • The Five Part Story
  • Eden to Egypt 1-5
    • Creation and Fall 1
    • Abraham to Jacob 2-4
    • Joseph Stories 5
  • Egypt to the Land 6-17
    • Slaves to Sinai 6-7
    • The Law and Wanderings 8-15
    • Conquest 16-17
  • Living in the Land 18-66
    • Judges 18-20
    • The Rise of the Kings 21- 24
    • David and Solomon 25-42
    • Wrestling with Wisdom 43-48
    • A Nation Divided 49-66
  • The Land into Exile 67 - 70
    • Words to the Exiles
  • Exile to the Land 71-78
    • The Return 71 - 76
    • The Last Prophets 77 - 78
  • Journeys with Jesus 79 - 86
    • The Gospels
  • The Church Expands 87 - 104
    • The Church is Formed 87 - 88
    • Paul's Words to the Church 89 - 99
    • Other Letters 100 - 103
  • Back to Eden 104
    • Revelation
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the church expands

         The growth of the church is one of the most remarkable stories in history.  Jesus had been crucified, which would normally have ended any continuation of his ministry.  However the disciples experienced the presence of the resurrected Jesus and his command to preach the Good News to all of the earth.
          On Pentecost, a Jewish holy day, the Spirit of God descended upon the disciples and they embarked on the mission of telling the world about Jesus.  The Book of Acts tells a portion of this story.  I say a portion because there were many churches about which we read, that we have no idea who started them.  It is as if one person believed in Jesus, told another and soon there was a church.
       The greatest evangelist in the history of the church however was the Apostle Paul.   Beginning his career as a persecutor of the church he ended up not only planting multiple churches but his letters form the bulk of our New Testament.  His letters were never pure theology but were instead theology wrapped in pastoral concerns for the needs of the newly birthed churches.
          While some of the letters attributed to Paul, have been questioned as being authentic, they are still part of our canon, and thus carry great weight in terms of their direction for the life and work of our faith communities.  I believe the best approach to Paul's letters are to read them all the way through at a sitting and then reflecting on them, for this is how they were meant to be read.
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