{"id":327,"date":"2010-11-02T19:55:39","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T23:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=327"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:28:59","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:28:59","slug":"refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Refocus By Remembering the Big Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Earth\"I tend to think in the \u201cBig Picture.\u201d\u00a0 That has always helped me to focus and not get lost in the details.\u00a0 The same goes for my faith.\u00a0 Knowing the \u201cBig Picture\u201d of what God is doing through history helps me to focus on my present purpose.<\/strong> Thus, as I grow in my faith, from time to time, I tend to write out my understanding of Christianity as contained in the message of the Bible.\u00a0 The content below represents my understanding of the Christian faith at this moment in my life.\u00a0 Maybe it will help you.\u00a0 I invite your comments or thoughts in regard to my distillation of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

God Revealed Himself<\/h2>\n

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as manifested in the Old Testament is the one true sovereign creator and sustainer of all that exists.<\/strong> As the only entity that is of such nature as is He, God is working all things for His own<\/em> glory.\u00a0\u00a0 His incomparable uniqueness is manifested in His being as one in essence but eternally triune.\u00a0 Within the one essence are three distinct persons:\u00a0 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

This incomparable God has partially revealed Himself by His work in creation and in man\u2019s conscience and has sufficiently revealed Himself in His written revelation, which consists of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.\u00a0 This revelation forms an inerrant, cohesive, coherent, and authoritative witness regarding the nature of God and His plan for all of creation including mankind and history.\u00a0 As such, the Biblical witness enables mankind to begin to develop a consistent, coherent, comprehensive, true worldview that explains the observed phenomena of the world in which man lives (including history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, biology, astronomy, theology, morality, etc.) and more importantly, that declares the glory of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Creator Acted<\/h2>\n

The Scriptures begin with God creating out of nothing all that is seen.\u00a0 The climax of creation is God creating mankind (Adam and Eve) out of dust and animating them as His representatives to rule over the works of His hands through humble dependence upon Him.\u00a0 Mankind was to be fruitful and multiply the image of God over all creation and rule righteously and justly over the works of God\u2019s hands.<\/strong> In so doing, God would also dwell intimately with His people who represent Him.\u00a0 The consummation of history according to the witness of Scriptures is consistent with this initial trajectory.\u00a0 In other words, the final chapters of the final book of Scripture, describe God dwelling intimately with those who are reigning over His newly restored creation\u2014but this time under the One who represented God, perfectly\u2014the Davidic Messiah, Jesus Christ, who, as the incarnation of God, serves as the preeminent one over all creation.<\/p>\n

Mankind Rebelled<\/h2>\n

Between creation and consummation, however, mankind was given the choice to obey God or not.\u00a0 Mankind chose to rebel, destroying their own innocence which was required to dwell with their just and holy creator God.<\/strong> God subjected creation to a curse which introduced extreme hardship, death, degeneration, etc. not only as a consequence of guilt, but also as a gracious tool to drive mankind back to Himself in repentance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since then, all mankind has been subject to penalty of their guilt\u2014physical death and eternal death\u2014separation from God for eternity.<\/p>\n

God Offers Redemption<\/h2>\n

In the midst of mankind\u2019s history of rebellion, however, the uniqueness of God\u2019s mercy and grace is exalted.\u00a0 God manifests His graciousness by promising and subsequently bringing forth in history a man, the Davidic anointed One, Jesus Christ, God incarnate who would perfectly represent Himself and offer atonement for mankind\u2019s guilt.\u00a0 Jesus Christ, son of God, son of David, son of Abraham, and son of Adam is the centerpiece of God\u2019s plan through the ages through which God restores alienated mankind and creation to Himself and through whom God reigns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Redemption is offered by God to all mankind but is only given to those who by \u201cAbrahamic\u201d type faith believe in God\u2019s ultimate provision for redemption\u2014Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 The collection of God\u2019s people who manifest Abrahamic faith in God\u2019s provision, are justified, sanctified, and glorified, so that they may dwell with God and His Son forever and be co-inheritors with Jesus Christ of the new heaven and new earth in the last day.<\/p>\n

The Church Has a Mission<\/h2>\n

As the redeemed wait for the time when Jesus Christ makes all things new, His people are to form redemptive communities across the world in which God dwells that not only echo Eden but also foreshadow the coming Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0 These communities, local churches, are to be filled with the redeemed that are growing in their love for each other and their neighbors as they handle life with righteousness, justice, and equity all as their head, Christ, has modeled.<\/strong> In this way, the image of God in Christ, the perfect Adam, is multiplied across the world through the church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowing the \u201cBig Picture\u201d of what God is doing through history helps me to focus on my present purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[243,241,240,145,242],"yoast_head":"\nRefocus By Remembering the Big Picture - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Refocus By Remembering the Big Picture - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Knowing the \u201cBig Picture\u201d of what God is doing through history helps me to focus on my present purpose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-02T23:55:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T14:28:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2010\/11\/Earth.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brent Aucoin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brent Aucoin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/\",\"name\":\"Refocus By Remembering the Big Picture - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-02T23:55:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T14:28:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/05b28a5b78c722884ce2c38fdbc64ebf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/refocus-by-remembering-the-big-picture\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Refocus By Remembering the Big Picture\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/05b28a5b78c722884ce2c38fdbc64ebf\",\"name\":\"Brent Aucoin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20210309150430\/AucoinBrent2020.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20210309150430\/AucoinBrent2020.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Brent Aucoin\"},\"description\":\"Pastor Brent Aucoin serves as the Pastor of Seminary and Counseling Ministries at Faith Church. 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