Please join us as we discover how God Uses Everyday Things, Even a Pool Table, To Teach Us About Him.
Supporting Scriptures for "God's Plan:" John 3:16k 20:31 Romans 3:25, 5:10, 10:9 1 Corinthians 8:6 Philippians 2:11 1 John 4:2 Hebrews 4:14-15
In the beginning, God (represented by the cue ball) created Adam and Eve (represented by the solid number "1" and "2" ball) and they lived in the Garden of Eden (represented by the ball rack). They were given one instruction from God: Do not eat the fruit (represented by the cue chalk) from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." However, when tempted by the serpant (represented by the black "8" ball), Adam and Eve disobeyed God causing them to now be striped by sin (represented by the "9" and "10" ball). Their sin resulted in four consequences, one of which was that God kicked them out of the garden. After these events, Biblical history teaches us that Adam and Eve had children; and these children had children; and these children had children. A genealogical account is recorded from the creation of Adam and Eve through the birth Jesus in Bethlehem.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! JESUS IS BORN!
We will be using the red "3" ball to represent Jesus. But why the "3," why the solid, and why the color "red"?
The "3" on this ball represents the trinity. Jesus was God living among us as a man just like this billiard ball looks like the other billiard balls and yet He was still God, a part of the trinity made up of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Refer to "WORD Study 3D - Person" for more Biblical references to the Trinity)
Jesus was sinless so that his billiard ball is not striped by sin like the other billiard balls representing Adam and Eve and their descendents.
The red color of this ball reminds us of the blood that Jesus shed when He died in our place so that we might be forgiven of our sin and be given eternal life with God.
From this last reason, did you catch it? Did you see how God's plan was woven through these two historical events of creation and Jesus'death and resurrection?
Haven't we just heard about death and eternal life in the creation story and yet here God plans Jesus' death so that we might have eternal life.
Let's look at this mystery of death and life a little closer.
"GOD'S PLAN"
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Question 1
How do the following verses describe Jesus?
John 20:31 - "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life."
Romans 10:9 - "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
1 Timothy 2:5 - "For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus."
1 John 1:1 - "The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life."
1 John 5:1 - "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too."
Revelation 1:5 - "and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the commander of all the rulers of the world. All praise to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us."
2 Timothy 2:8 - "Never forget that Jesus Christ was a man born into King David's family and that he was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach."
Question 2
Compare the description of Jesus' sacrifice for us in 1 Peter 1:19 with the sacrificial requirements in the Old Testament in Leviticus 22:18-21. Was Jesus an acceptable sacrifice by God's standards?
1 Peter 1:19 - "He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God."
Leviticus 22:21 - "If you bring a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or flock, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must offer an animal that has no physical defects of any kind."
Question 3
What color is sin compared to and what color is God's forgiveness compared to?
Isaiah 1:18 - "'Come now, let us argue this out,' says the Lord. 'No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.'"
Question 4
How does the teaching in Romans 6:23 compare to what the creation story teaches us?
What is the result of sin in this verse and what is the result of sin in the creation story from Genesis 2:16-17?
Does God make eternal life unaffordable or unobtainable to man?
Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Genesis 2:16-17 - "But the Lord God gave him this warning: 'You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.'"
Question 5
1 Corinthians 8:6 specifically ties Jesus to the creation story in what way?
1 Corinthians 8:6 - "But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life."
Question 6
From Colossians 1:13-17, find at least one example of how the creation story has been tied to Jesus' death and resurrection.
Colossians 1:13-17 - "For God has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and He has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Chist is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together."
