WE ALL KNOW THE STORY

Mrs Deborah Smart is a children Sunday School Teacher known for teaching the children section of All Saints Church,  for the past few years. She was seen teaching the children department on Sunday morning about the Mightiness of God during creation. She said, "some of the attributes of God are Immortality, Almighty and Powerful. We can see this in display during the creation in Genesis Chapter One where it was mentioned that  ...and the earth was without form and void, children, you all know the story, right? And all the children echoed, yesss!  Hold on, we all don’t know the story…Romans 10:14 KJV “How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher."

We all know the story is a common speech among preachers of the word today. Kindly brings us to the knowledge of Christ daily through the Bible stories, as they are the great stories ever written, ever fresh and evergreen.

The Bible Society conducted a survey of over 800 children (aged 8-15) and 5,000 adults (of which just over 1,000 were parents). When asked to identify which biblical stories they were familiar with, the results showed a decline in Bible knowledge in the younger generations:

The reviews are as follows,

23% of children said they had never read, seen or heard Noah’s Ark.

25% had never heard the Nativity story.

38% have never seen, read or heard the story of Adam and Eve.

43% have never seen, read or heard the story of the Crucifixion.

Over half have never seen, read or heard the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours, the story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea or the story of David and Goliath. Over 60% had not read, seen or heard of the Feeding of the 5,000 or the Creation Story.

The place of story-telling cannot be understated in preaching the word of God. From Genesis clear to Revelation, the Bible is rich and full of stories. The entire books of the Bible are dedicated to telling a specific story. Some of these are stories of good triumphing over evil, while others are heartrending stories that tell of death and destruction. Some stories are funny; some are poignant; and some just make you shake your head.

What is the purpose behind all of these stories? Did God supply the stories to break the monotony between genealogies and laws? Are they just simply fairy tales? 

There is a purpose for the different kind of stories. Every Bible story has a purpose—as would be expected of a book inspired by the great and purposeful Almighty God. Apostle Paul highlighted some of the purposes for the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16: “...for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Bible stories can make these purposes and lessons come to life for all of us.

God also recorded these stories to help parents in the vital area of teaching their children. God wants us to “remember His marvelous works which He has done” and to diligently teach our children His good ways (1 Chronicles 16:12; Deuteronomy 6:7).

Over the decades the number of people attending Sunday School has decreased and despite the Bible remaining the world’s all-time bestseller, which can be found in millions of homes, an increasing number of people don’t actually know what’s inside.

A child is never too young to hear about creation, about God’s love, about Jesus and about the many wonderful stories the Bible holds. Every story helps us to get to know what God is like, what we are like and the way God wants us to live.

The facts we learn from the Bible are the foundation stones upon which our spiritual insights are based. Without biblical knowledge there is little to build on which leaves our hearts open to worldly perspectives.

Every event and teaching in the Bible has been included for a reason. From the lives of people, and God’s dealings with them, we learn about God’s character, about our nature and about our relationship with God. We can ask the question, “What lessons have I learnt from this story?” This leads to spiritual understanding.

Our Lord Jesus Christ used parables to teach and admonish his disciple's and the multitudes and thus  it’s essential we have a profound knowledge about Him, the great and wonderful works he has done, the patriarchs of Faith that we may remain solidified and abound together through the words of their testimony. There are series of stories of people of Faith  that focuses on various aspects of human life such as Noah, Abel, Enoch, the widow of Zarephath and much more.

In addition, I need to remind you of something important: the purpose of their stories is not to give you heroes to emulate, but rather to point you to a Person in whom your faith should reside.

In her book, “Telling the Gospel through Story”, Christine Dillon emphasizes that stories change people. People who are hostile to the gospel may become sympathetic. Those who see Jesus as a non-factor in their lives may begin to give him some consideration. Those distant from one another may gather into communities because of stories. Small groups may form around storytellers that eventually can lead to the development of new churches. People may develop new ways of understanding God, life, and the world (Dillon 2012, 23-30

In conclusion, (1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 11) laying emphasis on verse 6, it says “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted”. Paul admonishing the people of Corinth, narrated the mistakes of the children of Israelite, how they lusted after evil things and how through story-telling, (verse 11 “...now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”) they won't be ignorant.