{"id":45,"date":"2011-07-04T16:41:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-04T16:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/?page_id=45"},"modified":"2011-10-01T02:04:05","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T02:04:05","slug":"step-04-god%e2%80%99s-word-to-mankind","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/?page_id=45","title":{"rendered":"Step 04 God\u2019s Word to Mankind"},"content":{"rendered":"

God\u2019s Word to Mankind \u2013 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bible Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CREATION AND THE REBELLION<\/strong><\/p>\n

II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CONTINUED REBELLION AND THE FLOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

III.\u00a0\u00a0 CONTINUED REBELLION AND DISPERSAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

IV.\u00a0 THE SELECTION OF THE ISRAELITES<\/strong><\/p>\n

V. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0GOD AMPLIFIED HIS PROMISE OF A RESCUER <\/strong>OF MANKIND<\/strong><\/p>\n

VI.\u00a0\u00a0 GOD KEPT HIS PROMISES!<\/strong><\/p>\n

VII.\u00a0 A SUMMARY OF THE TESTIMONY OF ONE OF<\/strong>\u00a0THE WITNESSES \u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0PETER<\/strong><\/p>\n

VIII. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

I.\u00a0 CREATION AND THE REBELLION<\/strong><\/p>\n

God created all things in six days (Exodus 20:11).<\/p>\n

God also created our first parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:27).<\/p>\n

Our Creator commanded our first parents not to eat from one of the trees in the Garden that He gave them (Genesis 2:16-17).<\/p>\n

Our first parents disobeyed their Creator and followed God\u2019s adversary, Satan who appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent (Genesis 3:1-6).<\/p>\n

God announced curses on mankind because of their disobedience.<\/p>\n

But He also promised that the \u201cSeed\u201d of the woman would destroy the Serpent and his work (Genesis 3:14-19\u00a0 4001 B.C.).<\/p>\n

II. CONTINUED REBELLION AND THE FLOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

In spite of this gracious promise, mankind became increasingly rebellious and violent.\u00a0 As a result, 1656 years after Creation God destroyed all mankind and all air-breathing land animals with a global flood; but He saved one righteous man named Noah, his family, and pairs of animals to repopulate the earth.<\/p>\n

III. CONTINUED REBELLION AND DISPERSAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the Flood the descendants of Noah\u2019s sons again rebelled against God.\u00a0 So, God confused the language of the people and dispersed them to all parts of the earth.<\/p>\n

IV. THE SELECTION OF THE ISRAELITES<\/strong><\/p>\n

God selected the descendants of one particular family to be the carriers of His message to mankind and to be the ethnic group from which the promised \u201cSeed\u201d would come.\u00a0 These were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob \u2013 the Israelites.<\/p>\n

V. GOD AMPLIFIED HIS PROMISE OF A RESCUER OF<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0MANKIND<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>God promised Abraham a \u201cSeed\u201d in Whom all of the nations would be blessed.\u00a0 (Genesis 22:15-16,18\u00a0 Abraham lived from 2051-1876 B.C.\u00a0 This event was 1926 B.C. (if indeed Isaac was 25 years old when this event took place, as Josephus records).<\/p>\n

As mankind continued waiting for the \u201cSeed\u201d to come, God spoke periodically through Hebrew prophets.\u00a0 Along with His commandments and warnings about the behavior of His people, He revealed more and more information about this \u201cSeed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

God promised that this \u201cSeed\u201d would \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n