One Chapter One Thought

Solomon shares the purpose of proverbs. He exhorts his son to acquire wisdom. Personified Wisdom calls out to the foolish to gain wisdom. 

Pastor Chris introduces the book of Proverbs and provides tips for reading the book well. He covers who wrote the book and why. He shows how Proverbs fits into the larger story of Scripture. He also explains the differences between English poetry and Hebrew poetry and how it impacts our understanding of Proverbs. 

Instead of expanding to fill the earth, humanity congregates in one place. God confuses their languages to scatter them across the earth. The rest of the chapter provides the genealogy of Abram. 

The second genealogy of Genesis covers the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. 

God confirms his covenant with Noah. The rainbow becomes the sign of God's covenant to spare the world from judgment by a flood. After planting a vineyard, Noah gets drunks. He curses the descendants of one of his sons. 

The flood eventually recedes. After leaving the ark, Noah makes sacrifices to the Lord. 

The rains come and the flood covers the earth. All life perishes, except that which is inside the ark that Noah built. 

The world is filled with corruption. God is sorry he made the world. God decides to send a flood of judgement to cleanse the world. He tells Noah to build a large boat to save his family and the animals. 

Genesis 5 records the first genealogy found in the Bible. It traces the lineage of Adam down to Noah. 

With humanity infected by sin, Genesis 4 records the first murder. Cain rises up against his brother Abel and kills him. God confronts Cain and banishes him from the land. Cain settles in the land east of Eden and begins a family. 

The devil slithers into the Garden to tempt the woman. The woman—and the man—disobey God and sin. Their sin brings disastrous consequences upon the world. 

God rests on the seventh day. He creates man from the dust of the ground and places him in the Garden to work and keep it. Finding no suitable helper for him, God creates woman to be his counterpart. 

God creates the world. He makes human beings in his image and tasks them with being with stewards in the world. At the end of his creative work, God declares the world he made, "very good." 

The Old Testament can seem like a strange place. But on this bonus episode of One Chapter One Thought, Pastor Chris lays out some things to keep in mind as you read the Old Testament, which will hopefully make it easier to understand. 

James warns the rich of their peril; they must repent and stop placing their faith in their wealth. Persecuted Christians must be patient and wait for the Lord's timing. The prayer of faith brings restoration. 

James warns his readers against worldliness. They should not boast about tomorrow because only the Lord knows the future. 

Season 2 of One Chapter One Thought begins January 5th, 2026. This year, we'll begin working our way through the Old Testament 

Genuine faith looks like controlling one's tongue. A community which is humble and open to God's wisdom will be peaceable. 

Christians should not favor the rich over the poor. Instead, they should live in a way that demonstrates the inward reality of their faith. 

Believers should count trials to be a blessing because they produce endurance in their faith. Genuine faith heeds the word and lives righteously in the world. 

Since Jesus is better than everything in the old covenant, believers should offer sacrifices which are pleasing to God: praise and worship. The God of peace will sustain them in their faith. 

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of the believer's faith. Believers should not grow weary in battling sin. To purify them, God disciplines his children. Those who hold fast to faith have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. 

Believers live by faith. The same faith that Christians have after Jesus came had been exemplified by the "heroes" of the Old Testament, like Abraham and Moses. 

Christ's sacrifice for once-for-all-time. His great sacrifice leads believers to have full assurance of their faith. But they must still pay attention to the temptations which could lead them away from Jesus. 

The earthly holy place was meant to be symbolic of the heavenly temple in which Christ made redemption. He went into the heavenly temple and shed his own blood for the redemption of the world.