The Great Story of God by Daniel Yordy

Brent Curtis and John Eldridge in The Sacred Romance say this about "story."

"The deepest convictions of our heart are formed by stories and reside there in the images and emotions of story... Story is the language of the heart... So if we're going to find the answer to the riddle of the earth - and of our own existence - we'll find it in story."

Story, its message and meaning, has always gripped my heart. How many times over the years has the essence of a story, whether from a book or from a movie, called to me, speaking of something more, something beyond our present knowledge.

God is story. His telling of Story He calls Jesus.

The Bible is filled with stories, the very human stories of many individual people. And God says that we know Him only through the story of a Man laying down His life for His friends.

There, in that act of Love at the heart of His Story, God shows Himself as He really is. We know God through story; He speaks to us by story, the great story of God.

Every story is about a hero who leaves the comfort of home behind and goes on a far journy. On that journey the hero gathers friends and companions; he battles enemies along the way and enjoys places of rest and refreshment. These companions join their hearts to his along the way; though sometimes they are a silly distraction. One of his companions is a mentor who teaches him who he is.

Then the day comes when the hero returns to fight for his people and his kingdom, to deliver them from the oppressor. In that final showdown, at the point where everything counts, those companions who were once a silly distraction, give their all out of the bond of love.

The hero faces the enemy at the point of the lie and defeats him. He restores the kingdom and brings joy and life to all.

Yes, I have described the hero of God's story, the Lord Jesus. But I have also described Simba in The Lion King and Maximus in Gladiator. I have described Frodo and Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings and even Jane Eyre or Elisabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

This book is not an expose of those other stories, however, though it does mention them from time to time. But when we understand that God reveals Himself, His heart, through the power and pathos of story, then we see, dimly, yes, but from our hearts, that Story alone reveals God to us, the great story of God.

Ideas about God cannot show us God, nor lists of doctrines hammered out. The analytical human mind does not know Him. He is known only by the heart; He is seen only by those who engage with a Man laying down His life for His friends.

And so in this volume I attempt to draw the cover back a bit on this knowing of God by story. You will not find an analytical layout, point by point, but rather the following of a heart message. I share a bit of my own story, my own engagement with this God of story, as well. Christ is always personal in us and in Himself. He is never a fact or an idea or any impersonal force.

Story, good story, begins with desire, and so I must begin with desire. Story has a setting; we must understand the setting in which God tells His story. Story always includes an opponent; without opposition, without contradiction there is no story. We must grapple with this devastating reality of God's story.

But story, to be real, must capture our own hearts. For you see, though this is God's story, it is also, very much, our story.

At the heart of our story, at the heart of God's story, are these words, spoken by the Hero who lives in our hearts.

Greater love has no man than this,

that a man lay down His life for His friends.  

And so I give you The Great Story of God.

   

(Remember, if you live outside the US, you may find it cheaper and quicker to order my books through Amazon.uk or other European Amazons.) 

~~~

  

It is time for the weak, the lowly, the incapable to shake the counsels of the mighty, to bring down kingdoms, and to overturn the ages.

We live in perilous times. There is a knowing in the air that something must give, something must change, humanity on this earth cannot hold the present course. Certain ruin lies dead ahead.

Most look for an answer in the wrong direction; that is to be expected. Human ambition is the cause, not the solution. Human leadership, human wisdom, human ability - if you don't think these things have failed, just wait; the greatest names prove themselves unable and incompetent.

Mankind brings his own ruin upon his head. All human answers fail and are failing spectacularly.

Yet there is an answer, an answer that confounds all, an answer that is utterly unexpected.

The answer is found beneath of you; to find it, you must look down.

The Kingdom comes, but it is coming where everyone least expects it.

No one looks for a weak Christ, a human Christ, a Christ of flesh. No one expects a man, lowly and meek, without power or influence. No one considers the crippled or the blind. No one looks to the autistic or the down syndrome. No one follows a little child without pretense or strength.

Mankind hated Jesus specifically because He was weak and very, very killable. Christianity has done it's best to turn God's weak Messiah into something He is not.

No one is looking for a God of weakness, found only in the inability of flesh.

Yet there is God, and there is the Kingdom.

The Kingdom is rising upon this earth and none can stop it or slow it down. No one will see it until it changes everything because all mankind have their eyes in the wrong place.

This is intended. If Christians, if non-Christians, knew where the Kingdom really is, they would kill it before it is born. But they do not see it and they do not know it, and thus it arises from beneath them and swallows them up:

In Love.

Where is the Kingdom?

What is the Kingdom?

In a land where all are blind, the man with one eye is put to death.

In a land filled with humans pretending to be strong, a Christ of weakness is crucified.

There is no "power over." The Kingdom is not "above" you.

If God gives you grace, if God gives you an eye to see, look down, the Kingdom is rising from beneath of you.

The Kingdom carries you; the Kingdom has always carried you.

The Kingdom is always coming up from beneath of you, catching you up in itself, and rising on high.

And you are inside of it.

     And so I give you: The Kingdom Rising

~~~ 

Now, I would really like some of you, as you are willing, to write a "Customer Review" for the Amazon marketplace. It would be nice if you had a copy of the book, of course, but if you have read most of the series, you can still make comments by referring to the articles on the website.

Then, my book,The Jesus Secret, is also now available through Amazon. I will remove the older order links and replace them. The price is much lower as a result of this move.

You can find it here:  The Jesus Secret - Who I Am (Volume 1)

My desire always is to see people connect more closely with the Lord Jesus inside of them then they have ever known before. If Jesus can use my little bit of writing to that end, I am more than rewarded.

May the Lord bless you and keep you through the time of your transformation,
Daniel Yordy