God and the Arts

Finding Jesus in the Movies

by

Ron Keck

© 2007 Ron Keck. Database © 2015 WORD search.

ABOUT GOD AND THE ARTS

Stories, great and small, share the same essential structure because every story we tell borrows its power from a Larger Story. What we sense stirring within is a heart that is made for a place in the Larger Story. What is it about these powerful stories that make us weep, make us laugh, and make our hearts come alive? Is it not that these stories borrow from THE STORY? It is no accident that great movies include a hero, a villain, a betrayal, a battle to fight, a romance, and a beauty to rescue. It is The Epic story. Great movies speak to us because they tell a story, and story is the language of the heart.

Finding Jesus in the Movies is the first release in the God and the Arts series, a new small-group Bible study. This experience has been created to guide you on a journey into the one great Epic in which the Bible is set. This fun but challenging study features four films, each with two small-group meetings, Dinner and a Movie (Week 1), Connecting the Dots (Week 2), and an Experience Guide that offers valuable insights. Dinner and a Movie night includes conversation starters, ideas for setting the environment, and menu recommendations inspired by the movie. The Bible study experience, Connecting the Dots, focuses on connecting significant events and provocative truths from the movie to the Larger Story revealed in the Bible. Ultimately, all the great stories reveal the need for a Hero-Redeemer. These meetings will illuminate the Hero-Redeemer as small groups find Jesus through each story. As you begin…

THE LARGER STORY

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men … (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Ecclesiastes 3:11 suggests that we come ready-made to understand the greatest story, the epic story, of betrayal and an enemy, of the fight between the destroyer and the redeemer, of something lost and the journey to recovery, of a hero and ultimate restoration. The Larger Story is the story of the gospel and the gospel provides the backstory, the truth, behind every story we tell. In the beginning—during the time before time—there was perfect fellowship among the Triune Godhead and the angelic beings that He created. Act I of the Larger Story includes perfection and harmony. Act I describes beauty, mystery, and order. Act II begins as pride enters the arch-angel Lucifer’s heart. Evil enters the story and with it the Villain. Lucifer rebels, he becomes known as Satan, order is tainted, and the villain is expelled from the heavenly realm with his followers. Genesis 1 begins Act III of the Great Story as the dust still settles from this great war. Act III accounts for most of the Bible and human history. It is a story about a daring, redemptive mission that introduces the Hero-Redeemer and climaxes with the cross and resurrection. Act III continues through today and will continue until the ultimate restoration and paradise regained in Act ...