Foundations for Christian Mission, Student Workbook, SW04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

• Argue from Scripture how God’s promised rule has been inaugurated through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the one from the Davidic line who will restore the reign of God. In him and the various aspects of his birth, teaching, miracles, exorcisms, deeds, death, and resurrection, the Kingdom of God is now here, already present in the life of the Church. • Explain the “already/not yet dimension” of the Kingdom of God; although the Kingdom of God has come in the fulfillment of the Messianic promise in the person of Jesus, the Kingdom will only be consummated at his Second Coming, when the full and final manifestation will occur. The Church is both sign and foretaste of the Kingdom present today, who is authorized to proclaim and demonstrate the victory of Christ over Satan and the curse as his agent and deputy. • Draw out the main implications of the Mission as the War of the Spheres motif, including the reassertion of God’s rule today over his universe in Jesus Christ, God as the warrior who through his anointed One has defeated the power of the devil and the effects of the curse, and howmission through this lens becomes the display and proclamation of the rule of God here and now. Making disciples among all nations is advancing the reign of God by testifying to its coming in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Eph. 5.25-32 - Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. One of the great wonders of Scripture is its deep and profound mysteries which are embedded in the lives and experiences of its great characters. In a real sense this quality of Scripture speaks to its inspiration; great lessons can be gleaned about the The Divine Romance

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Devotion