God the Son, Mentor's Guide, MG10

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G O D T H E S O N

Jesus, the Messiah and Lord of All He Came

Welcome to the Mentor’s Guide for Lesson 1, Jesus, the Messiah and Lord of All: He Came . The overall focus of the God the Son module is to provide the students with an overview of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth with a concentration on the theology (reflection) upon the meaning of his humiliation in his descent from glory and his exaltation after his death, resurrection, ascension, and return. The fourfold emphasis of the lessons makes it relatively easy to grasp the heart of the basic structure of the module: Jesus came, lived, died, and rose and will return. The Nicene Creed is the essential theological grid which informs these lessons. All have been designed so you can return with your students to this basic outline of the Creed, and it is to this that you should focus. One point must be emphasized right from the beginning. The truths in this module are comprehensible even by the illiterate and unlearned, but they will not yield to laziness or sloppiness. You will need to help your students wrestle with both the facts and implications of some of the more abstract material, challenge them to use their minds as much as possible, while not surrendering to the temptation to say that this material is either irrelevant to urban ministry or unimportant for their personal lives. What they as urban leaders must be equipped with is a full, comprehensive, and critical understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and there simply is no way to master this biblical truth without effort, sacrifice, and investment. Quash all notions of any student who believes that there are shortcuts to this process; the knowledge of Christ demands a focused, disciplined response to the truth, as well as some of the more critical falsehoods, heresies, and lies that wish to displace the truth. Your role will be to help them understand how important hard thinking is; as the Scriptures below demonstrate, this is our duty as leaders and leader developers: 2 Tim. 2.15 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Pet. 1.10 - Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 2 Pet. 3.14 - Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

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