Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

112 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

2. As Sovereign Lord over all

Ps. 135.3-6 (ESV) – Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant! For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

B. The mystery of iniquity: war in the heavenlies through Satanic rebellion, Isa. 14.12-17

C. The Fall: humankind’s self-reliance, voluntary rebellion, and tragic disobedience, Gen. 3.1-7

1. The loss of freedom: the entrance of sin and Satanic bondage

2. The absence of wholeness: the inauguration of sickness and reality of death

3. The end of justice: the brokenness and fragmentation of human relationships

D. The proto-evangelium : the first telling of the Gospel

Gen. 3.15 (ESV) – I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

II. God’s Rule Has Been Inaugurated Through God’s Covenant Promise Culminating in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.

A. The Abrahamic covenant: Gen. 12.1-3.