Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

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

1 John 3.8 – Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1. The universe is at war: the proto-evangelium , Gen. 3.15 (the two unequal halves of the canonical Scriptures).

a. Gen. 3.15 – 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. b. Matt. 3.7 – But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? c. Matt. 13.38 – The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. d. John 8.44 – You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. e. 1 John 3.8 – Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

2. The reign of God throughout history: The Capstone Theology of Time

a. BEFORE TIME (Eternity Past) 1 Cor. 2.7 – But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory (cf. Titus 1.2).

b. BEGINNING OF TIME (Creation and Fall) Gen. 1.1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

c. UNFOLDING OF TIME (God’s Plan Revealed Through Israel) Gal. 3.8 – And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel