Fight the Good Fight of Faith, English Edition

Lesson : The Epic We Find Ourselves In • 

8. The Story that God is telling in Jesus is a story of restoration, healing, and blessing to the hurting and the poor. Read Isaiah 61.1-4. List five predictions that Isaiah says Jesus will do when he comes to win back what was lost.

My name is Nee. It is a fairly common Chinese name. How did I come by it? I did not choose it. I did not go through the list of possible Chinese names and select this one. That my name is Nee is in fact not my doing at all, and, moreover, nothing I can do can alter it. I am a Nee because my father was a Nee, and my father was a Nee because my grandfather was a Nee. If I act like a Nee I am a Nee, and if I act unlike a Nee I am still a Nee. If I become president of the Chinese Republic I am a Nee, or if I become a beggar in the street I am still a Nee. Nothing I do or refrain from doing will make me other than a Nee. We are sinners, not because of ourselves but because of Adam. It is not because I individually have sinned that I am a sinner, but because I was in Adam when he sinned. Because by birth I came of Adam, therefore I am part of him. What is more, I can do nothing to alter this. I cannot, by improving my behavior, make myself other than a part of Adam, and so a sinner. According to the Bible, the Lord God of the Hebrews is the one true God, who has revealed himself as one God in three persons (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). God has told us his grand story (i.e., epic) which speaks of his love and determination to save his creation from doom. God is the creator of the universe, who made all things from nothing ( ex nihilo ), and decided that he would raise up a people through whom a Leader and Savior would come. Although he originally made his people without sin, they rebelled against him, fell from his grace* , and brought upon all creation and human kind a curse, that ends in death. God promised to send a Savior who would pay the price of our sins, take on himself the penalty for our disobedience, and give us eternal life through faith. Jesus of Nazareth is this Savior, who . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *fell from his grace – When Adam and Eve joined Satan in rebellion, their sin separated them from God’s perfect relationship; their actions alienated them from God, and brought death to the world. ~ Watchman Nee. The Normal Christian Life . Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974, p. 26.

Summary