Discipleship Lesson 3A

FOR TUESDAY 12TH FEBRUARY, ROTTERDAM WILL LOOK AT THE FIRST PART OF DOTA
LESSON 3 (MANUAL 1). THIS IS FROM THE DOTA WEBSITE BUT MEMBERS WILL BE
HELPED WITH THIS. IF YOU REALLY CANNOT ATTEND PLEASE FOLLOW WITH IS.

  1. Prayer
  2. Worship (15 minutes):
    Focus on Characteristics of God.
    This session: God is great and powerful.
    Read Job 38:4-5 (Earth); 8-11 (Sea); 31-33 (Constellations); Isaiah 40:12 (Measuring); 25:25 (The starry host)
    Consider:
    – the number of stars
    – the distances to the stars
    – the sizes of the stars
    – the greatness and power of God

    We now take turns to worship God (in one or two sentences) in his characteristic of being great and powerful.

  3. Sharing (15 minutes)                         [QUIET TIMES]
    Matthew 8:1 – 11:24 Take turns and share (or read from your notes) in short what you have learned from one of your quiet times out of the assigned Bible passages.
    Listen to the person sharing, take him/her serious and accept him. Do not discuss what he shares.
  4. Teaching (60 minutes)                      [GOSPEL]
    Concepts of the Gospel  (Part 1)
    When we share the gospel with people, we must be able to explain the words we use. Help people to understand the concepts of “sin”,, “death” and “judgement”, why Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father”, and the meaning of “faith in Jesus Christ”

    (l)  The Message of the Gospel
    Creation (Genesia 1:26)
    The Fall (See Isaiah 59:1-2): The consequence-estrangement (separation) from God.
    Universal Sin, This holds for all humans (Adam’s descendants) Romans 5:12, 17-19; 3:23
    The law of sin and death Romans 6:23; 8:2-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
    The failure of human efforts (works righteousness) Galatians 3:10-11; James 2:10; Romans 8:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-9
    One-Way Jesus (John 14:6)
    All God’s initiative (Romans 5:8)
    The need for a human Saviour (John 1:1, 14, 18
    His reconciling death (Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18)
    Christ’s invitation demands a choice (Matthew 11:28-30)

    (ll) The Meaning of the word sin in the Bible
    The gospel says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
    Psalm 51:1-4 in the original language uses three words for ‘sin’:
    (1) transgressions (Hebrew: pesha) i.e. crossing over boundaries, “willful disobedience,” rebellion. See Judges 21:25
    Transgression means to cross over the limits or boundaries that are set by God. The limits or Transgression also means to deliberately rebel against God.

    (2) iniquity (Hebrew: awon) i.e. Charles Wesley’s “inbred sin”
    Iniquity means to subtly change the reality as GOD sees it.
    To twist God’s truth.
    Iniquity also means to twist or distort the truth of God as he has revealed it in the Bible
    And

    (3) sin (Hebrew: chata’at), i.e. “Missing the mark,” falling short of the goal” (Greek hamartia)

    But because all people in the world fall short of God’s perfect standard, they are lost and need a Saviour. Even the people who live exemplary lives and do many good works, still fall short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:10-12, 23).
    Nobody qualifies! Nobody will be saved by his religion, by keeping the law or by his good works. Nobody is good enough! Sin does not simply mean ‘committing a crime’ or ‘doing something evil’. It means missing GOD’s goal and falling short of GOD’s perfect standard.

    Sin means to miss the goal of GOD for your life.

    Sin also means to fall short of the perfect standard of GOD.

    The root of sin is self-centredness, self-sufficiency or independence from GOD.

    The fruit of sin is doing what is wrong and not doing what is right. The fruit of sin grows out of the root of sin. The fruit of sin is to do what God has forbidden and not do what God has commanded.
    For lists of sins, see Mark 7:20-23; Romans 1:28-32; Galatians 5:19-21; Titus 3:3 and Revelations 21:8.
    What God has commanded see are John 13:3-35; Luke 6:27-28; Colossians 3:18 – 4:1; Hebrews 3:12-13; 12:14-17; James 1: 27; Peter 2:11-12.