BIBLE STUDY OUTLINE
JUNE 2013
SUBJECT: THE MISSIONARY CHRISTIAN
INTRODUCTION:
This Bible Study Preparatory class for Cell Leaders held on the 18th of May, 2013. The Outline has been developed for all leaders of the Cell Ministry to serve as a guide for our Bible study meetings in the month of June. The subject is ‘The Missionary Christian’ as taught by our Man of God during the class.
As instructed by our man of God at the beginning of the study, every cell leader and member is to get the book ‘Join this chariot’. So, ensure all your members get this inspiring and instructive book on soul winning.
This outline is in 4 parts. Part 1 defines what a mission is,and throws light on who a missionary Christian is. It explains God’s saving power, gives insight into God’s eternal plan for all mankind, and begins the lesson on the purpose of the missionary Christian on the earth. Part 2 concludes the lesson on the purpose of the missionary Christian on the earth. In Part 3, we learn about the purpose for which Christ came to the earth, and how to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth; the concluding part, sheds light on the future of the kingdom and our persistence and hope as missionary Christians.
Kindly ensure your members have their Bibles; all the Scriptures in the outline are read during the meeting; and your members look into their Bibles while Scriptures are read.
TABLE OF CONTENT:
- Part 1………....……………………………………………………..Page 3
- Part 2……………………………….……..……..…..…...... ….Page 9
- Part 3………………………………………………………………...Page 14
- Part 4………………………………………………………..……....Page 20
- PART 1 -
Introduction:
At the end of this chapter, each member should understand:
- What a mission means and who a missionary Christian is.
- What God’s saving power is.
- God’s eternal plan for all mankind.
Who is a Missionary Christian?
A missionary is someone on a mission.Therefore, a missionary Christian is a Christian on a mission.
What is a mission?
A mission can be defined as:
- a cause of pursuit.
- an objective, operation or project carried out for the purpose of establishing a cause, a way of life, a ministry in a foreign or some designated place.
A missionary therefore is one who is in pursuit of a cause; who is being given or is on an objective, operation or project, for the purpose of establishing a cause.
The missionary Christian can then be defined as a Christian who is about an objective, operation or project; one that is in pursuit of a cause.
Psalm 67 v 2 (Living Bible): ‘Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.’
Notice that David said ‘send us around the world…’ and not ‘we’re going around the world...’He knew we couldn’t go except we’re inspired to go. We have to be sent for us to be able to go.
God’s Saving Power:
Psalm 107 v 17 – 20:
17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
From this verse above, we see that David, who was the writer of this Psalm, knew about God’s saving power, and the healing power of God’s Word.
Romans 1 v 16:‘16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
The Gospel of Christ is God’s saving Power; it’s the power of God unto salvation.
God’s eternal plan for all mankind:
A lot of people before David didn’t know that God had an eternal plan for all mankind. Even the apostles had a great debate about whether or not the whole world should be saved by Jesus Christ; they initially thought salvation was just for the Jews. But David said, ‘Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.’God does have an eternal plan for all mankind.
Ephesians Chapter 1 v 9 – 10 (NIV):
9And hemade known to us the mysteryof his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one Head, even Christ.
What God plans to do is to bring all things together, under one head – Christ. This is God plan and His plan is always the best plan; He’s the all wise, all knowing God, and whatever He plans to do is the best. God planned from the beginning that you would serve and live under Christ; that’s His plan and purpose.
Ephesians Chapter 3 v 3 - 12 (NIV):
3that is, the mysterymade known to me by revelation,as I have already written briefly.4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insightinto the mystery of Christ,5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirstogether with Israel, members together of one body,and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. 7I became a servant of this gospelby the gift of God’s grace given methrough the working of his power.8Although I am less than the least of all God’s people,this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentilesthe unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery,which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.10His intent was that now, through the church,the manifold wisdom of Godshould be made knownto the rulers and authoritiesin the heavenly realms,11according to his eternal purposewhich he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
God’s eternal plan includes everyone from all nations; He plans that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.We are to display the many sided wisdom of Almighty God to angelic forces, powers and personalities.
In David’s day, the Gospel had not been fully made manifest. The time for his prayer in Psalm 67 v 2 to be answered had not come because the redemptive work of Christ had not been consummated. But Christ has come now; He died, was raised, and has come into our hearts. Hebrought us the Holy Spirit, anointed us and now we have been sent. That was the cry of David, and that prayer has been answered: we have been sent around the world.
Jesus said, take this message, to the nations of the world - God’s saving Power, and make known His eternal plan for all mankind. That was David’s prayer and Jesus has answered it through us.
Another scripture in connection to God’s eternal plan for all mankind is Colossians Chapter 1 v 26:
26the mysterythat has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Saints.27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious richesof this mystery, which is Christ in you,the hope of glory.
God’s plan is all in Christ Jesus, and Christ in you is all you need; Christ in you is everything. The mystery is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.
Our purpose on earth as missionary Christians:
What’s the purpose of the Missionary Christian and what’s our work in the earth?
God left us here on earth for a reason;otherwise, as soon as you gave your heart to Christ, you should have gone to Heaven right away. But God left you here after you were born again because there’s something for you to do here.
We’re here now, Jesus has come into our lives, we’ve become His partners in sharing the Good News and our purpose here on earth is:
To reflect His glory:
Our first purpose here on earth is to reflect the glory of God; we are the reflectors of His glory.
Hebrews Chapter 1v 1 - 3:
1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,2Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high;
Jesus is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image (the icon) of God’s person. A missionary Christian is a reflector of God’s glory. That’s who you are and your first responsibility as a missionary Christian is to reflect the glory of God.
Psalm 74 v 20 – 21:
20Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. 21O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Wherever the light of God is absent, there are habitations of cruelty; there you’ll find wickedness and demon spirits carrying out their activitiesbecause the light of God may only shine dimly. So, the dark places of the earth are the habitations of cruelty, but when the Gospel comes, light comes and things change, and people begin to live differently.
Until the Gospel, which is the light of the Kingdom, comes to a nation, it remains the habitation of cruelty and the home of wickedness. We find from history that until the Gospel of Christ arrived in any nation, all they had there was spiritual darkness, wickedness, the manifestation of satanism and all of its characteristics – evil, hatred, wickedness;and human life was cheap. It’s the same story today; any place where the Gospel is heard small, where the light of God shines dim, you’ll have the habitation of cruelty.
Jesus said you are the light of the world. We are the ones to bring the light to these dark places of the earth that are full of cruelty.
Verse 21 states: 21O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
How can the poor and needy praise the Name of God? This is a prayer for them to come out of their trouble; out of their predicament and poverty. When the Gospel comes it changes lives; they receive from God, and they are blessed and changed. So he says ‘let the poor and needy praise thy name’. When you pray like this, God hears you, but God sends you.
Genesis 1: 16: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
The Scripture here refers to the sun and the moon with respect to the earth. Remember that Genesis is a foundation for the spiritual kingdom that God talks about. The earth is really the physical expression of God’s plan. No wonder the Bible says the earth is full of His glory, but there are so many people whothroughout their lifetime in this earth, never find the glory of God; those who are in the habitations of cruelty, because they haven’t heard the Gospel.
God made two great lights: the greater light - the sun, to rule the day, and the lesser light - the moon, to rule the night. However, the moon in itself is not a light at all but is a dark planet of some kind. The substances on its surface are such that they reflect light in a powerful way. It gets its light from the sun and reflects light. And so when we look at the near-side of it, we get light, depending on how much of it is being reflected and what position it is as it orbits earth. But the far-side of it probably is dark, depending on how much light is being reflected and what position it is.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the sun of righteousness, He’s the greater light of righteousness and He rules the day. And the Bible says we are the Children of the day not of the night. We are ruled by the greater light, the sun of righteousness who has made us a light just like the moon. In our own selves, we are as the moon, but with the sun of righteousness we become lights justlike the moon becomes a light to the earth. We are the reflectors of His glory in the earth. We get our light from Jesus, the sun of righteousness, and reflect that glory to the world. When we beam out the light which we receive from Christ, then those in the darkness get the light from us andcan see the glory of God. You must remain connected to the sun of righteousness because that’s where your light comes from. In yourself, without Him, you have no light, but look at the ministry He has given us: we rule the earth that’s full of darkness. We are His light; we are the reflectors of His glory: that’s our first ministry. He said of Himself ‘I am the light of the world’, then He gave us that responsibility of being the light of the world. So when you arrive anywhere, you’re the reflector of His glory; you are a light to the nations. Think like that; understand that this is our ministry: to reflect His glory. Notice that God said the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, He didn’t just say to shine in the day or shine in the night. Light rules. It doesn’t matter what happens or what the problems are; we rule the darkness.
Questions:
1. A missionary Christian is a Christian:
a. who is in pursuit of a course
b. who understands people
c. on a mission
d. a and c
Ans: D
2. The news of God’s saving power is:
a. Grace
b. The ministry of angels
c. The gospel of Christ
d. All of the above
Ans: C
3. God’s eternal plan for all mankind is:
a. To ensure that all men are happy
b. To bring all things together under one head, even Christ
c. To make all men missionary
d. To give gifts unto men
Ans: B
- PART 2 -
Introduction:
At the end of this chapter, each member should clearly understand the purpose of the missionary Christian in:
- Preaching and publishing the gospel
- Establishing the kingdom in all nations
In part 1, we learnt that our first purpose as missionary Christians is to reflect the glory of God. That has to do with how we live, the things we do, what we say and how we express what we have on the inside. It’s about the life that we have received into our spirits, and how that life is manifested through us. So we are reflectors of His glory.
Our second purpose is to preach and publish the gospel of Christ. We’re not stopping until this takes everything to the end; till it culminates at the end of all things. That end is when Jesus comes to establish his kingdom.It is our divine responsibility to publish the gospel of Christ. A Missionary Christian must preach the gospel; he must be responsible for the publishing of the gospel of Christ.
Mark Chapter 13 v 10:And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Matthew 24 v 14:And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Why do we preach the gospel?
The purpose of preaching and publishing the gospel is:
- To make the message known: it’s not just about preaching anything, it’s about publishing the message of Christ, His kingdom and His salvation. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation.
Rom 1 v 16 – 17:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
This means that God will only save men through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel of Christ; that’s where His righteousness is hidden. When you preach the gospel, you unveil the righteousness of God, youopen up the righteousness of God to men. We’re not dealing here about a code of conduct or just a way of life. Christianity is more than just a way of life; it is life.
Righteousness is the ability to stand in the presence of God without a sense of condemnation and without condemnation itself, without a sense of inferiority or inferiority. It’s the ability to stand in the presence of God in fellowship. The righteousness of God has been the pursuit and desire of man from the earliest man. Man has been in search of it since he was driven away from the garden of God. That’s the reason for all the religions and cults of the world; they’re in search of righteousness, in search of a way of fellowship with God, seeking some power and connection with divinity. Yet all of that was hidden, wrapped up in the gospel of Jesus Christ and delivered to us free.