DownloadArticles : Sunday School by Andres
Nov. 17, 2008 issue
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Andres
Trial and victory
Perhaps it’s fitting we end in Corinth as we conclude our look at the New Testament through the lens of the kingdom-coming community. Our living-together in God’s kingdom will encounter many trials — even from within. But hardship never has the last word.
God’s grace is sufficient
Nov. 10, 2008 issue
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What matters most
Paul is suffering. And he’s lonely. Because of his zeal for Jesus and the Message, Paul is buried so deep in prison that those who haven’t abandoned him out of fear must search long to find him. It won’t be long before he’s executed, and he knows it.
Nov. 3, 2008 issue
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Shine like stars
A kingdom-coming life doesn’t come with a free pass from trouble. So, how are we to face our struggles, individually and together? That’s something Paul gets at in his letter to believers in Philippi.
Oct. 27, 2008 issue
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One in Christ
The kingdom-coming life is bursting with freedom, grace and love. But sometimes we forget how to live it. In his letter to Galatian believers, Paul reminds them — and us — what it is all about.
Oct. 20, 2008 issue
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One in the Spirit
As communities of early believers grow, they’re learning how to live out and live together in the kingdom-coming life. In a letter to believers in Ephesus, Paul (there is some scholarly debate as to who wrote Ephesians) exhorts them — and us — to embrace who we’re called and enabled to be.
Oct. 13, 2008 issue
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The Spirit sends
After Stephen is stoned, the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem scatter, and some believers settle in Antioch, a large Roman city to the north. That community of disciples grows into an interesting bunch — one through which the early church experiences a new effort in the missional, kingdom-coming life they’ve embraced.
Oct. 6, 2008 issue
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A changed life
The early church may be under persecution, but “the Way” is spreading. One of the most vicious enemies of this burgeoning kingdom-coming community is about to find out just how transforming encounters with Jesus can be.
Sept. 29, 2008 issue
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Discord resolved
The Spirit has come, and with it, God’s kingdom. Disciples are multiplying by “leaps and bounds” (Acts 6:1, The Message) —but with that comes a familiar consequence of humans intermingling: conflict. Yet here we also find a story that helps us deal with discord in the kingdom-coming family.
Sept. 22, 2008 issue
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Be the church
A couple of years ago, I bought a T-shirt with four words on the front: “Don’t go to church.” On the back are three more: “Be the church.”
Sept. 15, 2008 issue
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Who is greatest?
Jesus is on his final trip to Jerusalem. He’s been teaching about God’s upside-down kingdom and repeatedly calling people to reimagine their lives within it. More recently, he’s been teaching that this kingdom belongs to those like little children (Matt. 19:13-15); it’s harder to enter if you’re rich (19:16-30); the Father’s way of rewarding isn’t what we’d expect (20:1-16); and in it “the last will be first and first last” (19:30, 20:16).
Sept. 8, 2008 issue
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The good life
Early in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has been drawing crowds as he heals people and proclaims the good news that God’s kingdom is at hand. One day, Jesus sees them, goes up a hillside and begins teaching what this kingdom is like — and what folks look like who live in it.
Sept. 1, 2008 issue
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Humble beginning
By all appearances, Mary and Joseph are about as commonplace as you can get — a young woman and a craftsman, both of little consequence among the populace of a fallen kingdom long trampled beneath the treads of greater political and military powers.
