Thank you for joining us. While we will gather at 7 AM. To give people time to grab a bite to eat, we will start the lesson promptly at 7:10 to respect everyone’s time. (That gives 10
Before we get into this course, I want to share domr key sections of the Bible with you.

Matthew 28:20 – After 28 chapters writing about the authenticity of Jesus Christ as the King who is worthy to be worshiped by all people, Matthew concludes his book showing that the disciples did worship him (vs. 16) and that His command to them was to go to every ethnic group, preaching, baptizing and teaching them to obey all that He commanded them. That is our objective as His disciples: to teach people to obey Him. It’s the best thing we can do for them. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” biblehub.com/matthew/28-20.htm

John 17:3 – Praying to the Father before the crucifixion, interceding for us, Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”  biblehub.com/john/17-3.htm

Jeremiah 9:23-24 – “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” biblehub.com/jeremiah/9-24.htm

John 15:8 – Telling His disciples that they can do nothing without abiding in Him, Jesus told His disciples, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” biblehub.com/john/15-8.htm

2 Peter 1:1-11 – faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. (ESV – faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, & love.) vs. 8 – “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  biblehub.com/2_peter/1-8.htm

There are a bunch of reasons why I want to share with you this course in particular.

• It lays a solid foundation.
• It makes sense.
• It matches growth.
• It demolishes arguments.
• It establishes authority.

I will explain more below.

Many Bible courses give you information without the foundation. It’s kind of like saying, “Just trust me, I know the Bible.” I believe that every person should be able to discover for themselves what God has said, following the pattern established by God Himself. After all, He is the master teacher.

If previous generations of Christians over the past two millenia could share their faith in God with us, then we can can share what we have learned with the generations to follow.

God gave us His written word over time in a particular order because there are things a person needs to know before other things will make sense.

We see the confusion of people around us all the time when we share the Gospel. In ourselves too. Because they or we have a false understanding of the character and history God in the world, people make all kinds of accusations against God or Christians. The antidote is not arguing with them but to simple teach them what God says about Himself.

According to 2 Corinthians 4, our enemy works to hide or veil the glory of God. This is what God has given to us to share with other people; the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

This course helps you unveil God’s glory. It helps you uncover mysteries about God by simply showing you what God has written.

Hand out The Bible Taproot flyers. stilluntold.org/missionsfaq/#p=39

As my co-worker Ed Skowron explains in his book, The Bible Taproot, there are things people need to hear before what we want to tell them makes sense.

Many Christians do not take the time teach new believers through the book of Genesis from the very beginning. Jesus suddenly appears on the scene as a baby in the manager when John, 1 John and Colossians all teach us the Jesus was instrumental in all of Creation.

As you will see from this flyer, that is a great error. Hand out: Things We Learn From the Old Testament. stilluntold.org/missionsfaq/#p=49

———- Ethnos Canada – Establish Series Intro ——————

Five Reasons to Teach Foundationally by Ethnos Canada

Posted July 4, 2021

When sharing Christ with a lost world, we must remember that no one is a blank page – everyone has preexisting beliefs that typically clash with God’s truth. If God’s truth is going to take root and produce healthy, lasting fruit within the listener, truth must be taught strategically and thoroughly. This is why Ethnos Canada teaches God’s Word foundationally, both overseas and now in Northern Canada. Foundational truths are revealed from Genesis to Revelation chronologically and are contrasted with the listener’s worldview. Precept upon precept, truth upon truth, from Creation to Christ. This gives them a correct understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ and establishes them in Christ. Here are five reasons why we are passionate about foundational Bible teaching.

1. It Lays a Solid Foundation

If every person’s faith is like a building (1 Corinthians 3:9), then the strength of the foundation of their faith is critical to keep their faith from crumbling under pressure. Foundational Bible teaching builds a firm foundation of truth by teaching truth in a chronological sequence, with diligence, and with care to establish believers in the foundational truths first. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” LUKE 24:27 In contrast to building on sand, foundational teaching provides the firm foundation that is absolutely essential for the stability and durability of a thriving believer (Matthew 7:24; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11; Ephesians 4:15-16).

2. It Makes Sense

Foundational Bible teaching also unpacks truth the way God did, from the beginning! His story begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth, and then progresses to reveal His plan of redemption for all humankind. It continues through Christ’s ascension and ends by teaching us how to mature in Christ. When God’s Word is taught as God designed it, the listener’s faith is progressively established in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13; Colossians 2:7). This method of teaching within the story of Scripture brings truth alive, makes it memorable, and it makes sense with how most cultures learn — including First Nations culture.

3. It Matches Growth

God has designed a system of growth for all life — mentally, physically, spiritually. Children are fed based on their stages of growth. Babies are fed milk, toddlers eat soft foods, and they eventually eat meat when they get older. Children are also taught based on their stages of growth to match their scholastic understanding. First 2+2 then 2×2. In the same way, God has designed how people grow spiritually which means they must be taught based on their spiritual development — first the milk of the Word, then the meat of the Word (Hebrews 5:12). Foundational Bible teaching recognizes the different stages of spiritual development within each listener and teaches them at their respective level so as to foster healthy spiritual development.

4. It Demolishes Arguments

Because everyone has pre-existing beliefs, those beliefs must be graciously confronted with the truth to avoid compromise and/or syncretism (mixing God’s truth with false beliefs). John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), Jesus (Matthew 4:17), Peter (Acts 2:38; 3:19) and Paul (Acts 17:30) all took this approach. Thankfully God has laid out His Word to confront every lie of the enemy within every culture of every era, but we must present it skillfully. As we teach God’s Word foundationally, it “demolish[es] arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God …” (2 Corinthians 10:5) to produce genuine, healthy, enduring fruit. We leave no room for competing alternatives.

5. It Establishes Authority

Everyone, consciously or unconsciously, relies on some authority for what they choose to believe. Foundational Bible teaching graciously engages people with the truth, leading them to submit themselves to God as the source of truth — not the teacher, culture, society, or tradition. Foundational Bible teaching establishes the Word of God as the reliable authority for all of life and practice so that a thriving believer can mature in Christ. Eternal Impact at a Heart Level It wasn’t often that my old indigenous friend came to my house. It was a long walk through the dusty jungle. This distance was complicated by his age, the heat, and by his severely bowed legs. So I was surprised to see him walking purposefully into my yard. Foregoing the typical greetings, he said, “Grandson, I have come to tell you something.” My mind raced. Did he need me to take someone to the hospital? Was he in desperate need of food? What was so important for him to make the effort to come all this way? I put some chairs in the shade. Normally, we would drink at least one pitcher of tea before he would tell me what he came for. But this time was different. As soon as I sat down, he launched right in… “You know I have sat through all the teaching you have done. And at the end I understood what you were teaching. You taught us about how the world was created. You taught us about Adam and Eve’s sin. And you taught us about what Christ did for us. But when you taught us that we can only be saved through faith, that is when I didn’t want to believe anymore. I said in my insides that you were wrong. For weeks I was upset at you because I thought you were wrong. But God kept reminding me that they were His words you had taught us and that I was fighting with Him. I came to tell you that I believe now. I am trusting in Christ as the payment for my sin. I am no longer trusting in what I have done.” Foundational Bible teaching makes an Eternal difference. What part is God asking you to play in reaching the unreached with a clear message? —Shaun Humphreys Co-director of Operations, Ethnos Canada

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In going through this course, I hope to place tools in your hands that you can immediately use to go teach someone else.  Therefore, I will generally not race through the Scriptures, hopping around to prove a point. I want you to be able use everything I give you, just the way I gave it to you. Once you have use the framework you will find that many of the things you learn you will be able to immediately take that and teach in another context. For example, last Tuesday, JC use the illustration of the broken branch to show us as being separated from our source of life. That was something we shared two years ago in the Establish Series.

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Except for the first three or four sessions, everything I will teach you is on video on youTube. If you miss a lesson, I sincerely hope that you will take the time to catch up by watching the video so that you stay up with the rest of the team. The longest video is 50 minutes. Most are 45 minutes.

The reason for keeping up is that the lessons build up each other. If everyone is up to speed, then we can spend less time reviewing what we already learned.

These first several sessions we will quickly move through the booklet, “Who is God?” This booklet is part of the Establish 101 series and part of the discipleship process. We want you to be familiar with this resource and how to use it. The booklet is also available online as a free download. ethnos.ca/who-is-god

After we complete a quick read through the “Who is God?” booklet, we will progress through the rest of the Establish 101 Discipleship course. It consists of 36 lessons, with each lesson building on the previous lesson. If you want to purchase your own books, you can find them here… ethnosresources.ca/collections/buy-establish

The complete series Establish 101 is recorded on youTube and presented by my co-worker Dave Wright. If you miss a lesson, please make every effort to catch up with the group by viewing that lesson online. Wscru.com/e101vid

For further inquiries, please contact me – mailto:randy@wscru.com

 

Course Objectives

Throughout this course, the student should grow in the following areas:

Knowledge –

The student will:

• Learn a foundational approach to discipling that shares truth relevant to a disciple’s stage of spiritual understanding, allowing them to gain not only a solid gospel foundation but to move forward in their maturity in Christ.
• Learn the necessity of contextualizing the gospel to each new context.
• Learn the value of simple, biblically based evaluation tools to assess the spiritual development of their disciples.

 

Life Skills –

The student will:

• Become more comfortable graciously confronting contrary beliefs with the truth of God’s Word.
• Grow in their appreciation of, and competence in, a relational discipling posture.
• Learn a tag team approach to discipling which graciously allows an inexperienced discipler to learn alongside an experienced discipler.

 

Relationships –

The student will:

• Come to appreciate that building deep relationships is vital to effective discipling.

Course Textbooks

• Ethnos Canada, Establish: Foundational Disciple-Making, 101 Genesis to John: Gospel Foundations – Discipler Book 1, version 2.0, Durham: Ethnos Canada, 2021.
• Ethnos Canada, Establish: Foundational Disciple-Making, 101 Genesis to John: Gospel Foundations – Discipler Book 2, version 2.0, Durham: Ethnos Canada, 2021.
• Ethnos Canada, Establish: Foundational Disciple-Making, Discipler’s Prep: Preparing the Heart of the Discipler, version 1.0, Durham: Ethnos Canada, 2022.
• Ethnos Canada, Who is God? booklet, Durham: Ethnos Canada, 2021
• Ethnos Canada, Establish: Foundational Disciple-Making, 101 Genesis to John: Gospel Foundations – Disciples Notes – $40 Cost of course: $130