Joe_Applegarth

If your praise is primarily for God's benefit, not your own, how should you be offering praise? Without respect to our earthly trials and tribulations, our praise should always emanate from a humble, contrite heart. “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." (Psalms 51:16-17)

What is the mindset of a priest towards God? The facilitator between us and God is Christ Jesus. As His earthly representatives, our mindset should be to always be obedient servants, worship and conduct ourselves in a manner that is acceptable to God. We must constantly endeavor to attain a level of holiness that will glorify God; “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have direct access to God and in v. 5, Peter tells us to “offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”, I take that to mean that our mindset should be to constantly pray that His will be done and to pray for others as well. What actions does this mindset inspire in you? God has inspired me to become a lot more actively involved in my church and to introduce as many people as I can to the saving grace of Christ Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit I now recognize that I belong to the most important group of people on earth, those of us who proudly proclaim ourselves to be Christians. I know in my heart and my soul that He has called us all to a higher purpose and that we are a very special group of people, set apart from the rest of the world to "glorify God" in everything we do. Personally, I aspire to glorify Him in the way I conduct my life and by witnessing to others about Jesus and what He’s done in my life.

Q4. (1:18-19) Have you ever felt you were of no worth or of no value? What does 1 Peter 1:18-19 say about your worth? What does it say about God's love for you? What does it indicate about the long-term value of your balance sheet and financial assets? What are your true long-term investments? Why? Have you ever felt you were of no worth or of no value? No, I don’t believe so. What does 1 Peter 1:18-19 say about your worth? As we were redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus our lives are invaluable. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “It is written, “Anyone who hangs on a cross is hated and punished.” Because of the price Christ Jesus paid, the good things that came to Abraham might come to the people who are not Jews. And by putting our trust in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit He has promised.” What does it say about God's love for you? The ultimate affirmation of His love for humanity is in His son, Jesus Christ. Offering all of humanity the opportunity to become sons and daughters in His eternal family is His blue print for our salvation. I believe that says a lot about His love. What does it indicate about the long-term value of your balance sheet and financial assets? What are your true long-term investments? Why? God’s ultimate purpose for creating us is to provide us all with the hope and expectation of becoming heirs in His heavenly kingdom with Christ Jesus. Balance sheet and assets seems like an odd way of putting it but… A balance sheet is generally comprised of both long and short-term investments. My short term investment is in keeping to His word and living the holiest life that I possibly can. That short-term investment will roll over into my long-term investment which is eternity with the Father.

Q3. (1:17) Why are people in our culture so upset when they sense they are being judged by someone else? How do you reconcile final judgment with God's love for the world? Why must final judgment be at the core of the Good News of Jesus Christ? What happens to the Gospel when final judgment is left out or ignored? Why are people in our culture so upset when they sense they are being judged by someone else? They get upset because our judgements are generally an unfair characterization of people and they are quite often the determining factor in how we treat and acknowledge them as a person. Even though the label that we affix to them (in our own judgement) might be an accurate depiction of WHAT someone appears to be at a particular point in time, it’s seldom reflective of WHO they really are. When we judge and/or attach labels to others, we’re passing a judgement that not only defines our relationship with that person, it also defines our relationship with God. Jesus said: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2) How do you reconcile final judgment with God's love for the world? Every one of us will be judged individually by what we have done or have failed to do in this life. There is no one exempt, we’ve all sinned and the eternal judgment of God is inevitable. That said, He loves the world so much that he sent His Only Son, the Perfect Lamb of God, Christ Jesus to intercede on our behalf and reconcile us to Him. Why must final judgment be at the core of the Good News of Jesus Christ? The Good News is that Christ Jesus died for our sins and those of us who choose to accept His atoning sacrifice and His resurrection from the dead will be blessed by God forever. Before they fled Egypt the Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. When the Angel of Death saw the blood he recognized the occupant as one of God’s own people and passed over them. In the same way, at final judgment God will see the sacrificial blood of Christ Jesus on our hearts and will recognize us as one of His own and pass us over as well. If there will not be a final judgment there would have been no reason for Jesus to come in the first place, let alone suffer and die on the cross to cleanse our sins. What happens to the Gospel when final judgment is left out or ignored? Well, the Gospels were written to get us prepared for final judgment. If they are left out or ignored, where does that leave us? Answer: Unprepared, left out and ignored. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” … “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21, 23)

In one of the classes that I took some time ago, holiness was defined as “ethical perfection” the end result of which is perfect happiness and virtue. To some degree, that’s probably a valid interpretation but to me it's absolutely unrealistic. In truth, ethical perfection is totally impossible because it’s based solely upon a person’s power of will and that will always give rise to conflicts between concept and moral values. To me, holiness is a separation from the world and total dedication to God but separation in a physical sense isn’t what God wants or expects. He set us aside to glorify Him and spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Because He did, physically separating one’s self from the world is an unrealistic objective. Holiness is a “spiritual separation” from the works of the world and a total commitment (obedience) to my God. To be holy I have to live my life as close as I “humanly” can to the way Christ Jesus lived his. Because I’m human I will never be able to attain that goal so when I fall short I must always put my faith and trust in the Holy Spirit to pick me up, dust me off and put me back on track. My biggest struggle is with patience and understand but I’m doing the very best that I can. Just like everyone else though, I’ll always be in need of God’s pardon and grace.

Q1. (1:13) What about Christ's coming should get our undivided attention? Why should it inspire hope? Why should it inspire self-control and soberness? What happens in our lives when we don't really expect Christ to come soon? What about Christ's coming should get our undivided attention? Christ will come a second time but He’s not coming to deal with sin (He did that on the cross), when He returns He will be coming for our salvation and to save us from God’s righteous wrath at the time of judgment. Why should it inspire hope? Our hope is through keeping our focus on "when Jesus Christ is revealed," because when He comes, our salvation will be realized. To have hope all we need do is put our faith and trust in Christ Jesus. The inspiration for that hope is in knowing that when He returns we will all be reunited with Him in a close personal relationship. That’s the hope that makes me excited and enthusiastic for his coming but Paul says it infinitely better than I. “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8) Why should it inspire self-control and soberness? The only way to even come close to attaining holiness is trusting God with absolute confidence or as Peter put it, through soberness and self-control. Being holy as He is holy should not be seen as just some grand Christian aspiration, in actual fact, scripturally it’s our duty! Regrettably, Satan is always lurking, waiting to corrupt and destroy us so we need to remain vigilant and on guard against our spiritual enemies. Not only is Satan looking for an opening, like it or not, we are also being watched (and judged) by non-believers. Because we are, we always have to pay particular attention and exercise self-control in everything we think, do and say and always be humble in the judgments that we inflict upon on ourselves and others. We are not God, we’re human and we all have sinful urges and desires in abundance. Knowing that as we do, we have to remain especially vigilant and constantly pray for the strength and self-control to suppress them. What happens in our lives when we don't really expect Christ to come soon? If you don’t expect to see Jesus as soon as today you’re lying to yourself. In reality you’re simply going through the motions if you believe that your sin isn’t a big deal. After all, you’re still young and you have plenty of time to make things right with God. Well my friend, if that’s your mindset, you’re setting yourself up for a generous dose of reality when Jesus returns! When I talk to someone about being prepared I always like to use this illustration. “Imagine seeing a tornado off in the distance; you’re absolutely certain that it’s coming your way but you have no way of knowing how long you have to prepare for it. Will you put it off till later and hope or will you start getting prepared now?” The question we should be asking ourselves (every day) is: “Am I more prepared today than I was yesterday?” The fact is, He is coming and every one of us will have to stand before Him and give an account. We don’t know when, but we do know that it’s certainly going to happen. “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:39-40).

Q5. (1:8-9) According to 1 Peter 1:8-9, what is the basis of Christian joy that is "inexpressible and glorious"? How does this joy interplay with human emotions? Is it essentially emotional? How does it differ from what is generally regarded as the pursuit of "happiness"? Extra Credit: According to 1 Peter 1:8-9, what is the basis of Christian joy that is "inexpressible and glorious"? Quick and easy, the basis of Christian joy is in receiving the salvation of our souls. How does this joy interplay with human emotions? Is it essentially emotional? Personally, I believe happiness and joy go hand-in-hand. That said, true joy is a much more intense feeling than happiness; happiness is an emotion that is almost always temporary while joy is a permanent resident of a Christian heart. A joyful heart is an absolute affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s spiritual truth deep within us and the absolute joy that we feel when He comes into our lives is extreme emotional energy generated by God. Since we were all made in His image that would certainly include our emotions as well. Ergo, joy is a very powerful feeling not an emotion but… the health of our emotional life is certainly an essential element of our spiritual life. How can you tell the genuine article of joy from the counterfeit? True Christian joy is permanent; if what you’re feeling at the time passes, if it’s temporary and fleeting it’s not joy. Joy comes from the heart and soul and grows out of our faith in knowing that it is God and not us who has control over our lives. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Q4. (1:6-7) Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus? Yes, a few years ago as my father-in-law lay dying in a hospital bed, he kept hanging on for some reason. When our minister finally arrived we joined hands in prayer and asked God to open the door to him and at that very moment he passed peacefully. God, it seemed, was waiting for all of us to be together one last time and when we asked, He delivered immediately. As with everyone I suppose, my life has been a series of ups and downs. Through it all, God has always been with me, even in the times when I didn’t really want Him there. He has seen me through my early years growing up with an alcoholic father, he brought me safely through the Vietnam War and the evils of the subsequent drug and alcohol problems. He saw me through a failed marriage (adultery not of my doing) and saw to it that I would receive full custody of my two children. Today I have a loving wife, 5 beautiful children, 10 grandchildren and 1 great-granddaughter. I’m retired and spend most of my free time in bible study (like this one) or working at the church where I’m currently serving as one of three elders. God has been very good to me indeed! “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:8-9). Jesus was God in the flesh. He didn't live out His life for His own glory, instead he spent every single day of His life to honor, praise and please His Heavenly Father. But, we are not “God in the flesh”, we are flawed human beings. In our humanity, everything we do is in one way or another flawed and/or imperfect and the imperfections that we are most acutely sensitive to are usually our own. That being the case, we must constantly strive to glorify Christ Jesus in the way we choose to live our lives. If we live a righteous, faithful life, through His grace we will find ourselves in a relationship with God that will truly honor and glorify His Son, Jesus Christ.

Q3. (1:5) According to 1 Peter 1:5, what is God's part in securing your salvation? What is your part? My part is to: believe; “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). have faith; “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17), confess; “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9), repent and be baptized; “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38), obey His commands; “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23), spread the good news; “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15) and, love my fellow man; “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). God’s part is to: Provide us with His word; “He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household" (Acts 11:14), He will be faithful; “But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory” (Hebrews 3:6), forgive us of our sins; “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...” (1 Timothy 1:15-16), saved through grace; "we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 15.11), Jesus’ return; “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3), we will have an inheritance that will never cease to exist, new birth and living hope through Jesus Christ; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17) “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:3), we will be protected through our faith in Him; “…you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5)

Q2. (1:2) Why do forgiveness (sprinkling) and obedience come together as a package? Why is it deceptive to think you can have one without the other? Extra credit: If true faith requires obedience, how can we say that we are saved by grace rather than works? (Ephesians 2:8-10) Why do forgiveness (sprinkling) and obedience come together as a package? Obedience is the true test of our love for Christ and forgiveness of our sins is directly relative to obedience and living a righteous lifestyle. We’re all human and, in our humanity, it’s inevitable that we will sin. Satan is our enemy! It’s his mission to prevent us from being effective, productive Christians and he WILL take full advantage of our sins if we allow it. The devil is extremely good at what he does but even though he commands great power, he can never overcome us if we are fully committed and obedient to Christ. Jesus Christ is our salvation and it’s through His precious blood that our sins can be forgiven and Satan can be defeated. Why is it deceptive to think you can have one without the other? Through our faith and obedience to Jesus Christ forgiveness is always available to us but we should never try to deceive ourselves into accepting and being comfortable in our sin. As a Christian, if we truly aspire to forgiveness and to grow more Christ-like in our lives, we must first and foremost, love and surrender our lives completely to Him, study His word, pray continually and obey his commands. If true faith requires obedience, how can we say that we are saved by grace rather than works? Jesus said, “…if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” If you truly love and have faith in Jesus you will always be obedient and follow His commands. In God’s eyes, no one is justified simply by his/her works; saving grace is through both faith and works. In James 1 (v. 14,26) the disciple wrote, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?” (v. 14) “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (v.26) True faith begets true works just as true works begets true faith but saving grace is only through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Baptizer said it best, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:16-17)

Q1. (1:1) How would you describe the behavior of a Christian who identifies more with his present homeland than his heavenly one? Have you ever caught yourself doing this? What has to happen to get our spiritual priorities straight? How would you describe the behavior of a Christian who identifies more with his present homeland than his heavenly one? I would describe them as being extremely misguided, Jesus said, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:14-15). Jesus doesn’t expect us to not be a (productive) part of the world into which we were born but He doesn’t want us taking on the evil “ways of that world.” Like it or not, we are a part of the communities into which we were born and being a Christian doesn't mean that we should totally deny a love or appreciation for our homeland. After all, didn’t Jesus himself weep over Jerusalem? We should all have a healthy respect and love for our country but our patriotism and love of country should never oppose or be placed ahead of the love that we have for our heavenly home. Have you ever caught yourself doing this? Yes, to some degree I suppose you could say that. I’m a Vietnam veteran; I was (and still am to this day) extremely proud of my service but when I came home to civil and political turmoil my sense of patriotism consumed me for quite a while. I still consider myself a patriot and would certainly like to say that I identified myself more as a Christian than a patriot back then but, unfortunately at this point in my life I’m not really certain. What has to happen to get our spiritual priorities straight? Our first priority should always be to put God and His heavenly kingdom above anything and everything that this world has to offer. That’s inherently what sets us (Christians) apart from the world into which we were born.

Q4. (John 21:18-19) What does death have to do with glorifying God? How will your life and death bring glory or credit to God? What does this passage teach us about God's foreknowledge? Glorifying God in death is simply showing the world exactly how great God really is by the way we live and in the way we approach death. In Philippians 1:21, Paul wrote, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Glorifying God in death is to have lived your life in His service and if you have, you’ll feel joy rather than remorse about the loss of your earthly life. Fear and remorse will fade as you come closer and closer to seeing and being with Christ Jesus in Heaven and you’ll rejoice when he says to you, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I can only pray that my life does indeed glorify my God and that in death my life, my service and my faith are a positive reflection on Him. John (1:1-4) summed up God’s foreknowledge quite well when he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

Q3. (John 21:15-17) Why does Jesus repeat the question and the assurance three times? What does this teach us about God repeating the lessons he wants us to learn? What does it say about God's mercy and willingness to restore sinners to ministry? Jesus repeated his question three times; one for each time Peter denied Him. It seems that when the Lord wants to make a point He tends to repeat the message in different ways and at diverse times. He speaks to us through the testimonials and prophesies of the Old Testament and He brought those ancient prophecies to fruition with the miraculous birth of Christ Jesus! During His own ministry, Jesus repeated those same OT testimonials and prophecies through parables to engage his audience. Jesus carried it one step farther though because He usually backed up His words with miracles to emphasize the kingdom that was being offered. After He’d ascended to join His Father, His disciples continued to reiterate the very same message and His message is still being taught in the very same way today. I guess the Good Lord looks upon repetition as a valuable learning tool. So, what does this say about His mercy and willingness to restore sinners to ministry? Paul, in his letter to the Romans (5:10) answered this question better than I could ever hope to answer it so… “For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

As always, Jesus spoke and then used his own actions to emphasize the meaning behind the words. Here he’s clearly putting his love for them on display (like a father’s love for his children) as a reminder that He will always take care of those who leave everything to follow him. He’s showing them that because of their love and faith, they would never want for anything and by preparing their meal, He’s focusing his full attention on their physical (and spiritual) needs. By joining them in the meal he’s establishing unequivocally that his resurrected body isn’t simply an aberration, it’s real and as He shared in the catch I’m quite sure He was teaching and inspiring them for the tasks that He alone knew lay ahead for all of them after he was gone. After his denial of Jesus, Peter may have felt that he had something to prove. He was always the most passionate apostle and I believe he wanted to reach Christ first to somehow atone for his earlier misgivings and to demonstrate the allegiance and unceasing love that he felt for his master.

Why did Jesus tell the disciples to cast their net on the right side of the boat? In Matthew’s Gospel (25:31-34), Jesus tells us that when he is in His glory he will sit on his heavenly throne with angels about Him. Here, every nation on earth will sit before Him and he will “put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Those on the right (the sheep) will be the harvest of believing Gentiles, on the left (the goats) will be the non-believers. I believe Jesus’ command to cast the nets on the right side of the boat is His way of energizing and preparing the apostles for their task of harvesting Gentile souls for the Lord. Jesus first called most of these same men from their fishing enterprises 3 years earlier in the very same manner. I believe He used the same miracle as a means to restore their faith and re-commission the apostleship of those who ran and hid when He was arrested at Gethsemane. This singular event brought them full-circle to their original calling (catching men) and when they netted the enormous catch they remembered everything that had transpired since He’d originally called them. I believe they all finally realized that their harvest of fish had nothing to do with human effort, the key was the Holy Word of God as related to them through Christ Jesus. This would be the exact same net that they would later use in their ministries to harvest Gentile souls for the Lord. Why did the disciples obey? What was the result? What impression did it make on the disciples? After an unsuccessful venture they’d probably already came to the conclusion that, despite their best human efforts and hard work, they’d come up empty so what would it hurt? Or, they may have thought that the stranger saw a large school of fish on the right side of the boat and were willing to give it a try. The truth of the matter is that when their best human efforts fell short, the power of Christ turned their failure into success. After the turmoil and chaos surrounding Jesus’ death the disciples reverted to what they knew well and it was because they did that Jesus’ last miracle had brought them full circle. The lesson for all of us is: Don’t keep living your life doing things the way you’ve always done them. It isn’t working! Cast your net on the right side of the boat and do things Jesus’ way.

John didn’t simply replicate stories that had been included in the Synoptics, his text only includes the things that he believed would lead us believe conclusively that Jesus is in-fact the Son of God and that if we too believe we might enjoy eternal life in the glorious name of Christ Jesus. At first he says that “…these are written that you may believe…” Here he’s telling us what he’s recording in his text. He then goes on to tell us why. He wrote them so that “…by believing you (all of us) may have life in his name.”

Thomas was elsewhere (John 20:24) when the others went to the tomb and discovered the grave clothes after Jesus had gone and he wasn’t there when the others saw and spoke to Jesus either. Was Thomas at fault for his disbelief when in point of fact, not a one of the disciples really expected Jesus to be raised? The others saw and spoke to him so it was easy for them to believe (afterward) but Thomas still had not seen him so he was skeptical. When he finally saw Jesus with his own eyes eight days later I’m sure he was probably shocked and embarrassed for his disbelief. His confession, “…my Lord and my God” in v. 28 was a great statement of faith that I believe overshadows his initial skepticism. John clearly explains in his text that there were many things said and done that were not recorded in scripture. We weren’t around in the first century to see and hear these things with our own eyes and ears but all of the things that have been preserved are all the proof that I need. Jesus himself answered your last question for us when he said, “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (v. 29)

Very simply; The “church” has no power (or authority) to forgive sins! Christ died on the cross for just that reason! Jesus Christ (through the power of the Holy Spirit) is the only intercessor that we need.

I also believe that Jesus’s breathing on them was example of the symbolism that he sometimes used. He did this to symbolize and prepare them to receive and understand that He was going to send the Holy Spirit to them very soon. In fact, He told them very clearly that The Holy Spirit would be poured out on them, and it would fill their souls. I believe this to be purely symbolic because only the power of the Holy Spirit would give them the strength to go out to preach His message in a world from which they were hiding at the time. So many people (to include a lot of professed Christians) take a “That was then, this is now” attitude but what they fail to realize is that God is exactly the same now as He was in the beginning and His words are just as true and pertinent. The idea that the “Holy Spirit of God” can be resident in our lives isn’t something that’s easily accepted by those who live in the world. Today people are told, and most believe, that they can do anything as long as they apply themselves and to a limited degree I suppose there might be a wisp of truth in that. However, if we ever hope to be spiritually secure we have to accept and acknowledge the absolute truth that He does reside within us all and that He will dwell there forever. As a Christian we should all remember that He will never leave or forsake us and that is cause for joy and comfort in our lives. Reminding others that we still today have an advocate is another, very important, part of the mission that Christ has left for us.

It is incumbent upon every Christian to remember that Jesus' mission and ours are not the same; His “mission of redemption” isn’t something we can or should attempt to duplicate. God sent Christ Jesus to us with the singular task of providing salvation for all of mankind and He satisfied that task on the cross. Quite obviously, that’s not something that we could ever expect to replicate but we are in-fact, shareholders in His mission! Our task is to continue to spread the good news of salvation and deliverance from sin because of his blessed sacrifice. We are under Christ’s charge just as He was (is) under that of his Father. His task culminated on the cross, now ours is to deliver His message of love, hope and salvation to the world! Furthermore, we are charged to deliver the good news clearly and accurately and are not at liberty to modify, amend or revise His message simply because it may be hard for some people to receive. In your words, “It is (after all) not our message, it is His.” I begin and end every day praying to my Lord for guidance and direction. So it is also with everything I face and every task He puts before me. I’m a weak sinner and if I have any hope of carrying out His will, the only way I can ever hope do that is with His strength inside of me. The only way to get that strength is to honestly and earnestly ask for it through prayer.

Q1. (John 20:19-20) What do we know about the relationship of Jesus' physical body to his spiritual body? Was Jesus' resurrected bodily? How is his resurrected body similar to his physical body? How is it different? Yes, He was obviously resurrected bodily. His resurrected body was flesh and bones, He still maintained the ability to eat, walk and speak intelligently just as before. Now however, His wounds were clearly visible, and probably still open rather than healed over and He appeared and disappeared at will and even walked through locked doors.

What are the evidences for the resurrection presented in this passage? 1) The large (estimated at 1-1/2 -2 ton) stone had been rolled away from the entrance of the tomb. Even if the disciples had wanted to remove Jesus’ body, they would have to get past the guards without waking them. Then, quietly (so as not to wake the guards) roll the huge stone over and steal Christ’s body. Personally, I believe that would have been totally and completely impossible to do without alerting the guards. 2) The most obvious bit of evidence was the fact that the tomb was empty. The empty tomb had to have been widely reported throughout Jerusalem so perpetrating a hoax of that magnitude would have been next to impossible therefore, the truth of the empty tomb must have been clearly established. 3) The Roman guards had already fled the scene. The fear of their superior officers and the very real possibility of death meant that the average soldier would have paid very close attention to every detail of their assigned task. 4) The empty grave clothes were undisturbed in appearance and their position and the cloth that had been wrapped around his head was neatly folded and lying in its place separate from the burial linens. Had the body been stolen, why would the disciples risk waking the guards by wasting valuable time removing the burial clothes; if they had stolen the body they would have most likely taken it quickly, not taking the time to remove the shroud. 5) Three days after His death and burial, the women who went to His tomb found the body gone. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first which would make her an eyewitness. An eyewitness who knew Jesus personally. Other eyewitnesses recounted how He had appeared to them over a period of 40 days, showing Himself to them by many "infallible proofs" and later, Paul would articulate how Jesus had appeared to more than 500 of His followers at one time, the majority of whom were still alive at the time and could positively confirm Paul’s narrative. Why is the truth of the resurrection so important as an indispensable foundation stone of the Christian faith? For a complete answer to that question, I’ll defer to what Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:12-28) What does Jesus' resurrection mean to your outlook on life? Jesus’ resurrection is proof-positive of future judgment. In the world we live in today, justice is quite often perverted and in some cases totally non-existent and it’s only getting worse. When I see the sin and the evil in the world today, it’s extremely hard for me to comprehend how some of the things that are going on can possibly be happening. To me, Jesus’ resurrection serves as a constant reminder that I am no longer of this world and ultimately God’s true justice will triumph.

Mary had witnessed one a most horrific death of someone that she loved (Jesus) and her emotional state was most likely one of shock to the nth degree. In her emotional state she may have been hanging on him (clinging to) and He told her to stop because he had not yet ascended to His Father. Her mission was to go to the apostles and relate the good news that He had arisen.

I’m a simple Christian, not a Biblical scholar or a theologian so the fully intact grave clothes that were left in the tomb are proof enough for me that Christ Jesus did in-fact rise up though the funeral coverings and then left the tomb in His resurrected body. The fact that Peter “had a difficult time believing” is typical of, not just Peter, but of all the disciples’ failure to believe or understand the things that Jesus very plainly taught them. Despite the many lessons that He taught and the miracles that they had personally seen Jesus perform, they still couldn’t believe that He’d returned until after He had demonstrated to them that he wasn’t a ghost. I don’t believe there’s a clear answer as to why Peter (and the others) didn’t believe but I suppose it had something to do with simply being human. After all, miracles were one thing but actually rising from the grave was something altogether different. Like the disciples, we too are human and just like them we sometimes have a very hard time trying to figure out what the Lord’s doing in our own lives. Most of the time it’s only after an event has taken place in our lives that we are able to figure out why God had brought us to that point and that’s exactly what happened with the disciples after Christ’s ascension.

Mary was from Magdala (known by the Greek name Taricheae prior to the time of Jesus, the Gospels use of the Aramaic name Magdala rather than the more common Greek name. She was probably in a position of comparative wealth, probably single (perhaps a widow or divorced) and had 7 demons driven from her by Christ Jesus at some point in her life. Her chief motive for following Jesus was probably out of gratitude for their deliverance from "evil spirits and infirmities." She most likely accompanied Christ and the disciples on their journey to Jerusalem and was most likely present during His abuse at the hands of the Romans and definitely present at His crucifixion up to and including His last hours of agony on the cross (John 19:25). She was with the disciple John and the women who remained by the cross till all was all over, and waited till the body was taken down and placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. She went with Salome and Mary (Jesus’ mother) to anoint the body and was with them when they discovered the empty tomb and it was to her that Jesus appeared first after the resurrection. As to why He would appear to a woman first is anyone’s guess but Mary had been a loyal follower who supported Him spiritually and financially without question.