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The Lexical Aids to the New Testament says that "saved" (5485) is the present experience of God's power to deliver us from the bondage of sin. "And thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save (deliver, set free) His people from their sins."

Q5. (2:12) How can the good deeds we commit by living openly as Christians increase God's praise. How does our "blending in" detract from God's praise? We increase our praise to God by our good deeds in that others will be led to glorify Him. Through us they can taste and see how good and wonderful He really is. Even our influence will be of such that others will be led to glorify Him and His love. I think about Peter and how He wanted to blend in at the trial of Christ. He was living a lie and was led to deny Him. When we have a mindset to blend in we are denying Christ--we are letting Satan have his way in our lives. We cannot serve two masters, it just cannot be done. Romans 10:9,10 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." If we "blend in" we will have no desire to confess that Jesus is Lord...Our actions in this case will be speaking louder than our words...that Christ means little or nothing to us. We are always to let our light shine right where we are...we are to stand for the right though the heavens fall...

Q4. (2:11) Read 1 Peter 2:11 carefully. The world tells us (1) to conform and (2) that sin won't hurt us. What does Peter tell us to combat these lies? How can this reminder help us? It says that we should abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Besides Eve conformed to the lies of Satan and she thought that sin would not hurt her and look at the devasting long lasting results... Galatians 5:16 says: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the **** of the flesh." This reminder can help us by making us realize that we must have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order to live as God would have us live. We can not do it by ourselves. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13 As we pray each day to be filled with the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to the Word of God and as we study His word, "it will not return unto Him void but it will accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Q3. (2:9) What actions and attitudes should this idea of being part of God's own people inspire in us? It should inspire His love in us--a love that will love Him with all our heart and soul and mind resulting in impelling us to share His love with others. "The love of Christ constraineth us." It will inspire us to want to be with Him--to obey Him, to spend quality time with Him, getting to know Him--Eternal life is knowing Him. John 17:3.

Q2. (2:5) If your praise is primarily for God's benefit, not your own, how should you be offering praise? God inhabits the praises of His people therefore I should be praising Him with all that is within me...continuously thanking Him--even for my trials, because it is through them that He is making me more like Himself. When I claim a promise, I should thank Him even before He literally answers. This will let Him know that I have faith that He will do as He says, plus claiming promises is praying according to what God says--what His will is and we are told that if we pray according to His will, we can be confident that He will not only hear but will answer. I John 5:14, 15. This is an awesome promise for which I am so thankful!!!

Q1. (2.5) Christians often look at their relation to God as consumers, delighting in what God does for them. What is the mindset of a priest towards God? What actions does this mindset inspire in you? A priest in OT times was holy unto God. He offered sacrifices to God--the sacrifice had to be without blemish. He gave unto God for others... I am to offer myself unreservedly to God--to be holy unto Him through the sacrifice of Jesus. I am to give myself to Him--to be used of Him for others so they can be led to glorify Him; to be led to taste and see how good and wonderful He really is...

Q2. (1:15-16) In your own words, how would you define holiness? In what sense are you (by definition) holy now? In what sense must you be obedient in order to become holy? What is your big-gest struggle with holiness? Holiness is being set apart

If we are preparing for Christ's soon coming then Bible study and prayer are not an option. It is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. We must make it a #1 priority in our lives. It is by behold-ing Him--getting to know Him that we are changed and will even desire to be ready for Him to come. John 17:3 says that eternal life is knowing God and Jesus who He sent. Yes, we must be ready for Christ's coming. We must gird up the loins of our minds--keep our minds single to His glory. We must bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10:4,5. In Col. 1:27, it says "Christ in you the hope of glory." In Phil. 4:8 God tells us the things we must think on--whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. As we study to know and love Jesus then the Holy Spirit will inspire hope in us--we will be with Jesus our Savior and our Lord. Hope maketh not ashamed for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. God's love will constrain or impel us not to keep His love to ourselves but to tell/show it to others so they, too, can taste and see how He really is. The Holy Spirit will not only inspire us to be submissive to Him but will also empower us to do so. Self will die as we come close to Jesus and we will allow Him to work in and through us. We will exclaim as did Paul, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil. 4:13. If we are not really expecting Him to come soon then we may put off salvation and like Felix wait until a more convenient season, which may be too late. We will keep on living with no purpose in sight in a state of complacency. We will live for the now eating and drinking, etc. as they lived in the days of Noah. The following has been a source of encouragement to me: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present world: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14.

God is using many difficult circujmstances to refine and purify my faith, but I will share one specific instance with the group. In 1970 our oldest son died from leukemia at the age of 71/2 years. One Friday evening after the funeral I was especially overcome with grief and with guilt. it felt as if my heart was broken up into millions of tiny little pieces and scattered all over the universe. Suddenly something literally drove me into the front room and down on my knees. (I know now that it was the Holy spirit.) My prayer was more like a cry for help and went something like this, "Dear Lord, Please help me, no one understands. Take away the grief and the guilt." Right at that moment I could actually feel the burden of all that grief and guilt being rolled away--just like the song "Roll, Roll Your Burdens Away." It was a wonderful experience. As time went on and I began to look back, I realized that I did not even know that I could go to God for help for me. No, I did not even know that I needed God, but He knew so He, Himself led me to Him. It did not matter that I hardly prayed or went to church or even read my Bible. What mattered to Him was the fact that I needed Him. After that I tried to find some way to express exactly how I felt about the whole experience and could never find the words until God led me to read Jeremiah 31:13 which says, "For I will turn your mourning into joy, I will comfort you and make you rejoice from your sorrow." This verse explained exactly how I felt because God did turn my mourning into joy, He comforted me and made me rejoice from my sorrow in that through it all He led me to Himself and I became a Christian. Even though we must go through horrible experiences sometimes, God is always there and no matter what He promises to always work all things (not just some things, but all things) out for our good because we love Him and are the called according to His purpose. I am reminded of the song "Through it All." "Through it all, through it all we learn to trust in Jesus, We learn to trust in God. Through it all, through it all we learn to depend upon His word." Genuine, tested faith brings glory to Jesus because He uses it as a witness to others of what He can do. We are to let our lights so shine so that others may see our good works and be led to glorify Him. He allows us to go through trials so we can be a help to someone else and understand, have compassion and empathy when they are experiencing the same or like circumstances. What He has done for us, He will do for them. The best witness we can be is to let others know what He has done for us...

Q3. (1:5) According to 1 Peter 1:5, what is God's part in securing your salvation? What is your part? According to 1 Peter 1:5, God's part is to supply the power (Rom. 1:16,17; 1 Pet. 1:9; 1 Cor 10:13) to enable me to experience salvation, which is freedom from the bondage of sin. My part is to accept the provision He has made. I will not only yield my will and affections to Him but also depend on Him to work out what He has worked/is working in as I take time to study His word daily and behold Him. By beholding Him, I will become changed into His image, slowly but surely as I surrender myself to Him totally. I will not only have faith that He will do His part, but my works will attest to my faith. (James 2)

Forgiveness and obedience come together because I John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We can only obey if we first become justified through the sprinkling of the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary. With the forgiveness comes the cleansing--the power. We cannot have one without the other because that is what it is all about. I did a word study once on Ephesias 2:8 and in essence it is saying "For by grace (the power of God in my life) are we saved (freed from the bondage of sin) through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." God supplies the power through the Holy Spirit and Jesus has freed us from the bondage of sin through His sacrifice. It is all about God and Jesus. Otherwise we could boast and say look what I have done. This is pure self and we cannot be saved by self--our righteousness is as filthy rags...not acceptable to the Father.

Christians who identifies more with his present homeland than his heavenly one will keep on sinning. Theywill have no desire to be submissive to God and will not hate sin and love righteousness as Jesus did. Christians who identifies with this world will not be able to discern spiritual things--they will be foolishness to them. Thie main focus will be on themselves and what they can get or what makes them happy. Have you ever caught yourself doing this? Yes What has to happen to get our spiritual priorities straight? In order for me to get my spiritual priorities straight, I must be willing to spend time with God in prayer and in the Word. By beholding God I will want to change ( II Cor. 3:18). He will increase my faith in Him--"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The more I spend time with Him in His Word, the more He will instill in me a desire to become changed (HEB. 13:20,21). His love will be shed abroad in my heart and ever so slowly, just like the metamorphosis of a butterfly, I will be changed. Matt. 6:33 says to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto me--the all things I need to get my spiritual priorities straight and whatever else I may need.