Gabs Suárez

What exactly is faith? Can we take credit for having it? Can we be condemned for lacking it? Define "faith" in terms a 10-year-old could understand. We cannot take credit for anything. God is good and I'm alive to have faith because of Him. Everything is a gift! Praise The Lord! Condemned? Yes. He's giving us the opportunity to be saved. But even if He’s incredibly gracious, we can be incredibly proud and refuse to accept His gift. Faith: Knowing Jesus personally. As a friend. Letting Him change our lives.

According to Ephesians 2:10, what were we created to do? Why? (Matthew 5:16) What is the difference between these works and the works Paul discredits in verse 9? Created for good works of a true faith. Faith is tangible. Because we believe in Jesus. Who called us to love. The works of Paul are different. Empty religion, excuses, shortcuts, only doing a few convenient things and ignoring the difficult ones. Everything that comes from an empty faith.

"Saved" has become Christian jargon. How can you "translate" this word into modern speech so people can understand what it really means and why they need it? Jesus has brought light to our darkness so He could free us!

Why is it so hard for us to understand grace? What commonly held life principle does it demolish? Translate the word "grace" into language a 10-year-old child would understand. Grace is something hard for people to understand because it is not something that we naturally do. We can only do this under the influence of God’s Spirit. Undeserved favour is similar to love your enemy, it goes against our nature. I would say it demolishes the principles that dictates that everyone gets what they deserve or nothing is for free. Grace means to give your very best to someone who is not good to you.

What does it mean that we are seated with Christ in "the heavenly realms"? What does this say about God's grace? What does this say about our spiritual authority? How should this knowledge affect our prayers and our boldness? Personally, I think it refers to our walk with God. As we follow Jesus our goal is to become more like Him and God sees everyone in this process as living “in Jesus”. Jesus resurrected and it is now next to the Father. We are in Him and therefore should reflect His glory. As people who are now alive in Christ. God’s grace is a gift we could never deserve nor pay back. We must do our best to live as we intended to. As for spiritual authority, Jesus modelled submission to the Father, so did Paul. And I think we have as much authority as the Father gives us (or doesn’t) on each circumstance. We live for His will, He’s in charge and we serve Him. In power or weakness. We pray for His will, He knows best. We pray to seek Him and everything else will come.

In verses 4 and 5, which words describe God's motivation and character? Which verbs describe what has happened to us in Christ? (I think it is chapter 2) Merciful and loving/ mercy and love. Verbs: saved, living, accompanied.

Few people would knowingly follow Satan. How can people unwittingly follow Satan? In what sense are we responsible for unwitting rebellion against God? How can God, in all fairness, blame us? When someone lives without recognizing our maker they are then, spiritually blind. They deny God and Jesus’ sacrifice and get carried away with the worlds’ morality and ways that are influenced by Satan. It is black and white. I think all people at some point hear about God. The Bible says everyone we’ll get their chance. God would never force someone to follow Him, that’s what free will is about. And God is fair, He gives us all the same chance… a chance we don’t even deserve. He’s not blaming us, He gives us a chance and frees us.

In what sense are our non-believing friends, neighbors, and relatives "dead"? What's the difference between us and them? If we really believed that they were "dead" and subject to God's "wrath," what would we do? Dead in spirit, they cannot recognise God in their lives. And therefore, they don’t experience His peace, His Hope, His joy and all those things He alone can give. Also, this world’s morality is changing and they don’t have the Spirit to guide them towards what is good. Our society is growing selfish, ungrateful and hard. When you talk about things like forgiveness, self sacrifice, putting others’ needs first and everything we know is right, they don’t agree. The last one is a tricky one for me, I only have about five years of truly following Jesus. At first I would preach to anyone who would listen and soon I realised I cannot just preach with words, my actions have to match my beliefs so I started focusing on spiritual growth and being more subtle. I am trying to get out of my comfort zone and do it more because I know what at stake… I am socially awkward so I pray God gives me His strength, courage and love to do it more.

Why are we powerless sometimes? Is it an inadequacy with the source or with our faith? Why do some congregations and movements produce disciples with miracle-believing faith and others produce disciples with wimpy faith? How can this be changed? We are powerless without God; as we began the walk of faith, we start knowing God and feel a deep desire to know Him experientially but it is a process. This process is holiness. Holiness means separate. Is the process in which we gain spiritual maturity because we are closer to God and as a consequence, separate from the world. When we spend a lot of time with someone we begin to look or sound more like them. That is natural. But if the one we are spending time with is God, we would begin the process of looking and sounding more like Him, becoming that light that brings praise for Him. That's why James said there's no true faith without works: “So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].” ‭‭James‬ ‭2:17‬ ‭AMP‬‬ Faith is not just saying: I believe! And it's done, Faith is our relationship with the Father, Son, and H.S., faith means we know them, hear them and obey. That's why there is no faith without works. As we mature in spirit because we look more like Jesus we do what He says, not what we want, even if it sounds impossible. That's when, if God's willing, the power comes in. Many may think I am saying you need works to be saved and refer me to our very own Ephesians 8-9: “For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-9‬ ‭AMP‬‬ But this clearly states grace through faith. (there's no faith without works) The works that this verse refers to are works without faith, being “morally” good, and following the Bible without really KNOWING God. “And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].’” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:23‬ ‭AMP‬‬ Is not the source of our faith, is our lack of understanding of what faith is and therefore our lack of faith. Congregations should produce faithful disciples that are submitted to God and aware that He can do miracles if He chooses to, we don't declare anything! We listen and obey, just like Jesus. All power and glory belong to Him, we are instruments, servants of our loving God.

What do we Christians have to look forward to? How should this hope be a major motivation in our present-day lives? How should this hope affect our decisions and our lifestyle? How does our great hope differ from the hope of the average non-believer? We look forward to Christ, to meeting Him, and an eternity with Him. This can be a motivation because it is our goal, our purpose. Having something to work on and knowing what our mission is to make life more fulfilling. And yes, it is a challenging goal, but we have a helper and a beautiful hope. This hope affects our decision and lifestyle precisely because it is a way of life. And not an easy one, it is a challenge we accept willingly because we know what the price was, we know it's an opportunity we do not deserve and because we are infinitely grateful for God's grace. The hope outside of Jesus is fleeting and deceiving. One can find hope in the world but all outcomes are uncertain. God, on the other hand, never fails.

These verses contain two analogies: (1) seal and (2) down payment, with the balance to be paid in a lump sum at the end of the term. When does the "end of the term" occur? How do these analogies help explain how the Holy Spirit functions in our lives? End of term: when Jesus comes back and separates those sealed and paid for from the ones who are not. The end of term is the beginning of forever with God. The two analogies identify us with Jesus, with our helper, the Holy Spirit, and therefore, with God the Father. The Holy Spirit is our guide, He helps us connect to God and by the means of that relationship, change to fulfill our purpose. “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With people [as far as it depends on them] it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19:26‬ ‭AMP‬‬

According to verses 11 and 12, what is God's purpose for our lives? What do we need to do to fulfill this purpose? How does this purpose relate to Matthew 5:13-16? Our purpose is to praise and bring praise to God. (That’s just awesome) What we need to do to fulfill this purpose is to be “in Christ”. Now, as for how it relates to Mathew, is the best part. We could stay home every day and praise the Lord in our home but how does that make us “Jesus like”? How does that show His generous love for others? And how is that challenging for us? Praising God by ourselves is wonderful but Jesus said that those who love Him, follow His commands. How can we praise Him if we don’t love Him? Or love others? Loving, serving, and bringing light to those around us is what Jesus taught, we want to be like Jesus and for people to see what being more like Jesus looks like. Not only we could help them come to Jesus but we also bring Him praise. I have to add that the sad part is that most religious people or “followers of Jesus “ are often seen as hypocrites, we need to step up to fulfill this beautiful purpose.

What is the significance that all things will be brought under one head -- Christ himself? How does this relate to the Creator? What does it say about unity? Extra Credit: How does this verse relate to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28? All believers are scattered around the world, being under one head means we all come together under Jesus, like the church we are meant to be. Jesus is the head of the church, which is the body. “He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything.” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭AMP‬‬ This relates to the creator in several ways: “For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son),” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:19‬ ‭AMP‬‬. (Continuation of the verse above, Jesus is the head because it pleased the Father) “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head (authority over) of every man, and man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:3‬ ‭AMP‬‬ (While teaching the corinthians church about proper behaviour in church, and marriage structure Paul wrote that God is the head of Christ, He is under the authority of the Father, he set that example to us on His time on earth). “In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭AMP‬‬ (The complexity of the trinity also comes into play in the beautiful relationship between Father and Son, it is something that goes beyond our understanding). “For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him.” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:16‬ ‭AMP‬‬ (Again, another trinity related verse describing Jesus’ role in creation, before this verse, verse 15: “He is the exact living image of the unseen God”). “However, when all things are subjected to Him (Christ), then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One (the Father) who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all [manifesting His glory without any opposition, the supreme indwelling and controlling factor of life].” (The extra credit verse also relates to this relationship between Father and Son) Ultimately, one of the verses that for me ties everything together is: “who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man].” ‭Philippians‬ ‭2:6-7‬ ‭AMP‬‬ (Jesus in His human form renounced divine equality) In conclusion, I don’t presume to understand the complexity of the trinity and God’s plan for Jesus but I l strive to walk the narrow road to hopefully find out more about Jesus and Our Father.

What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God? We can only stand blameless before God because of Jesu’s sacrifice, there is nothing else we can or could have done to earn it. Holy, on the other hand, is something we can work on (only with God's help and guidance). Holy means “set apart”, when one starts maturing as Jesus’ follower, one starts separating from the world and getting closer to God, spending time with Him and therefore being more like Him and that is the way of holiness, but no one can be completely holy until Jesus comes back and there is a new body.

What is scary about predestination? What is comforting? Why does Paul bring up predestination? Why do you think he is praising God for it in the "hearing" of the Ephesians? Predestination is a tricky subject because some think it affects our free will; however, predestination does not mean that we are not the ones making the choices, it only means that God already knows the outcome and knew the outcome before time. He is outside our concepts of time, so He could choose us before time because He already knew the choice of our hearts. The scary thing for me is that we can all make the wrong choice. Paul wrote it: “But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service].” ‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭9:27‬ ‭AMP‬‬ He knew He could make a wrong move and false move and be disqualified, we are all in the same position and it is scary to think God already knows the outcome. The comforting part is that we can still do our best because maybe that drive to our commitment with Jesus is what already got us the spot as one of the “few”. “But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭AMP‬‬ I believe Paul is bringing it up because He a praising the Lord and thanking Him for the ones to whom he is writing his letter. He is confident in their salvation and is thankful to the Lord for their lives and especially, what they are doing with them.