POJC (Prisoner of Jesus Christ)

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? Ironically, there was a time where I thought I had a lot of worth, but it was according to the world's standards. However, I felt empty inside. I had just finished achieving my life-long dream, but this did not fill the void in my heart. Then I felt no worth or value in life. I was very insecure in everything I did. But Glory to God, that in God's eyes I am worth everything! He showed me how much I am worth to Him by sending His only Son to be my substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross. Now that is true love. There is NO greater love than this. Never again will I feel worthless. God saw me as so valuable that Jesus shed His blood in order to reconcile me to God and Now become part of His Family. I am now a debtor of His love. I could NEVER repay the Redemption Price God payed for my deliverance. Now my Long-term investments are in His Kingdom, where I will reap the harvests of eternal life.

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? People get so upset when they are judged because they are obligated to deal with their sin, as the judgemnet brings it to the light. They get defensive because they do not want to submit their will to no one, less God. Their prideful attitude jumps out to the control of their will and their thought is "who has put you over them as to tell them what to do". They want to protect their Privacy, when in reality their protecting ther sin. The bottom line is that they want to live selfishly for their own purpose. I reconcile final judgement with God's love for the world by the revelation that God already executed His righteous judgement for sin on His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The Word says that "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10) In other words, God displayed the Greatest Manifestation of His love by sending Jesus to die in our place for our sins. We deserved to be in that Cross of Judgement. Therfore, If we don't accept that gift of substitutionary sacrifice, then we will be judged for our own sins. When sharing the Gospel, we must share the whole Council of God. We must make the world aware that there will be a Final Judgement for the ones who died in their sins, and their end is eternal separation from God. Those who do receive the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and live for Him will not be judged and condemned with the world. They will inherit Eternal life. If Final Judgment is left out or ignored when sharing the Gospel, we lose the essence or the reason why Jesus had to die on the Cross for our sins. If their is no final judgment, let's forget about living holy, separated for God...since we all have the same fate. But the contrary is true; we need to live for Him knowing that there will be a final judgement where we will have to give account of our deeds, and the sheep will be separated from the goats.

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 biggest struggle with holiness? Holiness is not what I can do to keep away and separate myself from SIN, but what I will to keep close to the Presence of our Heveanly Father, walking in that highway of consecration (Paved by the Blood of Jesus Christ) to HIM with my whole Heart. It is being separated for God's use and purpose, not flirting with sin. I am holy now by the blood of Jesus Christ which delivered me from the Law of Sin and Death. By His grace, I have been made the Righteousness of God in Christ. However, I must live in daily separation for Christ, and deal with my Character in order to be conformed to the Image of Jesus Christ. I must not conform to the patterns of this world, but renew my mind with the Word of God. My biggest struggle with holiness is dealing with the miserable failures of weakness and sin; thus dealing with the condemnation, knowing I've let Jesus down once again. On the other hand, I need to keep in mind that this is a process of growth and change, and it will take time. Moreover, I thank God for His mercy and grace to lift us up so that we can continue this journey and finish with a note of Victory.

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? We are to live a life that regards and appreciates such an awesome and precious salvation. If we understand the price that Jesus Christ paid for our Redemption, we will be compelled, by love, to live our lives for HIM. We want to be that Bride, without spot nor wrinkle; living a life of Faith, pleasing the Father and living in purity of heart for He is Pure. We have a purpose to fulfill while on earth, and we need to live for that purpose so that we can hear the words: "Good and faithful servant..." The Fact that we know Christ is Coming back for His Church inspires hope and focus to resist the world and its temptations for we have a better life in Heaven to look foward to. Also, we know that we will be rewarded for our good deeds, and we will receive a crown of glory. However, just by the fact of knowing that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life and to Know that we will see Jesus Face to Face is enough to keep us separated for HIM. If we loose sight of His 2nd Coming, and see it as taking too long...we will start living for ourselves, losing sight of the Hope of the Full Manifestation of Salvation. We will start opening doors to sin, and not regard our precious salvation. We will also backslide of our steadfast faithwalk. Instead, we need to have that Living Hope burning with passion in our hearts so that we will live "Ready" for his 2nd Coming.

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: How can you tell the genuine article of joy from the counterfeit? Our Basis for our Christian joy is the Vision of Faith in Jesus Christ. Eventhough we have not seen Him physically, we Love Him by Faith and have a revelation of the Truth in our Hearts that brings about an expectation of the the salvation of our souls. Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus (through Prayer and the Word) will keep us firm in our Faith in obtaining Eternal Life. It does not matter what trials we experience, I am always comforted by the Fact that I await the end of my faith in Jesus Christ!! The pursuit of Happiness is always involved with selfishness in one way or the other. However, we get true Joy "unspeakable" by obeying the Will of God in our lives. Genuine Joy is present when our faith is strong and firm in the revelation of the Salvation of our souls, and we are spending intimate time in the Presence of our Heveanly Father. True Joy is not moved by what we feel or don't feel...It's not Circumstancial. However, Happines depends on the Circumstances. Genuine Joy depends on the Fact that we have based our Faith in the Redemption by the blood of Jesus and we know that we now have eternal life.

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? I was going home from church, and I was a victim of a deadly car accident in July 7, 2002. I was hit by a car airborne at approximately 110 mph. The car hit my left corner and fractured my pelvis (in about 4 places), left femur, left shoulder and elbow. I thought I was dreaming, but the pain was servere, as you can imagine. I died twice in the emergency room, but our Lord Jesus Christ brought me back to fulfill His Purpose! Well, to say a long story short, I had to really fight the good fight of the faith in order to live, and after being bedridden for 3 months, I had to learn to walk all over again. It's being over 1 year and a half and I am still recuperating, but this has being a time where my faith has being purified 7 times. The fact that I am alive speaks wonders about God's Goodness, Mercy and Grace! This experience has brought glory to Jesus because He knows how to turn all things and work them out for the good of those who love Him. Many lives have been impacted with this testimony of putting all of our Trust in HIM, and not our own strength. When people see the picture depicting the car accident, they cannot say anything else, but give glory to God. He is faithful, and He promised in Psalm 34:19 that "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all."

Q3. (1:5) According to 1 Peter 1:5, what is God's part in securing your salvation? What is your part? My part in securing my Salvation is to live by faith continually. The Just shall live by faith...faith in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. I cannot depart from that Truth. However, this revelation of knowing that Jesus died for all, produces in me the desire of no longer living for myself but for Him. In other words, my life of obedience by faith will keep my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. God's part is supplying the Grace and Mercy to keep, protect, and sercure me in this Great Salvation. My obedience by faith activates God's Greatness, Power, and Faithfulness to Keep me until that Day.

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? Obedience is the Principal Evidence that we have been forgiven and have recieved Jesus Christ as Lord. Anyone can confess Jesus Christ as Savior, but that reality of Salvation has fruits worthy of repentance. That involves Obedience. Jesus said that if we wanted to be His disciples we needed to: 1- Deny Ourselves 2- Take Up our Cross and 3- Follow Him. Jesus is our best example of this with His entire life. He really had to deny Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He had to die to Himself and Obey His Father's Will. This is the place where the Purpose of the Cross was accomplished. Sadly to say, however; if people sign on to Christianity to get forgiveness, but with no intentions of obedience, they will not last. Also, we cannot say we love Jesus if we live in disobedience as we were in the past. 2 John 1:6 says "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands." Extra credit: If true faith requires obedience, how can we say that we are saved by grace rather than works? (Ephesians 2:8-10) Salvation is the Gift of God, and it is received by Faith in the Grace of God. God gave us what we did not deserve by putting Jesus in our place to die on the Cross. His work on the Cross is Complete...I can not add any of my efforts to be saved. His sacrifice on the Cross is Sufficient to satisfy God's Justice. However, now my life has good works or fruits worthy of repentance, which are the evidence of my faith in the finished work of Jesus. The Good works did not earn me salvation but are a proof that I am saved.

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? If we identify more our present land, we will be more wordly-minded than God-minded. It does not matter where were we born, what matters is that we are Born Again. When we know that our life here is temporary, we identify with our Lord Jesus who came here with a Purpose to Fulfill and He was focused. We can easily lose the Focus when we become entangled in the affairs of this World. Our priorities have to be rearranged in order to do the will of God, being compelled by His Love and living our lives for Him and not for our selfish desires and wants. When we are Heavenly focused, putting the Kingdom of God in 1st Place, we are strengthened to persevere even if we are going through trials and tribulations. We know that these afflictions are only temporary, but we fix our eyes on the glory thaty will be revealed. We know that One day we will see Jesus face to face.