linda bass

The text that convinces us the Child/Son is the Messiah Himself is the titles that He is given. What we learn about the Messiah from the four word pairs describing Him is, He will have wisdom, will be a warrior,will be divine, and will bring peace. Of these saving attributes the one I need most in my life right now is His counsel. I have many decisions to make in my life right now. I need the Lord's wisdom to help me make the right choices.

Yahweh(and His Messiah Jesus) is a "stumbling stone" and "a trap and snare" in the sense that we either put our trust in the Lord or else we will stumble over Him. People are broken in this stumbling by refusing to surrender to the Lord and by not placing their trust in Him. People stumble over a God who is almighty and righteous and must be obeyed because of the sin nature. People rebel at being told what to do. They prefer the freedom to do as they please without the consequences.

The gist of Isaiah's prophetic instructions to Ahaz was that Ahaz was to stand firm in his faith and to rely entirely on the Lord. Ahaz probably chose to disregard the instructions because he wasn't really trusting in the Lord. What Ahaz does instead is to pay tribute to Assyria for protection. The consequence of this obedience was that eventually Israel would be invaded by Assyria and her people taken away into slavery. I believe that at times we find it hard to do what God wants because we think we know better than He does.

Isaiah's reaction to the vision is to declare himself a "man of unclean lips." In the midst of God's holiness, Isaiah is ovecome by a sense of his own worthlessness and sinfulness. God deals with Isaiah's fear by a seraph touch his lips a hot coal from the altar. With this action Isaiah's guilt was taken away and his sins atoned for. The question following Isaiah's cleansing is the Lord asking, "Whom shall I send?" or " Who will go for us?" Isaiah's response to God's question is to reply, "Here I am. Send me!" Have to confess I haven't always been obedient when I have sensed God calling me to do something. I am learning to be more obedient of His will for my life.

Yahweh revealed Himself in this way to Isaiah because He wanted to give Isaiah a glimpse of His glory and majesty. The ways this vision reveals God's majesty is by revealing His holiness, that He is Mighty, and that creation exhibits His glory. What we learn about Yahweh from the serphaim's chant is, He is holy and the whole earth is full of His glory.

The vintner's vision for the vineyard was for it to produce a crop of good grapes. What he did to accomplish his vision was to choose a fertile hillside, clear out any stones, plant the choicest vines, build watchtower,and finally cut out winepress. What happened when the crop came in was, the vineyard yielded bad fruit rather than good grapes. What the vintner said he would do with the vineyard was, to stop pruning and cultivating it. He would allow it to be trampled and become a wasteland. What this parable mean is, the vineyard represents Israel. The vintner represents God. Tired of His people's constant rebellion and sinful ways, despite all He has done for them, God declares judgment upon them.

What the prophecy of the future Jerusalem tells us about God's plan for the Gentiles is, many nations will come to the temple to worship the Lord. What this tells us about God's plans for the Jews is,they will finally worship the true God instead of following after idols. What this prophecy tells us about spiritual hunger is, there will be a widespread hunger for God's word and way. The peoples will have a desire to learn from the true God and to obey Him. What this tells us about peace is, nations will no longer go to war to settle their disputes. War will become a thing of the past. People will look to Yahweh,their High King to justly settle any conflicts that arise.

Judah was confused about it's identity because of rebelling against the Lord and no longer following His ways. The consequences when Christians today suffer such identity confusion are, they care more for the trappings of the secular world than following the Lord. The injustices God accuses the people of are hands full of blood,doing evil deeds,doing what is wrong,taking advantage of widows and orphans. God argues their behavior is unreasonable because they are resisting the Lord and being rebellious. The reason their behavior is unreasonable because they are sinning against the Lord. What God offers as an alternative is for them to repent and get their hearts right;to start doing good rather than evil.

The chracteristics of the Antichrist describes him as being 1]lawless, 2]in rebellion against God, 3]opposing the true God,4]exalting himself as a 'god', 5]taking a seat in God's temple, and 6]proclaiming himself the be divine and the only one worthy of worship. What Revelation 13:5-8 adds to our basic understanding of the Antichrist is,that He represents the exact opposite of everything that God stands for.

The Thessalonians were confused because supposedly someone had brought a message,claiming it was from Paul,stating that Christ had already returned and they had missed the Rapture. The order of Christ's coming in relation to the revealing of the Antichrist is, He will only return after the Antichrist makes his appearance.

Christ's glory can be described as a shining light of radiant splendor. His glory will be terrifying to unbelievers because they will be able to look upon Him. In fact,they will beg the mountains to fall on them so they won't have to be blinded by the light of Christ's glory. It would be a terrible thing to be forever excluded from Christ's glory.The phase "outer darkness" is a helpful description of hell because it tells us without the shining light of Christ's glory,all there is is darkness or the absense of light.

The kind of punishment unbelievers will experience is everlasting destruction were they will forever be shutout from the presense of the Lord.

Persection,stress,and pressure helps us grow strong in Christ by 1]helping our faith to grow more, 2]helping us to learn how to endure, and 3]helping to become worthy of the Kingdom of God. Without the testing of our faith, we would become complacent and we wouldn't grow in our Christian walk.

A person can rejoice and pray continually by keeping one's focus upon the Lord. There are no circumstances in where we should not give thanks to God because He commands us to give thanks in everything. He wants us to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness whether we are having a mountaintop experience or down in the valley enduring persecution or tribulations.

What happens to a congregation when people don't show respect for their leaders is, it causes disorder in the church which can eventually lead to a split. What happens when the disrespectful spread their respect is,it sows discord and divisons among church members. Getting rid of the leaders will not solve the problem because the problem goes deeper than the desrespect of the current leaders. Those who are being disrespectful are usually in rebellion against all authorities. They will probably continue to dis or put down whatever leaders happen to be in charge at the time.

We will receive no warning prior to Christ's return. We may know the general season of His return,but not the exact time. What it means that He will "come like a thief" is, that Christ will return unexpectedly and without notice.

Christ will bring with Him those believers who have previously died by resurrecting them from their graves. When Christ returns,he will be accompanied by His saints,those believers who have died previously to His coming.

Daniel's prophecy of the Son of Man outline Christ's returning by predicting His future descension from heaven,surrounded by clouds. In light of this prophecy,Jesus used the title "Son of Man" rather than "Christ" or "Son of God" because He was trying to show that He was to be the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy.

Daniel's prophecy of the Son of Man outlines Christ's return by predicting His descending from heaven at a future time. In light of this prophecy, Jesus used the title "Son of Man", rather than "Christ" or "Son of God" because He wanted to show that He was the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy.

What it means to be "sanctified" is to be made holy. We are "holy" now in the sense that as believers we are "in Christ" because we are part of Christ. We are also "holy" in the sense that, day by day we are being changed into Christ's likeness as we focus on Him. What holiness has to do with our sexuality is, we need to avoid sexual immorality in order to see the completion of our faith in Christ fulfilled.

The difference between 1] conducting our lives by rules and 2] conducting our lives trying to please God is, the first is done out of duty or obligation, while the 2nd is done out of our love for the Lord. I believe love is stronger than rule keeping because,we know that even when we fail God still loves us. Paul brings these commands on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Persecution discourages Christians from active,open service by making them fearful to share their faith or to identify themselves as part of the body of Christ. Persecution also helps mature Christians by helping them to learn how to stand strong in their faith. Persecution helps us reveal our underlying motives by showing us how we will react. Do we boldly proclaim our identity in Christ despite the risk of physical harm or at least riducule? Or do we deny our faith or at least downplay its importance in our lives? God allows Satan the ability to tempt us so that we can learn how to resist his intices,thus enabling us to mature in our faith. God hasn't done away with Satan yet, because He is still part of God's plan. When God is done with using Satan, the devil will then be thrown into the Lake of Fire along with anti-christ and the false prophet.

Timothy's role to be a stengthener and encourager is so important because, the Thessalonian believers needed someone to stand with them as they endured persecution for their faith. This was a sensitive role because if Timothy wasn't able to encourage the believers,they could lose faith. It helped Timothy to be sent on this assignment because it would help him to grow and mature in his faith. Delegating ministry helps the overall enterprise of the Kingdom because one person can't do it all. Sadly many believers try to act like "super Christians",thinking they can do the Lord's work on their own. As a result,they suffer burn out when the task becomes too much for them and God's kingdom suffers as a result.

We can justify a desire for rewards for our labor in light of God's free gift of salvation and our love for Him because of the promises in His Word. What Christ rewards is, works done out of love for Him and the desire to share the gospel. What Christ doesn't reward is,works done for personal ambition or ungodly gain. Showing accountability to our Master should bring us pleasure because,we know He is going to reward us for our faithful service. This motivates us by helping us to want to do the best job we can in our service to Him.

The role of the Word of God in molding disciples' lives is, it acts as a teacher and is a very powerful agent for change,growth,and discipleship. The Word of God has a power of its own. It is alive and like a double edged sword.