Leah

We have become so sterile concience that the thought of a blood sacrifice just flies in our faces. For me it brings about the image of ugly and nasty and yet that is what our sins are to God. I hadn't thought about that until just now. We have become a people that are used to paying to have our "chores" taken care off. We have removed ourselves so much from our farming roots that many of us, me included, don't understand the first thing about animals or the sacrifies that they make.

With sin, we are turning from God to ourselves, the same is true for the adulterer or the robber and while God is a loving and forgiving God he has said that he will not be second to anyone or any thing. Uncontrolled anger is that which brings about the desires of the person that is angry and not the glory to God or that affect that he wished to have.

The statement that John made was connected to a sacrifice because he states that He will take away the sins of the world and the blood sacrifice is the only thing that God can accept for our forgiveness. John's statement was radical because he wasn't saying just the Jews or just those people living in that time, but he was saying that Jesus was here for ALL people for ALL time

The end of the term is that time when Jesus returns to take us back to the "Eden" we were meant to have, heaven. This description gives me a better idea of the Holy Spirits function. It is just the comforter, but also a reminder that God has made a promise that we are His people and we will protect us while we are in this fallen world and He has made a promise or covenant that He will return for us, whether in our death or this world's end.

Our purpose is to praise Him and to give Him the glory that is his as Creator. We are to be a beacon in the night, like a lighthouse that alerts this world to the answer that they all are looking for. We must be a flavor in this world that will cause people to ask, why do I like what you have and what you are.

Once all is under Christ, there will be no comparing, no thoughts of one people better than another or one person better than another. We will all be truly equal and content to be so. Our questions about creation and its Creator will be answered and yet I think that with all under one head we will truly be one with creation, no longer will man be have dominion. Unity in man's terms isn't what God intended now or intends for the future. Unity now seems to be what can be an ally with you get me. Unity in God will mean that we all truly have the same end in mind. I want what you want, you want what I want and what we all want is to praise God and not ourselves. In Corinthians, Paul is trying to help us understand that our thoughts of unity are not God's thoughts nor our ways God's ways. We will see that all power is Christ's which makes it God's because he is the equal part of the trinity. It sorta makes my head hurt to put all of that into it. I don't understand God's ways and so it is very difficult to see how this will be.

This is a very difficult question for me because my inclination is to give the sunday school answer. I still struggle with the yoke of slavery. Slavery of materialism, self-centeredness, sloth.....I could of course go on and on. I realize that there are so many things that I carry with me that I don't need to, but I haven't yet let them go. I will say that God brought a wonderful Christlike man into my life that has lived with me through some terrible times. I know that the depression I feel sometimes would be terrible if I had no hope of a time and place where these trials would be gone. I have a tendenancy toward alcohol and I know that my future would probably hold mindless days and hopeless nights with a bottle and my own thoughts. I am not sure I would have made it this far in life without Christ holding me when I wanted to give up on life.

Predestination is a little scary for me because I have a hard time getting my mind around it. One the one hand God chose me from the very beginning of the earth and on the other hand, my mistakes are know and event the results. I begin to wonder if it is all planned out and known then where is the free will part. Then I look around this world and I understand that God has given us free will and there is no question because I know that our God wouldn't allow the horrible things that people do to each other if it wasn't a result of free will. It is a very hard subject, but I try to remember that the most important thing about predestination is that God CHOSE me before the world began and not because of things that I do or don't do.

"In Christ" is something that Satan has kept from me. I know that I am a Christian and that I am in Christ and that he loved me so much that he came and died for me and would have done it for only me, but I frequently forget that that means I have value and so much potential that God means to use me for that I often forget and underestimate the gifts that God has given me. I don't keep that one phrase as fresh in my mind as I should.

Hi! My name is Leah Baker and I am joining the Ephesians study. I am looking forward to the immersion method. I am from Texas but am living in Maryville, TN.