petero

Q2. (Jude 4) In what way does sexual sin deny Christ? If Paul is right in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, that persistent sexual sin is incompatible with salvation, why have we Christians become so complacent about it in our culture? Two parts to this question and the first as I see it is if we indulge in sexual sin we are feeding the flesh which is under a death sentence from God and also we are quenching the (Holy) Spirit. The flesh and the Spirit are at war and the one we feed will prevail. Surely we are supposed to deny the flesh and avoid the 'works of the flesh' otherwise we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (Gal 5:19 MKJV Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, 21 envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus died so we could be set free from the lusts of the flesh and we are also to reckon ourselves to be dead to this world - and all its lusts. Also all of the sins people get involved in don't involve the body like fornication and we are to avoid it. Part 2 of the question - about why we are so complacent to it... this is because of the lack of the fear of the Lord in the church, and the effect of the entertainment media. We're saturated with it from TV, movies books etc where people have affairs with never any hint of remorse or consequences so after a while in our eyes it drops from being sin, to being a "mistake" - like dropping an egg on the floor, to eventually being excusable and even desirable. Cheers Petero

Q3. (2 Peter 1:3) What does it mean for you personally to be called "by his own glory and goodness"? How does God's glory and awesome Presence affect you? How does his goodness and moral excellence affect you? a) Its a very awesome thought. Few things are relly awesome in life - like standing before a mighty waterfall, or volcano or the Grand Canyon, but there is lots in the bible thats awesome when you take the time to meditate on it. To have been called and chosen by God is truly amazing. To think that He, who knows everything, still choose me when He must have seen before I was born all that I would do and say and mess up - and yet still go ahead with the offer. His glory and presence I think I'm yet to experience as I cannot recall being 'in the presence of God". Thats something I still hang out for. c) His goodness and moral excellence makes me wish I was more like Him.

2.) (2 Peter 1:3) Meditate on this verse for a few minutes. It is a verse about provision. What is the scope and extent and boundaries of "everything we need for life and godliness"? What does "knowledge" or "knowing God" have to do with this promise? 2Pe 1:3 according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, Scope and extent of this verse is 'all things' are already provided for our lives and our godliness. Once we have received His Holy Spirit we have been given it all - we just need to understand how to use what we have. The 'knowledge' part, as I see it, would be having revelation of God. Not just head knowledge, which doesn't lead to intimacy, but heart knowledge. Many have a head knowledge of the scriptures without an intimate knowledge of the author - which comes from revelation. Having 'knowledge of God' as in facts and memorised verses etc, is not to be compared to 'knowing God'. The pharasee's with all their head knowledge of the scriptures could not compete with Jesus who knew the fathers heart. Just as God has glorified His son Jesus - He also wants to bring us into glory and power.

Maybe the "faith as precious as ours" is a reference to the faith that was given to us by God (Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God). In this we have the same "faith" as Peter and the early apostles. When it comes to miracle performing power 'faith', that seems to be something different. Peter would in no way confuse most modern churches (including the one I am part of) for the one he left at Jerusalem. Peter had special faith for performing miracles in that he was able to heal the sick from his shadow. Personally I have laid hands on people ranging from the hypochondriac to the dead with no results, so my miracle performing

Hi there, My name is Peter and I'm from Adelaide in Sth Australia and this is my first time in an online Bible study. Looking forward to getting into this with you all. Cheers