alexandria

In my opinion, I can not pick one over the other as the most dangerous, because I feel that they are all dangerous thorns, as you can not have one with out the others. If I was to pick one it would be Riches, as this leads to worries/cares and pleasures, so one without the others is impossible. The reason I believe this to be true, is because if you base your whole life on how rich you are, or can be, you will then worry/care about someone taking your riches from you. Pleasures are then the result of those riches you feel that you need, because the richer you become the more pleasures you will seek. Riches will cause you to worry/care, which takes your focus away from God, and pleasures can lead you into all the deadly sins, being ****, greed, selfishness, envy and so on, which takes you so far from God it is hard to get back again.

Repentance is so central to the kingdom of God because without repentance we have no chance whatever, of ever reaching God's Kingdom and living for eternity with our heavenly father and our beloved Savior. Baptism is important to converts to the King, because converts have probably never been baptized in the way of the Spirit and without the Holy Spirit you have no chance of receiving any of the inheritance God has promised us in heaven with him. Christ would never be able to reign in an unrepentant heart because Christ died to give us eternal life and we can not receive that gift if we are unrepentant.

When people adopt the Christian faith without repenting of their known sins, they do not change their ways as is what repenting is all about. They become false christians because you cannot become a true christian without repenting, so they eventually will fall away from the christian faith and fall back into their sinful habits. People avoid repentance because some feel that they have not really sinned and should not have to repent, others are afraid to repent because they then have to admit they are a sinner and are afraid of how others will view them. I myself cannot really make a judgement as to how many are unrepentant as I do not know them and what they believe or practice. As to how many are unprepared in heart i feel there could be many, as people can repent and still not be prepared in heart.

When people adopt the Christian faith without repenting of their known sins, they do not change their ways as is what repenting is all about. They become false christians because you cannot become a true christian without repenting, so they eventually will fall away from the christian faith and fall back into their sinful habits. People avoid repentance because some feel that they have not really sinned and should not have to repent, others are afraid to repent because they then have to admit they are a sinner and are afraid of how others will view them. I myself cannot really make a judgement as to how many are unrepentant as I do not know them and what they believe or practice. As to how many are unprepared in heart i feel there could be many, as people can repent and still not be prepared in heart.

i think archippus was singled out in verse 17 because god obviously thought he would make a good minister, so god blessed him with a ministry to go out and preach to the people and to fulfill the ministry in which god had entrusted him with. if i was to invent a story of his role in the colossian church, i would describe archippus as being good with words, a good speaker and lived for god. i think he would be holy and devout as most of the good ministers god chose then and still today, are. his role in the colossian church would be as a head minister teaching his congregation about god, jesus and the holy spirit and how believing and trusting in all three would lead us to eternal life. ways in which archippus reminds me of myself are, the fact that he is human and probably makes mistakes as we all do, he tries to be faithful to god and tries hard to win people for the lord and probably as we all do, he more than likely has doubts that he can actually do the job well and feels someone else would be better suited to the job.

the guidelines paul gives us to form our praying habits are, to continue praying faithfully and constantly and most of all to be thankful for the prayers he has already answered and for all he has given us here on earth, to make our lives easier and more pleasant. he wants us to never give up praying for what we feel is right or for some one else's need. if i put these habits into practice fully, it would affect my prayer life in a most astounding way. we always pray for what we think we need but we have to remember that there are so many others out there who need our prayers, those who are suffering or hurting in some way, those who are not christians and don't know where to turn or what to do and most of all for our leaders and countries. if we prayed continuously, with faith and thanks giving for all of these and any other needs, our prayer lives would be enhanced in such a tremendous way, that those who have needs, would see a light so bright shining in us because of our continuous prayer life and faith, that they would want that light too. the problems they would help correct are basically the ones we have holding us back from praying, being thankful, and simply believing that prayers are answered but we have to believe that everything we have, we have because god wants us to have it, not because of our own hard work or however we get what we need. we have a good job because god put us there, he wanted us in the jobs we have, our homes, our food, clothing and so on are only ours because god gives to us everything we need and want. so many people have the belief that they have what they have because they work hard and they pay for it, it has nothing to do with god. this is the main problem as to why our prayer lives are lacking, we just find it hard to give god the credit for all the good things we do have and we find it hard to say thank you god for all that you have blessed me with and for giving me the health and strength to work hard at what i do.

obedience prepares a child for everyday life in the future as obedience is part of our daily lifestyle, in school you need to be obedient toward your teachers as this is how you learn and it also keeps an orderly classroom. then when they are exposed to the real world of working for an employer, they have to learn to be obedient to what ever the boss tells you to do. obedience is the cornerstone of our peace and welfare as for example if everyone was very disobedient this would cause major problems in schools, workplaces anywhere, where obedience is very crucial to people getting along and making the workplace or whatever a better, happier and safer place to be. for spiritual life in the future obedience is so very important because if we do not obey god then we are lost and very mixed up. obedience to god keeps us from sinning and causing jesus to suffer unbearably and it brings us closer to god and jesus, which is how it should be. fathers can do many things to keep from discouraging their children and forcing them to become frustrated, talk with them about what you believe and why you believe what you do, praise them when they do do good and also remember to do everything in love.

christian virtues are of great importance to christ because if we do not have christian virtues, we do not have christ living in us and to live for christ we have to live with christian virtues everyday of our lives as this is how christ works in us, for us and for others. christian virtues are of great importance to the church because, here again, a christian church cannot co-exist if we the body of the church, do not have christian virtues living in us. if we do not have christian virtues in us then we do not set a good christian example for our church, to others who see a church through us and how we act sets a good or bad example of our church. christian virtues are most important to non-christians as christian virtues in us will shine through and show non-believers that christ lives in us and we live for christ, how that affects a non-christian is of great importance as it can either make them want to be a christian or they will turn even further away and hate the church even more. christian virtues are even more important in our homes, as our children see and act according to what they learn from us, as also a non-believing spouse too will learn from you if you live what you believe. setting the right example in your home, is most crucial as it determines how your loved ones will act, in the real world and teaches them that the strength and protection of jesus in their lives is very important, to their survival out in the real world.

sins of the tongue are so easy to slip into because our mouth is our way to communicate with others and how we communicate with others is sometimes what gets us into trouble with god. when we speak we should always think first of what we are going to say and how we will say it but most times we speak before we think and what we say can either build up or tear down a persons confidence etc. the tongue can be used as a vicious weapon or as a loving object. we tend to gossip and say things, sometimes unintentionally as we get caught up in it when we are with others who tend to gossip or say bad things. the gossip tends to spread and before we know it someone has been terribly hurt or damaged because of it. this can destroy friendships and relationships in families if it is not controlled. to break free of the sins of the tongue we must try to change the subject when others tend to draw you into gossip or other wrong speaking, try to not make any comments if someone insists on doing so and most of all keep god foremost in your mind and thoughts so as not to be drawn into bad conversations and do not rush into saying something before thinking it out first.

sexual **** is difficult for people, especially males because everything in the world today is based on sex. commercials advertising products, movies, television and even the way people dress promotes sex at every turn, even magazines that were considered family magazines are filled with sexual innuendo. it is, supposedly more difficult for men as men are supposedly weaker when it comes to those sort of things, **** is not encouraged by love but lack of it. god made us man and woman to populate the world but through the years **** has become an addiction because of the temptation out there. love is what should attract us to others not ****, god meant it to be a good thing but when love becomes **** then the devil has you in his power. we can keep sexual desire from controlling us and causing us to sin by being more focused on god and what he wants us to be. we can try to stay away from all the bad stuff that is out there tempting and luring us to do and feel the wrong kind of feelings and live as god would want us too, not desiring things or people we have no right to.

legalism and asceticism are unable to restrain the sinful nature because if it is legal we don't find it wrong and we eat, drink and do what we want because it seems to be okey, even though it can be harmful to us. paul offers the suggestion that we should not be subject to the ordinances as an alternative to legalism.

forgiveness frees us from the law in such as the laws of the old testament (not the 10 commandments) were very restrictive, when jesus died on the cross we were freed from all the frivolous laws of the times and his blood washed away our past a future sins, so long as we always repent and ask forgiveness. the significance of nailing the law to the cross was a symbol of these laws being washed away and cleansed for our salvation. The cross brought triumph over evil spiritual forces because the cross is a symbol of renewal, cleansing and forgiveness, the evil spiritual forces were destroyed by the cross.

a belief system can be empty and false when it offers you nothing to rely on but has you believing in false doctrines and too many gods or false gods. we can believe in god who is all consuming and controls everything but if we do not believe that he came to earth in the form of his son Jesus, and died for us then we are lost. i have not personally experienced being captivated by a belief system to find it deceptive and hollow, but i have often heard friends or people i know say, "i believe in a god and i believe in spirituality", but they seem to go with the new age theory that there is a god or someone controlling the universe and spirituality is what it is all about and that is the extent of it. if Jesus is not the centre of our universe then our belief system has no value at all.

if i was convinced that Jesus Christ would return in my lifetime, i would be excited but also very conscious of how i live my day to day life. i would try harder to be different in how i react to situations that normally would make me angry and try to always see situations from god's perspective. try to be a better person and always try to live as if Jesus really were coming back during our time here as this is what god meant for us to do.

the way in which we are both admonished and encouraged is because god's bride, being the people of israel and the feast of all god's people in heaven, not only tells us that his chosen people the israeli's are not the only ones to be at the feast of all god's people in heaven but also those who have followed him faithfully and lovingly. we are admonished in the sense that we feel we are not worthy but encouraged because we know god is a loving god and want's us all to enjoy eternity with him.