PATCH

Abraham recognised he was only dust and ashes and that God is the Almighty God of heaven and earth. He recognised that even though he was very very small, he could still speak to God because of God's goodness toward him. He was almost apologizing in advance if what he was going to say was going to make God angry. Even though God has given us access to Him 24/7, and we can go to Him, as we are, with all types of petition, like Abraham we must recognised that He is God and we are nothing but dust and ashes. He is our creator and even though we can call Him Father we must treat Him with reverence. By humbling ourselves, we will decrease and He will increase. Humbling is also an act of worship.

What is the basis of Abraham's argument that God should spare Sodom? It would be wrong of God to kill the righteous people along with the wicked. If God expects Abraham to be just, then God Himself must act justly. How does it relate to God's character? He is righteous, fair, just and merciful.

The Immutability of God refers to God's character, holiness and purpose, which NEVER CHANGES. He is a holy God, a forgiving God who extends new mercies to us every morning. Whether we pray less or more or not at all is not going to change his character. But because He is such a merciful and forgving God, we can change His mind through our prayers and repentance. For example, if God were to pronounced judgement on a nation and the people of that nation were to humble themselves and pray and repent, God may relent and withdraw judgement. If the prayer is completely out of God's will, the answer is No. However, God's will for us are like boundaries within which we are free to live and pray. So when we pray according to his revealed will and character, our prayers will be answered although in some cases, not in the way we expect.

If we believe that everything in our life has been foreordained, predestined, or predetermined, there is no point in praying because the circumstances cannot be changed. We will "be forced" to accept whatever comes our way. We won't even need faith. If we think our prayers make to difference, then we do not truly know God's character and unconditional love. We are defeated because of our unbelief.

What aspects of Moses' prayer of intercession should we emulate in our own prayers? We should state our case before God, based on His promises toward his children, His character, His consistent mercy toward his people and His reputation amongst those who do not know or believe in Him. Upon what logical grounds does Moses offer this bold appeal to God? Moses KNEW God. He knew God's character and His mercy and unconditional love towards his children. Based on these, Moses dare to appeal to God. What do you think it means to "pray the promises of God"? How does knowing the Bible help you get your prayers answered? How does this help our prayers be within God's will? "Praying the promises of God is to pray back scripture. God says His words will not return to him void. Knowing the bible helps us remember God's promises, what He had done in the past and very importantly knowing His character. This way we know how to pray God's way, aligning our prayers according to His will, and not according to what we want.

What had the people done that was so bad? They were stubborn and disobedient. They made an idol in the shape of a calf and worshipped the calf, calling it god. They gave "credit" to the idol for their deliverance from Egypt when it was God who rescued them. How can a loving God be angry? His love for us is so great that is why He is angry when we sin. He is a holy God and a sinful life is the complete oppostite of who He is and what He stands for. The wages of sin is death. His anger is to make us aware of the judgment that is awaiting us if we continue to lead evil lives. Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified? Yes He is God - it is His perogative. Moses is a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If God destroyed Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses, His promise to the patriarchs would still be fulfilled.

We should continually ask for forgiveness because we sin all the time. When we ask God for forgiveness, He is faithful and he will forgive us and cleanse us from all our sins. He will also grant us the grace not to repeat our sins. Unforgiveness on our part can block God's blessings because we are essentially disobeying God. He tells us to forgive and so we should. He will handle our hurts, our pains and those who have hurt us - there is no need for us to do anything. Unforgiveness can block God's forgiveness because He has made it clear that to be considered a child of God, we must forgive. When we forgive, He will also forgive us. Through this, we learn not to be self righteous. Just like those who have wronged us, we also have our faults.

We seek to be independent of asking anyone for help because 1) we all have some form of pride - we are afraid that when we ask for help, we lose all form of dignity; 2) others may not be able to help us; 3) we do not wish to be indebted to those who have helped us; 4) we want to be in a position to show off - that we have "arrived" through our own efforts. We seek to be independent of God because the society that we live in is a 'i, me and myself" society. Modern self help gurus have come up with strategies for people to achieve success based on their characters, strengths, education, family background when actually all we have comes from God. We should ask God to give us our daily bread because all we have - our health, our abilities, talents, paychecks, are all blessings from Him. If He does not provide for us, we will have nothing.

When we pray for the Father's kingdom to come, we are praying for his kingdom and its fullness, power and glory to be revealed in us and to everyone on earth. People will acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior, we will see miracles taking place, many will be set free from their prisons and walls will be broken down. When we pray for the Father's will to be done, we are praying that God will answer our prayers according to His will and in His time. Most of us want God to answer our prayers according to our own selfish agenda. When we pray for God's will to be done, our trust and faith in God will grow. We will learn to surrender to God our selfish desires and accept that even though he does not answer our prayers our way, His way is the best for us.

Many of us lead double standard lives. We live one way when we are in church or in the presence of other christians and we live in the ways of the world at other times. We must, by God's grace, emulate Jesus in all that we say and do. Then only will we glorify our heavenly Father. It is not easy because we tend to fall back to our old ways but if we ask God to help us, He is faithful and He will. We desecrate and besmirch His name when we use His name loosely, in a profane manner or as a swear word. God is holy. We also desecrate His name when we as His children do not conduct ourselves in a decent manner. The cross is the symbol of Christianity. Today many young people use the cross as a fashion item without understanding the message behind the cross. They put on cross earrings and pendants with indecent clothing and behaviour. When we begin to pray, we must be grateful that we can approach the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth at any time. Although He is almighty He has given us the priviledge of calling Him father. It is wonderful and even amazing that we can approach Him at all times with all sorts of prayers and petitions but we must remember that He is holy and we must accord Him the due respect and reverance that only He deserves.

Slavery was an accepted practice in those days. Onesimus had no right to run away. Paul wants Onesimus to go back to Philemon so that he can ask Philemon for forgiveness and for Philemon to extend mercy and forgiveness in turn. Both will learn that since they are in Christ, they are new creations and brothers even though one is a rich master and the other his slave. Onesimus will also learn that as a slave, he has to honor his master. When he learns obedience, he honors God.

Paul encouraged Archippus to fulfill the ministry that he was given. Archippus could be a pastor of a church. He could be discouraged because of the weight of all the responsibilities and yet not seeing the fruits of his labor. He could be on the verge of giving up. Yes, I am sometimes discouraged that church is not the way it should be. To me, church is one of the best places to go if you want to get hurt.

What instructions does Paul give us in sharing our faith with non-believers? We are to make use of every opportunity to tell them about Jesus. However, in doing so, we have to be careful when we speak. We should not be condemning or overspiritual. Instead we should speak the truth gracously and in love. Why, do you think, we sometimes let opportunities slip by? 1) We tend to think that evangelism only takes place in the church, and not in our everyday living, and it is the job of the evangelist or the pastor/church worker. 2) We are afraid that we may sometimes be asked questions that we cannot answer and this may cause people not to believe in the gospel 3) We are also fearful that we might be rejected. 4) We are not God-focused - we do not want to talk about Jesus when we are out of the church. 5) Deep down we know we are not good testimonies. How will our conversation being full of grace help us represent Christ well? Society as we know now is either depressive, vulgar or callous. By letting our conversations be "full of grace", we are showing the non-believers that we are different. We are not judging them but we understand them and the issues they are facing.

What guidelines does Paul give us to form our praying habits? Paul tells us we ought to devote ourselves to prayer. This means we have to communicate with God all the time. We can tell him our problems, our wants, our complaints, everything! Devoting ourselves to prayer means we have to spend more time in prayer than anything else if it is at all possible. Since prayer need not be a ritualistic exercise, we can talk to God (aloud and silently) at all times. When we pray we have to be persistent. We should not give up when God does not answer our prayer according to our timeline and according to our specifications. We must also be aware that we have an enemy who keeps us busy (even with church work) that we do not spend enough time praying. Often when we do pray, we also get distracted or lack focus. Finally, it is important to be filled with thankfulness when we pray. When we are thankful in our prayers, we accept by faith that God will answer our prayers according to His will and in His time. If you put these into practice fully, how would they affect your prayer life? What problems would they help correct? When we put these guidelines in practice, we will have a much richer prayer life. We will grow in our christian walk, our faith will increase and we will bear fruit. For me personally, when I spent more time in prayer, I find that God gives me revelation when I read His word. Without these guidelines, we tend to treat God as if we are the master and He has to pander to our demands. Our faith will shrivel because we do not have enough faith to understand His will. Over time, we may just stop praying altogether.

What instructions does Paul give masters or employers, in our culture? Employers must treat their workers right by 1) paying them a fair salary which is equitable to the work they do 2) the salaries must be fair i.e people doing the same job should be paid within the same salary range 3) making them work a reasonable number of hours a week, and if they exceed these hours, they are compensated 4) providing other fringe benefits (health insurance, transport, etc) 5) giving them a reasonable amount of time for the meals 6) providing for them a safe and pleasant work environment 7) treating their employees with dignity and respect, irrespective of the job they do. What would happen in the workplace if employers sought to live by this rule? There will be a harmonious working relationship between employers and employees. Employees will be happy with their jobs, productivity will go up and resignations will decrease. Families will also be happier because men and women will not bring their work problems home.

Why are Christian virtues so important to Christ? It is important to Christ because He loves us and does not want us to be destroyed by sinful living. When we received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, our old self has died. Christian virtues which changes us to be more Christ-like are an integral part of our new life. Why are they so important to the church? It is important to the church because the Church is the representative of the Lord Jesus. These values hold the church together during good and hard times. It helps members to get along, bear with one another, work together for the good of the church and the community. The church is made up of individuals. When individual believers are changed to be more Christ-like, the church is also changed from glory to glory. Why are they so important to non-Christians? Non-christians will experience who Jesus is through the church and the individual believers. Non believers are not likely (but not impossible) to pick up a bible and read it at random. They read the bible through us - the believers and the church. They see Jesus in us. If we do not possess such values, they will be turned away. Why are they so important in our homes? It teaches us the proper way to behave at home and toward others outise our family. These values are especially important in this day where families and homes are being bombarded by ungodly virtues (adultery, cohabitation, drugs, etc) and many people are suffering from deep hurts. Christian virtues in our homes testify of God's goodness and mercy. Without these virtues and Jesus in our lives, our lives can easily come crumbling down.

Why are sins of the tongue so easy to slip into? Unrestrained anger causes us to commit sins of the tongue. We sin so easily in this area because we do not exercise self-control. Instead we allow our emotions to control us. Also, we do not try hard enough to stop these bad habits. We think since we are not harming/killing someone physically it is a lesser sin but it is not. In what ways do they damage us and others? They damage us because these sins fill us with more filth and draw us further away from God because He is holy. We are actually commiting murder when we slander and gossip. We hurt others because certain words we use can be damaging, hurtful and worse, we can't take all those words back even if we want to. Trust can be broken and relationships torn apart because of such sins. How can we break free of sins of the tongue? We actually have to make an effort to stop sinning in these ways. We have to ask the Holy Spirit to help us. When we actually do slip and sin, we cannot just let it pass as if it does not matter. We have to stop and ask God to forgive us and help us not to do it again. God is faithful - He will help us.

Why is sexual l u s t so difficult for people, especially males? The world has twisted God's words and rationalize that sexual desires are normal desires, and as long as sex is between 2 consenting partners there is no harm. Also, on a daily basis, we are being bombarded with messages that fans the flames of sexual **** through what we hear, see, watch and read. Therefore we have to be mindful that what we hear, see, watch and read, helps us set our minds on things above. Though we cannot deny that we are sexual beings, how can we keep sexual desire from controlling us and causing us to sin? We are to remind ourselves that sex is only permissible within the confines of marriage. We have to put to death unhealthy sexual desires and every habit/act that leads to sinful sexual desires. We must, with the help of the Holy Spirit live a holy life. We must call out to God to help us whenever we face temptation. God is faithful and He will help us.

What does it mean to "set your heart/mind" on the things above? It means that we are to direct our thoughts toward heaven and not on earthly things. Since we have died and our lives are hidden in Christ, we are to think as Jesus think which will lead us to do as Jesus do. Our lives, ideals, passions and thoughts must be completely different from the people of the world. Many of us may behave like good christians on the outside but in our minds, we are still sinning through our over-imaginative minds and focusing on things destined to perish. Paul warns us to transform our minds but this cannot and will not happen overnight and magically. Our minds can only be transformed if we spend time with Jesus. Does this mean that we're "too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good"? If not, what does it mean? No, we will not be too heavenly minded for earthly good. In fact by being different we can do more earthly good. There will less hatred, less greed, less pride, less **** etc, and more peace and love. By being heavenly minded, we allow God to point us to how we should lead our lives. What happens when we don't take control and direct our thinking and meditating? We will succumb to temptation and sin. When our thinking is wrong, we cannot please God. We will be no different from those who do not know Jesus as their Lord. We will not be good testimonies because people cannot see Jesus in us. Instead, we will be stumbling blocks. May I also add that there are some who become too spiritual in their thinking that they appear weird and fanatical to others, putting them off.

Legalism and asceticism cannot restrain the sinful nature because they are works of the flesh, "good" acts perform outwardly. Those who are "successful" in these areas tend to feed the sinful nature because they become self-righteous, insular and condemning of those who appear to be weaker than them. Paul offered freedom in Christ Jesus in place of legalism. By having faith in Jesus and growing in obedience to Him, completes us. We are changed from the inside out to be a living testimony to Him.