Highohfaith

Q. (Luke 14:15-24) In what way is the Parable of the Great Banquet about grace? In what way is it about judgment? In what way is it about evangelism? To what End Time event does the great banquet point? The parable is about grace, The love of Christ and his saving Grace is offered to all, it is a GIFT, given freely from our God. But one must accept the gift, put aside all other things, seek to know Him, and walk in obedience to His word. Judgment Is about God's wrath on those who do not enter the Kingdom of God, who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior,as the Son of God, Supreme Being. Worship OTHER gods or put off accepting Jesus as their savior until it's to late. Evangelism It is our duty as Christians to spread and share the word of Jesus Christ. To let His love shine through us in a way which honors Him and walk in obedience to Him. We as Christan (Christ Living in us-we are reconciled to God through His son) are to be an example of Christ to others. The End Time Is the second coming of Jesus Christ (The Rapture) All who have accepted Christ as their savior we will be gathered together at the great banquet in heaven.

Q1. (Luke 14:15-24) In the Parable of the Great Banquet, who do the original guests represent? Who do the later invited guests represent? What does it mean to compel them to come in (KJV)? How might this sense of urgency apply today? The original guest represent the Pharisees and the Jewish religious Elite (religious establishment). The later guest include common people both Jewish and gentile. The poor, the sick, the weak, and underprivileged in society. COMPELto have a powerful and irresistible effect, influence, etc. We must use whatever spiritual gifts we have to POWERFULLY influence others to come to the great banquet ( Come to Jesus Christ)! We must use urgency because we do not know when the Second coming of Christ will be..there is no time.. it is URGENT to gather as many people together NOW! Because the great new beginning can happen at any time and we must be prepared and prepare as many other followers as we can to enter the Kingdom of God. It is a great honor and glory to God when we spread the word and gather others to him.

Q4. How do you think Jesus will hold you personally accountable on Judgment Day for using your “talents”? If you begin to be more faithful from now on, how do you think that may affect his accounting on that Day? Only Jesus knows how He will hold me accountable on judgment day.It is His,and only His Judgment to make. I will continue to work to better serve Him and continually work to grow my faith, to seek His word. Most importantly to have a deep personal relationship with Him which I share with others through my actions and deeds. To work to glorify Him to all.My commitment to our Lord is firm!I pray everyday for Him to improve my fellowship skills and to help me be a better Steward. I will be a steward to Christ to the best of my ability and ask Him daily to help use the talents He has given me to further His Kingdom.My Mind and heart are always on Jesus! My greatest goal is to hear Him say Well Done,Good job. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. - Colossians 2:6-8 New Living Translation (NLT)

(Colossians 1:23) If our salvation depends upon the grace of God, not us, why is it necessary for us to continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved? What happens if we dont? What is the nature of the security we have in Jesus according to this text (and this text only)? (Please dont use proof texts from other verses in the New Testament, but interpret Colossians 1:23 in its appropriate context.) Saying we love Christ and want to belong to Him is not enough. We can go through the ceremony: say a prayer, shed a tear and even get baptized, but . . . a true commitment is measured by what happens following the profession. it's not enough to just profess faith, you must possess it. Believing in Christ is making a commitment to trust Christ with the rest of your life. It means deciding to live by His standard of right and wrong. It means continuing to follow Him even when we don't understand what He is doing. Sure we will stumble. There will be times we will fall. But true faith keeps coming back to the Father seeking to realign their hearts with His. And over time we get closer to the goal.

Q3. (Colossians 1:22) How can we be presented

Q2. (Matthew 25:15, 21, 23) What are the factors that make up a person

Q2. (Colossians 1:20-22) By what means did Jesus accomplish this reconciliation? What does the blood of his cross have to do with it? What is the purpose of this reconciliation? (verse 22) To whom are we presented? (verse 22) Reconciliation is the finished work of God bringing men from the position and attitude of enmity to the position of attitude and amity by the work of the cross. The key passages stress man as the object of the work in the New Testament because, regardless of one's opinion concerning the objects of the work, all agree, that God is the author and initiator of reconciliation. Men do not begin it. God begins it. The means of reconciliation is very plainly stated to be the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, or, as Paul puts it here in verse 20 of Colossians 1, "And having made peace through the blood of his cross." So it's by virtue of the death on the ground of that that the Lord God is able to reconcile sinners to himself. We are presented to GOD, free of sin, washed clean as snow by the blood of his precious son!

Q1. (Colossians 1:20-22). What does “reconcile” mean? What was our state before reconciliation? (verse 21) It is written that Jesus reconciled us in His fleshly body through death. "Reconciled" means "changed from one thing to another." As messed up, rebellious, and evil as we were, there was no way to just "fix" us. We had to be completely "changed out." Our hearts were against Him, so He created new hearts in us. Our first life was a mess, so we needed to be born again.The blood of jesus washed us clean and white as snow, which reconsiled us to God. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) Therefore if any man is in Christ, {he is} a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2Cor. 5:17

Q1. (Matthew 25:14-30) What do you think the talents represent? If you were to take an inventory of your talents, what would they be? What spiritual gifts have you been given? What abilities do you have? What Bible knowledge do you have? Where has God placed you in your community? In society? In your profession or industry? In what sense do these belong to God rather than to you? "For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property." The last two words are the key: "his property." That is another term for the talents which are distributed. They are the Lord's property, God's property. They are then, not something which man can give, but something which God alone controls. The talents are not distributed, like natural gifts, to all men freely, but are given only to those who in some fashion have the relationship of a servant to the Lord. To them he is willing to distribute his property. Talents: I'm not an extremely talented person. The talents I have are not so called "natural gifts" They are gifts God has given me. I have had to 'grow' what he has given me, I can't sing or play an instrument, or run long distance marathons, but he has given me writing skills and a very poetic side to my writing. Through my writing ability I have been able to establish a Facebook group called MerciesCross which has 51 members and is created solely for the purpose of GLORIFYING Jesus Christ! Spiritual Gifts: God has instilled in me a great NEED to study, learn and most importantly apply the teaching of Jesus to my daily life. He has given me the greatest spiritual gift of all The Hope and Power of Jesus Christ! Bible Knowledge: I'm certainly not a Bible scholar. But I'm learning daily through my walk with Christ to read and apply the Word to my daily life.Studying the Bible, getting to know God more and more is a lifelong quest. Community: I don't have a HIGH standing in my community by our (U.S.) standards.Financially, I'm a poor person. But my neighbors respect me and hold me in high esteem as a person of faith and of God. God has placed me just where he wants me to be! Profession Industry: God choose for me a wonderful profession which I am now disabled from. He gave me a great gift of being able to relate to animals and for 22 years I worked with horses. Everything is given to us by God and is of God! Without God we are dust to earth! All things BELONG to HIM!

Q4. (Colossians 1:18) How should the assertion that Jesus is the

Q4. (Luke 13:18-20) According to these parables in this lesson, in what ways is the Kingdom small? In what ways does the Kingdom grow? In what ways is the Kingdom door narrow? In what way is the Kingdom banquet, on the one hand, large and diverse, and on the other, selective? Jesus compared the Kingdom to a mustard seed which is very tiny, but once the seed is planted in rich soil it grows to a great size and attracts many to it's branches, so it is with Kingdom of God, once our faith planted, and we begin to grow in obedience, and service to the Lord then we will attract many others to the Kingdom of God. Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ: The Kingdom door is narrow because many will be called but few will do what it takes to make it into through the narrow door. Few will truly accept Jesus, walk in obedience. Cloth themselves in his righteousness - the wedding gown. The banquet is large and diverse because ALL, from EVERY NATION, are invited. But it is selective in the fact that many will not accept the invitation,they will not accept Jesus as their savior and the one and ONLY way to enter the Kingdom and if they accept Him, many won't do what is required to enter through the narrow door. Many will refuse to walk in obedience to the Lord, or will give up when trouble hits them, or will put it off untill it is to late.

Q3. (Colossians 1:16) Thrones, powers, rulers, principalities, authorities, etc. probably refer to both earthly as well as angelic and demonic dominions. What does this passage teach about the relation of these powers to Jesus? How should this affect our fear of them? How should it affect our prayers? Jesus is ruler of all earthy and heavenly powers,dominions and principalities, both angelic or demonic,He is preeminent, supreme power. He CREATED ALL and He RULES ALL! We should not have any fear of any other powers, because Jesus is ABOVE all powers, he is the ultimate POWER. We should never pray to angels or demons or to any other power. All prayers should be directed to God and God alone! refer to Romans 8:38,39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Q3. (Luke 13:28-30) The great “feast in the kingdom of God” has guests from all over the world. Who are they? Who will be the ones “thrown out” of the feast? Why will they be excluded? The targets of the parable are the already religious who have no time for God; they are represented by the people who accepted an invitation, but when the food is ready claim they are too busy to turn up. The ones excluded from the feast are those who refuse to come to the feast clothed in the Armor of Christ Jesus! They refuse to repent from their sins, accept Jesus as their only Savior, they refuse to endure long suffering ( give up in the face of adversity - give into lives problems)they refuse to fight to get into the Kingdom, they give up, or they wait to late to come to the 'banquet'. These are the ones excluded! Those who manage to get in but are not clothed in the rigousness of Christ(the wedding garment - The full armour of Christ)are thrown out because they are not TRUE believers in Christ, they are believers in "talk" only and do not put the teachings of Christ into action.

Q2. (Colossians 1:15b-17) What does “firstborn of all creation/every creature” mean? Is Jesus a created being? If not, what does “firstborn” mean here? What do verses 16-17 teach about Jesus’ pre-existence? What does verse 16b teach about the purpose of creation? According to verse 17, what is Jesus’ past role in creation? What is his present role in creation? Jesus was first and is the creator of the world and all things in the world!! He is not a created being..he was the CREATOR of all things, which gives him supremacy over all creation! Everything was created to honor and glorify Him. Jesus has always been, will always be, he is the beginning and the end..the alpha and the omega! His present role in creation is as Father,King,Leader,Teacher,Savior,Redeemer,(he is ALL in ALL) of all mankind.

Q2. (Luke 13:24-27) Why do you think Jesus characterizes the entrance to the Kingdom here as “narrow”? Why will many people “try to enter and will not be able to”? Why would people delay entering until it is too late? Jesus characterizes the entrance as narrow because many from all over the world will be called to the banquet entrance(The entrance to The kingdom of God)but He wants us to know it won't be easy to get in (it is not a free ride into the banquet room, you may have obstacles along the way - a narrow door, a crowd of people) but we must strive, fight our way in, we may have to lose a few lb.(our baggage)or squeeze through a crowd to get in but we must do whatever it takes to enter! Fight the good fight! NEVER GIVE UP! Do whatever it takes!! People will try to enter and will not be able to,they refuse to go through obstacles (problems in life), to give up anything (mainly their sin) and want EASY entrance, they finally give up and walk away. They are not persistent. They are not repentant. They put off entering because they do not want to do whatever it takes to gain entrance, they think they can wait, but there is NO time.The Second coming of our Lord can come at any time and we must be ready,NOW. It is URGENT!!

Q1. (Colossians 1:15a, 19) The great understanding of Judaism was that God is spirit, not physical. That he is invisible. Any idol that tries to depict him is blasphemous. So what is the significance of the statement that Jesus is

Q4. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15) How could praying the Lords Prayer become a curse upon a person? Is forgiving in order to be forgiven a kind of righteousness by works? Why or why not? We must pay heed to what the Lord's Prayer is teaching us,Listen to the words of Christ, and not pray it in a ritualistic manner. No, forgiving is not a righteousness of works. Because nothing is REQUIRED of us to forgive, BUT to take Jesus' EXAMPLE of forgiveness on the Cross!

Rescued ,redemption,and forgiveness! Christ preforms the action! It is performed on the Colossians (and us as believers)! We must learn forgiveness from Christ and in turn forgive others to be qualified! We were rescued, delivered from the darkness( death ) by Christ shed blood on the Cross, which forgave us and covered our sins and delivered us into the light of His Kingdom!!

Q3. (Colossians 1:12-13) Why does Paul use the terms darkness and light to portray his readers past and future? Why does he remind them where they came from? What is “the inheritance of the saints in light” that he mentions? In verse 13 we find two terms used of governing bodies? How are they contrasted in verse 13? In what sense are subjects “governed” in each? Paul's contrast of the darkness to light portrays the DARKNESS (death) the Colossians lived in before they were followers of Christ and the LIGHT (LIFE) that came upon them after they became followers..the same is with us. We live in darkness (we are dead) and are born again (come into the light - come alive) after we receive Christ.The "inheritance of the saints of light" is a place where there is no shadow of darkness, nothing of satan's kingdom, where light prevails and no darkness can exist. It is our inheritance! It is an inheritance that has been purchased by the blood of the Jesus. He reminds them where they came from because he wants them to see HOW FAR they have come and how blessed they are as Christ Followers. And he wants to remind them that if they "backslide" they will go back into darkness! In verse 13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son" The two terms are "delivered" and "transferred" into the Kingdom of God. The darkness is the satan/sin and the light is God. As the Colossians drift far from God, they are drifting back into the dominion of darkness ( just as we do, when we drift from God). The are governed by the light as they grow closer to God's Kingdom.

Q3. (Matthew 18:34-35) Why does Jesus frighten us with his statement: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you...”? Is he serious? Is forgiveness (1) a learned grace, or (2) a foundational principle of the Kingdom? Jesus frightens us with this statement because we don't want to think that we have to "DO" anything to enter the Kingdom of God! We want our entrance to be FREE! A free ticket!! Yes, Jesus is absolutely serious about his request. Forgiveness is both a foundational principle of the Kingdom and a learned grace. We must learn from Jesus' forgiveness, through grace he forgave us our sins, which are much greater than anyone could sin against us.. So, therefore we MUST forgive as Christians, to honor our Lord's sacrifice! It is MANDATORY!

Q2. (Colossians 1:9-12a) What are the elements of Pauls prayer for the Colossians believers? What are the seven or eight specific results that he prays will be produced in their lives? Which of these are most important in a Christian disciple? Which, you think, are least important? What happens when some are missing? Paul prayer to the Colossians ask God to grant them wisdom and spiritual understanding,worthiness,fruitfulness,strength,patience,long suffering,joy,and thankfulness. These are all the elements which God wishes for our life! They are all EQUALLY important in our Christian walk! If some are missing we fail to grow closer to Christ and thwart our relationship with Him!

Q2. (Matthew 18:23-35) In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, what is the purpose of contrasting the huge debt with the small one? If we were to put ourselves in the parable, which debt would we owe? Which debt might be owed us? Why was the king insulted by the unmerciful servants action? In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, what is the purpose of contrasting the huge debt with the small one? ANSWER: In the case of this parable the King is the Lord, you and I are His servants, the debts we owe represent our sins, and the jailer is Satan Our debt of sin against the Lord is similarly impossible to repay, but in the Lords case He cant simply overlook it. His requirement for justice demands the debt be paid in full. Knowing this, He sent His Son to pay it for us. This freed Him to completely and unconditionally forgive us just because we ask Him to. If we were to put ourselves in the parable, which debt would we owe? ANSWER: The huge debt! Which debt might be owed us? ANSWER: The small debt in comparison! Why was the King insulted by the unmerciful servants action? Answer: The King was insulted, in the same way Jesus is insulted, hurt, and offended when we don't forgive others! Because the King had forgiven the servant such as large debt,he expects, REQUIRES, his servant to certainly forgive his debtor who who owed so much less in comparison. In the same way jesus requires that we forgive!

Q1. (Colossians 1:5-6) Paul glorifies the gospel, the good news. What words does he use to describe the action of the gospel in verses 5 and 6? Given the temptation the recipients have to adopt another religious philosophy, why do you think he reminds them of the world scope of the gospels influence? What happens in our day when a church becomes embarrassed or unimpressed with the gospel message? How does this affect the church? What words does he use to describe the action of the gospel in verses 5 and 6? ANSWER: Faith ,Hope and Love. Hearing and UNDERSTANDING ( having WISDOM of God's will growing in relationship to God) granted to us by the Holy Spirit) the Gospel, we have been saved by grace, a gift from God..Bearing fruit growing our faith.Live as life worthy of Jesus.Be strengthened by God's power! Given the temptation the recipients have to adopt another religious philosophy, why do you think he reminds them of the world scope of the gospels influence? ANSWER: Paul reminds them because he wants them to know how powerful and far reaching the Christian movement is, this is done in an attempt to strengthen their love and faith in Christ Jesus! What happens in our day when a church becomes embarrassed or unimpressed with the gospel message? How does this affect the church? ANSWER: The church stagnates,begins to lose followers, and more importantly stops attracting NEW followers of Jesus Christ, thus negating the purpose of the Church.