Barbara A. Lee

This topic has so many ffactors, but a few are 1. Anger solves no problems, it only makes them worse. 2. Intimidation only serves to anger people. 3. Force is an intimidation ploy. 4. Pride is boastful. All of the are problems of the Devil. We, as members of Christ's family, are to have the tendencies to imulate that of Christ.

The significance of Jesus' name was "Yahwah saves". God saves. Because God did not want there to be any mistakes made. This child would save the world one day.

Jesus was and stil is so worthy to open the scroll because He laid His life on that cross on Calvary for the sins of this rotten world. Isaiah prophesied that this would happen.

They need to be observed to check their character. How he acts around certain people. Does he get involved in the comunity. Does he welcome the others into his house for any reason. How responsible is he toward himself? And when I say he I don't just mean the men. The women have just as much to be looked after too. Any peerson in a LEADERSHIP roll should be looked at carefully.

The Kingdom of God is all that Jesus taught. What He taught was prophecied in the Old Testament. It is only present to those who believe that Jesus was crucified and He came back to reside in your heart. That is the Kingdom of God...

I hate redundency, but I'm afraid all the great insights have been listed before mine. Absolute Freedom and Joy in the Worship of the ONE who is most high.

By being a husband of one, you take your vows seriously. The "family" leader is an important one because if he leads his family well, 9 times out of 10 he will be a great leader. But there is always that one percent that fake it. So you have to be very careful....

There are a number of songs, hymn.and choruses that come from these two chapters. 1. Be Thou My Vision 2. Come Befor His Presence 3. Holy, Holy,Holy 4. Crown Him With Many Crowns 5. Glory To Thy Name 6. Nothing But The Blood of Jesus 7. Standing on The Promises 8. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God These are the main ones that come to my mind. I am sure there are many more.

He would, besides carpentry, know how to grow a garden, and take care of the few animals the family might have. He would also know how to do the business deals, contracts and how to deal with the customers. These things would have exposed him to the various people and dealings with these people. He owud have learned to negotiate with people of all walks of life.

The first thing that comes to my mind when answering these questions is what happened to me when I was, I think, 13 years old. A very impressionable age at that. I was fairly new to this small town, having moved from a city. My father had just retired from the navy and started his second carreer.ANyway, one of my new friends invited me to go to church with her. Being new to the town I thought this would be a good way to meet new people. At 13 I was not your normal shy teenager. Having moved around quite a lot I had to learn mighty quick how to make friends easy. So I went. Well, I did meet a lot of new kids and clicked right away. So I decided I wanted to start going there regularily. I told my parents, who were Catholic by trade, and they saw no problem with it. They never forced their religion on me so I was free that way. Well, I started going to this church with my new friends. Every Sunday while we were waiting for the service to start, (We sat near the middle of the church) this one lady would come in walk to the front of the church and make an about face and go to the back of the room. Several of the teens that I was with always snickered, and I could never understand why. So after about four or five weeks of this (and mind you, the lady that did this would wear a different out fit entirely every time. and i mean entirely, shoes handbag jewelry, hair just right, EVERY TIME it was a different outfit.) I asked one of my friends why she did this. They said, "She is one of the richest women in this town, and she likes to let everyone know it too." I sat there the whole time thinking about this. At 13 most teenagers would do what they had done, laughed and thought it funny. I didn't. I thought of all the poor people in town and around the world that I had seen in my travels with my parents. That afternoon when I got home I told my parents that I was never going back to church again. And I didn't. The only time I went to church in that whole time from age 13 to age 19 was when I got married. Then it was the Navy chapel on base. And from then till about 1981 when I decided I would go with my husband to a small church in Woodbridge, VA. Then we visited a church there, one time, and the Deacons of the church came to pay us a visit one night. They started asking us questions like how much money did you make and how much did you plan on giving to the church and blah blah this and blah blah that. I finally got up walked to the door and very politely asked them to leave. They looked at my husband as if to say are you going to let her do this. And he said, "You heard what she said!" They left in a huff. Then it was another long time about 15 to 18 years before we ever thought about going back to church.. Now my husband and his brother have a church and it is run soley by giving from the heart. We realize that there are people who give all that they can give and some that don't, but you know what, that is between them and GOD! Not man. And we make enough to pay the bills on the church and that is fine with us. I think if more preachers preached the word of God instead of making money more people would go to church. We would have a lot less crime and hatefulness in the world. That is my opinion. I think this is what it meant in the Church in Ephesus. The people wearing the fancy clothes were bragging about how much material items they had and not enough on the things that really matter. Sorry about the length of this but this is a very sore subject with me. People have got to understand that some people may not have as much money as others do and not to offend those that don't. I hope I get some repllies to this. Don't feel like you don't want to offend me because you won't. This is just a sore subject with me and this is one way of venting my frustrations. Ha Ha!

I must say that this subject falls right in the same lines as many of the Mosaic Laws. While researching on another topic I came across several papers that were done on this subject. It is to my understanding that in several instances women were the chosen one by God and Jesus. Thhe very first person that comes to my mind is Mary, Jesus' mother. The angel Gabriel approached Mary first. He did not go to Joseph until much later. Luke 10:41 "It's Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her." Jesus thus affirmed a woman's RIGHT to be a disciple and not to be concerned solely with domestic affairs. Several women traveled with Jesus and the twelve disciples. Mary Magdelene was known as the "apostle to the aposles - to tell them of the Good News of Jesus' resurection. In closing lets look at the greatest commandment: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations..." Did this say go ye therefore all men and teach, or did it say "Go ye therefore and teach all nations..." Men and women are both equal in the eyes of God. When we get to Heaven we will not be seperated as men and women. We will be all accepted. So we need to learn here on earth to be treating one anohter equally. There will be no race or gender in heaven..... let's start living that way here on earth. Maybe if we can get along we may even be able to learn from eachother...

The titles "Blessed Virgin Mary" and "Mother of God" among many other titles of this young lady, is appropriate because she was chosen among many teenagers to bring into the world The Lord Jesus Christ, God's son. She did what was expected of her. I think the reason we are sometimes hesitant in exalting her to this high realm is because we can't understand what it is like to be hailed as a holy person. She was just an everyday teenager before being approached by Gabriel, doing the normal things a teeenager did back in her time. Her upbringing, though not known to an extent, must have played a very big part in her being chosen.

The essence of Mary's positive response was that of someone that is totally committed tto God. I want to say, because very little is known about Mary's upbringing, that she always did what she was told to do,especially if God was the one telling her. She was willing to do whatever God told her to do. If only all people would be as dilligent as Mary was to do the will of God we would all be able to get along in this wild and crazy world. We must remember that GOD IS IN CONTROL. Whatever happens happens because He wants it to... Either to teach us a lesson or just because He can!!!

The virgin conception teaches that Jesus is both human and divine. He is sinless. If not for this, we would not have a way to heaven. That is the central message! That we have a way to a glorious union with God.

The problem they were having was worshipping the wrong way. They were angry at what was happening and not trusting God to handle the problem. If we worship with anger/hatred in our hearts God will NOT hear us. He says we are to pray with love in our hearts.

We must continue to ask because God demands it of us. We have certain needs that he know we need, but some that unless we ask Him he won't provide. NOt because He doesn't know but because we don't ask. He knows our every thought, need, and want. We have to trust that He will provide these things when we ask for them. They might not be given right away, because He does everything IN HIS OWN TIME!!! We live in an instantaneous society. BY this I mean we want everything right now. But God will give to us In His own time frame. We think He doesn't listen because He doesn't give us what we want all the time. Have you ever asked God for something and He has not proivided it right when you asked for it, but later down the road He just provides it. Well that is what I mean by IN HIS OWN TIME!!! As we pray for certain things we must BOLDLY ask for them. NOt because He needs us to speak up, but because he wants us to. He knows our every thought before we do so he won't need to hear us when we ask. He wants to hear us.. Boldly hear us!!! He wants to know that we seek him.

Salvation was/is granted us by the death and Resurection of Jesus; therefore Jesus is our mediator between us and God, and the ransom (price) He paid for our (yours and mine) sins was His life(death) on the cross. Now He sits at the right hand of the Father (God).

He will be a son (31) His name will be Jesus (31) He will be great (32) He will be called

Jesus does not mind wealth if it is in the right area, and if you don't put your wealth above HIs glory. By this I mean Jesus wants to bless us, whheaather it is with monetary walth or some other as long as we bless HIM!! If we make our money honestly not dishonestly (by this I mean if you are getting wealthy selling drugs or anything else that is illeagal) then He will bless us. I think I answered the last question in this already, but if you don't understand here it is in plain english: HONOR HIM AND HE WILL HONOR YOU; BLESS HIM AND HE WILL BLESS YOU!!!

The theme of testamony and wittness is important because it tells us about a person before he became a Christian. It tells us how he was bought to the Lord, whether by a friend, relative or ect. Jesus as the "faithful wittness" is encouraging because he was the ultimate sacrifice. He knew he was going to die for us. He knew what he was facing and yet he did it so that You and I could be saved. I think we are afraid to wittness because we are afraid of what our relatives, friends or others might say about us. In todays society, I hate to say this, but we are persecuted a lot more than people realize. We have to live with people sneering at us and laughing at us. Columbine High School is a prime example of how we are persecuted. But we CANNOT let that stop us from our faith and our Great Commission.

Paul's emphisis on salvation is because the false teachers were preaching/teaching that only Jews would be saved. This is false beause Jesus died on the cross to save all mankind. We must remember Christ's Great Commission. This suggest that even though Paul had specifically told Timothy to take charge I think, Timothy was being railroaded as we call it today by the false teachers. So Paul wrote this letter to Timothy to let him know that this was wrong and he needed to take charge immediately.

No matter where we go in life, you are going to have people who critisize God and the Churches. We Christians are going to go through hardships and trying times. But we all have to remember that the grass is greener and more beautiful where we are ultimately going. Now more than ever, I think, the Church needs to say to the unfaithful, "Get thee behind me Satan" and wash our hands of this critical world. If we compromise one iota, we will be no better than those that critisize us. These observences will shape or break the church of the 21st century. Either way you go, you will be oustersized and not listened to. The best way is upward looking to the Heavenly father and don't let Satan get his way.