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Lesson 3 Q 1 (a) Humility is necessary to achieve unity in a congregation because humility means absence of pride, therefore we have to let self go and let Jesus Christ be our life, our example. We need to humble ourselves. When we do this we will have the same attitude of mind, same love, same spirit and same purpose bringing unity to our Churches. ( An example of how lack of humility caused a division in my church: When a person or number of persons runs the church and have a say in everything but do not let their pride down or be Christ like dividing the church into two groups. One group who runs the show with no respect for others, the other group who helps and pays the church trying to live for Christ and is always in the background. This is division and eventually causes everone to be jealous, angry and a lot of tension forming. The love of Christ is lost. So sad! © To bring unity into the church I try to set an example. If anyone confides in me I do not talk about it to others. I try to avoid gossip, bringing others down. I pray my love for Jesus is seen by others in the church. I want to be a Christian, that carrys Christ everywhere I go. Amen?

Lesson 2 Q 4 (a) Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teach about the state of Christians immediately after death is they will go in the immediate presence of the Lord. ( This comforts me by it brings hope. I have a future immediately after death far better than I have in this life, today. © This energizes me by I need not fear about death, I can live joyfully knowing I will have a wonderful life in the presence of God immediately after death. Amen!

Lesson 2 Q 3 (a) Fear can keep us from being a bold witness by when we are afraid, we will not step out and declare the Gospel. Fear keeps us from exalting Christ in our body. We keep to ourselves afraid of what others might think, therefore not being a witness for Christ. ( Fear of people bind our tongues because we want to be liked by everyone. We are afraid to speak up because people may not like what we are saying. The human side of us wants praise from those around us. © "losing our life", for Christ's sake actually gives us an abundant life by one day we will be with Christ if we "lose our life" and live for Christ today. Amen! (d) The fear that is keeping me from clear witness is education. I have only grade 11 and I know of so many that have degrees behind their names that it makes me feel I know little and I feel so small in their presence. Also I need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (please pray for this to happen) because I know that it brings power, to be bold and to be a great witness. I am learning from preachers and Scripture that God can use the educated as well as the uneducated. With God all things are possible. Amen?

Lesson 2 Q 2 (a) Our ability to rejoice so dependent upon our faith that God is in control working even in the midst of difficulty because it shows that our problems no longer control our reponses, but God controls our situations. This gives us the freedom to rejoice in any circumstance. ( What we must believe in order to be able to rejoice in the midst of problems is God is in control and we are confident that we are "in Christ". © My basis for believing this is Scripture. Romans 8:28.

Lesson 2 Q 1 (a) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. This is so because this is when we are given opportunities to demonstrate our faith in bad situations. In those times, we reflect what we believe. Also our faith will grow. A powerful time to be a witness to others. ( Paul's witness was so powerful because he kept his faith and remained bold to preach the Gospel, even in chains. Paul sees progress rather than difficulties in this bad situation. Every six hours Paul had a chance to further the Gospel with those soldiers, some becoming Christians plus influencing the entire unit, families and beyond. What faith! © The personal struggle I am going through that could enhance my testimony if I handled it right is fear. If I just continue to keep my eyes on Jesus and be obedient, others will see me overcome fear, thus encouraging others that it is possibe to overcome with Jesus Christ. Everyday I think what f-e-a-r is: False Evidence Appearing Real. Amen?

Lesson 11 Q 5 (a) What I got out of this story of Abraham's life is it encourages me to have a closer relationship with my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I want to come to know Jesus more and more having Abraham as my example. The story of Abraham challenges me. Amen! ( I would evaluate the study on a scale of 1 -10, as a 9. I like the way you look at each chapter and verse, breaking it down to give us more understanding of what the portion of scripture is saying. Thank you. © I do not know how to bring about more improvement but it would be great if we could get graded on our answers. This is not possible I know, with all of the students you have. Not humanly possible - with God everything is possible. Amen? Not being graded do not affect what I have learned. This is my first study with you and I am becoming richer because of it and I know God will pull out what I've learned when He needs to use it. Once again, a big Thank you.

Lesson 11 Q 4 (a) Abraham's achievements that inspires me the most: (1) Abraham hears God's voice and talks to God personally, something I want more in my life through the mediation of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit. What a privilege indeed! (2) Abraham obeys immediately, something that I fail to do sometimes, leaving me not to do it because I think it through to much. I give Satan a foothold, therefore I want to be like Abraham, no time to think. ( As I reflect on Abraham's life, what stands out for me and always did is Abraham surrenders his son, Isaac to God. What faith. Abraham gives himself completely to God. Amen!

Lesson 1 Q 4 (a) Paul asks God to give the Philippian Christians discernment because he wants them to know who God is and what pleases God, to give them insight. This discernment Paul is talking about comes from love and he wants them to have abounding love so discernment will follow. ( The result of discernment in their lives is they will learn to put God first, having time to examine what things are of greatest importance and by doing so they will "become pure and blameless until the day of Christ". (1:10) © Selfishness clouds discernment by we start thinking more of self and less of God. By doing this we fail to have discernment because we are more in love with ourselves than we are God. Love for God is what brings discernment. (d) The good is the enemy of the best in our lives by we pursue the good things, that maybe of little worth, not seeing that there are better, more important significant things for us.

Lesson 11 Q 3 (a) The servant's prayer and test of God is the servant trusted Abraham's God and I believed passed the test of God because he prayed for guidance. ( I am not sure this was a hasty prayer, for as soon as he got to the well he prayed for guidance. I believe the servant would have found the right girl even if he didn't pray because "The Lord', already told Abraham that he would send his anel before his servant to get a wife for Isaac. All Abraham's servant had to do was trust in Abraham's God with all his "heart and lean not on his own understanding". (Proverbs 3)

Lesson 1 Q 3 (a) Paul expects God to do for the Philippian believers is to work through them until the day of Christ Jesus. Paul wants them to enjoy progressively richer and deeper spiritual knowledge which will mould their lives to God's pattern. ( He expects God to do this because it is God who began the work in them. © The basis of Paul's confidence is he knows God's faithfulness and of God's involvement in their salvation. (d) The basis we can expect God to do this for us is our faith, believing God is working through us and will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. When we repent and turn to God, He gets involved in our life. Amen!

Lesson 1 Q 2 (a) When we become financial "partners" with a christian missionary, minister, ministry, or church, what we receive out of the partnership is knowing that we are working for Christ through those people. It gives us a feeling of joy, and wanting to do more, so others will be blessed and still others may come to know Christ and knowing when we bless others we will be blessed. Amen! ( Other kinds of support we might offer beyond financial is prayer, encouragement, material needs, friendship.

Lesson 11 Q 1 (a) Sarah's strengths are: She was intensely loyal to her own child; She became the mother of a nation and an ancestor of Jesus and in Hebrew's 11, she was the first woman listed in the Hall of faith. She was submissive to her husband. ( Sarah's weaknesses were: She had trouble believing God's promises to her; She attempted to work problems out on her own, without consulting God and she tried to cover her faults by blaming others. © She showed faith by following her husband and protecting him from different rulers. Also Sarah was barren, "....she received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child whn she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised". (Hebrews 11:11) (d) She lacked faith by giving Hagar to Abraham instead of waiting on God.

Philippians...Lesson 1 Q 1: (a) The basis idea of slave is a human being who is owned as proerty by, and is absolutely subject to the will of, another. They are committed to their Master for life. ( The root idea of saint is someone who is dedicated or consecrated to the service of God. A holy person. © The way these words are saying the same thing about a Christian's relationship to God is we will do God's will and fulfill God's purposes for our life. To do this we have to be dedicated, set apart to the service of God.

Lesson 10 Q 4: Abraham's near sacrifice of his beloved, only son Isaac helps me to understand better Jesus' Crucifixion by this story brings it to reality for me. Abraham, a mere man like ourselves is willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. I question my faith and wonder if I would go this far to take my only son, but that is what God did for us, took His only Son, Jesus (who knew no sin) and put Him on the cross to take away the sin of the world. What an awesome thing to do and Abraham's story brings Jesus' Crucifixion closer to home for me. Amen!

Lesson 10 Q 3: (a) I have learned to trust God to provide for me by leaning on Him daily. I try not to worry or fear but to have faith that the Lord will provide. ( God has provided for me in the past by giving my family and I the needs we need. He has blessed us with love, health, financial needs and Peace. Amen! © Right now I am facing or I should say my Husband and I is struggling with my Husband's employment. There are disputes in his occupation and the only thing we can do is lean on God to provide - He is our jehovah - Jireh.

Lesson 10 Q 2: (a) We can know God only to the extent that we trust Him. To fully know God, we have to surrender all. ( Yes, I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. Amen! © That surrender entailed to me is I learn daily to trust Him and to surrender myself a little bit more at a time. When we start our journey with Jesus Christ as Our Saviour we do so to stay out of hell, but as we continue on this journey there should be a transition from staying out of hell to having a deeper relationship with Him by studying The Word, Prayer and giving ourselves to Him through our trials. Jesus should become our everything, our All in All. (d) God has blessed me in return by always beng there for me. In my joy as well as my sorrow. In God there is Hope.

Lesson 10 Q 1: (a) The effects Satan wants trials to have is he wants it to overtake us, he wants us to give up our hope in God. Satan tries to turn us back to his wordly ways. ( The effect God wants them to have is to walk more closely with Him. He wants our trials to strengthen our Faith. God wants us to depend on Him fully and we can only learn to do this through our trials. © Yes, I have been through trials that strengthens and invigorates me at the end. (d) I pray that my trials have inspired others. I certainly try to help others when they are in a similiar situation, one way is by telling them how God has helped me. I have been inspired by another's trial. For ex: watching a loved one or friend deal with cancer. We are never alone, we live in God's world. Amen!

Lesson 9 Q4 (a) The realization that God is El-olam, the Eternal God, affects me is I have hope. Hope for today, hope for tomorrow. I will never be alone. Others may forsake me but God never will. In all my situations I can turn to God at anytime. He is never busy. One day I will live Eternally with Him. Amen! ( It alters the way I live my life by I am constantly awake to what I do, say, and where I go. Doing only what will please my God. Yes, sometimes I fail but He is always there ready to forgive when I say I am sorry. I try to reflect Christ in my everyday living, so others will see the Love of Jesus in me.

Lesson 9 Q2 (a) God has blessed Abraham in this difficult chapter 21 by blessing him with the birth of Isaac to Sarah, one of God's promises to him. Also in 21:11-13 God assures Abraham that He will indeed bless Ishmael, the son of the maidservant. ( Abraham has been blessed that he sent Ishmael away because if he had not, there would have been strife in the family because of the character of Ishmael. © Isaac has been blessed because Isaac seems to be easy to teach, easy to manage or discipline and submissive, therefore if Ishmael stayed around he could have learned Ishmael's ways and been drawn away from God. It may have been that Ishmael would take over Isaac and given him a hard life. (d) If Ishmael had not been sent away there would have been a lot of hostility and the family would have been against each other. A lot of bad emotions would surface - envy, jealousy, malice, pride, etc. (e) No, I have never been rejected or sent away. Thank you God. (f) God is in all of those situations right there carrying us. It reminds me of "footprints in the sand". Last night, I listened to a sermon on Jesus being Crucified on Friday. It was a bad Friday but Sunday came. Amen!. They gave examples of Joseph, he had a bad Friday but then Sunday came. We have unsaved loved ones, a bad Friday but they came to the Lord, Sunday came. Someone is sick, a bad Friday but they received healing, Sunday came. Amen. God is with us. Emmanuel!

Lesson 9 Q2 (a) Motivates Sarah to demand Ishmael's expulsion from Abraham's family encampment is Sarah do not want him to have a share in the inheritance with her son, Isaac. Therefore this mocking gave her a foothold to have him expelled. ( No, Sarah is not righteous in this because it ran contrary to their custom and Sarah brought all of this on herself when she gave Hagar to Abraham to bear this child, Ishmael. We should take responsibility for the actions we take. © Yes, I have tried to force my husband against his principles before I became a Christian. In a similar situation that had to with a child he was blamed to have fathered before we even met. (d) No, I have never been forced myself. Praise the Lord!

Lesson 9 Q1 (a) Sarah's laughter now compared to her laughter in 18:12-15 and Abraham's laughter in 17:17 is a laughter of surprise and joy. Both of their laughter before was unbelief that they could have a son in their old age. ( This tells me about God's sense of humor is anytime we think a situation is impossible, but in spite of it continue to obey, we will see God doing the impossible. I believe God's sense of humor is doing the impossible in spite of our doubts. Because of our doubt, worry, and fear we forfeit the peace we could have in God's wonderful promises to us. God never stops showing us He can do the impossible and we never stops doubting. That is humor!

Lesson 8 Q4 (a) Lot's daughters turn to incest because they wanted to preserve their family line. They were driven by desperation - they feared they would never marry. The two daughters say, "as is the custom all over the earth". Because of where they lived (Sodom) it was not difficult to turn to sin. ( This tells us about their values is it shows their acceptance of the morals of Sodom. © Their faith it shows is the same as Sodom's. No fear of God. (d) Lot turns to intoxication to drown his sorrows. His potential and dreams of prosperity are gone. (e) This incident tells us about Lot's faith is it was not very strong. He had his trust in material things rather than Godly ways. (f) Lot's hope was gone because he depended on wealth more than he did God. (g) Lot's influence was not strong, if he had any at all. His daughters did not seem to fear what their father would do when he found out what they did. (h) This tells us about Lot's choice of residence is he was afraid, so he went to a cave. Lot picked whatever was a cover for him and did not care. (i) The lessons we should learn from this story is: (1) when we are desperate for what we feel we must have, we are most likely to sin if we do not have our faith grounded in our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ. (2) We will reap what we sow. (3) Our decisions affect not only ourselves but our children, spouses and others. (4) We need to be watchful at all times.

Lesson 8 Q3 (a) After being nearly delivered, Lot's wife stopped and gazed rather than escaping probably because of curosity. It is a human side of us all. Maybe of a bond that was there between her and her hometown. She was probably clinging to the comforts of the past and was unwilling to turn completely from sin. It could have been unbelief, we do not know but why do we sometimes look back. We can't make progress with God as long as we are holding on to pieces of our old life. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:24, "no man can serve two masters". ( In her heart could have been fear for her town and also for her unknown future. Insecure, unbelief, fear, etc. A number of emotions. © I believe all humans have struggled with some kind of emotions. Yes, I have. (d) The lesson Jesus draws from Lot's wife in Luke 17:31-33 is life will be going on as usual on the day Christ returns. No one will know the time of His Coming but we must be morally and spiritually ready. We are to abandon the values and attachments of this world, for there will be no second chances when Christ returns. Some will be taken to be with Him; the rest will be left behind.

Lesson 8 Q2 (a) Lot and his family hesitated probably because of the unknown future. When Abraham gave Lot a choice to pick the land, it tells us Lot picked the well-watered land, the choice land, therefore he felt secure there ignoring the moral character of the inhabitants. It is hard to just pick up and leave a place that provides a comfortable life. ( I do not recall fleeing from a dangerous situation so far in my life. Praise God. © The lesson for us is to know God's voice when He calls so we will leave wherever we are at in our life. We must be open to the Holy Spirit!

Lesson 8 Q1 (a) Christians can keep balance on the issue of homosexuality by loving and being compassionate toward the person and hating the sin. ( Is it really possible to be loving and compassionate toward practicing homosexuals at the same time as you condemn the sin? Yes. "For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It is possible because we who have accepted Jesus, have been forgiven, therefore it is no different for the homosexual. Sin is sin, whether is is hoosexuality, prostitution, adultery, etc. We can all be forgiven and our lives transformed. Amen! © No, the church should not be silent about homosexuality. The church should not be silent about any sin. All Scripture should be preached. (d) If not, what should we be saying? The church should preach the whole Gospel. Get the message out that homosexuality is sin, but there is forgiveness as with any sin. The church should be a haven of forgiveness and healing for repentant homosexuals without compromising its stance against homosexual behavior. I am a memer of a chruch who in June, 2003 commends government on same-sex civil marriages. I am having a struggle with this. It is one thing to welcome them to our church (which we should do) but it is another thing to marry them. My church is encouraging homosexuals to stay in their sin and forget Biblical teachings. I understand one of your students comments (Kelly Walrath, posted Nov. 8/04). "My heart goes out to those who have felt that they could not come into a church because the righteous Christians say they have to clean up their act before they should set foot in the door. How can they be expected to learn the Gospel if we don't allow them to come to church just as they are, if we don't show the love of Christ without judgment?" I agree, but I feel marrying them is against God's Word. Amen! (e) We should be saying it with the life we live. In church, home , work, school, etc. Condemn the pratice, not the people. We should not fear, ridicule or hate those people but Love them, that they may see the Love of Jesus through us. Let our Light shine...Jesus Christ! We were once sinners, saved by Grace, homosexuals can be the same. Tell them our story of sin (whatever it was) and how we were transformed.