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Q2. (Romans 8:17-22) In what ways was suffering Jesus' lot in life? Why do we suffer? Why does all creation seem to be suffering? What will signal the end of that downward cycle of suffering, decay, and death? Is there anything good to look forward to in this present life? Jesus suffered because he was in a human body like ours and was tempted, got tired, lived in a fallen world surrounded by sin, sickness and suffering humanity. He also suffered because he was opposed by the devil and the unbelievers especially the Pharisees and Saducees. All creation is suffering because of the curse from God placed on the creation at the fall of man in the garden of Eden. The signs mentioned in Matt 24 and Revelation will signal the end of this age of suffering and the return of Christ and the final judgment. In this life we can look forward to the heavenly kingdom.

Q1. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5) In what sense are our bodies like tents? If we were to truly look forward to our “house not made with hands,” how would it affect our daily lives here? Like a tent is a temporary dwelling, so are our bodies. After living in a tent for a while we look forward to our permanent home, so we look forward to our heavenly home. We should live this life to store up treasure in heaven, by obeying our Lord in all things and bearing fruit, by being good ambassadors and sharing our faith, looking for opportunities to do good, praying constantly, and doing it all in love.

Q1. In Romans 8:14-21, 28, how many times is the idea of being sons and daughters of God alluded to? What are the promises made to these sons and daughters? What do we learn about our future and our role in the future of all creation? I counted eight times. There are many promises as sons and daughters of God, we are co-heirs with Jesus so we get all the blessings of Abraham plus redemption of our bodies in the future and to be conformed to the image of Jesus. We are more than conquerors in all things.

Q5. (2 Corinthians 4:15-18) In what way do problems and physical deterioration help us toward “an eternal weight of glory”? Why is it so easy to focus on temporal matters to the exclusion of eternal things? Why is a focus on eternal things so important to our spiritual growth? What can we do to help shift our focus? As we get older and our bodies get weaker, or we suffer in some way, we can look forward to our heavenly home, where all suffering will end. It's easier to focus on temporal things because they invade our senses all the time; it takes constant effort to keep focused on eternal things, those things that are unseen. A focus on eternal things helps us to walk by faith, gives us hope and keeps us stable. We need to train ourselves by Bible study and meditation, constant prayer and doing the Lord's will.

Q6. (Romans 8:15-16) How does the Holy Spirit inspire us to pray 'Abba, Father'? What is the significance of us referring to God as our Dad? What happens in our lives if we don't have some kind of personal assurance of our salvation? How do we receive this kind of personal assurance? We are adopted sons of God and the Spirit tells us this. God is our Dad and so we are joint-heirs with Christ. A lack of personal assurance of salvation can cause us to be unstable and feel distant from God. We can receive assurance by studying the scriptures and praying and seeking to develop a personal relationship with our God.

Q5. (Romans 8:13-14) What does it mean to "mortify" or "put to death" the deeds of the body by the Spirit? What would it look like to watch a person do this? What does it mean to be "led" by the Spirit? What does this look like in actual practice? How do "putting to death" and being "led" by the Spirit fit together? How much of this is the Spirit and how much is us? By yielding to the Spirit and obeying the promptings of the Spirit and at the same time denying the deeds of the body we grow stronger spiritually. The deeds of the body, or the flesh has to be starved to death by refusing its lusts to control us. The Spirit gives us the power to do this and the new creation in us grows stronger as we obey the Spirit. Our part in this is obedience to the Spirit and resistance to the lusts of the flesh.

Q4. (2 Corinthians 4:8-12) How does it encourage you to know that Paul went through tremendous stress and pressure? What effect did these sufferings have on the way people could see Christ in Paul? Why is pain necessary to spiritual growth? How does our pain allow others to assess our authenticity as Christians? Paul went through these trials, yet stayed faithful and grew more in the knowledge of Christ; If Paul could do it, then so can we. Tremendous stress and pressure shows us our weakness and causes us to rely on God more, as Paul said in verse 11 "That the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh". Pain reveals what's really in us, if Jesus in manifested through us and not the carnal nature then that shows authenticity.

Q2. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) Since Satan has blinded people’s eyes to the truth, is there any hope for them? What strategies must we use to overcome spiritual blindness? How many people are likely to find Christ without intercessory prayer? Prayer and preaching the gospel can overcome spiritual blindness. Without these few people are likely to find Christ.

Q1. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2) How do questionable ethics and ministry practices hurt the work of Christ? What is Paul’s alternative in verse 2b? People are watching us to see if we are genuine and when we are not we give the work of Christ a bad name. The manifestation of the truth commends us to peoples consciences.

Q4. (Romans 8:12) Do we have to sin? Are we compelled to sin? Is it possible to live for two hours of wakefulness without sinning? Four hours? One day? Two days? Where do we Christians get such a defeatist attitude towards sin? From Scripture? We do not have to sin and are not compelled to. It is possible to live for days without sinning because we have the sinless Holy Spirit living in us. Any defeatist attitude is not from scripture, but from our own misconceptions and failures, and perhaps dis-empowering teaching. We need to spend a lot of time with God and studying his word and get away from the things of the world, as they are opposed to the things of God.

Q3. (Romans 8:9) Is it possible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit residing in us? What is the difference (if any) between the indwelling of the Spirit and the fullness of the Spirit? How do we remain "full" of the Spirit? It is not possible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit residing in us. I believe all Christians have the indwelling of the Spirit, but not all have the fullness. We can remain full of the Spirit by surrendering to him, by reading, meditating and declaring the scriptures, singing and praising God and being ever thirsty for more of him.

Q2. (Romans 8:5-6) Exactly what does it mean to set your mind on the things of the Spirit? How do you do this? How can you recognize when the things you're setting your mind on relate to your sinful nature? How much of this is deliberate? How much is habit? What part does the Holy Spirit have it this? Or is this primarily right living by force of will? To set you mind on the things of the Spirit means to think about those things that are pleasing to God, that is the Bible, and every godly virtue and to do everything out of love, to walk in faith. The Bible and the Holy Spirit judge our thoughts and correct us, also a good conscience helps us. This starts as a deliberate action and becomes habit after some time. The Holy Spirit empowers us when we steadfastly obey him and we walk in the Spirit.

Q1. (Romans 8:3-4) Why can't obedience to the law save us? What is the weak link? What then does it take to save us? Obedience to the law can't save us because our flesh is the weak link that that prevents us from obeying the law. We need the Holy Spirit and we need to live by the Spirit.

Q5. (Romans 7:14-25) Christians disagree about who is the "I" in Romans 7. Is Paul referring to himself or others? What is your opinion? (We won't all agree here, but we'll learn what the issues are by taking and arguing for a position -- lovingly). I believe Paul is referring to himself firstly, and by inference to all people, as we all share the same nature in our flesh.

Q4. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Why is character change directly related to time deliberately spent in God’s presence? What is the theological word for the process of maturing in Christ? Have you noticed a change in the “degree of glory” you’re experiencing now compared to a few years ago? Why or why not? Time spent in God's presence changes us, because how could we not be changed when we deliberately dwell in his presence? I think the word is metamorphosis. I don't know that I've noticed a change in the "degree of glory" but I have matured and certainly grown in wisdom.

Q2. (2 Corinthians 3:16-17) Why is the Holy Spirit essential to help people see truth clearly and be able to grasp it? What enables people to come to Christ at all? What kind of freedom does the Spirit give us when we become Christians? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and he leads us in to all truth. The Holy Spirit convinces the world of sin and gives us the spiritual rebirth. After we become Christians the Spirit cleans us up and brings us in to the truth that sets us free. Awesome!

Q1. (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) Why did Moses’ face glow? Why did he cover it when he was out with the people? Why didn’t more people’s face glow in Moses’ time? What’s the difference between the spread of God’s glory in Moses’ time when compared to our own time? Moses' face glowed because he'd been in the presence of God, and received the law from God. The people couldn't stand to see the glory because they were sinful and had no relationship with God (and mostly didn't want one). The day we live in is in the greater glory of the New Covenant where all believers are welcome and accepted by God to dwell in his presence; we are forgiven and accepted.

Q4. (Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:18-20; Romans 7:24) What is the doctrine of "total depravity"? Put it in your own words. Does it mean that none of God's original goodness shows through? Then what does it mean? Why does modern man tend to believe that man is basically good? How does this differ from what the Bible teaches? Man is basically bad, it is so easy for fallen man to think bad thoughts and behave sinfully, look at the news and statistics of crime, wars, broken marriages etc. Some of God's goodness is in us, but it is corrupted beyond redemption, only God is good and through the rebirth of the Holy Spirit can become good. Modern man wants to live without God and so will not acknowledge his need of a savior or his rotten sinful nature.

Q3. (Romans 7:12; 8:3) What does the law do well? What does it do poorly? Why is the law (knowing right and wrong) powerless to save us? What is the problem here? The law tells us what is sin and convicts us of sin. The law doesn't help us not to sin. The knowledge of does not give us the power to save us, only Jesus can do that. The problem is our flesh, the answer is the new life of God in us.

Q2. (Romans 7:7-8) The law reveals sin for what it is. Why wouldn't we be better off just not knowing that we should not covet, for example? Why does the flesh respond to being told "Do not covet" by coveting all the more? We wouldn't be better off not knowing, because the sin issue would not be getting dealt with and we would be sinning against God and hurting others and ourselves. Ignorance is not bliss. The flesh (or the sinful nature) want's to sin all the more when it's told not to because it's very nature is rebellion against God and his righteous laws.

Q1. (Romans 7:5) Paul uses the word "flesh" (or NIV "sinful nature") many times in chapters 7 and 8. In your own words, what does Paul mean by "flesh" in these verses? The "flesh" in these verses is the fallen carnal human nature. The "flesh" is everything in us that is opposed to the work of the Spirit of God in us. It is what we need to deny and put to death

Q4. (2 Corinthians 3:6a) Why is a Christian’s spiritual health so closely related to his or her involvement in ministry? What are the consequences of dropping out of church – for the believer? For Christ’s Kingdom? We must be actively involved in a fellowship because we need other Christians to grow and become a part of the body of Christ. Also the Bible tells us to do so. If we drop out of church we are easier prey for the devil, as we can easily become weaker and more like the world. A Christian like this is no benefit to the church and is probably not impacting the unsaved people around them.

Q3. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6) What is the balance between the need for training in ministry (either in the local church or in schools) and personal submission to the Spirit of God? Are you able to “listen to the Spirit’s voice” in your own life? Why would this ability be so important in being a competent minister? We need to know the Bible well and study it if we are to be effective in ministry. We also need to do what the Bible says; we need to lay our lives down, pray, and have a real relationship with God, we need to be baptized and operate in the gifts of the Spirit. I am able to listen to the Spirit's voice at times. A competent minister needs all of these things to teach the flock and lead them to Jesus, he must be sensitive to the Spirit and to the spiritual state of the people to help them to grow most effectively.

Q1. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16a) In what sense is knowing God fragrant to people who are open to God? In what way is this fragrance repugnant to people who are closed to God? Have you suppressed your “fragrance” because some people are allergic to Christian perfume? If so, how can you regain the fragrance of Christ’s gospel? We are the fragrance of Christ to God, so people who are open to God notice this fragrance and are attracted to it, as they are to God. The fragrance is repugnant to people who are opposed to God because it exposes and convicts them of their self-willed pride and sinful nature. Have I suppressed the "fragrance"? Yes to some degree, I have. I can regain it by deeper surrender, abiding, scripture study and meditation and sharing the gospel more.

Q4. (2 Corinthians 2:10-11) How does Satan take advantage of our unforgiveness? What are the symptoms in our own heart of unforgiveness? According to Matthew 6:14-15, how does holding unforgiveness hurt our spiritual lives? What would you have to do to really let go of your resentment and give it to God? Satan uses our unforgiveness to make us angry and depressed and even to take revenge ourselves. When we have unforgiveness we replay the thoughts in our mind, which distracts us from God and wastes our energy, held over a long time these negative emotions can destroy us. Unforgiveness hurts our spiritual lives by robbing us of peace and intimacy with God, because God has not forgiven us. To let go of all resentment I have to choose to obey God and trust that he judges fairly, I also have to desire God more than anything.