brucerobert

Q4. (4:8) Why is mind control necessary for success? For mental and spiritual peace? What have you decided to focus on instead of your anxieties? How is this working for you? An English saying I heard last week, "Trash in, trash out". Dr. Ralph, I like the text you used as part of your lecture from this lesson and it explains what Paul is encouraging each of us Christians to do and to meditate on it. Since Satan is not a human being where we can see him and fight the war; for he is a spiritual being who is very cunning and talented in fooling us Christians if we don't give God our soul and physical bodies to protect. The text is: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." (4:8) This is the essence of what our faith is all about. By believing in God 100%, we allow Him to work in us in a way that even us don't get sometimes but yet we believe. Trash in, trash out is a saying I heard last week during a presentation at the school where I work. The instructor briefly explains that if we listen to all the junk things going on in the world like politics or bad music or just watch movies that don't talk about our Lord Jesus Christ, than when Satan comes and fool us, we will surely follow him. But when we read the word of God and faithfully pray to Him for protection and help, He will surely offers it. And this secures our salvation with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Q3. (4:7) How does making our requests known to God help build a relationship and trust? What is God's part in the promise of peace? Relationship is a two way road. Relationship is like a circle where you begin at the point where you end and it keeps going. God knows the content of our hearts. And through prayer to God we can make our requests known to Him by following His Prayer example: ACTES (Acknowledging Him; Confession of all wrongs we have done or did; Thanksgiving for what He has given us including our breath of lives; and the E is for Ear to hear which where our relationship blossoms (we talk truthfully, He listens) and then He instructs us how to live our lives by reading, obeying, following, and be Christlike); and the Supplication where we humbly and whole heartedly ask Him for our needs physically and spiritually. When we truthfully have a relationship with Him, then He can offer us peace even when our adversaries are winning, we can still have faith and hope that God has offered His Only Son in our place and He has won the battle for us. He promised that it will be done and we have to have faith and believe that it will be done.

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action? Rejoicing can be both depending on the way you look at it. When it is a feeling, that means you are only thinking about it; However, when it is a action is like when a sinner comes to realize that he is a sinner and he 100% turns from sin, and comes to church to ask for forgiveness. This is the action of humbling themselves for forgiveness and receiving forgiveness from Jesus Christ. How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it? When you feel rejoicing, there is no action that can say you don't like it. The feeling of joy overwrites sadness or just feeling down. Rejoice is explainable only when you truly believe Jesus Christ who gives you peace. What is the effect of rejoicing? The effect is knowing that God loves you 100% and nothing separates you from His love. And this calls for a celebration.

Q3. (3:17) How can Paul be so bold as to ask others to imitate him? His experience at Damascus Road give him insight that no man has ever experienced. And as he met the disciples of Jesus Christ, he became convinced that He can imitate Christ. Why are we so hesitant to do this? We are in nature, humans and sometimes we feel that we can be on our own. We hesitate because we are not sure of ourselves. How does God use imitation in building disciples? As Jesus said in Luke 6:40... "People can never be biblical leaders and truly mature until they come to realize that God has called them to be examples to others. As the Lord Jesus pointed out, “A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher”. If we don't allow God to work His way in us, then we won't know Him till we let Him come into our heart. Who is likely to imitate you? Those who comes to fellowship with us like our Christian brothers and sisters. When they see that you really honestly devote your whole life to Christ Jesus, then they are likely to "mimic you" as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 -- "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ".

Q2. (3:14) What is it like to be called upwards by God? The feeling is out of this world. It gives me a sense of purpose. When I feel it, I know that God value my life and has promised to make a person that I need to be in order to fulfill His commission. Have you ever experienced this? Yes. I have experienced this in Hungry Horse, Montana. What causes God's call to become dim in our hearing? God's calling becomes dim when we don't follow and obey Him and be on our own as society sometimes liked us to do. How can we renew our hearing of his call? When we humble ourselves by asking for forgiveness from God and obeying His words and show His love to others. What is the content or specifics of this message or summons or call? Phillipians 3:14 indicated that when we know there is a prize awaiting us in heaven, we really focus on Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9:14 said, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize." Thank you Dr. Ralph for this lesson.

Q3. (3:17) How can Paul be so bold as to ask others to imitate him? Why are we so hesitant to do this? How does God use imitation in building disciples? Who is likely to imitate you? Telling others how to live their lives would be a challenging task, but this is exactly what Paul was encouraging his brothers and sisters during his time. To walk the walk and talk the talk. In his letters, he really indicate that if you want to be Christlike, you have to throw away everything and follow Jesus. He also said that it would not be easy since we are not fighting against a human but a spirit. And with Jesus as our guidance and supporter, he assured us that we can overcome our weaknesses. Following Jesus Christ is what our lives are all about and knowing faithfully that there is a price once we accomplish our great commission task.

Q1. (3:13) How can the past get in the way of our quest to know Christ? What do you need to "forget" so that you may focus on Christ today and tomorrow? Is there forgiving you need to do so you can grow in Christ? Forgiving myself is the hardest thing that I ever do. Eventhough I think that I forgive myself, but sometimes when I thought about it, it seems that I did not. When we do bad things in the past, over time, it crawls upto us and get caught in our net of thoughts and that kind of moved us away from getting to know our Christ Jesus fully. Please pray for me. There is so much forgiving I need to do for myself. Thank you. Like This Quote MultiQuote

Q4. (3:8-10) What does it mean to "know" Christ? Does this mean to have faith? Or to have a personal relationship? Is it possible to have a personal relationship with Christ without faith? Is it possible to have faith without a personal relationship? Where are you on your quest to know Christ? To know Jesus Christ is to have a deep Personal Relationship with Him. When we want to know someone, we spend endless time with that person. We converse with him; we cry with him; we laugh with him; we obey what he asked us to do and do it in a way that he is the only one we so care about; we trust in him with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our mind, and with all our soul. How we get to know Christ is by reading God's word and praying to Him in praising God and glorifying God always. Read His word and meditate on it. And really serve Him with our heart content. It really means that we have to have faith in Him 100%. John 14:6 said that no one comes to the Father except through Him; so it is absolutely necessary to have faith with a relationship with Jesus Christ. My quest to know Jesus Christ is that I read His word daily, pray daily, meditate on His word daily. I am also part of the Bible Translation project within the community as one of the translators and typist. And I was anointed in 2013 as a Reverend. Praise be to God in the highest.

Q3. (3:9) How does righteousness obtained through faith differ from righteousness obtained through law observance? How seriously does righteousness by law observance infect your congregation? Society's view of Christianity in general? Why is this concept of justification or righteousness by faith so difficult to grasp? In verse 9 of our text, it talks about Righteousness through our faith. Just by work, we cannot get salvation to heaven, but by faith through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 said.. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Some believers think that by allowing Christ to be our LORD and SAVIOR we don't get to enjoy the beauty of live. For me, the beauty is there since the price will be obtained when we get to heaven and our Jesus Christ will say, "I don't know you." What would I say if I hear Him say this to me. He is our Justification and Salvation. By giving our complete lives to Him secure our eternal life with Him forever (Eternity). We are human and if we don't believe in the diety of Jesus Christ, then the concept of justification or righteousness would be just foreign words to us and our lives.

Q2. (3:2-6) Why isn't Paul merely neutral about his religious pedigree? Why does he consider it loss, dung, an obstacle? In what way could your religious background be an impediment to your faith? Paul was expressing that eventhough he got a good world education; without God he is nothing. As in John 15:2, the scripture indicates that when we don't bear fruit we are at lost. God want's us to bear fruit and how we do it is by sharing His gospel of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. We are nothing without Him.

Q1. (3:2-6) How does "confidence in the flesh" show up in your congregation? Have you ever struggled with it? I am definitely sure that we do have this "confidence in the flesh" within our UCC church since our human nature tends to like doing wrong things most of the time. I am 100% sure that at several times, our church has struggle with this issue. Eventhough I would say out loud that I trust one person, but in action I never showed the person or persons that I really trust him/her.

Q3. (2:22) What is the significance of serving Jesus as a "slave" as opposed to serving him as a preference? When you serve Jesus as a slave, you know exactly where your position is. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and then you on the end. And you remain there as the feeling in your heart which means no pride. Always LORD comes first and you come last. The acronym JOY works in you:: Jesus, Others, You on last. You always serving and never leading. What does it say about the quality of our service? Jesus prefers people with this kind of quality. Put Jesus and others first: before himself. Like what Jesus did, He died for our sins although He never sin, but He take up our sins and paid everything. Of our commitment? When we commit ourselfes to Jesus Christ, we take up our cross and follow Him as He wants us to do. What is wrong with leaders who serve out of preference? When we serve out of preference, we are only looking out for our own interest. Everything we do would be to our benefit. Always thinking, what do I get out of this if I am involved. This means there is no faith there : no complete TRUST in our LORD JESUS CHRIST. If I benefit, then I can do it, but if not, then it does not interest me to get involve.

Q2. (2:22) Who has come alongside you to teach you? What potential leader in your church needs someone to come alongside them? Do you have a person or two that you are mentoring "as a son with a father" or "a daughter with a mother"?'' When I was young, my parents were and still are my best mentors especially my mom. However, as I grew older I studied the Bible on my own and also taking Bible studies through correspondence. With prayers everything comes in place. Church members like my former Senior Pastor, late Rev. Poden Pedrus was another mentor that I cannot forget his wisdom and knowledge he shared with me. But the best mentor of all is Christ Jesus through his own words in the Bible. By reading the Bible and letting our Holy Spirit works in our special heart, then we faithfully increase His knowledge and wisdom within us. And Dr, Ralph through his emails is what also contributes to the person that I am today. Thank you all.

Q1. (2:19-21) Why was Timothy's selfless concern so rare among church leaders? Rather than pointing the finger at others in your church, consider yourself. What things has Jesus had to deal with in your life that has helped you to become genuinely selfless and focused on the concerns of others? How has he refined you? (Of course, he is still at work in us!) The way Jesus Christ cares is what Timothy showed as a true disciple of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. He really cares about what happened to the other Christians including those who don't know Jesus Christ. Pointing a finger at others in some culture especially Christians is a bad omen. We should remember that God is only and one who will judge us one day. So it would not be good to point fingers just because the other person causes sin. God is working in each of those who are faithful to Him. When we really allow Him to change our heart and place faith in the heart, miracles happens in our lives. We really start to care about what is happening to other faithful Christians and also those who has not come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Q1. (2:19-21) Why was Timothy's selfless concern so rare among church leaders? Rather than pointing the finger at others in your church, consider yourself. What things has Jesus had to deal with in your life that has helped you to become genuinely selfless and focused on the concerns of others? How has he refined you? (Of course, he is still at work in us!) The way Jesus Christ cares is what Timothy showed as a true disciple of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. He really cares about what happened to the other Christians including those who don't know Jesus Christ. Pointing a finger at others in some culture especially Christians is a bad omen. We should remember that God is only and one who will judge us one day. So it would not be good to point fingers just because the other person causes sin. God is working in each of those who are faithful to Him. When we really allow Him to change our heart and place faith in the heart, miracles happens in our lives. We really start to care about what is happening to other faithful Christians and also those who has not come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Q2. (2:14-15) How does ceasing complaining and arguing enable a church to shine as stars in a dark sky? What does this shining as stars signify? Have complaining and arguing compromised your church's witness as a God-place? If so, what can you do to change this? As a Christian, it is not healthy to complain and argue since our scripture indicates that when we complain and argue, our spiritual growth is diminishing. And if we keep it up, soon our heart will be hardened and we won't know it. But when we cease complaining and arguing, our Lord Jesus shines in us and the whole world can see it eventhough we don't tell them, but they just know. When the light shines in us, Satan will do all in his power to dim that light, but we have faith and scripture knowledge through praying and reading His word that satan cannot win since Jesus Christ already won our souls by paying the ultimate price for us. Only by complaining and arguing can our relationship in the church and with God could be broken. However, take your concerns to Christ daily and ask Him for forgiveness and also how you can deal with the complains and arguments and Christ will forgive you for having those. It has to do with attitude change. When we accept Christ, He has forgiven us and our complains and arguments can turn into something we can learn from and never do those again.

Q2. (2:14-15) How does ceasing complaining and arguing enable a church to shine as stars in a dark sky? What does this shining as stars signify? Have complaining and arguing compromised your church's witness as a God-place? If so, what can you do to change this? In the text on v. 14 and 15, it talks about ceasing complaining and argument which causes the person to become pure and blameless. When we are pure and blameless, the work of God is very much evident in our life. Even without conversing with a person or group of people, just the way we conduct ourselves speaks out loudly how others sees us. The shining as stars signify is just another way of glorifying God in our faith and work for our Lord Jesus Christ. When we faithfully serve our Lord Jesus Christ and let others in on what we are doing, God shines the light in us so that others see and respects the work God is doing in us. Complaining and arguing is pretty much like part of church problem if we allowed it to continue in our church community and not letting God do His work in each of us to minimize the problem. It is easy to complain and argue when we don't see them as something that creates a barrier and seperates us from God and His Son Jesus Christ. We need to stop arguing and complaining. Pray to God to help us take care of the situation regarding complaining and arguing. In our church, we as leaders counsel those servants and other Christians whom we know are complaining and arguing just about any issues we have in church. Counseling with the word of Jesus Christ is one way we deals with complains and arguing in church.

Thank you Dr. Wilson for posting these questions that we need to ponder about and also share it publicly as testimony of our faith in Jesus Christ. I do appreciate it since it gives us time to think about what we want and need to say to others to express the true meaning of our faith in Jesus Christ. These questions are important as well as personal. Q1. (2:12-13). In this passage, what does it mean to "work out your own salvation"? In our Bible, it declares that Jesus Christ has done His part. By obeying His Father God in dying for all of our sins only once. For me, "work out your own salvation" refers to me doing and accomplishing the task with Jesus Christ as my driver. We have to initiate the doing, but Christ has to be the one guiding us along our path of faith in Him. As we may all know that we are in war with the Spirit world not a physical world so Jesus Christ is our weapon in securing our salvation. Eventhough, the phrase is saying.. "work out your own salvation", the doing is on our part solely, but the idea is that we have to have Jesus Christ in our heart and soul in order to accomplish this impossible task that no human alone can do, bear, and carry alone. Is this referring to salvation from sin? NO! If not, what kind of salvation is it referring to? It is referring to our salvation with our personal Savior Jesus Christ.

Q3. (2:7-8) Was Jesus really a human being or only pretending to be one? What do these verses teach? What difference does it really make whether or not Jesus was human? This question is based on your faith testimony. If you claim you are a true Christian and really believe in Jesus Christ deity, than you would know that Jesus Christ became human as indicated in the Christmas story. I myself claim and testify that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and Lord and truelly believed that Jesus Christ became human according to scriptures. By believing that Jesus came as human and died for our sins is the difference between a believing Christian or someone claiming to be a Christian but never believing in Jesus Christ. Praise be to God in the highest.

Q2. (2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? In my own words, Jesus Christ humble Himself way down to the bottom. He is not comparing Himself to His Father. He indicated by my own meaning, that His existence is all based on God's power, God's everything.. Without God, Jesus Himself is nothing and so as me. Because of God's existence, Jesus also existed. Because God lives, Jesus lives. And now they are ONE unity. How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine? In our Bible, it is said that there are 3 beings: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This indicates that Jesus is divine, since He is God the Son. He became human in order to experience all that human experience so that we cannot claim that He does not have anything or know anything about us human, but yet He is God the Son and has all the rights to this title. He chose to humble himself so low, but yet He is still God the Son.

Q1. (2:1-4). To achieve unity in your congregation, why is humility necessary? Can you give an example of how lack of humility caused a division in your church? What are you doing to bring unity in your church? "Humility is the quality that lets us go more than halfway to meet the needs and demands of others." In the church, humility is necessary or each servants of God won't be able to forgive their neighbors when necessary. Humility is very necessary in the church because that is what Christ teaches us to do. When we are humble with each person we meet, Holy Spirit works in us by showing the best of others in our lives so we see Christ in that person instead of the person. Lack of humility in our church caused emotion tension among members of our church community especially when one or group of person is doing one thing and the other group is not following. It is this time that the leadership plays an important role in bringing both individuals into an understanding or what is best for the group or church members. For instance, during our meeting of church council, it was agreed that all the members of the church would split into two working groups for the Easter festivities; however, there was opposition among few members who did not understand the situation. Therefore the leadership or senior person came into play to sort out the situation and make those few individual understand.

Q4. (1:23) What do Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teach about the state of Christians immediately after death? According to the text, we will immediately goes and see our God and be in His presence. This is so re-assuring and knowing this gives me comfort and assurance. How does this comfort you? As a Christian who sometimes feel afraid of dying, it gives me re-assurance that God is waiting for me when He will call me home. Faithfully, this is a very good situation for those who are still not sure if they are going to heaven or not. How does this energize you? I feel great knowing and believing that my time here on earth is not wasted, but when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ, He assures us to rest easy while awaiting our time when He will calls us in His own timing. Faith and works goes hand in hand, but we must believe in order to secure our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Q4. (1:23) What do Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teach about the state of Christians immediately after death? According to the text, we will immediately goes and see our God and be in His presence. This is so re-assuring and knowing this gives me comfort and assurance. How does this comfort you? As a Christian who sometimes feel afraid of dying, it gives me re-assurance that God is waiting for me when He will call me home. Faithfully, this is a very good situation for those who are still not sure if they are going to heaven or not. How does this energize you? I feel great knowing and believing that my time here on earth is not wasted, but when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ, He assures us to rest easy while awaiting our time when He will calls us in His own timing. Faith and works goes hand in hand, but we must believe in order to secure our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Q4. (1:23) What do Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teach about the state of Christians immediately after death? According to the text, we will immediately goes and see our God and be in His presence. This is so re-assuring and knowing this gives me comfort and assurance. How does this comfort you? As a Christian who sometimes feel afraid of dying, it gives me re-assurance that God is waiting for me when He will call me home. Faithfully, this is a very good situation for those who are still not sure if they are going to heaven or not. How does this energize you? I feel great knowing and believing that my time here on earth is not wasted, but when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ, He assures us to rest easy while awaiting our time when He will calls us in His own timing. Faith and works goes hand in hand, but we must believe in order to secure our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Q4. (1:23) What do Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teach about the state of Christians immediately after death? According to the text, we will immediately goes and see our God and be in His presence. This is so re-assuring and knowing this gives me comfort and assurance. How does this comfort you? As a Christian who sometimes feel afraid of dying, it gives me re-assurance that God is waiting for me when He will call me home. Faithfully, this is a very good situation for those who are still not sure if they are going to heaven or not. How does this energize you? I feel great knowing and believing that my time here on earth is not wasted, but when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ, He assures us to rest easy while awaiting our time when He will calls us in His own timing. Faith and works goes hand in hand, but we must believe in order to secure our salvation through Jesus Christ.