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A15. The Rich Man was selfish and did not care about the hungary poor man near his door step who was starving. It appears while he was in hell, the Rich Man still looked at Lazarus as a poor man to be sent around to warn the Rich man’s relatives that hell was a place to avoid by all means. The lesson in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is that, there is need for us that are rich to extend our resources to help the poor among us or else we would be punished. This is food for serious thought for me to wake up and help the needy. My church has a programme targeting the widows in the church with food stuff and clothing to cushion their lives.

A14. Yes it is really humorous as I cannot just imagine how someone with a beam in his eye can see talk less, try to help to remove a speck from someone’s eye! We need to actually examine our spiritual position to be sure we are qualified to help others who have fallen. Judgementalism while we are not spiritually better than those we are judging can be hypocrisy if we are not spiritually better than them.

A13. To me, the tax collectors and the prostitutes do not fit any of the two sons because they heard and complied by accepting and obeying Jesus right away. Obedience to the Word is usually difficult because it requires sacrifice in time and forgoing some worldly pleasures etc.

A12. The narrow gate leads to eternal life in heaven with the Lord. It requires the willingness and determination to get there. This is not easy and thus the need for us to diligently continue to seek for the grace to make it there. To achieve this, we as disciples have to avoid the path the crowd is following in terms of worldly pleasures that lead to hell.

A11. Believing should lead to positive action just as faith in the Lord should lead us to action in obeying what He asks to do.

A10 Jesus teaches in this parable for us to apply wisdom by reconciling with whoever we have offended to avoid being taken to court and be punished for our wrongs. Unsettled wrongs are barriers to our worship hence the need to confess and reconcile before we go before the lord in worship.

A9. The heart of man is deceitful and from the heart comes all evil thoughts and plans. We may look good on the outside but unless we receive the Lord Jesus into our hearts and repent and be transformed in our thinking and actions, we would remain defiled in our hearts.

Q8. The servants represent the prophets. · The Israelites who rejected God’s servants and His Son were punished in different ways, among other ways-through the brutal conquest by Rom in particular. · I cannot remember seeing a pastor rejected by any Church. · Supporting our Pastors and leaders is very important to God’s plan for the church because such support ensures peace and harmony that is necessary for spiritual and physical growth of the church. · Jesus encourages those who are rejected and persecuted that they should be comforted as they were blessed because of such persecution.

A7. My church, an Evangelical church, targets both high and low class in the society for the purpose of recruiting souls for the kingdom of God. What tends to keep me personally away from the task of soul winning is usually laziness and flimsy excuses that are not credible. May the Lord help me to overcome this bad attitude?

A6. Excuse makers are those who are more interested in the worldly affairs around them and have no time for matters of the kingdom of God. The main potential result of excusing ourselves from carrying out God’s will or orders is the risk of missing his plans such as salvation.

A5. Israel’s bareness in Jesus’ time was mainly due to their jealousy and refusal to accept and welcome him. They saw Jesus as a threat to their position, as they saw Jesus attracting crowds and thought their position was threatened. What keeps the fruit of the Holy Spirit from growing and maturing are the acts of the flesh from Galatian 5:19-21- sexual immorality, impurity etc.. What we are learning from the parable of the barren fig is that we are alive today because the Lord Jesus Christ our Gardener has pleaded for more time for us to bear fruits or else we would be uprooted by the Lord God.

Q4. (Matthew 18:23-35) The unmerciful servant didn’t show mercy and justice. He was forgiven so much but he couldn’t forgive just a little. I see grace in the part of the king who forgave so much and it is a lesson for me to learn to forgive others too. So help me Lord God.

Q4. (Matthew 18:23-35) The unmerciful servant didn’t show justice. He was forgiven so much but he couldn’t forgive just a little. I see grace in the part of the king who forgave so much and it is a lesson to me, to learn to forgive others too. So help me Lord God.

A.Q3. I guess the woman might have been saved earlier and now came to show her gratitude to what Jesus had done. I need to express much more gratitude to Jesus for saving me from eternal death by His death on the cross for my sin and his resurrection.

Q2. What the parable of the prodigal son has in common with those of the lost sheep and coin are: God loves and is concerned for the lost, He is full of joy and happiness whenever the lost is found. The parable tells us of God love, grace and mercy are not dependent on merit. This is what I as a disciple should learn and practice.

Q1. The Parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin both show how deeply God is concerned about the sinner who is outside the redeemed ones. He would take every measure to bring him back and would rejoice when he brings him back. The Pharisees did not see it this way. I as a disciple, I have been reminded in this study, of the need to prayerfully be concerned about members of the family who have derailed and left home (socially and spiritually). All efforts must be made to bring them back home.

Q33. Why are God's gifts of grace an immensely greater blessing to those who attend church and are a functioning part of a congregation? God’s gift of grace is immensely a greater blessing to those who attend church and are functioning part of the congregation because meeting together offers an opportunity to render service of the gift of grace to the needy members. How can isolating yourself from the Christian community involve selfishness and fear? How can it impoverish you? Isolating ourselves from church can limit or completely eliminate our service of gifts of grace to the needy. This is selfish and we need to repent and make amends. If we don’t make amends we would be treated like the servant who failed use his mina and was rebuked and banished from the presence of the master.

Q38. (1 Peter 5:5-6) Why is prideful living incompatible with showing grace? Why do you think God opposes the proud? What does humility have to do with repentance to enable us to receive God's grace? How does pride prevent us from showing grace? Grace is given to us freely and unmerited. We thus do not have any reason to be proud for any reason at all. God thus opposes anyone who is proud because whatever we have or how ever highly placed we are, it is just by His grace, hence we have no reason to be proud.

Q37. (2 Corinthians 9:6-9; 8:9; Luke 6:37-38) Is it possible to be grace-filled and stingy at the same time? Why is this so? What is the relationship between forgiving and giving generously? The way God wired us, it is not possible to be grace-filled and yet be stingy unless if we have not totally surrendered ourselves to Him.

Q36. (Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:8-9, 15; Ephesians 4:29-32) What would be the characteristics of a conversation with an unbeliever that might be termed "full of grace"? It is conversation in which we respond in love and grace to hash and high handed criticism or abuse. What guidelines should rule our ways of speaking? We should be like Jesus Christ in all respect and in grace and love. How can we avoid the bad examples set for us by leaders of our culture and our world?

Q35. (Luke 6:27-36; Romans 12:12-21) What is the difference between ethical behavior and grace? Ethical behavior is when we reciprocate by doing good to people who do good and retaliate when some does something bad to us. A behavior is gracious when do we do good to even those who deliberately hurt you. What is so radical about Jesus' teaching about loving one's enemies? What illustrations does he use of this outrageous grace? Jesus demonstrated radicalism by teaching that unlike what happens in the world when people pay evil with evil, a Christian should pay evil with good deeds.

Q34. (1 Corinthians 15:10) How does your openness to God's grace define your persona, who you actually are? How does your willingness to dispense God's grace to others mold you into who God has designed you to be? All I know is that God has been very gracious to me even when I consider myself not worthy of such extravagant grace upon me. Despite this grace, I feel I have not allowed enough of this grace to shape me to be gracious enough so as to pass this grace to others. So Lord, help be that I can be gracious service to others as a lifestyle.

Q32. (1 Peter 4:10) We are stewards of God's grace. What are the responsibilities of a steward or trustee? In what way do we act as trustees of what belongs to God? Our responsibility as stewards or trustees is to hold that which has been placed under our care for service to those in need. We do this by monitoring the needs of others and reaching out to them with that which we have been entrusted with. In what way are spiritual gifts or the message of the gospel part of this trust we have been given? Spiritual gifts or message of the gospel are part the trust given to us and are meant to be dispensed out to the needy and not to kept or hoarded.

Q31. (Ephesians 4:7; Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-6) Why is there such a close relationship between "grace" (charis) and "gifts" (charisma)? What is the chief characteristic of a generous person? In what ways do spiritual gifts channel God's grace? This study is teaching me that grace (charis) and gifts (charisma) are closely related but I am really struggling to understand the differences and the relationship between them. I think a generous person is someone who gives freely without holding back and without feeling a sense of loss of what he has given out. Spiritual gifts are given for the edification of others. Thus if for example when a member of the church with a spiritual gift of healing heals another sick church member, that sick church member has been healed by God through the channel of the gift of healing of the member with the spiritual gift from God.

Q30. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Why does God's power flourish best when we feel weak? When we weak, it is then that we can best recognize and appreciated his power to heaal and strengthen us at that moment of pain. If God's grace is "sufficient," what is it sufficient to do or accomplish in or through us? It is sufficient to provide the relief and comfort needed and to enable us move on in life and to serve him even more. What are the practical limits of the sufficiency of grace? I think there is no limit since his power has no limit.