PCHRIS

" "Count" (NIV), "consider" (NRSV, NASB), "reckon" (KJV) is the verb logizomai, which is primarily a mathematical and accounting term, then used of cognitive processes. The basic meaning is "to determine by mathematical process, reckon, calculate." Paul often uses the term in a transferred sense: as a result of a calculation, "evaluate, estimate, look upon as, consider." Now we are in Christ and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is a work in us we become sensitive to sin. As I have heard "we start to hate the things we used to love to do"

As Pastor Ralph's notes said; "How have we been freed from sin's bondage? By being united with Christ and thus being part of his death on the cross. Christ's literal death to sin is ours, too. Christ's death on the cross broke the power, the bondage of sin. Since we are united with his death through baptism, we are part of that death and of that victory!" We can only get through our struggles with temptation in Christs strength.

Paul then says that since Christ died to sin, and now lives to God, so we are counted the same. That is, as He died once to sin and lives to God, we must reckon we are as Him

Buried = we are dead to sin so one is submerged under the water. Raised up = anewed in Christ.

For me baptism is an outward sign/proclamation of an inward working/change. A proclamation made to those witnessing that one has died to self and ressurected anew in Christ

When we repent and beleive in Christ and through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit we move from the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ Union with Christ in baptism meant a certain participation in Christ

In this section Paul takes up the principle of the solidarity of the human race. The whole race is in Adam, so that what he did is what the race did. Through this first man sin and death came into human affairs, not having been there hitherto. He sinned: it sinned. He sinned and death came upon him and the whole human race. There is another man

Thus Paul is saying that as the sin of one (Adam) led all men into condemnation, just because the law wasn't in place sin still happened. Disobedience and pride is sin. Paul knows that the law will always figure highly with the Jewish mind and says that death for Adam

Thats an excellent example Eudora used what happened in Oregon. Tolerance of unbiblical behaviour is strife throughout the whole world (yes, I realize the world is crumbling into apostasy and the likes, Christ is coming back very soon, are we prepared?) So it comes through our political leaders, church leaders, teachers and parents then that filters through to our nation/state, churches, schools and family unit.

How Pastor Ralph put it there's nothing I can add to it except praise God that He had His redemptive plan even before the world began.

Paul amplifies the matter of God

Concluding that we are Justified by faith he says the outcome is; we have peace with God, we now stand continually in grace, and we have hope, ie. of sharing in God

For Abraham it was obedience; submitting to the will of God, his confidence in the Lord. For us, it is obedience unto God. When one puts their faith and beleive on what God has done for them even when one was a depraved, God hating criminal, Christ stepped into our place to take the punishment of sin. When one accepts that truly and lives accordingly our Lord sees us justified, redeemed.

That God equips us with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing to him. To do good, to communicate, and to live our lives for Him. ( 2 Corinthians 5: 9 ) While eternal life is a free gift given on the basis of God's grace to each of us we will still be judged by Christ. This judgement will reward us for how we have lived. God's precious gift of salvation does not free us from the requirements for faithful obedience. All Christians must give account for how they have lived, Living according to God's will, being obedient to what the word tells us. Let our lives represent Christ to glorify Him and the father. We were created for His Glory. Thanks Tabatha

Because of the drift away from their faith and wanting to go back to the old ways the writer needed to reiterate that Christ is the same yesterday [ OT] and today [NT] and forever [eternal, always there for us when we need Him.] The same reiteration happens for me- knowing that He was around for those who had been before, He is around for us NOW and will be forever more. Christ is one who never changes and He is for me so what can man do against me. The same power back then is the same power working in me and in others.

We recognize greed in ourselves when we start to wanting to keep up with the "Jones" and want to have what everyone else has. The signs are that the bills will amount up because one is spending that money on materialistic things. The earmarks would be a total reliance on God, as Matthew 16.26 states - for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' Our God is our great provider and we must totally trust in Him for all our needs. The promises of how 'He will never leave or foraske us' and of He is our helper.

We, as Christians, should be showing brotherly love to all. Hospitality to strangers and visiting prisoners is part of that as the text shows we could be entertaining angels. We are not to shy away from doing these things even if it is just a smile to a stranger in the street all these things reflect the light of Christ in our lives. My strong area would be I can start a conversation up with most people and talk about spiritual things and having comapssion for those who are socially rejected. My weak point would be, and God is helping me to vanquish this, is sometimes I would start favouring someone, like spend extra time in discipleship or counselling, because of a certain gift they have, say in musical gifts, and I would go out of my way to help them. Hoping they will stay in our church and use their gifts. It is very, very selfish and I am so thankful that God is changing my attitude in this thinking.

Fear of God is definetly healthy - Ps 111.10a - the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom; Ps 34.8-9 - Oh taste and see the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Oh fear the Lord, you his saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. It can become unhealthy when we paint the wrong picture of Him. We must remember that our Heavenly Father is love, holy, right and just. 1John 4.18 describes love without fear because fear has torment, he that fears is not made perfect in love. v19 is also a key here - 'we love Him, because He first loved us'. The phrase "feared God" described a believer in Yahweh. That is, those took obedience seriously and feared the consequences of rebellion.

Salvation is not by works, it is a gift from God through His Son dying on the cross. When we receive this gift and realize how depraved we are, this leads to repentance and totally clinging to the crucified Christ then we see the fruit of righteousness [Philippians 1.11], good works [Col 1.10], thanksgiving [Heb 13.15], of the Spirit [Gal 5.22-23]. As 1Peter 2.9 tells us 'you are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light'. The verses from Galatians and 1Corinthians in this question tells us if we want to live in habitual sin we will be deprived of heaven. God cannot have sin in His presence, He detests sin.

I beleive God punishes us through His chastening and rebuking. It's all part of His moulding and shaping our character into being more Christlike. Just as a parent would discipline a child out of love for that child it is again to help mature that child for his/her adult years. It is the same for us in our spiritiual walk. verse 11 I think holds an answer here - 'now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby'. We might not enjoy being disciplined, just ask any child, but this is developing our character and also our fruit of righteousness.

This helps tremendously, even though for me sometimes I wonder what/why God is doing it to me but it is only when I get onto my knees and ask God to reveal what is in my heart and what hidden sins are there, then it is made clear to me why. Going through 'the crucible' - by going through some 'tough times' - by having some 'valley experiences' is the only way God develops and builds our character.

Spiritual Warfare is wearying because it is an ongoing battle we are in, as Ephesians 6 states 'we wrestle not gainst flesh and blood, but gainst principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places' this is why the armour of God is so powerful and how we need to be praying this daily for protection in this spiritual battle we are in. We must be continually praying for protection, strength, guidance, discernment in all areas of our life. This is an ongoing battle and we must, must be continually praying for power to resist the evil one otherwise satan will keep at us and try to beat us down. Definetly yes, i have found the more I mature in my faith the stronger the attacks become. Satan has and will try everything and anything to distract me from ministering to others.

The great cloud of witnesses are those who have gone before us, those whose blood has been spilt for the glory of God. The analogy used is one of running a race, like in 1Cor 9, to keep focused on the glorious prize at the end. Jesus is our prime example and we are to strive to imitate Him. Totally lived by faith as we must do to.

I love this response from Helenmm, it is beautiful and sums up the truth for me! Thankyou Helenmm 'I think this is one of the most impoprtant questions I ever answered, because it excites me that God always wanted "all men" to be saved. It was always possible for anyone to join the Israelites (or Noah, or Moses as did his Ethiopian wife,) and receive the full blessing of God, subject only to taking the circumcision. It is the same now - Jesus saves all who will incise sin and receive His power and grace. All that is required is that they actually believe that God is God - the great "I AM", the Creator and Redeemer through the blood of Jesus Christ. The great motivating factor is simply that they can see "the way the land lies" and act in accordance with the evidence, which is their faith. Intelligence is always opportunistic, and faith is just a form of intelligence that has integrity! They could see who God was, and wanted the blessing of being among His people. This was more important to them than other distracting goings on. To a major degree it's a function of integrity, acuity of insight with a response from the heart (which is probably deeper and more all-encompassing than the intelligence!). Their faith was based on the evidence of their own ears. At the Red Sea the Israelites operated in accordance with the instructions given to Moses by the Living God, while the Egyptian army operated under the orders of a totally in-your-face, God-defiant Pharaoh. I love the Rahab story. Yes, she was an opportunist, as we all are (unless we have a broken spirit which is the result of major trauma and terribly sad). Hopefully our opportunism is tempered by integrity, but God never put opportunity in our way for us to ignore it! And yes, Rahab had faith. Faith is not complicated. It's just a matter of meeting the evidence with a positive response - opportunism again, if you like. She knew very well (through a wide range of "connections") that the Israelites were protected by Jehovah, and that no-one had a show against them, so she decided, right in the face of her own death, to assist them in the hopes of consideration. She judged rightly! No-one else in Jericho did. She was willing to give up her lifestyle and live as a Jewish woman of integrity (she'd probably never had the chance to live with that kind of integrity before!) What an incredible decision! Together with Noah, Ruth, Job, Abraham and Moses she elected to believe God and come out of "the world" into the presence of the Most High! Not very many people do it. But in Revelation 18:4 God says "Come out of her, My people." He is saying it today, but many Christians don't really come out of her (the ungodly world of unbelief or lack of acknowledgement of God before people). Nevertheless it is God's plea with us all, "Come out of her, My people". Is there a difference between having faith and being a shrewd opportunist? Didn't Jesus say "be as cunning as a fox and harmless as a dove? Piercing discernment, for better or for worse, is shrewdness, and shouldn't be confused with judgement which means doing God's job of condemning a person to hell or misery. We have to have sharp discernment (perception, understanding), yet leave judgement to God because that's His area! If we have keen understanding, then how foolish we'd be not to act on the opportunities we see because of it!'

As these verses imply Moses could have taken the good life but chose to be counted with the people of God and suffered the same affliction with them. Knowing the greater reward in Christ was enough to drive his vision and obedience. For me knowing who I am in Christ and the strength He gives me to be transformed into Christlikeness and not to conform to what the world offers.