PCHRIS

Truth and Holiness are both defensive and offensive weapons. Truth is what we girth around our loins this is what we hang the rest of our armanent on and as John 8:32 has been quoted this is what sets us free, truth. Holiness is what we grow in and develop by entrenching in His Word and constantly praying to our Father.

To stand our ground in this world we have to be firmly grounded in God's Word, fervent in our prayer life. We need to be in the world and not of the world. When we stand our ground, as James 4:7 and 1Peter 5:9, we stand steadfast and resist what satan throws against us we do claim victory because if we falter and give in to the world and what it 'offers' we will lose out. The saints are considered victorious because; they trusted in the blood of Jesus, knowing they are cleansed; stuck to the true gospel of Jesus dying for our sins and rose again, defeating the grave and stripping satan of the power of death (Hebrews 2:14); and not to live our lives for ourselves but for the will of God, to love Jesus more than our own life. (Matt 14:26)

I beleive the world has 'glorified' the devil and demons and the like thru the media, (tv shows, movies) and people think its only 'make beleive' or dont take them serious enough to warrant any concern. Right from the days of Adam and Eve we see what Satan can do and what he inflicts on this world but with the strength of Christ in our lives we can stand up against the devils work. The devil doesn't make us do anything, all he does is tempt us and we have the choice to follow his way or follow what Christ has done for us. the end results of our sins, as they say 'do the crime do the time' it is our choice of who we follow. We can only serve one master.

The same thing goes, as for employees, total respect, faithfulness and trust in their workers, staff. Doesn't matter if it is the secular workforce or in the church, we all should be Christlike in our endeavours. "A just wage would depend on the experience, how the finances are in the business or church where you are employed. I believe a worker is worthy of his hire whether it be ministry or employment on a job." Thanks Tabatha for the above quote

Work and service are to be rendered to an earthly 'master', as if they were being offered to the heavenly Lord Himself. The characteristics are honesty of purpose and wholehearted effort. I love this quote from Barclay; 'The conviction of the Christian workman is that every single piece of work he produces must be good enough to show God' Through the difficult times our character is so Christ centred that our fellow workers, employers will want to have what we have in our lives, Christ!

There is a number of behaviours which can lead to a child losing heart- sexual, physical, mental, verbal abuse. For me the most lasting effect would be the derogatory remarks, the put downs and the 'you are not wanted' talk is the most damaging. Training our children in the way of the Lord: devotions, reading the Word, prayer, worship but also a stable Godly family relationship works well. One quote from R.W. Dale reads- " parents should care more for the loyalty of their children to Christ than for anything besides, more for this than for their health, their intellectual vigour, and brilliance, their material prosperity, their social position, their exemption fron great sorrows and great misfortunes"

I beleive it should be an ongoing thing for adult children to show respect and honour towards their parents unless of course what is been said or encouraged to do goes completely their faith and the Word of God. Personally it took me awhile to forgive my parents for what happened in the past but we have worked through it and now we have a renewed relationship based on love, respect and honour in both camps.

Here with the thought of the Church prepared as a bride for her marriage, and living as a wife in love and unity and loyalty with her husband, here is the beauty of the divine pattern and ideal for marriage. Paul strived and exhorted husbands and wives to work out that pattern in the stuff of daily living. 'I speak concerning Christ and the church'- they are made one together. The are made one together. The husband's position as head, and his duty of sacrificial love and devoted care for his wife are but pictures, imperfect, but the best this life can offer, of Christ as Head, and of His love, self sacrifice and concern for His Church. The dependance of the wife on her husband and her duty of submission are a picture of how the Church should live and act towards her divine Lord.

The husband is to love [agapao] his wife, not just because of the beauty he finds in her, but to make her more beautiful. Christ sees the Church in all her weaknesses and failures, and yet loves here as His body, and seeks her true sanctification. We are not to love our wife as an extension of self love or because it is to our own advantage but to seek our own highest spiritual welfare, and so the highest good of our wife in every way, as united with us in the marriage bond. Husband and wife are united as one.

No it doesn't mean to be 'boss' or 'boss' everyone around. Paul uses the word 'agapao', love that is totally unselfish that seeks not its own satisfaction, nor even affection answering affection, but that strives for the highest good of the one loved. The example is Jesus Christ

I have had a number of [err] discussions over this passage and I have used the Galatians passage [3:28] which empthasizes that man and woman have a perfect spiritual equality but also point out the following passage, 1Corinthians 7:3-5, here Paul pleads for a true mutuality in the physical relationship. Netherless in the family, for its order and its unity, there must be leadership, and the responsibilty of leadership is that of the husband and father, and his authority must be accepted unless of course it contradicts or undermines her faith or the Word of God

Our attitude should be one of deep thankfulness to our gracious and loving God and to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God wants our all not just lip service. The fullness of the Spirit will find manifestation in fellowship whenever Christians are found together, and will be given joyful expression in song and praise. Every expression of Christian joy is welcomed, and all should come from the heart but i think Paul here is instructing we should be giving thanks in all circumstances. God the Father is the source of all blessings, and thus to be Himself blessed, Eph.1:3, so through our praise and worship,[and other ways], we are thanking Him. To me worship is just a part of giving glory to God, He wants us to be showing our gratitude in other ways to, sharing the gospel, prayer, ministering to others, edifying brothers and sisters in Christ. Worship is important too but we can't just do that without the rest of what we are commanded to do.

To them it is a release from the troubles of this world, it gives them a buzz and a 'false' high and usually when they come back 'down' they are usually depressed even more so they get back into it to get back on their 'high' They might think its better but theirs is only a temporary solution while they are 'high' they are tough and do whatever they want but it is only temporary. As for being filled with the Spirit it is a supernatural gift and the strength we gain to combat the evil one's plan. To resist the temptations of this world we need to be strong in the Lord. PS I didn't mean to use the 'us' and 'them' terminology, all who have different addictions need our constant prayers and Christ in their lives to give a spiritual high

we need to make the most of what God has given to us otherwise we wouldn't be obedient. We have a job to do either in spreading the good news, being a living testimony, or being there for people. We have to be the light in this dark world. Why we don't? because sometimes its fear, maybe we are not attuned to what opportunities God is giving to us. We need to be constantly in tune with the Father and thats through prayer, worship and feeding in God's Word daily.

As Pastor Ralph mentioned in his notes that sexual immorality was rampant in Pauls time just as it is rampant in our time. Here, in this time, it seems we are supposed to be more tolerant to all these sexual perversions because 'everyone is doing it' or 'coming out of the closet' with their sexual preferences. It can be an addiction and when that happens you are putting that in front of God [idolatry]. And as right through the Scriptures it tells us that anyone who does all these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. I beleive it is a part of our spiritual life, it is a gift from God and like any gift it is not to be abused.

This reminds me of an line in an old song, 'Oh Lord its hard to be humble when your perfect in every way'. Pride is probaly the reason [for me] why I find it hard to forgive some people. So coming to God with humilty and asking Him for the strength knowing, 'I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me', this helps me in understanding that I need to forgive otherwise it will just fester into worse things. Jesus Christ is our example. To be kind and compassionate.

The tearing down of people behind their backs and sometimes in front of their faces. We are taught in the Scriptures of how to handle conflict within the church body but for some its easier to go off and 'bag' other people than to come together and reconcile things together. These arePaul's guidelines- Is it helpful for building others up? Does it edify? Does it enlighten? Does it encourage? Is it according to the hearer's needs? Or only our need to vent our frustrations? Does he really need this? Does she really need this? Some things need to be said, however hard. But many of the things we say could just as well be left unsaid. Is it beneficial to the hearer? If love is our mainstay, then benefiting others is our way of life. Slander is malicious gossip. It is common amongst Christians, the thing that gripes me is when you confront people about it they give the cliche, "Oh, I am only human" and thats when I usually point them to this Scripture, Ephesians 4:22-25. Praying through these Scriptures, taking off the old and putting on the new, DAILY.

Psalm 4: 4 Be angry [or stand in awe] and sin not; commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be silent[sorry for the things you say in your hearts] Amplified version. Everything we have comes from God and anger is one of them. Our anger should be a righteous anger just as we see in our Lord, [Mark 3:5; John 2:13-17] but our anger should never lead to sin. The Christians must be sure that their anger is that of righteous indignation, and not just an expression of personal provocation or wounded pride. Paul, knowing about human nature, added 'let not the sun go down upon your wrath', he remembered the rest of Psalm 4:4. Paul knew that such communing was impossible unless a man had set aside his anger before turning to his bed. Anger is not a sin, it's what it can lead into if we do not curb it and keep a check on it.

I feel that the secular world has the mindset 'if it feels good do it'. more and more our leaders are going liberal in their thinking and passing laws to allow immoral and absurd things to happen. We know in the scriptures how it tells us the signs of the last days to come; 2Timothy 3:1-4 " This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" Our 'age' is a selfish instead of being selfless. We maybe tempted because we are fearful of persecution, don't want to upset anyone in case we hurt their feelings. Tis better we hurt their feelings with the truth now than let them spend eternity in hell

This method can stifle up and coming people with these gifts but on the other hand its trying to break peoples mindsets 'that its always the pastors job' is draining. As it is pointed out it is the pastors job to equip, disciple and train people to use their God given gifts in the church.

Over time these people with these gifts will develop and start to show out like a light on a hill. You can see their hunger for deepening their relationship with God in soaking in His Word; prayer; their servant heart; their passion will reveal their God given desire to pastor and teach. Thats when the elders or "governing" [ i use this term loosely] body need to bring everybody together for prayer and to solve the issue in love. Our Lord is the one who gives these gifts and these gifts should give the glory back to Him

By preaching the Great Commission to our congregations, as disciples [followers of Christ] we are commanded to go out and proclaim the Gospel. Perhaps when people hear the word evangelise they automatically see in their minds, huge crusades and the like, and doubt enters their minds that they can't do that sort of thing. We all have family members, friends, work colleagues, ect who don't know Christ whom we can evangelise one on one to. As long we are honest in ourselves and our answers to their questions and show the joy and the hope we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember 'we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.' One who is very passionate about Christ. By covering them in prayer, by writing encouraging notes/letters, and supporting the ministry financially.

I beleive the modern day apostles would be like the original apostles. I love the word function because this shows a working, rolling up your sleeves and getting amongst it. Some take the title of apostle or pastor then sit upon the pedestal and think they got it made. So I dont see apostle or pastor as a title but a 'function' They need to be: solid in the Word; strong leadership skills; be able to handle conflict on a major scale; prayer warriors; willing servers and to do all these things in love. We will pick false prophets by their fruit.

God gave our spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts and our 'natural' talents are related together to use as one to glorify God. Our 'natural' talents were given to us when we are born and we develop them, giving glory back to God for them. While the spiritual gifts are given to edify, building within the body and the work of the ministry.

I think Paul views the unity here as the gift of God, it was made possible by the cross of Christ, [Eph 2:14ff] and is made effective by the working of the Spirit of God. It cannot be created by man; it is given to him, but his responsibility is to keep it, to guard it in the face of many attempts from within and without the Church to take it away. I think the RV translation 'giving diligence' or even the NEB 'spare no effort' are stronger renderings for how we should take and protect unity in our fellowships. I think the 'bond of peace' is if that people can live in the peace that Christ has brought them, then unity will be kept indeed. We strike at peace when one becomes prideful and will not take any form of criticism and will not come together with others in prayer for guidance.