Joeraja

Why is personal courage such an important character trait for a disciple – and for a discipler? Personal courage is important for a disciple as without it he cannot be a follower of Christ. Life of a Christian is never a bed of roses. In fact the bible warns us to be prepared for persecution and endure the long and winding journey. It needs courage to go against the ways of the world. For a discipler courage is important to speak to non-believers and win their hearts for Christ. He has to overcome oppression, persecution and insults thrown at him by the evil one. Without this courage he will not be able to reach the unbelievers. How does lack of courage prevent evangelism? If we lack courage we will not be able to speak boldly. Spreading the Good News will become a daunting task with opposition lurking everywhere. If we are caught up by fear we will not be able to evangelise. Courage gives us the boldness to carry out our mission How does lack of courage prevent a congregation from being healthy? Being a Christian may mean that we have to go against the values and practices conforming to the world.If we don't have the courage to overcome the popular life, we will get sucked into it and this will lead to back sliding. Members in the congregation will be in a confused state not knowing the right from the wrong. Only courage can help the congregation to stand up to fight the deception and temptations of the world we live in and have a victorious life in Christ . What is God calling you to do that will require courage on your part? I need courage to evangelise. I need the boldness to step into peoples' lives and tell them about my Lord and Saviour and give them an opportunity to hear the Good News.

Q4. (1 Thessalonians 1:10) What does verse 10 teach us about the Christian faith? Which of these elements are most important? Which are less important? Which are underemphasized by the church in our day? Verse 10 summarises the Christian faith - that we need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That He gave up his sinless life to give us salvation and He rose from the dead to prove that He is alive and will return to unite with us. All these elements are important as our faith and destiny will not be complete if any one of the elements are missing. Most churches talk about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture but not much emphasis is given to be ready for that as no one knows the time and day it will happen. The question that we should ask is; will we be ready?, The church should prepare the congregation for the big event

(1 Thessalonians 1:5b-6a) How important is imitation in the formation of a new Christian’s spiritual life? Imitation of Christ is important as it will affect a new Christian's confidence and his understanding of the faith. If our actions do not reflect our beliefs a new believer will be confused and may stumble . What kinds of ministry are most conducive to imitation? I think serving and caring for the members will be easier to imitate. Evangelism is another area conducive to imitation. Why is the character of the mentor or leader so important to the health of the church? The leader of a church normally influences the faith and the confidence level of the congregation. His character may unite or break up the church. How well do people grow in Christ who aren’t part of a Christian community? Being in a Christian community helps us to help each other in terms of understanding and experiencing the love of God. We will be able to encourage one another and grow together in faith. In what way is your character important to your family and spiritual children? As a parent my character will surely affect the spiritual growth of my children as the will often to up to me as their role model, through which they will model their lives. Our character will be a testimony for them to build their faith.

Why is the Holy Spirit’s working so necessary to effective ministry? The Holy Spirit gives us power to our ministry. The Holy Spirit gives us boldness and the wisdom to speak the right words. It also gives us phyisical strength and stamina to persevere What happens when the main power behind our ministry is will-power? Will power will only bring us to a certain stage but we will never be able to finish the race. We will grow weary. Relying on will power is relying on the worldly power. It will not bring us joy and success that God has intended for us. What is the role of miracles in Paul’s evangelism? Miracles enabled the people to understand the power of the living God.It comes out as a testimony of God's love and His promises to us. It of course must have made Paul's mission ie to evangelise and convert people to christianity What would happen if we saw miracles in evangelism in our day? What is hindering this? Miracles would convince us that our God is a living God, whose words and promises are true and applicable to this day. Miracles would convince more people to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. However many people have become skeptical and are unable to see the work of God in the world we live now. Probably our tendency to rationalise and believe what we see rather than rely on faith is the main hindrance

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? To mortify or put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit is to put to death our sinful lives by repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. This will allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and sanctify our body. This will enable us to have a mind set of the Spirit and submit to God's law. Paul here compares the life of a non-believer and the transformation that takes place when he becomes a believer ie he puts on a new self, a spiritual self.

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? No we do not have to sin because the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, our sins are forgiven and a New Spirit Man is created. This new man can overcome sin through the help of the Holy Spirit and thus does not have to sin. Christ died on the cross to redeem us and to release us from the bondage of sin. We have victory over sin and so do not have to sin. We are not compelled to sin as we already have victory over sin because of Christ's death on the cross. We sin because of the worldly pressures around us and our choice not to receive the counsel of the Holy Spirit. We are not compelled but deliberately choose to sin. Whether it is 2 hours, 4 hours, 1 day or 2 days, it all depends on our resolve to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. However it is just logical to conclude that the longer we live surrounded by the worldly pleasures the harder it is to keep away from sin. Spending time in prayer and reading the word of God will help us win this struggle with the desires of the flesh. I believe this defeatist attitude towards sin is not really from the scripture. I however do agree that there have been many examples of men of God sinning in the Bible, which has led some to have this defeatist belief. This defeatist attitude can also viewed as man's justification or excuse to sin.

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 definitely NOT possible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit residing in us. In fact Christians means little Christs, which implies Christ (Holy Spirit) residing in them. The indwelling of the Spirit refers to the experience of inviting and receiving the Holy Spirit to dwell in our bodies. This takes place when we are born-again with the new Spirit Man, after accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour. The Holy Spirit is present to help us lead righteous and holy lives. It always present to advise us, to comfort us, to gives us strength, to nudge us into doing something or not to do something etc. The fullness of the Spirit can be seen from the manifestations of Its work in our lives. Just having the Spirit residing in us may not show through our actions and thoughts. It is allowing the Spirit to govern our thoughts and actions that manifests the fullness of the Spirit. As Paul has said that we can quench the Holy Spirit, or stop the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So we may have the indwelling of the Spirit and yet show not evidence of the fullness of the Spirit if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. We can remain "full" of the Spirit if we continue to allow the Holy Spirit to control all our thoughts and actions. In everything that we do we put Christ first and seek the Holy Spirit's counsel. The Holy Spirit also speaks to us through the Word of God. So we also need to regularly read and meditate on the Word to allow the Holy Spirit full access to our lives.

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? Setting our mind on the things of the Spirit is to set our intent upon, or set our purpose upon the Spirit. This means that we conform to the way of the Spirit. This will allow the Truth in Jesus Christ to govern us . To set our mind on the Spirit we must first relinquish our old life through repentance. Then we put our faith solely in Christ, and put our old self to 'death', just as Christ died on the cross and thus be unified with Him. This union of our human spirit with the Spirit of Christ makes us a New Creation in Christ Jesus. And this new man is eternally alive and will have the ability to set his mind on the spirit and live a spirit filled life. We can recognise that we are setting our mind on the sinful nature when we begin to resent the righteous as the sinful nature is hostile toward God. We can also recognise the sinful nature by examining what is on our thoughts. As it is written in Galatians 5, 19 "The acts of the sinful nature ("flesh," sarx) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Most of our sinful actions are deliberate because we choose to conform to the desires of the flesh. Of course the absence of the Spirit in our lives allows the sinful nature to govern us, so in a sense we have no choice but live ungodly lives. When we continue to live in conformity of our sinful nature, we sin out of habit. Only the Holy Spirit can release us from of this bondage. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, it gives us the strength, wisdom and power to overcome temptation and live godly lives. Sin no longer has a strangle-hold and we can choose to please God with our thoughts and actions. So whether we live a sinful live or a righteous live does not depend on our will power but our decision to be slaves to Satan or to God.

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? The law is holy and perfect. However, the law only enables to identify sins but does not have the power to overcome it. Obedience to the law, as difficult as it may be due to man's sinful nature, doesn't however save us from death. The weak link is the sinful nature of man. Ever since the fall of Adam, we have inherited a flesh of sinful nature. This sinful nature goes against God. It is rebellious. Thus it will not allow us to obey the law, that is, help us to stay away from sin. So in other words, the law has no power to overcome sin. The only way to save us is a sacrifice or death of a sinless man who can purge us of the sinful nature. That is why God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to redeem us from our sins and free us from the domination of sin. Our faith in Christ and the acceptance of His death as a sacrifice for our sins will set us free from condemnation and grant us an everlasting life. The Holy Spirit with comes with the baptism will empower us to overcome our sinful nature and make us holy and righteous.

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 think Paul is referring to himself but with a message for the others. He is trying to examine (reflect) his self and thereby giving us an insight into his struggles. He is reflecting on how our life would be without the saving grace of God. We (others) can learn from his struggle that without the saving grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit sin will dominate our lives.

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? The doctrine of total depravity refers to the state of man as a result of the original sin where he is hopelessly lost, separated from God. His flesh is totally corrupted by sin and he is utterly unable to choose to follow God. Sin is dominates his life and even the good he does is faulty in its intention or motive. His sinful self hates whatever is of God and only seeks to fulfill the desires of the flesh. However this does not mean that we don't have any of God's original goodness. We were created in the image of God and we still have that image. We may also show some goodness in our actions but even that is due to some faulty motives or just bad acts in disguise. Therefore man on his own effort cannot find a way to God. However, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross has redeemed us from the bondage of sin and are free to choose God and his ways. One just has to repent, believe in God's supreme sacrifice, the death of Christ for our sins, and follow Him to break loose from this bondage. The Holy Spirit will empower us to be righteous and holy. Modern man tends to believe that man is basically good. They believe that man has some capacity to do good. Believing that man is incapable of doing good is an insult and hurts our ego. He just deceives himself thinking that he can do good without God's help. However this differs from what the bible teaches. Our good works are filthy rags before God as it is wrought with deceit and faulty motives. Our sinful nature causes us to reject God's ways and nothing good can come out of us.

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 is perfect in its description of sinful behaviour. We know exactly what the statutes are. But it is poor because it doesn't convince people to obey it. Knowing what is sinful does not keep us away from sin. The law is powerless to save us because we are still in bondage of sin. We have inherited the flesh from Adam which is of a sinful nature. This flesh has a rebellious spirit which makes us resist God's values. The law thus instead of leading us to live Holy lives moves us in opposite direction because of our sinful nature. The law has no power to release us from our bondage to sin. The problem here is how do we live Holy lives now that we know the law. Since the law cannot free us from sin, we are bound to live sinful lives. That is why God out of His perfect love, sent His only Son to die for us on the cross, as a ransom for our sinful nature. Christ's death on the cross has brought us redemption from sin. All we need to do is to repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, be baptised by the Holy Spirit which will break the dominion of sin in our lives. The holy Spirit will gives us the strength to live holy lives. The law will be fulfilled by the Holy Spirit.

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? Without the law we would not be able to differentiate the right from the wrong. We will be involved in sinful living without knowing that it was sinful and pay the price that is death. We may not face the struggle to choose between right and wrong because either actions will not bring about a feeling of guilt. There would be chaos and disorder, people will be harmed and there will be a lot of suffering. We would be spiraling into anarchy because there are no laws to determine what is right or wrong so that someone can bring about order. Not knowing what is sin does not stop us from sinning which wouldn't be good because God loves us and wants us to live holy lives. The flesh, inherited from Adam, has a rebellious spirit. As human beings we are still flesh so it is in our nature to go against the law. When we are told "do not covet" we become all the more determined to covet. But thank God that we have Jesus Christ who died on the cross to release us of the bondage of sin. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome the desires of the flesh and thus overcome sin.

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? By "flesh" Paul refers to our sinful nature which we inherited from Adam. This flesh has no capacity to do good. As it is written "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). The flesh by its very nature ( inherited from Adam) is rebellious toward God. A rebellious spirit will cause us to do things opposite of what God would wants us to do. The only release from the flesh is obedience to God. If we repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, our sins are redeemed and we will no more be in bondage of sin but be righteous. The Holy Spirit guides and leads us to steer clear of sin. It empowers us to resist temptation and lies of the devil.

Q5. (Romans 6:18-22) In Paul's analogy in these verses, is there a place of independent freedom apart from "slavery" to sin or to Christ? Why do we long for this kind of independent freedom? Why do we hesitate to firmly take sides and make our allegiance clear to all? There is no place of independent freedom. You have to decide whether you want to be a slave to sin or to God. We cannot have two masters. There is no place for fence sitters either, As in Rev 3:15-16 it is written. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. We long for the independent freedom because we want to excercise the right to make choices . We want to be in control and thus are not willing to be 'slaves' of God. We hesitate to firmly take sides because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to work fully in us. We are contemplating whether to listen to the 'deception' of Satan or the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Although as Christians, our sins have been forgiven and have dominion over sin, we still have sinful desires. It becomes a challenge as we face temptation and are led more by our thinking rather than letting the Holy Spirit lead us. There won't be any hesitation if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in our words and actions.

Q3. (Romans 6:15-18). What does obedience have to do with slavery? In what way does doing acts of righteousness demonstrate your slavery to God? In what ways does doing bad things demonstrate a slavery to sin? How is such a slavery or bondage broken? What part does obedience have in breaking this bondage? In what areas is God speaking to you about a fresh obedience in your life? When we obey someone completely, we become slaves. As slaves we are controlled by that someone, doing everything as directed by that person. Righteousness is from God. If we are doing acts of righteousness, then we are slaves to God. On the other hand Satan is the father of sin. Doing bad things or sinful things is an indication that we are dominated by Satan and therfore are slaves to Satan. God has purposed that we break our bondage to sin. That is why he sent His only Son to die on the cross so that our sins will be forgiven. This act of accepting His Son, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, signifying our faith to follow or obey Him, will break our bondage to sin. We have victory over sin and can live a righteous life being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Presently I feel that I am not devoting enough time to read and meditate on His Word. I believe God wants me to spend more time with him by praying and meditating on His Word daily.

Q2. (Romans 6:13) In what ways do you "offer the members of your body" to either sin or God multiple times in a day? Why is it that we can sin unconsciously? How can we begin to offer our members deliberately to God? What changes will it take in our daily life to do this? When we intentionally see obscene things, curse and say profane things, steal or physically hurt someone, or have wicked or lustful thoughts, we are offering our,eyes, mouth, hands and legs and our mind to sin multiple times a day. But if we use our mouth to offer praises to God, encourage a brother, help someone who has fallen or is hurt, feed the poor and hungry, or care for the sick, we actually offer the members of our body to God. We sin unconsciously because of habit. If we sin habitually, we may sin without realising. We don't feel that we are doing wrong. Basically it is when we become slaves to sin. We can begin to offer our members to God deliberately by choosing to follow Jesus. If we have faith in Him as our Lord Saviour and forgiver of our sins, we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good works. We need to read and meditate on His Word, allow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead our lives. Put God first in everything we do. As Mathew 6:33 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well".

Q1. (Romans 6:12) What does obedience have to do with the "reign" of sin? The "reign" of sin is the dominance of sin in our lives. This means we will be slaves to sinful desires. Paul says that if we are obedient to Satan, who is the source of all sinful desires, we allow sin to reign over us. But obedience to Jesus Christ,the righteous One, will free us from the "reign" of sin in our lives. Obedience to God will give us victory over sin. We can face temptation and overcome it through the help of the Holy Spirit. So obedience to Satan will enslave to the "reign" of sin but if we choose to be obedient to the Righteous One we will be free from the "reign" of sin.

Q5. (Romans 6:11) What does it mean to "reckon, consider, count" in verse 11? Does this actually mean that we are convincing ourselves of something that isn't really true? What will be the effect in our lives if we actually do consider it to be true that we died with Christ's death with regard to sin "reckon" in Romans 6:11 means to believe and aknowledge. It doesn't need any convincing because it is true! When we accept Christ as our saviour in faith, we put to death our sinful nature just as Jesus died on the cross for our sins. As we believe and aknowledge Christ's death as a sacrifice to redeem us from sin, we are able to live a new life where sin has no more dominance over us. Jesus has done the battle and we only need to believe in Him and allow the Holy Spirit to do its work in us. With this new life , the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a Christ-like life. We can face temptation and overcome it and even if we fail and sin, God is ever willing to forgive us and allow us to start anew. We may still sin but less frequently.

Q4. (Romans 6:6-7) In what way has our "body of sin," our "flesh," our old nature been made powerless because of our crucifixion with Christ? In what way have we been freed from slavery? What difference does this understanding make in our struggles against temptation? Since Adam's sin we have all fallen short. The wages of sin is death. This sin had separated us from God and allowed the Devil to have dominance over us. But the death of Jesus on the cross redeemed us of our sins. As a result our flesh has been made powerless as Christ's Spirit gives us dominance over sin. This means that we have the strength to face and overcome temptation and the Holy Spirit will empower us,protect us and we will be able to lead holy lives.

Q3. I believe the Pauls reference to 'death' here is figurative. He is speaking of our spiritual death when we are born again. We put to death our sinful self and allow the spirit to guide us to a Christ-like life, that is a new being, spiritually. This is the result of the Divine Exchange that took place at the actual death of Christ ( historical) where He redeemed us ( took away our sins ) through his death on the cross. This death becomes our own when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, and are baptised and allow the Holy Spirit to empower and build us. It is certainly not a theological mumbo-jumbo. His death on the cross is real and our redemption from sin is real. Through baptism our old self is dead and we are born again. The Holy Spirit brings about a transformation in our lifes. I have myself experienced it and I have seen so many enjoying the new spirit led life.

(Romans 6:3-4) In Paul's reference to baptism in 6:3-4, what does "buried" (6:4a) correspond to in the act of baptism? What does "Christ was raised from the dead" (6:4b) correspond to in baptism? The complete immersion of the body into the water during baptism corresponds to the death and burial of Christ. As we rise out of the water it corresponds to Christ being raised from the dead. We are resurrected into a new spiritual body just as Christ was resurrected from the grave.

(Romans 6:3-5) In what sense does baptism bring about our union with Christ? In what sense does baptism symbolize our union with Christ? Baptism brings about our union with Christ through our conversion from the mortal man to the spiritual man which symbolises our union with Christ. We who were of sin and condemnation now have life everlasting because Christ has paid the ransom through his death on the cross. Through baptism we leave behind our worldly self and put on the new self, a heavenly self, which is of Christ. This union with Christ enables us to live a righteous life free from the domination of sin. We have victory over sin. The rite of baptism which involves immersing our whole body under water symbolises the death and burial of our worldly self and exchange it with the spirit man which represents Christ. As we immerse we die and as we rise we are resurrected into a new life with Christ.

Q4. (Romans 6:2-5) According to this passage, at what point do we move from being under the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ? Is there anything we must do to bring about this change in headship? What are the implications of us having died with Christ. We move from being under the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ the moment we accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord and follow Him. We must repent of our sins and believe in the Christ who died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day. Our faith in Jesus will set us free. Having died in Christ means that our old man ( first Adam) is dead and we are a new man, a spirit man, who can inherit a Christ-like life. We now have dominion over sin and can lead a righteous life. We have access to Abba Father and ask for anything in Jesus name and receive His grace and mercy.

Q3. (Romans 5:15-19) By what right does Adam represent all humankind? By what right does Christ become head of all who become his disciples? If Christ is not our "representative" or "head," how can his death for sins be effective for us? Adam represents all of mankind because God created him first and we are all his descendents. So that makes it right for Adam to be the head of humankind. Christ has the right to become the head of all who become his disciples because he was sinless and was obedient till death to the Father. Just as one man's sin (Adam) was inherited by all of humankind, the death of Jesus "our head" as a sacrifice for our sins becomes effective for all believers. We can only claim this salvation if and only if Christ is the "representative" or "head" of all believers.