retired

1. First of all, the Children of Israel had abandoned God Almighty and were worshiping a false God. They were breaking one of the prime commandments that they should have no other God before God. Of course at this time they had not been given the ten commandments yet, but they were still breaking it. They knew that God was the only God. Look at all the miracles that God had performed to get them out of Egypt and they still abandoned Him. They were deep into sin and debauchery. 2. A loving God can be angry at sin. The Children of Israel were sure exhibiting plenty of that when they were worshiping the golden calf and who knows what all that goes along with it. Sin is so foreign to the nature of God that He couldn't help but be angry. 3. God's sentence to destroy Israel and start over is perfectly justified. In the first place everything is His, everything. He owns it all. So He can do with everything as He will. The children of Israel had gone deeply into sin. They deserved to be punished and God planned to do just that. Remember he had wiped everything but Noah and his family once before and started over. So he had a history of wiping the slate clean. The children of Israel had abandoned Him after a short time and went back to the old style of worshiping. They no longer worshiped Him. so He was perfectly justified in wiping them out and starting over with Moses's clan if he so chose.

1. We need to continually ask for forgiveness because we are sinners. Even though He forgives us, we go right out and sin again. Christians try to learn to sin less all the time but the fact remains that we are and will continue to be, sinners in need of forgiveness. And we will not receive this forgiveness without asking. 2. Unforgiveness on our part is sin. We were commanded to forgive our brothers. Therefore, when we do not forgive, we are going directly against Jesus' teaching. Not a really good idea if you want to be a good Christian. 3. Unforgiveness blocks forgiveness because we will not be forgiven while we are still unrepentent. And while we are unforgiving we still have "stiff necks" as they used to say in the Bible. We are exhibiting pride and not letting God take care of the situation. And we have already learned in this lesson that we are to rely on God for everything. We are to trust in Him and not in ourselves. When we do not forgive we are holding onto the old ways. God wants us to accept His new ways and trust Him, not do things as usual.

We, as Americans, are taught from childhood to stand on our own two feet. We are taught to do "it" ourselves. It becomes second nature for us. Therefore we do not want to depend on anyone else. We want to be independent of God for a couple of reasons. First, becausewe as Americans are self-sufficient, we don't want to rely on anyone, including God. Second we wish to be independent because of sin.When things are going the way God intended for them to go, we lean on him as the Children of Israel did in the desert as they wandered there for 40 years after the Exodus. God taught them obedience and to trust him. This is the third reason we do not ask God for help. We do not trust anyone, including God. If we trust no one and lean on no one we are not going to get hurt. Or so the thinking goes, but it couldn't be more wrong. Why should we ask God to give us this day our daily bread when we can earn a living for ourselves. Well, first and foremost, because He wants us to ask Him. That is reason enough right there. Do we really think we would be earning a living if God did not allow it? Do you remember the story in the Bible about the rich fool. He had so much wealth and so big a harvest that he was going to build a bigger barn. But, God said, you fool, this very night your very life will be taken from you. No, of course not. All our wealth and strength could be gone tomorrow. We need to learn to lean on God today so that when the trials come tomorrow we are able to handle them because we know from whence our strength comes. Our source for everything is God and we are to petition Him for everything. Additionally, we are to thank Him for everything. Because it all comes from Him!

Wow, what a question! How/why are we asking that Gods kingdom come here on earth when we pray? Can you imagine a world in which everyone is living as God wants people to live? We wouldn't recognize the place. It would be a bit like heaven on earth! Now THAT is the earth I want to live in. Jesus knew that this kind of world would be so much etter for us than what we presently have. He knew that if we asked the Father (Daddy) to come and run things we would be so much better off. Things would be like they were meant to be. Because of sin, this world has never been what God wanted for us. Besides, when we ask that God's will be done, we are acknowledging His soverignity, His majesty, His holiness, His supremacy. We are acknowledging that he is the Lord of all. He is God and that is the way it should be. We are putting the proper perspective on the whole thing when we ask God to run things.

We "Hallow His Name" when we remember who and what He is. When we remember He is Holy and the Creator and Lord of all creation. We 'Hallow His Name" when we worship Him and turn our lives over to Him in every way. Unfortunately our lives are filled with sin and so even though we give Him our lives, we take them back again. We profane His Name. At that time we are no longer "Hallowing His Name," we are profaning it. The minute, nay the instant we get out of the worship mode and start to run things our way we are profaning the Name of God. We swear, use His Name in vain, break the ten commandments and in general, sin. When we do this we are no longer "Hallowing His Name".

I really did not get much out of this particular study. Sorry, but there did not seem to be much meat in it. Perhaps it was just me, I am happy to take the blame for this, but I stopped even reading it about half way through because it seemed a waste of my time.

Q3. James 2:9-11 Why does James refer to the Great Commandment as the "Royal Law?" Why is it more "Royal" than the mosaic law? How does showing favoritism towards a rich person break the "Royal Law" towards that rich person? How does it break the "Royal Law" in regard to a poor person? The Great Commandment is the "Royal Law because Jesus is the one who gave it to us. Moses gave us the mosaic law. While both came from God, Jesus was in fact God in person. This was the word of law out of the very mouth of God. When you show favoritism towards a rich person you are breaking the "Royal Law" because you are not treating everyone the same. You are not loving everyone as yourself. You are leaving out the poor person. The poor are to be treated just the same as the rich. Jesus said that even as we do to the least of these we are doing to him. So if we want to be good to Jesus we had better be good to the poor and downcast.

Q.1. What kind of person or what kind of sinner do you tend to discriminate against? What kind of people are you (or your church) trying to make a good impression on? There is so much meat in this question. Actually, it goes to the heart of God's word.When you discriminate against anyone you are going against God's will. When you are going out to "make a good impressuib ib anyone, just to build yourself up for personal gain, you are going against God's will. But don't take my word for it, look at what the Bible has to say on the subject. The above quote pretty much tells it like it is. Don't hold anything against anyone. Love other people because God is God and he says to do so. That is reason enogh. If you need more, look at this. Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. (40) All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments."

Q. 2 Why are we so easily fooled into thinking that listening to Bible teaching means that we are living out righteous lives? What is the Nature of the self-deception? We think we are so wise as to the ways of the world. For some reason we get this false notion that just listening to the Word of God means we are living as God wants us to live. I guess that is sort of like looking out the window, seeing that the sun is shining and thinking we are a sunny day. It isn't quite that simple. We have to not just hear God's perfect Word, we have to obey it if we are to live righteous lives. When we follow God's instructions, we are doing His will and showing our love for Him.

Q. 1 In what sense are we given spiritual birth by the "Word of Truth"? What does spiritual life have to do with the Word? When we accept Jesus as Lord of Lords and King of Kings and our personal Saviour we are born again. We are given our tickets into the Lambs Wedding Feast. We are new creations. Gone is all our old self and here is our shining new self in Jesus Christ. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb. The Word is Jesus. There is no spiritual life without Him. But God used Him as a way into heaven. We are so fortunate in this that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to "die for our sins on the cross".

Q. 4. What is the promise to claim in verse 5? What is the condition attached to this promise in verse 6? How do trials help us receive this wisdom? The promise is that if anyone asks God for wisdom, they will receive it because God is generous. WOW! What a promise! It has a condition in that you have to believe when you ask. This is because he who doubts is like a feather blown around. Or, as the Bible says, like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. A person like this who is tossed and doubtful never realizes when they have received the promise. Trials help us to trust in Jesus because we learn that He is faithful and true. His love knows no bounds. He is always there for us. The more we learn to put out trust in Him the better off we will be.

How do trials cure us of "doublemindedness"? How do trials help us grow in faith? Trials teach us to turn to Jesus for strength. Without Him we cannot handle even the everyday problems that come our way, let alone "trials". But with His strength, we can handle anything that comes our way. The more faith we have in Him, the more peace we have, no matter what the circumstance. Because we know that God is in control and the battle has already been won. We are just waiting for the final curtain to come down. He told us that we would have problems and that the world would hate us because it first hated him. He told us this so that we would not be surprised when it happened. And we can count it as our gain when it does happen because we are then sharing with Christ!

What value have trials had in your life? Have you let Satan destroy you with those trials? Or allowed God to refine you? How have you changed? Well, my life has been a difficult one. I came to Jesus late in life and prior to my being saved, Satan had his way with me. Then I accepted Jesus into my life and things changed dramatically! While I still have trials, I know where to look for help! Now when things are difficult, I ask for assistance from the Master and turn to Him for strength. With His help I have even been able to overcome post traumatic stress syndrome and panic attacks. He is my source of strength. Without Him I am helpless in the face of the enemy. So I guess I can say that I do not look at adversity the same as I used to. Because I know where my weakness can be of value to the Lord. I have been sent to another Church besides my own and spoke briefly of my trials and how Jesus saved me. He is using my trials to help others. So I consider them well worth while although I would not have at the time I was experiencing them.

We are given the same amount of faith when we accept Christ as our SaviorQ No other faith is as precious as this because no other faith brings the blessing of eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. No other faith is true. All others are false. That is what makes our faith "precious." Now what we do with that faith is another thing. We can turn our lives over to Jesus as Peter did or we can try to run things on our own and make a mess of things. All too often today we think we are self sufficient and don't need any help. That is where we waver in our faith. The more we trust in Him and give our lives to Him, the more He gives right back. You know you cannot "outgive Him." Yes, where there is persecution people have to rely on their faith because that is all they have. "When I am weak, then I am strong. because of Jesus Christ." Yes we do need a revival. Come Lord Jesus. My Church just had a renewal this Spring and it was wonderful. It was right after Easter and while the movie "The Passion" was showing. It allowed us to really get into Jesus. We must not be like the foolish virgins and not be ready when the master comes. We must always keep up our faith. Faith is not something that will stay if you do not work at it. It will slip away. You must read the Bible, attend your House of Worship, spend time in fellowship with other Christians and do His good works. You cannot work your way into Heaven, Jesus work on the Cross gave us that gift, the gift of Eternal Lift with Him. But you must always be vigilant because we do not know the hour or the day of His return. So that is why our "faith is so precious" it is the ticket to Heaven if we but hang on to it.

Hi, I'm glad to be back for another study. I am looking forward to this as I have never studied these books before.

Oh, my there is so much here! It is the eternal struggle between good and evil that will continue till God says stop and sends Jesus back for us! The Dragon, of course, is Satan. The Woman is the Church, beginning with Israel. Satan and his minions were cast out of heaven, and search the earth like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, yet today. Just look at what is happing on the nightly news on whatever channel you watch or whatever newspaper you read. And I suggest you get more than one source to get more than one side of the story. We are currently in a great struggle with people who want to kill us, just because we are Christians. We who live in the United States have a great deal of trouble undersanding this because we have never faced this kind of threat before. But here it is. I mean no disrespect for any people, please do not think that. That is not the intent of the statement that I just made, but the terrorists came here because they hate us and our way of life. People, other Christians, in other countries have faced this for years. We have been insulated from this till now. Jesus warned us that there would be wars and rumors of wars and it has been so since he left the earth. I am not inferring that I think we are in the end times because I have no way of knowing this. Even Jesus said only the Father knows the time and hour. So we are in a battle that has been raging since Satan got too big for his britches and got kicked out of heaven. I am sure that much of this battle is going on that we do not even know about. But one thing, Jesus told us to pray without ceasing. He also told us that prayer made a difference so that is one thing we can do today, have faith and pray! The comfort we should get from all of this is the fact that the battle has already been won! Jesus won the day when he conquered death and gave us grace. One day He will establish His reign and those who have been faithful will be invited to the marriage banquet of the lamb! What a day that will be!

They are bold in their witnessing. They stand against the powers of evil and while we have no supernatural powers like they have, we too can stand against Satan. They stand their ground and do not back down for 1260 days of constant prophesying. Could we do as much? I have read an article where we are in the midst of a major culture war today. I have even read that we are in WWIII today. Yes, we are in a battle, but it is not a battle against flesh and blood, but really against the Evil One himself. He is the one who is really causing all this upheaval that is going on today. Jesus warned us there would not be peace, but wars and rumors of wars. That has been going on ever since he left this earth. It will continue, I am sure till he comes again. The reward for the Two Witnesses. They were killed and the people rejoiced. After 3 1/2 days they were taken up into heaven. That was their real reward!

The only one worthy to open the seals is the Lamb. He was slain for our sins. Throughout the Bible we have been given instructions as to what God wanted. But we were given free will. No one is forced to choose the light, they can stay in the darkness. Then when there is wailing and gnashing of teeth it has been their choice. God is just. He is holy. Come Lord Jesus.

His redeeming work on the cross. When He came down from heaven to save a lost world to redeem mankind. He took our sins and became the sacrificial lamb in our place once and for all. No longer were we separated from God but were able to approach Him directly through Jesus. He became like us so we could become like Him. I have seen a quote like that in my Bible. It isn't in the Bible, but my Bible has quotations about Jesus in it.

Oh, just the thought gives me goosebumps it will be so glorious. I know we cannot even begin to comprehend how it will be although chapters 4 and 5 do give some clues. The beauty of the place will be beyond measure and will overwhelm us. When we see HIM we will fall down, overcome. The majesty will be awesome. We will be singing and praising HIM forever, what a wonderful thought. There will be glory, honor, power. We will feel it and will worship HIM for it. There will be singing and praising and playing of harps. Angels will be there singing and praising and worshiping. It will be some time. I can hardly wait.

I am late in getting started on this study because I had another project that had to be completed first. But now I am here. I see that the first responders have taken the best songs already but there are plenty more. I will just give a few. "Come, Now is the Time to Worship", Shout to the Lord", "My JESUS, My SAVIOR", "A Mighty Fortress is our GOD", "Amen, Praise and Glory", "JESUS, Name Above All Names". That is enough for now. I will leave others for other people to name. It is good to be back.

I have come to realize more fully that we are to work together as a unit for the Glory of Christ.

The purpose of growing in unity and maturity is so that we can do the work of Jesus in this world. We are to reach out to the least of these where we find them. We are to find lost soul and introduce them to Christ as Andrew did Peter. We will stand firmly when things get tough, and they will, Jesus promised that. Who was it that said that every day we were to preach the Word and if necessary we were to use words? Let our deeds show what a Christian is. When we first became Christians, we did not know all the facts and could become confused and tricked. So we had to study, attend Church and learn as we matured in our faith. Once we had done this we start being more effective workers for Christ.

In what way does verse 4:7 teach that all Christians have received Spiritual gifts? J(See also Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:11; 1 Peter 4:10.) Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This verse alone is a little confusing. We know we are in a state of grace because of Christ's atoning work on the cross. So we need the other verses to clarify. Romans 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. OK so now we know we all have different gifts and are to use them accordingly. 1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. Now we know that God decides which gift each person gets. 1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. So now we know we are to use the gifts God gave us to serve others and by doing so we are administering God's grace in different ways here on earth for our fellow man. So, to summarize what we have learned here, God gives us various gifts, according to His will. We are to use those gifts to their fullest to help our fellow man. By doing so we are administering God's grace to each other according to the proportion of our faith. If all have received Spiritual Gifts, what is the implication of this in light of the clause in Ephisians 4:16 that mentions each/every part? Ephesians 4:16 From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. If the whole body, the church, does its part according to the gifts given to it by God and held together by Jesus it will be strong. This could also be a reference to the olive tree which grows in Israel. People in that time would have understood that reference as we would understand the church today. The body is a complex organism which cannot be reproduced by man, no matter how hard we try. Only God can create Man with the muscles and ligaments and joints that hold us together as the body of the church needs to work together to do Christ's work.