retired

There should be no problem here. Although men have developed different traditions regarding baptisim, there is only one God and that is who we have to please. No matter how far apart our traditions are, it doesn't matter. Because we all who are Christians believe in the same God Almighty. It does not matter whether we sprinkle or immerse, whether we baptize an infant, a youth or an adult. We are giving our will to the same God. We are following His instructions. This should not divide us.

Verse 3 - Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Who brings about the unity - the Holy Spirit. Who is to maintain it - we are through the bond of peace. What is a "bond of peace"? That is what happens when we follow the Great Commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment". And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yoursef. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40 According to the wording in verse 3, is Christian Unity to be a prime goal or a secondary goal for us. It is a primary goal. Even if we just go from verse 3 it would be a primary goal because we are told to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. When we refer back to the words of Jesus himself and the Great Commandment we have been given instructions as to exactly what God wants us to do. Again, in Hosea 12:6 But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. So there is no way that this is anything but a primary goal. Using the concordance in the back of the Bible there are other references I am sure if I took time to look, but I think I got my point across. .

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Wow, put a bunch of people together in a setting where there is a hierarchy and you may have a problem here. I am thinking of a Church, perhaps a Church meeting to discuss changing or remodeling or repairing the building. My church just did that. There was one older person who was dead set against new carpet, although it was 25 years old and needed replaced. We had to try to get this person's opinion in other things because the Congregation voted for the new carpet. All attempted to help this person accept the changes, such as the changes in the pews that were to be made. This person was against this too, but this also had to be done to enlarge the stage area. In the end I think we were able to help this person to accept the changes and the remodeled building is beautiful. No one forced anything on this person. We acted to try to get this person's input in as many of the areas as we could for the remodeling as it was extensive.Now we could have said to this person, the Board and Congregation has voted for this and this is the way it is going to be. But that would have been wrong and not the Christian way to go about it. No one wanted to hurt this person who is elderly and was instrumental in the previous remodeling project 25 years ago. What is the most important? That is easy, love. I think that the more a person has given their will to Jesus, the better they are able to follow verse 4:2 And the great thing about giving your will to Jesus is the peace He gives back.

That old song I used to sing as a child says it pretty well "red or yellow, black or white we are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." Jesus loves all of us, He proved that with His redemptive work on the cross. There are variations in the worship the Name of Jesus, but He is still the Lord of all. He wants us to unite and work together, think what a force we could be if all Christians worked together for the same goal instead of infighting. If we all tithed, there would be no hunger. If we all stood together we could outlaw practices that Christians find objectionable. What a voting block we could be! One strand is weak, two strands together are stronger, hundreds or thousands of strands woven together make a powerful force. It is the same with the Christians, and we have the power of the Holy Spirit on our side .

Why does Paul pray that God would open the Ephesians eyes to discern "his impomprably great power?" What is wrong with their eyes? Where does this power operate according to 1:19? Which m;iraculous event does Paul use as an example of this level and type of power. Paul knows that the people are not understanding what Jesus had done and the implications of it. They did not know what was now available to all who would believe in his mighty power. His power gives believers hope and an inhiritance in the coming glorious kingdom! The Problem is not with their eyes, that is an analogy. The problem is with their belief system. In modern terminology we would say they had a faulty world view. This throbbing power emanates from "His imcomprably great power for us who believe." This great power comes from the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The example Paul gives is the resurrection and ascencion of Jesus to be seated at the "right hand of God." This was considered to be a place of honor in Biblical times. In summation, Paul was striving to get the people in Ephesus to understand about the great reward waiting for those who accepted Jesus as Savior. He used language that people of that day would understand to explain, what we might call slang today. He was trying to get his point across in the best way he could. He knew what was waiting for those who accepted the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ.

It tells us that Jesus is one member of the Trinity, the Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit existing separately but one. I must confess I do not entirely understand how it all works, but I do not have to. I have faith and that is enough for me. Jesus is God the Son, our Intercessor, our Savior. Without Him we would be lost. But He loved us so much that He came down from heaven to save us. Glory Glory. I plan to be a part of the Study starting on May 2.

Will we be priests and reign here on earth or have to wait till we get to heaven? Good Question. Jesus' redeeming work on the cross made it possible for us to go directly to the Father. Previously, only the Priests could go into the inner chanber of the Temple. And even he had a rope tied around one foot in case he angered God and had to be dragged out. But Jesus changed all that. He taught us that God was Abba, Daddy. We learned that what God wanted was for us to give Him our love. The Great commandment is that we are to love Him with all our hearts, minds, soul and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. So we are Priests now because we can approach God through Jesus now. As for reigning I belileve we will not reign until Jesus comes back with a shout and takes command. Glory! Glory!

Jesus, the Perfect Lamb, the sinless man/God was slain for our sins so that we could come before God. It was an offering to God. The solution had been planned before man was created. God could have created us so that we would have to love Him, but He gave us the gift of free will. We have to make a choice. He took a chance that we would choose Him. Not a chance, really, because God sees future events as well as past events the same as the present. God hates sin, he cannot stand it, yet we are filthy rags and a way had to be found to broach the boundless gap between sinful man and perfect God. Jesus was that way. Glory, Glory! This study reminds me of a song we sing in Church. I have seen it in the Bible but off hand I cannot remember the reference. Amen, praise and glory, and wisdom and ****** and honor, and power and strength be to our God, forever and ever, Amen, I forget that one word. But when we sing it we go over and over it several times. It has been a while since we have sung it.

There is so much symbolism in this question. These questions have so very much I could go on for a very long time. But then I am known for being verbose. The Lamb is Jesus, the pure Lamb of Very God. Remember the lamb used for the sacrifice had to be without blemish. This is the description of our Lord Jesus. He was without sin or blemish! Yet he sacrificed Himself to save us from our sin. He became like us so we could become more like Him. What a glorious gift. Standing after being slain represents His victory over death and sin. Glory, Glory!! In the Old Testament horns represented strength. Who has more strength than our Lord? Anyone who doubts His strength just needs to read and believe Revelation. The eyes represent the seven Spirits of God and His all knowing and power. In the Bible the number seven indicates completeness. Therefore, we have in Jesus, a complete God who has overcome sin and death. He is all knowing and all seeing. He is every place all the time. Time has no boundaries for him. He has enormous strength, but is meek and gentle. His intelligence and imination are boundless. He is love. God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us to intercede for us with groans and to educate us. The Bible was written to tell us about all of this so we would know the whole story and what to expect. If we read the Bible and believe in Jesus and accept Him as our personal Savior we become, in effect, the bride of Christ. He is, after all, the only way to heaven.

The entire Bible is a love story. This may seem strange with all the wars and killing, but it really is a story of just how much God loves us. And although there are many characters in it the focus of the Bible is on Jesus and how God sent him to save a sinful world. Revelation is the final chapter where we see all the prophecies come together and finally completely fulfilled. Of course Jesus' birth,life death and resurrection fulfilled many prophecies. But we see the culmination in Revelation when John is given a glimple when he is on the Isle of Patmos. In Revelation 5:5 he is called the "lion of the tribe of Judah" and "the Root of David" Just think in the first book of the Bble is a prophecy we find fulfilled in the last book of the Bible. Thousands of years before Jesus' birth is the prophecy written that we now know is about Him. The second part of Revelation 5:5 refers to Isaiah 11:1-10 Jesus descended from the line of Judah and Jesse is the Father of David from whom Jesus descended. This is clearly prophecy fulfilled. The Isaiah prophecy sounds quite like what heaven might be like. It certainly paints a beautiful picture. Jesus has triumphed over sin and deabh. Because of His great love for us He sacrificed His life for us on that cruel, horrific Roman Cross. Although we have been given the gift of free will to choose to love him in return or not, we are also told the consequences of choosing to not loving Him and choosing life. Starting with the Ten Commandments we are told to make God number one in our lives. Adam and Eve taught us what happens when we disobey God, we see death. Revelation teaches us the consequences of choosing death over life, death over loving God and Jesus. I for one choose life and accept the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross.

This question is a summation of the whole week. So I will summarize what I have said this week. In Jesus time the future bridegroom offered the wine to his proposed bride. If she accepted it, she was accepting him and his livfe with him. Also at the Passover meal they ate the bitter herbs, the perfect lamb, the unleavened bread to remember the exodus when the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the children of Israel who had put the blood of the lamb on their doors. They ate in haste, with their sandals on, stooped down, their staffs in their hands as the Children of Israel did so long ago. At the First Covenant God had Abraham dig a trench and divide the carcas of animals and let the blood of animals run into the trench. He said when the covenant was broken, he would pay the price. So now we are up to the Last Supper. Jesus, the Perfect Unblemished Lamb created a New Covenant. He broke the bread and said it was his body and told the Disciples to eat in remembrance of Him. Then he took the cup of wine, remember the wedding proposal, and said this is my blood, drink in remembrance of me. As I have said before, this would have been quite a shocker to the Disciples bucause Jesus was saying to them that he loved them and wanted to marry them. He is still saying that to us today. If we accept Him and His atoning work on the cross and if our hearts are in the right attitude and give our lives to Him in return we can then go the the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. What a glorious time that will be!

When I think of Jesus' blood being poured out for my sins I am sorrowful. He was perfect and sinless fully God and fully man. When I think of Him suffering on that horrific cruel Roman Cross for what I have done I am horrified and sorowful that it took that for me to be able to come into the presence of the Lord. It took the blood of the perfect sinless Lamb of God to wash my sins away. He poured out His life for me, for you after offering the glass of wine (or blood) for bethrotral. But I am joyous because I can come to the Lord's Table with my heart in the right place. I can give my life to Him in return. What Joy. I stand a chance to be at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb! WOW!

When Jesus taught us how to pray he said to "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" in the Lords' Prayer. We are also told in the Bible to settle all problems with our neighbors before going to Church. and then again in Colossians 3:13 Finally on the cross was the famous quote of Jesus when he said to "Forgive them as they know not what they are doing."So when we go to the Lords Table we have Jesus example, Jesus instructions, instructions from the Bible which is the inspired work from God. We must have our hearts in the right place. And stop to think about it, if we do not forgive someone for something, who is being hurt, usually not the other person, maybe children, certainly us. God knows this. He wants us to have right hearts, if we are vengeful we cannot receive His love because our hearts are hardened with vengence. We must let it go so our hearts will be in the right attitude for God to be able to work. Of course God can work miracles and can change a person's heart, but He gives us a choice. We can choose to be vengeful or forgiving. If we choose to be forgiving we then are open to Him and can accept His offer, His sacrifice for us on the cross. We are in an attitude where we can give our lives to Him in return.

First of all, the Jews did not drink blood or consume blood at all in those days. Also, the thought of partaking of Jesus flesh and blood at first might have seemed to them to be cannibalism. They would have been shocked to say the least. Just think, out of the blue, during the Passover meal, Jesus took the bread and said this is my body, eat it. What would you have thought? You would have been surprised. Then he took the wine, remember, offering the wine was the ceremonial offering of betrothal to the Jews at that time. He said, this is my blood, drink it in remembrance of me. He was asking them, in essence, to be His bride. I know the Church is considered to be the Bride, but think of the Wedding supper of the Lamb. The ceremonial offering of the wine. It all fits. If we accept the wine. We are accepting the offer of the prospective groom. Today. the same. If we drink the wine (or blood) and eat the bread (or body) we are accepting the proposal of the prospective groom, Jesus and his redemptive work on the cross. We give our lives in return to him each time we have our hearts properly prepared and we partake of the Lords Supper. We are accepting the invitation, I believe, to the wedding banquet of the Lamb.

Thinking further, after reading Oswald Chambers about hypocracy in ourselves, that is something we need to watch out for when we partake of the Lord's Supper today. We have all that I have spoken of before, but our hearts must be right when we partake, else we are in a state of sin when we partake of the Lord's Supper. It is a time to pray and to remember the atoning sacrifice work of Jesus as well as the history that led up to his atoning work. It is a time to renew your acceptence of His offer and a renewal of your offer of your life to Him.

I've thought even further. The Lord's Supper is about faith and I just read Neil Anderson's Devotional today which said we have faith that the sun will be there always but not about the Son. Isn't that a disappointing testimony for todays American? Too many do not have faith about the Son. Those of us who do need to reach out somehow to those who do not. Jesus went out to the sinners of the world. After all he came for the sinners of the world. He hung out with prostitutes and thieves and beggers. Would we feel comfortable sitting in Church with those people sitting beside us? Would we ask them to leave while we partook of the Lords Table?

I've thought more, when we partake of the Lords Supper we remember how Jesus took on all the sins of the world and that night in Gethseneme. I think of that serene picture we are all so familiar with and how the Bible description of that time does not describe serenity at all. Jesus was scared, as any of us would have been who knew what was about to happen. He was after all fully human as well as fully God. It is hard to understand that, but He was. He asked the Father to take the cup away, but not as I will. He was willing to accept whatever the Father wanted even the cruel Roman Cross because He loved us that much. Could you face that for the whole world? Could I? When I partake of the Lord's Supper I remember all that and I am humbled. I am faced with my unworthiness. But then none of us is worthy of what Jesus did that day 2000 years ago. So our symbolic meal of a wafer and juice is just a reminder of all that transpired so long ago and how we should live with our bags packed and ready to go when it is time because we never know the day or the hour when He may appear again. Only the Father knows.

The Passover meal consisting of unleavened bread, bitter herbs and wine, and the yearling unblemished lamb eaten in haste, with the staff in one hand and the robe tucked under the belt was to remind the Children of Israel of their Exodus from slavery in Egypt. They would have remembered all that transpired when Moses had tried to get Pharaoh to let them go. But that God had hardened his heart and had finally had the Angel of death kill all the firstborn except the Children of Israel who had put the blood on the door. Today we remember all of that plus the redeeming work of Jesus on the Cross. We know that this is a new covenant given by Jesus at the Last Supper and we can remember the first one when God had Abraham dig the trench and kill the animal and let its blood run into it and then walked in it and said when the Covenent is broken He would pay the price. Now, our mean is symbolic. The Pastor reads the appropriate phrases and we partake of a wafer (or pita bread) and juice or wine once we have put our hearts in the correct attitude. Once we have once again accepted Jesus atoning work on the Cross and accepted his offer and given our lives to Him again in return. But we know the whole story, it has been written for us to know, at least what God wants us to know at this time. It is there for us to study and learn if we will only search it out.

Jesus was the spotless unblemished lamb similar to the one that had to be used for the Passover Lamb at the time of the Exodus. At that time the children of Israel were allowed to leave slavery in Egypt after 400 years of bondage. Blood from the lamb was a sign to the Angel of Death at that time when it was put onto the lintels of the children of Ilrael's doors. Blood was used at the time of the first covenant with Abraham when God had Abraham part the body of the animal and he walked in the blood and said when the covenant was broken He would pay the price. As Newbie said wine was used as a covenant between a boy and girl in the time of Jesus to seal a marriage covenant. It was the custom of the day. Jesus used parables to teach. The disciples knew He was the Son of God. They also certainly would have known about the first covenant and the Passover Lamb. Jesus had told them he was going to be killed, although they probably did not really understand. They would certainly have known of the marriage custom of offering the cup of wine. So Jesus used all this background in his teaching in his message at the Last Supper. When he held up the cup and said this is my blood and the bread and said this is my body he was offering His sacrifice to them to accept or deny. They were certainly startled as this had never happened before. We have the same choice today, to accept the sacrifice of the Perfect Lamb or to reject it. If we are wise we will accept it and spend eternity with our precious Lord.

The Passover Lamb saved the children of Israel from death in Egypt when they put the blood on the doors. At the last supper Jesus initiated a new covenant with us that ties in with the marriage customs of his day. He offered the cup of wine as his blood and said to drink. In his day a prospective groom would offer a glass of wine to his proposed bride if she accepted it, she was accepting him. In the same way, if we accept the sacrificial work of Jesus on the cross and the blood and bread (his body and truth) we are accepting him. When we do this we are then His.

The class of people question is somewhat confusing. Jesus set all people free. It is true that in Jesus' time that slavery was prevalent. When he died on the cross he not only set the slaves free but all of us. Those who were slaves, remained slaves to their masters, but they were free in Christ. Today we still have the bondage of sin. But if we truly believe in Him we are free.