Patricia A

Q5. (Luke 1:42-43) In what sense are the titles "Blessed Virgin Mary" and "Mother of God" appropriate for Mary?"Blessed Virgin Mary" comes directly from Elizabeth's exclamation: "Blessed art thou among women...." (1:42) Mother of God" derives from Elizabeth's description: "the mother of my Lord" (1:43). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Why are we sometimes hesitant to exalt her as "blessed among women"? Sometimes there is a misunderstanding of what this really means. This is intended to express in clear terms that Mary in her womb was bearing the divine Son of God who is God himself, a union of both human and divine natures.

Q4. (Luke 1:38) What is the essence of Mary's positive response to the angel? 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said.' Then the angel left her." (1:38) Mary was ready and willing What can we learn from her response for our own lives? In our own lives, we need to respond in a positive way to wherever God leads us. In what sense was Mary's response an "informed consent"? "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'" (1:35) The angel told her that that the one born to her would be called the Son of God. When we respond to God, what do we consent to? We consent to do whatever God's will is for us in grateful response to His love for us.

Q3. (Luke 1:35) What does the virgin conception teach us about Jesus' nature?Mary is human, but her child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, is "holy" in the same sense that God himself is holy. What's more, this human-divine child will be called the Son of God. It is quite clear that Luke intended for us to see this pregnancy and birth as a divine miracle, and the child as the biological offspring of God and Mary. How central is the doctrine of the virgin conception to the Christian message? This doctrine is most central to the Christian message. God came in the form of a human to save us from our sins.

Q2. (Luke 1:34) In what way does Mary's "How?" question (1:34) to the angel's declaration differ from Zechariah's "How?" question (1:18)? My first thought is that God's is fair and loving and his way of responding to Zechariah's and Mary's questions is the "right" response. Perhaps, Zechariah's question was in response to lack of faith and Mary's question was in faith but also awe. I wonder how this could happen?

Q1. (Luke 1:31-34) What did the angel's announcement say about who Mary's Child was and who he was to become? Q1. (Luke 1:31-34) What did the angel's announcement say about who Mary's Child was and who he was to become? The angel

Psalm 34 Read and meditate David's prayers helped to silence his fears; many besides him have looked unto the Lord by faith and prayer, and it has wonderfully revived and comforted them. When we look to the world, we are perplexed, and at a loss. But looking to Christ, we have everything we need because He is our salvation.

Q3. (Psalm 34:1-3) Why should we praise God continually? "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) "... Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:20) ----------------------------------------------------------------- What are barriers to continual praise? It is so easy to get so busy with the activities of the day that we forget to praise the One who made it possible for us to be involved in these activities. We need to strive to renew our minds so that we will be constantly praising God. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What does continual praise do to our spirit? How are you training yourself to praise continually? We need to praise God continually to give God constant glory and to be constantly aware of how to serve Him in gratitude for His blessings. I am striving in my life to set aside times throughout the day to commune with our Heavenly Father.

Q2. (Psalm 118) What does "the stone the builders rejected" (verses 22-23) have to do with the Messiah? Jesus is the cornerstone (the most important stone). The leaders rejected Him as the Messiah even though the Father had sent Him as the most important stone

Q1. (Psalm 100) What is the predominant emotion in Psalm 100? Giving thanksgiving and praise with joy How does this psalm make you feel emotionally about God? Thankful to all his goodness, blessings, gifts <H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Full of joy that can we give thanks to such a loving God</H1> What are the reasons for praise given in verses 3 and 5? Because Yahweh is God who created us. We belong to him, like a king with his people, like a shepherd and his flock. We are not alone! We belong to the family of God and are tenderly cared for as sheep. God takes responsibility for us! And so we praise him. The psalmist calls us into the temple to present a joyful thanksgiving offering, to praise him in the courts of the temple. God is good and righteousness, shows us steadfast love and faithfulness. What are the commands in this psalm?Worship the Lord with joy and gladness; serve Him with joy and make a joy noise as we praise Him for his steadfast love and faithfulness.

Q4. (Psalm 51:17)

Q3. (Psalm 51:10-12) How is it possible to have a "pure heart" after great sin? "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:14) We can have a

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? Does this mean that David's sins against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah were meaningless, inconsequential? No, not at all. But David recognizes that the greatest sin of all is against the Lord that he purports to love. When he sins, he is flaunting his rebellion in God's face. Though David killed Uriah, it was God

Q1. (Psalm 32:2-5) How does self-deceit operate with sin to enslave us? Happy the people whose God is the Lord. They have work to do, temptations to grapple with, and afflictions to bear, and are weak in themselves; but his grace is their strength. We become slaves to sin when we believe we can defeat sin in our own strength. We deceive ourselves when we believe this. How does confession enable us to get free from sin? When we confess our sins and ask God to give us His strength to overcome sin, we become free. We can know this freedom from the bondage of sin by asking forgiveness and asking the Lord to with us as we strive to live holy lives. Why do we sometimes resist the truth about ourselves? We sometimes resist the truth about ourselves because we are slaves to sin and try to lives in our own strength. We must ask God for His strength to overcome sin and live righteous lives. We often have to deny ourselves temporary pleasure to overcome sin and until we realize temporary pleasures are nothing compared to eternal life with the Lord, we may resist the truth about ourselves. What does it take to get us to see truth sometimes? In order to see the truth at certain times, it may be necessary to deal with trials and struggles. In dealing with struggles and temptations, if we turn to God, we may be made aware of our sinful nature and the need to have God in our lives at all times. It is important to pray to the Lord to help us to learn from our trials and to grow stronger in wanting to glorify and serve Him. We need to study the Word and perhaps get advice from strong Christians to help us see the truth about ourselves and our actions.

Q4. (Psalm 22) What similarities do you see between the words of Psalm 22 and the events of Jesus' crucifixion? Jesus was despised and rejected by men Men mocked Him and said for Him to save Himself if he was God Those in authority conspired against Him Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow Jesus was thirsty Jesus was crucified Lots were cast for His clothing Do you think Jesus understood Psalm 22 as referring to himself? Yes, I think Jesus always understood God's plan as Jesus is God and knows all. Why do you think the Spirit inspired David to pen these words? Perhaps this was a way of leading people to recognize the Messiah when He came. This was all part of God's plan for redemption.

Q3. (Psalm 22:1) "1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Why do you think Jesus spoke the words of Psalm 22:1? Though we are probing here beyond the explicit teaching of scripture, when Jesus was on the cross bearing our sins, he may have felt spiritual separation from the holy God because of our sin he was bearing. He felt alone because he took our sin and guilt upon himself. I believe this is the reason Jesus spoke the words of Psalm 22. What was he seeking to express? What was he feeling? Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed. How did God answer his plea? Doubled up with pain, I call to God all the day long. No answer. Nothing. I keep at it all night, tossing and turning. (Message 22:1-2)

Q2. (Psalm 110) Why do you think that Jesus asked the Pharisees about verse 1, "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" <H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in">The Messiah Is Greater than David (110:1)</H3>It is Jesus himself who pointed to this psalm as one that refers to the Messiah: How does Jesus combine the roles of Warrior-King and Priest in his ministry to us and to this world? He says the Father will put His enemies under His feet meaning that He will become King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He must conquer His enemies because God can't live in relation to sinfulness and must therefore destroy it so that He can bring true peace in the world and then His people will be able to worship Him in spirit and truth. How do you reconcile the violence suggested in verses 5-6 with Jesus as "Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He loves us and wants peace for us. However, there is not peace for those who will not accept Jesus as Savior.

Q2. (Psalm 110) Why do you think that Jesus asked the Pharisees about verse 1, "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" <H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in">The Messiah Is Greater than David (110:1)</H3>It is Jesus himself who pointed to this psalm as one that refers to the Messiah: How does Jesus combine the roles of Warrior-King and Priest in his ministry to us and to this world? He says the Father will put His enemies under His feet meaning that He will become King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He must conquer His enemies because God can't live in relation to sinfulness and must therefore destroy it so that He can bring true peace in the world and then His people will be able to worship Him in spirit and truth. How do you reconcile the violence suggested in verses 5-6 with Jesus as "Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He loves us and wants peace for us. However, there is not peace for those who will not accept Jesus as Savior.

Q1. (Psalm 2) What does Psalm 2 teach us about Yahweh's "anointed" king? Though all the good kings of Israel were messiahs (God's kings) it is really about Jesus the Messiah. God put David in Zion as king. When David died his son Solomon became king and so on. Jesus was the last man that God put as king in Jerusalem. Herod, Pilate and the Jews killed Jesus. Where Jesus died Pilate wrote, "The King of the Jews." Really, Jesus offered himself and God said that he was king. Why do you think the apostles saw this passage as referring to Jesus the Messiah? Psalm 2 is not only about David and other kings of Israel. It is also about Jesus. The prophets said that Jesus would be king of all the nations. David never ruled the whole world. Jesus will rule the whole world. He will do this when he returns to the earth. Now he is ruling in heaven with God. What does the passage teach about the importance of submission to Jesus the Christ before it is too late? Verses 10 - 12: This part is important today. We must all become servants of the LORD. If we do not we will die. We will not live with Jesus always in heaven. When we come to Jesus, he becomes our friend. But we must remember who he is. Jesus is God! Though we are friends, we are also servants. But this is the only way to become happy and safe.

Psalm 103 EXERCISE Read verses 1-5 with

Q3. (Psalm 117 and Lamentations 3:22-23). Why are love and trustworthiness so important as the bedrock of the Old Testament faith? God showed his merciful love and trustworthiness and these were the basis of God's character. What kinds of terms does the New Testament use to talk about these characteristics? love, faithful, merciful, kind, steadfast Can you think of any New Testament verses that speak of these themes? Jn. 13:34

Q2. (Psalm 145) Which aspects of God's character mentioned in Psalm 145 stand out to you in particular? The Lord

Q1. (Psalm 103) Which one or two aspects of God's character mentioned in this Psalm stand out to you?

Q4. (Psalm 24) How do verses 1-2 establish the Lord's right as King? He is King and Owner of all because he is Creator of all! What do verses 3-6 tell us about the requirements of the King? God requires ethical and moral purity, that is, loyalty to the King and his commands, both outwardly and inwardly. What do verses 7-10 tell us about the glory of the King? He is "The LORD Almighty-- he is the King of glory; He is King of Glory and Yahweh himself, the victorious Warrior: How does this psalm speak to you in your situation? God is my Lord and Savior and I need to give Him all glory and praise.