love.serve.know

A) When we are salt and light people will persecute us When we hide our light it is because we are ashamed and that does not honor GOd C) We sill suffer when we do good things which glorify God D) Jesus' suffering was necessary for our salvation E) our suffering is necessary to identify us with CHrist F) Romans 12:2 says not to be conformed to the world but to renew our minds. When we are not conformed the world does not like it and will persecute us

The danger of hiding the fact that we are Christians and trying to blend in or of denying Him

A symptom might be agreement with the world about sinful things not being "so bad". It's possible for a believer to detect such symptoms because the Holy Spirit ****** our consciences. Secular people don't see much difference between themselves and lukewarm Christians. I should notice that I have a desire to do GOd's will,. A life can be "resaltified" by confession and repentance.

As preservation, our presence here , with the Holy Spirit living within us prevents a lot of evil from taking place because we are somewhat able to influence the world. As seasoning, we live in such a way that people see our difference and are attracted to Christ because of it.

We should rejoice because we know what we are doing will be rewarded in the end. We don't enjoy the pain but look forward to God's kingdom.

Because there is no sin between you and God. Chronic sinners cannot see because their eyes are blinded by sin. The way to obtain a pure heart is confession and repentance.

The world doesn't understand because they have been blinded by sin. God's righteousness is being "right". God never does anything wrong. He never can sin. I want His will to by my will because when He directs me I will become spiritually mature.

The world considers gentleness and humility as weaknesses. Christ was humble (and He created the whole world and everything in it). He had every right to be proud. He chose humility. He is our example and He asked us to put others above ourselves.

If I think I'm "okay" or can get to heaven by "works" I don't have a need for Christ's free gift of salvation. When I understand how unrighteous I am I know I need His salvation. We mourn over our sins and our inability to do anything about them on our own. We don't do what we should do and do what we should not do.

The first part is the blessing itself and the second part is the result of that blessing. The attributes that we are blessed for are attributes that match up with the fruits of the spirit, so people must have the spirit residing in them (be born again) in order to be blessed for these attributes. We can't be blessed if we try to do things through the flesh. Only God can give blessings.

Each of these passages is referring to His kingdom. The wise men were not Jews and yet God chose to reveal to them the fact that a King was born and they believed and worshipped Him. First, we should be thankful that God has included us in His plan. Second, we should tell others the good news.

It was appropriate for the Magi to bring gifts because Christ is the King - the creator of the universe. He is Lord. We can see that their hearts were tender toward Christ because they gave the very best gifts which were reserved for royalty. I love the Lord with all my heart and my gift that reflects that love should by myself - to do whatever He asks me to do - what He desires. His will for my life should be my will for my life.

They understood that He is a King and because of this, they MUST worship Him. Everything fell into place. We can have respect and know that this is a very important celebration. Christ had to come to earth to die for our sins and be raised from the dead (because He is God). Hallelulah! I see how God orchestrated the whole thing because now the gifts were greatly needed in order for this family to flee. Just a thought - I wonder if Joseph ever questioned what he had gotten himself into by marrying Mary. Do you think God gave them a special courage to protect Him son?

Wow. I have tears in my eyes doing this Bible study. The star led the way to the Christ-child. It was foretold (a star will come out of Jacob). I think the magi had never seen anything like this before and they knew it was an important event and they had heard that the Jews were waiting for Messiah, so they wanted to see for themselves. God planned for salvation of sinners: long before the Christ-child was born it was pre-arranged. Awesome!

Thoughtful meditation is something I do often, and it is sometimes caused by curiosity. The result of this meditation is joy and praise and amazement and peace. I tell others, but usually only after being asked because I try to avoid being aggressive and obnoxious. I think recovering the response comes through prayer.

The angel brought good news. The angel proclaimed the message of salvation. When Christ was on the earth He also proclaimed the message of salvation and was the means of salvation. Christ is the savior - the person who rescues someone - in this case all of fallen humanity that accept His free gift. Christ is the Lord - the owner, lord, master,. He was the savior and He came to die for mankind and also to tell people the good news that His death would save us from our sins. He rose - our redeemer lives!

One thing that comes to mind is John 10: 1-18 where Jesus identifies Himself as the "good shepherd". His life showed how this menial job could be done with honor. Humility is one attribute that Christ had and the He values in His disciples. He set the example by starting out in humble circumstances and throughout His life on earth He was always humble in spite of the fact that He created the whole earth and everyone and everything in it and He is King of kings. I think that if Christ had been born in a palace, poor people would not have been able to identify with Him or to think that He cared about them. He showed His great love by experiencing life as everyone else experienced it.

I think the journey to Bethlehem was difficult for Mary because she didn't have female relatives to comfort her in a really scary time. Usually, older relatives help out when a baby is being born. She knew she would face it alone. Also, physically she would have been miserable even if she were on a feather bed! Pleasure is not an indicator that we are in God's will. II Corinthians 12:10 says (Paul talking), "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardship, persecutions, and calamities" - no picnic! Christ didn't promise a bed of roses for those who follow Him. However, there is much joy (Paul says contentment), and peace in spite of the hardships. Our rewards are not in this life, but in the life to come where we will live forever in heaven with Christ.

Because people can go back and check out what happened when those rulers were in charge to find out that it actually did happen. He recorded historical facts. It is authentic.

I think Joseph accepted Mary as his wife because the angel told him to do so and he was obedient to God. It had been fortold that Jesus would be from David's bloodline. Joseph named the child what the angel told him to name the child. God wanted Jesus to have that name because it fit Him. He does save mankind from their sins.

Mary was a virgin - the only virgin in the history of the world to ever give birth - and the whole event was fortold years before it ever happened! Not only that, but the name Immanuel that was fortold, is telling everyone "Here is God with us in the form of a man". This stuff is so awesome. God is so amazing.

The name means "Yahweh saves". Jesus had the perfect name for what His mission on earth entailed. The angel gave the parents the name seperately so that there would be no question about what God wanted the child to be called.

One option would be to trust fully in God - which is what she did do. It's easy for us to look back in time and know that that is the right thing to do, but I'm sure it wasn't so easy then. Any other options (working for rich people, being shunned) would have been grim for a single, young woman. Joseph was obviously hand picked by God because God knew he would take Mary as his wife, wait until she had the baby to know her in the Biblical sense, and respect her. Again, it's easy for us to look back in time and know that he did the right thing, but I wonder how he was guided in making his decision and how long he struggled for the right answer. I think for both Mary and Joseph, being visited by an angel was the thing that caused them to make the right decision. I think if I were visited by an angel I would be very careful to obey everything God wanted me to do.

Humility. Not only was it a humble trade, but the child of this tradesman would have been the one to clean up the sawdust and carry the boards and do menial tasks to help out. Today, every carpenter has laborers that carry the wood and sweep the floors and clean up. That's how a person gets started. the experience would have shown him the heart of man - as customers tried to get something for nothing or were impatient for their product to be completed.

The titles are appropriate because the angel spoke them and God did choose her. However, God doesn't intend for us to worship other people (thou shall have no other gods before me). There is a fine line between respecting a person for what he/she did and idolizing that person. Every gift we have is from God (Of Him and to Him and through Him are all things) so how can we take credit for what He accomplishes in us. I think that's why God used/uses humble people to do great works. We are hesitant to exalt Mary because of this fine line - not wanting to create an idol in our heart.