Candita

Q6: Matthew 5:10-12 10 Blessed are tehy that are persecuted for righteousness sake: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedign glad: for great is your reward in hearven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. a. Why should be rejoice when we are persecuted? We know our end reward will be the kingdom of heaven - so whatever our persecutors do to us - we know what is coming forus. b. What keeps this from being some sick king of mascochism, or finding pleasure in pain? How can we really suffer when this happens? Whether its emotional or physical, we know God is on our side. They are doing this to us because they love Satan and hate Christ - but ours is the greatest reward. c. Why is the blessing "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" appropriate for the persecuted? As Christ was persecuted and gained the kingdom, so do we gain it as His brothers and sisters.

Q5. Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. a: Why can people with a pure heart see, know and discern God? Simply because He said they would. b. Why can't "chronic" sinners see God? Because their eyes are clouded with worldly things, they can't "see" what is plainly right in front of them - the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. c. How do we obtain the pure or clean heart that Jesus describes? Turn our life and will over to Him. Only then can you begin to experience a pure heart and see God.

Q4. a. Several brands can be placed on one trying to be righteous in this world - bible thumper, Jesus freak - which would put someone off from their quest to be righteous. If one could get past that brand, one could conquer the world and win in their quest for righteousness. b. Righteousness is a relationship with the Father. The goodness that goes with that - mainly keeping the ten commandment to the letter they are written. c. The promise that God will feed our thirst and hunger by "filling" us with the Holy Spirit.

Q3. a. How does this sort of gentleness contrast with the world's ideal? Wars, political conflicts, murderers - society dictates and teaches violence constantly. We read the newspapr, watch the new on TV and listen to the new on the radio - nothing changes unless it's the region of the world where a new conflict as popped up. Hate and violence are taught by both parents and grandparents, sometimes telling the young it's the way of the curch and it's teachings, so even the young can get suckered into it. Who is going to be left to inherit the earth? b. How is humility important to Christlikeness? Christ is the epitomy of humbleness. He didn't consider Himself above or better than anybody else. Not so of so many today - Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Amin - who put themseles above on a pedestal believing all should subject themselves to them when there were not even the Messiah, the one who came to earth to die fo rour (for my) sins!! We should, maybe, humble ourselves to wash someone's feet and therefore, become more Christlike.

Q2: a. What is it necessary to be aware of our spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? so we realize ours is the kingdom of heaven - we have to know that we are beat down and that the only way to God is Christ. That all we have is Christ and that the way He works in our lives is spiritually. b. What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? to have the Lord exact vengence - to get a garland instead of ashes - so we can be called oaks of righteousness. To know that we do not have Christ in our lives and that we must "mourn" that and then come to Him to "revive" us. c. What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? groaning and sighing over abominations being committed - a mark on the forehead of those who do these things - crying over not having Christ or the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Q1. a. The 2 parts of the Beatitudes are: Blessed are they______For they shall. Or, Who will be blessed and how they will be blessed b. Jesus made the Beatitudes into a paradox to show us the contrast of meek-theirs is the kingdom of heaven; mourn-be comforted; gentle-inherit the earth, etc. Each one spiritually contrast the worldly realms. c. The relationship between the Beatitudes and the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is that we find many of the same attributes between the two, i.e.,: 1. poor in spirit, kingdom of heaven to Jesus' kindness in Galatians 2. mourn, comforted to Jesus' love in Galatians 3. gentle, inherit the earth to Jesus' gentleness in Galatians 4. hunger and thirst, be satisfied to Jesus' kindness in Galatians 5. merciful, obtain mercy to Jesus' faithfulness in Galatians 6. pure in heart, shall see God to Jesus' goodness in Galatians 7. peacemakers, called sons of God to Jesus' peace in Galatians 8. those persecuted in sake of righteousness, kingdom of heaven to Jesus' faithfulness in Galatians 9. insulted and persecute and say evil things to Jesus' self control in Galatians

Hi, my name is Louise (although I use my middle name online - Candita). I am from Tennessee, in the USA. I am a military brat, so I have lived many places, all on the east coast and just inward, but would have to include France for 2 years. I am 54 years old, with 2 children and 2 grandchildren. I currently have one child of the furry type - a 5 month old miniature daschund. This is my first online bible study. I do have a hard copy of one bible study by Pastor Ralph and am so taken with the format including the indepth type reasoning and thinking questions. I hope to take many more bible studies in his series. I am looking forward to meeting each of you and studying with you as we go indepth into the word of our Lord, Jesus Christ. God bless each of you and especially Pastor Ralph.

Hi. My name is Louise, but online I go by my middle name, Candita. Odd enough name so you don't find many people using it. I am a 54 year old mother of 2 and grandmother of 2. My oldest is a son who has been in the army since 1995. He is currently in Iraq (as of 3/8/08 it is the third deployment). My daughter is living with me and separated from her husband. They have two beautiful children who currently live with their father due to space in my small condo. We get them every other weekend and enjoy them thoroughly - they are a boy and a girl. I accidently ran upon this site and found Pastor Ralph had a study on Revelation. Without hesitation I ordered the hard copy and started the course today. I see where he offers several other bible studies and I plan to enroll in each of them over time once I have finished Revelation. I look forward to reading everyone's responses to questions and posting my own feelings on each one. I find the study extremely interesting so far and am so excited to be a part of it. I live in Tennessee and have lived here most of my life. My father was military and I was born in New Jersey. We traveled until his retirement when I was ten years old. I have one sister living in Alabama who is Director of Nursing in a community college. I have another sister who passed away on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. Our parents are both deceased, so it is just the one sister and I.