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Q3. (Exodus 14:11-14) Why do the people blame Moses for the advancing Egyptian army? What motivates their fear? Who are the people really blaming? How does Moses respond to their blame and fear? Why doesn

Q2. (Exodus 12:50) Why was obedience so important to the people

In what sense is Christ our Passover Lamb? In what sense are we marked with his blood? In what sense does God

We are afraid to obey God because we see it in human form and are afraid of failing and/or letting God down. We usually don't think we are the best choice, there are so many better, more faithful followers who could do this. The relationship of fear to courage is; fear is thinking about doing something before it happens. You look at the task, disect it, and consider all the "what if's". Courage is overcoming this fear, a leap of faith, to compete what we are asked. Courage is required because God needs doers and not thinkers.

From what I understand, the early Roman Christians were tormented, tortured and sometimes killed for what they believed. This is true devotion. Christians today are exposed to a various perils. In the US, we have a choice to follow Christ and are not persecuted for doing so. However, there is a fair amount of peer pressure for it is a choice we must work at for it is easy to slip out of being a Christian in the US. From what I've heard from other countries, they are/have been persecuted like the early Romans Christians. Christians overwhelmingly conquer through two ways. First, at Judgment Day, Jesus is our arbitrator for us, standing up for the sins we have committed. On a lesser note, one I've seen through my observations and discussions, many of those who have been against Christ all their lives turn to Christ on their death bed. The same ones who have persecuted Christians throughout their lives are afraid that there may be an afterlife and turn their life to Christ. I'm sure this is a blessing to those families who have tried converting this individual all their lives.

Who might our enemies be? First, ourselves, we are always our own worst enemies. Second would be those we hold closest to us, those whose influence us the most. Third would be the rest of the world, allowing the wants and desires of the world to come down upon us. Our evidence that God is for us is Jesus, he was given to us as a gift and a sacrifice. I like the saying, if God is for us, who can be against us. This gives me great security.

What does it mean to "be conformed to the likeness of his Son"? In practical terms, what does that involve in our lives? Why does Paul support this statement with ideas of our destiny? Why does he support this with ideas of brotherhood with Jesus? To be conformed to the likeness of his Son means to act like his son, to live and to love like his son. This supports Paul's statement with our destiny, this is the way we are to act, like Jesus. To be like Jesus we need to act like Jesus. This is how we are to be brothers of Jesu.

The promise, as I see it, is God has a plan for us, we need to receive his calling and be a willing vehicle for him. This means, for us to live our purpose, we need to receive his word and his calling, and act in his behalf. The two qualifications are to love God and to respond to His calling. It gives me hope knowing that, if I respond to His call, my life will be fulfilled and His glory will be revealed.

The characteristics of a person who has lost hope is someone who has no desire to live. Every little "speedbump" in life is a major problem and he sees no need to move on. On the other hand, one who has hope and holds an eager expectation of a better future always looks for the next day/week/year to be better. He doesn't look back at what went wrong but looks forward at what is in store for him in the future. My mother-in-law and I had totally different feelings about a new year; she always looked back at all the problems, the bad things, the deaths and illnesses that happened. I looked forward to the things that will come, ways to make my life better, new things to learn and do. I'm not saying I'm a "better Christian" than my mother-in-law, we just had different perspectives.

How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor? The Holy Spirit lives in us and with us, it is like an extension of God within us. It knows when we are happy and when we are not. It knows when we are so distraught we cannot even muster the words to express the pain we are in. The similarities between the Holy Spirit and Jesus started with when the Holy Spirit arrived to earth and to man. Jesus said he would send a messenger for us and he did. We tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted because it is always with us. Look how we took our parents for granted while were growing up, and when we moved out on our own, we realized we needed to provide for ourselves at this point. I know I take my wife for granted all too often, but I know she will always love me in spite of my self centeredness.

In what ways was suffering Jesus' lot in life? Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, the one who came to earth to pay for our sins. Why do we suffer? We suffer because we are human and bad things happen to us, sometimes by our own hand, sometimes not. If we are unkind to others, others will be unkind to us. We often don't remember being unkind to others, but sure remember when others are unkind to us. If a hurricane or earthquake destroys our possessions and injures ourselves and our families, this is not from our own hand. This is from being part of this world which is still changing and growing, we are experiencing its growing pains. Why does all creation seem to be suffering? All creation seems to be suffering from our own eyes, but it may not be as bad as we see. It often takes an alcoholic to lose everything before he'll start finding releif. We don't see his fall from a position of importance, his family, his wealth, we see how he is at this time. What will signal the end of that downward cycle of suffering, decay, and death? The return of Jesus Christ to this earth. When he returns, we will all become perfect, all our suffering will be gone.

Knowing what is right or wrong doesn't work; look at the pharasees and sagasees in Jesus' time. They studied the law, knew it inside and out, and put their own interptations on the law. Note the term in the gospels "a sabith's day journey". This is the amount of distance a person can walk before they are actually doing work on the sabith. And how about people who enbezle from their work. They don't go in one day thinking "I'm going to steal from the company". No, they think, "I'll borrow this money and put it back before anybody notices". They borrow the money and nobody notices, so they borrow a little more, and take a little longer before they pay it back. Then they take a little and don't pay it back. This goes on and on until they have stollen thousands of dollars. The same happens with other sins. We will justify in our own minds it is ok until we look back at the path we've taken and realize how far we're off. Then we figure there's no going back.

It seems, we as humans, want what we cannot have. Look at a child; tell them they can't have a cookie, and they'll want the cookie all the more. Therefore, if we're told not to desire something, we'll desire something all the more. We want what we can't have, which is the same as coveting. This does not refer to all sins, being told not to commit murder does not make me want to murder more or to respect my parents do I respect them less, but this is just like the apple in the Garden of Edon, Adam and Eve were told not to eat the apple. If the apple wasn't mentioned, then they wouldn't have wanted it.

The way I understand the comment of "flesh" is referring to what us as humans want. This goes back to something that took me a long time to understand; original sin. I didn't believe in original sin until I understood what Romans really said. What I have found is a conflict between what I know is right as a Christian and what I want as a human. What I want as a human is the "flesh". Paul describes this conflict quite well.

Just as it says; "We stand before God "in Christ" as part of his body, his bride, redeemed at great cost and made holy", we must accept a relationship with Jesus. In other words, just as a bride accepts a groom's hand in marrage, we must accept Jesus.

The author of the Vampire Cronicles and other type science fiction books, Ann Rice wrote something very profound, God did not understand what it was like to be human before Jesus. God created us, but he didn't understand temptation, hunger, and power among other emotions. I chose these three; temptation, hunger and power, because of Jesus' temptations by Satan. Once God became human, he then understood something about human emotions. That being said, Adam did represent humankind before Jesus. Christ has the right to become the ehad of all who become his disciples because he is God and currently sits at God's side.

When you think about what sin really is, that it is an act that separates us from God, yes there can be sin without law. The law was made for people who need checklists to keep themselves organized. I believe there are over 400 laws in Leviticus, it is almost impossible to not break one of these laws.

When I think of one person acting for a group I think of an arbitrator, much like union and management at a corporation before a strike.

When I was a child and my father punished me, it took me a while to be able to talk with him again because I was afraid when he saw me, he saw what I did wrong. Once this passed, I was able to resume a normal, loving relationship with my father. (This didn't happen often, I have a great dad!) I think this is what reconcilliation means, being able to resume a normal relationship again and knowing the one we are talking with do not see our falts. Jesus is showing us when we repent for our sins, we are no longer looked at as a failure, but as someone God wants to have a relationship with.

I participated in a prison ministry a few years ago and some of the inmates had this same feeling, they were too bad for God to forgive. By the end of the weekend, many realized Jesus gave his life for all, and that we were all sinners. The poem "Footprints" answers this question. It is when we go through our most difficult times in our life that there is only one set of footprints in the sand, Jesus', because he was carrying us through these tough times.

This is a problem nonChristians have trouble with. There was a line in "Evan Almighty" where God was talking with Evan's wife at the fish restaurant. "God" said; "if you pray for patience, I'll give you opportunities to learn patience. If you pray for love, I'll give you opportunities to show your love." This line needs to be written in some book somewhere, it explains so much. We, as humans, want our life to be perfect, which it never will be. And as a catastrophy happens, we question why us. But what happens afterward is the lesson. We need to remember it is in God's time, not ours.

Abraham had to work on his forgiveness. He had to show his faith. This is why God counted his a rightous man, because of his faith. It gives the impression he had to continue showing his faith to continue being forgiven. Jesus changed everything. Through Jesus and accepting Jesus Christ, we are vindicated, unable to be tried again for the same sin.