Greta

Romans 6:12 'Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.' This means that if we allow sin to reign in us, we are being obedient to Satan.

"Either we believe Satan's lie that we are compelled to a life of slavery to sins, that we are weak and we can't escape. Or we believe the truth that Christ has broken the power of sin and the flesh and that we can step out of slavery into FREEDOM." It is a two way choise and I choose to believe the truth that Christ has set me free. Hallelujah! Praise God that He has also given us the 'mind of Christ' to help us to think the same way He does, and to remember what He says. Love from Greta

Christ died for my sin and I gladly gave it to Him in baptism. He gave me His life in place of my sin so that I would no longer be drawn to a sinful life, but would be drawn to goodness. I could not do this alone, the struggle would be too great, but by faith in Jesus, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. Just think! I no longer have to be obedient to sin. I can rejoice and obey my Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Love Greta

I think that Paul is referring to a figurative 'death' to sin. During baptism we are joined with Christ, in His death. Not our death, but His. Somehow, we become fused together with Christ and His predominant goodness and purity kind of leads us into the same goodness and purity. I think it is the beginning or our sin life being put to death. It is done - but we have to live it out. All our past sin is forgiven and forgotten, but there is still sin in our lives, which we have also to die to. I don't think I have expressed it very well, I hope you know what I mean. Love Greta

In baptism, our being lowered into the water symbolises us being buried with Christ. Being raised back up from the water symbolises the reserection of Christ, and new life for us.

Baptism is an act of obedience, for Christ tells us to "Believe and be baptized). I was baptized as a baby, but it didn't really mean anything to me until much later in life when I began to know Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and to have a relationship with Him. I became a born-again-Christian when I gave my heart to Jesus and about 4 months later I was baptized by full immersion. I believe that baptism by full immersion symbolises that I am baptized into His death, washed clean of all my past sins and as I come up out of the water, I join the Lord in resurection life. Bless you all - love Greta

We move from being under the headship of Adam to being under the headship of Jesus when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Yes, we must make a conscious decision and speak it out loud, confess that we are sinners who repent and ask forgiveness for all our sins. Having died with Jesus means that we are now new creations, for we have also risen with Him. We now can live (with God's help) a righteous life, becoming more like Jesus every day.

Yes, there was sin before the law was given to Moses. The Old Testement shows people sinning all the time. People were stealing, murdering, acusing falsly and so much more. There was an awful lot of sin going on in Sodam and Gamorrah and this was at the time of Abraham. Most sin we can recognise, our conscience tells us that it is wrong, but there are other laws that we may not know about unless they are written down. We can drive down a road at 60 miles per hour, but once there is a restriction on that road that says we are not alowed to drive more than 30 m.p.h., we will receive a speeding ticket and have to pay a fine if we continue to drive fast. Once we know for a fact that something is forbidden, stealing for example, and we continue stealing, then we not only open ourselves up to punishment, but we also start to feel guilty. The guilt increases every time we steal again. I think that the guilt will often eventually become worse than the punishment.

a) In each household, the fathers decision determines the the outcome of family life. He is the leader of the household and his wife and children will follow his direction. a) In Government, laws are passed and decisions made by the Members of Parliament. Each constituancy voted for their own member of Parliament and chose him/her to represent them in the House of Parliament. a) In church life, our Pastor makes decisions on our behalf (after much prayer), and leads us forward in worship, evangalism, giving help to the community and how we can best help other people. He is our Pastor, chosen by God for our church, and we follow him.

Reconcilliation means that all differences are resolved, all sins are forgiven and there is now no hostility between us, only peace and harmony. Reconcilliation with God is neccessary because we cannot be saved and enter the Kingdom of Heaven without it. Also, the empty space in our hearts would remain empty if we do not gladly receive Jesus into our lives. We are constantly 'being saved' because once Jesus has entered into our hearts, He is actually inside of us, changing our thinking, our being, our doing, and taking us from glory to glory - a bit at a time. He leads us, teaches us guards and guides us. He shows us how to pray, and how to pray the things that are on His heart. As we open up each part of our lives to Him, He transforms that area. When we open up every part of our lives to Him, holding nothing back, He will change us to be the person that He intended us to be when He first formed us in our mother's womb. Sometimes these processes will be painfull for us, but what joy when the transformation is complete. God wants His people to be a Holy Nation - 'Be ye Holy, for I am Holy' He keeps on with us and never gives up.

Jesus Christ died for us when we were at our very worst. Sinners through and through! It was by Grace that He saved us, not by works, so that nobody could boast. We are unworthy - BUT - He saved us anyway! The devil tries to tell us that we are beneath contempt - not worthy of being saved - we have done it now! and no way can we expect help, - BUT - Christ has done it for us, and even as we commit further sins and come to Him repentant, Jesus is graceous to forgive us once again, and wipe the slate clean again.

It is not easy to rejoice during suffering, but when we do it, we are lifted above the suffering. We still have to go through whatever it is that troubles us, but the Lord gives us a special 'peace' about it. If we can think, "God will use this to teach me something and to make me a better person for His Glory", then we can think of the trauma as a 'lesson to be learned' rather than 'a deep pit to try and get out of'. Perseverance will enable us to become patient - and also to learn to lean upon God more. Tried Character - At first I thought that this meant our own characters being cleaned up with new learnings, but I have just realised that it could well be 'the character of Jesus' being formed in us as we give ourselves more to Him. Hope - One of the three treasures we are to take with us into eternity, Faith, Love and Hope. Hope, I think, is what keeps us going. What we aim towards and is always in front of us. 'Without vision, the people perish' the bible tells us, and I think that without hope, the people also perish.

Q1. FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION. Abraham was justified by faith because he believed God. He believed everything that God said to him and he never doubted for one moment that God could, and would do everything that He said He would do. For a while it seemed that God WOULD change His mind (at Abraham's request) and spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if He found 5 righteous people there, but there was so much wickedness in those cities that God demolished them completely. Abraham's justification enabled him to be God's friend and they could converse together like two human friends. It is similar with us, for we must have faith to become justified. But first we must come to the cross, repentant, and confessing our sins to God. We must confess that we need a Saviour and recognise that Jesus Christ died for us so that we could be reconciled with God. We must accept Jesus' forgiveness and when we are washed clean with the Blood of the Lamb, we are then Justified by Faith. Hallelujah! Greta