Patricia A. Conti

Live a life worthy of our calling. Imitate Christ. In this secular world, our lives must stand out with christian values. We cannot simply profess our belief, we must live it. "They'll know we are Christians by our love."

The leaders and parishioners of the church would spend considerable time and effort to see to it that all parishioners are taken care of, have what they need, and feel apart of the community of believers they congregate and share prayer with. Further we would all take a stand in our world for Christian values by living as Christians in every aspect of our lives - standing out in a way that would make thers sit up and take notice, to the extent that they would long for the love and faith that we have and share.

To be filled with the Spirit is an ongoing reality. To study and learn more about our God, to continue to increase our knowledge about God and change our lives accordingly is a continuus process to be lived out, day after day. Only in this continued growing in God's Word and adjusting the way we live accordingly can we be filled with the fullness of God.

God's love is unconditional for all people. Christ loved His enemies as well as His friends. Loving your enemy is a very hard thing to do. Judging, condemning, harboring hatred toward your enemy is much easier than loving them. We all suffer this at times. If we could truly attain or grasp this, we would see past the "faults" of another person and accept and treat them with loving kindness. If Christ could love all people, even those who were putting him to death, who am I to deny, judge, or condemn another person? If Christ loves, I need to love.

When the Holy Spirit strengthens our inner being, God receives us into His family. When Christ dwells in our hearts it means we believe and acknowledge Christ in all things and at all times, The first is God's initiated action in us. The second is our initiated action to God.

We should approach God with confidence, knowing that God has promised us all things for the good and we believe in his faithfulness. If we don't have confidence and don't know of God's love and His faithfulness, then praying does not fill us with the grace and mercy God promises to believers because we pray without expecting.

Paul had spent the beginning of his life perecuting Christians. God gifted him with the revelation of Jesus and God's plan for all. Paul was sent especially to the Gentiles, non-Jews - to bring them the good news of Jesus' promise and God's plan. Paul always presented himself as a servant. We are also to be God's servants, being given the grace of His revelation as a gift to be shared with all.

The mystery reveals that the Gentiles are co-heirs with the Jews. They have the same inheritance, are in the same family of Christ, and are members of the "Body of Christ" through the power of the Holy Spirit. That God's plan is to embrace together Jew and Gentile so all may be heirs of Christ's "promise". No longr should Gentiles be considered second class citizens but are now co-heirs of Christ's "promise".

Jesus gave us the apostles and prophets to teach us what has already been revealed to them; that is what is true and necessary for christian life. True Christianity does not stray from or conflict with Scripture. If any strsy, they must turn back and accept the scriptures or they are not living a true Christian life. God continues to reveal Himself today - revealing in more depth the true meaning of the Scriptures. God has not given us a stagnant Word but a living Word that moves and grows through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christians celebrating together create a dwelling place for God. "Where two or three come together in my name, There am I with them." Not all mebers of the congregation come to church. Spiritual teaching into why we come together to pray/praise is lacking for some to understand the grace and increased faith that happens when "two or three are gathered in my name." We also need to make a concerted effort to invite these parishioners to attend services and help build the "Dwelling Place" for God.

We are able to pray to the Father directly in faith knowing that he hears and will answer our prayers. If you don't have faith, prayer means nothing. The Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) enters into all who believe in Jesus Christ and have faith in him. Jew and Gentile become one through the one Spirit of God. Jesus' offering on the cross atoned for all our sins so we may be able to enter into God's presence through prayer in this life and face-to-face forever in the next.

We have God in our lives and never are utterly or completely alone. It would not speing to my mind how alone a non-believer could be in my day to day life. If you don't know Christ, you have no spiritual life and there is no one to help you rise up from the depths of despair.

Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about him that were in the Bible. He fulfilled all moral, ceremonial, and civil laws. Those familiar with the Bible (Old Testament Scriotures) could have recognized the fulfilling of these prophecies. But there was a barrier. The Jews were looking for a "Warrior King" who would come in glory to overthrow the Roman Government and set the Jews free. The Gentiles were not acquainted with the Scripture prophecies, so when the apostles went among them, they could listen openly without already formed opinions of what the Messiah would be ot look like.

Our world is very competitive. Your worth is measured by your achievements which result in rewards. If you want somethnig, you must earn it. Nothing is free! God's grace is free! He gives it because He wants to and not because we deserve it. God's grace is a gift he freely offers to all. It doesn't matter how good you are or what you have achieved or what you haven't achieved. God's grace is always there for you. It is up to you to accept it.

Do you believe that Jesus is God? Do you believe that He was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried? Do you believe He rose from the death and earned for us our salvation? Jesus died for OUR sins and, through that dath and ressurection, has redeemed us all. Without thisd belief you cannot accept your redemtion and receive the grace of God.

We were vreated to have faith in God and accept our salvation. Because we have faith, we try to live by Jesus' example. Thus we do good works because our faith is life-changing. Faith before works. Paul discredits the claim that doing good work's earns God's favor. God's favor is earned but given freely.

Faith is belief in God - belief in Jesus and the salvation he has won for us. God draws us into faith - He touches our hearts. We turn to Him in belief and trust. Faith is believing in something that you know in your heart to be true but cannot be proved.

To seat us with Christ is to be seated with him above demonic and human authority. We are given power - when we understand it - to have authority over satan and defeat him again and again. God's grace elevates us to sons and daughters, sharing in the inheritance Jesus won for us through the sacrifice he endured for us. We should pray expecting results. We should ask expecting to receive. We should pray for those who do not believe that they might believe and receive the same grace that is offered to us, so that they may defeat satan, too.

God has great love for us, he is rich in mercy, and gives us grace freely and undeservedly. We were made alive in Christ and were saved by grace.

We follow satan when we don't focus our desires on following the will of God, but instead look to filling the needs that er believe we have - sex, money, achievements, materials, etc. We are responsible because Jesus came and not only told us but showed us how to live. He pointed us to the Father. We have free will either to follow God's will or not.

They do not have Christ and without Christ, they have no spiritual life and have no way of relieving their guilt from sin. We know that we are forgiven through Christ, but if you don't accept Christ, who is there to forgive you? We need to tell them about Christ - who he is, the sacrifice he made for us and the redemption he won and offers to us. We have to accept the forgiveness and redemption offered to us through Christ, but hw can you accept if you don't know Jesus?

We are to be the fullness of Christ, His body as His church. Not being part of the local congregation weakens our feelings of oneness in the church. If we are all members of one body, when we are gone, the body is incomplete and weakend as we are weakend. To gather as one body is to strengthen God's presence, ministry and love as it resides in this world through our fullness.

Spiritual warfare is a scary proposition that we try to deny or, at least, not recognize in our lives. Belief that Jesus has overcome all things - even death and all denomic beings - and further, that He is with us and will overcome our demons, ie cause to call on and rely on Jesus to lead us in our daily battles of right and wrong, to slay our demons in the name of Jesus.

When we rely completely on ourselves - powerlessness overwhelms us. Our faith must grow. Some churches talk about christianity, some talk about Jesus. We need to know Jesus and understand what he did for us. We need to celebrate our redemption and the faithfulness of our God. We should overflow with such joy that Jesus can be seen in us in all aspects of our lives. We must rely on Jesus to be with us and guide us daily. He will always be there.

It would cause me to spend time deciding what best I can do with that money that would make my family's life better. I would also be filled with excitement and anticipation. Today's concerns are just that - today's. With Jesus, we can turn our concerns over to him for his help. In the long run, we should treat others as family in Jesus and give the respect and love that would be due to a family member. In eterenity, we will be one family - one family with Jesus at the head in the presence of the glory of God the father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Too awesome to be imagined - overwhelming our hearts with joy.