sunilbernard

Q3. (16:13-14) What is the significance of Hagar's name for God -- El Roi, the God Who Sees? What does it mean to a person who is discouraged and losing hope? What does it mean to you personally? It's a great confirmation for Hagar and also for each of us that our God never sleeps nor slumbers. His eyes are always open. Because He cares for His children. To a discouraged and hopeless person, it means that there is a God who is concerned about everyone's problems. Nothing is too insignificant or unimportant in God's eyes. He continues to look after His children, no matter what the circumstances. To me it means the same. That I need not lose my sleep worrying about so many things. God is there to look after my affairs, then why bother about them? Why get BP and tension by worrying about unnecessary things? God is my refuge and strength a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Q2. (16:7-9) Why does the angel ask Hagar something that the angel already knows? ("Where have you come from, and where are you going?") Why does she send her back to Sarah? Have you ever reacted and got yourself out of the place God wanted you? The Lord knows our whereabouts and wanderings. He asks Hagar to show that he cares for her personally and she should not be in a place where she is not supposed to be. He asks the question to emphasize Hagar's responsibility. The angel sends Hagar back to Sarah to enable her to finish her responsiblities towards here mistress. Her duty is at her mistress's side. She should not neglect her job, however hard and difficult it is. Makes us wonder how we sometimes run away from our problems instead of facing them with the help of our Lord. Yes, quite a few times. But the Lord is gracious and kind in rebuking me kindly and making me come back to His paths.

Q1. (16:1-6) Why does Sarah take her anger out on Abraham? Why does she take her anger out on Hagar? Is she trying to get rid of Hagar or the baby? In what sense is Hagar's pride Abraham's fault? In what sense is Hagar's affliction Abraham's fault? What situation in your family does this reminds you of? On Abraham due to misconception that he is the cause of her unhappiness and frustration. On Hagar out of frustration due to Hagar's proud strutting around displaying her growing belly. She doesn't want anyone reminding of her barrenness and infertility. Abraham probably was too happy with Hagar's conception and might have given too much importance to her and ignored Sarah completely. Abraham did not support Hagar when Sarah started mistreating her and left the choice with Sarah to deal with her as she pleases. Situations like this are not common in our homes as we do not have two wives or concubines now. But comparatively our priorities change sometimes towards sports, TV, or even ministry of God. In the process we neglect our spouses creating a rift in the family atmosphere. We should take care to do the will of God together with the family. Then there will not be any friction in the family atmosphere.

Q4 (15:17-18a) Why did God go through the covenant ritual with Abraham, with the divided carcasses? Why does God bind himself to a solemn promise? How does Abraham respond to God's promises (15:6)? What promises has God made to us that affect our futures? What significance does blood sacrifice have in those promises? According to the ritual of the covenant, God Himself went through the rituals so that Abraham would be convinced and trust God that He would fulfil His covenant with Abraham. God binds Himself to Abraham with the covenant because of His love for Abraham. God wants to prove to Abraham that He is a God of promises and that He will not fail him. Abraham does everything that the Lord commands him to do. He obeys God implicitly. Above all Abraham believed what the Lord said He would do. And this belief was credited to him for righteousness. God promised to Abraham that He would bless him and make him prosperous and his generation countless as the stars of the sky and the sand on the sea shore. Comparing those promises to us, we are also blessed by the Lord saying He will take care of us at all times and never leave us. The blood sacrifices denote that we are cleansed by the blood shed on the cross by Jesus as a one time sacrifice. We are children of the Lord purchased by the supreme sacrifice of Jesus and redeemed from guilt of sin. What more can we ask for!!!

Q3. (15:16) Have you ever been frustrated with God for not fulfilling his promise to you immediately? Why does God sometimes delay the fulfillment of his promises to a future time? Ever since I became His child and started to grow in Him, I have acknowledged the fact that His time and ours are different. I am a cool person by nature and that helped me to give everything to God and let Him do it according to His schedules. So I am not frustrated or impatient with God. He has given me that characteristic in His abounding grace. As said above, His times and our times are not related equally. The Psalmist said that a thousand years in His sight are like an evening gone...We cannot measure God's promises on our time-scale. God has a purpose and time for everything according to the wise king Solomon who said it in Ecclesiastes. We should not hurry God or force Him to act according to our schedules. That means we are not trusting Him fully. When He thinks that the time is ripe, then He will fulfill the promises, according to His schedule. Our part is to wait on Him and be obedient unto Him.

Q2. (15:6) What is so amazing about this verse? On what basis does God declare Abraham a righteous person? What significance does this have to our New Testament understanding of justification by faith? The amazing part of this verse is that it became the foundation stone for many of Paul's epistles and his teaching on faith and righteousness. Its a superb statement of God's amazing, unbounded love and faithfulness toward mankind. On just one point. Faith. In the days of uncertainity, lack of knowledge, Abraham just had faith in the Sovereign God to trust Him at His face value. God was new to Abraham and He had not yet been tested and tried. But Abraham laid all that aside and just put his faith on the God Almighty. This action of Abraham made God to justify him and make him a righteous person. This idea forms the basic foundation for our New Testament belief and understanding of justification by faith. It means that man need not do anything for getting salvation, except to trust in Jesus. The Salvation work is done by Jesus and is given free to us, mankind in general. We cannnot achieve it with our personal efforts nor can we gain it by any other means. Jusitification is done purely by the action of our faith. God justifies us and makes us righteous in His sight if we accept Jesus and his work of salvation accomplished on the cross. That is the gospel which we have to proclaim that the ends of the earth may reverberate with the message of salvation.

Q1. (15:1) What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"? What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"? What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign? Calling God my personal shield means that He is my protector against all the attacks of the enemy. I need not fear anyone because my God Himself will fight the battles for me. I need not lift a finger. Just trust Him to fight my battles for me and protect me. When God promises something, He never goes back on His word. It means that I have been privileged to be chosen by Him for the rewards. I am a very special person in the eyes of my Lord. This encourages me to work for Him in all sincerity and honesty and become worthy of the honor bestowed on me. Calling God my Soveriegn makes me humble in His presence. I am filled with a sense of awe as I humbly bow in front of Him. It gives me a feeling of security as I place myself at His disposal. I surrender to Him to be used by Him as He wills because He is my Lord and King.

Q4. (14:21-24) Why does Abraham refuse to take the spoils of war that the King of Sodom offers him? What does this tell us about Abraham's character? What is the lesson here for us to learn? Abraham knew about the wickedness of Sodom and its dwellers. The King himself was wicked. As such Abraham didn't want to be a part of Sodom. Just because he had to rescue Lot, he didn't want the sodomites to feel that Abraham was a part of them. He wanted to distance himself from the king of Sodom and all he had to offer. By this example we come to conclusion that Abraham was a man of integrity. He wants himself projected as Mr. Clean. Transparency was his watchword. How I wish that we christians emulate Abraham and desist from the spoils of this world. So many are the temptations that this world offers and lures us into them. We have to learn to live a life of integrity so that none can point a finger at us. Pointed fingers can cause a lot of harm to the Christian community in general. We have to learn from Abraham to say no to items of bad repute through which our character is blackened.

Q3. (14:20) What is the significance of Abraham giving one tenth of the spoils of war to Melchizedek? Does tithing today represent the same kind of worship? Why should we tithe to God first (like Abraham did) before dividing up our paychecks to pay our bills? Giving a tenth of the war spoils to Melchizedek indicated that Abraham recognised Melchizedek as a servant of God. We tithe in our churches etc. But in Abraham's days, there were no churches and no prophets or Priests. Only Melchizedek was there serving the Most High God. So naturally, Abraham gave him his tenth of the spoils of war. It was done as an act of thanksgiving and worship. Tithing, whether in Abrahams days or in our days, reperesents the same values. Tithing should be done compulsorily. Its not an option for Christians. We have to learn to give cheerfully. Otherwise, if we prefer to give out of what remains at the end, we will end up in backlog as there won't be anything left after catering to our various needs. Once the accounts of God are settled, then our accounts will automatically tally. There won't be any deficit budget for us. Because our God is a faithful God and He gives back tenfold to His children.

Q2. (14:13-16) What does Abraham's military expedition to rescue Lot from the Mesopotamian kings tell us about his character? About his abilities? About the way he deals with neighbors? What is here for us to emulate? His military expedition tells us that Abraham cared for his family. Even though Lot was living separately, Abraham wasted no time in going to war against the Mesapotamian armies and rescuing Lot and his family from them. This shows that Abraham was confident of himself and his strength unlike the previous episode where he hid behind the skirt of his wife. He knew exactly where he stood regarding his people and his own army. He knew within himself that the Lord would certainly help him defeat his enemies. He was well respected among his neighbors. That's why the neighbors readily agreed to go along with him to fight for him. Well, the lessons in this portion is that we should take care of our families, come what may. Use the talents God gave us and put them to good use. If we do not use them, the talents will die a slow death and then they won't be useful for anyone. We should be on good terms with the neighborhood. Who knows at what time they might come in handy! God loved all of us. We in turn should exhibit that same characteristic towards our neighbors, well wishers and the community in general. We are to be ready always for service, putting aside our own welfare on the back burner.

Q1. (13:2) Does Abraham's material wealth reflect God's blessing on him? Does material wealth always reflect God's blessing? Does physical poverty always reflect God's curse? Yes it does. God Himself said that I will bless you and make you a great nation. a poor man cannot become a great nation. Obviously the wealth is because of God's blessings on Abraham. Material wealth does NOT always reflect God's blessings. Material wealth can be gained by illegal means which is against the principles of God. So its not God's work. Its satan's work which won't last long. Physical proverty does NOT always reflect God's curse. God gives or does not give wealth to people according to His preferences. If a poor pastor lives in pitiable conditions, it doesn't mean that he is under a curse from God. That poor pastor may be rich spiritually but poor physically. God gives to people according to their stewardship abilities.

Q5. (12:2-3) What relationship does God's promise to Abraham in 12:2-3 have to do with the incident of Sarah's abduction in 20:10-20? The relationship of love. God loved Abraham and so promised him that He would make him the father of a great generation. God kept His promises even in spite of Abraham not being faithful and true. That sequence has been following ever since towards mankind. We always go off tangent to God's will and purposes. But the ever faithful and promise keeping God doesn't budge from His route. He does what He promises. What a steady rock we have. A rock of comfort and safety, that we can always run to. Praise God!!!

Q4. What do you think about Abraham's and Sarah's ethics and faith? Are they ethically and morally wrong? Does the Scripture intend to show that their actions as a lack of faith? What lessons should we disciples learn from these stories? Thier ethics are far from desireable and thier faith, weak. Because they are newbies. They just started off on a journey, not knowing where they are heading and suddenly this danger looms in front of them. Under those circumstances, its understandable that they have to take care of themselves by whatever means possible. We might scrutinise their ways and pass comments but its not for us to judge them. We are not under those circumstances. They were just beginners in the walk of faith and had not yet experienced God's protecting ways. We cannot say they are right or wrong because of the above said reasons. The Scriptures do show that they had lack of faith in the ways of God. But that was because they were yet to experience God's promises fulfilled. They were just obeying God and they just began their journey of faith. They had a lot more to learn in different stages. We disciples should learn to trust our Lord implicitly and not lean on to our own understanding. God wants our obedience and trust. Not our riches and intelligence. If we recognise this fact, then we'd make better disciples.

Q3. (20:3-6) What does this story teach us about God's view of adultery? Can God forgive a person who has committed adultery? One of the ten commandments is against adultery. God's view was very serious against adultery, that's why he specified it as one of the ten commandments. It was punishable by death. Man (and woman) were made in the image of God. Adultery is sin against the body (image of God) and therefore a terrible abomination in the sight of the Lord. Sex is meant only for wedded partners and no one else. Sex is holy in God's sight but we have made it a passtime occupation. God is not at all happy about this In this age of grace, God can forgive anyone who comes to Him in true repentance. I John 1:9 says He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, provided we come to him in repentance. In this age, age where sex is a tool for recreation, God must be fuming at the blatant misuse of this divine act. At the same time, He abides by His promises. John 6:37 says, ' him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out'. We have a loving and caring Father God who would love His children to come to Him in true repentance and confess their sins. He will forgive and cleanse every soul that repenteth. Praise God for this.

Q2. (12:17-20) Why did Pharaoh and his household get sick? What effect did this have? What was God seeking to accomplish through this affliction? Did it have the desired effect? Because of Sarah. Its obvious that God didn't like Pharoah taking Sarah as his wife because He had different plans for Sarah and Pharoah was meddling in His affairs, though unknown. The effect was immediate restoration of Sarah to Abraham and the restoration of their relationships. God was trying to tell Abraham and Pharoah as well that His will is supreme. That He is a sovereign God who rules the universe according to His plans. It had the desired effect. Obviously God would not tolerate if others meddle in His affairs.

Q1. (12:10) What dangers faced Abraham and his family as aliens and sojourners in Egypt and elsewhere? Who might oppress them? What "aliens and sojourners" live in your community? Why did they come? How are they being oppressed or discriminated against by employers and others in the community? What can you and your church do to "love those who are aliens"? The usual dangers of being looked down upon, raped, robbed or even killed. Strangers are not trusted anywhere and some even go to the extent of chasing them out. The land owners or local residents, landlords, kings of the land might take advantage of their vulnerability and opress them. In my country there are no aliens or sojourners, but there are refugees from neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal and where poverty is high. They come to India to earn a decent living by working as laborers or prostitutes. Church has a great responsibility towards these category of people. The church should provide resources so that they are relocated gainfully and provide them spiritual nourishment as well.

Q4. (12:9) What was the significance of Abraham "calling on the name of Yahweh"? What does it mean for you to "call on the name of the Lord"? Abraham decided to follow the Lord and accepted His authority on his life. Abraham depended on the one true God and wanted to be guided by Him. Yahweh became a 'confidante' of Abraham. Abraham wanted Yahweh to be part of everything that he did. That was the extent of the significance of Abraham calling on the name of Yahweh. To me the meaning is almost the same as Abraham's. After accepting Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord, His name is precious to me. The name that is on my lips at every turn, every event, every moment of my life. I call on the name of the Lord for guidance, support, help, in fact, everything. I call upon Him to praise Him, honor Him and worship Him. My life, is nothing without my Lord by my side. I just thank God for chosing me to be His vessel and do His work on this earth.

Hi everyone, I am Sunil Bernard from Secunderabad, India. Am blessed with a family, wife and 2 grown up children and all of us are involved in our church ministry. I am the organist and my children lead in worship. I have done a couple of studies with our dear Pastor Ralf Wilson. I pray for him daily. Its a wonderful privilege to study the Bible at your own speed and at your own desk without any hassle. Pastor Wilson's material is fantastic. He has so much of inputs into each study lesson. Thank God for him and this wonderful site. Nice to have met so many of you in this forum and getting comments and replies for my posts. God bless you all as we do this study on the faith of Abraham. Yours in Him Sunil Bernard

Q3. (12:1 with Hebrews 11:8-10) Why does it take special faith to begin to do something in obedience to God before we see how it will turn out? Have you had any of these "opportunities"? Are you in the midst of this adventure now? Faith is the substance of things hoped for....God had asked Abraham to move to a place that He will show later. Abraham hoped that in due time God would show him that place. So in blind faith he set out on that journey. Journey of hope, better prospects, better life, better land and perhaps better people. God had amply proved His faithfulness by providing all that Abraham had hoped for. In days of GPS, Satellite Phones, Wireless Internet etc, we still find it hard to take those kind of steps that Abraham took. That's why Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness through which he was justified. That's special faith. God had not tested me so far for my faith in this fashion and I've not had any 'opportunities' like that. It may sound that I am lucky to escape those kind of circumstances, but at the same time I feel that God is not sure whether I'll be able to handle the situation. That's why He has not given me those kinds of situations.

Q2. (12:2-3) In what ways was Abraham blessed. How have all the peoples of the earth been blessed? In what way does Abraham continue bless people through your life? Abraham was blessed physically - through wealth and his geneology He was blessed spiritually - He was the spiritual father of the Christians - Jesus was his descendant. Because Abraham was the physical head of the generations of God's chosen people. His blessings have been passed down to all of us who are God's chosen people. Through my ministry in the church, bible studies and prayer cell groups and counselling on the Internet.

Q1. (11:32) Have you ever begun something in response to God's urging and then stopped? Did God want you to stop? Is it time now to renew your obedience and begin again? (Don't take this question lightly. Sometimes circumstances prevent us from doing what we once felt God wanted us to do. However, he is able to redirect you into his will for you now. Seek him diligently to learn his will.) I have started Bible study. First by studying and then by leading. Its a fortnightly event. But Satan has been putting brakes in various forms, so that we have had to break the study in a regular fashion. I have to make amends and continue to be faithful unto His calling. Secondly, our family prayers. Because of my son's late night work, he cannot get up by the time I leave for office (7.30 AM) and he returns at 2.00 AM. We used to have regular prayer at 7 in the morning but due to this work schedule, it has been broken. I wish God would provide a solution for this.

Q5. What has this study on 2 Peter and Jude meant to you? How has it enriched your life? How could it be improved? This study has reiterated the fact that there are so many wolves in sheep's clothing that we have to be aware of. But its the strength of our Lord in us that prevails ultimately. The Lord is warning us of all the evils, thereby protecting His loved ones, because He wants to enjoy the company of His children. So in the process, He keeps a watch over His children that they don't fall off by the wayside and get trampled by the evil forces. This has strengthened my faith, increased my love and reestablished the hope in Jesus' finished work of salvation. There is always scope for improvement. Learning process never ends. As I go deeper into the study of His word, there are many gems to gather and enjoy thier value. There is always scope for improvement. Its only His grace that we are granted all these privileges to enjoy and experience.

Q4. (Jude 24) What does it mean to you that God is guarding you from falling? How can you explain God's exultant joy towards you? How will God manage to present you to himself "blameless"? How does that work? It means that I am precious in His sight. When you have the Almighty God as your security, what more do you want in this world. When He is watching me from falling into sin and temptations, I need not fear any evil force for He is greater than all evil put together. God wants me to be with Him always. That's why He is protecting me, so that when I reach Him ultimately, His joy will be full and complete. My God will be overjoyed to accept me. God is Holy. Nothing evil or sinful will ever enter His presence. That is why God is watching over me and protecting me so that I will be sinless and blameless when I enter into His presence. That's the process of salvation at work. Aren't I grateful for that!!!

Q3. (Jude 21a) What does it mean to "keep yourself in God's love"? What are you doing to strengthen your love relationship with God? What more could you do that might help? Love is a term very common and most widely misused. But it is a two way communication. It has no meaning if it is done on one way only. Love grows when two people get together often, in any way possible. We have two ways of communion with God. Bible and Prayer. When we follow this dictum to the core, as two lovers do often, love grows between us and God. For the relationship to grow and foment, we must follow the two way communication principle and spend time with Him as often as possible. Time is the essence of any bond to strenthen. My bond will be strengthened in proportion to the time I spend with my Lord.

Q2. (Jude 20a) Why does God make you responsible to "build up" your own Christian faith? What are you doing on a regular basis to obey this command? What should you begin to do that will help you be built up better? To grow, we have to eat. Otherwise our growth will be stunted and nobody will care to look at a dwarf other than to make fun of him. To achieve something in our christian life, we have to grow. And that growth can be achieved by building up the faith. I am responsible for my body, physical and spiritual. I am doing regular meditation on the word of God and in communing with my Lord. There is no better way. Fellowshipping with like minded believers adds to your strength. I am doing this and would like to increase the time spent on the study of the word of God as there are so many things to learn and we just have 24 hours in a day, which is not at all sufficient.