heatherdills

According to this verse you should cast your fears to the Lord. You should do this because He cares about you. You should do it through faith and prayer. I will apply this verse's instruction in my own life by not worrying so much and give things to God with thanksgiving.

Acts of humility that are appropriate for church leaders are being of the same character of their congregation. We can discern a person's humility before putting him or her in a place of leadership in the church by observing their attitude toward regular members and with the leadership. When we fail to do this we could place a person whose god is power, rather that the true God, and the congregation can get discouraged.

We can best keep elders and pastors from being power-mongers by making them accountable for their decisions. From limiting a pastor's authority by establishing a chain of command. The danger here is that they may not take their accountability to God seriously. Testing a person before bestowing authority can be difficult because power and authority can change some people's attitiude. We can deal with this serious problem properly by cutting back on some of the responsibilities in a position under the situation is under control.

What's wrong with the common practice in churches of "twisting a person's arm" to get him or her to serve as a church leader is that they are being forced into a position by man, not the will of God. The church will suffer because there is not a vision in the house, just a puppet doing what the majority wants. The kind of leader it produces is weak, ineffective, and spiritually bankrupt.

I learned that the responsibilities of an elder are that they have spiritual obligations to the congregation. What stood out to me as I considered thses words is that they all have an obligation to be a guide to other members of the church.

This study on 2 Peter and Jude has meant a better understanding of the Father and what Jesus Christ suffered to bring us into the light. It has enriched my lifeby adding to my foundation as a believer. It could be improved by offering some real life soultions and applications, but I understand the constraints of such a study.

That God is guarding me from falling means that whenI am on the brink of sinning or losing faith, He will protect from the weakness of my flesh! I cannot explain God's exultant joy towards me! God will manage to present me to himself "blameless" by my faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. This worksby Jesus's blood covering my sins, so that theough my life in Him, I will be made worthy of eternal life with the Father.

To "keep yourself in God's love" means to keep a relationship with Him. I am need to be more open in worship to strengthen your love relationship with God. To let my inhibitions go might help.

God makes me responsible to "build up" my own Christian faith because He has already given us everything we need to do so. I am doing Bible studies and praying on a regular basis to obey this command. I should begin meditating and reading the Bible more to help me be built up better.

The third privilege catches my attention more than the others. It is so special to me because it ensures that whatever I am going through, God has me safe in His loving hands. It encourages my faith by knowing that I serve an awesome God!

A willingness to die, if need be, is essential to healthy Christianity during persecution because to die for the name of Christ is the highest from of worship we can offer. When we aren't willing to die, when we are afraid to "take up our cross daily" (Luke 9:23) and follow Jesus, we are seaprating ourselves from the Lord. This has to do with "commiting ourselves to a faithful Creator" in that we are rejecting the sole purpose of our creation.

If we are never persecuted, that says people view us as belonging to the world and that we are acceptable by their standards. Persecution should make us happy because it confirms that the enemy is anxious about our faith and is pulling out all the stops to shake our faith.

When I meditate on the idea of partaking of or being a sharer in Christ's sufferings, the perspective it gives me on whatever persecution I may experience is that Christ's was much greater. Our sufferings are a result of our sin, but the "fires" in our lives refine us to make us more like Him.

The danger of trying to avoid persecution and suffering for Christ is that we are not putting all of our trust in him. Yes, I have been distracted by persecution from what I should have been doing. Yes, I have observed this in other Christians.

A belief in Christ's return and coming judgment should have on my life is a sense of urgency. An underemphasis on Christ's return can have a lackadaisical attitude on a Christian's life. Sin today and ask for forgiveness tomorrow. One day there will be no tomorrow!!

Our culture resists the ideas of sin and repentance because we believe as long as you live a clean life and are a decnt person that you will be forgiven. There cannot be salvation without repentance. I can think of a time in your own life when repentance was difficult for you. It was difficult because I wanted to blame everyone else except for myself.

According to Peter, Christ's coming has been delayed because his timing is not our timing! This teaches us that God is omnipotent, He knows all and controls all. When it is His time, He will come!

It is important for us to understand what it means to "perish" because it consequences are eternal! These truths are underemphasized in our day because we do not want to offend or scare unbelievers. The effect that this has on us is that we are not being faithful in Christ and disobedient in His will. We can get an understanding of judgment into proper balance in our churches and teaching by sharing the implications of our choices in our eternal state, but not be condemning or judgmental because we all sin.

Reminders are so important for Christians because it refreshes our minds and hearts about the goodness and love our Lord and Savior. I remind myself of God's promises through Bible study, reading, and church attendance. I remind others by trying to be a good example, through conversation, and by witnessing.

If open sin is so spiritually dangerous, churches have stopped talking about it so much because they want to experience "warm fuzzies" about their lives, not that their choices and actions have an exponential effect on their salvation. Fortunately I am in a church where the pastor talks openly about his and his family's sins and mistakes and is not judgmental and does not kick people out just because they fall. In fact, we all pray together for God's power in their lives to break their sins and embrace them even more tightly.

Flagrant, defiant sin can enslave a person by holding them enslaved to the sin. There is a way out of these sins. The path is fasting and prayer. We can truly love the sinner and hate the sin because we must love our brothers and sisters and hate the demonics forces that attack them. We can steer clear of a quick judgmental attitude toward those who sin by remebering that we have siined and are prone to sin ourselves.

Sexual sin denies Christ becuase it defiles the temple, your body. If Paul is right in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, that persistent sexual sin is incompatible with salvation, we as Christians have become so complacent about it in our culture because we have been desensitised to it being everywhere..Tv, radio, magazines, etc.

We must "contend for the faith" so the truth can set people free. The danger in not challenging the doctrines of false teachers is letting the seekers of truth be misled by the misrepresentation of truth. The danger inherent in challenging them is persecution. We can keep the correct balance by asking questions without being defensive to get to the core of their ideology.

If people are always promoting themselves and pointing to how God is using them, this says about them that they are looking for the respect of men rather than God. Their sense of self-worth is distorted. Their maturity has not developed. Their realism is off-center. Their humility is not evident. The spiritual gifts has God given me are music and discernment and I am learning to use them for His glory.

Non-Christians do not like the idea of giving an account of their actions becuase they do not feel liable to anyone but themselves. We Christians don't like it because it means that we have sinned. The realization that we must give an account of our actions should inspire in us the desire to please God. The attitude we should live with as a result is that we are going to fail, but God is merciful enough to forgive us and let us try again.