Sassyblue8

Good Morning to my fellow sojourners and aliens in our quest for knowledge, that leads to unselfish love (agape), of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: I am from the Keystone state of Pennsylvania in the US of America and have lived on this planet for 57 plus years. I came to the Lord at the age of 29 years. I was brought up as a Roman Catholic but joined the Evangelical church in 1981. I have three grown children two on earth and one in heaven! I have two grandchildren both girls Laura and Darby Lee ages 17 and 19 months respectivley. I work full time in the manufacturing industry as part of the office staff. I've been at my place of employment for almost 20 years. The Lord got me my job and has kept me there. Praise His holy Name! I love the Lord Jesus and I love His Word! I am so looking forward to studying the book of James with Pastor Ralph and all of you!

Q4. (2 Timothy 3:16) If Scripture is "breathed" by God, how can it help us draw close to God? Why do you think God's Spirit (pneuma, "breath, wind") so important in helping us understand Scripture? If Scripture is God-breathed and we have the breath of God in use by being born again then we have the Holy Spirit illuminating God's word to us because He is The Pneuma. Without the Spirit of God within we cannot understand the Scriptures because they are spiritually discerned. Without the Spirit we are dead in our trespasses and sins and literally we are in spiritual darkness and cannot understand Scripture. I once heard a minister equate the Scripture as God's love letter to His children. So if we are His children and have been born from above we have the Holy Spirit within us to guide and teach us God's love letter. We get to know our Father and His Son by studying His Word. When we get to know someone, then we become closer to them. Just my thought! Sassyblue8

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.") Even though the prophet uses his voice and mind to reveal God's word, it is as God is speaking Himself. The wind is not seen by the naked eye but what the wind does is seen. It moves things. Well, God the Holy Spirit moves the prophet to speak and God impresses on the phophets spirit what to say and write. God uses the human instrument to outpour the divine. Just my thoughts! Sassyblue8

Q2. (2 Peter 1:19). In what ways do the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments act for you as "a light shining in a dark place"? What does the darkness represent? What does the light represent? The Old and New Testament scriptures are my map, my guidebook, my encyclopedia, my reference books, my authority from which my worldview comes from and my flashlight which lights my way in this ever present darkness in this world and in my culture. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path! The darkness represents spiritual void and unbelief. The Light represents illumination and salvation or belief. Just my thoughts, Sassyblue8

Good Sunday morning God's chosen people! I was away last weekend and very busy with RL but I am trying to catch up. I am reading lesson 3 this morning after listening to the audio of lesson two, which I want to say was excellent! Growth is hard but it's truly worth it! Well, I believe our culture avoids talking about death because they want to avoid it at all costs because they are not sure that there is anything past physical death. Our culture is a youth, health kick to ridiculous measures like death won't get me if I diet, exercise, take vitamins, meditate, practice yoga or whatever to stay, what they say, young and fit! This is good but it only puts off the inevitable maybe for a time. Dying is a sure thing like taxes. Eh? God gives and God takes away! We do not control the time nor the hour of our death. We are to respect our physical bodies (our tents) because they are the temples of the Holy Spirit but we are so much more than our outward, physical self. We are soul and spirit also. The spirit gives life but the flesh profits nothing! Our culture worships the outward man and either doesn't believe in the inner man or disregards him! Describing my body as a tent is freeing and motivating because I don't have to be so concerned with it that I forget the more important part of me which is my inner man who after I put off this tent (die physically) my person still goes on in the spirit into eternity with my Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is an end to this earthly life with all it's pitfalls, sorrow, sins and hurts and after my death here my new life begins where there is no more sorrow, sin and death. Alleluia! Praise the Lord! Peter's death being described as a "departure" or "exodus" means that he will be leaving the land of slavery to the land of milk and honey to the Promise land of eternal life in heaven, to God's perfect kingdom! Just my thoughts, Sassyblue8

I think that brotherly kindness has been easiest for me to move into and self-control has been the hardest. I always have liked people and been kind to them even when I was dead in my trespasses and sins but self-control has seemed to take longer and has been very hard. I have made progress though. I finally gave up smoking after smoking as a Christian for 14 years and now it's been almost 14 years since I've quit. And believe me it was the prayers of the saints and the Holy Spirit's conviction that finally allowed me to be victorious in this area. I still have problems in other area's pertaining to self-control but the Lord is graciously and patiently working on these with me. I believe I am doing well in all the other Chrisitan virtues as well but here and there I fail in them too. I truly know that God is working in my life each and every day and as I yield to Him and practice these virtues in my life that He and I will continue towards the fullfillment when He receives me into His glory in heaven. I am yoked to Jesus Christ and He says I ain't heavy I'm His brother. What a wonderful revelation to know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit help me in my sanctification and I don't have to go it alone! I am so thankful that I am a Christian! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ who is rich in mercy and grace! Sassyblue8

Personally, being called "by His own glory and goodness" means thankfulness for me. I am thankful that He has called me because He is good. The Lord God called me who was lost in my trepasses and sins. It means God was merciful to me. God's glory and awesome Presence effects me by making me aware that I belong to the God of the universe and that I am called to worship, praise and obedience. His goodness and moral excellence challenges me to live a life of goodness and moral excellence myself.

Believing there is a God (which I always did) and knowing who He is and what He has done are two different things. Since my rebirth or if you will my becoming "born again" I have grown in my knowledge of Him through His Word and have grown closer to Him as my Father. I talk with him in my heart and if no one is around, out loud. Let me tell you He has provided for me in every way that a Father would and so much more because He is God. I have not had a super hard life but at times it has been like, pardon me, hell on earth but He has always provided me with His grace and love to see me through the hard times. If it weren't for my Father in heaven, I wouldn't have been able to cope with two very tragic things in my life, the desertion of a husband after 17 years of marriage and three children and the murder of my 22 year old precious daughter Amy Joy three and a half years ago. He was with my in "my valley of the shadow of death." He has provided for me spritutally, economically, emotionally and in everyway. I live and breath and have my being in Him. He has given me "new life" and He gives me the grace to live a godly life. Sincerely, from PA

I believe that "received a faith as precious as ours" means that Peter could tell that these Gentile believers had received Jesus Christ just as he and those that he was with had done. They had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. They were brethren. Romans 10:8-12 Our faith today is the same as Peter's is. We are brethren. Our faith is equal to his because our faith and his faith is in Jesus Christ. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. (God) There may be different gifts but all have the same gift which is the Holy Spirit. Peter had a leadership roll in the early church and that was why he was called an apostle. He was an eyewitness to the actual events of salvation. All of us are disciples of Christ but not all of us are leaders. No discrepancy. We are all saints (believers) and there is no difference in our faith. People get faith confused with sanctification and that's a whole different catagory. IMHO Just my thoughts, from PA

Hi: I am so looking forward to this study. I am Dotty from Langhorne, PA US of A. I need some spiritual food this summer! I am 57 years old and was born again on September 1976. Love the Lord Jesus, love his Word and love His people. I work full time and am very tired when I come home at night but will try my best to answer some of the questions! In Him, Dotty B

As a priest unto God, my first and formost mindset should be obedience and worship! The Royal priesthood of the temple of God are to lift up holy hands unto the Lord! The heart of the New Testament priest is to want what God wants and to praise Him for who He is and not for what He does although we can and should praise Him for what He does and to be thankful. For we are the true circumsion, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Phil.3:3

Well, no one likes to be judged but in our culture, which is a do your own thing kind of culture without regards to the law of God, people want not to be told that their lifestyles are wrong. The new buzz word is tolerance. People want to be confirmed in their lifestyles and if anyone questions their behavior or says it's wrong then they are branded as non tolerant and called names such as a religious fanatic or prude or not with it. Well, sin is sin whether one wants to believe it or not, and that, just as God gives us the chance to receive His salvation by grace. When we reject God's gift then we reject the remedy for our sinfulness. So therefore, we are judged. And God must judge sin because He is holy and cannot tolerate it. If one does not take God's way out of judgment by God's way which is Jesus then one will remain in their judgment and will perish. Yes, God loves the world and He showed that love by sending His Son, Jesus, to give mankind the remedy out of their judgment and into eternal life. The Good News is the good news because the Gospel is the way out of the final judgment. Sin was judged at the cross and when one accepts the Good News (the gospel of Christ) then one is no longer under judgment ever!

Well, I have always thought that holiness was being without sin. God is without sin so He is holy. He is morally perfect. I am holy in the respect that I am clothed in Christ's righterousness. I am positionally holy because I am a saint in Christ. Now, that's the good part. Here's the kicker, I don't feel holy and sometimes I don't act holy. Ugh! A lot of times, I am downright sinful but I don't want to be and I strive not to be but this here old nature won't stay down sometimes. I know that I am saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus and that's salvation but the next step is sactification and that's hard but I am believing God that He will perfect me in this also. It's a matter of trust! And oh how I trust Him! Just my thoughts, Sassyblue8 aka DRB

It's God's power that keeps us for salvation through faith. I believe that faith is in Jesus! And this faith is through grace and is a gift from God. Eph. 2:8 I think that salvation is totally from God. Our part is believing but even that's God's gift. Sassyblue8

Q1. (1:1) How would you describe the behavior of a Christian who identifies more with his present homeland than his heavenly one? Have you ever caught yourself doing this? What has to happen to get our spiritual priorities straight? We, as Christians, are supposed to be in the world, but not of the world. (John 17:16). As the children of God and heirs of eternal life in heaven, we are to look to Jesus the author and finisher of faith. While in the world, our temporary earthly dwelling, we need to set our prioities straight and be about our Father's business. Many Christians get kind of caught up in worldly persuits, as well as myself, such as making money, being workaholics, pursuing material things at the expense of cultivating a relationship with the Lord and spreading His Word. Also, we can be so heavenly minded and no earthy good by cutting ourselves off from those who truly need to hear God's Word and to be touched by us with the love of God. "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and frofeits his soul-life?" Matthew 16:26 I realize this is talking about a non-believer but a Chistian who is caught up in worldly pursuits more than pursuing God will ultimately lose his peace and joy. I believe there is a fine line between being in the world and not of it but I do believe that staying in God's Word and pursuing His love and grace will keep a Christian on track. Sometimes a touch of suffering in this world God will allow to come into our lives to draw us out of this world and to His thrown of grace and mercy. When a Christian is going through trials and tribulations in this world it is the only place we can go to find peace and help in our time of need. God's purpose is not to harm us, for God is love, but to hone us into loving and giving citizens of His kingdom which is love, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I am not speaking this out of theory but out of experience. In Him, Sassyblue8 aka DRBforJesus2@aol.com