Helen

If people are always promoting themselves they are on a very dangerous path, losing sight of the Lord who called them. Their sense of self-worth is not based on Jesus valuation of them. Immaturity and ignorance exalt self. This is not reality based as we are nothing without Jesus. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They do not understand the concept of humility, which is a very practical thing, not a philosophy. God has given me emotional healing, which I minister under the authority of Living Hope counselling, and teaching which I use in children's ministry.

i It means the church sees Jesus as the author and exponent of our faith, and places Him over itself as supreme teacher, leader, authority, practitioner. ii I see Jesus as the beginning and the end of all things, my source of knowledge, truth, reality, understanding, wisdom, discernment, provision, in short everything i could ever want of need in this life, so I keep focussed on Him for all these things. I keep seeking Him out, I trust Him and His viewpoint. All my confidence is in Him. In aligning muyself with His purpose, all my needs are met, including my need for purpose in my life. iii That congregation would focus on the wordto learn and obey it. love one another, as Christ dictated, prefer one another when pinch comes to crunch, seek opportunities for service to the poor and outside the church for God's glory. One upmanship and status seeking would be absent, as would gossip and all the other sins. Our conversation would be in praise of Jesus. We'd be very hospitable to one another and outside church. We would speak Truth in love. Love would be the astounding feature. iv The head gives the body orders (on neural communications channels)_ and so we'd be very effective at receiving and implementing God's will and plans for us in each situation. This would brilliantly reflect Jesus, as we would be walking in all the works He has prepared for us to walk in. LOVE NEVER FAILS!

The purpose is that we all come to unity of the faith (agreement in whom we believe), that we know Jesus intimately, individually, that we mature towards becoming perfect man alongside the stature of Jesus Christ (resembling Him in a big way!).

Apostles and prophets are the higher ranking giftings. When the body acknowledges someone's function as prophet or apostle, we experience much direct communication to the body direct from God, which is very important in helping us press in to Him, obey Him and know His will. Also with apostles we see the healing gifting which gives witness to all the world that Jesus is Lord, and has the right to forgive sins, and to teach us the way. This adds people to the body and brings in more giftings, and so God's glory shines more greatly.

Eph 4:7 declares that to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. If everyone does his/her share (the right exercise of his/her gift for the benefit of others) then the body as a whole is healthy and strong, and effective. If anyone is weak in developing his gift, then all will suffer the weakness.

1 The Holy Spirit is the author of unity. 2. We are to endeavour to maintain it. 3. A bond of peace is a deep and wonderful thing forged of lowliness, gentleness, long suffering, and particularly bearing with one another in love, as well as walking in Truth, integrity and honesty before God. If people can do this they'll find unity with others of all sorts of denominations and tribes doing likewise. it comes out of agape love, which prefers others to self.

It's hard when people state specifically they don't want to hear anything religious, especially family. Then you are limited to loving them. Often they'll ask a question or throw a remark, but won't allow you to respond or answer. However, the loving is important as it goes to build up your case (credibility). It is easy to be exasperated and react instead of showing patience. Also, one can feel very isolated, eg in a work situation, and want to fit in with the others. Basically you have to operate in what is best for the "enemy", pray for them and remain steadfast - "perfect and unblemished in love". "Being able to give a reason for the hope that is in you" seems the most valuable thing to me, as it's when people lose something (health, hope, etc) that they will wonder if God is there, and may be more approachable.

To answer question 4 first! Our calling is wonderfully described in Chapter 1-3 of Ephesians, and yet further asPaul goes on to desacribe spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, personal relationships and spiritual warfare. it is marvellously summned up in Ephesians 1:4, that we were chosen before the foundation of the world that we should If I am having an operation in hospital, I am certainly hoping that each one of the medical team are up to scratch - walking worthy of their calling in various areas of medical practice. Otherwise I would be very distressed. So each individual Christian needs to be "up to scratch" in their walk with God, if the church is truly to walk in the "good works that God has prepared for us to walk in". As in question 3 much greater things can be achieved as a team than can be achieved indicvidually. We have each to make sure our personal walk with God is all that it could be. No-one can do that for us. This precedes being an effective part of the wonderful body of Christ.

i Pastors work with sheep individually or in families to help advance their Christian walk. Teachers have various methods of extending the understanding of Life in Jesus for individuals, groups. Both use much scripture as their tool. ii I recognise Margaret as a gifted teacher in scripture. iii Her work unites people together as they study the Word. Her preparation advantages her class greatly (but she herself probably has the greatest advantage!) Her lifestyle is exemplary and her personal ministry much to be desired. iv Small group leaders and Sunday School teachers have an extraordinary function in building us into a functional temple for the Holy Spirit. Teachers of children set the stage for the rest of their lives and are vital within the church, ministering to its future stability and expansion!

i A man is responsible for the well-being of his wife first, then family. If he is doing this he is in right communication with God as regards headship, and in line for good communication with Him, Being in wrong relationship with his wife means he has yet much to learn about communication, love, protection, service etc. (If he can make it work at home, he can make it work anywhere - at work at church etc_ and much growing in God before communication is good. Righteousness includes responsibility at home, or rather, prioritises it. First the physical, then the spiritual. ii A woman must pull with her husand, not against him. The bride must pull with Jesus, not against Him. To pull against a husband is to pull against Jesus - bad news in terms of getting prayers answered.

i Obedience to God makes us Christlike - meek, humble, pure in heart, poor in spirit (lacking arrogance), hungering for righteousness, and mourning for lack of it, merciful, peacemakers, unmoved when persecuted for a righteous stand. These qualities make a powerful, strong, gentle and generous person whose inner beauty is consistent, and does not wither and fade. ii One gains character by not submitting to persecution, what others think, but standing up with a leader's determination and strength for righteousness, integrity, truth and those in need of support. iii God can bless a man/woman with true character and from them create His fruitfulness - blessing for others and glory for His Name. iv People can trust a person of good character. A husband trusts her with his property and is safe from harsh words in her presence. These things are not easily found. A husband will certainly compare his wife with the wives of others to some extent, and find that his good wife is a huge blessing. If he has wisdom he will hold onto such a wife and not be seduced by another out of the frying pan into the fire!

There is more benefit in doing anything, including business, with knowledge and wisdom. Every family member will benefit under knowledge and wisdom. After all, Jesus cried out from the cross that we be forgiven our ignorance ("Father, forgive them, they don't know what they do".) Marriage was considered so important to the Old Testament Jews that a soldier who married was required to take a year off, to learn to please his wife! A man has a hobby, eg gardening. He loves it and seeks knowledge and understanding concerning it. Time spent on gaining knowledge and understanding is the manifestation or demonstration of love. He is the one who gains by his investment of time and energy in acquiring knowledge and wisdom of gardening, (racing cars, music, or whatever) because he creates a more beautiful garden, a faster racing car, lovelier music. Likewise with marriage. Heaps of reasons why men like to dominate in marriage - cultural mostly - lack of sensitivity, ignorance of what makes marriage work, low self-esteem, (we are all princes and princesses in the royal Kingdom of God), no proper marriage models, laziness. Women suffer from ambition which their men must accomplish, feminism (women's rights), ignorance, materialism, and same as for men. Dominance removes the partner's trust, and limits the flowering of the partner's full potential, destroying their self esteem. In doing so it creates misery, fear, stress, frustration, disunity, lack of communication, everything calculated to destroy a relationship in marriage, business, social life etc. Dominance is invariably destructive of relationships. God is the builder of reconciliation, and beautiful, peaceful, harmonious, creative, new every day, exciting relationships.

i. Submission is difficult when you don't trust the one you are submitting to. It is easier eg to submit to a loving, gentle husband who loves to provide well for you, than to one who abuses. Pride/arrogance can make submission difficult for us. ii I don't believe submission necessarily imposes silence. If we have a contribution to make we should do that in the hope that our wisdom and insight be of value to the listener. However, it is up to the listener how much benefit heshe gains from what is said, and repetitiveneww can become nagging which is not Christ-like. iii Submission is wrong when behaviour is demanded that is against God's law.

i We still have old behaviour and thought patterns, established over long years, in our brains. It takes time to have our minds renewed in Christ, even though we have received His Spirit. Feeding on the Word, prayer and fellowship enable us to become increasingly aware of and tuned to Jesus. Love (in this case our love for Jesus) overcomes a multitude of sins at an accelerating rate until we go to Him. ii To be in love with Jesus is to trust Him and obey Him, for His plans are all for good. The more our heart is set on Him, the more our sins lose power over us. iii We can die to sin by becoming more aware of (alive/responsive to, sensitive to, desirous of) His Spirit. "The things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace". "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Having plans and goals in that area helps too. iv "Live for righteousness" = things like "love thy law" as David did, "meditate in His word day and night," teach it to our children, model it for everyone, imitate mentors and be accountable.

Jesus once told me that I was worth everything He suffered for me. This was years after I had returned to Jesus, having forgotten Him for twenty years, and delved heavily into new age "healing", realising what I had done, and repenting completely. He also showed me that when He grovelled in the dirt and was beaten along the track after falling under the weight of the cross, it was to deliver me from that sin. To find that He considers me worth that kind of suffering is humbling, amazing, astounding. To be loved like that is all one could ever desire on earth.

We are in this sinful condition as a result of one man (Adam) choosing not to trust/obey God. It would have to be a better man than Adam to lift us out of it! God Himself, in human flesh, alone, could do the job. Satan won with Adam, bringing the sinful nature upon all mankind. To overcome the power of sin and death, a man can't be submitting to it. Therefore it had to be the sinless Son of God winning the Victory. It would have to be the biggest shock unimaginable when sins were poured into Jesus' soul - completely foreign to Him. Jesus could only stand it because of the glory that was set before Him - because He saw the finished result, and for love of His Father and of us. In His final prayer before the cross in John 17: (1) He asks Father to bring Him into the glory (2) He asks that His disciples see His glory. Luke 24:26 Jesus speaks of Christ suffering to enter His glory. 1Peter 1:11 speaks of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. In other words, Jesus had a vision of what He would achieve, which could only be achieved by way of the cross.

We are called, one by one, person to person, (each brick in the temple of God having to be redeemed and perfected) to carry on as Jesus began, with a willingness to do whatever it takes (including persecution and suffering) in imitation of Christ, for the same purpose, salvation of souls. If the bricks are rotten, the whole temple is rotten. We have to function individually well.

One of the key words here is "together". We have to be aware that we are a piece in the jigsaw. This means (i) we have to function beautifully in the Spirit as a single unit, so as not to disfigure the whole picture, and (ii) We have to fit into a certain spot in relation to the others. We are unique, but part of an organic whole. We are disfunctional if we ar not fitting with the other people around us, and how we complement their function. Then, over all, we have to look, in the Spirit from God's eagle perspective, looking with highly accurate vision on the whole jugsaw, and identifying pieces out of place, constantly seeking to build the jigsaw as a whole, in correct perspective. Truth and love, in a blanket of wisdom, are needed for this task. In my own life - I have just joined a new church, and have to find my place in it. Thus I will attach myself to those whom I see as mentors. I will submit to them and serve them. I will be aware of the others that God places in my path, praying for them, ministering to their needs at every opportunity, at the same time accepting no games and other forms of nonsense, controlling spirits etc. but where needed, giving account of my actions in love, always appreciative of teaching or correction when available. As individuals in the congregation do similarly, the church will be built, steadily, precept upon precept, line upon line.

Their investment into the church, even just financially, is amazing. You can see where their treasure is. Every part of their life is for Jesus. They are a wonderful precedent/example for the "flock". They show me how to invest in the Kingdom of Heaven rather than in earthly treasures. I have just joined a new church, so I don't know too much about the congregation as yet. However I already see that they will be challenged very clearly to overcome petty strife, and get into the meat issues of the gospel. And the example will be right there before them! In this new congregation I have joined, every word of Scripture is learned (by heart in the process of a sermon) and constantly quoted, but in Spirit and in Truth (not twisted). In this way Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of what is being built. Those who "fall into sin" will be chastised rather than overlooked here. Everything is checked out by Scripture and my pastor won't play nice llittle "doing church" games. He is constantly, along with his daily prayer meeting sheep, seeking urgently what God is saying, how to go closer. He is very careful about who has what authority in the church and how they minister in that. He is accountalbe to God, and listens to us and to other mentors of his. He also holds us accountable. In this way we grow/rise into a Holy Temple in the Lord, a strong, unassailable structure knowing our authority in Christ and investing everything in Him. Our investment (ie the outcome of our faith) is like the mortar binding us together. We can feel ourselves being built into that mighty, powerful structure which the church is intended to be. Growth is the outcome of what we eat. This congregation is fed meat, not milk (except for young Christians who partake of both!).

I just saw the film "The Passion of Christ" Last night. The suffering was portrayed much as I had imagined. The bit I really loved was where Jesus cries out from the Cross for His Father to forgive them because they have no idea what they are doing. That was wonderfully acted. He never stopped loving everyone of those brutal soldiers, or even the pharisees who were supervising everything. He really cried out for them. This was a superb example to me, that He was not mowed down by His circumstance, nor changed in His disposition to love. I want to be like that. I want to have that love that overcomes a multitude of sins, that sees any brother or sister as a beautiful creation, as part of God's whole plan, as redeemable even though the cost is great. Jesus once told me, You are worth everything I suffered for you". I want to see every soul as worth the very life of Jesus in God's eyes, and therefore to be loved as if it were Jesus Himself. "If you can't love your neighbour whom you can see, how can you love God whom you have not seen?"

God is the father figure in the family (church). The fellowship of a biblical congregation is like that of family members - usually very caring when it all boils down(!), direct, honest and seeking the best interest of that brother or sister. Christians who do not "assemble themselves together" faithfully place themselves outside the love, care, protection, honesty, correction and family values of the family. Therefore they are unsafe, unprotected, uncorrected, unaligned with values, outside the care zone, and ripe to be pIcked off by satan prowling around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. DANGEROUS! LOOKING FOR TROUBLE!

We are fellow citizens and members of the family (household) of God. We are "holy" and "Saints" because we have received Jesus, accepted the Blood covenant, and are "sealed with the Spirit" - seen by God as holy.

Being cut off from the Father is total ignorance, ("Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do.") and death (the wages of sin). Access to the Father = relationship with the Father (lost by Adam), return to the manhood of God's intention/purpose, with the heavenly inheritance of "all things" including the wonderful sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, alive to the wonderful things of God. Access to the Father for people of this sinful world, which is so foreign to what God intended and so anathema to Him, is an amazing accomplishment of Father's diplomacy. It is achieved by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross, and His resurrection and defeat of death - the last victory of Revelation, the complete victory of God's love. The two greatest commandments are an extension of God Himself, who is LOVE. His purpose for His Kingdom is that His love be extended by His bride (we are the body, He is the head). The whole world was made by the energy of Love (God) and functions well only in that energy. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, (not by miracles etc so much as) that you LOVE one another". "There is faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these (which could be said to encompass all the others) is LOVE".

I believe "reaction" is out of place and likely to be detrimental to the situation. We need to take carefully considered, prayerful action in defence of the victim of injustice. It is possible for a conscientious Christian to stand with a victim against injustice. Be angry, and do not sin. If the injustice is against me and I think I can deliver the boss a more advantageous scenario, I will. Otherwise I remain quiet or get another job. If the injustice is against another employee and I think it necessary, I'll go in to bat for them, and if necessary take it to a higher level, negotiating a better outcome all around.

We are made in the image of God. "God looked at everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." Everything we do should be excellent as a glory to our Creator, in whose image we are made. To do less is to honour a lower deity (namely self or the rebellious spirit) People are very aware of God (Romans 1"20) even though they "protest too much", and quick to rebuke us (our God) for a poor performance. Nobody is going to take any notice of a half-baked witness, unless it is to mock us (and our God). We need total integrity all the time.