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Q5. (Haggai 2:20-23) In what way is Haggai's image of Zerubbabel being God's signet intended to encourage Zerubbabel? Zerubbabel must have been so encouraged by what Haggai had to release to him as Zerubbabel must have felt so discouraged by all the opposition faced .Haggai’s image of Zerubbabel as a signet ring renewed power and strength within him to carry out his duties with authority.It was Yahweh who enable this in Zerubbabel and it He who encourages him. What an honor for Zerubbabel to have God speak to him in public. What is the power of a leader's signet? It is the signature of a powerful person in this case Gods Himself that clears the way to carry out the orders given. How does listening to God's Spirit make you effective as his agent? By listening to the Holy Spirit through the scriptures, through the sound advice of good willed people, through prophetic words and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In what ways are you authorized to speak and act for Jesus? In the way Jesus has taught us and in the way He has fulfilled His promise Acts 1:8 New International Version (NIV)8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Q2. (Haggai 1:6, 9-11) God sometimes disciplines us through hardships and circumstances (Hebrews 12:7-11). Sometimes through us not having all that we need. What is such discipline intended to do in our lives? I (believe it is for us to rely on Him totally and to surrendered unto Him. Such discipline is much needed in our lives because without it we would be complacent Christians. We will not be able to walk in holiness. As much as it seems unpleasant but it teaches us to walk right with God and when we are right with Him, peace follows within us. Are you experiencing hardship? Yes and no because the challenges in my life began 10 years ago which led my family and me to be born again and being born again led to much hardship endured at the hands of others around us. But I began to understand that His grace is sufficient for us. What is God trying to say to you in the midst of it? That he is sovereign and at the same time no one can stand against us when He is for us. What God is saying is that his ways and His thoughts are higher than ours. Only through obedience can we please Him.

Q3. (Haggai 2:1-5) Discouragement is a common experience. What command does God give Joshua the high priest? "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9) What assurance does he give? The assurance that He is with him. To deal with your own times of discouragement, what would God's command and assurance be for you? Most of the time I hear the Lord say to me “be still and know that I am God” How would you implement them? By calling out to Him throughout the day, reading His word and listening to the Youtube messages of the precise message that the Lord leads me to.

Q4. (Haggai 2:10-14) What kinds of things defile a disciple today? Idol worship of any kind. Matthew 15: 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. 20These are what defile a man, What is the danger of acting as if doing church work somehow makes us holy by association? The danger of living in spiritual pride and self righteousness. The danger of believing in your own works rather than the work of Christ on the cross. How does a believer deal with spiritual defilement and sin? By spiritual cleansing.By repenting and consecrating ourselves unto the Lord.

Q3. (Ezra 4:1-3) Sometimes uncommitted people try to co-opt true worship for their own ends, as did the enemies of the Jews. What is the danger of letting people without a deep heart commitment and close walk with God redesign the church's image in the community? The danger would be that the distinctive identity of the body of Christ will be lost. A half hearted commitment will lead to the enemy stepping in and cause havoc. Redesign worship? It will become more of a performance for self glory. Redesign the preaching? It will become a preaching that only talks about what people want to hear and not what God has to say. How can we be innovative and still be faithful to God's heart? By relying on the Holy Spirit who is the most innovative of all. By always realigning our hearts back to our Father. When we spend more time in the secret place we will learn to say what our Father says and do what He does.

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? No, I would regretfully and humbly say that my personal worship altar is not what it should be at this time of my season as I find myself struggling to keep its fire going. It is as though the higher the level the more the devil is at me, but I also know the Lord keeps assuring me that the higher the level the more warring angels be by my side. It feels like I am in exile with all that is going on around me but despite the pains and tears I know the Lord will make me arrive at where he wants me to be. In the meantime I need to clear much rubble within me to make space to build my altar to the Lord. What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith? I need to be still in His presence more, I need to learn more and more what it is to wait upon the Lord and trust His timing for breakthrough and not feel grief and hurt and anger and spiritual tiredness at the way things are right now. I do believe I am humble in my dealing with people around me all these years, even when facing a great challenge for the past 9 years on my own. I have shown honor and humility especially with my siblings and others but the fact is the humbleness that I have practiced and the honor that I have shown others lead me to think that it can only be through performing on my own strength to please others. Being the oldest child in the family, there has always been pressure on me to act, say the right things so that I am looked up to by the others. I realize the only foundation I need is Christ and Christ alone.

Q3. (Philippians 3:8-9) How can pride in our own righteousness and religious achievements actually get in the way of "knowing Christ”? Self righteousness and religious pride will definitely get in the way of knowing Christ deeper for who He really is. We begin to believe in the goodness of ourselves and in the goodness of our performance for God and showing off to people that we are special and doing something special, but the truth of the matter is that we are not ready to throw away everything that once thought so important for the sake of Christ. Until then we will not be able to know Christ closer and deeper. Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? Most definitely it has happen to me even after being born again. There were times I wanted to bring what I found in the Lord to my family members and when it was not well received, I was judgmental towards them. The Lord has corrected me, shown me this and made me realize that even the so called credentials that I think I have being born again compared to Jesus is nothing. I need to lay down completely everything within me just for Him and Him alone. I have learned it the hard way and am still learning and am in a season that I am able to declare the pain and humiliation and the breaking of my heart is all worth it. I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back, I’m depending only on His grace and mercy. Amen.

Q2. (Colossians 1:14-20; Romans 8:1) What does it mean to be "in Christ"? To be in Christ means that we belong to Christ as we have been bought by His redemptive blood. Not only does Jesus save us by going to the cross, He also gives us His Holy Spirit. When the spirit of God intermingles with our human spirit, it is so powerful that it can mean for us that we are in Christ, what a wonderful privilege from God our Father. Why is such union with Christ so important? Such a union with Christ is so important because it frees us from all condemnation. It transforms us from the old self to a new self in Christ Jesus. This is something planned and purposed by God for us as a free gift because of His love for us. Being in union with Christ allows us to be born again. Without such a union with Christ we will be unable to use his righteousness to enter heaven.

Q1. (Philippians 2:5-11) How did Jesus demonstrate the importance of humility and forego his rights in order to do God's will? Jesus demonstrated the importance of humility by becoming a human being and emptying Himself of all divine power and prestige and volunteering Himself to the most shameful and painful death imaginable in his day. What happens when we try to exalt ourselves, rather than waiting for God to exalt us? We will be brought down by this foolish action of calling attention to ourselves (exalting ourselves) by offending others which in turn will put us in trouble. If we wait upon the Lord, and humble ourselves He will lift us up in due time. What do you call this tendency? I would call it vainglory and living in the flesh.

Q4. (Philippians 1:20-23) In what way is death "gain" for Paul? (verse 21). Paul considers death “gain” because he immediately gets to be with Jesus and all pain and affliction is no more. Which is better for him? Life or death? (verse 23) Paul’s desire to die physically is far more powerful than to go on living physically. How does Paul decide which he prefers -- life vs. death -- according to verses 22-24? Paul decides that if he is to go on living it would be an opportunity for him to continue to labor for Christ. Even though he seems torn between the both, his desire to be with Christ is stronger but at the same time for now he has be around for the sake of others.

Q3. (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10) Why should appearing before Christ as Judge make us fearful? He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It should make us fearful as the word of God says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, what is more as this time meeting Jesus as our Judge in the end of it, but at the same time I believe a heart that is not prideful or ashamed to tell the Lord on the day of judgment that all our righteousness is but a piece of dirty rag and that we are using His righteousness even to stand in front of Him. To trust and tell that we have done a lot of bad things that we are ashamed of while in this body but here we am appearing in front of our Judge and trust in His judgment for us. Even His judgment for us would be the perfect will of the Father. Will we be condemned at that judgment? As much as we come before Him with all our imperfections, we are ever so thankful for the grace of Jesus that allows us to have salvation and that if we are in Him, there is no condemnation for us but the fruits of our labor and the faithfulness of our service will be judged by Jesus. What saves us (Romans 8:1; Revelation 20:12)? His undeserving grace for us saves us. It makes us put our faith in Jesus, makes us receive the Holy Spirit and start being in Christ. This saves us and puts our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. How will our works be judged on that day (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)? Our works will be judged on how genuine our hearts in Christ are as we serve Him here on earth. Whatever works we do, to do it on the foundation of Christ alone, only then the works that we do tested by the fire of God can stand.

Q2. (2 Corinthians 5:8; John 14:2-3) In what ways is heaven like your "home"? In every way heaven is our home. There is so much expectation of heaven,I believe it more than any of our expectations. Which is eternal? As Jesus said in John 14:2 My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? Heaven is my eternal home in every way. It is so hard to even express because no eye has seen and no ear has heard. Which is temporary? This place on this earth is temporary. What kind of faith would it take for you to walk or live with this as your belief, rather than holding on to your earthly possessions, status, and life? A simple faith as small as a mustard seed said Jesus. . A faith that makes me live away from my body and to be constantly with Jesus from the moment I open my eyes in the morning until I lay down to rest and close my eyes in rest.

Q1. (2 Timothy 2:3; 3:10-12; 4:7) Why are we quieted so quickly by mild societal disapproval of our witness? For fear of persecution and suffering. And also the fear of offending others. Could also be because we are not 100 percent ready to witness Christ although we say we love the Lord so much. What would enduring hardship "like a good soldier of Christ" look like in your life? Like a good soldier would mean for me is to fight, stand up and fight but not on my own strength. The past 10 years have been a real hardship in my family, my husband and my two children. Our endurance level has been tested to the maximum, every day I believe and know it is the hand of God that pours out grace and mercy. From car parks to MRI’s and CT scans and persecution from the people around us for being born again in the Lord, Christ, our highest General has been with us the soldiers, sometimes badly wounded, sometimes victorious sometimes just too tired to fight back and letting the Lord do battle for us. This has slowly but steady brought out the soldiers we have come to be knowing that these battles and overcoming them and still overcoming them has produced perseverance,character,,and hope.The hope in our General Jesus Christ that has never disappointed us. What would it look like to "fight the good fight" for you? To fight it with hope and trust in the Lord, to be able to cry but at the same time rejoice that we going to win this fight no matter what because God is on our side. To fight till the end never giving up but surrendering unto the Lord. That to me is a fight worth fighting.

Q4. (Acts 20:24b; Ephesians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:20) In what sense was Paul an ambassador? He was an ambassador for Christ. He was moving around from one place to another, getting people together, connecting the body of Christ and brings the gospel of Jesus In what sense are you an ambassador? In my small way, not in the broad sense I am an ambassador for Christ too. I try my best to share Jesus whenever there is an opportunity. While in this task as I get in touch with the various ministry and also people of other faiths I practice the kingdom culture and share Christ. Why is sharing your testimony important in your ambassadorship? It is important as it encourages the believers as well the non believers. It enhances the body of Christ.Testimony is a very important part of a Christian.

Q3. (Acts 20:24) Our life is valuable to God, of course, and we are to value it. However, what problems result from valuing our life for its own sake? For me is the problem of my heart being broken over and over again by the people whom I love and care for. However at this point of my life I do consider this life is worth nothing to me but then if I am thinking of my heart being broken over and over I am convicted to reconsider how much I am walking and trying to finish the race and complete the task as the Lord has given me.I certainly cannot do it on my own, need the Lord every step of the way. What does it mean to "take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23-25)? Anyone who intends to follow Jesus has to let Him lead. It is not to feel fear of suffering and pain or broken heart for the matter. It is not about trying to help ourselves, it is about self sacrifice which is not done out of performance but done out of a relationship with Jesus. What keeps us from doing that? Self . What does it mean when Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20)? That means Christ has taken Paul’s place and paid the price for his sins, so when he dies to himself, he have been crucified with Christ. His soul is not worldly anymore and he does what God tells him to do. Can we follow Christ, if we are actually trying to hang on to our own life? Definitely not.