Krissi

What does the image of a lion tell us about Judah’s descendant? Even today, Israel uses the lion as a symbol for strength and unity. You can see it on official buildings and stationery, as well as Torah decorations. It symbolizes the kingly leadership of the tribe of Judah, which today means all Jews. It's both a this-worldly and next-worldly symbol, that the kingship of Israel would continue to be drawn from this subset of Israelites, and that the future king -- Jesus -- would also reign in heaven. How does Jesus qualify for the promise of the ruling scepter? Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, a lineal descendent of Jacob's fourth son. But there were many Judeans, so Jesus stands apart as a spiritual ruler or king of our hearts until the parousia. Why is obedience so hard for us? Why is it so important for us? Oh please. Obedience often runs against our human nature, desire and will. It's not obedience if it's easy, but just another task, but when the Holy Spirit prompts me to do that which I would rather not do, giving up my will is difficult. Obedience is the steps on the rising stairwell toward sanctification. I obey, or try to, because I know that I'll never get close to Him any other way. Furthermore, negatively stated, if I don't obey, there's a gap between me and God that remains until I confess and change my ways and thoughts. Interestingly -- at least to me -- obedience is the opposite of kingship or lion-ness, for when I obey, I cede ruling power to Jesus.

In what ways is the Holy Spirit an internal Guide for us? The Holy Spirit is the faint voice I hear in my mind's ear prompting me to do, or not do, things, or to think differently about what I hear and read. I know other people actually hear an audible voice, or receive instructions that are clear and detailed, but this has not happened to me. I hear a voice that often I confuse as my own imagination. But He promises that I will KNOW THE TRUTH, and that He will TEACH ME ALL THINGS AND HELP ME RECALL THEM, and so I cling to Him so my mind doesn't go astray. He also says I have to have an anointing, which hasn't happened. In what ways does he teach us? I always pray to be shown what to think as I sit down to study and do devotions. Although I have no "before and after" comparison, I do believe He guides my mind. I am praying He guides me toward a purpose and calling, that I know my spiritual gift (one He will give to me) and am mature in faith enough to use it. In what ways does he point us to Jesus' teaching? Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to us. Pastor Ralph, Sir, How can I know that this important passage is for me, and not only intended for those to whom Jesus was speaking? The anointing may not be a ceremony as much as the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. x

Why did the angel put Elizabeth and Mary together? How is Elizabeth a comfort to Mary? Although she spoke very eloquently after the Holy Spirit came upon her, she was still just a child; Elizabeth was her mother-substitute. Mary needed Elizabeth more than the reverse. How is Mary an encouragement to Elizabeth? She probably served as a midwife to her birth, (thus learning what she would have to go through in her own birth of Jesus.) For three months, this mother/cousin and daughter duo probably had deep conversations and prayer. To whom has God sent you to give and receive comfort? I do not receive comfort from anyone, though the occasional presence of my secular adult son is a joy. I am comforting a dying old man (95), my father.

I would just like to note that in a schism, it can also be the faith-filled people who leave. When my old Anglican church blew up about six months ago, congregants serious about their faith and Christ left; remaining were the corrupt minister and his blinkered followers. Liturgical churches can bury apostacy more easily than Bible-sermon centric churches because the liturgy carries faith and the minister/sermon are mostly incidental. So the enemies and heretics were left in the church and like Post-Pentecost, the “backdoor” revivals are happening in other churches to which faith-filled believers fled. In a way, COVID was great for the church. Weak churches folded. Weak pastors left the ministry. Fewer people remain in the pews, but their commitment to the Lord is much stronger. As they witness, churches will grow, again. What is the "anointing" that John is talking about? The Holy Spirit’s presence that enters certain believers to empower them to do their assignment/calling. I find it interesting that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit AND power, as if they were two separate things. I don’t understand this. In what way is anointing connected to the Holy Spirit in the Bible? The Holy Spirit is the agent in the godhead that anoints believers. Do you think that each Christian has received this anointing? I should, but don’t. Nor do I believe that every person has gifts, though I should. It’s just that in my experience, I have no gift nor do I have an anointing. I have no idea as to my calling or purpose. I’m lost. Yet my faith is strong(er) than ever. I have been isolated for three years now. Part of this time -- a large part -- has been spent in study of God’s word and reading the works of wise men, like Pastor Ralph, who comment and teach His word. After three years, I have no anointing. I want to serve Him. I want an assignment. But my feet have been nailed to the floor, in a place I detest and a life I want to flee. I have been kept by Him in solitude but don’t know why. I pray it is a preparation time for when I'm "released," but maybe this is it ... there is no bigger life? So when you ask if all Christians are anointed, I’d say that all Christians have the Holy Spirit, but not all have been empowered to complete particular assignments or callings God has chosen for them.

What is this antichrist that John expects to come? No one knows for sure, but it seems to me -- I'm not well informed -- that the antiChrist comes in a physical form, as a person or persons, and as an idea or ideology, the spirit of the antiChrist" both of which are contrary to Christ's teaching. What is the difference between the antichrist and antichrists in the church John is writing to? Some think that there will be many anti-Christs before the final, big anti-Christ. I can surely list people that I think are diabolical, but does this rise to the level of being an anti-Christ? We all do anti-Christ things (that's sin) and yet there must be people who are so saturated with sin that their lives and being are against God. In what ways do we see the spirit of antichrist at work in our day? In my opinion, totalitarian-like pressures among environmentalists, who seek to transform and control the economy through exaggerated environmental claims, and the COVID vaccine which is not about a virus but about compliance and control, getting us to accept that the state has ownership over our bodies. I am struck, in John's passages, how Jew-centric is the antiChrist -- setting up and defiling the temple, etc. -- and wonder if there are two parallel tracks at the end, one for Jews and one for Christians.

What kinds of sins are covered by the three examples of worldliness that John gives? I was struck by the importance of keeping '****' at bay sexually ... flesh and eyes, though obviously this includes things like materialistic urges, the need for acclaim and recognition and the desire for the raw power to lord it over others. People seem to have a drive for one or another primitive, driven sin at different times of life. My (atheistic) father used to tell me that people would fall on their sword to get money, sex or power. That could sum John's three examples. I think I have fallen on all three! Why are these sometimes so difficult for us to discern in ourselves? I don't know. Most people are ensconced in the world through their work or children, so the time to reflect deeply is short. Most people, too, just don't like to think critically about themselves. But with the Holy Spirit within us, it is His responsibility to point out sins that we possess and need to work on, not all at once, but sequentially. I think, too, that people trapped in sinful mindsets have difficulty finding a path out. Men addicted to **** come to mind, here, but other mental "addictions" are just as powerful. Why is worldliness so harmful to our future? It's also harmful to our present, Pastor Ralph, and since we live in a moving series of presents, it's harmful all our lives. To live a worldly life is to live a lesser life. John is saying that though our desires will disappear with our death, we will continue on in heaven shallower for each unconquered worldly desire. To live fully is to live in a way that ignores the world to the greatest extent possible. This isn't easy. We are in but not of the world. And many things in the world seem beautiful -- great architecture thrills me, for example. If I put architecture before God, if my cravings for beautiful things, aesthetic cravings, are stronger than my cravings for God, these seemingly morally neutral desires are sinful and harmful to my future.

What is "the world" in verses 15-16? What kind of love of "the world" keeps us from loving the Father? The world is everything that opposes God but it's not just an idea, like evil, but can include people, structures, ideologies, etc. What kind of love of "the world" keeps us from loving the Father? Anything that pulls me away from the Father is worldly love. My problem with this is that my biggest spiritual problem is my own mind, that is, my thought life. Am I a part of the world? Does my imagination, when it goes off on tangents, deny God? I think it does, but I'm not sure it's a part of the world. I'm saved. My thoughts, therefore, are being sanctified. When I love power or influence, I'm participating in the world's values, but it's ME that's participating. I choose to delve into worldly ideas. Maybe the world is different for all of us. My "world" may not be the same as yours. It seems, almost that the world is composed of the things and ideas that tempt me away from God. --

I struggle with your characterization of these verses that children, young men and fathers represents three stages of life. John could have used many other words to describe stages, but chose these ones … for a reason. It seems more logical that he’s actually writing to three separate groups of men (excluding women). Perhaps the men weren’t living up to their responsibilities, or were immature, acting like children? Speaking as an old man, John may be mentoring each male age group about what and how they should be thinking, praying and being in Christ, that is, “age-appropriate” spiritual behaviour. He singled men out because they were having problems, more so than women, so had to be reminded that they're supposed to progress in Christian maturity, to go from stage to stage, and not settle into an earlier stage which is less useful to Him. -- Against this interpretation is the text, which in the English seems not to be chastising but encouraging, as you note. It's in the perfect tense.

How does hate and unforgiveness blind us spiritually? If we have been darkened by hurt and hate, how do we come into the light? I didn't see anything about unforgiveness in this passage, just hate, but can understand why you believe unforgiveness is a consequence of hate. I read through a few of the comments and was struck by the order of events in our lives: first,we are hurt, betrayed, unfairly treated, abused; second, we fester hate and bitterness; third, that hate and bitterness impacts our Christian faith until we deal with it which is called forgiveness. I wonder what real forgiveness is like. Someone wrote that forgiveness is not a feeling but a choice. I agree, but sheer determination seems to be a far cry from love, which is the chapter's focus. Perhaps deciding to forgive is only the first step. Another commenter said that we truly love others when we pray for them, not about them. John tells us to keep Jesus' commands or we are not true believers. We know we are keeping His commands when we act out of love for Him, not love for others. When we obey His word, love for God is made complete. The analogy of darkness/blind/old and light/sight/new are clusters of related ideas. Okay, now I'll answer your questions, if I can -- finally! First, hate is unforgiveness even though there are separate words for both. Unforgiveness is sin, and all sins separates us from God. In a way, hatred precedes some sins -- If I were to murder someone, it wouldn't be out of love but hatred or vengeance or any of the sins that seem like hatred. Since darkness=hate=sin=unforgiveness are opposed to the light, we are blinded spiritually. Second, this is the harder question to answer. After hate comes into us, it seems we're blinded to it -- at best, partly aware. The Holy Spirit's function is to bring that hatred or sin to light, which means we are aware of it and somewhat motivated to deal with it. Then, by His power, we pray over our sinful condition and ask for help. To some degree, we can coerce ourselves into loving not hating, but I'm not certain this results in a true love. -- I'm sorry, but I can't go much deeper than this because of my own hatred toward people who have deeply wronged me.

The tendency, today, is to go to the other extreme, to view Jesus as your best friend who demands nothing more than shallow affection, so frankly, I'm not worried about the legalistic attitudes in church today. Perhaps a dose of behavioural rules would help the church in it's sanctification process? I appreciate how you worded it: "... to make love our center." The idea is that love becomes the motivating force for behavioural ethics. I need to know more of God as love, not only as a basis of ethics, but as the basis of worship. You quoted scripture, Pastor Ralph, which indicated that I could be sure if I know Him if I keep His commandments ... but I don't. I sin in thought more than deed, but still sin. I would think that merely trying to keep His commandments -- love God, love neighbour -- would be so impossible that the commandment-keeping command would necessarily be broken. Continually. I''m not wording this well because these thoughts are complex and i'm not sure what to think. I guess what I'm trying to say is that deeds done out of motives other than love are not "good" even if they are aligned with the commandments. Secular people do good deeds, too, without thinking of the commandments. So, for a Christian to obey God, h/she has to not only do the deed required, but act in such a way that h/se is motivated by love ... i'm not sure I've ever had such a pure love as my motive.

It is not IF I sin, but WHEN I sin, Pastor Ralph! Jesus AND the Holy Spirit are parakletoi called into action as I sin. Constantly, Jesus' blood propriates God's anger toward me -- not just my sin, but me! -- as he stands in the celestial courtroom, offering Himself as evidence for my acquittal. I will never be found guilty as long as Jesus is my parakletos. I know this should be comforting, and that I should not take this for granted, but I don't have a deep enough sense of my own sin to really understand the sacrifice of Jesus. Something inside of me says we all sin, so my condition isn't unusual or remarkable in any way. But I know that Jesus' death gave me a blanket pardon for all I have done and will do, and if I had a greater sense of sin, I'd appreciate it more. I do want to avoid sin, in part, for selfish reasons -- I know how difficult it is to extract myself from sinful thoughts and deeds, so I don't want to be stuck in that mire, again. Since Christ's sacrifice has already been made for my sins and all people's sins in the future, avoiding sin won't change this fact. I want to avoid sin because I hope and pray to hear His voice clearly and have the sort of fellowship with Him that I would have with someone I trusted and loved on earth ... but bigger and better! As an aside, I also think it's amazing that our parakletos is also our hilasmos. Simultaneously, He both argues for us and is the evidence needed for our pardon.

Confession doesn’t involve other people but is between me and God. Similarly, absolution or forgiveness of sins does not involve other people, even though the sins I committed may have hurt others. As I read Pastor Ralphs words, and skimmed through several comments, I was struck by how confession was something one did, and then moved on. I see confession as continual. There are degrees of confession just as there are degrees of sorrow, humility and contrition. My confessions are as deep and meaningful as my sorrowfulness for committing the deed. If my regret is overwhelming, my confession is more "effective." So, I guess I'd define confession as my continuing awareness and deepening sorrow for thoughts and deeds that are wrong or sinful. In prayer, I discuss the problem and my contrition before God, pleading for his help and that he overlooks my sin. I don't think a Christian can stop confessing sins. He or she can purposely walk away, but the Holy Spirit within make it impossible to live without eventually returning to God. The act of re-turning to God includes confession. Are there degrees of confession? if so, there would be degrees of forgiveness, logically. But I don't believe this. If there is no confession, but only confessing, then perhaps as I sense the gravity of my sin, I increasingly bring it to the Lord, or as I increasingly sense what I've done, my intellectual grasp of thee problem includes acknowledging it's gravity? If I have confessed, He has forgiven. It's a done transaction. If I am confessing, He is forgiving. It's an open transaction without closure. I wonder if I'm ever able to reach the point where I regret my sin enough to be completely forgiven. I know this isn't the theologically correct thing to write, but it's what I'm thinking now. I confess this!

The verse from I John is a conditional set of sentences that show what happens under a hypothetical condition. IF (the condition or antecedent): we walk in the light THEN (the consequent): 1) we have fellowship with one another, and 2) the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The reverse it true, also: IF we walk in darkness THEN 1) we will be out of fellowship, and 2)we will not be cleansed from sin. Scary stuff, no? I've met many Christians who do not go to church or have any fellowship. John would say they are walking in the dark. This is easy to determine. It's harder to know if we are cleansed from all sin. Walking in the light seems critical, but do any of us walk in the light? Really? Do we see dimly? Does the light get brighter as we press into our saviour? This has to do with sanctification, not salvation, I believe. We "walk" after being saved. It's the process of sanctification. As we walk in His light, fellowship deepens as Jesus' blood cleanses.

We are at a surface level with other Christians because our focus is on each other, not God. If we look toward each other, we'll fear self-revelation and distrust their response. If we concentrate on Christ, not each other, we'll grow closer. So many small groups devolve into self-help sessions. That's not the point of small groups or accountability groups -- we're to help each other grow in faith, to know Jesus better and more intimately. Our goal is not to know each other better, but to know Him better. If we were all focusing on Christ, the differences between us would melt away. Having said this, I do think it's important to have friends who are Christian as well as a Christian spouse and family. Friends are people with whom we have outlook, background and interests in common. Such commonality is not a sin. It is a sin, however, to focus on those commonalities and not Christ. I have never been in a group like this, so thank you, Pastor Ralph, for raising the bar and helping me realize how greatly I fall short in fellowship. I am in a weekly woman's group and have shared intimately about my divorce to these women. Surprisingly, as I spoke, the curtain rose on their own sordid stories. Now that we've self-revealed, it's difficult to get the conversation back on the Christ who heals, delivers and sets us on our feet again.

Why do you think the Christians don’t believe their own prayers ... ... because it's hard, Pastor Ralph, to go against reason and logic in faith. Faith is just difficult. Old ways of thinking have to be erased. Doubts have to be buried in prayer. And God's will has to be ascertained, which is the biggest stumbling block of all. It's one thing to believe God can do anything, but another thing entirely to believe He will actually do what we pray for. That's the problem. If I put myself in the shoes of those praying for Peter, I know I'd be wondering if God actually wanted to release him. I'd not doubt His ability to save Peter, but His will to do so. At some point, after all, God didn't save Peter, who was murdered. Did people stop praying for him before his death? I doubt that. God's will changed. It's not that difficult to believe God CAN do what we pray for, but quite difficult to believe He will do it.

I have put off answering this question for many days because I''m not sure what to say. Katy, above, wrote beautifully about caring and charity -- not much more should be added. The sentiment is right -- caring for people in another church, or within your own church, by giving them money. When money is needed, this is right. Some people emphasize giving and social responsibility, neglecting the interior life of faith -- in contrast, others emphasize oneness with Jesus, neglecting the duties and love we have for others. Finding the balance is difficult. It seems that the monetary gift from the Antioch believers to the Judean believers was a balanced gift.

Barnabas was cultured, multi-lingual, well-travelled and a Jew. Saul had all of Barnabas' abilities as well as a similar social background, but had more experience in church planting, organizational management, negotiating difficulties among believers and between believers and outsiders, and dealing with theological apostacy and schism. So many of the apostles were simple men. Their ordinariness is emphasized in my church: it is often said that the apostles were "men like you" -- God calls the simple to do His will. Yet Paul and Barnabas' callings reveal that God also chooses sophisticated and educated individuals when the need for such arises. Gospel work is not limited to any social, educational and cultural class. Even upper class, well-educated and sophisticated people can be used by God! I'm not certain why it took so long for Paul to help Barnabas. Paul must have been aware, through the grapevine, of the explosive growth in the number of Christians in Antioch -- as you wrote, the distance between Paul and Barnabas was a mere 150 miles. Certainly believers trekked between these locales. Just as Barnabas knew about Paul ... Paul must have heard about Barnabas. My hunch for why it took so long is simple -- Paul was a busy, overwhelmed man. It took a personal visit from Barnabas to pry Paul from these duties. Can you imagine the depth and flow of conversation between these two learned, cultivated and well-traveled believers? What a joy it must have been for them to work together, if only for a year. Two faith-filled men of like mind who didn't have to mince their words or explain themselves to each other. It must have been a relief for both of them, a time of ease and fellowship.

It's my understanding that Paul was born in Tarsus (Turkey) and so returned "home" to minister among the people he knew from childhood. As there were many Jews in Tarsus, Paul probably started with his own "tribe" and then slowly expanded his ministry to include non-Jews in that city. God had to soften Paul's heart, first toward Christian-Jews (Damascus road) and then toward gentiles. I would imagine that this took some time as his patterns of thinking were so parochial and Pharisaical. But once that jump was made -- from thinking of Christians as a Jewish sect to thinking of Christians as a universal religion or a religion for everyone -- then the missionary mentality and impulse quickly blossomed. Today, we seek to evangelize every people group, giving them the bible in their own tongue and contextualizing it to fit their culture, a goal that would not be possible if we saw Christianity as limited to the Jews, or small group.

I do not speak in tongues however I do believe I've been baptised in the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the spirit are parceled by God according to His need, not ours. I'd like to speak in tongues but God has other assignments for me that do not involve this gift. The idea that every believer who is baptised in the Holy Spirit has to have the same gift is simply not scriptural nor does it ring true in my life-faith experience. When God needs a sign to confirm the saved status of a group to those who would otherwise reject them, I'm certain He will bestow the gift of tongues or other miraculous gifts.

Pastor Ralph -- these are head-scratching questions ... hard ones! Since Jesus is God, why is he dependent upon the Spirit’s anointing? I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea that Jesus voluntarily gave up some of His divine prerogatives and attributes to be human. That's the kenotic aspect you speak of, His emptying of Himself. After putting aside His power -- is giving up His power the right way to state it? ... what exactly did He give up? -- He needed the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to do the work He could have done had He remained wholly God. There's something strange about this: I don't understand it. You seem to be saying that Jesus gave up His own divinity to absorb or retake the divinity of the Holy Spirit. That's why He could do miracles, the power of the Holy Spirit's outworkings. He could have done them as Himself, as God, but chose to do miracles via the HS??? This may explain why He had to be anointed or "filled with the Holy Spirit" for His salvation mission ... as a man. Are we dependent upon the Spirit’s empowerment in a similar way, or is it different for us? I know that the expected answer is that we are just as, or more, dependent on the Spirit's empowerment than was Jesus, but I can't quite accept that what happened to Jesus is what should be happening to me: He's God ... I'm just little me. A huge gulf separates our relative statuses. The HS seems to come in varying amounts according to the need or person. Maybe I got just a little bit of the HS whereas Jesus received His full anointing. But the quote you gave seems to negate this: You shall receive power when the HS comes upon you." It doesn't say "a little bit of power" but just "power." And you get it all at once. You receive it. Done deal. So it seems that we get all the HS power at once when the HS comes on us. Is this true? I just don't understand where I fit into this. I can do things without the HS's power. Counterfeit things. I could start a ministry just on sheer charisma and cleverness (if I were charismatic and clever, which I am not). So is the HS an "add-on" to our natural abilities, or is it true that we can do NOTHING without Him? And, can we ask to be anointed or is this something like the upper room scenario when unexpectedly He descends? I want to be anointed to do a task I believe God is asking me to do. Do I ask for this, or does it just happen? Must I wait patiently, or "in faith" move forward?

I heard an expression recently which explained, in part, God's delay in answering some of my prayers -- "He is working both ends of your prayer." By this, it is supposed that God is working in my heart and character as well as in the hearts and characters of others involved. Such working happened in the passages you listed, Pastor Ralph. Peter had a vision as well as Cornelius. God worked both ends to achieve His will. He did so by sending an angel as His emissary. He didn't speak with an audible voice, or even with the nudging of the Holy Spirit, but sent angels to give His clear dictates and instructions. I have many Jewish friends and acquaintances. To this day, they regard non-Jews as "other" or even "unclean." They take pride in rituals that set them apart from us, a way of asserting dominance or superiority, at times. So it makes perfect sense to me that Peter looked down his nose at "gentiles" using dietary laws as a pretext to avoid gentiles as well as a ritual that conferred special significance to Jews. God had to remove such pride and prejudice. He had to, repeatedly, retrain Peter's mind so that Peter could understand His universal mission of salvation. At the same time, the Holy Spirit had to work the other end in the gentile Cornelius. An angel spoke to Cornelius, too, with specific instructions -- same angel? The meeting of gentiles and Jews would not have happened without God's intervention on both ends. His desire to expand salvation to all humanity had to be taught. Jews still reject Christians. particularly with a Jewish heritage. Continuing conflicts over dietary laws, circumcision, etc. are described in the Bible. Changing ingrained attitudes, worldviews and prejudicial beliefs took time and the constant prodding of the Holy Spirit. Today, the overwhelming majority of Christians do not have a Jewish heritage, a fact made possible by Peter's struggle and eventual acceptance of non-Jews as equal believers in Him.

In the list of elements of the Full Armor of God, where does the Spirit show himself? Last. Other parts of armour are listed before the Spirit is specifically mentioned. I'm not sure this is significant, however. I recall reading somewhere that the double-edged sword is the only piece of spiritual armour that can be both offensive and defensive, so perhaps it was listed last because we should be wary about offensively using the Holy Spirit. Why is Spirit-directed prayer so important for the believer? In our quest to be Christ-like, our prayers increasingly mime the mind and intention of Christ Himself. The Holy Spirit as an intermediary makes such sanctification possible. Spirit-directed prayer should replace self-generated prayer as we become more like Him. How have you experienced this is your life? I don't have any tales of miraculous delivery, as do others above, but I believe the Holy Spirit quietly and secretly guides my life and corrects me so that I stay on His path. One of the reasons I took this course is that I wanted to be more aware of the working presence of the Holy Spirit, to feel His presence, not just know it, and to be overwhelmed by Him. Slowly and incrementally, I pray this happens and think it is happening.

Notice how Philip learns what to do – from an angel (verse 26) and from the Spirit (verse 29). Can God speak to us today by his Spirit, or was this just for the first century? God has never spoken to me as clearly as he spoke to Philip, with instructions and detailed commands. I wish He would! Still, I believe God does speak to other Christians in an audible or clear voice. Hanks is such a wise man when he tells us to wait reflectively and patiently for God's response! Yes, for me, too, it's more of an inner voice or prompting, not as dramatic or clear, but still God.

I'm not much of a singer, but i can say that when I make mosaics, sculpt or paint, I feel a zen-like presence of the Lord, a peace deep within. Perhaps this is what singing does to most people? (I loved Uncle Dave's story above about the little church alive with singing that he heard as a child.)

Until I read this section, Pastor Ralph, it never occurred to me that anything I did or said pleased God because I thought God would find a flaw in my gift or that my motive was not entirely pure. But, if God enjoys the smell of barbeque and baking, as well as the smell of incense, then perhaps my little acts of obedience and my prayers, imperfect as they are, can satisfy Him. Surely the Philippians could have given more, but what they gave was enough for Paul to claim their sacrifice was acceptable. Maybe God sees the little good in what we do, not the mixture of good and selfishness that more accurately characterizes our acts. "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me _____! And when I ____ I feel his pleasure." Fill in the blanks. The best part is at the end -- "I FEEL HIS PLEASURE." Lord, let us feel your pleasure. Please, let us feel your pleasure.