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Patience or forbearance is such an important personal character element because it outwardly portrays to people if we are walking in the Spirit. Everyday we run into people who irritate us, people who are difficult to be around, people who say things to us that we'd prefer to lash out at, etc. The world is full of so many different personalities and some of those personalities clash with each other. We need to have patience so that we can deal with these people with love. If we don't have this personal character element and fight, argue, blow up at, etc people, then how can we say we 'love our neighbor'? Whether or not we have patience is a reflection of us as a Christian regardless of how much we may outwardly attempt to do in being a Christian. It is important to have peace in our family and our Christian community because it is a direct reflection of whether we all are walking in the Spirit and our love we have for God and our neighbor. If we want to draw people to God, we must have peace...or why would someone ever want to become a Christian. If we have patience for all people, whether family or community, then there is peace. And peace is a result of God's greatest command to "love".

If we don't have love for God and love for our neighbors, it is impossible to have joy and peace. Without love there is chaos of some kind in our lives and if there is chaos, we can't truly have joy and peace in our life. For example, if someone you know doesn't live like you think they should...they drink too much...they push their responsibility for their newborn baby off on one of their children...they outwardly announce their disbelief in God...and you just can't stand them. God commands that we should love them and by not doing so it creates a constant 'thorn in our side'. With that 'thorn in our side', you aren't at peace and don't have joy in your life because their behavior constantly bothers you. Instead, we should love the person(our neighbor), pray for them and their behavior; thus giving God their behavior to deal with. If we truly love them then, we won't be battling over their behavior and as a result we will have joy and peace in our life. Consequently, without love, there cannot be complete joy and peace.

Q1A: No, as long as we celebrate special worship days for the right reasons. If we do it as a legal obligation or believe we have to do it to be saved, we could be leading toward legalism. We need to celebrate by giving glory to God and with a grateful heart to Jesus for all He has done for us. Q1B: Paul grieved over the Galatians' because they were turning away from the true gospet back to legalism. He felt like he had wasted his time and risked his life to teach the Galatians the only way toward salvation only to have them listen to some Jewish Christians and fall back into Judaism beliefs. They just didn't understand what they already had through Jesus. Q1C: The significance that special worship days had on the Galatians and their movement towards Judaism was that they didn't understand that they had already been set free from their sins and had a new life because of Jesus paying the price and that they didn't have to celebrate or observe all of these special worship days to have salvation and be freed from bondage. Q1D: We can be blessed by observing special worship days by glorifying and praising God. They also serve in keeping us in remembrance of what Jesus did for us in dying on the cross and being raised again. In this remembrance we can show our gratitude for our freedom from bondage and the new life we now live. If we find ourselves falling into bondage over something we are doing, we are reminded of what we are doing and being set back on the right track through our worship. Q1E: If we begin to observe these days as a legal obligation in our schedules and not observe them for the right reason, we become legalistic in our observance. For example: Christmas is a legal holiday and if we only observe it for that reason we fall into legalism. But if we celebrate it in remembrance of the birth of Jesus and how His birth led to the events that gave us salvation and we glorify God for all He has done for us, we avoid falling into legalism.

Q2a) There is only one "true gospel" so by referring to a "different gospel", the risk is that the Galatians could believe there is a choice of gospels without realizing that one gospel will lead to eternal life but the other gospel will lead to condemnation, and not realizing which path they are on. If the Galatians believe the Judaizers "different gospel" thinking that is the path to eternal life, they are being blind-sided of the real truth. How do they know whether Paul is preaching the correct gospel or whether the Judaizers are preaching the correct gospel? The unknown to them could be leading them to hell without them even realizing that is where they are heading. Their soul could be lost forever, depending on their choice and thanks to a false teacher. Q2b) Misinterpreted scripture gives people and incorrect guideline on how to walk the Christian life. It could lead to fatality for them depending on what the misinterpretation is...meaning eternal life or eternal damnation. Not only does it affect salvation, but also the grace we are undeserving given by God if they don't receive correct teaching...prayer life and receiving answers...love, comfort, hope, etc. that God gives us...as well as any other part of scripture in knowing what an awesome God we serve.

(1a) Jesus gave Himself for our sins so that He could deliver us from the evil world. Jesus' death was for us so that we can have eternal life. (1b) Jesus rescues us today through His original plan of salvation. That we believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins; we ask for forgiveness os our sins on a regular basis declaring that we know we are a sinner. (1c) Jesus keeps us from falling back into our old ways by His Spirit living within us and convicting us of our wrongs or evil ways so that we ask for His forgiveness and help in living a more Christ inspired lifestyle.

What is the significance of the exalted Jesus walking among the lampstands? The significance of Jesus walking among the lampstands shows us that Jesus will stand in the midst of the Church throughout the Church Age. The Church Age is the period of time that the church is on earth and consists of all the followers of Jesus -- not the church building itself. What does this teach us about the church? This teaches that no matter what the church may go through, Jesus is always with us. Jesus is in control at all times. Even when times are difficult we have the promise of Eternity with Jesus to help us endure and press on through our trials. What does it teach us about Jesus? It teaches us that Jesus is the Great High Priest who is always with His church and is always interceding for us. That Jesus loves us and is always with us. We should show reverence to Jesus as our Lord.

The vision of Christ among the lampstands (1:12-20) is much different than the Carpenter-Teacher who walked the roads of Galilee and Judea. Why? The Carpenter-Teacher who walked the roads of Galilee portrayed God in the form of man. Although Jesus is perfect always, he walked among common men teaching them. The vision of Christ among the lampstands is one of the glorious Christ. It is the vision of Jesus as our Lord - one to be held in awe. What overall emotions is this vision of Jesus among the lampstands designed to evoke in the reader? Emotions evoked in this vision: (1) Awe (2) Thankfulness (3) Reverence (4) Comfort (5) Relief (6) Safety Why is this understanding of Jesus important to a balanced faith? This understanding of Jesus is important because we need to remember that Jesus is our Lord - we owe him respect and reverence. Jesus isn't our 'buddy' where we are equal to him. We must always hold Him in high esteem, worship Him, praise Him, thank Him, glorify Him.

In what countries are Christians presently experiencing tribulation or persecution for the faith? The majority of countries in the world still face persecution or tribulation. To name some: Africa, China, India, Columbia, Europe, Middle East, Russia and even America. American pastors are being shot, congregations having weapons open fire on them, and people simply being mocked for their Christian beliefs. How can the Book of Revelation be a comfort and encouragement to them? Revelation can be a comfort to those Christians who are being persecuted because it is a book of hope and promise. It enlightens Christians that their beliefs and faith are not in vain and there will be a just reward in the end -- that of eternal life with Jesus. Those that are killed for their faith go to a much greater place than here in this world.

What does 1:8 tell us about the Father? This verse tells us that God is the beginning and the end

Revelation is written to encourage and strengthen a church facing intense persecution. Why is the theme of testimony and witness so important to that purpose? When things are difficult and people are being persecuted, it is easy to give up whatever one is doing to avoid a negative situation. But when a positive testimony and witness is consistently being heard and seen, it provides strength and hope to push forward instead of giving up. Therefore, when we as the body of Christ are faced with difficult times and/or criticized by people who put us down for believing in Jesus and communicating his love for all of mankind; if we stay in God's word and read all of his promises for the future, it is easier to press on toward living and telling of his will for our lives. How is Jesus as the "faithful witness" (1:5) supposed to encourage us? Jesus died on the cross - shed his blood - suffered extreme pain - so that we were forgiven of our sins. He has also told us what the future in eternity holds for us as well. That in itself is encouragement to push forward each and every moment of our lives toward eternity. It is encouragement to live our lives for Him - it is encouragement to witness to others about his love regardless of how they perceive us - it is encouragement to know that our suffering, difficulties, pain, etc here on earth are only temporary. Why are we afraid to be clear witnesses in a culture where we aren't persecuted? Even though we aren't persecuted to the point that John was or how some people in other countries are persecuted for believing in Jesus and witnessing of Him, we still face mild persecution, rejection, ridicule, etc. in our own culture when we witness about Jesus. There are those out there that just don't care to believe in Jesus, calling it unreal, that persecute Christians for proclaiming the truth. Persecution means to harass constantly or oppress. My teenage daughter faces harassment quite frequently for being open about her faith in Jesus at school. There are other teenagers that just don't care to see the truth and will bully my daughter for her faith - fortunately my daughter is very strong in her faith and is unshaken by their harassment. I also think that many people find it difficult to witness because they feel that their lives are nothing spectacular and they are unworthy of witnessing about Jesus. If they would only realize that it is what Jesus did for us that qualifies us to witness about Him rather than what we have done for Jesus that qualifies us to witness, they would realize that their lives don't need to portray anything spectacular to qualify them to witness. Jesus is the one who did the spectacular for us and we need to proclaim that to the world.

My name is Susan and I live in Nebraska. I am married and have 4 children and 2 grandchildren. I am looking forward to this study of Revelation as it has always been a mystery to me as well as a curiosity. It is a book packed full of hope for eternity instead of doom and gloom like I once believed. It will be a blessing to get to know other Christians as we journey down this road of exciting learning! Blessing to all!