Paul H

Q4. (1:18-19) Have you ever felt you were of no worth or of no value? For most of my life the answer to this question would be no. When I finally saw things as they really were though, I could see that the things which I had placed value on and by which I had used to value my own worth were actually not very valuable at all and were apt to crumble to dust. What does 1 Peter 1:18-19 say about your worth? God gave his Son to redeem me. On that basis, in God

Q3. (1:17) Why are people in our culture so upset when they sense they are being judged by someone else? I think that everyone likes to think that they are basically good people, that they have never done anyone any harm, that they do good. Whilst that may be true when comparing ourselves with each other, that can never be true in God

Q2. (1:15-16) In your own words, how would you define "holiness"? It means being set apart and separate from those who are not holy. This doesn

Q1. (1:13) What about Christ's coming should get our undivided attention? Christ

Q5. (1:8-9) According to 1 Peter 1:8-9, what is the basis of Christian joy that is "inexpressible and glorious"? The receipt (note present tense) of our salvation. We are (not will be) saved and that is where this great joy springs from. How does this joy interplay with human emotions? Joy is a human emotion and the joy which I feel is human joy, but it is a joy based on something which will not perish, which will not pass and that kind of joy is something very different from the usual emotion of joy. Is it essentially emotional? Well, it is as I explain above an emotion and therefore emotional, but it is founded on something which won't perish. How does it differ from what is generally regarded as the pursuit of "happiness"? See above really, it is permanent and will not change. Extra Credit: How can you tell the genuine article of joy from the counterfeit? The genuine article based on salvation is always there whereas the counterfeit might give us a high for a while, but ultimately will leave us usually to be replaced by an equal low.

Q4. (1:6-7) Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? Yes. First of all, it was during a very difficult period of my life that I first turned to God and found Him standing right there next to me. The difficulties which had seemed to me enormous and impossible to overcome did not disappear, but from that moment, I knew that God was in control. That was just over 2 years ago. Since then the knot of problems has, with God's help, begun to unravel. There are still difficulties but over the course of the past 2 years, time and time again, I have seen God working to protect me and to provide for me and by that experience I have come to trust Him more and more. In that way, the difficulties which I have been through and sometimes continue to go through both kindled my faith and, each time I lean on God in difficult times, strengthens it. How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus? It testing brings the person whose faith is being tested closer to God and each refinement makes that person more and more like Jesus.

Q3. (1:5) According to 1 Peter 1:5, what is God's part in securing your salvation? What is your part? God's part is to show us His great mercy. Our part is to accept that mercy through faith in Jesus Christ

Q2. (1:2) Why do forgiveness (sprinkling) and obedience come together as a package? Because forgiveness requires true repentance and true repentance requires obedience. Why is it deceptive to think you can have one without the other? Because forgiveness is a two way process. It requires our repentance, which requires our obedience before we can be forgiven. Extra credit: If true faith requires obedience, how can we say that we are saved by grace rather than works? (Ephesians 2:8-10) The source of our salvation is God's grace. Without that grace the rest would be meaningless. However, given that grace then faith and works and obedience are all a part of our salvation but stemming from God's grace.

Q1. (1:1) How would you describe the behavior of a Christian who identifies more with his present homeland than his heavenly one? I would describe such a christian as incomplete, and I am sure that it applies to most if not all Christians to a greater or lesser extent. Have you ever caught yourself doing this? Frequently, the world around me assumes primary importance. What has to happen to get our spiritual priorities straight? It takes prayer, and reading and studying my bible.

.... I should have read on to Numbers 31 15-16 where it is made clear that it was on Balaam's instructions that the women ensnared the Israelite men. So it is clear from the account in Numbers that all of this was on Balaam's counsel.

Though Balaam wouldn

What precipitated the plague of snakes? The Israelites complaining about God's provision for them Is being impatient with God

Q1. (Numbers 20:1-13) What did God tell Moses to do to bring water out of the rock? What did Moses actually do? God told Moses to speak to the rock. What he actually did was to strike the rock twice. In what way did he sin? First; He disobeyed God in that he did not carry out what God had commanded. Second; he did not give glory to God for the miracle which was to happen when he talked about the water being brought forth by himself and Aaron rather than as a result of God's power. What emotions and attitudes were behind his sin, do you think? I think that he just wasn't thinking. He had done a similar kind of thing so many times and maybe he was just taking it all for granted. What must leaders do when they sin in these ways? Repent and learn from mistakes.

Q1. (Numbers 11:11-15) Why do you think Moses is so frustrated in his prayer? The constant to-ing and fro-ing between the moaning people and God was beginning to wear him down. Up until this point he had mainly got over this by simply handing everything over to God and although that made a difference in the short term, sooner or later the moaning would start over again and this time it appears that the discontent extended even to his own family. He had had enough and wanted to deal with all of this once and for all. What do you think is going on in him emotionally and physically at this point? Exhausted in a word. Does he have any grounds for his complaints? He does have cause for complaint, but not against God. God has, up until this point, always answered Moses, but this is the first time that Moses has cried out in this way. Do you think this is designed to be a model prayer? Not really, although it does show us that we can and should be open with God about our feelings. However, my view is that this kind of prayer is appropriate only for points of crisis which is what Moses had clearly reached here. Why are we shown this prayer? I'm not sure. Obviously, it is a crucial point in the whole narrative and a critical point in the story of the move of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. How did God answer him? As always, He dealt with the problem which Moses had put before Him. First; He provides alternative hands to take some of the weight from Moses' shoulders (there is a big lesson here for us). Second; He deals with the immediate moaning - no meat - but at the same time teaches the people a stern lesson by providing so much meat that it seems that they would have been literally wading in it and by the end of the month begging for it to stop.

Q4. (Leviticus 1:3-9) In the burnt offering for an individual's sin: What is the significance of the offerer laying his hand on the animal's head? Why do you think the offerer is to slay the sacrifice rather than having the priest do it? How is the animal's blood significant in sacrifice? In what ways does Jesus' sacrifice on the cross fulfill all of this? The important thing here is that sin is a terrible thing, which is the absolute opposite of God. The consequence of sin is death. In the case of the animal sacrifices here, the death is the death of an innocent animal and the purpose of the offerer of the sacrifice being so intimately involved in the sacrifice was to tie the sinner to the death which results from the sin. When Jesus was sacrificed on the Cross, His death was as a result of my sin, and the only alternative to His sacrificial death would have been my death as a result of my sin and not just my physical death (which is going to happen anyway) but my spiritual death resulting in me being cut off from God for all eternity. It is important that I am mindful of Christ's sacrifice for me in the same way as the offerers of sacrifices were in Old Testament times.