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Q4 During the time of David there were so much fighting resulting in the Israelite having to suffer. God loved His people and wanted to free them from their sufferings. To make them aware of His presence and to assure them that He is with them (Immanuel), He revealed His plan of salvation to them in the birth of a Saviour to a virgin called Mary.

Q4 Diotrephes sought self glorification. His focus is more of self than of God. He wanted attention. This showed that he was insecure. He displayed showmanship. He did not have the qualities of what a leader should be. When God is with you who can be against you. He will strengthen you for He has formed you in the palm of His hand. God chose us and when He called He will put words in your mouth as in 1 Samuel 3 when He called Samuel to do His work. Rely on God rather than on men. Jesus did not called the learned as His Apostles but rather the simple fishermen with no high education. Leaders are always observed by people, especially the young who looked up on them and if they (leaders) do not know how to conduct themselves then the young will be lead astray. Instead of doing good, more harm will be done. When we do God's work we do not seek material reward fort God will bless us. Pride is a sickness. If we allow pride and controlling spirit to dwell in us then we are not doing God's will but our own. We cannot last, and will definitely fall and this will lead to resentment and anger. Many leaders fell into the trap of spiritual pride. If we are called to be leaders, we must sensitive to people who reached out to us and our behaviour and character must be of God's approval. Leaders are being watched and we need to conduct ourselves properly. Prayers, discernment and guidance of the Spirit is our strength. It is best recommended that we have a spiritual director to check us on our spiritual walk with God.

Q3 The reasons given for supporting Christian workers in their ministry are:- a) They go forth on a journey to continue Christ's work. - When sent out they required accommodations, transport, food, etc. They proclaimed the good news in the name of Jesus. - They acted on our behalf and by helping we are one in spirit with them in service. c) They seek funds from believers. - Believers benefited from them, cause they are there to help them grow spiritually as we are one the body of Christ. d) They made us co-workers. - We are one family as we profess we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore whatever reward they received we too will enjoy the joy with them. God knows our effect. Our work will not go unnoticed by God. For in Luke 6:38 it says: "Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap." In human understanding nothing will materialized if there are no support. Even if there is, the progress will be slow and sluggish for the world thinks in term of money only. With God, everything is possible. Since God chose and called us to continue in His work, He will see to our needs. For when He sent the 70 out (Luke 10:1-16) He instructed them not to take anything with them. We should trust in God's providence.

Q2 John told his readers to refuse hospitality to the false teachers in order that they may avoid and protect themselves from their wicked work. Refusing hospitality meant for a congregation was for self protection and not to become a participant in their error-spreading mission in other words to protect them from the contagion of false and deceptive teachers. We need to draw a line and use God's wisdom when it comes to false teachers. If we who are of different denominations profess the same faith and confess that Jesus is our Lord and our God, there should be justification in this verse.

Q1 When running ahead of Chris's teachings, we need to be careful and put our focus on Christ's teachings otherwise we will be deceived by the false teachers and lose all that we have accomplished and received our reward. When we follow in the fast phase of this modern time, we may miss our focus on Christ's guidance, thereby making us unaware of God's presence within us. If we abide in Christ and His teachings, God and His Son is with us. It is important especially with so many deceivers and false teachings in the world. We need God's power to be with us to guide and protect us.

Q3 "JESUS" was not a uncommon name as it was the Hebrew's shortened form of 'Joshua' Israel's most celebrated heroes. The real meaning is "Yahweh saves." Precisely what Jesus' mission was to do here on earth. His destiny was to save the people not from political or military salvation but from sin. To Joseph, the angel explained that by personally naming the child is deeply significant. It meant that Joseph acknowledged him as his own son and became the legal father according to the Semitic law. With this legal adoption, Joseph's ancestry as a descendant of David, was transferred to his legal son. Biologically Jesus is the son of God but legally he is the son of Joseph and heir to the promises of Joseph's ancestor, David. To Mary, God has given Jesus the throne of his father David. Legally making David to be Jesus' ancestor.

Q2 Facing a predicament, Mary has no choice but to accept what decisions her parents or Joseph had decided for her. The only option proposed by Joseph is to divorce her quietly so that she can continue living with her parents. Joseph is a righteous, honourable, matured and a true gentleman had to make a vital decision which can both protect Mary and himself from public disgrace.

Q1 When Jesus was young he was surrounded by carpentry. He grew up playing around Joseph's shop. As this was Joseph's trade, naturally he would want his son to take over his business when he passed on and continue in the family's trade. Jesus learned to saw and plane, drill and smooth and observed his father as the local contractor made business contracts and dealt with customers. These experiences have exposed him to make the right choices and designs, quality of his craft, compatibility of materials judgments, etc. With his skill, Jesus has made the perfect plows and yokes as in Matthew 11:28-30 'Come to me all who are weary and heave-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light.'

Q4 During John's time there were lots of conflicts in the church. The Antichrist with their false teachings would influence and sway the people away. Cities across the Mediterranean were filled with idol worship. Children of God who were weak fell victims to all these that is why John exhort his "children" to "keep yourselves from idols." We being in the world are easily influenced by it. False gods lack love and lawlessness. If our focus and attention are on these gods then we are distracted from our true God. Idolatry, the riches and glamour of the world, competition on statues, the modern technology of this time eg. TV, computers, emails, internet etc have taken over the minds and hearts of many people. As Christians we need to be aware of all these material wealth for they are temporary compared to the promises of Christ.

Q5 Among all women, God chose and favoured Mary, a virgin maiden and because of her humble submission, God in return blessed her as exclaimed by Elizabeth when she greeted her as the "Blessed Virgin Mary." Since Mary is the one who gave birth to Jesus and Jesus being God himself in the flesh made Mary to be the 'Mother of God.' In this aspect Jesus made a special place for her with the apostles and in heaven. Many Christians regarded Mary as an ordinary human chosen by God to bear Jesus and has no special significance thereby making them hesitant to exalt her as 'blessed among women.' Whereas the Catholics highly regarded her and give reverence to her in the church. How often can one be approached by God and be chosen to play such an important and prominent role like Mary? We need to exalt her for without her humble submission and obedience and her yes, God's plan of salvation for mankind would not have materialized today. We should give due honour and respect to Mary as God did.

Q4 Elizabeth's pregnancy and Mary's strong faith confirmed by the angel's remark that 'nothing is impossible with God' prompted May's positive response to the angel. We should imitate and follow Mary's example of trust, strong faith, simplicity, obedience and humble submission to God's will in our lives. Mary's love and trust in God, her humble submission and finally her 'Yes' to God to become His handmaid. When we respond to God, we are actually surrendering ourselves to allow God to control of our lives. In total submission unconditionally to carry on His work of redemption.

Q3 'Obedience and God's will." These are the two conditions needed to answered prayer. When we approach God in prayer and submit our petitions to Him, it must be according to His will. We only have to believe that our prayers will be answered. God the father knows our every needs and will grant our petitions according to His will and His time. As a father, He knows what is right and fitting for us, for God's ways are not man's ways. As an obedient child of God, all we need is to believe that God loves us and will answer our prayers according to His ways and not ours. When our motive is to achieve our will, then our prayers will go unanswered. For God attends to our needs and not our wants. If it is going to be our will then we do not need God any more. By our will, we are actually bending God's hands and this is not what a child of God should do.

Q3 God chose Mary to bear His Son, Jesus. Mary being of the flesh resulted in Jesus also born of the flesh. As Mary is conceived not by man but by the Holy Spirit, this made Jesus holy and divine. Thus Jesus' nature is both human and at the same time holy and divine and will be called Son of God. Our faith professes that Jesus is fully human and divine for He is the incarnation of God himself. Thereby making Jesus to be God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

Q2 'This life in the Christian Church' can be just an ordinary believer with no depths in the faith. Just a mere Sunday Christian just going to church to fulfill the obligation required of him with no further commitment. Whereas 'Life in the Son' calls for a deeper conversion of heart to draw closer to the God he professes to and to have a strong conviction and commitment to know and love the God that through His Son, Jesus there is eternal life. In faith relationship, we need to grow every day, feeding our soul with the word of God and to know our Saviour more intimately so that we can be effective witnesses and reach out to others as Jesus did. This way we are called to commit our lives and be an example for others so that they can see that Jesus lives in us. As St. Paul said that we should not boast of anything else except Jesus. Thus sharing of our faith and the love of God with others will draw men closer together. A religion is a calling to one's faith. The teachings and the norms of what the church tells us. Faith is what we profess and what we believe in but faith in Jesus is deeper in the sense that we need to know the person of Jesus more in depths. Once we come to know and learn more about Him, we become more intimate, more personal and may follow in His footsteps and living the way He wants us to live. We become more like Him. Just like the growing stages of a baby. He will tend to follow and adapt to the person who guides him thus imitating all the things this person teaches him.

Q2 During Mary's time, to conceive a child before marriage and especially when she is a virgin is out of the question. It is unbelievable and against their custom. It is unthinkable for an unmarried young woman to come to such a state, she will be stoned to death. She will be disowned and her family's namesake will be smeared. That's why when the angel Gabriel told her she was stunned and this made her questioned Gabriel on the how. For Zechariah, knowing that he himself and his wife are both of advanced age will in a general sense think that to conceive now is impossible. Mary was rewarded was because of her simplicity, obedience and her strong faith in God. Being brought up with according to God

Q1 The difference between a defeatist mentality and a belief is that that the former relies on their own strength and is easily influenced by the world. They are their own god, whereas a believer is born of God and Jesus' victory on the cross has overcome the world for the love of us. An unbelief is often passive to the face of evil and evil men and faces a lot of tribulation in life.

Q1 Mary, a virgin chosen by God to bear a son Jesus who is the incarnation of God himself. He will be great, the King of kings since he is the descendant of David, Israel's greatest king. He will be called "Son of the Most High" this shows Jesus is divine, Lord of lords as Mary's spouse is the Holy Spirit. 'His kingdom will never end' proclaims that our everlasting God's reign over mankind will be perpetual. As the Son of man, Jesus will be given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. He is called 'Emmanuel,' God with us.

Q4 As children of God, we should not fear. For fear does not come from God but from Satan. God is love and we have been told in 1 John 4:10 that it is not because we loved God but rather God loved us first and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Perfect love drives out fear. If anyone says, I love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar. If we strayed away from our loving God and lived life like the world then we have every reason to fear God. Eventually all of us will have to face God on judgment day. When we love as God does, we live in God and God lives in us. This way love is made complete among us so that we have confidence on the day of judgment,when Christ comes again. As we follow in Jesus' pattern and as a maturing believer, we should grasp the amazing love and forgiveness of God and look forward to this blessed hope and love His appearing.

Q3 In John 3:16 it said that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. "Love" is the keyword of our God. Everything about Him is LOVE. All His teachings is based on love. God's nature is love that is why He made and saved us. Love was God's plan when He made man. God's divine nature is Love. We are truly blessed to have a loving and compassionate God. Love is what God's unique and essential character all about. That is why the statement 'God is Love' is important because every believer has been showered with tremendous love to the brim till it overflows to others to experience it also. 'Love' is the universal language. As the saying goes 'love can move mountains.' It is through love that the hardened of hearts can be melted. We are called to be imitators of Him to reach out and love one another, for it is only through love that one can be transformed to be a better person. We often heard the sayings 'Like father like son and like mother like daughter'. When we are born, we tend to follow in the nature of our natural parents. Likewise if we are born of God, we should follow after God's likeness and nature. We should love and forgive as He did. Then only do we say we are God's child. If we fail then we don't really know or understand God and does not have any part of Him. God want us to experience Him in a personal way so that we can grow and be intimate with Him and with one another. Love heals and replaces evil doings in one's heart.

Q2 As children of God, we were given God's Spirit who dwells in us. In 2 Timothy 1:7 St. Paul said that we were not given a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline. Since we are clothed with the mighty power of God's Spirit living in us, we have nothing to fear for He (God's Spirit) who is in us is greater than anyone in the world. Therefore Satan you have no place in our lives for we belong to Christ. Even though we are of the flesh, the final victory against evil is won for in us lives the mighty Spirit of God whose power so far surpasses the enemy that there is no comparison. As long as we remain faithful to our God who has redeemed us through His Son Jesus Christ, who can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

Q1 We believe that Jesus is truly the incarnation of God in the flesh and like Simon we know that this is not revealed to us by our flesh and blood but rather by God's Spirit living in us. (Matthew 16:16) God's Spirit is alive and working within us. Satan the destroyer always wanted to poison our minds and confused us about God and His teachings. He knows we are of the flesh and are weak and easily fallen if we are not strong in our faith. At Christmas, Jesus was born in the flesh through Mary (flesh), a maiden chosen by God together with her spouse, the Holy Spirit who is divine. Therefore Jesus is both human and at the same time divine. For the whole passion, Jesus endured sufferings and humiliation from the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of His cross to Calvary and finally His crucifixion. He did all these to fulfill God's will and to save mankind from all their sins. As human He bore it in silence and endured the torture for the love of us. In the resurrection, Jesus showed His triumphed over evil, the glorious victory the divine nature of God revealed. It is through all these, we as believers will follow after Christ and be resurrected and have a sure hope of a place in the kingdom of heaven prepared for us by Jesus our Lord. Our Christian life is the sure promise of the new Jerusalem and the joy which we will one day inherit and celebrate with Christ Jesus.

Q4 God's most important commandment is love of God and love of neighbour. If we are called children of God we need to be obedient to the commandments and His teachings. With the Holy Spirit abiding in us and guiding us to live righteous life and obedient to Him, He will answer our prayers as promised in Matthew 7:7-11. If we know how to be obedient to our earthly fathers, what more will our Heavenly Father be if we have found favour with Him. He will truly grant us our requests. We truly need the grace of God to continue living our Christian life in obedience and to earn God's favour everyday of our life.

Q3 To 'lay down your life for your brothers' is a great calling and command from God. For the circular world when called upon, one will commit and respond only for their immediate family and sometimes it will take some coaxing before one would really put their heart into it. When answering to God's call and follow in His example we need a lot of sacrifices and compassion. This is only possible if one is personally and truly immersed in God's love and experience His touch in one's life. Unless one is really transformed in Jesus' image and born again in His Spirit that one is willing to submit to His will for us. In Jesus' teaching on the judgment (Matthew 25:35-40), we are told to reach out to one another in love. When we see our brothers and sisters who are materially poor, we need to reach out to them otherwise we have failed our God and Jesus' teaching has gone in vain. God said: "it is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)and also in Luke 6:38, we are asked to give and it will be given to us in good measure. God is always quick in blessing us in return. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son to be the sacrificial lamb and to die on the cross for our sin. If we say we have fellowship with Jesus then we need also to have fellowship with our fellowmen. Through this fellowship we can then come to learn of one another needs and situations and be able to reach out in actions and in love without conditions.

Q2 When anger gets into a person and if it goes uncheck, it will slowly creep inside the system and deteriorates which in turn churn up hatred in our hearts. As we continue to harbour anger and hatred in us, we allow our weak flesh to take control and produce an unforgiving spirit which will eventually lead to murder. Just like a diabetic person who has a sore on the leg and did not attend to the wound, slowly but surely the sore will get worst. If still unattended to, germs and bacteria can creep in and when it goes out of hand, the leg will eventually be amputated. If we want God to forgive us our sins we need to forgive those who have sinned against us. We need to flush our souls of the unforgiveness that manifests itself in harboured anger. We need God's graces and strength to overcome these weaknesses in us. We need to come before Jesus to allow His healing love overflow into us so that once filled to the brink we can allow it to overflow and reach out to others especially to share it with those who have offended us.

Q1 'Jealousy and self-centredness' led to Cain's downfall. Because his own actions were evil these made his living a life not pleasing to God. God rejected his offering over his brother Abel. Thinking and acting of the flesh Cain naturally resent Abel. If sin goes unchecked it can lead to anger and ultimately to murder. The world depends on their own way of life. They do and act as they like and always feel they are better off than anyone else. Whereas, we believers of Christ are taught that we are in the world but should not be conformed to the world. (Romans 12:2) When we seek to live righteously, it exposes the sin and corruption of those not committed to Jesus, stimulating both shame, anger, hatred - and persecution energized by a spirit of murder. The world hates us because they have no one to guide them except themselves, naturally they are envious of us.