Elwood C O'Dell

In a sense our baptism unites us with Christ. We become one with Him. (6:3) We are united with Him, much like being grafted into Him. His nature and our nature are fused together. (6:5) As we go under in baptism it symbolizes our sins being washed away. As we rise it symbolizes that we come alive in Him to a new life. In this way we are thus united with Him.

The moment we make the choice to accept God

Adam represents all may kind in the fact that he was God first created being. He was also the first to willfully choose to rebel against God

Yes there is sin without the law.

Through Jesus Christ we are restored to a right relationship with God the Father. The sin that separated us is removed and we can now have fellowship with HIM. Without Christ

There is an old hymn simply titled

God uses our sufferings and tribulations as a means to develop a Christ like nature or character in us. It is through our suffering and tribulations that we can find the hope that God offers to His children. The old hymn says it something like this.

In all three questions the answer is basically the same. It is through or by faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us at Calvary that we are justified (pardoned, declared not guilty) in the eyes of God the Father Almighty.

Does Jesus require obedience of his disciples? I ask myself,

Unless our walk matches our talk we have a problem. Unless what we say we are as a Christian is seen in the actions of our every day life, we have a problem. The problem being we have a

Dr. Wilson gave us an excellent answer. The fruit from a false prophet might include:

This is where the rubber meets the road. As many and old time preacher used to say,

Both the

Our Heavenly Father truly cares about us and what is happening in our lives. His response always has our best interest at heart. He can be trusted

We are to be continuously

As I think upon the words

The holy food and pearls were of value in the fact that the food was set aside for temple use and the pearls carried a value commercially. No one in their right mind would waste the sacred temple food on a dog nor would they throw into the slime of a pig pen something as valuable as a pearl. The gospel carries just such a value and as I understand it one should not waste time trying to continue to share it with those who reject it outright and who slander and discredit it. We need to be sharing with those whose hearts are open and hungry to be fed.

Isn

Matthew says you will be judged in the same way you judge others. If you forgive you will be forgiven. If you don't then expect the same treatment from them. I read this and it reminds me of the old saying

Have I ever done as this question states? The answer is yes. But thank God for the Holy Spirit and his conviction and the loving forgiveness of God and others. The attitude as I understand it that underlies censoriousness is as John Stott states,

Worry is always in the future tense. So why do it? It may never come to pass. Just live the moment knowing His grace and strength are sufficient for it. For me the command I see here is plain and simple:

The command is to

Christ uses the