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. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? Some “unwholesome talks” common among Christians today include back biting, saying things to demean others or to make people look down at others etc. What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? Paul gives the following guidelines regarding what we say: 1. It must be that which is helpful for building others up 2. It has to be only that which is according to the hearer's needs 3. It should be beneficial to the hearer How common is it among Christians? Unwholesome talks and and character assassination and the like are unfortunately common in our churches today. How can we prevent it? We need revival for Divine intervention in our lives

Q43. (Ephesians 4:26-27). Why did God give us the emotion of anger, do you think? How can anger be dangerous? How can we keep from sinning when we are angry? Is anger itself sin? He gave us the emotion of anger to enable us to see and react appropriately by correcting a wrong. Jesus Christ was angry when his Father’s house was turned into a business center for buying/selling and money exchange. However anger can be dangerous as demonstrated by the elder brother of the prodigal son and Cain who was jealous and angry because God accepted his brother’s sacrifice while his own sacrifice was not accepted.

Q42. (Ephesians 4:17-19) Using Ephesians 4:17-19 as a basis, how would you describe (in your own words), the secular, non-Christian mindset of our age? Why are we tempted to conform to its values? The secular, non- Christian mindset of our age is generally corrupted, immoral and offensive to God. Unfortunately, this attitude is also found among some who claim to be Christians. The Christians who are tempted to conform to this ugly mindset are those who are not rooted in the Lord and his word. Those that are rooted may and can be tempted to conform in such but have the power to resist such temptation. Even if they fall, and we sometimes fall, can get up, confess and repent and move on again.

Questions Click on the link below to discuss on the forum one or more of the questions that follow -- your choice. http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/1984-68-elder-son/ 1. Who do the younger brother, father, and older brother represent in this parable? The younger brother represents sinners such as tax collectors etc that the heavenly Father seeks to save. The father represents God the Father who is always on the lookout for any of his lost child to return home. The elder brother represents the fault finders, judgmental, the critics such as the Pharisees. Love is not in their vocabulary except condemnation of others including the Lord God. 2. What was the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees towards the kind of people who were being converted? (15:1-2) The scribes and Pharisees grumbled that Jesus was welcoming and receiving sinners and tax collectors whom they consider as the unclean and rejects of the society who should not be associated with. 3. What is at the root of the elder brother's anger towards his father? Have you ever experienced that kind of anger toward God? How do you get rid of that kind of nasty hidden anger? The elder brother was angry and jealous that the younger brother who had squandered his own shared inheritance and deserved to be shunned and rejected was not only welcomed by his father, but was being treated as a celebrity. I do get angry often but cannot recall any with the magnitude of the elder brother of the prodigal son. Lord God help me not to get angry with you or any one. 4. The parable ends with the father urging the elder son to come into the celebration. As you read the characters, how do you think the story turned out? Did the elder son soften and come inside, or did he stiffen and remain outside? I think the elder son eventually piped down and joined the celebration but probably not very joyful nor happy. 5. How does your own compassion level match your Heavenly Father's compassion towards the lost? What can you do to conform your heart to his? Far less than that of my Lord; I cannot match God’s compassion at all. I can however try to achieve this by prayer and seeking the Holy Spirit’s help. So help me Lord to be as compassionate as you are. 6. How should we celebrate the repentance of sinners in ways that we are not already doing? We can do so through praise and worship to the Lord God at a small gathering accompanied with good music. This can attract others to join and hear the testimonies and also give their lives to Christ.

Q41. (Ephesians 4:12) What's wrong with the old model of the minister or pastor being the main worker in the Church? How does it hinder people in the congregation? How does it hurt the community? What is the purpose of pastors and teachers? In a situation where the minister or pastor is the main worker in the church, members will not have the opportunity to develop their ministry. Their potential will not be tapped. The purpose of pastors, teachers etc is to train and equip members of the congregation to develop their potential for service in the church. Is this is not done; there will be no growth in such a congregation.

Q40. (Ephesians 4:11) How could a person have the spiritual gift of pastor or teacher without having an official position in a church? What must a church do if its "senior pastor" doesn't have the spiritual gift of pastor? Who gives these gifts? Spiritual gifts are from God. A person may have such gift but does not have an official position in the church. In this case, he should make himself available to the church leaders who can (hopefully) use his gift to build the church. This is more so where the senior pastor does not have such gift himself.

Q39. (Ephesians 4:11) How can we stir up the gift of evangelism among members of our congregations? What might be the earmarks of a person with this gift? How can we encourage and stimulate the Spirit-gifted evangelists in our midst? This can be achieved through preaching to the congregation so as to stir up the spirit of evangelism among the congregation.

Q37. (Ephesians 4:7-10) Who gives spiritual gifts? The Lord God Almighty gives spiritual gifts through the Lord Jesus Christ. Can our "natural" talents be related to our "spiritual" gifts? How? What is the difference between a natural God-given talent and a spiritual gift? Spiritual gifts and talents are both given by God. To me, spiritual gifts are those given by the coming of the Holy Spirit after receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. These are like speaking in tongues that were fist manifested at Pentecost by the disciples. They also include ability to heal. Talents on the other hand are natural ability or skills that we are born with that enable produce for example, some crafted items without training etc.

Q38. (Ephesians 4:11) If there were apostles today, why kind of function might they have? There can still be a place for apostleship today. Their function will be to provide leadership to a group of churches to ensure healthy spiritual and numerical growth in love. What needs do our congregations and regional groupings of churches have that an apostle might meet? Such needs include but not limited to healthy congregation that is full of the power of the Holy Spirit and are united in peace and love for one another.

Q36. (Ephesians 4:3) How much energy must we expend on Christian unity? All it takes and whatever it cost by the leading and the enabling of the Holy Spirit. What is "the bond of peace"? That which will keep and bind us together; love. How do we strike at peace when we are intent on argument and dissension? we can be able to keep the peace and unity of the church only when we are able to avoid nasty arguments and dissension. This is tough and only achievable with the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit.

Q35. (Ephesians 4:2) Why are patience and humility so important to preserving unity? Without the two character traits of patience and humility, there will be no unity. What happens to the reputation of Jesus Christ when we have right doctrine along with a sense of arrogance towards those who disagree with us? We will be crucifying Jesus when have the right doctrine and preach the doctrine but fail to exhibit his character. How are we to be both "gentle" and to "fight the good fight of faith"? To be gentle and yet fight the good fight of faith is to learn to live with people with disagreeable character in love, humility, gentleness without compromising our faith.

Q34. (Ephesians 4:1) According to verse 1, what is the standard of our behavior? What is the "calling" to which God has called us? We have been called to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Our character should be like His character. We are called to be his disciples. His standard is therefore our standard. He is righteous, faithful and obedient to his master. So must we.

1. What does this story tell us about the father's character? About the younger son's character? Great loving father, and greedy, selfish and inconsiderate younger son. 2. Why do you think that the younger son asked for his share of the father's estate ahead of time? Why do you think the father granted his request? I think the younger son was inpatient and wanted freedom and thus couldn’t wait for the father to die before he gets his own share of the inheritance due to him. The father granted his request even though he knew it was not proper out of love for the son. 3. How can the father be so patient? Why doesn't he run after the son and try to convince him to return? The story teaches us about God where patience is part of his character, Galatian 5:22 . The story tells us the degree of God’s love, patience and freedom that allows us to do as we want to. I think the father didn’t run after the prodigal son because the story teaches us the degree of patience and freedom God gives us to take our decisions at the time we want to. 4. What are the four elements of the son's prepared speech? (15:18-19) In what ways do they model an appropriate apology? The four elements of the younger son’s prepared speech are: confession and repentance of his sin to God; confession of his wrong action to his father; renouncing his son-ship position and humbling himself to work as a slave. 5. Why does the father restore the son so quickly to full sonship? What do we learn about God in this parable? What difference should this knowledge make in our life and ministry? The father restored the son quickly to full son-ship because he loves the son and did not want him to have left in the first place; furthermore, he has been looking forward to the son’s return all the while. God loves for us is so much that he will tolerate our sinful actions and patently wait and look forward for our return and restoration. 6. What is the point of this parable in its context with the Parables of the Lost Sheep (15:3-7) and the Lost Coin (15:8-10)? There is always the desire to find that which is lost and once it is found, there is joy and celebration.

Q33. (Ephesians 3:21) What might be different in your own congregation if bringing glory to God were considered the very most important function of the church? There will be great worship and manifestation of God’s power and miracles in our church service. What would be different in your life if bringing God glory was your most important job, bar none? There will be excitement and manifestation of God’s power, joy and peace in my life if bringing glory was my most important job in the church

Q32. (Ephesians 3:16, 19) What does it mean to be "filled with the Spirit" (verse 16)? Is this a one-time experience or a continual reality? What can we do to be filled with the Spirit? Is it different or the same as being "filled with all the fullness of God" (verse 19)? To be filled with the Spirit is to allow the Holy Spirit occupy all of our heart [100%]. This is not a onetime experience but all the time. I believe this is the same as all the fulness of God in us.

Q31. (Ephesians 3:18-19) What kinds of things prevent us from comprehending the far reaches of Christ's love? Our human limitation that makes it difficult to love unloving people does hinder us from perceiving the magnitude or the depth and width of Christ’s love. This love made him to forgive those that pierce him and crucified him. What happens in the way we live when we do comprehend, know, and experience this love? What would be different about your life if you could grasp this? When we are able to comprehend this kind of love from Christ, we will try to love like him. Holy Spirit help me to love like Jesus Christ.

Q30. (Ephesians 3:16-17) Do the concepts of (a) strengthened by the Spirit in the inner person, and (b) Christ dwelling in our hearts say the same thing, or are they separate and distinct ideas? What do you think? The Holy Trinity-the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord God Almighty are three in one and live in me that is why I am the temple, their dwelling place.

Q29. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities? We can come to him boldly in faith and confidence. He can by grace and mercy still hear and respond to us.

Q28. (Ephesians 3:7-9) Why is Paul so careful to be humble about his call and apostleship? How can his example help us remain as humble servants? He is fully aware that he had been a persecutor of those he has now been arrested and sent to preach the Gospel to. We too can copy him to humbly recall where we have hitherto been- ugly and sinful to the Lord and deserving punishment but have found mercy, received pardon and acceptance. We can then repent and humbly serve him in humility.

Q27. (Ephesians 3:6) Just what is the "mystery" that Paul is talking about? Why was it important to the Gentile Christians in Paul's day? Salvation that includes non-Jews or Gentiles was actually planned by God right from creation but kept secret. [see: "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 3:6)]

Q26. (Ephesians 3:2-5) Why is God's revelation to "his holy apostles and prophets" our authority for faith and practice? What is the danger of minimizing or straying from that revelation? What is the danger of superseding that revelation? What is the danger of denying that God reveals himself to us and to his church today? God’s revelation to “his holy apostles and prophets” are our authority because they are genuine word of God worthy of acceptance and compliance in faith. Minimizing or straying from such revelation can lead us to miss out from the intended purpose for such revelation. The danger of denying that God reveals himself to us and to his church today is the resultant consequences of getting into trouble or danger for non- compliance of such messages.

Q25. (Ephesians 2:22) What is the significance that your congregation was made to be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"? What hinders that from being fully experienced? What can you do to help that become more fully experienced and appreciated? This implies that there is need for us to ensure total togetherness in our worship services and relationship. Lack of full recognition of this need may hinder this noble plan of God. Prayers and teaching on the subject will help every communicant to play his role as a member of God’s house.

Q24. (Ephesians 2:17) What does it mean to have "access to the Father"? In what way does the Holy Spirit facilitate this access? In what way does Jesus enable this access? It means literally what it says that the believers have, namely, to come to Him unhindered in fellowship-prayers, worship, etc without limitation. The Holy Spirit helps through His power and prompting so that we can do it right.

Q23. (Ephesians 2:14-15) In what sense did Jesus as Messiah "fulfill" the Mosaic Law? What is the significance of that for Jewish people? For us Gentiles? Jesus became the lamb that died for all mankind by shedding His blood on the cross for the permanent cleansing of sin. No more animal sacrifice by the Jewish and the Gentile believers in Christ.

Q22. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? Only when we really understand what it means to be lost and the effect and consequences of being lost [which is living and dying without salvation] can we see the great need to witness to such a lost one in order to wrestle such a person out from the penalty of dying in such a lost position and going to hell. In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? As said above, spiritual condition of those who do not know Christ is that such individuals are spiritually dead. When the individuals die, hell is their destination. I have a responsibility to witness to my non- Christian friends. So help me Lord.