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1. Where is the humor in Jesus' Parable of the Friend at Midnight? (11:5-8) It found in this phrase found in Dr. Pastor Ralph notes: "But Jesus' expression, "because of the man's shamelessness" is remarkable. The friend has no sense of decency of waiting until morning, of not disturbing his sleeping neighbor. He goes at midnight and knocks -- for some bread! And he shamelessly keeps on knocking until his neighbor gets up and shoves bread at him just to shut him up. Shamelessness! Brashness! Boldness!" 2. Does the parable teach that God won't help us unless we insist? What's the essential lesson of this parable? No. Nevertheless, He expects us to continue to ask until we receive the answer. The essential lesson is that we should always pray until the answer comes. 3. There are three promises in 11:9-10 that are really one promise. What is this promise? The promise that we ASK and we shall RECEIVE 4. 1. How can fear of God's response keep us from praying boldly and persistently? How does Jesus answer this concern? (11:11-13) We may may not seriously pray to God if we fear that He may not give us what we want 5. Why can the Holy Spirit be considered the Father's best gift? According to the Scripture, does the Father only give the Holy Spirit to certain Christians? The Holy Spirit can be and really is the best gift from the Father, our Father because when we have the Holy Spirit we can think right and thus live right and do everything right. The Holy Spirit will guide on what to ask, when to ask etc. He gives the power serve God etc. The Holy Spirit is our best friend and help in all things and situations.

Q5. (Acts 2:42-47) What characteristics of the early church in Acts 2:42-47 are necessary for healthy congregations in our day? In which of these characteristics is your congregation most healthy? Most unhealthy? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2043-q5-church/ The characteristic of the new church: · Devoted to the apostolic teaching · All believers were together and shared possessions · Sold their possessions and shared · Devoted to the braking of the bread- holy communion etc.

Q5. (Acts 2:42-47) What characteristics of the early church in Acts 2:42-47 are necessary for healthy congregations in our day? In which of these characteristics is your congregation most healthy? Most unhealthy? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2043-q5-church/ The characteristic of the new church: · Devoted to the apostolic teaching · All believers were together and shared possessions · Sold their possessions and shared · Devoted to the braking of the bread- holy communion etc.

Q5. (Acts 2:42-47) What characteristics of the early church in Acts 2:42-47 are necessary for healthy congregations in our day? In which of these characteristics is your congregation most healthy? Most unhealthy? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2043-q5-church/ The characteristic of the new church: · Devoted to the apostolic teaching · All believers were together and shared possessions · Sold their possessions and shared · Devoted to the braking of the bread- holy communion etc.

2.Q3. (Acts 2:14-36) What part(s) of Peter's message on the Day of Pentecost was so convicting to those who heard it? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2041-q3-message/ Some of the convincing statements of Peter were that the Jewish leaders crucified the Lord sent by God, who performed miracles that attest to the fact that God really sent Him couple with the fact that God raised him from the dead and he was seen by all the disciples and many others.

Q2. (Acts 2:11-13) Why are these messages in tongues so convincing to the crowds? What is the content of the messages the believers are speaking out in these various languages? In what kind of Bible books do we see this kind of content? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2040-q2-tongues/ The crowds could hear the messages in their own languages. This convinced them that God’s power was responsible for the various spontaneous tongues The believers were declaring the wonders, power, mighty deeds of God and giving Him praise and worship. This kind of power that resulted in outburst of praise or messages happened the Spirit came on Moses and the Elders in the wilderness Numbers 11:24-29 and on Saul when anointed King, 1Samuel 10:6,10 and on Saul and his soldiers when they went to arrest David, 1Samuel 19:20-21, 23-24

2,Q1. (Acts 2:1-4) When the Holy Spirit falls on the Day of Pentecost, what is the significance of the sound of wind? Of the flames? Of the spontaneous speaking of the praises of God in other languages? How does this filling conform to Old Testament patterns? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2039-q1-spirit-falls/ The significance of the sound means people heard the arrival of Holy Spirit while the flames indicate that people could see the evidence of His coming upon them while the spontaneous speaking and praising God in other languages was evidence to all that the promised Holy Spirit has come.

Q3. (Acts 1:14) While we know that individual prayer is powerful (James 5:16b), Jesus indicates that group prayer is even more powerful (Matthew 18:19). How would you describe what was happening with this "Fellowship of the 120"? Have you ever been part of a group praying like this? Do you value prayer enough to gather with others to pray? How much of your church's "prayer meeting" is spent in actual prayer? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2038-q3-prayer/ The 120 group were all united in one accord to fervently pour out their hearts to God for His intervention- to help them in their current separation from their master and the fear of the Jews who can pounce on them at any time. This kind of prayer generates power from above. Yes, we have had occasions where in my former church in Lagos Nigeria where we organize night vigils where many members come together to pray for the church and the nation. On how much of my church’s prayer meetings are spent in actual prayers, I regret to say that I have occations to lament how more than 50% of the time for prayers have been taken up by sermons. I have always believed that there is time for sermon/ teaching but there should be adequate time to pray.

Q2. (Acts 1:8) What kinds of power does Jesus offer us in the Holy Spirit? In what ways does Acts 1:8 function as an outline or blueprint of the Book of Acts? Where do you and I fit in to fulfilling Acts 1:8? http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2037-q2-power/ Jesus offers power that enables declaring the Good news of God’s love and salvation brought by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 1:8 is a blue print of the Book of Acts because it contains in a condensed summary of the activities of the disciples from the receipt of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the Good News in Jerusalem, the ensuing persecution that cause the disciples to flee and in flight, thus fulfilled the preaching of the Good News in Judea, Samaria and throughout the world.

Q1. (Acts 1:4-8) Why aren't Jesus' disciples to leave Jerusalem and return to their homes? A coming upon? A baptism? They needed to stay back at Jerusalem to wait for the promised Holy Spirit to be poured upon when the Lord Jesus Christ receives it as promised by the Father In what ways does the Spirit's coming represent a filling? The disciples are empty of power without the Holy Spirit. But the Lord Jesus will receive the Holy from the Father who has promised to give and pour same upon the them and they will be filled with power to perform In what ways does the Spirit's coming represent a coming upon? The Holy Spirit will settle on them as at Jesus Baptism when He descended on Jesus as dove In what ways does the Spirit's coming represent a baptism? As Holy Spirit comes, His power will overwhelm or cover the recipient as water covers one during water baptism.

If you were to select three themes that this passage discusses, what would they be? What is the chief theme? The three themes are - Love Compassion and Mercy I think the chief is love because love will make us to show mercy and more. 2. How is it possible to be able to correctly recite the greatest commandments in the Bible (10:27-28), and still not have them "installed" in your life? Head knowledge that is not accompanied by love from the power of the Holy Spirit in us will make us just empty vessels that can not walk our talk 3. Have you ever heard a Christian try to justify a less-than-Christian attitude or action? Why do we constantly try to justify our actions? What motivates justifying ourselves? 4. How did the lawyer justify his actions? How do you think the priest and Levite in this story justified their actions? 5. Extra Credit: Jesus wasn't reciting an historical incident; he was creating a hypothetical incident for teaching purposes. Why do you think that the hero of the story was a Samaritan? What was Jesus' point by including the Samaritan? How do you think the lawyer felt about it? 6. What does the parable of the Good Samaritan illustrate? What does it teach us about love? About mercy? About selfishness? 7. How are we to emulate the Good Samaritan by "doing likewise"? What is God speaking to you from this passage?

What concepts about a father are we to attribute to God? Which ones don't fit him very well? What is so astounding about the fact that Jesus tells us to pray to God as Father? God as a Father, loves, cares, provides, is available, not like the human father… but also disciplines us when we sin. Jesus wants us to cultivate a close relationship with our Creator Who is there to meet all our needs and cares about us despite our shortcomings. I think the model of prayer also teaches us to have a cordial human interrelationship as parents and children. 2. What about our lives and words "hallows" the name of our Father? What desecrates and besmirches it? How should we "hallow" the Father when we begin to pray? When we honor God in our words and live, this "hallows" His name. Bur we tend to take the Name of God carelessly as a swear word, or for exclamation etc thus profaning the Name. Jesus is teaching us to hold the name sacred and with respect. We can start our prayer by worshiping Him by His names such as– Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shamah etc. The names reminds us of who he is and what he does for us. This causes us to appreciate, adore and respect Him more and thus "hallow" Him. 3. In what sense are we asking that the Father's kingdom should come? How should this prayer affect our living? We want Him to be the one that rules and leads us in all thinking and actions concerning everything that affects us. His kingdom requires and ensures righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is what we need badly in a chaotic generation like ours thus our desire that God's kingdom should come. This should be our focus and life style. 4. Why do we seek to be independent of asking anyone for help? Why do we seek to be independent of God? Why should we ask God to "give" us daily bread so long as we can earn a living for ourselves? I do not seek to be independent of asking others for help and personally do not seek to be independent of God. I also believe in asking Him for my needs because God promises that I will be given when I ask as in Matthew 7:7 Even when we earn a living, it is God that provided for it and we should never take it for granted. Indeed we pray and ask Him so that He will give us the best source of living. 5. Why should we continually ask forgiveness? Does the Father really forgive the sins we've asked forgiveness for? Must the same sins be forgiven again later? We should continually ask for forgiveness because we continually sin just as John tells us that if we say we have not sin, we lie to ourselves. He has promised us that if we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us. So we should confess our sin and ask Him to forgive us and He will surely forgive us. Yes, the same sin can be forgiven again but we should not make it a deliberate habit to go into sin just because we expect Him to forgive us. 6. How can unforgiveness on our part block God's blessing? How can unforgiveness block God's forgiveness? Doesn't the fact that our forgiveness requires our forgiving others really a subtle form of "works righteousness"? Unforgiveness on our part can block God’s blessing and our own forgiveness because the Lord Himself says that if we do not forgive others our Father in heaven will not forgive our sin. 7. Why should we bring God into the fact of our tempting circumstances? Can't we expect God to deliver us from sins automatically? We live in a fallen world where the devil prowls around looking for someone to tempt and defeat. That is why I personally ask God not to allow me be tempted because I know how it takes to battle with temptation. But I believe also that He has promised that He will not allow me to be tempted beyond my control. I wish God would deliver us from sin automatically but He is there to help us overcome the temptation to sin.

This is just a short glimpse, a few verses, a couple of minutes in Jesus' entire lifetime. Why was it so important that it was preserved for you and me to read? I think, this teaching is teaching me that I should make time at the feet of Jesus hearing him through His written Word and also talking to Him through prayer Martha was a spiritual woman. How was she seeking to honor Jesus? Mary was a spiritual woman. How was she seeking to honor Jesus? Martha sought to honour Jesus by serving Him a befitting meal while Mary sought to be at His feet hearing Him preach. How is Jesus' treatment of Mary astonishing in his culture? Why do you think he said the unexpected? The culture at the time of Jesus did not allow women to sit with men listening to preaching. thus for Jesus allowing Mary to sit at His feet instead of being in the kitchen to help Martha was astonishing as regards the culture of that time. In what ways do you sometimes find yourself busy, upset, and troubled like Martha? I currently spend time to circulate a Daily Devotional on line to hundreds of people every morning. This takes very much of my attention and time that it robs me of quality time with the Lord through meditation and prayer. Now I am reminded that it is good to serve but much better to be at the feet of the Lord. I will reorganise my schedules to give priority for time for and with my Lord. So help me Lord God Almighty. 5. What patterns and practices could you institute in your daily life that would make you more like Mary? See the my last statement on question 4.

1. What was it that prompted Jesus to be filled with joy in 10:21? The 70 disciples returned with joy of the good news of their success of their outing where they had power over spirits, Holy Spirit inspiration made Jesus to respond with joy that led Him to praise to the Father 2. There is a qualitative difference between joy that springs from the Holy Spirit, and normal human joy, as good as that is. How would you describe this difference? 3. Why do you think God takes delight in revealing himself to spiritual novices instead of sophisticated scholars? 4. Why do you think God doesn't allow just anyone to know him intimately? Why does this kind of knowledge require deliberate revelation by the Spirit? 5. What do you think God looks for in a person he chooses to reveal himself to? 6. What are we disciples supposed to learn from this passage? State what are the main lessons for us?

Q1. (Acts 1:4-8) Q. Why aren't Jesus' disciples to leave Jerusalem and return to their homes? A. They have been trained for service that requires the power of the Holy Spirit and the Master had instructed them to wait for the Holy Spirit Who will come with the required power for the service. Q. In what ways does the Spirit's coming represent a filling? A coming upon? A baptism? A. The Spirit coming on us represents filling in the sense that we are empty without the power required to serve as disciples and thus the Holy Spirit fills us with the required power. As for the Spirit coming upon us means that He will come on as as the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism in a form of a dove. The Spirit coming upon us represent a baptism in the sense that His power will cover us all round as we immerse our selves in a pool of water at baptism.

1. (10:17) If the demons were subject to the Seventy's command in Jesus' name, should they be subject to our command today? Why or why not? What did the Seventy have that we don't? What do we have that the Seventy didn't? Surely YES. Whatever they had, the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, is very available for us today. All we need is to be sure we have accepted His as our Lord and Saviour and believe in Him and His power and we will operate in the spiritual realm with signs and wonders. 2. (10:18) Why did the disciples' report of their power of demons prompt Jesus to recall the Fall of Satan from Heaven? I think Jesus wanted to teach them that Satan was already a fallen angel and that the most important thing was not just their victory over Satan but their status in the Kingdom of God, whether their names were written in the Book of Life 3. (10:19a) What does the "authority to trample on snakes and scorpions" entail? What does it lack? It entails that if walk and work with and in Jesu, He will shield us and make us overcome snakes and scorpions and be safe 4. (10:19b) What does Jesus' declaration, "Nothing shall by any means hurt you," include? What does it mean here? Is it to be interpreted physically or spiritually, literally or figuratively? This is a tough one given that almost all the disciples during Jesus time had "something" that hurt them. In fact, all of them except Apostle John that was not murdered! I think the most comforting thing is that even if we are hurt in the cause of our discipleship here on earth, if we have our place in the book of life, we will be with the Lord in Heaven at the end. 5. (10:20) Why should we rejoice that our names are written in heaven? What does that mean? Why are we often tempted to rejoice over much lesser things? Please see answer in the b) part of my answer of question 4.

1. Why are the disciples sent to both the receptive and the unreceptive? Why are they to say to each, "The kingdom of God is near you"? Both groups need the opportunity to hear the Word of God. Their positive response and acceptance /receiving the Word qualifies them to enter the kingdom of God and escape from judgement and condemnation and eternal death. 2. Is it possible for disciples to be agents of salvation and healing, without at the same time being possible agents of judgment? No. A disciple declares a message of salvation and those listeners who accept the Word will be saved while those who hear the same word but reject it have rejected the Lord Jesus and thereby rejected the Lord God and thus are judged and sentenced to death eternal. 3. Are people already under God's judgment, or only become so if they reject Jesus' message? As the result of the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has fallen short of the glory of God and is condemned to death but salvation option is available through acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. His rejection leads to judgement and condemnation and the second death. 4. Why is it so terrifying and sobering to think that someone might reject Jesus because of the inconsistencies they see in our lives? Will our inconsistencies give them an excuse on the Day of Judgment? It is terrifying that our inconsistences will lead someone to reject the Lord. However, this will not be an excuse for anyone who rejects the Lord for that excuse. He will be punished for rejecting the salvation of his soul. 5. What is Jesus' chief message: judgment or salvation? What qualities do you think Jesus should look for in his "Press Secretary" or spokesperson? Jesus chief message is repent, for the kingdom of God has come meaning that His concern is all we hear the word and repent and be saved. The Judgement is just a screening process to separate sheep unto salvation and the goats unto condemnation. His spokesperson should be someone who willingly follows Him, has passion for the salvation of souls and who is ready to carry his cross daily to achieve the objective.

1. Why does Jesus pair up the disciples as he sends them out? (10:1) What application does this have today? Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says two is better than one. The two can use their different gifts to complement one another in their evangelistic tasks and they can physically compliment one another in times of need. The same principle applies today in our service especially in evangelism. 2. What are the strategic purposes behind Jesus' decision to send out the Seventy? What is he trying to accomplish? Jesus was sending the disciples ahead to prepare the ground spiritually by preparing the hearts of the people before His arrival. This action also prepared the the disciples in the task ahead after Jesus left to heaven. So it was also training (part of the discipleship programme). 3. In what sense is the harvest plentiful in Jesus' day? (10:2a) Is the harvest plentiful in your area of the world? How do you determine that? Many people needed to hear the Word but there was no one to carry the message to them. The same situation is the case in our localities today. The major difference is that there are quite some labourers /workers around today through the many churches that are almost on every street but the people are not interested to hear. There is need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to turn the hearts of the people to be receptive to the message of the labourers. 4. Why are the workers few? (10:2b) What kinds of things have kept you in the past from being active in the harvest? To me the workers are not few in my part where I live in Nigeria. In my small village there are four different denominations proclaiming the word through weekly church services and periodic open air evangelism. There are also theological training colleges to train labourers for the harvest. I think what we need is more prayers for the Lord of the Harvest to turn the hearts of the people. I personally do pray at times that God should make me and others to be spiritually turned to righteousness so the we will follow Him and do that which He wants us to do. 5. Why is God the main recruiter? What is our instruction when we need more workers? (10:2c) God is the One Who owns every human being and desires that we all should not perish. He is also the One Who has the power to turn hearts of people towards Him. He wants us to pray to Him to facilitate this turning of souls towards Him. 6. What kind of "wages" does God offer harvesters today for their labor? (10:7) Today workers in God's service are paid wages by the congregations of the churches or organisations where they serve and worship.

1. What does it mean to live your life as a sojourner? Why is a sojourner mentality required for disciples? (9:58) It means you live with heavenly matters are priority over other worldly engagements that may derail our progress. A sojourner mentality is required of a disciple so that he will ever be ready for the Master's tasks without worldly distractions 2. Why is Jesus so hard on the man who needed to bury his father before following? (9:59-60) He is needed for the Master's service now but the man wants to wait when it is convenient for him. 3. What does Jesus mean when he says that the dead should bury the dead? What's the point? (9:60) Heavenly reward is eternal life and thus the non-spiritually oriented ones whose focus is not eternal life are dead spiritually. They can take their time taking care of their spiritually dead relatives. 4. What's wrong with the man wanting to say good-bye to his family first? (9:61) He can miss the more important as he gets distracted by the cares and concerns of relationships and miss out the more important and urgent tasks of the kingdom of the Master 5. What characteristic is absolutely essential for plowmen? What trait is absolutely necessary for disciples? (9:62) Concentration so as to get it right (straight) 6. Is Jesus speaking in hyperbole (using exaggerated speech and examples) here? If so, what is the value of hyperbole for a teacher? If Jesus is using hyperbole, does that mean we don't have to take his words seriously?

How many rebukes of the disciples can you find in 9:37-56? List them. (Please do this for your own private study, but don't feel you need to share the list with your discussion group -- it'll be far too repetitious.) We can't be other-worldly and still be able to communicate to our generation. How can we be "with" them but not "of" them? How can we both identify with our generation and still live differently? Up to this point in your life, how have you usually responded when you have been rebuked by parents, teachers, employers, spouses, spiritual leaders, etc.? What has been healthy about your response? What has been unhealthy? When rebuked, there is usually of feeling hurt and anger. I am an exception to such feelings. I pray the the Lord will hell me use corrective rebuke as an opportunity for to reflect and see where I was wrong and take correction What is the necessary preparation for a Christian leader to be able to rebuke those in his or her charge appropriately? How is it possible to overdo rebuking as a leadership style? How is it possible to be too light on rebuking?

1. What real human need did the disciples distort when they vied for who would be the greatest? Why does a legitimate need get distorted? How should this need be met? Love and and receive/ accept others no matter their low status 2. Why did Jesus ask a little child to stand beside him on this occasion? Strictly from these verses in Luke and nowhere else in the Bible, how does receiving a child in Jesus' name require humility? How does this sort of humility relate to the disciples' sin? Children are usually considered not important/ significant to be noticed/ related to. It takes humility to consider them as important enough to receive and welcome talk less of relating with 3. What, do you think, was the disciples' real motive in stopping the exorcist? Why did Jesus rebuke them? Jealousy and pride 4. Jesus' rejection by a Samaritan village is only recounted by Luke. What were Jesus' disciples to learn when Jesus rebuked their plan to call down fire upon the village? What are we disciples today to learn from it? We need to show love and forgive those that treat us bad rather seek revenge 5. What group or groups of people do you have the most trouble loving? How can the Lord help you love them? People of other faith generally speaking. But I have some very close friends who are muslims who we relate very well now despite how religion has been politiciced in my country now. I do pray for them and we still attend social events such weddings of one another despite our differences.

How many rebukes of the disciples can you find in 9:37-56? List them. (Please do this for your own private study, but don't feel you need to share the list with your discussion group -- it'll be far too repetitious.) We can't be other-worldly and still be able to communicate to our generation. How can we be "with" them but not "of" them? How can we both identify with our generation and still live differently? Up to this point in your life, how have you usually responded when you have been rebuked by parents, teachers, employers, spouses, spiritual leaders, etc.? What has been healthy about your response? What has been unhealthy? When rebuked, there is usually of feeling hurt and anger. I am an exception to such feelings. I pray the the Lord will hell me use corrective rebuke as an opportunity for to reflect and see where I was wrong and take correction What is the necessary preparation for a Christian leader to be able to rebuke those in his or her charge appropriately? How is it possible to overdo rebuking as a leadership style? How is it possible to be too light on rebuking?

1. Why did Jesus show special attention to Peter, James, and John? He saw in them qualities such as spiritual maturity, leadership ability and ability/ reliability that made them worthy for His future assignments. Why do church members sometimes misunderstand when their pastor enjoys a special relationship with a few in the congregation? The Pastor's action may be interpreted as favoritism. 2. Why did the disciples need to see Jesus transfigured before them? So that the would see His glory and to be able to give live eye witness/ testimony of what they saw. 3. Do you think Jesus needed the transfiguration himself? Yes He needed reassurance from His Father especially as the human part of Him was pulling back away from the mission He was sent by the Father to suffer and die so as to save the wold. 4. What is the place of eyewitness experience of God's glory alongside of the Word of God in our lives and witness as Christians? Such eyewitness experience of seeing the Lord along with the Word certainly is what I desire to experience as Peter, John and James experienced. I think Prophet Isiah saw the the Lord and was transformed as he also saw his uncleanness and cried out, and was made whole. I desire such experience. Which is more important to us? To others? What is the balance? To me both are important but it the Word, the Bible that is with us 24/7. The Holy Spirit can illuminate our hearts as we meditate in the Word and show God in His glory too. 5. How have your own spiritual experiences influenced your Christian life for good or ill? Well, how I wish someone would testify about me. But I think people say that I am a real child of God by my love for the things of God in my life.

1. Why was it so hard for the disciples to understand that the Messiah must be rejected and killed and rise the third day? Despite the fact they had been told that by Jesus, they still wishfully assumed that Jesus was the Messiah that live to reign and deliver them politically from the Romans 2. What does it mean to take up your cross daily? If it doesn't mean bearing your own life's burdens (and I don't think it means that), then what DOES it mean? To carry your cross daily is to be ready to suffer daily in the course of following Christ. 3. What kinds of attempts at "saving our lives" are actually self-destructive? Why is this such a paradox? Trying to avoid suffering /persecution or danger particularly death by refusing to serve the Lord and end up loosing our eternal salvation 4. If someone told you they thought they had lost themselves or lost their soul, how would you counsel them without giving them false assurance? 5. How can we be unashamed of Jesus without it being difficult for non-Christians to want to be around us? Did unbelievers want to be around Jesus? What is the balance? By serving the Lord while at the same time showing the no Christian love and care/ acceptance without compromising your our faith

1. Why do you think Jesus waited to ask these questions until he could be alone with his disciples? He did not want the reaction by people to distract His mission. The ordinary people who like Him would want to make Him King while Jews would pounce on Him and kill Him prematurely. Why do you think he was spending time in prayer before asking these questions? He wanted the ripe time and also, to prepare the minds of the disciples. 2. Why did Jesus ask about what others believed before he asked his disciples what they believed? To assess the difference between what the disciples know and what the people think 3. Why is it difficult to be able to express simply and clearly what we believe? What are the obstacles you face in expressing this? i do not think it will be difficult to express what we know if really do know. The possible obstacle is being shy to declare or express among the non belivers 4. If you have never openly stated your faith in Jesus Christ, please do so today, and let others know that this is a new statement for you. If you have stated your belief in Jesus prior to this, please share with others the circumstances of when you made a declaration of your own faith in Jesus. I have declared my belief and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour at my final year in Primary School. This was when the Christian Religious Knowledge shared to the class why we need to accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, Some of us responded and declared our faith in Christ as early as that. But my standing firm in faith was characterized by ups and down when I would back slide but will get up and back again. I appreciate you Pastor Dr. Ralph because you have been strengthening my faith with the Jesus Walk programmes that I have been participating for more than ten years now (I think). I usually do not want to miss the programmes and will ever endeavour to participate in your programmes. May the Lord God Almighty bless and keep for us. Thank you