haar

Worries and cares are the opposit of faith. Since faith is the basis of our relationship with God, lack of it due to worries is worrisome and more dangerous. riches can be dangerous but may not and that is why Jesus said that "it will be difficult" for a richman to enter the kingdom of God. He did NOT say it will be IMPOSSIBLE for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Go. I have seen where rich people have used their riches to serve God. As for pleasures, they can be dangerous if they prevent us from serving God faithfully. In conclusion, all three can be dangerous if any of them replaces the place of God in our lives.

From Jesus' teaching in the passage under consideration, those people who quickly fall are in following categories: 1. Those who hear the word but unbelief prevents them from accepting the word. The word does not actually get absorbed by them. They remain in their sins. 2. The second category are those who received the word but not deep into their heart. This can be easily snatched by the devil.

Repentance is so central to the Kinngdon because God the Father, Son and the Holy Sprity seated on the throne of the kingdom are holy. Therfore, without holiness no one will be part of the kingondom. Baptism by immersion is important as it is the outward symbol that we are born again. It is also a compliance with the great commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ for a every convert. In addition, we need to be immersed in and with the Holy Spirit and power to have the power required to live a holy life.

Comparism between John's action and that of the Mesiah's is that John baptism is by immersion in water while Jeus covers, overwhelms one with the power of the Holy Spirit. While water is a symbol of cleansen of sin, Baptism of the Holy Spirit actaully cleanses one from sin. I LONG and DESIRE STRONGLY TO BE OVERWHELMED AND TO BE AFLOOD WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND POWER. SO DIP ME IN THE LAKE OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT LORD GOD, in Jesus Name, amen. Although it in up to God to cloth us with the Holy Spirit, He is willing to so. The only thing that may hinder our receiving it is our sins and failure to repent.

John's baptism would have offended Jew's national pride because the baptism was like that for a gentile siner being coverted to Judaism. But since the Jews believed that being descendants of Abraham, they were not sinners, the Pharisees and experts of the law therefor rejected the type of baptism. However, Jesus welcome John's baptism and even directed that it should be done to new convers in his Great Commision Mathew chapter 28.

When people adopt the Christian faith without repenting of their sins they remain in their old ways and therfore will not please God. People avoid repentance because they still want to satisfy their lustful heart desires. A high percentage of Christians live in this way.

Vouching for some is a way of helping him. We however have to be very cautious as even friends can disappoint us. Christ vouched for us by giving His life for our freedom/ life eternal/ restored relationship with the Father. When a brother is in need, we should prayerfully ask God to help us know what we can do do help.

Paul wanted Philemon to pardon Onesimus out of his own will and not to be forced to do so as this will foster harmony and love between them. Paul took this approach out of maturity and due consideratio of the freedom Philemon had to decide what to do willingly.

I guess Paul sent Onesimus back to philemon because he wanted to reconcile the two given that Onesimus belong to Philemon. Paul knew that it was good to do this because it is the right thing to do even if it means that Onesimus could lose his freedom. As for Onesimus, it was necessary to do this, go back to his master beacuse that was the right thing to do especially because of his new status as a child of God who should do what is right.

Paul singles out Archippus for an exhortation probably because he was supposed to have been doing very well in the ministry he was given but he wasn't.

Paul's advice is for Christians to use every opportunity to preach Christ to the non- Christians. We should also be gracious in doing soand whenever we have to answer questions concernig our faith. It means we have do it with love, gentleness and be polite. In short, do it as Christ would do.

Paul asked the Church to pray for them so that God may open a door for their message, and that they may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which he was in chains. He was not only asking for prayers for himself alone but for his team mates. He also asked for prayers so that he may proclaim the gospel clearly as he should. 1.By open doors he meant an opportunity that he will get to declare the Word of God. 2.He also wanted to express his messge as simple and clear as possible for an effective communication between him and those he wanted to preach to.

The guidelines Paul gives us as regards to prayers are: 1. To persist in prayer and be devoted to it. We are to pray consistently without ceasing because our enemy is on the rampage seeking those to devour. We should not allow any thing to stop our communication line with our Father in heaven. 2. To be alert, not to sleep off as the chosen desciples at the eve of crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had to ask them if they could not keep awake for even an hour. 3.Giving thanks- we should not anly ask our Lord God for things but to be able to pause and appreciate Him through giving Him our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Paul intructs Masters/ Employers to provide for their slaves/ employees needs and to be fair, just and rght in doing so. If this teaching is practiced by all employers, the work place will be wonderful place to be and there won't be any need for unions.

As workers we should be sincere, show integrity and work as unto the Lord who is our Master. A good working attitude should be exhibited by Christian workers irrespective of whether the boss is good or bad. If we all follow and obey the teachings of Paul in our work attitude, the workplace will a better place.

A child who learns to obey his parents will not find it difficult to obey higher authorities- at school, workplace, the Government etc. Since obedience to parents pleases God, a child who is obedient to his parents will also obey God, observe His decrees and will please God. He will thus be blessed by God because obedience leads to blessings- both spiritual and physical. Fathers should tenderly lead children to know what they have done wrong and when a disciplinary measure has to be taken, it should be in love and not harsh.

Paul chose to give directions on the relationship of wives and husbands becuase such relationship determines the direction of the entire family. Where there is a submissive wive and a loving husband, the home will wtness love and peace that radiate to the children and others. True submissiveness may be difficult when a wife feels that the husband does not trully love her. On the other hand, husbands as natural humans, tend to be selfish and hardly offer true love without condition of perfection expected from the wife.

Cgristian virtues ar important to Chirst because they bring glory to God. Clothed in these virtues (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and love among others), we will presnt God's image that we are. This pleases the Lord, brings peace and harmony in the Church, home and community. When clothed in these virtues, the non- Christians will see us and be attracted to the Lord.

We easily slip into the sin of the tongue very easy especially when we are angry. When this happens, we offend God and the one we are angry with. We can tame our tongues by sbmitting to the control of the Holy Spirit and also making concious efforts to control our selves (tongue)

Sexual desire is strong and thus difficult to control. I think satan capitalises on this and influences us to yield to sexual temptation. Even though we are sexual beings, we must put to death, our sexual desires that will lead to sin. We must set our hearts to obeying the Lord and satisfy our sexual desires only in the right way- through marriage.

To set our minds on heavenly things is to focus on God and His Kindom. We ought to let the matters that relate to God be our main interest. We should thing about such and do what God wants us to do. This does not mean we will not think about our jobs, businesses, families etc. But even in thinking about these other things we should do so by the leading and help of God through the Holy spirit. If we allow ourselves to be too occupied with the things of the world, we will loose focus of heaven and drift away from God

Legalism does not bring about spiritual transformation. Jesus is the answer and not legalism.

Through forgiveness, Jesus fullfilled the requirement of the law on our behalf. "The demands of the law have been fulfilled totally in Christ's death. Now that Messiah has come and his Spirit has been poured out, the Law is no longer our guide; the Holy Spirit is. The Old Covenant's role is over in this age of the New Covenant, made possible by the shedding of Christ's blood. It is finished!"- Dr. Ralph

Christ full divinty: means that God fully dwels in Him, not just partly. He is therefore one with God having all the qualities of God. By being complete in Christ means we find our fulness in Him and nothing else. Praise the Living God for this grace.

The false prophets claimed to offer grand philosophies but their ideas were nothing but empty. Faith in Christ is key and no other way leads to eternity.