haar

We are created for the praise of the glory of God; for felowship with Him. We are created to praise him and to cause other people to praise Him by our good works done for them. We are created to be light that reflects His glory. I believe we all need to examine our selves to see if indeed, we are measuring up to this expectation. What we need to do to fulfill this purpose is to accept the Lord Jesus as our Lord and surrender our lives to Him and to depend only on the power of the Holy Spirit to enpower us to be instruments of praise to Him. The purpose of being chosen from the begining for his praise and mathew 15:13-16 are similar. In Mathew the passage directs us to be light, salt and also do good works to others. The effect will be praise to God from these people.

At creation, there was harmony and unity where God, man and the environment blended togeteher. After the fall, things fell apart and man was seperated from God and sent out of the beautiful/ peacefull rich garden. The result has been chaos, strife, wars and division even within the Church. The good news we are learning is that there will be unity once again as all things, all people will be brought under the dominion of the Lord Jesus. Currently, the devil exercises control over creation hense the degree of evil that is prevalent in the society now. When everything is brought under the control of Jesus Christ, such evil will cease and we will be together with him: Catholics, Pentecostal, Evangelicals etc. This unity under the Headship of Jesus Christ will not erode the power and authorty of the Creator. The Creator has given the power to Christ to rule and will be pleased to see Christ rule with Him. The issue of unity has already been touched in the first paragraph. The verses in 1Cor 15:24-28 suggest that Christ will hand over the kingdom to God after He has subdued the enemy. To my mind, since there is already unity with God the Father, Son and Spirit, all of them in one will be fully in charge!

Before I received the Lord Jesus as my saviour, I was a slave to Satan and sin heading for eternal death. But the Lord in His infinite love, mercy and grace came and set me free by paying for my life with His blood shed on the cross. I am free from the death penalty as He actually declared me "not guilty" and thus I am free from serving satan and free from eternal death. Praise God. If I had not been redeemed or set free, I would have been a slave to satan and sin thus walking into etenal death. The future without the redemptive work of Christ would have meant doom and eternity in hell after this life ceases; without hope for eternal life with the Lord in heaven.

God's relationship with us is that of love. He so loved us while we were yet sinners by sending His Dear Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. We were meant for eternal death but were reconciled to God through Christ. We were enemies of God because of our sins but are now children sharing inheritance with the Lord Jesus. Adoption is encouraging to us becacause it is by grace that we have been chosen and adopted as children of God. Even in our lowest level we have been raised (promoted) to be joint heirs with Christ the original son of God.

To be holy means to be consecrated or set apart for God's service and worhip. Believers are chosen by a holy God and are expected to be holy in conduct and in lifestyle. We have been forgiven by Jesus Christ and our sins have been paid for so that we no longer have to delberately live in sin. However, when we sin, all we have to do is to confess the sin and turn to Him and He will accept us. We are accepted by God despite our short comings because of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. We are living sacrifices and hense should be blameless or without spot just as the animals used for sacrifice in the Old Testament were required to be spotless before they were accetpted by God. This means that we should live Christ-like type of lives trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us please God.

Predestination can be scary if we think of it in the context that those who refuse to accept the plan of salvation have been destined or predetermined to do so by God. Or when a terrible thing happens to the Children of God, it is assummed that God made it or determined in advanve that the situation would happen. I don't think this conclusion is right. I must confess however that predestination is a difficult concept to understand. I pray that God will give the faith to accept His word even when we do not understand it. The comforting aspect about predestination is the thought that God had me in His mind when He was designing His salvation plan before creation! The Ephisians needed to Know about the good plan of God for the salvation of "WHOEVER" believes in Jesus christ. God's plan that was pre-planed was EVERY who believes. This was the reason why Paul had to declare to them.

To be in Christ means that the believer is united with Him. This union happens at conversion when a beliver invites Christ to come into his life. A spiritual union occurs and the beliver is in Christ and Christ is in the believer. This is a mystry but true.

Hi every one. My name is Haar Garba from Lagos Nigeria, West Africa. I joined this programme about four months ago and have benefitted from it. I am looking fowards to another round of Bible study which I believe will be a wonderful experience. I pray to the Almighty God to grant us understanding, retention and obedience to His Word. Amen. Haar.

Confession and repentance fit with self examination in the sense that the three together form a complete process of spiritual development. Self examination should lead to confession and repentance and the repentance in turn results in a renewed relation with God (sin severes lelationship). Self examination without confession and repentance amounts to a futile exercise. It could only lead to self condemnation and rejection as it is devoid of peace that follows confession and repentance. Self examination followed by confession and repentance will lead to peace within us, peace with one another and peace with God. This in turn leads to spiritual growth.

Exanining our selves and looking back should be a positive thing to do if the motive is right. Further more, where/ when the Holy Spirit is the one convicting and leading us to examine our selves towards confession and repentance, then He will enable us to go through the process positively withoyt self-loathing. From the above, it follows that we can conduct self examination and self-judgment to get a healthy result only when we surrender to the Lord and ask Him to lead us through the process. We also have to do so realising that we want to please our Lord. When we know that the benefits of such an excercise include peace with God and health that follow forgiveness of our sin (after confession and repentance), then we should be able achieve healthy and not unhealthy result.

God brought judment to the offending parties at Corinth because the sin was grave. Furthermore, the judgement was not damnation but corrective measure that was meant to reform the offending parties. God loves His children so much that He will rather discipline them and save their souls rather than ignore them and they end up in ternal death. Sickness can really be painful. However, I believe that the pain it produces is a desert experience that should draw us back to God in repentance. in my experience, people are mor prayerful when they are sick or have a problem. Once we repent and our relationship is restored, the punishment would have been justified because we would be saved from eternal damnation. I think death as a punishment may seem harsh. But I also think that death eventually arise where the offender does not respond to the corrective punishment at the sickness stage. God loves us and is happy to see us remain in His Holiness in fellowship with Him. When we stray from Him, He becomes sad and has to use his "stick" to bring us back to the fold like a herd's man does to an animal going astray or leaving the herd. He punishes us because he loves us and wants us to ever remain with Him. God brought judment to the offending parties at Corinth because the sin was grave. Furthermore, the judgement was not damnation but corrective measure that was meant to reform the offending parties. God loves His children so much that He will rather discipline them and save their souls than ignore them and they end up in ternal death. Sickness can be really painful. However, I believe that the pain it produces is a desert experience that should draw us back to God in repentance. in my experience, people are mor prayerful when they are sick or have a problem. Once we repent and our relationship is restored, the punishment would have been justified because we would be saved from eternal damnation. I think death as a punishment may seem harsh. But I also think that death eventually arise where the offender does not respond to the corrective punishment at the sickness stage. God loves us and is happy to see us remain in His Holiness in fellowship with Him. When we stray from Him, He becomes sad and has to use his "stick" to bring us back to the fold like a herd's man does to an animal going astray or leaving the herd. He punishes us because he loves us and wants us to ever remain with Him.

Why "not discerning the body" at the Lord's Supper can be a grave sin: To discern is to critcally examine our selves to see if there is any sin we have committed; then confess such sin befor we eat and drink at the Table. We also need to examine our relationships with one another to see where we have offended one another so that we can reconcile and forgive one another. If we fail to do these, we end up partaking in the Holy Communion (that is Holy) with our sins unconfessed. There are other sins. However, this is sin against the Lord Jesus and has serious consequences. This sin is so grave because Jesus died for our sins; it is therefore sad that if we sit at the Table with our sins unconfessed ie without "discerning the boby" when we are actualy supposed to at Holy Table with penitant hearts.

The truth is that I am not used to meditating in the way that allows me to picture the Lord Jesus' face. I really want to learn to do it. I therefore request for your prayers to enable me to be able to do so. If there are also some practical suggestions, I will appreciate receiving such.

The Lord Supper points to the past in that when we patake in it, we look back, and remember the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross for our salvation; It points to the present because whenever we partake in it, we actually fellowship with one another and with the Lord, and the Lord is with us in the spirit (in the present). It points to the future because it reminds us our participation at the Great Supper at the end of the age.

The Lord's Supper finds it fulfilment in the Great Banquet at the end of the age in the sence that the Great Supper is the grand manifestation of the Bigger event that jesus demonstrated with the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Spper is fulfilled at the Great Banquet where the gathering of the redeemed will be. Our thoghts at the Lord Supper should therefore be fixed beyond the Table, to the expected Great event where we will be with the Lord and feast together with other believers.

Why Jesus' teachings are oriented toward the future. We can recall a song by the late Jim Reeves "This world is not my home, I am just passing through.." As we do, it becomes very clear that we are here just for a while and will have to go to our permanent home heaven, in the near future, where we will be with the Lord. It is this very reason that Jesus wanted to ensure that we do not become too comfortable here less we forget that we are just on transit. To my mind, the association that comes to my mind as I think of the Great Banquet, is the Christmas meal where families sit round the table to celebrate Christmas.

By "eating the Bread of Life" Jesus meant that we should have a continous faith in Him. Just like eating physical bread nourishes our mortal bodies, having continous faith nourishes our souls. Partaking of the Lord's Supper nourishes our faith as we: - Remember Jesus' death for our sins. - Turn our minds to the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from death. This same Spirit gives life and will eventually raise our dead bodies on the Last Day. In short, act of remembering, reflecting, believing, trusting continously renews anf strengthen our faith. I must however add here that most of us (including me) partake of the Lord's Supper without really pausing to remember, reflect, believe and trust, the Lord Jesus. I will henceforth do so with the help of the Holy Spirit so that my faith will be strengthened and my soul nourished. What is common in the two passages is the message that there is need to continue to 'eat the Bread o f Life' that is to continue to remember, believe and trust in the Lord for eternal life.

Jesus wanted to stress the importance of believing Him because it was essential for the salvation of mankind. He would not want anyone to perish as this was His purpose for coming to the world and thus He wanted every one to believe. By using strong expression ("hard saying"), he wanted every thing He said to sink in the minds and hearts of His listeners. The twelve disciples were able to accept the "hard saying" and believed in Jesus. They realised that Jesus really had the Words of eternal life and thus they held on to His teaching and were thus His true disciples. The others went away because they had faint hearts. They were those that would miss the opportunity of having eternal life. The mark of the true disciples according John 8.31-32; is the ability to hold on to the Lord's teacing. Thus if we do not receive, believe the Word and apply It in our lives, we are NOT His true disciples.

Bread is the source physical nourishment. Jesus is the Bread of Life. This means believing Him and having faith in Him. This leads to spiritual nourishment and eternal life. He refered to the bread as His flesh because He would give up Hismself to be sacrificed for the salvation of all. Thus by believing and having faith in Him, the wolrd would have life. The similarities in the two passages- Luke 22.19b and John 6.51b are found in these words / phrases: my body (flesh); give (given); for yuo (for the life of the world)

Jesus is the Bread of Life. "Eating the Bread of Life" means believing in Jesus, having faith in Him as the only source of Eternal Life. Believing and continuing to trust in Jesus will bring us to eternal life now and ultimate resurrection in the Last Day. Just nibbling physical bread will not lead to having a real meal that sustatains the body. To be fully nourished, we have to really eat to our fill. In regards to faith in Jesus, we have believe totally that we can only access eternal life through Jesus. And this must be totaly by faith and not by works.

All Christians are supposed to be united and remained as one body with the Loard being the Head of the body. Just as one loaf is served for many in unity, the different denominations should be able understand, appreciate and tollerate the different doctrines of each denomination. Blanket judment against a particular faith is not right. Love should make us to accept one another. We should live lives that are Christ-like and such that will attract others to our faith rather judgementalism.

The divisisions in the Corinthinan Church do sound similar in our Church as regards the areas of gossip and back biting. These are major unity breakers in our Church. In some cases, there are some elements of tribalism; although not very serious. In the case of gossips and misunderstanding one another, it could be very serious as there was an instance about a month ago when an Elder wanted to leave our Church for another one just because such. A bickering congregation that does not reconcile with one another CAN NOT partake of the Lord's Supper without sin. In our Church, the Pastor always pause and ask for comfession of sins before the Lord's Supper. In fact I now believe that the Pastor should ask for reconciliation between aggrieved members before particpation in the Lord's Suppe.

One loaf represents unity. By reconciling with our brothers and sisters, we maintain the desired unity as the Loard wants and as advocated by Paul. We have to love and be be patient with one another to maintain unity. This requires effort and most significantly, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to achieve this.

The "cup of blessing" teach us that our focuss should be on the Lord Jesus and not on ourselves. When the "cup of blessisng" is lifted, the Lord God is to be blessed or praised for his wonderful love, provision, care, protection and ofcourse, the forgiveness of our sin.

Why the Lord's table is such a time for intimate fellowship: It is a moment when we come with thankfull hearts rememberring the great act of love shown to us when the Jesus Christ gave His life for all of us. As we eat and dring at the table, the thought that we are sharing the meal with Him (sharing in his suffering) and in rememberance of Him should be a wonderfull experience. The difference between a common, forgetable meal and one that is is rich with memories: The casual meal is easily forgotten while the memories of the rich meal liger on. This memory comes fresh in our hearts each time a similar occasion occurs around us. Such moments in our lives are when we share a Chrismas meal! The thought of the Lord table as fellowshiping with Jesus and one another should always be wonderful experience to look forward to each time we come together. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enable us to really be excited to come to the Lord's table with such warm, loving, appreciating and obedient hearts from now on, amen.