Patricia A

Q3. (Hebrews 6:4-6) What is apostasy? Turning away for God and Jesus as Lord and Savior. Why is it impossible from a practical standpoint to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice? Because one does not repent and often turns to another belief system. What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)? There are many conditions of the heart in accepting the Word. What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)? Salvation comes from no way other than accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. God will decide this. It is not up to us to decide.

Q2. (Hebrews 6:4-5) What difference, if any, would you find between the description in verses 4-5 and a Spirit-filled Christian today? What is the writer's point in forming this description? Note: We agree to disagree, but we will disagree with love and humility toward one another in our words, as befitting genuine Christians! To keep us on track, let's limit our discussion to passages in Hebrews only, not the entire New Testament. Immoderate tirades will be removed from the Forum and poison tongues will lose their privileges to participate.

Q1. (Hebrews 5:14) How does a person become mature in God's Word according to verse 14? To grow in God's word, we must pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as we read and study the scriptures. We must "eat solid food, not milk for infants". We must always remember that if we come to the Lord and ask for guidance and strength, he will answer with wisdom. What can you do to grow in maturity? To grow in maturity, I must daily ask the Lord to guide me in everything I do and to give me wisdom as I study His Word. I must pray to the Lord, interact with Christian brothers and sisters and strive to live to glorify the Lord in everything I do. If there are areas of difficulty with understanding, I need to question, pray and study until they become clear with the help of the Holy Spirit. I must always remember that God is always present and will always guide me if I just ask.

Q5. (Hebrews 5:9) In verse 9, what does "made perfect" refer to, since it obviously isn't talking about Jesus' moral growth and perfection? "Made perfect" means Jesus carried out the Father's will. He did this without sin and by suffering for the sins of mankind. Jesus was tempted but never yielded to temptation.

Q4. (Hebrews 5:8) In what sense did Jesus "learn obedience from what he suffered"? Jesus followed the Father's will and suffered even though he was without sin. "Learn" (manthano) means here, "to come to a realization, with implication of taking place less through instruction than through experience or practice, learn appropriate to oneself."33 Luke records, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52), describing Jesus' process of learning. How did Jesus' learning process differ from ours, since he didn't sin and suffer the consequences of his sin -- the way we usually learn? Jesus was obedient to the Father's will. We usually learn from the consequences of our wrongs. Jesus did not sin but obeyed the will of the Father.

Q3. (Hebrews 4:16) Why should we approach the "throne of grace" with boldness and confidence? Because it is not a throne of judgment for us, but a throne where grace is dispensed freely. What are the promises contained in this verse? 1. Mercy 2. Grace 3. Help 4. Timely God is anxious for us to enter into His rest. What a joy. On what basis is God able to offer us unrestrained mercy and grace for our sins while still retaining his justice as judge? The High Priest who is King is calling each of us to approach his generous throne so he can give us His rest. He is God and in complete control but because of the death of His son, Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven our sins.

Q1. (Hebrews 4:14) What is so important about "holding fast to our confession." "Holding fast to our confession" means that we stand firm in our saying that Jesus is King of our lives and that all we do is done to glorify Him. We are letting everyone know this is our belief. What is our confession or profession of faith? "Jesus is Lord" is my profession of faith. This is the basis of everything I believe. Why is maintaining this confession so vital? Living in this world has many trials and tribulations. However, we are looking forward to eternal life with Jesus. Maintaining this confession constantly reminds us of what is important and helps us stay focused on glorifying God and living so that we will have eternal life with Him.

Q4. (Hebrews 4:12-13) What do these two verses have to do with what precedes them? The preceding verses were concerned with entering the "rest". By getting into the Word and living by it, we are led to know the joy of the rest which comes from living as God teaches us. This is true joy and peace. How is the Word described? The Word is quick and powerful and sharper than ny twoedged sword. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. What effect does the Word have on us? As we get into the Word, we learn how God wants us to live, we learn about his standards and we become aware of our wrongdoing. In other words, it helps us live to serve and glorify our Lord. Why do we need to continually expose ourselves to the Word of God? Because of our sinful nature, it is so easy to slip back into old ways of sinfulness. We need to continually expose ourselves to the Word of God to constantly remind ourselves of God's laws and His love for us.

The write tells these Jewish Christians that they are part of the Messiah's household only if they remain firm in their faith. The same is true for us. By saying only, the writer indicates they will not be part of the Messiah's household if they do not remain firm in their faith. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." This leaves no doubt that we Christians are Christ's abode here on the earth. Realizing this, how could we continue in sin?

Why was Jesus tempted? While Jesus was God, He was also man. Jesus hungered as a man, thirsted as a man, suffered as a man, and ultimately died as a man. He was also tempted as a man, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). This was necessary so that He could become a merciful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus knew what it meant to be tempted with sin and the things of this world. In this regard, He wasn

Bringing many sons to glory means that following Jesus will take us to The glory and radiance of the new life

Q2. (Hebrews 2:9) In what way did Christ "taste death for everyone"? Why is this so dependent upon God's grace? That God allows Christ's death for sin to substitute for our own is clearly "by the grace10 of God," not due to any merit of our own. If Christ died for your blackest and most stubborn sins, what are the implications for you? The implications is that God loves us so much and I am so thankful for Christ

Q1. (Hebrews 2:9) In what ways did Jesus suffer during his life and death?

The truth of salvation has been confirmed to me through God's Word, through the teaching and actions and others as the Holy Spirit has worked through them. The more I practice spiritual disciplines the more the truth of salvation is real to me. I believe we have signs and wonders every day if we really stay tuned to God and His word. I believe all of the Bible leads to forming my opinion relative to the truth of salvation.

It is easy to drift away from the gospel if we do not put Christ first in our lives. This means first in our thoughts and actions. We need to daily draw close to the Lord by practicing spiritual disciplines such as prayer and worship. Jesus described this drift as:Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them

The Son is the radiance of God

Looking to the future, the Son, now alive, has been appointed heir of all things; The Son shares the dignity of Creator with the Father; The Son is the God

Q3. (Matthew 7:21-23) How is it possible to deceive yourself, so that you presume that you are "doing" when you are only "hearing"? (see James 1:22-25). It is so easy to deceive ourselves by letting everyone see us doing the Christian thing

Q2. (Matthew 7:15-20) Jesus says that one's inner self will eventually become apparent (Matthew 12:34). What kinds of "fruit" might be clues to a false prophet? Strange or somewhat perverted teachings. Dominant character flaws. Actions and attitudes that don't conform to what you expect of a Christian leader. False prophets ravage the flock and destroy sheep. Sometimes those false sheep are the pastors themselves. They teach one thing and then live another way.

Q1. (Matthew 7:13-14) If Jesus' teaching about the narrow gate and the narrow road to life is to be believed, what change would this make in how you conduct your life? Anyone who believes this message will live a life that glorifies and serve the Lord. What difference would it make to how you witness to your neighbors? Anyone who believes this message will strive to reach friends, neighbors, family , etc. if they do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. How might it affect your acceptance of Universalism? This passage does not accept Universalism. There is only one way to salvation and that is through accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Q4. (Matthew 7:12) In what way does the "Golden Rule" capsulize the message of the law and the prophets? To show Christ's love, we need to love all of His children. This is not difficult when we are shown love but becomes a challenge when others are mean or insulting to us. However, we must remember that Christ loves us when we are not loveable and we must do the same to our brothers and sisters. We always treat others with the love and respect with which we would like to be treated if we follow Christ's example. This seems like a different "summary" of the law and the prophets than Jesus indicated in Matthew 22:37-39. How are they the same? They are the same in that we are commanded to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. How are they different? In the above, we are commaned to follow the Golden Rule. However, we must have the love of God in our heart to live the Golden Rule. We must love God first and then our neighbor as ourselves.