Craig

The implications for me personally in becoming a sharer in the sacrifice of the cross is that I am identifying with Jesus Christ and what He did for me by sacrificing Himself on the cross. It helps me to futher identify myself as a follower of Jesus Christ. In drawing the comparsion between the priest and myself in sharing in the sacrifice, it gives me a deeper appreciation and realization of how sacred the Lord's Supper is to the Christian.

The priests would eat a portion of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar. That was part of the atonement process. Just as the priests were sharers in the sacrifice made on the altar of burnt offering, we by eating of the Lord's Supper, become sharers in the offering of Jesus on the cross for our sins.

Koinonia means sharing something in common. Drinking the wine and breaking of the bread of the Lord's Supper is an act of faith and is a claim of personal participation in the benefits of Christ's shed blood.

I have pledged and promised to serve Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I was baptized by submersion as a young boy at First Baptist Church, Rockville, Maryland. My baptism was an identification of my burial and resurrection with Jesus Christ as well as symbolizing the death of my sin nature and rising out of the water as a new creation. I was baptized after accepting Jesus Christ into my life as a profession of my faith in Him.

Jesus Christ died once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring me to God. Jesus died once for all for my sin, for my unrighteousness and to reconcile me with God. God impressed upon me today the fact that my reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ has provided me a way and a connection with God the Father to fulfill my purpose on this planet. I am the Pastor of Grace Community Church in Live Oak, Florida. We are a Southern Baptist Church without Walls. God has used me in leading our church to be a bridge interdemonationally as well as interracially for Christian unification, service, evangelism, fellowship and such more. It is having a positive impact in the community. This is happening only because Jesus Christ reconciled me and my Father in Heaven. I am fully delighting in serving my God and reaching the community for Jesus Christ in both word and deed on a daily basis.

It can be hard to witness when we are persecuted because we are distracted, fearful, anxious and off-balance. Therefore, we become the wrong kind of witness. "Reply with gentleness" is the area that I am working on in witnessing to those who profess distaint for Jesus Christ.

Perseverence in faith is hard sometimes because the world is not friendly to Christianity. Jesus' way is a foreign way and goes against just about everything the world represents and holds important. Most people, it seems, by nature follow the conventional whether right or wrong. Most people cannot stand on what they believe if it means standing outside the pack or herd. There is a fear of being free. Spiritual growth, closeness to God and a multitude of other blessings, including being welcomed into Heaven, come as a result or reward for persevering. The most important thing that we can do in encouraging others to persevere is to model it ourselves. Our example speaks volumes to others.

This phrase deals with the rejection of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews in writing "...trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him and who has insulted the spirit of grace? Heb 10:29 (NIV), does not seem to be talking about intentional or untentional sin we slip into. The degree of seriousness in the words that he is choosing would indicate that he talking about the rejection of the grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In addition to corporate worship, praise and prayer, the writer of Hebrews is exhorting the Christian audience he is writing to not to forsake the assembly, but to meet to encourage and built up one another towards love and good deeds on a daily basis. Today, people, not always Christians, meet at church to be blessed and/or have their needs met. Christians get out of the habit of attending church and other church meetings because they are distracted by the world and selfishness. We can help these individuals by praying for them and by encouraging them to attend church.

The veil separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. The Ark of the Convenant was in the Holy of Holies and God's presence was upon it. The High Priest was the only person God permitted to enter the Holy of Holies once a year to spinkle sacrifical blood upon the mercy seat for the atonement of sin as instructed in Leviticus. This was atonement for the sins of the people of Israel. Again, only the High Priest, as instructed in Leviticus, was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies. Anyone else would die. The significance of the veil tearing down the center during Jesus' crucifixation signified God making Himself accessible to everyone, not just the High Priest. Having sacrificed Himself in His body on the cross, Jesus our High Priest entered the Most Holy Place and He made sinners perfect in holiness so that they too may enter through the curtain, His sacrificed and resurrected body being for us the new and living way. It is new in that Jesus instituted the New Convenant and living in that Jesus is our High Priest mediating for us in Heaven.

The Lord's Supper is an enacted proclamation of the gospel message. This proclamation is made to all mankind. It is important to proclaim to gospel to all for their salvation. When the church shifts its focus from the proclamation of the gospel message we stop being the church of Jesus Christ.

Remembering Christ's death is important so that we do not forget or take lightly what Jesus did on the cross for us. If we neglect remembering Jesus' death in this way we will lose focus on the most important part of Christianity and that is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sin. The danger of forgetting Christ's death on the cross is to trivialize everything that God did for us through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

The purpose of the Passover Meal was to remind the people of sequent generations of what God did in delivering them out of the land of Egypt during the Exodus. If the Jews stopped remembering the Exodus they would stop remembering what God did for them.

The Lord's Supper is only as mundane and meaningless as you permit it to be. The Lord's Supper was instituted to remember what Jesus did on the cross for us so we don't forget. And to remind us of the New Covenant that He initiated.

The blood of bulls and goats cannot change the heart of man. Only God can do that. The forgiveness of sins under the old covenant were looking to the New Covenant instituted by Jesus Christ.

Jesus' first coming was to bear and take away sin as a suffering servant. His second coming will bring salvation in the traditional Jewish understanding of Messiah. The Jews of the 1st century were looking for the Messiah who would deliver them. Not a suffering servant. The prophet Isaiah announced that the Messiah would be a suffering servant who take up our infirmities and carry our sorrows and be crushed for sins.

As a mediator, Jesus stands between God and man and has brought us together in Himself through His sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness our sin. In Jesus we can have eternal fellowship with God. If we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are freed from the slavery of sin and the condemnation that goes along with it.

Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for the atonement of human sin cleans the conscience of, and frees us from guilt. Jesus' sacrifice also frees us from self-doubt and condemnation -- 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" JN 3:16.

This study was about Christian growth. The most important issue I took away from this was it has confirmed my believe that I must live out my faith and not just believe. That if my belief exists only in my mind it is fantasty and that I must partner with God in my spirtual growth as Peter wrote in Chapter 1 of 2 Peter. This course took me through a careful study of both letters and you did very well. Thank you.

God guarding me from falling means that: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodiness." 2 Pet. 1:3 (NIV). In addition, God has filled me with, and given me the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome this world; to preserve and protect me from falling away, and protection from satan and his dominion. I am of the opinion that God is joyful when human beings love Him and acknowledge Him for who He is -- Creator. God will present me blameless to Himself because my High Priest, Jesus Christ, went to the cross and shed His blood for the atonement of my sin. My acceptance and response to God's grace makes it all possible.

Keeping myself in God's love means for me to stay in and hold up my end of the love relationship between God and myself. It means to honor Him by obeying His commands and staying faithful to Him. I doing the aforementioned things to maintain my love relationship with Him. I could buildup my relationship my being more obedient, more worshipful and more humble before Him.

We are responsible for building up our own Christian faith as a response to the faith that He has given us. Peter encourages Christians to make every effort to add to their faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. 2 Pet. 1:5-7. God has given us free-will, we are not robots or puppets. God wants us to take an active role in our own spiritual development and relationship to Him. I systematically read and pray over scripture every day seeking to integrate God's Word into my life. I'm making an active effort to add to my faith the above virtues mentioned by Peter. I try to maintain a constant prayer attitude throughout the day. I am always seeking opportunities to serve God as well as opportunities for God to develop me. I actively seek God's will and direction in my life. The above is what I am doing to built up myself in my most Holy faith.

I think the first privilege catches my attention more than the others. The fact that God loved me enough to to invite me into a relationship with him is amazing. It also means that God knows me, is interested in me and believes that I can carry out His call in my life which encourages me to want to serve Him, want to be Holy and submitt my life to Him.

Redemption is being released from and forgiven of sin and the consequences of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. The price of our redemption was the blood of Jesus Christ and it lasts forever.

My belief in Jesus' return and coming judgment causes me to evaluate what I am doing with my life and in my life daily. I do not want to be found with intentional sin in my life when He returns or when I depart from this planet. I want to be found a good and faithful sevant in neither case. I want to be a man of integrity reflecting my faith through my actions at all times. An underemphasis on Christ's return could create a Christian life that is unprepared for both the Seconding coming or the Christian's departure from this planet.