Elie

Q1. (Romans 6:12) What does obedience have to do with the "reign" of sin? We are born with a sinful nature, When we accept the Lord Jesus as our redeemer, we become righteousness of God. But Satan is still reclaiming us。 We need to cooperate with the Holy spirit, so He can help us to surrender ourselves to God. By resisting (James4.7), or even "having done everything...(Ephesians 6.13, a passage I love so much)", we are telling God that we accept Him to free us, and He loves that so much... so much, I m experiencing that : "God loves obedience so much..." Obeying God is the result of our separation from the reign of sin and joining(being under) the God' s reign.

Q3. (Romans 5:15-19) By what right does Adam represent all humankind? By what right does Christ become head of all who become his disciples? If Christ is not our "representative" or "head," how can his death for sins be effective for us? Adam is the first human, made at the image of God. He is the elder human. As the first (seniority) he becomes worthy to represent us... Christ is the only One who, being a human, did not sin, He didn't inherit Adam's original sin; more than that He has been made "sin" by the Father, for those who believe in his sacrifice(his disciples), so that in Him(under his headship, and solidly united in Him), we (his disciples) might become the righteousness of God(see 2Co5:21). That's goes over the qualification to be our Head, we his disciples. Christ being our head, means we are united with Him. Ch6 verse 5 say it well and it's simple: If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." (Romans 6:5). The effectiveness of Christ's death for sin is the resurrection for eternal life... The verse say "if", so understand, otherwise...

Q2. (Romans 5:13, 20) What is Paul saying in these verses? Can there be sin without law? In what sense does the "trespass increase" (5:20) when the law is present? Remember that when we sin we disobey God, The law was not there when Adam sinned, so canceling the law does not mean we are free from sin... (13 "For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.) When the law comes, you become conscious of your sin. Sometimes you cannot immediately stop during it, maybe other people are also involved, every time you miss the occasion to figure it out once for all is one more sin, and as long as you cannot get out of it,you keep feeling more and more guilty... Sin is so dangerous! With the law not only the trespasses of the one who sins increase but also that easily causes others to sin(some are always looking forward to judging or despising those who make bigger sin than they do... )

In a soccer game, after about 4 periods of game, if the 2 teams are still keeping equality, the two goalkeepers will do a face to face. One will decide for all (That often happens in final, when each team is strongly determine to win the Cup...). The all team trusts in the goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper (more than to satisfy himself)concentrates his whole energy for giving his best to satisfy the whole team, the fans, sometimes even nations...

Peter thought he loved Jesus enough to not deny him. In reality, he did love him but was not strong enough(at that time) to face the Jesus' executioners... The Lord know where we'll fail, He also always give us enough grace not to fail. He let us face trials not to let us fail, but to gradually and steadfastly built our characters. So every trial is an opportunity to get equipped by the Father. (ex: it becomes difficult to forget a formula you knew but fail to apply it well in a exam, next time you find it, perhaps in a more import exam or just giving an explanation to some friends, you'll boldly figure it out). We always need to feel the comforter hands of our God, not only for ourselves but also for our fellows. And Paul also explain pretty well one aspect it in 2Co1:3-4 Actually I don't really know how to explain it, but I personally understand that trials, in my Christian race, reveal me somewhere the divine nature of my Lord Jesus Christ. Perseverance make us discover the secret of all victory. Tried characters are often the strongest, they become like part of our nature and are contagious(attractive). Hope strengthen us for the next step when we have no more reason to keep going on.

Q1. (Romans 5:1-2) According to verses 1-2, faith is a key to salvation. For Abraham (4:3), what was the relationship between faith and justification? For us (5:1-2), what is the relationship between faith and justification? In your own words, just what does it mean to be justified? Paul keep saying in 4:5: ...to the man that does not work and put faith in Him who declares the ungodly one righteous, his faith is counted as righteousness. It is to express how our justification does not have connection with our deeds... And it is only by faith we can receive justification. It is not by a result of our work that we please God but by faith(Heb:6). Abraham has been justified because he believe, by faith, in the promise of God. We are justified because we believe in Jesus-Christ who lay down is life unto death to pay for all of our sins, and the third day has been raised by is Father, the almighty God, our father. Been justified is to get free from an accusation. have not to pay anymore for something you should pay for, not because the one who own don't need it any more, but because he's satisfied by something worthier. (an example: a student has never handed his homework which count for 20% of the full mark, the teacher doesn't consider that anymore after the final exam, because he is satisfied by the fact that this student got 90/100 at the final exam. In our case Christians, the Father is satisfied by Jesus 'death, and is pleased by our faith in his Son's sacrifice for us. )

Hi dear saints, I m living in Beijing but i m not Chinese. For me this lesson is like a rain of grace coming at the right time... i m sure it will be very helpful and useful...

Q1. (Ephesians 4:7) In what way does verse 7 teach that all Christians have received spiritual gifts? (See also Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:11; 1 Peter 4:10). If all have received spiritual gifts, what is the implication of this in light of the clause in Ephesians 4:16 that mentions "each/every part"? The grace is given to every one as Chrit apportioned it, not in regard to what we ve done... So often, some Christians only go to church every sunday, Though others are deeply involved in different ministries... Can we say that theses two categories have different degrees of believing...? we are all given the grace, some nullify it. It is the task of those who don t receive it in vain, to help them to become effective like they are, because it is question of one body. That will also give us the opportunity to experience what " good stewards of the manifold grace of God" means.

Q1. (Ephesians 4:1) What does "living a life worthy of your calling" in 4:1 have to do with maintaining unity in the Church in verses 2-6? What is "worthy" about unity? What is "worthy" about separation from fellow Christians? What is our "calling"? The calling is to be Christ disciple. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."(Jn 13:35) The New Command that Jesus Himself give us. So if are divided, how can love each other. How good a pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity(Ps 133:1). It s hard to tolerate others' misunderstandings and they multitude of differences cause usually we are not different, but others do... We are not called to facility, by following Jesus; We are called to do what He appeared for: destroy the Devil's work.(1Jn 3:8) And the separation from our fellows clearly means that The Devil is still rejoicing cause we disciples, who suppose to destroy his work, are building for him in a certain way, because of our ignorance.

q1. (Ephesians 2:16-18) Why is "access to the Father" important? In what way is access to the Father similar having diplomatic relations? How did we obtain this access? Extra credit: How does this access fulfill the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-40) and God's purpose for us? If Esther didn t get acces to the king, the jewish people should perish. Without acces to our King of kings, we would be shrunk to solve our probleme reling on our sinful nature...(Ga 5:19...) and we would not inherit the Kingdom of God. When two countries have diplomatic relations, normally their respectively have, what we call embassies. The embassy, in a certain way, a small country in the big friendly country, so that the two countries can always keep in touch. In the case of our relation with our God, we are given His Holy Spirit FOREVER (Jn 14:16). We are not just in touch, He dwell in us by His Spirit. His only begotten son Jesus, has bought us by His Godly Blood, and grant this acces to us He loves.

(Ephesians 1:19) Why does Paul pray that God would open the Ephesians' eyes to discern "his incomparably great power...? What is wrong with their eyes? Before they have been called, the Ephesians believers might used to serve different deities... That also might be very difficlt for them to understand that one god can by himself provide everything. That also happens with us, we are struggling with some courses at one faculty... it is good for us believers to stop sometime and thing about our Omniscient God(in a pratical daily view of the life). I personally used to be amazed about nonchristians'skills , and forget what incomparable power is reserved for me... We should ask in our Prayer (as Paul did for the Ephesians ) for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know our God better. Where does this power operate according to 1:19? The incomparably great power is operating within us believers, every single one of us who are cells of Christ's body, and all together we are the CHURCH. Which miraculous event does Paul use as an example of this level and type of power? Paul use the ressurection of Christ as an exemple, where God exerted in Christ his mighty strength when he raised him from the dead." (1:19b-20a)

Q2. Decode (identify) each of the following symbols that relate to the Lamb (5:6): The lamb itself represents the one whose blood wash away the sin of the world : Jesus Christ Standing after being slain indicates that He raised up from death after being crucified, He is ALIVE! Horns represent power and authority. Eyes represent science, light, integrity The number seven carries the idea of perfection, completeness To summarize, then, the Lamb has the qualities of being the one who has perfect and complete power an authority above all creatures, The one who can justify, the who knows, sees all things, The Light.

Q4. Why is it so important to forgive those who have offended us before partaking of the Lord's Supper? In what sense are the Lord's Supper and unforgiveness incompatible? (Consider Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:27; Matthew 6:14-15; 5:23-24; James 5:16.) We cannot rob God, He doesn't want us to be hypocrites, it would be nonsense to say each time in our prayers:" forgive us our depths as we have also forgiven our debtors", are we lying God...? . to go to the great party of forgiveness with our fellow's offenses, right upon our heart, not forgiven. As the light is incompatible to the darkness, so it is for the party where we share the joy of our justification and the stone heart showing against our fellows.

Q3. Why should the words, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28) fill us with sorrow? Why should they fill us with joy? "my blood of the covenant, which is poured out", it wasn't poured out at once, but it was from dawn starting by the flogging, the crown twisting with thorns ... keeping on even after the death by the side pieced at about 3h in the afternoon, when water also came out, sign that there's no more sufficient blood. All this mixed with the treason (from his own apostle), denied by the some others specially Peter, disappointed by his disciples, rejected by his people(the Jewish), counted among the wicked...He was (also) full man with all human emotions (i cannot imagine Him looking at her mother experiencing all this )... who can drink such a cup... ? I'm so regretful, my sins cause all this! But when i understand how He prayed three times in the the Mount of Olives, He knew it should that horrible, but wanted first the Father's will:my(our) salvation!... OH OH dear Jesus! i cry and will always cry: "sweet redeeming crucifixion! which gives me joy for the everlasting life! "

Q1. In what way did the lambs on the first Passover protect the families of God's people? (Exodus 12) What is the primary point of comparison between the first Passover lambs and what Christ did for us as our Passover Lamb? The lamb was slaughtered, and its blood was put on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where it was eaten,. This was a sign, for their protection from the plague. The blood of the yearling lamb, was used when God wanted to finish with the rebellion of pharaoh who refused to leave His people; the freedom was in perspective to Canaan. And Jesus give His blood to wash away our sins, to justify us for the eternal life.