sadiejee

Good morning! This is my first time on this forum and doing this Bible Study. I have read many of the comments and notice they date back to 2004. Is anyone doing this study nowadays? In either respect, I have found their comments very enlightening and as for the year 2004, I have been taken aback by how far I have drifted away from Jesus since then! I am excited to get back on track!! Thank you for having this Bible Study Program, I look forward to learning and living as Jesus portrayed to us during his short time here on this earth! God bless all of you!

We moved from being under the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ through His death and resurrection when we accepted Jesus into our life and became baptized, because of His resurection from death we too are resurected from our old life and raised into our new life. So in order to bring about this change, we must accept Jesus as our Lord & Savior and be baptized.

How I understand through what I have just read, Adam doesn't stand for just a man, but represents all mankind as a whole, the same as I was explaining the incident at our church where the pastor represents the congregation through his position. I'm not sure of the meaning of "by what right does Christ become head of all who become his diciples", nor do I understand the question "if Christ is not our "representative" or "head", how can his death for sins be effective for us?" I wish someone would explain this to me.

I feel that the law brings sin to the surface. One doesn't know how "sinful" one is if they don't know right from wrong. For example, if I am married and have a habit of fantasizing about a good looking man and spend almost all of my time thinking and dreaming of this man, wishing my husband was more like him, thinking of how much I'd love to be with him etc. and then one day I'm at church and the pastor has a sermon on this topic and all of a sudden it becomes clear to me how wrong this is, that I am committing adultery even though I am not physically doing anything ... from that day forward I will no longer do it with a clear conscience, from that day forward I will know that I am sinning, whereas before I had no idea. If I continue to fantasize, the sin increases and the further I distance myself from God and I will condinue to walk in darkness.

There are a lot of circumstances in life where a single person acts for the entire group, and the rest were forced to follow through. For example, our pastor. There was a incident that took place among our members that was controversial to the entire group. The pastor chose to make that person leave based on his belief and even though I didn't agree with the decision, being a member, I had no choice but to follow along or not come back myself. Was it a "right" decision? Could it have been handled in another way? I think so. The same goes for our ladies Bible study group, one lady that attended was an alcoholic and sometimes came to the meetings 3 shades bent from the wind. She was told not to come back because she was disturbing the rest - I didn't agree with that either but what choice did I have but to agree or leave? I think that as Christians, in a case like this, someone should have stepped up to the plate (probably myself) and tried to help the woman, instead we chased her away so we wouldn't have to be bothered. I still feel bad about that.

that while we were still sinners, Jesus gave his life for us, is a hard concept to swallow. but true. I think this is a truth that the devil wants us to doubt so that he can keep us in bondage. But Jesus said, "I came to give you life" ... he didn't say anything about "when we were good, or if we were good" ... all that is required is that we believe!

To "rejoice" in our sufferings is almost opposite of what the world believes and so hard for a non-Christian to understand! I think that people who know you are a Christian watch to see how you handle life circumstances, good or bad and inadvertly make a judgement thereof. I don't know if I could actually "rejoice" while suffering, but I can keep my mouth shut and not complain, knowing that God will get me through it and in that belief, find some peace of mind. Perserverence is a strong witness to those around you, that you don't give up is so important. That thru your trials, your character is built, and your ability to understand those around you and give them hope is the most important thing in the world. I sometimes think God uses us as his hands and/or shoulder and the only way we can be there and truly understand someone who is gong thru a difficulty is to have been there our selves.

To me, to be justified would mean to have qualified for the right of something, or having a sufficient reason to be so. In this case the sufficient reason would be Christ dying for our right and we qualify by believing in Him

Reonciliation would mean making amends - making things right, righting the wrong. Reconciliation with God is necessary for our future life with Him. God is without sin, we are sinful creatures. In order for us to be with God in the everafter, we must be reconciled to sin. By Jesus' dying, he overcame sin, by His resurrection he overcame death, death and sin walk hand in hand. So by our belief in Jesus as our Messiah, he has then saved us from death and slowly we evolve into a Christ like being through reading the Bible and learning His ways.

I feel it is very important to embrace the truth that Christ died for the ungodly, although I often wonder why?? Especially when I'm sure that He could go through a certain number of people and find some really good ones and choose to die for their goodness ... but then there would always be the comparison factor - I am better than you because you did this or that wrong therefore, I am more worthy. I guess it puts us all on the same playing field, none are worthy except through His grace. According to 5:8, Christ died for us while we were all sinners, so definitely at our worst. I feel assurance against the devil's lies in the truth that Christ died to give us freedom over sin and condemnation ... because He died to sin, so also have we died to sin through our belief and as He rose above, so also do we.

I find that the importance in my life of perserverance is building my faith, with each obstical that comes accross my path, as long as I believe and don't give up, I see God's glory shining through and so do those who stand by and watch. As for tried character, I believe that God sets the stage of my life so as to build my character and deepen my faith, therefore hope is important factor through which trials are faced knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that no matter how bad it gets or what I must face, my God is with me and my destination only a step closer in the whole scheme of things as God's plan for my life evolves.

To me, to be justified would mean to have qualified for the right of something, or having a sufficient reason to be so. In this case the sufficient reason would be Christ dying for our right and we qualify by believing in Him

Thank you for offering this Bible study, I am unsure of how to use it and if in fact I am even where I should be to introduce myself, so I will wait until I am more familiar with the site. God Bless! Sadie