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Q4. (1 John 2:24-28) What does it mean to abide/remain/continue in Jesus? Give an example of what a Christian might be doing who is "abiding" in Jesus. What are symptoms in a Christian who is not "abiding" in Jesus? We are to persevere in the Word and remain loyal to our Lord and Saviour. Our great safety is to stay close to the word of God. We should test everything by

Q3. (1 John 2:20, 27) In what ways is the Holy Spirit an internal Guide for us? In what ways does he teach us? In what ways does he point us to Jesus' teaching? When we are saved, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He enables us to discern between truth and error. He exposes all untruths and makes us aware of Jesus

Q3. (Ephesians 6:5-8) What are the characteristics called for in a truly Christian employee, according to Ephesians 6:5-8? How can these attitudes help us in difficult work situations? A truly Christian employee must be obedient, remembering that the employer has jurisdiction as far as physical or mental work is concerned, but he cannot dictate in spiritual matters. Employees should be respectful; not offending the Lord and the employer. They should be conscientious, trying to deliver a full day

Q2. (Ephesians 6:4) What kind of behaviour by fathers (or mothers, for that matter) can embitter or cause a child to lose heart? What do you think the "training and instruction of the Lord" involves? Stubborn behaviour and forcing their point of view on the child without due consideration are things that can embitter a child. Also unreasonable demands and undue harshness can cause a child to lose heart. Rather a parent should be encouraging and building a child up in the Lord. Training means discipline and correction. There should be strict discipline, with love, in the home. Child-training should be

Q2. (1 John 2:20-21) What is the "anointing" that John is talking about? In what way is anointing connected to the Holy Spirit in the Bible? Has every Christian received this anointing? What do you think? John is talking about each Christian when saved receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables the believer to discern between truth and error. When John tells his young readers

Q1. (Ephesians 6:1-3) What kind of obedience and honour is appropriate for adult children to show towards their parents? What might be the exceptions? How do respect and forgiveness figure in this relationship? Parents are mostly more mature and have had many life experiences and they can pass on valuable insight and advice to their children. We often find adult children can be immature, impulsive, and inexperienced, and they should submit to the authority of parents, who are older and wiser. Therefore children should respect and honour their parents; they should relate to each other with thoughtfulness and love. Of course this is all done only in obedience to our Heavenly Father. Both parents and children must respect each other; and have the other

Q1. (1 John 2:18) What is this antichrist that John expects to come? What is the difference between the antichrist and antichrists in the church John is writing to? In what ways do we see the spirit of antichrist at work in our day? John warns about an antichrist that will arise prior to the coming of Christ and pretend to be Christ. The antichrists John was referring to are the false teachers that were in the church during his time, and are in the church even today. These are false teachers who offer a false Jesus and a false gospel. He especially warns those who are young in the faith and have not developed a proper power of discernment, and who are therefore especially susceptible to lies. It is remarkable that the day in which we live is characterized by the existence of many Christ-denying cults, and these all bear testimony to the fact that the coming of the Saviour is near.

Q4. (Ephesians 5:32) In what sense is Christ our Husband as individuals? As a church? What are the implications of this for our lives? What does this say about Christ's responsibilities towards us? In the same way that wives are told to submit to their husbands, we are told to submit to Christ. The church also submits to Jesus as He is the head of the church. As we grow in Christ our marriages will become more perfect. As husbands we are told to love our wife as ourselves. Not merely as I might love myself, but in recognition of the fact that she is one with me. To the wives the word is: see that you continually respect and obey your husband. Can we imagine what would happen if these divine instructions were widely followed by Christian people today? The answer is obvious. There would be no strife, no separation, and no divorce. Our homes would be more like foretastes of heaven than they often are.

Q3. (Ephesians 5:28) In what sense is a husband's care for his wife's needs just common sense in taking care of his own needs? What is the principle from Genesis 2:24 that underlies this? It is common sense because her needs are my needs

Q2. (Ephesians 5:25-30) Does being head of the wife involve being "boss"? Why or why not? What does being "head" require of a husband? What is the example husbands are to follow in headship? Most definitely no - marriage is not a boss, employer, employee relationship. As husbands we are to follow the example of our Lord Jesus; and that is to serve our household. We are to serve our wives and family in love. We are told to love our wives just as Christ also loved the church. As the head of the home we take responsibility for all decision making. These decisions are taken with our wives, but ultimately we must give an account for all decisions taken. As head of the home we are to provide, protect, and encourage our wives. In the day to day living we both form a team and operate for the best of the family.

Q1. (Ephesians 5:22-24) Why should a wife submit to her husband? According to these verses, to what degree is a wife required to submit to a husband who is not a Christian or who is a carnal Christian? Does submission mean a wife doesn't verbally disagree? What if there's a conflict with the wife's conscience? A basic principle in every well-ordered society is that there must be authority as well as submission. If not then there will be anarchy. The same applies in the home. There must be a head, and there must be obedience to that head. God ordained that the place of headship be given to the man. He indicated this by creating man first, then creating woman for the man. Thus, both in the order and purpose of creation, He put man in the place of authority and woman in the place of submission. Submission never implies inferiority. Never is the woman inferior to the man. In many ways she may be superior - in devotedness, in sympathy, in diligence, and in heroic endurance. But wives are commanded to submit to their own husbands, as to the Lord. In submitting to the authority of her husband, a wife is submitting to the Lord's authority. No wife would be expected to obey her husband if he required her to compromise her loyalty to the Lord Jesus. But in all the normal relationships of life, she is to obey her husband, even if he is an unbeliever. A wife can verbally disagree with her husband and even give him advice but the ultimate decision will be the head of the house, and he must take all responsibility for his decisions.

Q4. (Ephesians 5:19-20) What kind of attitude should underlie our corporate singing? How is corporate singing designed to help us singers? How is it designed to worship God? How does singing in your own daily life help you worship? We should have an attitude of thankfulness, an inward joy and praise to God. We will want to talk and sing about the things of the Lord. When filled with the Holy Spirit we bubble over with joy and sing with all our heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where the Spirit reigns, there is gratitude to God, a deep sense of appreciation, and thankfulness. This is a sure way to happiness, thank and praise God for everything that happens to us. It is easy to be thankful for sunshine; it takes the power of the Spirit to be thankful for the storms of life.

Q4. (1 John 2:15-17) What kinds of sins are covered by the three examples of worldliness that John gives? Why are these sometimes so difficult for us to discern in ourselves? Why is worldliness so harmful to our future? Worldliness is characterized by the craving for physical pleasure; we have this preoccupation with gratifying our physical desires. There is also the craving for everything we see; we want and want and want, never having enough; we covet and accumulating things, bowing to the god of materialism. Finally there is pride in our achievements and possessions; in other words an obsession with our status or importance. By contrast, God values self-control, a spirit of generosity, and a commitment to humble service. Because of our pre-occupation with these sins, we often do not recognise these sins in our lives. We are so self-centred and caught up in this rat-race. Worldliness has no future; the world is passing away and a new order is coming; one where our Lord will reign. So we do not live for a world that is passing away; rather we know that

Q3. (1 John 2:15-16) What is "the world" in verses 15-16? What kind of love of "the world" keeps us from loving the Father? The world referred to here is everything on earth that is against Christ; any sphere in which the Lord Jesus is not loved and welcomed. I have heard it defined as

Q2. (1 John 2:12-14) John encourages "children," "young men," and "fathers." Why do you think he takes time to encourage them? In what ways does he encourage them? John knows that the Christians are in various stages of growth and therefore takes time to encourage each group. Doing it this way will have more impact per group. Initially he encourages all Christians, that we have complete remission of our sins; our sins are forgiven for His name's sake. He now speaks to the

Q1. (1 John 2:7-11) How does hate and unforgiveness blind us spiritually? If we have been darkened by hurt and hate, how do we come into the light? Hate and unforgiveness separate us from our Saviour, and we are thus spiritually blind. We cannot expect God to forgive us, yet we are not prepared to forgive others. The only way to come back into the light and a right relationship with Jesus is to forgive all those that have hurt us and to pray for them as well. I have found that praying for those that have done us an injustice, real or perceived, gets rid of any hatred we might have had.

Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our centre? Being in Christ we have this desire to please our Lord Jesus. This we do in a threefold way

Q4. (1 John 2:1-2) What assurance does John give us if we do sin? How does this comfort us? How does it make us want to avoid sin? God is perfect and His standard for His people is therefore absolute perfection. Therefore He cannot condone sin in any form. However, we have a gracious God, a Heavenly Father who has made provision for us in the event of failure. He remembers that we are vulnerable and do slip up from time to time. So He has graciously made provision for us in the event of this failure. We have our Lord Jesus Christ who speaks to our Heavenly Father in our defence. We can take comfort in the fact that God is still our Father even if we sin. Our sin will break our fellowship with God but not our relationship with Him. When we became Christians, we were born again, and we became children of God, and nothing can ever affect that relationship. A birth is something that cannot be undone. We may disgrace our Father, but we are still His children by the fact of birth. The fact that Jesus died for my sins and the sins of the whole world makes me want to avoid sin. I am forever indebted to Jesus; by dying for me, He freed me from the guilt of my sins and restored me to God by removing every barrier to fellowship. God can show mercy to me because Christ has satisfied the claims of justice.

Q3. (1 John 1:9) How would you define "confession"? Why is confessing our sins so important? What happens to us if we stop confessing our sins? What are the promises given to us if we do confess our sins? How is forgiveness of sins different from cleansing? When we confess we admit and acknowledge our sins. It is by confessing our sins that we are able to walk day by day in fellowship with God and with our fellow believers. We must confess all our sins: the sins we have committed, even sins of neglect, our sins of thought, our secret sins, and public sins. We must drag them out into the open before God, and mention them by name. True confession involves forsaking of sins, we read in Proverbs 28:13,

Q2. (1 John 1:5-7) What is the result when a Christian walks in darkness, that is, continues wilfully to do what he or she knows to be wrong? How does this involve self-deception? What is the result, according to verse 7, when we walk in the light? How do we get back into the light if we sin? There is no grey area; if we continue walking in darkness the result will be separation from God. We must not deceive ourselves; sin is sin. All the excuses we use like it is hopeless to resist sin, or bluffing ourselves that we sin no more, and even accepting that sin is not so bad, all deceive us. We must accept that we struggle with sin and only with the help of the Holy Spirit and as we grow in Christ, are we slowly winning the battle. On the other hand, if we walk in the light, then we can have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with our fellow Christians. We are either in the light or in darkness, as mentioned earlier there is no grey area. If we are in the light, we are members of God's family. If we are in darkness, we have nothing in common with God because there is no darkness in God at all. Those who walk in the light, that is, those who are Christians, have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses them from all sin. All God's forgiveness is based on the blood of His Son that was shed at Calvary. That blood provided God with a righteous basis on which He can forgive sins, it has lasting efficacy to cleanse us. Of course, believers must confess before they can receive forgiveness.

Q1. (1 John 1:3-4, 6-7) Why is our fellowship with fellow Christians so often just on a surface level? How can we have fellowship at a deeper level in Christ? What would it take in your Christian group or your relationships with other believers to deepen your level of fellowship so it is authentically Christian? We have superficial fellowship with other Christians because of our shallow relationship with Jesus. Sin separates us from God and our Lord Jesus. We say that we are God's people but continue to live in sin and our lives are set against God because of a heart filled with hatred and a will inclined to disobedience. Sin not only alienates man from God but also from our fellow Christians. It disrupts life and fosters confusion. Instead of peace, there is discord; in place of harmony, there is disorder; and in lieu of fellowship, there is enmity. So now it follows that in order for us to be in fellowship with God, there can be no hiding of sin. Light and darkness cannot exist in a person's life at the same time; if we walk in darkness, we are not in fellowship with God or with our fellow Christians. On the other hand, if we walk in the light, then we can have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with our fellow Christians. It is then that we experience the grace of Christ dispelling darkness and flooding us with the light of God. To have fellowship with God is to live a life of holiness in his sacred presence.

Q3. (Ephesians 5:17-18) What is the primary temptation involved with drugs and alcohol? How can drug or alcohol use substitute for the "high" of the Spirit? How can being filled with the Spirit help us fend off the temptations of drugs and alcohol? It allows people to escape from the realities of life; helps them forget about their daily problems and lowers their inhibitions. In becoming high on both drugs or alcohol and the Spirit there are similarities. In both conditions the person is under a power outside themselves; they can become highly emotional; and of course their behaviour is altered. Being filled with the Spirit can help us fight the temptations of drugs and alcohol. There is no loss of self-control; for we know from Gal 5:23 that the fruit of the Spirit is, amongst others, self-control.

Q2. (Ephesians 5:15-16) Why does Paul exhort us to make the most of every opportunity? Why do we resist that? What must happen in our lives so we can be ready for the opportunity? We are to make the most of every opportunity for an opportunity missed is one that will never return. We are to reflect the power and glory of the gospel at every opportunity we may have. It could be doing good works, words of help, winning people for Christ, exposing evil, and all the deeds that we could do to glorify God. We sometimes become complacent and do not realise that time is short and that there is much work to be done. Once we recognise the enormity of the evil that is in the world today and that God will not always bother with us; and that the time of grace will soon end. It is then that we will be ready and look for opportunities to witness, worship, and serve.

Q1. (Ephesians 5:2-3) Why does Paul warn so strongly against sexual sin? Is sexuality part of our spiritual life or can it be (should it be) partitioned from our spiritual life? Sexual sin is often closely associated with idolatry, and we see that even those who had turned to Christ had not thoroughly shaken off this sin (1Cor 5:1-13). Paul warns against impurity and uncleanness in deeds. But he also condemns it in words, thoughts, intents of the heart, desires, and passions. Sexuality is part of our spiritual life

Q4. (Ephesians 4:32) Why is it so difficult to forgive those who hurt us? According to Ephesians 4:32, who is our example of forgiveness? What heart attitudes toward people is evidence of a forgiving spirit, according to verse 32a? Because of our egocentric attitude we regard any hurt as a personal attack, and our pride is hurt. Therefore we must retaliate, and to get our own back seems to be the natural reaction. The greatest example of forgiveness is God Himself. The basis of His forgiveness is the work of Christ at Calvary. God forgives us, not because we forgive others, but solely because of His great mercy. The more we come to understand His mercy, the more we will want to be like Him. It is when we realise that we have received forgiveness which we do not deserve, that we will we pass it on to others. If we are unwilling to forgive we must be careful that we have not become one with Christ. Our attitude toward others should be one of kindness; an unselfish concern for the welfare of others, and a desire to be helpful even at great personal sacrifice. At the same time we should be compassionate; being sympathetic and affectionate towards others, and even a willingness to bear their burden.