Debbe

1. (Romans 8:28) What is the actual promise contained in verse 28? What does this promise mean? Put it in your own words. What are the two qualifications to the recipients of this promise? How does verse 28 give you hope? All things work together for good for those that love The Lord and are called according to His purpose. If with love God and have answered His call (responded to Him), god can choreograph all things to work out for our good. We must love The Lord and answer His call. No matter what I go through , God can work it to benefit me.

Q5. (Romans 8:18-25) In what sense do we expect to experience God's glory when Christ comes? How will the suffering creation experience God's glory? How will our mortal bodies experience God's glory? In what way will our spirits experience God's glory? We will come face to face with perfection. I believe that we too will shine and reflect His glory. The suffering creation will at last be free and perfect again. Our mortal bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, with no more pain or sorrow. Our spirits will soar!

Q4. (Romans 8:24-25) What are the characteristics of a person who has lost hope? How does this person typically conduct his life? How does this differ from a person who holds an eager expectation of a better future? What is the "Christian hope"? How should it motivate us and affect our lives now? One whom has lost hope has got to feel isolated, experience depression, and feel that he has no purpose. I rather imagine that he is pessimistic and drifts aimlessly with no or little goals. Those who hold an eager expectation of a better future feel alive and hopeful and optimistic. The Christian hope is waiting in anticipation of Christ returning and restoring the world in His honor and glory. We are motivated to draw closer to God and strive to serve Him for His glory.

Q3. (Romans 8:26-27) How does the Holy Spirit act as a Helper or Mediator or Intercessor in verses 26-27? What similarities do you see between the Holy Spirit's ministry here with Jesus' teaching of the Spirit's ministry as Counselor/Comforter/Paraclete in John 14:16 and 15:26)? Why do you think we tend to take the Holy Spirit for granted or fail to understand His ministry to and through us? The Holy Spirit prays on our behalf. The Spirit leads into all truth and is indeed the Spirit of truth. The disciples had Jesus with them to lead them and tell them truth. Now we have the Holy Spirit who promises to never leave us and to point us to the Father. We often don't "see" the work of the Spirit, but He is faithful.

Q2. (Romans 8:17-22) In what ways was suffering Jesus' lot in life? Why do we suffer? Why does all creation seem to be suffering? What will signal the end of that downward cycle of suffering, decay, and death? Is there anything good to look forward to in this present life? Jesus took our punishment upon Himself. His purpose was to come and die as a perfect sacrifice. We suffer because of our fallen state, and creation is suffering because of a curse caused by disobedience. The signal of the end of decay and death will be Christ's return. There is however, good to look forward to in this present life. We can have a personal relationship our Lord and Savior , Jesus Christ. We can enjoy fellowship with Him and fellow believers as we anticipate His return.

Q1. In Romans 8:14-21, 28, how many times is the idea of being sons and daughters of God alluded to? What are the promises made to these sons and daughters? What do we learn about our future and our role in the future of all creation? I counted five times that being sons and daughters are alluded to. The promise is that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Our future role will be to sit in the heavenly realms with Christ.

6. (Romans 8:15-16) How does the Holy Spirit inspire us to pray "Abba, Father"? What is the significance of us referring to God as our Dad? What happens in our lives if we don't have some kind of personal assurance of our salvation? How do we receive this kind of personal assurance? God loves us so much and has adopted us into His family. We are children of God. He wants to be intimate with us in our relationship. If we don't have assurance we live in constant doubt and guilt. We can receive this assurance by asking The Lord for it.

Q5. (Romans 8:13-14) What does it mean to "mortify" or "put to death" the deeds of the body by the Spirit? What would it look like to watch a person do this? What does it mean to be "led" by the Spirit? What does this look like in actual practice? How do "putting to death" and being "led" by the Spirit fit together? How much of this is the Spirit and how much is us? To mortifying the deeds of the body by the Spirit is to cause total cessation of an activity, by following the lead of the Holy Spirit. A person would stop wrong behavior . Being led by theSpirit actually means to allow oneself to be led. Our behaviors will change as a result. Putting to death and being led suggests a process, sanctification. Apart from Him, we can do nothing, so it is entirely the Spirit and our willingness.

Q4. (Romans 8:12) Do we have to sin? Are we compelled to sin? Is it possible to live for two hours of wakefulness without sinning? Four hours? One day? Two days? Where do we Christians get such a defeatist attitude towards sin? From Scripture? We do not have to sin, nor are we compelled to sin. It is possible to live sinless lives, however we do fall into sin occasionally. we do not get a defeatest attitude toward sin from the Bible, but from satan, the father of all lies.

Q3. (Romans 8:9) Is it possible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit residing in us? What is the difference (if any) between the indwelling of the Spirit and the fullness of the Spirit? How do we remain "full" of the Spirit? It is impossible to be a Christian without the resident Holy Spirit. I'm not quite sure about the difference between the indwelling of and the fullness of the Spirit is. I think that the indwelling happens at the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord and the fullness is when we are endued with Spiritual gifts. The Bible promised that God will never leave us or forsake us, therefore we are eternally indwelled by the Holy Spirit. But we should have our minds ever set on God's Word.

2. (Romans 8:5-6) Exactly what does it mean to set your mind on the things of the Spirit? How do you do this? How can you recognize when the things you're setting your mind on relate to your sinful nature? How much of this is deliberate? How much is habit? What part does the Holy Spirit have it this? Or is this primarily right living by force of will? We set our minds on the things of the Spirit by thinking about what the Spirit wants. We do this by contemplating the words of God. We lose our joy and peace when we set our minds to follow the sinful nature. As a Christian, we should not be deliberately focusing on the flesh, however I do believe that we do habitually do wrong occasionally. It is the sinful nature that battles for our obedience. As we continually set our minds on the Spirit, we grow and learn from glory to glory. It is our own self will that needs to be molded, but we must use our wills to set our minds on things above.

Q1. (Romans 8:3-4) Why can't obedience to the law save us? What is the weak link? What then does it take to save us? Our sinful nature causes the law not to be able to save us. The weak link is human nature. We need a redeemer to save us, a perfect sacrifice, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He took our punishment upon Himself and if we accept that, we have eternal life.

Romans 7:14-25) Christians disagree about who is the "I" in Romans 7. Is Paul referring to himself or others? What is your opinion? (We won't all agree here, but we'll learn what the issues are by taking and arguing for a position -- lovingly) I believe that the "I" is Paul, but it translates to even us today. Paul, I believe is including regenerate mankind. This is a universal problem for all believers.

4. (Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:18-20; Romans 7:24) What is the doctrine of "total depravity"? Put it in your own words. Does it mean that none of God's original goodness shows through? Then what does it mean? Why does modern man tend to believe that man is basically good? How does this differ from what the Bible teaches? Without God, we have no good in us. No, but it is a state of being. We have a bent toward sin. Modern man wants to believe that they themselves are in control and reject God. Modern man believes that education is the way to enlightenment. The Bible states that without Christ we can do nothing. ( John 15:5)

Q3. (Romans 7:12; 8:3) What does the law do well? What does it do poorly? Why is the law (knowing right and wrong) powerless to save us? What is the problem here The law tells us what is right and wrong,but it can't keep us from sinning. The law cannot save us because we have a sinful nature that seduces us to sin. We need a redeemer. Praise God for Jesus The Christ who died, was buried and arose again for our sin, because of His love.