Q5. Purity

[Pastor Ralph]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

[Jofel]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today?

Answer: It should be like we consecrate and sanctify ourselves from all kinds of sins that is not pleasing to God.

How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper?

Answer: By abstaining from any sin that will make us unclean from the eyes of God.

How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Answer: By keeping our hearth and mind clean and free from any worldly things.

[Anstey Jeremiah]

Avoiding or trying to avoid the sins of ones culture and traditions means one has to be ready to walk alone, even brethren think you're wacky and pretend pious. Culture and tradition is the  biggest threat to the Church or at least one of the biggest and leads to a sort of syncretism, sadly some Christians are not aware. There should be no cultural/traditional adjectives before the word Christian to describe brethren. Studying/readying the word of God would help us to know God and thus really worship Him in spirit and in truth. We will also come to realize that as Paul says " it's the grace of God" that allows us to do things in His name and get strength to endure. The enemy, the accuser, wants us to believe God's grace has a limit and that we can overuse it but it's the only way forward, for we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, even in Christ.

[justpassinthrough]

On 8/15/2017 at 4:21 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

 

Separating ourselves from sinful and defiling people and places is the key to walking according to the Spirit, rather than walking according to the sinful desires of our flesh.

 

 

[Aleezah]

Ecclesiastes 1:9 is really quite clear, there is no new thing under the sun.  As a result repenting today is no different than repentance many moons ago. Repent means to turn from sin,  no if, ands, or buts.  

For myself, I always pray Psalm 51 and the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6.  I find these to be very helpful.  

I believe we must constantly pray like Daniel throughout the day and also pray that our steps are ordered by our Heavenly Father.  I find listening to Scriptures on YouTube by Tmantz625 very helpful.  Psalm 119:105 states,"Thy WORD is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

 

[Old Jerry]

I would like to think that the repentance and separation from sins in our culture is the same as in the Old Testament times. The difference is that we are bombarded with our culture all the time through the internet, television, radio and many other ways.

 

In order to prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper we need to confess our sins and repent of them. The only way that I can think of to prepare to serve him with purity day by day is by prayer.

[blezed]

On 8/15/2017 at 5:21 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Repentance and separation from the sins of our culture should look like the same as in the Old Testament for a disciple today.  We have more distractions today that could hinder the preparation of our hearts and minds to receive Christ.  Therefore, we must be genuine in our preparation for worship by  starting at home with prayer.  When we reach the House of Worship, all hearts and minds should be ready to receive the Christ.

[Phil57]

Repentance and seperation from the sins of our culture are different for various locations in the world today as it was in the OT. 

For Daniel in Exile it was certainly different than for  Kings David.  Not too sure what the question is getting at it is our sin not the sin of the culture. The sin of the culture may make it more difficult for us to stand for God as it was for Daniel and now for more and more of us as the church is being demonised by various cultures. 

It was easier to attend Sunday worship 60 years ago when most families went and there was no sport or business tradeon Sundays. But David's sin of **** was not prevented by his living in Israel 

Today we are called our of this world by the indwelling Spirit, and we apporach the throne of grace through the certainly of the blood of Christ, which is a greater covenant than that of Sinai. 

We prepare for worship and for the Lord's supper not by having made ourselves clean but by repenting of our sins, asking our heavenly Father to be gracious and merciful to us and  ( Not a distant idea but our father by new birth of water and Word) to forgive us for the sake of Jesus Christ and claiming his righteousness. 

So Repentance looks a lot more personal and direct than being mediated by temple priest but by the Great High priest Jesus who  by his perfect obedience is both our sacrifice and saviour.

We go to the table with confidence and at peace with others - if this is not the case then we are called to leave our gift at the altar and make peace with our brother/ sister.

We recieve Christ at the table  in faith and expectation - not with fear for if we confess our sins he is surely merciful. We belong at the table but we have not earned a place at the table - that is always grace. 

We  serve God in purity in the grace of our baptism, in seeking his will in his word and being guided to avoid sinning but also to repent of our sins.

 

[JanMary]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:21 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

1. Repentance for me means acknowledging my sin, asking the Lord for forgiveness, and with the conviction to "turn around" & change sinful behavior ...to  go in a "different direction" (In the Old Testament I would have to provide my own sacrifice and take it to be killed by the priest to cover my sin, and in some cases I would have to kill the animal or bird myself, whereas the blood of Jesus REMOVES my sin, continuously so that I now live in a state of continuous grace)

2. Separation for me means that I love the people but abstain from their culture, mores and pursuits, instead following in Jesus' footsteps according to His Word and  the grace He has given me. It means I'm not bound by political correctness which says that "we can't talk about our faith because someone may be offended". When I feel the leading of Holy Spirit, I'm free to follow His lead rather than society's rules. Jesus called us to "invade" enemy territory, but the enemy has instead "invaded" the Church until it's so watered down with political correctness that we are impotent and irrelevant in today's world.

3. Communion:  This changed my life when I learned this: In Bible times the father of the groom chose his bride. At the marriage supper, the father would rise and holding a cup of wine, would ask "Son, do you take the bride I've chosen for you?" If he said "Yes, I will take her" they would drink from the 3rd cup of redemption. Then the couple would go through  a promise ceremony at the brides' house where they officially  became betrothed or married. Then the groom went home and prepared and built a house for them. The father, when he saw that his son had prepared a place said "Son, go and get your bride" He would surprise her so she had to be always ready and watching for him to come for her. (type of the rapture when the trumpet is blown and He will call His bride to come to His house.)Then they went to the father's house and celebrated the consummation of the marriage for 7 days. with a huge celebration with friends and family.(type of the Marriage supper of the Lamb after the bride is raptured celebrated in Heaven for 7 years while the tribulation is poured out upon the earth and all who rejected His gift of salvation)

The third cup of redemption is the type and shadow of Communion. The father chose us before the foundation of the world and gave us to His Son as His love gift. In the fullness of time Holy spirit wooed us and introduced us to the Son, Jesus, Who when we said "Yes!" redeemed us with His blood and gave us back to His Father as His love gift. (John 14 &17) We have been redeemed and the cup reminds us of all He has done to rescue and bring us into His family...It's a time of deep gratitude!

Communion to me now, is usually teary as I remember that Jesus said "Yes" to His Father Who chose me. When I drink the cup I do so in gratitude that Jesus paid the bride price in His precious shed blood to purchase me back from the devil, and I'm saying "Yes, I'm yours and You are mine. Thank you that I am now pure, cleansed and holy through your sacrifice".

The bread represents Jesus' body which was broken, whipped, torn, abused and pierced for me that my body is" healed by His stripes" (Isaiah 53) (Remembrance of His provision to make me whole and restored. I believe the crown of thorns pressed into His scalp was blood shed specifically for healing my mind and emotions. Communion is a celebration of worship and remembrance of all that He has done and continues to do for me each day...a time of rejoicing and gratitude)

4. Because I'm righteous and holy in His sight according to His Word, my service is rendered in that spirit...surrendered to Him and with the desire that He will be glorified. (If I wait till I "feel" holy I'm not sure how much service would be accomplished through me on some days.)

[lighthouse2014]

On 8/15/2017 at 4:21 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

In today's culture, separation from sins and repentance seems to be doubtable. Even though the fields are ripe for harvest secularism and humanism seem to be the fad of the day. Christians are being accused of being racial in their beliefs, they say the bible is out of date.

We should prepare ourselves before partaking of the Lord's supper by self examination of sins we may have committed against the Lord and our neighbors. We should seek forgiveness and repent of the offenses against those offended.

By praying early in the morning we should ask the Lord to guide us in our daily life. Studying the Bible daily will also keep us in the will of the Lord.       

[Uncle Dave]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Repentance and separation from the sins of our culture today is no different than at any other time in history because even though the temptations or pressures might be different per situation, the fact that doesn’t change is that sin still boils down to sin regardless of whether in violation of the 1^st, 4^th, or 10^th commandment or not doing as we should sin is sin and the only way to accomplish this is to, regardless of what others might think, resist temptation right on to death if necessary. I know it doesn’t always work out that way, and we often need to recommit and ask God’s forgiveness again but He knows our hearts and that is most important. We need to really look deeply into ourselves like a review board in preparation for the Lord’s Supper and ask forgiveness for any offenses afresh we might have against us and with a meaningful, remorseful heart, repent anew. We should do this daily as well. What better way to start a day than time in communication with God(mostly listening to what He has to say). An excellent example, from a Biblical point of view is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.), but, once you begin to spend as time as possible with God you quickly find that no matter what takes place in a day you can face it because you always know there is one there who will hold you up.

 

[Eilen]

Today a disciple has to consecrate himself through prayer, fasting and confession.

Before the Lord's supper, we should confess our sins, asking God's forgiveness for what we did and should not have done, for breaking His commandments. .

To serve God with purity, we have to pray, fast, revel in our faith and  block out the sinfulness of the world.  We have a Christ-like life.

[Lionwolf]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Seperation and repentance is no different today than it was in Jesus' day. Things to avoid may be different but the rules are the same. Preparing ourselves is through prayer.

[charisbarak]

Repentance from sinful behavior, separation from godless activities to God wholly.

Prepare with prayer and worship prior to taking the Lord's supper.  Make sure your accounts with Him are cleared.

Prepare with prayer, Bible Study and worship.  Ask Him to direct your day for His glory!

[Bambi Girouard]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today

Discipline –And discipline is all about the heart and not about laws.  The Bible tells us that we are not slaves to sin – we can change.  If we have love for one another we will not take advantage of one another we will instead care for each other thus abiding in God’s law naturally.  Paul tells us to: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  And just like Paul we need to be imitators of Christ.  We need to tell stories of our own struggles and success with personal discipline.  Most of all we need to cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance and grace.  We must admit and accept that failure is part of the process in understanding God’s law.  No one is perfect!

 How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper?

Prayer is the best way to prepare ourselves for the Lord’s supper.  It is a time to ponder the tremendous mystery of Christ’s self-giving love for us.  At the Last Supper Jesus became our nourishment.  His divine sacrifice assimilated into our life in order to make it one with ours.

How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day? 

Become the example of what it means to love.  This is no easy chore.  Love starts with forgiveness.  We need to forgive ourselves and everyone who has ever harmed us.  It is a great leap of faith to be a love finder rather than a fault finder; to choose to be a love giver rather than a love seeker. Like St. Francis we need to ask: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love,  Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith.  Where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy.  O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

 

[Richard Hawkins]

We seek a new life void of entanglements that lead to sin. Our moral compass should always point to the commandments of Jesus found in the New Testament.

We should participate in serving the Lord's Supper at the earliest opportunity and grow in service though prayer and reflection.

Allow the Holy Spirit guide us throughout the day,

[Neil NRG]

On 8/16/2017 at 7:21 AM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

Repentance? I was fascinated in Ezra 6 to see that even in 500BC and under the Old Covenant that even Gentiles were allowed to gather and worship with the Jews, if they had separated themselves from unclean practices; in effect, repented from their sins. Today, under the New Covenant, the blood of Jesus purifies or covers us from all sin.

Lords Supper? Ezra 6 gives us some examples of what we should do – to search and prepare our hearts before taking communion; a time of reflection before God. Today, we can reflect on Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.

Serving Him? Each day we can prepare by spending time with God in studying His Word and prayer early in the day. It’s good if you do this individually, as well as with another person during the day, especially early in the day.

[hanks]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) 
What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? 
How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? 
How should we prepare to serve Him with purity day by day? 
Jesus reminds us that we are to pray daily for the forgiveness of our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. We need to do this so that we remain in fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Before we partake in the Lord's Supper, our sins should have been confessed and forsaken. Restitution should also have been made, and apologies should be offered to those we have offended. As we serve Him daily we get to know Him better and we start to experience a sense of oneness with Him. He is no longer a distant deity but our very close friend. There is a joy and satisfaction to be found in His presence. We are also, to separate ourselves from all the sinful desires and evil actions of the world. We grow spiritually when we glorify Him and obey His commands. This reminds me of Psalm 119:11 – we are told to hide His Word in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him. On a daily basis we are to humbly declare and be thankful for His grace, mercy and loving-kindness, and all the blessings He has bestowed upon us. We acknowledge Him in everything we do – constantly communicating with Him. We increase our spiritual strength when we seek the Lord by prayer. 
 

[bertha]

What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? 
How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? 
How should we prepare to serve Him with purity day by day?

Repentance and separation from sins today for a disciple is the same as for our past disciples. One should turn from our wicked ways(every form of sin) and surrender our lives to God. We are to be led by the HOLY SPIRIT to be able to live pure lives.  Not mingling with the world and it's affairs. Today more than ever, the world is very egotistical, self centered, ambitious, money hungry, immoral. These are a few examples of the things we are to separate ourselves from. God is holy and we are to be, too. We are to strive to be like Jesus. This can only be accomplished by having an intimate relationship with God through prayer, meditating in His word daily, fasting, and filling us with His Spirit.

We should examine our lives to see if there is any sin in us that we must turn from to get right with God. If we do, then we must ask God to forgive us and if we have offended our brother, then we are to go and get right with our brother before we can partake of the Lord's Supper.

Every day, we must take up our cross and follow Jesus. Everyday, we must crucify the flesh. For the old self has died and we are a new creation in Christ Jesus who died for us.

 

[Sapphire]

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 5:21 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

We are to live our lives surrendered unto Christ and separated from the sins and immorality of this world, for we are in this world but not of this world. Man looks on the outward appearance , but God sees the true motives and intent of the heart. So we must make sure our hearts are free from sin, things like unforgiveness , bitterness, hatred, etc. Before partaking of the Lord's Supper, we are to examine our hearts, repent of any sins, and prepare our hearts through praise and adoration to our King. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us to live the Christian life day by day, serving with with a pure heart, and a heart filled with gratitude and love for Him.

[Smiley]

The world around us is full of temptations and the people around us look down at us when they see us. This is similar to the days when the disciples were following Jesus and gentiles would have done the same. We live amidst people of numerous cultures and practices that day by day we are prone to various temptations that can lead us astray. Our daily life in prayers and meditation on His Word is the only means by which we can stay way from the worldly desires and passions.

We should prepare ourselves by repenting the sins we commit in thought, word, deed and action knowingly or unknowingly. We should come before His throne with a broken and contrite spirit that He never turns away. Our lives should be led in purity by staying away from those who can influence us in bad ways and turn our hearts away from Jesus. we can only receive that strength from Jesus.

[Zilka]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

- Repentance!

Thank you Lord! Today we can come to You dirrectly. We are happy with new covenant, cause Jesus sacrifices Himself His Body for our sin. And He forgives us from our sin

- Prepare!

Ourselves to worship Him with our heart open for Holy Spirit works. To know more about Jesus.

Make relationship with Him, read bible everyday, sing and pray.

 

[haar]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21)

Q. What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper?

A. I will rather say, what should it be? It should be a total denounciation of sin followed by confession and repentance. 

We prepare ourselves for the Lord Supper by examining ourselves to see where we have fallen short of the Lords glory and confessing it him before we partake in the Holy communion.

Q. How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day?

A. By constant checking ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit to know we are aligned with the Lord and to confess whenever we find that we have fallen short of His expectation.

 

[Debra Grant]

Q5. (Ezra 6:20-21) What do repentance and separation from the sins of our culture look like for a disciple today? How should we prepare ourselves to worship Jesus in the Lord's Supper? How should we prepare to serve him with purity day by day? 

 1. We must consecrate and renew our minds daily from all sin that prevent us from obeying God.

 2. Repent and ask the Lord to forgive us of any sin we have done. Ask others to forgive us.

 3. Read, study his word and pray everyday giving the Lord some time. Obey him and not compromise with others or and situation. Seek the Lord and be lead and guided by him.         

[Ganti Vivek]

The Disciples today across the world are all from a cultural background which has certain customs, which reflect in their life, but knowing the living God who condemns all the pagan cultural customs, once we are born again by getting baptized by repenting for our sins.In our present Church we find various cultural influences of each regions, for example we find in India in Christian marriage also the groom ties a thread around the brides neck as for the Hindu custom of the region, chick remains for life in her neck. Lord says do not follow the customs of the people who live around you in the land where you live when the Israelis were about to settle in the promised land of caana.

We should prepare ourselves  to worship Jesus in the Lord's supper by humbling ourlelves by accepting all our sins as a sinner and ask for forgiveness with repentance  so that He may accept us checking our hearts, in the process if have anything un setteled issue against our brethern we should forgive them and all others so that our sins are forgive by our Lord at the Lords supper table, we should not participate without purifying by examining ourselves in  our hearts. The Bible says in 1Cor 11:28-31,  if we take Lords supper unworthiuly  we will invite Gods anger which makes us weak and sickly and many may even sleep (die), for if we judge ourselves we will not be judged.