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Question 120-121

  Question 120-121 Question 120: Why did Christ command us to address God as "Our Father"? Answer: At the beginning of the prayer, Christ taught us to believe and revere, like a child, the most fundamental principle of prayer: that God has become our Father through Christ. Just as earthly fathers do not reject their children's requests for earthly things, so God the Father will not reject what we ask for in faith. In Matthew 3:16-17, “ When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, ‘ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. ’” Jesus was originally God in the kingdom of God, but he came to this world as the Son of God. Philippians 2:6-8, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a ser...

Question 119: What is the Lord's Prayer?

  Question 119: What is the Lord's Prayer? Answer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who debt us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. The prayer the Lord taught us is just one example. He tells us not to memorize the Lord's Prayer and recite it like a mantra, but to pray it according to our own circumstances. The content of the Lord's Prayer is a prayer for the Father's name, the Father's will, spiritual food, deliverance from sin, and deliverance from Satan's temptations and evil. The Father's name is Jehovah in heaven, and on earth Jesus. The hallowing of the name is not the noun itself, but rather the reverence and exaltation of Jesus. People are focusing on the name, but this is misguided. The Father's ...

Question 118: What has God commanded us to pray for?

  Question 118: What has God commanded us to pray for? Answer: We are to pray for all our physical and spiritual needs, as contained in the prayer our Lord Christ taught us. Jesus told us to seek first the righteousness of God's kingdom. Building heaven on earth should be the primary purpose of prayer. Believers must pray in connection with establishing God's kingdom, and God will answer these prayers. Praying for worldly blessings will yield no results. When we ask for heavenly blessings, God will answer—that is, He will fill us with the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul describes his experience of going to the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12. However, he then prayed for the removal of a thorn in his flesh, but God did not answer. The thorn in his flesh represents the mind manifested in the physical body (the old self) that Satan targets. Only by carefully examining whether the believer's prayers are directed toward heaven or earth can they be answered. Believers are those w...

Question 116-117

  (Prayer) Question 116: Why should Christians pray? Answer: Because prayer is our greatest expression of gratitude to God. Furthermore, God hears the prayers of those who earnestly seek His grace and the Holy Spirit, believing and giving thanks that He will answer them. First, the reason Christians must pray to God is to communicate with Him. Communication is not one-sided; it involves dialogue and intimacy. Thus, Christians come to understand God's will, and God hears their prayers and sends the light of the Holy Spirit, empowering them. Second, if believers do not pray to God, their fleshly heart will rise. Therefore, we must always respond to God's word with a spiritual heart. Through prayer, believers are filled with the Holy Spirit and can suppress their fleshly heart. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul tells us to pray without ceasing (adiareiptos). Adiareiptos means "without ceasing."   Question 117: How should we pray so that God will hear our prayers?...

Question 115: If no one can keep the Ten Commandments in this life, why does God so strictly command them?

  Question 115: If no one can keep the Ten Commandments in this life, why does God so strictly command them? Answer: First, because the longer we live, the more we become aware of our sinfulness, and the more we become aware of our sinfulness, the more we seek Christ for forgiveness and justification. Second, so that we may implore the grace of the Holy Spirit to be more and more renewed in the image of God, until we attain perfect obedience, which is our goal after this life.   There may be times when you wonder why God requires believers to keep laws they cannot keep. We must analyze each of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and consider the meaning of God's words. Therefore, we must realize how elementary and base the dichotomy between those who must keep the law and those who do not is. The Law consists of a whopping 613 rules. Among them, the people were required to observe numerous other rules, including the Ten Commandments, the moral law, ceremonial laws, and civ...

Question 114: Can those who repent and turn to God keep all these commandments perfectly?

  Question 114: Can those who repent and turn to God keep all these commandments perfectly? Answer: No. Even the holiest people in this world cannot achieve perfect obedience. Nevertheless, they should make every effort to keep all of God's commandments, not just some. Few people can accurately answer the question: Are the Ten Commandments absolutely necessary or optional? Why? It stems from a lack of understanding of the relationship between legalism and the gospel. In the Old Testament, keeping the law meant acting according to its letter. Then, after realizing that keeping the law was impossible, one discovered Christ through the sacrifice. Entering the New Testament era, those who discovered Christ, died with Him, and were resurrected with Him, inscribed the precepts of the law in their hearts. "Keeping" doesn't mean literally following the law, but rather engraving it in their hearts, and then, when the time comes, acting under the guidance of the Holy Sp...

(4) Fiery Serpents and Bronze serpent

  (4) Fiery Serpents and Bronze serpent Numbers 21:5-9 『 And the people spake against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and we loathe this worthless food.' So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents away from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.'" When the Israelites left Egypt, they disobeyed God, so God sent fiery serpents to kill them. But when Moses...