Jisajili mara moja, kwa kozi zote
Maendeleo yako yanahifadhiwa kwenye kivinjari hiki unaposoma, na seminari inayatunza chini ya msimbo wako wa mwanafunzi, ili uweze kuendelea kwenye kifaa chochote. Weka msimbo huo kwa siri, kama nenosiri. Barua pepe si lazima. Iongeze ili tukurudishie msimbo wako wa mwanafunzi, tukutumie vikumbusho na tukupe cheti. Unaweza kujiandikisha na kuendelea kusoma bila barua pepe. Tunachohifadhi.
Programu ya Cheti inajibu maswali ya kuchagua jibu. Shahada ya Mshiriki inaongeza maswali ya kujaza pengo; M.Div. na Th.M. zinaongeza hayo na maswali ya majibu mafupi. Asilimia 90 ya kila sehemu inahitajika ili kufaulu.
Utangulizi: Maelezo ya Kale Kabisa ya Maisha ya UtauwaIntroduction: The Oldest Description of a Godly Life
Maelezo ya kale kabisa na mazuri kabisa ya Biblia kuhusu maisha ya utauwa ni rahisi sana: yanasema kwamba mtu fulani alikwenda pamoja na Mungu. Kabla hakujakuwa na makanisa wala seminari wala programu, walikuwepo watu waliotembea tu pamoja na Mungu, siku kwa siku. Kutembea pamoja na Mungu ndio kiini hasa cha maisha ya Kikristo, nao ndio udongo ambamo kila nidhamu nyingine katika kozi hii huota. Tusipojifunza kutembea pamoja naye, ibada yetu yote na maombi na kujifunza kwetu vitakuwa mashine tu. Kwa hiyo tunaanzia hapa, na kuuliza maswali mawili: kutembea pamoja na Mungu maana yake nini, na tunafanyaje?The Bible's oldest and most beautiful description of a godly life is very simple: it says that a man walked with God. Before there were churches or seminaries or programs, there were men who simply walked with God, day by day. To walk with God is the very heart of the Christian life, and it is the soil out of which every other discipline in this course grows. If we do not learn to walk with Him, all our devotion and prayer and study will be only machinery. So we begin here, and ask two questions: what does it mean to walk with God, and how do we do it?
I. Watu Waliotembea Pamoja na MunguI. Men Who Walked with God
Maneno haya yanaonekana kwanza kuhusu Henoko: "Henoko akaenda pamoja na Mungu, naye hakuonekana, kwa kuwa Mungu alimtwaa" (Mwanzo 5:24, SUV). Ushirika wake na Mungu ulikuwa wa karibu mno hata siku moja Mungu alimchukua tu kwenda nyumbani bila kufa. Yanaonekana tena kuhusu Nuhu: katika kizazi kilichoharibika kiasi kwamba Mungu alihuzunika kwa kuwa alimfanya mwanadamu, "Nuhu alikuwa mtu wa haki, mkamilifu katika vizazi vyake; Nuhu alikwenda pamoja na Mungu" (Mwanzo 6:9, SUV) — na mwenendo huo ulimhifadhi yeye na nyumba yake katika Gharika. Naye Mungu alimwambia Ibrahimu, "Mimi ni Mungu Mwenyezi; enenda mbele yangu, ukawe mkamilifu" (Mwanzo 17:1, SUV). Maneno haya yanapita katika Maandiko yote, na maana yake ni hii: kutembea pamoja na Mungu ni kuishi maisha yote ya mtu katika ushirika wake.The phrase first appears with Enoch: "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24, NKJV). His fellowship with God was so close that one day God simply took him home without death. It appears again with Noah: in a generation so corrupt that God was grieved He had made man, "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9, NKJV) — and that walk preserved him and his house through the flood. And God said to Abraham, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1, NKJV). The phrase runs all through Scripture, and it means this: to walk with God is to live one's whole life in His company.
II. Maana ya Kutembea Pamoja na MunguII. What It Means to Walk with God
Kwanza, kutembea pamoja na Mungu maana yake ni kupatana. Nabii anauliza, "Je! Watu wawili waweza kutembea pamoja, wasipokuwa wamepatana?" (Amosi 3:3, SUV). Watu wawili hawawezi kutembea njia moja wakiwa sambamba isipokuwa wamekubaliana kwenda njia ile ile kwa mwendo ule ule. Basi, kutembea pamoja na Mungu ni kuingia katika mapatano naye — kutaka anachokitaka na kwenda anakokwenda, badala ya kumwomba yeye aifuate njia yetu. Pili, maana yake ni ushirika usiokoma. Si saa moja Jumapili wala ombi wakati wa shida, bali urafiki thabiti katika siku ya kawaida, kama marafiki wawili wanavyozungumza wakitembea njia moja. Tatu, maana yake ni utii. Yohana anaandika, "tukienenda nuruni, kama yeye alivyo katika nuru" (1 Yohana 1:7, SUV) tuna ushirika naye. Hatuwezi kutembea pamoja na Mungu na kutembea katika dhambi wakati mmoja; mwenendo huu unadai kwamba tuendelee kugeuka kutoka gizani kuja nuruni.First, walking with God means agreement. The prophet asks, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3, NKJV). Two men cannot walk the same road in step unless they have agreed to go the same way at the same pace. To walk with God, then, is to come into agreement with Him — to want what He wants and to go where He goes, rather than asking Him to follow our path. Second, it means continual fellowship. It is not one hour on Sunday or a prayer in a crisis, but a steady companionship through the ordinary day, the way two friends talk as they walk the same road. Third, it means obedience. John writes, "if we walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7, NKJV) we have fellowship with Him. We cannot walk with God and walk in sin at the same time; the walk requires that we keep turning from darkness to light.
III. Kukaa Ndani ya KristoIII. Abiding in Christ
Katika Agano Jipya Bwana Yesu aliupa mwenendo huu jina la ndani zaidi: kukaa ndani yake. "Kaeni ndani yangu, nami ndani yenu. Kama vile tawi lisivyoweza kuzaa peke yake, lisipokaa ndani ya mzabibu; vivyo hivyo nanyi, msipokaa ndani yangu… maana pasipo mimi ninyi hamwezi kufanya neno lo lote" (Yohana 15:4–5, SUV). Kukaa ndani yake ni kuchota uhai wetu wenyewe kutoka kwa Kristo, kila dakika, kama tawi linavyofyonza utomvu wake kutoka kwa mzabibu. Likikatwa kutoka kwa mzabibu, tawi hunyauka na halizai kitu; likiunganishwa nao, tawi lile lile huzaa matunda mengi. Hii ndiyo siri kuu ya kutembea pamoja na Mungu: si kujitahidi zaidi kwa nguvu zetu wenyewe, bali kukaa karibu na Chanzo cha nguvu zote. Pasipo yeye hatuwezi kufanya neno lo lote; ndani yake tunaweza kuzaa matunda mengi.In the New Testament the Lord Jesus gave this walk a deeper name: abiding. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me… for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4–5, NKJV). To abide is to draw our very life from Christ, moment by moment, the way a branch draws its sap from the vine. Cut off from the vine, the branch withers and bears nothing; joined to it, the same branch bears much fruit. This is the great secret of walking with God: it is not striving harder in our own strength, but staying close to the Source of all strength. Apart from Him we can do nothing; in Him we can bear much fruit.
IV. Mwenendo wa Kila SikuIV. A Daily Walk
Mwendo hufanywa kwa hatua — moja baada ya nyingine, siku baada ya siku. Hakuna mtu anayetembea safari ndefu kwa hatua moja, na hakuna anayetembea pamoja na Mungu kwa tukio moja kubwa. Tunatembea pamoja naye kwa hatua elfu ndogo za uaminifu: kuamka asubuhi kukutana naye, kumsikiliza katika Neno lake, kuzungumza naye katika maombi, kumtii katika maamuzi madogo ya siku, na kumrudia upesi kila tunapojikwaa. Nabii Mika aliyakusanya yote katika sentensi moja: Bwana anatutaka "kutenda haki, na kupenda rehema, na kwenda kwa unyenyekevu pamoja na Mungu wako" (Mika 6:8, SUV). Mwenendo huu ni wa unyenyekevu, ni thabiti, na ni wa kila siku.A walk is made of steps — one after another, day after day. No one walks a long journey in a single stride, and no one walks with God by one great experience. We walk with Him by a thousand small, faithful steps: rising in the morning to meet Him, listening for Him in His Word, speaking to Him in prayer, obeying Him in the small decisions of the day, and returning to Him quickly whenever we stumble. The prophet Micah gathered it all into one sentence: the Lord requires us "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8, NKJV). The walk is humble, it is steady, and it is daily.
HitimishoConclusion
Kila nidhamu tutakayojifunza katika kozi hii — ibada ya kila siku, maombi, Neno, ushirika na uwajibikaji — ipo ili kutumikia jambo hili moja: kwamba tupate kutembea pamoja na Mungu. Henoko alitembea pamoja na Mungu katika kizazi chake; Nuhu alitembea pamoja na Mungu katika kizazi chake; na Mungu yule yule aliyetembea pamoja nao anatualika tutembee pamoja naye katika kizazi chetu. Swali kwa kila mmoja wetu ni hili tu: je, tunatembea pamoja na Mungu, siku kwa siku? Na ikiwa mwenendo wetu umekuwa wa mbali, njia ya kurudi iko wazi daima — hatua moja, leo, kuelekea kwake.Every discipline we will study in this course — daily devotion, prayer, the Word, fellowship and accountability — exists to serve this one thing: that we might walk with God. Enoch walked with God in his generation; Noah walked with God in his; and the same God who walked with them invites us to walk with Him in ours. The question for each of us is simply this: are we walking with God, day by day? And if our walk has grown distant, the way back is always open — one step, today, toward Him.
Mtihani wa Mwisho wa Sehemu ya 2Unit 2 Final Exam
Njia ya Cheti: maswali 20 ya kuchagua jibu. Shahada ya Mshiriki (Associate): maswali ya kuchagua jibu na maswali 10 ya kujaza nafasi. M.Div. na Th.M.: maswali ya kuchagua jibu, ya kujaza nafasi na maswali 10 ya majibu mafupi. Asilimia 90 ya kila sehemu inahitajika ili kufaulu. Usipofaulu, mtihani husubiri muda mfupi kabla ya kujaribu tena.Certificate track: the 20 multiple-choice questions. Associate: multiple choice and the 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. M.Div. and Th.M.: multiple choice, fill-ins and the 10 short-answer questions. 90% of each part is required to pass. If you do not pass, the exam waits a short time before you can try again.
Maswali ya Kuchagua Jibu — Maswali 20Multiple Choice — 20 Questions
Majibu Mafupi — Maswali 10 Short Answer — 10 Questions
M.Div. na Th.M.: masomo yote matano yaliyopangwa ni sehemu ya kozi. Mtihani wake tofauti ni wa lazima baada ya kuanzishwa; tazama ukurasa wake kwa kanuni ya sasa. Heshima inabaki kuwa ya hiari na haichukui nafasi ya mtihani.
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