Message - Epiphany - Celebrating Jesus Christ

 

Today the world celebrates Jesus, His baptism and ministry. We celebrate Jesus who is the saviour of all people and generation.

Remember the wise men who came from east to see and worship Jesus. They saw the shining star and followed it to see the king of Jews who was born. We need to understand they saw Jesus not in manger, but in the house where He was staying. They knelt down and paid homage and presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh before him. (Matthew 2: 1-12)

Epiphany means shine through. It symbolizes the light of our saviour. He is the light in darkness who brightly shined and brought salvation to the world. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” – John 8: 12.

More than everything, Jesus is a marvelous gift to the gentiles. Gentiles means whoever is not a Jew. In the Old Testament, God called a man called Jacob, the grand son of Abraham, to be His chosen people. Jacob was named as Israel and was called as Gods possession. Throughout Old Testament God’s chosen people were Israel. But He had a mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in those generations.

The mystery is that through the gospel of Christ, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3: 1-13).

That is why Epiphany is considered to celebrate Jesus who came to the world, obeyed the laws, died for the sins of all the people so that we will be pure and holy in the presence of God and be His chosen ones along with Israel whom He chosen first. So, the promises God gave to Abraham, Issac and Jacob are being inherited upon us who believe in Jesus.

One of the promises God gave Israel is that world will be blessed because of them. Now when you see the inventions of the world, almost all good ones have come from a Jew. The blessing continues.

We celebrate Jesus because through Christ we also inherit the blessings given to Jacob and we are going to be a blessing to the world. More than that the greatest blessing we received from Christ is the salvation from our sins.

Hope this day you remember the works of Christ, read the gospel, surrender your life to Him and have peace and hope in your life that through Him you can be a blessing.

May God bless you!

Confession of St. Peter

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” – Matthew 16: 16

The confession of Jesus’ disciple Peter help you to understand how Peter considered Jesus in his life. If someone tells Christ as his Messiah, it means they considered Him as the deliverer. The Jews at that time was looking for a deliverer to fight for them against the nations and free them. But Peter’s confession is on our spiritual deliverer. He understood Jesus is the Son of God who came to deliver him from the sins.

Jesus replies to him that it is the Holy Spirit who helped Peter to say so. In human understanding it is not possible to digest the supernatural things God does. Human understanding cannot comprehend a virgin giving birth to a baby through the Spirit of God. Same way Human mind cannot accept Christ as the savior of this world. It is revealed only through the Spirit of God.

It doesn’t mean that when you are filled with the Spirit of God, you will say right things and select perfect decisions. The same Peter got casted out by Jesus in Matthew 16 as “Get behind me Satan”. Peter denied Jesus 3 times before His death also. That is life. When a person is filled with the Spirit, it is the Spirit who does everything in that person. Other times, it will be a human effect.

In Acts 2 we see the Holy Spirit anointing upon the Apostles. After that Peter and other apostles got the special power and boldness to preach the gospel to the world, which was not possible before the anointing. So when the Spirit starts working in you, the boldness to go ahead comes in your character and you will walk along the path that Spirit guides.

In Acts 4 we can see Peter and John been jailed. As a result of arrest, Peter was able to preach a Spirit-inspired sermon before the Sanhedrin. The religious rulers could not escape the truth that these men showed a power and understanding far beyond their own strength and ability.

When you are in Christ and when the Spirit guides you, everything you do will be towards the glory of Jesus Christ. You will be guided to preach the salvation to others through your work, daily life and the way you mingle with others. Same way in Acts 4 Peter got the courage to proclaim the Salvation to the religious leaders. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” – Acts 4: 12.

All this starts with a small confession. The confession that you have sinned and Christ came to the world as a Messiah to save your sins and your belief in this Christ. Peter did the same in Matthew 16: 16 and the Spirit of God worked in his life, anointed him and made him a bold person in Jesus.

You may be prosperous, healthy and in good position. But according to the creator you are not valuable because of your sins. You have a choice. You can live like this, or can confess your sins and accept the Messiah who died for your sins. If you confess Jesus as your savior, your name will be written in Heaven and you will be in Christ. You don’t need to let loose all your belongings. You can do much more, but this time by the guidance of Holy Spirit through love and compassion.

May The Lord help you to confess Jesus as Savior and be guided by the Spirit to do Supernatural things in Jesus name 

Ascension Teaches

In the Bible, when you look at the Gospel of Luke 24 end verses, you see Jesus Christ preparing to ascent to heaven. But before that He called His disciples and told them about events happened in His life. He told all things happened in His life according to the will of God and what was written according to the Law of Moses.

This clearly explains the life of a servant of God. When you follow Christ, your life will never be easy because you are going to fight against the darkness of devil. But according to this verse, everything is known to God, or written about your life. Once you live a faithful life as Christ lived, you are going to be honoured by God as He did to Jesus. Jesus was telling the same to His disciples.

But Jesus told the disciples to stay in the city until they are anointed by the Holy Spirit. They stayed continually at the temple and praised God (Luke 24: 44-53). One day suddenly Spirit of God came upon them and they were anointed (Acts 1: 1-11). As Christ told them, once they received the Holy Spirit, they went witnessing all over the places.

Jesus Christ is telling everyone the same truth. Once you receive him as your personal savior, wait upon the Lord, praise him and worship Him. At the appointed time, you will be anointed with the Holy Spirit. Once you are anointed, even you cannot hold yourself quite. The Spirit motivates you and provides you the strength to be a witness for Christ Jesus.

Jesus is going to come back the same way He went up. The Spirit of God is given to you to know more about Him with the wisdom and knowledge (Ephesians 1: 15-23). You need to use the gifts and fruits of the Spirit to be a blessing to the ones around you. In this way of leading them to Christ, always keep yourself Holy and pure before God, so that the God who sees you in quite times will help you grow in Jesus name 

Easter Greetings

An Ambassador

Once I met a family who use to pray very loudly about 30 min in the morning. Whenever they see us, they use to talk with biblical references. But after everything, I saw them doing fraud in the water and electricity bills. These are people who claim themselves as Christians. The great Mahatma Gandhi mentions he like Jesus Christ, but he hates Christians. Why? Because most of the Christians are hypocrites.

As the Christians around the world are following lent days, some believers do fasting, some full fasts, while others, Daniel fasting. All these people do this to show their submission to God for the sacrifice Jesus did on the cross.

These days you can find hypocrites who show off too much spiritually. They go to church every day, won’t eat non vegetarian food and won’t speak bad words. But once that 40 day mark comes, on Easter, they will be drunk in another world.

In Mathew 6, Jesus is telling not to be like a hypocrite. Whatever help or good you do, don’t let your left hand know what right hand does. Help other in private and don’t boast about it. Now days, people help others and post a photo about it in Instagram and share it in Facebook. Do these things in private and the Lord will reward you for it. 

Jesus teaches about prayer. Don’t pray in a manner everyone notices you, but pray alone in private and your father in heaven will reward you (Mathew 6). Same way when you fast don’t try to tell everyone that you are fasting. Be like any other day, comb your hair properly, take bath and be clean. Try some chewing gum so that your breath won’t smell bad as you are fasting. The fasting, the sacrifice you are doing is between you and God. It is not to show to everyone.

When you follow Christ, you are his ambassador. So in everything you do, show that you are true ministers of God. Don’t be a false prophet. When troubles come, patiently endure it. Even in hard times, faithfully preach the truth. The God who sees your heart will be proud of you. (2 Corinthians 5).

If you don’t know who Jesus is, just understand that you and I are sinners. Jesus paid for our sins by sacrificing himself on the cross, so that whosoever believes him will be saved. These days’ people around the world are meditating about this sacrifice of Jesus. If you are not free, repent your sins, ask God to forgive, accept Jesus Christ as your saviour and follow him. No matter what your name, religion is, you are free from bondages and you are a child of God. Read His word and faithfully obey it.

Be an Ambassador of Jesus Christ, not a hypocrite.

Why Conversion?

“Conversion” is the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another. From long time this word has being used to create tension between two sets of people who possess different religious faith. People are getting murdered because of being accused of religious conversion.

There is a term called “Forced Conversion”, which they term as someone getting converted to another religion/faith forcefully, through money or any worldly gift. Even changing religion for the reason of getting married is added to this term. Yes, this is being happening in lots of places.

There is a lot of misinterpretation going around about a person who is a believer of Jesus Christ. The world calls him/her as a Christian.

When you read and meditate upon the word of God, a Christian, or a follower of Christ is

·        Not the one who has a name mentioned in Bible

·        Not the one who attends church regularly

·        Not the one who takes part in all the activities of the church

·        Not the one whose personal certificate mentions his religion as Christian

The Bible teaches us that you are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 26). So when you are a child of God, the Spirit of God guides your life. You won’t be doing what your sinful nature carves (Galatians 5: 16, 17). That means when you are forced to do evil, like the worldly people, you will get a guilty feeling that this is wrong. So there will be a constant war inside you between the sinful nature and Spirit who is guiding you. So you are a person in Christ not by your works or because of your forefathers, nor is your name mentioned in a church register, but just because of your faith. And if you are in Christ, you will obviously do good works.

Once you are in Christ you will have the peace and joy in your heart in all situations of your life. Your love and care for others will increase and you will have a compassionate heart to help others to have that same peace and joy in their heart. More than that, God wants everyone to have that peace to fight against the evil because devil always does things in your life to see that you are defeated and depressed. So God wants his children to have a smile in every situation and praise him and have his guidance in their life and see the nations being blessed and yield blessed harvest (Psalms 67).

According to the bible even though a person does have a Christian name, there will be a point in his life when he decides to follow Jesus. Charismatic believers term it as “born again” experience. So actual conversion happens, even when a so called Christian who accepts Christ as his saviour and follow Jesus. The same happens to people from other religion also when they accept Christ, even in their home.

The greatest example we can find is a Jew called Saul. He was a hard-core Jew that he did everything to oppose the name of Jesus. He got authorized by the Jewish priest to persecute the people who follow Jesus. While going to persecute people, of course he would have heard about this Jesus. But one day he got stuck by this same Jesus. That changed his life and he became Paul, the one who wrote majority of epistles in the bible (Acts 26)

Another example, from India, is a man called Sadhu Sunder Singh. He was a core believer of another religion, even burnt bibles at young age, who was about to take his own life, got a dramatic vision of Jesus Christ. Immediately he got inner peace and took the decision to follow Christ and share about the one who gave him peace.

The word persecution comes along with the word conversion. Conversion happens only by God, not by people. But the people who share God are being persecuted. When Jesus lived in this world, he told about how it’s going to be. God is going to send you among wolves. But you need to be aware that you are going to get persecuted. You will be judged by the world. But in all these, walk with God and He will guide you what to tell. Everyone around might hate you because you follow Christ, but stay still and don’t go away from the Lord as you have seen his glory in your life (Mathew 10).

Apostle Paul went to places to destroy the people who followed Christ. Once Jesus Christ came to his life he went everywhere he can to preach Jesus Christ (Galatians 1). Once you know this salvation, you will understand the real believers in Christ are just a small percentage from among the so called Christians. The burden inside you to introduce this Jesus Christ to others will increase and you will find different means to reach the world with the good news.

May The Lord help you to understand Jesus Christ and the peace he gives and guide you to go ahead in life.

Eternal Citizenship Register & CAB

The register of Citizens is a registry maintained by the government that contains names and relevant information for identifying whether a person is a citizen of that country.

In India, NRC (National Register of Citizens) was maintained for the identification of Indian citizens in Assam. But on 20^th November 2019, Home Minister declared that the register would be extended to the entire country, to which large protests are going on throughout the country.

For the NRC, which is going to happen in India, the illegal immigrants might have to go through tough time as they may not be considered as an Indian citizen and so they need to prove their citizenship status (how long their parents were in India). 

When you open the Holy Bible and read it from the beginning, you will understand, God calling the people of Israel as His own children. They were eligible to be part of eternity. “For you (Israel) are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession” – (Deuteronomy 14:2).

According to the Old Testament, other than people of Israel, no one was part of the Heavenly Register. But then God through Jesus Christ chose everyone to be part of His kingdom. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16). This is like a Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), the amendment done for the whole world to be saved, where anyone can be part of God’s kingdom, if he believes in Christ Jesus.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray… But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our saviour appeared, he saved us… so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3: 3-7).

Getting registered for eternity with God is very simple, not like getting a PR or Green card. You need to accept that you are a sinner and need to confess it before God. Accept Jesus Christ and in faith believe that your punishment for all the sins has being given to Him, and through Him you are safe. Through Jesus you are free from sin, and you are saved hereby not to sin again.  “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by whom we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12).

Once your life is over in this earth, according to the Heavenly eternal register your name will show up and you will be called to live a life with God forever.

May the Lord remind you and help you to register your name in Heaven, through the blood of Christ Jesus and let peace and joy fill your heart in Jesus name.

Transfiguration

When the chosen leader of Israel, Moses went up to Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments in two tablets, he was in the powerful presence of Almighty God. So when he came back from the mountain, because of God’s holiness Moses’s face was radiant since he spoke with The Lord. Everyone who saw Moses got afraid because his face was so bright and shining. So he put a veil over his face and covered it. Whenever he went to talk to God, he removed the veil and when he was with the people he covered his face with the veil (Exodus 34: 29 – 35).

The Lord, The creator is Holy and is great. Because of his holiness and glory, he spoke with Moses and Aaron through a pillar of cloud. As God is Holy and a bright light, His light shines through out where his presence is (Psalms 99).

In the New Testament we see Jesus calling three of his disciples John, Peter and James to go to the mountain and pray. Before some days, Jesus himself told them about his death. Now as Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Moses whom God buried and Elijah whom God took alive appeared in the same way and talked with Jesus about the future events. When Peter woke up he understood the men with Jesus and he became worldly and told them that he will make shelters for everyone and suddenly a cloud came and covered them (Luke 9: 29-35). Then they heard a voice from Heaven “This is my son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (Luke 9: 35).

Your body in this world is just a covering or a tent for your spirit to be dwelled in (2 Peter 1: 13). There is going to be a day when you need to leave this body. When you believe in Jesus Christ, after your Spirit departs from your body, you are also going to be transfigured into the splendour of holiness. The Transfiguration of Jesus proves that he is the son of God. It also shows us that when Christ comes for the second time, the believers of Christ who are dead are going to enter into His kingdom with glorified bodies.

To be a part of it, you need to repent your sins and accept Christ as your saviour. Pray to God for forgiving your sins and ask Christ Jesus to cleanse you with the precious blood he shed for you on the cross (Hebrews 9: 22) and be a part of transfiguration. May The Lord be with you.

See Things Above

In the Holy Bible, Old Testament, God is telling about how he loved Israel as His child. He tells it was He who taught them to walk taking them by the arms, but they are not realizing any of that, even the healing provided by Him. God is telling how he cannot leave them even if they don’t listen to him. These is written in the book of Hosea whom God told to marry a prostitute, search for her every night and bring her back to him and love her, to make us know - this is the way God loves us. God tells he will not destroy them and He is waiting for them to call upon His name when enemy comes against them, so that he can destroy the enemies and save His children (Hosea 11).

Yes, when the children of God is hungry and thirsty and when they call upon Him in their trouble, he will deliver them and settle them and so let us give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love (Psalms 107: 5-8).

People’s knowledge and hard work can help them make a tower of Babel, but the real meaning and wealth comes from the creator. Bad and evil days will definitely come to a child of God. But he will have the faith and hope in God that the Lord will deliver him from the evil days and from the wicked deceivers surrounding him (Psalms 49: 5).

Jesus Christ told a parable about a rich fool (Luke 12: 13-21). This rich man had plenty of corps and he was planning to build bigger place to store his corps. He was planning to take life easy, eat drink and be merry. He was not bothered about God who provides, but was proud about his hard work and knowledge. In Luke 12: 20, “But God said to him, you fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus Christ is telling about the one who is not eager towards God through this parable.

When you are in Christ, you will never think about the worldly riches and be proud of it. It does not mean that you live a life of poverty, but you will not live a life to enjoy the worldly riches, even God provide it to you, but your hearts will be set above to the sacrifice Christ has done for you and will be always thinking about the glory of heaves where Christ is seated (Colossians 3: 1-4).

God wants everyone to put to death the earthly nature where people go behind lust, sexual immorality, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lie. God wants you to leave that old self and put a new self which is to be same as that of the image of your creator (Colossians 3: 5-11).

A worldly person cannot change his life to a new self with his power or through some meditation. It is only through repenting your sins and accepting Christ Jesus that you will be able to change yourself.

“If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raise him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10: 9)

When you receive Christ Jesus, Spirit of God will help you to walk in truth and see the glory of God in your life. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16: 13).

May The Lord be with you and guide you to see things above, put to death all evil within you and help you to walk in truth and be an example to others in Jesus name

Run your Run

One man fell into a pit and while he was down there several people come by and offered their opinions.

A Pharisee said, “You deserve to be in the pit”

A Catholic said, “You need to suffer while you’re in the pit”

A Baptist said, “If you’d been saved, you wouldn’t have fallen into the pit”

A charismatic said, “Just confess I’m not in the pit”

A mathematician said, “Let me calculate how you fell into the pit”

An Tax agent said, “Have you paid taxes on the pit”

An optimist said, “Things could be worse”

A pessimist said, “Things will get worse”

Everyone has an option. If you try to keep every person happy, the one person that will not be happy is you. Sometimes those who try to run your life and tell you what to do can’t even your run their own lives, much less yours.

One of the tests we have to pass in our life is when someone that we respect and look up to, may be our boss, a friend, a colleague or a relative, wants us to go one direction, when we know in our hearts that we should take another path. We don’t want to hurt their feelings, don’t want to lose their friendship and we want their approval. But if we are to fulfil our destinies, we have to be strong. We need to have an attitude – I am having an assignment, I have a purpose in life and I will be the one who God created me to be.

You have to be aware especially of high-maintenance people. These people are almost impossible to keep happy. You’ve got to call them on their schedule, keep them cheered up, and meet their demands. If not, they’re upset and disappointed. And they’ll do their best to make sure you feel guilty. They are almost always controllers. If you’re not careful they’ll squeeze you into their mold. They’re not interested in you. They’re interested in what you can do for them. If you fall into the trap of always trying to please them, you will wear yourself out and constantly be frustrated.

You may lose a few friends early on. People may not understand why you don’t take their advice. They may think you’re making a big mistake, but later they’ll see you walking in the fullness of your destiny.

In the Holy Bible we read about the son of King Saul, Jonathan. He was the best friend of David. According to the worldly view Jonathan should become the next king after Saul. Even Saul wanted that to be done. But Jonathan knew God had chosen David as the next King and he supported and protected David from his father (1 Samuel 20).

Gods favour on your life will increase if you quit worrying about what everyone thinks and do what God has put in your heart. Everyone has an option. People will tell you how to run your life. They’ll have opinions on what you should wear, what you should drive, how you should spend your money, and how you should raise your children. If you try to please everyone, you will be confused, you’ll be frustrated. Life will be miserable.

Everyone has a right to an opinion, and you have every right to not listen to it. If what others say doesn’t match what God has put in your heart, let it go in one ear and out the other.

It’s fine to listen to opinions. It’s great to receive advice, but you have to secure enough in who God made you to be so that when something doesn’t bear witness with your spirit, you’ll have a boldness that says, “thanks, but no thanks. I appreciate your advice; I value your opinion, but that not for me”

When I started running ultras, people who haven’t even run a 5km came and told me not to do ultras as it will affect my body. They knew they can’t do it and discouraged me also. But since I have learned martial arts in my youth and for the past 22 years I do those tough workouts, I knew my body and was confident in it. So in front of all those people I agreed to what they told, but I practiced on my long runs and workouts and did ultra.

If you’re going to do anything great in life – if you’re to be a great teacher, a great business person, a great athlete, a great parent, and a great winner – not everyone will cheer you on. Some won’t be able to handle your success. If you were where you were 10 years ago, they would have no problem with you. But as you succeed, as God pours out His favour, some will be jealous, some will find faults.

Don’t be surprised if a family member or a relative tries to discredit you, belittle you, or won’t give you the time of day, or maybe a friend you’ve been good to for years won’t understand you. If you start changing, being defensive, and think that you’ve got to prove to them that you’re really okay.  What you’re doing is letting them squeeze you into their mold.

Your destiny is too great to get distracted trying to win over people who are never going to like you. Don’t take it personally. It’s not about you. It’s about the favour God put on your life. It stirs up the jealousy in them. Until they deal with it, nothing you can do will change it. You might as well shake it off and run your race, because no matter how good you are to them they will still find fault. No matter how much you try to show them kindness, they will still find some reason to be critical.

The point is that no matter what you do, you will never please everybody. You may as well accept the fact that even when you do the best you can, some will find fault with you, and that’s okay. They have a right to have their opinions and you have a right to ignore them.

Having said all these, understand that you need to go according to the wish of God. How you can know the will of God? If you live according to the world, you are not going to hear the will of God, but you will hear what the world says. Most people spoil their life thinking they got the word from God as they live according to the world. Live holy lives, read and meditate upon the pure word of God from the Holy Bible, confess your sins and accept Christ as your saviour, as see how the Spirit of God guides and leads you towards your destiny. May God bless you!

Real Life Hero

On May 7, 2019, two students got inside their school at Highlands Ranch, Colorado with guns and started shooting their school mates. But an 18 year old school boy Kendrick Castillo jumped in front of the shooter and saved his school mates, unfortunately losing his life.

On November 26, 2008, when the terrorists attacked Taj Hotel at Mumbai, India, an NSG commander Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was at the hotel to rescue the hostages, saved his fellow commando who was hit with bullet and then chased the terrorist, finally getting killed. His last words were, “Do not come up, I will handle them”.

The first time when man sinned, the mankind was punished to eternal death. But God gave them the choice to escape from it by sacrificing animals. Seeing the sinful situation of humans, God himself came in the form of man, Jesus and dwelled among them (John 1: 14). Having compassion towards the humans, all the sins of mankind was put upon Christ Jesus and he was given the ultimate punishment. Taking up all the sins, Jesus was sent to the eternal death to save every one of us. He took the punishment and removed the sin from mankind. He became the saviour of everyone.

As we see daily Heroes who gave their life for others, always remember the saviour Jesus Christ who saved everyone who believes in him from eternal death. May you understand this great gift and let the Spirit of God help you to accept Christ as your saviour, repent your sins and accept that free salvation which is given by Christ alone.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” – Romans 10: 9, 10.

New Life

There are people who are addicted to worldly pleasures and sins. There near ones try to counsel them or take them to de-addiction centre. Now days the youth has fallen into the trap of drugs, which is hideous. Once you are addicted to any worldly pleasures, it is difficult to come out and have a new life.

When you check through the Bible, in Acts 9, we see a man called Saul, who was so religious that he disliked Christian believers and wanted to kill them. But then Jesus changed his life and he ended up being a powerful believer and wrote majority of Epistles in the Bible. It all happened the moment Jesus talked to him. His life got changed and he got a new life.

In India a man called Sundar Singh lived in the state of Punjab. He was so fount of his religion and he persuaded to kill Christians. He gathered the Bibles and burned them. Then one day he got a vision of Jesus and his life changed. He got a new life and he became a great missionary called Sadhu Sundar Singh.

When you have a new life, the old will be forgotten. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, and the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5: 17. This happened in the life of Saul in Acts 2. After he saw Jesus, his life changed and he left his friends and horse who accompanied him in the journey. Same way when you are changed in Christ Jesus, you will leave your worldly friends and relatives.

Everywhere persecutions against the Christian believers are going on. Never have I heard that any believer opposing against the mob or terrorists with weapons. These has being happening from the beginning and guess what, people are leaving their old worldly religion and accepting Christ Jesus. Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He called His disciples and told them to go everywhere and make disciples for Christ, not through weapons, but through love. Why? Because only way to reach heaven is to get saved and accept Christ as their saviour.

May the Spirit of God help you to repent sins and accept salvation in Christ Jesus to have an eternal life. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” – Acts 2: 38

Holy Saturday

Be Guarded - Galatians

Romans instruct us to be grounded in doctrine; Corinthians, to be grounded in our practice and Galatians, to be guarded against error. Galatians teaches liberation through the Gospel. Anyone who preaches any other gospel, or any other Jesus, is damned.

Galatians reveals a series of surprises –

• ·         Grace vs Law: Grace has a tendency to become leavened with legalism
• ·         Faith vs Works: you don’t earn your salvation. It’s a gift of God. If you have saving faith, it will be demonstrated through works.
• ·         Spirit vs Faith: walking by your own choices and emotions, or walking by faith and spirit of God. It is a moment-by-moment daily challenge.
• ·         Truth vs Error: Do you really guard the doctrine from error?

Abraham was saved 430 years before the Law was given. Ishmael was born in unbelief, but Isaac was a promise in response to Abraham’s faith. Through faith Abraham was saved.

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are listed: Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Self-control. With Love, we can attain all these fruits of the Holy Spirit which is much needed for every follower of Christ. There are people who go to prayer meetings to get the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Gifts of the Spirit is given by God for the ones who possess the fruits of the Spirit.

There are 4 bearings:

• ·         Fruit-bearing – 9 fruits of the Spirit
• ·         Burden-bearing – Bearing one another’s burdens
• ·         Seed-bearing – whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap
• ·         Brand-bearing – Bear the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Galatians gives us the assurance that when you begin in Spirit of God, you will be made perfect by the flesh. It is difficult to lead a sin free life with our own ability. Through God’s grace we can achieve it and I pray that you who are reading this will ask God to take control of your life and change it accordingly as He wishes, in Jesus name.

The Word – Merry Christmas

Christmas is the celebration remembering the birth of Jesus Christ, who is also called “The Word” (John 1: 14) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”. Bible tells us that Jesus (Word) was there from the beginning and through him all the things were made (John 1:1, 2).

In the beginning, through this word, the creation happened. Heavens and Earth came into existence through this Word of God. Even the first man was created by the Word of God (Genesis 1:26).

Each and Every major events in the Bible happened by the Word of God. God commanded Noah that the Earth will be flooded. And His word came true (Genesis 6:9, 10).

God called Abraham and gave him a Word that he will become a great nation and so did happen. (Genesis 12: 2).

God gave Word to Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea to divide the water and it happened and the Israelites were saved from the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:15).

In Joshua 10, we see the Word from Joshua ordering the sun to stand still. In science we might tell the earth stood still, but it happened by the Word.

The prophecy about Jesus was told through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah 53 and the Word prophecies how we are going to be saved through Jesus Christ.

In Luke 1: 26 – 38, we see the Virgin Mary got conceived by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.

When The Lord Jesus walked in this Earth, many were healed and demonic spirits were casted out through His Word (Luke 7:7).

Before Jesus ascended into Heavens, He gave a word and promised that the Holy Spirit will be our helper and will guide us (John 14:15-18).

The Word of the same God is with us through Holy Bible and in it contains His Word.

In Proverbs 18:21, we read the tongue has the power of life and death. It gives us the warning how we need to use the words which comes from our mouth.

The power of this Word is described in Psalm 107:20 – “He sent out his word and healed them”. This same word did miracles in Biblical times and today. This same word opened closed doors, rescued faithful children from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3) and is doing the same today. This same word gave birth to mighty servants of God through closed womb, and same is the promise for today.

And today is the celebration of this Word, who came to this World to live among us, took our sins and punishment, died on the cross for us, so that we will be saved and have communion with God. This Christmas, be confident on the Word, trust in it and believe in faith that this word (Jesus Christ) can solve all your problems. Rejoice!

Our Conduct - Corinthians

First Corinthians deals with Christian conduct. After the usual greeting (1 Corinthians 1:1-3), Paul refers to the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7-8). Then he plunges right into the question of the failure of the church about which he had been told. The source of his information he gives us in 1 Corinthians 1:11 (People lost sight of God through Self-admiration, Self-will and Self-indulgence).

Party politics had entered into the church, dividing it into four parties, each trying to get the mastery (1 Corinthians 1:12). Jesus Christ is the only cure for division (1 Corinthians 1:13). Every eye, every heart, every spirit must be turned to one object – Jesus Christ, our personal Savior. If we lower the standard Christ has set, we give the wrong testimony to the world. You are an epistle open and read of all people.  Righteousness comes from God, but it must be shown in our daily walk.

The church should exclude the wrongdoer so as to prove that it does not condone sin (1 Corinthians 5:13). Discipline in the Church should always commence with mourning and sympathy, not anger or pride or revenge (1 Corinthians 5:2).

Christ has paid a great price to purchase us, and it is His purpose to make us like Himself (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  If our body have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we no longer belong to us, but to the One who purchased us with His precious blood “You were bought at a price”. God used to have a temple for His people; now He has a people for a temple.

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul gives a careful account of the beginning of the Lord ’s Supper and then tells of its value. It was a symbol of His body, which was broken for them (1 Corinthians 10:16). It was a new covenant in His blood. It was a pledge of His coming again (1 Corinthians 11:26). We should be careful not to eat or drink in an unworthy manner. “A man ought to examine himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28) and never eat without self-critique and thankful love. And “For whenever you eat”, do it “in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Christ wants us to remember Him. Think of Christ when you go to His table.

In 1 Corinthians 12, we see the gifts the Spirit gives to believers. In verses 1-3, he tells of the change that had come into the lives of these Corinthian Christians when they turned from worshiping dead idols to the living Christ. God gave gifts such as healing, miracles and tongues, we believe, for “sign” gifts (1 Corinthians 12:12), to prove to the world that Jesus is the true Messiah and that the apostles were divinely appointed. The way to use these gifts the Spirit gives is beautifully told in 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter is called the Hymn of Love. Gifts without Love are poor things.

Paul wrote his second epistle, to express his joy over the encouraging news of how his first Epistle had been received, and to define his apostleship. Paul tells us of some things that happened in his life that are revealed only in this letter.

• His escape from Damascus in a basket (2 Corinthians 11:32,33)
• His experience of being caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12: 1-4)
• His thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7)
• His unusual suffering (2 Corinthians 11L23-27)

He told none of these until he was compelled to, to prove that if we wanted to boast, he had good reason.

Christ nowhere promises that a Christian will be free from suffering or sorrow, Rather do we hear that “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). Christ allows us to get into trouble that He may deliver us. He allowed Daniel to be put into the den of lions that He might pull him out. He allowed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to go into the fiery furnace that He might deliver them. He allowed Paul to be shipwrecked that He might save him. Our God is able to deliver.

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Paul emphasizes that Corinthians might know themselves – test themselves to make sure of their faith. Do not depend on a mere profession of religion. Do not rely on church membership. Joining the church saves no one. Joining Christ saves us. Examine your standing.

We are taught as boys and girls not to be noisy or boisterous in the church, for it is the house in which we meet God. How much more important that we remember that our body is His dwelling place and that we should do nothing to grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30). Do not let your life be so near the edge of questionable things that someday you will slide off. If you fall, others will fall with you. Watch your testimony. Remember your life is an open letter. Christian lives are about the only religious books the world reads. They do not study God’s word, but they do study God’s people. This gives us a great opportunity for good, for we may lead people to Christ.