Message - Baptism of Jesus

 

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” – Mark 1: 7, 8.

John – the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. We can see in the scripture, until Jesus came in the picture, it was all about John. John was preaching about salvation and repentance. He was preaching about water baptism.

But the moment he saw Jesus, he started talking about Jesus and introduced Jesus to the world.

We see lots of preachers and evangelists now a days glorifying about them and their ministries. Specially since its new year, every where you can find preachers giving promises and prophecy about the year. They brag about their ministry or themselves. At this time, we always need to see John the Baptist.

John had lots of disciples. But still when he saw Jesus, he started glorying Jesus instead of him.

This is what we need to have this year. Just glorify Jesus. We might see miracles in our life. There will be temptation to brag about how we overcame the odds. But just brag about Jesus, because the greatest help Jesus did for us is He gave His life for us.

Don’t forget your salvation and through whom you received. May God bless you!

Witnessing – Acts of Apostles

Luke, in his Gospel, shows what Christ began to do on earth. Acts shows what he continued to do by the Holy Spirit. In the Gospels we hear Christ’s teachings. In Acts we see the effect of his teachings on the Acts of the Apostles. The book tells of the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles. All through the Old Testament we find God dealing with the Jewish people. In the New Testament, we find him working among all nations (People like us other than Jews).

When you go through Acts 1 and 2 we see the disciples hear the last words of instruction from Jesus. He spoke about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). It was then that Jesus gave this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4). They waited. The church was born on that day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3). It was 50 days after the crucifixion. From this time Pentecost was not to be a Jewish feast, but the dawn of a new day, the birthday of the Church of Christ.

At that day of Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and thus endowed for special service. They not only were enabled to preach in power but also could speak in the different tongues represented that day at Jerusalem (Acts 2:2-4). The wonderful thing about Pentecost was not the blowing of a violent wind or the tongues in fire, but the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit that they might be witnesses to all people. If we do not have the desire to tell others of Christ, it is evident that we do not know the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Some mocked, they have had too much wine (Acts 2:13). People always try to explain away the miracles of God on natural grounds. But rationalism can never give a reasonable explanation of anything that is divine.

The theme of first sermon by peter was that Jesus is the Messiah. The real power of the Holy Spirit was shown when Peter, rose to speak and 3000 souls were saved. In Acts 2:47 we see, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”. This is the real objective of the church.

In chapter 3 we see a great crowd gathered around a lame man who had been miraculously healed. Peter took advantage of the circumstances to preach his 2^nd sermon. Again he told them that Christ, whom they had crucified, was the promised Messiah. So powerful were the words of Peter and John that a total of 5000 men now turned to Christ. The leaders commanded the apostles not to preach. The work of the Spirit is always a signal for Satan to work. Whenever the Spirit comes to bless, the adversary comes to curse.

When the church became unselfish and sold all they had and gave it to the apostles, we see deception from Ananias and Sapphira. But the Holy Spirit revealed the truth and they were punished with instant death, for claiming to give all to God, they had kept back (Acts 5:4-5).

In chapter 6 we see a meeting of the church was called and seven members were elected as deacons (Acts 6:1-7). The first two deacon’s names were Stephen and Philip (Acts 6:5). The opposition was centred around Stephen. He was just a layman, but he did great wonders because he was full of faith and power. Stephen became the first martyr of the Christian church. The second deacon, Philip preached Christ. But God called him to leave and go south, which leads to Gaza (Acts 8:26). On the way he met an Ethiopian. When you are in the will of god, things do not just happen. No joy or sorrow comes into your life except by God’s permission.

Saul made havoc of the church. The more moral and intelligent a person is, the more harm that person can do when controlled by Satan. The story of Saul’s conversion is one of the most thrilling accounts in history. He was a man breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 9:1). Then we find him preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20). He was the apostle to the Gentiles, as Peter had been to the Jews.

From Acts 13 through 28, we see Paul and the Church at Antioch. It was here that a new name was given to Christ’s disciples. They were called “Christians” at Antioch (Acts 11:26).

While Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel and suffering all kinds of persecution and hardship, many at home in Jerusalem were stirring up the most troublesome question – “Must a Gentile become a Jew, accepting Jewish law and ceremonies, in order to be saved?” (Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas stated, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). The law doesn’t save anyone.

In Paul’s third missionary journey, the last one, he told farewell at every place. He knew it was a final farewell (Acts 20:37-38). Paul tried to break down the barriers between Jew and Gentile and between slave and free.

The book tells about being witness. “You will be my witness” (Acts 1:8). Salvation comes to this world through Christ alone (Acts 4:12), hence people must know him. Christ’s plan includes us. Persecution almost always has spread the gospel like wind spreads fire. This has been true all down through the centuries since our Lord lived on the earth. I pray that this point of time, when persecution is at high, the Spirit of God will strengthen you to carry his word to others so that they can receive the greatest miracle, Salvation.

Son of God - John

The author of the Gospel of John was “son of thunder”, the disciple whom Jesus loved. In this gospel, we are shown that the baby of Bethlehem was none other than “the one and only, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). All things were made by him (John 1:3), in him was life (John 1:4), yet he became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). No person can see God; therefore, Christ came to declare him.

We open the gospel of John and find an unwritten question – What do you think of Christ? In the first 18 verses, John discusses about Christ and gives us the answers. It opens like the book of Genesis, Jesus portrayed as the Son of God. Our Lord had no beginning. He was in the beginning. He is eternal. Christ was before all things, therefore Jesus is no part of creation – He is the Creator. “The Word was with God”. He is the Second person of the Triune God (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit). He is called “The Word”. He came to declare God, to tell about God.

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well” – John 14:7.

In the first chapter we see John the Baptist confessing that he knew Jesus was the Messiah because he saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him (John 1:32). So he says, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).

We see in John 1:35-40, Christ calling his first disciples. It is different from that of Luke. Both the gospels we see Andrew being called. But in John, the second person’s name is not mentioned. But in these verses it is mentioned that Andrew went and called Peter. So the person who was with Andrew when Christ called them was not Peter. But when you read the last chapter of John, we see John himself testifying that he is the person who was not mentioned by name in the Gospel. So technically we can prove that John, not Peter is the first disciple. But that does not matter in our way towards our life destiny. Jesus is our main objective, not who his first disciple is.

In the public ministry of Jesus, we see him giving wonderful teachings about eternal life to Nicodemus (John 3:16) and the new birth (John 3:6). Nicodemus was a moral upright man, yet Christ said to him, “You must be born again” (John 3:7) in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Being born again means, being born in Christ so that you live a life with Christ’s characteristics. Another place he saw an immoral woman face-to-face and showed her what kind of life she was leading. Christ did not condemn her or pass judgement upon her, but he did reveal to her that he is the water of life. People are trying everything, but they still are unhappy and restless. She went back and her simple testimony brought a whole town to Christ (John 4:1-42). She can be called as the first ambassador of Jesus Christ.

The raising of Lazarus is the final sign we see on John’s Gospel. Here the great claim Jesus made for himself to Martha is recorded, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:15-26). He talks about eternal life.

In John 13:18-30, Jesus foretells his betrayal by Judas. Christs last week can be seen from John 13 to 17. We call it Passion Week.

·         The triumphant entry into Jerusalem

·         The cleansing of the Temple

·         The conflicts in the temple

·         The discourse on the Mount of Olives

·         Preparation for the Passover

·         The Last Supper with his disciples

After announcing his going, the Lord gives his disciples “a new commandment”, that they love one another (John 13:34-35). Discipleship is tested not by the creed you recite, not by the hymns you sing, not by the ritual you observe, but by the fact that you love one another. After he ended his talk with the disciples, Jesus spoke to the Father.

Immediately following his prayer, Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane, knowing all things that should come upon him. Jesus was now ready to give the real sign which he told in John 2 – “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” John 2:18-19.

Almost as sad as Judas was Peter, the deserter in the hour of need, denying three times that he had any connection with Jesus. This is a lesson for us – overconfidence.

Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, “place of a skull”. They crucify him afresh and put him to an open shame. Salvation is costly. Christ died for our sins. It cost him his life.

From John 20 we see, on the third day, the tomb was empty. The grave clothes were all in order. Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus appeared 11 times in all after resurrection which helped his disciples to believe that he was God. Jesus wanted every doubt to be removed from each one of his disciples (Thomas the doubter John 20:28). They must carry out his great commission and bear the Gospel into the entire world (John 20:21).

In conclusion, people had sinned and lost the image of God, so Christ “the image of the invisible God” came to dwell in people. No person could see God; therefore the only begotten Son who was in with Father came to declare him to us. Jesus is God himself in human form, coming to earth. Jesus is the witness of the Father to humans. Jesus knew the Father and came to tell what he knew. He wanted humans to know the Father as he knew him. In John 1:13, we see what salvation is not – being born of natural descent. The new birth when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour makes us “children of God”.

I pray that you accept the free salvation which is being given by Christ Jesus by praying and asking to forgive your sins and make you his child so that you will be born again and be his child.

The BOOK – Witnessing

Luke, in his Gospel, shows what Christ began to do on earth. Acts shows what he continued to do by the Holy Spirit. In the Gospels we hear Christ’s teachings. In Acts we see the effect of his teachings on the Acts of the Apostles. The book tells of the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles. All through the Old Testament we find God dealing with the Jewish people. In the New Testament, we find him working among all nations.

When you go through Acts 1 and 2 we see the disciples hear the last words of instruction from Jesus. He spoke about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). It was then that Jesus gave this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4). They waited. The church was born on that day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3). It was 50 days after the crucifixion. From this time Pentecost was not to be a Jewish feast, but the dawn of a new day, the birthday of the Church of Christ.

At that day of Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and thus endowed for special service. They not only were enabled to preach in power but also could speak in the different tongues represented that day at Jerusalem (Acts 2:2-4). The wonderful thing about Pentecost was not the blowing of a violent wind or the tongues in fire, but the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit that they might be witnesses to all people. If we do not have the desire to tell others of Christ, it is evident that we do not know the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Some mocked, they have had too much wine (Acts 2:13). People always try to explain away the miracles of God on natural grounds. But rationalism can never give a reasonable explanation of anything that is divine.

The theme of first sermon by peter was that Jesus is the Messiah. The real power of the Holy Spirit was shown when Peter, rose to speak and 3000 souls were saved. In Acts 2:47 we see, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”. This is the real objective of the church.

In chapter 3 we see a great crowd gathered around a lame man who had been miraculously healed. Peter took advantage of the circumstances to preach his 2^nd sermon. Again he told them that Christ, whom they had crucified, was the promised Messiah. So powerful were the words of Peter and John that a total of 5000 men now turned to Christ. The leaders commanded the apostles not to preach. The work of the Spirit is always a signal for Satan to work. Whenever the Spirit comes to bless, the adversary comes to curse.

When the church became unselfish and sold all they had and gave it to the apostles, we see deception from Ananias and Sapphira. But the Holy Spirit revealed the truth and they were punished with instant death, for claiming to give all to God, they had kept back (Acts 5:4-5).

In chapter 6 we see a meeting of the church was called and seven members were elected as deacons (Acts 6:1-7). The first two deacon’s names were Stephen and Philip (Acts 6:5). The opposition was centred around Stephen. He was just a layman, but he did great wonders because he was full of faith and power. Stephen became the first martyr of the Christian church. The second deacon, Philip preached Christ. But God called him to leave and go south, which leads to Gaza (Acts 8:26). On the way he met an Ethiopian. When you are in the will of god, things do not just happen. No joy or sorrow comes into your life except by God’s permission.

Saul made havoc of the church. The more moral and intelligent a person is, the more harm that person can do when controlled by Satan. The story of Saul’s conversion is one of the most thrilling accounts in history. He was a man breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 9:1). Then we find him preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20). He was the apostle to the Gentiles, as Peter had been to the Jews.

From Acts 13 through 28, we see Paul and the Church at Antioch. It was here that a new name was given to Christ’s disciples. They were called “Christians” at Antioch (Acts 11:26).

While Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel and suffering all kinds of persecution and hardship, many at home in Jerusalem were stirring up the most troublesome question – “Must a Gentile become a Jew, accepting Jewish law and ceremonies, in order to be saved?” (Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas stated, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). The law doesn’t save anyone.

In Paul’s third missionary journey, the last one, he told farewell at every place. He knew it was a final farewell (Acts 20:37-38). Paul tried to break down the barriers between Jew and Gentile and between slave and free.

The book tells about being witness. “You will be my witness” (Acts 1:8). Salvation comes to this world through Christ alone (Acts 4:12), hence people must know him. Christ’s plan includes us. Persecution almost always has spread the gospel like wind spreads fire. This has been true all down through the centuries since our Lord lived on the earth. I pray that this point of time, when persecution is at high, the Spirit of God will strengthen you to carry his word to others so that they can receive the greatest miracle, Salvation.

The BOOK – Son of God

The author of the Gospel of John was “son of thunder”, the disciple whom Jesus loved. In this gospel, we are shown that the baby of Bethlehem was none other than “the one and only, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). All things were made by him (John 1:3), in him was life (John 1:4), yet he became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). No person can see God; therefore, Christ came to declare him.

We open the gospel of John and find an unwritten question – What do you think of Christ? In the first 18 verses, John discusses about Christ and gives us the answers. It opens like the book of Genesis, Jesus portrayed as the Son of God. Our Lord had no beginning. He was in the beginning. He is eternal. Christ was before all things, therefore Jesus is no part of creation – He is the Creator. “The Word was with God”. He is the Second person of the Triune God (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit). He is called “The Word”. He came to declare God, to tell about God. 

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well” – John 14:7.

In the first chapter we see John the Baptist confessing that he knew Jesus was the Messiah because he saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him (John 1:32). So he says, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).

We see in John 1:35-40, Christ calling his first disciples. It is different from that of Luke. Both the gospels we see Andrew being called. But in John, the second person’s name is not mentioned. But in these verses it is mentioned that Andrew went and called Peter. So the person who was with Andrew when Christ called them was not Peter. But when you read the last chapter of John, we see John himself testifying that he is the person who was not mentioned by name in the Gospel. So technically we can prove that John, not Peter is the first disciple. But that does not matter in our way towards our life destiny. Jesus is our main objective, not who his first disciple is.

In the public ministry of Jesus, we see him giving wonderful teachings about eternal life to Nicodemus (John 3:16) and the new birth (John 3:6). Nicodemus was a moral upright man, yet Christ said to him, “You must be born again” (John 3:7) in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Being born again means, being born in Christ so that you live a life with Christ’s characteristics. Another place he saw an immoral woman face-to-face and showed her what kind of life she was leading. Christ did not condemn her or pass judgement upon her, but he did reveal to her that he is the water of life. People are trying everything, but they still are unhappy and restless. She went back and be her simple testimony brought a whole town to Christ (John 4:1-42). She can be called as the first ambassador of Jesus Christ.

The raising of Lazarus is the final sign we see on John’s Gospel. Here the great claim Jesus made for himself to Martha is recorded, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:15-26). He talks about eternal life. 

In John 13:18-30, Jesus foretells his betrayal by Judas. Christs last week can be seen from John 13 to 17. We call it Passion Week.

·         The triumphant entry into Jerusalem

·         The cleansing of the Temple

·         The conflicts in the temple

·         The discourse on the Mount of Olives

·         Preparation for the Passover

·         The Last Supper with his disciples

After announcing his going, the Lord gives his disciples “a new commandment”, that they love one another (John 13:34-35). Discipleship is tested not by the creed you recite, not by the hymns you sing, not by the ritual you observe, but by the fact that you love one another. After he ended his talk with the disciples, Jesus spoke to the Father.

Immediately following his prayer, Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane, knowing all things that should come upon him. Jesus was now ready to give the real sign which he told in John 2 – “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” John 2:18-19. 

Almost as sad as Judas was Peter, the deserter in the hour of need, denying three times that he had any connection with Jesus. This is a lesson for us – overconfidence. 

Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, “place of a skull”. They crucify him afresh and put him to an open shame. Salvation is costly. Christ died for our sins. It cost him his life.

From John 20 we see, on the third day, the tomb was empty. The grave clothes were all in order. Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus appeared 11 times in all after resurrection which helped his disciples to believe that he was God. Jesus wanted every doubt to be removed from each one of his disciples (Thomas the doubter John 20:28). They must carry out his great commission and bear the Gospel into the entire world (John 20:21). 

In conclusion, people had sinned and lost the image of God, so Christ “the image of the invisible God” came to dwell in people. No person could see God; therefore the only begotten Son who was in with Father came to declare him to us. Jesus is God himself in human form, coming to earth. Jesus is the witness of the Father to humans. Jesus knew the Father and came to tell what he knew. He wanted humans to know the Father as he knew him. In John 1:13, we see what salvation is not – being born of natural descent. The new birth when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour makes us “children of God”. 

I pray that you accept the free salvation which is being given by Christ Jesus by praying and asking to forgive your sins and make you his child so that you will be born again and be his child.