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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Rejoice Always!- 1 Thessalonians 5:16

The passage we will be looking at today is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and the verse simply says

“Rejoice Always”

1 Thessalonians 5:16

Always Rejoice – meaning to feel or show great joy or delight…. Always

At this point you must be thinking, that’s absolutely impossible.

How can someone rejoice always?

I can rejoice sometimes, but definitely not always.

Why?

You might say…

“Because life is tough.”

“You don’t know what I’ve gone through in the past, I’m still dealing with it”

“You don’t know what I am going through right now, its unbearable sometimes”

“My job is the worst job in the world, during this lockdown they make me work like a donkey”

“My company is least caring, they asked me to sit at home without paying a penny.”

“My marriage is breaking apart, we are struggling”

“My education is at a standstill, I don’t know when I will finish my course and get a job, I don’t even know if I will get a job”

” In such a circumstance, if God is expecting me to Rejoice, that too not sometimes but always, how is that even possible? “

“It’s easy for Paul to write that, and it’s easy for Saju to say that, but they don’t know what I’m going through. My present circumstances are so tough that even thinking about Rejoicing in any manner is absolutely impossible.”

Brothers & sisters, if those are the thoughts running through your mind when you read today’s passage, or maybe I brought it out and reminded you of your hard life.

In this sermon, I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts to ponder upon which I believe will help you see the possibility of choosing to Rejoice Always.

I believe it is possible, I’ve met people in real life who I’ve seen rejoicing in the Lord at all times.

I’ve read stories of missionaries and martyrs who’ve endured suffering, sickness, pain and even death with everlasting joy in their heart. I’ve heard of men lying on their death beds and yet rejoicing in their heart.

This morning, instead of giving you long statements as pointers to remember, I want to give you three words to ponder upon.

1. The first word is PERSPECTIVE

Perspective means to have a point of view, to have a particular attitude towards or way of thinking regarding our present hard circumstances, since most of the time it is our present suffering and pain that is the greatest hurdle for us to rejoice always.

Here’s the perspective we need to cultivate regarding the context of the passage we just read. If we think our situation is the worst then I want us to look and ponder what’s going on with Paul and the Thessalonian church.

Paul is not writing to a church located in a city like us where the Christians have the freedom to practise their beliefs, where they are allowed to worship in open spaces and have the liberty to openly speak about Christ on an online public platform like Facebook or YouTube, where life is tough but not to the extent where believers are dragged out of their houses and killed and murdered for their faith in Jesus.

Instead, he is writing to a group of Christians who are being tortured, persecuted & killed by the worst punishment they could think of.

On the other hand, Paul is not writing this letter sitting on a beautiful balcony or a beachside hotel with a nice cool breeze hitting his face, but he is writing the letter from Corinth where he is labouring for the Gospel alongside Aquila and Pricilla, as was his ministry in other places.

I suppose he was making and repairing tents to protect the people from the hot Mediterranean sun and also preaching the Gospel, discipling the people and building the church, risking his life by putting himself in a dangerous position with Romans.

Even after Paul writing them to “Rejoice Always”, their circumstances are not going to get better, history tells us that some of them are going to be brutally killed and murdered for their faith in Jesus.

And yet he is writing to the church “Rejoice Always”.

Brothers & sisters, if we are waiting and hoping for our circumstances to look better so that we can rejoice always then that is not going to happen. The two reasons it won’t happen is firstly because as long as we are living on this earth we are living in a world that is broken and tarred by Sin.

When God created the world he did not mean to create it this way. The Bible tells us that he made it beautiful and meant it for good.

When he made the first man and woman, he wanted them to enjoy and be fruitful under the authority & dominion of His Majesty, primarily by walking in obedience to God’s instructions in humility and in complete surrender. But instead of walking in obedience, Adam & Eve disobeyed God and sinned in their hearts.

Romans 5:12 says

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”.

Romans 5:12

Because of our sins, the Bible says God’s righteous judgement is upon this earth. Here’s how Isaiah describes the effects of Sin on the earth in Isaiah 24:5

5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned [under the curse of God’s wrath]

Isaiah 24:5-6

Brothers & sisters, as long as we live on this earth we are living under the curse that is upon this earth, and even though our spirit and soul is liberated in Christ.

Our body here on earth will continue to experience the pain of this broken world. We will always be walking on broken glasses under our feet as long as we live on this earth.

Even Jesus, being the perfect man who ever lived on the earth had to suffer and experience the effect of this broken world in a much more brutal way than any of us will ever suffer.

The second perspective I want us to have about our present circumstances is that God uses our sufferings to perfect us and make us mature in Him.

Do you know that our saviour Jesus was made perfect through sufferings. In Hebrews 5:8-9 it says

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”

Hebrews 5:8-9

Brothers & Sisters, I urge you to look at your present pain & sufferings as a means by which God is perfecting you in Christ.

And if you can develop a right perspective towards your present circumstances then ‘rejoicing always’ can definitely look like a possibility.

2. The second word is BELIEVE

As we just learnt that it is not our present circumstances that enables us to Rejoice always, but what should rather enable us to rejoice always is the prospects of the eternal life we have in heaven because of what Jesus did for us.

Even though we sinned and rebelled against God, instead of pouring His wrath on us and destroying our existence forever, our loving, gracious and merciful Father sent Jesus to bear our punishment and die for our sake and declare justice over us.

Isaiah 53:6 says,

“The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him,”

Hebrews 9:26 says,

“He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Hebrews 2:17 says that Christ made “propitiation for the sins of the people” and 1 John 4:10 says “in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Brothers & sisters, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus died for our sins and has reunited our broken hearts with our Heavenly Father once and forever.

And we receive this gift and stand justified when we repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ our saviour.

Therefore friends, if we are failing today to rejoice always in the Lord, it is not because of our circumstances but because of UNBELIEF in our heart.

Unbelief is the root cause of all our habitual sins, troubles and lack of joy. We are failing to believe that God’s grace, mercy and love expressed through the sacrifice of his Son is enough.

In Isaiah 45:22 the Lord says,

“Look to me and be saved”

Isaiah 53:6

Instead of looking at the Son, Jesus, we are all the time looking at ourselves and our circumstances, we are trying to make our life look better on our strength and ability so that we can someday arrive at the destination we have planned where we will find fulfilment and our joy will be complete.

We work hard, put in extra hours in office, slog and break our bones.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that its wrong to work hard. In fact, God’s word clearly says that we should and that work is a gift. But our attitude is what matters.

Thinking that our efforts is what will sustain us and looking for joy apart from Christ is what is harmful.

We do good works, sometimes beyond our capacities and hope & expect that God will return the favour someday in hundredfold and then we will be happy.

Instead, what we ought to be doing is looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith, trust in him and not in our strength and ability to make this imperfect life on earth perfect.

In Christ, we are totally 100% perfect for heaven, and that is what should make us rejoice always.

Brothers & sisters, as long as we nurture UNBELIEF in our hearts with regards to struggles, trials & temptations we go through in life, we will never be able to truly Rejoice always.

As long as we live on this earth, we need to live believing that his grace is sufficient for us, sufficient to justify us, to sanctify us, and take us to heaven with him.

Allow your heart to be filled with that Joy.

3. The last and the final word I want to leave with you is REST.

Now, that we have the right PERSPECTIVE and BELIEF, I want us to think of the word REST.

Rest, not just as a state of mind, where we are resting in God’s sovereignty over our lives, his provision of abundant and sufficient grace for us to live joyfully in his presence. But I want to talk about REST which is also a command from the Lord – The Sabbath Rest.

Sabbath rest is not just a suggestion from God, its a Holy command from Him.

It is as important as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul”, It is one of the 10 commandments God gave to Moses, Exodus 20:8-11 God said

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

To obey the Sabbath literally means to cease from all our human efforts and to look to God in prayer and devotion. As I understand the Sabbath, I’ve come to believe that Sabbath rest is the providence from God, not just for the sake of physical rest, but also to help us realign our perspectives and refocus our belief on Him.

When we take rest from our human efforts we are reaffirming the fact that in God we trust, as our ultimate source of provision, peace and joy.

If you are struggling to Rejoice at the moment, I want to ask when was the last time you rested in God from all your strivings and efforts and hard work.

I know it is difficult and there are many excuses we can think of, our work responsibilities, our family commitments, etc.

But if working on our perspectives and dealing with our unbelief is important for us so that we can Rejoice always, we will have to give importance to the Sabbath rest, for some of you, it might require you to take drastic steps to say NO to extra work, maybe close yourself up in a room, maybe disconnect the phone for the day, say to NO to entertainment, etc.

A Restful heart will always be a joy-full heart.

Even in our busy schedules if we can find ways to soak ourself in scripture, devote ourself in prayer, sing songs of hope and thanksgiving, remembering the Gospel, looking at Jesus, resting in Him, then, brothers and sisters, the joy of the Lord will surely fill our hearts and keep us going.

We can become just like a small child who runs along the riverside with a stick in his hand and laughter in his mouth.

Though there is so much more I want to say but time is limited, I hope I have stirred something in your heart this morning and given you enough reasons to Rejoice always.

Please do remember the three words .. PERSPECTIVE, BELIEVE & REST.

Let’s pray.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Growing Together in the Lord – 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15

Hello church Good morning, I am delighted to connect you, and I am thankful for this opportunity to share the word of God this morning.

As the world is go through horrible pandemic, I pray that this pandemic will not hinder us to grow spiritually in the Lord rather let us fully seek God and fully depend on His divine protection upon ourselves and our family.

Today we shall continue our book study series from 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15.

14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always pursue after that which is good for one another and for all people.

Pray: Lord we thank you for this beautiful opportunity to mediate your word, we invite your Holy Spirit to come and teach us.

Help us to understand the truth. In Jesus precious name. Amen.

Let us remember the condition of Thessalonian believers:

They were Idol worshipper – but as soon as they heard the gospel,

They repent and they turn away from idol to serve the true Living God.

# They have great faith in the Lord. # They are greatly laboring in love.

# They have steadfastness of Hope.

On the Top of these, they became a great example for all people.

Their practical faith has gone viral to many parts of the world.

All people heard about this amazing Thessalonian church.

But when we read chapter 5:14-15, we see the need of the Thessalonian church, the area where they need to grow.

Remember there is no perfect church in this world, we always need to repent our sins and keep sanctifying before God,

we need God’s grace daily to grow in the Lord.

Someone says like this,

“A Church is a hospital for sinners not a club for saints.”

Its true the church is a hospital for sinners,

Church I will like to remind all of us, that God Love us so much that He sent His only son Jesus Christ, He came into this world, He took the punishment in place of us and He purchased us with His blood, As we believed Him as saviour and Lord, He cleansed us from all sins and unrighteousness.

Now as a new creation in Christ, He wants us to serve Him and keep growing in the Lord.

I would like to entitle my sermon as “Growing together in the Lord”

Let us come to the first point.

1. Admonish the unruly. (14a)

          “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly.” (14a)

The word Urge (is a verb) which means begging, beseeching, pleading, requesting. (this is not forcing something rather a humble request) he urged the brethren to admonish the unruly.

Brethren – fellow Christian, member of the same church community.

Admonish: (Nou-thet-ei-te) is a verb and when we see Greek grammar, It is in present imperative. That means to admonish is a command.

Admonish means to warn, counsel, exhort. to put in mind,

To warn or to give notice beforehand especially of danger or evil.

Illustration

Recently, it was on May 8, 16 migrant worker were sleeping in a railway track, unfortunately, train ran over them and all of them died instantly. It is sad to hear that.

I know if you know well ahead that the train is coming toward them, you will warn them to get out of the railway track, to save those workers. Right.

Church We are to warn, counsel, exhort one another, to those friends who are going toward the wrong direction in life.

Unruly: At-ak-tos: when we see original meaning in Greek it means,

Out of order, who are out of line, the undisciplined, the disorderly people, Lazy, idle people.

Illustration: I know one brother, he is a married man, incredibly good in singing and he was highly active in a church. He has 6 children.

But he backslides from his faith, he became lazy, he ran away from his role and responsibility as a father, he was going from one place to another, did not return home for many years. His life was totally mess up and painful.

I remember everyone in a church started praying and admonishing him.

After many years he repent, he came back home and started attending church and started taking care of his children and wife.

There will be many people who are living a dangerous life, many will be living in a habitual sinful life, many will be living a lazy, squander life, many will be living undisciplined life, we need to gently and lovingly remind them the gospel.

As a church we are one family in Christ, and we are accountable to each other.

Galatian 6:1.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

Purpose of admonishing:

  1. To restore back fellow believers to fellowship with God.

2. To remind fellow believers of their role and responsibilities in church.

3. To help fellow believers to live fruitful and productive life.

4. To help fellow believers to grow spiritually in the Lord.

Remember Measuring standard for admonishment fellow believers should be the scripture, not our skill or experience but scripture should be the standard.

Remember the unruly (idle, lazy people) need to be warned to get back in among the believers and use their God-given gifts in service for the kingdom.

Application:

Dear church we should admonish one another, counsel one another, warning one another with gentleness and grow together in the Lord.

We should continually remind the gospel to one another and grow stronger and deeper in relationship with our Heavenly Father.

2. Encourage the fainthearted. (14b)

Encourage: (para-mu-theo-mai) it is verb and present imperative, so to encourage is a command.

Meaning: it means to comfort, console, exhort.

Fainthearted: small courage, little-spirited, feeble-minded, those who lack spiritual courage.

We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with fainthearted believers in solidarity and support them. The fainthearted, or “timid”, are fearful people who lack confidence perhaps in themselves or even in their faith

They may be discouraged or worried by the challenges of living a Christian life. These people need loving instruction from their fellow believers to calm their fears and to build their confidence in the Lord.

Illustration: It was 3 years ago, I got a call at 6:00 am morning, from a young woman, she said, I want to meet you right now, I said what happened, she said, I will explain when I met you. So we meet up in the park.

She said, I do not want to live anymore, because my boyfriend leaves me, when I listen to her story, she has attempted suicide once before but fortunately people around her save her and take her to hospital. She was depressed, going through excruciate pain.

We spent around two hours, I counsel her with the word of God, and we prayed together. I keep encouraging her daily. She became strong, started coming to church.

After many months she got a good job and she starts taking great responsibility in her family.

One thing we do as a church was, we keep holding on to that sister and we keep encouraging her and keep praying for her.

At last she overcome and received God’s Grace.

Application:

Church there are so many people within the church and outside the church who are really in need of our encouragement and our love and our care.

Let us make use of every opportunity and serve one another.

Let the beauty of Christ be seen in our daily life.

We should not wait for someone to come and tell us the problem but instead let have a shepherd heart, who knows the need of the sheep.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

3. Help the weak. (14c).

Help: Antexomai, Verb: present imperative, that means helping is a command.

It means Hold firmly to, cleave to, withstand.

Weak: literally it means – not strong, infirm, sick. Strengthless.

Illustration: Helping hand in the village river.

It was 2014, after we complete our bachelor degree, we form a team and went for preaching tour in our home town, after the tour was over we went to Village river for fishing, we were catching lots of fish and we were having much fun in the river. Suddenly, two girls were about to drown in the deep water, I was not far away from them, I was trying to be the hero that day, I tried to save them but even I was about to drown because I was not able to swim, but I manage to come out of the water, I don’t know-how. So, this helpless hero (me) shout for help, help, help. They came running and we join our hand together and pull them out.

Life lesson from this incident.

Firstly: Learn how to swim if you want to be a real-life hero.

Secondly, we are stronger and better together, together we can do greater things.

Thirdly and most importantly, together the church should stretch out hands to the people who are perishing, who are weak, who are falling from faith and save them. We should Hold them tight, we can’t lose them. Let us be a soul winner, be a life saver.

Proverb 11:31 says He who win soul is wise.

Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the LORD Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Helping can be financial help or material help too.

Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Application: Are we helping people who are desperately in need of our help.

At this crucial time, you and can be a blessing for many people out there.

I have a beautiful hymn here. I will sing for all of you.

The title of a hymn is call “Be a channel of blessing”

Out in the highways and byways of life,  

many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,

Making the sorrowing glad.
#   Make me a blessing, make me a blessing,  Out of my life, May Jesus shine;
  Make me a blessing, O saviour, I pray,  Make me a blessing to someone today.

To be a blessing for someone everyday should be our daily goal.

4. Be Patient with everyone. (14d)

Patient: Mak-ro-thy-mei-te – Verb, present imperative. That means be patience is a command.

Meaning: Long-suffering, forbearing, perseverance.

Everyone: all, the whole, every kind of.

1 Tim. 1:16

Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

2 Peter 3:9 says,

“The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

You know, God patiently waits for all of us to come to repentance, so we need to have patience with one another.

Illustration: O.T there a story of King Saul, the Israelite were about to fight a battle but they have to do sacrifice first, that sacrifice has to be done by prophet Samuel, but King Saul was impatient to wait Samuel, so King Saul did the sacrifice. As a result, the Lord was not pleased with King Saul, God rejects king Saul and did not use him anymore.

If we are impatient it can destroy all our plan and destroy our relationships and it affects people around us.

Sometimes we are impatient in a crowded city like Mumbai, when we stuck in traffic when we stand in queue to buy a train ticket, to buy food, or even in a shopping mall to pay bills, sometimes we are impatient when the sermon is too long.

Sometimes we are impatient with our spouse, with children or friends.

Ephesian 4:1-2

 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Being patience will help us to avoid many life problems, being patience is a sign of spiritual maturity. Being patience will help us to understand each other and will help us to serve each other better and being patient will help us grow daily in the Lord.

Application: Beloved church we should have patience, everyone is not the same in church, some are slow learner, some fast learner, some take time to grow.

We have different gift and different personality, we must be patient like our Lord,

Even though we fall in sin and ran away from Him, and live all kind of sinful, wicked life.

He has   so much patience on us.

Psalm 103:8 says,

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

Church we must have patience toward one another and grow together in the Lord.

  • Always pursue good for each other. (15) (Not Retaliate)

“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always pursue after that which is good for one another and for all people.”

Always: at all times, ever.

Pursue: verb, present imperative, so it is a command.

Literally means- by implication, to persecute, follow after, press forward.

Good: intrinsically good, good in nature.

Romans 12: 9-21

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 
On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
     if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Conclusion:

Church we have seen 5 points under the topic “Growing together in the Lord”

(1) Admonish the unruly
(2) Encourage the fainthearted
(3) Helping the weak
(4) Patiently caring to everyone
(5) Always pursue good for each other.

Why we must do all these? it is because Christ has loved us and sacrifice His life for us, and we have received the forgiveness of sins and now we have eternal life in Him.

Church He has done so much for us, Now it is our time to love Him, and serve Him and obey His command.

Therefore we must Lovingly admonish one another, Let us Carefully encourage the fainthearted, let us graciously help the weak, let us patiently care for all people and let us always pursue good for each other and grow together in the Lord. As a church and as an ambassador of Christ we should join our hand together and build up the body of Christ, we should strive to become a stronger and healthier follower of Christ.

God bless all of you amen.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

The role of elders in our journey of faith- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

https://www.facebook.com/thegatheringcommunity/videos/2360971784200966/

Good morning church! Hope you are doing well. We have completed 6 weeks of our lockdown and the latest reports do tell us that it will be extended at least till the end of May.

I know it is a testing time for all of us with the increase of COVID-19 cases and as the impact inches closer to home. In times like these when fear and uncertainty grip our minds, we need now more than ever an encouragement from God’s Word [the Bible].

Our faith needs to be energized to continue trusting and hoping in God. I’m thankful to God for this series of ‘Abiding faith’ from 1 Thessalonians. It’s like an apt letter for a difficult time like this. And today we are going to look at how “elders play a crucial role in our journey of faith”. Would you turn with me once more to our text for the day – 1 Thess 5:12-13?   

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 
13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Thess 5:12-13

I once heard this fictitious story of a discussion between the pastor of a certain church and the worship leader on a minor change for that week’s service. As the discussion grew, it got more heated.

Seeing that this was turning into an argument the pastor said “I think we should go home and pray and ask God to give us peaceful hearts.” After the worship service the coming week, the worship leader warmly greeted and told him “I took your advice and went home and said a prayer”.

The pastor said “Great. So did I. I asked God to grant us both peaceful hearts and a fresh start.” The worship leader replied “Although that’s not what I prayed for. I asked God to help me & give me the strength to put up with you”!!!

While there could be a variety of reasons as to why it’s not always the easiest to respect and highly esteem the pastors among us (we will come to that in a few minutes), I want to start by asking all of us this question

“Is it really necessary for a church to have pastors? Is their role really important?”

I’ll be answering this question with 4 more questions today – “What, Why, How and What next?”

1. What is the labour that pastors engage in?

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labour among you….to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. (v12-13)

What is the labour or work? Some people think that pastors are necessary for administration. Just to ensure that they have a steady pipeline of events organized well. Some other probably think that pastors exist to entertain the congregation on a Sunday morning with a well-crafted speech, couple of jokes here and there to keep it engaging – something like a Ted talk. Is that what pastors are called to? Or is it something else?

Here’s a simple definition of pastors –

They are God called, God gifted, assessed and publicly recognized individuals to lead God’s people in local churches.

a) God called: They are called by God to protect, provide and care for the souls of God’s people.

Look at what Paul says in Acts 20:28 to the Ephesian elders – Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,[e] which he obtained with his own blood.

Paul doesn’t say “I made you an elder/pastor. He says “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers”. Their appointment letter figuratively is signed by God and not an organization.

Just like the husband in the home is given the unique calling and responsibility to set the tone for provision in the family, to set the tone for physically and spiritually protecting the family, to set the tone by being an example in the family…in the same way pastors in the church are given “delegated authority” to provide, protect and care for God’s church.

It is a delegated authority that is bound by God’s Word and for which they will need to give an account for. The moment the pastor says anything outside of God’s Word, it ceases to be authoritative.

We aren’t obligated to do anything that the pastor tells us to do that is not flowing out of God’s Word.

b) God gifted: The pastor needs to be “able to teach” or as some other versions put it “an apt teacher” [1 Tim 3].

By God gifted I’m not saying that the pastor needs to have a daily podcast or an exceptional orator but someone who is equipped to faithfully preach and teach God’s Word.

As I said earlier, the delegated authority to be able to “rebuke, correct and train in righteousness” [2 Tim 3:16] comes from the Word. If the pastor faithfully explains and applies the passage of Scripture, then to disbelieve or to disobey would be to disbelieve or disobey God! That’s a huge thing.

A pastor is not called to state his opinions on different matters of the Bible. He’s not called to say things like “I think it’s not a wise idea for all of us to sin in this area”.

A pastor is called and gifted by God to preach and teach the very words of God and that has tremendous authority.

c) Assessed: When we look at the qualifications for pastors in 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1, we see that most of the qualifications are character qualities for which the church would need to have spent sufficient time with the candidate to evaluate his life.

Superior leadership qualities or oratory skills or administrative knack don’t count for anything. Maturity in the person’s lifestyle is what is being evaluated.

And that’s important because the pastor is called to “Set the tone for spiritual life in the church”.

 d) Publicly recognized: By public recognition, I don’t mean having a daily podcast, being featured on various church blogs or having a large twitter following.

What I mean by publicly recognized is that the pastors are officially recognized as the pastors in their local congregation. In the NT we see a pattern of laying of hands before the church.

And that’s important because the church needs to know who they need to approach for guidance & instruction. It can’t be left to assumptions.

Brothers and sisters, this is an important role in the church. But despite knowing that pastors are God called, God gifted, assessed and publicly recognized individuals to lead God’s people in local churches,

2) Why is it that we struggle to that respect and esteem pastors?

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you

Thess 5:12

In v12 when Paul says “we ask you, brothers”, he is actually making an “earnest request”. The Hindi translation of this word is closer to the Greek translation – “Vinnti” – an earnest request is being made to this young Thessalonian church because they were not appreciating and respecting their pastors enough.

Our human experiences today aren’t too different from the Thessalonians. We struggle to do the same if we are honest. Some reasons could be:

a) We equate respect to ability: In our sinfulness, we end up respecting those that manage to “Wow” us with their abilities.

People need to “earn our respect”. In our sin, we think that if the pastor is better than us in his bible knowledge or behaviour or skill level, then we respect the pastor.

The flip-side is if we think we are better than the pastor in our abilities, then he doesn’t deserve our respect. Some years back I was having a conversation with a brother in Christ who had a solid understanding and training in the Word.

He certainly knew a lot more than me. But as we were talking about his church and his pastors, I realized he became quite bitter and said some unkind things about his pastors. And it surprised me because I wondered how could it be that a solid person in the Bible was having a tough time respecting his own pastors?

Later I figured it was his own bible knowledge that made him not respect his pastors. Now it is possible that he knew more than his pastors, but that doesn’t undermine the authority of those God called, God gifted, assessed and publicly recognized pastors to lead his own heart.

b) We fail to submit to authority: We see this displayed in all walks of life. Children struggle to submit to the authority of parents.

Citizens of a country oppose the authority of the government even if it’s a good government. Employees don’t submit to the authority of their employers. Similarly, even in churches, members have a hard time submitting themselves to their pastors.

And the issue is an internal one. It is a heart issue where we don’t like to be corrected. Even though we might not say it out loud, we echo these thoughts everyday “Who does that person think they are to tell me what to do?” “I should be the only one who decides what or what should not happen in my life” “I will submit only to my authority and no one else”.

And this failure to submit to authority goes back right to the Garden of Eden. This doesn’t have a modern origin story. Adam and Eve ate the fruit because they wanted to “be like God”. They wanted to independently decide what is right or wrong for them apart from God.

They wanted autonomy and all of human history has been paying the painful and deadly price for independence apart from God.

c) We have been victims of pastoral abuse: Some of us could find it hard to respect or esteem pastors because of a really painful and hurtful past experience.

It could have been harsh verbal abuse; it could have been manipulation or it could have also been inappropriate behaviour. And these I understand have damaging effects on the way we trust pastors now and also perceive spiritual things.

And honestly brothers and sisters, I have experienced all the three in my past experiences. I have laughed at and disrespected my pastors & I’ve also experienced the pain of pastoral abuse.

This has been a topic that really drove my heart to repenting this week. Which brings us to the question if there is any hope available for us?

3) How can Jesus Christ redeem us from this?

a) How can Jesus redeem us from equating respect to ability? The good news of Jesus tells us that God chose to treat us well in spite of our disabilities.

We had no means and no way of being able to present ourselves as acceptable and pure before God. All our best works were only as good as filthy rags.

Yet through the sacrifice of Jesus, God has given us a place of respect and privilege as His own children. This crushes the worldly thought process of equating respect with ability.

b) How can Jesus redeem us from failing to submit to authority? When we look at the root of every sin that we have ever committed, deep down there is a stubborn defiance to not submit to God’s authority.

It’s super humbling to realize that Jesus Christ hung and died on a cross to pay the full price for our unsubmissive heart and deeds!

Christ Jesus paid the highest cost to rescue us from the deadly snare of independence & bring us back to the safety net of God dependence.

c) How can Jesus redeem us from the hurt of pastoral abuse -> Can we receive healing? Yes, the healing comes from forgiveness.

But how it is it possible to forgive someone who has done so much of damage to my life and spirituality?

When we realize the depths of God’s forgiveness in spite of our spiritual abuse against Him, as painful as it seems it allows us to forgive the people responsible for the pastoral abuse.

Because of the good news of Jesus, we have both the power and the motivation to forgive!

In the light of how Christ has redeemed us –

4) What do we do next?

How do we actually now apply these truths of respecting our pastors and highly esteeming them in love?

Is it by buttering up our pastors and showering them with compliments? Not really.

But we can show our care and value by these things:

1. Pray for your pastors: One of the most caring things you can do for us as your pastors is bringing us before the throne of God frequently and ask God to give us greater intimacy with Jesus, give us wisdom on how to lead you all well especially through a pandemic – none of us in this generation have seen or heard anything of this kind & also pray for provision as we follow God’s call.

2. Obey your pastors: To remind you again – our delegated authority comes from God’s Word. Therefore, if it’s an instruction or correction that’s coming clearly from Scripture, then obedience is how you show your allegiance to God and value for the elders God has placed over you.

Just know guys – our heart is always to point you to glorify God and for your good.

3. Encourage your pastors: We might assume that pastors don’t need encouragement and are self-sufficient but its far from that.

We as your pastors need your encouragement from the Word as much as you do. We need encouragement to continue to pour and toil in ministry and do it with a joyful heart.

Jesus Christ is author and leader of His church! He is the Lead Pastor. All the pastors from all-time report to Him.

It’s so beautiful that He would choose broken individuals like us and use us to lead His people even as He is also repairing us!

God leads us as we follow the leadership of those He has placed over us. Be it in the family being led by the husband or in the family of God (the local church) led by the pastors.

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

Staying Confident and Hopeful in Christ: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Good morning family!

I know things are not looking great and we still don’t have any clue about when everything will return to normal. These are tough days and we do understand the struggles you are going through. But in these rough times our hope is that you are taking good care of yourselves especially spiritually.

This morning, I believe, our passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 gives us some really wise and practical life lessons for times like these.

After listening to Paul’s encouraging words to the church in Thessalonica, we know for sure that these bunch of people were genuine followers of Christ. This church was acclaimed for their undying Faith by Paul, Timothy and the reports they received from churches.

That is why, we picked out this letter and named our series “Abiding Faith”, because we want to learn and imitate these Christians whose Faith was strong as a rock.

But what we see in these recent passages is even though their lives were deeply rooted in Christ, they also had their moments of anxieties and fears about the future, about their present difficult circumstances, more so as there were many Christians tortured and put to death. In verse 1 Paul writes

1. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers

In this verse and the verses prior to these, we read how Paul is aware of what’s happening and his response to the church’s apprehension and that is why He opens up a dialogue where he is exhorting and teaching them how to live under these difficult circumstances.

I believe these words of Paul are equally relevant to us today as we encounter various challenges and anxiousness due to this pandemic.  I hope these verse shifts our focus to Christ and realigns our thoughts to Him.

There are 4 lessons we can learn from Paul dialogue with the Thessalian church

1. To Live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

The first lesson we learn is to “live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s coming’. Look at verse 2 with me

2. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

In saying this, Paul is also referring to what he already mentioned in 4:16 “For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout”. You see, brothers & sisters, it’s the promise Christ gave them before he ascended to heaven in Matthew 24:44 when He said: “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may also be.”

These verses and many others clearly tell us that there will be a sudden, personally visible, bodily return of Christ.

Now, there is a lot of speculation among people with respect to the day of Christ’s coming. Some say Jesus will come anytime now. I remember when I was a kid we went to this church where the Pastor was a Muslim convert.

As far as I remember he was a radical preacher. He would always keep saying “Jesus is coming, are you ready?”, in every message he preached, His house was filled with verses and pictures of Jesus’s coming. I remember one particular picture of Jesus descending from heaven and people being lifted up to him.

And then there are others who believe that there is still time for the return of Christ since they claim that there are events mentioned in the scriptures that are yet to happen which are –

  1. Preaching of the Gospel to all nations (Mark 13:10)
  2. The Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15-22)
  3. False Prophets working signs & wonders (Mark 13:22)
  4. Signs in heaven (Mark 13:24-25)
  5. Appearance of a Man of Lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:1-10)

I giving you references so you can read and study them.

Now, when we look back at history there are certain junctures that would seem like these events have already happened. Now, we won’t go into those details, but in some ways, it seems appropriate to conclude that the predictions of these events may have already been fulfilled. We are free to have our opinions and not quarrel over it. It’s secondary.

But what I want to lead our hearts into is, regardless of our conviction related to either of these views, scriptures clearly suggest that we should stay vigilant and live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

In Matthew 24:42-44 Jesus said “42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3, Paul gives us a picture of how the world is living. He says “While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Brothers & sisters, as children of God, let us not be oblivious and unprepared. Whether you are a full-time worker, or running a business, or studying, volunteering for any kind of job, working from home or taking care of various needs of your family at home, whatever it may be, day in and day out we ought to be alert, ready and waiting expectantly for our Savior’s return because this will keep us hopeful.

My Dad coming home

In a similar way, regardless of the outcomes of the present crisis, we have hope that we will be with Jesus in heaven. It keeps our hearts and minds focused on the heavenly things, to desire and dream for the things that truly matter. And helps us to stay watchful from the deceptions (Fasav) of this world.

2. To live daily with an assurance that we are truly saved and redeemed.

The second important lesson we learn from this passage us “ To live daily with an assurance that we are truly saved and redeemed”.

We see that in Verse 4-5

4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

In verse 8-9 Paul goes on to remind them the Gospel saying …

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Brothers & sisters, what Christ has done for us is so precious. You see, while we were sinners and rebels, doing whatever our sinful hearts desired, the Bible says “Christ died fo us”.

As we process this truth, we need to have a deeper understanding of the gift of this Gospel that offered us freedom from slavery to Sin, a new identity in Christ, a relationship that was sealed by the Holy Spirit that confirms our unity with Christ.

Remember that moment when the scales fell off from our eyes when Jesus came into your heart and transformed our life. When we repented of our sins and turned our hearts to Christ, He showered His unconditional love upon us and welcomed us into his family.

Therefore brothers & sisters, do not let the deceiver deceive you and tell you otherwise. Don’t let any doubt linger in your heart but be confident and assured of your salvation in Christ.

We need to say with the same confidence like Paul said in Romans 8:31-35

If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? – Nothing can separate us from the love of God

A strong conviction and assurance in our Salvation give us courage, boldness and strength when we are weak. So, remind the gospel to your heart daily.

3. To live a Morally and Spiritually engaged lives.

The third lesson we learn from this passage is to live morally and spiritually engaged lives.

Here Paul writes in verse 6 & 7.

6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.

To sleep and to get drunk is to lose all consciousness. The context of the word ‘sleep’ in this passage means to be unengaged & unprepared. Paul says this is how the people of the night, people who live in darkness live their lives.

The world has no moral compass and therefore they live selfish and broken lives, but that is not who we are. We are children of the light, the salt of this world, and therefore our conduct and our behaviour matters to God. And through the same grace that enabled us to put our faith in Christ at the time of our salvation, and the same grace that will one day take us to heaven is also the very grace given to us now so that we can live a victorious life in Christ.

God’s expectation from us is to be Holy as He is Holy, not to live as a lazy and sluggard person and therefore He’s has provided his grace to overcome all kinds of temptations, what is required of us is to put our faith in Him, the same child-like faith that we displayed during our conversion, the same child-like faith that believes we will be taken up in heaven. We don’t need an increased faith to overcome sinful temptations, when Jesus’s disciples went to Jesus and asked Him to increase their faith He said “If you have a faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains”. What is this small little temptation we are talking about?

God is accomplishing a great thing in this world and he is accomplishing it through you and me, what God has done to us and what is doing in us is not a small thing, therefore, my brothers, my sisters, will you stay awake & engaged? I mean to desire to live morally and spiritually engaged lives for the Glory of God, with the strength and grace He provides. So that He can use us and save many more like us.

4. To live purposefully by encouraging and building one another

And finally the last lesson we learn from this passage is to live purposefully by encouraging and building one another.

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

We are a family, and we need encouragement, we need support. We need our brothers and sisters to stand with us in hard times, to mourn with us in our sorrows, to rejoice in our victories. We find joy, encouragement and hope when brothers or sisters reminds us God’s love if my heart becomes weary, and warns us from falling into sins when our hearts draw us astray. We need leaders and elders to enlighten us from God’s word and give us the right perspective towards life and the challenges we go through. We need Godly friends to lighten our burdens when we feel lonely and depressed.

Church, let us be sensitive towards one another, what we need is what even others need. The  joy of giving is better than the joy of receiving. In hard times like these, people need encouragement and comfort just as we need it.

There is so much room & opportunity God has provided for us to be involved in serving others and find happiness in doing so.

I suggest that we make it a goal every day to reach out to atleast one person and encourage them in the Lord, remind the Gospel to each other, pray for each other, and give them the confidence that there is someone they can reach out to when in need.

This will definitely uplift our spirit and keep us alive and active.

Community is a beautiful gift from God and therefore let’s make every effort to benefit from it.

Finally, let me conclude by reminding the four lessons we learned today.

1. To Live in eager anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

2. To live daily with an assurance that we are truly saved and redeemed.

3. To live a Morally and Spiritually engaged lives.

4. To live purposefully by encouraging and building one another

Let me pray for us.

Hope you have have a great week ahead. Love you.

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

Striving Toward Higher and greater Responsibility: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Good morning beautiful people, I am super delighted to see all of you again.

I hope you guys are safe and taking good care of yourself.

I hope you all are spiritually and physically healthy and fit.

Take good care of your physical health by doing exercise regularly and spiritually keep growing in the Lord.

You know, Its tragedy to see many beloved brothers and sisters died in many part of the world, and many are dying because of corona pandemic.

Church let us keep praying for all brothers and sisters who are going through hard time.

Let us pray that many people will come back to our living God at this chaotic situation.

Ezekiel 18:23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

1 Timothy 2:4 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Beloved wherever we are, let us make use of every opportunity and every means and point the perishing soul to Christ.

Shall we look to God in Pray: Dear Lord we thank you for this time as we gonna spent some time together meditating your words, may you come and teach us and bless us in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Paul says, 1 Cor. 13:11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

          When we were baby we consume only liquid food right, but when we grow up we change our diet, we start eating hard food, we eat by our self, in the same way we can’t act and behave like a child all the time, it’s time for all of us to take higher and greater responsibilities as a follower of Christ.

Paul urge Thessalonians that you guys need to take higher and greater responsibility, you can’t be in the same position always you need to grow in the Lord, you need to work more.

Believers taking up higher and greater responsibility is the overall focus we gonna meditate now.

Would you please open your bible with me to 1 Thess. 4:9-12? Read it.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

10And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, (go higher and higher, more and more)

11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,

12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

I would like to entitle my sermon as “Striving toward higher and greater Responsibility”

  1. 1.    Striving toward loving one another more and more. (9-10).

9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

10And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.

There are 4 kinds of love in the bible. In Greek language they are called:

(1) Agape Love- Unconditional love. (Love of God)

(2) Storgi love– Affection (love between Family)

(3) Eros Love– Eroticism (Love between couple)

(4) Philia- love – Friendship (love between friends) or Brotherly

Here in verse 9 and 10, Apostle Paul is using Philia love, friendship love or brotherly love

Thessalonians scoring mark in loving one another is A+, Paul was so proud of their testimony, they were leading church in spreading gospel in all over the places,

they were living exemplary life, but Paul urge them again, you can still do better than A+,

love one another more and more, it means you don’t need to be just good, but you need to be excellent, excel in your conduct toward loving one another.

The Thessalonians did not just feel love for one another—they did love for one another – “And indeed you DO it toward all the brethren…” (4:10) They did not merely profess brotherly love—they expressed brotherly love with their action. This is exactly the teaching of the Scriptures: 1 John 3:18 – Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

John 13:34-35, Jesus said,

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.”

Scripture remind us that if we love one another that will prove that we are Christ disciples.

On the other hand, Scripture says the absence of brotherly love is a prove that someone is not truly born again –

1 John 4: 20,21.

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

If we are not loving one another you are not born again????, a genuine and true born-again believer will obey Christ command and life according to His will and purpose.

Illustration: Philippians Church collect money for Apostle Paul while he was having hard time in Rome Jail. (This is Philia love brotherly love).

I saw many of our church believers donating gift to the people who going through hard time at this moment. That is brotherly love.

Many people around the world are help each other and encouraging each other, sharing each other burden, praying for another, Caring for one another.

This act of loving one another will prove that we are Christ disciples.

The scripture is urging to do this good works more and more

Application: Friends,

Are we loving one another?

Do you think you can love people around you more and more?

There is great power and happiness and blessings in loving one another.

Loving one another can change the world.

What if 7.8 billion people in this planet love one another? Stop hating each other?

And start caring for one another

The world will be a better place, you and I can bring the change.

You know folks, Apostle Paul knows the power of loving one another, and He is reminding us that we should love one another more and more as Christ has love us.

The world has experienced enough blood shed in history, in 1 world war 19 million people died, and in second world war 56 million people died,

We see humanitarian crisis in middle East, Europe and in many parts of the world, we see unending fight going on in middle east and in various part of the world

Why all these hates, killing and fight, it is because there is no love.

In 2003 an American band called Black Eyed Pies” released a hit song call

“where is the love” the song has 529 million view in YouTube.

 The song starts with the sentence “what’s wrong with the world,”

This song is all about Condemn war, terrorism, killing, using chemical gas, gangster, selfishness, Madness of all evils that is happening around the world,

the chorus goes like this.

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach?
And would you turn the other cheek?

Father, father, father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love? (Love)

Where is the love? (The love)
Where is the love? (The love)

Beloved, the world is hungry for Christ love, they are searching for an answer, we know  Jesus is the answer for this dying world, we have Christ love in us, let us Spread the Love of Christ and Let us conquer our family, our friends, our society, our nation and the world with Christ love.

  1. Strive toward leading a peaceful life. (11a)

“And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life”

We are to aim or strive for wuiet and peaceful life.

The word “quiet” here is a Greek verb that means to rest. hold peace, be quiet.

Paul reflects this thinking by saying that the goal of every Christian should be to lead a quiet, peaceful and tranquil life. we should seek a peaceful life without conflict with our community.

This quiet and peaceful life is not from the world this is from God,

John 14:27 Jesus said, peace I leave with you, my peace I gave to you.

Isaiah 9:6. Jesus is the price of peace.

So remember this quiet and peaceful life is fromGod.

I have beautiful hymn here written by Anne S Murphy. (1890).

There is a peace in my heart that the world never gave,
A peace it cannot take away;
Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,
I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior and King,
When peace sweetly came to my heart;
Troubles all fled away and my night turned today,
Blessed Jesus, how glorious Thou art!


Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;
Constantly abiding, rapture divine;
He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:
“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.

Why we should strive to live quiet and peaceful life?

Because peaceful living

  1. Peaceful living builds up good relationship with the people around us.

(Year ago we were living in Santacruz, we have very good Hindu neighbor, we share so many things together, but when we were about to leave the neighborhood, I remember the granny came over hug me and Phila and she was literally crying).

Because they don’t want us to leave.

And the other catholic neighbor they are sad too, they call me Father in their own catholic context, they told me to come back again, we had an emotional goodbye).

I learn a lesson that living peaceful life with people around is vital for every believer.

  • Living peaceful life Set a Christlike example for them.
  • Living peaceful life Show the world that we are peace loving and peaceful people.
  • To live peacefully with all people is a command from God. (Romans 12:18)
  • Most importantly, we can share good news to them.

In this hectic world, everyone is searching for quit and peaceful life,

Many people think if they have enough money, achieve their wildest dream,

their life will be peaceful, and

If they become famous and successful, they think they will have peaceful life.

But that’s not true materialistic things and fame and success that we see around is temporary and can’t give us the inner peace.

Perfect peace is found in Christ Jesus alone. 

Matthew 11: 28. Jesus said,

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Application:

Remember church, we are here to show the world that we have perfect peace given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us show the world our peaceful life in Christ, so that they will return to our Living God.

With that lets come to the 3rd points.

  1. Striving toward doing our own business and being productive (11b)

“You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you”, (b)

This verse is telling us to do our own work by Using God-given talents and gifts.

This is a practical advice, considering the church was under persecution from the civil authorities as well as the Jews.  By “laying low” and minding their business, they avoided an increase of persecution.

Illustration: Apostle PAUL.

Paul wrote, “Mind your own business and work with your hands.” Paul was an apostle, but he also had a real job. He was a tentmaker. He worked with his hands to make tents and sell them so he could have money to live on. He didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

1 Thess.2:9. Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day, we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you.

Beloved Don’t let your life be a burden to someone else, may be your family, wife, husband, church, may be society, may be even nation.

Let us be like Paul and his team working day and night for living,

so that we won’t be burden to anyone but be a blessing to all people around us.

Paul says “Work with your hands” it means Living a productive life.

How can we live a productive life?

Illustration: I have short story of an Ant. (Proverb.6;6-11) Solomon the wise man said,

6.Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,  a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

I do not mean you guys are lazy and squanderer but what I mean to say is we can learn a great life Lesson from this little ant and be productive.

(1) Work smart (the Ant know when to work and how to work and they know where the food is) that’s smart right.

 (2) work hard (they work day and night and never get tired)

(3) Never give up. (they work until they achieve their dream)

(4) Be persistence. (they keep working and working).

Wise man Solomon remind us to learn these important lessons from an Ant.

I Have a quotation here:

“Wise people plan for 3 generation, fool plan for Saturday night”.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”

Remember whatever we do, we are doing for God, for His glory and not for ourselves.

Application:

Are we striving toward minding our own business? or living a messy and lazy life?

And, are we living a productive life?

Ephesian 5: 15-17

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,

16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Our life on earth is short, we don’t have time to squander around and waste our life,

Let’s work hard and take good care of the task God has assign us and let us live a productive life.

Finally, we come to our last point:

  1. Striving toward gaining respect and self-support. (12)

“So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (12)

This last point striving toward gaining respect and self-support is the result of obeying point 1, 2, and 3.

If we strive toward loving one another more and more,

If we strive toward leading quiet and peaceful life,

If we strive toward working our own affairs and living productive life.

We will win the respect of outsiders; these outsiders are people outside the church (unbelievers) and

We will not live depending on others but living a sufficient satisfied life.

Remember Believers must always bear in mind the impact of their conduct on those who are without faith. we must give the impression that we are our Lord’s ambassadors,

and our conduct must show the beauty of Christ.

Illustration: Last month we were in Dubai, I heard a beautiful story, of the works done by Christian missionary Doctors, In a year 1964 missionaries open a hospital, This hospital has help the people UAE in an extraordinary way, some of their great leaders Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed were born there in the hospital.

During their Country hard time Christian missionaries have done an amazing work, As a result, the Christian missionaries won a huge respect from Muslim friends. They have a high respect for each other.

The UAE government even donate a land to build churches. There is religion tolerance and freedom of religion in UAE.

It is Because of few faithful Christian missionaries; the younger generation are greatly blessed.

As a church we should win the respect of unbelievers around us so that we can build up good relationship with them and introduce them to Christ.

We should also take good care of our life, our life should not depend on others for daily needs, but like Paul and his team we should work hard and live a sufficient and satisfied life, our life should be an example to all people around us.

Conclusion:

We have meditated together 4 points under the

topic: “Striving Toward Higher Greater Responsibility”

I want to remind you that you are not a child anymore, you are responsible men and women, you are an ambassador of Christ, we can’t be like baby anymore.

We must “Strive toward Higher and greater Responsibility”.

Remember we are on a mission from the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

Let us fight the good fight, let us be strong and be courageous.

We are generation builders; and we are the world changer.

Let us strive toward loving one another more and more,

Let us strive toward leading quiet and peaceful life,

Let us strive toward working our own affairs and live productive life.

Let us Strive toward gaining respect and self-support.

Remember, the world is desperately in need of Christ love,

Let us love them more and more and more.

We must be a channel of peace for this broken world by introducing our Lord Jesus,

the prince of Peace.

Let us work hard like an ant and live a productive life for Gods glory.

Finally, we must win the respect of people around us by showing the beauty of Christ in our life.

May God bless you and keep you and make His face shine on you.

Let’s Look to God in prayer.

Amen.

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

Escaping Sexual Sin- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

As a church we’ve been going through a series called “Abiding faith” from 1 Thessalonians. Today’s we are going to see how this kind of abiding, enduring, long lasting faith produces holiness.

“Escaping sexual sin” is the title of the message. But some of us may ask, “how relevant is a message on escaping sexual sin during this time of a pandemic and a lockdown? People can’t even go outside!”

Even in the letter to Thessalonians so far, Paul has spoken about suffering and love and concern, why suddenly shift gears and talk about holiness especially in the area of sexuality? One of the reasons could be due to the challenging context of the Thessalonian believers.

After all they were living in a trading centre, commercial hub, progressive city like Thessalonica. It had easy accessibility to a lot of stuff which also has its downside – sexual immorality was open and prevalent.

In the midst of severe suffering and isolation, the believers could be tempted to let their guard down by saying to themselves deceiving things like:


i) “I’m going through so much pain and loneliness right now. Sexual sin allows me to escape & forget what I’m going through now”.
ii) “Paul who is my spiritual father in the faith – he shared the good news about Jesus to me for the first time is not here right now. He’s far away in another city. So no one will even get to know if I mess with sexual sin”.
iii) “So far I think I’ve been doing great spiritually. In fact all over the Christian world, churches are talking about my faith and radical testimony. I probably can take it easy spiritually. Take a break from my spiritual life”.


And even as we’re hearing this, we realize that this is not too distant from our experience in this COVID-19 pandemic with social distancing and lockdown imposed in many parts of the globe.

We are in no way exempt from these thoughts and temptations. And it’s in the midst of this context, that Paul earnestly pleads the church & us to strive for holy living unto God all the more! It’s almost like he’s saying “It’s not the time to take it easy. It’s not the time to let your guards down.

Now more than ever you need to pay attention on how you’re living your life”.


Why should we do all the more?

V3 For this is God’s will for you -> your sanctification.

Sanctification means being purified to be used by God. God’s will for us is purification so that we can be used by Him. One of the key areas that requires purification in our lives is our “Sexuality”.

That’s why he follows that up with – that you abstain from sexual immorality. That word “sexual immorality” comes from the Greek word “pornea” which describes every kind of sexual sin that we engage in outside of the commitment of marriage – fornication (sex before marriage), adultery (sex outside of marriage), lustful thoughts, homosexuality, incest, bestiality etc. God’s will and command for us is that we abstain from sexual immorality!


I remember that this was one of the first bible passages that I read when I started following Jesus some years back. At the time I thought this area of sexual sin was only something I had to deal with only for a few years.

Little did I know and expect that this was going to be something to fought against throughout my lifetime. Brothers and sisters, if you can relate or if you’re experiencing despair or hopelessness in your fight with sexual sin, I’d invite you to look at the “help” that is made available for us in this passage.

We’ll look at the commands off course, but also spend some time trying to understand what is the “help” that God provided for us & I’ll close with 3 applications at the end.
The first help available for us:

  1. New Desires
    God’s given us “new desires for Him”. (v4, 5)

    4 that each one of you know how to control his own body[c] in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

    In these two verses, Paul is contrasting believers of Jesus with those don’t believe in Him. He is saying that believers “can and should control their body in holiness and reverence” while Gentiles/people who don’t believe in Jesus are incapable of doing that because they are controlled by their sinful desires.

    What’s the difference here? Because believers in Jesus Christ “know God” and have a new relationship with God, they also have new desires for God.

    Some years back while having a conversation with a brother in Christ on this topic, and he said something that I thought has been immensely useful. He said what helped him was questioning his heart “do I love Jesus more or do I love this sin more?”

    That’s an important question we need to constantly ask ourselves because that determines our responses to temptations.

    In Genesis, we are told an account of Joseph while he was at Potiphar’s house. God had given Joseph favour in the eyes of his master and he became the overseer & in charge of everything he had.

    Now Potiphar’s wife had her eyes on him and Scripture says “day after day she tried to lure him by telling him to lie with her”. But he refused her repeatedly. Now to the world this might seem stupid.

    “She’s throwing herself at him day after day! Joseph is a fool & an idiot. Here’s an open opportunity that no one would’ve even come to know of”.

    But we know why he refused repeatedly in his response to her. Joseph said “how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” At the point of his vulnerability and utmost weakness, his desire for God is what kept him from falling.

    Many times we get into that thought process thinking that sexual desire is so strong that we have no option but to succumb to it. That’s an absolute lie and the deception of sin!

    John Piper has this saying “if the stakes are high like someone threatening to kill you at a moment of great sexual desire or the reward is great like someone giving you a $1 million cheque at a moment of great sexual desire, from somewhere or the other you will muster the strength to control yourself because of the greater emotion of fear or greed controls you”.

    And this is just an example at a physiological level. How much more will we be able to control our bodies in holiness and honor, because God has replaced our dead desires with new desires for Him!

  2. New name (v7)

    7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

    God “calling us” gives us the image of God the Father calling and inviting us into fellowship with Him – God calls us by a new name – a better name.

    Obviously, I’m not talking literally changing our human names. It’s not as though God literally puts the word “saint” in front of our name for ex. By putting St. in front of my name that I become “holy”!

    What I mean by God giving us a new name & better name is that he doesn’t look at us and refer to us as “unholy sinners” or “impure enemies” but instead He calls us His very own children who like Him reflect holiness!

    But how can we be considered as His holy children? We might assume – “Well it must be my best efforts and my good works. The sum of all the righteous things that I do in this life is what makes me holy.” Isaiah 64:6 tells us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”!

    So if we were to put together the best of our works, they would at the most qualify as soiled and dirty rags. Why because? The standard of measurement of holiness is not among ourselves but with God.

    So how then does God give us a new name “calling us His holy children”? He does that by sending His perfect and pure Son into the world (Jesus).

    In the history of the world there has been only one person who by God’s standard has lived a 100% holy life and that is Jesus.

    Two weeks back we remembered Jesus’ suffering and death on Good Friday – why did the only person who lived a holy life then die brutally on a Roman cross? It’s because He willingly and lovingly took on the punishment by dying for our lust, our abuses and our immorality.

    Three days later he rose from the grave to give us a new name so that whoever who turn from their sins and themselves and would turn toward Jesus and what He did for them, they would now receive the gift of a new name as His holy children!

    John 1:12: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

    And this name is a permanent name because it no longer based on my failing performance but on Jesus’ perfect performance. This new and permanent name is the key motivation to living holy lives.

    I once heard a pastor mention of how his parenting radically changed over the years as he grew in his understanding of God’s grace. Initially whenever he needed to discipline his son, he would tell him – “Don’t do this. You’ll be a bad boy if you do this”.

    Now for many of us this is a normal statement. But when you think about it – in essence what it communicates is that what the boy did (good or bad) defined who he was and defined his relationship with the parent.

    Over the years as the pastor understood God’s grace deeper, it started impacting his parenting as well. Now every time he disciplines his Son, he tells him “Son, I don’t want you to do this because you are my Son and because I love you”.

    Just think about it – this will actually motivate the boy to do what the father wanted him to do because he is so secure in the committed love of his father. Similarly, and in a much greater measure, is God’s committed love toward us.

    Through Jesus, He has given us the assurance that nothing will change the relationship equation – nothing will make God say to us “you are not my son or daughter” – “I’m taking your name of my name”. And that’s such a powerful motivator to help us live holy lives.

    And that’s a powerful motivator to helps us with repentance! When we realize that God has given us a permanent name, it allows us to run back to him and repent sincerely.

    This is not taking grace lightly. I’m not talking about regret where we feel guilty about the consequences of sin but genuine repentance where we grieve over what we’ve done against God and others & find healing because as His children we desire a relationship with God. We don’t want to live away from Him. He is our Father and He has given us a new name.

  3. His Spirit

    8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

    There is serious weight and authority in this instruction but also it provides us with help & hope by telling us that we’ve been given the Holy Spirit! In a sense, God is trying to tell us that He is so serious about making us holy that He has literally poured out His Spirit on us.

    Ezekiel 36:26,27 – 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.[a]

    The Holy Spirit that is placed within us will “cause us to walk in obedience to God in a manner that pleases Him”. Brothers and sisters –I want you guys to know that as I’m preaching on this topic, I’m not preaching from a standpoint of being a perfect believer who is preaching down on people.

    I’ll be honest to say that I’ve seen and experienced the brokenness of this sin struggle myself in my thoughts, my actions and the way I’ve related with people. But from being in a place where I thought I was always going to live a defeated Christian life, God through His Spirit has brought me to a place where I see myself fighting today.

    I’m by no means a finished product but I say this to testify on how the Spirit has been working especially in this arena of sexual sin and that’s why I’m passionate to help people who are struggling in this area.

    I want to close by sharing 3 final applications which I hope can encourage anyone who is currently in a place of struggle:

    • This temptation is not unique to us –

    No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. (1 Cor 10:13). For the longest time, I always thought I was alone in this struggle and that’s why I kept myself isolated and this sin hidden.

    But when the Spirit opened my eyes to see that it isn’t unique, it allowed me to open up and be vulnerable to my brothers and sisters in Christ who would actually call me to repentance and remind me of the gospel when I need to hear it the most.

    • Jesus faced every temptation that we’ve faced –

    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:15,16)

    The Spirit opened my eyes to see that Jesus faced every temptation we’ve faced which includes sexual temptation yet without sin. And because He understands what I face, He can perfectly pray to the Father for me and also send the mercy and grace that I need.

    • Spiritual disciplines are means of grace –

    There was a season in my life when I erroneously assumed that if I practiced spiritual disciplines then I was a legalist and not living by grace.

    The Spirit opened my eyes so that I could see that reading Scripture, prayer, having someone keep my life accountable with other believers and paying attention to what I watch and read were not so that God can measure my good or bad performance.

    Rather these were gifts from God to know Him better and live in the freedom that He intended for me.

    During this lockdown situation especially where we are being and being socially distanced from others – lets remember it is a ripe field for temptation.

But the good news is that God hasn’t left you alone.

He has actually provided you with the help you need – he’s given you new desires, he’s given you a new name and he’s given you His own Spirit which can help you fight sexual sins and live in holiness unto God!

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

An Exemplary believer- 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Good morning church,

I am delighted to see all of you this morning, I wanna say thank you so much for taking out your time, may the Lord bless all of us as we come together and listen to His living word.

I know we all our going through hard time, difficulties and challenges, I pray that we all will be encourage as we spend time together in God’s presence.

we shall continue with our book study from 1 Thessalonian.3.

Before we go ahead shall we look to God in prayer.

         Shall we open our bible to 1 Thessalonica 3:6-13.

6. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.

7 Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encourage about you because of your faith.

8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

9. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

12. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

13. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.

The text is about Paul sending Timothy to check out the condition of Thessalonian believers, as we know Paul didn’t spend much time with Them because of persecution. He was concern and curious about them. Timothy brings good news that they are growing in faith and growing in love.

I would like to entitle my sermon as “An Exemplary believer”

We shall see 4 very important points from the above text.

  1. An exemplary believer has a genuine faith that produces fruit. (6) (8) (10)

6. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your FAITH and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.

8. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Thessalonian believer’s faith was a genuine faith that bear much fruit, we see Christlike example that has spread everywhere.

When we read Thessalonica chapter 1, we know that they were idol worshipper but when Paul and his team brought good news they turn from idol and serve the true living God.

1 Thessalonian 1: 6,7,8.

6. you became imitators of us and of the Lord, in spite of severe suffering, you welcome the message with the joy given by the Holy spirit.

7. And so you became a Model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

8. The Lord message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything about it.

They became example for many people, they were bearing fruit, they received the gospel, they didn’t keep it, but they spread out and multiply in every part of the world, their Faith was a genuine and living faith.

How is our faith in God today?

You know church a faith that doesn’t produce fruit is a dead faith. we may know so many things about the bible but if we don’t put into action it is a dead faith.

James 2:26 says “Faith without work is dead.”

Jesus said, in Matthew 7:20, “By their fruit you will recognize them.”

It means the kind of fruit you are bearing will prove who you are, A real believer or fake believer.

Are we bearing fruit in our life? Are we putting our faith into action?

Illustration: Let’s see Abraham genuine faith .

God says to Abraham, leave your country, your people, your father household and go to the place where I have prepared. Abraham didn’t ask even 1 question why and where?

He doesn’t know how his future will look like,

By faith he obeys God and leave his country, that is genuine faith with action.

Abraham have faith in God, even though he doesn’t see it, He Obey God and he exercise his faith practically, as a result we see Abraham genuine faith produce fruit.

What if Abraham didn’t believe God or obey God, he will never see all the blessings and promises.

Illustration: You know, Jesus didn’t perform miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief,

Matthew 13:58. Let this thing shouldn’t happen to our family, our society or our nation.

Let’s have faith in God.

Application

Let’s have:

Faith in Gods healing – that He will heal this terrible corona pandemic.

Faith in God’s providence – that he will supply all our needs.

Faith in God’s Protection – that as He protect the nation Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, He will protect us from all disease, harm and evil.

Faith in God’s Character – that He is good and makes no mistakes.

Faith in God’s Word – that it is true no matter what happen.

Faith in God’s Plan – that He has the best plan for our life.

Faith in God’s presence – that he is with us in the darkest moments of life.

Faith in God’s power – that He can deliver us from every Temptation.

  • An exemplary believer has genuine love that leads to action. (6) (12)

(Genuine love leads to action because love is action)

(6) But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.  12. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

Thessalonians believers have genuine love to God and to one another.

They have proved their love with their action.

Bible says the greatest commandment is

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Matthew 22:37-39.

We see Thessalonians believers love God and they are loving each other.

Illustration: Christ Display the perfect example of Genuine love that leads to action.

The dead of Christ on the cross was the greatest act of love,

His sacrifice brings the forgiveness of sins, Redemption from slavery of sin, reconciliation to the Father, it brings peace and joy to mankind, it brings eternal hope and it grant us eternal life.

Apostle Paul explain clearly in 1 Cor. 13:1-8. What genuine love look like?

1.If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6.Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8.Love never fails.

Application:

Church let our love for God and love for others be a genuine love with action.

The world is desperately in need of God’s love, let us shine Christlike example in our everyday life. Let us not forget that Christ Love is the greatest weapon.

With Christ Love we can change the world; we can bring peace in the world.

With Christ love we can bring forgiveness and reconciliation.

with Christ love we can build up broken family, broken relationship, broken society

 broken nation and broken world.

As the world is going through tough time, let us take this as an opportunity to spread God’s love to all people around us.

Together we can change the world with Christ love, together we can bring glory to God by loving Him and by loving one another.

  1. An exemplary believer are source of encouragement and source of joy to others.

(7) (9)

7 Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encourage about you because of your faith.

9.How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

Thessalonian believers were living a genuine Christian life, their faith in the Lord was a source of encouragement and source of joy to Paul and his teammate.

Illustration: (Christmas eve).

It was Christmas morning, A lady name Lily work at coffee shop in the Airport,

one guy was on his way home to celebrate Christmas eve with his family after his long tiresome work. Lily politely talk with the guy and wishes him. “saying “may you and your family have an extraordinary Christmas holiday, May you all have a wonderful time together.

And when you get back to airport, I would like to hear all the fun and love about your family

They didn’t know each other; he was surprise to see her kindness.

He left the coffee shop, after some time he return, Lily say, is there anything wrong with the coffee he says no, no, He ask, what make you connect so well.

Lily reply, I am not just serving coffee, I am pouring happiness in people’s lives.

We are living in a busy world, many people are living with work pressure, many people are having hard time, many people are struggling in different areas of life.

Even these days all people around the world are experiencing the pain of Covid-19.

As a believer we can be a source of encouragement and source of Joy to many people around the world. Let’s be like lily pouring happiness in the lives of others.

Application:

  • Let our life be a channel of blessing for all the people whom we meet.
  • Always look out for an opportunity to pour out your happiness in people lives.
  • Always be ready to encourage other with smile, with helping hand, with the word of God,
  • Always show your love and kindness to all the people.
  • A little love, a little kindness a little encouragement can bring great joy in the lives of people around us.
  1. An exemplary Believer live a holy life that pleases God. (13)

13. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.

This verse is a loving prayer of Paul for Thessalonians believers, Paul want them to be blameless and holy before God.

The root meaning of holy is to Set apart, to separate, to cut.

It means to set apart or separate from sins, from all evil or sinful activities in this world.

1 Peter 1:15,16 says

15.“But like the holy one who call you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.

16. Because it is written “You shall be holy for I am Holy.”

Illustration: You know Daniel and friends were offer Babylonian pleasure, but they said no

“we won’t defile our heart with the king choice food” they set apart themselves from all evil pagans’ activities. Let us be bold enough like Daniel and friends and say No to all sinful activities. They drew a line; a boundary and they never cross the boundary that is an example living a holy life.

Joseph was tempted by Potiphar wife to sleep with her, Joseph reply “how could I do this great evil and sin against God.” He ran from the temptation.

This is great example for all of us, we have to run like joseph.

2 Corinthians 6: 14-17.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

15. What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

16. What agreement is there between the temple of God and Idols? For we are the temple of the Living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

It means God does not want us to live like unbelievers, he didn’t want us to walk like them, they are wicked and unredeemed, and they are living in a Darkness.

He reminds us that we belong to Him, we are bought with a price, we are temple of God, and Holy Spirit dwell in us. As a result, we should keep our heart Holy and live a blameless life.

Application:

Church, are we maintaining our life holy before God?

If our every thought and every action done in secret and public are recorded and display in big TV screen how it will look like?

I think we will be ashamed to look our evil thought, our lustful thought our sinful thought and sinful action before God. We will be ashamed.

Remember church God has purchased us with His blood.

He didn’t want us to live the same old sinful life, He want us to be Holy and blameless before Him. For He is holy God.

Romans 12: 1-2 says.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship.

2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Conclusion:

Beloved church let our life be a living example like Thessalonian believers in this broken world,

Let our love for Jesus, our faith in Jesus be spread from here to all over the world like Thessalonian believers.

Let us be the light in the mountain where everyone can see.

Let our genuine faith produce many fruits,

Let our genuine love leads to action,

Let our life be a source of encouragement and source of joy to all people around us.

Let our life be holy and blameless before God, till we meet Christ.

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

Because He is Risen : 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15

Good morning everyone!

My name is Saju Joseph and I am one of the Pastors at the Gathering Community Church.

This morning I’m extremely happy and humbled to share with you the Easter message. If you’ve visited us for the first time, or hearing the name Easter, or heard this word before but don’t really know what that means, it is the day when all the followers of Jesus around the world celebrate his Resurrection – The rising up of Jesus from the dead.

You see, 2020 years back Jesus, an innocent man was brutally killed and hanged on the cross because he was exposing the sinful hearts of men and women at that time and publicly calling out their sins, asking them to repent and believe in the Kingdom of God.  He questioned the authority of the so-called leaders, teachers & kings. He even claimed He was the Son of God, he displayed a power that no one could understand. And therefore he was put to death out of anger and jealousy, but what we know from the Scripture is in fact that Jesus willingly gave himself to die on the cross.

What happened to Jesus was the fulfilment of a prophecy that was made thousands of years back, that the Son of God will come down to earth as a pure and holy lamp, offering himself as a permanent sacrifice for all our sins so that we can be forgiven and united back into the loving relationship with the Heavenly Father who created us and loves us.

Brothers & sisters, the Resurrection of Jesus is the proof, the evidence that he was who he claimed to be, the Son of God who came to die and restore us.

This morning as we all are experiencing this threat of a plague called COVID-19, the Resurrection message of Jesus should fill our hearts with Joy.

Let me give two reasons from our passage today why the Resurrection message of Jesus should make you happy and joyful.

1. The Resurrection of Jesus gives us HOPE.

The passage that was read this morning is a small portion of a letter written by one of Jesus disciples Paul writing to a church in a place called Thessalonica. And as he is reminding the church of the Resurrection of Jesus he is urging them to live as people filled with hope and not sorrow.

Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15, he writes “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no HOPE. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep”

It was a time when people were thinking deeply about death, the death of their loved ones, maybe their friends, maybe their family members, maybe a friends and was wondering what must have happened to the souls who already died and what will happen to them when they die.

What Paul is telling them is that since we know and believe Jesus not only died but also rose again from the dead, we have a Hope that one day we will get to meet all those who have fallen asleep. What he also meaning to say, is that there is life after death, now whether you will be with God in heaven or whether you be with the Devil in Hell is decided while you are alive on this earth.

God has done and is doing everything today to draw our attention to Him so that we can know the truth, this morning if you are listening to me it is no coincidence but God has orchestrated this moment for you to hear this good news of Jesus. We are all sinners in our flesh, enemies of God, unholy people who’ve sinned against Him and have no hope in ourselves to make it right on our own. The condition of the world today is not because God has inflicted it upon us, but it is because of our own sinful choices we’ve made to harm ourselves.

God the righteous judge who proclaims death penalty over you and me for our sin and rebellion, which is what we deserve, he also loves us dearly and because he loves us he sent his only son Jesus to die in our place, giving us an opportunity to simply humble ourselves…

Brothers & sisters, God is asking you and me to humble ourselves before him, he is not asking us to do a task we are not capable of doing, he is not asking us to climb a high mountain to feel closer to him, in fact, he came down from his highest position to us so that he can be saved.

God is calling us to simply humble ourselves, repent of our sins and fall at the feet of Jesus in worship. And today, he gives you and me the opportunity to decide whether after a death we want to be on God’s side or on the Devil’s side.

Brothers & sisters, if you have never heard this message before, I believe its not a coincidence that you are hearing it, I believe he is calling us and giving us an opportunity once again to make it right while we are on this earth. Will you respond to God’s loving grace in faith. Will you.

It is only to those who’ve responded to Jesus in faith, Paul is writing “do not grieve and feel sorrowful, for yourself and for those who’ve been taken away, because we know Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep”.

You know what this truth should do in your heart right. It should wipe out all the fear and anxiety you are feeling because of what is happening all around the world. 

Even if this world has to end with this pandemic, we have a hope that we will be with Jesus and come back to a new earth and rule the earth with Him. That’s a promise from heaven.

2. Because Jesus rose from the dead we will get to witness and participate in one of the greatest events in history.

In verse 16-17 Pauls writes “16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

I want you to think of the excitement you experienced as a child when your parents told you that they are planning to take you an Amusement Park like Esselworld, Imagica or Disney.  For some us, even now as an adult this news will bring a huge amount of joy and excitement.

This event mentioned by Paul here, even though it is written in a very sober language if we could close our eyes and visualise it for a moment.

By the way, can I ask you to close your eye right now and just listen to me? I believe you’ve closed your eyes. –  “Now imagine our Lord Jesus descending from heaven, through the clouds, with the voice of an archangel (I’m sure it’s gonna be the most beautiful voice ever), with the sound of the trumpet of God” … keep your eyes closed, take a moment and let that thought capture you.

You may open your eyes now.

Do you remember the other day when the whole of India came out on their balcony and Terrace and on the roads with all their dubba, batli, tumbler, plates and spoons and made that horrible noise, for some it may have sounded like music but not for me.

Now can you imagine hearing the sound of the trumpet of God on the arrival of His Son Jesus on earth? – Wouldn’t that drive us crazy?

And even though the Amusement park has many rides, this ride to heaven in the clouds I believe will be the most thrilling ride of all. Wouldn’t that take our breath away to see this beautiful earth as we are flying towards heaven without any thread attached on us – Just like superman. Taken away forever to be with our Lord Jesus.

Brothers & sisters, this privilege is again only for those who have truly repented of their sins, any fake repentance said or made just to please men will not help you make it to heaven in this manner. Only repentance that evokes an undying faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Will you once again take some moments today and search your heart and be assured that you have truly repented and put your faith in Jesus.

All this made possible because Jesus didn’t just die a horrible death like humans do, but he rose again from the death and the scripture tells us that he is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father praying for our souls, to justify us and to sanctify us.

Meanwhile, for us to stay strong and know his will for our lives while we are on earth he gave us a gift, the gift of His presence, the Holy Spirit, who takes responsibility to lead us into all godliness and to transform us into the image of Son Jesus.

So, brothers & sisters, in the meantime here’s what we are asked to do.

Verse 18, Paul writes “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

We are called to encourage one another, since we have found comfort from the Lord and from each other, now to bring comfort to others. Since we have found joy, now to bring joy to others. Since we have found hope, to bring hope to others.

And how do we do that? By pointing them to Jesus – our friends, our relatives, our neighbours, our loved ones – point them to Jesus in this tough times, tell them the good news of Jesus, tell them because,

Jesus is risen from the dead that they can have hope, they can live, there is no fear of death, only joy for eternity.

Let’s bow our heads and pray.

Categories
Good Friday Luke Sermon

What makes Good Friday good for us? – Luke 23:32-49

https://www.facebook.com/thegatheringcommunity/videos/541409313182647/

Good evening everyone!

My name is Jinson Thomas and I am one of the pastors at the Gathering Community Church. I’m humbled at the opportunity to share God’s Word with you all on this Good Friday.

One of the questions that many people including Christians are quite perplexed with is the question

“Why is it called Good Friday?”

How can it possibly be good if Jesus was murdered on this day? “It’s not good but bad Friday” some would say.

On top of that, some of you would say – how can this be Good Friday with all that is happening around the globe due to COVID-19?

How can it be Good Friday when I’m locked up at home? So this evening I’d like to give us 3 reasons for why Good Friday can be good for us!!

1. God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (v34)

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What is astonishing is that Jesus is pleading before the Father for people who were responsible for putting Him on a cross!! And I think sometimes we are so used to seeing a cross on a church building or sporting it as a fashion accessory, that we forget what it meant in Jesus’ time to be crucified.

The cross wasn’t used to symbolize a religion or a fashion statement but instead, the cross symbolized condemnation and humiliation! It was a death row for the worst criminals who committed the most heinous crimes in the Roman world.

It was also done publicly to make an example of the criminal so that no one would even think of following the footsteps of the one who was killed. In fact it was so cruel and inhumane that even Roman speakers of the time would criticize it by calling it “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.

The Son of God (Jesus) who committed no sin faced the horror of “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.

Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.

Just to give you a picture of the pain that Jesus endured:

i) It involved immense Physical Pain: The pain was so unbearable, intense and agonizing that they made a word to describe it – “excruciating”. It wasn’t instant death but slow & painful death!

Victims would have to endure extreme pain for long periods of time before they eventually suffocated and died. We can never downplay or minimize the physical pain that Jesus experienced on the cross.

ii) Not only did it involve Physical pain but also Psychological Pain: That’s the last thing that you would want to face while already dealing with the immense physical pain.

The only voice that Jesus heard all around him were insults from the very people He came to save. V34 says that they cast lots to divide his garments which tells us how his garments were stripped off him making him vulnerable & adding to his humiliation.

iii) However, more than the Physical & Psychological Pain – what affected Jesus the most was the Spiritual Pain: AlthoughJesus was like us in every way, yet He was unlike us because he was without sin.

He was the only person to live a life of perfect purity and sinlessness. But on the cross for the first time, he experienced the massive weight & guilt of sin. “He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21)”.

Not only did He experience the massive weight of sin but He was also being punished for our sins. No one like to be a scape goat for anyone and here we see Jesus becoming the scape goat for the entire world.

The passage from Isaiah that we just read earlier today is a reminder of the same thing:

Isa 53:5,6 – But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

I want us to understand that Jesus wasn’t treated as a criminal merely due to wicked Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers of that time. He was treated as a criminal because you and I have committed numerous crimes against the One True God.

We are the very ones responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. Brothers and sisters, my intention is not to guilt us or over-emphasize on the gory details of Jesus’ agony and suffering but I want us to realize this truth that

Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.

God absolutely has the authority to forgive sins but because He is also a just judge, a payment has to be made. Someone has to pay.

I came across a beautiful story that spoke about forgiveness and justice being displayed in the courtrooms in UAE a few months back. An Asian couple found themselves in the middle of a huge legal problem because they overstayed their visa for a number of years.

They were asked to pay an enormous amount as a fine (around 12 Lakh rupees). When the judge asked them to pay the fine, they weren’t able to pay it. Now even though the judge had compassion on the family, he couldn’t write off the fine because it would cause an uproar and protest against the whole justice system of the UAE.

For some reason, the judge asked them the name of their son. The parents replied that they’ve named him “Zayed”. Now Zayed also happened to be the name of the founder of the country. On learning this, the judge said Zayed shouldn’t have to pay the fine. But justice requires someone to pay. To everyone’s amazement the judge himself paid off the entire amount (12 Lakh rupees) to close their case.  Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.   

When God saw that we weren’t able to pay the enormous mountain of a debt due to our sins, He provided a way for us to be forgiven through the perfect sacrifice of His Son Jesus so that the payment is made for people who cannot pay for themselves.

Maybe some of us as we are hearing this are finding it hard to believe. You’ll say “brother, I know what you’re saying but you have no idea what I’ve said and done in the past few weeks. You have no idea how ugly my past is. I’ve done so many things that I’m ashamed to even talk about”.

The amazing truth is that because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, if you come to Him and surrender yourself to Him because of His perfect sacrifice, forgiveness is available for all your sins no matter how many they are & how worse they are.

That’s amazing news for us even in a time of lockdown and uncertainty – to know that irrespective of what happens tomorrow that God can forgive all my sins. He can look at me and say “You are not guilty”. That’s great news.

But not only is Good Friday good because God’s is able to forgive all my sins but also that :

2. God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and the least (v43)

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Within the event of Jesus suffering on the cross, there is a mention of a small incident of two criminals who are hung on either side of Jesus. One of them dishonours Jesus just like the crowd beneath, but the other one honours Jesus as King.

The first one doesn’t even acknowledge his sin while the other one confesses his sin – he acknowledges “we are receiving the due reward of our deeds”. The first one didn’t have any hope of being saved, while the other one even at the last moments of his life trusted that Jesus could save Him.

And Jesus does save him in v43 – “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Wait a minute! First of all, this is a guilty criminal out here. He’s done some really bad things and messed up his life. Upon his own admission, he knows that he deserves the punishment he is receiving.

And plus he lived his whole life in wickedness and now at the final moments of life, he is asking Jesus to save him? I mean there are the other “not so bad” people that need to be saved first, right? This guy is the least likeable guy. He is the back-bencher in morality.

No one expects him to be saved. Why fill up God’s kingdom with people who don’t appear to be cut out for it? Why should Jesus even bother?

In our judgmental hearts, this is a crazy thing to digest mainly because we don’t understand God’s passion for those that are the lost, the last and the least. In Luke 15, Jesus talks about the parable of the Lost Son.

God is pictured as the loving Father who when he sees his lost son returning from a distance, runs and embraces him who wasted all of his father’s inheritance on his selfish pleasures.

Time and time again throughout Scripture we are told of this storyline – it’s not the powerful, the rich, the super talented, the influential that God choses and saves. It’s none of those but the total opposite.

Why? Because people who understand their sickness and infection are the ones who will go to a doctor and ask for help. People who understand their weakness and brokenness in sin are the one who will turn to Jesus desperately for help.

Sometimes people who have known me for just a few years presume that I’ve been a religious, pious, nice guy all my life. But the truth is quite far from that. In my teenage years I remember thinking that God & religion wasn’t something I was cut out for mainly due my increasing sin patterns. Even when I did go to church, I went for all the wrong reasons.

I was that guy sitting at the last bench because I didn’t think I was worthy of sitting right in front. For a person like me who had continuous evil thoughts running through my mind, I had mouth filled with cuss words and lifestyle of being an enemy of God, I knew I couldn’t reach God so I stopped trying.

I was so lost in my sin that I thought I was beyond help. But I thank God that He didn’t give up on me but rather pulled me out a deep pit through Jesus’s sacrifice. The amazing truth is that Jesus came looking for me even when I wasn’t thinking about being found.

I was lost, the last and the least among those that people expected to be saved and yet that happened by God’s grace.

And so I share my story to let you know that if you feel like you’re far away from God, if you don’t see yourself as a typical religious churchgoer, maybe you look at yourself and think you’re the last person that God would think of…let me encourage you to know that Jesus is nearer to you than you think. The scope of God’s grace isn’t limited to people who are at a certain level of good. God’s grace extends to those that are lost, the last ones and the least ones.   

But not only is God’s forgiveness available for all, not only is God’s grace extended to the lost, the last and least but also

3. God’s presence is accessible by all who believe (v44-46)

It was now about the sixth hour,[d] and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Jesus’ commitment to complete His work on the cross has ensured that we now have full access to God as our Father. And this was highlighted by the curtain or the veil of the temple tearing in two.

The curtain in the temple separated the Most Holy Place from every other place in the temple. The Most Holy Place is where God would dwell in. No one was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place except for the High Priest and that also once a year on the Day of Atonement.

On the Day of Atonement he couldn’t enter it in any manner he wanted. He needed to wear special priestly garments, offer a sacrifice for his own sins and then burn an incense to cover the whole room – and only then would his life be spared! That’s a big deal! God’s presence is a serious thing.

By ourselves if we went into the presence of God, we would be totally consumed. We would die. And now the amazing news is that Jesus has opened the way for us to freely and directly access God’s presence! It’s not limited to one day a year. It’s not limited to only the High Priest.

It’s not limited to going to a single location. God can reveal His presence to us no matter where we are.

Even in a season like COVID-19 where we are locked up at home & quarantined– the amazing truth for believers in Jesus is that we can experience God’s presence in a very scriptural and personal way.

I was encouraged by the interview of a woman who recently recovered from COVID-19 where she testified to being all alone in a hospital room.

Even the medical professionals had kept their distance to avoid receiving the infection. In a room which no one could enter, Jesus was there with her. While she was reading Scripture on her bed, in a very personal way Jesus reminded her of His presence – “Never will I leave you.

Never will I forsake you (Heb 13:5)”. Wait a minute! But I thought Jesus died and was buried? How can Jesus still be with her 2000 years later? If Jesus’ story ended with him being buried in a tomb, it wouldn’t give us any assurance of His everlasting presence.

Instead we know that Sunday is coming. Sunday is coming when Jesus would rise victoriously from the dead & that’s why He can make the most audacious promise to never leave us nor forsake us and still keep it!

Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you to know that Jesus Christ can be present with you right now through His Spirit. Jesus Christ cannot be locked up. No lockdown can stop Jesus from meeting you in your loneliest of times.

Would you come to Him and cry out to Him today? 

That’s what makes this and every Good Friday good! Because of Jesus, God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (every bit of them), God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and the least. God’s presence is accessible to all who believe.

Would you join me to respond to God in prayer?

Categories
Matthew Palm Sunday Sermon

Palm Sunday – Matthew 21:1-13

https://www.facebook.com/thegatheringcommunity/videos/1021820548281268/

Good morning Church, It’s a beautiful Sunday and I am super excited to connect you through Facebook, I believe you all are spending quality time with your family and friends and I hope you all are doing great and I am sure you all are taking good care of yourself.

As we know, the world is going through excruciate pain and suffering because of Covid-19 Pandemic, people are living in fear, anxiety and uncertainty,

This pandemic disease is out of control, many people are dead and many people are fighting for life in a sickbed, many people are jobless, many people are living in hunger and thirst.

In these chaotic circumstances, the church can play a vital role by showing Christ love to the people around us, by showing Christ care and kindness to all the people and most importantly let us point the people around us to Christ, showing them that Christ is the saviour of the world and He is the answer for all our life problems.

Last week I came across an encouraging quote from the scripture,

I want to read out for all of us.

“If God could Close the lion’s mouth for Daniel,

Part the Red seas for Moses

Make the sun stand still for Joshua

Open the prison for Peter

Put a Baby in the arm of Sarah

And Raise Lazarus from the dead

Then, He can certainly take care of you

Nothing you are facing today is too hard for Him to Handle.”

Shall we look to God in prayer: pray….. Amen

As we enter passion week, we shall look to the passage related to each occasion, since today is Palm Sunday we shall meditate from Palm Sunday passage`

Our book study from Thessalonian will continue in the following week.

Would you open your bible with me to Matthew 21:1-13?

1. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.

3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.

7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna  to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.

13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.

Before we see the main 3 points let’s see

What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday marked the start of what is called “passion week” the final days of Jesus earthly ministry, it is the day we remember and celebrate the triumph entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem as Saviour and king.

Palm leaves: Signifies victory / Triumph

Jesus riding on a donkey: When a king rides on a Donkey it symbolises peace. And we know from the scripture that Christ is the prince of peace.

Hosanna: Save us now/ Deliver/ Rescue us.

Crowd: The crowd shout hosanna because they saw Jesus performing lots of miracles, heal the lame and blind, turn the water into wine, feeding 5000 people with 2 fish and 5 loaves, raise Lazarus from the dead and because of this great

They expect that He can rescue them politically and free them from Roman rule.

But Jesus mission was to save mankind from the slavery of sin and gave mankind eternal life. When the crowd expectation was not met, it was the same crowd who shout crucify Him on Good Friday.

These are a few things I would like to remind before we enter our main points.

I would like to entitle my sermon as

       “Your King is coming”

I would like to bring 3 very important points from the above passage.

1. Jesus Enter Jerusalem as a king, who will save mankind from the bondage of sin.

Matthew 21:5. “Say to Daughter of Zion,

 ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew quote this verse from Old testament Zacharias 9:9.

Prophet Zacharias prophesy 500 years prior to the Jesus arrival in Jerusalem.

As Jesus enter Jerusalem the crowd threw their cloaks on the road, they took the palm leaves and began joyfully praising God in the Loud voices for all the miracles they have seen.

And they were shouting

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the LORD,

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

Purpose of Christ coming to this world: before that let’s see the condition of mankind.

1. Christ our king came to this world as a Passover lamb. (Exodus 16).

(Moses told Israelites to pain their door with the blood of a lamb so that the spirit will Passover your house and your family,

In the same way if we wash our heart with the blood of Jesus, His blood will cleanse us from all sins.)  he came as a Passover lamb.

2. Christ our king came to this world to give us Eternal life. (John 3:16)

3. Christ our king came to reconcile our broken relationship with the Father. (Rom.5:1}

(Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.)

4. Christ our king came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6).

5. Christ our king came to this world to free us from condemnation of sins. (Rom.8:1).

(There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.)

5. Christ our king came to take us to heaven. (John 14:1-3.)

(1.Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God,  believe in me also.

2. In my fathers house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you,  I will go and prepare a place for you.

3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and recieve you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.)

Application:

Beloved church

Christ has redempt us, His love has captured us,

Even though if we go through this corona virus pandemic, facing all kinds of life difficulties and challenges, He promised us He will never leave us nor forsake us,

His everlasting love is with us.

Roman’s 8: 35.

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or perils,  or sword.

38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,  nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

39. Nor height nor depth,  nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is our bless hope and our Assurance in Christ Jesus.

He is our beautiful saviour our Lord and our King.

2. Jesus enter and cleanse the Jerusalem temple.

 Matthew 21: 12-13.

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers

Jerusalem temple was like thieves’ market, all kinds of cheating and lying and betraying business was going on in the house of the LORD.

Jesus enter and chase them out and remind them that this house is the house of prayer.

Paul also Remind us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.

The scripture clearly taught us that our Heart is a Temple of Holy Spirit.

But sadly, many people entertain their heart with sin like those people in Jerusalem temple.

From this passage we know that God and sin can’t dwell together.

God hate sin but He loves sinners, he like to clean all our sins as He clean up the Jerusalem temple.

Beloved church how are you all maintaining your heart?

Illustration: Garbage story

You know there are times I forgot to dispose kitchen garbage, when the garbage keeps for so long it smells horrible and the garbage smell the whole room.

In the same way, if we didn’t confess our sin and didn’t dispose them, this stinking sin will poison your whole life and even killed you.

The garbage we store in our heart can be.

(Laziness, cheating, lying, selfishness, bribing, sexual immorality, drunkenness, pornography,

Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life)

We should not let these things rule and control our heart.

Romans 6:23 says. For the wages of sin is Dead but the gift of God is eternal life.

Application:

How are you maintaining your heart and your life?

Is it God please with the lifestyle you are living today?

Beloved Let us examine ourselves right now and if there is any sin in our life and if there is anything hindering us to love Jesus. Let us confess our sin and make right with Him.

 1 John 1: 9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I strongly believe that the solution for this corona pandemic is in the hand of God,

The world need to turn to God and repent for the forgiveness of sins.

May God have mercy on us.

2 Chronicle 7:14.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

3. Jesus enter and wept for Jerusalem. Luke 19: 41-44.

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it

42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.

43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Jesus foresee the heart of the people; he sees their miserable future;

He knows their hopelessness; He know that these people will never make it to His kingdom. Knowing all these Jesus cry for them.

In Noah days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, they all miss the  opportunity to be to be in the ark. Everyone perish in their sin.

In the same way people of Jerusalem lose the golden opportunity.

Jesus was weeping over the tragedy of lost opportunity,

the Israelites that assembled in Jerusalem for Passover miss the opportunity to be saved from both earthly and eternal destruction.

They were visited by their saviour but they didn’t know it,

instead of receiving Him they killed Him.

Illustration:

I would like remind with the familiar story from the bible, the rich man and Lazarus

 (Luke 16:19-31).

Rich man.

God bless him with riches: He misuse his wealth in a wrong way. (partying)

God gave him beautiful life: He waste his beautiful life.

God gave him enough time to live on earth: He misuse his opportunity

He never remembers God in his entire life but he remembers God in hell fire

but it was too late for him.

Whereas

Poor Lazarus Know the true living God, he makes use of every opportunity and he ends up his life in eternal heaven.

 God gave time to all of us to come to him before iti is too late.

Application

How Jesus may be thinking of you right now?

Is he weeping of you? Like He weep for Jerusalem?

Or Is he celebrating because you are his child?

  • Our life on earth is short let us make use of every opportunity.
  • God is an omniscience God He know the pain and suffering we are going through right now.
  • He know our financial struggles, he knows our life challenges and life struggles.
  • The cool part is we are not facing all these complications alone. He promised he will take care of us. If He takes care of the birds in the air and Lily in the field, he will surely take care of us.

Matthew 11:28-30.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Finally I wanna close with this beautiful song lyrics.

“In Christ alone”