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James Sermon

True vs False Religion – James 1:26-27

This sermon is part of a series called Faith in Action as we are going through the Letter of James.

James wrote this letter to the exiled Jews who are scattered. James is writing out of concern for their spiritual well-being, and the letter is a set of practical instruction on how to live out their faith amid trial, sufferings and uncertainties.

Last sermon we saw James giving instructions on how not to deceive themselves by becoming only hearers and not doers. In today’s passage, he is helping them understand the difference between true and false religion.

In verse 26 he writes “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

You may ask why James is talking about the speech as he is referring to the tongue. To know this, we have to understand the context in which James has been brought up and is living.

James lived in a religious culture, predominantly a Jewish culture which was primarily headed by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And even though some of them may have been genuine, they were mostly known to be as cold, legalistic, prideful, arrogant and talkative.

They were just like our politicians, who make big promises before the elections but after the election fail to keep the promises. Politicians generally are also known as people who are good at talking, but when it came to acting upon real issues that people go through, they shut themselves up.

Therefore when Jesus was on earth, he was very hard on these people and even called out their sin in public. You can imagine the influence of these people when you hear how they treated Jesus and put him to death by badly influencing the Roman government at that time.

Here, in our passage, James writing to a group of people who seem to have been influenced by such a religious culture and therefore now acting like them. Basically all TALKS and no ACTION.

And, therefore, in verse 26, he is writing to them that if you think by talking only that you become religious and that God is ok with that, then you are mistaken. He says, this kind of religion is worthless.

Brothers & sisters, at this point it’s easy for us to think about this group and condemn them for their attitude and action, and completely ignore that fact that we too behave in a similar manner, and sometimes even worse.

We too behave cold, legalistic, prideful – performing Godly activities as a sense of duty to show ourselves good externally – showing people how good of a Christian we are using words only, minus the action.

James goes on to explain what true religion should look like. He says in verse 27, true religion is that which shows genuine care and concern for the people and a life that is not stained by the cultures of the world.

In James’s times, the orphan and the widows were the most needy ones and therefore he is mentioning them to make a point. It doesnt mean that we now make add charity towards orphan and widows by donating some money and doing some Christian activities around them to make ourselves feel better and more religious.

We must catch the heart of what James is telling us. The needy in our context could be different. In fact, in the city of Mumbai, we can find all kinds of needy people with various types of need. And apart for just the necessities, what they also need the most is the Gospel.

Therefore tur religion is more than just giving big talks about what is right and wrong, holy and unholy,  right and wrong. True religion is that which even compels us to do something about it in actual action.

And true religion is one that is unstained by the worldly patters and traditions and way of life. Its the one that truly seeks God and His Kingdom.

Brothers & sisters, here’s the truth. In our natural being, we can never live out such a perfect life on own, our natural tendencies will always yield us to become people who talk and do nothing. Why? Because we have a problem.

The day we were created by our heavenly Father, he didn’t mean for us to become like this. He wanted us to look perfect in all ways, holy just as He is Holy, but in the Garden of Eden we messed it up.

We used our gift of free will, and instead of walking in obedience to God, we rebelled and sinned, and the result was separation from God. And because of that separation, we all are broken inside. The reason we all behave in selfish ways is that Sin has corrupted us, and even though our hearts desire to live to please God in all manners, our flesh pulls us away from seeking a Godly life.

And the only way to fix this problem is to repent of sins and trust on the Son of God who is the only one who didn’t just talk and make big promises in the air but fulfilled each of His promises to save us from our wretchedness and restore that broken relationship with God the Father.

Christ left His heavenly Glory to reach out to needy people like us, people who needed hope, peace, joy – which only a restored relationship with the Father can grant us.

Jesus lived the perfect life, exercised true religion, one that was acceptable to God and earned His righteousness for our sake and then exchanged it with our unrighteous and sinful lives, taking the penalty of our sin upon himself and in giving us total freedom from Sin and captivating our hearts with His Love and compelling us to know to live a godly life by the help and power of His Spirit in us.

Therefore, our response today towards this passage is primarily to look to Jesus and His saving grace – captivated by His Love, affections and forgiveness He grants us. And we do that; His love will compel us to people who are not just talkers but doers of His words, living a Godly life that is truly acceptable to God.

As a child of God, the question we need to ask daily is not how good a Christian I be, but how good a Jesus lover I am. Because loving Jesus day-by-day will automatically produce the fruits of true religion in us. We won’t have to strive to look like a good Christian, Christ’s Love will automatically compel us to show genuine care for the needy and will also protect our hearts from becoming stained by the world.

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James Sermon

Seeking God’s Wisdom: James 1: 5-8

Good morning church, I am Awung Zimik, I am one of the pastors at Gathering community church, warm greetings to all of you in the worthiest name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

It is truly a joy and delight to connect you at this beautiful moment.

Thank you so much for taking out your time, I pray that you all will be richly blessed as we spent time together in the presence of God.

I hope all of you are safe and bless out there.

For those of you who connect us for the first time, I wanna let you know that we are going through the book of James under the theme “FAITH IN ACTION”.

Last Sunday we heard a sermon from bro Elijah from James 1:2-4.

Focusing on “why does God allow trials.” The answer is in verse 3 and 4.

 3 Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be Mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Today we shall continue James 1:5-8

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 

Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

I want to entitle my sermon as “Seeking God’s wisdom”

What is wisdom?

The Bible teaches us that wisdom comes from above but it begins with the fear of the Lord,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,(Prov 9:10).

The dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” 

The Greek concept of wisdom centre’s around “knowledge,” Cleverness, and learnedness.

 In biblical usage, it is a practical, moral, and spiritual insight given by God.

(1 Kings 3:7-9, Pro.2:3-6, 10-19, 9:1-6).

It is the ability to discern right from wrong and good from evil. It is the power that enables a person to do and say the right thing at the right time.

“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it. Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariable wise.”

J I Packers (Evangelical theologian)

Where do we find wisdom?

We won’t find wisdom in spiritual gurus teaching, books, internet, we won’t find in leaders of the world or favourite talk show host. There is only one source for wisdom.

Wisdom is from God alone. “Wisdom belongs to God”. Job 12:13.

Why do we need God’s wisdom in our life?

The purpose of wisdom is to give insight for our living, that our days may not be wasted and lived fully for an eternal purpose; avoiding regret and living without guilt from choices bathed in wisdomWisdom guides how we live and grants joy to those who live by it.

  • God’s wisdom will help you to make good and right choices in life.

Proverb 3:21- 23.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so they will be life to your soul, and adornment to your neck. Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble.

We take lots and lots of decision in life, many a times we are confused which is the better and which is the will of God, God promise that in such difficulties His wisdom will help us to take right decision.

  • God’s wisdom will give you favour before God and man.

Pro.3:4. So you will find favour and good success in the sight of God and man.

Pro. 8:35. For those who find me (wisdom) find life and receive favour from the Lord.

If God favour is in your life, in your job, in your married life, in your business, and in your family, you will live a successful, peaceful and victorious life.

  • God’s wisdom will give you long days and years and peaceful life.

Proverb.3:2. For the length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you.

When God’s wisdom leads you, you will live a long and peaceful life.

  • God’s wisdom brings abundant blessings in our life.

Proverb 8:18-21. Says.

18With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

  • God’s wisdom from above is perfect.

James 3:17 says

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere.

Today we shall focus on two very important points under the topic: Seeking God’s wisdom

From James 1:5-8.

Here is our first point.

1. Seeking with genuine heart

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

This means that even if you are an imperfect person, which we all are, He will give you wisdom if you ask for it. Moreover, not only will he give it to you. He will do so generously.

Church there are many Christians who are lacking wisdom, you know the problem doesn’t lie with God, we know that He gives generously to all, without finding fault.”

So the problem lies in us, that we are not asking for wisdom with an attitude that pleases God.

Proverbs 2:6 says.

“For the LORD gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding”.

Wisdom belongs to God, He created it, if we desire wisdom we must go to Him to get it.

Illustration:

When God offered king Solomon anything he wanted, what did Solomon ask for?

If God were to come to you and offer to give you anything you wanted, what would you ask for? Money, power, long healthy life on earth?

Solomon asked God for wisdom! Solomon knew he would need wisdom to carry out the task of ruling that he had been called to.

God was pleased with what he asked so, along with the gift of wisdom, God gave Solomon which he did not asked ie. Riches and all other blessings to go along with wisdom.

Beloved, God is eager to give this gift to you; you just need to ask.

God is a generous God: He is willing to give generously to everyone who ask.

Romans 8:31. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Let us always remember the goodness of our heavenly Father and ask His wisdom in our daily life, so that we will know His perfect will and live this life for His glory.

Beloved church the world we are living is a battlefield.

Life is very hard, every day we have to fight against sin; we have to fight against our enemy (devil), we face big giants every day; we face challenges and hardship at our workplace, at home and all around us.

In order to fight this tough life battle, we need Gods wisdom.

In this confusing and chaotic world, what we need most is God’s wisdom.

God’s wisdom is the only way to get through this life, we need the gift of wisdom to be able to navigate through the difficulties of life on this earth successfully. Let’s make it a priority to gain as much as we can.

  • Consequences of neglecting wisdom from God

When you do not know the value of wisdom, it will be easy for you to reject it.

Wisdom is the one thing that you should never reject.

When you reject Wisdom, you are subconsciously inviting pain to enter your life.

Proverbs 4:7 teaches us, “Wisdom is the principal thing.” Wisdom is the most important thing on the earth because without it you are unable to be productive, progressive, happy, healthy, contented and prosperous and so on.

Christian author Fountain Hendricks in one of his articles, explain the consequences of rejecting God’s wisdom in a profound way. He says,

If we reject wisdom.

  1. Failing is must: When you do not have the Wisdom about how to do things CORRECTLY, ACCURATELY and RIGHTEOUSLY you will constantly fail because you are not equipped to succeed. Wisdom empowers you to know the difference between right & wrong.
  2. Poverty will come to your life: The curse of rejecting Wisdom is poverty according to Proverbs 13:18. You cannot get around it and you cannot avoid it.
  3. We will live a Confusing Life: When you reject wisdom you will have a hard time figuring out what to do, where to go, who to trust and etc. because Wisdom gives you CLARITY and VISION.
  4. We waste PRECIOUS TIME: People who reject Wisdom will waste time doing things that do not matter, that is unimportant and that are irrelevant because they do not have the ability to DISCERN what is meaningful.
  5. Rejecting God’s wisdom will lead to Miserable life.

Wisdom brings happiness according to Ecclesiastes 8:1. When you reject Wisdom, misery will be your portion because you have refused to accept the key that unlocks everything that is good.

Do not ignore the voice of Wisdom. Take heed to the teachings! Apply them into your life so that you can avoid going through unnecessary pain. People who do not know about the consequences of rejecting Wisdom will always become a victim to the consequences.

Church let us not reject.

Application:

When is the last time you ask for God’s wisdom?

Are you navigating your life with God’s wisdom?

If God offers you to ask anything right now? Would you like to ask God like King Solomon? Lord give me wisdom.

Let us remember our text. James 1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

  • Seeking with genuine faith. (James 1:6,7,8).

But he must ask in faith, without doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 

Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

We have to ask God for wisdom in two ways,

  1. By faith
  2. By single-mindedness

Faith is essential in approaching God, because as Hebrew 11:6, says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

You must believe that He personally cares for you and He is able to give you the wisdom that you need to endure your trial with His joy.

Remember faith involves trust in God’s character, trust in God’s Word, and time. When it comes to faith, we are looking for something that we can’t see with our eyes just yet.

Hebrew 11:7-11 gives us some great examples of having faith in God.

7. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.

8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place, which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

11.By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

All of those blessings came by faith. And James tells us that Godly wisdom comes by asking God in faith. Without faith, we are tossed back and forth. Without faith, we weave around in all directions. Without faith, we are two-faced and miserable.  A.T. Robertson said that without faith, “We are like the donkey that starved to death, because it couldn’t decide which stack of hay to eat.”

Matthew 17:20.

Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Remember Church,

The root of unbelief is because of double-mindedness. The person who doubts God is not committed to obeying God, His heart is not fully surrendered to do God’s will. He is curious about God’s wisdom. He is not committed to do if it involves suffering and inconveniences.

That person, James said, “Ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.”(1:7)

We know Jesus didn’t perform miracles in His home town Nazareth? Why? because of their doubt and unbelief.

In the same way, if you have doubt and unbelief in your heart you won’t receive anything from Him.

Verse 8 says they are double-minded and unstable in all their ways, this offers pictures of a person who is drunk and is staggering from side to side along the road.

Have you ever tried to give a drunk person some wisdom while they were drunk?

It doesn’t work well, and God will not impart wisdom to me if you and I are unstable in all our ways.

 Illustration: In Genesis 18 & 19, we find a story of the destruction of “Sodom and Gomorrah”

The angel of the Lord warn lot family to run and not to turn back but Lot wife love their wealth and she turns back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Actually, God was rescuing them and taking them to better place but because of her double-minded act, she perish.

If we are double-minded we will get nothing, if we are double-minded we will be unstable in all our ways.

Conclusion:

Beloved, the wisest decision you will ever make in your life is to put your trust in Christ.

Because He is our saviour, He came and sacrifice His life for you and me, and when we Repent our sins to Him and receive Him as Lord and saviour, He will forgive all our sins and He will give us a brand new life.

Putting our trust in Christ Because Christ is the source of all wisdom.

Col.2: 3. says. “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”.

Let us Come to Jesus!” because in him “hid all the treasures of wisdom”.

To reject Christ is the most foolish thing a person could ever do.

Let us always remember that Jesus is the fullness of God’s wisdom.

Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God.

“To know and love and follow Jesus is to own the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness.”

John Piper

Finally Beloved, let us use God’s given wisdom for the glory of God and for the good of others. If wisdom is not exercised then wisdom ceases to be. However, the very nature of wisdom instructs your heart to use your insights, your discernment, your discretion, your vision to fulfil God’s will and to demonstrate his marvellous work.

Church we have meditated together on 2 very important points under the topic

Seeking God’s wisdom.

  1. Seeking with genuine Heart. (Let us genuinely ask God’s wisdom, He has promise that He will generously give to all of us).
  2. Seeking with genuine Faith. (Let us ask God’s wisdom with genuine faith and not with double minded heart)

May God richly bless you with Heavenly wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

May you use God’s wisdom for His fame and Glory.

May the LORD bless you and keep you,

May the LORD make His face shine on you and give you peace.

 Amen.

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1 Samuel Sermon

Facing the Giants- 1 Samuel 17

Good morning church, it is a joy and delight to connect all of you;

I hope you are safe and taking good care of yourself. and I believe you all have been blessed with the sermon series on “Abiding Faith” from 1 Thessalonians.

Today I will like to take all of you to a very interesting story. It is One of my favourite story in the bible, that is the story of  “David and Goliath.” From 1 Samuel 17.

I want to entitle my sermon as “Facing the Giant. 1 Samuel 17 is a long passage so I will like to summarize the story.

One of the favourite Bible stories for children is the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17. Children love this story since the hero is a young boy.

But the story of David and Goliath is not just for children. It is a fascinating story that never gets old to read. The chapter opens as Israel and the Philistines are facing off in battle. David’s older brothers were with the army of Israel.

While David was at home tending the sheep. David’s father, Jesse, sent him to the war zone to deliver some food to his brothers and find out news about the war. David quickly arranged for others to take care of the sheep while he took off for the battlefront.

David arrived at the battlefield to find his brothers and the rest of the Israeli army cowering in fear from the mocking of Goliath of Gath. Goliath was the champion of the Philistine army.

Though he was about 9 feet tall, he spoke words that angered David. Goliath was claiming the God of the Israelites was not able to help them in battle. Goliath had blasphemed David’s God and David aimed to stand up for what was right.


Ignoring the potential danger, David trusted in God to help him fight Goliath. David said that he would fight the giant. He was immediately taken before King Saul.

Though he was a young man, he had experienced enough danger in his life to know God was in control and would protect him through the battle. David told Saul as much and Saul offered David the royal armor.

David felt unworthy using Saul’s armor, he refused to accept the kind and generous offer.

More than likely David simply trusted in God he knew than in the armor he did not know.

 After leaving Saul, David ran towards Goliath prepared to fight. He gathered 5 smooth stones from the river and pocketed 4 of them. The 5th one went into the sling prepared for Goliath. They ran towards one another. Goliath mocked David and said that he was not afraid of a little boy.

David said that the Philistine came with a sword, shield and spear, but David came with confidence in the God of Israel.

David boldly replied that he had no fear of Goliath and that the birds would be picking the flesh off his giant body by the end of the day.

David let fly the stone in his sling. The stone hit the giant between the eyes and the stone sunk into his forehead.

Goliath fell forward while both armies watched. David then pulled the giant sword and chopped off the head of the Philistine champion.

This is the short summary of David and Goliath. Church we shall see three very important life lesson from the story of David and Goliath.

Under a topic: Facing the Giants.

We all are facing various giants in our life, we don’t want the giants to defeat us, no one want to be like Goliath but everyone wants to be like David, Let us see how David defeated the giants in his life.

If there is anything, we can learn today,

Let us learn it so that we all will be giant’s slayer like David.

If you want to be a giant slayer, you have to remember this 3 important principle David used to defeat 9 feet Goliath.

1. Remember whom you belong

As you face the giant in life, remember whom you belong,

1 Samuel 17:26.

“For who is this uncircumcised philistine, that he should taunt (mock) the armies of the living God.”

The sad things is Israelite forgot who God is. They forgot the power of God, they forgot how God has protected them in Egyptian, and they forgot the God who parted the Red sea.

“The most terrible tragedy of mankind is not remembering  the Creator.”

When Goliath challenge the Israelite, they run away with fear from the giant. But David remember whom he belong to, and said,

who is this uncircumcised giant that is mocking the armies of the living God.

David remembered that they were God’s Army and God is with them. However, Israelite forgot who they are. In our life, we will face great giants in many ways, in many forms but two things you need to remember.

Remember who you are in Christ and remember who God is.

Who you are?

1 Peter 2:9 says.

You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

You are God’s beloved child; you are redeemed (God has purchased you from slavery of sin) and justified (God has declare you righteous.

You are new creation in Christ, You belong to God, and He is with you always. Always remember you are the son and daughter of the most High God. (David Knows who he is).

and

Remember who God is

#He is the God who protect His children from all harm and diseases.(He protected children of Israel in Egypt from all harm and disease)

#He is the God who make a way where there seems to be no way.

It remind me the children of Israel story, they were on their way to promise land but in one incident, they were stuck in Red sea. they have nowhere go, their hope their dream and their life was in danger and moreover the Egyptian were chasing behind they to kill and to destroy them but God parted the red sea and let children of Israel cross the red sea in dry land. He make a way where there seems to be no way. That’s our God.

#He is the God who supply all our needs according to His richest in glory.

#He is the God who feed 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves.

#He is the God who raise Lazarus from the dead.

#He is the God who do things, which are impossible in the sight of men.

#He is the God who save us from eternal condemnation and give us eternal life.

He is our loving heavenly Father; He is the only true and living God, The almighty God, the alpha and the omega,

We are His children and we belong to Him.

As we know the condition of world, including all of us are going through hard times because of covid-19 pandemic, because of losing job, because of pay cut, because of economic crisis, because of all horrible news around, because of natural calamities.

This is the time to pray harder, this is the time to turn to our living God; this is the time to remember whom we belong to.

David remember whom he belong to, and God gave him the victory.

In case if we did not remember who God is, we will be the most misery people in this planet, we will live a defeated, shameful life.

You know why children of Israel were in a slavery for many years in foreign Land; it is because they did not remember who God is and they did not remember whom they belong.

Church if you remember whom you belong to,

You will know the power of God in your life, moreover

God will take care of your life; He will be your shield,

He will be your protector, and He will be your provider,

He will be your joy and blessing all the days of your life.

Always remember whom you belong.

With that lets come to the second principle.

2. Depending on God’s deliverance. (1 Samuel 17:32-37)

32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.

David remember how God has deliver him from the hand of Lion and bear,

And share all his life testimony,

But even king Saul didn’t trust David, he say, you can’t beat him you are just a boy and he is a well-trained WARRIOR.

There will be time your own boss or your leader or your close family will not believe you. When you are about to do something for the Lord, something that might seem impossible to man,

don’t let anyone stop you. Oh yes, they will laugh at you, but don’t let them stop you. Oh yes, they will talk about you, but don’t let them stop you. David might have thought, yes you are my big brother, but there is a giant to face. He might have thought that there is a battle to be won, and he will not allow anything to stand in the way. When the Lord is on your side, you don’t have to be afraid, and you will be able to face the giant, and destroy the giant.

let us be like David, He didn’t depend on man wrong counsel, He didn’t depend in the sword and shield of army,

His only confidence and dependence is in living God. Israelite saw how big goliath was but David saw how Big God was. A giant slayer remember that with God all things are possible.

Many a time we tend to depend on ourselves, to our abilities and our knowledge, but God wants us to depend on Him,

He knows how fragile we are in this broken world, He knows we need him in every ways of our life, He knows we will mess up our life if we don’t depend on Him. He love us, He care for us, He want to protect us.

Proverb 3:5-6 says.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

When you depend on yourself, you are preparing yourself for destruction and defeat. When you build up your life, your career, business, your family, your future without depending on God,

Bible says you are like a foolish man who build his house on the sand; the house will not stand in the storm because the house is built in the wrong foundation.

Let our total dependence be God alone and let’s build up our life in the solid rock, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. Our part is surrendering our life totally in the hand of almighty God and totally depending on Hiss deliverance.

And God’s part is to protect us and fight the battle for us and give us victory for His glory.

Always remember

“The safest place for your life is in the hands of the living God, He knows you, he understand you, he will guard you and he will keep you.”

 Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Finally lets come to the last principle.

3. Facing the giant in the name of God. (45)

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

          46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike           you down   and cut off your head. This very day I will give the       carcasses of the Philistine     army to the birds and the wild   animals, and the whole world will know that       there is a God in       Israel. 

          47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear          that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give       all of you into our hands.” 

          48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly        toward the battle line to meet him. 

          49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and    struck the   Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his           forehead, and he fell     facedown on the ground. 

          50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone;          without a     sword in his hand, he struck down the Philistine and       killed him. 

          51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off         his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their   hero was dead, they turned and ran. 

The Giants we are facing today can be just as intimidating to us, as Goliath was to the Israelites.

You see we face all kinds of giants.

Some of you may be facing emotional giants like worry, doubt, fear, or anxiety,

Some of you are facing mental giants like, stress, insecurity, or even depression.

Some of you may be facing physical giants like disease, pain, or even disability.

For some of your Goliath may be a bad habit, or an addiction.

For some of you it’s a problem at work, or a financial problem that not only won’t go away, but just keeps getting bigger.

We can defeat all these giants when face in the name of the Lord.

Goliath rely on himself, his skill, his experience, his shield and his sword.

But David come against Goliath in the name of Living God.

He could defeat Goliath because God was with Him, God was fighting the battle for David.

Church let us not worry of the giants we are facing today, when we face any life problems and challenges in the name of the Lord, we can easily defeat the giants because the Lord is on our side.

Remember battle belong to our God.

You know God was with David, God fight the battle for David so He could defeat the giant Goliath.

God will fight the battle for us,

Romans 8:31 says. If God be for us who can be against us.

Matthew 19:26. And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

          This same David who told king Saul not to worry, is the same           David who writes in Psalm 27 verses 1 and 2, “The Lord is my     light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the           strength     of my life; of whom shall I be afraid. When the           wicked even mine enemies and my foes, came upon      me to      eat up my flesh, they   stumbled and fell.       

Do you have the faith that it takes to stand up against a Giant?

Are you willing to Trust God instead of your own abilities?

Are you willing to walk by faith and not by sight?

Are you willing to fight every giants in the name of the Lord?

Always remember to face the giants in the name of the Lord.

Conclusion

We have meditate together 3 points under the topic “Facing the giants.”

Never ever forget whom you belong to, you are God’s special possession, you are son and daughter of the most high, living God. He will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Secondly, always depend on God’s Deliverance.

Remember, God is our refuge and strength, present help in days of trouble, He is our shield, He our protector, He is the good shepherd, when we totally depend on His deliverance, He will fight the battle for us and give us the victory.

Thirdly, always face the giants in the name of the Lord.

Remember there is power in the name of the Lord,

He is the God, who do the impossible,

Church we need to face every problems and every challenges in our life in the name of the Lord.

Let us live by faith and not by sight, let us not worry but let us take up courage like David and defeat every giants in our life in the name of the Lord and live victorious life.

May God bless you and keep you. May God face shine of you and give you peace.

Categories
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

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.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Ignited by a Passion for the Gospel: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3

Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, reflects on his missionary trip to Thessalonica

Good morning, church! How are you all doing today?

What a privilege and an honour to preach the Word of God this morning and indeed I am so humbled to be filling the gap in the absence of our elders.

To begin, I wish to remind you of an incident in the Bible. Two people were on a journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus – walking frustrated and de-motivated after the crucifixion of Jesus. On the way, a stranger joined them and began to expound the Scriptures to them and their hearts burned within them.

He was none other than our Blessed Lord. As we dive into the passage for today morning, may the Lord open our hearts to see wonderful things from the Word and be ignited, encouraged, comforted, corrected and lifted up.

Let us turn to our text for this morning – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-3

For you yourselves know, brothers,[a] that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive

Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.

PRAYER …

On January 8, 1956, a 28-year old American missionary Jim Elliot was speared to death as a martyr on a sandbar called Palm beach in the Curaray river of Ecuador along with four missionary partners and friends.

They were trying to reach the Auca tribe for the first time in history with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elisabeth Elliot – his wife – wrote down his story in her book – “Shadow of the Almighty”. This is where Jim Elliot was slain – in the shadow of the Almighty.

She had not forgotten the heartbreaking account of her husband’s death when she began writing 2 years later. When he was killed, they had been married for 3 years and had a 10-month old daughter.

The mission seemed to have ended even before it just began. Jim and his partners were preparing for this since months – trying to learn the language of the Aucas and circling their village with a plane and trying to make contact with them in some way or the other.

Finally, when the day came to meet them personally – due to a misunderstanding – the villagers speared them to death. Seemed like an open and shut case until Jim’s wife – Elisabeth, decided to go to the same tribe which murdered her husband – to give them the love of Christ. Seriously? The same uneducated, unloving murderers? They who had destroyed her family and home – left her alone with a 10-month old kid? Why did she do that? How could she do that?

In this passage, Paul seems to describe on her behalf and on the behalf of many who threw their lives for the sake of the Gospel. They were bitten by the Gospel virus – as Jeff described last week. They were ignited with a passion for the Gospel. No one infected by the Gospel virus could stay the same.

The man who penned down this passage – Paul – who was responsible for the killing of many of the followers of Jesus Christ – when the Lord encountered him on the road to Damascus – you remember what happened to him? “He who once persecuted the people of God was now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

The man who speared down Jim Elliot once bitten by the Gospel bug went to the US and preached the story of God’s love which came after him even though he tried to destroy it. Beloved, the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes us radical Christians – empowered by the Holy Spirit.

As I attempt to describe the passion that was ignited in Paul’s heart for the Gospel’s sake – in his message and his life – let us examine our own hearts – cause honestly, all of us – having been bitten by the Gospel bug years ago need a reminder again and again – week after week – daily – of what Jesus did for us in laying down His life for us and redeeming us and making us his own.

So, here in this passage – we see Paul – being ignited by a passion through and for the Gospel – how he ministered to the Thessalonians – through the message of the Gospel and through a life saturated by the Gospel. I would like to title my sermon – “Ignited by a passion for the Gospel” and drive home these following truths from the passage:

Passion for the Gospel is:

  1. Characterized by boldness in conflict and
  2. Enriched by the purity of the Gospel

Characterized by boldness in conflict and

A guy bitten by the Gospel bug is characterized by boldness in conflict as mentioned in verse 2 and I quote – “But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

Paul had just come out of a great conflict – beaten at Phillipi, thrown into prison, wrongly charged, shamefully treated – for the Gospel’s sake. He could have packed his bags and gone off for a vacation or a recovery break. He had enough of reasons not to go on for his next challenge.

If it was me, I can imagine myself trying to find out which is the next flight home – I have a wife and a kid to take care of. But not so with Paul. Sufferings made him rely on God for more boldness to stand as a messenger of the Gospel.

Paul in himself was a weak man and when we think about any of the saints of old, let us not have a notion that they had a strength which was different from ours. Inspite of all his weaknesses, he says, “We had boldness in our God”.

Beloved, the Bible and our rich Christian heritage is filled with people who were weak, helpless, weary in themselves yet who were extremely bold in their God. Think about a Moses who killed a man and ran away from Egypt and was feeding his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep for 40 years.

When God asked him to go to Pharaoh, he had so many questions – “Who am I to go? I smell of sheep”, “What if they will not believe me or listen to me?”, “I cannot speak. I am a man of stammering lips” and finally – “Please send someone else”.

Don’t we resonate with the same objections and questions in our lives? What about Gideon – He was hiding in a winepress when the angel of the Lord said to him, “O mighty man of valor?” – “What? Who? Me?” Jeremiah said, “I am just a child”; Isaiah – “I am a man of unclean lips”. The apostles when they were beaten and were commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus, they went back and prayed for what? – Boldness!

Dear brothers and sisters, do we find our passion for the Gospel running out due to fear and struggles and sufferings? I exhort you this morning to seek for boldness in our God inspite of conflicts, sufferings, struggles and weaknesses.

When Jim Elliot was killed, Elizabeth found boldness in her God to go out to her husband’s killers and preach the Love of God through the Gospel. Conflicts do not kill passion, rather they only serve to increase it even more. Conflicts do not end Gospel stories – they only begin another new chapter.

Beloved, the Gospel welcomes you this morning to find boldness in God to stand firm in the midst of much conflict and not be bogged down by sufferings and taunts from unbelieving family members and friends. Paul says – “We have a treasure in our earthen vessels.

We are hard-pressed on all sides, yet not crushed. Perplexed – yet not driven to despair.” He says elsewhere in Galatians 6:17 – “We carry in our bodies the brand marks of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Conflicts and sufferings are going to be an integral part and brand of a Christian’s life yet his boldness in his God will enable him to carry out great exploits.

But our boldness in God must stem from a deeper understanding of the Gospel which brings me to point 2.

Enriched by the purity of the Gospel

Let me read to you what Paul says from verse 3 – “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive”. Beloved, Paul has a Gospel message – free from impurity and error – which makes him appeal to the Gentiles in boldness.

He is so passionately caught up with the Gospel message that it burns like fire in his bones – He knows that the Gospel is the power of God to those who are being saved. He need not add or subtract to the Gospel that he received.

He warns as well in the epistle to the Galatians that ‘let anyone who preaches to you any other Gospel than that which you received from me – let him be accursed.’

He knows that the Gospel is sufficient to save – both himself and his hearers and so he preaches it. He knows that nothing else other than the Gospel can ever save and so he preaches it even more.

What is the Gospel? “I am a great sinner. Jesus Christ is a great Saviour”. The purity of the Gospel makes a man go passionately crazy such that they are termed as “fools for Christ’s sake”. Let me take an example here – Martin Luther – the leader of the reformation – when he was moved by the purity of the Gospel in the doctrine of justification – he turned the world upside down.

How else can you explain a person being willing to defy every authority structure of this world and to stand utterly alone as a young priest against all of the authorities of the church—against the pope, against church counsels, against the finest theologians in the land?

Martin Luther had a high and holy view of God. He trembled before a Holy God. He kept evaluating himself, not by comparing himself to other human beings, but by looking at the standard of the character of God—the righteousness of God.

As he saw himself so awful in comparison to the righteousness of God, after a while he began to hate any idea of the righteousness of God.

He had such a fear of the wrath of God that, early on in his ministry, somebody put this question to him: “Brother Martin, do you love God?” You know what he said? “Love God? You ask me if I love God? Sometimes I hate God. I see Christ as a consuming judge who is simply looking at me to evaluate me and to visit affliction upon me.”

Imagine a young man preparing for the ministry declaring that he goes through periods of hating God. Luther’s hatred was inseparably related to this paralyzing fear which he expressed that he had about God.

Then one night he was preparing his lectures as a doctor in theology to teach his students at the University of Wittenberg in the doctrines and teachings of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans.

He then came to these words: “For the righteousness of God is revealed by faith, and the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). And suddenly the concept burst upon his mind that this passage in Romans was not describing that righteousness of God by which God Himself is righteous, but the righteousness of God that He graciously and freely provides for you, me, and anyone who puts their trust in Christ.

Anyone who puts their trust in Christ receives the covering and the cloak of the righteousness of Christ.

Luther said: “It broke into my mind, and I realized for the first time that my justification, my station before God, is not established on the basis of my own naked righteousness, which will always fall short of the demands of God. Rather, it instead rests solely and completely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which I must hold on to by a trusting faith.

And when I understood that, for the first time in my life I understood the gospel. And I looked and beheld the doors of Paradise swung open, and I walked through.”

It’s like Luther said to the world, from that day forward, to popes and to counsels, and to kings: “The just shall live by faith; justification by faith alone. ‘God is holy and I am not’ is the article upon which the church stands or falls, and I negotiate it with no one because it is the gospel.” Is that crazy?

Brothers and sisters, if that’s crazy then I pray that God would send an army of insane people like that into this world so that the gospel may not be eclipsed.

So that we might understand that, in the presence of a holy God, we who are unjust may be justified by the fact that God in His holiness—without negotiating His holiness—has offered us the holiness of His Son as a covering for our sin. This is the Gospel for which Luther was ready to die!

Beloved, maybe there is someone here who has never experienced what this passion and craziness is all about. And it is our prayer that you would be ignited today with a fiery passion through and for the Gospel.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot wrote this down in his diary.

Jim threw his life for the Gospel as he was ignited by a passion through the Gospel and Elisabeth continued the good work seeking boldness in an all-Sovereign God who entrusted them with the Gospel.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Faith Unpacked: 1 Thessalonians 1:1

Good morning church! I’m humbled & it’s a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to preach the Word this morning. We just completed a topical series last week titled “The church”. And we get back to our book study as we begin 1 Thessalonians.

I think this is a continuation on the topic of “the church” because it talks about the “abiding” or the “continuing faith” of the church.  

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace. (v1)

“Christianity is at risk”! This was the title of a news report in a UK newspaper Daily Express in 2019. They saw a dramatic decline in the number of people that call themselves as Christians in Great Britain. From 66% in 1983 to 38% in 2019. And this is a similar declining trend that is seen all over Europe where thousands of churches have been closing due to lack of attendees (Wikipedia).

Even in a country like the US that has been the source of a lot of good resources and writings, they’ve seen 10-15% churches shut down. People are turning to atheism or modern spiritualism where they take what they like from each religion to create their own version of a religion that suits them. And in the face of these real facts, I’m sure the question that the church asks is: Is faith in Jesus temporary like a trend or can there be genuine, abiding faith? Will my faith last till the end? Not just me – but will the faith of my brothers and sisters in Christ abide and survive till the end?  The theme of the letter to the Thessalonians is like an answer given to us to help us navigate and find help to these critical questions.

3 points of observations:

1) Christian faith is validated by perseverance

When Paul starts out mentioning “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” & as he continues throughout the letter – he actually remembers the context in which the church was formed.

In Acts 17, Paul arrives in the cosmopolitan, business capital city of Thessalonica (similar to a city like Mumbai). And he arrives to Thessalonica after being beaten & imprisoned in Philippi. One would think that Paul, Silas and Timothy would’ve been intimidated by that previous experience but they were instead fearless because they immediately go to a Jewish synagogue (sort of like a gospel community or a small group) over 3 Sabbath days & they have open discussions with the people gathered out there on what the Scriptures tell about the necessity for the Messiah to suffer & rise from the dead.

Paul tells them that Jesus whom He proclaims is the Christ! Some Jews believed, a lot of Greek worshippers believed & many prominent women also believed!

Isn’t this is awesome? To have new believers in this amazing, fast paced, influential city. They were at the tipping point of a vibrant church expansion movement. But unexpectedly even before Paul could make the most of this new discipling opportunity, some of the unbelieving Jews who were jealous got together some people who were experienced in stirring up riots and a crowd and started attacking the house of Jason (probably the church met at his house).

They couldn’t find Paul and his companions so they dragged Jason and some of the new believers in front of the city authorities & accused them of being international troublemakers & more severely saying there is another King called Jesus apart from Caesar!

The only way in which they released Jason and the others was with a money security – to guarantee that Paul wouldn’t cause any more disruptions by continuing to preach in that city. That same night Paul and his companions were sent away from the city. All of this all tells us that the Thessalonian church wasn’t born out of a marketing strategy or a pastor’s big vision. This church was born in the midst of humiliation, pain and suffering!

The fact that they were standing in the midst of severe suffering showed that their faith was genuine! I find that a stark contrast to how we evaluate the genuineness of our faith. We say our faith is genuine because we know all the worship songs at church, we are fairly regular at church, and also we have a good relationship with the pastor and other church members – so we assume that’s what certifies our faith.

Instead the bible tells us that “Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”. (James 1:1)

Losing our job, sudden loss of a family member or a loved one, a broken relationship, an unexpected illness, long wait on God to answer a prayer for a good thing like a spouse for marriage or a job, taunts and insults being hurled at you because you’ve chosen to follow Jesus – these are all very real and painful.

But at the same time suffering exposes our heart idols. Those idols of inconvenience, comfort, self-love, self-reliance, pride, anger, impatience suddenly come to the fore when we are met with unexpected suffering. And it’s not as though someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus will not undergo suffering. But here’s the difference – Genuine Christian faith will be displayed through repentance & faith in God.

Even though there might be seasons when believers doubt, are confused and might even look to sin for comfort but true believers will eventually come back to God in repentance and faith. Why? Because they can’t abandon the Lord who gave them a new heart to love Him. They can’t abandon the Lord who has placed His Spirit within them. They will indeed return back to him.

Maybe some of us have been frustrated or discouraged by the season of suffering that you’re going through. If you’re in that place today, could you ask God to reveal those areas in your heart that need repentance & faith in God? Could you ask God to use your current situation to display His mercy? Genuine Christian faith is validated by perseverance.

2) Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected

Our Christian faith is personal in the sense where God has a unique and direct relationship with every person who believes in Jesus. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)

But at the same time Christian discipleship happens in community – with other brothers and sisters. Throughout the whole letter it’s filled with language that mentions the presence & necessity for deep relationships within the church.

You became imitators of us and the Lord (1 Thes 1:6)

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thes 2:7-8)

I remember a time during my first-year in college when this truth hit home for me. Now I had been a believer for about 2 years or so but Christian life for me was just Sunday. I was the most spiritual and most committed on a Sunday but the rest of the week I lived a double life – isolated from the rest of the church & world and joyless.

I assumed that was what Christian life was for most people. About that time, I was introduced to a brother who came to India on a two-week trip during his college break to share the good news about Jesus. I accompanied him throughout those two weeks, watching his life closely, paying attention to his words and I was amazed to see the joy & purpose with which he lived his life.

In every conversation I saw him have, he would somehow bring every conversation back to Jesus because it looked like he truly loved Jesus. For him time with the Word wasn’t a duty or a Sunday activity, he enjoyed reading the Bible and telling people about what he learnt. Plus, I was amazed to see a young college student come to India on a trip to tell people about Jesus during his summer break when he could’ve spent it with his friends.

Just imagine what this did to a young believer like me. This brother didn’t sit down and preach “discipleship” to me – but I saw him live it out during those 2 weeks. God used that brother to rejuvenate my relationship with God.

And I really want to challenge you brothers and sisters today. Maybe just like my experience, you see yourself as a Sunday Christian and desire to change. Let me encourage you to find a brother or sister in the Lord whom you know is living for Jesus & just go and spend time with them.

Observe how they are loving Jesus and allow them to speak into the insecurities & fears & doubts of your heart. That is God’s design for us to experience full joy. Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected.

3)  Christian faith is based on God’s faithfulness

As we are reading through chapter 4 & 5 in 1 Thessalonians, if we read it without any context, we might be mistaken to think that it is simply a bunch of rules: abstain from sexual immorality, help the weak, admonish the idle, pray without ceasing.

We may assume that Paul is telling us that “Jesus has done half the work of saving you, now it’s up to you to perform and make sure that Christ receives you as perfect in the end”. Although we may say that we theologically don’t agree with that but practically we might believe it’s true.

What I mean is this – there is a reason why we feel super happy and assured on days when we read our bibles early in the morning, are able to have a productive day at work, manage to minimize our sinful behaviors & even share the gospel with one person.

At the same time, we struggle with immense guilt and condemnation on days when we aren’t able to do any of the above. On those days we don’t “feel” like God’s child. We instead “feel” like we are orphans.

If we are absolutely honest, all of us will confess that even on our best days – even our best efforts aren’t good enough before a Holy and Perfect God. There’s nothing we can do to make ourselves a loved child or an accepted child of God. So then what does that mean? Can our faith survive with this kind of failed record?

1 Thessalonians is a reminder for our hearts that when we fail – and fail we will, God still remains faithful. Even when we feel like we’ve let go, God continues to hold on those whom He has chosen. Think about it – Paul and his companions thought they lost these new believers.

They were anxious and thought that these believers may have gone astray in the midst of severe suffering and persecution. Instead when Timothy meets them, he is overjoyed to find them loving Jesus no matter what it may cost them. How come? The Lord Jesus remains faithful. He doesn’t let go.

No one can snatch them out of my hand – says Jesus in John 10:28

At the end of the letter in chapter 5 – Paul says some remarkable things – read with me in v23, 24:  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Who sanctifies or makes us Holy? God does. Who will keep us – people who fail and sin blameless? He will. Because He who calls me is “FAITHFUL”. He will surely do it. Does this cause us to be lazy in our faith? No, in fact it makes us zealous to serve him because of His faithfulness.

For some of us who are feeling like they’re orphans this morning in spite of believing in Jesus, I believe we should be reminded that our faith, our identity, us being the child of God is not based on our performance.

It is based on God’s faithfulness – His faithful Son who lived a perfect life and died the death that we deserved so that through His resurrection our faith is firmly anchored in His faithfulness. For some others, it’s probably the first time where God has opened your eyes to His faithfulness.

Till now you’ve been living a life against God, apart from Him but today God’s moving your heart to trust Him. And God is true to His Word – if you believe in what Jesus has done for you, you will be saved. He will surely do it according to His promise.

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Philippians Sermon

Joy-filled Pursuits – Philippians 3:15-21

Today’s passage Philippians 3:15-21

Throughout the letter of Philippians, Paul is encouraging us to live a joy-filled life, and as he is addressing the heart issues and giving us Kingdom perspectives he is also helping us with practical bits of advice to reach our goal, the goal to know Christ and live the kind of life God intended for us to live – Blessed, Joyful, Satisfactory and Wonderful.

The passage we are looking at today is one such portion where Paul is giving us helpful, practical advice and therefore I urge you to pay close attention and receive it with an open heart because who knows this could be a life-changing moment for you today.

Practical Advice #1: Seek to be Mature in your Faith 

In verse 15, Paul writes “Let those of us who are mature”, in KJV version it says “those of us who are perfect”.

In this statement, Paul is addressing to those who are mature because he intends that some in the church are mature, but what exactly does Paul mean when he uses the word ‘mature’ or ‘perfect’.

In the worldly sense, the word mature & perfect would in relation to a person who has achieved the highest level of intellect and maybe the highest level of perfection in everything he does. 

But that’s not what Paul would define it, because he would not claim to have achieved that level of perfection himself. In 3v12, Paul writes “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Here’s how Paul explains maturity in 1 Corinthians 13:11, he says “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”

According to Paul, to be mature is to move out of the baby state and continue growing from being a baby to a man.

To Paul a mature person is not baby Christians, they are not the ones who stopped growing in their faith after they first became a believer, instead, they are the once who continue to grow in their knowledge of the Gospel.

As per Paul’s statement in v15 “they are the one’s who think this way”, in saying so he is referring to what he said earlier in 2v5-8 saying “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[awho, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[bbut emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

According to Paul, a mature Christian is the one who has the mindset of Jesus; one who is continually emptying himself at the throne of God’s grace and one who continues to stay humble and obedient to the point of death. 

Paul is expecting us to be found mature as we grow in our Christian life and in verse 16 he says “let us hold fast to what we have attained”. 

Paul also refers to those who think otherwise in v15, those who are immature. They are men who are still babies; they can maybe articulate the Gospel in words but are far away from real heart transformation.

Brothers and sisters, here’s how we know we are still baby Christians. 

 Baby Christians are Lazy – Hebrews 5:11 “We have so much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.” 

“Slow to learn” is the translation of the Greek word, “Lazy.”

Baby Christians know little about the content of the Bible – They fail to meditate and investigate the Scriptures that has the power to set us free from all our bondages. Psalms 119:36 – He inclines our heart to his word, Psalms 119:18 – He opens our eyes of understanding, Psalms 90:14 – He satisfies our souls. These are all nutritious food for the nourishment of our spiritual being to grow to be a man.

Baby Christians Handle the Word of God Poorly – 

2 Corinthians 2:17 – For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

They read the word just like everyone else but misapplies it by adding human understanding and even go about teaching the same to others.

Baby Christians have inadequate knowledge of Christ – As Paul mentions in Philippians 3:10-12, they know not the power of His resurrection, and they fail to participate in the sufferings of Christ.

Baby Christians are Christians whose attention is still dominated by earthly things – Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.”

Baby Christians are those who are unwilling to pay the cost of being a follower of Jesus – Luke 14:33 “those of you who do not give up everything cannot be my disciple.”

Yes, it is possible to attain joy-filled Christian life but not if we are failing to grow in maturity and hold fast to who we have received. And we grow in maturity when we grow into an intimate relationship with Christ and the church.

Practical advice #2: Imitate those who imitate Christ 

In verse 17, Paul goes on to say “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”

As you all must have already figured out, it is not easy to live a Christian life; there will be challenges along the way, there will be doubts and confusion in our mind, there will be circumstances that will pull us down, there will be persecution as a follower of Christ. 

God is not unaware of all that we go through; in fact, his grace and providence (help) are always with us. With full confidence, we can join with King David and say “Even though I walk through the valley of shadows of death, I will fear no evil, for he is with me” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

One such providence that God has given us to combat fear, doubts, challenges and confusion are the faithful men and women of God he’s placed in our lives.

And that is why Paul is saying “Imitate me as I imitate Christ”, and “imitate those who walk according to the example you have in me”. Like the example of Timothy & Epapharaditus as we learned from their lives in the earlier passages.

In difficult times, it could be hard sometimes to see Christ and follow his example at all times, in our wretchedness, pride, frustrations and sadness we can fail to Christ in our situation. And what Paul is suggesting, which I don’t see as unbiblical, is that in such cases imitate Godly and faithful men who are imitating Christ. 

In doing so, we are not looking at people as an authority but as examples who follow the real authority. Not for authority but for inspiration. 

Which means we don’t make an idol out of the person we are imitating, but we are watching them respond to fear, doubt, frustration, confusion, suffering and disaster that honours Christ, and we do the same.

  • Imitate the men and women in the Bible.
  • Imitate the men and women in Church history who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Gospel, who trusted God in their hard circumstances and honoured him. Read their stories and find your inspiration.
  • Imitate you immediate Church leaders who God has placed over you as shepherds
  • Imitate you fellow brother & sister who walk faithfully alongside you.

We can attain a joy-filled life if we seek and imitate Godly men.

Practical Advice #3:  Watch out for the enemies of the cross of Christ

18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

And finally, in this passage, Paul also advises us to watch out for the enemies of the cross of Christ. And just as sorrowful is Paul as he is saying these words, I am sad too in telling you that Yes, there exist, men who seem to be godly men from outside, who seem to say the right things, quote scriptures, pray earth-shattering prayers, but they are enemies of God. Jesus calls them “ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing”, the agents of the devil himself, Jesus said you would know them by their fruits.

Here’s how Paul helps us identify such men:

  • Their God is their belly – People who believe that this life on earth is all about eating, drinking, and being merry and become gluttons, alcoholics, and seekers of pleasure rather than seekers of God.
  • They glory in their shame – People who boast of those things of which they ought to be ashamed.
  • Their minds are set on earthly things – People who are taken up in the pursuit of their sensual and earthly enjoyments rather than in Christ.

Paul is urging that we chose wisely the men whom we imitate.

And finally, Paul closes this chapter with a word of encouragement and giving us hope for the future.

As we walk faithfully as mature Christians, ones who’ve been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus. Pressing on in all circumstances, imitating one another in the Lord, be watchful of wolves. 

Our final destiny is going to be even more glorious and mind-blowing. 

We will be citizens in heaven, transformed into glorious bodies.

It’s up to us what choice we make to get us there.

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Philippians Sermon

Joy-filled Concern – Philippians 2:19-24

Good morning church! We continue our exciting series titled “A Joy-filled life” as we go through the book of Philippians. Last week we learnt that as we joyfully obey God, we are called to fight the sin of grumbling and arguing. But after these instructions, we see Paul’s tender and the affectionate concern being listed in today’s passage in Philippians 2:19-24:

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s[d] proven worth, how as a son[e] with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I couldn’t wrap my head around this. When I was a brand-new believer in the Lord, I started going to this youth group. I could remember the way I felt like a new believer! It was so comforting and enjoyable to fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

But a few months after that my priorities changed. And as much as I wanted to fellowship with other believers and study the Bible, I also wanted to also be part of the church choir and make great music with them. There happened a time when the timings for both meetings clashed and I had to make a choice and I chose the choir.

But one of the leaders from the youth group continued to follow up with me twice or sometimes thrice a week. And he used to come back from work late each night and would call me and speak to me for hours. Quite a few times I’ve managed to put him to sleep with my talk! I still didn’t understand why he would still call me even though I didn’t go to the youth group.

It was something strange and different for me as a new believer. For the first time, I experienced genuine concern for my faith and my life.  So a couple of questions I want us to think over as we start: Is genuine concern for your brothers and sisters important? What does it look like for you and me to genuinely have concern for each other?

1. We were created to have a CONCERN for each other

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.

Why was Paul so concerned? Why did he need news from them to be cheered up? We realize even though the Philippian church loved Jesus and partnered with Paul in the spread of the gospel they were still going through a lot of issues. 

There was Internal Disunity – grumbling, arguing, pride, selfishness within the members of the church. If anyone’s still looking for a perfect church, just know that no church is going to be perfect until Christ returns! Just think what the Philippian church was going through. Not just that they were facing External Opposition – they were being persecuted by hostile unbelievers.

And Paul being their spiritual father is deeply concerned about them. These are my children whom I shared the gospel with. These are my children whom I nurtured. How are they doing? I can’t imagine what they are going through. Are they going to hold on to Christ after all this or are they going to crumble under the pressure and weight of sin & persecution?

It’s a beautiful passage where we see Paul intending to send Timothy to the church so that he can encourage and strengthen them in the Lord – so that they don’t lose faith – so that they don’t quit and abandon the Lord or the church. We see here a great design of what the church is. It’s not a building. It’s not an organization. It’s not an event. It is a FAMILY. It’s deep and committed. Not shallow and non-committal as the world sees relationships.

One of the biggest challenges to seeing our local church as a family is our APATHY! Apathy basically means “Who cares! I definitely don’t care”. Apathy ultimately finds its root in selfishness and pride. 

In our selfishness, we’ll say “Why should we be concerned about this person? Doesn’t have anything to do with me. Why should I simply add extra stress in my life by being concerned and burdened about someone else?”

In our pride, we say “This other person got themselves in a mess due to their own decision. If I were in their place, I would do it differently. No reason for me to unnecessarily get involved now”. 

I was convicted of my sin of apathy in this week only. And I had to realize that God’s design for us and our lives isn’t apathy. God design for us – is to show deep concern just like He is concerned. 

In Ezekiel 34 – is one of the places where we see the great concern God has for us. God prophesies through Ezekiel and is deeply concerned because the leaders of Judah haven’t taken care of His sheep. 

4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. (Ez 34:4-6)

Should we be apathetic when we know that our brother or sister is struggling with habitual sin? Should we be apathetic when we know that our brother or sister is struggling with finding their identity in Christ? 

Should we be apathetic when we know that our brother or sister struggling with fear of failure and rejection? No, our desire should be like that of our Father. Deep concern. 

I was really touched a few years back by a youth retreat that I had attended. It was conducted for students and I was a volunteer for the retreat. Now whenever I’ve gone for retreats, the main sessions were the main thing but out here I noticed that while the main sessions took place, a few leaders went aside to a room to pray.

I joined them on one of the mornings and was moved by what I saw. These leaders who have been ministering to these students for many months prayed with tears for each of the students individually. It didn’t feel planned or manipulative.

They were just expressing their concern for all the areas in which they wanted God to work in the lives of these students. Let’s pray and ask God to break the sin of apathy? Ask him to break our hearts for the things that break His own heart?

Not only are we created to have a burden for each other

2. We are called to sacrificially serve each other (v20-24)

20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s[d] proven worth, how as a son[e] with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I find it so interesting that Paul chooses to send Timothy to encourage the Philippians. Why does Paul do that? Why doesn’t he send anyone else?

Son in ministry & Faithful coworker: In Acts 16 we see the first time Timothy is mentioned there. When Paul comes to Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in what was known as his 2nd missionary journey, the believers from there spoke well of a person called Timothy.

Paul takes this passionate young believer under his wing on his missionary journey. You can imagine what’s going through the mind of young Timothy. Not knowing exactly how God would provide and what lies ahead of them, in faith he travelled and ministered with Paul for 20 years.

Let’s not forget that Timothy was with Paul when the church at Philippi was being founded. The church has seen his faithfulness as a co-worker which is why Paul could say to the church “you’ve seen Timothy’s proven worth”. 

He didn’t just see the highs of ministry where people were getting saved and added to the church but he also saw suffering. Almost every city where they went, they were met with hostile opposition – beating, death threats and imprisonment. Despite all this, he stuck with Paul as a faithful, trusted son.

In Paul’s mind, this is the perfect guy who needs to go to the church in Philippi. This is my trusted son. My precious one. I have no one else like him. He is genuinely concerned for your welfare. So I am sending him to you. Does this sound familiar?

I think we can see the picture of the gospel at work here. When we were lost and scattered, when we rebelled against God, when we rejected him and went astray – Yet God didn’t turn the lights off on us – Instead He said I will send my trusted one. My precious Son.

I have no one else like Him. He is genuinely concerned for your welfare to the extent that He will lay down His life to save you!! 

Earlier we read about the concern of God in Ezekiel 34…see what it says in v11

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.[a] I will feed them in justice.

Here is our God who just doesn’t have a concern in His heart and mind but also acts upon it. He comes after those who are lost and scattered. Even today if you think you are the lost sheep, just know that He pursues you still. He sent His Son to die for you.

He rose on the third day so that your relationship with God can be healed. You can turn back to Him and surrender your life totally today!

And that’s the main and only motivation to serve each other sacrificially. It’s because God did that to me – someone who didn’t deserve it at all. As God is building a heart of concern in you, He is also calling you to love and sacrifice what might be precious, costly to serve your brother or sister.

It might be our time, our convenience, our comfort, our resources but you will never know how over time God will use our faithfulness to strengthen a brother or sister’s faith.