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1 John Sermon

Friendship with our Heavenly Father: 1 John 2:28-3:3

Good morning church! Hope everyone’s doing good this morning. Just wanted to welcome our friends who have joined us online via Zoom & Facebook Live & our friends who are at the church hall this morning. We pray that the service this morning encourages your heart to move toward God.

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled “Faith-filled Friendship” from the letters of 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. So far we’ve explored quite a bit on what does Friendship with God actually look like. This morning we find ourselves in 1 John 2:28-3:3 where we will try to unpack what does it mean for us to not only be friends with God but also relate with Him as our Father. Brother Saju covered a very similar topic a few weeks back so I’ll be building upon what brother Saju shared with us. Let’s look to God in prayer.

To start with I’ll piggyback on one of the themes that brother Saju asked us a few weeks back. When you and I think of God as Father, what are some thoughts that come to your mind? Do you think about God being distant and absent most of the time? Do you think God have an angry & condescending face toward you? Or do you see think about God as someone who spoils you? Many times these ideas about God come from our broken experiences with our own parents or in our own parenting.

And yet having a right perspective of God being our Father is so essential.

What if I told you that your response to temptations, fears, anxieties & pressures of life today are closely connected to what you think about God & what you think about yourself?

And I’m not referring to our Sunday declarations where we’ll sing that “God is our good Father & we are children of God”. I’m referring to our street level daily lives where we are either living as orphans or as children of God & that has a massive impact on our lives. Therefore, it’s not a small matter. We need to know what it means for us to be children of God. 3 main points from the passage:

1. We’ve been given a new NAME

By new NAME I’m not suggesting that we need to change our names, but rather to remind us that we’ve been given a new identity, a new position in the family of God. We are no longer orphans.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1

3 things about our new Name:

  • Undeserved Name – “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

As believers one of the things that we need to frequently remember is that becoming a child of God is an undeserving gift – it’s not something we could have earned or achieved. It’s not due to our popularity or talent or family background or potential or good looks which made God adopt us. In fact, we have more reason as to why “we don’t qualify & are absolutely unfit to be His children”.  

Ephesians 2:1-3 plainly states: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Imagine going to the most dangerous jail cell in the world where it holds criminals who have committed the most heinous of crimes and then deciding to adopt them as your family members. Most people will say that is not a good idea & yet isn’t it amazing that God in His love chose to adopt those who were once “children of wrath”. It’s an absolutely undeserving gift.  

  • Costly Name –“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

I love the expression of great love being “given” to us so that we can become children of God. When these bible passages are talking about love, it’s not talking about worldly love which is self-centered; where we love someone because they love us back. Biblical love is sacrificial – it’s loving someone even when the other person is not in a position to love back – it’s unconditional. And this kind unconditional love gift came at the expense of Jesus’ own life.

For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Jesus was the only man who lived a perfect life in the sight of God and then He took the punishment was meant for the “children of wrath”. He bore our sin & shame and died in our place. Three days later he rose from the dead so that whoever turns away from their life of sin & trusts in Jesus and what He did for us, they will become children of God.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

John 1:12

It’s a costly Name! The price penalty to buy this new Name came at the highest cost of Jesus’ blood.

  • Intimate Name – The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1b)

In this verse, John is telling us that the hostile, opposing response that an unbelieving world has toward God will now be directed toward us as His children.

Although this is a sad reality, but I also want to say that it tells us that our identity is so intimately tied to God’s identity in Christ, that the world responds to us in the same way as it does to the Father. In Acts 9, when Saul as an unbeliever was on an aggressive violent mission to drag Christian believers from Damascus and bring them back captive to Jerusalem, his life had a 180 degree turn when He encountered Jesus.

I find it so interesting that Jesus asks him “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus didn’t say why are you persecuting the believers or why are you going after the church? No, it was a direct attack on Jesus himself & He needed to intervene. Isn’t it amazing that we as believers have the same privilege? Our name is intimately tied to God’s name.

When I was in college, I volunteered at the VISA Home for 3-4 months. Some of you know that VISA is an orphanage started by a believer called John Abraham (not the actor). During those months, I received insight into their ministry up and close.  

Once I remember, one of the kids received a note from the school. I glanced over and saw that it was addressed to the child and I was amazed that the surname of the child stated “John Abraham”. At that point I realized what a big deal that was. These were children whom he met at Railway Stations in Mumbai. When he met them, they didn’t have a home, they didn’t have a loving family, no safety, no food and no education. He brought them home & then adopted them as his own giving them his own name. Whatever the child did from that point on – good or bad, he was taking the responsibility on himself by becoming their father.

For me that was such a beautiful picture of the gospel right there. When we were lost as orphans with no spiritual protection, impoverished & dying, dirty in our spiritual mess, God reached out to us through Jesus Christ, picked us up and made us his children by giving us a NEW NAME. The day we put our faith in Jesus, he declared “You’re no longer an orphan; You’re mine”.

And one of the struggles that many of us go through in some form or the other is the craving for the approval & validation of others. It could be our parent’s approval, or it could be the approval of our spouse, it could be the approval of our boss or teachers, or the approval of our pastors, or it could be the approval of friends.

We know it’s a problem when our security and joy is dependent on the appreciation or criticism of others. And the gospel frees us by telling us that we’ve received a NEW NAME.

The gospel gives us the security telling us that we are fully and completely accepted and approved in Jesus. The one whose opinion truly matters (God) has given His approval.

2. We’ve been given a new LIFESTYLE

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)

What John is telling us is that if we truly have become children of Holy God, then holiness would become part of our DNA. Why? Because God’s Spirit in us produces a heart that desires holy living.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1:14-16)

And as I was reading through this and evaluated my heart, I realized that when I think about “holiness” or “set apart”, I can be selective about the areas of holiness in my life. But that’s not how God sees it. The passage from 1 Peter says “be holy in all your conduct”. Therefore, setting apart of our lives is all-encompassing.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1)

But does practicing righteousness and holiness mean sinless perfection? No, it means that if we are children of God, we can’t be okay if our relationship is not right with God.  Life is not okay for us if we are not experiencing joyful fellowship with the Father. Remaining in unconfessed sin isn’t a trivial thing for us that can be overlooked.

Just take a look at how the Psalmist describes his life when he was in sin:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

    through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

    my strength was dried up[b] as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,

    and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:3-5)

It’s miserable to be in sin but the true believer longs to confess and be right with God. If the relationship with God is real and genuine, then someway or the other repentance will be sought because the relationship matters.

Let’s take a moment to pause for a minute – If you had to think through what are some places where you see selective holiness in your life right now? Or selective unholiness? What would true repentance look like for you?

3. We’ve been given a new HOPE

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

As children of God, we are in a WIP mode (Work In Progress) – the end goal is to become fully like Jesus. But let me clarify that being like Jesus does not mean being identical to Jesus. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man so we can never be Jesus identically. But being like Jesus means that when He returns our perfected humanity will match his.

Brothers and sisters, being made like Jesus is a wonderful thing – because that will fully be reversing the effects of the Fall. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, their physical and spiritual lives got corrupted with sin.

Aging bodies, sicknesses & diseases, physical death & spiritual brokenness are all the disastrous results of the Fall. But here’s the amazing thing – through Jesus all the broken effects of the Fall are being reversed. Which means that our perfected body which we will receive when Christ returns won’t age, won’t experience sickness, won’t experience death & decay and moreover will be fully cleansed from the presence of sin!

And that’s the hope for us brothers and sisters – maybe right now is a season when you’re experiencing the frailty and weakness of the physical body, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be totally free of that.

Maybe right now you’re in a season where you’re despondent over your patterns of sin, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be pure and perfect without an iota of sin. Without knowing and believing this truth, our lives will be hopeless and purposeless especially when we see the brokenness of our current lives.

This past week I heard a story of a woman went to the silversmith. Not sure if it’s a true story but I thought the illustration made a lot of sense. The silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’    

Similarly, God is so serious about His commitment in this relationship as a Father that He won’t stop until Jesus Christ is fully seen & made in us. He gives us a New Name, He gives us a Brand New Lifestyle and He gives us a New Hope.

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James Sermon

Managing God’s wealth: James 5:1-6

Introduction

Good morning church, good to see all of you, hope all of you are doing well, Today we are gonna meditate a very interesting topic James 5, Remember we are going through a book series from James under the theme “Faith in action” and we have come to the last chapter.

Today we shall meditate James 5:1-6.

and I would like to entitle my sermon as “Managing God’s wealth”

What does it mean managing God’s wealth? well….

Life is a gift from God, our talent our skill, everything we got belong to God, our possession, your money, your wealth, your property, your job, your business, all belong to God. how we manage them matters to God.

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

God want us to be a good manager of our own life, He want us to take good care of everything He has given us,

everything He has bless us, and we know

Someday we will give account to God for the life we have lived.

Today we shall meditate on just one part, that is “Managing God’s wealth” this is very important subject, you know out of 29 Jesus parable 13 parables are talking about money.

There are over 700 direct references to money in the Bible. Why is money such a popular subject in the Bible?

Because money is a window into the heart.

How we handle money exposes the values and priorities of our hearts.

Today many people wrongly believe that the Bible teaches that it’s wrong to be wealthy. They think that the Bible says: “Money is the root of all evil”.

But Bible does not teach this. What Bible says is: 1 Tim 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

God is not opposed to wealth. In fact, many people in the Bible were extremely wealthy.

Abraham was probably a millionaire if it was valued according to today’s standards.

David and Solomon were both wealthy men of their time. Job was also wealthy and the list could go on and on.

It is not wealth that is evil.

Look at First Timothy again, “The love of money”. You see that is where the real problem arises. It is the misuse of money, the love of money that causes all kinds of problems.

James lashes out at the wrong use of money by the wealthy.

He gives a rebuke probably one of the most negative passages in the Bible against the misuse of money.

He looks at 3 specific areas we need to be aware of when it comes to money. James gives his listeners a healthy warning of how they should handle their wealth. In other words – How to be Wise with Money.

Let’s look how God wants us to handle our money in three areas:

  1. Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
  2. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

  • For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
  • You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
  • You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
  1. Don’t treasure greedily but manage wisely. (1-3)
  2. Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
  3. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

In the first century Middle Eastern culture, wealth was measured in three ways: grain, garments and gold.

The rich had so much food that it was rotting in their barns.

They had a lot of fancy clothing that was filled with holes caused by moths. And their gold and silver, the most durable forms of wealth, had lost its luster because it was hidden under piles of other stuff that they had too much of.

James tells the wealthy that they better get ready to weep and wail, not because they had money but because they hoarded (accumulate) it and took advantage of those who had less.

Wealth is not the problem; the misuse of it is.

Even in our present days many people save their wealth in many forms,

In other words, what you have stored away believing it to be good and something you can rely upon to save you at a future time.

All of that is useless and will leave you helpless.

He was telling these rich people that they could NOT rely upon their wealth for sustenance or for shelter clothing.

They could not take shelter from this world or from their sin in their wealth. It would fail them in the end.

James’s attention is on the day of God’s judgment against these wealthy oppressors. The misuse of their gold and silver will testify against them.

Instead of using their stockpiles of precious metals to help the poor, they just hoarded the money until it began to waste away.

When God rules against them, their own flesh will be eaten away by fire in the same way the corrosion has eaten away their gold and silver.

Without doubt, this is a harsh and cutting pronouncement. James offers no grace from God for these unrepentant unbelievers.

They will be condemned for their greed and selfishness. They are guilty of laying up earthly treasure for themselves in the last days instead of spending it to help those in need.

James echoes Jesus’ own teaching:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

In Luke 12:13-21,

Jesus narrates the Parable of the Rich Fool

  1. Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
  2. Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
  3. Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
  1. And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
  2. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
  3. “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.
  4. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
  5. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
  6. “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.

Everyone around the world is so busy with their life, running for money, when we see Mumbai city, it is always busy, people rush to office, business place, working so hard to earn money for living,

But money should not become our heart idol,

Lets us always remember that we are here in this world for temporary, we will take nothing out of this world, rather

We should focus on what God want us to do with our life and with our wealth and money.

1 Tim 6:17-19.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they

will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

How do I Manage my wealth wisely

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what He cannot lose. Jim Elliot (missionary to AUCA) @ 28 he was killed by Auca tribe in south America.

Giving up everything it can be money, time, life, family for God’s great work, for His glory.

I think what Jim elliot says is the “wise management”

If we are misusing our wealth we should come to Jesus like Zeccchaius, the tax collector, if i have taken which i am not suppose I will pay back double. because of his sincere repentance Jesus forgive him.

Application:

Church how are you managing your money or wealth God has given you? Are you investing your wealth on earth or

Investing your treasures in Heaven? We should be wise church.

We should not be like heathens who invest possessions in this world.

Colossians 3:1-3 says.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

  • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
  • For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

2.       Don’t cheat anyone, but manage with integrity. (4)

  • For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Here, James charges these abusive rich men not just with neglect and selfishness, but with outright fraud. These wealthy businessmen cheated their own employees out of the wages they had earned working in the fields.

In the Old Testament Law, employers were commanded to pay their laborers at the end of the work day, because the workers needed the money and they might cry out to the Lord if cheated by their employer (Deuteronomy 24:15).

James describes the unpaid money itself as crying out against the oppressive landowners, along with the voices of the workers.

The landowners should be sure of this: Those voices have reached the Lord of Hosts. That name, “Lord of Hosts”, is one often used throughout Scripture in association with God’s judgment.

The Lord commands powerful armies, and He is coming for you, James is saying.

Church lets be careful if we cheat people we will be without excuse, God is looking down He sees, knows all things.

How people cheat each other this days. (my first job was cheating job)

It was a scam company, I work there for more than a year, I was innocent at first but at the end I came to know that it was scam company.

Everyday I have to dial around 400 people every night, I usually talk to 200 people. We sale a product which does not exist.

At the end of the work i feel guilty of cheating and lying many people, charging their credit card with the products that will never reach them.

at last i was so guilty and depressed i give up and repent of my sins. This scam things are going on all over the world.

We also see fraud in many private and public sectors.

Demanding money for job,

My wife Phila was asked 7 lakh for nurse job in Manipur, we denied coz we don’t believe in fraud.

Cheating can be in many ways

Betraying someone, not keeping promises, false promises, unfaithful to spouse. unfaithful to friends and family, unfaithful at work, unfaithful to God.

Illustration:

Judas was cashier among the twelve, he cheat and work without integrity at the end he felt in sin and end up his life is misery.

As Christians, we know that the Bible has many warnings against the dangers of pursuing wealth. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, the apostle Paul warns,

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

“Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people, who makes a fine house but destroys lives, Who cheats his workers and won’t pay them for their work.” Jeremiah 22:13 (MSG)

When we look the live of Joseph in OT ….

Illustration: Joseph was an excellent manger with integrity.

Doing the right things even when no one is watching that is integrity.

He was the incharge of potiphar house he manage with integrity, he did the right things even no one was watching, His faith and integrity was tested many times, but His faith and his integrity didn’t change as a result God raise him higher and higher in his position at the end he was next to his king Pharaoh in Egypt.

Application: Remember church

Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old nature with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is being renewed in full knowledge, consistent with the image of the one who created it.

Proverbs 10:9 People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.

3.        Don’t live selfishly but share generously. (5-6)

  • You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
  • You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

The way we spend our money is very important. James tells his readers that they are spending their money in a wrong way.

“You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:5

We are not to waste our wealth. We are not to be overly self indulgent.

The more money you make the easier it is to waste it. We tend to say, “I deserve it. I’m worth it       I might as well enjoy myself.”

Just because you can afford something does not mean you should buy it. The Bible tells us not to waste our money.

There are millions of ways to spend and squander your money on yourself. But we should always ask, Is that pleasing to God?

The Bible tells us that we are to spend our money wisely. We are to plan how we spend our money. Look at what it says in Proverbs:

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5

The Bible clearly teaches that God is concerned with how we get our money, How we save our money and how we spend our money.

God is concerned with every aspect of our lives and that includes our finances. Are you using them in a way that is pleasing to God?

Are you including God in your financial planning?

He wants to be the center of your life and that includes how you handle your money.

Place God at the center of your life. Make Him Lord of your life. Ask Him to be the center of all that you do to include your finances.

Sharing generously-

Illustration: one of the example is first century believers.

They have deep love for one another, they share whatever they have, they take care of one another, Some even sale their property and use it for God’s ministry.

We need to remember the faith of first century believers and follow their exemplary life, they know all their belongings are from God, and they use it for God glory, we have to learn their generosity and glorify God with our resources God has bless us.

Conclusion: Remember church

We are created in God beautiful image, we are created to worship Him, to serve Him, to live this life for him.

We know because of our sins we were living without hope, we were dead in our sins, we were slave to sin.

But because of God great mercy and great loves, He send His only son to die for our sin, to redeem us from slavery of sins, as we repent our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour,

He purchased us from eternal condemnation, from slavery of sins and gave us new life.

2 Cor. 5:17 says.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We are new creation in christ.

1 Cor 6:19-20.

  1. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
  2. you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Cor 10:31.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Church our life, our wealth, our possession, our everything belongs to Christ. We are here to serve Him, to live for His glory.

Lets use our finance, our wealth wisely for His glory.

  1. let us not treasure greedily but manage wisely. (1-3)
  2. Let not cheat anyone, but manage everything with integrity. (4)
  3. Lets not live selfishly but share generously to all people. (5-6)

May God grant heavenly wisdom to all of you, may God’s name be glorify in your financial life.

May you be the light and salt to the people around you.

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

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Articles

Hamstrung by Porn


There is a popular video on YouTube of this athlete competing in a race where he stops running midway. Shortly after the race starts, he clutches the back of his thigh and goes down on one knee. His face is written with agony and he knew what was wrong. He tore his hamstring.

If you’ve watched or played any kind of sports, you know a hamstring injury can be bad because it puts you out on the sidelines.

I see sin like that sometimes. It’s like an injury that puts you out on the sidelines. Especially something as debilitating and guilt inflicting as the sin of pornography use. Considering its addictive nature and how it affects us, pornography use is bad for the Christian.

It affects us not only physically but emotionally and spiritually too, and there are three ways I think it does that:

 1) It affects, firstly, our sight towards God’s beauty. The Bible speaks of the beauty of God, his character, his attributes, his infinite nature, his power, his majesty and his love through Jesus Christ. The sun, moon and stars all declare the glory of God. Porn use blinds us and inhibits our capacity to enjoy and appreciate this God.

2) It makes us selfish. Porn use brings with it the inevitable guilt and shame. While we’re dealing with these avalanche of emotions, we tend not to look beyond our current predicament, but inwards. This affects all our relationships including relations with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As an important part of the local body of believers (our church), we are needed.

Porn use makes us selfish where we’re hiding ourselves from others, either to prevent exposing the sin or to try to deal with it privately.

3) A third insidious effect of porn use is how we look at women. Our sinful tendency to lust after women, in real life and on screen, is amplified with porn use. Porn shows women as objects to be taken advantage of or as nothing beyond flesh and bone that wants to have sex.

Unbeknown to us, our thoughts are trained to objectify women the more we use porn. This is tragic when we do this to our sisters in Christ and fellow image bearers of God.

Using porn is a serious sin and a problem. However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Christian. There is hope.

Hope for the Christian

Yes, as born again followers of Jesus, we have hope. The strength to overcome this sin was made available when Jesus died on the cross, for it says in 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

When Jesus died and rose again, and after we put our faith in him, we died to our former ways and are now alive with Christ to live a life of righteousness and purity.

With this new identity as children of God, we can now pursue him. And we ought to pursue him with all our might. God has chosen a few disciplines to follow in order for us to “live to righteousness”, and these disciplines are both private and public.

1) The private disciplines to pursue God is through reading and meditating on the Bible and through prayer. We must be hearing this for the umpteenth time but let me share something that I’ve been told by someone who’s been discipling me: Bible and prayer is meant to help us know and love Jesus.

Bible study and prayer is done to grow in love and appreciation for Christ. It’s through this that God reveals himself, shapes us to be like him, confronts our sin and reassures our heart. Make this a habit. Even if the Bible and prayer hasn’t been making sense, don’t skip it, it’s too precious.

2) The public disciplines would be to participate actively in the life of the church. This means being there for Sunday morning services, being part of small groups, being discipled and discipling someone and reaching out to those who don’t know Christ.

How does following all this help? We get to hear God’s Word being preached, sing songs to him, be involved in the lives of fellow church members, build life-giving friendship that provide a place for accountability, gives us the chance to help another grow in Christ and help to reach a world that needs Jesus.
The need for all these public disciplines cannot be reiterated enough.

These private and public disciplines don’t save us, of course, but it is God’s appointed means for us to pursue him and kill sin.

The Fight Goes On

I’ve been hamstrung by porn far too many times than I can count, and I’ve been affected in the same ways that I wrote about. Yet the God who sanctifies is faithful and has shown me grace through the same disciplines I mentioned.

If we are in Christ, we are never out of the boundaries of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Let us make it our aim – as we fight on to overcome and kill this sin – to worship and behold God like Paul did: “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)

This article first appeared on Quiricus

Categories
Articles

Delight in You

Be my highest desire Lord
May I delight in You alone
The Eternal one

My soul tends to cling to the earth that is fleeting
Open my eyes to see Your Beauty
Help me understand Your Love and Sacrifice
That I longed for all along

This soul can only be satisfied in You
My Creator God
Not in the world that leaves me wanting more
So let me treasure You only

The length and breadth and depth of Your love
Displayed on the cross of Calvary
Where You gave Your all
In love for me
Came back to life and promised eternity

So may my roots grow deep in You
By loving You with all of me
I know You’re worthy of my adoration and worship
Faithful One who will never leave

If I hope in a man they will pass
If I hope in my works it won’t last
If I hope in things it will soon perish

All my earthly gains are a loss
Compared to the surpassing worth of knowing You
Yes You are my greatest gain
So May I be found in You

Make my heart a fertile ground to yield to You
May I be like a tree planted by Your living waters
Full of life and bearing fruit in You
May Your law be my light that guides my wandering soul to You
May your law show your love for me

And bind my Heart to Yours
Keeping it wouldn’t be a burden when I know it’s your loving protection
And when storms come crashing in
May I stand rooted and grounded in You

My Lord,
My Rock &
My Redeemer!

Categories
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.

Categories
Sermon

Why does God allow trials?: James 1:2-4

Good morning, dearest brothers and sisters. How are you all doing today? It’s been more than 4 months since we last met and we do not know how long we will be meeting like this but we pray that God would do a miracle in bringing the situation under control.

Brothers and sisters, I believe each one of us have been going through a very trying season – in one way or the other – and now, much more than ever, we long and yearn for one another’s prayers and support.

Let me assure you, my Beloved Brethren – He who cares for the birds of the air – how much more will He care for you and me – His children.

The Psalmist declares –

Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Let not your faith bog down during this period of anxiety and uncertainty and pain and sickness and sorrow and fear –

He who fed the prophet Elijah during the famine – sending the ravens with food to eat and provided for the widow to feed him daily –

That same God cares for you too! Let not your anxiety draw you away from the plan and purpose that God has for your life – through this period of trial.

Brothers and sisters, as you all know – lately – we concluded a series on “Abiding faith” from 1 Thessalonians and began a series on “Faith in action” from the book of James. Let us look at our passage for today:

James 1:2-4 – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Let us pray.

I read of an incident written by a man named Dr. Parnell Bailey – “I once visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water.

The man giving the tour then took me to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. “These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks,” he said.

“You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture.

Now, mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.”

Beloved, James begins his epistle with a rather strange command – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds”.

He felt no need to start with an introduction – because probably the recipients of this letter – who were dispersed across different parts of the world – were all going through some tough times – not just for their faith in Jesus Christ – but also “trials of various kinds” as mentioned by James.

Is it not the same with many of us today – the children of God in this world are indeed going through “trials of various kinds”.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 34:19 –

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers Him out of them all.” Note that the trials of the righteous are not just one or two – but “many” – of “various” kinds.

And James doesn’t say “if you meet trials of various kinds” but he says – “when you meet trials of various kinds” – thus emphasising that each of us would go through trials of various kinds.

But he adds this small phrase – “Count it all joy” – when you go through trials of various trials. That’s where it gets tough.

You are going through a painful trial in your life and the Bible commands us – to count it all joy – not because it is a joyful experience – no

it is painful – it is excruciating – it is taking away all your energy – physically, emotionally and spiritually – yet even through that – the Bible commands us to count it all joy!

Why?

Why should I rejoice and be joyful when I am going through a painful experience?

That doesn’t make sense at all to the natural man. For the natural man – moments of joy are only when something nice happens like – getting high grades, getting a good job, having a great house, having a good spouse, getting a kid, buying a good car, getting lots of money, having a relaxed lifestyle.

Well, though these are nice happy things to have – the spiritual man’s joy is not dependent on any of these. That is why he is told to count it all joy when he meets trials of various kinds.

So, why should he count it as joy? –

Let us try understanding that through the passage and if you haven’t been able to count your trials as all joy –

I pray that God would open your spiritual eyes this morning to see His love in allowing us to go through various trials.

I would like to title my sermon as “Why does God allow trials?” And I want to show you through the text how God allows trials in our lives so as to accomplish 3 things:

  1. God allows trials in our lives so that He may test our faith
  2. God allows trials in our lives so that through the testing of faith – we may be steadfast
  3. God allows trials in our lives so that through steadfastness – we may be perfect

And these 3 come – one after the other.

This is the chronology –

Testing our faith -> steadfastness -> perfection

And when we understand the why – we will be able to count it all joy – when we meet trials of various kinds

1. God allows trials in our lives so that He may test our faith

James says – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” When I meet trials of various kinds, God is testing my faith.

When I first read this – I started thinking – Doesn’t God really know me already – doesn’t he know my faith? Yes. Then why does He need to test my faith? And that thought came to me because I had a wrong understanding of spiritual “testing”.

We have a test or an interview (in the natural sense) – to evaluate the other person. But spiritual testing is not for God to evaluate you or to understand how much is your faith.

No.

God knows it already. But spiritual testing is for you to know yourself – your faith? Beloved, we as human beings – even after being children of God – we have a high view of ourselves and our faith.

We think we are strong in faith just like Peter when he told Jesus – “Even if everyone else falls away, I will not fall away.

I am ready to go with you even to prison and to death” – and what did Jesus reply – “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me thrice”.

Well, Jesus knew Peter very well and the depth of his faith but Peter didn’t know himself and God allowed Peter to go through the trial of temptation so that Peter could see his own frailty. Brothers and sisters – “God’s will for us is our sanctification”. 

And Sanctification can truly happen only when you understand how inadequate you are and how weak your faith is. Without knowing your own wretchedness, you will not be able to depend upon God – who is our source of sanctification and holiness.

And how does God make you understand your frailty – by testing your faith. And how does he test your faith – by allowing you to meet trials of various kinds.

When you go through persecution for Christ’s name sake – you see your own fear and anxiety and depend on God for boldness. When you get a sickness – you see your own need for depending on God for strength.

When you get a tough boss – you see how much your heart hates to submit to authority and how restless you become. When your work gets too pressurizing – you see how you lose all your rest and peace.

When you lose your job – you see how dependent you were on your job instead of God – who takes care of your future and your career. When you lose money – you see how much you loved money.

When you meet a difficult brother or sister – you see the lack of love for him/her in your own heart. When your partner does a mistake or your kids do something wrong – you see how easily you get angry.

When Jesus and his disciples went in a boat to cross over from one side to another – there was a storm and the boat seemed to be toppling. Jesus was fast asleep. But his disciples became black and blue.

They frantically called Jesus to wake up. He woke up and silenced the storm and then turned to the disciples and asked –

“Why were you so fearful? Where is your faith?”

That was a test – to show them their own hearts that even though they had the creator of the seas and the storms with them on the boat – yet their faiths were so shallow and fear ruled their hearts during trying times.

Beloved, God allows trials to show how weak and fragile and sinful you are in yourselves and how much you need to depend on God and His faithfulness.

Let me add one more thing here – testing of your faith is not just to show you how much your faith is lacking – but also to show you how much your God is faithful when you cling to Him.

Think about the same storm in which the disciples were so fearful – in the midst of their helplessness and hopelessness and fear – they saw that Jesus with one word silenced the storms and that the storms and seas were subject to Him.

There is a beautiful song which I love to sing time and time again – “Through every trial – each test and temptation – one thing is sure every time – Over and over – again and again – God is faithful!” God allows trials in your life so that through the testing of your faith – you would grow in your knowledge of the faithfulness of God! Now does it make sense why James says – Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds? But let me go on to my next point –

2. God allows trials in our lives so that through the testing of faith – we may be steadfast

James says in verse 3 – “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”.

Beloved, through the testing of our faith – a wonderful nature is developed in the heart of a Christian maturing through trials – steadfastness. When you google steadfastness – it gives you this meaning – resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

This again gives a wrong picture of Biblical steadfastness. This dictionary meaning of steadfastness makes us imagine a huge giant like man – who is firm and unwavering and ready to take every fight in the face.

Sadly – such giants fall off in this spiritual battle like Goliath who fell down on his face. The true picture of spiritual steadfastness is a weak man hidden behind a huge fort or a refuge.

His strength is not in Himself but in that which he takes refuge in. He is steadfast – firm and unwavering – because he has learnt through his tests and trials and temptations to rely not on the arm of flesh but on the arm of the Almighty God.

Hallelujah! God tests us time and time again – and when we think we won’t fall – He allows us to fall on our faces and then He picks us up and dusts us and cleanses us and then says – “Try again – but this time – trust in Me.”

Beloved, that is true steadfastness – learning through each trial, each test and temptation – to rely on God and draw strength from Him. Think about that little boy David when he came to fight against Goliath – David had no trust in sword and shield but his trust was in the name of the Lord.

He says in Psalm 91:2 – I will say to the Lord “You are my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” And indeed, such a man or a woman – will be firm like a mountain – steadfast – even when trials rock and roll – even when storms beat all around – His heart abides in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, we need more such steadfast men and women in our midst. Men and women – who trust God unconditionally! Those who don’t run away after a failure!

Those who don’t give up after a string of failures in their sanctification journey! Those whose roots keep growing deeper and deeper into God – until God is all that they have!

Their joy no longer stems from the things of this world – the temporal blessings of this life – but their joy is from Him – rooted and grounded in Him – madly in love with the person of Jesus Christ.

Ah! How will we get such steadfast men and women? Only through trials and tests!

Much before our marriage, I fell in love with Abiah – my wife – and I felt nobody in the whole world could love her as much as I could. And I felt there was no greater love than that which I experienced for her before my marriage.

We have now completed 3.5 years and I now feel that that love before marriage was very shallow. Today – that love seems like nothing. Because that love was untested! It hadn’t faced the day by day trials and failures that every relationship and marriage goes through.

But through every trial and failure, God helped us to love each other and trust each other more and more and even understand each other even in silence and storms.

The trials and struggles we went through led us into greater steadfastness and dependence on God. But the point that I wish to emphasize is that our love 3.5 years ago was an untested love – and that untested love is very shallow – even if it has a lot of words and show and pomp.

Similarly an untested Christian is an unstable Christian even if he sings the best songs and preaches the best sermons. That is why in the verses that follow – James talks about an unstable man – who doubts and wavers like the waves of the sea – such is the condition of an untested man – whose roots have not gone in deep and hence there is no steadfastness.

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters – count it all joy – when you go through trials of various kinds – for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness – a resolutely firm and unwavering steadfastness in God. Let me hurry on to my last point –

3. God allows trials in our lives so that through steadfastness – we may be perfect

James doesn’t stop with steadfastness – rather he says in verse 4 – “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Through testing of our faith – we understand our frailty and God’s faithfulness. It then leads to steadfastness in trusting God and depending on Him. But steadfastness can have its full effect when we become perfect and complete – lacking nothing.

What is this perfection and completeness that James is talking about? It is that perfection which God brings about in our lives through the trials that He allows us to meet with.

And that perfection doesn’t mean absolute perfection but perfection in that which the trial was intended to test. When a student passes a test in the 3rd grade – he is perfected according to the standards of a 3rd grade child.

He then goes to 4th grade and will face a bigger test according to 4th Grade. Hence, let us not assume this as absolute perfection but a perfection in that which we were tested in.

And this perfection which James is talking about – I believe – refers to spiritual maturity. The maturity that comes when we meet with various trials. Beloved, God perfects his people in holiness and purity and spiritual maturity through the trials that we meet – day by day.

And it is so very amazing to see fellow brothers and sisters who have come out of a time of extreme trying. We think they will be frustrated and discouraged. No. Not at all. They would be the ones who through their trials have their roots gone deeper into God.

Those who – through their brokenness and constant struggles – have learned to trust in God. And they are the ones whom God can work through. Think about Moses in the Old Testament – you would think that the best time for God to work through Him for His people’s deliverance was when Moses was the Prince in Pharaoh’s house.

And Moses himself thought the same. He went out and killed an Egyptian who was trying to beat a fellow Israelite. But that led to more problem. He had to run away from Egypt. He finally landed up in the house of Jethro and fed sheep for 40 years until he became an old man – broken and bruised through His trials and struggles.

When God meets him at the burning bush – he is a man who is so aware of his weaknesses – “I am a man of stammering lips. Why will people believe me now? Can you not send someone else instead of me”.

And God looks at him and goes – “Ah, here is my perfect candidate – a broken man – who has no trust on himself – now I can show him My power.”

Isn’t that the same case with all the men and women of God whom we know throughout history – the apostle Paul said that he asked God 3 times to take away the thorn which was there in his flesh? But God said – “No, Paul – My Grace is sufficient for you.

My strength is perfected in your weakness.” Beloved, the world’s definition of strength and maturity is warped and unproductive. In God’s eyes, a perfect man or a perfect woman is one who has had his/her faith tested so much so that he/she is now steadfast in the Lord and through steadfastness is now being perfected in God.

And that is why dear brothers and sisters, even though our trials seem painful – James encourages us to count it all joy knowing that through the testing of our faith we may become steadfast and perfect.

Beloved, I am sure many of those who are hearing me are going through various trials and I know not what are you going through this morning – but I want to plead with you – to ask God to make you steadfast in Him and perfected in Him – through what you are going through.

When you suffer, remember this – you suffer trials in the presence of God – He knows exactly what you are going through – He is there in your boat – apparently sleeping while you struggle – but that’s not true.

He is the 4th man who enters the fire when 3 of God’s servants were being burnt. He allowed that trial in your life – because He loves you!

Oh – how I wish I could scream that out to you – He allowed that trial in your life – because He loves you – and whom He loves – He chastens – not to destroy you but to make you steadfast and to perfect you.

Beloved – count it all joy! Rejoice! You are suffering before the face of God orchestrated by the purpose of God for the purpose of your sanctification and perfection.

Amen!

Categories
Hebrews Sermon

To find Rest in God- Hebrews 4:1-11

The topic I have chosen to explore today is called “To find Rest in God”, and the passage we are looking at is Hebrews 4:1-11.

The reason I chose this topic is because I am personally experiencing the rest of God in my heart since last couple of months and thought it would be of great benefit to all of you, especially in a difficult time as this.

What I mean by “rest” in God is not the physical rest we experience in our body but the spiritual rest we experience when we are in the perfect will of God where we are experiencing His joy and peace regardless of the situation we are in.

To not be at rest would mean a lot of things, let me highlight some of it here…

  1. When we are constantly & regularly gripped with fear and anxiety in our hearts when we look at out present situation or when we think about our future, we could say that our hearts are not at rest.
  2. When we are constantly living a guilt driven life because of our sinful acts, which then causes us to become ineffective in our pursuit and purposes of God, we could say that our hearts are not at rest.
  3. When we are constantly having feelings of hopelessness, loneliness and depression, where we end up hiding from God and from others, we could say that our hearts are not at rest.

I believe the passage from Hebrews 4:1-11 give us the wonderful view of this rest, it warns us as well us brings to light the reasons why we fail to enter God’s rest.

Verse 1 begins with the affirmation that “the promise of entering His rest still stands”, which means that as children to enter the rest of God is not a far thing, it is not an impossible state to achieve.

Isn’t it encouraging to know that even after our human heart sinned against God in the garden of Eden, where we disobeyed his commandments and chose to be god over our own life displaying pride and rebellioness, our loving Father still pursued us and through the life, death and ressurection of His son Jesus Christ opens a way for us enter His rest.

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”.

The Rest of God therefore, is a state, or place, where God rules in our heart through his son Jesus, frees from the chaos and disorder brought about by sin and rebellion. Also giving us rest from our own self-efforts of bringing our own life in control, but instead allowing our hearts to totally trust and depend on God for everything.

The possiblity of entering God’s perfect rest, made possible through Jesus is the greatest expression His mercy, His grace and His Love for sinful people like us.

But sadly, even though the door is open for us we still fail to enter the rest of God. In verse 6 Paul speaks of people who have “formerly received the good news but still fail to enter into rest”. Could that be us?

How sad it is when even though knowing that entering God’s rest is a possibility we stay away from that rest because of our hardened hearts.

Hebrews 4:1 the second part Paul says “let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to enter the rest of God”

In verse 11 Pauls writes “let us strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall due to disobedience”

In Hebrews 3:8-11 tells us of how God reacted in the Old Testament when his people hardened theirs hearts.

Thank God that he does not react the way he reacted in the olden times, but because of Jesus His heart towards us is softened and merciful, accepting us with all our failures and mistakes. And therefore, the greatest stumbling block for us today is not that God is angry with us and have shut the door on our face, but rather it is our hardened hearts that is the reason why we fail to enter God’s rest.

Here’s are two reasons how our hardened hearts stop us from entering God’s rest …

1. Through disbelief

In verse 2 & 3 Paul writes “2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Friends, the number one reason why we fail to enter God’s rest is disbelief.

Disbelief in God’s provison for all our needs through His son Jesus Christ

Disbelief that our future isn’t safe and secure in the hands of our loving Father who knows the end from the beginning, which is why we allow our hearts to be gripped with fear and anxiety when things dont go our way.

Disbelief that through the life, death and ressurection of Christ we are no more slaves to our sinful passions but rather are slaves to righteousness and that there is a place where we can expereince total freedom from such desires.

Disbelief that God is near us to always comfort, protect, consoul, emphatize when we experience feeling of hopelessness and loneliness on our hearts.

It was disbelief in the hearts of the Isaralite’s, when they spend their time and energy complaining, grumbling and seeking their own pleasures that kept them from entering the promised land, the place of rest in God.

To rest in God is not just a choice we have but it is a command, to be obeyed and perfected every single day of our lives. Sabbath rest is a command from God – to do nothing, no work, no pressure … but a total surrender to God.

How many of us would confidently take such a rest without worrying about tommorrow, without looking at the laptop, without looking at the screen for satisfaction… but only look to God with an unwavering faith in Him.

If you think its impossible for you to take out such a day in a week, then you need to ask a very important question. Are you resting in God or on your self.

2. Through disobedience

Verse 6 Paul writes “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience”

The second way in which our hardened hearts stop us from entering God’s rest is through disobedience.

Here I’m not talking about the disobedience that happens unknowingly, but the disobedience of the heart where we knowlingly, with our full concience rebel and do exactly the opposite of what God commanded not to do in the scriptures.

The decisions we made with relationship choices.

The decisions we make with the kind of job we chose.

The decisione we make to keep company with the kind of friends.

The decisions we make to spend out time during the day.

The decisions we make in moving places.

The decisions we make to stay away from having Godly fellowsip.

The decisions we make in chosing what to listen.

Our disobedince in not paying attention to God when he is speaking to us through scrpitures, through sermons like these, through family & friends.

Our disobedeince in not repenting our sins when the Holy Spirt convicts out heart.

Our disobedeince in pursuing the world and its pleasure instead of pursuing God.

Our disobedeince of filling our minds with ungodly content when instead we should be filling our minds with godly things.

Brothers & sisters, disobedeince will always keep us from entering the rest of God. Therefore, let us watch our lives in light of the scriptures.

To rest in God should be our ultimate goal because it is in the resting place that we will experience the breakthrough’s in life we’ve always desired, it is in the resting place we will be fully satisfied will all good things from heaven, it is in the resting place we will experience complete freedom from all our past sinful tendencies and habits, it is in the resting place we will feel no more lonely or deprived of any good thing.

Therefore, let us strive to enter that rest and not allow out hardened hearts to disbelief or disobey God who is gracious, merciful and loving towards us.

Categories
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

Heavenly Helper: 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Good morning!

This morning it is my privilege to bring God’s word to you.

While watching the movie Aladdin, have you ever wished or dreamt having the lamp and the genie?

I have and I’m assuming most of us had. Well, I’m here to tell you that we have access to someone, who is even greater than a genie, one who is all-powerful and all-knowing helper from heaven, the Holy Spirit.

In real life, genie doesn’t exist but the Holy Spirit does exist, unlike the genie, the Holy Spirit doesn’t grant us any wish our sinful & selfish heart desires to have, but instead carefully grants only those that bring real joy, the ones that are in accordance to God’s will for our lives, and also He is not limited to just three wishes.

Our passage today is from 1 Thessalonians 5:19 where Paul writes to the Church saying,

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

In my sermon today my goal is to point our hearts to the third person in the trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the mistakes we make when we quench or ignore Him in our spiritual walk as a Christian.

The God we worship is a triune God. There are no three God’s, there is only one God but in three forms, God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit. I won’t go into depth to explain this concept, we can do that some other day. But remember this, throughout the Bible, we see the mention of God in all three forms and with equal emphasis.

Jesus said in John 10:30
“I and the Father are one”

In John 14:9 he said
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”

2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul writes
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”

These verses and many others give us evidence of this triune God.

The thing to remember here is that the Holy Spirit is not a feeling but He is a person.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon God’s people only to accomplish some particular task, but in the new covenant, after Christ redeemed us from Sin and death, cleansed us from all our iniquities, and declared us righteous through the breaking of his body and shedding of His blood, a new experience has been given to you.

Before Jesus was taken into heaven he told his disciples in John 15:26“I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father.

And on the day of Pentecost a great transaction took place, the Spirit of God came down to dwell among us, in us, forever. And since then, everyone who receives Jesus as their personal saviour and Lord, the Spirit immediately makes our heart his dwelling place.

In Galatians 4:6 Paul writes
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

The above passage suggests that the indwelling of the Spirit in us is the evidence that we are His.

There is also no separate baptism of the Holy Spirit. What happened on the day of Pentecost was a one-time transaction from how people experienced the Holy Spirit in the Old covenant and how we will experience Him in the New covenant. If there was a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit the scripture would have taught us.

The reality is, the day we gave our lives to Jesus the Spirit of God made his dwelling in us. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul reminds the church saying
16 Do you not know that you[a] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? Holy Spirit is the Heavenly Helper we receive as a gift from God on the day of our Salvation.

In our passage today, Paul is telling the church “Do not quench the Spirit”

And what we understand from this passage is that even though the Spirit lives within us there is a possibility of us quench its fire from helping us progress and grow in our Christian walk, in fact we are making a greatest blunder when we are not taking the help of our Heavenly Helper who is all-powerful and all-knowing.

In this sermon I want to point out three most important outworking of the Holy Spirit in our live that which we shouldn’t ignore or quench. Quenching the Spirit in these three areas means to STOP progressing in our Christian walk.

1. PRESENCE

One of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to help us experience the Presence of God, and also take us deeper in it, enabling us to have a deep and intimate relationship with the Father. We should never quench the Holy Spirit from doing that.

In the first place, we have to remember that it was the Spirit of God that opened our eyes to the Gospel and led us to repentance from our sins and faith in Jesus.

In John 16:8-9 Jesus revealed it to us

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

After our salvation, to continually experience the presence of God, to grow deeper in relationship with the Father, to constantly been convicted (Ehsas) of our sin, reminded of God’s Holy judgement and sacrifice of Son Jesus on the cross for our redemption. Unlike what most of us think that it is our decision and choice, the reality is that it is Spirit of God in us that does that work.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 Paul writes

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Brothers & sisters, to live and experience the presence of God is the greatest blessing a believer can have in our spiritual walk. To experience Him as our comforter when we are in trouble, to know Him as our provider when we are in need, to know Him as our healer when we are sick, is the most fulfilling experiences to have in our Christian journey.

And all this is only made possible because of the Spirit’s work in our heart. When we isolate ourselves and close the door on God and from others, when we stop hearing from God through scripture and through His preached word, when we ignore a faithful friend who brings rebuke and correction in our lives, we are shutting the door to all the means through which the Spirit of God is bringing conviction into our hearts and drawing near to God. We shut the door to living in the PRESENCE of God, which in fact is the essence of our Christian life.

Psalms 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Brothers & sisters, let us not quench the Holy Spirit from living and experiencing the presence of God.

2. PURPOSE

Another primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help us fulfil the God given purposes in our lives.

The ultimate goal of every child of God is to Glorify God by participating in His Kingdom work of redeeming His chosen people on earth who are living in darkness and to bring them into the light.

Ephesians 1:11

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And though our purpose is one, which is to glorify God but the journey we all take are unique ones. Some are called to glorify God by becoming missionaries and pastors and evangelists, some are called to glorify God by becoming doctors, engineers, architects, film makes etc. 

And to take these unique journeys we need unique giftings, skills and talents, so that ultimately we glorify God and participate in the extension of Kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel and lifting up Jesus.

The Holy Spirit grants with a variety of gifts, from natural abilities to Spiritual ones. Most people misunderstand the Spiritual gifts, they make them their goals instead of looking at them as means to fulfil the greater goal. God gives particular gifts to particular people and we don’t control that. Just because another person has a particular gift doesn’t mean you should also have it. Yes, we do ask God for gifts but ultimately we trust in His provision for each individual, we celebrate the unique gifts he has given to us.

Brothers & sisters, it is the Spirit of God who reveals and equips us to fulfil the purposes of God in our lives.

And when we fail to give heed to the nudgings of the Spirit when He asks us to choose a certain career, move to a certain a place, not move to a certain place, give yourself up for a certain task that may sound and look foolish and unreasonable at times, we are quenching the Spirit of God from helping us fulfil God’s purposes for our lives.

Brothers & sisters, let us know quench the Spirit when He is leading us into a certain direction in our lives to fulfil God’s purposes. And how do we know whether it is the right direction to go, we will know because the road will ultimately lead to us into glorifying God and participate in His Kingdom work.

3. POWER

Yes, of course the task set ahead of us is a tough one, in our human capacities, we will never be able to complete this gigantic task. We need courage, we need self-control, we need wisdom, we need Power. The good news is that God provides us the Power we need to accomplish great things for Him.

Firstly, the Gospel comes with Power. 1 Thessalonians 1:5

because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

The definition of Power is to have the capability to influence behaviour and events. And I believe the greatest need for Power in our life is to influence our self-destructive nature, our Self is the greatest enemy that stands between God and us. The Power we need is primarily to overcome our Self.

God wants us to seek for the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of power in our heart and life, to conquer Self and cast out sin, and to work the blessed and beautiful image of Jesus into us.

Brothers & sisters, when we fail to fully surrender every aspect of our lives into the hands of our Saviour Jesus we are quenching the Spirit of God from empowering us with His strength and His abilities. As long as we are holding on to things and controlling it the way we desire we are blocking the Spirit to take full control of the situation and allow to experience the joy of the Lord.

Let us not quench the Spirit from experiencing God’s in our Lives.

Finally, as I end, I want to bring to your attention the biggest mistake we make that eventually leads us to quenching the Spirit’s work on our lives. The mistake is our failure to Wait on Him.

We read a wonderful passage that brings immediate joy but fail to reflect on it deeply and allow the Holy Spirit to convict us because we have other things to do. We hear a great sermon but we fail to allow the spoken word to take deep roots by spending time in introspection by communing with Holy Spirit.

Friends, we have not learned enough to wait upon Him, and so we should make a solemn declaration before God; Oh God, we want to wait more for You to show us Your will.

You may ask, is it really possible to experience life with the Holy Spirit and clearly hear Him speak and guide me in my day-to-day life. The answer is “Yes, it is possible to those who are in right fellowship with Heaven, and who understands the art of waiting upon God in prayer”

Psalms 27:14 David encourages to wait on the Lord saying

Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Lamentations 3:25

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.

Isaiah 40:31

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Brothers & sisters, what would it means for you to wait on the HolySpirit every day of your life.

What would it mean to wait on the Lord once every week, maybe in fasting in prayer so you can align your years to the great comforter and helper.

What would it mean to take a break, in a month from work and ministry, maybe for a couple of days to separate yourself to fully focus your heart on God and allow the Spirit of God to experience the presence of God, guide you in the purposes of God and equip you the Power of God, so you can fully live for the Glory of God.

I’m leaving this to you to answer, and hope you will take out time and think deeply about these things.

Let’s pray.

Categories
1 Thessalonians Sermon

Do Not Quench the Spirit – 1 Thessalonian 5:19

Good morning Beloved church, it is truly a joy and privilege to see all of you. Thank you so much for taking out your time, I pray that God will truly bless all us as we spent time together worshipping God and listening to His words.


Today we shall continue our book study from Thessalonians, our text for today is 1 Thessalonian 5:19.


“Do not quench the Spirit” this is our text for this morning.


The root word for “quench” which means “to extinguish,” “to put out” or “to go out.” It also refer to putting out fires, sparks, or the putting out a lamp.


Church the day we repent our sins and received Christ as our Lord and saviour; The bible says Holy Spirit sealed us and He permanently dwells in us and He is working in our heart like a burning fire.


Knowing the works of Holy Spirit Apostle Paul Urge Thessalonian church that they should not Quench the Holy Spirit. This text is reminding all of us too that we should not quench the Holy Spirit.

To understand the text, “Do not quench the Spirit”, we shall ask four important questions.

  1. Who is the Holy Spirit?
  2. What are the works of the Holy Spirit?
  3. How believers may quench the Holy Spirit?
  4. What are the consequences of Quenching the Holy Spirit?
  5. Who is the Holy Spirit?

There are many misconceptions about the identity of the Holy Spirit. Some view the Holy Spirit as a mystical force or power.

Others understand the Holy Spirit as the impersonal power that God makes available to followers of Christ. These are wrong.

The truth is The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son and is of the same essence. Yet He is also distinct from them.

1. Who is the Holy Spirit?

  1. Holy Spirit is a person (He is the third person of Trinity).

Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, a being with a mind, emotions, and a will.

Holy Spirit thinks and knows (1 Cor.2:10).
Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesian 4:30)
Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27).
He makes decisions according to His will (1Cor 12:7-11).

2. Holy Spirit is God.

The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is God. we know that the Holy Spirit is God because He possesses the characteristics of God.

For example, His omnipresence is seen in Psalm 139:7-8

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

Isaiah 11:2, the prophet describes the Holy Spirit this way. He says,

“He is the Spirit of the Lord, He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

2. What are the works of Holy Spirit?

a. Holy Spirit draws the unsaved sinner to Jesus.

Holy Spirit plays a primary role in transforming a person’s heart and bringing salvation to the individual.

It is the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever and causes him to see the truth of the gospel in a clear light.

Those who respond to this conviction and place their faith in Jesus Christ receive eternal life and a new nature.

Holy Spirit unites the believer with Christ and places him in the body of Christ, the church.

He also unites the believer with Christ in His death, enabling him to live victoriously over sin.

Application:

As a church, our Primary role is to keep praying for the lost soul for their salvation and keep spreading the good news of Christ to all people around us.

b. Holy Spirit regenerates our human Spirits.

Regeneration which means The radical spiritual change in which God brings an individual from a condition of spiritual defeat and death to a renewed condition of holiness and life.


Titus 3: 5 says.
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit moves an unbeliever and regenerate their heart to repentance and leads them into eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.

c. Holy Spirit Convict both unbelievers and believers.

John14:8.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment


An unbeliever cannot get saved unless they are first convicted by the Holy Spirit. It is through the work of Holy Spirit our sins were convict and we repent and turn our heart to the Lord.

For born-again believers, we all need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. so we can be shown the errors of our ways.

d.Holy Spirit sanctifies us in the Lord.

2 Thess.2:13.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Once you get saved and born again in the Lord, God starts to sanctify you and me, what He will do is consecrate and set us apart unto Himself. From there, He will want to transform us by the renewing of our mind, He will want to transform us into the image of His Son Jesus.

e. Holy Spirit helps us with our prayer life.

Romans 8:26.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Another major powerful ministry that the Holy Spirit has with each born-again believer is to help us with our prayer life with the Lord.

f. Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.

John 16:13.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.


He is our guide


g. Holy Spirit teaches us all things.


John14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

He is our Teacher.

The Holy Spirit is doing an incredible by Illuminating the scriptures to all of us; bringing you and me into intimacy with God; showing all of us the glory of Jesus Christ, guiding you and me into God’s will; strengthening you and me for spiritual ministry, and service.

Holy Spirit purifies us, sanctifies us, cleanses us from all the pollution of sins toward the image of Jesus Christ.

3. How believers may quench the Holy Spirit?

By Neglecting the gift of Holy Spirit.

If we neglect the gift of Spirit, we will quench the Holy Spirit.


1 Timothy 4:14

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Illustration:
In Old testament there a prophet call Jonah, God told Jonah to go and warn and preach to the people of Nineveh for their wicked life.

But Jonah was afraid of Nineveh people and he ran away from his duty, God caught him in the middle of the sea, he was trying to escape to Tarsus, his sin was found, he was thrown in the ocean and the whale swallow him.

He was in a whale belly for 3 days God allowed him to live again. Remember church if we try to neglect our duty and responsibility and try to run away like Jonah, we will quench Holy Spirit. We should not stop the work of Holy Spirit in our life.


Application:
Let us not be like Jonah. (let us not run away from the task and the purpose God has given us in our life).


1 Cor.15:59 says,
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

By Disobedience to the word of God and living an unrepented life. How do we Disobey to the word of God?


by not reading the word of God,
by not applying the word of God, by living prayerless life,
by living an unfruitful life. By being worry and anxiety,
by not growing spiritually. by depending on our self and not God.
By being proud and not humble.

After living a sinful life, and when we do not repent our sins to God, our unrepented heart will quench the Holy Spirit.


Application:
Are you quenching the Holy Spirit by living a disobedient and unrepented life. If we are displeasing God lets repent our sinful behavior to God.


1 John 1:9 says,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

  1. By being worldliness and living a life devoted to self and selfish hopes.
    Bible directly confront us in 1 John 2:15-16.
    1 John 2:15-16
    Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world.

    If your,
    1.vision in life,
    2. your wildest dream in life,
    3. your career and
    4. the things you are running after in life,

    if all these things are alien to God’s will. You are going toward the wrong direction in life, your selfish ambition and your hope and your self-desire will Quench the Holy Spirit.

Application:
How are you maintaining life?

Loving God, serving God, worshipping God is controlling your life or
Worldliness, living a life devoted to self-desires and self-hope is controlling your life.

You know exactly where your heart is.

Scriptures is warning you and me in Romans 12:1-2 saying,

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. 2Do 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.

4. What are the consequences of quenching the Holy Spirit?

First Consequence…
1.God will not use us anymore.
We have great lesson from the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-5. They Backslide from living God and God is warning them. Verse 2.

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.


God will never use us if we are habitually living in sin, a warning to Ephesian church is a great warning for all of us, they are working hard for God, they have perseverance, they didn’t tolerate wicked people, they know the false teachers, they endure hardship and working so hard for God.

But they have forsaken the first love. Means Jesus is not no.1 in their life, some other things have replaced their priority in life.


God is warning them to come back, if not He will remove lampstand which the spiritual gift in their life.


If God take away His spiritual gift, we will not be useful for God’s Kingdom. Our life will be useless and inactive.

Your life will be like a nice smartphone. Looks cool outside but did not work. What you will do with that kind of phone.


2.We shall sin both against God and our own souls.

When we quench the Holy Spirit, we sin against God and we sin to our own soul.

3.We will not bear the fruit of Holy Spirit.


God want us to bear the fruit of Spirit in our life.

Galatian 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

4.We will make the Holy Spirit grieve.


Ephesians 4:30:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Conclusion:


Church we have mediatated together four questions under the topic
“Do not quench the Holy Spirit”

  1. Who is the Holy Spirit? (remember Holy Spirit is a person and Holy Spirit is God).
  2. What are the Works of the Holy Spirit?
  3. How believers may Quench the Holy Spirit?
  4. What are the consequences of quenching the Holy Spirit?

Beloved church we should never quench the holy Spirit, this is a command from the scripture. Rather


1.We should lovingly allow the Holy Spirit to totally control our heart.
2.We should willingly allow the Holy Spirit to fill our heart.
3.We should bear fruits of Holy Spirit in our everyday life.
4.We should always walk in the Spirit.


May the Sweet Holy Spirit Guide you and teach you in every area of your life.


May the power of Holy Spirit be with you to fight and defeat all the power of Darkness.


May He empower you, equip you and use you to be a channel of blessing for all people.

May the fruit of Spirit, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control flow out of your life and bring glory to our heavenly Father.