Labor Day Insights! Who is our Master? Whom Should We Serve?

Labor Day-who is our Master? Whom should we serve?

Labor Day was set originally to value the contributions employees make and ponder the goodness and power it brings to our lives. However, it was also intended to bring to mind the painful working conditions, demands, discriminations, and exploitations it fosters. Many who are unemployed or unable to work also struggle through the concept differently.

God said to our first parents and it is recorded in Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Adam had work to do in the garden even before he sinned, but apparently, he enjoyed it and the works were pleasant to do because he had the ongoing presence of God in the cool of the day and the Words and instructions he received on an ongoing basis. However, now after the fall due to the original sin committed by our first parents, the labor becomes hard and painful based on what is called the spiritual death which means the loss of sweet communication/fellowship he once had with God and the verdict of God.

Humans now will have to eat food by the sweat of their food, until they return to the ground. No escape from the aspect of pain/ and exploitation in the work is possible. It will continue and man will have to work hard amid it all until he dies, and his physical body is taken to the ground. God decreed the way of life after the rebellion of our first parents.

However, I was also reminded of what Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” To eat bread, we work. But the problem is that bread or food nourishes only our external part which is called the body. According to the creation narrative in Genesis 2, man became a living being, not just out of the dust God used for his creation, but more importantly he became a living being by the breath of life God breathed into his nostrils. Thus, he became a living being. It makes sense what Jesus said when he said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Our spirit can be nourished not just by the food, but more importantly only by the Word of God.

Therefore, we need to work to feed our physical body and pasture God’s word to nourish our soul and spirit. We have to serve our earthly masters-employers faithfully- even if they are harsh and unreasoning. The Scripture admonishes us to “submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority…”. Verse 18 says, “In reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate but also to those who are harsh.”

Alternatively, it warns the employers and says, “And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” Ephesians 6:9.

At the final outset, whom will we serve is the point to ponder on this Labor Day as always on all Labor Days. The Bible claims in the above-quoted passage in Ephesians that God in heaven is the master of both employers and employees, and there is no favoritism with Him. If God is the master of both, our first allegiance must be to God.

Joshua the assigned mighty leader of Israel, after the departure of the towering leadership of Moses, brought the people into the promised land by conquering enemies one after another, understood whom we should serve, and he declared it clearly and challenged his people on the topic.

Joshua 24:14-15 describes the event. He assembled all the tribes of Israel in a place called Shechem. He summoned elders, judges, and officials of Israel and declared this-

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord was his decision and determination.

When you and I first submit to God and listen to His counsels and Words, the work becomes not that hard. Labor Day reminds us of the history of the reason for the painfulness and harshness of work, motivates us to think about the benefits/rewards/blessings of work that bring to our lives, and points to the way to get all success in our work in God’s way- submission to God and God allowed/appointed authorities.

Moreover, it also reveals to us the truth- we cannot live by work and food alone, and most importantly, by constant communication/fellowship with God, and this is accomplished by listening to his eternal Word in the Bible and spending time in prayer.

Secrets to True Happiness- Three Plus One =Four

Three plus One Equals Four.

When you think about it, nothing is stable or constant in this world. Even the places you and I were familiar with do not look the same over the years. When I walk on the roads I walked with my Dad, the streets are still there. However, He is gone from me to the presence of the Lord.

In an ever-changing world, you and I crave something do not change and stays the same. The Bible reminds us of two that do not change- God and His Word in the Bible. Peter wrote, “the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever.” 1 Peter 1:25. Psalm 90:1 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

And Hebrews 13;8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” When we recognize all around us changes, God is everlasting, and Jesus never changes.

None of us wants unhappy days in 2023, do we? What does the Scripture say about a happy and blessed life? Is there a secret to happiness and blessedness? Any prescription God gave to us?

Psalm 1:1-3 gives us three negative and one positive steps as ingredients of true happiness. The verses give three negative steps and one positive step that yields the four most blessed rewards. It says:

Oh, the joys of those who do not
    follow the advice of the wicked,
    or stand around with sinners,
    or join in with mockers.
But they delight in the law of the Lord,
    meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
    bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
    and they prosper in all they do. NLT

Three Negative Steps:

Healthy people try to avoid certain things to remain healthy. They avoid addictive habits of drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes which can harm their healthy nature.

Similarly, happy and blessed people avoid certain things to remain satisfied. Three things God prescribes are:

-the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Wicked means ungodly. The ungodly are those who do not honor and fear God. They do not belong to God.

-the one who does not stand in the way of sinners.

-the one who does not sit in the seat of mockers.

Intended Progression:

You will likely notice an intended progression in these verses. It is truly intended to ponder.

Ungodly nature– a sinner, a mocker. A walker, stander, and sitter.

A walk in the counsel of the ungodly results in sinning. Sinning results in mocking those who belong to God.

The progression is noted in the verbs as well.

Walk-stand, and sit.

A person begins to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. This results in standing in the way of sinners-standing and gazing the way of sinners. Consequently, he gets comforted in sitting and mocking.

A man starts walking, then stands, and finally sits down.

Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Do not stand in the way of sinners. Do not sit in the seat of mockers.

One Positive Step:

The passage also gives one positive step to take for happiness and blessings. What is that?

It says, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he meditates day and night.”

What you and I delight in tells volumes about you and me. You can delight in making money, gathering wealth, possessions, and human love. What motivates you? God says a happy person delights in the Bible. As a result, he meditates day and night. How often- day and night? This means he reads and meditates on the Bible continuously. Meditating means chewing the cud like cows and bulls. You read, reflect, repeat, and memorize the Bible verses and God’s beautiful promises.

Four Rewards:

Now, the three negative steps and one positive step described above result in four divine and wonderful rewards. Let us look into the four rewards God promises.

Stability and strength.

“He is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Firmly planted indicates stability and strength. Trees on streams of water have a wide root system, which gives them strength and stability even amid the harsh forces of nature. The nutrient-rich roots hold the tree in its place to stay stable and strong during severely dry summer and winter weather. Such trees won’t fall and remain standing during the difficult dry and winter seasons.

You and I develop rich roots by reading and meditating the Bible day and night. As a result, God gives the reward for standing firm, stable and strong even in adversities.

2. Fruitfulness.

It says, “which yields its fruit in season.” The nutrient roots produce fruit in season. It has fruit in season. You meditate on the scripture day and night. You will be fruitful. Sometimes we need to forgive- the robust root system supplied by the Bible verses readily gives the fruit of forgiveness. Need to love- it produces the fruit of love. Needing patience, courage, and perseverance, the rich root has the fruit of patience, courage, and endurance.

3. Evergreen Leaf.

Always green leaf- it says leaves do not wither. Due to rich nutrients and ongoing nourishment of the Word of God, the tree has fresh green leaves. Every day brings new food from the Word and stays in green leaves. A man who delights and meditates God’s Word gets new daily vitamins and proteins.

4. Prosper in all things.

The fourth reward is that he prospers in all that they do. What is real prosperity? If richness or wealth is the real prosperity, we misunderstood the Word prosperity. People who are rich, wealthy, and celebrities end up suicide. That does not look like real prosperity.

What is true prosperity?

Romans 8: 36-37 says, “Just as it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

You see, we may face trials as other people do. We may face failures, get rejected, get sick, hear bad news about our dear ones, and face tragedies. However, amid it all, a child of God becomes more than a conqueror because God makes them thrive. You become a conqueror.

The same idea is presented in 2 Corinthians 2:14 when Pauls wrote, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.

The context is given in 1st Corinthians 1:8-10, For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope.”

Also, refer to 7:5-6, “even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts on the outside, fears inside. But God, who comforts the discouraged, comforted us by the arrival of Titus;”

The context is an affliction, excessive burden, despaired of life, a sentence of death, great a danger of death, no rest, afflicted on every side: conflicts on the outside, fears inside, discouraged.

But remember, he wrote in the middle of it all, “thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:14). How often? “Always .”Who leads us in triumph? God. Through whom God leads us in triumph? In Christ Jesus.

This is what true prosperity means. Always, God leads us in triumph because you are a child of God in Christ Jesus. God loves you and delivers you from all peril that comes your way because you belong to Christ. Now that is true prosperity.

Prosperity is not mere richness, wealth, or possessions. It is a broader and deeper concept. God makes you prosper in all things because you avoid three negative steps and keep one positive step described above.

As we enter a brand new 2023, God’s secret of happiness/blessedness is 3+1=4. Three negative steps to avoid and one positive action to take. Three negatives and one positive result in four rich rewards.

Are you ready to enter a brand new year? Keep God’s prescription for blessedness and happiness close to your heart.

Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 4.

“Then you will be able to test and approve God’s will- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

People often ask how they know and do the will of God. The question is answered here.

Three things must concur to test and approve God’s will according to Romans 12:1-3.

One dark and starless night, while crossing the Irish channel, F.B. Meyer, a contemporary and friend of D L Moody, stood on the deck by the captain and asked him, “how do you know Holyhead harbor on so dar a night as this?” He said you see those three lights? Those three lights must line up behind each other as one, and when we see them so united, we know the exact position of the harbor.

Romans 12:1-2 gives the three prerequisites for testing and approving God’s will in our personal lives. So far, we have seen in view of the mercies of God- how he loved/loves you, saved you, forgave/forgives you, protected/protected you, blessed you-(a) dedicate your body as a living, holy & pleasing sacrifice to God, (b) do not be conformed to the present age but (3) be transformed by the renewal of your mind (by the indwelling Holy Spirit and the Word of God which is the Bible). Then the following sentence is connected by “Kai” which means ‘and then.’ It says, “then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing & perfect will.”

Now, the Bible reveals three kinds of the will of God.

First is His sovereign will or decree, meaning God’s supreme and sovereign control over all things.

Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

You see, everything in this universe works and moves according to His sovereign will and decree. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. God governs from the throne in heaven according to His will. God’s sovereign will or decree is unalterable. Bible says in Acts 4:27-28, “Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.”

Jesus would die, be buried, and rose again was the sovereign, eternal and unalterable will of God. 1 Cor. 15:24-27 says Jesus wraps up the whole history standing at the end of it (History is indeed His story) and embraces all who would come to him in faith by raising and transforming them, that he destroys death as the last enemy to be destroyed and that God the Father has put all things under the authority of His Son, Jesus Christ, is yet another sovereign will or decree of God that would fulfill in the near future.

Secondly, there is the revealed will of God that includes God’s commands and desires for us to follow or do.

We can do it or fail to do it, for Example:1 Thes. 4:3-8 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in sanctification. Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

1 Thes. 5:18-22 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit, do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.”

Thirdly, there is the personal will of God in our lives.

Your parents, how God brought them together, your unique DNA, the generation in which you are born, and living are all part of His plan for your personal life. Acts 13:36 says, “For David after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his father, and underwent decay.” NLT says, “after David had done the will of God in his own generation, died, and was buried with his ancestors.

Psalm 139:16 says, “you saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Isn’t it mind-boggling? Each moment of your life was laid out before even one existed.

Jesus, in his earthly life, lived each moment according to the direction and plan of God. He was not early or late in reaching a place, talking, or reaching out to a person in need. You see, He moved according to God’s clock of the divine plan. It was all pre-determined. So is your life when you think about God’s will for your life. Now, we can live in obedience to His plan, or we can disobey His will. This is where God’s will and our choices either match or do not match. However, it always paired with God’s will and plan in Jesus’s life.

NIV says, “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. In God’s sovereign and revealed will, you and I do not test and approve of God’s will in our personal lives. However, in the individual will of God, you will be able to test and approve the will of God.

Remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane; He tested and approved the Father’s will there. There the sweat of Jesus became like the drops of blood falling on the ground when all humanity’s sin was placed on him. In his describable agony and mental anguish, in the garden, Jesus said, “Father, not my will, but yours be done.” The Bible indicates Jesus fervently prayed in agony and thereby tested and approved the will of God for his earthly life.

Beloved, there will be times like this in our personal lives- that you should test and approve the will of God for your life. You would also say, not my will, but yours be done.” Not easy, but difficult. In a lifelong journey, like Jesus said, picking up the cross-dying to self means dying to our desires to accomplish His divine purpose, to grab hold of something higher and sacred. You see, Jesus, the light of the world, becomes the ruler of your life, not the Devil, the ruler of the present and dark age. He becomes the master and king of your life on a going basis.

Listen, because of the manifold mercies of God, He poured out on you, which Paul explains from Romans 1-11, it is only reasonable and proper that worship becomes daily and not on certain days of the week. Worship becomes a daily and moment-by-moment life style that includes presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the world (present evil, lustful and sinful age) but be transformed by renewing your mind by leaning on the Holy Spirit moment by moment and meditating on the Bible. Turn from the world’s ways of life to what Jesus and the Bible say.

This is how you and I would test and approve the will of God in our personal lives. His will is good, pleasing, and perfect for you.

Remember what the captain said to F. B. Meyer while standing on the deck next to the captain. In these dark and gloomy days of the earth, where the present age system and its sinful, lustful ways destroy many, let the three things of Romans 1-2 line up behind each other. Then we would test and approve will of God, which is good, pleasing, and perfect.

The Salvation that God prepared in the sight of all nations!

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations” Luke 2:30-31.

Most people were not prepared or ready to receive the gift God gave on that first Christmas day on this earth when the indescribable gift came silently and quietly from the divine hands of God. The gift-the salvation that God prepared in the sight of all nations came unexpectedly when the rich, poor, healthy, disabled, and rulers were not looking for him. However, few faithful and Godly were eager to see the gift of Messiah, the savior, promised in the Scripture. Outside the land of Israel, among the Gentiles were also a few eager to see God’s promise fulfilled- the wise men who visited Bethlehem to worship the infant Jesus were one example. But many didn’t care and waited for the arrival of the Messiah.

God promised the gift from the dawn of human history – first to Eve, the mother of all, in Genesis 3:15 when He announced to her, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

The Seed line promise continued in the pages of the Scripture. He called Abram and asked him to leave his country, relatives, and his father’s house and go to a land that He would show him eventually. He gave sevenfold promises to Him (Genesis 12:2-3), which are all already fulfilled in human history. The epic promise was stated in verse 3 (c), saying he would bless the whole earth (all the families of the world) in and through His seed. He reiterated the same promise to the patriarchs- Issac and Jacob, in the Bible. God built the nation Israel out of the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel.

Later, God said to King David and promised the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7:12-13. He promised David, “when your days are complete, and you lied down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom…and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” The everlasting kingdom of God comes through the promised seed and is the heartbeat of all true Israelits.

God later spoke through Isaiah about how the promise will get fulfilled. Isaiah 9:6-7 says, “For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Then we understood the promise would be fulfilled when a child is born; a son will be given to us. The eternal son of God born here on earth or given to us. The prophecy here is that the one who was already in existence from the very beginning will come to the world through the womb of Mary, the human mother of Jesus. The reason is -Isaish also prophecies in 7:14,” Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Later, The prophet Micah told us where Christ, the promised Messiah, would be born. Read what he prophecies, But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The place where the seed of the woman God promised in Genesis 3:15 will be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah.

When Jesus was born on the first Christmas day in Bethlehem, hundreds of prophecies in the Bible were fulfilled with pinpoint accuracy. Now Luke wrote that Simeon, eager to see the Old Testament Prophesies about Messiah fulfilled, was told he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Christ. You see, few faithful and devout people were silently waiting for the promised messiah to come to fulfill the prophecies from the dawn of human history. The same is the story today. Many are not looking for Jesus. However, there are few faithful, silently, devotedly waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ to establish the promised Kingdom. The church bought by the blood of Jesus is now quietly waiting for the rapture, which is the snatching away of the true Christians to the air to be with the Lord forever.

More than three hundred prophecies were fulfilled regarding the first coming of Christ. There are three times more prophecies regarding the second coming of Christ. If the first coming is fulfilled with pinpoint accuracy, His second coming will be fulfilled three times accurately.

The question is, are you ready for God’s promises in the pages of the Bible? There is no religion or religious books out there with prophecies fulfilled. The Bible is the only book where you see hundreds of prophecies accurately fulfilled with verifications. Do not believe by words. You independently search and discover by yourselves.

When the human parents of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, brought him for the ceremony of purification, Simeon took baby Jesus of only 40 days in his hand. He said, “Now, Lord, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

Remember, on this Christmas day, 2022, this truth. Jesus, the seed of the woman, whom God promised to bruise the head of the devil, is the light of revelation to the Gentiles. It means Jesus is the savior of the whole world, and no other savior who can save people from their sins and shortcomings and reconcile them to a Holy God. He is the promised one to the gentiles – to the whole world. None out there apart from the promised one. The Bible says in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Moreover, Listen! Jesus is the fulfillment of all the hope and dreams of Isreal. Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenant (all are given to the nation Israel) and only find final fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true glory and hope of all Israel. However, there is a mystery stated in the Bible in Romans 11:25, which says, “For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The mystery is this – a partial unbelief/hardening happened to Israel when Messiah came into His own people. They rejected him so that He would be the savior of the whole world, not just of the nation of Israel. John 1:11-13 attested to this when he wrote, ” He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

You see, Jesus is for all people everywhere. He is not for just Jewish people. He is not given to a small group of denominations only. You can’t claim only we have Jesus. He belongs to the whole world. He is the savior God gave for all people to get saved and reconciled to God. In Him is the forgiveness of all people’s sins, and eternal life is available to all when they call upon Jesus Christ and plead to Him for forgiveness and salvation.

Are you ready and prepared for Christ in your heart? Your forgiveness, future, and eternity hang on to that single and cardinal decision.

What would you do with Jesus, who was given to us by God, the Father?

Are you silently, devotedly prepared/preparing to welcome His second coming that was prophecied three times more in the Scripture? I know in my heart several people worldwide are silently, faithfully eager to see His second coming. I hope we will avoid making the mistake they made in the first century of missing the opportunities to welcome Jesus.

Let us kindle our lights, be alert, and prepare this time for the Messiah’s second coming.

Pray with me. “Father in heaven, I believe Jesus is my savior whom you promised from the beginning. I know he came to this world to pay for my sins and to reconcile me perfectly with you. I accept Jesus as my savior today. Please save me and grant me the salvation you offered for me. Please give me eternal life that is only available in Him. May I be alert and prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 3. “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2b).

Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 3.

“but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2b).

Last time, we learned the negative command of God that says, “do not be conformed to this world.” Today’s insight gives a positive aspect of it. How can I not conform to the culture, standards, customs, and ideas of the Aion- the present sinful and lustful age? You see, the natural propensity of our mind is to give in to the cultural pressure around us. The transformation should happen inside us to avoid following the present evil age and its standards and lifestyles. And the transformation occurs through the renewal of your mind. Transformation here means a total change in your value system or the way you think, as we listened before, and the renewal of your mind accomplishes it.

The positive aspect of the command is “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God wants you not to conform to this world but to be transformed by renewing your mind. The question is how I can get this done.

The word ‘transformed’ is the Greek word ‘metamorphoo’. From it, we get the English word metamorphosis. It means a change from one form of thing to another form or type. This word describes an unpretty worm caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. Metamorphosis is a powerful illustration of being transformed or transfigured. The lay egg becomes a caterpillar initially in the feeding state called larva. The only job of the caterpillar is to eat, eat and eat. Food taken is stored and used in the later adult stage. It is said it grows 100 times its size in this eating stage.

The next is the Pupa stage, the stage of transformation. By eating and eating, it becomes a pupa. Nothing is visible outside during the scene, and it may look like nothing happens. However, rapid growth happens inside. It develops legs, wings, eyes, and other parts.

Finally, the butterfly stage is the adult stage. The caterpillar’s state is to eat and eat. The Pupa state is of significant transformation inside. The butterfly stage is the final and most beautiful adult stage. It starts reproducing by mating and laying eggs and has a brief life span of a few weeks, generally up to 2 months.

Let us dig deeper into our verse of ‘be transformed by renewing your mind.’ TPT translates this verse, “but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think.”

Holy Spirit has a significant role in the renewing of your mind. The same original word for ‘renewal’ –ananéosis- is used only in one other place in the New Testament, and that is in Titus 3:5, where Paul said, “He (God) 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’. You see, the agent who renews our mind so that you do not be conformed to this present age is none other than the Holy Spirit. It says you are saved, not because of anything good you have done, but purely based on God’s mercy. He saved you by washing you from your old sinful and lustful lifestyle and by renewing your mind. The Holy Spirit of God causes, begins, and leads the transformation process by renewing your mind.

Although accurate in teaching the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit in a Christ believer, we often underscore or do not teach much about the role of the Holy Spirit in the transformation process by the renewal of the mind. From the get-go, the Bible reminds us to lean on the Holy Spirit and walk by the Holy Spirit because He is who teaches, reminds, guides, and illuminates the truth.

From the get-go, the Bible reminds us to lean on the Holy Spirit and walk by the Holy Spirit because He is the one who leads us into all the truth. He teaches, reminds, guides, illuminates, reveals, etc.

However, Beloved, there is another side to the renewal of your mind. Jesus, in his intercessory prayer to the Father, said this, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” The context is Jesus is going back to heaven after his sacrificial death for our sins. However, the disciples are going to be here in this present evil age. So he prays to keep them safe from the evil one because they do not belong to this world any more than he does. Jesus Christ does not belong to this world, and they do not either. They must know the truth, which is the Word of God, the Bible. They are sanctified or set apart for him progressively by the word of God. Let God transform you into a new person by changing how you think by knowing the truth -the word of God, the Bible.

You see, the second agent in the renewal of our mind is the word of God- the Bible. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, ‘beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The passage says we are being transformed into Christ’s image from one degree to another when we behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same Greek word is used here. How do we behold the glory of the Lord? We do not have Jesus Christ in his body form to look at him as the disciples looked at his glory and got transformed, do we? However, we have the Bible, the word of God- to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory is proclaimed from the first book of the Bible, Genesis, to the last book of the Bible, Revelation. As we continuously look at Christ’s glory in the pages of the Bible, wonder at the work of Christ by hearing the good news of the Gospel and Bible preached and taught, the Holy Spirit who is inside you renews your mind by imparting God’s value system replacing aion or present age value system.

Many true believers in Christ are conforming to the world these last days and not being transformed by the renewal of their minds, not because they do not have the Holy Spirit inside them. God saved them by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. However, they do not let the Holy Spirit get control over their life. They allow the flesh and present age value system to influence them. Knowingly and unknowingly, it happens as they live day by day. Secondly, the word of God- the Bible- is dusty in their bookshelves and sanctified by the word of truth is not happening on an ongoing basis.

Beloved, if you have not accepted Christ as your savior and Lord yet, there is no potential for transformation by the renewal of your mind. Why? It is because the renewal of mind and transformation happens through the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the world of God. Jesus said, and it is recorded in John 7:39, who would receive the Holy Spirit. He said this, The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. If you believe in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. And if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you do not have the Holy Spirit inside you. Listen! Per Jesus’s words, when you come to Him and believe in Him, He gives the Holy Spirit inside you freely as a result of your belief in Him and initiates the transformation process.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, Thank you for the Holy Spirit you gave me. Thank you for the word of God-the Bible you gave to me. Please help me not to conform to this present and evil age value system. Help me to get transformed by the renewal my mind by the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. I believe Jesus died and rose again for all of my sins. Please forgive me and save me today. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen. “

Worship is More than Sunday Attendance! Part 2 Do not be Conformed to this World!

Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 2.

“Do not be conformed to this world”—Romans 12:2 (a).

As we live in this world, all of us are pressured to conform to the culture & standards of this world. No one is exempt from this temptation.
The term ‘word’ is used in different meanings in the original Greek language in which the NT is written. The first word, ‘kosmos’ itself, is used differently based on the context in which it occurs.

In John 3:16, when Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” the ‘world’ means the ‘mankind or ‘human beings. God so loved you and the people of the world that He gave His Son to save and grant you eternal life with Him in heaven. This is for whoever believes in Jesus Christ. However, He didn’t love the sinful, lustful value system of the world.

The 2nd word, ‘aion’ means the present age, in contrast to the age to come. More specifically, the ways, standards, and customs of this world. Ephesians 2:2 says, “when you followed ‘the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air,’ the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

In the Bible, the present age contrasts the age to come. The Present age is a pretty long period from the garden of Eden and the thought process behind its ways, customs, aspiration, and standards are according to that fallen nature. Ephesians 2 says the present age is under the influence of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, who is the Devil. And his spirit, who is at work in the present age, causes disobedience and rebelliousness. You see, the present age is an antithesis of the kingdom of God.

The Bible says in Galatians 1:4, “Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” You see, you and I needed to be rescued from the present evil age and its ways, and that is why Jesus paid his blood to deliver us from its corruption and bondage.

The Bible says in Colossians 1:13 that “For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Jesus Christ), in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The Bible says in Colossians 1:13 that God had already transplanted a believer in Jesus from the Devil’s kingdom to the kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ.

When the Bible says in John 2:15 & James 4:4 that you cannot love the world and God simultaneously, it means you cannot love the world’s value system and its offers-practices, norms, thought processes, and goals-and love God at the same time. You see, the value system of God and the value system of the present age are opposite.

Our verse says, “do not be conformed to this world.” TPT translates, “stop imitating the ideas and opinions of the culture around you.” Other translations give a little bit more insight into the concept here. GNT says, “do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world.” NLT says, “don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” Now I hope you understand the point- it simply means do not allow this world to influence or drag you in its ways, standards, or thought process. Do not allow the value system of this world to shape and mold your thinking process.

Why? Because in Paul’s language in Romans 1:18 onwards, the present age or this fallen age suppresses the truth of God, for they want to enjoy wicked and sinful things without restraints. Due to the heightened ingratitude toward him, God gave the present age to shameful lusts. God gave them over to a depressed mind, and as a result, they do not want to retain the knowledge of God. As a consequence of the depraved mind, they do what they should not have done.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed & depravity. Without God and His revealed truth in their value system, they become full of envy, murder, strife, deceit & malice. They gossip, slander, hate God, and are arrogant and boastful. They disobey their parents and have no understanding, fidelity, love, or mercy. They know God’s righteous standards and decree in their heart. Stil not only continues to do these things, but they also approve of those who practice them.

Beloved, is this not what we see in the USA and worldwide these days? This is the picture of the ‘aion’-the present, fallen, depraved, sinful, lustful, and shameful age that does not honor and thank God.

They hate the knowledge of God and suppress the truth of God. Every time God is mentioned, even though they know in their hearts God is in existence, they don’t want to hear it and continue suppressing the truth of God.

Did you notice the verse under consideration- do not be conformed to this world (‘aion’-the present sinful and lustful age) is not a recommendation or suggestion? It is a command of God. It is in an imperative mood.

Listen! Many once faithful believers shipwrecked their faith life by conforming to the desires of this present age. Lot, Bible affirms a righteous man (1 peter 2:7) flirted with the attractions of this world and ended up in destruction. Paul says about Demas, a once a fellow worker of Paul, in 2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.” NLT translated he loved the things of this life. The word used here is for ‘new age’ or ‘present age’. Paul earlier wrote in Philemon 24 that Demas was a fellow worker with him. Demas & Luke, together with Paul, sent Christian greetings to the believers in Colossae. However, later when Paul wrote his letter to Timothy, just before his departure to the Lord, he sadly wrote Demas loves this aion (present age)- which means he loved the age and its desires and aspirations- and consequently left him. We don’t know the details of Demas’s situation. However, in short, it appears he decided that what satan offer in this life is better than what God offers because satan is the ruler of this present age (Ephesians 2:2). What a foolish decision. Bible does not say the restoration of Demas.

Beloved, may this never happen to you. When flirting with the aion, the present sinful and lustful age, and its value system, please keep this solemn warning in your hearts.

We see the Bible or the heavenly value system in opposition to the present value system daily. Our verse commands do not to be conformed to this world- the present sinful, lustful value system of the world. We must adhere to the heavenly value system revealed in the pages of the Bible. It is called Bible values.

For this purpose, one must be born again first and born from above. Jesus said to a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” After this, Jesus explained how to be born again. John 3:16-18 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

By believing in Jesus Christ, the only savior of the whole world, you will be born again to God’s family or household. Upon your faith in Jesus, he grants the Holy Spirit inside you who would help you differentiate the present value system and God’s Kingdom value system revealed in the Bible’s pages.

Are you born again? If not, today is the day you can be born again into God’s family by your profession of faith in Christ Jesus.

“Father in heaven, I know I am born by my parents into this world. However, I want to be born again into your heavenly family. I believe Jesus is my savior; he died, was buried, and rose again for my sins. I accept Him as my Savior and Lord. Please save me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

Worship Is More than Sunday Attendance! Part 1 It is a Day By Day, Moment by Moment Life Style!

Worship Is More Than Sunday Attendance!

“I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 (RSV).

Worship is more than attending a church to praise and thank God. Of course, attending a Bible-teaching church to praise him is vital. God instructed us to do this in the Bible. However, worship the way God reveals is more than open public worship in a building where the church gathers.
The Lord said in Isaiah 1:13-14 to the worshippers who brought sacrifices these words. “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.”

1. The Motivation for Worship.

What motivates you to worship the Lord? Our passage above says the motivation to worship is His mercies and kindness toward you. It says “by the mercies of God.” God’s mercies are all things He gave to you that you do not deserve. His love, kindness, forgiveness, favor, hope, reconciliation, peace of God and with God, Christ’s death for your sins, eternal life, His protection, deliverances, health, well-being, and the list goes on.
Especially in the context of the book of Romans, God’s mercies are His salvation-that Christ died for you while you were yet sinners and enemies to him and paid in full all the debts that you owed to God. 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In the immediate context of chapter 11, he says, you were gentiles, away far away from the covenants and promise of God, away from the commonwealth of Israel. But through their rejection of the promised Messiah, you who were the branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted into God’s special olive tree, sharing the rich nourishment from its root. Listen, how much God extended His lovingkindness toward gentiles who were not Israelites! By the rejection of Jesus Christ by the children of Israel, God offers salvation to you, the gentile who was not part of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New covenants and special promises. God’s mercy and salvation come to you in Jesus Christ upon the disobedience of Israel. How great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge!
Apostle Paul says, therefore, I urge you, brothers & sisters, in view of God’s mercies- the varied and manifold mercies of God toward you- is the motivation to worship God.

2. The Manner of Worship.

A. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.

There is an intended connection between this verse and 6:13 & 19. It says there, “do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have a new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”

When it says to offer your body, it does not mean you sacrifice your body like the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament time. Hence he used the term, “living sacrifice”. You don’t kill yourself or another person. But offer a living sacrifice. You live and offer your bodies. You offer your whole being-body, soul, and spirit to the Lord. You see, your whole body belongs to the Lord. He has a definite plan and purpose for it. God said to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah in their lowest time of life and is recorded in Jeremiah 29:11. It says,” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

You must continue living even if life gets tough and present your life as an offering to the Lord. God will empower you to do it even in the most difficult circumstance of your life.

B. Holy.

Holy means moral and ethical wholeness. Your character must be morally and ethically upright. There is another meaning for the word ‘holy’ and that is ‘set apart’ or ‘sanctified’. You as a believer in Christ are set apart for God and His plans and purposes. You are otherly in the sense that you as a believer are different from others. The Holy Spirit sanctified/set apart you and sealed you for God’s purposes and kingdom. You don’t belong to the present age or present world system and its desires and thought process that is under the rulership of the devil.

Colossians 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 mind on the things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears then you will also appear with him in glory.” You see your standards, goals, and thought process are different from others. You progressively become more like Christ. Certain things you like in the past, you would start hating as you are set apart for him and his purposes.

C. Pleasing to God.

What is pleasing to God means. I will especially highlight certain points here. You as a believer should not try to please men around you. You are called to please God. The Bible says in Galatians 1:10 that you cannot please men and God at the same time. Many believers try to please others. The fundamental question is this- Am I seeking the approval of men or God? When you seek the approval of God, then you will stop getting the approval of men. Simply, you cannot please men and God. If you try to get pleasing of men, you would not be able to continue as God’s faithful servant to fulfill his plans for your life.
Pleasing God also means having the mind of Christ. Christ is full of grace, compassion, love, kindness, goodness, humility, patience, perseverance, and long-suffering. His sweat becomes drops of blood in Gethsemene, but he still, fulfills God’s plan and did not deviate from it in severe beatings, pains, and crucifixion.
Christ loved all with no bias of their backgrounds. He never discriminates against people. He reached out to sinners with love, grace, and compassion. You can not be like the elder brother who did not like the return of his lost younger brother. Be like God the Father, and Jesus Christ. Forsake pharisee attitude and mindset. Embrace Christ’s attitude and mindset. Only if you got a glimpse of the fullness of grace in Christ and Father, you would be able to respond in grace and kindness.
This is how you would please God.

We have discussed the motivation to worship. We also discussed three manners of worship- offer your body as a living, holy, and pleasing to God.
In short, what is true and proper worship? Beloved, worship is more than just attending Sunday services, though they are essential. Worship is the dedication of your whole being every day to the Lord in view of His manifold mercies toward you. You must attend regularly church services and corporate worship because the Bible says in Hebrews “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” As you grow spiritually understand spiritual worship is more than gathering together to remember the Lord once a week. It’s a daily day-by-day and moment-by-moment lifestyle that the Lord urges you to do.

The Message Bible transliterates the above verse this way. Listen! “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

“Father in heaven, I dedicate my body and whole being as a living, holy and pleasing sacrifice to you. May your plans and purpose be fulfilled in my life. The grace you have heaped on me, may it flow out of me to others around me. May I not try to please men but only please you, Lord. I fully surrender myself to you. Use me for your glory.

Humanity’s hope for the future is based only on Christ’s Death and Resurrection- Nothing Else!

On this Easter season, remember Humanity’s hope for the future is based only on Christ’s resurrection.

Luke 24:6, “He is not here, for He is risen”.

The resurrection of Christ is the only hope of all human beings.

Apart from the resurrection of Christ, which is verifiable and attestable by several convincing proofs, which we will discuss below, there is no hope for human suffering and misery of death. When you and I think about it, Humanity’s hope for the future indeed hinges on the resurrection of Christ on the first Easter Sunday.

It is not just the incarnation and living of Christ on this earth which is a historical fact; it is not just the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross, it is not just the death and burial of Christ, but it is the resurrection of Christ on the third day is the reason for Christianity and planting of Christian churches all around the world. Even though Christ predicted the formation of the church before His death, the church actually came into existence on the day of Pentecost after the verification by several eyewitnesses about the resurrection and ascension of Christ.

The Old Testament prophecies clearly prophesied the incarnation, living of Christ, sufferings of Christ, and the death of Christ. There are hundreds of prophecies fulfilled when Christ came, lived and died, and was buried for the remission of our sins. The Bible says these were in accordance with God’s eternal plan for our salvation from sin. God, in His perfect love had placed an eternal even before the foundation of the world for our salvation in and through Christ Jesus. However, although there were hundreds of prophecies about Christ, His sufferings, and death, which were literally fulfilled with pinpoint accuracies, the Old Testament Scripture is primarily, commonly, and purposefully seems to be silent about the bodily resurrection of Christ. Of course, there were hints about Messiah’s resurrection like Isaiah 53:10-12, Psalm 16, and Psalm 22. Though the first prophecy regarding the seed of the woman who will crush the head of Satan was given at the beginning of human history after the sin and fall of our first parent in Genesis 3:15, how this crushing of the head of Satan will happen was not explained. It remained largely a mystery not revealed by God in a literal fashion that even Satan was apparently blinded by the soon coming resurrection of Christ after His death, though he knew about the death of the Messiah. Bible says Satan entered Juda’s heart (one of the disciples of Jesus) to betray Jesus for crucifixion. It says, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.” Satan thought the death and burial would be the end of Christ, the promised Messiah. It will soon be over by the death of Jesus. Thank the fact that Old Testament literature remained largely kept this as a mystery or secret for Humanity’s salvation. If Christ did not die and if he had not been buried and, more importantly, resurrected from the dead, Humanity won’t have any hope beyond the grave. God kept certain mysteries intact until their fulfillment, and now the resurrection of Christ is clearly revealed and seen as crushing the head of Satan. The plans of the Devil or the plans of the wicked people couldn’t restrain the implementation of God’s eternal plan for the salvation of Humanity. Peter declared this after two weeks of Christ’s resurrection in front of the Jewish congregation. Listen to the way he summarized God’s eternal plan in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. “This man (referring to Jesus Christ) was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because death couldn’t keep its hold on him.”

God’s eternal plan was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was God’s eternal plan for our salvation. Peter said to them you, with the help of wicked men, put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross. But listen, Jesus was handed over to them “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge…. and God raised him from the dead because it was impossible for death to hold on him.” Jesus is the Son of God. It is impossible for the death to hold on to Christ Jesus because He is God.

The New Testament looks back on all the prophecies given and makes this declaration of how Jesus crushed the head of Satan by his death, burial, and resurrection. “When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-15).

By the resurrection of Christ, God disarmed the powers and authorities. God canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness by our sins. These charges stood against and continually condemned us. But Jesus has taken the charges and condemnation against us. How? By nailing those charges and condemnations, satan had against us on His cross when he died. He delivered us from the charges and penalties of our sins. Through the bodily resurrection of Christ, Satan and his army were disarmed, the Bible declares. God made a public spectacle of them by disarming their powers. Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, crushed the head of Satan who was the deceiver from the very dawn of human history. Hallelujah to God and Christ. Christ’s resurrection from the dead by the exertions of the power of God for Humanity’s hope and salvation is the message of Easter.

The empty tomb is the most compelling proof of Christ’s resurrection.

The most compelling proof of the bodily resurrection of Christ is the empty tomb still verifiable near Golgotha, about 96 meters

from where Jesus Christ was crucified. Jesus’s tomb is still open and visible, and verifiable when all other religious gurus tombs remain closed. When you look at the tomb, the front has a quotation from the Bible in Luke 24:6, “He is not here, for He is risen.” These were the words of the angels to the women who went to the tomb early in the morning with spices. Think about it! Christ’s is the only tomb on the face of the earth that is still open, and the body is missing.

Bible says in Matthew 27:60 says that a “large stone” was rolled “against the door of the tomb.” This stone that was used to close the tomb was very heavy and weighed over 2 tons. The women would not be able to move the stone. Such a heavy tombstone can be moved only by 4 or 5 people. In addition, Matthew 27:66 reports Roman Government sealed the tomb, which means they made a compound around it and fastened the tomb and the location with cords, and sealed it. No one could break the seal of the Roman Empire without an immediate death penalty. On top of all these, Matthew 27:65-66 says, based on the request of the Jews, a guard was placed around the tomb of Jesus so that nobody would come and steal the body from it. The Roman guard was a sixteen men unit. If one of the guard members fell asleep, he would be beaten and burned with his own clothes was the severe punishment. In addition, not the only one would be executed, the whole 16 man guard unit would be executed if only one of the members fell asleep when they were on duty. With this type of tight security, no one would be able to attempt to take or steal the body of Christ from the tomb.

When Mary and other women came to the tomb, the historical account says, they saw an empty tomb. Peter and John witnessed an empty tomb when they came and looked, the disciples came and witnessed the empty tomb. The Roman Soldiers saw an empty tomb. The Jews saw an empty tomb. In a matter of a few weeks, Peter preached to thousands of people about the resurrection of Christ, and 3000 people believed in the message, and they became believers in Christ in one preaching. During the early witnessing work of the disciples, nobody disputed the empty tomb. The empty tomb was verifiable and true then and now. In the book of Acts, where the birth and early growth of the church are described in detail, after hearing the preachings and witnessings of the disciples, nobody ever disputed the empty tomb. When they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ, no one ever came to them with the proof that the tomb of Jesus had his body in it. In addition, no one ever was able to produce any evidence or proof of the body of Jesus Christ.

You see, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historically verifiable truth, and no one so far has been able to refute it.

The secret of the boldness of the disciples is yet another one.

The disciples of Jesus were perplexed and frightened on Friday night when Jesus was crucified. The historical records in John 20:19 say about the mental condition of the disciples this way. “When the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” They were so frightened of their own lives, and they were together in fear of Jewish leaders, and the doors were locked. This is the time one of the several post-resurrection appearances happened. Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you!”.

After they were convinced about the resurrection of Jesus Christ by seeing the empty tomb and post-resurrection appearances, they were bold enough to stand on the temple courts preaching Jesus Christ is the Lord of all and only believing in Christ can save them from their sins and grant them eternal life.

The change in the mental condition of the disciples from confused, afraid, and frightened to enormous courage and boldness to preach about Christ’s resurrection right in front of the face of the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities proves the truth of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. You see, these cowards became flaming missionaries and evangelists who radically changed the whole world with the Gospel of Christ. Do you know what made this significant change in them? They all had seen the risen Christ, and they spent all the rest of their lives running around the whole world by saying to the world, ‘Jesus is alive, and He is the savior and no other.’

If Christ did not rise from the dead, why has nobody so far produced any evidence of His body or even bones?

Two centuries passed, and 2000 years have gone by; from the very first day until now, the empty tomb is the silent witness of Christ’s resurrection. The courage and boldness of His disciples and their willingness to give their life for the truth of the resurrection of Christ is another proof of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. For the last 2000 years, no one ever produced proof of his body, bones or organs from anywhere. When the disciples challenged the Jews with their preaching, even in the first few weeks of His resurrection, no one ever said they knew where the body of Christ was. No one ever refuted their arguments for Christ’s resurrection. No one ever challenged their statement of Christ’s resurrection.

If Christ has not risen from the dead, where is His body? Why the tomb was empty after 3 days though it was sealed and guarded by the then world empire – the powerful Roman Government?

In fact, Jesus rose as He Himself exactly predicted

Jesus, Himself said several times in His teachings before His crucifixion that he would rise again. “He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days, he will rise.” (Mark recorded in 9:31). “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.” (Luke recorded in 18:31-31). “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day, he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.” (Matthew recorded in 17:22-23).

Jesus is the source of resurrection and life.

Jesus said at the tomb of Lazarus this statement, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25). When He said, He is the resurrection and the life He stated the truth that He is the source of both – resurrection and life. Apart from Him, we have no hope beyond the grave. He is the source of our hope beyond death. And He is the source of life- All life comes from Him. Our breath comes from Him, and our eternal life in heaven also comes from Him only. After the above statement, Jesus said another very important statement. “The one who believes in me will live, even though they

die.” No one ever made statements like this. He was saying those who believe in Him as their savior, even though they die, will live again. Why? He is, in fact, the source of resurrection and life.

Jesus is the source of life is the reason that death could not hold him, and you see, death had no power over Him. Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:54 (c):57, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You see, your victory over death comes from Him. Jesus is the source of your life and resurrection. Jesus gives resurrection and eternal life in heaven to those who believe in Him as their savior. Having received the life from Him, we share his victory over death; we overcome death. Those who believe in Christ Jesus as the savior and ask him for eternal life, will personally experience resurrection with glorified bodies after the death.

Christ is the first fruit, the way or the pathfinder for those who would come to Him.

This is the message of Easter. Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:20 that Christ is risen from the dead, and He became the first fruit for many who will die. The first fruit gives hope and anticipation for many more fruits. In other words, Jesus Christ is the way or pathfinder for more resurrections. Jesus conquered death, and He shared His way to live after death. He promises resurrected eternal life for all those who would believe in Him.

Did you pray to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and resurrection as of yet? You know for sure one day you will die, don’t you? Nobody knows the day and hour of their death. You don’t either. Death is certain. Are you prepared for life after death?

This Easter again reminds you that you can get salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life in Christ Jesus. Would you come to Him today in prayer? It does not matter how far you are away from Him now. The love and compassion of Christ are bidding you now. He will embrace you, and grant His unconditional love, forgiveness, and eternal security and safety. Christ promises even if you die, you will live again. As the Holy Spirit is working in your heart at this unique time, accept Christ as your savior now, I plead with you.

Pray after me: God, I know you sent your only begotten son Jesus Christ to die in my place for my sins. I am sorry I am a sinner. I repent all my sins. I pray Jesus to come to my heart and save me and grant me eternal life today. Amen.”

If you prayed this prayer, I solemnly declare on the authority of the truth of the Bible that you now became a child of God, and the LORD granted you salvation, the forgiveness of all sins, and eternal life. Please start attending a Bible teaching and preaching church in your area to grow in the Lord. God had wonderful plans in store for you.

Kindly visit www.teachbible.org, go to the contact tab, and send me a note. I will be thrilled to hear from you. Thank you.

The Scope Of The World Mission Today! Exclusively Unreached People Groups Or Requires A Balanced Approach? Dr. Mike Pocock, Dallas Theological Seminary

FOCUS AND BALANCE IN MISSIONS TODAY.

“Missionary Strategy: Learning from St. Paul”.

Article by:

Dr. Michael Pocock. D. Miss.

Professor and Chairman

World Missions and Intercultural Studies

Dallas Theological Seminary

Does the focus of missionary efforts exclusively on unreached people groups only? Dr. Pocok, Dallas Theological Seminary Professor and Chairman of the World Missions and Intercultural Studies, discusses this topic. If Apostle Paul is a paradigm of good missionary strategy, as we know, we also need to understand his approach was well balanced in his outreach.

As far as sports is concerned, anyone will tell you that you have to focus on making an impact. It may be a challenge to keep focused after several rounds of a golf tournament, but those who do are the ones who win. It is exciting to see young gymnasts perform flawlessly in international competitions. Most of us realize that a life of singular focus lies behind this kind of success. We admire what young athletes accomplish but ask if the cost in terms of a balanced life was not too high.

The values of sports are frequently transferred to other enterprises. “The British Empire was won on the playing fields of Eton.” Every English schoolboy used to be taught that truism. The Apostle Paul made occasional use of sports analogies, telling Timothy (II Tim.2:5) that no competitor wins unless he plays by the rules.

Applying sports values to an enterprise like world evangelism is useful, but as we focus to make an impact, we may be in danger of getting off balance and forgetting crucial aspects of the task God has called us to do.

There are about 1,075 Million international students in the United States at this time. They constitute a significant evangelistic opportunity. Believers and churches should certainly focus on them, but should they be adopted as the only priority targets of missions today? Christian nationals in developing countries are committed people, deeply concerned about reaching their countries for Christ. Should we, as some have suggested, stop sending expatriate missionaries who have to learn another language and culture, and whose cost is astronomical, when ten or twenty national workers would gladly minister to their people for a fraction of the cost? (1)

As in sports, so in missions communication, a narrow focus will make a bigger impact. But is it fair to the mandate of God and the Christian public to claim that a single form of outreach or one particular missionary target is the only one that counts today?

In the 1950s, Donald MacGavran could clearly see that missions were becoming “all things” to mission boards and individual Christians around the world. He worried that we would never get the job of world evangelism completed if we did not get back to the “main thing.” This, to MacGavran was, “The establishment of churches in all the responsive peoples of the world.” ( 2 ) By focusing on this point for forty years, MacGavran succeeded to the extent that many evangelical mission agencies tuned their purpose statements to reflect McGavran’s concern. Even mainstream denominations and gatherings at the level of the World Council of Churches began to speak again of evangelism and church establishment as crucial components of Christian ministry after years of emphasizing a political agenda.

In 1974 at the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization, MacGavran strongly argued his point, and to his contribution was added another by Ralph Winter. Mission agencies, Winter claimed, were so extensively involved in ministries to people groups where the church had already been established, that they were neglecting those among whom no culturally relevant, witnessing church of viable size had been established. (3 )

Although others were vitally concerned about the same issue, Winter came to be known as the “Father of the Unreached Peoples Movement”. In the ensuing years, Winter and others have crusaded to bring the focus of mission agencies around to “finishing the job” of world evangelization by focusing on the unreached, or frontier peoples of the world. Winter has never said that mission agencies should stop doing what presently engages them, only that they should renew their focus and mobilize new workers to reach the unreached.

Both MacGavran and Winters have been successful in their efforts to get mission agencies to focus on strategic priorities, nevertheless, there has sometimes been resistance. Where this has occurred it has usually been because agencies or individuals sensed that a biblical balance might be lost if what needed to be done to finish world evangelism was defined too sharply. Perhaps it would help to review the priorities and activities of the Apostle Paul who, in a sense, is the real father and co-captain with Christ of the “Unreached Peoples Movement.” Why? Because Paul was a man of both focus and balance in his missionary career.

Although Paul explains the priorities God impressed on him in a number of places in his Epistles, chapter fifteen of Romans is a good place to see that it is possible to achieve both focus and balance in missions today.

I believe there are four distinct categories of target groups in the Pauline strategy. These can be categorized as follows:

1. The Unreached.

2. The Newly Reached.

3. The Misled.

4. The Unfed.

THE UNREACHED.

In Romans 15:14-22 Paul explains that by the grace of God he was made a minister to the Gentiles. This commission was the basis of a lifetime ambition “to preach the gospel where Christ was not known,” (Verse 20) so that “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” Clearly, this became a commitment to what we call today “Unreached” or “Frontier” peoples. Paul’s life of ministry is a witness to this priority. With some longer ministries in Ephesus and Corinth, he constantly moved on to the cutting edges of outreach around the northern Mediterranean region.

Even as Paul explains his concern to come to Rome, he emphasizes that his visit will be en route to Spain, an area and people where the Gospel had not been preached and the church as yet was established. (Romans 15:24) The question is, should Paul’s priority be ours today? He said it was his “ambition”, does that mean it was his personal concern, which may or may not be ours today?

Paul’s ambition was not simply a personal matter. When he explains the basis of his calling in Galatians 1:11-17, he indicates Christ showed him he would be an apostle to the Gentiles. Although Paul was not present when the Great Commission was given, he understood the essence of it. Christ wanted disciples made from among all nations. Paul knew that Christ’s concern was squared with the call of Abraham back in Genesis l2:1-3 where God had said, “all peoples will be blessed through you.” Paul knew that the blessing of God was intended not simply for Israel, nor even for all the nation/states as we understand them today, but for all families or clans of the earth. Paul’s personal call and ambition is part of a larger plan to which all believers belong. After all, Christ told his disciples that in making disciples of all nations, they should teach those new believers to “obey everything I have commanded you.” No doubt he intended them to include his last command in their teaching, making it a priority for every one of us.

In spite of the fact that everyone has an obligation to the unreached, Paul differentiated between his own life guidance and that of others. He recognized that Peter had a different calling. Both were apostles, but Peter’s objective was to be a ministry to Jews, (Gal.1:7-8). It is interesting to note that both Paul and Peter ministered outside their area of primary calling. Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius, a Roman gentile, and as we shall see, Paul ministered to Jews. Christ told Peter in unmistakable terms, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15,16,17) So, we see a pastoral mandate is also an apostolic mandate. This is why we must be careful not to imply that what God has impressed on our hearts is the exact representation of what every other believer must do.

NEWLY REACHED PEOPLE.

As Paul prepared to go to Spain, an unreached area and people, he plans to visit a newly reached people, the urban Roman church in Italy. He explains this carefully in Romans 15:22-29. Even though he is confident that these newly reached people are “full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (Rom.15:14), he plans not only to be helped by them in his mission to Spain but to “impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.”(Rom.1:11) He actually says he wants to preach the gospel to the Romans (Rom.1:15) implying that either within their local church or around them were those who had not actually believed. He hoped to assist these newly reached people in their evangelistic responsibilities.

It is hard to escape the fact that although Paul is constantly trying to reach the unreached, he invests serious efforts in building up the newly reached. Twelve of Paul’s epistles are addressed to newly reached peoples, (thirteen if he wrote Hebrews also) or to individual believers like Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The strengthening of newly reached peoples, even assisting existing churches in other cultures to reach out around them, is a legitimate missionary task being performed by many missionaries today. It would be a shame if those of us who consider ourselves part of the Unreached Peoples Movement, were to imply that missionary deployment among newly reached peoples is a less than strategic involvement. Paul, the co-captain of the U.P.M. in its original form, ministered to churches that were established, but perhaps had not yet reached viable size for finishing the task around them. Paul visited and wrote these churches, but it may be added, does not appear to be a prisoner to them. Because he was a balanced and reasonable man, Paul did this necessary ministry, but today’s missionary working among such peoples should be leading them to consider their obedience to the Great Commission. Churches, where missionaries continue to labor, should never seek to limit the work of those missionaries to themselves alone, but hold them loosely, ready to release them for the sake of unreached peoples.

MISLED PEOPLES.

Another group that appears only slightly in Romans 15, is what I term “Misled People”. Paul asks the Roman believers to pray that he will be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea. (Rom.15:31) Who

are these? We may be tempted to conclude that they are non-Christian Roman authorities, but based on references to those who have given him the most difficulty throughout his ministry, we should probably conclude he is referring to unbelieving Jews. Of these people, Paul writes eloquently and passionately in Romans 9-11.

Paul said of the unbelieving Jews in Romans 9:2-3 “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” Later he says, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Rom.10:1) Think for a moment about the situation of Israel and the fact that Paul, though concerned about unreached people, and an apostle to the Gentiles, continually sought out the Jewish people to minister to them. He had a personal heart concern that he could not and did not shake off. But what kind of people were the Jews of his day? They had as much of the Word of God as then existed in their own language and available in each synagogue. They had ministers or teachers and places to meet, but they had no spiritual reality, that is to say, life in Christ because they had been misled by their leadership.

Jewish people who have not accepted Christ as Messiah clearly exist to our own day, and if Paul were here he would have the same conviction he had in his own day. May God lead many of us to share that same concern. But let us not lose sight of the “missiological category” which the Jews constituted in New Testament days. They were “Misled People”. There were no large groups of nominal Christians in Paul’s day who had a Bible in their own language, ministers, and churches, but no spiritual reality, but there are plenty of them today. These are people who have been misled by their leadership, and as a result, fail to enjoy the salvation and liberty provided in Christ. Misled, and therefore unsaved peoples abound across Latin America, Europe, and even Africa and North America. Paul would have been deeply concerned about such people today, even though his main ambition was to reach the unreached.

Spokespeople of the Unreached Peoples Movement should be careful as they direct the attention of Christians everywhere to the “10-40 Window” where the vast majority of the unreached live today. The window concept helps focus the area of greatest absolute need, but it has a tendency to deflect from an interest in Latin America, Europe, and Africa south of the Sahara. Misled peoples do have believers and churches among them, but it is very uneven. Guatemala may have up to 30% evangelicals, but Venezuela still has only 3%. Granted the population of both Guatemala and Venezuela is 98% nominal Christian, but this is of absolutely no reassurance when we consider that unless they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, their nominal status will not help them.

There are believers and evangelical churches throughout Europe but they constitute tiny minorities of half of 1% throughout southern Europe and only 7% in the strongest cases of the United Kingdom and Germany. The general picture in Europe is one of overwhelming secularity with alarming trends toward non-Christian spirituality exemplified in New Age and Neo-Pagan thinking. Misled peoples, in spite of the spiritual resources available to them, are lost, people. Churches of the same culture are concerned, but they need expatriate resources when faced with such overwhelming odds. Paul, the co-captain of the Unreached Peoples Movement, a man of focus and balance, would have been desperately concerned for misled peoples. We dare not lose sight of this group.

UNFED PEOPLES.

In spite of the excruciating needs among famine-lashed peoples of Africa and Asia, and the victims of awful ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, some evangelicals are still ambivalent about the extent to which relief or development projects are a part of missionary work. Though some have tried to portray evangelicals as unconcerned about these matters, the fact remains that evangelicals have been in the vanguard of famine relief, education, agriculture, and community development during the entire modern missionary movement. Robert Moffat was famous for his Gospel and Plough strategy in southern Africa in the last century. But some evangelicals began to see relief and social concern running hand in hand with liberal theology in the first half of this century. What would Paul have thought about this?

In Romans 15:25-33, Paul, the co-captain of the Unreached Peoples Movement, the minister to Newly Reached Peoples and Advocate for the Misled, makes an astounding announcment. He is putting both Spain and Rome on the back burner in order to take care of a relief project. He explains he will return to Jerusalem to take relief money gathered from Macedonian churches back to the believers in Palestine. This, apparently has been his project for quite some time. It is not a quirk. It is not a quick conscience salver. He and Barnabas first got involved as relief money couriers when the Spirit showed the Antiochan church that there would be a famine in Palestine (Acts 11:27-30) and decided to send help by Paul and his associate.

Interestingly, when Paul had to answer to the Jerusalem church for the doctrine he was teaching (Gal.2:1-10), the elders gave him full approval. They only had one thing they wanted him never to forget. What was it? The deity of Christ? Inerrancy? No. “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor.”(2:10) Was this a problem to the co-captain of the Un-

reached Peoples Movement? In no way. He replied that it was the very thing he was eager to do.

Concern for the poor, I have called them the Unfed is at the heart of the Gospel. There is no need for ambivalence on this point. It is not a liberal concern. It is not an obstruction to “finishing the task”. It is a way Christians should be. Paul, a man of focus and balance, did not consider it either a burden or an obstacle to reaching the unreached, but an integral part of his calling. As much a part of his own life commitment as it was to Jesus, or later to Zinzendorf, Wesley, Carey, Bob Pierce, or Viv Grigg.

The amazing thing about Paul is that he did not simply endorse these four priorities, he implemented them! One did not contradict the other. His ambition to reach the unreached was like a North Star, a magnetic north giving him the central organizing principle of his life. As he pursued his goal, he ministered to the Newly Reached, also to the Misled, and continues to the Unfed. Granted his aid was destined for believers but isn’t that the lesson many governments in our own age have learned? If you want relief assistance to get where it was intended to go, give it to the church!

Focus and Balance; may they characterize the strategizing and prioritizing of our missions programs and communication as they did the co-captain of the Unreached Peoples Movement… and his Captain, our Lord.

Michael Pocock, D.Miss.

Professor and Chairman

World Missions and Intercultural Studies

Dallas Theological Seminary

_________

Footnotes.

1. K.P. Yohannan, Why the World Waits: Exposing the Reality of Modern Missions, (Lake Mary, FLA.: Creation House, 1991.) pp.l54-l55.

2. Donald A. McGavran, “Today’s Task, Opportunity, and Imperative,” Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Rev.Ed. ed. by Ralph D.Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne,(Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1992). p.D-3.

3. Donald McGavran, “The Dimensions of World Evangelization,” and Ralph D. Winter, “The Highest Priority: Cross-Cultural Evangelism,” in Let The Earth Hear His Voice, (Minneapolis: World Wide Pub.) pp.94-116 and pp.213-258 respectively.

Personal failure is not the final chapter of your life. Do not get clues from people, Get cues from God and the Bible

Listen! Do not get cues from people who say you are a failure. It is a lie from the devil. Get your cues from God and the Bible. God says you are not a failure.

Over the years I have seen many instances of personal failures on the part of the believers in Christ resulting in quenching their faith life. Many people decided to leave the church and even stopped following the Lord just because of some failure that happened in their life. Individual failure has the potential to shipwreck our faith and trust in the Lord if we do not biblically understand this topic.

Wolfs in the most unexpected place

I have also noted over the years that few of the local assemblies or churches who are expected by the Lord to guard the truths of the Bible and care for the sheep in their dangerous times and needs, turned against the Lord’s sheep and acted like wolves to destroy them in their most needed times and attempt to ruin the faith life. Knowing or unknowingly it happens in some circles. God is the right judge in all these matters. Such people will have to give account for their attitudes and actions in this matter.

Bible says John 10:12-13, “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” Instead of protecting the sheep, the hired ones who do not care about the sheep do not even mind joining the wolf and attacking the innocent sheep. Such ungodly pharisaic leaders of the church are a disgrace to the Church the Lord established. They are there just for the fame and front seats. They do not even care about the wellbeing or protection of the sheep. I also admit very humbly that there are genuine spiritual leaders who exemplify the character of the Lord Jesus. May God bless and use them. Praise God for them.

Personal failure has the potential to shipwreck our faith.

However, this is not my point in this insight. My insight is that personal failure (self-caused or other caused) has the potential to ruin one’s faith life. The leaders of the church should know this truth and change their mindset as God gives them more time. Do you know that personal failure can cause people to walk away from God? They never thought something embarrassing like this would happen, but it did happen. Now the so-called shepherds (not real shepherds) are too quick in judging and condemning and the sheep run away. It can drive you away from the church and even from God. Your conscience says you did that or this and you end up convincing yourself that you are wrong and you can not do that or this. Your future spiritual future is gone let alone the ministry God called you to. Let me tell you this- such voices are lies, and it does not have anything to do with the truths shown in the Bible.

You are not a failure. It is only the lie of the devil and his agents. Can I convince from the Bible, the Word of God?

Beloved, I am going to convince you from the pages of the Bible why such a notion is a lie and far from the truth. The truth is this – many heroes of faith recovered from their failures and shined like stars again during their lifetime and even through history. You see we all fail one way or another. Is there anybody out there who can claim that they never failed God, failed others, or failed themselves? Sometimes, other people cause us to fail. It is part and parcel of living in a fallen world. I do not think there is one person on this earth who ever lived, who did not experience the pain of failure. However, the truth is that failure when it happens can ruin our life or build up our life. It all depends on how we are going to respond to our failures. Bible gives many examples of the failures of faith warriors so that we can learn from them. Some were handled in the right way, and some were handled in the wrong direction.

[bctt tweet=”Listen! You are not a failure. ” username=”sam2017insights”]

Abraham- the father of faith

Abraham, the father of faith, failed in his faith life on many occasions. The severe failure in his life was the occasion when he decided to have a son from Haggar. He thought God need help in fulfilling the promise of a Son. He walked out of the plan and will of God. The consequences were heartbreaking for him and others. This action resulted in family rivalries which even continued to current days. The offspring born through Ishmael is the Arab people while the progeny of Isaac is Jewish people. Drastic consequences of rivalry and enmity are in existence even today right in front of our eyes. The Jewish/Arabic issue is the number one international political issue even today. However, Abraham recovered from his failure didn’t he? He trusted and leaned on God, and God blessed him again. God fulfilled all the promises He made to Abraham. Abraham became a great blessing, and his offspring became great, his name is one of the great names in history. He continued in faith and did not quit trusting in the Lord. In short, He did not run away from God. He remained in his faith though he failed in a big way. Today we look back and honor him as our father in faith and we don’t remember his failure, but we do remember his victorious faith.
What was the secret of his success? He did not quit and ran away from God. He continued his faith life with God. He proved himself to be a great hero in faith by even willing to offer his promised son Isaac as a burnt offering to God according to God’s command. Of course, God intervened and spared the son of His covenant by offering a substitute in Isaac’s place – a ram caught in a thicket. His continued trust and faith in God made him a great man of history.

Moses- the greatest leader and the lawgiver of Israel

Another major star of the old testament is the great leader Moses. Moses knew even from an early age that God had called him with a specific purpose and plan. So he left the palace of the Pharoah and the privilege to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He left Egypt and the palace not fearing the king’s anger. However, in his rush to take things into his own hands, he ended up killing an Egyptian to save an Israelite. He became a murderer. He committed a big crime in Egypt and fearing being caught by the authorities he fled away and lived a hidden life for about 40 years. He was afraid due to his failure. He went and hid from law and justice. However, after 40 years he came out of the bushes and hiding places and emerged as the great leader of the nation Israel. He brought the children of Israel out from their slavery in Egypt and led a massive number of more than six hundred thousand men (not including women and children) to the promised land, the land of Israel. The God who had an eternal plan in his life fulfilled His plan by calling and restoring him again at the place of an unusual site, where flames of the fire were within a bush but not burned up the bushes. He stepped in back in faith by leaning on the Lord because he decided not to allow failure to crush him. Although he ran away due to his failure and the resultant fear, he did not allow his failure to change God’s plan for his life. What is the lesson here? Our God is big enough to keep His calling and gifts in tack, safe and secure despite our failures. Bible says in Romans 11:29, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
How about Jacob? Oh, poor Jacob-He was convinced he failed God when he deceived his brother Esau and got the firstborn status of the family. The fact of the matter even earlier, at the time of the birth, his mother Rebecca had twins in her womb and the Lord said to her, the two nations are in your belly, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23). He and his mother together invented a shortcut and quick scheme, and they dramatically tricked Isaac his father to obtain the birthright of Esau. You can read about this incident in Genesis. Jacob fled from his father’s house after this incident in fear of Esau. For more than 14 years he stayed in Padanaram. Then Jacob decided to come back to his father’s house. He returned with more wealth, vigor, and strength. He even wrestled with God and said ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, and he testified that he saw God face to face, and yet his life was spared. He called that place where he wrestled with God ‘Peniel’.

Jacob who became Israel – the one whose name carries the name of the nation

Jacob did not allow his failure to impact God’s calling and destiny for his life negatively. He did not quit but came back to the promised land, to his father’s house, and moved into the history books of the Bible. God blessed him and gave him twelve children, and they are the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. The nation Israel is known by his God-given name – Israel. Today we remember Jacob as one of the three patriarchs of faith along with Abraham and Isaac.

Are you listening? Your failure in life is not going to be your tombstone. It is not going to be your graveyard either. Your failure becomes your tombstone and cemetery only if you quit. You should not stop and leave the Lord. The enemy says you are a failure. He would accuse you and say you can not do any ministry anymore. Remember what you hear is a lie of the devil to stop God’s work in your life. If people around you, whatever pious they may look like, if they say or act like you are a failure, they are also echoing the lie of the devil. They are just the devil’s agents. I am sorry I have to say this truth because I know for sure how damaging those people’s attitudes are. I was there and experienced it. The fact is – Beloved, God has not finished with you yet, and you should not quit either.

David- the greatest king of Israel

Now comes the man after God’s own heart- King David-the sweet psalmist of Israel. The one who spent the lonely nights out there in the wilderness with his sheep. In those times his only companion and soul friend was the Lord God in heaven. He said at his young age, “the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. The Lord makes me lied down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” (Psalm 23). On a starry night out in the wilderness, after his sheep slept, he uses to talk to the Lord in heaven, and on one occasion he said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. (Psalms 19). Young David and the God in heaven together killed the giant Philistines when all of Israel including King Saul was hiding in fear from him. A simple shepherd boy but God made him the king of Israel.
Oh, but one evening his lust aroused in him. He called Bersheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to his palace bed and lay down with her. He became pregnant. To cover up all, this charm, sweet musician and godly, strong king of Israel murdered the innocent Uriah, Beersheba’s husband. What sad events! He tried his best to hide the matter for about three years. Finally, the prophet Nathan came to Him and rebuked David and said, “you are that man! The LORD, the God of Israel says.” That broke the heart David. Immediately he confessed, “I have sinned against the LORD,” day and night he pleaded with God for mercy and forgiveness. Oh, his heartfelt cry over this sin is in Psalm 51. “Have mercy on me, O God.. according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Do not cast me from your presence. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God. Oh God, my sacrifice is my broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, God, you will not despise. Didn’t it show a heartfelt confession from the depth of his inner soul? It is the picture of repentance and faith. God restored him. He again became the greatest king of the nation Israel and nation Israel became the greatest nation in the world under him.
You see, David did not allow his failure to affect his God-given gifts and destiny negatively. He admitted his sins to the Lord. He acknowledged he sinned against the Lord by his actions. He sought the face of the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. In short, he did not quit, and his failure became a stepping stone for him to advance in God’s kingdom.
None of us remember David as a man of failure, do we? However, we remember him as a man after God’s own heart. We recognize the fact that the Son of God, Jesus Christ was born in his genealogy and we enjoy his writings, the book of Psalms every day, especially in times of our troubles and sorrows. All because he did not allow his failure to stop him from God’s plans and purposes. He continued trusting the Lord and used his failures as stepping stones.

The Lord upholds the Godly

The names mentioned above, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David are a few of the faith warriors and star leaders of the Old Testament Scripture. The New Testament also gives examples of star leaders who failed tragically but recovered because they did not allow their failure to determine their God-appointed eternal plan and destiny. It is also true to say God did not let them fail. Bible says in Proverbs 24:16-18, “For a righteous man may fall seven times, And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.” There is a difference between the fall of godly and wicked. A Godly man, a righteous man, fay fall many times but rise again. However, the wicked man, the evil man, fall and he would not rise again. Psalms 37:24 says, “Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” This is talking about a Godly man. Though he falls means chances are there that he would fall, but shall not be utterly cast down. Why? For the Lord upholds him with His hand. What comforting and encouraging words. God is faithful and sticks closer than a brother when people prove unfaithful toward you, accuse and blame you for your failures. He is the good friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24.

New Testament Stars.

Peter- the one who opened the church doors for the first time on this earth

We can prove the above fact in Peter’s life. The night before the crucifixion of Jesus, he said to the disciples what is going to happen later that night. He said, “All of you will be ashamed of Me and leave Me tonight. For it is written, ‘I will kill the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be spread everywhere. After I am raised from the dead, I will go before you to the country of Galilee.” When Peter heard this, he said to Jesus ‘not me Lord’. He said, “Even if all men give up and turn away because of You, I will never.” In fact, he was claiming he is the bulletproof man in his commitment to Jesus. Even if all may fail him, Peter, Me will never fail you, Lord. Jesus answered and said, “For sure, I tell you, before a rooster crows this night, you will say three times you do not know Me.” Peter replied, “ Even if I have to die with You, I will never say I do not know You.” And all the followers said the same thing.” He said again, not me Lord; I will even die with you. I will never say I do not know you. It appears Peter was a little bit overconfident in his ability to stand with the Lord even in the most crucible time. The same chapter verses 69-75 say He denied Jesus three times exactly like Jesus predicted and on the third time, the Bible says, “he (Peter) began to say bad words and swear. He said, “I do not know the Man!” At once a rooster crowed. Luke 22:61 reports, exactly that time Jesus turned around and looked straight at Peter. What a meaningful look! It broke the heart of Peter. Bible says in verse 75 “Peter remembered the words Jesus had said to him, “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times you do not know Me.” Peter went outside and cried with loud cries.”
This was the profound valley failure. An eclipse failure time in Peter’s life. How can he face Jesus again? He denied his loving master three times. Not only he denied, but he did also swear and began to say bad words. Apparently, Jesus heard all those and Jesus looked at him. Also, Peter looked at Jesus at the same time. Oh, what a moment! Any rescue possible for that moment of failure? He genuinely repented for sure because he went outside and cried with loud cries. However, Peter could not face Jesus again. For a period, even after the resurrection of Christ, Peter ran away and hid from Jesus. He decided to go back to his old fishing lifestyle and tried to forget all that happened during the last three years with Christ. He called other disciples also to join him in going back to the old trade of catching fish. All hope and expectation were faded away from Peter’s mind. His failure was so, and that negatively impacted his faith in the Lord Jesus.

You see, this is what failure can do to you and me. On top of that, there are some whitewashed so-called “Christians” (not real Christians, but just outward believers) also there to make a profit out of your failures. I am telling you dear one, do not even worry or care about them. You look to the Lord. He will never leave you nor forsake you in your failures and troubles. Jesus pursued Peter after His resurrection. Jesus wanted to talk to him, but Peter was not ready. At last, one morning on that old Galilean seashore where Jesus called him first to follow Him, right there Jesus cooked breakfast for him and reinstated him after asking three times “do you love me Peter” All those three times Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” The Lord Himself was reinstating Peter to his original calling in those moments. What a marvelous incident! Can Peter forget that occasion ever in his life? Later, Peter, the man of Jesus, opened the doors of the newly formed church on the day of Pentecost with his bold, powerful and Spirit-filled preaching and three thousand people believed in the Lord and got baptized.
What else you need as a proof that the loving Lord will never leave you nor forsake you in your personal failures? Do not look for approval from people or such people called Pharisaical believers/Christians. This kind of people was there in Jesus times in the first century, and they are present even today in specific Christian groups. Do not believe the voice coming from inside you saying you are a failure nor from other people saying that you are a failure and you cannot recover from your failure. God in heaven values you so much that He called you with an eternal plan and purpose. You must continue in your faith no matter what happened in your life until the end. God has not finished with you yet.

Paul – the superstar of the New Testament

I need to write about the star hero of the New Testament. Saul became Paul. He was a murderer who forced Christians to renounce their faith and blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a murderer who killed many believers in Christ. He arrested men and women who were following the Lord Jesus, pushed them to blaspheme Jesus if they want to live on this earth. (Acts 26). He says he was a persecutor, violent aggressor, and the worst of all sinners. Jesus touched the young man called Saul and turned him to Paul, the apostle, and minister of Jesus Christ.
Later he said in Philippians 3 about his credentials, “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him.” He then said he became righteous through believing and placing his faith in Christ because God has only one way to make us right with Him and that is the way of faith in Christ, His Son who died for our sins. He said he wants to know Jesus Christ and experience God’s mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead. He said he wants to suffer with him. He wants to share in the death of Christ. This is the only goal now he had in life. He poured out the rest of his life for the preaching and teaching the Gospel (the good news) of Christ around the world and established churches throughout the middle east areas.
I want to bring one sentence he said in Philippians 3:13-14, “but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul let me ask you this- how can you forget your past being an old criminal, murderer, persecutor, one who forced believers to blaspheme Christ and a violent aggressor? He would answer like this. I believe in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I experience it. When he went to that cross and there on the cross hanging down on crucified on the nails on his hands and feet, the blood dropped down was the divine and innocent bloodshed for me. The blood of Christ is so powerful to wash away all of my past sins. I am thoroughly and wholly washed clean by the blood of the Son of God who loved me and died in my place and paid for my sins. Now I can boldly say I can forget my past and move forward to what lies ahead because of the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and his shed blood.

Beloved, Christ is the answer to all our failures. His blood is the most potent and wonderworking detergent that wipe away all your sins of the past, present, and future. When you come to Christ and accept Him as our savior and Lord, you become a new creation ready to be used by the almighty God. I beg you on behalf of God, to know this truth -you are not a failure. All people fail. Bible says all are sinners. There is not even one person ever lived on this earth, except the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who escapes from the verdict of the Bible. All sinned. All failed God in one way or another. If someone says he is perfect and never failed and acts as a superior faith man or woman, that is just a lie and no truth. (1 John 1:10). Your failure is not your tombstone. Let that be your stepping stone for God’s kingdom. Remember Abraham, Jacob, David, Peter, and Paul- all testify this truth.

First thing first. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and seek His forgiveness and continue walking in faith. When you ask Jesus for forgiveness, he removes that sin from your life and restores the fellowship with the holy God by the power of the shed blood of Christ.

Prayer time: Father in heaven, thank you for talking to me today through your Word. I know you love me and want to turn my past failures to grow and mature in your eternal plans and purposes in my life. Lord, help me to love the people whose words and actions communicate that I am a failure. I leave them and their attitudes into your hand. As I forward, Lord, give me strength and wisdom inside me to fulfill your plans in my life. May I continually look to you and your guidance? Expand the doors of my opportunities to serve you in this world until the last breath of my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

Weekly Bible Insights

Labor Day-who is our Master? Whom should we serve?

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Three plus One Equals Four.

Three Negative Steps:

One Positive Step:

Four Rewards:

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Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 4.

First is His sovereign will or decree, meaning God’s supreme and sovereign control over all things.

Secondly, there is the revealed will of God that includes God’s commands and desires for us to follow or do.

Thirdly, there is the personal will of God in our lives.

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The Salvation that God prepared in the sight of all nations!

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Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 3.

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Worship is more than Sunday Attendance! Part 2.

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Worship Is More Than Sunday Attendance!

1. The Motivation for Worship.

2. The Manner of Worship.

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On this Easter season, remember Humanity’s hope for the future is based only on Christ’s resurrection.

The resurrection of Christ is the only hope of all human beings.

God’s eternal plan was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

The empty tomb is the most compelling proof of Christ’s resurrection.

The secret of the boldness of the disciples is yet another one.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, why has nobody so far produced any evidence of His body or even bones?

In fact, Jesus rose as He Himself exactly predicted

Jesus is the source of resurrection and life.

Christ is the first fruit, the way or the pathfinder for those who would come to Him.

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FOCUS AND BALANCE IN MISSIONS TODAY.

“Missionary Strategy: Learning from St. Paul”.

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Listen! Do not get cues from people who say you are a failure. It is a lie from the devil. Get your cues from God and the Bible. God says you are not a failure.

Wolfs in the most unexpected place

Personal failure has the potential to shipwreck our faith.

You are not a failure. It is only the lie of the devil and his agents. Can I convince from the Bible, the Word of God?

Abraham- the father of faith

Moses- the greatest leader and the lawgiver of Israel

Jacob who became Israel – the one whose name carries the name of the nation

David- the greatest king of Israel

The Lord upholds the Godly

New Testament Stars.

Peter- the one who opened the church doors for the first time on this earth

Paul – the superstar of the New Testament

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