“Man is born for trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward.” Job 5:7.

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

Strange as it sounds, Count it all joy!

At least there are three schools of thought regarding trials. One group, they are a form of punishment from God. The other group says if we grow and achieve maturity, the problems will eventually go away, and because of your development and maturity, you can live joyfully ever after. The third group has an erroneous notion that they are already spiritually mature, and no trials and temptation would even come against them.

Such pious acting and religious hypocrites believe they live on higher levels and closer to God and look down on others who are wounded by trials and temptations. These are the Pharisees of the time of Jesus. They killed grace at all costs even though they are filled with the knowledge of the law. However, not a trace of grace was found in them. You see, they were quick to drag the sinful women to the foot of Jesus. They are also priests and Levite, who looked the other side of the road and traveled to worship God, ignoring the wounded man on the side of the road. They did not have any clue of the depth of the grace and truth in Jesus. Jesus knew their wicked hearts. He called such pious religious playing people,  whitewashed tombs, and blind guides. He said about them- You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. We have still around us such people- the legalist hypocrites who do not know who Jesus is or what grace is all about.

The fact is this- humanity is people of trouble because we live and mingle with troubled people in this sin-bound and cursed planet earth. No one ever would get exempt from it. This is why the Bible says in Job 5:7, “man is born for trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward.” If sparks fly upward is a universal truth, then man faced with trouble is also a universal truth. Your trials and temptation may be different from mine. However, you have a sharE of it, and I have a share of it. We all share it.

Bible says to be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s advice to Timothy was this – Timothy, you grow in grace. You become strong in grace. As a result, you become an image of Jesus in this fallen world that desperately needs God’s grace and deliverance.

All in it.

As I alluded before, we share the fallen nature. As a result, we do face trials and temptations. We are together in facing these issues. The people whom we trust disappoint us. People whom we loved intimately turns against us. On top of all this matter, we grow old. Families break apart; loved ones die, face sickness, and health issues. Our children make wrong choices and pay for it. The list goes and goes on. The first book, apparently written in the old testament, is the book of Job. It talks about the untold miseries of life. Our Bible verse cited above came from that book.

Now, the first book written in the New Testament is the book of James. It also has a lot to talk about trials and temptations. James wrote to the scattered Christian Jewish believers due to the severe persecution of Christians in the first century. You see, persecution comes in different forms – comes from the world, from the loved ones, from the devil, ungodly and of course, from legalistic hypocrites. This is why James says in 1:2 (b) “various trials and “trials of many kinds.” Your trials and temptations would be different from mine. However, we all face trials and temptations- various kinds of trials.

Why and How?

After addressing the “why” of their trials (which is contextually persecution from fellow Jewish people), James reveals the ‘how’ of the trials—understanding the ‘why’ is always important to figure out the ‘how’ to face it. Understanding ‘what’ caused by trials is cardinal. Then only we move to ‘how’ of facing it.

Interestingly, the ‘how’ of James is a short and sweet phrase. Simple as it sounds, it is a profound statement. He wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Trials are various. Theirs was persecution due to their faith in Jesus Christ. However, the solution is always the same regardless of the nature of the problems. What is it? “Count it all joy.” So strange, isn’t it? Are you out of mind? What is wrong with you, James? Are you serious? How can I count my trial a matter of joy? When checked, the other translations said, “be very fortunate” and “be very glad.” J.B. Phillips translates, “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!” Message Bible says, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.” Now, did you get the idea? ‘Joy, welcome as friends, sheet gift’. In short, put a smile on your face. Do not put a lousy face. Put joyful, a smily face. Easy to talk but hard to do, right? Yes, of course, humanly hard. Naturally, we respond in anger, frustration, cry, and so forth. However, James is not talking about the usual response. He talks about the unusual and unnatural reaction, only the Holy Spirit of God can produce inside us if we see things from God’s perspective. Christian life has a lot to do with un-natural responses because a Christian is born from above. His birth is divine and from heaven. The seed that made him born again was the eternal and everlasting seed, the word of God. The old seed is not the basis or the source of his newly found life in Christ.

Count it all joy, welcome as friends, sheet gift, fortunate – these are the words to remember when faced with trials. This is the divine counsel. You will get this counsel from this world. The world faces various difficulties with hopelessness, bitterness, disappointment, and delusion. On the contrary, a child of God must be willing to count it joy, consider fortunate, welcome as friends, accept a sheer gift. This is the primary difference.

When difficult times emerge, we understand we join humanity’s predicament in it due to the sinful nature of humankind. However, we know we are different in the sense that we are born from above with the eternal and everlasting word of God. The seed that caused us to be born again is not earthly.  When faced with various trials.” Watch the phrase, “count it”. It means to reckon, know, understand, or count.  Each time we need to reckon or train ourselves to count the trials as joy. This is the divine perspective.

Peter has the same advice in 1 Peter 4:12. He wrote not to be surprised by the trials as though some strange thing were happening to you. Think about your last big trial. There is all the chance you would think a strange thing happened to you. Peter says, do not think it is a strange thing that happened to you. The fact is this – no one is immune from trials, and they are here present. Peter also says there keep on rejoicing over them. The same command we see in the book of James.

Spiritual Exercise Equipment.

Secondly, what James says is this – your faith in God and Jesus Christ is not just a philosophical concept or abstract imaginations. Faith in God is living and active, and it needs to be stretched hard to develop and grow. Faith requires exercise like your body muzzles need to become strong resilient. Trials or testing of faith produces perseverance. Perseverance won’t automatically come in life. When we exercise, we hang tough on the machines so that our muzzles would become strong. Same way, trials, and testing develop perseverance. Perseverance is persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. You need time and persistence to build your body muzzles.

The same is true in developing your faith with God. Trials allow us to produce perseverance. The outcome is this – out of challenging work of perseverance, you would become mature and complete. It adds these words –“not lacking anything.” Not only do you become mature and complete, but also you end up not lacking anything. What does that mean? I believe trials and your perseverance amid trials- you come out victoriously lacking nothing. God would make sure you would lack nothing, although you thought you do lack many things in the process. You would end up lacking nothing. Job went through severe trials and testings. Did he end up lacking? He ended up lacking nothing because God provided everything, although, in the process, he thought he lost and lacked all. In short, do not quite before the process is completed. Coming out winning lacking nothing needs perseverance amid various trials.

One thing we all need.

Thirdly, one thing we need amid trails is the wisdom of God. To persevere, we need wisdom. There is a chance to quite early from the game by the absence of God’s wisdom. Wisdom of God means understanding matters in God’s perspective, not human perspectives. Here we all need help. “Since you lack wisdom, you must ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  To successfully go through the trials and come out lacking nothing and receiving all from the hand of the Lord, you need God’s wisdom or His perspective. You have to ask God in prayer for wisdom in such difficult times. God says he likes that prayer. He will give wisdom to you when you ask for it. This is a  promise from God. Do not think God would find fault with you even if trials caused by your actions. He will not find fault with you. When you ask God gives wisdom generously. Not sparingly but generously. There is one condition to receive wisdom. You must believe God’s promise. You do not doubt when you ask Him. A double-minded person is unstable and unstable and he could not receive anything from the Lord. God promised it. You must believe with all your heart.

Summary

Somehow God’s divine plan includes your various trials. It is woven in the divine plan. I do not know why. You probably won’t figure out either.  The Bible repeatedly affirms this truth. God allows such trials to develop you to be ready and perfect for his calling and purposes at the due time. The experiences of trials were present in the life of Moses, which equipped him to become the most outstanding leader of the nation Israel to deliver them out of bondage and lead them to the promised land. This included going down from the position of Pharoah’s daughter’s son to a murderer and become nobody. He had to shepherd his father-in-law’s flock for long forty years before God stepped into his life and commissioned him with God’s purposes and plans. David had to go through untold miseries one after another before he became the king of Israel. Even after he became the king, he had to flee his palace due to the rebellion and wickedness of his son. However, God had a bigger plan out of all these trials. You will understand God’s plan when you read the book of Psalms and hear the savior of the world Jesus Christ (who was called by the name son of David) came through his promised lineage in fulfillment of God’s promise to David in 2nd Samuel 7.  No trial in the Scripture was wasted by God when it is faced with perseverance. It is the same for you. The loving God would waste no trail of a believer. It has a unique purpose and plan. God will fulfill it at this due time.

Let us recap what we learned.
•    Though hard, God asks us to count it all joy when faced with various trials. This is the divine expectation. We have to make it happen with the power of His Spirit and Word, or it would not automatically occur.  It is easy to complain, point figures, play blame games. It is easy to get sad and discourage and lose hope. However, He says face trials with joy; understanding God has a big picture in it.

•    Our faith must not remain as a hypothesis or an unproven theory. Faith needs exercise to develop into perseverance resulting in lacking nothing.  Trials, testing, and temptations are the exercise equipment for faith to grow and mature.

•    God’s overall plan allows these unwelcomed guests to visit once in a while so that you and I would be ready for his purposes for our life here on earth at His due time.

•    We must not be critical or judgmental about those who are faced with trials and testing. Instead, we must be gracious and compassionate, understanding we are all in it as long as we live her on this planet contaminated by sin.

Moving closer to God or moving away from Him? How does true salvation looks like?

Below are the notes from one of my recent sermons in my assembly. Hopefully, it can contribute to your understanding of the topic of true salvation. How do you distinguish genuine and disingenuous salvation?

I Thessalonians 1:4-10

One of the biggest tragedies, even in today’s worldwide pandemic time, is this- The pious and religious people who want to acknowledge and accept the living God move away from God. In all their sincere desire and passion for knowing God intimately, unfortunately, the sad truth emerges when they move away instead of moving closer to Him. This happens in Christian denominations and other religious circles. You see, religion and its meticulous humanmade practices can never make you closer to God. Moving closer to God and understanding His plans and purposes for your life happens not with religious practices but with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The people in Thessalonica were religious enough to serve humanmade idols in their lives. Their desire and good intention of knowing God and fulfilling His plans were intense and sincere. However, in their pious and religious mindset, they moved away from the true and living God than moving closer to Him.

Moving toward and closer to God is called ‘conversion.’ The Bible calls this change in different terms like repentance, born again, and salvation.

From the 1st chapter of the Book of Thessalonians, we will discover how true conversion, salvation, or born again looks. How do we distinguish between honestly pious and religious people and the truly converted or saved ones? We come across genuinely religious and pious people. However, are they truly converted, saved, and born again to know God and His plans and purposes for their lives? How does true salvation happen? What are the ingredients behind true salvation? What are the results of true conversion, and what is the over all story?

The Mystery of real conversion or salvation

The true conversion has two sides –divine and human.

Divine side:

Thessalonians 1:4 says, “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you.” Stop right there and think about what you read. The first thing always comes first! What is the first thing? God must choose you. Bible affirms the doctrine of election. It means that God chose those who would be saved. True salvation always begins with the choice of God. It does not start with our choice or desire. We do not choose God. God chooses us. Jesus said, and it is recorded in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit…” Bible says in Ephesian 1:4 what time or when God chose you. It says, “even as He (God, the Father) chose us in Him (Jesus, the Son of God) before the foundation of the world.” It continues to say in verse4 that, “He (God, the Father) predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ (Son of God) for Himself (God, the Father). This choice in the eternal past (even before he made the foundations of the world-which means before God created the world), was based on His favor and will. He did this for the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us within the beloved (Jesus).

Bible says in 1 John 4:10, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son (Jesus) as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 2 Timothy 1:9 says our conversion or salvation is “not because we deserved it, but because of His plans from before the beginning of time in order to show His grace through Christ Jesus.”

You see, this is the divine side of the right conversion or salvation. That is why Paul wrote in verse 4, “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you.” Do you understand God’s choice of you flows from His love toward you and nothing else? Bible says in Malachi 1 and Romans 9:13 that God loved Jacob. Humanly we do not understand why God loved Jacob and chose him. Jacob was a deceiver and cunning man. We do not know why God did not choose his brother Esau either.

Ephesians 1:9 says there is Mystery in God’s will that we do not understand fully now on this side of the eternity because we see now in a mirror dimly. However, we will fully understand later when we are in heaven, and we will hear and see things face to face and fully know the truth behind all at that time. We are not going to understand the divine side or Mystery of our conversion/salvation now. However, the divine side of God’s choice or the election is, in fact, revealed in the pages of the Bible.

God’s choice in salvation informs us assures two points – God saves us. I can’t save myself. The First thing must happen first. God chose you. Secondly, because God loved you and chose you, flowing from the source of His love, a true believer chosen by God and saved, is eternally secure. This is why Bible says in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, not powers, nor height, not depth, not any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Human side

Verse 5 and 6 gives the human side of the true conversion. The first thing is first: God chose, predestined, and adopted you in Jesus Christ even before the foundation of the world in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and his efficacious work on the cross on behalf of you. Now verse 5 says the Gospel (the good news) came to you not merely with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. Verse 6 says, as a result, the new believers in the city of Thessalonica welcomed the message. Chapter 2 verse 13 says they “received the word of God, which they heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in your who believe.” Do you see the two sides of salvation? God’s choice and the election became effective in the lives of the people of Thessalonica by the preaching of the Gospel to them. The word of God or the preaching of the Gospel is not just human words. It has God’s power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the hearers. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Why? “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Listen! Two people can hear the Gospel/good news of God’s word, and they could respond in two different ways. One hears the word and does not accept it in his or her heart. The other hears, welcomes, and accepts the message, as it is from God. Regarding those who welcomes and accepts the message, chapter 2:13 (c) says the word of God works in them to believe in it. Those who hear, welcome the message, the Holy Spirit of God grants deep conviction as the word of God works inside them.

This is what we do in teachbible.org also. Most every day, we send the words of God, the Gospel. We do not know who would respond to the reading or hearing of our message. We do not see how it all work. However, do you know God promised in the Bible that His word that He sends would never return void? He promised it would accomplish its purpose. (Isaiah 55;11). We do not know in whom the Holy Spirit’s convicting works happen. However, we believe in the promise of God He made in the scripture. These are the human sides of the true conversion or salvation.

Now, as we understood the divine and human side of salvation, we will look into the results of conversion.

The results of conversion.

Chapter 1:6 says the new believers in Christ in the city of Thessalonica “became imitators of us (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) and the Lord.” Did you notice, not only they became imitators of them and also of the Lord? How? It says how it happens. It says for they welcomed the word of God in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. There are loads of packed meanings in the statement. “The first result of their conversion is that they accepted God’s word amid severe suffering. How did it happen? Because of their joy in the word of God given by the Holy Spirit. They found divine joy because the Holy Spirit gave them the joy of the word of God. Do you have the Holy Spirit’s joy in hearing, welcoming, and accepting the word of God? It is one of the proofs of genuine conversion or salvation.

The other outcome of the conversion is in verse 7. It says they “became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” The new believers in Christ in Thessalonica not only became the imitators of them and the Lord in welcoming the word of God in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit, but they also became a model to all other believers in their neighboring areas. In other words, they had a new and changed life. They not only welcomed and accepted the word of God, but also lived it. A changed life can make an impact for Jesus wherever you live, family, and workplace. We often erroneously think new believers would make a difference in other people’s life by becoming a full-time missionary in other countries. First of all, right where they were living, they could influence their new and changed life found in Christ. Then verse 8(b) their faith in God became known everywhere. They had a story to tell to people in their immediate areas and even to people everywhere.

You see, Jesus said just before His ascension into heaven and charged the disciples with a commission called Great Commission. Acts 1 says they wanted to know the time the Lord Jesus would establish the promised kingdom. However, Jesus said, “it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” You see the progression the Lord expects from his followers in this passage. The Gospel’s message must vibrate to our immediate areas and then to the end of the earth. Jerusalem is the place the first-century disciples lived. That is where they would announce first and then to the next immediate area called Judea and then to Samaria and then to the end of the world. The new believers in Christ in Thessalonica were obedient to the Great Commission the Lord Jesus gave. Obedience to the great commission is a proof of your genuine salvation.

The Story of Conversion

The story of your salvation is your personal story. The story is unique to each person who came to the Lord Jesus for salvation. It merely says, how did it all happen? Verse 9 and 10 describe the story of the believers in Christ in Thessalonica. They were idol worshippers before. It was a unique story of their life before they welcomed and accepted the word of the living God. Thessalonica was a large port city on the Aegean Sea in modern day-Greece. The number of people then was around 200,000. The city was filled with pagan idol worshippers. Idol worship, full list of Greek and Roman gods, and the city of Thessalonica was well known for emperor worship. The city was filled with idols and idol worshippers.

What is your personal story? You can write down your personal story to share with others. Verses 9-10 illustrated the past status, present status, and future status of their salvation story. The truth of the past was that they were merely idol worshippers. However, something else happened to them. What was it? The word of God, the gospel message, came to them with its power and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. They welcomed, accepted it. As a result, they “turned from idols to the living God from idols.” This is their beautiful and surprising story of the past.

Turned to the living God from idols. The word ‘turned’ became effective in their lives in time, because God chose them for Him even before He created the whole world (the divine side), Paul preached the truth of the Gospel with all its inherent power and with the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and they welcomed, accepted, and believed in the message of the living God (human side). Turning here means a change of mindset. You have been thinking one way so far. Now you believe another different way. It happened because of the divine and humans side of the conversion.

Now the verse also gives us the present aspect of their salvation. They are now serving the living and true God. They were serving hand made (humanmade) stones and woods before. Now they serve the living and only true God. What a fantastic change! The present aspect is their service to the one and true living God. No more serving lifeless wood and stones. But now serving the living and only true God.

A change of service resulted from their turning to the living God. As Paul alluded in the book of Romans in chapter 4, idols are nothing. They are not God. They are not sin in themselves.They are just wood or human-made images. However, it becomes a god based on the worth or value you attribute to them. Now for many other people like some of us, we did not serve hand made images or idols in the past. However, we still served some so-called gods, although they are not made out of wood or stones. It could be their strong desires, passions or mental images or imaginations. The value and worth you give to something dear to you has the potential to become an idol. Then we can become idol worshippers and moving away from God.

“Turned to God from idols” means you turned away from serving what you valued dearly and highly before to serve the will, plan, and purpose of the living God for the rest of your life. God’s will is revealed in the person and the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. What is God’s first and foremost will? Jesus said, and it is recorded in John 6:40, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son (Jesus) and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” The first and foremost will of God for you is your look at God’s Son, who died for your sins on the cross and believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. A truly converted believer in Christ becomes a life of service to the living and one true God. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20 this -“I have been crucified with Christ: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live I live by believing in God’s Son, who loved me and took the punishment for my sins.” GW.

Not only presently, they are serving the living God but also verse 1st Thessalonians 1:10 says another aspect of their present life in Christ. It says, “to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus.” Acts 1:9-10 says Jesus was standing among the disciples after his resurrection. After Jesus gave the Great Commission, Jesus was taken up before their very eyes, gone up and up in the air as they were stunned and staring at him. Then a cloud hid Jesus from their eyes. Suddenly, two men dressed in white stood next to the disciples and said, “men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken away from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” This is the account of the ascension of Jesus into heaven after his life and works on our behalf on this earth.

Our passage in Thessalonians says the Christ believers in the city waits for his Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead. They look up to the sky for the return of Jesus from heaven. A believer in Christ continuously waits for the return of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. It says they wait for the return of Jesus from heaven, “who rescues us from the wrath to come.” The return of Christ is mentioned in all five chapters of the book of 1st book of Thessalonians. ‘Wrath of God to come’ is a special mention about God’s future wrath against all wickedness, rebelliousness, and unbelieving nature of the world and its people. Chapter 5:9 says this about the coming wrath of God in this sinful world. It says there, “For God has not destined us to for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those who are saved by the blood of Christ are not destined for this coming wrath of God the world would be faced with. Contrary, they are destined for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Bible describes in detail about this future wrath on the unbelieving world in the book of Revelation chapters 6 through 18. However, the whole church, which consists of all saved believers by Christ’s blood, would be raptured prior to this future wrath of God on this wicked world. The church is seen in heaven with God and Jesus Christ in chapter 5 of the book of Revelation prior to the unleashing of God’s wrath on this wicked and God rejecting world. This incident of catching up all saved believers in Christ (the church) in to the sky at the return of Christ to the clouds is called the ‘rapture,’ and you can read about this in 1s Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1st Corinthians 15:51-57. This is the future tense of the hope of the believers in Christ.

Now the whole world is experiencing an unprecedented time of the pandemic, which is seen in one way as God’s wrath against the ingratitude of people for what He had already done. Many were least concerned about God and His will and plan in their lives. Many lived in a free sinful lifestyle for an extended period. In one way, God can judge and punish people for not keeping his commandments and expectations. However, God is love, and those who would turn to Him by finding refuge in the salvation available through Jesus would be saved from the coming worldwide wrath, which the Bible talks about in the old testament and new testament. All what we see and experience now are nothing but the beginning of the birth pains (Matthew 24:8). 1st Thessalonians 5:3 says, while people are saying, there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them (notice the usage ‘them’ not ‘us’ who are saved by believing in God’s salvation through Jesus Christ) as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

The main points we discussed are:

The Mystery of true conversion-divine and human side. The need for a balanced view of the divine and human aspect in the true salvation,

The proofs of true conversion –welcoming, accepting and believing in the word of God, the message of the Gospel of salvation, imitating the apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ in lifestyle which means living the word welcomed, received and believed by a change in life and spreading of the word of God in immediate areas even up to the end of the earth.

The story of true conversion-what is the story of your conversion?

Thessalonians’ turned from idols” –Not any more serving the lifeless idols or sinful passions of the world but serving the living God, and they wait for the return of Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.

If you never come to Jesus, the only savior of the whole world as of yet, you can come to him and receive salvation, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and rescue from the coming wrath of God on this wicked world by praying with me now. Why don’t you do it just now? The angels and the whole heaven would be joyful over you. God accepts you to His household as His adopted child when you come now.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? Father in  heaven, I thank you because you loved me and chose me for salvation even before you made the foundation of this world. I accept Jesus as my savior and Lord. I believe Jesus died, buried and rose again for my sins. Please forgive my sins. Please save me and grant me eternal life in heaven with you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

The old and new ministry. 2nd Corinthians 3:5-12

Is there a distinction between the old covenant mediated by Moses and the new covenant inaugurated by Lord Jesus Christ? What are the differences? Why the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:3-4 and Ezekiel 36:26-27 is superior to the old covenant? Why is the new covenant “a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22)? 

Below are the notes from one of my recent sermons in my assembly. Hopefully, it can contribute to your understanding of the topic of old versus new covenant. 

The new ministry is not the ministry of ink but is the ministry of the Spirit of the living God (Vs.3b)

The new ministry is not written not on the tablet of stone, but the tablets of human hearts (vs. 3c)

The new ministers are those of the new covenant, not the ministers of the letter, but they are the ministers of the Spirit. (Vs.6)

They are not the ministers of death but are the ministers giving life. (vs.7)

If the old ministry of death had glory, how much more glorious the new ministry of the Spirit that gives life? (vs.7)

The new ministry is not of condemnation, but are the ministers that bring righteousness (vs.9)

If the old ministry of condemnation had glory, how much more glorious the new ministry of righteousness? (vs.9)

The new covenant ministers are not the ministers of fading glory but are the ministers of lasting and permanent glory (vs.11)

Suppose the old ministry of fading glory had glory. How much more glorious the new ministry of lasting and permanent glory? (vs.11)

The old ministry of course was glorious has now no glory compared to the surpassing glory of the new ministry. (10).

You see, notice Paul agree that the old ministry had glory. Exodus 20 describes- The Law and the old testament covenant were given under thunder, lightning flashes, thick cloud, smoke, and loud sound of the trumpet. Per Exodus 34 Israelites could not even look at Moses’s face because of the radiance of glory on Moses’s face when he came down from the mountain after the receipt of the Law from the Lord God. 

 

Two things worth mentioning about the glory of the old ministry. 

 

First, It was frightening, wasn’t it? People said to Moses speak to them but not let God talk to them lest they die. Therefore, it was frightening or trembling glory. 

Second, the glory was a fading glory. It was temporal and transitory. However, in contrast, the new covenant lasts forever. We will talk more about it later. Just remember now the new ministry will never fade away. It is permanent.

Vs5 says we are not all adequate in ourselves to handle this permanent and lasting glory of the new ministry called the new covenant, which was established by the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22). He admits our adequacy is from God. Why? Because only he made us adequate and appointed as ministers of the new covenant because the old ministry-the letter- kills, but the new ministry established by Christ and given to us gives life to people. Was Paul adequate? No, he says elsewhere that he is the worst of all sinners. He thanked Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has given me strength, considered me trustworthy and appointed me to his service. He says, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1).

The background of the passage

The background of 2nd Corinthians 3 is the– passion and strong desire among the Jews for olden days than the new thing the Lord was doing in their midst as a fulfillment of His promise to them. The background of 2nd Corinthians 3 is this-certain false apostles started a campaign against Paul in the Corinthian church. It was Paul who founded the church by the preaching and teaching of the grace and gospel of Christ. However, a group of false teachers emerged over the time had convinced the believers in Corinth of the superiority and the great glory of the day of Moses and the old covenant. They spoke so much of Moses and the Law that Jesus Christ somehow seemed diminished in the process. 

I want to drill down two phrases that Paul used to describe the old ministry. 

The ministry of death vs. the new ministry of the Holy Spirit (vs.7). You see, the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament could only bring forth death. 

By giving us a set of standards, it informs us what is right and wrong. The problem is it can’t inspire us to obedience. In contrast, it gives us a curiosity and desire to disobey. I would like to illustrate it this way. Suppose you are walking along the sidewalk, and you see a sign on a fence do not peak here. What would you do? You try to rise to see what is inside. Why did you do it? The sign says you do not peak. If there were no signs, you might not have tried to look over the fence. Even the thought of looking through the fence would never have occurred to you if there were no signs there. You see, the Law itself arouses a curiousness and temptation to disobey. That is why you ignored and violated the signboard, don’t you agree?

Does it mean the Law was not right? No, the Law is good. It came from God. It is perfect. But the problem is we do not have the mechanism or capacity to obey it. The Law can regulate only outward behavior. It does not change you internally. It is sitting in the external tablet of stone as Law, you do not have the power to submit or obey it. 

Think a moment about the last command out of ten commandments. Do not covet. The issue is that you find it hard to live on this earth’s face without some type of strong desire for something that comes across our minds and thought. Covet means an eager wish for something. No little child grows up without possessing a strong desire to have something. 

Have you ever broken any of the ten commandments? Think and tell me the truth. I read someone said like this. The question must not be, ‘did you break ten commandments’? The correct question is, have you broken by it? We are broke by the Law. Humanly it becomes nearly impossible to obey the ten commandments in its entirety. If we break one, we broke all. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” So adherence and full obedience to ten commandments become beyond our hope. 

The Law that shouts from Mt. Sinai “Thou shalt not” cannot empower us to obey its demands. It leaves me locked up in disobedience. I become a repeat offender who wants to change but lacks the power to obey it. This is what Paul talked in Romans 7- how wretched I am in my locked up condition. He says in Romans 7:19-25, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this Law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s Law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the Law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the Law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Galatians 3:24 says, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” In our locked up and helpless condition, the old testament Law becomes a tutor or guardian who brings us to the foot of the Cross of Christ, where he died on our behalf for our sins. This is why the Bible says in 1st Timothy that there is only one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. Ransom means the price or payment made for canceling our sins and trespasses that were against us. Jesus said and it is recorded in Matthew 20:28 that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” In contrast to the ministry of death, the new ministry, the new covenant, brings life. Hence the new ministry is much more glorious than the old ministry. 

The second point I want to drill down is this—the ministry of condemnation vs. the new ministry of righteousness. 

The old ministry was the ministry of condemnation. The Law condemns when we are locked down in disobedience. This is why Paul says in Romans 8:1 after describing the pathetic condition of the old ministry, he says, now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus. Praise God- Hallelujah. 

What does the new ministry do? Instead of bringing in the ministry of condemnation, it brings in the ministry of righteousness that overflows with even more glory. You see, each word is essential here. The ministry of righteousness is the ministry of the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans this, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it, God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” The gospel (the good news) reveals how to get right with God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, His son, who died, buried and rose again for us. The power of the blood of Christ and the efficacy of the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers us to do what was impossible. 

Two results come out of all this. What are they? 

It brings to remembrance the superiority of the present time we live in. Some people want to live in olden days because they are convinced the olden days were better and the new days are worse compared to the olden days. This is the same thought these false teachers had in Paul’s day. You see, we must not be tempted to cherish the olden days forgetting the new things God does in our lives in t his dispensation or age. By having a strong desire to live in the past, it can distract and change our focus from what God is doing right now. If we drive the car by looking at the rear windows constantly, it can lead to wrecks- not only we, the others, would also be in danger. God does wonderful and much more glorious things by appointing us as the ministers of the new ministry-new covenant, which is more glorious than the old ministry. Remember, we are the minsters of not fading glory, like the glory on Moses’s face, which eventually faded away. We are the ministers of lasting glory. We are the ministers of life, not death. We are ministers of righteousness revealed in the grace and gospel of Jesus Christ, not ministers of condemnation. 

Keep in mind that Paul says in verses 5 and 6, not because we are adequate to think any of these is coming from us. Our source of adequacy is from God. He made us adequate as the ministers of the new covenant. Praise and thank and Hallelujah to God in the name of Jesus Christ.

The second application is this – Paul says we are very bold in the new ministry. (vs. 12). The word ‘bold’ in the original means the boldness or freedom to speak. You see, the new covenant, the grace, and the gospel of Christ are written on the tablets of your heart, and you are free and bold in communicating it to anyone you come across. It naturally and automatically comes from your heart. Your boldness in the much more glorious new ministry is the result.  

As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, catching fish in the lake with a net. 

And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 

GNT translates this way -Jesus said to them, “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” At once they left their nets and went with him.

Jesus wants people to understand what a glorious ministry he calls you for. The wonder of it may amaze you daily. Besides, he also says, you come and I will make you fishers of men for the new covenant established in Christ’s blood. Listen, Andrew, and Peter! It will be much more glorious than catching fish in the lake with your net. You see, they left their boats and nets and followed Jesus, and he taught them how to catch people for the new covenant and his eternal kingdom. 

You see God calls you to become the channel of His grace in this world that desperately needs it. You need the grace, forgiveness, and love of God, don’t you?  The people around you need it right now in these difficult days. People are dying every day without the touch of the grace, forgiveness, and redemption of God freely available in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Would you be bold enough to come to Jesus and follow Him? Would you be bold enough to communicate the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these dark days to a world that needs the marvelous grace, compassion, and love of God? 

The new covenant promised in the old testament scriptures was already inaugurated by Lord Jesus Christ on His body that is broken and the blood that is shed for you. (Luke 22:18-20). I am not saying church replaced the promises God gave to Israel. No, Not at all. And I am not saying Israel does not have a literal fulfillment in the millennium as far as the promised new covenant in the Bible. Of course, the new covenant, also like other covenants, has multiple aspects of full fulfillment. Israel, as a nation and church as a new entity, is two separate plans of God. This is not my topic today. We can discuss the details of the new covenant in the future or refer the study Bible menu for more information on the new covenant. 

My question is, would your heart and mind be engulfed with the greatness of this new covenant ministry that is already inaugurated by Christ and called you for, and would you be bold enough to do it? Would it become your life’s passion?

 

“By the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain.” 1st Corinthians 15:10

One of the fundamental and distinguishable truths of Christianity is the power of the life a true Christian. It begins with the grace of God, continues to develop and mature in the knowledge and understanding of it, and finally culminates and results in its great trophy of accomplishment.

The verse under meditation this week is the most fundamental statement ever made regarding the efficacious power of God’s grace operating in the life of a believer in Christ. An Apostle and preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who was a murderer and a persecutor of the Christian Church in its infancy, says, “But the grace of God has made me what I am, and His grace to me was not wasted (proved in vain). Who Paul is and what he does is the result of the totality of the unfathomable grace of God poured out on Him when he accepted Christ as his savior and Lord.

After He met Jesus on his way to Damascus, with the approval letters of the Jewish leaders, to arrest and eventually kill the followers of Jesus (Acts 9), Paul (who was called Saul before) became a champion and herald of the grace of God for the rest of his life. He came to the sense that he was going in the wrong direction with a final destination of destruction. He was humbled and became the defender of God’s grace, poured out in and through Christ Jesus. All his letters called the epistles proves this massive change in his life. He told Timothy that Christ Jesus had given him strength, considered him trustworthy, appointing him to His service. He said he was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. However, He was shown mercy because he acted in ignorance and unbelief. He also testified the grace of the Lord Jesus was poured out on him abundantly. Paul penned the most trustworthy statement that is an entirely acceptable truth. That is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom He is the worst. However, he was shown mercy so that God’s immense patience became an example for any who would believe in Jesus to receive forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Another translation says God’s patience without limit. Awestruck by the amazing grace of God available in the person and work of Jesus Christ, drove Paul to his knees to give all honor and glory to the great eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God.

Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians, “I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.” How can a persecutor, murderer and blasphemer could become a minister of the grace and love of God? The answer is the boundless riches of the grace of God available to anyone who would accept God’s indescribable gift of Jesus for them.

The three-fold greatness of the grace of God, he explained in his letter to Titus. It says in Titus 2:11-14, the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people everywhere. Only by the grace of God revealed in person and work of the savior (the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on your behalf) can men be saved from the consequences and punishment of their sins. The grace of God grants forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, and it is freely available to all people regardless of the continents, nations, color, race, or any such things. In short, the saving grace appeared and open to all. The second fold of the grace of God is the powerful sustaining grace available to all who truly trusted and believed in Jesus Christ. It helps them to live a Godly life in the present age you and I are living. It teaches how to live upright, self-controlled, and avoiding wrongful passions. The sustaining grace of God is the power behind all believers in Christ. Paul wrote about what Lord Jesus said to him in 2nd Corinthians 12:9-10. Jesus promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” This is day-to-day, sustaining wonder-working grace of the Lord a believer can tap into on an ongoing basis in the present age in which we live here on this face of the earth. Because the promise of the all-sufficient grace of God, Paul said, I can even boast about my weakness because Christ’s power of grace rests in me. He could delight even in his weakness, in insults, in hardship, in persecution, in difficulties. The reason is he understood when he is weak, he can be secure by this power of the grace of God available.

The third dimension of the grace of God is its future aspect of God’s wonderful grace. It says amid the present troubles, a believer wait for the blessed hope. What is that blessed hope? The blessed hope is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself totally and completely to purify a people for his very own.

Paul elsewhere wrote in Ephesian 1 that in God’s grace, He chose you in Christ so that you would be holy and blameless before Him in the future. You see, we are not holy or blameless in any measure now. We have many unholy natures, and others can blame us in different ways. However, the power of God’s grace that appeared to save us, and sustains us in the present age, is the same agent of power that makes you holy and blameless in front of him in future when you reach his presence at the time of your death or the appearance of Christ, whichever comes first.

Colossians 1:22 says God reconciled you who were formerly alienated and hostile in mind toward Him, not by your works but by the physical body (death and resurrection of Jesus) on your behalf. Then it says why God reconciled? Why did He do it? Listen, it says there, God reconciled you to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. The same idea is given in Ephesians 2:6-7. It says there God did this so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Have you received the grace of God yet? If not, God’s grace is His gift in the person and work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. God sent the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus, to this world as the fulfillment of hundreds of promises and prophecies He made in the Holy Scriptures. Jesus is the source of God’s grace. If you have Jesus, you have the fantastic and beautiful grace of God. You can receive the grace of God right now in a small prayer. The grace of God has the power to make you born again as a brand new creation. It grants new birth into God’s household as His adopted child. You will also enjoy the present power of the grace of God while you live here. You will become the trophy of God’s grace in the display for all ages to come.

Are you fearful and worried about your future security? Discover how the jailer exchanged his fear with joy and gladness.

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30.

A general and common question of humanity down through the centuries is this important question asked by a jailer and mentioned in the Bible. The question is asked by a jailer when he was afraid and was about to kill himself when he thought about his future security.

The man and the reason for fear

Not much described the identity of this man called the ‘jailer’. Many of the opinion that he was in charge of keeping the prisoners so that they would not escape from prison. This incident happened in the city of Philippi which was a Roman colony and an important city in the first century AD. He must have been a person who proved his ability in the past in serving as a soldier in a Roman Army or served in a mission. Usually, the position of a jailer is held by someone who would be retired from such a background.

There was a violent earthquake and the foundation of the prison was shaken. The prison doors were open and the chains of the prisoners came loose. The jailer suddenly woke up and when he saw the prison doors were open and chains were loose, he knew thought to kill himself in fear of the Roman Government because he failed to fulfill his duty entrusted upon him.

You see on that night Apostle Paul and Silas, two missionaries of Jesus Christ were arrested and placed in jail because of their Gospel work of spreading the word of Jesus Christ. The crowd in the city took hold of them attacked them. Then the magistrates ordered to strip and beat them with rods. After sever flogging, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When the jailer received the special orders regarding them, he put them in one of the inner cells and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Beloved, even though they were attacked, stripped and beaten and placed them an inner cell by fastening their feet, in the midnight hours Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and all prisoners were listening to their prayers and singings. As they were praying and praising God, God sent a sudden earthquake, doors of the prison were opened, and every prisoner’s chain came loose.

Beloved, this was the occasion of the fear of the jailer because he thought the prisoners had escaped. However, Paul shouted in a big voice and said, “don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” At that time the jailer asked for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He took them out of the cell and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Temporal and eternal salvation/security

Of course, the jailer was worried about immediate deliverance and security from danger. However, can we separate temporal security/salvation from eternal security/salvation? Bible affirms both are intrinsically related to each other.

Listen, the security of our lives is of prime importance for all of us. For the jailer also the main focus of the question was his immediate future security. For people, the future security of their lives is central in their thoughts. Many may not always consider the eternal security of their souls when they think about security. However, future security, in general, is always a matter of concern.

Do you know the Word of God- the Bible – addresses both these dimensions? It addresses both immediate security and the eternal security of people. When you think about it we understand both are closely related. You need security now and eternal security. Both temporal and eternal security and salvation are inseparable.

When the Bible talks about salvation it talks both. The Old Testament section of the Bible sees salvation in terms of deliverance from anguish, affliction, danger, bondage, death, or more. The Hebrew words used for salvation in the Old Testament include future deliverance in the sense of deliverance now and here. It carries the meaning of holistic personal wellbeing, furtherance. The book of Psalms and Israel’s deliverance from exile, victory over enemies, deliverances from deep anguishes, sickness described in the history section of the Bible talks about salvation or deliverance now and near future. The Hebrew word used for salvation especially in the prophecy books and Psalms also means deliverance from sin and its resultant temporal and eternal consequences.

Who alone offers salvation/security for the future?

Bible describes God as the only savior. It declares no king/a leader can save people. Temporal and eternal salvation comes from God, although in His sovereign and omnipotent power He order/directs/enables people to help you. But the source of all salvation –temporal and future in God Himself. Hosea 13:4 says, “you shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me.” Isaiah 43:11 says, “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” Isaiah 45:15 says, “a righteous God and a savor; there is none but me.” Isaiah 25:8-9 says this about God’s deliverance as the only savior, “The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
God and savior come together in Bible verses and used synonymously (for Ex: Isaiah 45:15, 25:9).

The New Testament section of the Bible also uses the Greek word-groups for salvation in two meanings –temporal and eternal. However, eternal security and deliverance is the prime focus of the word group used in the New Testament. It addresses the deliverance from sin, spiritual death (absence of communication and fellowship with God), eternal death (eternal separation away from God forever), the devil. Salvation also connotes the meaning of the granting of eternal life. The New Testament also says God the Father planned the salvation of people even before He created the world and promised the savior of the whole world through the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), details of the seed of the woman and virgin birth is prophecied in Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7 and Isaiah 53 along with others in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of Mary by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) about whom the Bible affirms in Matthew 1:21, “And she will bear Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:23 looks back to the old testament prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures by saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, “God with us.” Jesus is Immanuel-God with us.

Jesus is the savior of the world and all people in it are clearly emphasized in the New Testament. Luke 2:11 when an angel announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds who were watching over their sheep and said, “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Acts 13:23 God has given the savior, Jesus about whom Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Jesus is the savior is stated in Ephesians 5:23. Titus 1:4 says God as our Father and Christ Jesus our savior. 2 Peter 1:1 says they receive salvation through the righteousness of God and the savior, Jesus Christ. The other passages that affirm Jesus as our savior include 1st peter 1:11, 3:2, and 3:18).

‘From’ and ‘to’ of salvation

In short, the word salvation has both ‘from’ and ‘to’ aspects as well as negative and positive aspects. God saves people from God’s wrath, consequences of sin and shortcomings, and the resultant punishment and judgment and positively grants favor, peace, all spiritual blessings in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. These blessings and deliverances included temporal and eternal and the prime focus of the word salvation is eternal security and life. It also says people are delivered from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:13). There are only two kingdoms in this world- the kingdom of darkness/devil and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Either they are in the kingdom of darkness/devil or in the kingdom of light/Jesus Christ. The transfer of domain or kingdom happens when you accept the work of God the Father and Jesus Christ on your behalf.

How was it accomplished for you?

Bible says how did God accomplish our salvation. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says, “Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God.” TLB translation graphically pictures this verse by saying, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us.” 1st Peter 2:24 says what Jesus did in for us in full obedience with |God’s plan of salvation. It says, “He (Jesus) carried our sins in His own body when He died on a cross. In doing this, we may be dead to sin and alive to all that is right and good. His wounds have healed you!” TLB translates this verse this way, “He (Jesus) personally carried the load of our sins in his own body when he died on the cross so that we can be finished with sin and live a good life from now on. For his wounds have healed ours!”

What must I do to be saved and receive peace and joy?

Now coming back to the question of the jailer, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas gave an immediate answer and it is the key answer.
The answer was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” They also spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all in his house. The jailer took Paul and Silas, washed their wounds from flogging the day before. The jailer and his family obeyed the word of the Lord by believing in Jesus and getting baptized. Then it says, the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house and gave a meal to them. Watch it says after it the jailer was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God. You see believing in God becomes meaningful when you believe the savior of the whole world, Jesus, whom God the Father gave for your salvation.

You see, the jailer was fearful about his immediate security. God in the name of Jesus Christ gave temporal (immediate) and eternal security and salvation. This is the reason it stated he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.

Are you afraid/worried about the future?

Are you fearful about your immediate security of the future like Jailer once was? No matter what you are afraid of, the answer is one and only one. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” Accept the truth that God loves you and gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, for your sins and shortcomings. Jesus carried all your sins on his divine body, went to the cross, and died there in your place. He was buried in a new tomb of the Joseph of Arimathea. But He is risen on the third day by the power of God to accomplish your salvation – temporal and eternal. (John 19-20). May this be a day of salvation for you in its entirety.

Would you pray with me now? “Father in heaven, I had the same question, what must I do to be saved? Thank you for giving me the answer. I believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ, who came, died, buried, and rose again for all of my sins. I accept Him as my savior and Lord. Please save me now. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

“For the Lord has caused her grief

 Because of the multitude of her transgressions;

 Her little ones have gone away

 As captives before the adversary.” Lamentations 1:5(b,c).

 

Funeral of a nation and city.

The book of Lamentations records the final funeral service of a nation and city- Judah and the city of Jerusalem. There is much to learn from history. This is true history, as the Bible always gives the true historical accounts of what happened in the past. Not only it says what happened historically in the past but also faithfully describes why things happen the way it happens now and what would happen in the future. There is no book like the Bible to understand the whole plan and purpose of God. Not much on the historicity, current relevance and futurity of the Bible now in this article. But let us move on…

Historical background.

If you want to know the historical background of the bleak, sorrowful and painful matters accounted in the book of Lamentations, you would read the previous book called the book of Jeremiah. The ministry of the prophet Jeremiah stretched from 627 BC to 580 BC. The nation and its people were disobedient to the Words of God. God is seen as patient during prolonged actions of disobedience and rebelliousness against Him and His eternal and everlasting Words. He called and appealed people through his prophets to repent about their sinful behavior and action before it is too late. 

Lesson from potter’s house.

God showed a sign of the potter’s house to prophet Jeremiah and it is recorded in chapter 18 of the book of Jeremiah. This is the lesson of the potter’s house. A vessel that was ‘gone bad’, ruined or spoiled can very well be repaired within a period, if it is in the hand of the potter. However, when the time passed and clay gets dried, it can only be good to throw away to the trash. God’s warning is clear- the time of repentance could end soon. There is an allotted time for turning to God and change the ways. However, after hearing repeated warnings and loving call of God through His prophets, they defied and continued in their sinful lifestyle which resulted in the Babylonian captivity and destruction of the nation and once elegant and proud city of Jerusalem. 

God in his anger poured out his wrath and as a result, Lamentations 1:1 says, “How lonely now the city, once the city was full of people’. She has become like a widow who weeps bitterly in the night. There is none to comfort her. Judah had gone into exile under severe affliction. Our weekly insight says, “For the LORD has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions; her little one have gone away as captives before the adversary.”

Verse 12 says, “Is it nothing to all of you who pass the way?” Look and see if there is any pain like it when God deals severely with the sinfulness of people? Lamentations 4:22 (d), “the LORD God will exposure your sins.” You see we can hide it or ignore it. The best and safest way is to agree with the Lord and turn to him and call him in true repentance. When we confess our sins God hides it. The prolonged and unconfessed sins, God will expose to all. 

You see, after the prolonged patience of God, he could act swiftly in anger. This is what history teaches us. This is what the Bible teaches us in the book of prophets and Lamentations. Now is the time to call on the name of Jesus Christ and now is the time of salvation. God moves through his world. He created the whole universe and earth. You and I can not and would not live in his world he created and sustains by continuously defying God, His existence and laws for a long time. God intervened in 722 BC and punished the northern kingdom called Israel by sending them to foreign Assyrian captivity. History says they never came back to the land after the exile. Later in 586 BC, God judged the sins of the southern kingdom called Judah and the city was in ruin and destruction. God sent them to the Babylonian captivity. 

The book of Lamentation is historically and accurately recorded what we should all know. People are in famine. They cry out night and day. The city is in desolation and no way of escape from the judgment of God. 

Personal despair.

Jeremiah describes his own despair condition in chapter 3. He says I am the man who has seen the affliction because of the rod of God’s wrath. He ministered faithfully. However, he experiences his own portion of troubles. He says the Lord has driven him and made him walk in darkness and not in light. He says the Lord has turned his hand against him, repeatedly all day. He says he has forgotten happiness and said: “My strength has perished, and so my hope from the Lord.” You see all are impacted heavily by the anger of the Lord because of people’s reckless life without God and His counsels in their lives.

But remember the truth about God -his loving-kindness and compassion

Beloved, may this be a solemn warning to all of us. Jeremiah said 3:19 onwards, “surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. But I recall to my mind, and therefore I have hope. He is recalling the truth about God in the sad situations caused by God’s anger against people’s disobedient life. Read slowly the following verses (22-33). Even amid his severe judgments:

The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease,

 For His compassions never fail.

 They are new every morning;

 Great is Your faithfulness.

  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

 “Therefore I have hope in Him.”

  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

 To the person who seeks Him.

  It is good that he waits silently

 For the salvation of the Lord.

  It is good for a man that he should bear

 The yoke in his youth.

  Let him sit alone and be silent

 Since He has laid it on him.

  Let him put his mouth in the dust,

 Perhaps there is hope.

  Let him give his cheek to the smiter,

 Let him be filled with reproach.

 For the Lord will not reject forever,

 For if He causes grief,

 Then He will have compassion

 According to His abundant lovingkindness.

  For He does not afflict willingly

 Or grieve the sons of men.”

You see, our Lord has loving-kindness amid his anger and judgments. His compassion never fails. His grace and compassion are new every morning (praise God). Provided we call upon Him, he will not reject forever. You see the wonderful statement in verse 32, “For if he caused grief, then he will have compassion, according to His abundant lovingkindness. You see, God does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men. He does not willingly cause us into grief and sorrow. However, He has to punish our sins because He is holy and just, we are his creation and we live on this earth that is created by him. 

Did God remember Judah in his mercy?

Did the LORD God remember Judah, the southern kingdom in his grace, loving-kindness, and compassion? Yes, He did. Based on their repentance and turning back to Him, He later relented from his anger and restored Judah back to their land from exile. Daniel interceded for them remembering God’s word of 70 years of exile (Jeremiah 25:11-13). Daniels’s timely intercessory prayer is recorded in Daniel 9. God heard the prayer of intercession for the nation and this is why we still have a nation called Israel in the map of the world. The northern kingdom called Israel (Israel was divided into the northern kingdom and southern kingdom after the death of Solomon) never recovered from their exile. No repentance and no return back to the land. However, Judah was restored based on Daniel’s intercessory prayer claiming the promises of God. 

What should we do?

Christians, who are bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, must intercede for the world, nations, communities, and individuals who are suffering. We can accomplish by individual and group prayers. Group prayers can be conducted over the phone or live stream. Nations and its leaders, communities and its members must repent and turn to the Lord. 

We are living in an unpreceded time like the one I described above. The only way of escape is admitting our sins and truly turning back to the Lord. The nations and its leaders, people and their communities have gone far away from the precepts of the Lord. These days before things get worse, we need to confess our sins and call upon the Lord.

God’s wrath for our sins and shortcomings are placed on His Son, Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for our sins. He is the tower of refuge for deliverance and eternal salvation. Those who have Jesus were transferred from God’s eternal judgment to eternal life with him in heaven. If you are in Jesus, you are safe and secure, no matter what happens in this world or to you. Those who are in Christ Jesus, means, those who accepted Christ as their savior and Lord, are bought by God by the blood of Christ and are granted eternal security and safety. The moment you close your eyes in death, you will open your eyes with the triune God in heaven. No man takes away your joy and hope from you. 

Dear friend, do you have that hope? Have you come to Jesus and accepted Him as your savior? If not, that step is the first step for God’s forgiveness, grace, compassion, and loving-kindness. Psalm 2:11-12 says, “Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling.  Fall before his Son and kiss his feet before his anger is roused and you perish. I am warning you—his wrath will soon begin. But oh, the joys of those who put their trust in him!” Stop and read it again. God asks you to kiss the feet of His Son, Jesus Christ before His anger is roused and you perish. If you do it, the joy of those who put their trust in Him would be unexplainable with tongues. Let you become part of those people who come to Jesus and invite him to our lives in prayer to experience the joy of the Lord.

 

“Father in heaven, per your good counsel, I kiss the feet of Your Son, and my savior, Lord Jesus Christ. I know Jesus is God’s only way for my help and deliverance. In Jesus, I  have all I need even in times of turmoil. I know you made my future safe and secure in your Son. I ask your forgiveness because I turn to you in confessing my sins. Please forgive and save me today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”

Are you Justified and declared righteous?

An age-old question

Job who lived in the Patriarchal era or even before was asked by his friend Bildad the Shuhite this most important question of human beings- “How can mere man stand before God and claim to be righteous? Who in all the earth can boast that he is clean?”

Case studies -Abram and David

Bible also records in Genesis 15:6 this about the patriarch Abraham, “And Abram believed God; then God considered him righteous on account of his faith.” Looking back to how God declared Abraham as righteous, the New Testament asserts these in Romans 4. It says, “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.  What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Then Bible continues to say Romans 4:4-6 this and listen carefully “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justified the ungodly, their faith is credit as righteousness. 

 New Testament also connects how the patriarch David the King was declared righteous although he was a sinner who committed adultery and murder in the following way. It says David says the same thing about the justification of God or righteousness of God when he spoke of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Romans 4:7-8 quotes from Psalm 32 to prove how God declares a sinner righteous. It says, “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” God declared Abraham and David righteous even though they were sinners on account of their faith in the promise of God. David says in Psalms 32:3-5 this –When he kept silent about his sins, God’s heavy hand was upon him day and night, his bones wasted away and were groaning all day long. His strength and energy were sapped as in the heat of summer. However, when he agreed his sins to the Lord and confessed and did not cover his wrongdoings, the Lord forgave the guilt of his sin. 

Therefore both in the cases of Abraham and David, they were declared righteous by God based on their faith in God, not by their works, even though they were still sinners while they lived here on this earth.

Galatians 2:21 says, “for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” In other words, if you could gain the righteousness or right standing before God by strict observance of the Law (the good works), then Christ died for nothing. Alternatively, if you could get the righteousness of God by good works, then what was the need for the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? 

Bible says in Galatians 3:6-14 this by reminding how the patriarch Abraham was justified and declared righteous by God. It says, “Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Then it says verse 7 and following verses, therefore, understand those how have faith are children of Abraham. It also says the same way God justifies the gentiles. It says Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles also by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham when God promised, “all nations will be blessed through you.” So all those who rely on faith are blessed and declared righteous the same way Abraham was justified. Verse 14 says, Jesus Christ redeemed us so that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles also through Christ so that by faith we might also receive the promise of God. 

Both Jews and Gentiles are made righteous so that they both can stand in front of the holy God and obtain the promise of God by faith in Him for what Christ Jesus has done.

Old Testament forward-looking and New Testament backward-looking

In the Old Testament period, God justified the people based on their future looking faith in God that He would provide a perfect sacrifice for their sins. Hebrews 10:1 says, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.” It continues to say in the same chapter that the law and all the offerings and sacrifices were fore-looking for better and final fulfillment. It says those sacrifices in the old testament are an annual reminder of sins. The truth was the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. Then Christ came into the world for the fulfillment of the requirement of the laws which no man can ever fully obey. He came to do the will of God fully and completely and he lived a perfect and holy life and finally died as a substitutionary death for the final and full remission of people’s sins. And by that will of God, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have been declared righteous. Hebrews 10:10 says, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Then it says, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And the sins of the people are forgiven and they are declared justified with God because God put all the sins on the body of Jesus Christ, he went to the cross and paid for the sins. Therefore sacrifices and strict obedience to the law and hard endeavor of good and excellent deeds are not the requirements to get justified with God. This is the perfect sacrifice (the one time sacrifice of Jesus Christ) the old testament believers were looking forward and placed their faith on. They all knew that their animal sacrifices and offerings would never make a permanent solution to their sins. It was a temporary arrangement until all the shadows are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Now, a New Testament believer places his faith in God by looking backward to what was already God accomplished through His Son, Jesus Christ. God always justified people by their faith in God. Never God justified or declared people righteous based on the observance of the law or good works. All through the different dispensations, He justified and declared people righteous by their professed faith in the promise of God. 

Heavenly courtroom verdict is the declaration ‘Justified and righteous’

Justification comes out of a courtroom verdict. For example, a judge announces a person is now legally free based on the evidence. Similarly, God, as the ultimate and final judge declares from his heavenly court a sinner is legally free and acceptable to him because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, satisfied the divine justice, by paying for sinner’s guilt by his broken body and shed blood on the cross. Listen carefully to what the Bible says in Romans 8:1-3, “So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death. We aren’t saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours—except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.” In essence, in Jesus Christ, a sinner is free from the condemnation and judgment of sins, because Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection are imputed to the sinner’s account when a person comes to God in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Romans 8:33-34 challenge with this question, “who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, also risen and who is at the right hand of God, interceding for us.

In Philippians 3:9 Apostle Paul wrote, he wants to be “found in Christ Jesus, not having his own righteousness, which is from the Law (based on good works), but the righteousness which is from God by faith..” God forgives the sins and shortcomings and views a sinner righteous by declaring him justified, by imputing Christ’s righteousness to him. 

The cause of justification is two-fold: The entire life of the full and perfect obedience of Jesus Christ to the Law. The perfect sacrificial and substitutionary death of Jesus on behalf of the people. Nothing more needed for the Holy God than what Christ had already done. You see, we were unable to live in full obedience to the law of the holy God. In one way or another, we all fell short when it comes to God’s law. However, Jesus perfectly obeyed it all through His life and then finally offered his divine body and blood according to God’s eternal plan of people’s salvation. Now the righteousness and perfectness of Christ are imputed to sinner’s account when he or she comes to Jesus Christ and call upon His name. This is the basis of justification and righteousness. 

Perfect forever

By Justification God legally declares a Christ believing sinner perfect forever. Listen to what Hebrews 10:10 and14-18 says about this. “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ” 14-18 says, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”

Did you notice the phrases ‘made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ’, ‘once for all’, ‘made perfect forever’,’ Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more’ etc? The conclusion is Justification is a once for all declaration by God in favor of a Christ believing sinner. A sinner upon professed faith in Christ is perfected forever. Nothing more God requires us to stand in front of Him. If there was another human way, there was no need for God to send His only begotten Son to this world and allow him to die, bury and rose again.

Justification is not a progressive or ongoing process as some may think and teach. Bible does not see once for all, perfected forever (by Christ’s death) justification as an ongoing one or in a developmental stage. The subjective progression of becoming more like Christ in spiritual growth is not called justification. It is described as sanctification. God declares a believing sinner justified and righteous at the time of his or her professed faith in Jesus Christ. We need to know the difference between justification and sanctification. Even though sanctification which means becoming more and more holy as you grow in Christ Jesus is rooted in justification, the two concepts are different. One should not be confused with the two concepts.

 

Now going back to century’s old question of Bildad the shuhit- “How can mere man stand before God and claim to be righteous? Who in all the earth can boast that he is clean?” we have the answer. The answer is not in ourselves. The answer is in God who sent His only begotten Son for the sake of our sins. God justifies you and declares you righteous in Jesus Christ. 

There were two major issues to get the acceptance of God and to stand in front of him. They were sins and unholiness of our life. The holiness of God demands justice. God put all our sins on the body of Jesus Christ who perfectly obeyed the law and allowed him to die, bury and rose again. The sin issues are solved in Christ Jesus. God’s perfect justice is met by the perfect obedience and the sacrificial and substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. 

Based on this, a person can now be declared justified and righteous by God. This is the legal declaration of God, even though a believer in Christ remains as a sinner when he lives on this planet earth. However, based on faith, God imputes Christ’s righteousness to him, forgives his past, current future, and all sins, fully reconcile with him, adopts him into God’s family, lavish the richness of God’s grace and love on him and grants eternal life. At the time of his/her death or at the time of the return of Christ, whichever happens first, a believer in Christ who is imputed with the righteousness of Jesus on account of his faith and trust in him, would be glorified with glorified and heavenly bodies and live with God and Christ throughout the eternity. 

The source of Justification with God is not human. The source of justification is God’s grace and love.

The means of justification is faith in God. Faith in what God had done for you in the life and person of Jesus Christ

The reason or the ground of justification is the perfect obedience, life of Jesus and His sacrificial and substitutionary death, burial and resurrection

The moment of justification is when God declares you legally justified when you call upon the name of His Son Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. The moment you repent about your sins and call the name of Jesus for help, the court of heaven declares you righteous and justified to stand guilt-free and without condemnation in front of the holy God. You are reconciled to God, adopted to His family, lavished the richness of God’s love and grace and awarded with eternal life in heaven. 

Would you pray now? “Father in heaven, I believe I can be declared justified and righteous by the almighty God when I place my faith on you and what you have done for me personally. I believe Jesus, your Son, died in my place for all of my sins. Please forgive my sins. I call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please lavish on me the richness of your grace and love and over me with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thank you for accepting me, adopting me to your family and granting me eternal life. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick deliverance or prolonged deliverance out of difficulties? Which is yours at present? Does it matter? How does it all work?

Some times in answer to your prayers, you are delivered from your trials and difficulties quickly. Some times God allows you to go through the hardships, difficulties, and trials with his presence and help with us. We cry out and say, are you there God? Do you see my issues? No audible or quick responses. Days, months and years go by. Which situation relates more to you at present?

We can see both examples in Scripture and people’s life experiences. Moses wandered in the wilderness forty long years as a shepherd of Father in Law’s sheep, after being grown up in the luxurious palace of Egypt as the son of the daughter of Pharoah. That was a sudden and unpleasant shift and severe testing in Moses’s life. Not just a couple fo few years, but for a long forty years. Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt after being born in his father’s house as a tender and loving child. He did not see a light at the end of the tunnel for a long number of years. Daniel and his three friends were placed in a blazing fire and then in a lion’s cave because of their faithfulness and trust in the one and only God in heaven. The disciples called Jesus when the wild and big storm hit their boats threatening their lives. Jesus stood up immediately and commanded the wind and rain to stop. Immediately the sea became calm. (Mark 4:35-41). That was quick. But another occasion, they had to toil through all the midnight hours fighting the dangerous wind in the sea in their boats until the fourth watch of the night. (Matthew 14:25-32)

You see both instances in the Bible. You may have prayed. God answered and helped to come out of your struggles. However, in other people’s lives, they prayed and nothing happened. When I look back at my life, there are instances when I prayed for deliverances and did not get help. However, there are few times I prayed, God answered my prayers quickly. 

Therefore what is the deal? Why your answers did not come yet. Why are you still in your severe trials and pains?

Listen: No trials or difficulties comes to you without first filtering through the loving and caring fingers of God. Nothing happens to you without His knowledge and permission. And when he does approve it, God has two choices in your trials and difficulties. God can either take you out of your struggles quickly. This is what we all want. However, His second choice is to let you go through it and show and teach you the power of His wonder-working and all-sufficient grace by holding your hand through it. David’s experience was more of this nature. He said in Psalms 23, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” 

Remember what Daniel and his three friends said amid their serious and life-threatening test? They said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

 This means even if God does not come for their rescue/deliverance immediately, they still know they are in good and delivering hands. They said no matter what we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. 

You and I do not have a choice. God chooses whether he would intervene quickly to deliver you or he would leave you in your testing and trials. Because God allowed it, He has a goal to accomplish through it. His plan and his goal determine whether you would experience an immediate delivery or a prolonged delivery. 

The examples in the past show if God leaves you there without intervening quickly, you would generally experience a greater miracle you would have ever imagined. In other God, if God let you leave there without sending deliverance quickly, you are up to witness a greater miracle- miracle of His wonderful and powerful grace. The reason is He is going to achieve a divine goal out of it and is going to be with you every step of the way, even if you feel it or not. And he will bring surprising goodness to you at the end that you would never fathom.   

Was this not true with Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, and Daniel? Was it not true with your forefathers who trusted and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? It will be true for you as well.

When God allows us to go through it with his all-sufficient grace, we learn great lessons we would not learn in other ways.

Apostle Paul wrote his personal experience in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We want to remind you, friends, of the trouble we had in the province of Asia. The burdens laid upon us were so great and so heavy that we gave up all hope of staying alive.  We felt that the death sentence had been passed on us. But this happened so that we should rely, not on ourselves, but only on God, who raises the dead.” 

You see, the burden on him was so great and heavy. He gave up all hope of staying alive. He felt the death sentence has passed on to him. Then he says why this happened to him. He says, such heaviness and heaviness occurred so that he would not rely on himself but only on God, who can even raise the dead.

The first lesson we would learn in our night hours is this – we should not rely on ourselves, but only on God. This is heavy-duty learning, beloved. Because naturally, we would have difficulty in trusting other people. This carries over to the issue of trusting God as well. People have been bad for us. They left us. They gave us pain. They shut their doors. Hence we have a problem in trusting. Then how would you trust God who is invisible to your natural eyes? However, God your Father in heaven is not human. You can trust him and his goals for your life. He is the perfect Father with perfect love, protection, and care. Therefore you need to learn to trust God one hundred percent. 

You will learn the first alphabet of trust when God leaves you in your trials without delivering fast and quick. This aspect of full trust in God is cardinal for you and for people around you to bring down strongholds and giants. 

David developed the trust in God, I mean full and 100% trust in God, and that was the only reason he was able to face the giant Goliath and kill him and cut his head off. Before you accomplish anything great in the name of the Lord, you must learn to trust God fully and completely. Apostle Paul learned to trust God fully, Daniel learned to trust God, Joseph learned to trust God. The prophets of the old testament and all the disciples of Jesus Christ learned to trust God fully and completely. I believe they all learned to trust God one hundred percent without short circuits because they all experienced a prolonged period of trials and the miracle of grace in their lives. They experienced the miracle of the wonder-working power of God eventually at the end. And that is the goal for your prolonged pain and suffering.

A second thing to remember is this. From the previous experience of heavy burden and heaviness Apostle Paul experienced, he says this in 1st 2nd 2nd Corinthians 1:3-4 this, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 

Did you notice above it says, “God, our father in heaven, is the father of all compassion and He is the God of all comfort? When do we need comfort the most? What does he do in our trials? It says He comforts us in all our troubles. Not in few trials here and there. But he comforts us in all our troubles-small, medium, big and all troubles, He gives His compassion and comfort. He abundantly gives the miraculous and gracious comfort when we are in midnight hours of suffering. 

The second goal of your prolonged trial proceeds from this verse above. You become God’s hands and feet for those who are in trouble. You are going to comfort those in any trouble with the comfort you received from God when you were in trouble and pains. In short, God comforts and prepares you for a life long ministry to comfort others because you are now better fitted to comfort others who go through the same trials you went through. 

You see, only a drug and alcohol addict who was comforted and delivered by God can meaningfully comfort and help the one go through it now. When a person who lost his or her dear ones strengthens and comforts the one who through it now, there is more power and meaning behind it. It works in a better way. Such a person can testify and say God helped him and He can help you as well. There is the real power behind such words. God who gave Him miraculous, wonder-working grace and He pulled him through it all and that same God can help. Man, there is meaningful comfort in those words. Once your trial is over, you become a testimony to share the compassion and comfort you received with others. God is preparing another person who is ready to hear and accept your comfort and testimony. You and yours have a God-ordained ministry of comfort for the rest of life. 

Finally, God’s name and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified through it all. People in the world would see God did it and they would be amazed at the outcome. There is an opportunity for them to trust in the living God. Remember King Darius placed Daniel and these three friends in a lion’s cave. God did not deliver the Hebrew men from their severe trial. He allowed them to go through it. However, He was with them every step of the way. God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions. When King witnessed this, he made a decree and it said, “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.” Daniel 6

When King Nebuchadnezzar placed the three Hebrew men inside the blazing fire, he saw four men walking in the fire unbound and with no harm from fire. He said in amazement didn’t we place three men in the fire? But now I see four men walking inside the fire and the fourth one looks like a son of gods. It was not the son of the gods, but the fourth one was the pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ who walked with them right in the midst of that blazing fire. In amazement, the king asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” King praised the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!” Then he issued a decree that said: “I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” Daniel 3:26-28

You see the pagan king noticed the miraculous and wonderworking provisions and grace of God and praised His name. Through your prolonged trials, even the world, the believers and the unbelievers around you would praise and thank God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Now, are you in a prolonged trial and difficulties? I know one thing for sure -you are up to a greater measure of his miraculous grace. It deepens your trust in God to one hundred percent, it gives you a ministry of comfort to those who go through the same type of trials, it gives testimony to your friends and world about the existence and the truth of a loving God and His Son, Jesus Christ, the only savior of the whole world, who cares and comforts in all your difficulties and eventually delivers you from it all victoriously.  

Thanks, praise, worship and all honor to His matchless name. 

 

Christmas message is -Personal peace and peace with others begins with peace with God.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:14.

The season of Christmas brings all of us peace and joy. The reason is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, born on that first Christmas day is the source of peace and joy. The bottom line is this – the world would not experience real, true and lasting peace and joy without accepting God and His plan revealed in Christ Jesus.

An angel of the Lord announced and said on that day, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

In short, your personal peace and joy, peace with others begin with your peace with God. You see, we were hostile to one another and to God because of our sin nature inherited from Adam and Eve. However, God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love toward you reconciles you in Christ Jesus. Bible says in Ephesian 2:16, Jesus reconciled us to one another and to God carrying our sins, iniquities, and transgressions on his body. Through the cross, Jesus put the hostility to an end. Now through Him, we all have access to Father God by one Spirit who gives us internal peace and joy, peace and joy with one another and with God.

This is the message of Christmas as we celebrate it today. The Bible says in Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Obtain peace with God by accepting the blood of Christ poured out for your peace with God.  The sacrificial death of Christ on your behalf. Bible says in Ephesians 2:13, “now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Christ abolishes hostility and fills peace and joy in your hearts and minds.

Bible talks about two other types of peace. They are peace of God and peace with others. Peace of God is peace of God within you no matter how bad your circumstances are. Philippians 4:7 says, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It says there do not be anxious or worried. Instead in every situation present your request to God in prayer. God will fill in you the peace of God that transcends all understanding. This peace of God is humanly not understandable. However, the divine peace of God fills your heart.

Now peace with others. Galatians 5:22 says peace is the fruit of the Holy Spirit living inside you. You can live in peace with others by the empowering power of God’s Holy Spirit who is indwelling inside you. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of peace with others. The Holy Spirit of God is freely given when you believe in Jesus as your savior and Lord. And the Spirit of God enables you to live in peace.

Jesus said and it is recorded in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.” This is the peace that passeth all human understanding.

Would you receive the gifts of peace with God, peace inside you and peace with others by coming to the prince of peace and accepting Him as your savior and Lord? Many do not have peace even in this joyful season because they did not find peace with God yet through Jesus Christ.

Beloved, got a moment for prayer on this beautiful Christmas day? “Father in heaven, I know God the Father send Jesus on that first Christmas day to this world to grand me real and lasting peace and joy. You promised peace and joy. I need it, Lord. I know the world can not offer divine peace. I  believe Jesus died on the cross, buried and rose again to remove hostility between one another and with God. I accept Him as my savior and Lord. Please save and bless me on this wonderful day. In Christ’s name, I pray.

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people”. Titus 2:11

Grace has originated from heaven and God and found in the pages of the Bible. This is why it is hard to find grace on this earth. Grace is not earth formed, it is haven formed. Grace is divine and God-breathed. Work and performance-based religions are man created philosophies. It may not be easy to understand divine concepts but it is easy to understand humans. However, what we need is divine and not human. The core of Christianity and the Gospel it proclaims is grace. “The world thirst for grace in the way it does not even recognize; little wonder the hymn, “Amazing grace” edged its way onto the Top Ten charts two hundred years after composition.” Philip Yancey (What’s so amazing about Grace?)

You see, grace is the basis of Christianity. I mean not Christianity as a religion, as some fabricated it in that fashion. However, I meant Christianity as a relationship with God in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The grace of God says He loves the unlovely. It says God accepts you not based on your karma, works or performances, but based on His kindness and favor toward you. Grace gives divine favor to unmerited ones. To the one who does not deserve it. We face legalism all around us- at home, in churches, in schools, in the streets. Who wants to accept a person who messed up their lives? Messing up the lives could be self-caused and others caused. What want Samaritan woman, sinful women of the town, the hated tax collector, the criminal who spent all life in crimes? Who wants the losers and the lost ones?  No one else said, only Jesus said, he came to seek and to save the lost. The grace of God required nothing from us. It only asks to receive the free gift of grace with thankfulness.

The source of grace is God and the object of God’s grace is an unmerited, disobedient, rebellious and sinful man. The provision of God’s grace is not based on conditions. God gives grace to the ones who do not deserve it, with no condition or strings attached to it.

Our insight today says, “for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” Stop and read and think about it again. It says grace of God, unmerited and unconditional favor of God, is available to who? It says “to all people.” Did you read it right? “to all people.” When it comes to grace, You see God does not discriminate based on color, nations, and languages. When he gives grace it does not matter if you are tall or short. It does not matter if you are poor or rich. It does not matter if you educated or not. It does not matter if you are a child, young man, or old man, it does not matter men or women, it does not matter employed or unemployed. It does not matter if you lived a decent life or an indecent life. It does not matter if you are addicted to certain addictions or free and strong.

Beloved, Grace of God, unmerited favor, kindness, love of God is available for all people everywhere. In short, God wants to shower you with His grace no matter what your condition is or where have you been. By saying the parable of the lost son, Jesus brings home God’s grace is available for the least expected one. (Luke 15:11-31). The lost son disrespected and squandered his Fathers property, spent a loose life with prostitutes and wasted all the money. Here is the gracious, compassionate and loving Father looking at the horizon every single day for the return of His lost son. What is that called again? Grace-unmerited kindness, favor, and love of the Father. That father Jesus talked about is God who is kind and gracious toward you. If you understand nothing else about God, understand this- God is gracious and He welcomes you to His home as his child. It has nothing to do with your performances. It has everything to do with His Son, Jesus Christ. The angels in heaven over you (Luke 15:10) and God the Father, throws a big party among the angels to celebrate you’re coming Home.   (Luke 15:22)

Therefore, the grace of God is for you, dear one. You may have squandered and wasted your life. You may have ended up in a shameful place like the lost son ended up. However, God still wants to pour out His grace on you. He wants to clothe you with his righteousness and holiness. That is called grace.

You can never have a relationship with almighty God without understanding the concept of grace. When you understand what is compassion, grace, unmerited favor, kindness, and unconditional love, then you got a grip of God’s grace. One more point. Bible says this if you are already a believer in Jesus, the Bible says you have to “continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2nd Peter 3:18). Peter experienced the grace of Jesus Christ in big doze and so he was fit to write this admonition. Children of God, do not grow in discriminations, keeping people’s arms away, judgments and hypocrisy. Do not act like you are better than others. Do not grow in superiority thinking, do act as you got it all and the next person did not get it.

Instead, look at the grace Jesus portrayed in his dealings with the unworthy people. You simply continue to grow in it- in the grace of the Lord Jesus. This is growing in grace means. You see grace was the basis of God’s dealing all the time –Old testament and New times. However, grace is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. (John 1:16-18). Never forget, it is from His fullness that we all received grace upon grace-grace heaped upon grace (John 1:16). For John and other apostles, His style of grace became theirs, His acceptance, kindness, compassion, love became theirs. What was the result? It transformed them into carriers of grace wherever they went. No wonder, they made the world upside down by the power and shock wave of grace. The same is the grace that you need to grow in. Grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beloved, the gateway of God’s grace is His Son, Jesus Christ. Our passage says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” Did you accept God’s free gift of grace by accepting His salvation? There begins the grace-filled life. You accept God’s free gift of salvation, not based on your efforts or works, but based on the free grace of His Son Jesus and what he has done for you. Then you enter through the gate of divine favor, and grace to all that God has in store for you, here on this earth, and later after your death.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, I believe your divine, wonderful, amazing grace has appeared and I accept your offer of free salvation. I know it is not based on my works, but the finished work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Please forgive my sins and shortcomings. I believe in the Gospel – Jesus died for my sins and rose again to save me. Please save and bless me today. Make me a channel of grace to people I come across. May I grow in the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ’s name, I pray, Amen.