What's your Christmas story?| Justin J

This message was preached  by Justin Jaykumar Y. Sam at Word of Grace Church on  December 20th, 2015. To listen/download the audio please click here  . To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

Year after year we celebrate Christmas. We change our decorations but certain things we retain- the star, carol, etc. Some things have been added- Santa, decorations, etc. Some have been deleted like shepherds.

So what is your story of Christmas? A Sunday school teacher got the kids to draw the Christmas scene. Some drew Mary and Jesus, shepherds, wisemen, etc. One boy’s drawing had an aeroplane with Mary and Jesus inside and a man with dark glasses was flying the plane. The teacher asked who it was and he said- that’s Pontius Pilot! We get our stories mixed up sometimes.

Q. So what are the main points?

1. Favour of God to mankind: Luke 1:28- the angle calls Mary the highly favoured one. In Eden God created Adam and Eve and then through disobedience, God and man parted ways. Sin cannot be in the presence of God. Man was driven away from the garden.

The birth of Jesus solves that problem. The son of God was called two things

a.       Jesus- he shall save his people from their sins. Our greatest need at Christmas is not information, science, or entertainment. God sent a saviour because our greatest need is to be forgiven from sin.

b.      Emmanuel- Matthew 1:23-God with us. Christmas story is God coming down for you and me. God not only wants to save us but also be king in our lives.

When Mary heard all of this, she wondered how this will be. Nothing is impossible with God.

2. Fear- the birth of Christ dispels fear. When Mary heard about the birth of Jesus, she wondered how this will be. Nothing is impossible with God.

 In the 2 gospels we see the story recounted. For 40 years, there was silence between the Old Testament and New Testament. In the Christmas story we hear a lot of ‘fear not’s.

a. So we should “fear not” of the humanly impossible- because it is possible with god. The Angel came to the shepherds and ‘fear not’- this came in the context of salvation. Jesus came to liberate us.

b. ‘Fear not’ in the context of unanswered prayer- Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1:8-11; they did not have children. If we have some unanswered prayer then take encouragement from this fear not. We see that people live in all kinds of fear- of failure, career, darkness, future, etc.

3. Worship- the birth of Jesus demands worship from us. This should be our response. The wisemen came all the way from the east and came to Jerusalem following the star. But Jerusalem did not know that a king was born. God revealed himself to us in a way we will understand. Our God is the king of kings. He will be a ruler who will shepherd his people.

Jesus’ birth is historic. Born during king Herod’s reign- a roman puppet. He was a wicked murderous king. The people hated him. Jesus was not a puppet or a wicked king. He is a loving king who will rule and shepherd. This is a wonderful combination.

Worship involves exceeding joy. It’s not dependent on what happened outside but what is going on inside. Worship is meeting your God. We are blessed we met with God this morning.

They knew that they would find Jesus because they carried gifts by faith. They trusted the vision they saw.

The wise men- God spoke to them in their language- they were astrologers. They understood.

Q. What do we bring to Jesus in our worship?

Jesus is our king, our high priest and our sacrifice. The wise men brought gifts that were symbolic and significant. Does our offering and worship befit our king?

King Herod was not genuine when he said he wanted to worship Jesus. He being king could not accept another king. If we are kings in our lives, we cannot accept Jesus’ kingship.

4. Directs us to witness- Luke 2- the shepherds were ordinary people who were not allowed to enter the city not the temple. But God chose to tell them. When they saw Jesus with their own eyes, they could not contain themselves. They had to share- they told the people that a saviour has been born.

The world is looking for someone who will deliver them. The birth of Jesus meant peace and goodwill toward men. Peace with God and one another. When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus it restores God and man and brings harmony.

This is what we share with people. They went and spread the good news to as many as they could. You and I are called to share our experience of Jesus.

So what is your story of Christmas? What is your experience?

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.

What is the goal of your faith- Part 2| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on  December 6th, 2015. To listen/download the audio please click here  . To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

1 Timothy 1:5- The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

The aim of preaching and teaching is to transform lives. Paul taught because he wanted to see lives being changed. The question to ask ourselves is not have we been informed, but how can we be transformed?

Love is the goal. If we don’t have love, we gain nothing. Love, which comes from a:

·       Pure heart

·       Good conscience

·       Sincere faith

We will look at each of these.

1.       Pure heart:

Q. What is the condition of man’s heart?

Jeremiah 17:9-“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” it can fool others and itself. In Genesis 6:5 this was the judgement of God on our hearts- “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time”.

There is nothing man can do about this. But the good news is, when we are born again and put our faith in Jesus, a miracle takes place. In Ezekiel 36:26 God says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” In Jesus, we have a new heart which wants the things of God. The heart is what we think about in the secrecy of our thoughts.

However, Paul says, there is a matter of persisting in the purity of the heart. God is interested in the condition of our hearts. Pharisees obeyed the law meticulously but in Matt 6 Jesus says that their hearts are far from me.

Matthew 22: 37 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. In 1 Samuel 16:7- “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. We can keep most of the 10 commandments but the last one, ‘Do not covet’ deals with the heart. How do you tell your heart not to want something? Jesus had no problem hating evil and loving good.

But how do we do it? There are a couple of indications of a pure heart:

i.                     What do we speak about? Matthew 12:34- For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Jesus has given us a clean heart and it needs to be reflected in our speech. In 1 Peter 1:22 Peter says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart”. The word is tied up with love.

ii.                   Contemplating on Jesus- 2 Corinthians 3:18- “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” To change what we like, spend time meditating, in God’s presence, in his word, worship and thanksgiving we will be transformed. Whatever area you are struggling with, allow God to change your heart in that area.

2.       Good Conscience:

All of us have a conscience which helps us distinguish between right and wrong. There are three kinds of consciences:

i.                     Weak conscience which is overly sensitive and needs to be calibrated with the word of God. These people repent of what is not sinful.

ii.                   Seared conscience which is like a burn on your skin. There is no sensitivity in that area. This is a dangerous place to be in.

iii.                 Good conscience which indicates at the right time when something is right or wrong.

Q. How can we have a good conscience?

Our conscience is a warning signal. We don’t argue with it. When we step into areas that are sinful, our conscience tells us to stop and we listen.

a.       Firstly, we need to educate our conscience

b.      Once we sin in an area, our conscience gets seared.

Q. How does Paul keep a clear conscience?

When we come close to sinning, 2 things may happen as our conscience warns us- we resist and run away or we step in and sin. And when we sin, we feel guilty. So we go before God and confess our sin. God then cleanses us.

Hebrews 9:14- “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

The blood of God can cleanse the pain of a seared conscience. This is available to us today. We, like Paul can have a clear conscience.

3.       Sincere Faith:

Timothy had an amazing heritage with regard to this. 2 Timothy 1:5- “am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also”

Following Jesus is a matter of faith. Abraham, called as the father of faith, at 99 years believed that God will give him a son.

There are only two religions in the world:

i.                     One says, “Do”

ii.                   The other says, “Done” and we have to believe.

The faith starts with Salvation. But after that we continue in our faith. It also involves obeying. That is holding on to the promises of God even when things look grim. Peter starts walking on water when there were storms all around.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. We believe in Jesus and God is pleased with that. We need to stand in God’s promises in sincere faith. We want to see lives change. Let’s pray!

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.

What is the goal of your faith?| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on the November 29th, 2015. To listen/download the audio please click here  . To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul outlines the key objective of his teaching and preaching. In 1 Timothy 1:5 he says “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Paul had a goal. He was not aiming for a great reputation. He wanted life transformation.

Today many Christians become conference junkies going from one experience to the next. It is good to feed ourselves. Be discerning about what you feed yourself with. But in the end, it must result in a transformed life. Ezekiel 33:32- “Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.” It is like when you go to a concert. You love the experience but it doesn’t change your life. Jesus speaks of this about King Herod. He loved listening to John. But his heart did not change. In fact, he beheaded him.

Paul’s goal was to change lives and not move hearts. This needs to be our goal as well.

Paul had a method to reach this goal- through instruction. The Word of God is critical to have our lives transformed. Worship is important. Worship based on the word is very important. 

The Bible is important. Make sure you have some access to the Bible. Early Christians did not have a big black bible. But Paul spent all his time and energy in preaching. He says in Acts 20:31- “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears”. In Acts 20:20 Paul says, “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house”.

In Acts 5: 28 the High Priest spoke to the Apostles, ““We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Teaching is important. Paul preached so much. Acts 20:9-11 accounts this incident when Paul was preaching all day and night, “Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!”Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.” 

The word is important. Don’t neglect your quiet time. The method Paul used was so that he could produce a community of people who had certain characteristics. What are these?

It’s love.

1.       Love for God- Paul wanted to show people that God loves them so much. Will you respond in love to him? He reminded people of God’s love.

2.       Love for one another- this is the mark of a Christian. Is that love being produced in our life? 1 Corinthians 13:1-3- “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” Love is important

Q. How do we get people to love God?

As we feed ourselves with the word- where he says he is not going to leave us, that we are loved abundantly and infinitely in our lives, we respond to his love.

Then, we love our brothers. Going a step further, we even love our enemies. Paul is trying to produce a community of people who receive the love of God and show that love to everyone.

Today we live in a throw away world. We throw away everything that doesn’t work. Sadly we are applying this to wives, friends, jobs, church everything. This is not love. Agape love is a choice to love. Jesus demonstrated this. His love is consistent. This means bearing with one another, forgiving one another. There is acceptance. Ephesians 4:3 says make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit. It takes work!

Where there is sin, someone has to bear the pain of it. Irrespective of whether they let you down or not. Christmas is a wonderful time to express this.

Loving the ones who are enemies- of God and so to you- we love them by making every effort to bring them into the knowledge of God. The love of Christ compels us to share the gospel with others.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Are you living for your pleasures and comforts? Paul calls us to live for him. We are ministers of reconciliation between man and God. What a privilege it is to be ambassadors of Christ. The God of this world has blinded them but we are called to bring them out of this.

We are not tolerating but accepting one another. We are to deeply love one another.  So let us put this into practice. Ask yourselves and one another: What can you do to grow in your love for one another, for unbelievers and for God? Discuss these things- spur on one another. When people see us, they should marvel at our love because we are disciples of Jesus. 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.