What Child is this? | Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on December 10th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

Last week we looked at Luke 1 and looked at how the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus came about. Today we will look at Luke 2: 1-21

“1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Those days is talking about, the days, when after 400 years of silence was broken when an angel of God spoke to Zechariah. 6 months later, the angel spoke to Mary, prophesying to both a child- one being the forerunner and one where she is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Caesar and Augustus are not names, but titles- his real name was Gaius Octavios. Our faith in Jesus is not rooted in mythology but in history. Caesar Augustus ruled the Roman empire for 45 years. Pax romana- peace of Rome- was in his reign. There was prosperity and peace in Rome during this time.

Q. Why is Luke telling us this?  

2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child

In Micah he prophesied that the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem. The other prophetic word is that he would be of the lineage of David. But they were living in Nazareth. So God moved the ruler’s heart to conduct a census. According to the census, they had to go to their hometown, which was Bethlehem.

Q. What can we learn from this?

All the international political events can confound us, but above and beyond all these decisions, is our God who is sovereign and he will always have his way. The kings’ hearts are in his hands.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Firstborn – in Jewish culture, the rights and inheritance went to the Firstborn. The Bible tells us that Jesus had other half- brothers and sisters. The Catholics believe otherwise. Jesus had other brothers and sister- Joseph and Mary had normal relations after the birth of Jesus.

Manger- It is a feeding trough for animals. It is not something people usually have in homes. Babies do not belong in a manger. Parents choose a nice room and good place to put our babies. Mary and Joseph were poor. There was no place even in an Inn. The king of the Universe chose to be born in humble surroundings.

Q. Are we willing for the sake of the gospel to sacrifice?

Jesus voluntarily took up the place of a poor person, a humiliating way to be born.

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Shepherds were looked down upon in that society. In their law, shepherds’ testimony was not taken into account. God chose to reveal the wonder of his birth to the nobodies in society.

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

This statement has so much truth in it. The long awaited Messiah for whom they were pining, a Saviour was born. Christ means the anointed one. Lord is used to refer to God. He is the answer to the Jewish nation. But it is for all people. The extent of Jesus’ influence is all people.

It is good news of great joy. That great joy is when someone receives salvation. Christmas is Merry for us because our sins are forgiven.

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Q. How did they know that that was the baby? The angels gave them this indication.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

What a choir that must have been!! Amazing heavenly worship taking place there. God chose the foolish things on earth to shame the wise. We are amongst those nobodies to whom God has revealed the birth of His son.

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

What an amazing thing that the angels finished singing, and went back to heaven! The Shepherds couldn’t figure out this thing that has happened.

16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

Now Mary and Joseph had God speak to both of them regarding this baby. But for months, they did not have any other sign or confirmation. Sometimes, we too can wonder if God has really said something. But now, after the baby is born, for the first time they have a confirmation from the shepherds. Then they tell Mary and Joseph that angels told them about this baby.

18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

We have heard the good news of the Saviour. Like the shepherds, we need to make it known. This needs to become a lifestyle. Evangelism is a lifestyle. We need to fill our hearts with worship at the miracle of the birth and salvation of God.

Can we be a people who treasure this news and respond with a lifestyle of Worship and Evangelism?

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.

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Who is Christmas about? | Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on December 3rd, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

Luke 1: 26- 38 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

Q. Who is Christmas all about?

In verse 26 it says, 6^th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. At the beginning of Luke, Zechariah was serving in the temple and as he was serving, an angel appeared to him. The nation of Israel had drifted away from God and steeped in legalism. It had declined completely and was being ruled by a non-jewish ruler, Herod and the Romans were controlling everything.

Not only was it politically weak, there was no voice of God. In the dark ages, the silence broke when the angel appeared to Zechariah. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were past child-bearing age. The angel says that his prayer has been heard and his wife is going to have a son and you will call him John. This John was going to be a special child- he will turn many of the children of Israel to the true living God. He is John the Baptist.

The angel Gabriel comes to Mary who was already engaged to Joseph. This is the second angelic visitation after 100s of years of silence. What did Mary find favour for? In Jesus’ lineage there were many who had questionable characters. They were sinners saved by the grace of God. But in this case, the angel says that she found favour before God.

The incarnation- the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will have a child. This is what Christmas is all about. Since the time of Adam and Eve, sin came into the human race. God planned a way to redeem mankind. In Gen 3 God speaks about redemption by the seed of a woman. Through Abraham we were all going to be blessed. It is by one of the descendants of Abraham.

There was a Messiah who had been promised. For him, certain things were to be in place.

1.      He was going to be a king.

Q. What kind of a king was he?

And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Both Mary and Joseph are in the lineage of Abraham. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah to fulfill the prophetic words that have been spoken about.

2 Samuel 7:12- “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” This was about Jesus.

Today there is no proof of lineage anymore. Jesus was the long awaited king

2.      His kingdom will never end

One day Jesus will come back again and establish a new earth and new heaven where we will live without sin and in peace.

3.      He is the son of the Most High

Today a lot of people with influence say, do you know who my father is? Jesus’ earthly father was Joseph, but his real Father is the Most High. He is the Son of God. Deut 32:8 speaks about the Son of the Most High.

4.      He was the perfect son

In verse 39 it says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God”

Every other child born in this world is sinful. But Jesus was born without sin. He was Holy by birth. He was able to say, can any of you convict me of any sin? We are not able to say that.

God could have sent his Son in splendour and glory, but instead, he sent him to poor peasants.

5.      His purpose was to save people from their sins

Gal 4:4- “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

God knew the right time, chose the right people and even instructed the government to have a census so Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. The reason Jesus came was to save us from our sins. He is fully man and fully God. He felt the same things we face.

As we celebrate Christmas together, let’s think about what Jesus did. These are a few things about Jesus, but how do we apply them in our lives?  

1.      For nothing will be impossible with God. What is it that you find it impossible for God to do this Christmas season?

Nothing is impossible for God. We need to hold on to this verse. As we think about Jesus, let this thought ring in our minds

2.      What was Mary’s response?

She submitted herself to the will of God completely. Can you imagine the plight of Mary- The shame of being considered an unwed mother? Are we open to embrace the will of God in our lives? We come across hard things everyday! But we need to submit ourselves to His will for everything that happens in our life.

The key is that Mary heard the word of God. Are we hearing the word of God for ourselves? Jesus broke into creation to save sinners and we have a role to play in that.

3.      Mary was an upright person. She was not sinless but she found favour in God. There is something we have to do, strive for practical holiness. If you really believe that we cannot do anything apart from Jesus, we would be saturating ourselves in the word and be on our knees for an hour everyday in prayer. Let us find favour with God.

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.

All in the Family- Joseph: Part 1 | Austine K

This message was preached  by Austine Kudalkar at Word of Grace Church on November 26th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

As a church we’ve been going through Matthew 1 which talks about the Genealogy of Jesus Christ and we are just connecting the dots of the old testament to new testament. Isaac – the promised child. Jacob and his 12 sons

I want to tell you a bit of family background of Joseph.

Joseph father, Jacob loved Rachel and his intention was to only marry her but Rachel’s dad tricked him and got him married to Leah and Jacob was so shattered. Jacob worked more 7 years for Rachel and got married. Leah and Rachel were always fighting with each other for Jacob. (Jacob loved Rachel but Hated Leah)

Then they had children and Rachel and Leah also gave their Maidservant to Jacob as a wife to produce more children. Now Jacob has 4 wives and 13 children. One was a girl child.

Joseph was the 11^th son out of the 12 brothers. Jacob and Rachael’s first born. Joseph was raised in a very dysfunctional family. There would’ve been lot of friction between the wives and also the kids. While Joseph was still young his mother Rachael died. What a tragedy in Jacob and Joseph life and also in Benjamin’s life who was just a new born. When Rachael died Jacob’s first born son of Leah, that is Reuben had an affair with Jacob’s concubine, wife and slept with her and Jacob heard of that incident. It must’ve grieved Jacob and the maidservants sons when they heard about it. Simeon and Levi killed the men of this town called Shechem. It was a bloody family. Imagine, Joseph was raised in such an environment at home.

1. Joseph as a son in Canaan/Father’s house.

a)     Joseph loved by father and faithful to father

Joseph was 17 years old and was pasturing the flock along his half blood brother’s. Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. (Probably they were doing something bad) Joseph felt like that it’s much needed that his father should know what his sons are doing.

37: V.3 Jacob made for Joseph a robe of many colours.

v.4 “when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

It’s not that Jacob didn’t love his children. It’s just that he loved Joseph more than all his sons.

b)     Joseph’s Dreams

v. 5 – 11 Binding sheaves and sun moon and stars bowing down.

Jacob rebuked him.

v.11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. (In the past Jacob had also seen dreams from God)

c)     Joseph hated by his brothers

Jacob asked Joseph to go and check on his brothers whether they were doing well.

While at a distance when Joseph’s brothers saw him coming they conspired against him and plot to kill him and his dreams.

To cut the long story short they took hold of him, stripped his clothes, and threw him into the PIT. , soaked his robe in goats blood to show it to Jacob that he was killed by an animal. Reuben tried and saved him from not being killed. Judah pitched to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. They sold him and Joseph was taken as a slave to the Egypt and they sold him to the Potiphar, an officer of pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Q. Can anyone relate with Joseph’s dysfunctional family? Can anyone relate with Jealousy & hatred? Do you have any dreams which God has placed in your heart?

People may criticise you for your dreams but don’t give up on it.

2. Joseph as a slave in Egypt

a)     Faithfully Serving, succeeding and being an Overseer in Potiphar’s house

·       Genesis 39:2—6

 The Lord was with joseph and he became a successful man

b)     Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.

Ø  Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on him and said, “Lie with me”

·       V.9 Joseph said, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

She spoke to him day after day but Joseph refused to listen to her, to lie beside her, and to be with her.

(There was a great temptation and an opportunity to sleep with Potiphars wife but Joseph chose to honour God and not defile his master’s bed.)

One day Joseph went into the house to do his work and nobody else were in the house. (NO Whatsapp to communicate that nobody is at the office.) Except Potiphar’s wife. She caught him by his garment and said, “Lie with me.” ANOTHER GREAT TEMPTATION WHEN NO ONE IS AROUND. Jospeh didn’t give into it but left the garment with her and fled from the house naked.

To cut the long story short Potiphars wife screamed and informed others and informed her husband and showed him Josephs Garment. Potiphar got angry and put him in the prison where King’s prisoners were confined.

Q.Are you facing and temptations with sexual thoughts and have you ever wrongly been accused of wrong doing?

This is one of the good examples about Joseph that to flee from situations when any woman or men talk about to lie with them and to still be strong and not be discouraged when falsely accused.

c)     Joseph in prison and an overseer

39:21-23 The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

Joseph’s attitude didn’t change when he went thru all the pain. He was hated and rejected by his brothers, they put him in the pit, sold him into slavery, wrongly accused of molesting a woman, and then thrown into the prison where king’s prisoners were confined. The situation kept growing worse from PIT to Slavery to Prison for just foe sharing the dream.

He maintained his attitude and kept serving faithfully and honoured God in all his doing and the Lord was with him in times of great pain and difficulty.

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.

All in the Family- Judah | Chris B

This message was preached  by Chris B at Word of Grace Church on November 19th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We have been going systematically through some of the key characters of our history. Navaz said something so poignant this morning. We learn grace through each and every story of the Bible, Old and New Testament. This morning, we will be going through the story of Judah.

I was reminded of a story from my own life. I am not even the main character in this story- the main character is my mother-in-law. About 10 years, my wife and I were living in Kentucky and my mother-in-law came to visit us. We went out to a restaurant to celebrate her coming home. My mother-in-law cannot tolerate spicy food. In this restaurant, you get to choose how spicy you want it- level 1-5. So I order level 4 for myself and level 1 for my mother-in-law. She was struggling with the spice in her food. Then the waiter came and said that we should have ordered level 0. I didn’t know that was an option. So the order in which we receive information is so important.

Even in Judah’s story, the order in which information is presented to us is very important for our understanding. We need to know what is happening in Gen 37 and 39 in order to understand Gen 38, which is the text for this morning. In Gen 37, Jacob had 12 sons. To one of his sons, he gives a very nice coat. Joseph’s brothers were not so fond of Joseph because was preferred by his father. Later on we see Joseph’s life, of how he is sold into slavery and then he rises up to potiphar’s home and what happens with potiphar’s wife. But Scripture takes a break from Joseph’s story and tells us about Judah suddenly. This information is given in a certain order and the order is very important.

Genesis 38-

“At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him. Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also. Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household. After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked. “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked. He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again. Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said. So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’” Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.” About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.” Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.”

That is a weird passage. Let’s pray.

It demonstrates Judah’s character, and it is not a particularly good character. The Scripture is asking us to compare the character of Joseph and Judah, as it appears just before this. So, very quickly, we are going to compare them:

1.      The manner in which Joseph and Judah left the covenant people of God- Joseph was captured by his brothers and forced out. Judah left his brother and went somewhere else. He chose to leave the community of faith.

2.      Attitude towards sexual conduct- Joseph is put in a position to choose what he is going to do. Potiphar’s wife pursues him and at great personal cost, Joseph upholds a high standard of sexual purity. Judah inter-marries and later when his wife passes away, he sleep with someone who he thinks is a prostitute.

3.      Overall devotion to the Lord- Joseph endures lots of hardships, but he remains committed to God. Judah is intermarrying and adjoining himself to a temple prostitute whose sexual activity is a type of worship to that god.

Judah is not a holy guy. Which is why it is surprising that we hear Jesus being referred to as Lion of Judah!

Q. Why would God do that?

1.      Story of Judah explains the upcoming captivity in Egypt- time-out is given to discipline and to stop children from doing something the consequences of which they do not understand. In the same way, God sees Judah as an example of his children Israel- of what they were about to do, not understanding the huge consequence of what they are doing. So God is preparing to put them in time-out in Egypt, so that they do not lose the covenant.

2.      God alone is determining the path of His promise- God made a special promise to Abraham and his children. But the path that the promise is taking is not what we would expect. Between Joseph and Judah, who would you think God would choose? Joseph would be the right choice, but God chooses Judah- a deceiver who doesn’t really care about God. We don’t see a series of people who are above others.

At the end of the story, we see the whole thing repeating. During Tamar’s delivery, Perez who was the younger pushes himself out first and Zerah (means scarlet) is the same as Esau who is out-foxed for his birthright. We see a line of unworthy people leading to the birth of one who is worthy of everything!

The dichotomy of justice and grace is untrue. We are seeing it in the very lineage of Jesus. The fact that the lineage of Jesus passes through these people is grace.

Salvation is a work of God alone. Last time I was here, I spoke about the story of John Rogers who was put to death because he believed that works have no play when it comes to our salvation. Even today we see how Jesus is born from a line of unworthy people. That is the goodness of our God. By grace we have been saved through faith- that is a gift so that no one can boast. This morning is a mini-easter, as we come together to worship the risen Lord. Judah is a great symbol of this grace. Let’s thank God for this.  

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.