1 Peter Part 5

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on October 8th 2023  by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

How to live in the midst of suffering 

Sandwich analogy.  

Today’s passage is like the prosciutto and meat of a good sandwich. 1 Pet 3: 8-22 and 1 peter 4: 12-19, Peter speaks about suffering to people who are undergoing tremendous suffering. He gives their suffering a purpose. He reminds them of Jesus who also suffered in the flesh - the righteous for the unrighteous so that he might bring us to God. And that now he is in heaven, at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers being subject to him. 

1 Peter 4: 1 - 11: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking(thought out attitude), for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions (epithymia) but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Let’s pray 

While Peter is talking to the Christians about suffering, right in the middle of the passage, he talks about what to do in the middle of suffering? How to suffer well. And the model for us is Jesus Himself - Jesus willingly and even joyfully endured suffering, yet did not excuse sin. 

In our daily lives, we tend to look at sin as the solution to suffering - when we are rejected, we tend to lie and people please, when we feel lonely, we tend to comfort eat, when we’re stressed, we tend to gravitate towards drinking or porn or endless entertainment. 

So Peter says, arm (fortify) yourself with the same thought-out attitude as Christ who embraced suffering, but scorned sin - because those who suffer in the flesh have a completely different view of sin. They don't see it as something to excuse, but something to get rid of. (illustration of having to read the Bible in my bathroom) 

When we equip our minds with the kind of thinking as Christ we will live differently - not for our human passions / epithymias (Over desires) but for the will of God. Over desires, don't have to be evil desires - our desire for a family can result in dating and marrying an ungodly person, our desire for success can cause selfish ambition. But living for the will of God, is completely different because his desires become our desires. 

1 Thess 4:3-8 “3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, … 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

The will of God for our lives is to say no to sin and yes to him. How do we do this? What is the greatest commandment? Love God, love one another. So the will of God in suffering is that we are sanctified by loving God and loving one another. 

1.     Loving God 

Past: For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.  Peter is echoing the sentiment - that’s enough of that. Don’t procrastinate righteousness. A lot of us when we sin, invite shame instead of the fear of God. shame becomes a chain and keeps us stuck in our sin. 

Present: With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.  They malign you because they’ve not had victory over something that you have.  (When David defeated Goliath, it only attracted more trouble for him- his brother and his king hated him because he showed them up) 

Future: “But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” 

Purpose: v. 7 - The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

Eternity perspective - the time we have to live on earth is a blink of an eye compared to eternity. 

self-controlled and sober-minded - alert in your heart and mind so you can give yourself to prayer. 

Why does prayer require us to be alert - The AMP version says ”so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him”. Our prayers are very different based on what we’re focused on. When we’re focused on the things of God, we start praying for a breakthrough, not a blessing, we pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done and not just for our daily bread. 

 

2.               Loving one another 

Above all, love earnestly for love covers a multitude of sins - (ektenes (“love deeply”) is from ek “out” and teno “to stretch or strain.” Our words tension and tense are from this root.) - (illustration of Bollywood couples running towards each other v. an athlete or a basketball player dunking the ball) ektenes is an athlete’s word; think of straining in effort or stretching out every sinew. Think of an athlete or a basketball player dunking the ball. We need to love one another earnestly because we are straining to reach the kind of love that God showed for us. 

The book To End All Wars, written by WWII veteran Ernest Gordon tells the true story of Gordon’s time in a Japanese prison camp along the River Kwai. The torture turned the prisoners into something like desperate animals— as each man fought for his own skin and “to hell with everyone else.” One day a shovel was declared missing. The guards demanded the man responsible step forward. No one moved. The guards raised their machine guns, warning unless the guilty man stepped forward everyone would be executed. One prisoner stepped forward and was beaten to death. It was soon discovered no shovel was missing after all; there had been a miscount. The prisoner who stepped forward had sacrificed his life to save the others.

Comparison with Jesus’ own sacrifice that saved the lives of so many - covering a multitude of sins.

Peter suggested 3 areas of loving and said what ektenes might look like:

1.      Hospitality  - without grumbling  (illustration of long-staying guests)

2.      Speaking - as one who speaks oracles of God/ the very words of God. (illustration of my first sermon)

3.      Serving - as one who serves by the strength that God supplies (illustration of set-up teams) All the able-bodied people here have the grace gift of serving on the set-up or clear-up team. The strength comes from God and that is an inexhaustible resource. (illustration of Colin and Navaz’s business and church etc. Look at the fruit of that.) 

Purpose:

In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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 has 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.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

Get Committed Part 5

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on January 29th 2023  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

GET COMMITTED - PART 5

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."” - Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

You and I, if we are believers, we live under the highest orders by the highest authority to go and make disciples. We also spoke about the different stages of growth as a believer- seeker, infant, child, young adult and parents (mothers and fathers) 

An infant's life is characterized by ignorance. As a child, however, there is some growth and began to read their bible.  They are only concerned with themselves, their comfort and well being. They are not committed to serving even though they might do some things. Young adults have grown spiritually and have moved from being self-centred to others centred. They have grown in maturity and progress. They are committed to serving. Fathers and Mothers not just care for people but give birth to people through the gospel. These are the four discipleship stages. It will be good to assess where you are and see how you can grow. Children will always think they’re adults, so you need others also to speak into your life and progress in the area of growth. The focus should be on growing. 

There are milestones in our journey. We looked at 3 milestones: 

1. Personal worship

2. Public worship

3. Heart worship

You will find more on these in part 2 of the series. 

4. Being part of a small group: when you are a part of a church, you are not a part of an organisation, you’re a part of an organism. During the week we meet in small groups where we get to know people at a more deeper level - to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to rejoice and weep, and to be accountable to each other. Personal growth does not happen in isolation, it happens in the community. Where do we find small groups in the Bible? “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,” ‭‭- Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭46‬ ‭ESV‬‬. At Word of Grace we have a few gyms ( house groups). We are starting an online gym for people who are unable to make it to any of the gyms. Over the years our small groups have cared for one another very well. 

5. Loving one another: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another."”‭‭ - John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬-‭35‬ ‭ESV‬‬. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” - ‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:14-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬. Love is expressed in connecting with one another. We’ve got to be people who are loving one another. Let’s connect with one another intentionally. 

1. Love involves practising hospitality. One of our key values is to express love through offering hospitality. Whether you are married or single you can be hospitable. Let’s be biblical. 

2. Having authentic relationships - to have deep friendships. The Bible has 51 or more one another’s. Practising those is showing love to one another. We are not perfect but we’re making an effort to grow. 

6. Obey the word of God: “"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬. A growing disciple is one who is feeding on the word, meditates on the word and is transformed through obeying the word. This should be happening on a regular basis. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬. You want to be blessed. Read the word and do what it says. Sometimes culture is very different from what the Bible says. But we need to adjust our life to reflect the word of God. 

7. Servanthood: “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."”‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20‬:‭20‬-‭28‬ ‭ESV‬‬. This is the principle of the kingdom. The way to greatness is through serving. If you want to be first, you have to be a slave. Jesus modelled it himself and calls us to follow him in the same way. If you want any form of public ministry, you have to serve and become a servant. Those who wash the feet of the saints have the privilege of leading them. We are talking about sacrificial serving. We are here to serve the body of Christ and be servants. This is a value that is held in high esteem by Jesus and by us. If you want to progress in your spiritual life, serve. We all have a role and a function in Word of Grace. You can’t be part of a body if you don’t have a function. It would not serve any purpose. 

8. Mission: Jesus came to earth and after dying on the cross and resurrecting, he says in John “Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."”‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20‬:‭11‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬. This is the reality of our future without Jesus. The moment you trust Jesus you know your name is written in the book of life. The second death is forever and there is no escape. If anyone here has not put their faith in Jesus, today is the day of salvation. Our mission is to share the gospel with love and gentleness. That is what we are called to do till the end of time. 

We have looked at 8 discipleship milestones. As we mature, we can do these at a much deeper level. As a new Christian, you would’ve spent 5 mins with the word. As you mature, you want to spend 30 mins etc. we grow in our depth and capacity of doing them.

 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 has 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.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

Get Committed Part 2

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on January 15 th 2023  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

GET COMMITTED – PART 2

   We are going through a 6 part series on what it means to be committed to Word of Grace as your local church. Our vision, values and DNA are outlined in these sessions.

1.   Baptism in Water and the Holy Spirit – One of the first commands that Jesus gave His disciples was to go into all the world, preach and baptise. Baptism is an outward expression of what has happened inside of you. Jesus was baptised. Acts 2:38 – Three thousand people believed in Jesus and Peter’s first instruction is to get baptized. Baptism is by immersion. Some practice infant baptism and sprinkling. Baptism follows repentance. If you are not baptised by immersion you need to, if you have put your faith in Jesus.

 

2.  Baptism with the HolySpirit. When you believe the Holy Spirit is with you. You cannot believe in the Holy Spirit. The apostles were saved at the resurrection and yet Jesus asked them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Spirit-filled. There is something called being filled with the Spirit and this changes you from being timid to bold like Peter. Before being baptised in the Holy Spirit he was afraid of a servant girl. After being baptized he was bold and spoke to 3000. Jesus baptizes us to the Holy Spirit. We can’t do it. In John Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God twice but five times He is referred to as the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Then we are also called to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is an ongoing filling.  

Acts 8:17-18 - “Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” We can pray for you but Jesus baptises you. When this happens your life is transformed- you become an overcomer and grow in intimacy with Jesus.

  

3.  Prize the presence of God - Moses said to God in the book of Exodus that if your presence doesn’t go with us then we won’t go. What makes you different from any other gathering, a club etc? It is the presence of God. We always want that. Not only do we want the presence of God, but we want each one to play our part in bringing in the presence of God.

1 Cor 14:26- “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”

All of us have a role to play. We make room for people to share testimonies, to share on the breaking of bread, offering etc.  John7: Each one of us has the Holy Spirit and when we spend time with him, we will be bubbling up with something to share. Ask God to give you something to bless someone. When we all bring our gifts, it’ll be like a rich banquet.

 

4.  A loving community -

a.  It would be wonderful if we see great healings etc every Sunday. We want to see signs and wonders and we do pursue that. But the Bible says we can faith that moves mountains, but without love, it is nothing. We want to be loving, kind, and forgiving to one another. It is a key value. when someone comes to the meeting, we consider them valuable. Following Christ is in the community.

b.  Hospitality is very important in this. Have you been invited by someone for a meal here at Word of Grace? The Bible commands us to be hospitable.  It is not to invite your close friends and relatives only but to have strangers over. Make sure you’re eating with someone in the church. Out of 21 meals in a week, dedicate one meal to eat with your brothers and sisters, to build your relationship with a stranger. Jesus ate a lot with all kinds of people. When Jesus rose from the dead, what did Jesus do? He cooked breakfast for His disciples!  The last supper happened in a home. Eating with people who are not from similar backgrounds, is powerful. When we eat together, we are saying I accept you. Even singles can be hospitable. When I was 17 years old I had many families over for a meal when I was a student in Cyprus. Yes, it will cost you.

c.  Part of being a loving community is to meet one another’s needs. During the pandemic, we took collections in the gym groups to help those who lost their jobs etc.  When we all do a little, God multiplies it. Don’t hoard, give away to someone in need.

d.  Building relationships: people don’t generally leave churches because of theology; it is because of offence. They are offended because someone did something or they think someone has offended them. Taking offenceis a trap. We need to build authentic relationships, where we can speak the truth in love. It is good to clear things up because it could be an imagined offence. Seek clarity. Navaz has put together a teaching on relational dynamics. We teach about conflict and how to resolve it. Conflict is over an issue; strife is when you attack the person. So, we want to express love in every way.

 

5.  A church where biblicalfamily life is valued:  Family is important. Today even amongst Christians, family is not valued, and many singles are not interested in marriage! We have a teaching on how to biblically navigatemarriage, parenting, etc. godly families are powerful. In some churches, it’s all about families, and in some churches, it’s all about singles. Both are important. We want to be a multi-generational church where all are valued and can play their part.

 

6.  Serving: Everyone wants to be a CEO. But Jesus ushered in an upside kingdom. Jesus came not as a king but as a servant. If anyone wants to be great, He must be the servant of all! At Word of Grace everyone serves. We expect that everyone serves in some way or another. It’s not like coming to a restaurant. Some people come to church expecting to be served at a restaurant. But a church is like a family get-together. Everyone helps with setting up, clearing up, etc. that is what Word of Grace is. That’s what it means to be part of the family.

 

 7.  A church led by male elders confirmed and recognized and ordained by the Apostolic ministry but has a leadership team consisting of women. There are different kinds of leaders and people who lead different teams. We have men and women who carry great responsibility.  We are not a one-man leadership. We value the team. There are many gifts in this room, and we want to discover, develop and deploy them effectively. Mark 3:14 it says that Jesus called all those whom he desired so that they might be with him, and be given authority to preach, heal and cast out demons. So, we have discipleship groups. We gather to Jesus and one another. We start with being and then we do. The disciples left everything to be with Jesus. Those on the leadership team have made great sacrifices to be discipled. They paid the price to grow in their knowledge of God and to serve one another.

 

8.  A church great in generosity, influence and action. We believe in giving. There is enough money to do all that God has called us to. But that money is in your pocket and we need to be faithful in giving. One of our values is giving our tithes and offerings to the local church. As you do that you also are blessed. We give away a lot to support other works, social projects and those in need.

 9.  A church involved in serving and empowering the poor: In Galatians, Paul writes to remember the poor. There are so many poor in our nation, and we want to be a blessing to the poor in our nation. There are projects were involved in and will continue to do.

10.             A church which embraces the one new man across gender, race, language, generation etc. We are all one in Christ. Let’s not get cliquish based on ethnicity, age, language etc.

11.             A church committed to excellent relationships between local churches and communities. We are one local church in the city. We want to participate and collaborate with other local churches in the city. We are together advancing the Kingdom of God. We bless them and honour them.

12.             Connected to a family of churches across the world: we belong to a big family called Regions Beyond. Together we are able to advance the gospel throughout the world.

 

This is a short description of who we are. The invitation is this - like a soldier, who needs to get trained. No pain, no gain. will you get committed? There is a sacrifice. It requires each one of us to get committed. We will fight with spiritual weapons of praying to fast and preaching the gospel. We are here for such a time as this. We can’t just be concerned with enjoying life.  Or can you imagine soldiers on the same side fighting and killing each other? That is what we do when we get offended by the body of Christ and slander one another.

 Let us commit ourselves to the body of Christ. Heb 13 says Hebrews says to obey your leaders. So, when your leader calls for prayer as far as possible be there. That is the meaning of obedience.

 So what can we do? We get committed to the local church.

   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 has 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.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on July 3rd 2022  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.

MAKING FRIENDS

 We will have a slightly different sermon this morning. We meet in small groups called GYMs. GYM Stands for God, You and Me and we meet together to fellowship, eat together, study the word etc.

My message today is on the importance of meeting in small groups. This morning when you woke up, you went and looked at yourself in the mirror at some point. Every house has a mirror, but it is so important. James 1:23 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” God’s word is like a mirror for each one of us. It helps us in aligning our lives with what is good and what is true.

If I were to ask you, “when does the church meet?”, most would say, Sunday. But whenever even a small number of us meet is a church meeting. So what does the word of God say about the church meeting?

In the New Testament each time church is mentioned, most of them refer to meeting in a small group/ in a home. So when we meet at homes, it is as important as meeting on a Sunday morning.

In Acts 2: 46 “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,” so it is not just the large meeting but also the small gather that were important to the early Christians. In Acts 20:20 Paul says “how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,”. Meeting together is important when on a Sunday like this or meeting at homes.

Someone once said that the Church is like a bird with 2 wings – the large and small meeting are like the 2 wings and both are important.

All of us at some stage heard the glorious gospel being preached, you put your faith in Jesus and your life was changed! Several things happened in that moment:

    1. Luke 15:7 “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” There was rejoicing in heaven

    2. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” You might look the same but you are a new creation

    3. You became a part of God’s family. God became your father and other Christians have become your brothers and sisters. When you meet a fellow believer, there is an instant connection. Have you experienced that? How does that happen? It’s something in the spirit.

This is the transformation that has happened. Sadly, there are Christians who come to Jesus and then just stay on the outskirts without connection or involvement in one another's life. As Rick Warren says, we have a personal faith, but not a private faith. So seek to build connection with one another. 1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” We are not lone ranger Christians.

1.              Acts 2 there were 3000 who were added to the number. Baptism is one step, and being joined is another step. Imagine you needed an organ transplant, there is a beating heart, which is useless on its own. But when it is placed in the body, it can do all that it is supposed to do. You are a part of the body and have a role to play. On your own you are like that heart in a box. GYMs help us get connected.

2.             Secondly, they will help us grow in our spiritual life. In a small group setting, almost everyone can participate and grow. Col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”. So let’s do that.

3.              In Acts 15:16 It speaks about how Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos to their home and taught them the word. The bible is full of one-another(s). It is only as we meet with one another that we can grow in our Christian faith.

4.              We can express love to one another when we are a part of a GYM group. We have so many stories among us of people expressing love by supporting and helping one another so well!

5.              Another area where small groups help is to practice hospitality. One way to do that is to have a pot luck. Even as a single man/ woman, you can make something and bring it to a potluck and show hospitality that way.

6.              It is not just about loving and caring about one another, but also about reaching the lost. We’ve got to say what can we do about reaching out.

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 has 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.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.