The Lent Series - Part 1

 

   This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on 1st March 2026, by Colin. For the audio , please click here.  For the worship, please click here. 

From the River to the Wilderness: Standing Firm in Times of Testing

Last week, we began reflecting on the Lenten season — a time of lengthening, a time of preparation, a time to center our lives once again on Jesus.

Lent marks the forty days leading up to Easter. In the busyness of life — work, responsibilities, gadgets, endless notifications — we can easily lose focus. These forty days invite us to slow down, to practice spiritual disciplines, and to realign our hearts with Christ.

Jesus said when you give, when you pray, when you fast — not if. These are not optional extras for the Christian life. They are expectations.

But today, we turn to a powerful moment in Scripture that teaches us what it means to stand firm in testing.

A Mountaintop Moment

In Gospel of Matthew 3:13–17, Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

John hesitates. “I need to be baptized by You,” he says.

Yet Jesus insists. Though sinless, He identifies with humanity. He humbles Himself. He steps into the water — not for His own repentance, but for ours.

When He comes up from the water, something extraordinary happens:

• The heavens open.
• The Spirit descends like a dove.
• A voice from heaven declares:
  “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In that moment, Jesus’ identity is publicly affirmed. The Father speaks. The Spirit descends. The Son stands in obedience.

It is a mountaintop experience.

But immediately after comes the wilderness.

From Jordan to the Desert

In Gospel of Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Notice this carefully:
He was led by the Spirit.

The wilderness was not accidental. It was purposeful.

Life often swings like a pendulum. One moment, everything feels aligned. The next, we find ourselves in a dry and testing season. Mountaintops are often followed by valleys.

Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. And then, at His weakest physically, the tempter came.

The First Temptation: Appetite and Identity

“If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus was hungry. Hunger is legitimate. The need was real.

But the temptation was to satisfy a legitimate need in an illegitimate way — to bypass trust in the Father.

The enemy also attacked His identity:
“If You are the Son of God…”

Yet the Father had just declared who He was.

Jesus responds with Scripture:

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

He quotes from Deuteronomy, recalling how Israel failed in the wilderness by grumbling and doubting.

Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded.

Fasting reminds us that we are spirit before we are appetite. It trains our spirit to lead our body, not the other way around.

The Second Temptation: Presumption vs. Faith

The devil then takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and even quotes Scripture:

“He will command His angels concerning You…”

Yes, the enemy can quote Scripture — but often misapplies it.

The temptation here was not faith, but presumption. Faith trusts God. Presumption tests God.

Jesus replies:

“It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”

How important it is to know not just what is written — but what is also written.

True faith does not demand signs. It does not manipulate God into action. It rests in obedience.

The Third Temptation: The Crown Without the Cross

Finally, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world:

“All this I will give You, if You bow down and worship me.”

This was a shortcut. A way to gain the crown without the cross.

Jesus had come to redeem the world — but redemption required suffering.

He answers:

“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”

No shortcuts. No compromise.

The same temptation exists today — success without integrity, glory without sacrifice, gain without obedience.

But the way of Christ is always the way of the cross before the crown.

The Good News: We Have a Victor

Adam failed in the garden.
Israel failed in the wilderness.
We fail often.

But Jesus did not fail.

He passed every test. He resisted every temptation. He remained faithful where humanity fell.

And our hope is not in our righteousness — but in His.

He is our great High Priest. He is our perfect sacrifice. He stands victorious on our behalf.

Standing Firm in Our Wilderness

Lent is not just about reflection. It is about preparation.

When we leave the safety of worship and enter the “wilderness” of everyday life, our faith is tested:

• When we are misunderstood.
• When finances are tight.
• When illness strikes.
• When prayers seem delayed.

In those moments, remember:

• You are a beloved son or daughter of God.
• The wilderness is not permanent.
• God is shaping your heart.
• The Word of God is your weapon.

Read Scripture until you are fed. Pray until your spirit is strengthened. Fast until your appetites are aligned.

And when the testing ends — as it did for Jesus — the angels minister.

This Lent, Move Forward

As we continue this season:

• Let your giving be generous.
• Let your praying be persistent.
• Let your fasting be sincere.
• Let your identity remain secure.

From the river to the wilderness, from the cross to the crown — Jesus has shown us the way.

And because He overcame, we too can stand firm. 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. 

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace please click here. Church on  June 1st 2025 by Navaz D. For the audio & video, please click here.  For the worship, please click here.

WHO AM I PART 2

INTRODUCTION

We are all uniquely shaped, with different personalities and temperaments. We are also gifted differently by His manifold grace. Last week, we explored our identity and how God has shaped us for a greater purpose beyond ourselves. God’s design for us is to be a part of a much bigger and grander design. So, no matter what we do in life, it all fits into an eternal purpose. Our job is to discover what part we play in God’s master plan.

Some things to keep in mind:

For a Christ follower, there is no secular and sacred divide: everything we do has a purpose.  Also, God has shaped each one of us uniquely, and we need to celebrate our differences: the introverts, the extroverts, the planners, the spontaneous, the thinkers, the feelers, the intuitive, the rationalists. God made us all!!

Last week, we examined how, throughout life, we adopt false narratives of ourselves. We examined how the world’s worldviews and belief systems can infiltrate our Christian thought and mask themselves in Christian language. We examined how we all have broken identities, and our alienation from God the Father has created an orphaned planet.

We all carry a father wound that needs healing. Please listen to last Sunday's message if you were not here last week.

Today, we will explore this Orphan heart further and how it affects our beliefs, thoughts, and actions. How can we identify it, and how can we replace it?

Jesus knows how broken we are, so He came to bind up the brokenhearted and free the captives. When He begins His work of shalom in our lives, which brings wholeness, He expects us to go and do the same and be the healing for the nations (Is 61). Again, you see the grand design in the play.

In the story of the prodigal son, we tend to focus on the younger son who went away. But that is not the point of the story. Who was in Jesus's audience? The scribes and Pharisees, who saw themselves as the good guys. Did you know that both sons operated out of an orphan spirit? The younger was overtly rebellious, independent, and self-willed. He felt his father was holding out on him and did not want to live within the rules of the house. He found it stifling. He did not love his father for who he was but for what he could get from him

The older son also functioned from an orphan spirit. He seemed obedient and dutiful, but he had no intimacy with the father, or else he would have known that everything the father had was his to enjoy. Instead, he chose to work amongst and live like a slave who did not have access to the Father’s wealth. He, too, only wanted his father’s wealth.

He tried to earn favour from duty. The religious spirit is like this. Jesus made this point to the Pharisees, but I think it's true for us today, too. We can keep the Sabbath, tithe, pray, and follow the rules, but have no relationship with the Father. Everyone should live like us and follow the rules to be blessed.

And when the father shows amazing grace to the vagabond, we get scandalised. We want everyone to go through the grind like we did.

The orphan heart can make a great Christian worker but not a great Christian brother. This heart does not understand grace and mercy. They feel the younger brother should be punished. He is offended by grace.

For some of us this orphan heart is further compounded by bad experiences in childhood – abusive home, alcoholic parents, divorce, early death of a father, physical and or sexual abuse by people who should have protected you.

We all display several of these and need to learn to replace these patterns.
Look at the list below. It is not exhaustive but indicative.

 

ORPHAN HEART	A SON
The orphan heart operates out of insecurity and jealousy. Cane & Abel	The spirit of sonship functions out of love and acceptance.
The orphan's heart is jealous of the success of his brothers and cannot celebrate it. Joseph	The mature son is committed to the success of his brothers.
The orphan heart serves God to earn the Father’s love. The Older son	The mature son serves God out of divine acceptance and favor.
The orphan heart has deep trust issues and doubts the goodness of God. Abraham	The mature son walks in the joy and presence of the Lord and lives in security & surrender to God.
The need for success drives the orphan heart and to stand out.   Spiritual orphans do not feel accepted and feel the need to prove themselves. This may result in: ·         Seeking to hide their limitations & faults – King Saul ·         Perceiving the strengths of others as competition. Saul ·         Secretly taking satisfaction in the weaknesses of others. ·         Needing and seeking attention.	The Spirit leads the mature son into his calling and mission. Our Father’s invitation is to a place of unconditional acceptance and rest in our unique, God-given identity. (1 Cor 12:18) Sons and daughters embrace both their strengths and weaknesses—comfortable both with who they are and Whose they are. Does not rejoice in the downfall of a brother or sister.
The orphan heart has anger and fits of rage.	The spirit of sonship rests in the Father’s ability to control and guide the future.
The orphan heart is always in competition with others. Performance-Orientation The spiritual orphan feels rejected, therefore believing that he or she must compensate by working hard or performing well for recognition. This may result in: ·         A constant drive to perform well ·         Judging the weaknesses or performance of other team members or leaders ·         Having feelings of mistrust towards others—feeling they are going to be ‘punished’ at any time	The spirit of sonship is always blessing others. It wants another to succeed and is not threatened by another’s success.
The orphan spirit lacks self-esteem. Fear and Insecurity The spiritual orphan is unsure of his or her place in the family. Orphans also feel uncovered and unprotected—therefore their instinct is to protect themselves and their position. This may result in: ·         A constant need for reassurance by leaders. ·         Lack of confidence in their spiritual gifts and any ministry position they have been given. ·         The need to prove themselves. ·         Being protective and territorial about their ministry areas	The spirit of sonship walks in the love and acceptance of Father God. Our Father’s invitation is to a place of security in His love, care and constant oversight. (Matt 10:29-31) Sons and daughters have nothing to fear. They are already secure in their Father’s love and place in the family. They can trust Father’s faithfulness even when changes or trials occur in church life. our Father’s invitation is to experience the fullness of His undeserved grace and favour. (Eph 1:6) Sons and daughters generously extend grace to others’ failure to measure up to actual or perceived standards. This is because they know the fullness of the Father’s grace towards them.
The orphan heart receives its primary identity through material possessions, physical appearance and activities.	The spirit of sonship is grounded in sonship and the Father’s affirmation.
Those with an orphan heart walk around with a spirit of rejection. Hence, they are hypersensitive and have an unconscious assumption that people are against them.	A Son knows he is accepted and loved by the Father.
Numbs pain with pleasure, i.e drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex, etc.	Takes his pain to God and allows the Holy Spirit to heal them from within.
Distrusts authority and finds it hard to submit.	Rebellious and self-willed.
Feels the victim and lives a powerless life	They are powerful and live above circumstances
Use control to mask their fears.	Is aware of their heart and trusts God in trials.
Has boundary issues.	Can have clear boundaries with people
Self-reliant, they feel they need to do everything on their own. Afraid to show any vulnerability	Not afraid to be vulnerable and trust others
Feels entitled, therefore grabs and looks out for number one.	Knows God as a provider, therefore can live in peace and surrender.
Struggles with forgiveness and generosity	Can forgive and give freely.
Is always a victim and feels victimised.	Is secure and able to see things for what they are.

 

So, all this has been bad news or a reality check.  What do we now? How can we replace this Spirit that besets all of us? What can we do to walk free and walk into our full identity as sons of God?

When we have intimacy with the father, we get identity. From identity, we get our inheritance, and with our inheritance, we make an impact on this Earth.
 But we have often put the cart before the horse. Many have put the Great Commission before the Great Commandment. When we know that we are loved and love God in return, we can love our neighbour not just as ourselves but as Christ. When we love as Christ, we will burn with passion for His Bride and for the lost.

Therefore, we need to learn to abide in Jesus, to remain in him, and to develop an intimacy with the Father like Jesus did. Satan and the Sanhedrin could not shake him. They tried to threaten and bully him, but he was confident in who he was because he knew whom he belonged to. He could confidently say, "The Father and I are one. I only do what I see the Father doing." He loved us with Father’s love.

John 15:9  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love”

 This moment can be a new watershed in your life. I’m not calling it season. Seasons are there for a time until the next one comes along. This is a watershed, a turning point that is going to alter your life forever if you want it. It is going to be life-transforming. You are going to activate that DNA that was put in you when you became a Christian.

There is no shortcut to intimacy. Some people want the fruit of intimacy or the benefits of intimacy, investing in it. There is no shortcut to abiding, sticking close, and learning to trust Father God.

Which son are you? Jesus in His parable did not give us the option of a third son. He is the third perfect son who knew He was loved by the Father and sought to do His will, not from wanting anything from the Father's hand, not for seeking his approval, but out of deep love and intimacy.

Let us bring our broken sonship to God so that He can heal us, restore us, and use us to bring healing to many.

We will look at replacing those false beliefs by renewing the mind next time.

 

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. 

Who am I? My Identity Part 1

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace please click here.Church on  April 27th 2025 by Navaz D. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

INTRODUCTION

What are some of the things that have shaped or formed your identity? Think back to your childhood, school days, neighbourhood, etc. For me I grew up in Bandra West, Mumbai, which was predominantly a Catholic, Goan, East Indian neighbourhood. What about you?

How many forms of ‘self’ have you gone through? X the sporty type, or the Nerd or the fighter or the joker or the bully, etc., etc.

These are all false selves we put on to cope with our environment and give us a sense of worth. It comes from what is affirmed by our culture, environment, family, education, and significant others say about you.

So, we are multidimensional beings; besides that, have a body, soul, and spirit. Life is not black and white and does not move in one straight line. Many things shape us, colour our lenses, and create filters for how we perceive information. For example, there is a yellow board, but if you look through red lenses, you will see orange; if you look through blue lenses, you will see green.  (SHOW SLIDES)

However, there is an identity which, when we find, we can truly begin to thrive, flourish and come into all that God has ordained for us. Before you dive into how to find our identity in Christ, we must first see what is wrong with the ones we have formed that are not shaped by Christ. We can't fix what we don’t know is broken.

Ps 139:13-16

Eph 2:10

Rom 8 :14-16

As followers of Christ, other worldviews can still shape our Christian thought and beliefs without us even realising it. We don’t recognise them because they are cloaked in Christian language. For example: find your calling and pursue your destiny in God. I am a winner, I am the head, I am blessed. You don’t need anyone to tell you what you should do; God has put His Spirit in you! How would you evaluate these statements?

These statements are all true, but they are not the whole truth. We will examine them in detail and unpack them as we go along. When taken out of context, these can become selfish, individual pursuits. At the outset, I want to say that our identity, purpose, calling, and destiny are all part of  a grand design of God that is much bigger than just you.  So, we need to get out of tunnel vision called Me and come up higher so that you can see the grand picture with WE in mind. We will zoom out before we zoom in.  

Your design: who created you and how you were created determines your purpose and destiny.

LET US QUICKLY LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES IN THE BIBLE:

Adam and Eve were created with the identity of image bearers to rule, dominate, and subdue the earth. At its heart was a grand design to crush and defeat the fallen angel Lucifer. 

Abraham 

Jacob to Israel 

David 

Simon to Peter 

Saul to Paul

So, I want to start by laying a foundation of true biblical identity—its purpose and destiny.

God’s ways have always been contrary to the world. We cannot wipe down and makeover the world's belief systems and call it Christian. 

Jesus says that if you want to find yourself, you must first lose yourself." he who wants to find his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" is 

THE CHRIST FOLLOWER

So let us begin to understand who we are in Christ, what it is, and what it is not.

Col 3:3-5 (READ) V8 – put off, v12 – put on. What are some of the false selves we need to put off and put on our new self in Christ? Even though it is known to you to ask the Holy Spirit to highlight some things, because we are all a work in progress. Amen! 

 As New Creations, we have a new DNA (Divine Nature Activated). We are called to put off our old self and put on our new self. There is something we need to do. His Spirit in us changes our propensity – once we could not help but sin, but now, when we sin, we feel horrible because it is not in our nature to do so. The inclinations of the heart have changed.

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF OUR FAITH IN JESUS?

Salvation 1 Peter 1:9

Reconciliation with God  2 Cor 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

Transformed new life 2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

Freedom from Sin Rom 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."

Participation in God’s Kingdom 1 Pet 2:9-10

IDENTITY and SELF & WORTH

All this is great news. But why do I still struggle with self-worth, competition, jealousy, comparison, perfectionism, addictions, etc., etc.

 Self is who you are at the core, what you live for, and what matters most to you. That will always come through in whatever you do.

Worth comes from who validates you and whose validation matters the most! Who affirms what you live for, your ideals, is good or bad.

We all need validation from outside. If you don’t believe it, look at advertising. It appeals to your need for validation.

A note on self-validation

Self-validate: You must be 100% consistent, correct, and constant. Do you know any humans like this? Do you know anyone who fits this description? Yes, only God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Only He is perfect in all that He says and does, and only He is 100% reliable. 

Consciously or not, we all have a plumb line outside of ourselves. For a Christ follower, it is Jesus Christ in you. That is why we must learn to walk or live being led by the Holy Spirit and remaining close to Jesus.

Our identity formation is not about self-actualisation but about conforming into His Son's likeness.

So, when God says something about you, who you are meant to be, etc., it is the highest form of validation you can ever receive. This validation is in sync with your design and your purpose or destiny. It cannot be worked out in isolation but in the community and for the community, and it is a part of a much bigger and grander design than yourself. God called a person, but his destiny was fulfilled in community and never in isolation or independence.

The Christian worldview is this: 

There is a creator. There is His creation. It has a design, and the design determines the purpose. God is our creator. We are His creation, designed or fashioned in His image, and we aim to show His glory through how we live.

The Cross changed our identity and destiny in an instant. It also changed our position as children of God. 

You may say all this is very good, but right here and now, I am struggling with many issues. Today I want to talk about Identity that comes from Intimacy with the Father. So now we are zooming in on you as an individual.

 Jesus came to give us life in all its abundance. The devil wants to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to reveal the Father, and His main mission was to reunite us with Him.

There has been a steady shift in our culture worldwide in the past few decades. Never have we seen the issue of fatherlessness in our life experiences as we see it today. Fathers are absent because they have fathered children but not out of covenant. Fathers are lacking because of addictions. Fathers are absent because of their jobs, where they work long hours and sometimes 7 days a week. We are Fathers who are emotionally and mentally absent from the home. This has given rise to a whole generation of young people who do not have a healthy relationship with their fathers.

Nobody has had perfect parents or fathers. Say I have not had perfect parents, say I am not a perfect parent, say I will never be a perfect parent. But we aim to become healthier ones. We have only a good and perfect Father, and that is Father God. Today, we all carry a father wound that was knowingly or unknowingly inflicted upon us by our earthly fathers.

Today, I want us to look into the face of the Father and tell me what you see there. Growing up, several things could have tainted our view of the father.

FATHER	EFFECT
Distant and uninvolved	become independent and self-reliant.
Angry man	relate to him in fear, guilt and shame, and had to manage his anger.
Negligent in providing,	insecure and with a poverty mindset that there will never be enough
Cold and distant	grew up not knowing how to bond
Never affirmed you	You struggle to know who you are and what you are capable of.
Always critical	You grew up with poor self-esteem and learned to defend, justify and cover up your mistakes
Physically or sexually abusive	You grew up with fear, shame and a deep distrust for authority because the one who should have protected you violated you.
Showed approval only when you did things right	learn that acceptance is based on performance and would work hard to please and earn his love.

Any combination of these sets off a whole pattern of thinking and behaviours that can start very early in life. As adults, we sometimes don’t know why we are fractured in certain areas or cannot respond healthily in relationships or to authority. The father is not necessarily a good word for you.

Today, God wants to heal that wounded heart and reveal his father's heart to you—that is for you, who loves you with an everlasting love and gives you more than you can ask or imagine. His love is unconditional.

The Bible tells us that when we are born again, we become children of God. We are adopted into his family.  But we carry some of the ways and effects of the old kingdom into the new kingdom, and those ways must be replaced. We are children of God, but deep down, we struggle to comprehend that God loves us.  We need to be healed from those effects. The orphan heart is one of them. It is not cast out; it gets replaced by truth, truth that transforms the way we think, which affects how we behave.

Satan fears our relationship with the Father and uses orphan thinking to create distrust and distance. He makes us believe God is holding out on us and not giving us the best. Part of orphan thinking is when we feel God is not looking after our best interests, we feel jealous, envious, and bitter toward others. We must recognise, repent, and replace those thought patterns with Christ-like ones. This is a daily, ongoing process of renewing the mind.

We must choose to embrace sonship, i.e., what we have optionally, and now we need to walk out experientially. Through the cross, we are reconciled to the Father. We can be Christians but still function like orphans. More about this next week.

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.