Jonah: To obey or not to obey| Sunith N

This message was preached  by Sunith Nallala at Word of Grace Church on October 30th, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

We will look closely into the life of Jonah today. Jonah 1: 1-2: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.””

A short history of who Jonah is- 2 Kings 14:24-25- he’s a prophet of God. He belongs to the 8^th century BC when Jeroboam 2 was ruling Israel then. Nineveh is build by Nimrod after the flood. It’s the capital of Assyria. They have invaded Israel for many years. They are brutal and cruel.  

Gen 6:5-6 during the time to Noah, God wiped away the entire mankind. And during the time of Abraham, God also destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We see God as an angry God in the Old Testament. But here in Jonah, God is being merciful. This reminds us of the love of Jesus who came down for the sinners.

But Jonah ran away. In verse 3 it says “But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” Jonah knew about the Assyrians who were cruel and saw their brutal behaviour towards the Israelites. This might be one of the reasons why he fled away. Tarshish is a city in Spain.

·        God is all powerful. He sends a storm where Jonah was travelling in the ship. There was fear in everyone except Jonah. He shook Jonah to say- I’m there, obey me. In verse 5- “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.” Jonah was so reluctant to come back to him. In addition to that, he goes off to sleep when there was a storm. At times we too disobey God’s word and his call. We are reluctant to go back. We could have found ourselves in the same place that Jonah is right now. 

In Verse 9 Jonah announces God’s character- “He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.””

·        God is a mighty God.  The sailors ask him, what should they do? Jonah knows the answer, but he is reluctant to do it. Pleasing God is the first purpose of our life.

The Sailors disobeyed by not throwing Jonah into the water. God made the storm wilder. When they obeyed, immediately God calmed down the sea. Obedience changes situations in our lives. God uses our situations to discipline us. God develops our character using the difficult situations in our life. So, God gets all the glory. When Jonah was thrown into the water, God sent the fish to protect him.

We see Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2: 1-9. When we cry out to God and seek for forgiveness, we come into new life with Jesus. This is also a picture of baptism. Jonah is immersed into the water where his old life has died and is now a new creation. He rose up from the water when the fish vomited him onto dry land.

·        God is a saviour. In Jonah 3, God commissions Jonah again. He is charged with the spirit. He boldly goes and proclaims to Nineveh their future and the forgiveness of God.

·        Our God is compassionate. In verse 5, the Ninevites believed God- they mourned and repented. Obedience to God leads to salvation from destruction.

Jonah 4:2- “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity”. Jonah was not able to forgive the Ninevites. He pleads with God to take away his life. God says, have you any right to be angry?

God did not send Jonah to condemn Nineveh, but to bring it to salvation. God shows us a wider picture of what his will is. He is concerned about the salvation of his people. Preaching the gospel is very important to us.

Matt 28:18-20 is the great commission he has given is to make disciples of every nation. His assurance is that he is with us till the end of the days. God is merciful, all- powerful, gracious, compassionate and rich in love.

We need to obey God- his word and his call on our lives. When God speaks to you, just obey what he says. He will reveal his mighty purpose and his will into your life.

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.  

The Kingdom of God in our lives| Austine K

This message was preached  by Austine Kudalkar at Word of Grace Church on October 23rd, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

In Matthew 4 Jesus is in the wilderness, fasting for 40 days and nights, Satan offered the kingdom of the earth to Jesus if he  bowed down to him. He said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”( Matt 4:10). Jesus went on to Capernaum and proclaimed the gospel, healed the sick, and a great crowd followed him from everywhere.

Seeing the crowd, he went to the mount- where he preached the famous Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:19- 24- Jesus talks about money. Immediately in verse 25- 27 Jesus says, ““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Q. What does this passage tell us about God and man?

 Four times in the passage, Jesus says, do not worry.

Q. What do people worry about these days?

People worry about their career, marriage, car, etc.  You will never see a sparrow in a zoo, because the heavenly father cares even for the small birds. You are more valuable than the sparrows. So how much more will he take care of you?

Phil 4:6- 7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Matt 6:32- “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” We don’t need to live like them.

 We will seek God first! What’s the result of that?

Jesus says, all the other things will be added to us. They are not subtracted, but added. In every step that we take God is revealing his plan into our lives. We might not get them instantly, but we see the blessing later.

The kingdom of God is the will of God being expressed here on earth- it is the government of God. it is about righteousness, peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit. It is the power to see things transformed.

We see from Jesus’ lifestyle that he fasted and prayed. He went through temptations too. But he said, you shall worship God  alone and you shall serve Him first.

1.    1.  Prayer- Jesus instructs his disciples to pray.

Colin said last Sunday  ( for last sunday's sermon click here)that we want to be a people of His presence, being transformed and reflecting his glory from one degree to another. We need to have a private time with God daily.

We need to seek God in every decision we make. When we do that, there is a reward. He will add all things to us.

2. Worship- There are two kinds of worship- private and public. We need to seek him in both. We meet during the week. When you are isolated from the life of the church, you’re like the straddler in the herd who gets attacked by the lion. I have been transformed by being in the life of the church. God wants to use you in your community.

3.  Giving- you cannot serve God and money. Jesus encourages us to lay our treasure in his kingdom which is eternal. Jim Elliot said, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” We need to give generously as we have been doing. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The other day I came across a man who was scary to look at. As I was singing- your kingdom come, your will be done! God spoke to me to go and pray for this man. I went and prayed for the man. I was looking for an instant miracle, but it did not happen, I said, “Believe in Jesus for a miracle”. After 2 days, I never saw him in that place again.

God brings these kinds of people in our lives. Jesus wants us to go near them. Jesus was not ashamed of them. He wanted to bring the kingdom of God here on earth. He could have accepted the shortcut, but he wants to seek His kingdom here.

He wants us to do greater things than he did. The kingdom of God is within you. Look around for opportunities to bring the kingdom of God where you live. 

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. 

SHARPEN 2016 - Working in out in teams | Edgar Nevis

This message was preached at the RegionsBeyond India Leadership conference 2016.

This message was preached by Edgar Nevis who leads Yeshu Krist Masiha Mandali in Nasik.

For the audio please click here

Redefining the way we do things now. We came out of the world of evil and corrupt people that we were first. God is calling us back into that world. But we are different. We are going to change the world.

The making of Samuel- Samuel grew up in the temple. He had no say in the matter. His mother put him in the temple.

Q. How did that happen?

1 Sam 1- Hannah was a wife of this priest. Hannah was not getting pregnant and was made fun of and tormented by the other wife.

It seems almost like God put her through all of that so that she would offer her child to the temple. The priest loved Hannah more. So the other wife did not like it. Her response to a troubled situation was to torment another one. Whereas, Hannah’s response was to go to the Lord. In our troubled situation, we went to God. We are all sitting here because we went to God in our troubled situation.

I’ve always been amazed at Jesus. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. I speak about his supremacy as written in Colossians 1. And we hear Jesus say, I don’t do anything that I don’t see the father doing. In all his magnificence, he still humbles himself.

Q. Who does Jesus always compare us with? How holy are we supposed to be? Pankaj or Gary...?

We are to be as holy as He is holy.

Q. How can we be compared with him?

Be as loving as he is loving. The standard he has for us is so high.

In my walk with God, I’ve gone through some difficult times. If you are dead you have  no requirements. You live for Jesus. In every step of the day, I am living for Jesus. It doesn’t matter how they treat me. I was going to go to hell anyway, but now I’m going to heaven.

Jesus has joined me into a body. Eph 4:16. As God has saved me and joined me into this body, and I am held together by these ligaments. We don’t have much choice to say, I don’t want to be joined. When I got married to Isabel- I fought to marry her. But soon, we found it difficult to adjust with one another. Before we got married, we had amazing chemistry! But once we got married, we were fighting so much!!

When I asked my pastor, he said there is no feelings  in love anymore. I thought he was mad, but I said there’s no harm in trying. It worked!! We learned to love each other. God showed me this- there has to be love that joins us together. She is so different from me and God showed me to enjoy that difference.

In the body of Christ, we are different. The hand and foot are different, the requirements, needs, etc are different. We are joined together by ligaments. The head gives instructions to the body. The head decides what the body is going to do. We have to learn to respect one another. It was hard learning to respect Isabel’s gifts. I never wanted to be a pastor. And then I’m glad I have Isabel as my wife.

Do you choose your kids?  You have to learn your kid. Understand what they are- what is my role?

I learnt to understand this body parts illustration through my personal experience. In Indian culture, where women are not treated with respect, we need to learn that our wives have real wisdom to give us. Jesus was an example of submission.

I was abused by leaders, but I saw Him set it right. I don’t have to be afraid of submission.

When we decide to be in an unbreakable fellowship with one another- we will obey his commands! Love one another. It starts with our own wives. Just work at it. We have our differences, but we’ve learnt to work it out. We are supposed to be the light of the world. We are going to show a different culture to the world.

Q. Do we feel a permanent bond with people in your team?

 Change takes time. But we are going to allow for God to use us to bring about changes. We are joined together.

Leadership Redefined Part- 2| Colin D

This message was preached by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on October 16th, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

It is our priority to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth in this time. But how we do it is important. The ends don’t justify the means. We looked at 3 things last week:

1.      We want to pursue the presence of God. The Spirit of glory rests on us- we are glory carriers.

2.      In order to lead, we need sacrificial servant leadership.

3.      We want to see churches that are multicultural and multigenerational.

Today we will go further in this list of lessons I’ve learnt from my experience with Regions Beyond

4.      Being there for one another’s success- the moment we’re out of the womb, there is a race to excel. We need to get into the rat race. The culture of the kingdom is very different. In the kingdom, we are working for another’s success.

Now there are good and Bad examples of this. The Bad examples:

a.      Very early on in the Bible, in Gen 4:3-5 we see Cain and Abel. 2 brothers, with the same parents, background, culture, etc. there was division in the heart of man. The result is that Cain killed Abel due to envy.

b.      In Gen 17:9- we see Joseph who had dreams about his future, who’s father favoured him and who shared his dreams with his brothers. But the brothers were insecure and wanted to put an end to it.

c.      Saul- When Goliath challenged the Israelite army, David comes up and destroyed him. As David gets other victories people start singing, “Saul had his 1000s, David his 10,000s”. Instead of celebrating him, Saul was jealous.

In our hearts, there is a tendency to be jealous just like that. It’s only Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit that can change us.

Here are some Good examples:

a.      Jonathan- He loved David. 1 Sam 19:4- 6- “Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”” Jonathan was next in line to be king. But David was supported by him a 100%. We want to be involved in encouraging others like Jonathan did.

b.      Barnabus: his real name was Joseph, but he was such an encourager that he came to be known as barnabus which means, ‘son of encouragement’. In Acts 9:26- “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.” Saul got saved, and was looking for the disciples to join them. But they were afraid of Saul because of his history.

But barnabus! Verse 27 says, “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.” He believed in Saul and his testimony and he travelled with him for the next few months.

It takes great grace for someone who brings you in, to let you grow greater than them. It was Barnabus and Saul for a while and then it became Paul and Barnabus.

Barnabus also encouraged John Mark who deserted the apostles. He took him on and later Paul remarks to send Mark because he is useful. Barnabus never wrote a book of the Bible, but we see that he encouraged two people who together wrote 14 books of the Bible.

We need to cultivate a spirit of encouragement.   Hebrews 3:13- “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”. So as long as it is today, encourage someone.

Q.So, what are we looking for in others to encourage?

·        Look for good things in others. We can see specks in other people’s eyes. It takes grace to see the things we can pick up from each one.

·        Verbalise it in a positive way

·      Recognise their gifting. If Saul had embraced David’s anointing, they could have been great together. Phil 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”. There are so many opportunities to encourage one another.

Q. How can I help in them being all they are called to be?

Crabs in a bucket, is not in the kingdom. Recognise gifting and anointing. Also, be cautious about mouthing the next slogan. It’ll take time in fleshing it out.

5.      Cultivating a spirit of generosity and giving- John 3:16- God gave his most precious possession out of love. We are called to be imitators of him. For this, we need to move from poverty to wealth mentality. In poverty mentality, no matter how much money you possess, you are not content. You feel like you don’t have enough.

Whereas the wealth mentality says that God has entrusted so much to me and I’m blessed in every way. I am a steward of his riches.  We want to be a blessing. We are to reflect the heart of Jesus. The opposite of this is the spirit of entitlement which says I deserve this.

Be a blessing. A pond has water that goes nowhere. It becomes stale and starts to give off  a bad odour. But a pipe is used to direct thousands of litres of water through it. We are called to be a pipe.

6.      Uplifting the poor- Luke 4:18- “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” 1 Sam 2:8- “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour.” It is important to give them dignity and value and also the life-giving gospel.

Let us put these things into practice and bring glory to God. 

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.