Faith or Fear? | Daniel M

This message was preached by Daniel Macleod on November 14th, 2015 at the Regions Beyond annual gathering of the nations- 'the HUB 2015' in Dubai. The audio link will follow shortly

Isaiah 7:

We don’t just have an apostolic leader but we are an apostolic people. Church meetings don’t make radical decisions. Left to a vote, the church would still be in Egypt. 

We need more people like Nicky Welsh who will do things against the tide. We should be able to see a different future.

What will hold us back? Fear more than anything that which will hinder us is fear in our hearts. The people were n the edge of the Promise Land. I’m sure Moses preached regularly. They have been fed by manna etc. but the 12 spies come back with fear. Fear creeps in at the last moment and a whole generation misses out. But 2 men saw differently. They felt it could be done. The most common command to us is, “Do not fear, I am with you”.

Let’s look at why we don’t need to fear. You can learn from success and failure. We can be afraid of the things around us. Each generation has its own challenges. You can fear failure. Church planting is tough, can be scary. Ahaz was afraid. He had 2 armies at his doorstep. We have the choice- fear or faith. There is no in between. If you are not firm in faith you will not have faith at all. Assyria is the world super-power now.

Ahaz is under pressure with his back against the wall. Ahaz goes to the king of Assyria. It’s like sharing your lunch with the bully for protection. Ahaz gives over his leadership to Assyria. He is ready o blow the whole thing apart because of fear.

Q. What does fear do?

1. He made a short term decision: he can’t see the future. Only sees today. Ahaz made a short term decision. I won’t talk to that person, I won’t address that issue. It will ultimately choke you. Your decision based on short term decisions comes back to bite you. Nettles never go away. They only grow. Whereas faith looks to the future.

2. Fear hinders the mission of God because it can’t repent. It can’t lose face in front of the people. Ahaz could have called off the pact. Fear is too consumed about self. Faith doesn’t mind repenting as long as God’s purposes are accomplished. We need to learn to repent and say sorry to each other.

Faith filled leadership knows how to repent. Leaders can take short term decisions. We can do a whole lot of things that are good ideas but not what God has called you to. We need to check what stuff we are doing.

3. Fear works in the flesh. Ahaz is in the wrong place with the wrong people, doing the wrong thing. He should have been in the temple with the priests praying. He got embroiled into works of the flesh. In Isaiah 36, Hezekiah was standing in the same point. He went ot the temple and prayed. This is what Ahaz should have done. What Hezekiah did was leadership. He fell on his knees and pleaded before God to accomplish His purpose in His generation.

Ahaz does not trust God and His promises. Faith or fear? Some are waiting for a big moment of faith. It’s not like that. Faith is tested Monday morning. How you plan your work. We could be working in the flesh or in faith.

God comes back to Isaiah. He wants Ahaz to succeed. He is willing to do anything for Ahaz to know that he can trust God.

But Ahaz says, “I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test.” It’s funny how we can sound spiritual and biblical to hide our fear.

In verse 13, God gets tired. Isaiah is ticked off now and ticked off God. God now gives a sign, “…a virgin shall be with child….”this gets read once a year. We need to put it abck in context. It comes in the midst of mission/ battle time. It is in the context of war.

Isaiah 8:3- the Bible is not a leadership textbook though we learn from it. Till today we have an Assyria waiting to overtake us. We all have a little Ahaz in us- fear. This could have been the end of the story, but we have Isaiah 9:6 and the rest of the Bible. We have a promised one who when we fail to take up the mission, he takes it up.

Isaiah’s son was born as a assign for Ahaz. Jesus was born as a sign for all of mankind. He will accomplish all that he has set out to do. All the promises in Christ are yes and Amen. This book is about Jesus’ leadership.

Q. Why we don’t need to fear?

We can’t stop talking about the God of mission. Mission is exciting but if we don’t talk about Jesus we will gut the mission. We will end up beating people into works. We need to help see Jesus.

Any forward move in the church begins with the individual. Acquaint yourself with the old counsel- acquaint yourself to God.

Isaiah 6 talks about Isaiah seeing the Lord high and lifted up. It’s the same Lord that is spoken about in Isaiah 7:14- it’s the same Lord that lived outside universe that enters humanity.

The majestic God who sustains all things by his powerful word comes into the world kicking and screaming as a baby. He did not put out a cloak of humanity that can be taken off. He could be killed like a man and he was.

We have a lot common with other faiths. But not this. God taking on the weakness and frailty of humanity. No other has this humility where God becomes man. Jesus knew humanity fully with all its pressures. He gets baptized as our Emmanuel. He who was without sin.

John was baptising people who needed repentance. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that he became sin on our behalf. He steps into humanity in totality and walks into sin for 3 years up to the cross.

Satan did not want this to be fulfilled and tries to derail Jesus by appealing to his ego. Be careful of ego. Everywhere that we fail, Jesus has overcome. Jesus was walking in Jerusalem because he knew the task he was called to. He led prophetically. As when he walked he must have recounted the promises of God. Jesus trusted the father unto his own death. The crux of our faith, what we do, Jesus does on the cross.

It did not end there. On the third day he rose again. He left satan, sin and death in the tomb once for all.

Jesus right now remains our mediator, our Emmanuel. There is a man who now represents your faith, failures, success before the father. Jesus sits at the right hand of the father. Stephen sees Jesus standing i.e. Jesus was with him, honours him and welcomes him into the kingdom.

You feel forgotten and beaten up and that the Lord has moved on. But Jesus stands for you, honours that you have not given up or thrown in the towel. Jesus now intercedes for us. He prays for the success of Regions Beyond, your town, your church, for you. He has good plans for you and he prays them into being. The prayers of a righteous man accomplish much. The righteous man is praying for us. When you know this, you should not fear. His prayer never diminishes. He prays that you will be strong till the end.

Jesus gives us his spirit to be with us so that we know that he is with us. Moses had the ark, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. Wherever we go the enemy will be vanquished and we do not need to fear.               

 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.

We are the Survivors| Terry Virgo

This message was preached by Terry Virgo on November 13th, 2015 at the Regions Beyond annual gathering of the nations- 'the HUB 2015' in Dubai The audio link will follow shortly.

Ezra 1

It’s a story about fresh beginnings. God constantly brings fresh beginnings. He loves to restore, redeem, renew. 



Abraham left Ur and went out to something he saw. Then God raised Moses who saw something in the future. He left the palace for what he saw. In the Promise Land, God started all over again. It’s Eden. It’s like a new creation- cities to be built, where God’s presence would be there- an Eden with a nation. Like Eden, it had not two trees but two mountains with warnings- blessings and curses; Judgement and warnings. Like Adam and Eve, warning not to be thrown out of the garden but out of the land- out of the presence of God. Soon enough, that happened.

Enemies came and destroyed them. Few were taken to Babylon. Jeremiah warned them but also a promise of a new day was brought when God will write his laws on their hearts. There was a promise that God would start again- A new beginning.

1. Ezra starts here. God told Jeremiah that he is watching over his word to perform. And King Cyrus changes his foreign policy. It’s interesting how Cyrus refers to the people i.e. the survivors. In our day we hear a lot about survivors- earth quakes, flood, tsunami survivor. They are the ones who got through or coped. Survivors don’t just walk away- they look on with a sense of wonder of “how did I get out??”

There is something about survival that makes you think about life in a different way. It makes you think that your life has meaning and purpose. It is an amazing privilege to survive. These people as we see in 1Chronicles 36, survived warfare. Many were slaughtered, burned, Jerusalem and the temples plundered and then these survived.

Isaiah 1:9- … the lord left us a few survivors. When we come out of it, you don’t know how to talk about it. There is something of the mark of a Christian. We have been given our life back for a purpose. Even in Elijah’s day there were only 7000 left.

That’s how Israel began. God judged right through Egypt. They were worshipping fake gods. Then God does the Passover- where they offer a spotless lamb. On that night judgement passed them. But those under the blood survived. The nation of Israel are survivors.

Another died in our place and we have been given another chance. Now 70 years have passed and there are survivors. We are born again, new creations, the old has gone, the new has come. We have been given another chance.

“Let all the survivors of His people”- when judgement falls we wonder whether we still belong, are we still his? 
Peter denied Jesus. It’s like the curtain collapsed on his life. Then the curtain rises. Jesus, “lads have you caught anything”. Peter sees Jesus and says, “it’s the Lord”. Jesus asks him, do you love me? He is thoroughly reinstated. He still belongs. We grow through chastening but we still belong. He will never leave you nor forsake you. His love never gives up, never runs out on us.

The Israelite s are out on the other side of the Red Sea because mercy triumphed. We are still called by him. We still belong. We can start again. We are survivors. Judgement is behind us, we can walk out free. There is no condemnation in Jesus.

We are still in the game. He is a God of incredible favour.

1. They were seers with a vision for the future- ‘those whose hearts are stirred’. Ezra 2:63- 42,360 of them were left. 2 million came out of Egypt. They grew to be an empire and now they are like two Stoneleigh Conferences. It looked like everybody had abandoned.

He allows the tide to go out sometimes. Management techniques don’t work. God can work with a small group. God is not limited by that. But something in our hearts is stirred. Abraham was captivated by something he saw. We see something in the church and that’s why we go. Because we have see the city of God we are living and live in a tent.

It was the same with Moses. Exodus 15- by a prophet he brought them out and by a prophet he will sustain them. He knew that there will be a temple of God. This will happen again and again. Every nation will have its exodus- people coming out of darkness- a people called out. You have to have a mission to get there. Abraham did not start well. He is 99, Sarah is barren. Abraham believed God. This is the victory that overcomes the world. It’s our faith.

We closed Stoneleigh when we were 30,000 every year. It was successful. People thought we were crazy. We were 250 churches across the nations then. We met in Turkey early this year and now we are 1500 churches. Here we are today, so many nations. What a representation!

Abraham did not weaken in faith. He did not waver, believing that what God has promised he is able to deliver. Abraham grew strong in faith in the delay. Delay is often years. Maybe you be persuaded that God can do it. In Haggai we see that God wants to appear in glory.

We are on a journey, those of us who have survived.

1. “let the men support-… freewill offering”.

There were survivors, seers and supporters in the present. Have you seen a football supporter? Are you a supporter? Or do you go to church when you can? Are you there when things get difficult? Supporters support even when you lose.

Zerubbabel goes with the first group, then Ezra, then Nehemiah. These are pioneers. The others support with finances. Not all may go. We’ve got our life back, we’ve survived. We can give and get involved in some way.

It says in verse 4-6, let them bring a free will offering. 2 Corinthians 9 Paul asks them to give by making up their own mind- it has to be in your heart. It is not a rule book. It must be freewill offering to God. That’s a new dimension. It’s not tipping God. It needs to be a fragrant offering to God. 
God is pleased with our offering,even if its two coins- why? Because it was devotion, authentic. This is for God, not just something to put in the box. Done in worship, sanctifies the whole thing.

All that we are involved in is for His glory, not for our fame or name. We long for that. When we do this it sanctifies our offering.

Heb13- God is well pleased with such offering. We are survivors like saving private Ryan. Let our life count for something. We are saved for works prepared in advance for us to do. God has given us dreams, prophetic words… we have seen something and e want to give our lives to that.

When we are saved we only see Jesus- then the vision begins to grow. We see the nations, etc.

What we do in the present is going to count. It will advance His Holy cause. It will be a pleasing aroma to Him.   

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 waiting| Colin N

This message was preached by Colin Nicholes on November 12th, 2015 at the Regions Beyond annual gathering of the nations- 'the HUB 2015' in Dubai. 

Are you tired of waiting? What do you do when waiting? What is the result?

As a family of churches we have this amazing call of God upon us. We have had these prophecies- don’t think of a small vegetable patch but a global field. That’s why the name Regions Beyond. Do you feel that impact?

There is a call of God upon us. How will this happen? Reproduction- it is God’s desire for us to be fruitful. If we read the book of Genesis 1- it says multiply and fill the earth with His glory and people like him. Jesus had no small thing in mind in Matthew 28- go into all the world!

We’ve heard about prophecies of trees and fruit. Families and reproduction is also a biblical picture.

1 Samuel 1:1-8

This is Hannah’s story- dearly loved and yet barren. The most dangerous question your spouse could ask is “why do you love me?” God answers that question with “I love you because I love you”. When you have a baby, you hold it and love it even though it does not do a lot. You love it because it is yours- not because of what it did but who it is.

We are loved because we are loved. The grace of God! We are in Christ and nothing can make him love us less or more. We are his workmanship. We are being re calibrated to know that. 
We know this and yet it gets tested. Like Hannah who is loved but barren, God will ask you “Am I enough?” especially when things go wrong. All of us in leadership will have to answer this. It’s one of those things that we have to face and live.

Hannah had to come to terms with it that she was loved yet barren. And yet there was a longing in her heart to reproduce. There are these good works we have been called to. There are things God has put in our hearts. There is this yearning for fruitfulness.

You get provoked by the second wife- the building down the road, the other pastor’s success/ and you get agitated.

We are chosen for fruitfulness. Jesus who could do everything makes us wait sometimes.

1 Samuel 1:9- 11

Why the wait, the discouragement, when we have the plan perfectly in place? Because we can only reproduce who we are- and God cares who we reproduce. God wants to work in us before he works through us. Jesus said go out and bear fruit. Those who are fruitful he will prune so that we will be more fruitful.

Q. what is Hannah learning?

Who is bringing the fruit. We have many storms like this. It made her realize who gives the fruit. We have to learn from realizing on the natural to the supernatural.

“If only the leaders would see the gift in me, I will be fruitful”. Your leaders can’t make you fruitful. Methods can’t make you fruitful. God is bringing us to a place of desperation. Some of us are feeling God is looking for people who will look to him.

We all think we are strong but God loves the weak things just so that we know who brings the strength and power.

Hannah came to the place and she prays that she will give it back to God. What God gives us is not for us but for God. Before we understand fruitfulness we need to understand dying i.e. we are letting go- God is not about me but you.

We need to come to this place. We have dreams for things but we have a season of dying and giving it up. When we do this, we will have many more sons and daughters as an inheritance.

There is a call to hang on in the time of barrenness before fruitfulness. You will produce fruit if you don’t give up. It’s a biblical principle- you will reap what you sow.

1 Samuel 1:12-40

There is fruitfulness that we will unlock over the next few days.  The longing for a child with a childless couple is strong. This is the longing of God for us- to be fruitful. For those of us- to be fruitful, for those of us who have been barren- God is on our case working on us, getting us ready.

We are fortunate- we come from rich heritage. When Terry Virgo says I am releasing sons to start their own sphere; Steve Oliver is about releasing new leaders all the time.

We need to keep longing for this- give us children God. Don’t give up until we see what God has for us. Asking God to put his spirit in us to do what he wants to do.

Give yourself today- to seeking God to make us fruitful.      

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.

Finishing the race| Justin

This message was preached  Justin at Word of Grace Church on the November 15th, 2015.  To listen/download the audio please click here  

Q. How we can stay focused in this great calling that God has given us?

It’s said of Eagles that they fly very high and don’t fly in groups. And they can see a prey from 5kms. The wind, other birds, even the rain doesn’t affect the eagles. It is completely focused on its goal.

We become effective when we are selective. The world steps aside to let those pass who know where they are going, who are focused. Even a slight deviation can be disastrous.

In March 6, 1987- Eamonn Coghlan, the Irish record holder for 500 m race was running in Indianapolis in a qualifying heat. With 2.5 laps left, he tripped. He managed to get up and catch up with the others. Just as he was about to cross the finishing line, he came onto the inside and relaxed because there was no one nearby. But he did not see that there was someone running on the outside that overshot him and finished the race seconds before him. All his efforts were rendered useless because he lost sight of the finishing line.

In Hebrews 12:2 we are called to fix our eyes upon Jesus who is the author and finisher of our race. We all have goals in life. What was Paul’s goal? Philippians 3:10- I want to know Christ. This was his burning desire. He’s not saying this at the beginning of his life, but at the end. He was a great pioneer and at this stage. He encountered Jesus in a very dramatic way, but he still lives with the longing to know Christ.

When God touched Paul’s life on the road to Damascus, God talks about his purpose for Paul’s life. In Acts 9:15- he says to Ananias “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” Paul’s goal in life is that for which God has taken hold of him at Damascus.

Philippians 3:12-14: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus

 Q. How can we remain focused till we cross the finish line?

1. We need to have a clear perspective of the race in which we are involved: in verse 12, we see that Paul has not reached his goal. This is our starting point. In Philippi, there were those who felt like they have already arrived. But Paul says that it is not so. “Not that I have already attained.” Then he says, “or am already perfected”. Paul says he is still a work in progress. That is what we all are.

All of us who have met Jesus have begun that race. You and I are not called to settle down in our spiritual walk. We are called to be sojourners. There is a long way to go to attain the purpose for which God has called us.

Elijah after Mount Carmel when he was threatened by Jezebel says I’ve had enough, I give up. But the angel of the Lord says to him that he still has a long way to go.

In our Christian walk, we attempt to settle down because of various reasons. But we walk with the Lord. This is just a beginning and we are a work in progress.

2. To press on: In verse 14 Paul says that he wants to press on. The Greek word means persecute. The root word comes from ‘chasing’- As a hound chasing a fox relentlessly. That is the picture Paul has in mind when he talks about pressing on. There is urgency in taking hold of that for which God took hold of us. It’s very important that our goal is the same as God’s goal for us.

William Wilberforce when was discouraged because of his defeat in his fight against slavery, he opened his bible and a small piece of paper- a letter by John Wesley- fell out of it. It said, “unless the divine power has raised you up, I see not how you can win in your battle against that abominable practice of slavery. Unless God has raised you for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of man and the devil. But if God is for you, then who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Be not weary of well doing. Go in the power of his might.” He later on succeeded in the abolition of slavery in England.

The Christian walk is not our decision to follow Christ. It is God’s plan in our lives- his calling and work in our life. We run the race because God asked us to run this race for him. Therefore we are not our own. He brought us with the precious blood of Christ. That’s foundational. That’s how we need to press on.

In order to press on to that glorious calling we need to do two things:
1. Forgetting what is behind: Past is a good friend but a bad roommate
Q. How do we forget things?
Paul says he refuses to live in the past. We cannot wipe out the past- the hurtful things that have happened. But we chose not to look back, not to remember. We choose to look forward.We need to forget both our past failures and our past achievements.

Paul had a past of failures. In Acts 7 he gave the approval of killing Stephen. Acts 8 he went all over the place persecuting the church. In Philippians 3 Paul says he was a great persecutor of the church and he wants to forget that. In 1 Timothy, he says I am the greatest of all sinners. He says I don’t want my past to be a hindrance in moving forward. Satan, the accuser wants to remind us of the past. But praise be to God as he has forgiven all the sins and the past is dealt with already. We need to choose not to look at the past, forgetting our failures

We also need to forget about our achievements. We like to live on how God worked in our life and our own achievements in life. Paul had a great heritage. He came from a good family background, but he says, what things were gain to me, I have counted them as loss for Christ. We have to forget those things and look forward in our race.

2. Straining toward what is ahead: Thomas Edison, in one experiment, he needed one thing, for which he searched the whole of Ceylon, Burma, China until he found that material he needed for the filament and his experiment became a success. We are called to strain towards the call for which God called us. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul gives the example of a boxer. Paul talks about the discipline and strict training that is involved in our Christian walk.

Q. What are some of these disciplines?

It is our personal quiet time, prayer life and fellowship with one another. How are things in your life? Are you struggling with them? Or are they completely neglected? These things help us grow in the Lord.

In a race, the winner is decided by a fraction of a second’s difference where one person pushes himself ahead by just that much. In our Christian walk, we are called to cross the finishing line.

Q. What is the motivation?

Paul says, I run towards the prize that is set before. The prize is not only for winners but for all those who finish the race. We need to be focused till we finish the race.

In 1968, the Olympics were held in Mexico City. The ceremonies were all over. The spectators were prepared to leave. When the public announcer asked them to remain in their seats they were surprised. John Stephen from Tanzania, covered in blood, was a marathon runner entered the stadium. He had fallen down halfway and hit his head on the pavement, was trampled on by the other runners. Then he got himself up and reached the stadium.

Next day the media asked him, why he did what he did even though there was no way of winning a prize? He said, my country did not send me 11000kms to start the race but to finish it. Phil 1: 6 Paul says, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”

That’s the calling of God in our lives. May the Lord help us, the one who is so faithful in calling us, will help us complete the race for which he has called you and me.


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.

A call to faithfulness| Sunith N

This message was preached  Sunith Nallala at Word of Grace Church on the November 8th, 2015.  One of our core values at Word of Grace is multiplying our own giftings as well as developing and releasing people in their gifting. Sunith is a young preacher in the making and this is his first time preaching.To listen/download the audio please click here  . To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

Let’s ask ourselves if we are faithful in our walk with God.

Q. What is faith?

We all know the chapter on faith- Hebrews 11. Faith is the substance of things we hope for. Ephesians 2:8- the grace of God is the source of salvation through faith. Faithfulness comes after faith. It is an act of faith. We can be faithful or unfaithful. Let’s look at the life of Joseph.

Genesis 37

Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel. His mother died when he was young. At the same time his brothers were jealous because he was the father’s favourite.

His older brother used to tend the flock in far away fields while Joseph carried reports for his father. This increased their anger. They wanted to kill him. He gets sold as a slave.

Gen 39:3-4

God blessed Joseph because he was faithful in his master’s household. When you are faithful, God gives you more. Now Joseph is unjustly put in prison.

In Gen 39:21 we see that Joseph is in charge of the prison. Then God used Joseph to rescue the whole of Egypt and his family from famine.

In Revelation 2:10 it says that if we remain faithful we will get the crown of life. We have to cling on to our faith in Jesus.

Psalm 37: 38 says- “The Lord loves the just and will not forsake the faithful ones.”

2 Thessalonians 3:3 reminds us that the Lord will strengthen and protect us from the evil one whether we are faithful or not.

No matter how tough your situation is, keep your faith in Jesus. He will get us through.

Be encouraged. We see different teams serving in church. Give yourself so that you can grow in faithfulness.

1 Cor 4:2 says that when we are entrusted with something, we should be faithful. We are serving God, not just one another. We need to be faithful in our work place as well. Sometimes we will face challenges but we need to be faithful. Be faithful in small and big. God will surely bless you.   

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.