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.  

Get Committed Part 1

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on January 8th 2023  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

GET COMMITTED

Session 1

 

The purpose of the Get Committed series is to commit to Vision, Values and Mission as a community of believers and to use your giftings for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

On the first day of your job, you get to attend the orientation programme. If you don’t have that orientation programme, you get lost.  The Get Committed is like an orientation. What is Word of Grace? What are its Values, Vision and Mission?

Did you know that airline pilots go through a test which needs to be taken up every now and then to get recertified?

How many are in the habit of hiking? We don’t do it every day. We plan the hiking well in advance and then go for it. Every day around my house, I see people running. They are the army people who don’t have a choice but to run daily.

Are you a part of the church as a hobby?

We have renamed Get Connected to Get Committed as most of you are already connected to the Church. When you join the army, you get a lot of benefits. Some of them are canteen, medical, concession and many more. If you are an army officer, you get people to serve you. Does anyone join the army for benefits alone? If that is so, will you even be considered? No! We get prepared to work and undergo training.

As Christians, sometimes, we can only attend church meetings for our benefit. There’s a calling for each one of us. But some Christians are content with only enjoying the benefits and not committing to anything.

What does God expect of me?

Today, we would be looking at some of our values.

When Andrew and Jessica were kids, we used to go to a DVD shop, spend around half an hour selecting movies, rent a video, come home, and watch together. Families have values and cultures. Each family has its own culture. What are the things you all observed in the Word of Grace church?

Worship, Hospitality, Serving, Not being judgemental, Sunday School etc.

Word of Grace is -

1.      Faithful to scripture

2.      A Gospel preaching church

3.      Full of grace

  

1.      Faithful to scripture

In the world, there are many thoughts about what is right and what is wrong. Any form you fill, it has the gender – Male, Female, Transgender etc.

Our standard of living is the Word of God.

 2 Tim 3:16 - ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

 Whenever we want to make a decision, we ask, “What does the Bible say?” Following this, you can never go wrong. Get hold of a Bible and read it.

 Acts 17:11 - ¹¹ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

 Even though it was Paul who was teaching the Bereans, they not just received the message preached by Paul but examined the scriptures to see if what Paul taught was true. We must open the Bible and go through the scriptures and examine them during the sermon.

 

2.      A Gospel preaching church

Acts 13:47 - For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you^[a] a light for the Gentiles, that you^[b] may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’^[c]”

God saved us so that we could be light to the world, proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the Earth. We are saved because someone left their nation, came here and preached.

How do we do this in Word of Grace? We proclaim the gospel through Friendship Sunday, Christmas Carols Sunday etc. God also wants us to individually share the gospel. We want to do it personally and also as a church. There are different ways to do it.

·         Going somewhere - God may tell us to go somewhere and proclaim His Word. God told Navaz and me to move to Pune from Mumbai.

·         Giving – we as a church gave towards many causes. As the church gives offerings, it is being used for the extension of God’s Kingdom

·         Praying – As we pray for the unreached, different groups and churches will advance

Imagine you have a lovely car. It has excellent leather seats, a dashboard, a screen that displays music and a rear view while reversing and many more features. With all these amazing features, if the car is unable to move, then it’s useless.

The primary focus of the church is to proclaim the gospel. Even in the midst of persecution, the gospel always advances. As a believer, you are called to proclaim the gospel. It may not be to a large group, but even if it is to 2 or 3 people, we must always look forward to proclaiming the gospel

3.      Grace

When you walk into Word of Grace Church, you breathe in grace. It is the foundation for our church. Even unbelievers use the word ‘Grace’ but they don’t know what true grace is.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is a gift. If you are a believer, that’s because God chose you by His grace and saved you. Most people stop there. It doesn’t end there. Grace is more than that.

Ephesians 2: 10 - ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Daily, our question should be, “What do you want me to do today God?”

·         Grace is not saying, “I’m saved and I don’t have to do anything.” We are saved by grace to do good works. God is going to reward us for all the good works we do.

·         Grace teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness. We receive grace and forgiveness when we sin. The other side of this is saying ‘No’ to sin.

·         Grace is being able to forgive oneanother. Sometimes we take offence. By the grace of God, we don’t go around judging people. But we forgive one another. We must also speak the truth in love. God loves you just the way you are. He loves you too much to leave you as you are.

   

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.  

Six areas for growth in 2023

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on January 8th 2023  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

Six areas for growth in 2023

2022 ended just a few days ago. The older you get the faster time flies. When you’re young you are looking forward to things and so time doesn’t seem like it’s going fast at all. Now 2022 is behind us. Let’s get ready for 2023. 

The fact that we are here today, alive, is the grace of god. Let’s thank God for that! 

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ 

This year this should be our outlook. Paul was not casually walking into the purposes of God. He strained forward. We are looking at 6 areas of growth in 2023

1. Be with Jesus: no matter what gifts you have, this is the basic requirement. Mark 3:14 “.“And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him.” We know that the apostles did many great things. But the no. 1 purpose for which they were called is to be with Him. Make sure that we are feeding ourselves on the word of God. 

2. Preach, cast out demons, heal the sick:  “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”‭‭Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬. We are amazing because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Wherever we go we bring in the light of the world. “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name, they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬. People may not be interested in your theology, but they will always welcome our prayers. Preaching is sharing the word of God to people. We just need a crowd of one. As we go about our day God will give us opportunities to speak about him. 

3. Reach the lost: Christians love to come to meetings with healing and miracles and that is great. But this is a critical part of our assignment. Col 4:3 ““At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—” even in the prison, Paul was passionate about the gospel expansion. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭11‬:‭23‬. If we are not actively gathering people into his kingdom, you’re scattering. 

4. Remember the poor: with inflation and the shooting prices and all we notice that there are poor among us. The apostolic mandate is to remember the poor. “Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬. So how do we remember the poor? 

1. As a church, we give to the poor. 

2. We can individually reach out to the poor around us. 

5. Grow your gift: “For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬. Find someone to help you grow your gift. Discover, develop, and deploy. As you grow your gift god will give you the opportunity to use it. This is how we can fan it into flame. 

6. Grow your character: “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭14‬. God’s calling for us is to become more and more like Jesus. Michael Eaton said maturity is not perfect but is acknowledging when we sin, receive forgiveness and move forward. 

For all these, we need the power of the cross. As you spend time in his word and his presence He will bring about that transformation. 

Next year we want to see how each of us has grown. 

Let’s pray and ask God to show us one area that he wants us to start working on straight away. 

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.  

The Message of Christmas

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on December 11th 2022  by Colin D'Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

The Message of Christmas

We’re in the month of December. We can get so busy with celebrations around Christmas. We look forward to spending time with family with good food and all that. But in the midst of all that is happening, we need to remind ourselves of what Christmas is all about. 

We have different festivals celebrated around the world. When we find out the reason for the celebration, we find that Christmas is the greatest celebration ever because we are celebrating God coming down as a man. It is a matter of life and death - for the whole of mankind. When we are inviting someone to come for our Christmas carol, it is a big thing- they get to hear and respond to the gospel. 

Luke 1 : 5- 7 - “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”

Herod is the king of Judea and Zechariah was the priest. Only the descendants of Levi could serve in the temple. Out of thousands of priests of the tribe, not everyone got an opportunity to serve in the temple. They had to draw lots of go in and light the incense. Today, we are the temple of God. When we come to serve God’s house, it is an honour. In the Old Testament, we would not even be able to enter the temple. Even the Jews could not do anything. Only a select from the tribe of Levi could do that. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth were barren and were getting old. For 400 years before this there was no prophet of God- no word from God. Then suddenly, Zechariah hears God through the angel Gabriel. Zechariah was terrified when he sees the angel. The biblical picture of an angel is not a sweet baby floating on a cloud. They are fearsome creatures. 

Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭- “And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

Elizabeth and Zechariah were past the age of childbearing, but Zechariah did not give up praying about it. We need to persevere in prayer. 

Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭- “And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."”

As a result of that he couldn’t speak till the baby was born. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ - “After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."”

Q. What can we learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth?

1. Don’t give up hope. Hold on to hope, because he is the hope for the hopeless. 

2. Both Elizabeth and Zechariah were upright. They lived righteous lives. Our behaviour and works don’t bring about the blessing of God but we can’t live however we want. 

3. They were given to prayer. 

This morning if you are in a situation that seems hopeless, pray into it. He does the difficult. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭33‬ ‭- “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."”

Mary was a young teenage girl. Imagine receiving such a greeting and a word. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭35‬-‭37‬ ‭- “And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God."”

God can do not just the difficult but he can do the impossible! 

Q. What was Mary’s response? 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭38‬ - “And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.”

Q. What is the real meaning of Christmas? 

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

The Messiah was promised right from genesis. As time progressed more was revealed about the messiah. It all happened in the fullness of time. The Romans were in charge and controlled the whole world. So they built roads all over their empire. Those very roads were used for the proclamation of the gospel. The right time Jesus was born. 

1. God sent his son - firstly, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus the Messiah who was promised from the beginning of time. Christmas is not about Santa Claus, it is about Jesus. A little bit on Santa clause - he was Saint Nicholas who went around giving gifts and doing good. But we are celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

2. To redeem those under the law - so he was born for our redemption! 

Christmas is a great opportunity for us to share the hope that we have. The real reason for Christmas is the important thing!  

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.