Take up you cross | Augustine K

This message was preached  by Augustine Kudalkar at Word of Grace Church on July 22nd, 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

Luke 9: 23-27

In Luke 8 Jesus calmed the storm, set free the demon- possessed man and raised a little girl from the dead. Then he calls his disciples together, and gave then power and authority over demons and sickness. Huge crowds were following Jesus and he welcomed them. When the crowds were hungry, he moved with compassion and fed them with 5 loaves and 2 fish. After than He asked his disciples, what do the crowds say I am? Then he asks who do you say I am? Peter got a revelation and said he is Christ, the son of the Living God. Then Jesus reveals the father’s plan for his death and resurrection.

Luke 9:21 “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.””

In Luke 14: 25-26- the crowds were following Jesus but he was not impressed with the crowds. ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple”

There is a cost to following Jesus. In Luke 9:23 he says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” this means submitting to God’s will and His authority.

Q. How can you do that?

·        Spending time in His presence

·        Meeting with His people

·        Serving the Body of Christ

·        Serving the poor

We can do many things to follow Jesus. But we must take this on daily. To take our cross daily doesn’t mean to wear a cross around our neck every day. In those times, when someone was carrying a cross, it meant it was a death sentence for them. When you see people carrying a dead body, it means they are taking it to burial. That’s what carrying a cross means. It means suffering or perhaps dying for

Q. What does it look like to follow Jesus?

1.      Jesus fasted and prayed. We could do that by joining the weekly fast and pray for our country and the world.

2.      Jesus ate with Sinners- we are called to relate with the people around us- not to be isolated. So we follow Jesus when we do as he did.

3.      Jesus healed the sick- So we are called to lay hands and heal the sick.

In verse 24 Jesus says “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”  Jim Eliot was a missionary to Ecuador. He went deep into the jungle and reaching out to a tribe there. He was killed with a spear. As a result of his death, thousands of men and women signed up to go to the mission field.

John 12: 24-26 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

In Luke 9:25 “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”

2 Timothy 1:8-9 “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time”

In our company, when someone does a good job, they are appreciated and acknowledged before everyone. When we acknowledge Jesus before our friends, Jesus will acknowledge us before the Father. Jesus paid the price for us on the cross and it cost him everything.

So what can we learn from this passage?

Are you a part of the crowd or are you a disciple? Even Peter messed up, but he sought forgiveness and Jesus forgave him. On friendship Sunday we have an opportunity to acknowledge Jesus before our friends. Jesus wants us to take His love to this dying world.

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 Greatest is LOVE | Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on July 8th, 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We are not just called to be Christians on a Sunday morning, we are called to be world changers. When you see people and they have different outfits on, you can tell what religion they are from.

Q. What marks Christians?

John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is the distinguishing mark of a Christian. Love is the most important thing in following Jesus.

1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If we don’t have love, we are just noise-boxes.

Verse 2: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Knowing everything in the Word of God, amazing faith, it is incredible. But without love, it is nothing. You can have a great leader with great faith and healing and prophetic words, etc. But if he doesn’t have love, it is nothing.

Verse 3: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

All the sacrifices we make and good things we do, if they don’t contain love, there is no reward in doing these things.

Many people think church is a 2 hour meeting on a Sunday morning. The church is not the meeting or the place, but the people. these are people who are connected to Jesus and to one another. The church is not static, it is on a mission. The mission is to bring the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus is also interested in how we work together.

Matthew 16: 13- 18 “13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Jesus makes an amazing declaration here. Jesus is building His church on the revelation of Jesus being the Son of God. This is a revelation from the Father. The moment this happens, we become a part of His church.

Q. What is our role in seeing the church being built?

The early Christians met in homes and courtyards. The key thing was their meeting together. Throughout the epistles we see Paul instructing them how to live. Over 50 times he says, “one another”. Forgive, accept, love, admonish, etc. So love is an important part of doing these one-another-ing. If we want to see the church of God built, the one another-ing needs to happen. Real interaction happens when we meet even apart from the Sunday. People will know we are His disciples if we love one another.  

Q. How can we do things where we foster love in our midst?

1.      Forgive: Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”- None of us are perfect and we hurt people. Sometimes we expect people to be perfect because God is perfect. We are perfectly righteous in position but not in action. We are being changed into His image and likeness from glory to glory. We all have faults, sins we are dealing with, etc. In the church, you will be hurt. Then we take offense- either perceived or real. The way we are dealing with people is by kindness and compassion. A lot of times people forgive and not forget. But the qualification of forgiveness is to forgive like Jesus forgave us. He doesn’t remember our sins. If you have been hurt talk to them about it.

2.      Accept: Romans 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” in the world people accept one another based on social, economic or educational status. But in the church Jesus asks us to accept one another just as Christ accepts us. We are not to have divisions based on caste, educational background, economic status, language, etc. when the world sees that mixture happening, they are baffled.     

3.      Encourage: 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. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” Life can get tough. The role of one abother is when we know that a brother or sister is struggling in a situation, we encourage them daily so they will remain open and believing towards God. Spend time with one another: we need to spend time with one another so that we know what is really happening in each others lives.

4.      Carry one another’s burdens: Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Horrific things happen to people. But as we meet with people, we share that burden.

5.      Submit to one another: we prefer one another and don’t impose our way all the time. If a person is placed as the leader of a team, submitting to that authority irrespective of his age or capacity.

6.      Teach and Admonish one another: Colossians 3:16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts”  

Romans 1:11 “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong”. Through face to face meeting we are able to impart spiritual gifts to one another.  I pray that we would grow in loving one another. Ask God what area we need to grow in. Let’s pray that as people look in here they would say, yes, these are Christians.

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 Promises of Psalm 23 | Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on July 1st, 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We live in challenging times- nationally, internationally and even personally. There are ups and downs. There are people amongst us who are very sick, there are strains in marriage relationships, not able to find a job, breakdown of relationships, etc. there are all kinds of things that cause stress and anxiety. Through the service we have seen the goodness of God. That is wonderful! But in the midst of that, there are these challenges that come up. We need to anchor ourselves in Jesus so we can ride these storms.

Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is the best known passage in scripture. It is often read at funerals. But it is meant for everyday life. The imagery is of the shepherd who is God and we are the sheep.

1.      Provision: we may face situations in our life where we face lack. God promises to supply our needs but not out greed. Psalm 84: 11 says that no good thing will he withhold. God will meet our needs. This is not just theory. As we take hold of it, we will see the reality.

Kisan’s story: He joined Word of Grace last year, and was very happy to be here. His house was 8”x 10”. He and his wife Nutan lived there and even had guests over. Jesus gave him a new flat which is a 2 Bedroom apartment for a small rent. God provided lavishly for him.

2.      Peace: God’s peace over our lives. We lived through the invasion of Kuwait and overnight everything changed. But through it all God gave us such a peace. Many people were devastated, but we made it across. That is the goodness of God. We’ve got to draw on God in our difficult times. The situation might not change immediately but he will give us peace. We get bad news all the time and it troubles us. The antidote to that is to get into the presence of God and let His peace engulf you. 

3.      Guidance: we want to know what God wants us to do. We make 100s of decisions everyday and some may be big and some maybe small. He is interested in every decision. As we feed and soak ourselves in the word of God, he will enable us to have this navigation system within us so we may know what is right and what is wrong. There is also guidance between the good and the best. How can we get this guidance of God?

a.      Spending time with God in the quiet place. If we listen to His voice in the quiet place, we will be able to recognise Him in the midst of the chaos outside. It is important when it comes to jobs and marriages, etc. 

b.      Hear his leading even in small things.

4.      Protection and comfort: God’s promise is to be with us. What is the difference between us and the world? We carry the presence of God. The last several weeks I’ve been listening to messages on the presence of God. in life we are constantly disturbed and interrupted. But when are we making time to be in God’s presence? The Bible says ‘wait on the Lord’. What does wait mean? It means to wait. No one likes waiting. Cultivating God’s presence requires us to wait. His rod and His staff are one for protection and one for comfort. When sheep fall on their back they can’t get themselves back up. Have you been in such a situation? IN that situation he comes and delivers us.

5.      Promise of Protection and inheritance- in the presence of our enemies he pours out His goodness on us. The promise is for this earth as well as heaven. Our ultimate comfort is being with Jesus forever. Sometimes we can be so pessimistic, but God’s promise is for us to succeed.

So when you face challenges, go to Psalm 23. It declares God’s qualities and attitude towards you. So memorize it, declare it and believe it.

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. 

How Word of Grace has impacted us : Testimonies | Part -2

These testimonies were shared by current and past Word of Grace members at Word of Grace Church on June 17th, 2018 on the occasion of the 16th Anniversary of the church.To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here. To go to Part 1, please click here. 

The following people shared how Word of Grace has impacted them:

Current members of Word of Grace:

1. Sunith Nallala
2. Sravanthi B
3. Lasya Vyakaranam
4. Bincy Philip
5. Austine Kudalkar
6. Gali Babu
7. Manesh and Shoma 

Ex-Word of Grace Members from around the world sent their love and shared how Word of Grace has impacted them. To view the video, please click here.

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. 

Faithfulness - Fruitfulness - Leaving a Legacy : 16th Anniversary Prophetic Sharing- Part 1 | Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on June 17th, 2018 on the occasion of the 16th Anniversary of the church.To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here. To go to Part 2 please click here .

On the occasion of the 16th Anniversary of Word of Grace, Colin shared the prophetic vision for this season as we gave out plants to everyone as a prophetic picture of :

1. Fruitfulness- right from Genesis 1, God's plan is for us to be fruitful and multiply.

2. Faithfulness- out fruitfulness comes out of our faithfulness. when we are faithful, God will make it grow. Be faithful in prayer, loving, serving, giving and everything else.  1 Corinthians 3:6 " I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow."

3.  Leaving a legacy- what we need to leave behind is our legacy. What are you living for? 

Matthew 16:24-27 "24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done"

Then Colin went on to honour different groups of people:

1. The Core Group- These are Faithful, Available and Teachable people. it's not just Navaz and Colin. These people carry the church in their heart. John 10: 11 -13 " “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." These guys are good shepherds! They sacrificially served over the years, day in and day out. They are like Epaphroditus to me. They are laying down their lives for the church. 
2. The Set-up Team
3. The Clear Up Team
4. The Serving team
5. The Band
6. My wife, Navaz 

Finally, Samantha came up and honoured Colin and Navaz for their contribution and servant-hearted leadership of the 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 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.   

Lost and Found | Augustine K

This message was preached  by Augustine Kudalkar at Word of Grace Church on May 27th, 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

Luke 15:1-10

Jesus mostly spoke in parables and not everyone understood them. The disciples would often take Jesus aside and ask what it meant. Parables are stories that convey truth through analogy or contrast. It dealt with the attitude of the Pharisees- it dealt with the issues of the heart.

Q. Have you ever lost anything valuable in your life?

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees distanced themselves. They were Jews working for the Roman government. The sinners were gentiles, who were drunkards, adulterers, etc.

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.

The Shepherd faithfully went after the lost sheep. He could’ve assumed the worst and not bothered to go after the sheep. But he goes after the sheep and he rejoices over the sheep.

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

God does the same with us.

Zephaniah 3:17-20 “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals, which is a burden and reproach for you. At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame. 20 At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord.”

God rejoices over us.

Luke 15:8- 10 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

The woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house and she seeks diligently until she finds it. The opposite of being diligent is being lazy. The coin did not find her, she found the coin.

Isaiah 53:6 - “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

We were all lost at one stage. But someone sought us out and we were found. God is inviting us to this world wide mission which he talks about in Matthew 28: 18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

Luke 19:10 –“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Jesus also modelled the mission for us. Zaccheus was eager to see Jesus and Jesus decided to have dinner with him and Zaccheus’ heart changed.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Anyone can reach out to the lost. The shepherd boy, the woman, the Father... Everyone sought out the thing they had lost and they found it. So today you could be working, a student, a man or a woman, you have an invitation to take on the ministry of reconciliation.Everyone is valuable and significant in the sight of God. He doesn’t have favouritism. Just as we have ministries of external affairs, corporate affairs, defense, etc. God has given us this ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So we are the ambassadors of Christ.

1 Peter 2: 9-10 “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Q. How we participate in this mission?

1.      Pray for them

2.      Eat with them and accept them

3.      Share the gospel with them

When you seek out the lost, God makes our efforts fruitful by drawing them to Himself. So let’s go out and seek the lost and share the Good News of Salvation.

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.