“Lord Increase our faith”- New Year Prayer!

 

Sermons on faith and applauding characters from the Bible who demonstrated faith are easy but exercising our own faith, in reality, is when we fumble and stumble a lot. Let us remind ourselves what the Bible says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”. Hebrews 11:6. Faith is not a cheap commodity to be purchased over the counter. Only believing Jesus is the son of God who died for our sins on the cross of Calvary, buried and rose again, according to the scripture, will our faith in Him be strengthened. More often than not, God will put us to test in order to bring stability in our faith. But passing through rough times and facing crisis, tempts us to look into known places to get some help. And we expect God to rescue us from the crisis from the very help we have targeted to receive from. That is not faith. It is good to acknowledge that God will constantly keep us in the edge of crisis, if that is His will, in order to build our faith. Faith is the utmost thing in Christian’s life. Paul says "for we walk by faith, not by sight.". 2 Corinthians 5:7

At one point the apostles realized this too. They desperately need their faith to be increased. Hence, they earnestly pleaded "Lord increase our faith", Luke 17:5. They were with the master all the time, witnessing miracles performed almost every day by Jesus their master, but nevertheless they aptly realized that if they need to exist when Christ is not around, then what they need is faith alone.  Soon after Christ’s ascension they started putting their faith on the spoken words of Jesus, that changed their world upside down, which is true then and now. Sadly, today faith is substituted by in numerous tangibles. Do you wish to pray and make the same request like the apostles?  He would, grant your request if you really mean it. Jesus promised, "For everyone who asks receives...". Matthew 7:8 CSB. When Paul summarized after speaking about spiritual gifts puts faith at the top of the list, 1 Corinthians 13:13, "Three things will last forever - faith, hope and love.".

We always want to know the certainty of our tomorrows; wish and ensure we have enough money to sustain our future. The truth is more than putting our faith in God we put our faith in our money, our bank balances and our accrued wealth and in some cases our donors. Christian journey is all about faith and not prosperity. Therefore, how much ever you try to incorporate views and philosophies equating blessings to prosperity you will lose ground. If you put self-reliance above faith, you are sure to run into problems. God will one day strip all the tangibles we rested our hope upon and discipline us to put our faith in Christ and walk in faith alone. Refrain from trying to be safe without faith. Nothing like that exists.  Donald English puts it beautifully, "We go for safety in faith . . . We build up our security while serving the Lord who went by death to resurrection. The result is a narrowing of the power of the gospel, and of our perception of its possibilities. . . A safe church or an individual are rarely an influential one.”.

Jesus made a disappointing statement when He said, "I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8 CSB.  The reason I think He made this statement is because He foresaw that anything could be made possible for man in this age due to increase in knowledge (Daniel 12:4). Digital breakthroughs, commodities and merchandise are making all things possible for man. Today, faith is also a business. Do not forget this, at the end He is looking for faith in you. Harry Blamires warns with these words, “We must not exploit our faith by advertising it as a technique for achieving earthly satisfactions. The Faith is not a recipe and not a program. It is a Way. Recipes and programs are made to help you carry out earthly jobs successfully. But a way is something you walk in.”.  Make faith your lifestyle.

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Leaving 99 for 1!

 

Photo Credit Ernie Haase

In this blog domain, ‘liferedefined4god’, our constant emphasis is on the mission of the Church and individual.  The growing concern nowadays is that the focus of evangelism is becoming more a program and an activity inside the four walls of the Church. We focus so much on the Christian activity but less on Christ’s mandate given to us. Churches and individuals are becoming less effective when it comes to taking the gospel outside the four walls. People are not trained enough to provide a convincing defense of their faith to the world. Carey Nieuwhof puts it beautifully,  “Churches that become passionate about people outside their walls will be far more effective than churches that are passionate about keeping the few people they have inside their walls”. Christians and Churches tend to forget that all our activity should and must finally culminate to one activity i.e., to reach out to the people living outside our Christian circle and who have no clue about the gospel. We constantly display Christianity as a religion with a Church building, than pointing people to the cross.

By and large, the big questions in the Bible remains unanswered. Let us review few big questions that are of concern and desperation:

1. Isaiah 6:8 “..Who will I send? Who will go for us?

2. Matthew 9:37 – “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (In other words, who shall go?)

3. Romans 10:14-15 “..And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

These age-old questions are used mostly in mission conferences for various reasons, one of which is to primarily mobilize resources for mission work. Unfortunately, it is not the resources we need but for people to go. We as Christians are either too timid or inadequate to present the good news to the desperate world. The ones who consider the questions seriously either become a pastor or a missionary. The ones who do not want to respond or comment on the above questions assume the place for them is to be faithful member of the Church and give full attendance. As Pastors and leaders does this concern us? Or are we happy we have regular crowd that gives an identity to a Church. There is no place for anyone to remain idle. Whether it is your career or a mission, reaching out with the gospel is the only priority.

If heaven is waiting to rejoice over the one lost sinner, what are we focusing on?

Church, who is your priority 99 or 1? Technically we would want to manage the 99 effectively, especially when we know we have less control over the 1. The waywardness of the one person is too insignificant for us or it is hard to convince the person to change. We want to give the gospel in a new package to the same old 99 who have received it. In the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14), Jesus emphasizes so much on the one, because that one soul matters to Him. What matters to Him should technically matter to us. Let us not forget 99 will be safe with or without you. If the 99 is not safe, then it means he/she needs seriously reconsider the salvation experience. Everyone who made a commitment to follow Christ is promised with a comforter/ counsellor who will be with him/her forever (John 16:7-8). Even in 1 John 2: 27 says, “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and not a lie.” Is our 99 a real comrade for your gospel work? What are we going to do with the 99? Can we focus on the 1 and sensitize also the 99 to focus on the 1?

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What do you want to celebrate about 2021?

If asked to list all our accomplishments for 2021, what would be our top 5 that we would want to celebrate? Besides the testimonies about our healing, high business returns, costly investments on assets and so on, we will be tempted to summarize our achievements to those that gave us profit or earned a goodwill, giving us reason to celebrate.

But, Pastor/leader when coming to specifics, Christian, what have you done this year that God is celebrating about you? We all like to flaunt activities and programs that gathered crowd, but barely giving attention to measurable outcomes. The poor ‘outcome’ in any of our activities and programs are never considered. Churches in most cases are institutionalized. Crowd control has become the top priority for Church leadership. At the end of the day all have a reason to be happy. But do you think that makes God happy and if He has a reason to be proud, what would that be?

Do we want to still measure our achievements based on ABC method - Attendance, Building and Cash? How should we actually be measuring our accomplishments? Let me throw some light in this blog. In a blog written earlier I have enumerated the top 3 purposes for every individual ( Finding Purpose), which I would like to bring to your notice once again. They are:

1. Knowing God and having fellowship with Him (John 17:3; 1 Cor 1:9)

2. Being a disciple maker (Matthew 28:19, 2 Timothy 2:2)

3. Be a carrier of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Hence, in terms of the purpose of every individual listed above, how would we measure our progress and celebrate it?

In terms of the Christ's Commission to all, as stated in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15, where do we like to position ourselves? Have we been intentional in sharing the gospel and making disciples? People who have churches would want to respond by saying we have shared the gospel and have been investing on them weekly. Great! But what is the ROI (Return of investment)? How many in our congregation were successful in leading at least one person to Christ? It is easy to pray for the nation for salvation and have seminars about evangelism without actually acting upon it. Evangelism in many cases have become a spiritual fashion word.

Actual evangelism thrives on relationship, which has been brutally marred in this digital age. No one has time to spend with the one lost soul, do weekly follow-ups and walk with them patiently. We act more like flying squads, distributing tracts, forwarding videos, sharing YouTube links, presenting a discourse and assume it will do its work. Evangelism is much more than just what was listed. It is sparing our time intentionally, building relationship and walking with the person in the journey before we can actually prepare the person to be a vibrant disciple.

If heaven has a reason to celebrate, then it is based on what is said in Luke 15:7 “I tell you in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.”

Churches and Christians think they need to grow more in the Lord, be filled more with Holy Spirit and speak more in tongues. But if they were to be asked to define what is ‘more’, many would be blank with no answer. If our ‘more’ is not filling our hearts with compassion for people (Matthew 9:36) and we are unwilling to reach out to them, then our so called ‘more’ is meaningless. Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:19, “… I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, then ten thousand words in tongue.”. Let our five words be the gospel to save dying souls.

In the day of Pentecost more than ten language group people heard the gospel in their own language. Isn’t it wonderful to know that the tongues were not limited to ‘prayer language’ but used to proclaim the gospel? Jesus when stating the Great Commission recorded in Mark 16:17 says, “.. they will speak in new languages”, which is to carry the gospel in people’s known languages. If we have a reason to celebrate then it should always be in connection with the purpose of the individuals and the Great Commission. That, God would be proud about!

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Christmas Evangelism –It's A Fishless Fishology, how true?

 

We have arrived at that time of the year where Churches and Christian organizations gear up for frenzied Christmas activities to attract their community and beneficiaries. Church buildings are prepped up with festive mood and religiosity is at its peak. Christians ardently celebrate it as a festival calling it the ‘Bada Din’ – Big Day in Hindi. It’s those of us who are regular attendees of the Church, celebrate the season for our satisfaction. But are we making any difference in this season? Also, Christian organizations make big plans for evangelism and implement programs, again to what outcomes?

Evangelism drive has become a farce of big numbers of people hearing the Gospel and giving their lives to Christ, but as Christians we fail to cringe at the fact that we flaunt numbers to impress Churches, well-wishers and donors. Do we really evangelize? As individuals, have we lead at least one person to Christ? We need to honestly ask ourselves these questions. Sadly, as Christians we have ended up with the tag line – “99 stimulate the 99 to mobilize the 99 for resources to reach nation”. But it is so far from reality because statistics of our country regarding Christians don't lie.

Jesus points out what brings immense joy in Heaven, "I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance."  Luke 15:7 CSB. What does the verse reverberate? Crowd Evangelism and crowd mobilization are sweet music to our ears, but Heaven is still patiently waiting to rejoice over the one who honestly repents and finds Jesus. Evangelism is not only a lifestyle but the willingness to walk patiently with that one person for a period of time to ensure he / she repents and becomes not only a disciple but also a disciple maker. May God stir our hearts to make a meaningful contribution in the life of one person, multiplying into many, in order to bring Great joy to heaven.

Let us see a parable that summarizes this message beautifully:

A Parable of Fishless Fishermen

Now it came to pass that there was a group of people who called themselves fishermen and lo there were many fish in the waters around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish and the fish were hungry. Week after week, month after month, year after year, those who called themselves fishermen met in meetings to talk about their call to fish, the abundance of fish and how they might go about fishing.

Year after year they carefully defined what fishing meant, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing was always the primary task of the fishermen. Continually they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. One thing they didn’t do however. They didn’t fish. Large, elaborate and expensive training centers were built, whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. All through the years, courses were offered on the need to fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, classifying fish, and the psychological reactions of fish.

Those who taught had doctorates of fishiology but the teachers didn’t fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and were given fishing licenses.

After one meeting on the necessity for fishing, one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported that he caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the main meetings possible to tell how he had caught the two big fish. So, he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about his experiences to the other fishermen and also to make a movie on the big catch. He was also placed on the fishermen’s general board because of his considerable experience.

Now it’s true that many of “the fishermen” were truly sincere and really sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. After all, were they not following the master who said “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Imagine how hurt some of them were when one day a person stood up and suggested that those who didn’t catch fish were really not fishermen no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct.

Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches fish? Is one following, if one isn’t fishing?

(Author unknown)

If we or our Church are like this fishless Fishermen, we would be deemed useless and dead weight. Are we ready to allow God to speak to us and align ourselves to the honest call for evangelism?

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What influences your decision?

Our decisions are influenced each day by so many factors for example, from trying to be good, to giving up on certain things that we once decided, returning to our earlier decisions, deciding on a deal, abandoning a deal and so on and so forth. Circumstances and context are so powerful that it can shake our conviction at any point depending on what the conviction is based upon. Most of the time we arrive at a conclusion through the experiences we went through, lessons learnt and then we decide and make certain decisions. The same decisions aren’t a guarantee that we would stand by it all our Life. If life seem promising and enchanting, we may make a new one and go with it.

The next is determination, we determine in our hearts to stand by or withdraw from certain things based on a conviction that we derive from our inner conscience. The same is influenced by our commitment and devotion to God.

A point of caution here should be that at any point our decisions shouldn't be based on our feelings because it can be disastrous. Another important thing is that Psychologists claim our action and decisions of doing things depends on either to avoid pain or gaining pleasure. This will fetch us a lot of problems and can be disastrous. Both, circumstances and convictions can be misleading if we do not base our decisions on finding the will of God and hearing from Him. It is challenging because we can support our decision after we have made one and draw God's support towards it or wait on the Lord and be prepared to either stand with a newer one or abandon because it doesn't suit God's parameter.

Do not forget, you were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman (God). When He gazes upon you, He doesn’t see an ordinary lump of clay. He sees a beautiful work of art, uniquely molded and shaped according to his loving design. There is a customized plan for you already by our sovereign God, therefore align your perspective, decisions and conviction in the word of God and hearing from Him. Don't allow time and chance to win your ambiguity. Stand with God's plan for you and find His promises from scripture supporting you. 

Eight tests for Decision making

1.Scriptural Test – “Has God already spoken about it in His word?” (2 Timothy 3:16)

2.Secrecy Test – “Would it bother me if everyone knew this was my choice?” (Proverbs 11:3)

3.Survey Test – “what if everyone followed my example?”  (1 Timothy 4:12)

4.Spiritual Test— “Am I being people-pressured or spirit-led?” (Galatians 1:10)

5.Stumbling Test – “Have I prayed and received peace about this decision?” (Romans 14:21)

6.Serenity Test— “Have I prayed and received peace about this decision?” (Philippians 4:6-7)

7.Sanctification Test --  “Will this keep me from growing character of Christ?” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

8.Supreme Test – “Does this glorify God? (1 Corinthians 10:31)

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Rich Church Poor Christian!

 

For you say “I’m rich I have become wealthy and need nothing and you don’t realize that you are wretched pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”. Revelation 3:17

The description of the Church of Laodicea is the reality of most Churches today. The city of Laodicea was one of the three cities in the Lycus river valley, wealthy and famous for three primary characteristics - Finances, Fashion and Pharmaceuticals. 

1. Finances: It was a center for banking and finance, known through the Roman Empire for its wealth and financial power.
2. Fashion: It was renowned for the soft, black wool produced there. This wool was considered a luxury item, which was sought after for clothing and rugs. Laodicea was the center of fashion in its day. The newest styles appeared here first.
3. Pharmaceuticals: There was a famous medical school in Laodicea which produced medicines that was sold all over the Roman empire.

It is registered in history that the people of this city prided upon their financial independence that they refused Roman financial aid from Caesar after an earthquake, which devastated the city in 61 A.D.  The Church of Laodicea was much influenced by this prideful mindset of luxury and self-contentment. Laodicean Church blindly considered themselves to be  the perfect Church. They were wealthy, powerful and felt they had all they needed in terms of position, possessions and power. They pitifully thought they have arrived to the perfect point of the Church's existence. There are many Churches similar to this who think reaching the state of perfect contentment with respect to wealth, sufficient resources and lustrous ambience is all that matters in Christendom. Having a grand architectural outlook and elite, exclusive group of people attending the Church are the dream of most of the Pastors.  Ray Ortlund states this hard truth this way, “When our Churches succeed because they are really well-run businesses, and the Pastor is, in reality, a prop on the stage, then it isn’t ministry anymore; it is brilliantly packaged crowd control. And Judgement is not too far off.”.

Christendom has grievously errored in Christ's definition of Church. Wretchedly, many Churches are following the ideology of Judas who thought he had a better plan and improvised idea of Jesus’ teachings. In the book of John 12, it is recorded that when Mary poured the pound of perfume which was pure and expensive to anoint the feet of Jesus, it is because she saw Christ as the final destination to man’s pursuit of finding God. But Judas saw it as a pure waste of resources. He thought he can use the name of Jesus and His ideology to bring money into the paradigm and do things that can be amplified and spoken about. Judas remarked in Verse 4 “Why wasn’t the perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”. The next verse immediately clarifies his intention as, “He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief…”

It is definitely not wrong to follow the Holistic Church model where it demands social intervention, vibrant evangelism and structured social work as part of the model, but it will be definitely be a poor Church when it adds business solutions as part of its existence. Jesus vehemently condemned when He saw the temple becoming a business. He said, “..but you are making it a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:13). Somehow, we think we need to find money, make money using people and His name to fulfil Christ's mission on this earth. They failed to realize they are disappointingly wrong and confined to condemnation. In reality, we use God and people for personal wealth and fame.

The dilemma of who owns the Church:

Every Church strives to become a branded exclusive township. Its leaders assume they have established the Church and it belongs to them and their denomination. Little do Churches realize that Jesus died for the Church and purchased it with His own blood as it says Acts 20:28. He builds it and sustains it as said in Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 2:19-22. The Church exists for His glory. We are for Him alone! Our duty is to preach Him, praise Him, promote Him and publish Him. This is not your Church; this is not my Church! It is Christ's Church. We don't need people like Diotrephes as mentioned in 3 John 9. We must keep the Church and the ministry centered in Him. Beware! if you resemble the Church of Laodicea; rich and wealthy but poor and naked.

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Compliance or Commitment?

 

Is trusting God the essence of our Christian life or is it just an obligation to Christian compliance?

Trusting God can merely be a ritual than a meaningful decision to follow Christ. Mere involvement in Christian activities can give us immense satisfaction without any urge for intentional engagement. To elaborate my point, worship service with good music and singing can attract us and elevate us emotionally, yet remain disconnected in our soul. Unlike Old-Testament age where compliance was the highest priority we are now living in New-Testament age where the focus is on the purity of heart and meeting the demands of a pure conscience. However, as believers we have complacently settled for compliance by regular Church attendance, weekly fasting and paying tithes and offerings without actual engagement with Christ. It's very similar to the days of Jesus where the Pharisees and the scribes rejected the teachings of Jesus for mere adherence to compliance and confronted Him to get His approval and applause. I give below few instances from the Bible that portray this picture. Questions raised by the Pharisees on compliance:

 1. How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? -Matthew 9:14

2.  Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  - Matthew 15:3

3.  When the Pharisees, saw this, they said to him “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on Sabbath.” Matthew 12:2

4.  Why does he (Jesus) eat with tax collectors and Sinners? - Mark 2:16

5. A doctrinal question from the Pharisee (Matthew 22: 23-28), “In the resurrection, then whose wife will she be of the seven? For all had married to her” They quoted Moses' law (23:24)

To establish our Christian identity, we meet the bare minimum requirements of the Church. The most important truth of finding purpose of life is conveniently overlooked on a daily basis. Apart from this important teaching, every other aspect coupled with encouragement is preached from the pulpit week after week to satisfy the congregation's demand. We too as average Christians have settled to be a good believer and remain faithful to the Church. It ends up in mutual bliss, failing to ask ourselves, is this all Christ demands? Why is that people’s disengagement to Christ's Mission not bothering the Church leadership?

Allow me to present the major purpose of every individual in a crux, as follows:

1. To Know God and to have fellowship with Him.

Jesus' prayer to His Father is profound. John 17:3 “This is eternal life: "that they may know you the only true God, and the one you have sent - Jesus Christ”. Most of us assume knowing God is to have theoretical knowledge of Him and that is sufficient enough to take care of the first purpose of an individual. But we will agree that knowing God is much more than that. It means to make a meaningful decision to commit one’s life to Christ and follow His teaching. This new relationship enables a person to have a fellowship with Him all the time and following His will in one’s life.  In 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul clarifies, “God is faithful you were called by him into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”. It is the responsibility of the Church leaders to strengthen every member in having a fellowship with Christ.

2. To be a Disciple maker

Jesus always called only to follow Him. He never meant for people to attend His meetings but to follow His mission. Jesus’ call was intense. (Mark 1:17).  He called people to follow Him and surrender to the process of becoming fishers of men, in other words His disciples. Today, Church is that institution, which is the ideal training center to consciously prepare members to be disciple makers. As Pastors let us refrain from giving mere comfort in the four walls of our Churches. God of the Bible condemns unproductive people.  In the parable of the talent, the man with one talent did nothing with it and was rebuked as an “unprofitable servant” (Matthew 25:30). In the Great Commission, Jesus commands all of us to “go and make disciples of all nations...” (Matthew 28:19).

3 To be a carrier of the Gospel.

Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.”. The Gospel was never meant to be harbored. As Apostle Paul passed on to us what he received we are also expected to pass on. But the problem is we stagnate. Instead of becoming the 'carriers' of the Gospel we have become 'reservoirs'.

It's time to take a reality check on whether the above mentioned three major purposes are well integrated in our spiritual lives or are we just satisfied with mere attendance to all Church meetings? Dear Church Pastors and leaders, unless we equip our members to these major three goals, our Churches will be stagnant like reservoirs merely depending on biological growth and for 'Church-hoppers'.

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