All posts by Virjil Selvan

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

Courtesy: Francis Chan

Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ 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.

Being Fearless

Am I depending on holy spirit’s power or my own cleverness? Depending on the supernatural. Lord is really my shepherd that I can walk in any situations. What is there to fear? I am going to speak to the same People, who believe in the same God as yours. God is going to speak through me. There are people struggling with courage.

Psalm 23. He wants his people with this picture with absolute confidence and peace. Eph 6, ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. pray for me that I may preach with Boldness. Apostles are constantly praying for boldness Acts 4:29 – 31.  Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.³⁰ Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

What did the believers’ pray for: Boldness. Something literally shook and there was something that filled these apostles. People saw and were astonished by the apostles boldness. There’s something about this boldness. vs 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Has anyone been astonished with the boldness that they have projected? When was the last time, people said that I am astonished at how much scripture or God is within you? Church called to be bold. Phil 1: 27 ⁷ Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit,^[a]striving together as one for the faith of the gospel Stand firm, not frightened by your opponents. That’s the sign, when people see us fearless, and that’s when people are going to believe. Striving together for this gospel. They are saved. Secure in the shepherd. They are fearless.  Others are going to repent and they are going to believe in this supernatural. It’s  not a small thing that they are talking about, they are saved, they are restored. Satan wants to keep us in our fears and lack of confidence, wondering if God’s going to come through, rather than walking side by side, because unbelievers are going to believe. We want to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Our favourite stories that we learnt in Sunday School – David and Goliath, Jonah, Daniel and Lion, Parting of the Red sea, the fish and the bread, Noah’s Ark, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, Crucifixion, Samson. Think about all about those stories and walking out of Sunday School and saying My God can do anything. You are in awe as a kid. Our teaching changes as we grow up. Those were the kids stories and now I am not going teach those stories like Lion and Daniel, etc. We are more educated now. Do we still believe that Elijah called fire. James 5: 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
. Elijah was just like us. He was just a person. All these others were all just people. He was a person and he prayed earnestly. As we grow up, people are causing us to not believe anymore. They say believe more responsibly. Often we come to these places and feel discouraged. They squash our faith. Be careful with our words. Very often we have this child like faith, where we believe that God can do something through me. And everyone goes no no no. It’s like my God can do many things. Early church encouraged one another. They gave courage to one another.

When we were early believers, you feel we can do anything but then people say you don’t know much. Wait, study, bible college, seminary, you know it all! Which makes us feel more discouraged and inadequate. I don’t have compassion, leadership gifts…etc. Elijah was a man just like me. Remind myself. Don’t you look at these people and put them on a different level than you. Do you really believe you are same as Noah, Elijah, Moses. But the bible says that Elijah was a man just like me. We got to stop believing in these lies, that there was something special about them. They prayed and believed. Something different was the Holy Spirit.  Which is upon us. Therefore, we need to be more supernatural than them. A greater boldness that they walked with.

Everyone knows Psalm 23, everyone preaches it. Sometimes we have a tendency to break the verse a bit too much and then we don’t get the essence of it.  Eg. Humpty dumpty, an egg sat on a wall, broke his crown, all the kings’ horses couldn’t put humpty again. How can the horses put the egg together. That’s the way we look at it and then we say, just leave that poem as it is. The same thing applies to Psalm 23. It’s a beautiful psalm, overall proclaims peace and confidence. Creator of universe, the most powerful being in the universe is my shepherd. He leads me beside green pastures. God himself restores my soul.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it’s a literal translation. You have a ravine and then there’s this steep valley, dense, full of ferocious animals. There were people who would hide there to harm you. Imagine walking through the predators, people who would harm you, everyone is against you. Therefore, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow. What we try to do is, we try to protect ourselves from going through the valley of shadow. If Jesus is really your shepherd, a mighty God, imagine, him walking with you. Wouldn’t you want to go through the valley, only to see what this great God would do. Just to see what happens to me. It’s a complete confidence, a thrill about it. It’s amazing to have Jesus walk with you as a shepherd, in green pastures, besides quiet waters but we should be equally excited to see Him walk with us in the valley of Shadow of death. I am going to see God come through even in difficult circumstances. We try to settle our lives down in the green pasture. Other side of the shepherd. We generally believe the lie of the world, where god has called you to do something and we try to avoid it, by not going there. He wants us to be radical. We generally allow people to talk us out of it. Because, any responsible person will say don’t go in the valley of shadow of death, don’t let your shepherd lead you there. Why would you do that? A value of a good steward is simply staying away from the valley of shadow of death. Which responsible person will ever go there? We set up a fear in us. Don’t let your shepherd lead you through that. Sheep is fearless, because he is with him. It’s going to be exciting cause he would lead me through that. Why am I doubting now? Question my leadership ability, my knowledge, my capacity, etc. Look at the mirror and get depressed. We get involved in human pity party. Why wasn’t I intelligent for this? Why me? Don’t use me. Remember God called Moses.. and he said send Aaron. Take Aaron but what happened with Aaron, when Moses went to the mountain to pray.  I can’t speak well, God says who made your mouth? Generally we feel we are humbling ourselves by putting ourselves down, but actually we are putting our creator down. God just messed up with my mouth, my mind, etc. I shouldn’t be doing anything but God just says that I am your shepherd, and why are you afraid. People always doubted my God. This is about my God and not money thing. Doubts about our future.. Something’s got to come through. I got to worry about today, about the Kingdom today. Why should I worry about 30 years from now? Offering that never went low. God is a provider, a shepherd. We gave away everything, people said it wasn’t wise. Should have kept a back up. Emergency is you and your family, is it? By living responsibly and not in faith. I can take my family anywhere, because God will be with me throughout. You are grown up now, you have four children, now you need to be wise, but what we forget is that we have the same shepherd. He cares even now. Go back to child like faith. Care less about the economy. We strive side by side for the Kingdom of God. We don’t fear any more. Foolish mistakes, foolish choices, do it for his Kingdom, go through the valley. May be changing your life and people, they try throwing things at you, what if this happens and that happens…etc. I am going to do this for the rest of our life. Satan tries to attack you, people try to attack you. We are going to take the steps of faith. This is for the Kingdom. It’s not the healthy wealthy thing, it’s how rich I am in Christ. The Lord is my shepherd . He is my treasure.

I want to dwell in your house forever, he can shut the mouth of the lion. No fear of people. All early believers lived that way.

Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.

How do we Understand the Presence of God in our life?

Let’s describe the following opinions:

1. If everything goes well, then the presence of God is with us.
2. Is it similar to Presence of Mind
3. Is it similar to Presence of a beloved
4. Is Presence of God just a notion

How to we define this presence?

Is it a feeling / emotion/ or just an aura?

Presence of God is a very unique experience. We see examples of it with Abraham, Jacob and Samson. We see the presence of God pass by Elijah. Jesus showed the presence of God in a cloud.

When Jezebel harassed Elijah, he ran into a deserted place, however, he could not run away from God’s presence. Similarly with David, he said, it’s better to be in God’s presence rather than in any other place.

Probably, there’s a supernatural that takes place, or it may just be that peace that passes all understanding. It gives us a new boldness and strength to face our future.

1. How do I know that the presence of God is there with us?
2. Will the presence of God depart from me?
3. Is it a one-time experience?
4. How do I dwell in His presence throughout and listen to Him?

The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Exodus 19: 10 onwards

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. ¹³ They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him

Exodus 20: 18 onwards

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Below given is an Abstract from Pastor John Piper on the Presence of God:

Seeking the Lord means seeking his presence. “Presence” is a common translation of the Hebrew word “face.” Literally, we are to seek his “face.” But this is the Hebraic way of having access to God. To be before his face is to be in his presence.

But aren’t his children always in his presence? Yes and no. Yes in two senses: First, in the sense that God is omnipresent and therefore always near everything and everyone. He holds everything in being. His power is ever-present in sustaining and governing all things.

And second, yes, he is always present with his children in the sense of his covenant commitment to always stand by us and work for us and turn everything for our good. “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

But there is a sense in which God’s presence is not with us always. For this reason, the Bible repeatedly calls us to “seek the Lord… seek his presence continually.” God’s manifest, conscious, trusted presence is not our constant experience. There are seasons when we become neglectful of the Lord and give him no thought and do not put trust in him and we find him “unmanifested”—that is, unperceived as great and beautiful and valuable by the eyes of our hearts.

His face—the brightness of his personal character—is hidden behind the curtain of our carnal desires. This condition is always ready to overtake us. That is why we are told to “seek his presence continually.” God calls us to enjoy continual consciousness of his supreme greatness and beauty and worth.

This happens through “seeking.” Continual seeking. But what does that mean practically? Both the Old and New Testaments say it is a “setting of the mind and heart” on God. It is the conscious fixing or focusing of our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on God.

“Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.” (1 Chronicles 22:19)

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)

This setting of the mind is the opposite of mental coasting. It is a conscious choice to direct the heart toward God. This is what Paul prays for the church: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). It is a conscious effort on our part. But that effort to seek God is a gift from God.

We do not make this mental and emotional effort to seek God because he is lost. That’s why we would seek a coin or a sheep. But God is not lost. Nevertheless, there is always something through which or around which we must go to meet him consciously. This going through or around is what seeking is. He is often hidden. Veiled. We must go through mediators and around obstacles.

The heavens are telling the glory of God. So we can seek him through that. He reveals himself in his word. So we can seek him through that. He shows himself to us in the evidences of grace in other people. So we can seek him through that. The seeking is the conscious effort to get through the natural means to God himself—to constantly set our minds toward God in all our experiences, to direct our minds and hearts toward him through the means of his revelation. This is what seeking God means.

And there are endless obstacles that we must get around in order to see him clearly, and so that we can be in the light of his presence. We must flee every spiritually dulling activity. We must run from it and get around it. It is blocking our way.

We know what makes us vitally sensitive to God’s appearances in the world and in the word. And we know what dulls us and blinds us and makes us not even want to seek him. These things we must move away from and go around if we would see God. That is what seeking God involves.

And as we direct our minds and hearts Godward in all our experiences, we cry out to him. This too is what seeking him means.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)

“If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy…” (Job 8:5)

Seeking involves calling and pleading. O Lord, open my eyes. O Lord, pull back the curtain of my own blindness. Lord, have mercy and reveal yourself. I long to see your face.

The great obstacle to seeking the Lord is pride. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him” (Psalms 10:4). Therefore, humility is essential to seeking the Lord.

The great promise to those who seek the Lord is that he will be found. “If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9). And when he is found, there is great reward. “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God himself is our greatest reward. And when we have him, we have everything. Therefore, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.

When we read Matthew 9, We See that

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

The Calling of Matthew

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute

The Workers Are Few

It is good to see the context before and after we deep dive into “Calling of Matthew”

The Calling of Matthew

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

THE CALLING OF MATTHEW

Matthew was named Levi before his call by Jesus. We don’t know whether Jesus gave him the name Matthew or whether he changed it himself, but it is a shortening of the name Mattathias, which means “gift of Yahweh,” or simply “the gift of God.”

The best part is also that he is the author of this book “Matthew” but nevertheless Narrator of this book is God.

Matthew was a dishonest tax collector driven by greed until Jesus Christ chose him as a disciple. We first meet Matthew in Capernaum, in his tax booth on the main highway. He was collecting duties on imported goods brought by farmers, merchants, and others. Under the Roman Empire system, Matthew would have paid all the taxes in advance, then collected it from the citizens and travellers to reimburse himself.

Tax collectors were notoriously corrupt because they extorted far and above what was owed, to ensure their personal profit. Because their decisions were enforced by Roman soldiers, no one dared object.

Tax collectors were absolutely despised by their own culture because they worked for the Roman government and enriched themselves by collecting taxes from their own people—often dishonestly collecting excessive amounts (see Luke 19:8). It is likely that Matthew was well-to-do, since Luke says that Levi hosted “a great banquet for Jesus” with “a large crowd” in attendance (Luke 5:29).

Tax collectors such as Matthew were seen by the religious elite as very sinful people, so sinful that even spending time with them could immediately tarnish a good person’s reputation (Matthew 9:10–11). When Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, with many other tax collectors and sinners present, the Pharisees questioned the disciples about Jesus’ choice of companions. Jesus’ response is one of the clearest explanations of God’s heart and His gospel to man: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12–13). Jesus came to save not the “good,” self-righteous people, but those, who knew they were not good—the people who admitted freely that they needed salvation (cf. Matthew 5:3).

The Calling of Matthew

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Today we are going look on the Calling of Matthew and why Jesus has to call Matthew to be one of his disciple.

The response of Matthew was amazing , Instant response ,  He was working , collecting taxes, enjoying his work and suddenly someone comes (I am assuming that he may have heard about JESUS) . This man comes and commands Matthew to follow him and Matthew gets up and follows him.

1. His calling was Instant but his response was also Instant

If we don’t consider the INSTANT Response of Matthew from his Instant then I believe we have missed the meaning of the text.

We may have responded for somethings in our lives , Was that followed directly by our calling? or it took / takes ages for us to respond.

Jesus called Matthew to follow him, but Matthew did not knew where is Jesus going to go.

In our context , let us take names of few nations . Whether Jesus is going to take him to Africa , China, America, South Korea…. But he got up and followed him WITHOUT knowing the details. The Author (Matthew) does not write many things about himself (Leaving everything , Job , Friends etc). If I would have been Matthew , I  would have written lot of thing about myself and highlighted all my sacrifices. Remarkable humility in Matthew.

Have I responded to God’s calling? , Have I responded to God , my Pastor / Mentor  / Leaders call in my life .

2. His calling did not restrict him to share with others

I just want to assume this , He is following Jesus and meets his friends , colleagues etc on his way or he may have visited them personally and invited them for a banquet , Please come today , I have arranged a party , I will Show you JESUS.

Verse 10 : many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples

From the above text we can assume what kind of friends he might have had , and what kind of person Matthew was. Not only tax collectors but Sinners also joined his party . Who are sinners ? what is the definition? thieves , idolaters , murderers , cheaters …. He was a good friend of them.

He did not only blindly follow JESUS , He also showed JESUS to others. He said to others come to my home , I will show you Jesus. What are we doing?

3. Matthew has to prepare / meet another Matthew

The message of the Gospel need to go out from these four walls of the Church

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

Jesus reached out to Matthew , and Matthew reached out to another Matthew who is Sick (Sinful) who doesn’t know God. Isn’t that awesome.

And later, in the same chapter why did Jesus say the workers are few? even though Jesus just called Matthew ?

Matthew 9 : 35-38

The Workers Are Few

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

JESUS , just called Matthew  in chapter 9, why did he need more in the same chapter ? There are so many Unsaved Matthews waiting for a Saved Matthew to come and show JESUS to them.

When JESUS looked at the crowd , he felt compassion on them. They were helpless . When we are in the crowd  and look around at people, do we feel compassion for the crowd , as they are lost and they need a saviour .

We can do much more outside the Church then inside the Church

Matthew was one of the tax collectors whom Jesus saved. When called by Jesus, Matthew immediately left his tax collection booth and followed the Lord (Matthew 9:9). He left behind the source of his riches; he left his position of security and comfort for travelling, hardship, and eventual martyrdom; he left his old life for a new life with Jesus.

Calling should be followed with an Instant response. Followed by showing Jesus to others and preparing them.

Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.

The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue

We have heard of people doing crazy things for God. They leave their jobs, household, and walk out for the sake of the Gospel. We can read a description of people in the bible who did that , especially in Hebrews 11: 8 – ⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Radical living was not only for the early church believers, but is what the church of today is also called to.

Christians were called to live like the early church believers who denied themselves, took up their crosses, sold their possessions to the poor, and shared everything they had.

Feeling a sense of frustration with ‘comfortable’ Christianity.

It wasn’t just for the apostles. It wasn’t just for the early believers. It’s for us today.”

He lamented that Christians were too often “missing it” – the level of commitment and passion to spreading the Gospel demonstrated by the early church.

“You go to church these days and you stare forward and sing a couple of songs and listen to the message and go home,” he said.

“Haven’t you wondered how come everyone’s so content and everyone acts like this is the norm and this is ok when in your heart it’s driving you crazy and it doesn’t square with Scripture?”

He said it was easy for Christians to say “Amen” to sharing in the fellowship, resurrection and glory of Christ, but not so easy for them to say “Amen” when it came to sharing in His sufferings.

Even though it could be difficult, Chan told Christians it was in the midst of the danger and conflict that came with going out into the world and making disciples that the real peace of Jesus could be experienced.

Deception/ Conviction:

When we read the Bible, feel convicted, not do anything about the conviction.

It becomes easier to read the Bible, feel convicted and do nothing about our convictions.

Eventually it becomes a habit, a very dangerous habit. We start deceiving ourselves. We need to call for introspection in our lives.

What could be worse – A church that has terrible teaching and very little Christian action or a church with excellent teaching but very less Christian action. Of course the latter.

It says in Matthew 11: 21

²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.^[e] For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

We are exposed to so much but how does it play out in my life?

Over the period of time, we are able to assume the lives of people. We look at them, they look very godly, holy Christians but internally the truth is something else.

Revelation 3: 1b – 4 I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

⁴ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

If we were to interview your family, friends, people around about who you are, what would they say about you? What is your ‘Reputation’? However, if God were to tell about you, what would He say? What is your reputation with God? He might just say, we have a reputation but we are dead. A reputation of being alive but dead. Will Jesus confess our name before the Father? God looks at the ‘Character ’ and not our external reputation. My deeds stand before God. It’s so silly to consider our reputation when there’s something big to come.

Eg. I know I am going to hell but my reputation is such that people think I am in heaven. Atleast, I have the reputation of going to heaven.

I need to be honest with surrender. We have an incongruent life.

Matthew 7: 21²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

We would have a reputation but there would be no love. It’s a fear, it’s like jumping out of the plane with a back pack, and trying to assume it’s a parachute. It’s a concern. Above all, it’s a deception. What I am in public is very incongruent of who I am with God and internally.

A lot of people think about this incongruency but they never speak up. What’s the difference between a dead person and me? They are dead but we are dead in trespasses of sin, without the Holy Spirit. We ought to become alive and regenerated.

When I am right with God, my relationship with God would cry out to Him as ‘Abba Father’. He’s the Lord of my life. It’s not about reputation.

John 3: 16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 14: 12

¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Incongruency in believing God’s word. I doubt the latter when we compare these verses, because I able to believe the first but I am not able to believe the latter. That’s very strange.

“I feel very concerned for those people who walk into these buildings we call church and think they are Christians because they said a prayer and made a decision,” he said.

“Saying a prayer means nothing if there’s no follow through.”

He continued: “Where’s the obvious truth and where’s the obedience cos I think we’ve missed some obvious things and created a system that doesn’t really make sense and we’ve done that because we don’t really want to live out Christianity, we don’t really want to become like Christ.

“Do you really want to be like Christ – rejected your whole life, spit upon, crucified? … We don’t want that part of Christ and yet it is those times when we are rejected for the Gospel that we really feel the peace and come to remotely resemble Jesus.”

Revelation 3: 15b I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Vs. 19 says ¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Therefore become zealous and repent. I’ll change your heart of stone – come to me.

Example of his grandmother: You are so big. But people don’t realize that they are so small. Look at my friends out there.

Is it that I am so holy or is it that I live in a place where godliness is not lifted up? Is it because people around me are so luke warm that they find me hot or full of passion for God.

I am lukewarm has to be changed. We need to be passionate about the biblical truths, we can’t be so casual. We ought to know Jesus and not make it an element of faking it. Don’t doubt your salvation, that is, becoming so sure of salvation and become lukewarm or we may suddenly doubt our salvation and fake it.

I need a new heart. I want my Spirit to cry out ‘Abba Father’.

Let’s pray.

Courtesy: Pastor Francis Chan

Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.

Galatians chapter 5 : 22

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (Patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This verse brings about 9 aspects of the character of Christ. It is 9 different flavours . When we look at a diamond , there are different angles / views which we look at, and each angle looks unique and has a beauty in it.
One of the fruit is a virtue of Patience . When I speak about this , I speak to myself as well.
One of the biggest struggle which we have in the modern world is impatience . Patience is very difficult to develop when we live in the world, where everything is instant, instant food (Swiggy, Zomato), Instant Money Transfer (IMPS), Instant Messaging, Instant Chat, Instant Photo etc. Things are so quick, It becomes very difficult to develop patience . There is a Church in Florida, where they advertise an instant Church Service. Within 22 minutes you can be out of the Church. Every sermon is only 8 minutes long. People who go there, may be because they are impatient . Its like Mumbai traffic signals, when the light turns orange, instead of stopping we rush through. There is a poem which says, Patience is a virtue possess it if you can. Patience is a fruit, and is not something we already have , or something that we can earn from it but it is developed and cultivated. It is a fruit not a work. “It is the outcome of life in the Spirit”.
Patience is to endeavour and persevere long. When we say that you are a patient man , what we are saying is that, you can stand long , persevere long , bear the suffering. With all the pressures, you stand firm without cracking out. Coffman bible dictionary defines patience as this “An active endurance of opposition”. Biblical patience is when you face pressure but still don’t crack and stand firm. It is more than the ability to stand firm without frustration. Patience is waiting without worrying.
There are 3 important things about patience which we should know:
Why is biblical patience so important to us? How is it related to faith? Biblical patience is a key for divine promises. In our life we experience many delays and many disappointments.
Hebrews 6 :11-15
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

There are 3 things we need to press onto God’s Promises
1. Diligence: We don’t want to be lazy but diligent.
2. Faith : We need to have faith in order to believe in God
3. Patience : We need to endeavour.

These 3 things are like 3 legs in a stool, if anyone of these legs are missing , a stool cannot stand. Anyone of the above are missing then we are gone.

1. Patience is a key for divine promises
The writer talks about the story of Abraham and Sarah . The Lord promised Abraham ,” I will surely bless you.” Not only God promised , he swore on him as well. It’s a Double guarantee . In verse 15 , the writer puts it this way, “he waited patiently” . It was not easy for Abraham and Sarah , we all are aware of the story. Verse 13 and 14 looks good, but there was a long waiting period before we arrive in verse 15. God promised that they will have a child, Yes in Genesis 12, and they were not willing to wait , for them God was very slow. Instead of holding on to their Hope and promises, they took matters in their own hands. They did their own thing. In Genesis 16 , Sarah said to Abraham , we have to do something , why don’t you go and sleep with the maid servant (Hagar) , lets have a child and from there came Ishmael from whose lines the Islamic nation came into existence. If Abraham waited for another 14 years , Isaac may have arrived and out of his lineage came the Jewish. What did they lack? Patience !
From the time of God’s promise ,till the time of fulfilment , we need to have patience. The result of the fleshly effort resulted in great frustration for Sarah . From the time Hagar conceived, she started ignoring Sarah. Sarah became more frustrated for her inability to conceive and her frustration was also projected towards Abraham. Now Abraham finds himself between 2 women. When we do not have the Patience to wait for Gods timing , We will end up in frustration. The area of frustration for us is an area where we don’t trust God. Are we frustrated financially , Relationally , morally , emotionally ?. We have to entrust those areas to God. Sometimes when we take matters in our own hands, it can produce weak results. Ishmael was born to Abraham but it led to frustration. After all this, Abraham learnt patience , in verse 15 ] “15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised”. Sometimes inspite of knowing all this we end up not waiting in God. Between the time of sowing and until we see the harvest, is the period of waiting. This period is like the Trial of faith , Faith being tested. God seems slow but he is never late, he works on a different calendar.
Hebrews 10:35-37
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[f]

Faith does not begin at the point when the person is healed . Faith begins at a point when you are willing to pray.
Our Job is to pray , God’s job is to respond.
Don’t throw away your confidence. Let God decide what he wants to do. Our Job is to be patient and wait on him prayerfully.

2. Patience is the prize to develop potential
Everybody has a potential but it needs to be developed through patience.
When we go to a restaurant, it is waiting from the beginning i.e. from the time we enter the restaurant till the time we pay the bill.
If we want something good, we just have to wait .We may have got few responsibilities be faithful in them , in due time God will exalt us.
Galatians 6:9
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Naaman , nearly missed his healing as he was impatient with the man of God (Elisha). Moses, missed the promise land as he became impatient with the Israelites . King Saul , he took the priestly robe and sacrificed on behalf of Samuel, why ? Impatience, because Samuel did not arrive on time. As a result King Saul lost his kingdom.
Patience brings breakthrough .
MacDonald took 22 years to make their first billion, IBM took 46 years . But after that they never stopped.
Be faithful to do what God has placed in your hands in 2019. We will reap the harvest in due time.

3. Patience is a bridge to difficult people :

1 Thessalonians 5:14
14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

These three types of people will test our patience , Lazy , Timid and weak . They really test the patience.
Exalt all the different types of people, encourage them, Be patient with them.
The more we walk in the spirit , the more patient we will become.
Colossians 3: 12
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

How do we develop patience? Through Christ. We put on Christ. On the Cross Jesus patiently endured everything.
Ephesians 4 :1-2
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Be patient , God will reward and answer in his Time.

Courtesy: Benny Ho, Series on Faith, Hope and Patience.

Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.

The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue

Hope and physical well-being are interlinked. People with depression are more prone to heart attack, i.e. hopelessness leads to chronic physical illnesses. Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”  In other words hope that is delayed makes the heart faint or sick, but a longing that is fulfilled is a delight.

What is Hope? It is a Steady, quiet, confident expectation for good, whereas, Sick in Hebrew means a cause to grieve. It’s like we are longing for something, for a prolonged period that it causes grief, smashing all hopes. Hope is like what seeds are to the earth .Without hope is we die. Hebrews 11: 1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. To have hope means to have a steady, quiet, confident expectation for good. If we do not have hope for future, then we have no power for present.

An experiment was conducted on two sets of Rats:  1^st set of rats were put into a bucket full of water, they were left to save themselves. These rats flapped their feet and tried for a couple of hours but soon lost their lives and drowned in the tub.  2^nd set: of rats were also put into a bucket full of water, they were left to save themselves, however, the difference was that after every one hour one rat was removed out of the water. In this manner, the rats managed to survive for 24 hours. Conclusion of this experiment was that the survival time increased because they had hope that someone would come and lift them up, so they tried till the very end. Our hope for the future is in God for those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed.

1. Recognize the reality of hope deferred:

Unrealistic view that there have never been issues of hope delayed. King David was in such a situation as mentioned in Psalm 42 and 43. He struggled with delayed hope. “My tears have been my food. Day and night I have been crying.” All along you have been crying. David went through that same experience as yours. It’s a reminder for them with hopelessness that hope in God. Psalm 42: 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Battling with hope deferred. Go on hoping in God. It’s a very real thing. Job is very good example of hope deferred. Job 19: 8 – 10 says “He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;  he has shrouded my paths in darkness.⁹ He has stripped me of my honor  and removed the crown from my head. ¹⁰ He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. Job identifies his hope like a tree that is uprooted.  Yet he could declare in Job 13: 15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely^[a] defend my ways to his face.. Don’t deny hope deferred, don’t let it go unchecked or make you a prisoner. Hope deferred is like a spiral, with the following constantly going around.

• Discouraged
• Divided heart, confusion
• Unbelief
• Disillusion
• Disbelief
• Depressed heart

Cynicism, means to have a dead heart. Hope deferred is not fatal. We have Jesus the great physician Ephesians 2: 12 -13 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

If there’s  no hope, no God. Jesus came so that we would be healed of Hope deferred. Let God heal us of this.

2. Recovery from Hope Deferred.

Abraham and Sarah waited 24 years for this hope deferred. Abraham and Sarah laughed in Cynicism as mentioned in Genesis 17: 17  Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” – When Paraphrased, it means “Don’t joke. I have don’t have the vitality now which I had in my youth”. But God meant, he would give Abraham the heavenly vitality, as mentioned in Genesis 18: 10 – 12 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Sarah laughed, it seems like they have reached a stage of cynicism. God healed them from hope deferred. It is possible. He recovered both Abraham and Sarah as mentioned in Romans 4: 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Hebrews 11: 11  And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. Renewed perspective of God. Circumstances didn’t change but there was a renewed perspective of what God could do through them. Let’s look at another story in 2 Kings 6 : 15 – 18 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸ As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

Elisha saw the angelic army. But his servant could not see it, he cried with hopelessness, “What shall we do?” Elisha saw hope, he said “Those who are with us are more than who are out there.” The servant was looking at the circumstances; Elisha prayed open his eyes, God enabled a change of perspective. If Abraham and Sarah can come out of a state of being hope deferred, so can we. If Servant of Elisha can have a changed perspective why can’t we. We need to change the perspective from hope deferred to who God is. We can recover from hope deferred. Hope deferred is real, but we can recover from it. When we recover from it, we’ll have a renewal of hope divine.

3. Renewal of Hope divine:

Our hope inside can be renewed. We see David battling with hope deferred in psalm 142. David’s cry was to bring him back from prison of hopelessness, which implies that Hope deferred can imprison a man’s soul. Don’t let hope deferred imprison your heart. Break free from hopelessness and start hoping again, without hope faith cannot be operated. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, as Prophet Zechariah talks about the second coming of Jesus. We are supposed to be prisoners of hope. We should be captivated by hope in God, and not by hope deferred. Zechariah 9: 12. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;    even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zechariah, addresses people as prisoners of hope. I want to be a prisoner of hope and be captivated by the promises of God. Hope in Him, let’s read

Hosea 2: 14 -15, “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵ There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”

Hosea prophesied about the power of hope. It’s God’s unchanging love for his unfaithful people. Even though people are unfaithful, God is faithful. I will lure her; restore her, glorious picture of the grace of God. He’ll restore our inheritance; turn the valley of trouble into the door of hope. Once again our heart will begin to sing.

Romans 15: 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, Overflow with hope and not hopelessness. Spend time with people who are full of hope you’ll feel rejuvenated, on the other hand if you spend time with people who are hopeless, you feel depressed.

God will fill us with joy and peace. Our hope is not rooted in hope but our hope is rooted in a God of hope. Our anchor is God of hope. Key for this hope is faith.  We should be able to trust him.

We are the people who overflow with hope. Faith must be accompanied with hope otherwise it doesn’t work.

To end with, a story is told of a Farmer – a hailstorm destroyed his farm. It was turned into rubbles, but he saw the rooster under the rubble. Rooster rose in the east out of the rubbles and proudly began to crow. Do you know why, because, the nature of a rooster is to crow. Same message for us, it’s not a time to sink into hopelessness but rise up on the rubbles and crow. It is in our nature to overcome the hopelessness. 1 John 5:4 says “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” We are destined to be prisoners of hope and not hope deferred.

Courtesy: Benny Ho, Series on Faith, Hope and Patience.

 Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.

This year 2019 will be a year of Greater Faith. If we have seen faith last year, we will see greater faith. We all want to grow in our faith this year right?

In this sermon we would be looking at dynamics of great faith through a gentile woman, who came to Jesus for healing her daughter. This is one of the two occasions from bible where our Lord Jesus Christ himself calls it as great faith. One of which was a centurion and the other was the gentile woman.

Let’s read the same from the scriptures:

Matthew 15 : 21-28

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Let’s Pray: Lord, open our eyes so that we can understand this passage. Impart the faith in us this year. Amen

In verse 21 , we see that Jesus withdrew to a region of Tyre and Sidon. The people of Tyre and Sidon used to hate Jews. The question here is, why then Jesus went to such a place? All this while, Jesus had ministered to Israelites only and this is the first time he is ministering to the Gentiles. Jesus was rejected by the Pharisees, that’s the time when he moved to the Gentiles. This could be to break the cultural barrier from his disciples’ heart and mind. We can see it, from the below verse:

23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

The Canaanite woman approached the disciples first before approaching Jesus.

In verse 25

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

The posture of the woman can be seen as “Lord have mercy on me, Lord help me”. It seems like she’s begging.

The in-depth meaning of the words spoken by the woman could be explained as follows:

The Greek word for Lord means Kurios , means Master, that is, in other words, “Master have mercy on me.”

Today, we are going to look at 5 keys of Greater Faith from the story of Canaanite woman however, Benny Ho mentions 7.

The first key which the woman demonstrates is Faith focused on Christ.

If we want to grow in Faith this year 2019, our faith must be focused on Christ.

Three times the woman calls Jesus, ‘Master (Lord)’. Her soul focus was on Jesus, rather than her own faith. She was not focused on her great faith, all that she was focused on was the Great God. There is no such thing as great faith, apart from the object, on which it is focused on. Faith is like our eye sight, eyesight is meaningless apart from the object on which we are looking at. If we are watching television, our focus is not on our eyesight, our focus is on the television (Movie). No one ever watching a television will ever say that my eyesight is really interesting. In the same way when we believe God for something, our focus is not on our faith, But our focus is in the one, whom we are trusting. Faith is therefore our invisible link towards God. It is the contact point for the power of God.

Hebrews 12 :1-2

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

To summarize the above passage in one sentence, “He is the author”

In Hebrews 11, the author was painting all the heroes of faith. It was like climbing the mountain, when we reach the Pinnacle it was Jesus on top. Even though we have all the heroes of faith, but we look onto Jesus. He is the author and finisher of faith. Look at Jesus, He must be our focus of faith. It is all about Jesus. We always ask ourselves, that have I done enough? Do I have enough faith? Am I worthy to be blessed? It is all about Jesus. Greater faith is always focused on Jesus.

2. Faith is founded on Grace: True faith is always founded on Grace. What was the basis of this Canaanite woman’s appeal? She knew that she did not deserve anything. She can’t earn the favour of God, she can’t work for it. She only has to believe. She was not dependent on Works, but she was dependent on Grace. Grace is unmerited favour, freely given, we don’t deserve. Her faith was based on Grace.

Galatians 5:4-5

⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

Christ has no effect on us , if we believe that there is something that we have done and we deserve it, then we have nullified Christ.

In faith, we wait for the good to happen. We ought to wait confidently for it to happen. We also have this question, ‘what if it does not happen?’, there are so many instances friends, where nothing happened? I would say by the authority of the Scriptures , wait confidently. Hope does not disappoint us. It is a biblical Hope, not the terminology which we use in our routine communication. In our regular communication, we use it for a Wish (I Hope , I get the train).Here it is uncertain . But in biblical terminology, it is not uncertain , it is being sure of something in the future.

God wants to do it for me, in me, and through me. So I am active in everything I do because it is not my strength but by Gods strength.

3. Faith is followed by Action : This woman not only had faith on Jesus , but she also acted upon it . So she came to meet Jesus. Many of us say that we have faith, but we never come to Jesus and seek Him. We need to act upon it.

If we were to imagine the following situation: Suppose your Car broke down? Would you just say that I have faith and not act upon it?

James 2: 14 – 17

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Faith in Action will result in something. The Canaanite woman not only had faith, but she acted on her faith by coming to Jesus.

4. Faith is accomplished through Patience: When we read the conversation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman, it sounds very rude.

Jesus did not answer a word to her, completely ignored her. She may have felt rejected. Even the disciples came to Jesus and told Jesus to send her away. Now, the Lord ignored the Disciples and said as follows to the woman:

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

It is like saying, that she is not Jesus’ priority.  Why did Jesus say that? There are other portions in the bible, where Jesus reaches to the Gentiles? So why is there a difference here?

There will be times in our lives where our faith will be tested. At times we pray and nothing seems to happen. We don’t receive any response from God.

It is the test of waiting / patience. During 19^th century, there was a man named William Wilberforce. He was leading the charge to abolish slavery in England. He fought and fought, but without any breakthrough. At one point, he decided to move on to another issue, John Wesley who was also alive then, and had heard about William Wilberforce’s decision. It was also during the time of John Wesley’s last days, he was about to die and was in his death bed. He heard that Wilberforce is going to give up his fight, he sat on his bed and wrote a personal letter to William Wilberforce to encourage him , and not to give up. Two days before he died, he wrote this letter. A part of the letter read like this “My dear William , unless God has raised you up for this very thing , You may be worn out because of the opposition and the devil , if God is for You, who will be against you? God is stronger than all this, do not be weary, go on in the name of God, even the American slavery shall vanish away before it”. With this letter William Wilberforce fought for another 45 years to abolish slavery. William Wilberforce died on 29th July 1833, one month after which, the British parliament passed a bill to abolish slavery. 45 Years later, he didn’t even see the results, that is faith endured through Patience.

We have some more scripture portions that mentions the same Hebrews 6:12  , Hebrews 10:23 , Hebrews 10:34,35

This Women waited in patience, refused to let it go with silence, and enduring the rejection

5. Faith must fight off offence:

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Why did Jesus tell her something like this? According to Exodus 14 -15 God makes a covenant of healing with the Israelites and it was not for Gentiles.

Even the author Matthew does not hide this fact. It is written plainly, that the Messiah called her a Dog. It was a test of offence. Many of us fail in this test of offence. Even the early followers of Christ could not withstand it.

Many of the disciples turned away from Jesus’ teaching and walked away because they were offended and saw his teaching was difficult to follow.

We may have also seen this, majority of Christians leave their faith because they are offended in the Church. They walk away from God, walk away from Church, because they were hurt by some words or some action, reason being offense. They build an emotional wall around them so that they may not get offended again. They go from one church to another so that they may not get offended and will only relate to people of their same type. Surprisingly, other people are also being offended by someone. So we have a group of  people who are wounded coming together, and it becomes cancerous, which affects the Body of Christ, that is, the Church.

If you are nursing an offense with the church people, or church leadership, allow the Holy Spirit speak to you. Because it becomes a hindrance for you, in developing Greater faith.

We have seen many believers who are doing well in God and then they get offended, they walk out of the Church. This morning I encourage you to break free from this trap of the devil. Surrender your offenses to the Lord and let God deal with it.

This is how the Canaanite woman refused to be trapped by the offense and passed the test of offense. She turned the offense for good, that is, greater faith.

Hebrews 11 :6

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Faith focused on Christ, Founded on Grace, followed by Action, finished through Patience, Faith that will fight off offense .

Lets grow in Faith this year 2019, Start with a faith which we already have. Take responsibility for your own growth. The church can only supply the infrastructure . We can set the chairs and prepare messages but, if you don’t come nothing happens , We are responsible for our own growth. Get in the life of our Church , Come up with Ideas , Get active for God, Get involved in ministry , Study the word of God, Do what we need to do , revive the prayer life. Take responsibility of your own growth. Nobody can rear you, you have to grow by yourself. This is our Time , This is our Day.

 Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.

The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue

When we end an year and move on to the New Year, Usually we tend to reflect on the Past Year with respect to us it is 2018 and we look ahead for the new year, that is 2019.

In 2018 , we had set few goals for us , Growth in God , Family , Church & Community.

Can we analyse ourselves with regard to the Goal which we had set for ourselves, and rate as to where we stand this morning? Its good to reflect on what we have done.

When we look back into 2018 , we need to do the following three things:

Preserve: There are a few things that could be preserved from 2018 to 2019.

Memories: We need to preserve our memories of laughter, disappointments, encouragements, and so on.

Miracles: We need to preserve all miracles , where we have experienced the supernatural, breakthroughs, and unexpected events.

Promises : We need to preserve all the promises of God for us. Promises which were fulfilled and promises which are yet to be fulfilled.

Learnings  : We have to preserve all our learnings, lessons learnt , mistakes which were overlooked and forgiven.

Prophetic Words : We need to preserve all prophetic words prophesied for us, church and family.

Commitments : We need to hold on and preserve our Commitments towards God , Family & Church.

As a church we want to preserve all memories, miracles, God’s promises, learnings, prophetic words and commitments for our church in 2019. We believe that, the vision that we received in 2018 of New Hope, will definitely transform the city in 2019.

Secondly, Discard : We need to leave back a few things in 2018 and should NOT carry it forward into 2019.

Discouragement : We need to leave back all our discouragements, trust God and move ahead.

Lies : We need to discard all lies of the enemy and believe in the Promises of God.

Curses : We need to rebuke all Curses that were spoken on us, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Selfishness : We need to discard all our selfishness and become Selfless for the Gospel in 2019

Sin : We ought to repent for all our sins and move ahead with forgiveness and not fall into it anymore.

Wrong doings : We ought to discard all wrong which we have done against God and people.

There can be many more which God is asking us to discard in this year which is against God and his plan for us.

This year as a church, we have to discard all those things which has not worked for years together and bring about the New Hope into perspective and allow the New Hope to work.

Reuse :  Reuse all that we are good at.

Experiences : Reuse all our experiences , either Good or Bad.

Strengths : We need to Continue to hold on to our strengths and let it bring glory to God.

Goals : Continue to work on our Goals which we have set for ourselves

Passion : Lets continue to be passionate for God’s word and his call

Time with God : Let’s continue to hear from God by spending quality time in reading the word and prayer.

Sacrifices : We need to continue to live a sacrificial life.

Philippians 3 :13-14

¹³ 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, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As a Church , If we look back in 2018 , it was one of the best years for us. We got our new name, vision for our church, and  moved to this amazing new place. We have launched our new website and it is picking momentum. Apart from our regular church gathering, we did 2 workshops and 1 musical event at Orion Mall in the month of December,  successfully. Also, we can cherish the night out at a Beach.

Inspite of the above successes, we can never forget our lows but nevertheless God is Faithful.

While I was requesting God for a promise verse for 2019 along with my sermon content. I saw a picture of a Clay Pot, then I was reminded of the entire process of making a clay pot till the final product.

I believe that this is a prophetic word, a symbolic analogy for our Church and our families in this new year 2019.

Let us look at the Wikipedia definition of how the process of Pottery is done:

“Pottery is made by forming a ceramic (often clay) body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln which removes all the water from the clay, which induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape.

Let’s look at what the bible says about this analogy :

Jeremiah 18 :1-6

The Potter and the Clay

18 This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:² “Jeremiah, go down to the potter’s house. I will give you my message there.”

³ So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working with clay at the wheel. ⁴ He was making a pot from clay. But there was something wrong with the pot. So the potter used that clay to make another pot. With his hands he shaped the pot the way he wanted it to be.

⁵ Then this message from the Lord came to me: ⁶ “Family of Israel, you know that I can do the same thing with you. You are like the clay in the potter’s hands, and I am the potter.”

While Reading this, I felt God saying to all of us that “I am the Potter”

God has created each of us the way He desired. It is our responsibility to take what He has given to us and use it for His glory and pleasure. In doing so, we find our ultimate fulfilment. Rather than living with disappointments and dissatisfaction with whatever God has or hasn’t given to us, we can choose to thank Him for and in everything. Just as the clay finds its highest purpose when it remains pliable in the hands of the potter, so our lives fulfil their highest purpose when we let our Potter have His way with us.

But the entire Process of Pottery, both visually and spiritually signifies how God moulds and transforms us in our life, but exactly why he does some of the things , as this process can be quite painful and unpleasant at times.

When we read the scriptures, we understand that it was a warning for the Israelites that the clay is in His hands and it could be marred or made by God alone, provided we obey him intently. We believe that, this new year, 2019 would be similar for our church.

The entire process of pottery can be categorised into three phases :

Preparation : God prepares us in different ways. The process of making a clay soft is also very difficult. The clay is mixed, stomped over and over again on the ground to make it softer so that it can be easily moulded.  It is a preparation process, before actual shaping, to make us softer, mouldable in spirit and heart. This year God is going to prepare us and make our hardened heart soft so that He can shape it. This preparation process will be tough but, it will be good for us and our church. He will set us free from our sins, taking control of our lives and church. It is the initial stage of preparation.

Moulding / Shaping :  The next phase is Moulding or shaping . In this process, our lives are controlled by  the Potter (Our Creator) . God shapes our lives the way He desires, to bring the best from it. It is moulding of our Character both Inside and outside.

Many times we try to give shape to our lives, and our future. This year, can we give our lives to be shaped by God?.

Making Strong : The last phase is to “make strong”, after the clay pot is prepared , it is put in fire to remove retained water from it to make it strong. In the entire process, God wants us to be strong. The Process of refining in the fire is to strengthen us.

For 2019, God is speaking into our hearts and our church that He will mar us and make us. We can take it as a warning or a blessing to be shaped by the Potter, that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.

The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue

Series on Managing your Emotions – Depression -Courtesy Benny Ho:

Today’s sermon is from the scripture portion 1 Kings 19: 1- 18 (NIV)

Elijah Flees to Horeb

19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. ¹⁸ Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Many times after a break through, we see a depressing instance. Heroes in the bible not only had good points but also bad points, where they were involved in their darkest moments. Bible gives us this information so that we connect with them and also work on our weaknesses.

Abraham – Staked his wife’s life to save his own life, David committed adultery and murder, Noah – got himself drunk after being found righteous, Samson – weakness for women, Paul quarrelled with his partner Barnabas.

Our worst enemy is Depression. Depression is also the second leading cause of death.

When a person is depressed life seems unbearable. He or she can’t enjoy life, bible, fellowship or God. To worsen the situation, many of us believe that we are too blessed to be depressed and don’t want to deal with it. In Lamentations, Jeremiah expresses his depressive thoughts, in psalm 42, David expresses his depression. For that matter, John Wesley has jotted down some of his depressive records.

When we look into Elijah’s life, he had challenged king Ahab and had won over Baal’s prophets in 1 Kings 18 . But only with Jezebel’s death threat Elijah got so scared. 1 Kings 19: 3

One woman can create so much of terror in a man’s life.

It’s not one instance but a series of events  that take place that leads us to depression.

1. Drained out condition verse 19:  Physically – he ran 18 miles

He had a prolonged period of fasting. He was physically exhausted

2. Emotionally exhausted.

Elijah felt a sense of betrayal from Ahab (King of Israel). Internalized anger can lead to depression. He was disappointed, discouraged, and depressed.

3. Spiritually defeated.

He was 1 against 400 prophets of  baal.

He cried out “I have had enough”. He gave his everything . We go through this condition when we pick more than what we can do.

Career & ministry can be exhausting. God gave us Sabbath, so that we don’t destroy ourselves from these things. It’s dangerous when we take on more than what we can do.

William Booth in his history, wanted to actually quit and wanted to become a secretary. There’s always this temptation to quit.

Not every time it’s spiritual but it also could be chemical imbalance, or it could be that light is dull. According to some researches, darkness also leads to depression. God told Elijah very significantly “Get out of the cave and come out”. Also, deficiency of sleep is also one of the causes of depression. We go on working, neglecting sleep. We manage with only few hours of sleep, which is alright in the short term, but long term, it’ll cause depression, or a drained out condition.

1. Death Mentality: Most of the bible heroes like Jonah, Moses, and David, prayed for death. Thankfully God doesn’t answer that prayer. Depression leads to death. Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problem which is a lie. It’s a sinful escape. However, it’s an individual’s basic cry – “ be with me, respond to me, this is too much for me to handle”.
2. Distorted perspective: A depressed person will have a distorted perspective. “I am the only one left” Elijah said to God. But God says there are 7000 more. Vs 14, Elijah repeats the same word to word. God said “I have reserved 7000 for me, Elijah you are not the only one.” Once the person is depressed, the focus shifts from real to perceived. We move our attention from God to self. If we notice a new word has slipped into his words, the pronoun ‘I’ takes over. Self Pity will play a major role during depression. Eyes shifts from God, faith becomes smaller, problems become bigger.  Negativism takes over. Distortion, the whole world is against me. I am the only one. When a person reaches depression, he’ll see through the physical eyes and not eyes of faith. It Leads us to believe a lie. Through the eyes of faith we can see the truth and not believe our perspective. Elijah failed to see the power. 1 Kings 19:3. Elijah saw the wrong thing, instead of God’s perspective, he saw from his perspective.

Elijah saw and ran out of fear. Perspective was distorted. He saw the wrong thing. A depressed person’s  perspective will see darkness and self pity but faith sees light.

3 cures of depression

God did to Elijah:

1. Physical restoration: Lord begins to restore him physically. God says, “Go to bed”, then angel woke him up and said eat. 2 periods of rest and 2 hot meals can make a lot of difference. Sometimes the most spiritual thing to do is food, sleep and rest. Take time to restore. God is the one who gives us the sleep. Sleep is a gift of God. Make sure, you have sufficient sleep.

10 keys for good sleep.

1. Keep regular sleeping and waking hours
2. Avoid adrenaline rush after certain hours. Don’t engage yourself in things that gives us an adrenaline rush just before we sleep.
3. Reduce the amount of light earlier in the evening. Turn down the lights in the evening.
4. Stay away from all kinds of stimulant
5. Don’t force yourself to sleep. Get up and do something else.
6. Choose a quiet place
7. Regular Exercise. Don’t exercise 2 hours before bedtime
8. Unclutter your hearts and mind. Take a piece of paper and write it down. Stay in bed if you wake up in the middle of the night. Don’t take too much of tea or coffee just before bedtime.
9. Invest in a good mattress.

2. Emotional Restoration: vs 18

God began to put right his perspective. Made the prophet”s journey back to where he was supposed to be. Elijah saw the glory of God pass by him. Vs13. God asks him “What are u doing here?”. God helps him to Reflect in his own action. It’s important to Solicite conversation and communication. Talking is therapeutic. It brings a lot of release. Getting him to talk. Don’t give a lecture. Give them a listening ear. God did it twice. They need a listening ear. Vs.9 & vs. 13. Elijah gave them the same speech, exactly word to word. God in vs 15 to 18 begins to restore him. God reminded him about his victory over baal’s prophets, He mentions that Jehu will take over and Elisha will be his next to take over.

In Lamentation 3:17 -18, God injected renewed hope by bringing a new situation. Encouragement and hope. Avoid statements like “Just pray and believe”,etc, they are very nice to say but depressed people don’t need clichés, only kindness and friendship. He wanted to isolate himself. Depression has a tendency to isolate themselves. Depressed people are difficult to be with. We must be our brother’s keeper. They isolate more and, more depressed they become. Therefore, they need fellowship. Proverbs 3:7. If you think you can, you can. There’s a limit to positive thinking. ‘I can fly’. I’ll hit myself on the floor if I really jump out my window to fly. But if the word of God says so, then it’ll be so. If God says I can overcome, I can overcome. We need ourselves an emotional restoration.

3. Spiritual restoration, vs 11.

Presence of God is an absolute cure for depression. In depression he has taken his eyes off God and onto himself. But God is getting his eyes getting back to Himself. He blows the Wind, then the fire comes but a depressed person only needs a gentle whisper. God says “I don’t want to destroy you but, I want to restore you.” God took him into his presence. Let God lift us out of this discouragement. Let him restore us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Let him whisper gently into our heart. Lam 3:21 -23 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 -Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.

Series on Managing your Emotions – Worry -Courtesy Benny Ho:

Worry is common in our modern day living; we all face it and can’t ignore it.

Philippians 4: 1-9

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

² I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³ Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Final Exhortations

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

This is an incident when my wife Sandra was expecting our first child and was at work, called me up and mentioned that she was bleeding. She had an abortion threat. With that one call, our world was falling apart. The dreams that we had for our baby, the hopes and plans were all shattered in a moment. We didn’t know what to expect or what would be the doctor’s verdict. We waited patiently as we had got the gynecologist’s  appointment for evening. However, for those few hours, millions of thoughts were going through our mind. It was only God’s grace that saved our child. Today she’s grown up to be an active 2 year old.

Max Lucado – Somewhere in storm I lost my song. All of a sudden everything from joy became so fearful .

All the peace within me gave away to the worries and anxiety. And I believe all of us can relate with situations like these, where in one moment, everything was calm and the next moment it is a chaos.

Financial issues, Children down with sickness, church is stagnant , church members are leaving. Suddenly we are surrounded by worry. Worry is like a habit. So like any other habit , we can face it and overcome it. Worry is a fruitless activity of our mind, unless you allow it to drive you for a positive action.

Worry is like a rocking chair, it allows you to rock, but does not take you anywhere. We may have seen in movies people who worry sit in the rocking chair, but it did not take them anywhere. They are stuck in the same situation

Worry cannot change the past, but definitely it can ruin the present. Paul writes this letter when he was in prison. You think about his situation. He was about to face a trial and a possible execution. They have charged him with all false accusations. With all his given circumstances, Paul writes this letter because of the concern regarding an issue in the church. He is pleading with those 2 women and also they were not ordinary woman, they were someone who stood with Paul in his ministry. With all the troubles, he is standing strong. And he gives us the secret in Philippians chapter 4 on how to overcome worry.

In verse 6

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

The word anxious means feeling or showing worry. If we are anxious or worried, it’s like life is literally squeezed out of us. Worry can also have a physical impact on us. It is proved by science as well. Something has gone wrong in mind, which results in our physical body like sickness.

What is Worry? Worry is negative thinking in our mind and negative feelings in our heart about the circumstances, people, things etc. Paul says, don’t worry, Rejoice in the lord and again I say rejoice.

Verse 4

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Actually Paul is commanding us to Rejoice , “again I say Rejoice” in Verse 4

Rejoicing is an act of the will and not emotions of the heart. Why Paul is asking / commanding us to Rejoice? What is the basis of Rejoicing?  The basis of rejoicing is not because of the circumstances but because the Lord is near. God is near , meaning two things, that is, firstly, God is with us, the ever present help and God is near us in his omnipresence , secondly, that He is coming soon. That is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Why not trust him in first place and believe that he is coming soon and is going to conquer all evil and put everything in place. The days are coming where all sorrows are gone and all tears all washed away. The day is coming where our Lord will put everything right.

Worry is Satan’s biggest weapon against the Church. He uses it to destroy believers . We can see this emphasized by Jesus in “sermon on the mount”. He knows that we struggle in the area of ‘Worry’.

Also , let me put it this way . Persistent worrying is a sin . We have people who know Christ and they only talk about worries. We can’t be worried Christians. We have forgotten that we have a father in Heaven.

How can we overcome worry? Let’s look at three things in order to overcome worries, which apostle Paul talks about.

1. Pray Right: If we really want to overcome worry and don’t want to live a life with anxiety, we need to learn how to pray right. Apostle Paul doesn’t say that Don’t worry and forget about it. In any given situation, if someone comes and says that, “don’t worry , be happy” does it really work? We respond back saying, that it is easy to say “Don’t Worry”, but I am the one who is actually going through it. But it really does not work. Paul is asking us to Face We can’t overlook worry. Learn to face-up your problems. Take it to God in Prayer, face your problems.

A problem worth not praying about is not worrying about.

1 peter 5 : 7

⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Don’t worry because your heavenly father knows it.

Praying is fine, but pray correctly. In verse 6

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God

When we pray to God, we are bringing God in our picture, and  in our circumstances. It says that we come to God in Adoration , devotion and worship.

When we face worries , first let us come to the presence of God to adore and worship him, for who He is. “Lord , I am facing this situation but I know who you are.” Bring God in Focus

Prayer Focuses on the Person of God. Paul says Petition, which focuses on the problem, therefore the sequence would be that we bring God first and then petition .

 But imagine this, that we bring petition first? When we actually have to Bring God first. He is a great God who can handle. After we bring the problem to God what do we do next? Thank him. When we are thanking and praising, we are sealing the victory for us.

So we need these 3 things in the given sequence , i.e. Prayer , Petition and Thanksgiving.

So what is the outcome?

Verse 7

⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Once we follow the above steps in sequence, we would be at peace and it’ll guard our mind from all worries.

So it’s like , our heart is guarded by a soldier , i.e the Peace of God which transcends all understanding. It Guards our heart and mind from wrong thinking and feeling.

Example: If there is a turmoil in the ocean and the wind is blowing like crazy . We definitely can’t  hold on, however, when we dive deeper into the ocean, we may not even be aware of what would be happening above. So if we guard our heart and mind with the peace of God. We can face any storm. The problem is not solved yet but there is peace.

It is like everyone is telling you that, the situation is really bad, but you have your peace intact within and you know all is well.

Psalm 46 :10 says

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

The psalmist is saying be still when?

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

2. Think Right

     Isaiah 26: 3

You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.

Our mind should be focused on the Right things.

Once our focus is wrong then everything turns wrong.

What you think all day long , you will become.

You Think wrong , You Act wrong.

What should our mind be doing instead of being anxious or worried?

Paul says in Verse 8

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

If I say all that is wrong, ugly, bad, impure, unpleasant, and have wrong thoughts. How would it look?

If we think about all these, there would be no Peace and Joy. We will be worried, and anxious. Feed the mind with right things.

3. Live Right :

Verse 9

⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Live a life of faith and trust God

Carry out the will of God . Do what is right .

Walk in faith and the God of peace will be with us.

We started with Peace of God and end with the God of Peace.

God of peace will be with us when we do right . The God of peace chooses his company carefully. Do what is right.

If the God of peace is with us then definitely the Peace of God will also be with us.

The beginning of anxiety / worry is the end of faith.

Let faith rise up today in all our worries.

Just remember this that we will win , God will triumph .

In the end, it will be ok . If it is not ok today then that means it is not the end. God has not finished yet, if it is not the end. God is still doing something . so don’t worry , the God of peace will be with you.

God wants us to live in Spirit and not in our soul (where our emotions are centered) which is always worrying.

Our spirit which is God’s spirit should master over our soul.

We should live by the spirit and not by flesh

Psalm 42 : 5

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

The Spirit is talking to the soul. We need to exercise this in our life otherwise our emotions / desires will always master us.

Our spirit which is God’s spirit should master over our soul.

Walk in Spirit not in flesh.Rise above situations …

Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community. The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.