We all believe in a supernatural realm. A realm that is not visible to our naked eyes. It’s a spiritual battle. And we all are in that battle. God wants to turn us into a warrior. The battle belongs to God. The victory belongs to his Church. The book of Ephesians gives us many pictures of the church. Including the Church as a family. When we read the first part of Ephesians, Paul is using a metaphor of the church as a temple, church as bride, Ephesians chapter 6, church as an Army. The metaphor has changed from church as a family, temple, bride and Army. Also, we say the Church is a hospital but the ultimate goal is not only to become a hospital, ...

BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION: THE JORDAN RIVER AND THE WILDERNESS   Mark 1:9-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) The Baptism of Jesus 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;[a] with you I am well pleased.” The Temptation of Jesus 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.   God's Love displayed These forty days we ...

Life’s Turning Point Last time, we journeyed through the calling of Matthew. Matthew was sitting in the Tax booth , doing his routine activities, in the midst of which, a man came to him whose name was JESUS and told him to follow him, and Matthew followed him.   Matthew 9 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.   This day for Matthew was a decision-making day.  A turning Point in his Life . He left everything and followed Jesus. He did not even know where he was going. He may have just heard about Jesus.   In our professional life  and spiritual life, we all have a moment which ...

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 ...

How do we Understand the Presence of God in our life? Let’s describe the following opinions: If everything goes well, then the presence of God is with us. Is it similar to Presence of Mind Is it similar to Presence of a beloved 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...