God is Faithful

Exodus 2:2 “The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.”

Moses was beautiful when he was born and that beauty is referenced in Exodus 2:2, Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23. This beauty of the baby has an important role in the salvation of the whole kingdom. This is because we learn that God blesses us for one important reason, we use them for Him. It is because the king’s order was so powerful that if they saved Moses, the whole family will be in danger. This beauty is the reason the mother was forced to protect the kid. As per Hebrews 11:23, this beauty gave the parents faith against the king’s orders.

This is the reason behind all our blessings and resources. If God has given us anything good, then He has a purpose with that. We can see many such examples like David’s experiences when he was a shepherd, Samson’s strength, Solomon’s wisdom etc. We do not see anybody sacrificing to or worshipping God. We read in Acts that Moses was divinely beautiful or beautiful before God. This tremendous beauty is God’s answer to a nation’s slavery. We expect the Lord to be powerful to show great miracles in our lives so that we will be proved to be successful in front of others. But God answers us with simple things like when the romans were ruling and Israel was so lost, a simple child was the answer and was encouraged to celebrate by us. It is not impossible for God to directly redeem and send us away from Egypt, but His plan is that we would become worthy to inherit Canaan.

God could have prevented the king from killing innocent children. We should know that God has pre-destined us and he knows who will actually get to live in Canaan. It was the children of those who were living there. The murders continued for many years and only Joshua and Caleb where spared. God knew who would enter glory and kept their parents alive. God would turn evil into good as in Gen 50:20 because He is faithful and has only one plan with our life that is we become worthy of the kingdom of heaven. In 1 Corinthians 1:9 we read that we are called towards the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Moses was delivered to the world for protection. The same Nile which had killed many children had saved Moses from death because God had a plan with him. Miriam wanted to see what would happen to Moses came forward and with a great courage and told her that she would bring somebody to nurse the baby. All this happens because the baby was crying. The baby was beautiful to be saved by Moses’s parents and he was crying to be saved by the Pharaoh’s daughter. We see God’s faithfulness here.

When Moses had grown up, he thought he was strong to kill an Egyptian. But the Lord never allowed him to fight the whole of his lifetime. Even in Midian we read that he just stood up and did not fight. In the only occurrence of his fight, we read he became fearful. In Galatians 5:20, we read how anger and enmity even to the worst enemy comes from the flesh. We read these sins as the works of the flesh. In flesh if we try to receive blessings or authority, people will say “who made you judge and a prince”. Moses was actually a prince but his own people denied that. In Acts 7:35, we read that. But if people had accepted Moses as a warrior, the actual salvation would not have happened. This is the faith we should have on God.

Even in Midian, Moses thought that all his beauty, his knowledge and strength was all used to shepherd a priest’s flock in wilderness. But it is the faithfulness of God to bring him to Horeb, the mountain of God. This is his destiny where he is transformed to be a great leader. To come to Horeb, he had to come through the taste of death, education by the world in its sinfulness (Hebrews 7:25), rejection by his own people and become a very simple shepherd with no great authority.

But life after Horeb is different.

Amen.

Taskmasters of the world

Exodus 1:11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses.

The Jews in Egypt had grown well and the Pharaoh was very frightened because of their might and to control them, they had used taskmasters to ensure they perform heavy work. Satan uses a similar stand against us where he is really worried if we would escape his dominion or enslavement and become God’s free people. Our meditation today is on how Satan plans well to make us become his slaves.

The first thing we should learn is in verse 8 where there arose a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. This person was the only reason of survival and so, the savior to the whole nation. But a king in the third or fourth generation had completely forgotten and this shows how grateful the kingdom is. This is how the world will receive any goodness from us. We would think that our work will produce well and keep us safe. We may think how our kindness to others will give back one hundred times. But the world which is an enemy is so selfish that it will consume all the goodness in us and throw us away in hell. John 15:19 explains how our efforts to please the world by making peace with it will throw us in hell.

The devil’s first plan against us is to use taskmasters. These people’s job is to ensure that we are in slavery. They do not allow us to think. Taskmasters slowly consume all our energy and will. Video games, cinema, TV serials are such task masters. We are not building anything of our own here. Their purpose is not to build a city or anything good, but to afflict us with heavy burdens. In Ex 5:10 we read how they work by just making our sufferings worsen. There are some taskmasters who seem to be good in our eyes like education, business ambitions, art etc. But these consume us more that the evil taskmasters. It is OK to work, but to spend all our energy is not good.

The truth is that we are already strong and mighty but ignorance had blinded the whole country of Israel. That’s why the Lord wants us to know the truth. The truth is that the Lord has made everything that is necessary for our redemption and has given us strength. The truth is so important that everything else is a lie. The truth can be only one thing but lies can be many. The truth is that we are mighty and too many for the enemy. The truth is that we can easily beat the enemy because God has made us strong. But we had not known this and allowed the enemy to plot against us. This is the reason why Jesus said that if we know the truth, it will set us free. This knowledge alone is sufficient but since we had allowed the enemy to enslave us and consume our strength, now we need a savior to come and save us out of the world. This is what we read in Isaiah 52:3.

The enemy has is cunning and planning to make us fall into their graves. We read that in 1 Peter 5:8. It is important that we do not take the enemy easily. Our resistance to him in primarily by being watchful and a sober mind. A lack of such an alertness will make us a prey for his deception. In John 8:44, when a person calls himself not enslaved after sinning as the son of the devil and he is a mighty tool of the devil and allows himself willingly for the devil’s purpose.

The devil knows that if we join his enemies, we will easily overcome him. And so, he makes sure that we become weaker and weaker day by day. This attitude in us not to look for external help is again useful to the devil. He wants us not to join others through prayer and fellowship. Also, he is sure that we will not initiate the revolution from inside because we look at him as our father.

The devil builds cities using our efforts to store his wealth. The pornography we watch in our teenage will be stored inside us to deceive adults. One sin like a small lie can bring forth bigger storehouses for Satan. So, let us be careful in our lives.

Amen.

Growth of Israel in Egypt

Exodus 1:7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Israel was blessed well because of Joseph’s holiness and victory of sin. He was an important tool in the Lord’s blessing to Abraham. Even though Joseph was not the father of the family and to most of them, he was only an uncle, but God made sure that the whole nation grew well with this person’s opportunities. But this happiness did not last and they became slaves. Our meditation today is on how we grow when we are in the Lord’s protection and plan.

The Lord makes us fruitful. The fruit is attributed to the Holy Spirit who helps us produce well so that others could reap from us. We read the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. But in Proverbs 11:30, we read the fruit of righteous as the fruit of life. This means that this fruit which we produce will give eternal life to others who see our lives. This is important in Christendom. Our righteousness should have a purpose of burden towards souls. Every time we sin and stray, it makes our fellow people eat junk or poisonous food. We also should see that being fruitful primarily does not produce outside but inside our families. The ones who reap from our righteousness are the people we love and care about. It is important for every person to bear fruit in the Lord.

We read the word increase and multiply which both are the same in this verse. The increase is a result of the fruitfulness of ourselves. But multiplication is different where our products will be fruitful. God will not give us friends who support us, but friends and family who will have better ambitions and plans for themselves but will bring honor to us. Proverbs 29:2 shows how this multiplication brings joy to people’s lives. In every country or region, if the righteous, smart and educated increase, the whole region flourishes and the growth of righteous people alone brings hope to all. The problem with India is that all the money now is being stacked up with evil politicians who are not educated and so are their generations. These people are going to rule the future. But if there is a responsible generation who would stand up against corruption and is willing to make sacrifices without hoping for selfish plans, the whole country will flourish.

Being fruitful and multiplication is not sufficient until we are ready to face the enemy. That’s why the Lord made the people stronger. They became exceedingly mighty that the Egyptians were so worried of their growth. It is important that we understand Ephesians 6:12 where we struggle against powers and rulers of the kingdom. Adam’s sin gave this world up to Satan making it his kingdom. The righteousness of Jesus produces victory over the world and until He comes again to bind the deceiver, the Church is His product and the path towards His kingdom. For this, we should not just multiply but be strong enough to overcome. 1 Cor 1:26 explains that weakness in the world will be shamed because it is not actual might and power.

The result of this blessings to the country help them to fill our lands. If righteousness is strong and we allow that to multiply in our lives, that will fill our life completely. The church should be full of strong and fruitful members so that it can cause the enemy to be afraid. They might throw us into tribulation but we will overcome with the power of the Lord. Psalms 80:9 explains how God has worked strongly to clear everything that’s against His will out of Canaan and helped Israel fill the land. But Israel had failed and let corruption fill from inside. This caused the Lord to abandon them.

Let us be increase, be fruitful, multiply, become exceedingly mighty and fill the land.

Amen.

The Image of God

Acts 17:29 “Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.”

This verse is Paul’s explanation to those in Athens about how to seek and understand God. When we seek God, we do that with an expectation or imagination. This imagination is often the best of our own skills. For example, an engineer will seek a God who is very much more skillful and intelligent and a farmer will look for a God who provides good harvest. This is all our imagination and they are based on our own needs. Paul explains that we can do this if we do not have any relationship with God. We are His children and so, it is important that we see Him as God and not with man’s imagination. We should not align ourselves with men’s knowledge and craftsmanship.

The start of knowing God can be done from Psalms 100:3 that He owns us completely and had given us life for a reason. The verse emphasizes that we did not make us, which means we have to acknowledge His authority in our lives. In the verse we read that we are sheep of His pasture which means that God has created us so that he would feed us. He wants to decide on what we would consume and grow into. The Lord always has enjoyed calling Himself as the shepherd instead of owner or feeder because this job has both the responsibilities but with lots of love.

The primary quality of the Father should be seen as in Lev 11:44, Isaiah 6:3, 57:15 and 1 Peter 1:15, 16. The Father is Holy, Holy and Holy. Peter further explains that this is the only expectation of the Father from us. This is what He expects us to know of Him.

The Son came to us as a savior. He always addressed Himself as the redeemer, shepherd who gives his life. Peter explains how the redemption is complete through the Father and the Son together in 1 Peter 1:19-21. Because Jesus carried all the sins on mankind and died, God was powerful enough to raise Him up and glorify Him. So, if we believe that the redemption is complete, by the blood of Jesus and the power of God who raised Him up, we are saved. This was greatest gift to mankind by the son (Himself) and God (His only Son) and the mightiest act of God by raising Him up.

The Holy Spirit is our teacher and companion.  Any other purpose seen will misuse Him. If we do not seek the Holy Spirit for God’s purpose that is Holiness, His presence will be ineffective in our lives. In John 14:15 and 16 we read how the Holy Spirit is a helper for us to keep His commandments. The Lord Jesus always had mentioned that the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all that Jesus has taught. We also read in John 16:9-11 more effectively how the works of the Holy Spirit is done.

If we seek the Lord for this divine purpose, we would be pursuing His likeness with all our strength so that we can fulfill His purpose. But if we seek Him for anything else, we will be lost.

In Galatians 4:8, we read that we were slaves to those who are not gods by nature. This means there is no trace of any God’s character in these entities which enslaved us. A true picture of God only will liberate us from them. The following verse equates both knowing God and God knowing us as equals. But this knowledge should make us turn away from weak and worthless elements which take us to slavery again. If our worship and ministry does not liberate us and help us progress towards what God wants us to do, it takes us into slavery.

John 16:2-3 explains how extreme serving God without knowing Him will take us. This will push us towards breaking homes and churches to prove our service to God.

So, that is why Jesus mentions that knowing Him is eternal life and does not lead there, this knowledge itself is life to us.

Amen.

The Seven Churches - Laodecia

Rev 3:14 14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.”

The Lord introduces Himself as the beginning of God’s creation and not as the first creation but the start of creation. It means that He was present and was the primary reason why the creation initiated. The word amen means assurance and acknowledgment. The Lord calls Himself Amen which means He is the assurance of everything the Lord says. He is the faithful and the true witness means that He would communicate what is true to us and to the Father God. When He saves us, He does not cover our sins but cleans and removes them before presenting us to the Father. Amen also means that He is the final judge.

Laodicea was flourishing well in business. But had trouble in water. Colossae nearby had cool water from the mountains and Hierapolis nearby had hot water springs but the water in Laodicea was brought from Colossae through mud pipes built in their times. But due to the heat, when the water arrives, it becomes lukewarm and with the taste of the minerals it would taste awful. That’s why the Lord uses a very local example to teach the church.

The members of the church were rich because of the city’s business and had enough. But Lord confirms clearly and finally that it is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. The Lord’s decision is final and He expects us to buy gold from Him and not anywhere else to become rich. He also wants the church to buy white garments from Him. He was telling businessmen that your gold is not gold and garments are wretched. This is because how the world can blind us. We may be experts in anything but the Lord wants us to understand that everything that we are is nothing but if we buy from Him, we can actually become rich.

We cannot buy when we are poor and naked. But the Lord considers that as a purchase if we come to him and receive. (Isaiah 55:1) Being poor, naked and blind are serious problems the church should attend to. And we should depend on the Lord for these problems sincerely. We should keep asking the Lord for solutions to these problems. Poverty shows how we will become pitiable we are and gold shows the knowledge and understanding they lack (Col 2:3). The white garment is holiness the Lord provides. The Lord gives us ointment but it is us who have to apply in our eyes. Otherwise the blindness which is our own understanding will continue to reign in our hearts.

The Lord assures that it is His method that he reproves and disciplines who He loves. Having worldly richness or self proclaiming richness does not mean the person is loved by God. So, we have to repent from our love of the world to Him. I stand at the door and knock is a very important verse. But we have to open the door with understanding that he loves and disciplines. Jesus would eat with us and we will eat with Him means that He will understand us and we will know Him. But we have to open our ears to hear his voice and open. We should not open because the door is knocked. But have to hear that it is Jesus who is calling and then open to Him.

If we conquer, He will honor us by placing us in His throne.

The Seven Churches - Philadelphia

Rev 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”

Philadelphia was a city founded by the Pergamon kingdom in 189 BC where the king loved his brother most because of his loyalty and named the city as “city of the one who loves his brother”. In AD 17 the city suffered a very big earthquake and the then roman king exempted them from paying taxes. Also the vineyards in the city were great and could be compared with those in Rome. So, the roman emperor Domitian wanted Rome to be the best and removed those vineyards here causing them to suffer economically. This made them feel lost. Also the church speaks about the problems in the Synagogue where the false Jews prevented Christians from entering. They felt totally lost.

In this context Jesus introduces Himself as the Holy one who does not belong to any human attitudes and the true and faithful one who keeps His word. This introduction is very important to such a church to be built up. Holy means separated here. The words assure the church that you can trust me and I will be beside you. I am true and do not work like the world does.

The key of David shows the government (Isaiah 22:22 and Isaiah 9:6), where all the political decisions and resources are in a person’s shoulders meaning he will have to carry. Here the Lord says that, I have the authority and so, you shall not worry and I will honor you. The Lord wants us to know that He is the one who opens doors and closes them. If we are denied opportunities anywhere, He will open doors for you. Also, the key of David shows the understanding or relationship of God where people loved and sought Him. This understanding only opens and closes opportunities for us.

Philadelphia is a model where many churches in the world tend to copy and many name themselves so. This is because the Lord actually appreciated the church. He had nothing against Smyrna but there was no appreciation either. It looked like that church was destined to suffer in the world. But this church was appreciated really well and the Lord is so happy that he honors the church in front of those who bring disgrace to you. The Lord also continues to mention that you can escape trials which will be hard for most to endure. This means you have already won this. Also, the Lord mentions that you already are crowned and do not lose it. To all the other churches, the Lord would say I know you works or situation and you are like this. But the Lord starts here with I know your works, I bless you with an open door through which you can progress forward.

The Lord mentions here that your power is little here. The Greek word for power here can be compared with miracles and ability. The church did not have that great power with signs and wonders. The church was not popular because there were lies of the false Jews. These signs can never make a church great in the Lord’s eyes. There were very less miracles in the church. There was only one obedience in the church. They kept the Lord’s word about perseverance (Verses 8, 10). This one quality honored the church. The Lord says that if you had not suffered well, you would have denied my name. But you did not. I am very happy for you. This suffering not because we look at a great future but because we obey the Lord. If I disobey Him and not patiently endure, I would deny His Name. His name depends on my obedience and not my strength and power.

The Lord says that those who dwell in the earth will be tried but those who patiently endure will not. This means that perseverance makes us not dwell in the world.

The Lord makes such people pillars in His temple so that they would be the strength of it. They cannot be removed at all. He will have the name of the Lord written on Him.

The Seven Churches - Sardis

Rev 3:1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.”

The Lord introduces Himself as the person who owns every church and the provider of every goodness or support to the churches. This introduction is relevant here because this church had nothing to be encouraged initially except for a few members who kept themselves pure.

The problem with this church is that it thought or is believed to be alive by the world. Everybody thinks that this church is so active with their eyes. That’s why the Bible is keen on saying sight is not always true (2 Cor 5:7). Many churches have a lot of convincing proofs to the world that there is action there. They pray for hours or show off many spiritual gifts. This is a very important factor that the world’s judgment of a church is not always right. If the world credits a church to be great and majestic, it will give a false assessment to the church and it will fall.

The solution given to the church is to first wake up from the false reputation and dream that it is living in. This is very important as unless we realize that we are sleeping, we will never attempt to wake. In Ephesians 5:10-14, we read how it is important to stop taking part in the works of the darkness but expose them to the light and this coming to the light where all our works are transparent is waking up. Verse 10 wants us to try and discern what is pleasing to the Lord. This is important as this is instructed to Sardis in verse 2. It is God who evaluates a church and not the world. The reputation from the world means nothing.

The verse wants us not to bring our dead parts to life but look for what portions in our church has life and we have to strengthen them. This strength will then pass into the other dead areas to bring life to the whole church. Also, this instruction is given because the works are not complete. So, to have complete works we should not work in every single area we can but perform complete, perfect and acceptable works in whatever we are working on.

The next verse wants us to remember what we already know, which means stop learning new things. New knowledge to a dead church is nothing. We have to ensure what we preach is practiced in the church or otherwise, there is no hope of waking up. The truth will set free, but a free person can still be sleeping. To be awake, it is important to ensure our deeds to be acceptable to God. The knowledge alone cannot keep a person or church alive. The Lord will come like a thief in an unknown hour upon the church and look for what life it has.

There are people in Sardis who have not stained their clothing. They will be honored but the church is still dead. Just because there is one or few holy people, a whole repentance only will be able to bring the church to life. The one who conquers is the same one who has ensured to not soil his clothing.

The Seven Churches - Thyathira

Rev 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”

Thyathira is a city near Smyrna and a church both appalled and criticized by the Lord. The city was popular for garments and dyeing. Or maybe famous for fashion. The other mention of the city is in Acts 16 about Lydia who urged Paul and Silas to stay with her. She was selling purple goods and wanted Paul to acknowledge her faithfulness to the Lord.

Jesus is very happy about the church’s love, faith, service and patient endurance. The verse gives importance to each of these qualities by quoting “love and faith and service etc.” This is God acknowledging every single thing in detail. We should understand that patient endurance is appreciated which is an important quality of a church which helps it grow. The most important quality is that the church displayed growth in terms of works. If we set some standards in a church, we should ensure we stay there or exceed that standard but never recede from that state. If our commitments with the Lord decrease it becomes disgraceful in a church.

The important problem to the church is that it tolerated a person named or behaved like Jezebel. She taught the members to be sexually immoral and seducing them towards that sin. Sexual immorality was a serious problem at that time but when we come to our times, this comes in another form for the church. The bride of Christ should be pure in who is worshipped. If the church gives the husband’s place to anybody or anything else, it becomes immoral. The second problem is about eating things sacrificed to idols which is about looking for gain by serving men. This is condemned of every member in the church who would make an earning out of sin. This is not OK in the church. The Lord does not criticize the action but if the church tolerates these actions, it becomes fatal for the church.

Jezebel called herself a prophetess which is the easiest way to gain attention in the church. She is actually misleading the church for her gain. She wants pleasure and so takes the whole church down by making sin a teaching. She actually uses the Lord’s name to make men fall for her.

For such people, God gives time and opportunities to repent but if they delay that change and think about changing later, God sees that as refusal to repent. This means that she knows what she does is sin but her love towards that path of immorality makes her justify herself so much that even others can fall into this. Verse 22 says how God will make her partners fall into a great tribulation unless they repent of her works. Christ uses the word “her works” meaning that she is responsible completely but still that does not give an excuse to her followers.

The punishment is level starts low with the lady herself, then higher to her partners and death to her children. The reason is because the Lord wants be a just here. She should live in a deathbed so that people know the Lord knows everything. Her partners who believed her teaching and did not look out to the Lord take higher tribulations and the products of her sin are those who cannot be changed at all. These should be killed. The children point to every gift or goodness the church has received because of this sin.

For this church the Lord introduces Himself as having fiery eyes and bronze feet. This shows that God looks at every progress of the church with eyes that are not merciful but with fire. The feet like bronze indicates that He will move within the church and make His presence felt with heaviness and brightness. This is not of the past because in starting of chapter 4 only the future starts. The Lord coming as a strong judge is not only of the future but He is the same inside the church which is His body.

The other lesson here is that the ones who have not corrupted themselves did not learn from the depths of Satan. Jesus acknowledges this term because if anyone tries to learn what comes from Jezebel, they will fall. But if we keep away from even understanding what that is, there are very high chances for us to stand up with righteousness. The Lord says that staying without understanding this itself is a burden or a cross enough for a person and the Lord does not want to place any other hardship in addition to this.

The one who conquers this woman’s teaching is strong enough to rule the ends of the world. The morning star, or the star that appears before the sun.

Being Born Again

John 1:12,13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Becoming children of God is a very great honor that nobody in the world can earn. The world is falsely teaching that every human is a son of God. But that’s not true. Only those who receive Jesus, and believe in Him have the right to become the children of God. We should see that believing in Jesus gives us the right and not fully make us children of God. This right makes us children of God who are actually born, not of the will of the flesh or the will on man, but of God. This is a wonderful experience that God will give us where we are treated not like adults but like children giving a new perspective of the whole world around us. That is life that God provides, with authority that we are children of God.

1 Peter 1:3 explains that God’s mercy helps us be born again to a living hope to an imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance. We should see that this hope and right is brought to us only through the mercy of God and not because we earned it. The bible calls this as living hope because every other hope takes us to a dead end. We should see this as a hope of life. Being born to a living hope shows that we were totally blind or dead to what life actually is. But when God was merciful, we became new beings with new ambitions or new intentions in our lives. This is called being born again.

In the same chapter verses 23,24 explain how all flesh could wither like grass unless it is born of the living word. Every food that we take in or nutrient that we consume are all perishable. Everything that we earn will be lost but our seed is the word. But if we use the word of God as the seed from which we start living with the qualities of the same plant, this plant becomes completely imperishable.

God promises a new beginning to every one of us where all our commitments and sins of our old self is completely forgiven and we get a chance to live as new children without any guilt. We read that in 2 Corinthians 5:17. From verse 18 we can see that we are no longer away from God but reconciled kids in front of God. This opportunity is wonderful and great for any person to ignore. But we continue ignoring Jesus. This reconciliation was given to us with a cost of the cross. Verse 19 shows the seriousness of God’s grace towards us. If God is not counting our trespasses and asking us to come towards Him.

With this context, if we read John 1:13, we are not born of blood, of will of man or will of flesh. God explains how children are born either by fleshy desires or somebody needed children desperately. This birth is completely disregarded and God does not see this person as a living being. But if we receive Jesus Christ, we are born of God.

In John 3:7, 8 our Lord explains Nicodemus not to worry about how to be born again. We do not know how the wind goes, so is the Holy Spirit’s product would start from nowhere and end in places where nobody can expect. He will if we submit ourselves to the Spirit.

Seeking versus Serving

Acts 17:25-27 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

When Paul explains the philosophers in Athens about the unknown God who they had created with their own hands, he continues to explain that God does not need anything and we cannot serve Him with our hands. But God wants us to seek Him and find Him. We read a similar incident in Luke 10:38-42 about Martha and Mary. Martha was trying to serve Him whereas Mary was seeking the Lord. Martha had an idea in her mind just like the men in Athens that God is expecting us to pray in this fashion, worship in this fashion etc. They had their own conclusions about the great Lord and wanted to make statues in expensive metals. But God has a completely different plan and need.

That’s why Jesus ridiculed Martha saying you are anxious and worried about many things. We lose our concentration about God and attempt many things to impress people in church or elders in the church trying with our talents and emotions. At most times our prayers are like that. We get anxious when the government does something against the church and we try to fight our way back through the law that is controlled by the same government. But if our ambition is to seek God only, things are actually much easier. Mary’s actions were actually much easier than Martha’s. All we have to do is not to worry on how we would fare in Christendom.

There is a similar incident with Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:6,7. Cain’s rejection devastated him and became very angry. God clearly said that sin is crouching at the door because he was trying to please God with things that he decided himself. Again, Abel’s choices were easy as God was everything to him, he gave the best and the first because he knew how great the Lord was. God gave Cain a clear way out of sin that all he has to do is do good. But anxiousness brought fate on Cain.

In Hebrews 11:6, where faith is defined and explained, Paul explains that we should confidently believe that God rewards those who seek Him. The verse says that any person who comes to God should believe that we will get answers only if we seek Him. We read that between Enoch and Noah. That’s why Jesus says in Mathew 6:33 to seek God and His kingdom first. That is explained clearly in Mathew 13:44 -46 in the two parables. If a person seeks and finds God, he will immediately be willing to lose everything that he owns and the Lord says that that is the kingdom. It means that the kingdom is all about Him where we look at God and not consider anything or anything else greater.

1 Chronicles 28:9 is an important verse David explains Solomon before anointing him as king that if he wants to serve the Lord, ensure to do that whole heartedly and with a willing mind. Never ever do because you are forced to do so. God looks at every person’s heart and if he has to serve God, he has to seek God and his kingdom to be present first. David was honored a lot by the Lord in spite of his many sins. The reason is that he was the first to persuade people to seek God and until him, the law wanted us to obey. David did not just ask others, the ways he sought God are in many psalms like 27:4, 34:8,10. In Proverbs 28:5, Solomon places those who do not seek God against evil men. Any person who does not serve God without seeking Him becomes evil and does things without understanding Him. We see another warning in Hosea 10:12-13 on how to sow and reap expecting righteousness and seek the Lord to come and rain righteousness upon us. This portion in our life should never be lost.

In Mathew 6:24, we read how Jesus explains how we cannot serve two masters. That is not because we will run out of energy but because we will love one and hate the other. Serving a master needs a person to love him first. We cannot serve God because we are comfortable and without sin, but because we have a loving relationship with Him. Isaiah 55:6 wants us to seek God when he is near and available. This is because we are living when grace is flowing. This is a single and only opportunity for us to seek Him.

Amen.

The Seven Churches - Pergamum

Revelation 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

Pergamum is addressed as the throne or Satan or the place where Satan dwells. If Jesus refers so, it is like the city was so full of sin. It means that Satan felt like home in that city. History says that there was three big temples, a hospital and spa where even emperors where treated with snakes, a great library and a great theatre. Antipas mentioned here was the bishop of Pergamum and was a big threat to the locals because he drove demons out of people which was their investment. The death was inside a hollow bronze bull heated so that he would die being roasted alive. There is an altar of Zeus where human sacrifices were made which could have been called the throne of Satan. This altar was moved to Berlin in 1930 which was around the time Hitler started his infamous work killing the Jews.

In this tough time, seeing the death of Antipas, the church stood upright and still which is the appreciation Jesus gives to the church. This is a very good sign of a church where at whatsoever persecution, it holds fast to the name of the Lord. The name is dependable and when we remember at these times, we will not deny our faith. The church was not a secret church in the city of Satan.  It stood up in the time of tribulation even after Antipas was killed with the same faith as before. This is a very great sign of a church. But this strength was lost in another area.

Balaam’s teaching was accepted where a strong Israel became weaker with women and their idols. It became OK for them to eat with the sexually immoral people. Jesus is angry because the church did not accept the practice but accepted the teaching. The Nicolatian teaching was also accepted here. Speaking about this group in Ephesus, that church hated this group’s work which was positive, but the church in Pergamum accepted the teaching which is far worse that accepting works. If somebody comes here and teaching a doctrine, the church’s responsibility is to ridicule that teaching completely and clarify its members out of it. Sin establishes its throne inside a church not through members who fall, but through teaching. It is important for those who teach to ensure what comes out of their mouth to be aligned perfectly with the Bible as in Ephesians we read how Jesus is the corner stone, and the apostles and prophets become the foundation in line with Christ.

We should see that Balaam’s teaching was intended to Balak and to deceive Israel, but somehow this teaching is practiced inside Israel. That is the power of false teaching. Once an evil doctrine is taught like evolution it will strongly live. Likewise, accepting LGBT and other practices are popping up in churches and it is now necessary for churches to become so. These got a stronghold only in the last few years. Any doctrine that quickly spreads is a sign of the devil’s work.

God wants the church to repent. Repentance is turning away from sin and so, it should explain that churches should check what teachings allow men to sin and what do not. If there is such a teaching or even a tradition, the church should repent accepting that it is sin. Repentance brings salvation through the blood of Jesus and so there is a clear way out. But blasphemy as in the church of Smyrna directly serves Satan. Those men are clearly left out when eternal life comes. If the church repents everybody would repent including those who practices these things.

When Jesus introduces Himself, it is the sword that should be seen by the church. The double edged sword as in Hebrews 4:12, 13 there is nothing the sword cannot enter into. It makes way through bones and marrow and even the division of the soul and the spirit. A work of the sword will be painful to the tissues around it. A normal sword will not penetrate but cut, but a double edged sword will penetrate.

The hidden manna promised is Jesus Himself as in John 6:48-51. Without that repentance, seeing Jesus is not possible for the church. The experience of salvation is what referred here. This salvation will be so personal that nobody else can address Jesus with that wonderful name. The white stone refers to something like an ID card or a ticket that has the personal name of Jesus written.

The Seven Churches - Smyrna

Revelation 2:8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

Smyrna, the city has very much relevance about resurrection as the city itself was a great place of trade because of myrrh which was exported to Egypt and other important kingdoms. When the Lydian kingdom exploited the city around 550 BC, the city became a pile of ruins. Around 300 BC, Alexander wanted to build the city with some leaders and it grew back again. Around 130 BC, the city was taken over by the Romans with Pergamum as the capital.  From the name we can understand that the plant myrrh was crushed to produce fragrance which is expected of this church.

When Jesus introduces Himself, He is the first and the last and who died and came to life. Here, life is not followed by death but death is first. The primary message to this church is that you should be faithful until death (v 10). Jesus wants those who are chosen for tribulation to know that He knows what suffering and death is. In every event of our troublesome life, if we start deciding on things by knowing that Jesus has already done this, we will be a lot encouraged. Jesus had experienced every kind of humiliation in the world. He was called an associate of the devil or Beelzebub, a person who He personally trained had complete love for money more than the Lord Himself. The worst thing is that when Jesus personally was teaching, Peter had not grown up even a little bit. The Lord had to enter Peter’s heart as the Holy Spirit for him to actually work. Jesus was clearly rejected in his own town. But in spite of all these problems, He could be 100% successful as so we are expected likewise.

Even though Jesus had been through this, there is an assurance that He knows what we are going through. Even if the volume of pain Jesus had was very much higher than what we would experience, He still claims to know our pain. This is a father’s heart. A father will have so much pain, but a son’s little trouble will break Him apart. This love is the second confidence we get from Jesus.

Jesus knows the church’s tribulation, poverty which is the lack of good resources which stops the church from growing well. This means that churches do not get to have everything they need. A church being poor is something to understand. The truth is that the church is rich but remains poor. It means that you chose to be poor because you did not compromise. A church showing off its richness is not appreciated at all.

Blasphemies in the church are treated as tribulation. Not just when the government or police hinder us, even when people who call themselves as Jews come forward and proclaim that we are not called to serve God. They will label our perspectives as wrong and call us to be without anointing or the power of the Holy Spirit. God clearly says that these people belong to the synagogue of Satan.

Going forward, the Lord says that there is suffering but do not fear about it. God wants the church to receive suffering with happiness and pride and not out of choice and fear. We cannot see this as a human expression of false hope, but it really means that there is nothing to fear in suffering for a church.

The devil will create excuses to throw the church into prison and there will be testing for 10 days and will lead to death. The church is already in trouble internally and had chosen poverty, but Jesus speaks about prison which is lack of freedom completely. 10 in the bible speaks about authority like the Ten Commandments and Daniel and his friends accepting tests for 10 days etc. But you shall hold your faithfulness until death. The death should happen and only then there will be reward of crown of life. The crown is the largest of all jewels and the best of life will be received to those who give themselves to suffering.

Concluding the message, the Lord says that the person who conquers like Smyrna would not be hurt by second death. When the second death occurs during the final judgment, there will be nothing to even hurt the church.

Light

John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

There is something called life which was only present inside Jesus Christ. This life is very different from what the world defines life is. The bible says in Psalm 16:11 that this life has God’s presence and is full of Joy. This life was something that was prepared by God Himself to us and wants us to enjoy. But, this life needs us to forsake our own knowledge of determining what is good and evil and we depend on Jesus as a good shepherd as per John 10:10 and he will ensure that we will not lost our lives.

Today’s meditation is about this life that Jesus had in Himself was not something that he enjoyed within Himself. This life was the light of men. Men without Jesus have nothing but utter darkness to walk. The bible says that His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths (Ps 119:105). In the Old Testament, the Bible gave light to men on how they should walk. Remember that these men knew good and evil but this brought them into darkness only. That’s the power of knowledge, it can keep us in our same position without making us improve even a little bit. We all have knowledge that some stuff are evil but this knowledge cannot help us anywhere. This knowledge comes in various forms like technical, moral and even theological. But unless we take Jesus as our shepherd and obey Him, there is no way, truth or the life.

John 11:9 explains how we should see this light Jesus. As a directing light that can help us progress in life. If this light is not used, we may seem like we are progressing well, but we are actually would be wandering. Proverbs 4:18 explains how the path of light shines brighter and brighter. As we start walking in this light, our paths become more and more clear and visible so that we know what we are doing is absolutely right.

In Luke 15:11-32, we read the parable of the prodigal son which is a great example for a person who walks in light. This son never realized the position he had in his father’s place. The security from God has no value in our lives unless we live in an insecure place. The son proceeded to go a live recklessly spending everything. This mistake happens when we do not have a father. We will think we are living freely without boundaries, but friends, prostitutes and the world will consume everything we have while we do not realize what is happening.

Just at that time, famines come and explain our actual situation in the world without the father. When we had our father’s inheritance with us, we would have stayed in grand hotels and in luxury. But once we lose everything, that’s where the world shows what we are good at. We can see such lives with drunkards and people who have married a wrong person. The verse says that he longed to eat of the pods of the pigs but no one gave him anything to eat. The world after you are worn out will see that you are not even worthy to eat a pig’s food.

But there is one place in the whole world where you are accepted at any stage you are. This is not because you are talented or great, but because you are your father’s son. There is not just happiness but celebration. We also can see that all we will need eventually is to be servants there, but God’s love towards us is so overflowing that He gives our power and authority back to us. This is life with light. We get to be managers and owners with a wise father with us. Nothing is hidden and so, nothing is lost.

As per Isaiah 60:1, all we have to do is rise up and shine for as the light has come.

Amen.

The Seven Churches - Ephesus

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands“

Ephesus was a very strong and prominent city in Asia Minor. It was more like a roman business capital in this region. The temple of Artemis was a very strong structure being one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was located here. It had 127 pillars each of size around 40 feet. We read that in Acts 19:27. There was also a market name Agora in the city where everything was traded. However, to enter this place people had to take incense and drop into a bowl or something which indicated that they worshipped Caesar. This was very hard for the Church to thrive. Some historians believe that the apostle John live here for some time and wrote the gospel of John from here. It is also believed that Mary spent her last days here as John was taking care of her. These show the importance of the Church and its troubles. This church did not fail completely as we read in a letter two decades later by Ignatius of Antioch who commends the church. So, the church was obedient to John’s letter to them and so, survived well.

When Jesus introduces Himself, He is the one who holds responsible for all the messengers of the churches and monitors all the churches’ progress and activities. It means that the Churches are not completely independent from the Lord’s monitoring. Since the church will be reading the whole book, they should be able to see that this church is not exclusive to the Lord and so, learn to respect others. We also should understand that Jesus is comfortable and walking only here because this is his responsibility and earning.

The first message to the Church is that “I know”. This is not a word of authority but rather like a responsible leader who knows what its internal matters are. This confidence should always be to a church. We should not be worried that we are not recognized. The fact that God knows the church better than the stars. The stars have different tasks to look at the Lord for instructions and perform them. We also should note that the stars are not nearby and accessible but the Lord is to the believers. The listener or comforter in the Church should be the Lord Himself.

The Lord commends the church’s attitude towards works, enemies and suffering in the following verses. For works, the church worked well, toiled hard when needed and also was patiently waiting for results when they were delayed. If the church was intolerant when answers were delayed, it would have been otherwise. When enemies were present, the church could not bear their presence. Patience towards the Lord is appreciated but when evil comes, the church should not wait taking things easily. They could have waited saying “the battle belongs to the Lord”. This is the Lord’s place and even though He is nearby, He loves when its own members drive them away. When it comes to suffering, the church was persecuted severely with lack of resources and punishments, but John says that you have not gone weary or you still are willing to suffer more.

The problem with this church is that it had abandoned its first love. This is at most times mistranslated as the church’s love has decreased when years passed by, but the verse says that the love was completely abandoned. The Greek original uses the word Agape which is the love towards God. The church had a very good perseverance with God but the love was totally abandoned when the book was written. Jesus says that this problem is not tolerable and it works against the church. Also, the Lord mentions that the church has already fallen even though it had all the good qualities.

Repent that you have forsaken your love for God and do the works you did at first means that you should be looking at the scripture and the previous foundations which were laid and do them properly. This also means that the Church should work as it worked when it was beginning. New churches have great ambitions and glorious plans, but when time goes by the love becomes a tradition and so, it is lost completely. If it does all the works of its early days, there is redemption.

The punishment to Ephesus is the worst among the other churches as the Lord says that its status of being a church will be lost. The city and the congregation will be there, but the lampstand will be lost which will hold the Holy Spirit high. The good quality about its hatred about Nicolatians (Can be adulterous, and eat things sacrificed to Idols) is a great sign that helps fight this problem. The other good qualities do not.

The final victory if the church could conquer this problem is that it will eat from the tree of life and live forever with the Lord.

Amen.

The Seven Churches - Introduction

Revelation 1:10,11 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

The above book explains that the book of revelation is directed only to the seven churches and not the general audience. There were many prominent churches in this time but Jesus had a great plan in writing the letter to these churches. From Patmos where John was writing this letter, the seven cities were nearby and followed a specific trade route or road from Ephesus to Laodicea. Because we read that Jesus had only seven stars in his hands and was walking among the seven lampstands, we should see that these churches do not just represent themselves but every other church in every period from the day of Pentecost till today. Also these instructions were not individual instructions but these are contained in a single book which should not have any correction whatsoever and sent to all the seven churches. This means that some of these are direct instructions to us and there are many warnings of problems which may arise. We may to be able to completely categorize us a single of this type but may have one or more individual qualities mentioned to one or more churches in here.

The book starts with the words “The revelation of Jesus Christ” which was given by God the Father to show to His servants. This book is intended only to churches and not the general audience and so, we should take this not as the gospel but a fundamental understanding of Jesus Christ the church should have. The book should be read seeking a revelation of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Lamb which was slain. The first quality about Jesus is mentioned as a faithful witness. We should not see Jesus as a witness to God about us as he is an advocate there (1 John 2:1). He is a faithful witness to us about God the Father. This explains why we have to look at Jesus so closely to see God (John 12:25).

Revelation 5 explains to the church how honorable Jesus is in heaven. There is a scroll which should be opened by a worthy person who have ransomed people for God. In the following chapters, there are seven seals, seven trumpets and at last seven bowls of wrath poured out, then there is judgment and at last we see the new heaven and new earth is prepared with a New Jerusalem. With this we should understand that this scroll as a deed of the new kingdom where Satan has no authority or presence. For this, the Lord has to complete his ransom of people worthy to be a kingdom and priests. This should happen and only then Jesus would be worthy to open the scroll. The churches should together become that kingdom as in Rev 5:9-10.

We also should note that these seals must opened (Rev 1:1) soon. But, the speed the church is progressing towards becoming a kingdom and priests is so pathetic that it still has not happened after 2000 years. But we are very close now as doctrines are more clean and closer to the will of God. If we strive hard with strong faith, we will be able to fulfill God’s eternal plan in this.

We also read that John was turning away from our Lord when the Spirit left him and he had to turn around to look at the seven churches. This explains how the word has to come first before any visions explaining the purpose of the vision. The word has preference than vision. Vision without words do not serve its purpose. If John could not hear the word, it is not possible to interpret its meanings. When reading the book it is important that we hear the Lord before we conclude at anything.

We should also see that there were seven lampstands and not lamps. These do not produce or own any light of their own but carry the light from the seven spirits / torches as in Revelation 4:5. If we do not hold this understanding, our interpretation of the word will fail. A church should not produce any light of its own and that’s why a church and a community gathering are very different. The church should ensure that its primary responsibility is to hold the light stronger as in Mathew 5:15. If the church cannot lift the Holy Spirit high and display His greatness to the world, the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit cannot work efficiently.

And, we should not fear because He is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega. This means that throughout all these events, as in Joshua 1:9, God is in control and He is in the receiving end.

Amen.

Testing God

Acts 15:10 “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “

When the news salvation to the gentiles has arrived to Jerusalem, the sect of the Pharisees had raised concerns about gentiles to come to Judaism through circumcision. Peter addressed them with this statement. Placing the yoke of circumcision on the gentiles is seen as testing God. The first thing to learn here is that testing God provokes His anger and is seen as an insult to Him. In Exodus 17:7, we read what testing God really is. It doubts the existence of God. These men complained about food and other requirements which could have been genuine. But testing God shows lack of faith and let us remember that this is only thing God expects from us. Grace is being dispensed and we do not commit or obey but just believe in Him which would produce the necessary obedience and submission in us. But if we do not believe and test Him, all the purposes He has in our life gets wasted and he gives up on us completely.

If we read Hebrews 3:8-11, it explains that the judgment of the whole generation Israel in the wilderness was because they tested God and it provoked Him. When God had delivered these men out of Egypt and through the red sea, they did see the power of God. But even such a great deliverance did not keep his people believing Him constantly and God sees this as a great betrayal and insult to Him. Forgetting God’s manifestations is a very bad evil that had consumed tons and tons of people out of their salvation. It is important for all of us to remember How God has redeemed us and trust Him completely in the wilderness in our lives. Failure here will be very expensive.

In Matthew 4:7, Jesus replies to Satan that testing God is not right. The test Satan proposed was a very small one to jump from the pinnacle of the temple. The first test was on the flesh, second one on the ego of Jesus and the third was to test the faithfulness of Jesus. The second test has so many things for us to learn where Satan tests the ego by asking Him, if you are the son of God, prove yourself. Jesus came to the earth with the highest authority possible ever. The devil was just a tempter and Jesus has no reason to oblige to him. But we read that the devil took Jesus to places and He went and humbly replied to him. If we face the devil with over confidence or with ease, our flesh will provoke us enough to test God in front of the devil. What Elijah and Moses did were not testing God, but rather their faith in God was so immense that they could prove God’s presence in front of ungodly men. But if we intend to prove our strength and try to perform miracles, it is like insulting God directly.

There is one instance in the bible where God allowed to test Him and this verse unfortunately in the much referenced verse in many sermons. Malachi 3:10 is targeted at people who have already been cursed because of their disobediences. The verse mentions “try me now” which means that you do not know me and so you can test me this one time alone. The verse continues that the final victory is to the ones who fear the Lord and serve Him.

In Psalms 78:18 we read how having our own desires higher than God’s is testing God. When we ask God for anything that is of the world or to please the world denies God of his position. The following verses explain clearly that Manna is not a blessing from heaven but it was our desire to be satisfied in the flesh and so, God obliged and then killed the whole generation. This is also a prayer but as in verse 41 of the same psalm, they limited God’s authority over them by testing Him. Verse 20 shows our attitude. Satan being a deceiver has the human mind as a powerful weapon against the Lord. He can easily make us get frustrated because of things we lack in our lives. We actually like to tell everybody that we are being ignored. Psalms 106:14 explains why we test God. This Craving looks to be genuine where the men had great food, entertainment and even rest when they were in the world. But in the wilderness, God has plans in their future and wanted them to be trained well for a great life ahead. The craving for fleshy needs became fatal to all but two of them.

Let us not test God in any of our ways.

Amen.

Nature as a Witness

Acts 14:17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

This phrase is used by Paul when ministering at Lystra and while he was being worshipped by them after a miracle. Paul explains to them that he is just a human bearing a good news. The good news is that God wants everybody to turn towards Him from the vain things of the world. Before Jesus arrived, God allowed the parts of the earth other than Israel to live in their own ways. But the nature was a constant witness to God.

The problem with the world is that it easily ignores all the witnesses that are placed right in front of its face. Science has developed so big that we start to trust theories about creation and other events of the world rather than the written word that has a clear explanation to everything we need. We have to place the word as the source of the truth and nature as a witness. Instead of this we at most times, search the Bible for proof of natural things which will at most times with the devil’s assistance shatter our faith. We should be careful in everything we see as witness around us. Sometimes, we need miracles to establish our faiths, but a true Christian would marvel at every work of God and build his faith up.

Rain is an important blessing from God which is referenced a lot in the Bible. Gen 2:5, Job 5:10, Ps 147:8 and many other verses attribute rain to originate only from God Himself. Even Noah’s rain had come from the Lord as per Gen 7:4. With this understand, 1 Samuel 12:17-18 would explain the floods of our times. Instead of a king we had forsaken what our original call is and are asking for other rulers to rule us like pleasure, knowledge and technology. Samuel explains this clearly that every goodness is from the Lord. He has to send rains of blessings only at the perfect times and an inappropriate rain would cause us heavy damage. The verse explains every time we have an untimely rain, it is because the people should know how big their wickedness is in front of the Lord.

As per Acts 14:15, we are men of like nature with others. Paul uses this term to a crowd who worships him as a good example. We at many situations receive honor thinking that we deserve that. When a person who is not saved gives us any offering, it should be seen as a vain thing. There are areas where Paul exercised authority like Philemon 20, 21. We are expected by our Lord to use authority and humility diligently at the right times. At these times if we look at the nature around us as a witness, we should see how our pride is so unworthy.

We are expected to turn to a living God from vain things. A list of vain things from the bible is a detailed bible study. One example is Ecc 4:4 where we perform things as a result of envy. This action is not worship, but a regular day to day task. But God sees this as a vain product which does not prove there is a living God. Any vain achievement disproves God’s existence and so we shall fearfully work turning our faces towards Him. There are sinful products and there are vain products. Sin is anything that is against God but a vain thing is anything that denies God. The nature around us is a witness for God who is watching us.

Another vain thing to really understand is Mathew 6:5 where Jesus says that they have received their reward in full. Our prayers should be very carefully done. We have gone to extremes of showing authority to God. Prayers were always humble in the bible. Let us look for witnesses of God around us which obey Him totally.

It was proved that worshipping Paul was vain because the same crowd at that very moment had turned against and stoned him. A small persuasion was sufficient for this. Thats why Paul saw both the worship and the stoning as nothing and did not shake the dust off his feet and leave. He was back in Lystra as per verse 21. They did that in 13:51 at Antioch because of the Jews there but came back in 14:26 for the grace of God which was earlier produced well. Both these actions were good as per the following verses.

Nothing in the world could harm us as there is a living God who keeps reminding us with solid proofs around us. All we have to do is increase our dependency on Him away from vain things so that that he will be pleased. As per verse 22, through many tribulations we should enter the kingdom of God, but a living God is above us and watching us.

Amen.

Appointed to Eternal Life

Acts 13:48 “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

This is a very sensitive topic in Christianity where many believe that only those who are predestined to eternal life would believe and others do not have the opportunity of salvation. There are some groups which say that God has pre-planned all our lives and nothing is in our control. There are some who believe in complete free will where it is completely our responsibility and so, prayer is not necessary. But, it is important for us to have a clear understanding of this. Our God is full of love and not just laws. If it is just the law, there is no dispensation of grace. If it is just grace, there is no glory. That’s why our situation is a great combination of predestination and obedience which is otherwise mentioned clearly in the Bible as Grace and Faith. If we cannot understand this clearly, there is no way we attain eternal life. Our verse also explains that those who were appointed gave their faith as the first step towards eternal life.

This understanding explains this predestination has greater responsibilities. We can read in Acts 13:46 that the Jews had they had thrust it aside and so have brought Judgement on themselves as unworthy to eternal life. This means that there was grace to this group, but since they did not believe, God sees the action as thrusting aside the biggest action of God. In Matthew 15:28, we read the Canaanite woman who was pestering Jesus for healing and the Lord was hesitant in the beginning but in the end, He admired the faith. We have to understand that this woman did not have grace, but her faith alone was so strong that she received grace from the Lord. This woman had humbled herself so down to dogs but the Jews in Pisidia wanted honor which Paul was getting. So, they lost worthiness because of their greed.

The predestination to eternal life is otherwise mentioned in Ephesians 1:5 towards adoption to become sons of God. The verse says that it is not God’s mercy that pre-destined us but it is His pleasure and love. This son-ship is explained in the previous verses where God wants to present us before Himself holy and blameless and this presentation will be to the praise of His glorious grace. This means that God’s plan is that His grace would be praised when we stand in front of Him being holy and blameless. This plan is achieved through Jesus and this is why God has blessed us with all heavenly blessings in Christ. So, Jesus is every spiritual blessing from heaven for us to become holy. This gives us a life that is so perfect that it is called Life which is Jesus.

In Romans 8:28, if we are called by God with a purpose with grace, we should love God with Faith. And this purpose of God drives everything else in the world.  This purpose of God is executed in the coming verses by fore-knowing them to be predestining them to the image of Christ. When Paul explains eternal life as Son-ship in Ephesians 1:5, it is further improved here to have the image of Jesus Himself. This image was lost by Adam and Jesus had won this glory back to us again in the Cross. Calling is followed by predestination and then if we apply faith we are justified by God and then glorified if we persevere.  

If we understand the word predestination or appointment, it does not mean that we are already there. It means that we are given tickets to a bus travelling there. We do not go to the bus stand and look for good looking vehicles, but only those which go to our destiny. Anything which is against God’s will is a bus that takes us somewhere else and coming back to our destiny from that location is further hard than our travel from our current situation. Romans 8:18 explains how unworthy it is to look at the troubles of travelling when we know the importance of the glory ahead. In the following verses, Paul explains how the creation waits for the glory and the purpose of the Holy Spirit in us is to intercede for us in our weakness (8:26) so that there is complete salvation for the creation and us.

Proverbs 16:9 is a good verse how we plan everything for our own pleasures, but it is the Lord who directs us to the right path by the Lord Jesus who called us with His sacrifice and the Holy Spirit who teaches us the truth from inside us. Let us allow God to direct us forward.

Amen.

Freedom from everything

Acts 13:39 “And by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the Law of Moses.”

Paul, in the sermon in Pisidia introduces Jesus as the savior and the promised Messiah. The purpose of the Messiah is proclaimed in this message that by believing in Jesus, we are free. The freedom that we had received from Christ has to be understood properly by every Christian. The verse says that there were many things the Law could not free a person at all. The Law produced fear and this fear of the Lord was not sufficient for a person to be saved. The person is still in bondage. But in this period of grace, the authority of sin inside the church is very much higher than the presence of sin during the Law. A church has to question itself if there is a real freedom from sin and it is more effective than the Law. We read in 2 Cor 3:17 that the important sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person is Liberty.

Understanding liberty is essential for every Christian. As per our first verse, we are not bound to anything of the world. Not even jobs, debts, sickness or anything can hold us back from looking at Jesus. Because we have taken refuge in the Son, the King who has victoriously won the earth, He will provide if we seek His kingdom. We think that we are free and not bound to anything, but the Bible clearly instructs in Romans 6:18, 1 Peter 2:16 that unless we submit ourselves as bond-slaves there is no freedom. Galatians 5:1 explains that Jesus set us free for us to have true freedom. Unless we stand firm, a yoke of slavery is waiting to be placed in our necks. Romans 8:1,2 explains the New Covenant is that the law of the Spirit defines that there is life only in Christ Jesus. If we are outside this border, we are bond-slaves.

We should see that God honors this Liberty. He ensures that His children are not yoked with anything unnecessary. In Acts 15:10, we read Peter confronting the church that the Law was unbearable to them. Peter explains them that if the Law was enforced to those who are in the refuge of the Son, they are putting God to test. Colossians 1:12-14 says that we are transferred to a different kingdom of the Son. In this kingdom, we get portions in everything that the saints in the light have inherited. The freedom in the kingdom does not give us the inheritance by mercy but it makes us worthy to be seated with the saints.

Acts 13:32,33 explain that the resurrection of Jesus which was a promise (Psalm 2:7) made to the fathers and has been fulfilled in us. We know the original promise was given to David but fulfilled through Jesus. Similarly, Paul calls that this promise is fulfilled in us when Jesus had risen up. So, we were begotten as new creations when Jesus had risen up. We read that in 1 Peter 1:3. This means that all our bondages are removed and we are born as free children. This situation is totally different than any other religion or even the Old Testament. We read in Romans 5:17 that death was ruling the world.  Every Christian should understand this plan of God in resurrecting Jesus. Earlier Nations raged and people had vainly plotted against God and He had placed Jesus as the victorious one with laughing. The Son has complete authority now and unless we take refuge in Jesus by believing and obeying Him, we are not just bonded servants of the world but would take part in the quick kindled anger of the Son. The worst tribulation the world can give us is death. But Jesus, our king had overcome that and so, by believing in Him, death has no authority over us.

James 1:25 explains that there is a Law of Liberty and this is the perfect Law. We are not set free to unconditionally roam around the world but to be submissive to this Law. There cannot be a kingdom if we are unbound completely. And since this is a law, it gives an abiding person rights and authority. If we do not submit here, the freedom is lost and we are penalized or even put in jail. We can see Paul, put this freedom in practice in Acts 14 where he was both worshipped and then stoned in Lystra. But both these did not have any effect in Paul’s life or ministry. Romans 8:20 says that this liberty is the glory of the children of God. If we abide in Him and make His resurrection worthy, we are seen as glorious and perfect children of God.

Amen.

Knowing Jesus

Acts 13:27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

A person who has not recognized or known Christ very much personally has all chances to condemn the Lord Himself despite reading or hearing the word repeatedly every week. We may know to pray really well and may even have gifts or super powers from the Lord. But if we do not know who our Savior is, all our efforts in Christendom not only gets wasted, but we could actually hurt Him. Paul uses these words to the Jews in Pisidia so that they would understand who Christ is. We also read that even if there is no reason to hurt Jesus, we can still do that because our ignorance is so powerful and authoritative. (Psalms 73:22)It is very important for us to ask God for more and more understanding of Him.

1 John 2:3 says that we have come to know Jesus only if we keep His commandments. A true knowledge of Christ will make any person honor Him unconditionally and be obedient to everything the Lord gives. From the previous verses we can conclude that Jesus was a propitiation for all our sins and so, an advocate to the father. Every Christian in the world and even others know that Jesus died for our sins and this understanding alone does not make us people who know Jesus. We only understand that without obedience and submission we are not even in the path of knowing Jesus. So, we start with obeying first in order to know Him and not vice versa. This is what we read in Mathew 13:12 where God gives more and more knowledge and understanding of secrets to those who already know Jesus. This is not partiality at all. A son who stays at his father’s presence and tries to learn skills from the father himself has high chances of inheriting all the father’s responsibilities. Continuing the parable, Jesus refers Isaiah that the hearts of people who do not understand have their hearts dull with fat. This prevents Jesus from healing them. We use scriptures for disobediences and excuses and this attitude towards the Lord has come from our hearts being fattened. Let us ask the Lord to heal us by making us understand Him through obedience.

In John 10:14, Jesus is the good shepherd and He know us and we know Him. In this context Jesus explains that all those who came before Him were thieves and robbers. The world is one of these thieves. They have completely selfish intentions and the sheep had the right wisdom to not listen. There is another category of leaders who are hired hands which means they look at revenues alone. Jesus refers to the priests and Pharisees here. They do shepherd the sheep when people look forward for advices and when it is safe. Jesus wants us to understand His stronger love and responsibility that He owns us and knows us. If we cannot differentiate the love of Christ from these, we cannot obey Him. This is why Jesus mentions that He would go after other sheep who had not entered through this door, but they will listen to Him and so will know Him eventually. This will lead us towards becoming a single flock with a single shepherd.

In John 17:2 and 3 we read how the Father had sent Jesus with authority to give eternal life and Jesus had come down presenting Himself to us so that we would know Him and be saved. The verse explains that knowing the Father and our Lord Jesus is not a way to eternal life, but it is life itself. This is explained very well in 2 Peter 1:3 and 4. This knowledge of Jesus gives us everything that is required for life and godliness. If we know Him really well, we get to understand the promises and hope about escaping the corrupt world. The final result is also mentioned here, partake the divine nature. The divine nature does not come when we present ourselves good which will lead us towards hypocrisy. But if we search the scriptures and pray to know Jesus more and more, we earn it which cannot be given without deserving. Salvation is free but glory is not. The verse says that Jesus has called us to this glory and excellence.

Peter gives a clear path of earning this knowledge in the following verses (5-8) which is faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Lack of these qualities will make us ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord. The verse does not use the phrase “with” the knowledge but we read “in” the knowledge which means if a person does not grow in these, it is not worthy to have the knowledge of Jesus which is eternal life. Verse 9 explains that this person is nearsighted and had forgotten that we are cleansed from former sins.

2 Peter 1:2 is a blessing that when we have the knowledge of the Father and our Lord Jesus, grace and peace multiplies inside us.

Amen.