An opportunity to fail

Have you ever taken an opportunity to fail an exam? You might think I was crazy, but I did twice. On both the occasions the teachers were very angry to the point one teacher cried (oh! yes), and the other teacher said I was the record holder in her teaching career. They thought I was disrespecting them or insulting them, which of course were never my intention. I was not a schoolteacher of anyone, and never knew what it meant to teachers when a student failed willingly. Now, though I still am not a schoolteacher, I understand and stand corrected.

Who are your friends?

Whose company do you enjoy most? What do you do together? What do you talk about? Where do you go together?

Is he/she a believer? Is he/she interested in spiritual things? A Christian is a spiritual person, being born of the Spirit. He talks of spiritual things. He lives by the Spirit.

Friends influence each other. Are you being influenced by more matured friends?

Listen to Steve Lawson about making friendship

The Great Redemption

“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” – Romans 3:24 (NKJV)

Summarize in a Word: The Great Redemption

Key Principle: Justification is through redemption alone

Key Application: Cherish the gospel

Main point of the Passage: We are made right with God freely because Christ paid for it dearly.

Illustration: Professing Christians bored with Gospel

Exhortation: Thank God for the (free) gift of divine Salvation

One of the challenges of preaching the gospel to our community is that almost everybody “understood” what gospel is. We can define the Gospel factually – the birth and death, and resurrection of Christ for our sins according to the scripture. We even profess to believe it but hardly live out its fruit. Everybody claims to be Christian by birth, but (many) with either false assurance or no assurance. They look beyond the gospel for assurance. To them, to listen to gospel again has become boring. Gospel looks very dry, simple, cheap, available and irrelevant. Some think they “know gospel enough” for them to escape hell, whereas other people think Christ will let them enter heaven if they continue to live a moral life, and attend church, and pray for forgiveness.

In Romans 3:24, we see very clearly for the basis of our assurance.  Sinners those who put their trust in the redemption accomplished through Christ are justified freely before God. That means he is counted righteous before God. His sins are forgiven. It also means he has peace with God, being reconciled to God. Justification is free in the sense we do not do anything in order to be justified. No works of human – good works, penances, sacrifices, fasting, religious duties – nothing we do can justify us. It is the sheer grace of God.

However, it is neither cheap nor frivolous, because it takes Jesus Christ to justify us. He bore the wrath of God, which was ours to redeem us from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin. Apart from Christ, there is no mercy and deliverance of God. Once we were under the slavery of sin, darkness, guilt, spiritual deadness, spiritual slumber, and under Satan. Christ bought us with His blood to set us free that we might live in holiness, light, assurance, eternal life as children of God. We are made right with God freely because Christ paid for it dearly.

God does not justify us because we know the Gospel intellectually. It is for those who put their faith in the person and work of Christ, being conscious of their sins and the justice of God. There is never a moment we stop needing the gospel. Gospel (Justification) is not just about deliverance from hell but also from the practice of sins to repentance and holiness. Thank God for the gift of divine Salvation. Cherish the gospel of the great redemption.

Image Scripture: Psalm 73:14

A Devotional Reflection of Scripture

For Audio in Hebrew click here

For Audio in English (ESV) click here

For Audio in Hindi click here

Trusting God amidst doubt

Dedicated to all my friends, of

Shillong South Evangelical Union (2010-2013).

It was a joy growing together with you there!

I cannot compare my anguish to others,

For I believe theirs are greater than mine,

But even mine, I cannot handle it,

Yet I long to help carry others’ burden.

With all my being, I want to please Him,

With all I am, I strive to please Him,

Everything that He has given me,

I surrender all to Him for Him.

For my desires are You, oh Lord!

Yet Lord, I don’t know how true,

How far have I practiceed what I’ve said!

Whatever the circumstance may be–

I never want to go astray from You,

I want my life to be pleasing unto You,

Do not lead me into temptation.

Deliver me from the Evil one.

God really cares and understands us.

He always loves us and is just and good.

He is faithful, He is wonderful!

Let every creation of Him praise the Lord!

We Never Graduate from the Gospel

Are you bored with the Gospel? Do you feel like you know the Gospel enough? Watch the video clip down below.

Is the Gospel only about going to Heaven? Is the Gospel only about escaping Hell? Listen to what Piper has to say in this video clip down below

What is the scope of the Gospel? Do I need every day? Do I need to listen all the time? When do I graduate from the Gospel?

Let’s ask Piper, one of the most passionate preachers alive now. . .

For more click here

Cultivating Godliness

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:24-25 (KJV)

Summarize in a Word: Cultivating Godliness

Key Principle: Church is necessary for all believers

Key Application: Never abandon the church

Main point of the Passage: We provoke one another to godliness in the church.

Illustration: Pastor John MacArthur urging a struggling woman to join a church.

Exhortation: Make friendship with more godly people. Talk, listen, and pray for one another.

Our Lord has called us into the church, which is his body. However, we do have a local church, a fellowship of believers. It is the institution build by Christ with a promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” There is no lone Christian outside the church. I remember listening to MacArthur urging a struggling woman to join the club (church) for sanctification and godliness. Where could we go than the church to cultivate godliness in our lives?

Image Scripture: Ephesians 3:20-21

A Devotional Reflection of Scripture

Love expressed through Gifts

In this fallen world, there are times when we feel very disappointed because we are unable to understand people, especially dearly loved ones. We wish they understand us – how much we care for them, how much we love them or how much we value them – and our wishes hardly fulfilled. Sometimes we fear that people will misunderstand us, feel that we are insensitive and we wish that they would understand our in-depth nature or feelings. Why? It is because we cannot tell someone what reality really is! We find ourselves hapless to express it. We just ran out of words.

Can a Christian sin?

In the light of 1John 3:9, Can a Christian sin? How are we assured of our Salvation?

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” – 1John3:9

 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” – Eph.1:4-6

Watch the video clips below.  They are produced from different settings at different times. However, there is a connection between them concerning the struggles of the heart.

Can a Christian continue to live in sin?

How do I know if I'm saved?