Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Thursday, November 04, 2021
Obedience through Punishment
“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.”
– Leviticus 26:18
Exposition:
We love to hear
that God is love, and we often hesitate to talk about the wrath of God. Sure,
it looks good to attract people because of love than to drive them by fear.
However, the Scripture says that God is also an angry God and He has often
punished us to bring back to Him. In Leviticus 26, God assured the Israelites
of prosperous blessings should they continue to obey Him. He also warned them
of punishment should they choose to turn away from Him.
Verse 18
reveals that God’s punishment is not merely a consequence of disobedience, but
it is for us to obey God knowing that the way of disobedience is hard and
painful. No matter how stubborn we may be, God is not backing off. If the
Israelites would not turn away from their sins even after a season of
punishment, God warned them that He will punish them seven times more. It is to
make them realize that only the path of obedience pleases the Lord to bless
them.
The wrath of
God is virtuous like the love of God or the justice of God. God’s wrath is
unleashed upon the unjust that everyone may fear Him. However, God never
punishes us to the degree that we deserve; for none can bear the full
punishment of God, only Jesus can, and He bore the wrath of God in the cross.
He satisfied the wrath of God which was to be upon the sinners who put their
trust in Him for their Salvation. Whosoever repent for their sins and trust in
the Lord will receive eternal life. God commands everyone to repent of their
sins to be saved from the wrath to come.
Personal
Reflection:
·
Is
there any unrepentant sin in my life that I should deal with now before it is
too late?
Personal
Commitment:
·
I
must consider the trials of life and the chastisement of God as joy knowing that
God chastens whom He loves.
Prayer:
Lord, forbid me to be stubborn like the Israelites of the Wilderness.
Show me my sin by the convicting work of Your Spirit, and then empower me to
yield my life to His control, Amen!
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Block Diagram and Outline of 1 John 5:1-5
“We are Overcomers” – 1 John 5:1-5
"A Child of God can keep the Commandments of God because he is a Conqueror of God."
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
Block Diagram and Outline of 1 John 5:6-13
“Life is in His Son”
 |
| Believe in the Son for the Eternal Life |
Sunday, October 03, 2021
Got A Prayer Request?
"Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would
open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am
also in chains."
– Colossians 4:3
Exposition:
Apostle Paul is a man of prayer, by this I mean he believes in prayer. In
private, he prays unceasingly for himself, other Christians, Jews, and
Gentiles. In public, he prays along with the other saints in a formal and
informal context. Furthermore, he would not only pray solely by himself, but he
would ask other saints to pray for him. He exhorts everyone to live a life of
prayerfulness. Here, in this verse, we see Apostle Paul requesting prayers from
the church at Colossae for his preaching ministry.
Now, if Apostle Paul seeks prayer for himself and his team members, would we
not seek the prayers of others for us? Paul is arguably the godliest person,
yet he seeks prayer from ordinary church members. It does not matter how
immature we may be, if we are Christians, our prayer is before the throne of
God. We mustn't hesitate to pray even for such godly people, they need our
prayers like the rest of us, and our prayers are effective as well, if not Paul
wouldn't have asked for their prayers.
Sure, prayers must be according to God's will. We can't expect God to help
us do the wrong things or for our sinful selfish interest. Even here, Paul is
seeking a release from his imprisonment, not for the comfort of free life, but
to continue the preaching ministry, and he wouldn't mind another imprisonment
for preaching the gospel. Colossians could at least pray for the release of
Apostle Paul, even if they aren't able to proclaim the gospel effectively like
Paul does, or not bold enough to endure suffering as Paul does on account of
the gospel.
Personal Reflection:
- Do I (as a minister of the gospel) have a list of
prayer supporters who know my prayer points from time to time?
- Do I (as an ordinary Christian) have the habit of
saying, "May I pray for you" or "Is there anything I can
pray for you" or "Shall we pray together”?
Personal Commitment:
- To seek others’ prayers and also the prayer points from
others from time to time.
Prayer:
Lord, humble my heart to fall before your throne of
grace, Amen!
Friday, October 01, 2021
Block Diagram and Outline of 1 John 5:14-21
“Christian Confidence – What are we sure of”
 |
| Christians can be certain of their prayers answered, sins pardoned, power over sin, deliverance from the power of Satan, and eternal life in the person of Christ, because they are born of God from the day they have heard and received the gospel. |
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Block Diagram and Outline: 1 John 1:1-4
"Knowing Jesus – the Joy of Fellowship"
 |
| One must understand the nature of Christ and the nature of this fellowship to have this joy. |
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Thankfulness in Life
"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
Him."
– Colossians 3:17
Exposition:
It is far easier to control our actions than our attitude. Actually,
actions are the precursors to our attitude (thinking, planning, or conceiving).
One could avoid sinful actions but still sin in one’s heart. Likewise, we can
do a lot of good work, but with a bad attitude. We can even say or do godly
things with a sinful attitude of remonstrance, grumbling, or whispering. This
verse exhorts us to do everything in speech and action with an attitude of
thankfulness to God. Both action and attitude matter to God.
When we are thankful, we do not grumble or whisper, we are joyful. God
wants us to be joyous people. The root meaning of 'giving thanks' is
gratefulness. Gratefulness is a response to the grace of God. Since we have
received and built our life upon His grace, we are to be thankful people at all
times, in all places, and in all works. Thankfulness is a recurring theme in
this book of Colossians (1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2). O How God wants us to be
thankful people!
All our thankfulness is always primarily to God the Father. It's not the
kind of thankfulness one has for somebody who helped him gain thing wrongfully.
It is the thankfulness that comes when doing the right things according to the
power of Jesus in our life. Would you recognise that the Sovereign God is your
Father–who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus–when
you say and do all things for the edification of one another in the body of
Christ? When we recognise that, we will not only be faithful people but also be
thankful and joyful people.
Personal Reflection:
- I am commanded not only to do everything for the
glory of God (1Cor.10:31) but also to do everything, giving thanks to God.
Personal Commitment:
- To delight in any work of ministry knowing that every
work of ministry is a grace of God because even being called into the body
of Christ is grace.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank You for making me a
Christian, and for giving us a church. Thank You for this family.
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