Good afternoon everybody! What a beautiful time to begin Sunday at Church.
We started off with a quick prayer and daily worship. Here is the list of today’s
worship songs in order:
1- I exalt Thee by Jesus Culture:
2- My Redeemer Lives by Nicole C Mullen:
3- For all you’ve done by Hillsongs:
4- Alabaster Jar by Gateway Worship:
5: This is my desire (Lord I give You my heart) by Michael
W. Smith:
After amazing worship and a quick prayer, Revd. Vivek
Dindorkar takes the microphone. Today Pastor made announcements himself. After
we are done with the offering we have the announcements, here they are:
- Yesterday was Women Fellowship as
informed you all on my previous blog. The theme was “Bring your Oikos”.
Amazingly 71 women turned up. This sounds absolutely encouraging!
- As informed you all
in my previous blog, from tomorrow onwards we are having a 21 days fasting and
praying session. Morning prayers will be conducted every morning at 6:00 AM at
Hotel Avion, Vile Parle East, Western Express Highway, Mumbai. The specific
topics for the prayers would be the followings:
1- There should be a revival in the church.
2- We need to be living tree to bear fruits on all seasons.
3- Unity among all.
4- Oikos. Like it is written, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest.”
So we come to the closing remark by Pastor, “We don’t need a
dry Church. No one wants a dry river, people love living waters. Pray that we
be fruitful and a living river.”
- 4th and 5th of April, we will be
having evening prayers from 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM IST.
- One of our trips to our neighbouring continent has been
postponed, so I would request your continuous prayers for Lord’s will be done
here.
- In the month of May, one of our church team will be
visiting to another state in India, so please pray for the safety and success
of program.
Alright, announcements are done and pastor looked energized which actually
encourages us. When he asked “Are you ready?”, it reminded me of Michael
Buffer. (j/k)
As you all already know, the theme of this month is “Finances and Stewardship”,
and today was the third and last instalment for this. As I mentioned earlier,
this is one of the topic that I have noticed many pastors find it difficult to
teach. Whenever church talks about finances, there are many questions raised. I
see pastor did a brilliant job in explaining (also that we expect new members
almost every Sunday) this topic. I am very happy to attend this session and
feel absolutely awesome and stand in agreement with my church. If someone has
objection, please feel free to comment below or inbox me. We would love to
explain you further. (I am sure this won’t be needed by the end of this report).
God wants us to be blessed in all the areas. Ask and it shall be given, if it
is in the line of God and if we really are in need. Finances are indeed needed,
but at times people find it difficult parting with it (if you remember last Sunday’s
story “The Rich Young Man”).
We start off with an opening verse from Luke 12:15, And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard
against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions.”
Today we learnt about focusing on three important things, which is the main
sermon today, they are:
1- God is going to bless your bonds.
References:
Proverbs 21:20: “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a
foolish man devours it.”
Proverbs 6:6-8: “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in
summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
Alright, the idea here is, “Save your money, spend wisely. The money is
provided my God, save it for God.” God is going to bless the pure hearted. He
doesn’t needs money in general, but since He is the provider, we are
accountable of our own money. The example from Proverbs above is the best
example to show the discipline. Be wise like ants. Pray for your storehouse to
be blessed so that we can use it for kingdom purpose and factually, we can use
it for personal needs when required, so discipline needs to be maintained being
a Christian.
2- Establish your tithe.
10% belongs to God since he is the provider. We (speaking for church) encourage
your monthly tithes, but NOT AS A LAW, but a covenant we have made with God and
being humble and trusting the ONLY PROVIDOR. The references are:
2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his
poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each
one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Proverbs 3:9: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all
your produce”.
Luke 6:38: “Give, and it
will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running
over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be
measured back to you.”
Well, I believe these verses are self explanatory. All I can say is “What
belongs to God, give to God.”
3- Be generous towards poor and needy.
I believe the best way to explain this point are
the verses from the Gospel of Matthew 25:35-40, “ For I was
hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked
and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited
me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the
righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did
we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did
we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’And the King will answer them, ‘Truly,
I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my
brothers, you did it to me.’”
When we die, we definitely wont be able to take things we have been blessed
here on earth, but folks, trust me, you are making an investment in heaven,
before you even enter.
Other references are:
Matthew 16:19-20, “I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed[a] in
heaven.” Then he
strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.”
Philippians 4:10-20, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You
were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking
of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought
low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned
the secret of facing plenty and hunger,
abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Yet it was kind of you to share my
trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left
Macedonia, no
church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you
only. Even in
Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the
gift, but I seek the
fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I
am well supplied, having
received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus. To our God
and Father be glory
forever and ever. Amen.”
Today we also have Child dedication. One of the church member, Brother Shyam
has been blessed by a baby. The couple named teh Baby, “Andreas”.
The reference verse is Ephesians 6:4, “Parents, do not anger your children, but
rear them in the discipline and in the teaching of Our Lord.”
The entire session in short points is:
1-
Dedicate our children unto Lord continuously.
2-
We must ask God and seek protection for our
children.
3-
Establish children in the church and teach
them to love everybody.
4-
Encourage to stay away from world.
5-
Teach baptism to children (Water and Holy
Spirit).
6-
Parents need to be committed.
7-
Teach children about tithing.
With this,
we come to the closing of service. A powerful prayer for the baby and a closing
prayer for the church. We have a meet and greet session. No music in the
background today. I wish there would have been a fiddler! And yes, we had Plum
cakes post service.
We hope you enjoyed the service. How was yours? Please comment below!
God bless you!
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