Good Morning to all of you!
What a beautiful day!
As usual, we started off with powerful praise and worship, here is the playlist:
1) That what we came here for - Hillsong United
2) One way Jesus - Hillsong United
3) Tell the world - Hillsong United
4) You laid aside your Majesty - Noel Richards
5) Majesty (Here I am) - Delirious?
It was a wonderful session, everyone was involved.
Here is a small clip from today's worship:
Post worship, sister Adeleine Dindorkar made announcements, here are the list of announcements:
- Pastor will be reaching tomorrow evening, please pray for his safety.- 14th August - Men's Fellowship at 6:30 AM.
- 16th August - Women's Fellowship at 4:30 PM.
- 17th August - Youth Sunday.
- 23rd August - GLTC Graduation Service.
As you all know, pastor is away, we have a guest speaker. Today, we will be learning about "Faith". This month's theme is "Roman's Series".
Pastor started off with Vincent Thomas Lombardi, who is arguably the greatest American football coach of all time, and is on the short list of history’s greatest coaches, regardless of sport. To train his team, he started with very basics, such as, "This is a Ball", "What is touch down?", "What is quarterback?" His ability to teach, motivate and inspire players helped turn the Green Bay Packers into the most dominating NFL team in the 1960s.
Likewise, if we may have noticed this years football (soccer) world cup, everyone was hopeful and un-doubtful about Brazil's victory, but they lost. The reason was bad defense. So if we notice from above two illustrations, we have two important things to learn, "Learn from Basics" and "Preparation for a good defense".
The book of Romans is one of the most profound books in existence; it is certainly one of the most valued parts of the Holy Scriptures. It has been appropriately termed the Cathedral of the Christian faith. Its profound theology and impressive style were reason enough for it to be assigned the first place among the Pauline epistles.When we talk about the book of Romans, the theme of the book centers on the Gospel of Christ. Paul is deeply concerned that his readers understand how a sinner may be received as righteous by a righteous God; and how a justified sinner should live daily to the glory of God.
Acts 2:42 says, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
In these verses we have the history of the truly primitive church, of the first days of it; its state of infancy indeed, but, like that, the state of its greatest innocence. They kept close to holy ordinances, and abounded in piety and devotion; for Christianity, when admitted in the power of it, will dispose the soul to communion with God in all those ways wherein he has appointed us to meet him, and has promised to meet us. The greatness of the event raised them above the world, and the Holy Spirit filled them with such love, as made every one to be to another as to himself, and so made all things common, not by destroying property, but doing away selfishness, and causing charity. And God who moved them to it, knew that they were quickly to be driven from their possessions in Judea. The Lord, from day to day, inclined the hearts of more to embrace the gospel; not merely professors, but such as were actually brought into a state of acceptance with God, being made partakers of regenerating grace. Those whom God has designed for eternal salvation, shall be effectually brought to Christ, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of his glory.
If we read about Paul's life, we know from Acts and Paul's letters that Paul violent persecuted the Church. Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee in Jerusalem after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, swore to wipe out the new Christian church, called The Way. He got letters from the high priest, authorizing him to arrest any followers of Jesus in the city of Damascus.On the D amascus Road, Saul and his companions were struck down by a blinding light, brighter than the noonday sun. Saul heard a voice say to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" - Acts 9:4
When Saul asked who was speaking to him, the voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." - Acts 9:5-6
The men with Saul heard the sound but did not see the vision of the risen Christ that Saul did. Saul was blinded. They led him by the hand into Damascus to a man named Judas, on Straight Street. For three days Saul was blind and did not eat or drink anything. Meanwhile, Jesus appeared in a vision to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and told him to go to Saul. Ananias was afraid because he knew Saul's reputation as a merciless persecutor of the church. Jesus repeated his command, explaining that Saul was his chosen instrument to deliver the gospel to the Gentiles, their kings, and the people of Israel. So Ananias found Saul at Judas' house, praying for help. Ananias laid his hands on Saul, telling him Jesus had sent him to restore his sight and that Saul might be filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. He arose and was baptized into the Christian faith. Saul ate, regained his strength, and stayed with the Damascus disciples three days.
We have few references:
Romans 1:1, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."
The doctrine of which the apostle Paul wrote, set forth the fulfilment of the promises by the prophets. It spoke of the Son of God, even Jesus the Saviour, the promised Messiah, who came from David as to his human nature, but was also declared to be the Son of God, by the Divine power which raised him from the dead. The Christian profession does not consist in a notional knowledge or a bare assent, much less in perverse disputings, but in obedience. And all those, and those only, are brought to obedience of the faith, who are effectually called of Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:7-11, "7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality."
The Jews thought themselves a holy people, entitled to their privileges by right, while they were un-thankful, rebellious, and unrighteous. But all who act thus, of every nation, age, and description, must be reminded that the judgment of God will be according to their real character. The case is so plain, that we may appeal to the sinner's own thoughts. In every willful sin, there is contempt of the goodness of God. And though the branches of man's disobedience are very various, all spring from the same root. But in true repentance, there must be hatred of former sinfulness, from a change wrought in the state of the mind, which disposes it to choose the good and to refuse the evil. It shows also a sense of inward wretchedness. Such is the great change wrought in repentance, it is conversion, and is needed by every human being. The ruin of sinners is their walking after a hard and impenitent heart. Their sinful doings are expressed by the strong words, treasuring up wrath. In the description of the just man, notice the full demand of the law. It demands that the motives shall be pure, and rejects all actions from earthly ambition or ends. In the description of the unrighteous, contention is held forth as the principle of all evil. The human will is in a state of enmity against God. Even Gentiles, who had not the written law, had that within, which directed them what to do by the light of nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they kept or broke these natural laws and dictates, their consciences either acquitted or condemned them. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, and more comfort to saints, than that Christ shall be the Judge. Secret services shall be rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished, and brought to light.
Acts 1:16-17, "16 Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry."
The great thing the apostles were to attest to the world, was, Christ's resurrection; for that was the great proof of his being the Messiah, and the foundation of our hope in him. The apostles were ordained, not to wordly dignity and dominion, but to preach Christ, and the power of his resurrection. An appeal was made to God; Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, which we do not; and better than they know their own. It is fit that God should choose his own servants; and so far as he, by the disposals of his providence, or the gifts of his Spirit, shows whom he was chosen, or what he has chosen for us, we ought to fall in with his will. Let us own his hand in the determining everything which befalls us, especially in those by which any trust may be committed to us.
We have few more references:
Habakkuk 1:2-4, "2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted."
Habakkuk 2:4, "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith."
Genesis 15:1-6, "1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness."
Romans 4:18-19, "18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb."
When tossed and perplexed with doubts about the methods of Providence, we must watch against temptations to be impatient. When we have poured out complaints and requests before God, we must observe the answers God gives by his word, his Spirit, and providences; what the Lord will say to our case. God will not disappoint the believing expectations of those who wait to hear what he will say unto them. All are concerned in the truths of God's word. Though the promised favour be deferred long, it will come at last, and abundantly recompense us for waiting. The humble, broken-hearted, repenting sinner, alone seeks to obtain an interest in this salvation. He will rest his soul on the promise, and on Christ, in and through whom it is given. Thus he walks and works, as well as lives by faith, perseveres to the end, and is exalted to glory; while those who distrust or despise God's all-sufficiency will not walk uprightly with him. The just shall live by faith in these precious promises, while the performance of them is deferred. Only those made just by faith, shall live, shall be happy here and for ever.
Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world. Wicked men are slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud, carnal disposition which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men. From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensual or to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath. What reason have sinners, then, to seek earnestly for that grace which will make them, of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory! God's eternal love or good-will toward his creatures, is the fountain whence all his mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that mercy is rich mercy. And every converted sinner is a saved sinner; delivered from sin and wrath. The grace that saves is the free, undeserved goodness and favour of God; and he saves, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. A regenerated sinner becomes a living soul; he lives a life of holiness, being born of God: he lives, being delivered from the guilt of sin, by pardoning and justifying grace. Sinners roll themselves in the dust; sanctified souls sit in heavenly places, are raised above this world, by Christ's grace. The goodness of God in converting and saving sinners heretofore, encourages others in after-time, to hope in his grace and mercy. Our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast. These things are not brought to pass by any thing done by us, therefore all boasting is shut out. All is the free gift of God, and the effect of being quickened by his power. It was his purpose, to which he prepared us, by blessing us with the knowledge of his will, and his Holy Spirit producing such a change in us, that we should glorify God by our good conversation, and perseverance in holiness. None can from Scripture abuse this doctrine, or accuse it of any tendency to evil. All who do so, are without excuse.
To define FAITH, one of the definition is, "Impossible things, made possible by God".
Story about Faith: Corrie Ten Boom
She ran a church for mentally-disabled people, raised foster children in her home and did other charitable works. Corrie was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, grew up in the nearby city of Haarlem as the youngest of four children born to Cornelia (mother) and Casper (father). She had two sisters, Betsie ten Boom and Nollie; her brother, Willem ten Boom, was born in 1887 and died in 1946 of spinal tuberculosis. Corrie's three maternal aunts also lived with her family: Bep, Jans and Anna, who took care of the children after their mother's death.
In 1924 Corrie became the first licensed female watchmaker in the Netherlands. Corrie and Betsie never married, and until their arrest they lived their entire lives in their childhood home in Haarlem. In May 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Among their restrictions was banning a club which ten Boom had run for young girls. In May 1942 a well-dressed woman came to the ten Booms' with a suitcase in hand and told them that she was a Jew, her husband had been arrested several months before, her son had gone into hiding, and Occupation authorities had recently visited her, so she was afraid to go back. She had heard that the ten Booms had helped their Jewish neighbors, the Weils, and asked if they might help her too. Casper ten Boom readily agreed that she could stay with them. A devoted reader of the Old Testament, he believed that the Jews were the 'chosen people', and he told the woman, "In this household, God's people are always welcome." The family then became very active in the Dutch underground hiding refugees; they provided kosher food for their Jewish-refugee guests and honored the Jewish Sabbath.
Thus the ten Booms began "the hiding place", or "de schuilplaats", as it was known in Dutch. Corrie and Betsie opened their home to refugees — both Jews and others who were members of the resistance movement — being sought by the Gestapo and its Dutch counterpart. They had plenty of room, although wartime shortages meant that food was scarce. Every non-Jewish Dutch person had received a ration card, the requirement for obtaining weekly food coupons. Through her charitable work, ten Boom knew many people in Haarlem and remembered a couple who had a disabled daughter. The father was a civil servant who by then was in charge of the local ration-card office. She went to his house one evening, and when he asked how many ration cards she needed, "I opened my mouth to say, 'Five,'" ten Boom wrote in The Hiding Place. "But the number that unexpectedly and astonishingly came out instead was: 'One hundred.'" He gave them to her and she provided cards to every Jew she met.
With so many people using their house, the family built a secret room in case a raid took place. They built it in Corrie ten Boom's bedroom because it was on the house's top floor, hopefully giving people the most time to hide and avoid detection, as searches usually started on the ground/first floor. A member of the Dutch resistance designed the hidden room behind a false wall. Gradually, family and supporters brought building supplies into the house, hiding them in briefcases and rolled-up newspapers. When finished, the secret room was about 30 inches (76 cm) deep, the size of a medium wardrobe. A ventilation system allowed for breathing. To enter the secret room, a person had to open a sliding panel in the plastered brick wall under a bottom bookshelf and crawl in on hands and knees. In addition, the family installed an electric raid-warning buzzer. When the Nazis raided the ten Boom house in 1944, six people were using the hiding place. Please find the picture abelow, for the hiding place:
On 28 February 1944, a Dutch informant told the Nazis about the ten Booms' work; at around 12:30PM the Nazis arrested the entire ten Boom family. They were sent to Scheveningen prison; Nollie and Willem were released immediately along with Corrie's nephew Peter; Casper died 10 days later. Corrie and Betsie were sent from Scheveningen to Herzogenbusch political concentration camp (also known as Kamp Vught), and finally to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, where Betsie died on December 16, 1944. Before she died, she told Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still."
Corrie ten Boom was released on December 28, 1944. In the movie 'The Hiding Place', she narrates the section on her release from camp, saying that she later learned that her release had been a clerical error. She said, "God does not have problems — only plans." The Jews whom the ten Booms had been hiding at the time of their arrests remained undiscovered and all but one, an old woman named Mary, survived.
Four ten Booms gave their lives for this family's commitment, but Corrie came home from the death camp. She realized her life was a gift from God, and she needed to share what she and Betsie had learned in Ravensbruck: "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still," and "God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies." At age 53, Corrie began a worldwide ministry that took her into more than 60 countries in the next 32 years! She testified to God's love and encouraged all she met with the message that "Jesus is Victor."
Corrie received many tributes because of her efforts. Following the war, Corrie was honored by the Queen of Holland as a War Hero. In 1968, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem asked Corrie to plant a tree in the Garden of Righteousness, in honor of the many Jewish lives her family saved. Corrie's tree stands there today. In the early 1970's, Corrie's book The Hiding Place became a best seller, and World Wide Pictures (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) released the major motion picture "The Hiding Place." Corrie went on to write many other inspiring books.
Corrie was a woman faithful to God. She died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. One of the famous saying of Corrie is as follows, “There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s Kingdom. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it.”
In her wonderful book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom relates an amazing story about the importance of being thankful. Corrie and her sister Betsy were held in a concentration camp known as Ravensbruk, where they lived in barracks that were plagued with lice. Lice were everywhere—in their hair and on their bodies.
One day, Betsy said to her, "Corrie, we need to give thanks to God for the lice."
Corrie said, "Betsy, you have gone too far this time. I am not going to thank God for lice."
Betsy said, "Oh, but Corrie, the Bible tells us, 'In everything give thanks.' "
Still, Corrie did not want to thank God for the lice. As it turns out, Corrie and Betsy were trying to reach the other women in their barracks with the message of the gospel, and they had been holding Bible studies. Corrie found out later that because of the lice, the guards would not go into those barracks, and therefore, they were able to have their Bible studies. As a result, they led many of the women to the Lord. So it turns out that God can even use lice.
If the Bible said, "In some things give thanks," I would say, "No problem there!" But it says, "In everything give thanks." That is not an easy thing to do.
This verse doesn't say we should give thanks for everything as much it says in everything. There are some things that happen, and I'm not glad they happened. But I am glad that, in spite of the tragedies, God is still on the throne, and He is still in control of all circumstances that surround my life.
Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."
We hope, you all enjoyed this powerful testimony of Faith. Also, as we learned earlier from the book of Habakkuk that "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH".
If you think something troubles you and you have doubts in your minds, we encourage all of you to pray along with us.
Heavenly Father! We praise You and honour You! We thank You for being with us always and loving us with Your eternal love! You are in control of all things and we thank You for that. O Lord! Your Scripture clearly tells that without faith we can neither please You nor receive any answer for our prayer. Please forgive us for not believing in Your love, power and goodness. Many times we've been discouraged by our circumstances and many times we have failed to trust in You. Please forgive us Lord! Your are the God of all hope and we acknowledge that nothing is too difficult for You. We are confident that You will meet all our needs as we seek to live according to Your word! Thank You Lord for helping us get over our unbeliefs removing all our fears and anxieties! Let mus not lose heart on seeing the circumstances Lord! Strengthen our faith through which alone we can receive miracles from You Lord. You have said whatever we ask in prayer, believing, we will receive. Thank You for this promise Lord! We love You and trust in Your awesome power! We know You are with us right now to take care of our needs and we thank You for that. In Jesus' most precious and gracious name we pray. Amen!
We hope you enjoyed today's service, looking forward to see you next week. God be with you and God Bless!
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