Category Archives: Christian Foundation

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost

Dear all, 

Greetings in the mighty name of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word:

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.1 Thes 4:7

But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty that gives them understanding. Job 32:8

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33: 4

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 7: 28-32

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10b

Thought: 

In His Time

I wait on God to bring to pass

All that He promised me

And as I wait, I rest in faith

For all, I cannot see

For in His way, He will provide

At just the perfect time

Everything that’s good and right

To bless this life of mine.

Word of God is Alive and Active

Dear all,
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15: 13

Word:

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. Psalms 119:9

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Heb 4: 12-13.

In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mathew 24:35   

Thought: Let us renew our vision and confidence in Christ.

The word of God is living, life-changing, and dynamic as it works in us. The demand of God’s word requires strong and firm decisions.

Challenges in our Journey are what make life interesting; overcoming them with the power of God is what makes life meaningful. Invest your life for Christ’s Kingdom’s sake.

“God who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the Day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

Memory verse for the week:

 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Mat 4:19.

Live your life victoriously with the power of Risen Redeemer Lord Jesus Christ

Stand firm In Christ

Recognizing our critics

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

Apostle Paul in his instructions to the church of Thessalonica asks them to recognize three important characteristics in people; those who work hard, those who care for others, and those who admonish others. It seems sensible and practical to appreciate hard-working and caring people but it’s not easy to appreciate them when they strongly criticize us. The type of admonishment that Paul talks about is done in love where the person who admonishes someone cares enough about them to boldly warn them of their sinful ways. A simple illustration is a mother admonishing her child for playing with fire. We know she does it in love and it is for the child’s well-being. As believers, we should be able to humbly accept and live with people who admonish us, at the same time, when a situation arises, we should also be courageous enough to admonish others in love.

Word:

1 Thessalonians 5: 12, 13

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to be humble when You or others admonish us, help us fix our sinful ways, and also give us the courage to admonish others in love. Amen.

Thoughts, words, and actions

Greeting in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:

Sometimes our thoughts are not often as talked about as our words or actions. In many cases thoughts will be the starting point of a good or bad thing that we may do in the future, so we need to guard our thoughts. Apostle Paul gives a good idea of how our thoughts should be: pure, true, noble, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. We should avoid sinful thoughts to stay, sometimes being too busy can also stop us from those good thoughts as mentioned in verse 8. In verse 9, He leads by example and asks us to follow either by what we have heard from him or from what we have seen from him, which essentially is his words and his life in actions respectively. Our thoughts are for us, and words and our lifestyle is for us and others to witness, but all need to align with God’s will.

 Word:

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.          

 Prayer:

Lord, give us your Spirit, to govern our words, thoughts, and actions. Amen.

Humility and Serving

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:
As we approach the holidays, let’s remember to imitate Christ in terms of humility and serving. Though our God is mighty above all, we are here on earth to be humble and serve others, just like Jesus. We can do this only when we place more value on others rather than ourselves. Death on the cross was not only a painful experience but also an extremely shameful form of punishment. But Jesus, at the cost of His dignity and His life, did that to serve us with the hope of salvation.


Word:

Philippians 2: 3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
 
Prayer:
Lord, help us stay humble and serve others. Prevent us from having any selfish or prideful thoughts and tendencies. Amen.

Submit to all Authority

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ.

Word: 1 Peter 2:13-14
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Thought:

Human authority can be upper management at the workplace or local/national governments. In any case, they aren’t always believers themselves. But in all cases they are appointed by God and thus we should submit to them, this doesn’t necessarily mean we agree with them, but we are called to be humble and respectful to them. Grumbling, gossiping, being disobedient and hateful are some ways we fail in being submissive. When we find it hard to live under any authority, we just need to pray and ask God for endurance through it rather than react to their wrongdoings.

Prayer:

LORD, We know You appointed all authority, therefore help us to be submissive to them and we pray that you bless the authority and provide them with wisdom and strength to lead the people and make decisions as per Your will. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Cornerstone

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Word: 1 Peter 2:6-8
6 …“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.

Thought: In the above verses, Peter is talking about Jesus when he is referring to the stone.

For people who trust in Him, he will never be put to shame. Sounds almost impossible, but once we abide in Him, only what He thinks matters to us, the world may shame us but, for us believers, the world is not where we place our trust and hence what they think shouldn’t bother us.

The verses also mention that whoever rejects the stone, it causes them to stumble. One of the things that this could mean is that the truth can be offensive to people. Many Jews of Jesus’ lifetime were offended and rejected Him and His message. Even today, the very fact that Jesus is the only way for salvation is offensive to most non-believers, but that same message is precious to believers.

Prayer:

LORD, Help us to place our trust in You, the chosen and precious cornerstone. Give us the courage and burden to lovingly share about You among non-believers through our words and actions. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Holy Life is a Jolly Life

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Thought: God has called us to be holy because He is holy. Things that make us unholy can be internal or external. This could be anything like our words, thoughts, actions, people we hang out with, places we go or habits we pick up. As humans we are bound to fall short one way or the other, but God’s mercy and grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His resurrection more than makes up for it. Let that inspire us to be more holy and ultimately more like Jesus.

Prayer: LORD, give us the strength to overcome the things in our life that make us unholy, so that we can become holy like You. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Misplaced hope? Trust God! No Matter what!

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thought: What are the worldly things that we put our hope onto? Sports, politics, entertainment, money and even family/friends are sometimes things we misplace our hope on. All these can perish, spoil or fade. A good way to know if our hope is misplaced or not is, how we react to changes in any of the aforementioned things, say like, a closely lost game of our favourite sports team or person, a lost election of the party we hoped to win, sudden financial loss. If we lose our peace  over such things it’s time to shift our hope. How and where? It’s clearly mentioned in the word (included below).

Word: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3-4

Prayer:

LORD, We are grateful for your mercy because you have given us a living hope through belief in Jesus’ resurrection. Help us to overcome temporary worldly things that distract us from putting our hope on You. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul!

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10: 28-31

Thought: A very common reason believers hesitate in sharing the gospel is that there is fear of being rejected harshly. It can either be direct in the form of threats or indirectly like being ignored and cast aside. But Jesus says as believers we know anything that happens on earth dwarfs in comparison to what lies ahead for us in terms of eternity. God also assures that we are more worthy than any of his creations and hence we are more protected in His care. As believers we should boldly share the gospel through our words and our lifestyle.

Prayer:

LORD, we ask that you give us the courage in sharing the Gospel. Help us overcome any fear and distractions that come our way. In Jesus’s mighty name. Amen.