The Fallen of Creation - Genesis 3:1-13

The Fallen of Creation - Genesis 3:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Introduction

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, bringing in to being everything out of nothing.  Transformation of formlessness into form and transformation of chaos into cosmos.  The whole creation was made possible within six days and the seventh day God took rest.  God found everything good.  God created Human in God’s own image, that was considered to be the crown of creation.  God finally gave woman to man as a helpmate and companion.  They were placed in the Garden of Eden as the stewards of God’s creation. 

God loved them a lot, thus gave freedom to move around the garden and eat everything but prevented them from eating the fruit which gives knowledge of good and evil.  God visited them every day.  Walked with them, Talked with them, spent time with them. That clearly shows that God loves and cares for the humanity and tries to project God as the Friend of Humanity. The pre fall condition was all perfect and harmonious. There comes Satan… Scripture tells us that Satan is the destroyer, accuser of the believers, and the father of lies.

In Genesis 3, we see Satan as a serpent in the garden waiting to have an encounter with Eve. Satan has a lot of experience attacking, tempting and destroying God's creation.  Satan used a systematic approach to undermine God's commandment and trick Adam and Eve into sin.

The Fallen of Humanity began with a Question

First, the serpent questioned the Word of God.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

As Eve responded to this question, she misquoted God's command.

 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’

When we compare her statement with Gen. 2: 16-17, we see she didn't specify which tree was off limits, and she added that even touching it would cause death. This may be subtle, but reminds us that accurately understanding the Word of God is an important defense against the crafty lies of Satan. 

Next we see Satan denying the Word of God and the consequences of sin. He then goes on to replace the Word of God with his own lies.

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

By denying the Word of God, Satan challenged the very character of God and tricked Eve to think that God was holding back blessing. Although Eve was pure and innocent, she desired to have a deeper understanding of good and evil. Instead of trusting that God was protecting her, she sought to take a short cut and gain this "special wisdom" on her own.

 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

The Fallen of Humanity leads to the guilty of disobeying God

Once Satan removed the consequence of sin, the opportunity to gain wisdom seemed very attractive. Scripture tells us in Psalm 111 and twice in Proverbs (1:7, 9:10) (also known as the book of wisdom) that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This type of fear means a reverent obedience to God simply because of who He is. Truly understanding the identity and nature of God leads us to trust and obey Him.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;    all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise. - Psalm 111:10

Adam, who was with her, was guilty of disobeying God's command as well. Whether or not Eve heard this commandment directly from God, it was Adam's responsibility to protect his wife and remind her of God's Word.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Matt. 4), Satan attacked Him in a very similar way. First Satan appealed to Jesus' physical hunger and challenged Him to turn rocks into bread. Then he claimed that there would be no consequences for disobeying God. Finally, Satan tried to get Jesus to reject the Father's will and bow to him in exchange for worldly power and authority.

With each temptation, Jesus responded with scripture that accurately refuted Satan's temptation and reinforced the proper will and character of the Father. This is a model for us to successfully overcome Satan's temptations. And it means that we must know God's Word and use it to encourage ourselves in times of temptation.

God expects us to withstand when we are fallen

God expects us to withstand when we are fallen. God tests and allows trials for us to grow, to discover our weaknesses and to seek Him for strength. Satan tempts us with the goal to destroy us.  God never tempts us, (James 1:13) and God will never allow us to be tempted in a way that that is beyond our ability to endure and escape.

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." - 1 Cor. 10:13

God has revealed Himself and His nature through His Word. To know God's Word is to know God. When we understand God's love and promises for us, we know that He does not withhold any good thing (Psalm 84:11) and He has good plans for us (Jer. 29:11). Therefore, we can trust Him to provide what we need. If He has told us not to do something, we must also trust that He is protecting us, no matter what Satan tells us.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The consequences were great. Instead of walking with God and being in His presence, Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. They were separated by guilt. While they may not have suffered immediate physical death, they were now slowly moving toward that inevitable death.

9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

It's glorious news that the heart of the Father is to call out to, and go after, His lost children. We see it first as God calls out to Adam and Even in the garden. We also see it in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20-14). When the son who was once lost came home, the father ran to meet him and celebrated his son's return.

Conclusion

All have sinned against God the creator.  But God wishes God’s creation should come back to God. 

John 3: 16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The word of God gives us the call to turn away from sin and submit our lives to Jesus.  The worship guides the sinner to hear the word of God and prepare his/her heart to accept Jesus Christ. 

While Jesus finished the work of salvation at the cross, there are still many who are lost and need to receive Jesus. The Holy Spirit now empowers the Church to be Jesus' witness here on Earth (Acts 1:8). As believers, we were fallen but now we are called to seek and to save those who are lost, just as our Father does. May God’s care, counsel, protection and providence be with us all.

 

Prayer

Dear God, You are the Word that broke the ancient silence and created all what we see and what we do not see.  When we are fallen, You are there for us to uplift us. You are the word that guides us towards our divine destination.  You are the word that speaks to us in our conscience. You are the God who cares, counsels, protects and provides us everything. It is difficult for us to find suitable words to thank you. Accept our thanks though poorly expressed. Hinder the vain words which are coming from our mouths. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Who is Jesus ?!

 Who is Jesus?

 In chemistry,

 He turned water to wine.

 In biology,

 He was born without the normal conception;

 In physics,

 I have disapproved the law of gravity when I ascended into heaven;

 In economics,

 I have disapproved the law of

 diminishing return by feeding 5000 men with

 two fishes & 5 loaves of bread;

 In medicine,

 I have cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs;

 In history,

 He is the beginning and the end;

 In government,

 He said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace;

 In religion,

 He said no one comes to the Father except through Him;

 So, who is he?  He is Jesus!

 The Greatest Man in History

 Jesus had no servants,

 yet they called Him Master.

 Had no degree,

 yet they called Him Teacher.

 Had no medicines,

 yet they called Him Healer.

 I had no army,

 yet kings feared Him.

 I won no military battles,

 yet I conquered the world.

 I have committed no crime,

 yet they crucified Him.

 I was buried in a tomb,

 yet He lives today.

 I feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

 Join me and let's celebrate Him;  He is worthy.

 The eyes beholding this message shall not behold evil,

 The hand that will send this message to everybody shall not labor in vain,

 and The mouth saying Amen to this prayer shall smile forever.

 Remain in God and seek his face always.

 Amen!

 In God I've found everything!

 Send this to all whom you care for.

 Let someone know of the works of Our Lord JESUS.

 Let the whole world appreciate the Lord of Lords.

 Do not hesitate to spread the gospel..😊

 Don't be tired of spreading it forth.

Tychicus

May the words of my mouth and meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Rock and Redeemer.
As Paul comes to the end of his letter, he is writing about someone who was one of those behind the scenes, someone who most of us have probably never heard of before. His name is tychicus.  Tychicus played a crucial role in the spread of the gospel and enormous growth of the early church. Paul is traveling on this missionary journey & comes to Ephesus. Many believe that in this group Tychicus was also part of it.  He receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit and becomes a vibrant, follower and disciple of Jesus Christ. Tychicus means "fortunate”.         We find his name mentioned five different times in the New Testament.

And as we look at his life this morning, I believe we can learn some important qualities of his character that we can apply in our lives right away.

Firstly

Tychicus was SELFLESS
Paul sent him to Ephesus where he delivered, and likely read, the circular letter, the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the church there . Then He went to Colosse and did the same with the Colossians . He also had a mission to fulfill in Crete . Paul speaks of him in affectionate terms-

"A brother beloved and faithful minister in the Lord," and "able to comfort your hearts."

He was a ‘beloved brother’.
Paul loved him… unconditionally.
Tychicus was the kind of man that whatever he did, he did it with all the heart and passion that he had.

Secondly

Tychicus was STEADFAST
In order to be faithful, one needs to be full of faith.

Faithfulness begins with OBSERVATION.

The next step is PARTICIPATION.

Faithfulness is sustained by SUBMISSION.

Tychicus has all  these in him, Tychicus was FULL of FAITH.
Hence Tychicus was steadfast.

Thirdly

Tychicus was SERIOUS
There was an element in Tychicus that was fearless.
 He as truly serious about the things of God.

 What does a serious servant look like? 

Perseverance, Patience, and Progress.

Tychicus was so serious & available to be sent with this important letter to the churches surrounding Ephesus. Thus enabling perseverance, patience and progress. So tychicus was serious

Finally,

Tychicus was SENSITIVE
In the ministry of Tychicu.  He was sent to COMFORT.

People are drawn to Jesus because He comforts, He repairs, He offers hope in the midst of a hopeless situation!
He seemed to always have a word, a touch, an encouragement that would calm the hearts of the people and give them hope.

Your effectiveness in loving others requires sensitivity. Tychicus used that sensitivity, so Tychicus was sensitive.

Yes, we need more Selfless, Steadfast, Serious, & Sensitive servants!

Be Selfless, Be Steadfast, Be Serious, & Be Sensitive.
And as you do…

There may be day, when God calls your number and says, here take this message to my church, or take this message to your neighbor, mother, father, brothers, sisters or friends.

Are we ready to be Selfless, Steadfast, Serious, & Sensitive servants?

May God bless these words, Amen.

Faith needs Action

Mark: 2:3-12

     

Introduction:

The gospel according to St. Mark is an interesting gospel as it gives a clear account of Jesus’ ministry. The remarkable aspect of Jesus’ ministry is evident in his character. His character evidenced as manifested compassion.  When Jesus saw the sick he was moved with compassion. The story of the paralytic needs to be understood in the line with the manifestation of Jesus’ compassion for the weak ones in the society. 

The healing took place in Capernaum, which Matthew calls Jesus' "own city" because it was His continuous home as an adult and certainly after His rejection by the Nazarenes. The miracle's focus is the issue of Christ as the Son of God, which is shown in an obvious and amazing way. The Pharisees, the scribes, and the common people were unaware that they were about to witness strong proof of Christ's deity and the power of God.

Compassion Driven Friends vv.1-4

          The text indicates the situation that Jesus was inside the house. As we read in that place house became the centre of Jesus ministry. Have we found proclaiming the reign of god to a crowd gathered in the house There were no space for anyone to enter into the house were was. They were four friends who interested the public ministry of Jesus. They were moved with a high degree of compassion. When they located the paralytic man they beside to carry out this man to Jesus.

In the pronouncement story the term Paralytic needs clarification in order to understand the nature of this man’s condition. Paralytikos in Greek means that the man was suffering from the relaxing of the nerves of one's side of his body, or sick with palsy, or disabled or weak of limb. This man could not work for food, feed himself, or even take care of himself. His condition would have been considered a curse because he could not get what he needed to survive because of his affliction. There was no longer room… Not even at the door - There were Many people gathered together, as much as the whole city (Mark 1:32-34, Matthew 4:23-25). They would be gathered to hear Jesus preach, as they were accustomed to usually Sabbath evening after sunset. But this time there was no room even at the door of the house. These words make us ask who was present at the house. From the surrounding passages we can ascertain that there were sinners, sick people, demon possessed, and religious leaders. From the sister passage in Luke 5 we know that there were scribes present from every town in Galilee.

First was compassionate nature that propelled them to reach out to the paralytic although the text dose not clearly (explicitly) say the overall ministry of Jesus might have produced in them compassion. Their commitment to compassion results in action. This makes us to ask are we compassionate and concerned towards the needy people who live in our society.

Concerted Faith vv.5-7

          In this gospel portion, we learn of four people who brought their paralysed friend on a mat to see Jesus. First, the friend’s faith is an audacious faith in that it brought the paralytic to the only One who could heal.  Four men arrive late, carrying a paralyzed man on his bed. When they realize that they cannot possibly get him through the door, they carry their helpless paralytic friend upstairs to the roof and lower the bed in front of Jesus as He is speaking.

 Their determination to place him before Jesus displays their faith that he would be healed. Instead of being frightened by the problem of the crowds, they see the possibilities for solving it. If they could only involve God, they thought, things would go well. The persevering efforts of the four friends pay off for their paralytic friend as they help make possible his spiritual healing as well as his physical healing.

Mark uses the contrast of the proper faith of the friends of the sick man against the inappropriate disbelief of the scribes to strengthen His theme. The proper faith resulted in the gift of salvation along with the healing. The disbelief of the scribes was a result in poor discernment which was a result of not allowing scripture to permeate their hearts

 Their actions are an example of the Apostle James' statement in James 2:18:"I will show you my faith by my works."

Christ finds faith in the friends, and He honours their faith, rather than any faith the sufferer has. Of course, no one can be saved by another's faith. Yet, another or others can help him along to Christ since only He can deliver him from the bondage of sin.

 Being pleased with their works, which exhibited their faith, Christ responds to their resourcefulness and perseverance in behalf of their suffering friend. Their faith in Christ, then, is the catalyst in His performing this miracle. Our Savoir works where faith is present (Luke 5:20). Obviously, He can perform His work anywhere regardless of human faith, but He often chooses not to act when people lack faith in Him, as happened in Nazareth (Matthew 13:58). The manifested faith empowered which is called hope. In midst of negative situation they injected hope into their action.Jesus’ prerogative was certainly to confront the powers of the world, whether spiritual or political.

Complete Healing  vv.9-12

           These four friends carry the paralytic man to Jesus for physical healing they wanted the paralytic to get restoration form the bondage of paralytic. Their intention was to help him for getting the physical healing. Jesus was also interested in physical healing prior to bring physical healing. Jesus draw attention to sin the text explains that four friends are forgivers.  This highlights that Jesus was indented in spiritual healing. The paralytic needed to be forgiven first, in other words the healing that effected paralytic was a holistic healing. Jesus wanted to heal him from spiritual as well as physical. A true healing takes place when mind, body and heart healing. This is called comprehensive healing. It is not our body that needs healing but also mind and heart do need healing.

          What Jesus did to the paralytic man signifies a holistic healing. This healing invites to aim at holistic healing. People need a complete healing which included mind, body and heart.  It is important for us to bring about complete healing in the lives of people church and society.

Conclusion

Mark 2:1-12 serves as a model of faith, a warning against doubt, a lesson of spiritual discernment, and a testimony of the power of the Saviour to change lives, heal, forgive sins and grant eternal life. From this passage we can glean many lessons that are applicable for the Christian today. As a model of faith this passage teaches us that when we have trouble, problems, or circumstances, we are to bring them to Jesus. The biblical truth illuminated in this passage is that the Jesus who forgives our sins is able and has the compassion to heal your circumstances. Secondly, it teaches us that it pleases the Lord when we diligently seek the Lord and intercede on behalf of a friend or loved one. Our faith in Christ can result in the salvation of our neighbour.

Another lesson we can learn is from the Scribes, is that knowledge of the scriptures without application of the principles of scripture to our personal lives is dangerous. We must allow the word of God to permeate our hearts and transform us toward Christ-likeness, and to be under the authority of Christ and His Holy Spirit. Finally, The paralytic man not only walks away with is bed as a testimony of his healing, but also as a result of his encounter with Christ, he walks away with eternal life. 

In other words, get involved in the lives of other people. It's so easy to sit back, wrapped up in our own lives and our own problems, so that we don't have time to care about anyone else.  We all need forgiveness that only Jesus has power to bestow with friends of faith willing to help. Are we like the friends of paralyzed man in regards to faith?

Resurrection

Preaching lab topic : Resurrection                         

Let us pray. (a song relevant to resurrection) May the Words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Rock and Redeemer. Matthew 27 : 52, 53

1.Resurrection (from death to life)

2.Resuscitation (from unconsciousness to consciousness)

3.Redemption (from evil to good)

Resurrection

Resurrection is the important event for Christians like us. Can any one guess why because? It is the one which we celebrate Easter every year so that we can eat biriyani, wear new clothes, we conduct and attend special services, etc. But It is the one which changed the history. When it comes to resurrection, simple meaning is bring back from death to life. Resurrection is very normal in sci fic movies like terminator, universal soldier, I robot, endhiran, etc. But in bible we can see many resurrected incidents. Can any one here say how many resurrected incidents in bible, If so I will give you this gift….. So resurrection is coming back to life.  What is the purpose of getting back into life. The above resurrected events were different from of the Jesus resurrection. Our whole Christian faith is focused to this resurrection.  We can see verses about this “he is not here; he is risen”, “do not be afraid he has been raised” in many houses. Every one here knows about the context which Jesus was resurrected. If we take that  scientifically there comes the big question. But, Now I don’t want to get into that rather  I want to deal it spiritually about people’s life after resurrection, that is today. That will briefly be illustrated under topic Resuscitation and redemption.

Resuscitation

          Resuscitation is nothing but coming back from unconsciousness to consciousness. Life in this earth is changing lanes. If you take 20 years back it was different, they considered other people with their caste. But now they are comparing with their brands and smart phones, etc .  In future they may compare their status co with robots where every home may be filled with robots or the flats available in mars or venus. These all the signs of the unconsciousness which I want to mention here.  Thus by believing resurrection we have to resuscitate. Living spiritually now, is a big task and conscious life is also rare.

          Once there was a person who went to a guru and said that he was living a unconscious life which he want to relieve from it.  For that guru said go near that window and see, what you see ? he saw the glass and said I see myself. So guru replied go and come back tomorrow.  Next day he came and saw guru, now guru said now see closely you can see other things also. So this man saw that window now he can observe other side of the window were people working in garden. This is the main problem for your unconsciousness you are seeing only yourself not others.  Then guru gave him some redemptive ways.

Redemption

            How many of them have seen this movie, Shawnshank redemption.  This one the best novel written by Stephen king which was later adapted into movie. One of the best movies of all time is Shawnshank redemption. The reason which I say is that redemption from any thing is not very easy to get. When there is no pain there will be no gain. You cant make an omlette without breaking an egg.  Especially when we want redemption from evil that is very difficult.  So we have to be spiritual in order to overcome evil.

 How to live spiritually in 2014? That is an hypothetical question for me. Because my friends ask me just by going to church can you say you are spiritual. I used to see television, where 1000’s of sermons are given daily with wonderful language style, wonderful illustration, fantastic spirituality is seen there. But when I come to my church I can see only communal fights, position fights, ego clashes, etc, etc. where are we going??  For me, my church want to be redeemed. Then only I can speak about redemption in or out the church in future. So I am praying hard for that daily. Hope that we will be redeemed soon.

Conclusion

                The story which I said has specific meaning about unconsciousness, which people used to see only themselves are more in this world they won’t see others and they want to be changed into consciousness.  Evil life is something common and they have to be redeemed from that, as I said earlier in my previous sermon, there are two hearts for a person. Cool  heart and hot heart. Both hearts are inside the same person. It is the choice of that person to be either cool or hot. These are the main things which I am focused

so what we going to gift for our resurrected lord. It is our duty to lead a life which should please god not human, It is not that by eating biriyani, wearing good dress or conducting special services we are gifting to our resurrected lord. Thus if we are in unconscious or evil let us resuscitate and let us resurrected god redeem us and let us give a good gift to our resurrected lord in this wonderful day by giving our life to our god who gave his life for us.

Let us pray, (a song relevant to resurrection) lord make us to resuscitate so that we may be redeemed. May god bless these words. Amen!

3 A

Introduction

Christmas is one of the delightful day. This is the day of joy, day of celebration, day of thanksgiving but today we are going to see that differently which we are going to focus on the verse given below “ Glory to god in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors! “ Luke 2 : 14.  

1.      The anticlimactic condition

2.      The accepted sacrifice

3.      The anticipative sacrifice

The anticlimactic condition

           God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Gen 1:31) but later satan made the way of disobedient and the result was punishment by god. So man was mislead into another way from god. As the result he started to worship other god than Yahweh. So to change man towards god sent his prophets and messages to turn toward him. They started to give warnings and teachings to them but people didn’t repent. So people started to go and fix with their older sins which led them into very dangerous path.  They thought and did the opposite of which god thought. So this created a anticlimactic condition of that situation.

The accepted sacrifice

           Mankind was leading a disastrous life and it creates sadness to god. So this decides to send his one and only son to this earth to change this anticlimactic situation.  “for god so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” john 3 :16.

           Let us just think about this will any person from higher authority will come down? Can a prime minister of a country come down and work as a electrician ? but here the great god coming here down  as a simple man.  “though he was in the form of god, did not regard equality with god as something to be exploited” phil 2:6. This was the greatest sacrifice which we can see in bible. so this can be said as the accepted sacrifice.

           Yes Christmas is emerged out of many sacrifice and that too accepted sacrifices, that should be registered in our mind.

The anticipative outcome

           There is particular aim for Christ birth. Out of all this sacrifices jesus has been born and we can clearly see the aim behind this.  He came to this earth so give peace. Is this world is filled with peace today? Is the things happening in Israel and palastine is peace ? we are celebrating christmas today do we have peace in our mind and family?

           Jesus came to lift the people from the dark, to lead people in good path.  In matthew 1:21, she(mary) will bear a son, and you are to name him jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Yes jesus came to save you and me. That is the ultimate aim for him to born in this earth as a human.

           Does the ultimate aim of jesus has been fulfilled in our life today? Is we people who walk in light ?  can we say that we are redeemed and leading a god loving life ?

Conclusion

           When there is peace in our life then only we can celebrate a peaceful Christmas. Then only the unltimate aim of chirstmas will be fulfilled.  That is the day which jesus Christ being born in this world and that is real Christmas.

Jesus Centred Christmas

A Sermon by Sam Kamalesan

            A man called nicodemus who came to jesus at night, searching for the truth. Jesus said for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who so ever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Nicodomes has said in his introductory statement. Rabbi you are not an ordinary person. Nobody can do these things. He doesn’t come from god, you must be from god. What is the purpose, why ? why humanity is different from what  so ? why? Then jesus said two important things. 1^st is it is love that gives 2^nd this is done in order that you have faith that may appropriate what is given for redemptive ends. There is nothing more powerful than love. Love is the most positive energy which man has in his life

Love must express it selves. A little boy plucks the flower along the way home and gives to his mother. And mother this is beautiful but if you wear this will be very beautiful mother. He said I love you. The highest love which we can measure is that the flower.

A young man buys a box of chocolates and gave it to her girl friend and said you are sweeter than these chocolates. But some girls will eat the full chocolates in the box and forget the boy. But that is the highest expression the young man can express his love to that girl.

The character of the god is love. How everyone say, this much I love you.  When you go home don’t criticize about each other talk about love with each other. Because that’s why we live in this earth, I love you so much. The most highest and longest by giving my self to the loved ones. This is how much I love you. God so loved you because of that he gave his only begotten son. The most adequate expression of god is love. The nature of god is holiness. Man can be easily get into sins. Put gods holiness and mans sin together. The result was the wrath of god. They don’t want to be gether. What god want to still save the mankind. I love you. The only way you can save is to give yourself. I will give myself so that I will be redeemed. Nicodemous doing the same thing. God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son.

You will know the redemptive powers of this love in your love.

BBC what they call as brain stress, many many years ago.  They will take the subject and handle it and they come into some conclusions. One time they picked up a story about love and they went into all sorts of literature to find out the greatest love story of all time. Someone suggested dickens tale of two cities. And someone said god so loved the world. There was the hush behind but finally everybody agreed . love cannot sit and watch self destruction.

Faith brings the heaven of reality. I do appropriate what god gives in my hand.  Whosoever believe in him. It jumps at me and tells you.  Saving faith is theperosnal reality it is the actualization of the event not just the Bethlehem but the whole event of jesus of the Nazareth. Off course it includes the calvary and the empty grave.

I have heard a story and the print there used to say that the story is true. Most of us when we have guest to visit, the USA will invite the guest to visit the niyagara. If we could. There is a story the man called balndin , blandin was the tight rope walker, he was a performer and he was posted that any one is like him before and anyone after him who could equal his perfection. In order to prove this to the world, it is on the set day and the set time he performed the trick which he is famous for. He placed a cable against the niyagara.  And began to walk in the cable about the middle the cable was swing and he regained and went safely. People cheered him. End up with success. At the end he asked people do you believe that I can walk across nayagara on that cable, yes we all believed. Then he asked which one of you believe with let you carry back. Now that’s different.  Whosoever believe in him, it is not the theological argument but it is a existential tranfarence. He can take his place and I can take his place.

Christmas, manger, angels what of this all show for. It is me overcoming the relectants. Nobody believed in him., if you want to go you just go  back and don’t call us. Then the reports says the man offers a huge amount of money where money convinces people and this is united states. Money compromises people in india too, infact all over the world. The man was convinced someone was willing. Finally he took a person and crossed the cable safely. The crowd cheered them nicely. When two of them going back in the car. One is a believer and another is the non believer.  The believer asked the non believer where you believe this trick bladvin crossed the nigara in a cable that too carrying another person.  He said absolutely I believe because I saw that in my eyes. So can you believe god as bladvin who carries us and safely reach us in difficulties. The non believer started to think. May god bless these words.

Observation and critique

Ø  There is no proper background for the selected text, to whom it is talking and in which context the writer addressed to recipients’.

Ø  There is no socio-political background to define the text, in order to relate to present context.

Ø  There are no exegetical studies about the scripture portion.

Ø  Introduction part is lacking to introduce to audience.

Ø  The sermon talks about the love of God, but the preacher fail the bring out the nature of love to compare the love of God and why God gave his Son to this World.

Ø  The sermon does not has the sub points, if the sermon goes without topics the receiver finding difficult to understand the preacher thought, if the preacher fail to communicate with the receiver, his sermon vain.

Ø  There is no proper conclusion.

Ø   The sermon does not specify what the Church has to do what the sermon.

Ø  The preacher does not talk about any of the significance of Christmas or the historical birth of Jesus Christ.

How beautiful are our feet?!!! (Isaiah 52:7)

How beautiful are our feet?!!! (Isaiah 52:7)

A reflection by my dear buddy Rev. Samuel Anbarasu / CSI Madras Diocese

Shane Claiborne wrote about one of his experiences with Mother Teresa. He says, “People often ask me ‘What was Mother Teresa like?’ The usual reply that I give is that Mother Teresa was a short, wrinkled, beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget about her - her feet. Mother Teresa’s feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I didn’t have the courage to ask her. One day a sister said to us, “Have you noticed Mother’s feet?” We nodded. She said: “Her feet are deformed because we do not get a sufficient number of donated shoes for everyone. Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through the pile of donated shoes and finds the worst pair for herself. And years of doing that, have deformed her feet”. Years of loving her neighbor as herself have deformed her feet.

The passage that was read, Isaiah 52:7-9, visualizes the feet of the messenger who announces the good news of the liberation act of Yahweh to redeem the people of Israel from the captivity of the Babylonians. I would like to focus on verse 7 for our morning reflection entitled “How beautiful are our feet?”

On looking at the historical setting, the text that was read is from Deutero – Isaiah (Isaiah chapters 40 - 55). The Israelites were taken as captives under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites had no hope of returning to their own homeland. It is in this context that we hear a brilliant message of deliverance and salvation to the people in exile through Deutero - Isaiah. The message of salvation was that the Persian king Cyrus was opposing the neo-Babylonian empire thereby affirming the opportunities for a restored Jewish community back in Palestine and for Yahwism to become the professed religion. Deutero - Isaiah expressed the absolute conviction that ‘Restoration is the doing of Yahweh’ (Isaiah 41:2-3; 44:28; 52:9).

Now I would like to move our focus on to verse 7. It says

“How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,

who brings good news,

who announces salvation,

who says to Zion, "Your God reigns.”

In Isaiah chapter 52:1-6 we see that Isaiah calls Zion to wake up and rejoice because of the assurance of their freedom by Yahweh. Now in verses, 7 – 9, Yahweh explains his plans to reign as King among his redeemed people in an era of joy and peace. The text Isaiah 52:7-9 depicts three things. In verse 7, the feet of the messengers who announce good tidings, in verse 8, the sentinels are called to see the return of Yahweh to Zion and in verse 9, we read about the invitation to Jerusalem to sing praises to Yahweh.

The one thing that struck me was the phrase about the beautiful feet of the messengers in verse 7. Here, the foot, the least considered part of our body, is explained as the beautiful one. We usually never consider much about our feet. We walk, run, play and do all things on our feet but we never think of them as being important. But here, in this Deutero-Isaiah passage, the feet are referred to as “Beautiful”. On further reading of the text, we see that the feet are not covered with costly shoes or sandals, but just feet upon the mountains. We can assume that the feet of the messenger who travels through the mountains will not be nice but stale. Deutero - Isaiah addresses this stale feet as “How beautiful” they are. The feet of the messenger who carries the message of the salvation is wounded and yet beautiful.

In verse 7, we can see that the message brought by the messenger has four proclamations. They are peace, good news, salvation and the reign of God.

The peace announced by the messenger refers to the absence of enmity and conflict and hence the institution of a time of unity and togetherness among the people and with the other nations.

The good news announced was the freedom for the people of Israelites from their captivity. This good news also emphasize that it is not only freedom but also to come back to the own covenantal life with Yahweh.

The salvation is that Yahweh will deliver his people from the captivity and empower them to be the chosen people of Yahweh again. Then, Yahweh will reign over his people and in that reign, joy, peace, salvation becomes a reality. The feet of the messenger are beautiful because of the news that the messenger brought across the mountains.

The significance of this metaphor ‘the feet’ is also seen in many places in the Bible. In Joshua 3:16, we see that when the feet of the priest who were bearing the ark touched the waters of Jordan, immediately the water stood still. In Matthew 15:30, we see that many people came to the feet of Jesus and Jesus cured all of them. There are much more texts in the Bible depicting the image of feet. Even at the anointing at Bethany, the woman poured an alabaster jar of oil on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.

In conclusion, the feet of Jesus, the priests and messengers were beautiful because of the good deeds they did, because of their voice against injustice and oppression, because they stood on the side of righteousness and the wellbeing of all the people who were dehumanized. The feet of Mother Teresa were beautiful because of her devoted service to humanity.

What do our feet look like? Do our feet stand for God and his will? Do our feet stand against all the dehumanizing powers of dominant structures? Solomon says in Proverbs 1:16, the feet of the sinners run to do evil. Where are our feet going? Do our feet stand on the side of the oppressed or do we stand in a neutral position without concern for anything that happens around us? How beautiful are our feet really? Amen.

DEATH ANNIVERSARY

DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Reference: Revelation 7:9-17

The life that we live in the earth is not permanent.

The life that we are going to live with God is always permanent.

In order to live with god, we need to pass through Death.

According to Christian faith, death is not an end to our life; instead it is the beginning of a new life with god.

Apostle Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)

We shall meditate on three things about death. Death is the

·         Entry into Rejoice full life

·         Entry into Relieved Life

·         Entry into Rewarded life

Ø  ENTRY INTO

REJOICEFUL LIFE:   Rev 7:9-12

Being with Jesus is rejoice full life.

People who died are praising and rejoicing God in heaven.

They don’t worry about anything.

Ø  ENTRY INTO

RELEIVED LIFE:        Rev 7:14-16

Relieved from great tribulations and sins.

Relieved from Earthly Sufferings.

Ø  ENTRY INTO

REWARDED LIFE:    2 Tim 4:7

Jesus rewards the people who have done good deeds and who have led a pleasing life before him.

Jesus rewards them with “THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

Ø  CONCLUSION:

They have gone to a much better place.

They are with god and we all will see them face to face in the second coming of our lord Jesus.

So therefore we comfort each other with these words. Amen                                                                                   ********