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Showing posts from September, 2016

The Promise of His Presence

A friend of mine pointed out to me that Matthew talks about the same thing at the beginning and at the end and in the middle of his Gospel: “… they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)” Matthew 1:23 “…where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” Matthew 18:20 “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:20 That''s beautiful. This great God not only came to be with us but promises to be with us to the very end. That's more than enough. His presence is all that we need!

Son of Mary?

Isn't he the carpenter, the son of Mary,.. - Mark 6:3 Jesus was born of a virgin. It was a miracle. It was possible because of the Holy Spirit.But some people in those days did not believe it. Instead, they mocked at Jesus. They thought that some dirty little secret was there in the family of Jesus. And they made fun of Jesus because of that. How do i say that? Well, in Mark 6, Jesus is in his hometown. That's where people start calling him "Son of Mary". In those days, people were identified with the names of their Father. James, the son of Zabedee, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon bar Jonah. Nobody were identified with their mother's name. But for Jesus they use Son of Mary to mock him. They were saying indirectly that they dont know who was the father of Jesus. They were talking ill about Mary. Jesus was ridiculed, mocked, and rejected. Jesus knew the pain of people mocking him because of the family. Jesus suffered because of these gossips. Is th

Free Slaves!

In order to be truly free one must become a slave to Christ. The world seduces us with slavery and calls it freedom. Christ calls us to become his slaves, to take up the easy yoke, which is the only freedom.                                                               - Michael Card Paul often called himself “a slave to Christ”   ...This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave,... Romans 1:1; ...Paul, the slave of God ...Titus 1:1; .... I, Paul, the slave of Christ.... Ephesians 3:7

Religion that God Accepts!

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27 The word religion is used only one time (as far as i know) in the new testament. And interestingly its not used to explain all the activity we do in the name of religion. All the temple based activities are not here. The religion that God accepts is this:   1. Caring for the weak people (orphans and widows) 2. Living a holy life If you are doing these two things, then you are following a religion that God accepts . If not, then you are following some other religion that God does not accept.     

Dangerous Assumption!

When Jesus was twelve years old, his parents took him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. After the celebration was over, Jesus did what any parents of 12 year would not want them to do. He stayed back in Jerusalem without informing his parents.  They thought he was with the group, so traveled a whole day... (Luke 2:44) They were assuming Jesus was with them or with their group. They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Son of God but missed him because of their assumption. Are you assuming that Jesus is with you? Instead of following him are you assuming He is following you? Don’t live with this dangerous assumption. They travelled a whole day without Jesus. How long have you been travelling without Him? A few days, few months or few years…?  “Every year” the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem and came back. (See Luke 2:41, 42). It was a usual thing for them. So they thought, Jesus would do the same, this year too. As an indi