Biblio

To redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (NIV) Galatians 4:5 The very concept of family is very close to the  heart of God. God is a family. Trinity exemplifies a family relationship in Father – Son - Holy Spirit. The idea of father -son which is foundation of concept of family comes from Trinity. Unity, love, intimacy, honor, interdependence, relationship and fellowship are integral parts of Trinity. Moreover, God began the world with a family. Christ’s love for church is a model for a good marriage/family relationship. God calls His church as a household or family. When you are born again, remember that God adopted you as His child and gave you membership in His family. The point is that we are members of God’s family. This family feeling and behavior should reflect in our relationship with God, our earthly family members and church. Therefore, we need to develop a strong a loving-united-intimate relational atmosphere in our homes as well as in our c

1.   Private victories precede public victories or ministry We need to have a consistent private victory over sins and a consistent private close walk with God. Jesus had a regular private time with God. Our ministry flows out from our secret walk with God. Ministry is a result of our intimacy with God (Mark 1.35) . In Martha and Mary’s case, Martha put service before intimacy with God which resulted in frustration and disappointment. Our ministry flows from our intimacy with God. We need to regularly spend time with God in prayer, word of God and worship all alone. God should minister to our hearts in our secret meeting with God. This is the foundation of our ministry. Authority and power in ministry come from our intimate relationship with Jesus. Consistent private walk with God over a long time is essential for effective and long-lasting ministry. It is also an integral ingredient for your ministerial growth and maturation. 2.    Character precedes your gifts/ministry/skill

Ephesians 4:11-12 11 And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,   “He personally gave some to be apostles…”:God gave offices of the church. They are not employed by anyone or are not professionals produced by some elite universities. Rather they are God’s anointed ones whom God appointed as leaders over His divine institution church which is eternal. “for the training of the saints”: One of the purpose of appointing them over church is to train saints for God’s work. All saints should be trained for work of God. Jesus trained his disciples for training. Paul trained Timothy for a ministry. Same way we all need to be trained for a ministry.    “Work of ministry”: Every believer has a ministry of God since God appointed every believer as His royal priests (1Pet.2.4,9). When you involve in your ministry, you are building up God

Acts 13:36 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, Acts 13:26 explains we are called to serve God’s purpose in our generation like David. Basically we have two purposes:     Primary purpose: To serve in God’s redemptive plan which is the salvation of human beings through Jesus Christ.   Secondary purpose: To serve the job or whatever position we are in. Serving Primary Purposes of Life in Marketplaces We often compartmentalize spiritual role and marketplace role. However, both have an integral connection.  Esther 4:13-14 tells primary purpose for Esther was not to become queen but to save the lives of Jews. God raises up people from nowhere to great positions and influence to serve God’s primary purposes. Genesis 45:5 tells primary purpose of Joseph was not to become in charge of the lands of Egypt but to preserve lives of people of God – Israel. God has given job, op

Jesus : Welcome to heaven. You know it is the year end. It is time for your spiritual appraisal. It is time to evaluate your spiritual walk. You know your manager speaks always to you about your KPI (Key Performance Indicator) and likewise your pastor always speak about KSLI- Key Spiritual Life Indicator. As you know this appraisal is a two way process. I like to hear from you about your KSLI and then I like to give you a feedback. Let us begin, Your pastor thinks you have a great spiritual life. He considers you as one of his best believer. He praises to others that you have good knowledge of bible, you pay tithe, You are able to lead all kinds of spiritual matters. It seems that your pastor feels that you have a great spiritual life. What do you think about your spiritual life? Believer : Jesus I really love you. As my pastor said I have a fantastic spiritual life. I pay tithe. You know many Christians go to the church only on Easter day. But I went to church on most of the

Many traditional churches have great potential to grow exponentially as long as people around them are not reached with the saving grace of Jesus. However, they are not growing. Growth means not only numerical growth with new believers but also overall health of the church and its impact and influence upon people. Here are few keys for church growth. Vision  Vision is like steering wheel of a vehicle, vision takes an organization into its future destiny. Vision is a picture of the future. It is a well known fact that you get what you see. Bible says that where there is no vision, people perish (Proverb 28.19). Vision guides us where to go. If pastor and church leadership do not know where to take church in the future, it cannot grow. Vision helps to focus what matters most. Vision gives a clear picture about what you want to achieve with your ministry. Vision inspires, motivates and engages people.  Habakkuk speaks about writing down the vision (Habakkuk 2.2). It indicates

Kerala Pentecostalism is one of the powerful spiritual movement that originated, developed and spread in Kerala. The main line Pentecostal churches are Indian Pentecostal Church,  The Pentecostal Mission, Assemblies of God, Church of God and Sharon Fellowship. Though they contributed greatly for the growth of the Kingdom of God, there are many unhealthy trends in Pentecostalism which are really hindering the growth of the Kingdom of God and their organisational purity and strength.  Some are as follows:  1. Transfer System of Pastors Most of the Kerala Pentecostal churches have a system of transferring the local church pastor every three years usually. This system gives different spiritual challenges:   I do not understand the how far this system can keep God's will about a  church and its pastor in all this process.  A pastor takes at least one to two years to get into relationship with people in a new place. Once he builds up relationship and  start to share gospel to the

Romans12. 9-13 is a call for love in the body of Christ. For Paul, loving others is the heart of Christian living. Even charismata find its base in love. Paul links charismata and love strongly in Romans 12 and 1Corinthians. Love is the foundation of the communitarian existence of the body of Christ. In Romans 13.9, Paul says that the whole moral codes of the Old Testament are summed up in loving others. Let me expose three aspects of love in the body of Christ based on Romans 12.9-13. Firstly, Love should be liberative without hypocrisy. V.9 used the Greek word agape for love. Paul used this word for God’s love and human love. For Paul, Christ’s death is the supreme expression of God’s love to humanity. Agape indicates the conjugal love between man and woman in non biblical literature before 2 and 3 century CE. It is love for others. V.9 says this agape Love must be genuine. The Greek word for genuine is ajnupovkrito" which means without hypocrisy. Hypocrisy conceals

These are some of the thoughts that can lead and guide our minds with respect to our church. What is God doing around us? Jesus said “I will build my church...” (Mt 16.). He is doing right here in your place through you. The building and providing growth to the church is completely God’s work. It is God-sized program which any human being may not able to do unless God equips someone. However, the beauty is that God likes normal human beings to participate with such God-sized program. What should I do? It is our responsibility to join with God in his work which specially manifests around us. We need to learn to jump into the place where God is really at work. In order to participate in God’s work around us, we need to adjust our life (time, relationship, finance, work and all other life activities) to God’s plan,  purpose and work. How I should participate with God? Nehemiah might be a good example to answer this question. 1. Fill our hearts with burden for perishing

                Everyone in the church is a living stone (1Pet 2.4-5) who finds their foundation in Jesus, the cornerstone. Church is compared with a building. Here, it says the church is a growing spiritual building.  In the building, every stone is connected and carrying the burden of the other stones, likewise it is expected that every believer is to be connected to the other believer and should carry the burden of another. As every stone in a building has its own special role and function to build the building, to give the shape of the structure and to give existence for a building, every believer in the church has a role and function in the church to build it up. This particular role or function is nothing but the individual ministry of every believer in the Kingdom of God.                  The greatest job that Jesus is doing in this world is building his church (Mt 16.13-20). To this end, Jesus has given to all of us an authority. This authority is to overcome the pow

      ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH GATHERING              Church has different gatherings which aim to strengthen and nourish the spiritual life of believers. Heb 10.25 says that we should not give up any church meetings. It is an opportunity to us to receive ministry of God towards our entire being through the gifts of Holy Spirit (1Pet 4.10). Holy Spirit has very major role in our meetings. Spirit ministers to us through different gifts and manifestation through different people. Christian gathering should be Spirit filled gathering. The different manifestation of the Holy Spirit is to strengthen the believers and also for the common goodness of the community (1Cor 12.26,7).  However, the different ministries of the Holy Spirit should administer in order which should not disturb the order of the service.             One of the important parts of our gathering is giving to God from our material resources. It a most neglected part of the worship by many Christians and

                               The church is the community of all true believers of all time, whom God called out from the world to participate his salvific programme. Church is body of Christ and Christ is the head (Eph 1.22–23). Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2.47). The church is local but universal. The metaphors that used for the church are: family (1Tim 5.1-2), bride of Christ (Eph 5.32), branches on a vine (Jn15.5), an live tree (Rom 11.17-24), field of crops (1Cor 3.6-9), a building (1Cor 3.9), a new temple (1Pt 2.5), God’s house (Hb 3.3). The main ministers of the church are: apostles, pastors, evangelists, teachers, prophets, deacons, other ministers. The important events of the church are: Baptism, holy communion, worship, prayer, fellowship, ministry of word of God, evangelism and so on. Following are the essential attitudes which every believer needs to have in his or her spiritual life towards the church. 1. ATTITUDE OF UN