Date of Sermon Delivery : 21. 11. 2021

Place of sermon Delivery : Lodi Garden Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service

Speaker : Jatin Bisht

Title - A blessed Church.

Bible – Acts 2:42-47

42. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

43. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 

44. All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Nothing was screat)

45. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

46.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 

47.  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Good morning.

Dear brothers and sisters,

On this new morning, I greet you all with the love of Jesus Christ and assure you that we will enjoy this day together.

I am very happy this morning because I am a part of this fellowship with you today.

And I am thankful to all those who helped on this day.

Since 2009, after my 12th standard exam, I joined this fellowship, and till today I am with this fellowship because the blessing of the Lord is upon this fellowship, and through this church I have received love, hope, share, care, be with and be encouraged to live a good life.

I hope that in the years to come, I will continue to be a part of this church and experience the Lord's greatness more.

And as today we have our last sermon on true happiness, we will deal with the topic "belonging to a blessed church gives us true happiness".

 

 

Let’s close our eyes and pray to God.

Every day we have some cookies. From our childhood, we are familiar with cookies.

There are some ingredients for cookies, but if it is without sugar, you would say it is not a tasty cookie.

Similarly, there are some essential ingredients in the blessed church, God designed the church with some essential elements, but if we do not find those essentials in the church, then it would be difficult to call it a church.

 

This morning I want to draw your attention to the early church in the 1st century.

This church was born after Jesus ascended to heaven, and it was not a small church, but it was a mega church with more than 3000 members.

We have the topic of a blessed church, so there are some essential elements of a blessed church. We will try to understand it with the help of a 1st century church.

 

Let’s look at verse 42

42. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

The authors of Acts, Dr. Luke says, devoted themselves.

What do you understand by the word "devoted/devotion"?

It is an active word, it shows continued action. As per the Greek translation, it means to make oneself busy, to be constantly engaged, to be loyal.

 

So, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. They were devoted to the apostles' preaching and teaching. They were committed to the New Testament. It was not something they did weakly or once a month, but they were continually engaged.

But why do we sometimes fall down? We cannot trust him. Why are we spiritually immature people?

because we are sometimes present in the church but not constantly.

A building does not represent a church, but a church means calling out people.

We do not feed on God’s word the way that we are supposed to.

But in the early church, they made themselves busy with it. They were continually engaged in teaching.

This is the first and primary essential element of the blessed church. If a church is not doing the preaching and teaching of God’s word, then that is not a church, but an organization.

A church is designed to build you up so that you are a mature follower of Jesus.

 

The second essential thing for the blessed church, in verse 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

They devoted themselves to fellowship.

The word "Koinonia" means "fellowship, association, or close relationship."

The early church was not only committed to teaching and preaching God’s word, but they were also committed to developing close personal relationships within the church.

 

Many people go to church once a week, and they attend church teaching and preaching once or twice a month, but they do not have any friends in the church.

They have no one they consider a family member, but the early church encouraged us to be committed to developing close, personal, familiar, and friendly relationships.

We must spend time with one another, because we are family.

Do you know how we became a family?

Because we are brought by the blood of Jesus, when we die, our earthly family ends, but our church family does not.

When we are in Christ, we go deeper and deeper as a family, and we share the highs and lows of life.

 

The third essential thing for the blessed church, in verse 43 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

 

They devoted themselves to breaking bread, Here, breaking bread does not mean the lord’s table only, but a common table, which means they had dinner together.

I like my church because of this activity that we all have and share a common table. I think many churches do not have this kind of activity. After service, they separate and move toward home.

But we need to do it more, share food together, share dinner tables together. Through it, we will get to know one another.

Take it as a challenge that if you have not shared the table with anyone for a long time, then share it with him/her.

The early church was devoted to it; they were active.

One of the easiest ways to get to know each other is through breaking bread at the common table,

 

The fourth essential in verse 43 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

They devoted themselves to prayer.

When do you pray?

Praying always brings God’s decision and it shows that we need God’s direction.

Here the disciples followed Jesus' actions, and Jesus woke up early and prayed often.

It was his way of staying connected to the father through prayer.

Pray continually, "Paul says in 1 Thessalonians "

And today's text is not speaking about individual prayer, but they were devoted to prayer.

I am always thankful to you all, that you pray with me and pray for me.

Really, we need to pray, we need God’s answer.

Many times, I hear in my church that members are coming to church, but they are anxious, depressed, or worried because they do not know what to do with their lives.

They are rich in worries but poor in prayer.

They have much anxiety because they have little time on their knees.

They bear the weight of their burdens because they refuse to cast them on the lord’s shoulder.

And do not say that you do not have time to pray. One pastor said, "Do not ever think you are too busy for prayer because God can accomplish more in five minutes of prayer than you could accomplish in five lifetimes." Amen…

 

Prayer is an essential element of the blessed church.

 

Let’s see verse 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Here, awe means fear, bible says a certain amount of fear is healthy.

They feared God as a result of the apostles' teaching and preaching, which represented honor.Therefore, they were able to see wonders and signs.

Last week, I met a pastor from Delhi. He is doing an effective ministry in his place. Through him, God told me one thing: if you want to experience the wonders and works of God, then fear God. Therefore, not only is the grace of God true, but the judgement of God is true as well.

We need to get a healthy dose of fearing the Lord, because the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

It is essential and right for the blessed church that they fear the mighty God.

 

Let’s see verse 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common

45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

They were one in presence, one in purpose, one in passion, one in mind, and they were one body.

Because they were one in Holy spirit.

If we are born in God, he maintains common thought and goal.

They were selling their property, and not only property, but their possessions too, and pulling their money together and sharing it out, so that nobody in the church or outside the church lacked a single thing.

Sharing is the essential element of the church.

When they heard the gospel and when they understood that Jesus had emptied the storehouses of heaven, they were shocked. Jesus, the wealthiest individual in all the universe, without comparison, made himself poor to redeem them.

Then they said this life is temporary and if Jesus emptied his own storehouses, so can I.

These people were impacted by the gospel.

If I have excesses to have good food and my brother in Christ, my blood brother, and sister in Christ are without food, then it is not right.

How many of you would leave your own son on the side of the road if you had the ability to help?

Would you let your kids go hungry when you have food in the fridge?

We are family. The person sitting next to you, is your neighbour and family. It does not matter if you know him/her name or not, they are family and we should help each other.

Can we say a big Amen?

Jesus taught as he travelled from town to town, meeting the needs of the poor and needy. He fed the hungry, he healed the sick, and he resurrected the dead to life, not by their name, colour, or identity, but by love.

The world needs love, "sharing love", because in this world it is so rare.

 

Let’s see verses 46 and 47

46. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

It is similar to verse 42. But I want to tell you one thing here: they continued to meet together and break bread and eat together with gladness.

How can these people be full of joy when they are persecuted? Because they have understood the gospel. They have understood that they have been saved from their sins through the perfect life and the death of Jesus. Jesus freed them from their sins and death, which nobody in the world can do. Because no matter how expensive the cream is, you can never overcome death, and no matter how many good deeds you do, you can never pay for the things you have done wrong, expect Jesus.

Sometimes people say they do not have joy, I will say you do not have joy because you do not know Jesus yet.

47. praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Let’s see, the last essential element of the blessed church is worship.

They were attending to the church, attending to the temple, and they worshipped together.

But many of us have excuses like "I have a job, I cannot come on this and that service, I have a family function, the time of service should be adjusted according to my comfort."

Do not think that early church believers did not have jobs, they were also doing something for their food too.

But do you know how they attended to the teaching of the apostles regularly, how they devoted themselves, because they made worshipping God a part of their lifestyle.

They were not just attached at the end of the week or the start of the week, but they were devoted every day. Do you know that it is also God’s grace that our church doors are open every day.

 

My dear brothers and sisters,

We must write it down somewhere the early church activity, and never forget these essential elements of a blessed church, teaching, preaching, fellowship, prayer, togetherness, joy, sharing, fear to the lord, worship, and telling about the salvation of Jesus.

Let’s check where I am weak.

Am I weak in teaching?

Am I weak in the gathering of fellowship?

Am I weak in prayer?

Am I weak in share?

Am I weak in worship?

And ask the help from the lord, lord make me strong in wherever I am weak in and when we are strong then the church of the lord will also be strong and will be called a blessed church.

And whoever belongs to it will experience true happiness.

May God bless us with his word.

Amen

Date of Sermon Delivery : 14. 11. 2021

Place of sermon Delivery : Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service

Speaker : Ramesh

Title - Deliverance and Freedom

Bible - Luke 4:18-19

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  

Good morning everyone.

I hope things are well with you and you are enjoying a blessed life.

Even if you are not I believe that you are hopeful in Christ and you have peace of God.

If we are bitter and depressed this is the sign that we are not trusting the Lord as much as we should.

Last week was good and tiring at the same time.

I was busy with the work a lot and did not get much of a breather lately.

Today's sermon is about Deliverance and Freedom. 

What does this mean to you? 

What comes to your mind when you think of freedom and deliverance?

For me, both have the same meaning. 

We have seen in our previous sermons that how God created man and how he is fallen. 

How now the man is sinful and how we have hope. 

Main Body:

Let us clarify who needs deliverance and who needs freedom?

if you have been extremely hurt, betrayed, divorced, and cannot seem to forgive. 

if you are fighting a disease

If you are angry and depressed for no reason at all 

If you hate everything and everyone around you

If you know me you could tell I am very afraid of ghost and their stories. 

I don't like to watch movies for fun nor do I like to engage in that kind of conversation. 

Because I was afraid. 

From childhood, these things have haunted me. 

If I watch anything I am not able to sleep for days. 

This is common with kids, but this was not only when I was a kid but when I grew old. 

The fear always overtook me. 

I am not sure when and how God took away my fear of these things. 

I am not brave enough still to go to the forest in the middle of the night but anyway I am brave enough to go to the washroom and any part of my house in darkness. 

 

 This is progress and I did nothing for this this is all because I know God is above every other power in this world. 

I would call this the plan of God that last week only I had to face some other issue.

I was happy and doing my regular work and I saw a text and I was furious. 

At that time I was able to see that how I need the holy spirit in my life and not give in to the things around me. 

This happens with me all the time, things around me make me angry. 

This time when this happened I was kind of able to control it. 

Or I should say God controlled me to lash out and spoil my whole evening.

However my whole evening was spoiled and my mood was off, but I was self-aware that I need to work on something. 

God showed me what I lack and asked me to improve this lashing out is not helpful in my case. 

I need to trust God and God's timing. 

I need to rest my case in the hands of God. 

This time when I was blamed for something I did not do. I was not angry but was made aware of my flaws.

This is the deliverance from God.

God is working in me and I know that you are not here on the stage otherwise you could share much more than I am doing right now. 

Let's see the Bible:

 In Galatians 1:3-4, Paul writes: “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”

The problem people face may not be as drastic as I face. 

a. Pressures of life: Family strife, marriage problems, difficulty in parenting, poor

interpersonal relationships.

b. Pressures of finances: Living expenses, home loans, funds for children’s education,

funds for retirement, and medical emergencies.

c. Pressures from work: Stiff competition in the society, heavy workload, risk of

unemployment, etc.

d. Pressures of time: Fast pace of life, lots of anxiety, and always feeling like there is not

enough time and imbalance in the use of time.

e. Pressures of sicknesses: Although the average life expectancy has increased,

illnesses abound and people are suffering.

f. Pressures from bad habits: Unbelievers are trapped and unable to break free from

the bondages in their personality, temper, bad habits, vices, and greed, etc

These things are something we all have faced or are facing each day. 

These things are not a problem but the outcome of these things are. 

We tend not to win over them but surrender to these problems. 

Let me ask you if you have faced these things. 

If yes how does this make you feel? 

Were you feeling low and saying that you are no hero. 

Or saying that apna time ayega just feeling encouraged but nothing changes. 

Do you feel sorry for yourself or it is difficult for you to take out time for the things that are important for you. 

Let me tell you we all have failed and we keep on failing. 

But we only fail and we say we have failed when we don't trust the holy spirit. 

I was in mess before the preparation of my marriage because there were things I was not able to do. 

And there was a lot of pressure but I was reminded that I have Jesus at my side and I gave it all to God. 

When God came into the picture things changed, I am happy and not at all burdened.

Yes, I still need to do things but because I have God I am not worried. 

Anything that I am not able to do I give it to God. I and God are like a team.

Because you and I have prayed for my marriage, everything God sorted.

 Because I have asked for help from God, he listened to my prayers. 

 Because we prayed we are being healed.  

 

 

This is not something like others tells us to do and we do and then we are blessed. 

This happens only when we receive the gospel and believe that God will do. 

Paul was able to bear so much pain and suffering because he had assurance that God is there with Him. 

We can only take so much of this world if we know God. 

But Holy Spirit is with us we could face this world and all the problems in it with so much ease. 

Conclusion:

God's plan was not only to save us to give us eternal life. 

He wants us that we may taste the real peace and joy in Him. 

but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  - John 4:14

Jesus came so that we may be free from the bondages. 

There is nothing that God cannot do. 

No power can overpower God. 

If you are under slavery be free in the name of Christ. 

If you are under stress be free in the name of Christ. 

If you are sick be free in the name of Christ. 

This is the power of the Holy Spirit. 

God is God who brings us out of our misery. He is the one who breaks all the chains and brings comfort to all who mourn.

I want that as a Church when we pray for personal prayers. 

Don't pray for your usual stuff. 

Ask especially the Holy Spirit and feel the freedom. 

Feel the chains being breaking, feel the forgiveness. 

Feel the real joy of God. 

Let us go to the Lord and pray: 

God let us fill us with your Spirit now. 

We want to taste you, we want to take you living water. 

Let us feel you and make us free. Jesus is our guide. 

Let your Spirit overpower us and let us feel again the glimpse of your glory. 

Amen

Date of Sermon Delivery : 7. 11. 2021

Place of sermon Delivery : Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service

Speaker : Jatin Bisht

Title - The victory of the cross

Bible – Colossians 2:13-15 

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 

13. उसने तुम्हें भी, जो अपने अपराधों और अपने शरीर की खतनारहित दशा में मुर्दा थे, उसके साथ जिलाया, और हमारे सब अपराधों को क्षमाकिया, 

14. और विधियों का वह लेख जो हमारे नाम पर और हमारे विरोध में था मिटा डाला, और उसे क्रूस पर कीलों से जड़कर सामने से हटा दिया है।

15.और उसने प्रधानताओं और अधिकारों को ऊपर से उतारकर उनका खुल्‍लमखुल्‍ला तमाशा बनाया और क्रूस के द्वारा उन पर जय–जयकार कीध्वनि सुनाई।

 

Good morning people of God. 

Once again, I welcome you in the fellowship of God 

It is a great privilege for me to stand in the midst of you with the living word of God, I thank the lord that he is still using me God and And it is my wish that as long as there is strength in my body, the Lord will use me.

Last week was the festival session in our country, and I could able to find everywhere there was light, but more than that I could able to give thank to Jesus who died for me to bring me into light, and that light has not yet turned into darkness and I am still in that light. 

And this True light which brightness day by day in me

Today we will see bible Colossians.

Paul wrote Letter of Colossians while in prison, around 60 A.D, to the small city of Colossae. Today this city is known as a turkey. Paul wrote to warn against the false teaching and to encourage the believers in their growth toward Christian maturity.

So, I want to take your attention to Colossians 2:13-15 Let’s read together 

 

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 

May God bless us by reading his word. 

Let’s pray 

Thank you, Lord, for this new day. Thank you for your words and blessing. Lord, we surrender ourselves into your hand and ask your help that we may not take lightly the subject of the cross, and one who was crucified on that cross. Cover us all with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray. 

Amen

You are victorious the reason you are victorious is because he is victorious.

But what do you think, does victory come easily? 

No 

Ask the athlete or ask our Indian cricket team which is standing on the top. 

Hey how easy for you to stand on the top?

Maybe they will also say it is not easy to remain on the top always.

Ask presentation giver how much easy for you to present anything? 

Maybe he will tell you how many nights he did not sleep well to prepare an effective speech.

I want to tell you one thing, victory takes a sacrifice of some value.

Victory is very-very expensive. 

Therefore, the cross of Jesus Christ is also so important for us.

And when we speak the power of the cross, we are not speaking about the wooden structure that was used, that wooden structure in itself had no power.

So, speaking about the power of the cross it has to be something more than the wooden structure. Therefore, what brings power to the cross is the one upon whom it was crucified.

 

Last week when I was reading our quiet time bible, there was written Israel had forgotten their forefather God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods.

I want to encourage you this morning, do not to forget the blood that was shed on that cross by the great ransom. And no one makes a greater sacrifice than blood, nor will there be anyone able to do in the coming days.

I think most of us know that Jesus died for them into a cross, we are listening to it maybe some of you have been listening to this for 10 years, 5 years, or 3 years. 

Therefore, I want to ask you a question 

What difference does the cross make in our lives? 

What does the cross do for us?

 

Paul says in verse 13, we are alive in Christ. 

Beginning of verse 13, he describes the Human race as dead, you were dead in your sin.

If you are sick, you have a hope that you could get better, you could recover but if you are dead, it is like you are dead, you are gone, it is over now.

If you are talking about the physical dead, that means you are talking about the fact that your inner man/spirit has been separate from your physical body, therefore there is no life in that body. 

But here Paul used the word dead for spiritual deadness. And those who are spiritually dead, cannot interact with the things of the spirit, they cannot interact with the creator, they cannot interact with Jesus Christ. 

They found that they are not devoted to God. And the reason here Paul says because of our trespasses. In the NIV bible word “Sin” is used instead of trespasses.

Trespasses mean entering someone's land without permission, and if we have crossed the line then the action will be taken against us. 

In the same way, trespass means to go beyond the boundaries that God has set.

God has set boundaries and when we cross those boundaries, he says you have trespassed. When God sets boundaries for us, it does not mean that he wants to crush us, but he set a boundary for blessing.

We as human beings cross those boundaries and the result is trespasses. 

In the time of the early church, there was a controversy between Jews and Gentiles. Jews had a sign (circumcision) of the covenant, but gentiles did not have that sign, therefore there was a controversy that Gentile are not God’s people 

Here Paul reminds us that what Jews and Gentile were doing that does not matter, but the power of the cross has broken all barrios. We were dead in our trespasses, but we were made alive together with Christ.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, once we had old life, that is the dead life, that is sinful life that is separated from God, do not forget that who we were, if we forgot who we were then we will forget the value of Christ. 

Once we were dead but now, we are alive with Christ.

When we are alive in Christ our life is very different than when we were dead in our sins.

So, truth number one the victory of the cross made us alive with Jesus Christ. 

 

 

Second truth is, the victory of the cross forgave us of our all sins (13,14)

Having forgiven us all our trespasses, the victory of the cross forgave my ALL SINS. 

This is a small sin/mistake, I will forgive you for this, but I will never forgive you for these big sins, we do this 

But When God forgives our trespasses, he does not forgive our partial sins, but He forgives all of our sins. 

When Christ died on the cross, he died for sins that were past, present, and future. 

Let’s see verse 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

If we have any debt then it is very difficult to sleep, but if the debtor says to us, I do not want debt maybe we feel relaxed and thankful to that debtor. 

Here Paul says that the canceling of the record of our debt, our debt has been blotted out/paid off.

If we have debt today, there are legal demands upon us, and if we fail to pay that debt, we will declare bankruptcy, and our debtor will come and take everything we have, to satisfy the debt. even we have to pay some penalty and get some punishment. 

In the same way, there are legal demands that come with our sin debt, and our legal demands of sin must be satisfied. Someone had to pay the penalty that the law demanded. Someone had to receive the condemnation for man’s sin and someone did, someone paid our debt of sins, and that someone was JESUS CHRIST 

When he was nailed to the cross, the legal demand was nailed to the cross with him.

He took our punishment upon himself, he took our legal demand upon himself, therefore the law can now no longer condemn us.

Jesus Christ not only blotted out our legal demands, but he set aside, (Hata Diya)

Right now, between you and me is this pulpit, it stands between us, so set aside means that we would pick it up and set it aside so that nothing between me and you.

Paul says Christ not only forgives us and cancels our debt but he set aside that which stood between us.

My dear brothers and sisters Christ paid the debt on the cross, he stood in our place. 

So that his holiness, his righteousness, his love, his peace, his joy, grace, and mercy would be credited in our account. 

On that day when Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, our sin was nailed to the cross.

In Corinthians 5:21 Paul says “for our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

I want we may think about it, Jesus became a sinner because he did not, but in his perfect holy life, he went through the pain and laid himself down on the cross. On that day, crucifixion was the most torturous punishment, death on the cross never comes early, but it comes slowly. 

Even the enemy was joyful to see this all event, but in reality, that was the work of God, nailed was put in his hand and feet for my sins and our sins. 

That was our sins nailed to the cross on that day. 

The gospel has broken down all barriers and now no more need for the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. 

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law and he fulfilled it.

He tore down the veil (Curtain) and gave us free access into the presence of God. 

I am thankful to God that not only I am alive in Christ but I am forgiven in Christ.

 

The third truth, the victory of the cross, gave us victory. (15)

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 

Paul simply means that those authorities nailed him on the cross, they thought, they have removed Jesus Christ, but God himself showed them that you cannot and will not win the victory against God.

Jesus not only break religious barriers, traditional barriers, but he broke the spiritual barriers too. 

God break down the spiritual barriers, disarmed those rulers and authorities and said 

Paul says in  1 Corinthians 15: 55 “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

 

Dear believer’s 

The only victory we have in this life is in Christ and Christ alone. 

You will not find victory in your own plan apart from God.

You will not find victory in your relationship apart from God. 

You will not find financial victory or success apart from God.

And more than that, you will never find a spiritual victory apart from God.

1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I know Sometimes life becomes a struggle, sometimes this Christian life also looks like a struggle but because we have victory in Jesus Christ, therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So how we will apply it? 

Do not live with this lie that the cross is just a story, but the cross has some power behind it because of Jesus Christ. Live in the reality of what God has done through Jesus Christ, stop trying to do on your own, stop trying to use your own power. Rest in the power of Christ because the GOODNEWS of the gospel is that you have been made alive in Christ, 

You have been forgiven in Christ

And you have victory in Christ 

Let’s live in that way. 

May God bless you by hearing God's word. Amen