JOLLAM BANDA

John 3: 16 display “favour that is neither earned nor deserved” without using the word grace because God is giving out what is most precious to him (Jesus Christ), out of love for his lost creation. The giving by God of Jesus Christ for his lost creation is a favor that is neither earned nor deserved (grace). God is motivated by love for us, his creation so that if we trust in him, we don't get what we deserve -- to perish eternally -- but to possess eternal life with him. This is the of grace of God.

Jesus Christ sets up the hero of the parable as a Samaritan because the unexpected goodwill by the Samaritan went against history and racial tensions between the Jews and Samaritans, with no expectation of repayment. The Samaritans despised the Jews just as much as Jews hated Samaritans, since a century and a half earlier the Jews had destroyed a temple the Samaritans had built on their holy Mount Gerizim. Hatred was deeply engrained on both sides in a feud that went back 700 years. Yet the Samaritan "took pity" on the wounded traveler and went out of his way to pay ahead the expected costs for his care. This is favor that is unexpected, that is neither earned nor deserved. In my community people who did not go further with education and are unemployed are resented and described as being lazy. These people need to be engaged and supported in all aspects of life.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant shows the extreme grace of the King in forgiving an immense debt, but also the requirements that receiving such a pardon places on the recipient - to show grace to others. The forgiven servant withhold grace by not extending the forgiveness of debt to those who owe him debt. We should not call ourselves Jesus disciples if we withhold grace to others because Jesus Christ forgives his disciples and are taught to forgive those who sin against them.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches us that our God is a gracious and full of forgiveness and restoration. Our God forgives repentant sinners and is available to restore those who have repented their sins and have come back to Him.

The story of the repentant thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) illustrates the principle of salvation by faith as well as the grace of God to sinful people who don't deserve it. The repentant thief did not deserve salvation. He was a thief and deserved punishment but was saved by Jesus Christ upon repenting and seeking salvation from Jesus Christ though at the very last minute.

The story of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-27) illustrates the impossibility of people being saved without a miracle of God - especially the rich and outwardly righteous. Salvation requires a miracle of grace and it can't be earned or deserved. The rich young ruler had kept the key points of the Law all his life. But keeping the law is not enough to earn someone salvation. Jesus uses the rich and outwardly righteous man to make his point because it was a common belief that only the rich could afford to keep all the commandments with the rigor the Pharisees did. Grace shows through where there are impossibilities of salvation and Jesus clearly explains that what is impossible with men is possible with God.

As a consequence of the Fall of man, every person born into the world is morally corrupt, enslaved to sin and is, apart from the grace of God, utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to turn to Christ in faith for salvation. Though humans were created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27), humankind soon fell into sin, resulting in God's curse and the fall of man (Genesis 3). Thus, while elements of God's image surely remain in us, his image and goodness are now distorted, bent, leaving us incapable of pleasing God with pure, unmixed motives. Yes, outwardly our actions can be good most of the time, but inwardly, without Christ's help, we are compromised.

Jesus is a sacrifice for our sins he died for us. He was a gift from God to die for us. There was nothing we could pay to God for our sins. Our sins were placed on Jesus Christ and all those who have faith in Jesus Christ are made righteous before God. Jesus Christ is punished for our sins instead of us because of the love of God for us. Jesus is called the Lamb of God because the sins committed by us are actually punished in Christ so that we can be freely forgiven by God. We have sinned and Jesus died for our sins and Salvation is freely given to us through God's grace

We have redeemed from slavery in the sense that GOD, by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, redeemed us from sin and its related punishment. God presented Jesus Christ as a sacrifice of atonement. We have been freed from the slavery of sin. The death of Jesus Christ is the price of our freedom. The death of Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to be right with God, with all our offences pardoned and removed from us. When we put our faith in Christ we are declared righteous. We are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by obeying the Law or achieving moral perfection. We can continue to be slaves if we don’t repent and turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hosea is told to find a promiscuous woman for a wife. She commits adultery and lives with another man, but Hosea brings her home at great expense. This is a type of God's grace towards backslidden Israel. The gracious God receives back people who repent.

God forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, inadvertent sins and those committed with deliberate defiance. To those who humble themselves in repentance, the gracious God offers pardon. But those who refuse to receive mercy, they will receive just and unremitting punishment for their sins.

Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. And this is the grace of God to his people through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God's favour to his people because it is neither earned nor deserved.

Grace is favor of the giver, not the worthiness of the recipient. Grace is favor that is not based on obligation, wage, reward, or worthiness. God is composed of grace, filled with grace and the source of grace. Grace comes from God through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Grace is favor of the giver, not the worthiness of the recipient. Grace is favor that is not based on obligation, wage, reward, or worthiness. God is composed of grace, filled with grace and the source of grace. Grace comes from God through Jesus Christ.

Jehoshaphat is a strong advocate for Yahweh. Jehoshaphat suspects that the 400 prophets who were speaking one voice were just saying what the Ahab wants them to say. He suspected that they aren’t real followers of Yahweh. Moreover Jezebel had been searching and killing true prophets of Yahweh. Ahab was a nominal and not a devoted follower of God and he calls for Prophet Micaiah not because he wanted so but rather because Jehoshaphat insisted so.

There are different kinds of pressure that Micaiah is experiencing as he prophesies before Kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Firstly Ahab has suspicious and negative view of Micaiah prophecy. To make matters worse all prophets except Micaiah were prophesying that Israel will succeeded and Syria will be defeated. People surrounding Ahab including Zedekiah and the messenger who went to summon Micaiah were pressuring Micaiah to prophesy in tandem with other prophets in predicting success. However, Micaiah fears the Lord and tells them that he will say what the LORD tells him to say. The true prophets of the Old Testament were so honoured by Jesus Christ because they obeyed God Yahweh and not man.

Jehoshaphat joins Ahab into battle even after he hears Micaiah’s prophecy just to please Ahab. This weakness shows that Jehoshaphat was at times disobedient to God.

It is dangerous for Christians to identify themselves too closely with political leaders. Most times political leaders do contrary to what the Gods word says. In most cases political leaders serve their interests and not that of the Lord Jehovah. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6:14 questions what relationship have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? When Christian leaders identify themselves too closely with political leaders and worse still if political leaders are ungodly men, the Church and Christ work suffers and Jesus Christ teachings and principles are abandoned. Believers can and should related to unbelievers but must never emulate their lifestyles of separation from God.

Yahweh is offended by Ahaziah’s decision to consult Baal rather than Yahweh because by doing so Ahaziah is worshipping idols contrary to God’s commandment that “You shall have no other gods before me”. An idol is anything more important that you seek to give you what God can give. In modern times there are different ways of consulting and worshipping other gods. These include paying attention to money and material things; job and status; physical appearance; phones and technology; comfort; family and many more.

Elijah lived his whole life preaching to an unfaithful people. He saw breakthroughs and he saw defeats, people coming to the light as well as light-hardened blindness. Yet he remained faithful. Success is not measured in numbers of converts. It is not determined by the extent to which our message is accepted. The real success, the only lasting success, was accomplished at greatest cost by our Lord Jesus, who bore the sins of every last person on the planet on his body on the tree. In doing so, he opened the door of heaven to all mankind. And on the day of Christ's return, the true fruit of Elijah's ministry will be known, and John the Baptist's, and yours and mine. In the meantime, be faithful, be faithful, until the Lord calls you to glory.

Yes, God can use me in extraordinary things through believing and prayer. In the past as seen in the old testament God used ordinary people to do extraordinary things. He used Samson to defeat the philistines, He used David the shepherd to kill Goliath the giant, He used Japheth the son of a harlot to lead Israel and defeat the Philistines, just to mention a few. Lack of prayerful life, dependence on God and righteousness keeps us from being used effectively.

John the Baptist was bold just like Elijah. They both boldly rebuked the sins of the powerful. Furthermore, just like Elijah, John preached the gospel of repentance. On a lighter note, John the Baptist dressed like Elijah. John the Baptist isn't Elijah, but he comes with Elijah's mission and boldness.

Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit because he wants to be recognized as the successor of Elijah. He is not greedy in doing so only that he wants to serve the Lord Yahweh more. It is not wrong to seek for a greater presence and power of the Holy spirit. However, the power of the Holy Spirit should be requested sorely for serving the Lord Yahweh and like the intention Simon the Sorcerer had.

Elijah want to be double sure if Elisha is serious with his decision to follow and serve Yahweh. Elisha doesn't feel compelled to obey Elijah and replies with an oath in the name of Yahweh that as surely as the Lord lives and as Elijah lives, he will not leave him. There are a number of discouragements faced in following the Lord. These include busy work schedule, peer pressure, financial challenges, laziness and many more. Despite the daily challenges, we have to move on in serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ahab humbled himself by tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth, and fasting. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected. This shows that he truly repented and this was noticed by God himself who knows everything including our hearts. Our God Jehovah is a sovereign Lord and does whatever he wants and therefore people need not be troubled with predestination.