Thanking Joan

The importance of Christ's death is underestimated if circumcision is deemed necessary for our salvation. This issue ofsufficiency of Messiah's death was so important in Pauls days because keeping the law was considered more important than Christ dying on the cross for our sins and giving us eternal salvation. It was so important to Luther and his reformers as well because at his time still law keeping was deemed necessary for salvation. It affects the legalism of our congregations as well who comes up with laws and rules making it legal to receive salvation than the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.

We have all grown up in a particular place in a particular tradtion and culture. Our values and belief systems depends upon the culture with which we were raised and they are deep rooted.Therefore it becomes hard to take the Gospel to different peoples without wrapping it with our own cultural practices. We have several examples in the Church history where while evangelising a particular nation the evangelists had to accomodate the culture of those people. The danger is the truth of the Gospel is not ministered fully for the fear of culture and traditions We can avoid such cultural faux pass in our church's missionary by relying on the guidance of the Holyspirit and by yeilding to the Spirit of God to teach us and guide us.

Paul confronted Peter publicly as he had to bring out the truth in the open before men both Jews and Gentiles that Peter being a apostle and a minister of the Gospel was not doing right by practicing the law and rules made by Jews. Peter was preaching one thing and doing something else which needed a open rebuke. Yes he would have tried speaking to Peter privately too. A public discussion like this benefited the Jewish Christians because Paul declared the truth that no rules will help them gain salvation.It benefited Gentile Christians because they were made to feel at the same level like Jews and Paul showed to them God loves them as much he loves the Jews and Gods saves by grace and not law. It must have been pressurising for Paul to come out in the open and confront Paul and also stand before the Jews telling them the truth.

Peter first embraced the Gentiles and later withdrew form them to eat only with the Jews because he feared the law keeping Jews and wanted to be a people pleaser by obeying the laws of the Jews not eating with Gentiles. This reflects his fearful,weak people pleasing character. The political clout of the visitors of Jerusalem reveals that they were respected,strong lawkeepers. Yes.often times to keep the friendship ongoing and fearing displeasure I have acted like a hypocrite. When I came to my senses I have repented asked forgiveness from the Lord and asked the Holyspirit's guidance and strength at all times.

Paul distanced himself from the Jerusalem church because he wanted to preach his Gospel independently and not as teaching and laws from the Jews. He writes for the approval of his ministry so that he is sure that they will accept his Gospel of truth. He furthurs his argument by saying just as God chose Peter to be an apostle to the Jews he was chosen to be a apostle to the Gentiles and God is at work in his ministry.

The significance of Pauls mention that Titus need not be circumcised is to emphasise the truth of the Gospel he wanted to preach, That is we are saved by grace and not by following the laws of man. Circumcision was not necessary to come to Christ .

Paul experienced the grace of Jesus and encountered the Lord himself while he was persecuting Christians.He was well learned and trained man in Scriptures and was well aware of the customs of the Jews as well as the Gentiles which made him and ideal apostle to the Gentiles. He was given grace and mercy by God though he was a sinner blaspheming God and persecuting Christians. This grace made him different from others to preach the Gospel boldly. My unique background of my lack of many things which were filled and blessed by God had helped me and fitted me into a ministry to bless others. God has blessed me with a unique way of teaching and encouraging his people. His grace will help me to see my uniqueness as a strength than an embarassement.

Pauls source of Gospel is the revelation of Jesus Christ himself All scriptures are inspiired by the Holy spirit under the power of God the Father and since Pauls teaching is directly from the revelation of Jesus whom he encountered at the way to Damascus,it conforms to other sources of our teaching. Even though we have teachers and leaders to preach the word of God we have to read meditate and understand the word of God ourselves and pray to the Holy spirit to help us understand the Word so that we do not fall prey to the false doctrines of the leaders. When we dont confirm the teachings by reading the Word we may be led astray from the truth.

The Galatian believers were believing a truth different from the truth Paul taught them and this was dangerous to them because they would be led astray and far from the actual truth of the Gospel. The same affects Christians today when they are led to an unbalanced interpretation of the Gospel or the Gospel is twisted and preached to man's conevenience. The danger is such things leads us away and we become people pleasers than be obedient to God.

Jesus gave Himself to us to save us from our sins and we may not perish but have eternal life. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and is interceding for us that we may remain in Him. Jesus has promised us the Holy spirit who is our Comforter our counsellor and helps us in our weakest moments and keeps us from falling back to our old ways

Discipline is something most of us do not like. One of the quality of a believer should be discipline. Discipline calls for a strong character. Now it depends on the leader of the church and the members whether they are disciplined or not. As the leader so the followers. Most of the churches fail to implement discipline simply because they are people pleasing than God. They do not want to lose the members even if it meant to compromise on lot of truth specially the truth from the Word of God. Thoughtful and appropriate application of discipline will surely help the Church to be strong mature and grow in Jesus Christ. When discipline is negelcted gradually there will be disorder .choas and it will fall apart. People with visions for God are disciplined and will have to move on for God and not for man.

The rule made by Paul if a man does not work ,he shall not eat will not mean it will make someone starve. Its a rule to be followed by every person who by all means can work to support himslef! If anyone is close to starving ,he will want to eat food and would search for means to work and satisfy his hunger! It sounds harsh but truth has to be told in love though it may sound harsh. The positive effect of this rule is all will work ,all will be productive,less scope of sin of idleness and everyone is able to support themselves ,their families and also support others who are in need. This rule applies to everyone who can work and specially calls for those who can work but simply lazy and depending on someone for their living. It does not apply to those who are just not able to work like the physically challenged and mentally disabled.

While in Thessolonica,Paul set himself as a example by working for his own living. He first practised what he preached. He did have a right to support because the church to whom he was ministering to had a obligation to take care of Paul's needs. He did not do so because he wanted to be an example of what he was teaching. It becomes easy for others to follow you when you lead by example. Not only words but his actions proved it.

Idleness and sloth in tself is sin. We must not associate ourselves with people who are idle,instead warn them about being idle. As far as possible we are to do whatever we can and work according to our talents and capabilities. Everyone works and provide for themselves and not be a burden on anyone. Our Christian duty is work ,do not remain idle,avoid associations with idle people and take care of all those who are no longer able to support themsleves by working.

Perserverance is so important as wickedness is increasing because we can be easily tempted to fall. Its surely not easy. but if I am committed to Jesus im my walk with Him,I will persevere amidst all trials and persecutions. As Paul says set your eyes on heavenly things and not to the tings of this world,I run my race with perseverance to know the prize... The prize is eternal salvation and residing in the presence of Jesus in Heaven forever. When we stop believing and being patient, then we lose out and we lose out badly... we lose Jesus... We can help each other to persevere by praying for them, and encouraging them with the truth that its worth it to win Jesus. In a race, when a athlete knows the prize he will get he will run to win it. Likewise we encourage others by telling them its worth running and persevering for Jesus. Faith and perserverance helps to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and we will not lose it. Its by Gods grace we are saved. We cannot boast anything about our works,but it was God's love and mercy that has made us alive in sin to those of us who were dead in sin. His grace has saved me and Jesus has paid the price for my salvation.

What makes people gullible to the Antichrist's deceptions is they refuse to love the truth. People who are in sin and rebellion and have hard heartedness towards the things of our God will definetley fall prey to the Antichrist and his deceptions. Why God gives them over to this deception is of their very own refusal to know Him ,His word His truth. The word says there is no salvation other than in Jesus and those who walk their way after hearing the truth God gives them over to deceptions. Powerful truth... I thank God for bringing me to this grace and truth and will pray for the lost to find the truth. A fearless seeking of God's truth is so very important so that we do not fall prey to the deceptions of the Antichrist,we stand firm on the day of evil wearing the armor of God as listed in Ephesians 6. The preaching of the truth will set people free because they will know the light ,they will know the truth and no longer be bound in chains of darkness. This truth of the Lord Jesus will make them free to worship HIm and not the Antichrist and will be counted worthy among those believers when Jesus comes ...

The characteristics of the Antichrist will be Man of lawlessness,and rebellion He will oppose and exalt himself as God, He will be worshipped as God as he will set himself in God's Temple and proclaim that he is God. Rev13:5-8 adds that He will utter proud words and blaspheme God, He will make war against the saints of God Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life,will worship Him.

The Thessolonians were confused because there was already a letter or a report that had come to them saying the Day of the Lord has already come . The Day of the Lord's coming will not come until the rebellion occurs,the man of lawlessness or the Antichrist is revealed who is doomed to destruction and will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God he will set himself in God's temple and proclaim himself to be God .. Then he will be doomed to destruction and the Lord will come in his glory with all the angels.

Christ the Son of God's glory is awesome and majestic. When the glory of Christ falls it would be something marvellous which cannot be explained in human words. It will certainly be terrifying to the unbelievers because they might not be able to withstand the blazing fire of Christ. Excluding from this glory is just eternal fire of hell and total darkness . Outer darkness is you are out into permanent darkness and you cannot enter anymore into the glorious light of Jesus Christ. You are OUT in the DARK and cannot be IN the LIGHT.

The unbelievers will be punished with everlasting destruction and will shut from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of his power. The definition of hell confirmed in Vs 9 is destruction which is everlasting and forever and absence of the presence of the Lord. The fact that there is eternal destruction troubles me and also the fact that we will be forever and ever shut from the presence and glory of God is troubling .. Lord may I be the one to be counted worthy and among the ones who have believed in the testimony of Paul and may I be given the grace to work out my salvation with fear and trembling to remain in the presence of the Lord!

God is a God of love. Yet he judges us and punishes us just like our earthly fathers. He is just while punishing our sins.He forgives sinners but we have to face the consequences of rebelling against God by sinning. Rehabilitation is change of nature or character in a person when the old is gone and new ways are adopted.While retribution is paying back or getting paid back for the wrongs. A Christian's rehabilitation takes place the moment he turns around and confesses his sin and accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Ths sinner's retribution will take place when Christ comes or on the Day of Judgement. To balance love and justice requires only the strength of God and the power of the Spirit of God in us. To love is a command and a fruit of the Spirit and God is the one who gives justice.

Persecutions.pressure and stress show our level of faith in Jesus. When we are faced with dificulties which create pressure and stress or might be even persecuted while standing and serving Christ, we are tested to see how we exhibit our faith in Jesus. If i count it all joy,then I am a real disciple and it is making my faith grow stronger . If i quit,then I know i do not trust the Lord enough. As James says count it all joy when you face trials of different kind because it make me mature in Christ.We will become mature Christians and grow strong in the Lord .When we face pressure and stress it is at that time,the Lord is ever close than before. We are able to experience his love ,grace and strength in those darker and tougher times of our life. We will come out victorious and stand witness to the Lord and shall be able to comfort many more who did suffer like us. God has designed them for a purpose in our lives. Our faith needs to get tested to see how much we have grown in the Lord and it becomes a test of endurance with the Lord. With every rising pressure and stress our character is revealed to us. We need to be tested to grow strong in the Lord and be mature Christians tasting the power of the resurrected Lord. Without them, we do not grow

If I met a true Christian who has no assurance of salvation I would certainly pray and ask the Holy spirit to lead me tell the person all about the plan of salvation of God by sending his son Jesus to die for us that we might not perish but have eternal life. I will point out the price Jesus paid by dying on the corss for our sins so that we are saved and have eternal life. The problem of having no assuarance of salvation is you need to know the truth that Jesus has died for us . When you are not assured then we will do all unworthy things to work out our salvation while redemption is already found in Jesus. Having false assuarance of salvation means you are not aware of what and in whom Salvation is found. Once you know Jesus you know he is the way,the truth and Life and no other means to slavation. You end up trusting in wrong things when you have a false assuarance of salvation..

Churches despise or prohibit prophecy because they do not believe the Spirif of God or the person from whom it is coming. Every prophesy should be tested ,waited upon and disecerned in prayer by the congregation. To keep the prophesy healthy in a congregation ,we must take heed to the guidelines Paul has listed in 1 Coirnthians 14 The prophesy needs to be weighed carefully when given ,and all wait and speak and discern and take what is good and see that there is peace resulting out of the given prophesy as God is god of peace and not disorder.

Believers should be ready that Christ is coming again by living a pure holy and a blameless life before God. We must renounce sin and repent and be like the virgins with lamps on when the Bridegrrom comes. To be sober and self controlled means humbling oursleves before the Lord and renouncing sin in all its form. To be alert or watchful means keep ourselves guarded in prayer and hold living and wearing the armor of God always vigilant and waiting for the Lord to return. Our normal lifestyle is to be worried about cares and concerns and storing up treasures here,while we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling and work towards our heavenly prize in Christ Jesus. Expecting Jesus to return anytime and remain in Him all the time.