Author: Nazarene Team

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Inspiration Message

Wisdom of God

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2: 6)

The Dhinakarans Wisdom is the divine nature found in Jesus Christ. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the knowledge” (Proverbs 1: 7). In whom (Jesus) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2: 3). Jesus became wisdom for us from God (I Corinthians 1: 30). When Jesus, who is perfect in wisdom, comes into you, automatically His wisdom will descend on you. What kind of wisdom is it? He has the wisdom to see what the father does. That is why Jesus has said in John 5: 19, “The son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the son also does in like manner.”

Many years ago, a particular country was hit by a severe drought. During that time no business could flourish. A young engineer in that country was struggling to come up in life. One night, in his dream, God showed him a diagram of a modern ploughing machine. In the morning, he recalled it and drew it on a piece of paper. The next day, when he took the diagram to the scientists, they were amazed to see it. They said that it was a new and modern ploughing machine which nobody possessed so far.

The young engineer got the patent for that machine and he began to manufacture a number of the modern ploughing machines. There was a boost in the sales and he earned millions of dollars. Even during the time of drought, he received immense blessings from God. Such is the wisdom shown by God. Similarly, God is going to open your mind’s eye. When you keep looking at Him and do things as per the wisdom shown by Him, you will receive perfect blessings.

Prayer:

Loving Lord Jesus,

Your wisdom is more precious than rubies and better than gold. It will protect me from the ways of the wicked. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in You. Kindly bestow me with the heavenly wisdom and help me know Your ways.

In Your matchless name I pray.

Amen.

Dr. Paul Dhinakaran @ Today’s Word of Blessing

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Devotion Inspiration Meditation Message

LEARNING NOT TO DESPISE PEOPLE

“Jesus spoke this parable to some people who viewed others with contempt” (Lk.18:9).

There are various reasons why people view others with contempt. They may have been taught by their parents from childhood to look down on others who are inferior in social status, or wealth, or education, etc. Or, if you are very intelligent and top your class in school, you can begin to view others in your class with contempt. If, in addition, you are unfortunate enough to have foolish parents who make you imagine that you are a genius, then matters could be even worse.

Let me plead with all parents: If your children are intelligent, please don’t ruin them by boasting about them. I made it a rule in my house that my sons were never to tell anyone about their rank in class or the prizes they got anywhere. I knew that if they became proud, they would lose the grace of God immediately. Then they would fall into sin, and never be able to fellowship with ordinary brothers. I fear that many parents have ruined their children thus.

It is a common habit among children to make fun of someone who cannot speak English (or whatever their mother-tongue is) with a good accent. Beware of encouraging that in your home. Did any of us come out of our mother’s wombs speaking with a good accent? We should thank God for any ability that we have. But we should never be proud of it. Do you know what accent they speak with in heaven? The accents of humility and love. Let us learn those accents clearly.

Perhaps you are a woman who keeps your house spotlessly clean, with everything in its proper place. Then you see someone else’s home untidy and slipshod – and you despise her. You are then a Pharisee; while the person whose house is untidy may be a godly person.

Some brothers have very poor music sense, and if they start singing a chorus in an open time of praise in the church, they will invariably sing totally off tune. Don’t despise them, because God doesn’t listen to the music; he listens to the words. And that brother singing the wrong tune may be more sincere than you, who can sing the right tune. Personally, I have thanked God for such brothers, because they humble all the clever musicians in the church. It is Pharisee musicians who destroy the church, not the non-musical brothers. God loves non-musical brothers just as much as anyone else – but He rejects Pharisees. Many a surprise awaits such Pharisees when the Lord returns.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t come first in your class, or that you shouldn’t keep your house tidy, or that you shouldn’t sing in tune-Not at all. By all means let us do all these. But let us be humble about them – and not despise anyone else who cannot do what we can.

There are many areas like this where we can despise others quite easily. It says in Job 36:5 that “God is almighty, but He doesn’t despise anyone”. The more we become like God, the more we will value people and never despise anyone – for anything.

So let us cleanse ourselves and learn to look at people as God looks at them. “What do you have that you did not receive from God? How can you boast then about anything or despise anyone else?” (1 Cor.4:7).

– By Zac Poonen (Christian Fellowship Church)

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Inspiration Message

The way to A Happy New Year

In John’s gospel, Jesus used the symbol of water to describe three levels of spiritual development possible through the Holy Spirit:

• Level 1: In John 3:5, He spoke of being “born of water and the Spirit”. This is “the cup of salvation” (Psa.116:13), with which we begin our Christian lives. With this cup of water, we are cleansed and brought into God’s kingdom as His children.

• Level 2: In John 4:14, Jesus went further and spoke of that cup becoming “a well (spring) of water”. This is a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit, where all our inner longings are met by Him, so that we live in perpetual victory and joy, lacking nothing. A man who has a well in his own compound is not dependent on the city corporation’s water supply. No outsider can turn off his water supply, for he has the source of water within his own compound. This is how it is with the Christian who has found the secret of perpetual abundance in Christ. No-one outside of him can cut off his supply of joy or peace or victory (Jn.16:22).

• Level 3: In John 7:38, Jesus went still further and said that the well would now become a river, and many rivers, flowing out of the believer. This is a picture of overflowing abundance. Such a believer is able to quench the thirst of many needy people around him. Whereas a well satisfies only our own longings, rivers of living water make us a blessing to many people, wherever we go.

The blessing with which God blessed Abraham was, “I will bless you….and in you ALL THE FAMILIES of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.12:2-3). This is the blessing that can now be ours through the Holy Spirit (Gal.3:14). When God blesses us to the point of rivers flowing out of us, many families in many parts of the country and even in the whole world can be blessed through us.

The good news of the gospel is that we can be saved from such a miserable existence. We can now have rivers of living water flowing out through us constantly, and be a blessing to every family that we meet. We can be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to us. We can release others just as God has released us. We can bless others just as God has blessed us. We can give freely to others just as God has freely given to us. We can be large-hearted to others just as God has been to us.

A.W. Tozer in his article Five Decisions For Spiritual Power says:
“If you are really serious about your spiritual development – the gaining of new joy, new power and new life – then you should make certain decisions in your heart concerning your life, and proceed to keep them.

“One decision is: Never pass on anything about anybody else that will hurt him.

“`Love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Pet.4:8). The talebearer has no place in God’s favour. If you know something that would hinder or hurt the reputation of one of God’s children, bury it forever. Let God take care of it. `With what judgment you judge, you will be judged’ (Matt.7:2).”

If you want God to be good to you, you must be good to His children. The rules of our Father’s table demand that you don’t tell stories about others who are sitting around that same table with you, no matter what their denomination, their nationality or their background.” (From the book THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS).

It will be a good thing if all of us make that decision today – never to pass on anything about another that will hurt him or his reputation – and keep that decision, not just for the rest of this year but for the rest of our lives. Those who have lived by that decision in past years have found that when they discarded the worthless from their daily conversation, and spoke only what was edifying and profitable, God in turn, fulfilled His promise, and made them His spokesmen – His mouth (Jer.15:19).

This year – and every year – can be a happy year for all of us if we release everyone who owes us anything, or who has hurt or harmed us in any way. Bury those grudges permanently and be merciful to all men and thus make a new beginning with the Lord today.

Wish you a Happy New Year

– Zac Poonen

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Message

End the Year with a Spirit of Thanksgiving

In each of the 7 glimpses of heaven given in the book of Revelation, we see the inhabitants of heaven continuously praising God with a loud voice – sometimes as loud as thunders and as the noise of roaring rivers. This is the atmosphere of heaven – one of continual praise, without any complaints or demands. And this is the atmosphere that the Holy Spirit desires to bring into our hearts, our homes and our churches as well. It is thus that Satan will be driven away from all these places.

I read of a fiery brother (who lived in the last century) who used to frequently praise God with loud `Hallelujahs’. One day, one of the staid, dead Christians around him, who was irritated by this spirit of praise, asked him what the brother would do if God finally sent him to hell. To this the brother replied, “If I go to hell, I will keep on shouting `Hallelujah’ and the praises of God there, until the Devil tells me to get out of Hell, lest I infect others in hell with the spirit of praise!!”   No, there is no place in Hell for those who have a spirit of praise! The ones who go to Hell are those who are full of complaints and demands against others. They were like that when they were on the earth and they carry that evil nature with them when they leave the earth too.

Satan has paralysed the vast majority of Christians, and made them ineffective in spiritual warfare against him, because he has succeeded in getting them infected with the spirit of murmuring and complaining against their brothers and sisters, against their relatives and neighbours, against their circumstances, and even against God Himself.

We overcome Satan, when we obey the following exhortations:

– “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in ONE BODY; and be thankful” (Col.3:15).
– “I urge that thanksgivings be made FOR ALL MEN” (1 Tim.2:1).
– “Always give thanks FOR ALL THINGS in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph.5:20).

    We are exhorted first of all to be thankful for all whom God has called into Christ’s Body. If the choice had been left to us, we might not have called many of those whom God has called – especially those who belong to some other group than ours!!! But God’s wisdom being higher than ours, even as the heavens are higher than the earth, He obviously had a different opinion about them than we have. And if we are wise, we will re-align our thinking in line with God’s.

    Once we have learnt to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ’s Body, we can then learn to give thanks for all men and then for all our circumstances. We know that our Heavenly Father sovereignly controls all men and all circumstances. If we really believe this, we will certainly praise God at all times, and thus prove that our kingdom is of heaven and not of this world. Then Satan will lose his power over us. Only then will we be able to wage an effective warfare against him.

    There is a wonderful word written in Revelation 12:8 that no place was found in heaven for Satan and his demons. This is how it must be in our lives too – in our hearts, in our homes, and in our churches. SATAN AND HIS HOSTS MUST FIND NO PLACE IN ANY OF THESE PLACES.

    – Zac Poonen

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    Meditation

    Meditation on Matthew 1

    Today morning, I was meditating upon the first chapter of Matthew. I found some interesting facts that I have never realised all these years while reading through them. I have a tendancy to skip over the long genealogies and frequently read passages to get to one or two verses that touch my heart for that day. But this time, I have made an effort to read the genealogy of Jesus. I have discovered that there were forty two generations in total from Abraham to Jesus (Matthew 1:17).

    There are three significant truths that can be observed from Matthew 1:18-24.

    Firstly, I believe “Righteous acts in your life save you from disgrace” – Matthew 1:19. Joseph was said to be a “righteous man”. It does not mention if he was righteous man of God or righteous man of this world. Either way, because of the righteousness in him, he did not expose Mary to public disgrace. It says in God’s word, that he had in his mind to divorce her quietly. Later on, we know that Joseph realised that the baby Mary had in her womb was of the Holy Spirit. His righteous acts saved him from his own disgrace in the public. If he had put Mary to disgrace in the first place and later took her as his wife, he would have been in continual regret for the public’s view on him and his wife. Or, he would have been disgraced by public for his lack of recognition that the baby was conceived of the Holy Spirit. The whole scenario could have been a whole lot different to what we read today.

    Secondly, “It is good to seek the Lord before he seeks you” – Matthew 1:20. He seeks after you to comfort you in times of trouble, to help you, to save you from trouble, to give you rest; all because of his unconditional love. The bible says, Joseph “considered” to divorce her quietly. It does not say that Joseph sought the Lord when he realised Mary was carrying a child (Matthew 1:18-20). The Lord sought after Joseph to tell him about the child (Matthew 1:20-21). Do you think the story would have been different if Joseph sought the Lord first? I certainly think so!

    Thirdly, “Obedience to God is one of the main keys to living a righteous life” – Matthew 1:24. Joseph didn’t doubt, question or rethink about what God spoke to him in the dream. The word says, “Joseph woke up…did what the angels of the Lord commanded him…” (Matthew 1:24). He took Mary as his wife, had no union with her till she gave birth and gave the new born child,  the name “Jesus”. He did ‘just’ as the angels of God commanded him. Are you doing ‘just’ what the Lord is asking you to do? Joseph was declared as a “righteous” man and I believe his key towards living that life was ‘obedience’. Are you obeying to God’s word in your life?

    It good to ponder upon these things and correct our lives that we may one day become just like him, his children. Is God speaking to you today? Are you ready to be used as God’s chosen vessels like ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’?

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    Live Webcast for Christmas Carols Service

    There will be a live webcast for the christmas carols service due to take place within hours time.

    Click Here to Watch the Live Webcast!

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    Multimedia Video

    Our Father – Don Moen (Live)

    Hear our prayer
    we are your children and
    we’ve gathered here today
    We’ve gathered here to pray

    Hear our cry, Lord we need your mercy
    And we need your grace today
    hear us as we pray

    chorus:
    our father who art in heaven
    hallowed be thy name’
    our father hear us from heaven
    forgive our sins we pray

    Hear our song
    As it rises to heaven
    May your glory fills the air
    as the waters cover the sea

    See our heart
    And remove anything
    that is standing in the way
    Of coming to you today

    chorus:
    our father who art in heaven
    hallowed be thy name’
    our father hear us from heaven
    forgive our sins we pray

    Though we are few
    we’re surrounded by many
    Who have crossed that river before

    And this the song we’ll be singing for ever

    HOLY is the LORD (8 times)

    Hear our prayer
    we are your children and
    we’ve gathered here today
    We’ve gathered here to pray

    Hear our cry, Lord we need your mercy
    And we need your grace today
    hear us as we pray

    chorus:
    our father who art in heaven
    hallowed be thy name’
    our father hear us from heaven
    forgive our sins we pray

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    Multimedia Video

    You, Sin and the Christ

    Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)

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    Multimedia Video

    Faith as small as a mustard seed?

    Luke 17:6 – The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!