Reflections

  Sanctification of the Church Learning and Nurturing Faith and Practice John 6:1-14 v5 "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"   The moment most adults hear the words “Sunday School” they immediately think of “teaching” the Scripture to the children.  On this World Sunday School Day, we are being challenged not only to teach the children, but also what we can learn from them in terms of how to put our faith into practice. In the miracle of feeding the five thousand, the Lord Jesus used the sacrificial act of a young boy  not only to feed the hungry  mass, but also to teach His disciples a valuable lesson of practicing their faith in the service of the needy people around. Here are a few Faith and Practice Lessons for us to learn today. One:  Trusting the Power of Jesus in a situation of impossibility .  In verse 5-6 … He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread to for these people to eat?”. He asked this only to ‘test’ him, for He alread...

  Family: A place of Faith Formation (Christ centered Family) 1 John 2:7-17               v10 "Who ever love his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling”               . A Christian home is based on  God’s purposes  for every member of the household. It’s a place where the family’s goals are founded upon  His  values and where the corporate vision of the future is consistent with  His  plan.               Here, John in his letter begins by demanding that his people should remember their privilege that they are called  the children of God . A Christian family is a place where, parents and children practice and grow their faith. It should be a living faith, a loving faith, a laboring faith, a saving faith, a serving faith, a fruit producing faith and ...

  FAMILY -PLACE  OF FAITH FORMATION Genesis 2: 18-25 v18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”  Family is the oldest institution of this world. In Genesis  2: 18-15 , we read about God establishing first family in the garden of Eden. A child hears about God first in his/her family. That is where his/her faith instructions start, not just through the words, but through the actions of family members. The most important responsibility of a Christian parent is to bring up their children in their faith. If the parents don’t have true faith, they cannot teach their children to have faith in God.  First step in building up faith in our children, we need to evaluate ourselves and confirm our faith and trust in God. We don’t just talk about our faith to our children, they need to see us living our faith. We need to have a culture of faith in our homes. All our dealings must reflect o...

  FAMILY :  PLACE  OF  FAITH  FORMATION   Ephesians 3:14 – 21 v14, 15 - For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.   Family,  which is the basic unit of  our society,  is an institution established by the will of God.  It plays a major role in the faith formation.  The future of mankind depends on family. It is the co-operators in the love of God; a covenant relationship rooted in love.  Family is called to live together with other families as a community.   The world today is being carried away by materialism, consumerism, immorality and such contemporary trends.  We as Christians need to inculcate faith values in our children and in our families.  Changing role of our schools in the secular society places new demands on Christian education and faith formation and we need to bring our children to Jesus who can provide answers to many ...

  FAMILY: PLACE OF FAITH FORMATION TITUS  2:1-8 v7 “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness”   In this passage, Paul is addressing Titus, and giving him instruction on teaching the church in Crete. In doing so, Paul is also addressing the church at large; he is speaking to each one of us. Paul tells us what should be taught to different groups of believers, in terms of Godly behavior and attitude. These different groups include: older men, younger men, older women and younger women. Each one of us can identify with one of these age groups. But how can we do this? Verse 7 tells us “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness”. How EXACTLY can we teach those in age groups different from our own? The answer is simple: by our example...by doing what is good. Culturally, we are told that it is the older generation who teaches the younger generation....

   FAMILY A PLACE OF FAITH FORMATION: Anchoring our Faith in God JOSHUA  24:14-22   The hallmark of a biblical living is “faith”. Hebrews chapter 11 is often called the "Hall of Faith" or the "Faith Hall of Fame." In this noted chapter, the writer of the book of Hebrews introduces an impressive list of heroic figures from the Old Testament, whose stories stand out to encourage and challenge the faith. Joshua too was one such leader though not mentioned in this chapter. He was a tower of faith in Israel’s pilgrimage. Faith comes from hearing, hearing the word of God, trusting in the word of God and believing in the word of God. When Joshua was a hundred and ten years old, he called the Israelites to Shechem to hear his farewell speech. In chapter 24, we see Joshua telling the people of Israel to look at their past and see how God delivered them. Remembering past grace gives us the motivation to trust God with the future grace. Displaying spiritual leadership,...

  Family – place for faith formation LUKE 19:1-10 How do you know if there is true transformation in your life? Continual repentance. This means a change of mind that produces a change of way. It is more than regret or remorse (feeling sorry mentally or emotionally), but true repentance leads to a change in behavior. It is a 180-degree turn. It is wanting to obey the maximum and not get by the minimum. In Luke 19:2 we meet Zacchaeus, whose name means “Righteous One,” though there is nothing righteous about him at this point. We are told that he is a “chief tax collector.” This was an easy formula for corruption. You had foundational taxes, income taxes and customs taxes (kind of like a toll for passing through the city). So tax collectors became filthy rich and were hated. He was born a Jew, but the Jews kicked him out of their community. Jesus is saying, “He is part of the community of faith far more than you, Israel, are.” Jesus brings him into the community! Jesus brings outcast...

  Youth – a doorway to a fruitful life   Ecclesiastes 12:1-8  V1 Remember your creator in the days of your youth.  Youth is a season of great energy, openness and hope. It is also a time of great peril, temptation and traps. How we live our youth affects the rest of our lives. How well we apply ourselves in our studies, how diligent we are, and how we develop our mind and work ethic will have a lasting impact on our lives. We live in a time when the amount of distractions and temptations around us have increased significantly. In the midst of all this, this passage reminds us that we need to pay attention to our spiritual life. Look at the lives of great men and women and often we find that they had sought God early in life. How we pay attention to and develop our spiritual life has a lasting impact on our life. The great energy of our youth if given to pursue God and His kingdom and His righteousness results in great fruitfulness and joy in the years ahead. Yet we h...

  Praising God in times of trouble Psalms 111   The importance of praise  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the whole world into an especially difficult and testing time. Fear, division and unrest seem to be growing daily and people are unsure of what the future will bring. At times like these, God reminds us in Psalm 111, of the importance of praise as an effective tool, which will help us to not just cope, but have victory over our circumstances.   How exactly does praising God help?   Praise opens access to God.  While it is the blood of Jesus that grants us forgiveness from sin (Hebrews 10:19), praising God allows a clear passage to His presence. Therefore, “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).   Praise removes despair.  Praising God changes our focus from ourselves and our circumstances to God, His promises and His faithfulness. This shift in focus provides us with “the oil of gladness instead of mourni...

  Youth: Life Focused on the Word of God 1 Samuel 17: 32-50 Vs 37 “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David . “Go, and the Lord be with you.”              All life endures struggle. It is through struggle that we become stronger, “refined by the fire”. If we never understood struggle, then our life would become stagnant. In this story of David, we see how important it is to not back down from that struggle. No one would have expected David to fight. But, David through courage and faith in God knew it was necessary to keep hope alive in his people and family.             David was able to face Goliath because he had faced insurmountable odds before. Despite the chances, David risked his life because he knew he had to protect first his sheep, and later his people. Out of all t...

  View this email in your browser CHRISTIAN EDUCATION FORUM Word for the Day " Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path".  Psalm 119:105 Youth: Life Focused on the Word of God Philippians 3:1-14 V 14. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.  In this scripture passage Paul points out to watch out for those who put confidence in the flesh; moreover, for the sake of Christ he is excited to lose whatever he gained from putting his confidence in the flesh. In fact, he considers everything a loss when he started knowing Jesus and got into a deeper relationship with him. He realizes that the righteousness he has gained through faith in Christ gave him the confidence to strain heavenward, where his citizenship is. Who else should we look up to other than Jesus, regarding the importance of being with the word of God? He who humbled Himself from His godly stature to be a human, admonishes how important it is to stay clos...

  Jesus’ promise to us John 16 :21-33  v33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”    Jesus tells his disciples of the arrival of the Holy Spirit and reminds them not to fall away once he departs. He says that the Holy Spirit shall guide them in all the truth and in all their ways. What comes from the Holy Spirit comes from our Lord.  (v15). The disciples were told that they would have to go through difficult times. And this would be what the world would be seeing too.  Believing in God does not give you an easy life. As is stated, you will experience grief and mourn but your grief will turn into joy. We are at a time of uncertainty and grief. We hear of people close to us or far away suffering or being fatal victims of the Corona virus. Even a few of us have been affected by the deadly virus. How many times have we cried out to the ...

  Youth: Life focused on the Word of God Gen 41:37-43 v.38   Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find anyone else like this—one in whom is the spirit of God?” Joseph, a young man, taken as a slave, jailed falsely, forgotten even by people whom he rescued from death, yet remained faithful to God and in communion with him, even though he was in a foreign land and had a string of failures which he could have blamed God for. The Bible portion that we read today describes how the interpretation that Joseph gave about the dream that Pharaoh had, and also the future strategy to be taken, impressed the Pharaoh to not just grant freedom to this jailed slave but also appoint him to be the second in command in the great nation of Egypt. The rise of Joseph to such great height of power was sudden but was perfectly timed by God who knew Joseph since he was faithful and enduring through all these desolate experiences of his life without murmuring or complaining. The reason that Phar...

  Youth Life: Life focused on the Word of God Luke 10:25-28   V. 27: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”   This passage is well known to us as it is a lesson Christ taught on Kingdom values.  Jesus replied to the expert of the law beginning with the question “what is written in the law, how do you read it?”  The expert replied the scripture passages of Deuteronomy 6:5 as well as Leviticus 19:18 on who to love and how to love.  It is taught to love God first and with that love to love others so that people will know who God is through that love.  In Jewish custom, this passage is known as V'ahavta and this prayer is right after the shema prayer “Hear O Israel the Lord is One”.  It is one of the most important prayers in Judaism and often recited, especially for a newborn child.   As we look at the theme of youth life, it ...

  Accepting the difference in God’s creation:  Day for people with special skills. Exodus 4:1-17   V11 The Lord said to him (Moses) “who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” I recently stumbled upon a video of a little girl who was born without legs in one of the most remote parts of Orissa, a state in India. In the video, the girl was seen to be dancing and praising God with all her strength. The Israelites' journey out of Egypt; from slavery and wilderness to the promised land, was God’s way to reveal to the nations that He is the God who never leave nor forsake His people. Many times, we think that we aren’t qualified to praise God or use our gifts for God. Moses had a similar issue. He struggled with accepting and believing his calling and was worried about his eloquence in speaking. He focused on his worries and what he saw as his weakness- when it was, indeed, God who crea...

  View this email in your browser CHRISTIAN EDUCATION FORUM Word for the Day " Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path".  Psalm 119:105 Patience: A God given ability Psalms 37 v7a - “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;” All of us are familiar with the waiting season. And like me, I am sure that most of us aren’t fans of this season. The wait doesn’t seem to have an end. As humans, we always learn to cope with failures and other discouragements but during the wait; the matter seems to prolong and the destination, whether good or bad, seems far away. There are times when the waiting season seems to be harder than the actual goal or outcome that we are waiting for. And each day our spirit grows wearier and our faith seems stretched and we feel as though we cannot hold on much longer.   But we need to realize one thing. A waiting heart is exactly the type of soil wherein God wants to grow his fourth fruit of the Spirit: Patience Our Bib...