Pastor Jones.

Joshua 24:15

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.” - Dallin

Western union story

God has given us freewill to make choices.
We don't have a choice when we are palace born, where to be born, to whose parents we should be born.and 

even as a kid, we don't have much choice. its the parents who feed the baby what to eat and what not to eat. But as we grow, we get this freedom to make choices.
But the choices we make have a great impact on our lives.

Turn to Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2). 

Do not be conformed to this world-  
       There is a model/pattern in the world  where what majority people will do , the rest will follow that.
       For example: The worlds pattern is that it goes with majority. After i finished my 10th standard. i used to have a desire to become an IAS officer, because they allot a big bungalow to IAS officers, but since all my friends are going for computer science engineering, i also studied computer science engineering.

The Word says don't blindly follow the worlds pattern of living. But let there be renewal of mind.
When there is renewal of mind , and when we are always faced with options, we can make godly choices.

This world offers a lot in every aspect.

choosing a career - engineer or medicine or you want to go for ministry or missionary.
if you are looking for a job - job 1 or job 2
choosing a life partner for marriage - you will get many matches with rich, attractive,poor.
you want to buy a car - you have 25K car, 30kcar, 40k car, 50k car.

The world offer you lots of choices.
Everyday , in one way or other you will be facing to choose between options to make decision of your life.
but are you making godly choices?

Jacob and Easu:
Genesis 25:29 - 34

In a Hebrew family, a first born is very significant, especially in the old testament times.
First born significance:
                        1)opener of the mothers womb
                        2)the one who starts the paternal lineage and maternal lineage.
                        3) double portion inheritance.
                        4) Successor head of the family ( royal family then successor king)

A first born clearly knows what his blessing are.
Esau was very hungry and was almost fainting when he came home he saw this red hot soup. 
you show biryani to Indian when he is hungry , you know all the feelings and how you respond to it. you will put aside all the spoons and you will start eating happily with hand.

Esau here came with so much of hunger and Jacob is saying this
"First sell me your birthright" 
I was thinking how did Jacob got this idea of asking for birth right.
He was cooking his stew. How come i missed Gods double portion of blessings just by being born after my brother. Oh, how to get these blessings. Even though he is cooking, his mind is deeply set on things of God. 
"Church, Whatever you do , constantly set your mind of things of God"
I dont know how many sisters here think of Gods blessings,Gods inheritance while cooking.
Here is Jacob constantly thinking of God , and when brother asked for stew, he asked for blessings.
See the reply of Esau."What use this birthright is when iam so much in hungry "

Esau is faced with 2 options:

either stay hungry until your mother gives food and have the birthright
or
sell birth right or have your stomach full.

Sadly, Esau chose to sell birthright, he thought what is the use of birthright when iam so hungry.
he chose for a temporary satisfaction and lost eternal blessings.
Turn to Genesis 27:30-34, v38
Hebrews 12:16,17
Esau wept aloud.
The choice you make for temporary things would rob of eternal blessings.
A person who cannot make God as priority is being called godless.
Sometimes, we are faced with lots of temptations for temporary enjoyment.
   for some it might be drinking, 
   for some it may be making fun of others. 
   for some it is pornography 
all these give temporary pleasure, and they cause long term effects.
Eskimos Trap
Church, When you are faced with temptation of temporary satisfaction, do you give in like Esau or make a Godly choice.

Noah and sonsGenesis 9:20
Noah drank wine and has no clothes.
Ham the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brothers outside.
Noah is inside his tent, so when Ham might accidentally stepped in and saw his fathers state,
now Ham has two choices
a) cover his father
b) go and tell it outside.

But he chose to go and tell to his brother.  
A private matter of a person became public news.
Many of us have this tendency to talk about the private matters of others or gossiping about others private matters. 
If  a brother or sister has weakness in some area, and you go tell to other people, you are just like Ham , exposing the spiritual nakedness of that person to public world.

Shem and Japheth did, the turned backwards and covered their father.
What a character is not to look at or point out at the weakness of the other person, but to just cover the persons weakness with love.
Love covers multitude of sins.
When Jesus did not accuse a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery who are we to accuse others. 
When we have little bit of knowledge from bible, we start judging other people. But the knowledge of God should always makes us humble and relate to other people.
Story of person in Alaska and son and faithful dog

Jesus went to tax collecters house, he spoke to Samaritan woman who was divorced five times,
i really thank Jesus Christ because he is not like us, He humbles himself so much that he sits with people of different weaknesses and shares the Love of God and forgives them.

You come across lots of people with various weaknesses, 
and  you face these options of choosing 
whether to point out their weakness/spiritual nakedness 
or 
Like Shem - Dont look at the weakness of the other persons, But share the love of Christ, that Love that is shown on the cross removes every stain.

Abraham and Lot
Genesis 13: 8-13
Choice of Lot.
Abraham asked Lot to make a choice of where he wants to live.
So, what options does Lot have? Abraham clearly told him if he wants to go right he will go left and vice-versa.
a) Sodom
b) Hebron where Abraham later went
c) He could have pleaded Abraham to live with him only.( Ruth had pleaded Naomi )

So in verse 11, Lot chose for Himself Jordan. which is like Land of Egypt,garden of the Lord.
Can you imagine whats going on in Lots mind when he has to make a crucial decision of his life.
He was thinking where he can be without any problem. He saw the plain was well watered.
A well watered plain shows that there will crops all the time throughout the year. No fear of famines.
no fear of lack of food.
Lot related happiness is related to where there is more wealthy and full of food.
you know why there is so much sin in Sodom . 
Turn to Ezekiel 16:49 - abundant food was one of the sins of Sodom.They neglected God in so much abundance.
And lot choose to go there.
You know before you decide to go to a place, you will enquire about that place , how it will be, how are the people there. like that.
if you have to goto Las vegas , you know that it is full Casinos and the world gathers there for gambling.
But Lot pitched his tent near Sodom. 
Lot when making his choice he did not think of godly things. but he thought about his comfort.
He did not realize that if God is with him, even if he lives in a famine land, God would have provided food for him. He was Abraham for some years and he has clearly seen the providence of God to Abraham.
I always wonder, if Lot could have said, Dear Abraham uncle, i dont want any posessions, but let me be like a servant in your household. that would be great for me. because God is with you.
When Naomi asked her DILs, Ruth pleaded with her that she would not leave her. you know what the result is Ruth came into the lineage of Jesus Christ.
Lot chose an option and went nearest to the sin city. and you know what hapenned later.
many times we all make decisions like Lot just looking at worldly things about her jobs, our place of living , our friendships and ends up in disasters.

you know there are plenty of examples in bible who made best choices and worst choices.

you can say, brother all this is fine, but how to make a godly choice. there are somethings that I will share with you which helped me i think will help you also.  Trust me, i made lot of bad choices in the past and i confessed it, but over the years God taught me so patiently by disciplining me.

     1) All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.
         1 Corinthians 10:23 

this is one verse that has encouraged me whenever i am in confusion to take a decision.
All the choices that are presented before you might look legal. but question yourself, whether the choice you are making is  it profitable to your soul.
lot of people have these questions whether i can do this or dont do this.
ask yourself- whether its profitable for my soul.

         2) Stewardship
Check if you are good steward of the choice you are making. what that means are you good caretaker of the choice you are making.
Sometimes you ask God for something and God blesses you in that and you are lazy in taking care of that blessing. be it children or be it your job. some people are lazy and sluggish in taking care of what God has blessed with. if you are one of those who is lazy to take care, be careful with choices you make.

  3) Spending quality time with God.
          exploring scriptures, quality prayer time. 
          there is no shortcut for godly lives.
          Invest quality time in Word, and prayer. 
         The Holy Spirit God looks at genuinely seeking people and guides them.
         if you are not interested in seeking HolySpirit help whats the use then. 
         Deligently seek Holy Spirits guidance and you will see making wonderful choices in life                   which moulds you into Image of Christ.

Story of a boy who asked God:
              what is  million years for you - Just a sec
              what is million dollars for you - just a penny
              Can I have a penny -  just a sec

God is looking for people who will standup to the world and say, I wont be conformed to the pattern of the world.
He is looking for people to build His kingdom. 
He is looking for people who make Godly choices like Daniel who gave up kings food.
When the world offers so many temptations in the form of TV,laptops and gadgets.
When the rest of the world tries to accuse and point out others weakness like Ham did ,God is looking for people like Shem who will cover others sins with the love of Christ. 
even when the world says this is okay to do, you get up and say like Joseph, 
Iam King's Son , Iam Kings daughter, I will live like prince.



Thank you Jesus

Lonely Spiritual person vs Family Spiritual person

For the past couple of months as I was going through the bible, one aspect that has been constantly reminding me is being spiritual as a family.

Many church going Christians are good in bible reading(quote verses), prayers(anytime,anywhere can pray),
have their quite time, good in evangelism. But when it comes to the family life, a lot of  Christians have issues in various aspects.
example:
1) Although both Husband and wife are individually good born again Christians, they can have problems in dealing things together as a family ( money aspects,family relationships).
2) Sometimes either parent (husband/wife)/child is a believer and comes to Church , but struggles in bring their family to the church.

I started looking at various families in bible both who are successful and also who failed.
Looked at some successful families and whats their success.
Looked at some families that failed and whats are the main reasons that they failed as family.

I will share the things that I learned.

Owning up the responsibility:
if you are the head of the family, ( you could be father, or if father is not there then mother is the head of the fmaily), then own the responsibility of the family.
Many times we try to throw the blame on wife. See how others wives are behaving. See how others children are behaving. we try to compare. But we fail to own the responsibility of spouse or children.
if our children are not behaving, then we may not realize that they might have learnt these qualities from  us, while we argue with our spouse. these are everyday issues. we got these qualities from Adam.

See how Cain responds when God asks where is Cain

Genesis 3:12,13 - Eve blamed it on serpent, Adam blamed it on Eve.
Genesis 4:9 "Am I my brothers keeper"

i know of a brother who is very good in scriptures and preaches, but his wife and kids are not behaving so he keeps blaming his wife for his children.

We see wife and husband blaming on others and Cain learned from it, the son went one step ahead and question God if i am my brothers keeper. we see a total disaster in the first family of mankind.
If Adam or Eve or Cain have confessed their mistake, God would have forgiven them and would have been a different story altogether. If we dont accept our mistakes in leading the family, that reveals our pride and would never see the grace. Because God gives grace to the humble who accepts their mistakes.

2 chronicles 33:10-13 On the other side , we can see Manasseh the king of Judah who was more evil but when God humbled him, he repented and turned to God and we can see how God blessed Manasseh's lineage, his grandson Josiah was one of the best kings of Judah.

Desire for the family to be saved and Work for family to be saved.

Noah, Rahab.

Eli.
Eli was a priest, and he judged people. He even prophesied about Samuel. His sons were acting wickedly, He just told them not to do it.
1 Samuel 3:17 - He is God , let Him do whatever it is.
He could have confessed it before God and repent about it and could have fasted and prayed. but he simply left it and the family vanished.
Donot get too occupied with work or ministry that you dont have time for family.

Rahab:
Joshua 2:12 - longing for family to be saved - father mother,brothers,sisters and their families.
Joshua 6:22 - and they are all saved. its very less time from the day the spies went out and jericho got attacked, but she made sure everybody came into that house. some may not have listened or rebelled, but she worked it out and everybody got saved. you might face challenge from your family, but work it out and get them under the house of salvation.

what adifference between Eli( who knows God) and Rahab( who belives God)

Bonding as a family.
although both everyone in the family might be good christian(husband,wife,kids), many Christians suffer in family lives because they don't have bonding.

David.- individually, David was man after His own heart, great worship,wrote many songs, but as a family, there is no one along with him, only at the end of Davids reign, we saw Solomon taking up the mantle.
Psalm 102:7
Psalm 142:4
Forget about others, but his own blood relationship with him.

Noah. -
Genesis 6:18,19,20
On the other hand we see Noah and his family working together to get saved.
it would be impossible for Noah to do all these things alone. he needs his wife,sons and DIL to work with him.  how do they believe their father when the whole world around them did not believe.
they knew their father was a godly man and they knew that He hears from God and directs them.
they might be praying and worshiping as a family.He commands that respect from kids. do your kids know that you are a godly person and you hear from God. do they respect you.

Noah's wife name is not mentioned, but what a woman that she supported her husband in all that he does apart from raising 3 young boys. for all the women on phone line, you can take great inspiration of godly life from Noah's wife.

Teach like Joshua. Declare like Joshua.


whats your desire for your family.

Lot:
Genesis 13:8-11
When Abraham said let us get separated, he looked around and saw the whole plain was well watered.where you can have plenty of crops, no lack of food,shelter. v12 says he went and pitched the tent near Sodom. People around Sodom might have heard about their sins and even Lot might have heard about it, but he went near them in search of prosperity and we know the rest of the story. Lot with good intentions about his family, children went to greener pastures and lost his family. Even when Lot was with Abraham,he had plenty. where do you desire to be, where do you want your kids to be? do you take them close to sin and leave them to be destroyed. or keep them in the company of righteous.

having prosperity is not wrong, but compromising godliness is wrong.

Zebedees sons mother:
Matthew 27:55,556
Matthew 20:20
Although this request looks selfish, but you see the desire and intention of a mother . she is not asking for something earthly. she is longing for something that is heavenly. and you can see how great apostles are John and James. She is one of the woman who closely follwed Jesus to take care of his needs during Crucifixion,and not only that she wants them to be always in the company of Jesus

Lot desiring his family to be soaked in prosperity even when sin is nearby and we see Zabedess sons mother wanting their sons to be in the company of Jesus.

what you desire for your family makes difference

Many of us might be good believers, but God has placed us in our families with purpose. He wants us to serve Him as a family. Our ministry starts with our families.
if you are husband, take responsibility of your household and if things are not going well first confess your part and ask Gods intervention. He gives grace to the humble.
if you are a wife, support your husband , pray for him, if he is looking to ministry works, extend your support. Don't be nagging wives, your nagging will bring down your family.
as a family, pray together, worship the lord together. Long for heavenly things for your family. and if you find your kids are near danger sin zone, bring them out before it gets too late.

As Joshua declared, Let us declare
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Amen.

Lukewarmness

Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵ I know your deeds,that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

This is written to the Church.
In Laodicea, the people know very well what is Lukewarm water.
Jesus is the best preacher that the world ever heard of. You see His parables, the examples, how He relates to the people. Mountain Waters coldness and Hot Springs warmness become lukewarm by the time it reaches for the people to drink.
Jesus says you are neither cold nor hot.
cold - against the gospel.
hot - fiery for Christ.
lukewarm - want to be called as christian, but there is no inner fire for Christ. Lives just like the world, but still want to be called as Christian. Jesus say I know your deeds. How are our deeds today?
Question for each one of us today?  Am I Hot,Fiery Christian or Am I Lukewarm Christian.

Acts 5:3,4
³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴ Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

Here we see Ananias and Sapphira are in a Church where Peter is like the pastor and all the apostles and all the disciples where Church is vibrant. miracles are taking place. Shadows and HandKerchiefs bringin healings. disciples are selling everything and bringing to their feet. In the midst of all these wonderful things, there is a couple who saw everything and liked it very much and want to be among the group, and want to be called as christians, but inside their heart, they still have past life, their desire for money. their desire for name to be called as christian. they want to show that are the money givers.
Lukewarmness - cause 1: Hyprocrasy is one of the worst enemies of mankind. It kills people. You want to show off to be something when you are not. You want to show off in Church that you are super spiritual but when you go home and in your personal life you are just like the world. you quarrel with your wife, you want all the worst stuff on internet. but in Church people see you and say this brother or sister is very spiritual.

Hypocrasy brings luke warmness - Jesus was so harsh on pharisess because He hated hypocrasy in them. buy whoever comes just like the tax collector that Lord I am sinner He forgave. but whoever acted then He rebuked.
What is our condition today? Are we acting in Church on sundays and go back live the rest of the week like everybody in the world.

Jesus I wish you be cold not luke warm.
At the time of Ananis and Sapphira, there is another man called Saul of Tarsus, who was a cold man fervently opposing gospel. and Jesus liked his honesty and showed grace and saved Saul who became biggest preacher. but on the other hand we see this couple coming to Church,giving offering and still died.

This teaches us to live  lives of honesty. Never talk/boast off  about your own spirituality, but let it displayed through the deeds. Jesus says I knew your deeds.

-I have a friend who liked the fellowship and people and wanted to be like one among us and soon after he fell out and entered yoga.

Lukewarmness - cause 2:  Prosperity
Jesus you are rich. acquired wealth, good car and you think you are well off.
Most of the luke warmness is because of the prosperity.
For Christians here in America, all the worldly blessing is more important than God. Blessing for house, blessing for car, blessing for health. the word blessing is completely changed and suited to the world.
You can call yourselves as  blessed if you have true faith in Christ. how is our faith when we have 5000$ in account and how is our faith when we have only 500$ in account;
You can call yourselves as  blessed if you are able to overcome sexual lust, if you can overcome anger, then you are truly blessed. Dont look at a person who has big house and say he is blessed.
Prosperity has brought down the spiritual level of Christians - We cannot server two masters - 

Is Christ the more valuable to you than any other thing. Prosperity is one of the biggest problems for us.

In middleeast, muslim countries, china, where there is persecution, then Christ is everything to them. In persecuted countries, there is fire in them to live for Christ. For everything they depend on Christ. they are always in constant danger of their life and for them every day is a new life and for the new day they are always on their knees. I have a habit of reading persecution.com, In China there is a pastor who was arrested and he turned the jail into a church, by the time he was released after many years there is big church inside the jail.  there is brother named Boun, he spent so many years in jail for preaching Christ and for many initial days, when jail authorities asked if he want to request anything  from family member, he said,"Please tell my wife, ‘Would you please help me? Bring me a Bible. I cannot live without the Bible. I have to read the Bible."

Here we have many versions available on phone, tablets, books, how much time we spend.

But here in America, we have TV to watch, we have to watch laptop/ipad/iphone, we have NBA, football to watch. There is so comfort so much we have to plan for long weekends, where we will be going long weekends.

So much of prosperity, so little of spirituality. 

The problem of Sodom and Gomorrah is they have too much prosperity. Ezekiel 16:49

Everybody knows about what Iphone is , but few people know about who the Great IAM is.

Mark 10:23-24

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is^[e] to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

How big camel is? How small an ant is?

Lukewarmness - cause 3 -Broad way - 

Matthew 7: 13,14

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

In my engineering, i have a classmate . he was not very intelligent. but an average guy. and there are many other people who are more intelligent than him, but at the end of four years, this guy became the topper of the class. When everybody was sleeping in the morning, he used to get up at 4 and read the chapters in text book, and have bunch of long white pages and used to write every quesiton 20 , 30 times on those white pages. by the time he writes an exam, he wont even forget a single word, when everybody is going for movies, he used to sit and study. when everybody is making fun, he silently goes to library and reads.

When all people are walking on the broad way, he chose the narrow thing, getting up in early morning, leaving small small fun things like entertainement for becoming class topper, how much more narrow way we should be walking.

Not only the gate is small, but the road is narrow.

The broadway indicates the long road where you can walk freely, you can live freely without caring about godliness. broadway is where you can talk any trash, you can dressup like anything, broadway is just the way to hell.

Donot judge, or you will be judged.
liars will goto hell
forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors
Galatians 5:19 - Will not inherit the kingdom of God,
 sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like


we claim to be born again but are walking in the narrow way every moment of our life. Let us check for ouselves,if every walk of our life is a narrow way. 

Overnight we wont become perfect, but is there a struggle within us to overcome sin.are we sensitive to sin, sensitive not to hurt Holy Spirit. sensitive not to hurt the Father. When we sin, is there a deep repentance in us.

Proverbs 29:1 

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy.

If there is any area in our  life thats not  pleasing to God, HolySpirit speaks to our heart continously.disciplines us, rebukes us that too many times.But let us never ever get into  a position where Holy Spirit gives up.

Romans says God gave them over to their lusts.

Matthew 7:21 

Not Everyone who says Lord,Lord - but only who does the Will of the Lord.

Luke 13:23,24 - not be able to enter 

I never knew you?

Doing the Will of the Lord is practicing the Law of the Spirit. getting away from every lawlessness.

Does Jesus knew you? Did you walk with him during your life? Is Jesus reality in your life? 

Can a anyone see us and say Yes he is like Christ in everything he is. Can Jesus see us and say Yes I knew him/her.

Church, its time get away from Lukewarmness and live  a life guided by Holy Spirit and have passion for Jesus Christ.

Altar

We all know that  Christian life is a life of sacrifice. we know many great men of God how they lived a sacrificial life to build the kingdom of God. There are pastors,preachers,missionaries who went to different parts of the world and preached gospel. Everyone has their own calling. Although we may not be going like them as missionaries to other parts of the world,  But as a christian, born again believer Do we live a sacrificial life.

Genesis 12: 6,7,8

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Morehat Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring^[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent,with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lordand called on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 13:18

¹⁸ So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Here one common thing that we see  in all these verses is Abraham built an altar to the Lord. Wherever Abraham goes, he build an altar to the Lord. 

So when we think of Altar, It is BaliPeet. Where sacrifices are offered.
what are the things that come to our mind when we think of altar-  place, wood, livestock(animal - sheep,goats),resources,energy.time.
For Abraham it had cost him to build an altar to do the sacrifice.

How does this Altar applies to our lives today - Do we have altar in our lives.

In this New Covenant life, Altar is not about sacrificing an animal on the wood, but Altar is about presenting ourselves as pleasing sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship

Here it says to offer ourselves as living sacrifice.

When we say ourselves - it involves our time, our energy, our habits, our thoughts, our words, our works. Offering all these as sacrifices.

Do we have a Personal Altar?

Personally,

Do we Sacrifice our pride - 

When we become a christian, as we know more about God we try to become more legalistic and try to judge others. you try to look down on others who are not so spiritual like you. there is a danger of becoming self righteous people. Recognize that we ourselves are like that before knowing Christ.

do we look down on others who are not so spiritual like you. 

do we look down on others because of pride because of their social status, or health condition. 

Probably you may know more scriptures, or you may be prayer warrior or you can sing well. but lets not look down on other brother or sister.

Do we boast anytime -  about the way we sing, about our giving, about our job, about our knowledge in scriptures.

Do we judge people because of our pride--

See this verse John 12: 47

⁴⁷ “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.

Lay down your heart on the altar and say , Lord keep me humble all the time of my life.

Without humbleness you can never grow as a christian.

Humbleness is the first step in building a personal altar.

For Abraham , It cost him his time,money,energy - you know the bible says 318 trained men were born in his household. Today in our houses at max 5 or 6 people in house, and we say we are very busy. Inspite of so many people and so many issues to take care, Abraham's first priority is building an Altar and doing sacrifice.

do we sacrificing our time for God    -  We find time for all the things of the world. when football matches or cricket matches, people will stop all other things and watch the game. It is the priorities that we make matters.
Is God the main priority in our lives. We can learn from Jesus, even though there were many disciples and many tasks to do, he never missed His prayer time. Remember if our children never come to us to spend time with us, but are always there in the house what a sad thing it is.

Abraham did not order his servants to build the altar, but he himself built the altar. - this is a world where we delegate tasks to others ( in offices, houses wherever we are ,we try to delegate tasks).

Many times when a situation comes in our life, we ask others to pray for us or we ask pastor to pray for us.(true Pastor will pray for us, because he is our shepherd), But God brings a situation in our lives so that we come to His feet and cry unto Him and seek Him. when it comes to Godly matters, do not delegate the tasks.

do we sacrifice our tongue  for God - we have itching for our tongue to speak bad at others. some people who call themselves as believers , says Praise the Lord in church  and after going from church, they will go home and talk bad about pastor saying pastor is not good. or talk bad about other believers.  Can we sacrifice our mouth and say that my mouth and my tongue will only speak words of Grace. Can we lay our tongue, our mouth and say this tongue is for God. This tongue will speak only words of goodness, words of grace, not words of gossip but words of gospel.

James 3:6

 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

do we sacrifice our mind to God -  our mind is place where lot of thinking goes inside. It could be bad or good.

Philippians 4:8

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things

when was the last time that we think of an excellent or praiseworthy thing. Anything related to God or godly matters is excellent. If a brother or sister is need and in your mind you think that you want to go and help its an excellent thing. because Jesus says if you give a cup of cold water to one of my disciples you have given it to me.

what do we think in our minds. Do we spend time to think why this person is like this, why my relatives are behaving like that, why all bad things happen to me. why things does not workout for me.  
Decision: I will sacrifice my mind to God and say my mind will think of excellent things of God. 

Family Altar

Do we have a family Altar?

some christian families, either only husband  prays or only wife  prays. They never pray together. If there is one thing missing in today's Christianity in America it is family prayer. Because of lack of family prayer there are so many divorces we see even in christian families.
last week i called my christian friend who lives in Hyderabad and was talking to him.He said I have all problems, job problems, family problems. I asked him do you pray as a family. He said with 2 kids its so difficult mama. I did not tell him that he can manage kids,otherwise i would be hypocrite. but I asked him one thing do you watch TV? max 1hr mama. then he got what i meant to say , so i did not go further.

There is preacher called  Leonard Ravenhill - after their kids go to sleep,He and his wife used to pray for hours together as a family. you know what is the result, they kids ended in the best jobs of the world. all three kids became pastors.
Its time for us to build our family altars.
Decision: I will sacrifice my demands,lay down my arguments, and  say whatever is best for family i will do it. I will build a family Altar, Like Joshua me and my family will server only the Lord.

Do we have a professional Altar?

There will come situations in office where your personal ego gets hurt.Do we try to do Tit for Tat and do we entrust the matter to God.
Do we indulge in cracking jokes on others in offices. Do we work in our office as we work unto the Lord.
Decision: I will not let my ego take over others, will not hurt other people, I will work as if I work unto the Lord.

Continuous sacrifice on the Altar:  Abraham also needs maintenance,protection, and keep sacrificing. 

Altar Call in Churches:   our pastor gives altar call after every sermon. This is not a routine thing to do. but there is a purpose. It is to sacrifice.and present ourselves as a pleasing sacrifice to God.

For Abraham, it is not a choice to build an Altar. But it is his way of life.

Church, Do we have personal altar, a family altar, a professional altar. just like Abraham , how he built altar wherever he went , let us build Altar in our lives.

Egg and Bacon Story

The Worship team sings this song When I survey the wondrous cross.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Election Night USA 2012

                               Election Night USA 2012(Dec 6th) has the following results.

1) Obama is re-elected as President of the United States of America.
2) Marijuana legalization passes in Colorado, Washington.
3)Washington, Maine and Maryland voters approved same-sex marriage.
4) Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay person to be elected to the Senate.

While many people were focused on Point number 1 - that is President election, the remaining points 2,3,4 were passed and most people(or people like me) came to know about these things only after the results were announced.

Many evangelical Christians might be wondering why Obama is re-elected. and the answer is simple.

Daniel 2:21 says

"He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."
God is the one who sets up presidents or removes them. Probably it is in Gods will for Obama to rule the USA for 4 more years. Remember, God is the one who had set up kings like Nebuchadnezzar,Cyrus,Darius  to fulfill His purposes.

Now Since President Obama is re-elected it is the duty of the Christians to pray for the President  rather than grumbling about him or being upset about him as per 1 Timothy 2:2

"Pray for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness"

My main concern to write this post is about the next 3 points
- that is  Marijuana and same-sex marriage legalization, and first openly gay person election to Senate.
 The interesting thing in these points is that the law was not made by government but rather a vote is taken if
 these things should be legalized. And people have voted for these things with overwhelming majorities.
people have voted and said
" Yes, we need Marijuana, Yes, we need same-sex marriage, Yes, we need gay person to be our law maker".


After the election night, I was thinking, "Lord Why people are rebelling against you and why are people choosing stuff that God absolutely hates ". Below are some of the questions that came in my mind.

 1) Lustful desires?
2) Cannot find Godly leaders, so choosing a Gay Leader?
3) People are seeing failed marriages and fights in Christian marriages and thinking that same-sex marriages are better?
4) Cannot find loving people around and so going for marijuana kind of stuff?
5) Chrisitians are not passing on the Godly values to their next generation, so next generations are choosing weed stuff?
6) Is it that the people around are seeing Christians and find that they are similar to them in all aspects and are compromising in the integrity?



Romans 1:26 - Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Is God giving up man to their fleshly desires after waiting patiently for long time. Wait! this is an era of  Grace how can God give up? Well I believe that even in era of Grace,God can foresee through the hearts of people and their intentions. we need to know one thing that God has the best patience than any man can ever have it. Well,we cannot control others desires,but how about other questions in the above list.

Are Christians or so-called/Name-sake/Sunday Christians directly or indirectly becoming one of the causes for other people turning towards these weedy and gay stuff?


How many Christian marriage oaths taken in Gods presence are ending in divorces? Even if it is not divorce, are the Christian couples always fight with each other and becoming bad examples to their children and others in their lives? Is there love missing in christian marriages?  - Could this be the reason that many young adults who have seen their christian parents  fight/divorce are going towards gay stuff?

Are today Christians greedy for money and try to earn it by falsehood and becoming bad examples in sight of unbelievers? Are today Christians have too many worldly desires which requires more and more money and to satisfy those desires they go up to any extent of earning that money( be it leading others to money mindedness, be it going for unwanted ways to earn money). Is today Christian content and live a simple life? - Could this be the reason that people see Christians greediness and not come to churches or not listen to Gods Word and going away from the Truth?

As Christians, are we failing in loving others?  Do we love people and speak grace to the people or do we  spread rumors, gossips, cracking rotten jokes and hurting/piercing others with our words? Do we speak LIES as per our convenience. Do we love people and help them in their situations or living selfish lives. Could this be the reason that many people see rotten christian lives and are vexed with it and going to other faiths?

Do we often find Christian politicians or leaders found in money/marriage scandals?  and people see this and think a gay politician is better than scandalous christian leader?



To sum up - are we compromising in our christian walk and thus leading others to pervert stuff?

Friends, when issues like marijuana and same-sex marriage and gay leaders selections are happening,  it is time for a revival to happen in our lives. It is time to cry out to our God.

Nehemiah 1:4-7 says 

4When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said:
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you.

Here Nehemiah wept , fasted and prayed for the sake of Jerusalem. His mind was steadfast on rebuilding Jerusalem.
It is time for Christians to be like Nehemiah to fast and cry out to the Lord to deliver people from these kind of wicked nature and walk in faith.

Praise The Lord.