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.

Settle The Matter with The Maker

Dear Friends, I am into the book of Isaiah now. The reading of the first chapter has prompted me to write this post.

Isaiah chapter 1 Verse 18 says

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.


In Indian villages, if there is any dispute between two parties or individuals, they go to village heads to settle the dispute. Very rarely, the dispute gets settled without outsiders intervention. It is very hard for people to settle a dispute by themselves because there is so much of enemity,hatred. When I think of this in the spiritual realm, because of our sinful nature we had enemity with God. Many people have this guilty feeling about the sins they have committed. Some say " I committed so many unimaginable sins that God can never forgive". Some others say "The present situation I am in, Even God cannot deliver/forgive me for these situations". Some people say "I made a mess of life and destined to hell".
But friends, if we carefully read the above verse in Isaiah, God is calling is each one of us to come to Him to settle the matter. Can you ever imagine the Almighty God who is Holy and Righteous asking sinners like you and i, to come and settle the matter. Our sins may be like scarlet or red as crimson which indicates the worst of worst sins that you and me committed or it could indicate the mess of our lives, but God says when we approach Him, He washes us with the Holy Blood of His Son Jesus Christ and makes us like white as snow and like wool.

 Scarlet or red as Crimson to white as snow or wool?
 
Yes it could be any mess we are in or it could be worst of the sins we have committed, let us approach this Loving God who sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins.

Remember, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 9, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick".
                                   Come Now and settle the matter with God.- Amen

Gods unique creation

God has created every species in a unique way. This can be evident if we see the nature, mankind, animals.When we see the nature we see various kinds of trees, each yielding a different fruit like mango,orange,apple,etc. And even within mankind, every man is different from other. Every finger print is different from all other 7 billion finger prints in the world. As a software programmer, while writing the software code, I try to think which is the best way to develop a particular software. In the process I might come up either 2 or in some cases a maximum of 4 different solutions. But I think when God created every species He might have  billions and billions of ideas in His mind when creating every creature.

In light of all this, when I come across Job chapter 39,some interesting things were mentioned which highlights Gods creativity. 

Job 39: 13-17 says
¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
    though they cannot compare
    with the wings and feathers of the stork. 
¹⁴ She lays her eggs on the ground
    and lets them warm in the sand,
¹⁵ unmindful that a foot may crush them,
    that some wild animal may trample them. 
¹⁶ She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
    she cares not that her labor was in vain,
¹⁷ for God did not endow her with wisdom
    or give her a share of good sense. 

Some time back my friend Jeevan while sharing these verses was telling that how uniquely God has created everything. In above verses Ostrich lays eggs on ground and covers them with sand and does not know that if any other animal walks on that sand the eggs will be crushed. The 17th verse says God has not given that wisdom to Ostrich. This is very striking to me that after all the effort that Ostrich had gone through to lay the egg, it does not have the wisdom to protect the eggs properly. The Word simply says God has not given it.

Job 39: 25 says
^19 25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
    It catches the scent of battle from afar,
    the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

This verse talk about horse. A horse does not fear on a battle ground, and when it catches the scent of battle it shouts 'Aha'. Its just Gods creation  that horse does not fear battles.

Also Job 38:11 says
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; 
    here is where your proud waves halt’?

The above verse talks about seas and oceans. Currently I am living in New Jersey which is next to Atlantic Ocean. If there is ever a time that Atlantic Ocean crosses the beach and come into the cities then whole of New Jersey would be flooded. And Imagine, a flood from Ocean can cause big damage. God has set boundaries for seas and says "This far you may come and no farther." And the proud waves of the sea should stop at the boundaries. Thats it no more it can cross. 

When I think of all the above things, I believe God has uniquely created everything in the world and He has given the needed wisdom and commands to everyone. But to mankind He gave  more wisdom than rest of the creation. And the intention of God in giving this extra wisdom to mankind is that He might have fellowship with us. This love of God must compel each one of us to Love God more.

Let us have reverence to our Almighty Creator and Love Him - Amen.

Job's Prophetical utterances

As Job continues to talk out his heart about his sufferings, he spoke some words which sounded like prophetic utterances.

Job Chapter 9 Verses 32- 35

³² “He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
³³ If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together, ³⁴ someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
³⁵ Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot

In verse 33, Jobs hearts desire was to have a mediator between God and him. verse 34 , he talks about Someone who can remove Gods wrath on him. As I meditate on these verses, I am reminded of these verses

1 Timothy 2: 5, 6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

Hebrews 12:24
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Jesus is the mediator between God and mankind. He paid for our sins and taken away Gods wrath on mankind. Though Job might not have forseen the Time of Jesus birth,death and resurrection, but he made some prophetic utterances which had eternal value.

Acts 2: 29-31
²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

Two days back I was speaking to Brother Joshua Pilli, and we were discussing whether David was a prophet or does the prophets know what the prophecies are about. In the abover sermon,Peter talks about how David being a prophet saw what was coming and prophesied about Jesus.

Also, in 1 Peter 1:10-12
¹⁰ As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, ^{11 [h]}seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories ^[i]to follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to ^[j]look.

These verses says that prophets have made careful searches to know about the prophecies they have uttered and what was revealed to them was they were serving the future generations( that includes us).This goes on to say the angels long to look for this times.
I praise God that He has used Job during his sufferings to seek for a mediator even before Jesus time.
How much more you and me need this Saviour "JESUS".

Let us look to this mediator through whom we have eternal life.- Amen

Job's Character

As I go through the book of Job, God is showing me amazing things and I want to share those.
Job had so many troubles than any one I had ever seen or heard of. In the midst of his suffering Job starts thinking about how he lived all his life and some of the things that he mentions highlight his character. Though Job trying to show his righteousness before God, but lets look at how he lived His life.
In Job chapter 31, Verse 1 says
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.  "

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5:28
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart"

Job lived long time before Jesus, some say Job was even before Abraham, but God has given wisdom and understanding to Job long before Jesus spoke these words about looking at a woman lustfully.
I like the word Covenant which is a promise and a covenant with eyes is really surprising thing.
This is a great encouragement verse for todays christians like you and me that in the midst of TV, Internet, all kinds of Media and all people  whom we live with it is very important to make a covenant with our eyes saying " I will not look lustfully at a young woman".

I want to extend this verse and say I will not look lustfully at not just the young woman but anything that is not mine ( it could be money,houses,cars, or you name it  - any thing of others).

If you keep reading this chapter, you see Job Character.

V13 says -  “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
whether male or female,  when they had a grievance against me, " - Job has always done justice.

V16 says - "If I have denied the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary" -   Job is gracious, caring, helping poor and widows.

V17 says - "if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless  " - Job helped the orphans

V19- "if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or the needy without garments" -  Job helping needy poeple

V24 - “If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’  
V25 - if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained,   -  Job not a lover of money or wealth

V29 - If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
or gloated over the trouble that came to him  - Job does not enjoy over others troubles

V30- I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against their life   - Job is not a gossiper and not a loud mouth guy.

V32 - but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler - Job is hospitable.

V33 - if I have concealed my sin as people do,
    by hiding my guilt in my heart - Job is not a hypocrite .

Here we see Job not neglecting the poor, helping the widows, , always doing justice, not a lover of money and many more things, so much of a rare righteours character. What a fragrance he might have been to God and people around him.Lets us examine our hearts and see how our intentions are.

We might have lived looking at things lustfully all these years but its time to use our eyes looking for

poor people to help them
unconverted people to show them light of savlation,
depressed people to encourage them,
orphans to show them Gods fatherly love,
widows to give them encouragement and help

Hebrews 13:5 says
 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you;    never will I forsake you.”

God says He never leaves us nor forsakes us so let us be content with what we have and use our eyes, and our whole being for Our God.

In Jesus Name - Amen.