Quality of Contributions

Last Sunday, I preached a message on "Quality of Contributions." 

The key points from the message are- 

1. Generous vs giving under compulsion.
2. Do not do anything for self-satisfaction.
3. Give the best you can as if you are doing it for the Lord.
4. People whose heart was moved and willing.
5. Do service to God based on our ability and gifting.

YouTube Link - https://youtu.be/7gUHQgdefec

Thriving Talk - Prayer Life

God wants us to thrive spiritually. A few years ago, I was able to initiate and work on a project called Thrive to create a curriculum to teach school kids about the teaching of Jesus Christ. That program has been successfully started in a few countries and used in different places. We saw lives changed and kids transformed. That project is run under ICPF International Inc. I give leadership in this ministry.

Now I want to introduce a new series called "Thriving Talk." After adding a few talks from a project I did some time ago, the focus will be on topics that will help a person to grow, and I will also share my personal experiences, including my battle with Leukemia.

The first video is on Prayer Life - https://youtu.be/Ysxqji_xXME.

  

Plan of God

I believe that God has a definite plan for history and it is supported both in the Old and New Testaments. The plan of God is His eternal decision rendering certain things that will come to pass.

God’s plan is from all eternity and it does not have any chronological sequence. It is His will or pleasure and it is free on God’s part.[1] I believe that ultimately the purpose of God’s plan is His glory. It is all inclusive and efficacious which means that what He purposed from eternity will surely come to pass. 

I also believe that God’s plan relates to His actions rather than His nature and His decisions regarding what He shall do and not His personal attributes. God’s plan primarily relates to what God himself did creating, preserving, directing and redeeming. 

I believe that the plan of God is unconditional rather than conditional on human choice. I believe that God allows people to exercise their human freedom even though God makes situations and circumstances favorable for His will to be done through a person’s life. 

I believe that a person can align himself to the plan of God or he can become rebellious and destroy it for his life. God knows everything and I believe it has to do with His foreknowledge more than Him enforcing or deciding the destiny of an individual person. I believe in the sovereignty of God but at the same time do not think that God is directly or indirectly responsible for all the wrong choices and decisions which a person makes in his life which may include rejecting Jesus Christ as their Savior.

---

[1] Erickson, Christian Theology, 371.

Appointed by God

Last Sunday, I preached a message on "Appointed by God."  It comes from scriptures and what I have experienced in my life all these years. 

The key points from the message are- 

1. We are part of a great project.
2. God appoints people for his purpose.
3. Our assignments come from God.
4. No one can stop us, and we cannot do anything on our own.
5. Call comes with a price. Are you ready for that, or will you crack under pressure?

YouTube Link - https://youtu.be/YOcluP7reZg

Church Consumer Instead of a Committed Church Member

Recently I came across this blog post from Thom S. Rainer on Churchanswers.com. It really made me reflect and think. I wanted to share the link: Eleven Signs You Are Becoming a Church Consumer Instead of a Committed Church Member.

Let me share the Key Points here-

• Your worship attendance becomes optional.
• You replace in-person attendance with digital attendance (though I fully understand that some people are unable to attend in-person).
• Your attendance to a small group is declining, or you stop attending completely.
• Your attitude toward your church is more critical.
• Your giving declines or stops.
• You critique sermons instead of listening prayerfully.
• You see church as a place to meet your needs instead of your meeting the needs of others.
• You move readily to another church when your needs are not met.
• You get frustrated at what other church members aren’t doing.
• You don’t pray for your church regularly.
• You don’t share the gospel.

The Trinity

 

I believe in the Trinitarian view of God.[1] I affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is crucial and it concerns who God is and whom we should worship and to whom we should pray. I believe that God eternally exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God and there is one God.[2] I affirm that the Father is not the Son and the Father is not the Holy Spirit but they are distinct persons. Scripture is absolutely clear that there is one and only one God. The three different persons of the Trinity are one not only in purpose and in agreement on what they think but they are one,, in essence, one in their essential nature. I believe that the Trinity is eternal and there have always been three. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and all of them have always been divine. The function of one member of the Trinity may, for a time, be subordinate to one or both of the other members of the Trinity but that does not mean he is in any way inferior in essence.

All allegories we may adopt to explain the Trinity have its own shortcomings. I affirm that the Trinity is incomprehensible and we cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. We can try to explain the Trinity using many allegories but nothing will be able to fully represent the reality of this doctrine in its fullness. I believe that New Testament is Trinitarian in character, and there is no explicit development of the doctrine of the Trinity in its pages. The theologians of the early church were faithful to the biblical witness when they embarked on the difficult task of formulating a coherent Trinitarian doctrine.[3]

---

[1] Erickson, Christian Theology, 346.

[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 226.

[3] Gerald Bray, The Doctrine of God: Contours of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 1993), 151.

The Immanence and Transcendence of God

I believe that God is both immanent and transcendent. By this, I affirm that God is both present and active within His creation but superior to and independent of anything that He has created.[1] By divine immanence, we understand God’s presence and activity within nature, human nature, and history. 

    Jeremiah 23:24 emphasizes God’s presence throughout the whole universe. I believe that God is not limited to working directly to accomplish his purposes. God can use persons and organizations that may not be avowedly Christian to accomplish his purpose.[2] I believe that the implications of transcendence mean that there is something higher than humans and God can never be completely captured in human concepts. 

    Our salvation is not our achievement and there will always be differences between God and humans. In our relationship with God, there should be reverence.

---

[1] Erickson, Christian Theology, 327.

[2] Erickson, Christian Theology, 338.