To a living hope

A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind." 

"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged." 

"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"

Source Unknown.

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

“To a living hope”

Apostle Paul also understood we needed this supernatural awakening of our inner eyes and ears. He prayed for it -- see Ephesians 1:17-18 -- for the Christians in Ephesus. 

So this hope that we have is a LIVING hope.

Hope can be tangible but also intangible.

Tangible hope: finances, good educational credentials, a good family name, property, influential social network; good reputation

Intangible hope: everything that the Bible encourages us to focus on: faith, love, peace, good conscience

Hope is future-orientated. Paul gives us a hint about this hope, and in I Thessalonians 5:8, he uses the phrase, our hope, the “helmet ”. The helmet protects the HEAD.

So here is the application: What’s in my head? 

Whose thoughts are ALIVE in my head?

Thoughts of work -- the stresses of your day to day job. 

Thoughts of bitterness -- the hurts we received from the boss, from friends, co-workers,

Thoughts about tomorrow -- how to save more money?

What we think about is what we hope for -- But are these things LIVING hope?

Let me invite us to really ask God for changing our  mental patterns -- See, like air pollution, our inner living is also messed up. We focus on the wrong things, the things that discourage us

We focus on all kinds of hopeless news, all kinds of hopeless trends in the media. And we ignore the power of the HOPE we have.  

Note :- From the Sermon notes - series on 1 Peter 1 by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com

To be Born Again

In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.

Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."

To truly see Jesus and his truth means more than observing what he did or said, it means a change of identity.

Terry Seufferlein Norman, Oklahoma.   

1 Peter 1:3, 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

“To be born again”

• Let’s reflect on what it means to be born.

• Biologically -- birth begins when two different kinds of cells meet in the mother’s womb.

• The sperm and the egg -- basic biology.

• These are TWO DIFFERENT kinds of biological substances, two different kinds of cells that have different kinds of DNA but they fuse together and that leads to BIRTH.

• Spiritually -- Jesus told Nicodemus that we need rebirth-- not reform or resolution -- this is a QUALITATIVE things

• The initiative is with God the Father

• The power is the invisible power of the Holy Spirit

• The basis of the birth is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

• Spiritually the Bible emphasises that which is invisible. You will see this again and again! 

• So we get confused. 

• Especially men think that all this religious stuff is weird and vague, and we only want to be practical. It’s okay for women and children to believe all this supernatural Sunday school story stuff. It’s okay for poor people who don’t have money. Faith is for people who are sick or poor or mentally weak. Faith is for those who are unsuccessful but those who are actually real do everything independently.

• Well, let me ask you about something called Air pollution.

• Air pollution in Delhi became VISIBLE last Sunday -- the AQI went up to nearly 999 and above in some parts of NCR.

• But was this the start of the air pollution?

• Could your eyes and nose smell the pollution when it began?

• Even if you can see the sun today, and you can see far away, is the air actually clean?

• In other words -- what is the FINAL measure of Air pollution?

• It’s a measurement called AQI by a meter than detects particles my eyes and nose cannot see.

• Just as my nose or eyes cannot fully comprehend air pollution or even run away from it, this new birth is an invisible but GREAT mercy that God has imparted to us.

• In other words -- what is REAL is NOT VISIBLE, Air pollution is Detected by expensive Air Quality Instruments that produce an AQI reading.

• Air Pollution has long-term effects, 

• The Bible’s invisible measurement is that man NEEDS to be BORN Again -- and this happens INVISIBLY 

• Air pollution is invisible but has long term physical effects.

• God’s new birth s also INVISIBLE rebirth 

• It also has LONG TERM effects -- we ARE spiritual creatures in God’s eyes. 

• The BIBLE is our meter for what is REAL -- NOT my eyes or nose or ears or even my mental believes. We believe AQI readings; we can believe the Bible.

• 
  

Note :- From the Sermon notes - series on 1 Peter 1 by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com 

HIs Great Mercy

A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. 

"But I don't ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy." 

"But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. 

"Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." 

"Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman's son. 

Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984.

1Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

“His great mercy”

l  God’s mercy means that He didn’t give us what we did deserve for our sins, but that He overlooked it and gave us gifts we do NOT deserve. What is the mercy referring to?

l  Mercy is a quality of the heart -- it is an inner attitude but it shows externally.

l  Mercy is when you have a parking spot in Connaught place, but you give it away to someone who cuts in front of you.

l  Mercy is allowing someone to cut ahead of you in the long queue on a weekend with long lines at a big shop when you are at the checkout counter.

l  Mercy is helping someone at your office to write an email properly.

l  Mercy must be great -- and mercy doesn’t keep records.

l  If we don’t believe that we are sinners, we won’t show mercy. Peter had received mercy from Jesus - three times he said “do you love me,” to Peter -- and this is the same mercy of OURS that we can show to others. 

Note :- From the Sermon notes - Series on 1 Peter 1 by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com

Being a disciple comes at a cost.

We cannot decide whether or not we will live or die; we can only decide what we will die for. 

Bob Pierce.

Being a disciple comes at a cost. 

1. Jesus must be first (Luke 14, 25, 26)

2. We have to be willing to suffer for Christ, which means to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. We have to be ready to face ridicule and persecution as we lead Godly lives in an ungodly world (2 Timothy 3:12)

3. We need to forsake everything to follow Jesus. This involves taking an informed decision (Luke 14: 28-30). Jesus is to be King and nothing can take precedence over Him and His will for us. 

Note :- From the Sermon notes taken by Sis. Pinky Patra - Series on Discipleship by Dr. Sanjay Patra for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com 

A true disciple has some identifying marks.

     

           In 1912 William Borden, a graduate of Yale University, left one of America's greatest family fortunes to be a missionary to China. He got as far as Egypt and died of cerebral meningitis. He died--and was only in his 20s--but there was "no reserve, no retreat, no regrets" in his consecration to God.

Source Unknown.

A true disciple has some identifying marks.

          i.            Abides in Jesus’ words by meditating and fasting on God’s word (John 8:31). He       also needs to be a doer of the word (James 1:22).

        ii.            Loves others as Jesus loves us. A love that is visible and sacrificial.

      iii.            Bears much fruit.

The emphasis here is on the word “much”. Jesus is not talking about an occasional good deed but a lifestyle which prompts people to glorify God (Mattew 5:16). Failure to bear fruit will result in us being severed from Christ (John 15:1,2).

Note :- From the Sermon notes taken by Sis. Pinky Patra - Series on Discipleship by Dr. Sanjay Patra for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com 

True Disciple ?

For every man, education should be a process which continues all his life. We have to abandon, as swiftly as possible, the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40--and half the things he knows at 40 hadn't been discovered when he was 20?

Arthur C. Clarke in The View From Serendip.

According to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, all believers are called to make disciples. God not only empowers us but His presence is with us always in this great task. In fact, He has promise us that He will be with us always even to the very end of the age.  Hence, to “make disciples” is the goal of evangelization.  

Before we can make disciples, we need to be a disciple. Perhaps we believe in Jesus, worship and serve in church but each of need to introspect into our lives to see whether we are truly a disciple of Jesus. 

The word disciple literally means a learner. One who follows another’s teaching.  They are imitations of their teachers. The goal of a disciple hence is to be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). He needs to strive to be like Him, to be conformed to the image of His son (Romans 8:29). If we are His true disciples we need to follow Jesus and become like Him. 

Note :- From the Sermon notes taken by Sis. Pinky Patra - Series on Discipleship by Dr. Sanjay Patra for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com 

The practical Advice of one of Jesus’ transformed disciples: Peter

Just a few thoughts from Peter’s life, in his second letter to the Christians in Turkey (Galatia, Bihthynia and so ):

2Pe 1:3  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 

2Pe 1:4  by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

2Pe 1:5  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 

2Pe 1:6  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 

2Pe 1:7  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 

2Pe 1:8  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Let me just focus on a few phrases in the above passage.

1. Divine Power:                                   In order to live in this world, we do need divine power -- we need God’s mercy, God’s wisdom, God’s grace, and we also can agree that the world around us is deteriorating -- it is falling and collapsing - we don’t need to have a long discussion on the trends in the world today. And what does God provide us? He has provided us very precious promises. That is, we can cling to the promises God gives us and as a RESULT  of those promises, we can start experiencing God’s divine nature -- in other words, our own internal reactions and patterns will change.

2. Partake of his divine nature:

We often say, “Oh, but I”m just human. This is human nature”

Peter says, “NO -- not really -- my nature is changing, I’m reflecting more and more of Jesus. I used to sleep till 9 in the morning, now I get up by 7 am. And two years later. I get up at 6 am and I read the Bible, I pray. I have more discipline”. Yes, it takes time -- but over time, the genuine christian grows in discipline. The number of excuses and justification and rationalization reduces, the responsibility level goes up. That’s the I partaking of the divine nature -- this is Supernatural -- you cannot work it up, you cannot fake it.

3. Make every effort -- diligence

For some reason, from the very time God Created the Earth, He always has invited men and women to work alongside him.

Many times we assume that God has to do things in our lives, in our nature, because we don’t realize that Christian life is a partnership -- we have our roles and responsibilities in   becoming more like Jesus.

Take just one example from the book of Genesis, before the Fall of Man -- Adam had to     name all the animals. But God created all the animals. 

Why does he need Adam to name them?

God gave the man and woman the garden, but they had to keep it and tend to it. 

Why is that? Could not angels do it? Why do things need to be worked on and maintained?

God gave the man everything at his feet, but man had the option to do anything in the     garden except eat fro the tree of the knowledge of good and evil -- so all the time, God     gives us options -- he doesn’t force us to obey him. This was true of Adam, this was true of     Moses and Abraham and David and everyone from the start -- 

***This is why the role of effort and diligence are in our hands.** 

Christian life is not fully automatic! There are gears, just as you have gears in your car. You can stay parked, you can stay in 1st gear, or you can keep shifting the gears up or down -- this is the cooperation you give to the Word of God, the bible, the Holy Spirit, your pastor, other believers and so on -

Disciples MAKE EVERY EFFORT

Faith --> Virtue --> Knowledge -->  

Self Control --> Steadfastness --> Godliness 

--> Brotherly affection --> Love

It is obvious that there is progress as we walk in the path of discipleship that we will eventually reach the summit of the Mount Everest -- that is genuine Christian Love.

Note :- From the Sermon notes - series on Discipleship by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac                    Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com