CONGREGATION WORSHIP, MARCH 3, 2013
The Congregation started with a special introduction of the “Prayer Network” which has been launched at the very morning of Sunday, March 3, 2013, 10:00 am by the Pastor then followed by an opening prayer.
Singspiraton led by Worship Team of the Church which is followed by mass prayer of the Congregation.
Today being the first Sunday of the month and as is usually done on first Sunday of every month Pastoral Prayer was held by the Pastor, songs of praise by RK Puram Prayer Cell followed.
The Pastor delivered the message based on this year’s theme “…. Let us rise up and build ……” Nehemiah 2:18. He encourages all the Prayer Cells to highlight various topics like stewardship, wealth/possession, earning a living, wealth management, materialism and spirituality throughout this year in their respective cells.
He chose “GROWING WITH BLESSINGS (LUKE 12:13-21)” as today’s topic.
Money plays a great role in our lives, money determines the value of things, money determines how wealthy a person is, the value of a particular thing is determined by money … money, money and money … it seems like money completely dwells in our heart wherein it is not always money that determines everything, the real value of a particular thing is determined by how the owner utilizes it. What your heart desires the most can be determined from where you spent your money. Every one of us are busy with our life, to earn our bread and butter, we are becoming very conscious of our health, education, entertainment etc and are ready to spend a hefty sum on those, these things are what governs our heart now. Like the bible says “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Possession
“And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:13&14)
From the above passage we can see that the other brother is jealous of his brother getting a larger share in their inheritance and asked Jesus to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him but Jesus clearly knows what the brother wants and does not want to settle the matter. Jesus does not want our lives to revolve around money.
“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15)
Jesus tells all the people who gathered there that man’s life is not valued by his wealth. Jesus clearly knows how money rules over man’s mind. We all are after money, it seems like if there is no money then nothing is possible in this world, money rules but what the bible tells us is the opposite. We should not let our life ruled by worldly pleasures. “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:9&10)
What is the true meaning of life??
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (Johan 17:3)
True meaning of life lies in knowing God in abundance. It does not lie in having a vast amount of wealth, a true sense of peace is found in God and only God can give us eternal peace.
“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” (Luke 12:16-18)
God allows us to gain wealth and become wealthy. God does not differentiate the rich and the poor, everyone has equal chance of becoming rich and poor. Now the question here is “WHAT FOR?” What for do we try to gain wealth, wisdom etc. .Why did the rich man in the passage plans to build greater barns to put together all his wealth?
“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:19-21)
The reason for building greater barns is just to eat, rest and be merry. The rich man in spite of receiving blessings in abundance he becomes a fool because what his mind urge is to eat, drink and be merry.
The lesson we can learn from this is whosoever collects wealth just for the sake of eat, drink and be merry and rest will become a fool in God’s eye.
“If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corintians 15:32)
The passage tells us that if dead does not rise then it is fair to just eat, drink and be merry but it is not like that the dead will rise and everyone will be judged on what they did on the Day of Judgment. Their value will then be weight in what wealth they collected when they live in the world.
There is no greatest thing than investing in God’s ministry, let us invest our wealth in the invaluable service of God. With this note the Pastor ended his message.
Benediction by Upa Thiankhanmuan
By- Mary C Hangzo
Media Team
