Committing the worship service to the Lord in prayer, brother Thangkhanhau read out John 3:16, Hebrews 9:12-14 and led the congregation in an uplifting praise and worship to the Almighty. The offerings to the Lord was dedicated by Upa Kamsuanthang.
In a call to prayer, Pastor Suankhanhau recounted God’s providence and protection of His people in the ongoing ethnic conflict and the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Urging the congregation to offer thanksgiving and praise, he led them in mass prayer.
Pastor then welcomed the first timers and visitors to the church and thereafter, delivered a sermon on the standing of believers in Christ as written in Colossians 3:1-4. Presenting a brief overview of the book of Colossians, he explained that the first two chapters of Colossians is on doctrine/theology - the basis of salvation, supremacy of Christ, His preeminence and all sufficiency while the last two chapters is about living a practical Christian life. He said that as believers, we should know how wonderful, how precious and how great is our standing in Christ. We are so blessed to be raised with Christ that we should live a resurrected life. With such a standing in Christ, it is incumbent upon believers to seek things that are above, set our minds on Godly things and not on earthly things. Our deepest desire should be for God and Godly things. Once we have that desire, striving for it, pursuing it will naturally follow.
Expounding on the reasons why we should seek things from above, Pastor said that as written in verse 3, we have died to sin and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Being dead to sin means cessation of our connection with worldly affairs, death of our old self and freedom from the bondage of sin. Having our life hidden with Christ in God means that our life is not our own: it belongs to God and it becomes our duty to please and glorify Him. A victorious/resurrected life can also be lived while on this earth. At this point, he stressed the need to examine ourselves whether our old self had really died, been buried with Christ and rose again with Christ. He also said that the reason why our life is hidden with Christ is for the security of our salvation for we don’t have the power to keep it safe and secure. Pastor further said that Christ’s second coming is sure and when He appears, we will also appear with him in glory. With the promise of sharing in Christ’s glory, he urged the congregation to persevere in following Christ by not dwelling on the sufferings we faced in this earthly life, set our minds on Him and hope in His coming.
Induction of 28 new members followed. The congregation then sang the last hymn and the worship service concluded with benediction by Upa Thiankhanmuan.
