Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew 28 Dec 2025 

Hebrews 11: 32-36- 2 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 

Proverbs 23:18 - For surely there is a [a]hereafter,

And your hope (expectation) will not be cut off.

• When the year ends, God will also put an end to certain things in your life. Certain disease bondages, mental health issues emotional struggles, demonic battles and other matters that troubled you through this year will end this year. The Egyptians that you saw in the past you will see no more. 

Heavens are putting an end to some of the struggles. Take it by faith.

Psalm 46:9-10- He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

• He makes the battles to cease. Your prayerlessness will also cease. He makes wars cease; your prayerlessness will also cease. 
• Luke 18 reminds us to pray without ceasing. The widow could have remained silent, thinking the judge was unjust—but she did not. She kept praying in faith, and the unjust judge eventually responded to her persistent cry. And we have a God who is far greater than that judge. Do not forget this. 

May every force that has been blocking the power of your prayer be broken in your life. 

• The children of Israel were in captivity for 430 years, and later for 70 years in Babylon— but God put an end to that captivity.

If a person has been facing the same battle and the same challenge again and again, God is putting an end to it.

• Glory to God. God knows your body and your mind. 

The Lord spoke to me: the disease in your body is trying to leave, because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The God who put an end to 18 years and 12 years of sickness and affliction will not leave you. Every disease will leave in the name of Jesus.

• Some sicknesses and bondages are ready to leave your life. I receive my healing in the name of Jesus. I will walk in health and strength in 2026. 

Isaiah 60:20- Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; theLORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.

• Don’t think that sorrow will last forever. Take this prophetic word into your heart—God is putting an end to sorrow. 
• A priest in our land wrote a song whose lyrics are deeply moving: no rain has been stopped, no pain has not ended. He wrote this while undergoing his 33rd chemotherapy. Yet the message remains true—surely there is an end. Your hope will not be cut off. Surely, there is an end. 

Ezekiel 12:28 says,“Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.” 

God is saying that the delays in His promises coming to pass in your life are ending. There will be no further delay.

Hebrews 11 is the chapter of faith, and it has blessed me deeply. When I read this chapter, I see ordinary people who trusted in an extraordinary God—and how God did extraordinary things through ordinary people. You do not see perfect people in this chapter; you see imperfect people. 

• Abraham, the father of faith, had his failures. Jacob, Moses, Samson, David—none of them were perfect. They were ordinary, imperfect people who failed and fell many times, yet they did not abandon their faith. That is why this chapter is so inspiring. 
• This is not only for Sunday school teaching. This is for us—imperfect people, people who have failed in one way or another, yet continue to trust in God. And God used them mightily for His glory. 
• If you are one of them today, this prophecy is for you. The Holy Spirit says: I will not leave you. I will not let go of your hand. I call you by name. I will not leave you—even if a mother forgets her child. You are precious. You are deeply precious to God. 

In the Bible, God is known by another name—the God of encouragement. Discouragement does not come from the Lord; it comes from the enemy. May the power of discouragement be broken today. Our God is a God who encourages.

Thomas Alva Edison became the inventor of the electric bulb after failing at least a thousand times. When someone once asked him if he was discouraged, he replied, “No.” On the day he was to demonstrate his new invention, many people gathered with great anticipation. Once everyone had settled, Edison asked his lab assistant to bring the bulb. The assistant accidentally dropped it, and the bulb broke. Edison calmly asked the crowd to return after 24 hours. The next day, when everyone had gathered again, Edison called the same assistant and asked him to bring the bulb. Someone questioned how he could trust the same assistant after the earlier mistake. Edison replied, “I can rebuild a bulb in 24 hours, but rebuilding a person’s confidence could take a lifetime. I won’t let that happen.” 

• If a man could carry such wisdom, how much more will God encourage you—even if you feel you have broken the bulb many times. God says to you today, “Come again with that bulb. I still have need of you.” 

God is restoring you today. He is restoring the confidence that you lost.

• The Word of the Lord came again to Jonah while in the belly of the fish • Jesus was a carpenter’s son. Someone said that for 30 years Jesus was making broken chairs and tables. Today, the Jesus who sits at the right hand of the throne of God is now fixing broken lives, restoring tired lives, and building human lives. He is restoring lives. Whoever comes to Him will be restored. 

Hebrews 11 speaks of ordinary people who trusted in God’s faithfulness and reliability. The Holy Spirit told me, don’t go back discouraged. Jesus loves you. 

• Look at somebody and say, Jesus loves you. 
• When you read the book of Hebrews, there are some things that make me very happy. Ordinary people called unto God and believed Him at points when everything looked absolutely impossible. Noah, for example—there was no chance of rain coming, complete improbability. However, Noah believed God. He said, “Rain or no rain, I trust God, and I will build the ark as He commanded me.” Whatever the improbability is, God said it, and I will do it. Whatever God said, I will do it. 

Even if there is only a very remote chance of things happening, get ready to obey, take steps of faith, and God will step in and act for you. 

Hebrews 11:11 — By faith, even barren Sarah received the ability to conceive and bear a child when she was old, because she believed that God, the promise-maker, was faithful and would do what He said. 

• Sarah had no chance of conception, but by faith she received the ability to conceive. By faith, I can receive strength. 
• Abraham was past age and had no strength—he was impotent. But God made him potent to fulfill the promise of God. This is a prophetic word for some of you. God will strengthen you and restore you once again when you put your faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:18 — “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 

• The Lord told Abraham to place Isaac on the sacrificial altar. How then would the promise of God be fulfilled? Abraham did not think too much. Did God say it? He just did it. If Isaac was sacrificed, how would the seed be blessed? He had faith that even if his child was burned to ashes, the Lord could raise him up even from ashes. God could do the impossible. 
• Tell each other: even if your job is gone, your career is destroyed, God can still do the impossible. God can bring fruitfulness in the midst of that. 
• The God who promised is faithful. Abraham took refuge in God. God’s hand is moving for you. 
• In the New Testament church, there was nobody perfect among the ones God chose. In fact, God picked a problematic bunch. We thought only Judas was problematic, but the other eleven were too. Two disciples asked, “What will we get if we leave everything and follow You?” They even brought their mother to ask Jesus if they could sit on His right and left. They were so childish. The other disciples became upset and irritated when they heard this—you can imagine the nature of the disciples Jesus called. 
• Another time, Jesus asked His disciples, “How long should I bear with you? Where is your faith?” 

Yet, with these imperfect people, Jesus made a super team. God built His church through imperfect people. They were ready to take refuge in Jesus. They worshiped and blessed the Lord, and God did impossible things through them, though they were imperfect. 

• Two disciples once said, “Let us call fire down and burn this place.” Jesus asked them, “Which spirit are you speaking by? To destroy? That is not My Spirit.” They forgot that they were called to save and not to destroy. Jesus did not come to destroy you, but to preserve you; not to break you, but to build you; not to kill you, but to keep you alive. 
• In the same town of Samaria, when Philip preached, the Spirit of the Lord descended—real fire descended. 
• The fire of God descended on the day of Pentecost to shake nations. And in these days, you will experience a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.
• In John 12, when they worshipped Jesus, Judas was speaking from the flesh. He said, “What a waste—that she brought that expensive spikenard and poured it on Jesus’ feet.” But nothing that is given and broken for Jesus is ever a waste! Judas said the money could have been used to bless the poor, and Jesus replied, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”

Today, what you give to God, what you pray, and your acts done for God are not a waste. God will repay you for it. 

• Give glory to God. We have a chance to be on the Jesus Team. 
• Don’t choose your ministry team by looking at family names, background, or qualifications. Look at only one thing—what they do and how they live when they are 

not entrusted with anything, when nobody is watching, when they are not offered the pulpit. They still come on time, they worship, they read the Word, they love God, and they love people. God told me to pick such people. 

• Jesus corrected all His disciples except Judas. The freedom to correct disciples is important. A man of God should be able to correct you. Jesus called His disciples “children.” He said, “My sons, did you catch anything today?” Jesus never referred to Judas as His son—He called him “friend.” It is more valuable to be called His child than to be called His friend. 

Jesus can correct me! 

• Hebrews 11 shows us that Jesus called ordinary men. They trusted God, they took refuge in His Word and in His presence. 

Today, you need to command an end to certain things in your life by faith. 

Matthew 27:31 says that after they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. 

• There is an expiry date on mockery as well. There comes a time when those who mock you will have nothing more to say. They mocked Jesus again and again, until they grew silent. But even today, Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Mockery against you will end. 
• Even certain demons have an expiry date in your life. In Mark 5, the man had 6,000 demons, and they cried out, “Why have You come before the time?” Even the demons knew there was an expiry date to their torment. After that time, they lose their authority over you. By faith, you will move from weakness to strength. 

By the end of 2025, certain mockery against you will end. God is commanding an end to it. Honour will last for generations.

Hebrews 11:36 reminds us—they came out victorious by faith.