Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew

Psalms 118:17- I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD.

• I will not die but will live to declare the glory of God.
• God wants us to have durability. No matter what problems we face, we need to endure it and stand.
• God will keep us in Christ. We will stand firm in Christ.
• There are godly forces and powers that enable us to be preserved in Christ

Psalm 46:1- God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

God is our very present help.

There are many people who can help you but are not present with you. Many who are present with you but can't help you. BUT God is our very present help. We will not be moved because the Lord is with us.

THE FORCES OF PRESERVATION

God wants you to have quantity and quality of life

1. FORCE OF VISION

• There needs to be a vision for your life.
• A Vision is:
  • A positive imagination of the future; not a negative picture of your future such as you would be destroyed or you would be nothing.
  • An insight into God’s purpose and plan.
• God did not create you for no reason and He did not simply place you on the earth for nothing.
• You are not an accident. You need to fulfil the purpose for which God saved you.
• You are not a mistake. You didnt “just happen”. Somebody made you happen. It is God.
• Understanding what that purpose is Vision.
• It's is not for you to be destroyed in COVID-19.

Proverbs 29:18- Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law

• Where there is no vision people perish.
• You will not perish. You will live. We will fulfil every purpose of God for you
• A man with a vision is unkillable.
• Joseph had a vision of the stars bowing before him when he was 17 years old. This led to
  jealousy and anger among his brothers. They tried to throw him into a pit and kill him but he
  did not die at 18, 19, 30, and 40, at 50 nor at 60 years!! Not even at 100 years. God caused
  him to live till 110 years.
• So many people want you dead but a man with a vision is unkillable.
• You are only starting ministry! The Holy Spirit told pastor that (despite it being 26 years of
  ministry)
• Nobody can touch you in spite of their jealousy.
• Don't move around like a plan less entity. Don't have an empty mind.

Genesis 50:26- So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Job 5:26- You shall come to the grave at a full age, As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season

You shall come to the grain only in full age. Not before that.

2) FORCE OF THOUGHT

Proverbs 23:7- For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you

- As we think so are we.

Proverbs 4:23- Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

- Keep your mind and heart. Watch over your mind. God is training His children making them sit at home in this season

- Some of your spiritual disciplines will be strengthened, your prayer lives be strengthened.

Once this lockdown is over, God is releasing a time of great fruitfulness and increase and a time of great harvest. God is preparing you

• The quality of our thought determines the quality of our life.
• If you are limited in your thought, you are limited in life
• Your life cannot accommodate anything that your thoughts cannot accommodate.
• What you are thinking always will affect your life.
• If you are always thinking negative you will see only that.
• Prosperity begins in the mind, in the heart.

 

• I am more than a conqueror and you will be an overcomer. You need to have a conviction within the Word
• Your dominating thought in your mind and faith in your heart must be about the stripes of Jesus to heal you
• You can’t think of death all the time and expect to have life.
• You need to envision the level at which God wants to take you in future and you need to act accordingly now! God will go as you think
• If you think in future you will run global business centres, go to the nations on mission work, hold services in stadiums and conduct worship concerts, so shall it be.

Numbers 13:33- There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

• The spies who went out into the Promised Land felt like they were grasshoppers. This is how they thought of themselves.
• As they thought about themselves, the others too viewed them like that. You will jump like those hoppers if you think you are one
• But you are children of God. You will soar up with wings like eagles. You will fly out. We will overcome in the Name of Jesus.

Joshua 14:10-14- 0“Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11“I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. 12“Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken.” So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully. 15Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba; for Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.

• Caleb is saying that the Lord had kept him alive thus far. And he says that he still had the the strength for war. Till then Caleb hadn't pushed a single “goonda”. Till then he had never gone for a battle
• But his thought was that he was a warrior. He says, “I will get hold of my promise land. I am 86 but my mind is still strong like before. You should have that kind of thought.
• God's blanket protection and strength is over you.

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Think God's Word

Isaiah 26:3- You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

Keep your mind in Christ and His Word. He is a very present help in times of trouble

WHERE SHOULD YOU KEEP YOUR MIND?

Keep your mind on past victories.

David said that the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the bear and lion will deliver me from this Goliath. Keep your mind on past victories

3) THE FORCE OF FAITH

There is a force behind faith. Faith is a major force that sustains life

Roman's 1:17- 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:11 - 11 But that no one is [a]justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

Habakkuk 2:4- “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Those who have been made righteous by the Blood of the lamb shall love by faith.

Hebrews 10:38- Now the[a] just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”- We are not those who are stepping back, but who move forward.

• Faith is a shield. Every attack on your faith is an attack on your life.
• If faith is destroyed, it is a possible way to destroy your life.
• That is why we read the Word. Your faith mist be strengthened.
• Fear draws the power of the enemy. Dogs can smell fear. The devil can smell fear.
• Faith attracts God. GOD'S Presence will be drawn to you.
• Embrace faith. You should charge up your faith. When you do so, fear is discharged.

 

• It's like plugging your life to faith.
• Devil cannot come near people whose faith is alive.
• Maintain your charge. Keep your faith charged. Building up your Holy faith by praying in tongues the minute you realise that the charge is reducing.

Psalm 23:5- You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

• Don’t be afraid of your enemies. HE is preparing a table for you.
• Even in the face of real danger like the COVID 19, DONT BE AFRAID
• How will you live your life in front of your enemy?

He prepares a table. God will set it. He preparing your table is intentional. While He does so, don’t be afraid. It is not speaking about furniture (table). God is speaking about a banquet. It has meals that is spread out. It is rich like a 7 course meal.

Take that in. It could be about your business. An abundance and an increase is coming your way. God is preparing a table for you even as the world feels challenged in this time.

Anecdote: The soldiers in the army shoot bullets at the enemy. IN between that they have some food ration. They eat is fast. They don’t have the time to enjoy a meal. But a banquet is not like that. You can relish it

Worship Him. He is a God of TOO MUCH!

• Don’t come under too much pressure and fear. The just shall walk by faith. When everything is against me, God is giving me an opportunity. It could be a new business idea. Something new.
• You need to declare --- My God will do something for me. God is showing me something in the midst of this
• When danger comes, humans will increase and grow in science and technology. God will give them the understanding to overcome the danger.
• God is giving you opportunities.

What is life without dangers? It is in moments like these that something comes out of you.

• God is releasing giftings to cut vegetables and wash vessels too which we never thought we could do!!
• Though you walk through the valley of shadow of death, don't fear.
• You cup will overflow and abundance will come your way. Goodness and mercy will follow you. COVID 19 won’t follow you.
• By faith you know that Jesus is your Shepherd and HE will be with you through the valley of death. He will prepare a table in the midst of your enemies and You will dwell in His house forever

4) THE FORCE OF HOPE

Ecclesiastes 9:4- 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

When you stand with the living, there is hope. You can survive without friends, without money, without education but not without hope.

• Hope is the language that God wants you to have.
• Disease will be healed and you will be helped when you have hope.
• Even if your children leave you, God will hold you.
• When hope is absent, you can’t say I have faith.
• Hope is an attitude that says---I won't give up.
• Hopeless people are tired people.
• Hope will say something good is going to happen
• The hopeless will say nothing good is going to happen.
• Delete the hopeless thoughts.

It is needed in two areas:

1. When you aren't married.

Job 14:14- If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes

Hope will say I will wait for my change to come.

Between the devil and me in this life, it will be the devil who gets tired. I won’t be the one who will give up.

Psalms 42:11- Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, The [a]help of my countenance and my God.

• Hope in God again- David says when he faced trouble.
• Can't wait to restart church and see what God does!

5) FORCE OF LOVE

Love is a force

Song of songs 8: Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as [a]cruel as [b]the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, [c]A most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.

• Love is as strong as death. Death cannot beat love
• Jealousy is as cruel as the grave.

1 John 4:8- 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

• The one who walks in love walks in God. You might be speaking in tongues but without love it avails nothing.
• Those who invite you into bitterness is inviting you to death.
• A Man of God lived till 113 years. He has ever hated anybody! You can't help people hating you but on your part, forgive and love.
• Hatred is like the poison of a snake

Job 42:10- And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

• The Lord restored his loses when he prayed for his friends.
• Certain friends are enough to destroy you. There are friends that multiply your sorrow.

Job 13: 4- But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians.

Job refers to his friends as Forger of lies. He meant that his friends just came and worsened his case

Job 16:2- “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!

They were “miserable comforters”. But Job prayed for them.

• The power to love is the power to live
• Love is like a therapy.
• You should be able to wish people well. Especially those who have overtaken you
• Wish people who hate you, well
• Enhance the value of other people
• Forgive liberally
• You need to love to fulfil your days
• Don't carry the gift of unforgiveness. It takes you to hell

 

• There are people who will remember what you did to them in 1975. Some people keep a book of records. Those are things that will kill you. You need wisdom from God in dealing with such people. Even when you call them to say sorry, it creates more trouble!
• Some people you need to forgive and some people you need to avoid but you shouldn’t hate them
• Avoid company of people who gossip
• People who flatter you can also slander you
• People who talk something about somebody with you, can also speak about you to others.