Sunday Sermon by pastor Rajesh Mathew, 16 Jan 2022

1 Corinthians 15: 10- 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

• Not I laboring but the grace of God laboring in me. When we labour, we can’t get hold of anything but when the grace labours through us, we can access everything that God has planned and purposed for us.
• Not by my goodness, works, qualification, reputation, wealth, intelligence and my capabilities but through the grace of God, I will see miracles and healing. It is by the grace of God that I will become all that God has purposed for me.

Saul became Paul only by grace.

• Acts 9 says that Paul was into the business of slaughtering of God’s children. Grace made this man into an apostle! This is a truth from GOD’s Word. God’s Word makes drunken people into Holy Ghost people. Liars and unclean people are made holy by the Grace of God. God’s grace can make the prayerless people into people who will traverse the third heavens in prayer.
• I need the grace of God. I will never discount the grace of God! I will never be able to fulfil my destiny without the grace of God
• Paul only saw struggles, opposition and problems. But in the mist of that he was able to do what God wanted him to by the grace of God. Paul’s works would have made him a wonderful pharisee. But God’s grace made him an amazing apostle.
• Activate the grace of God. If you work, you will become something but God’s grave working in you will make you what He has purposed for you.

Let all those who receive grace Praise HIM

• When Paul reached the island of Malta, a poisonous viper came out of the fire and wrapped itself around Paul’s hands. But the grace of God that was working inside the body of Paul was able to strengthen him enough to shake off that poisonous viper that would otherwise have killed him.
• No matter what viper of disease and bondage has wrapped itself around you, the grace of God working in you will shake it off!
• Those struggling with symptoms of COVID-19 and other diseases, receive the grace of God. Receive strength inside your homes. Those of you who are sick in your bodies, receive the grace. The grace to do everything that God has intended for you.
• We are living in difficult times and in such times, we need the grace of God. Do not be troubled. If you receive His grace, nothing will touch your life. No viper will be able to destroy you. The poison of COVID will not kill you. No side effects will affect you.
• Paul set out to do good. It would have been sufficient if he sat in one place and did nothing. He went to put the firewood. He went to help out the people there and the viper came.

There are some vipers that come out to bite you when you step out to help someone. The poison of that viper will not sting you, no matter how big and deadly that is.

No matter how influential or money powered it is, it will not touch you. If that viper has come near your house, it may have killed many people in the past and has a deadly history but it won’t enter your home. It won’t kill you. The GRACE OF GOD in you will work against it.

Shake off the bondages of 2021 and stand in the grace of God.

2 Timothy 4:17-7 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Because of the grace of God, we will be delivered not just from the serpent but also from the mouth of the lion.

• Lion can eat you up to your very bones leaving no trace of you behind. There will be no proof that you ever lived! That is how the lion will chew you up. It destroys you calling, your blessing, your promises. There are demonic strongholds that boast like a lion attempting to destroy your very existence and your calling entirely! But even in the midst of that God’s grace will keep you.
• Don’t wait for the Jericho walls to fall to praise HIM but even before the walls fall off, praise Him. Lift up the name of Jesus in the midst of the trouble. There is a lion that saps out your energy fully! But God’s grace will keep you.
• No matter how strong you are or how great you feel, you can’t stop a lion! But Paul knew that even if he were weak and tired, the Grace of God that was working in him would bring him out. The devil/the lion will not swallow you!

Stand within the grace of God and you will see HIM set you free from certain debts that are tying up your life! Stand in the GRACE!

David had a little lamb and that was taken away by the lion. Can you imagine? Would you ever imagine that the lamb would be saved from the mouth of the lion? Lambs are the blessings for the shepherd! In the past, people would kill the goats in their backyard for a meal for guests who would have come home. The lamb is the shepherd’s next generation and that is what the lion was after. But before that lion could finish off the lamb, the grace of God within David finished off the lion!

There is a grace that will cause you to destroy that which is set out to destroy you!! C’mon church bless the Name of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11:32-32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me;

• All the ways of saving Paul were shut. The governors were people who made laws. They had the political power. They were decision makers. There was no way for Saul to be saved. But those who had grace were the disciples. They brought Paul out in a basket.

There are such people with grace, who will intercede, who will protect and who will bring you out in baskets. They were people in grace who made an escape route from the governor and law makers.

It is the grace of God that worked not just in Paul but also in the disciples.

• There are laws that are looking to penalise you for not wearing masks, for wearing masks wrongly for not maintaining social distance etc! there are laws and rules that do not favour your business, your decisions, your life etc. In the midst of rules and laws against you or your business, there is a grace that will still build you.
• Don’t be afraid of wrongful cases, wrongful accusations against you and against your wealth and inheritance but you STAND IN GRACE!

The Holy Spirit is telling some business people that though there are people and rules trying to shut your business down, God is going to increase your business!

Acts 14:19- 19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

• There were some people who prayed standing around him and he came alive. If there are praying people surrounding you, even dead things will spring back to life!
• It was due to envy that people threw stones at Paul. They stoned him with many stones. ENVY and jealousy are an evil force. Envy irritates you when you see others being blessed and used. Such people will stone you and throw you off. But there are prayer warriors who stood around and prayed and Paul was kept.

You will make a comeback for the glory of God in 2022. In your spiritual life, family life, ministry. Business, you will make a comeback in 2022.

DIVINE HEALING

1. It is the restoration of the body to health and vitality by the power of God. - That’s why Paul after being stoned till he would die, was able to get up and go back to preaching.
2. It is the recovery of the body from a state of ill health or disease by the power of God 3. It is the repair of damaged body systems of organs by the power of God. o I believe in divine healing because I believe in Jesus Christ.

o Paul experienced this while people prayed for him; let people received healing in the name of Jesus.

4. It is the reversal of a disease process.

o Joel Osteen’s mother was supposed to die 40 years ago but a reversal happened! o Let reversal happen in your body and your mind!

John 4:52- 2 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

- This refers to the hour when he began to amend or “got better”. The same hour that Jesus prayed, the repair work began!

The Holy Spirit is saying to someone who has even written down the date for the eye surgery that God is healing your eye.

5. Replacement destroyed body parts

- Like replacing the spare parts of a car, God is able to replace your sick organs. When God sent you to the earth, he made sure that a spare part of your every organ was available in HIS presence! There are kidneys, livers, brain in His presence. God has got a spare brain!

- Because the enemy will try to destroy your body and mind, God has spares. You need to have faith in the Word of God.

Mathew 15:30-31- 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, [a]maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marvelled when they saw the mute speaking, the [b]maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

- Maimed people came to God and they got those parts back. Receive this Word and rejoice in Him. He is the God who calls those things that are not as though they are! I am what I am by the grace of God.

Mathew 15:30 (the New Living Bible)- 30 And a vast crowd brought him their lame, blind, maimed, and those who couldn’t speak, and many others, and laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. 31 What a spectacle it was! Those who hadn’t been able to say a word before were talking excitedly, and those with missing arms and legs had new ones; the crippled were walking and jumping around, and those who had been blind were gazing about them! The crowds just marveled and praised the God of Israel.

- Those with missing arms and organs has new ones! May the Lord release new hearts and organs. New eyes for you in Jesus Name.

I read last week that docs in the US replaced the heart of a person with a pigs’ heart in a successful surgery. Here the Lord is saying that person with a sick heart will be given a new heart!

2 kings 5:14-14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

6. It is a restoration to the original state

- People expected Paul to die but he was just fine and started to preach. In Malta island, he conducted a healing ministry. This was just after being almost submerged in water, having a ship wreck! What does that mean? It means that that there may be disease, affliction and bondage all around you, but if you received God’s grace in the midst of it, God will bring you back to your original state.

- You may be wondering if you can do what you did in the past. Can I travel? Can I play? Can I walk, can I eat certain kinds of foods? Yes, you can! God will restore you to your original state.

When does disease come?

1. When the devil attacks you

Acts 10:38- 38 And you no doubt know that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were possessed by demons, for God was with him

Disease due to oppression from the enemy. Ask the devil to LEAVE if you see disease in your body!

2. Personal negligence or carelessness

There needs to be personal hygiene. Bathe, be clean. Some people have no personal hygiene some people eat all the fatty and sweet things. You should be responsible for your life. “Lord, I will take care of my body. I will stay clean, eat right and watch out for it as the temple of the holy spirit.”

3. Negative emotions

Excitement brings vitality. Depression brings ill health. That is why the Lord declares this year to be a year of laughter. Paul says, rejoice and again I say rejoice.

The state of your mind affects the state of your body. Do not allow your mind to go “down”. I got COVID last year and a doctor told me just keep laughing a lot. I did that and God set me free. Proverbs 17:22- 22 A cheerful heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit makes one sick.

- Before food and after food, have this medicine. At least three times a day- LAUGH! - A merry heart is a good medicine. As a family just laugh together before your meals. There is healing in that.

Proverbs 14:13- 30 A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; jealousy rots it away.

- Tell people sitting next to you – “I am going to grow, increase, the level of my finance, wealth, ministry is going to change, don’t be jealous of me. God’s grace is upon me. You are not going to see me here because God is lifting me to the next level.”

- Paul was not worried about the people who are jealous. Some people enjoy depression and negative emotions.

- Don’t be an elephant. The elephant remembers who attacked it even 20 years ago. It will attack you when ever it sees you no matter how many years it has been. Do not have that nature of an elephant. Pray and bless those who have hurt you and destroyed you.

Hebrews 12:15- 15 Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives.

- If bitterness comes from you, many will falter.

- Paul is walking in divine health, divine blessing and grace of God because he has learnt forgiveness. Not bitterness. I am what I am by the grace of God.