Who Killed Jesus? : Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflection

 I DID

YOU DID

   WE ALL DID. 

The Pass Over promises: Our Daily Reflections

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor" 

Please read the complete  Exodus Chapter 12 

The Passover or Pascha as it is called in Judaism, dates back thousands of years, but is as true today as it was then. At that time, the blood of the sacrificed lamb was used to identify Jewish households and spare them the agony of death.

It is as true today because we who believe in Christ, know that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb to spare us the horrors of a second death, the death of our spirit. This Passover was fulfilled in Christ, whose blood was shed to free humanity from bondage to sin and death.

The first Passover held three important lessons for us today:

1. The way to freedom is through the blood of the Passover lamb, our Jesus Christ.

2. We must be ready at all times to flee from our slavery to sin.

3. Gods promise of sparing believers is as true today as was then, with the scarification of Jesus.

4. Jesus (the sacrificial lamb) is personal as well as communal to be shared with people who do not have Him in their life. 

Furthermore, we need to remember that the Passover is all about Jesus! He came as the Lamb of God. His blood redeems us. By His death, judgment was turned away and the power of the enemy was broken. We were released from bondage and oppression. We were set free to enter into God’s promise. Everything in Passover is a picture of Jesus! Every element points to Jesus!

What is the connection between the Pasha and Easter? If Passover is largely about Egypt, Easter is largely about Passover. The Passover is a reminder of Gods promise, which He kept through Jesus. Easter is about our ressurected life. The Passover is communal, while Easter is personal. R R Reno in the Wall Street Journal has this to say

"I have come to see that Christianity’s most important day recapitulates Passover. Both days (Passover and Easter) face head-on the daunting power of death—and both announce God’s greater power of life"

Let us prepare today to celebrate life, our new life, gifted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us thank God for this covenant and Jesus Christ for this redemption. Lets remember the people who brought us to Him. Let us remember and thank mentors who explained Him, the Pastors who talked about Him Sunday after Sunday and all those, in whose life we saw His work.

Easter week Day 3: The beginning of the end - Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Matthew 24:21 "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will".

Please Read Matthew 24 and 25 - The Olivet discourse.

As we trace the 7 days of Easter in the last few days of Jesus's earthly life, we will understand how important these days were in terms of various messages our Lord left for us. 

Today, the third day, Jesus decided to share Gods vision for the future of mankind. He did this through what we know as the Olivet discourse. Jesus knew that 3 days later He would be physically dead. He wanted His disciples to look beyond His death, to Gods vision and things to come. He wanted his disciples to have a common vision of where they were heading, as ambassadors and apostles of Christ.

The Olivet discourse is just that. Here Jesus talks about and prophesies events and signs which will pave the way to His return. It's very important for Christians to know and understand this so that our vision, our view of our life as followers of Christ is clear, allowing us to have a shared vision with Christ.

We will be covering the discourse using notes from Pastor Rajiv's various messages. You can read them here.

Day 2 - Was Jesus in a bad mood? : Pastor Rajiv's daily reflection

The Monday after Palm Sunday.  was Jesus in a bad mood?

One story in the New Testament sticks out like a sore thumb and that is the Fig Tree episode. It can be found at Matthew 21 verses 18 and 19

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Why would Jesus curse that tree? It was in full foliage but with no fruit as it was not the season. So  was it the trees fault that it had no fruit? Why curse it?

I think Jesus used it as an example of people who promise a lot but deliver nothing. The non seasonal green foliage of the fig tree held out a promise of fruit but there was none. Complete hypocrisy!

This symbolism today extends to all believers, demonstrating that genuine faith is more than just outward religiosity; true, living faith must bear spiritual fruit in a person's life.

This was further underlined by His reaction in the temple that Monday, when He threw out the tradesmen operating on the temple premises.

Many of us today can learn a lesson from that fig tree and the temple cleansing. Jesus's anger was righteous anger knowing that 4 days later He would be sacrificed for these very people who were hypocrites, defiling Gods House and pretending to be God fearing and God loving. Knowing that the very people who welcomed Him yesterday, would be baying for His blood. Knowing His sacrifice was seemingly in vain.

How sad and broken would Jesus have been Knowing that?

2200 years later that question is still valid: We need to ask ourselves this Monday, are we making Jesus angry and sad or making Him smile?

7 days to Easter, 7 things to learn: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

The Donkey and the Horse. 

Matthew 21:10 "When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"

Yesterday we talked about how we view Jesus Christ. Today we take that up a notch.

For Israelites who thought Jesus was a conqueror of the Romans, it must have been a disappointment to see him enter Jerusalem on a donkey! A king should be riding on a horse. The donkey on the other hand signifies peace. Jesus clearly demonstrated that He came in peace.  

Secondly, He came, not to rule over people and nations but to rule their hearts.

Simon the zealot exhorted Jesus to pronounce a rebellion, but was gently put down by Jesus.

There must have so many who would have been disappointed in Jesus, because He wasn't what they thought He was.  Maybe that is why the crowds turned against Him.

Today Jesus is not entering Jerusalem. He is entering our hearts. Our welcome will be pretty much decided by how we view Him. As a savior, what does He mean to us? . Provider, Brother, God, Helper, Teacher...? How do we view Jesus? Will we hail him one day and betray him the next or will we keep Him alive in our resurrected hearts? 

Scapegoat or Savior? Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Did Israel believe in the Messiah? Of course they did. Just like you and me.

Whether they believed Jesua was the Messiah is another story. They had imagined the Messiah as a great military leader who would give them freedom from the oppressive Romans. After all, that's what they thought was promised. And that's what they believed. And that is how they treated Jesus till they realized that such was not the case. Then they turned on Him, crying for His blood. 

Like the Israelites of then, each of us have a picture of Jesus in our minds, and treat Him accordingly. some picture a shepherd, some a king, some a preacher. How many of us picture Him as a scape goat ? (A scape goat is a person who bears the blame and/ or punishment for something they have not done).

Today the question to myself is: Do I treat Jesus as a scapegoat or as a savior?

If we think of him as our scapegoat, we have not truly accepted our fault or sins, which in turn means there is no repentance because we never accepted it in the first place. This is true whether it is Jesus or any other person or thing.

On the other hand, if we treat Jesus as our savior, we believe he not only took our sins on His head but more than that He gave us a forgiven and ressurected life, a new life, wherein after our repentance and His forgiveness, we become a new people He will be proud to call His own.

The key word here is repentance and forgiveness, both of which are based on the acceptance of our sins, not passed on to someone else's head. No scapegoat.

Tomorrow starts the countdown to Easter. In this season can we stop seeing and treating Jesus as our scapegoat but pledge to become a new people, after Gods own heart, ressurected to a new life. Through Jesus Christ, who was the sacrificial lamb for OUR very own sins.

Fight that F.U.D. - Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

FUD stands for Fear, uncertainty and doubt. It is a very powerful tool, sometimes used by sales people to conjure a problem and position their product as the solution. All three, are are mainly from a perceived situation or a perceived threat. It's a natural emotion. You can read more about FUDs here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty,_and_doubt

Fuds are also a powerful tool used by Satan as well, because humans are very  susceptible to fear. These are so much more serious than sales fuds. They can in fact destroy us, if we are not strong.

 

As Christians , We face FUDs in our daily life, and when we do, we need to run into the word of God (note the word "into" not "to") and find our strength.

Paul's second letter to Timothy explains why we need not be susceptible to FUDs.

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".

The Bible is full of verses that give us to power to fight and overcome FUD. And not only fight it but convert it into Faith , Certainty and Determination. Faith in God the father to be with us, Certainty that He will support us in whatever we face and Determination to overcome, any adverse circumstance, with the help of Jesus and God the Father.

Let me draw on Gods promises, nay, a commandment, made through Joshua and Paul to give you that strength and certainty if you need it today, as I most certainly do.

Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Romans 8:28

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose".

Do we "Love to Hate"? - Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Hate.
Has hate overcome us? Do we really love our neighbors as we profess?
Have you ever heard the cliché, “no bond is stronger than two people who hate the same person?” It turns out there is actually some truth to that statement. You can actually read more about it here https://www.scienceofpeople.com/hate/.

But today, this is not about hate but why we profess love, but love to hate.

As Christians we are commanded to love our neighbor (which includes everyone in this globally connected world) as we love ourselves which essentially means we do not do things to someone , anyone (even on social media) we would not do to ourselves.
And yet we do.

Do we really know what love is? There are 15 attributes to love. Unless we can't tick all 15 towards everyone (including social media) we cannot claim to be loving. AND IF WE CANT CLAIM THAT, WE DONT LOVE. AND IF WE DONT LOVE, WE HATE.

Peter Druker said "if you can't measure it, you can't improve it". As an exercise, let's evaluate ourselves against these 15 attributes and see for ourselves. These attributes are based on 1 Corinthians, 13 Verses 4-8. 

Love is patient,(1) love is kind (2). It does not envy (3), it does not boast (4), it is not proud (5) 5 It does not dishonor others (6), it is not self-seeking (7) it is not easily angered (8), it keeps no record of wrongs (9).6 Love does not delight in evil (10) but rejoices with the truth (11) It always protects (12), always trusts (13), always hopes (14), always perseveres (15).


How did it go?  Can we improve? Of course we can. After all Christ did it and If we have Him in our life, emulating Him is our goal. 

Are you ready to face your Goliath

Are You Ready to Face Your Goliath?

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:34–49

There are moments in life when a challenge stands before us so large, so loud, and so intimidating that it feels like a Goliath. It taunts us. It exposes our fears. It reminds us of our limitations. And yet, Scripture invites us to look at this familiar story not as a children’s tale of courage, but as a blueprint for how ordinary people overcome extraordinary battles.

David was not a king when he faced Goliath.

He was not a warrior.

He was not trained, armed, or experienced in battle.

He was simply a shepherd boy — but a shepherd boy who knew his God.

And that made all the difference.

1. Bravery: The Courage That Comes From Knowing Who Walks With You

David didn’t brag about his strength. He simply stated the truth: he had faced lions and bears before, and God had delivered him every single time. His bravery wasn’t reckless; it was rooted in history — his history with God.

Most of us would run from a hungry lion. David ran toward it.

Not because he was fearless, but because he was faithful.

Your Goliath may not be a giant with armor. It may be a diagnosis, a financial burden, a broken relationship, a habit you can’t shake, or a fear you’ve carried for years. Bravery doesn’t mean you feel strong. It means you step forward because you know God is with you.

2. Humility: Giving God the Credit Before the Victory Comes

David didn’t say, “I killed the lion and the bear.”

He said, “The Lord who rescued me… will rescue me again.”

Humility is not thinking less of yourself — it is thinking rightly about yourself.

David knew he was capable, but he also knew he was not the source of his capability.

Humility positions us to receive strength that is not our own.

3. Faith: Trust Built on Yesterday’s Deliverance

David’s faith wasn’t blind. It was built on evidence.

God had shown up before.

God had protected him before.

God had empowered him before.

So David believed — not because the situation was small, but because his God was big.

Your faith grows the same way: by remembering the lions and bears God has already defeated in your life.

4. Complete Dependence: Choosing God Over Human Armor

Saul tried to equip David with armor, sword, and helmet.

David tried them on — and immediately took them off.

Why?

Because they didn’t fit.

Because they weren’t his.

Because they weren’t what God had used in his life before.

David chose dependence over equipment.

He chose God over strategy.

He chose trust over technique.

Sometimes the hardest part of facing your Goliath is removing the armor others put on you — expectations, advice, pressure, comparison — and standing before God with nothing but faith.

So… Are You Ready to Face Your Goliath?

Your Goliath is not the problem.

Your dependence on God is the real battle.

Victory doesn’t begin when the giant falls.

Victory begins when you decide to trust God completely.

Like David, you don’t need to be the strongest, the smartest, or the most prepared.

You just need to be the most surrendered.

The battle is not yours. It never was.

The battle belongs to the Lord.

Attitude of Gratitude : Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Whatever our lot in life, we have a choice of gloating, groaning or gratitude.

"An Attitude of Gratitude is a regular habit to express appreciation for all different parts of life, no matter how small. If you concentrate on what you have, you'll always have more". https://www.yourlifeyourvoice.org 

While this is not a mantra, it is a good principle  because such an attitude creates a positive mindset and self healing, mentally and physically.

David did this regularly, thanking and glorifying our creator. Like David we too can choose to give thanks for ourselves, what we have and our life on earth. Feel positive. Feel good. Psalm 100, expresses this attitude. We can read it, pray it or sing it.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Understandably, people who are in some depth of despair, may not feel like praising and thanking anyone, least of all God. But in the experience of others who too have been in despair and sadness, if we develop this as a habit, over time our entire attitude to ourselves and  the world around us changes. 

Thanking and praising God, helps us to get up once again and move on and above all engages God in our daily life.