Pastor Rajiv's Mid week Message

 

Are you trustworthy ? Daily Reflections

You trust God. Can God trust you?

“But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust.” (Numbers 12.7).

That’s God speaking, by the way. Very clearly differentiating between those of His people He can trust those He can't.

There is a lot of discussion and talk around the fact that we need to trust God and have faith in Him at all times. Very true. But very clearly, we need to have God trust us as well!, which may not always be the case as we can see from the opening verse.

This is a game changer! Think about how God can build His trust in us. But first let's think about how we can lose Gods trust. Let's talk about Trust Breakers and Trust Builders. What are they ?

Trust Breakers

A. Broken promises when we were down in the dumps praying for God's helping hand? And have we kept that vow?

If we haven't that's a trust breaker right there. Did not the Israelites, Gods own people, break His trust and wander around in circles for 40 years?

B. God at the center of me at the center? Who do I give priority to? God or ourselves? If a crucial meeting comes up on a Sunday do we miss church to attend that meeting? And if we have had to for some reason, have we gone to an alternate service to make sure we have kept our meeting with God as well?

C. Have we created idols in our life? Money, homes, cars and so many more.

D. Have we kept the Sabbath Holy?

There are so many more ways we possibly have not lived up to Gods direction or expectation. Meditate and think and take corrective action.

Trust Builders

Dependability

Trust is dependability – a deep confidence in someone. We tend to trust people who are reliable, who are consistent and who don’t change with the season or the wind direction in the same way Gid needs dependable people, like Abraham or Moses and so many more.

Gratitude

If we acknowledge that God is our creator and that our time on earth is a gift, as is health, wealth , business, family, occupation - then we must also acknowledge the fact that we owe Him big time! It's not our own abilities, but His grace and gifts of those abilities which we have used to be where we are. A word of thanks and acknowledgement would be a nice gesture don't you think? As we get up in the morning do we thank Him for the rest, the day and another day added to our life?

Horizontal relationships

Do we make an effort to develop and nurture relationships with others, forgiving mistakes, mindful of hurting whether through speech or action?

A good way to learn trust building  would be to read, understand and meditate on how to adopt the commandments into our lives. At least make the effort and slowly it will happen.

God needs people He can trust!

What's in a name : Pastor Rajiv's Reflections

"You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)

What is your name? 

Shakespeare debunked the name theory when he said what's in a name? to quote "What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" ;

Biblically, names of people were important. So important that God chose them at times. So now, the question is do you determine your name or does your name determine you?

Biblically, God changed names of people to determine who they would be. Consider Abram becoming Abraham, Jacob becoming Israel, Simon becomes Peter the rock.

Names are deeply important to human beings, a crucial way of understanding not just the world around us, but each other. 

A surname roots us in history and family tradition. For example, the name 'Adam' is so common in Western society now that one might not think to enquire about its meaning. However, the Hebrew word Adam doesn't simply mean 'generic first human' but is rather likely derived from the Hebrew word Adamah meaning 'ground'. Adam was formed "from the dust of the ground" and so, his name (and the general Hebrew name for 'man') is rooted in how mankind began.

Jesus Himself is given many names. He is the Christ, which is not his surname, but rather the royal title for the Jewish Messiah – New Testament scholar N.T. Wright translates 'Jesus Christ' as 'King Jesus'. His first name is a common Jewish name 'Yeshua', which is derived from the word meaning 'to rescue/deliver'. 

Matthew states : "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Matthew also describes Jesus as 'Immanuel', which means 'God with us', because, familiar though it may be to us, Matthew was highlighting the radical truth that Jesus the Messiah was indeed God himself dwelling with mankind.

Biblically naming was serious business and today we must take our own name - Christians, seriously as well. God has chosen us and given us His own, Kingly name, as we are called "Christians" after Christ,  which means that we are to show the qualities of Christ in our lives. Just as our legal or human names showcase our pedigree, family history or lineage, being a Christian has to reflect Christ's teachings and His love for us, as we live and interact with each other in this world. 

Now you decide who you are! 

Note: References are drawn from Joseph Hartropp

The Inside Job: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

-Ephesians 5:15-17

Social media has "glitched" our lives. The days of dinner without cell phones or family meetings where people talked and not stared into thier watches and phones are Kong over. There is an incessant demand on our time - from the time we get up to the time we sleep.

In all this it is difficult to spend time with God. Please note I am not saying it is difficult to find time for God. Spending time with God is a little beyond that. It goes beyond daily devotions and adds meditation and prayer. It also involves thinking about our life with God, our failings and our successes. And most importantly it involves speaking to God. Speaking to Him in praise, thanksgiving, sharing problems, asking for solutions... in utmost concentration within  the silence of our bodies and minds. Than and then alone can we hear Him when He speaks through His word or through His Holy spirit.

In this socially networked world, where someone is awake somewhere, our phones never cease to be alive. So how do we spend time with God.

First, know that time is not owned by us. It is owned by God and lent to us. If we use up all the time we have been given in frivolous activities, we have failed miserably in that famous parable of the Talents. Fortunately there is a way we can overcome and that is through one single word: Discipline!

Discipline means to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control. It's a code of behavior, that has to be followed no matter how inconvenient. And that's how you make time to spend with God. Unburden yourself, rise up early and seek Him. He is always there, represented by His Holy Spirit. Or one could do it at any time of the day by shutting out the world around us and opening the door to Gods word and world. 

It's all within us. Inside of us. And if we are determined, it has to be an inside job. 

Looking up to Power: Lying down in obedience: Pastor Rajiv's mid week message

 How to pray

Isn't Age a number? Reflections by Pastor Rajiv

"Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come".

Do you remember this Psalm? This for all old people of my age... 

Age is just a number as they say. As we grow old and older, our years, spent in experiencing God, are like the chapters of a book for younger people to get motivated and inspired. It is very important to remember Gods work in our lives not just to thank Him and be grateful, but for others to see Him at work in our lives, believers and non believers alike.

Every Storm that comes, every great wave that nearly drowns us, every mountain we have climbed, every weakness we have experienced is a story of Gods strength.

Shall we then say we have lived by a daily abundance of Gods grace?

If we have to be able to say that, we must search and find Gods hand in each day, in each challenge we have faced and in each outcome of those challenges. In each happy time whose memory brings a smile to our face, as also in each sad or hard time when we lay awake and pray for it to pass, no matter the tears. 

And as we search and find, we have to construct that moment in time when we lived and experienced Gods hand in our life, not only for us to remember and be grateful, but for others to see God's work. 

Yes, our life will be in vain if we have not thus reflected. Kind David and others wrote the Psalms as their personal experience of God after a lifetime that  included being a fugitive, living in caves, being exposed to the elements, and fighting hard-fought battles, King David knew every moment when God was at work with him. And he passed on that experience and wisdom for us to follow.

The natural instinct of man is to crib and cry as we age and feel our strength ebbing away, but it is actually a golden time to recall, reflect and reveal God and His work in our life.

How does an old and decrepit man like me show power? Simply by living God's Powers in our life, and showing younger folks how Gods works, not in theory but in practice.

 

God Bless all elders (and me) so that they can show the way forward using their life as an example. 

Your Bill is paid in full! Message by Pastor John Muhammad

Fantastic Message from Pastor John, originally from the Fiji Islands and now a guest speaker / Pastor at the Hilton Street Church in Melbourne.