Month: August 2024

10.08.2024

1Pe 1:1,2  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners of the Dispersion of Pontus, of Galatia, of Cappadocia, of Asia, and of Bithynia,  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 

This letter of Apostle Peter is addressed to the elect sojourners of the Dispersion of Pontus, of Galatia, of Cappadocia, of Asia, and of Bithynia.

 Let us read it in another version. 

1Pe 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of dispersion ….

Elect exiles:

For the word ‘exiles’   the meaning given is outcasts, refugees, expatriates, deportees

The opposite of it is ‘Natives’.

Natives will have all the rights in a nation. Exiles will have no rights at all, even the fundamental rights which one enjoys  just by the fact that you are  born in a free country which is not colonized by anyone,  will be denied .

In the early Christian Church, Christians were considered as exiles. All their rights were taken away just for the reason that they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. They were ostracized from the society of Jews. We see an example in the gospel of John.

Joh 9:20, 22  His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

AOJ soldiers does not have any credentials to get the approval of  the society they are living in  or  of any organization. 

The only  identity they hold  is the victory they achieve in everything. Nothing can knock them down. Any number of trials, temptations, separations, betrayals, infidelity, can’t separate them from Jesus Christ.

They will come out as victorious!

They will be obedient & faithful to the Word of God!

In the midst of tempests that come against them from, family, children, workplace, relatives, friends, society, Church, media etc. they will not be shaken.

In many countries in the world today Christians are in exile.  In  our country India in some of the States,  like Chattisgarh,  in certain places, Christians  are in exile.

They are not allowed to bury their dead in their own land.

In Uttrakhand they  attach divinity to the earth and soil. They say, because earth is holy, dead body cannot be buried in it.

In certain States anti Christians  made declarations that they will make it a Christian free land. The enemy  said, since Christians are converts from idolaters, they have lost their rights to live in India. But the Lord proved it to be false.

Let us meditate this verse.

1 Pe 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 

The identity of the children of God is that while they are on earth, they are 

  1.In exile

  2.Banished

  3. Ostracized,

  4. Refugees

  5. Expatriates

  6. Sojourners

And also they are dispersed.

Dispersal:

The Apostles dispersed from Jerusalem to other countries like Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia and preached gospel there. That is why Peter wrote to them letters.

This dispersed Church possessed  tremendous power. 

They gathered in houses, did not have any possessions, land , separate place  for worships.

But since this Church was abounding with miracles, all  were in great fear. People were added day by day to the Church.

Troop Church is the only Church existing on earth which possesses these two qualities

It is high  time the Troop Church  crosses the border of our nation  India and go to other Countries.  The Lord has given  a wonderful strategy to the Troop Church – that of dispersal after 2 months .

Every Troop Church soldier is expected to start a new Troop Church after 2 months of becoming a soldier for Jesus Christ.

The Church cannot be in one place lifelong. The members are to be dispersed.

In history wherever the Church (Jesus Christ’s body,) manifested the tendency of non dispersal, it died or the Lord allowed a persecution.

The Lord allowed persecution in India after 2013 because the Church was caught up in the institutional set up. During  Covid 19, the Lord closed all the Churches  throughout the world to  teach people to pray and worship Him in their houses without the help of any pastor, priest or other Church leaders.

During Covid 19, all the denominational Churches proved that it is possible that believers can survive  without pastor, priest or leader and  believers can  conduct burial, wedding, Lord’s supper, dedication, baptism and all other services without the help of a Church Leader..

Duty of sojourners and exiles:

1Pe 2:11  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Since Christians are strangers and sojourners in this world, they should keep up their identity card with them 24 hours. That is holiness. In order to be holy, they have to keep themselves away from all passions of the flesh which always war with their soul and spirit.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

The early Christians proudly acknowledged that they are sojourners and strangers on  this earth and they wanted to be so since they had  the citizenship  of heaven.

Php 3:20  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 

Our second characteristics, DISPERSAL  enable us to  reach new members and places with  gospel.

All the twelve tribes of Israel went in dispersion to other countries so that they could preach the Word of God and take true worship to the other parts of the world.

Jas 1:1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 

Let Troop Churches be promoted  and taught to other countries, people groups throughout the world so that Gospel will reach all the nations and the world will be prepared for Jesus Christ’s 2nd Coming.

Let us  take a decision today that

I will reach … people a day and will start ……Troop Churches this month.

God bless your efforts.

07.08.2024

“Psa 60:12  Through God we shall do great things; for it is He who shall trample our enemies. “

We, each soldier of the Army of Jesus is  called to do great exploits for the Lord Jesus Christ while we are living on  this earth.  

Bible characters were ordinary men  those  lived among  ordinary people who worked hard to make both ends meet. But at one point of their lives,  they differentiated  themselves from others by taking  crucial  decisions.

 This was due to the calling and anointing poured upon  them  even before the foundation of the world. They cooperated with the grace to fulfil what was written  in their destiny book. Let’s take a few examples.

1. Moses

Moses  led a casual life enjoying all the privileges of a prince in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. He was moved in his heart when he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite. He struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

This operation became  a turning point in his life.  The Lord took this as a proof for his fidelity towards His people, recruited him into His Army to fight against His enemies. Moses was sent for further training to the land of Midians.

Seeing  Egyptians beating Israelites would not have attracted anybody’s attention since in  slavery these are very common incidents.  No one would have  dared to speak for Israelites. Supporting a Hebrew would even  put their life into risk. But this  incident provoked Moses into action.

The Lord needs a soldier to fight for the cause of the oppressed in the Churches which is the worst system of slavery in the world in the name of Jesus.

2. Nehemiah

Nehemiah was an ordinary man who was employed with  a menial job of serving at king’s table. He enquired  about the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to him,  “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. As soon as he heard this, he

 “sat down and wept and mourned for days, and  continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”

The Lord saw the burden in His heart for the broken walls of Jerusalem. He  recruited him into His Army to fight against the enemies (Neh 2:19), disclosed His plans to him, alerted him how strategically and secretly he should move, get the support of the king, people and rulers so that he could complete the work of repairing the walls of Jerusalem with in the prescribed time.

In Nehemiah’s  time there would have been  many who heard about the destruction of Jerusalem walls, but nobody was  bothered about it except Nehemiah. The Lord used him to bring a solution to the problem.

Dear soldier, what are you burdened with today? Is it something concerned with building His Kingdom on earth? If yes, please know that the Lord has put this burden into you.

He wants to bring a solution to this problem through you.

 Can you surrender to the Lord right now?

3. Ruth

Ruth  belonged to the tribe of Moab.  Moabites was a  tribe cursed by God. (Neh 13:1, Gen 19:37,38) For generations they were oppressed by all others and even by the people of God.  The Moabites as a tribe would have  prayed  to God to remove the  curses. But a widow  called Ruth, at one time took a different decision which changed the whole tribe’s  whole destiny.

Rth 1:14-16   Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.  And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”   But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you.

For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 

This decision of Ruth changed the destiny of Moabites. Her name was entered into  the genealogy of our  Lord Jesus Christ. (Mat 1:5)

Dear Soldier, you  are  recruited  into the AOJ to fight with the enemy and liberate a particular nation, a State, a village, a street, a tribe,  people group  or a language group. Ruth clung to her Mother –in-law through whom the promotion had to happen even at zero hope. 

4. Daniel

 Daniel  was a boy of  royal family and of nobility, a youth  without any blemish, of good appearance and skilful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace.   But he was taken as a captive, brought to a different land to serve a king who declared himself as God. (Dan 1:3-4, 6:12)

He took a decision to be different from others. To a young boy, any food served at king’s palace would have been an attraction. But he decided to forego them.

 Dan 1:8  But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 

God used this boy  to change the heart of the  king Nebuchadnezzar to accept the true God.

Dan 2:46  Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. 

If the Lord wants to turn the heart of a  king wherever He wants, he needs a person to work on earth on behalf.

Dan 1:20  And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. Therefore he stood before the king.

For Daniel the training period was three years. After that he was brought before the king.

 You are the one recruited by God for this purpose.  You have been trained in the Army for so many years with the same purpose.

Are you ready to surrender yourself to be used by Him?

Dear soldier,

All the above heroes of Bible sacrificed either their lives or the most precious thing in their lives in order to become the most amicable vessel in the hands of  God.

Heb 11:24– 27  Having become great, Moses by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,   choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,   esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 

What sacrifice have you made to get  entry into the Throne of the Heavenly King in  order to turn the hearts of the earthly king who is ruling your country, your State, your adopted country?

What have you done to make you different from others?

If you say nothing is happening in my Constituency, it is because you have not proved yourself different from others.

The Lord has seen you different and has written your name  in the book of destiny. But since you have not stepped  into the trading floor of heaven, the trade has not yet taken place.  Price is not paid, the redemption of the land (your Constituency) has not yet come.

Your  calling makes you different

The anointing on you makes you different

Your recruitment into the Lord’s Army makes you different

The way you take decisions  makes you different

The way you obey makes you different

Continue to be different

Dare to be different!