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CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 2 / Issue 8 / March 30 2000
Contents of this issue
Editorial
Take up your Cross and follow Me
Bro. Dhinakaran's USA Visit
Prayer Request
News Items (Common to all issues) :
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Your Spam Folder
Your Feedback
Editorial
Isaiah 6:5-7, "So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged."
When Isaiah saw the Lord, he cried out, "I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips." That’s what happens when a person see the King of kings and Lord of lords. The person realizes that he/she is a sinner and need forgiveness of God in his/her life. Many think that they have never done anything wrong or never done any major crimes. Yes, you might have not done anything wrong but the Bible says in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And here we see Isaiah who is seeing a vision of God almighty and he cried out, I am a sinner. Yes, my friend, you might have done no wrong thing but we are born as a sinner and every person in this word need forgiveness of God. Every person need to be washed and cleansed from his/her sins.
First thing we see here is that Isaiah realized that he is a sinner. He looked at himself and found himself a sinner. And the second thing is that he cried out to God saying, "I am a sinner." He confessed his sins before God. Today, will you confess your sins before God who can forgive your sins. Third thing we see that when he confessed his sins, a seraphim flew to him who had a live coal in his hand taken from the alter and he touched his mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sins purged." The "coal" was a token of forgiveness since fire symbolized cleansing and purification, and the altar was the place where atonement was made.
Do you say that you are not yet washed, do you say that your sins are not forgiven yet? If yes, this is the time to ask forgiveness of God and ask Him to cleanse you from all your sins. And He promised to wash all our sins as the Bible says in 1 John 1:7, "…and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Yes, Jesus is ready to cleanse you and make you a new person…
Take up your Cross and follow Me
By Sheela Isaac
Mat 16:24 "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Here is the deal, if any one wants to follow Him (Jesus), what the Lord said? "Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Yes my friend you may be born again, you may be serving the Lord, you may be the minister for the Lord, but let me tell you that this is the only way to follow Him. It looks very scary isin't it?
If you want to follow the master you have to walk through bearing your cross. If you want the crown you have to carry the cross. Somebody said "without cross there is no Crown." Look at the life of Jesus. Though He is the son of God, who said in Psalm 50:10, "For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills", who made heaven and earth, who made the human beings, who is the creator of the whole universe, but what happened?
The same Lord came down to die for you and me and for your sin and mine. The same Lord carried His own cross and what was the result? His own creation nailed Him to the cross. And because He carried His cross, God did exalt Him and gave Him the crown. Which Crown?
Read these verses: Phil 2:6 -11, "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
What a great crown, what a great exaltation. Yes, He is our perfect example, if you need the crown you have to carry your cross. Remember, without cross there is no crown. Many times people think that spiritual life is a bed of roses, many preach saying that if you come to the Lord every problems will vanish, but the Lord did not say that. John 16:33 , "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Now the question is, ‘what does it mean by denying himself or herself?’
Denying means: leaving everything behind and following the master. Denying means following the master and obeying him wholeheartedly. It is not possible that one could live in two boats and think, "I am following the master." It can't be. God's ways and fleshly desires cannot go together. Today many have failed in their spiritual journey because on the one side they tried to please God and on the other hand they wanted to live as they desired.
I remember one of my experiences of my early spiritual journey. At that time I was 25 and thinking of getting married. At that time I had a thinking that getting married means settling down in life in every way and it is everything in life, the fullness of joy.
My dad was an engineer and I was brought up in that setup of luxurious life. We had big house from office, 2-3 servants at home to do all the household work, government jeep and driver to go anywhere as you like, nice parties and lot of enjoyment. So I always desired that I should marry an engineer. But in my early age I got saved and my desires changed. Now I was thinking, the person should be engineer, but saved and God fearing.
Well I got one good proposal (as it is the custom in India to do arranged marriages). The person was an engineer in bank and he was very spiritual, I mean saved and spirit filled and was a very good singer too. I thought that this is the best proposal for me. But one day during the family prayer Lord spoke through my cousin Suganthi. Lord said "every thing which glitters is not gold. If you go ahead with this you will lose your ministry." It was a great shock for me and I could not believe it. I was a new Christian at that time and just started my spiritual life, so I was not ready to accept that. I said "why God why? Why you are doing this to me? Why it is NO!!! Don't you think that I should settle down in life."
Other hand that was a great warning "you will lose your ministry." Losing ministry means may be losing a place in heaven too. So I was very much afraid and upset. I struggled hard just to get an "Yes" answer from God. Many times we do the same thing, don't we? We think that God should obey our command, God should do whatever we desire. Many people chose their mate according to their own interest and finally they come to Church and say, "Lord bless this marriage". They put big label in wedding card saying, "this is Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes," and so on… Though Lord has nothing to do with that. And these marriages break apart and bring pain and tears.
Well I was not knowing what to do. I knew that I was very upset. One day I prayed, "Lord please tell me whether this is your message about this particular proposal. Please make it very clear and if it is not your will I am ready to leave it off. One night I saw a dream "I saw that I am wearing wedding dress and standing at the alter of the Church and the marriage ceremony was going on. I saw that he is standing on my right hand side, he was looking in the dream exactly as he was. Suddenly I saw that I am standing and looking from the back side. And to my surprise the boy was there and on his left hand side I was standing and on his right hand side there was another girl. And I was thinking is he marrying two girls. That dream was over and I knew what God want me to do. I said Lord now I am ready to leave it. Yes He is a good God He never keeps His people in a confused stage. When a person prays sincerely He shows His best ways.
Only God knows the secrets of the heart and nobody else can know it. Only God knows what is good for His child and what not. Many times people say that they are spiritual, but they fail to obey God. Many times it looks very hard to deny ourselves and obey God. Many times it is too hard to say "Lord not my will but let thy will be done."
But do you know that this is the key of overflowing joy. All these long years I learned this lesson. Though I am still not married but one thing I know I am the most happy person on this planet. Why? Reason is that I learned how to obey God and how to carry the cross and follow Him.
If you find this key in your life, Let me tell you nothing will separate you from the love of God. As st. Paul says, Rom 8:35 -39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Remember:
"God is good, what ever He gives take it,
whatever He withholds leave it."
All these years I've said only one thing "Lord you are so good. Whether you give me something or not I will follow you. I will serve you till my last breath, I will love you all the days of my life.
Yes my friend let this be your prayer. If you do this your cross will not be a burden for you, but a matter of joy. Whatever situation may come you will walk through it and come out victoriously.
May God bless you.
Bro. Dhinakaran's USA Visit
Dr. D.G.S. Dhinakaran and Dr. Paul Dhinakaran are world renowned Evangelists. Their ministry touches, literally millions in India and abroad. With the two special outreaches, viz., Mass Campaigns and 5 weekly Television programmes in 4 major languages of India, and 1 weekly Television programme in Sinhala in Sri Lanka.
Come join them as they share the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to Billions around the world.
They are visiting:
Chicago on April 4th, New York on 8th and 9th and
California on 14th and 15th etc.
For more information please visit at:
http://www.jesuscalls.com/campaign.htm
Special Prayer will be offered to wipe away your distress! Your lives to bloom! Your broken hearts to be consoled! And also your hearts will rejoice to the divine sweet songs!
Prayer Request
Please pray for my friend Annie who feels suicide is the only way out of a life she can no longer bear, which she feels after 36 years can never change, that she finds the love and peace of the Lord and is healed emotionally, mentally and spiritually before it is too late.Thank you and God Bless.
Lori
Through the Valley of Death & other Books
As many of you know that in the year 2005, our dad was very sick even unto death. God miraculously healed him. We have compiled it in a book form. I sure believe that it will inspire you and encourage you greatly.
This book is available for purchase at JasmineCorp Store
Also read these two books by Sherly Isaac "Allah and Elohim - Are they the same God" Available at JasmineCorp Store, and "Is Jesus God?" Available at JasmineCorp Store,
Both books compares the Bible and the Quran and read eye opening facts about Jesus, God of the Bible, Allah and Islamic faith. I am sure that you want to read this.
Download Articles in Handheld Computers
You can now download articles in Palm Doc format for your palm handheld computer. It will work with any devise that has Palm OS and Palm Doc Reader installed. To download click on the link named "Palm Doc Format" i.e. at the top of this page by the side of each articles.
Kids Page - Free Tutorials
Now you can learn Graphics and web designing online at Kid's page. These tutorials are free for kids who subscribe for CSI Kids Newsletter. Currently tutorials for Paint Shop Pro, HTML and Dreamweaver are available.
So please enroll your kids by going to http://kids.csinewsletter.org/member/join.asp
And visit CSI Kid's page at http://kids.csinewsletter.org
Hindi / Malayalam/Tamil Bible Online
Now you can read Bible in Hindi online at http://www.hindibible.org
in Malayalam online at http://www.malayalambible.org
in Tamil online at http://www.hindibible.org?ver=tamil
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If you are getting this newsletter in your bulk/junk/Spam folder please hit the "not junk" or "not spam" button so that you could receive it in your mailbox. Also adding news@csinewsletter.com email address into your contact list can avoid this email from ending up in your bulk folder.
Your Feedback
Your feedback and comments are Welcome. Please send your Parish news & articles to Editor (Sherly N. Isaac) at this address News@csinewsletter.comThe messages submitted will be checked whether they are correct according to the word of God. Editor reserves the right to accept, reject or edit the messages. The writers are responsible for the contents of their writings.
 
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