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CSI Good News
(Church of South India Good News)
Vol. 15 / Issue 25 / March 13 2014
Contents of this issue
Editorial
What defiles a person?
join us in Facebook
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
By Sherly Isaac
In today's world where we all want to be successful, the same direction that God gave to Joshua may be followed. God spoke to Joshua and gave specific instructions how he could be a successful man. We read in Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
God told him specifically that he should meditate in the word of God day and night, so that he could do according to all that is written. If we read further we can see that wherever Joshua went, he saw victory in his life. Enemies could not stand before him, but he won battles after battles.
Similar thing we read in Psalms 1:1-3, "Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper."
These promises are for those who walk in the ways of God in holiness, for those who stay away from sin giving first place to God and His word.
My parents taught us from our childhood how to fear God. We were taken to church every Sunday to attend church service and to be taught in Sunday school each week. Ever since I remember, we had regular family prayer in our home. We read Bible and prayed everyday. But as days passed by and as we got busy with our studies, those things diminished. Though we went to Church regularly yet we had no regular family prayers in our home. Later we all got saved and started walking in the ways of God yet regular family prayers were not restored in our home. One day we were listening to bro. D. G. S. Dhinakaran in which he said that, "Today make a prayer alter in your home or one day people will bring your drunk children at your doorstep and will say they are no good for anybody." He repeated again saying, "Today make a prayer alter in your home or dig graves for your children...." That day, my dad started family prayer once again in our home.
Sometimes when bad things happen in the lives of people, they would say, why these things are happening to us, had God left us? But the question is, "Did you ever hold on to God in the first place? Did you ever try to do what God wanted you to do?"
If not, you can still give your life to Jesus and start walking in the ways of God. You can still give your cares in the mighty hands of Jesus and He will take care of you.
What defiles a person?
By Sheela Isaac
Mark 7:15 "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.
Jesus said that nothing from the outside could defile a person but the things coming from the heart of a person defiles him/her. Jesus said that what you eat can't go in your heart and so it can't defile you but the evil thoughts that come out from within only could defile a person. So it means that sin is inbuilt in a person and because every human is sinful that's why they commit sin.
Here is in more detail what could defile a person:
Mark 7:20 And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.
Mark 7:21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mark 7:22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
Mark 7:23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
If sin is coming from the inside of the heart how can it be cleansed? If we do good work can sin be erased? No. Sin is inside of us. So if we take bath could it erase sin? No. Water can't get into the heart to clean it. Somebody said, if you eat soap can it cleanse your heart? No. So the sin nature which we have can't be cleansed or erased by our own efforts. But for that we need the help of God. God who created us can only help us to get rid of our sin nature. Only Jesus who is holy He can remove our sin, Jesus who conquered sin and death only He can help us to conquer sin nature and get victory over it.
We can't control sin nature and we don't have ability to get rid of sin by our own efforts. Jesus came down in this world and died on the cross on behalf of us. He being God and He being HOLY He shed His holy blood on the cross to redeem us from sin. Only Jesus can remove sin from our life and only He can give us eternal life. If you want to receive forgiveness of sin and a place in heaven you can come to Jesus repenting from your sin. The blood of Jesus can cleans you from all unrighteousness and will give you holy life.
1 John 1:7 ... the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
So through the blood of Jesus you can receive forgiveness of sin and only Jesus can erase sin from your life. After receiving forgiveness of sin the second step we need to do is to control our thought life. Thought life is the place where all the bad and good thoughts develop. If your thought life is good it could produce good fruit in your life but if it is bad and evil it will produce bad fruits.
Proverb 23:7 For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
What we think and where we spend time most rules our life. Thought life has serious ability to control our life. That's why Bible says what a man thinks he becomes like that.
Couple of years back I heard a tv news where a teenager killed his own grand mother. When police caught him and asked, "why did you do it"? He said, "he was very fond of video games and he spent hours in them. He loved violent video games. He spent most of his time playing those games and he practiced how to beat and kill. Finally the fun game became a trap. What he did for fun one day it became reality. Bible correctly says, "what man thinks he becomes like that."
Few years back in India there a movie came by name "bobbi". It was a romantic movie. After watching this movie many of the young boys and girls ran away from their home. So what we think and where we spend most of the time with things shapes our life identical to that. That's why we need to control our thought and actions in our life. It is not an easy thing but it is doable.
1. Renew your mind:
Bible says that we need to renew our mind. We need to do it to control our thought life. God would not do it for us but we need to do it.
Romans 12:1-2, " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Romans 12:2 says, "do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of YOUR mind. This verse says that you need to do it. God is not going to do it for you but you need to do it. You need to renew your mind which means that you need to control your mind and the thoughts of your mind. Bible also says not to become like the world and not to follow the patterns of the world.
How can we do it? If you have taken the first step and received forgiveness of your sin which means 'received salvation experience' through the blood of Jesus, then you can take the second step and Jesus is going to help you out in it.
2. God's word:
You can renew your mind by God's word. Instead of dwelling in evil and bad thoughts you can dwell in God's word. When evil thought comes in your mind you can counter attack it with the help of the word of God. When bad thought comes you can repeat the Bible verses that you have read or memorized and by doing this you can suppress the evil thoughts and there by you can win victory over it. Dr. Paul Dhinakaran ones said, "you can't stop the crow from flying over your head but you can definitely stop it from making nest on your head". How true it is, you may not be able to stop the evil thoughts from coming in your mind but you can definitely stop it from dwelling in your mind and from building strong hold in your mind. The key is that as soon as an evil thought strike your mind you can kill it not allowing it to take root in your mind.
Psalms 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
King David says in Psalms 119:11 that he conquers sinful thoughts by memorizing and hiding the word of God in his heart. We can also do the same. We can memorize Bible verses and when evil thoughts come we can speak the word and defeat it.
Psalms 1:1 -2, "Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night."
Psalms 1:1-2 says the same thing. We need to read the word of God (Bible) and we need to meditate in the word day and night and it will help us to control the thoughts of our mind.
For example Jesus said, "be holy for I am holy." When evil thoughts come you can repeat this verse and you could defeat that bad thought.
Bible says that God hates divorce, sexual immorality, love of money, taking bribe, telling lies, adultery, cheating, committing murder and many other things. When you read the Bible and allow those laws to take root in your heart and when temptation comes, when evil thoughts come you can remember the verses that you have read and meditated upon. And at the time of need these verses will pop up in your mind and they will help you out to lead a holy life.
I would like to encourage you to secure a place in heaven. Our life on this earth is short and time is too short to wait for another day to decide. If you want a holy life and if you think that you want a clean heart you can come at the feet of Jesus and ask for it. The gift of salvation is free and it is available for every person who asks for it. I would like to pray for you and pray with you.
Let's pray: Lord Jesus I believe you are the son of God. I believe that you died on behalf of me to take away my sin. Please forgive and forget my sins. Wash away all my sins in your holy blood. Please come into my heart. Let your holiness flow in my life. I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and giving me eternal life. I thank you Lord for accepting me as your child. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
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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.
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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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