Newsletter

Time really flies when you are having a good time. I thought summer had just started and already the longest day of the year has passed us by. Now the days are becoming shorter and before we know it we will start writing down New Year’s resolutions!

A wise king once said that it is good for people to enjoy the life God has given them. The critic in me reminds me that he also said, “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless”. But, if we carefully read Ecclesiastes, it has been beautifully concluded that fearing God and keeping his commandments is the whole duty of man.

Research has shown that as you grow older your internal clock slows down and life seems to speed up. Apparently, you do not get the same “time” from a minute as you used to when you were younger. No wonder Paul urges us to redeem the time. While you ponder on that I’m going to make each moment count!

Yours in Christ,
Preethi Samuel

Our Lord is good. He has enabled us to see another month. In this issue I would like to talk about the importance of "Conviction of the Holy Spirit". We have moved away from the three basic elements of salvation in an attempt to avoid negativity. This has given many, a false sense of security. I believe that many in our churches today have never experienced genuine salvation. Many of the saved are living weak, anemic and defeated lives because they have ignored these three elements, which are crucial to our salvation.

Conviction + Confession + Conversion = Salvation

Many have experienced conviction without confession or conversion. Some have made confession without conviction or conversion. Others have sought conversion without conviction or confession. All three elements are necessary for true biblical salvation. I will write about Conviction in this issue and hopefully will continue with the others in the following issues.

Before a person comes to Christ, he must have an awareness of his sinfulness and his lost condition. The World has diluted the concept of sin. We use "sexually active" for fornication, "chemical dependency" for drunkenness. We no longer lie; we stretch the truth. Children are no longer unruly or disobedient; they have either Oppositional Defiant Disorder Syndrome or Antisocial Personality Disorder Syndrome.

As long as we are ignorant of our sin, condone our sin, call our sin a disorder, weakness, or syndrome we will never find resolution or deliverance. Do you recognize sin as sin in your life? Mere consciousness of one’s sin is not conviction. A guilty conscience is not conviction. In Matthew 27:3, when Judas saw Christ bound, taken tried, and condemned, he was overwhelmed with disappointment, sorrow, and remorse. He felt guilt and sorrow but not godly conviction. Overwhelmed with remorse and the vast guilt, he committed suicide. In Matthew 26:74-75, when Peter denied the Lord for the third time, great guilt overwhelmed him with the remembrance of Christ’s words, and it pierced his heart with many sorrows. Peter’s remorse brought bitter tears of sorrow and repentance and lead to restoration.

So what then is conviction? Conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit and comes only through the power of the Holy Spirit. John 16:8 says, "When He (Holy Spirit) has come, He will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment." The word "convince" is used seven times in NT. This word is the key to understanding conviction. One who is convicted is convinced of sin or error. In its simplest meaning, a conviction is something about which we are convinced. In most of the cases where convince is used in the Bible, it is used as a synonym of the word convict and deals with those who are convinced of sin.

Oswald Chambers said, "Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God."

The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to reveal sin in a person’s life, which brings conviction. When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, they that heard God’s Word were pricked (convicted) in their heart: (Acts 2:37). The Holy Spirit convicts us in our mind and hearts that we lack true righteousness, the quality and condition of life necessary to live in God’s presence. This conviction comes upon us in the form of a sense of guilt, remorse, uncleanness, unworthiness, and ungodliness.

Conviction is not sorrow for personal hardship brought on by sin, but rather remorse over the hurt we have caused a loving, forgiving God. Too often we try to do the work of the Holy Spirit. Conviction is not the persuasive work of an eloquent preacher or personal worker. A prime example is the preaching of Jonah, emotionless and matter-of-factual, yet God’s spirit brought conviction and repentance. Let the power of the Holy Spirit make us understand the importance of this message and lead us to true Salvation. Amen.

Also read John 15:22, Gal 5:19-21, John 8:9, Acts 2:37, Heb 4:12, II Cor 7:10, II Cor 7:9, 10, I Cor 2:4, 5

- Pastor Godwin

Many a times a simple hymn has been used by the Holy Spirit to minister to our needs. One such hymn is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Its simple truths have brought comfort to innumerable God's people since it was written in 1857.

Joseph Scriven was born in 1819 of prosperous parents in Dublin, Ireland. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Tragedy came early to Joseph, when on the night before his wedding; he was alone while elsewhere, his bride-to-be accidentally drowned. Later in life, a second engagement ended when his fiancée died of an illness. Also during this time, Joseph Scriven became estranged from his family. Here was a man who truly needed a friend.

At the age of twenty-five, he left his native country and migrated to Canada. From that time on, Scriven developed a totally different pattern of life. He took the Sermon on the Mount literally. It is said that he gave freely of his limited possessions, even sharing the clothing off his own body, if necessary, and never once refused to help anyone who needed it.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was never intended by Scriven for publication. When he was ill, a friend who came to visit chanced to see the poem scribbled on scratch paper near the bed. The friend asked Scriven if he had written the words. With typical modesty, Scriven replied, "The Lord and I did it between us."

Joseph Scriven died in 1886, also in a drowning accident. My first memory of this Hymn was my grandmother (Daisy Patiamma) singing this to me when I was little. I would sit on her lap, rocking with her on her rocking chair while she sang it to me,

What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

To me, this hymn has "comfort’ written in it, comfort to know that even if the whole world seems hostile and unfriendly, there is a friend who knows us and understands our innermost feelings. Just as it comes natural for us to trust in a friend and find comfort in his/her presence, Jesus is our ultimate comfort. A peace maker, soul hugger, tear dryer, sigh hearer, cloud lifter, soul soother, light shiner and so much more…

- Sujaya Robin

- Joe Kingsly

C. T. Studd, the son of a wealthy indigo-planter, was an excellent cricket player and at the age of nineteen was captain of the team at Eton. In 1883, Studd heard Dwight L. Moody speak. His soul was stirred and immediately, he began to tell others about Christ. Two years later, he sailed for China to join Hudson Taylor and served the Lord. When he turned twenty-five he inherited a large sum of money. While reading the Bible and praying, he felt convinced he should give his fortune away to show the world that he relied not on money but on a living Lord.

Ill health forced him and his wife, Priscilla Livingstone Stewart to return to England, where they turned over their property to the China Inland Mission. Studd and his wife toured the world to raise funds for missions. While touring southern India he found a climate suitable for him and his wife. He served six years, as Pastor, in Ooty, and afterward returned to England.

Later, out of his concern for Africa Studd was led to set up the Heart of Africa Mission. In 1931, still laboring for the Lord in Africa at the age of seventy, Charles Studd died, but his vision for China, India and Africa had expanded to reach the whole unevangelized world. C. T. Studd's answer to critics who said he went overboard in his zeal was simple. "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

Congratulations! Correct entries for Crossword No. 1 submitted by
Kavitha Kingsly, Bolingbrook, IL
Caroline Immanuel, Qunicy, MA
Edith Andrews, Chennai, India