The God of Grace — Raja Selvaraj

If you don't mind, I'm going to sit down. I usually don't sit down when I preach or teach. I'm used to stand for four hours, three hours, teach Bible to several hundred pastors. First of all, thank you for that introduction, Pastor Steve.

The Bible as the Foundation of a Meaningful Life

For some reason, I feel so bonded with this church because they give first place to the Bible. This is the book made me a man. Praise the Lord. This is the book made my life meaningful. When I was born in India, they go, when your child is born, they go to astrology, they go to palm reader, they go to all kinds of these men and find out what kind of child is this.

They want to know the future of the child. So my parents took me and gave my birth date and everything else to find out what kind of man I was going to be. And that was right after the Second World War.

So after the Second World War, famine, scarcity of money, all kinds of things in India. So the palm reader said, or the magician said, he is the reason why we are now having. So he's a bad luck fellow.

Do you believe in luck? Maybe you do. My parents took his word very seriously that, wow, look at this guy, good for nothing. Do you feel sometimes you're good for nothing? And I wish I know that magician now, I'll go treat him.

I mean, I'm just joking. I'll go tell him about the Lord. You better be Christian. Years went by, at the age of 13, the Lord Jesus came to India, found me. Hallelujah. He's the only God in the world. You don't have to find him.

He will find you. He will come to you. And that's how my Christian life started at the age of 13. And from that time till now, few years gone by, he has been so good. Taste and see for the Lord is good.

Worship him. Thank you very much. Brad and family and Trillian family and Sarah and John, look, thank you. Your singing really made my soul rejoice in the Lord. Did you rejoice in the Lord? Yeah, I'll be asking questions like this, so you just be ready.

Yeah, you can laugh, you can cry, you can, we are in the presence of God himself. And I thank you, Pastor Steve, again, for counting me to bring the word this morning. And I praise the Lord. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit for this opportunity.

And I bring greetings from India, especially from the ministry, Trinity ministry that we have. Now my third daughter, Sharon and Jacob, many of you saw them last year. They were here. They are carrying on the ministry.

God willing, I'll share more about the ministry later. I have some clippings and we want your prayer for that ministry because India is one of the populated countries in the world, second to China. But we are trying to beat China.

Someday we will. We are working hard. Right now we are 1 .3 billion and China's a little bit afraid because we'll catch them up. Well, may the spirit of God, may the word of God continue to penetrate land like India.

Grace Comes Through Jesus Christ

I want to share with you God's grace. It's grace that made me son of God. I can boldly say to anywhere, anytime, anyplace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that made me man. There are two sides of grace.

The one side is you heard like this, by God's grace I am very successful in my business. You must have also heard by God's grace I found a good wife or a good husband. By God's grace. By God's grace now I have a very nice house and debt free house.

By God's grace I am Christian. You heard all of this kind of things. This is said in India, said in America, said in Canada, said all over the world. By God's grace, every religion they say, people from Mohammed, Hindu, they say God's grace.

All these good things. My question is who brought the grace? How did we get the grace? Grace is not available in supermarket. John 1 17 says, Gospel John 1 17 says, somebody can read if you are bold enough to read, you can read.

I find my own Bible. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came or brought by Jesus Christ. So who brought the grace? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. To whom He brought?

All the sinners of the world. Are there sinners in the USA? Are there sinners in India? Are there sinners in Canada? Are there sinners? Are there sinners in Africa? In Africa, it's Jesus Christ brought grace.

Wow. And so we continue to accept the grace. So my first point is who brought the grace? Jesus Christ. My second point is manifold purpose of God's grace. Number one, to create us, the sinners, as His sons and daughters.

It's grace and to help us, help equip us as a model people to the world. I got these two verses that I'm basing on. What I want to share with you is Matthew 5 13. You are the salt of earth. Salt must not lose its saltiness.

Jesus emphatically saying, you, you are the salt of earth. Who received grace are the salt of earth. We are not saved just to go to heaven, enjoy heaven there. We are saved to be salt because the world is losing the saltiness.

Do you know it is losing? And then 5 14, Matthew 5 14, Jesus said, you are the light of this world. It's our every one of us responsibility. If you believe Jesus Christ is your savior, if you believe you are born by the spirit of God, you are the light of this world.

And then a contrary to this one, another verse I want to give it to you. 1 Peter 5 8 is, be alert and sober mind. 1 Peter 5 8, your enemy, those who become salt and light, you have an enemy and the enemy is the devil roaming or prowling around.

He's the only guy doesn't need visa to go to USA. They cannot stop him, Satan. Peter is writing very clearly, be alert and be sober minded. Your enemy, the devil is rolling like, around like, roaming like a line to devour this.

Jesus, there are two powers, Jesus and Satan. There are two powers trying to use us. So we always depend on grace. If you miss the grace, if you misuse the grace, or 2 Corinthians 6 1 says, I'm not wasting grace.

We come to relations with God, the father, holy God through Jesus Christ washed by his blood. Ephesians 2 8 and 9 very clearly tells, it's not by works, it's by faith. Have you received this grace? Grace is, of course, just simply, you're getting everything from God free.

Don't have to pay anything. Forgiveness of sin, forgiveness of sin, it's free. You become children of God, free. Don't have to pay anything. Matter of fact, you don't have to go to church. Now, don't take that mistakenly, by the way, because you already don't want to come to church.

But if you receive Jesus Christ, you're sitting right there. I don't know if anybody new here. Have you made the commitment? Have you seen Jesus who did not come with a bare hand, empty hand, he came with grace in his hand to give it to you.

Did you receive him? Thank God I, at the age of 13, received the grace. I knew I am born by the spirit of God. I know my name is written in the book of life. Is your name written in the book of life? Maybe your name is written in the church book.

Receive Jesus Christ today if you have not yet done properly. Make sure that you have the assurance of salvation. I am a saved person. One time I asked the pastor, are you saved? He got angry. He said, why are you angry about?

How can you ask me, pastor, are you saved? I said, why, what is the problem? Just say yes or no, that's all you need to say. I said, don't get angry. I said, you ask the same question. You ask me, you ask me.

He said, are you saved? I said, yes. This is all I need from you. Say no or say yes. Don't get angry. Do you have people here that get angry? I don't know. Thank you, thank you, John. And then once you got saved, once you become child of God, once you become daughter of God, if anybody here not sure, and you've been still coming to the church, you're not yet sure if you die today you'll go to heaven.

May I invite you to take that step of faith today? And promise to God, because this is January 3rd, 2016. You're going to be a new person. And when you walk with God, what did I say? When you learn to walk with God, you will enjoy this life here and enjoy the life there.

When did you say amen? Did I say anything bad? You're just so, just looking at me like you're angry people. Now we are going to see, when I become Christian, walking with God, praying and going to church, giving tithe, trying to please the Holy Spirit of God, I kind of misunderstood grace.

So I made this message as the other side of the grace. One side is all the blessings. The other side is, now we are going to see it. With examples. For example, 2 Corinthians 8, 1 -7, the people, the believers in the Macedonian churches, the city of Macedonia, there was many churches and there were believers.

They received grace, and we are going to see that a little bit detaily. And then 2 Corinthians 8 -9, a wonderful, wonderful verse. Jesus Christ needed grace. And I'm going to say that also. And thirdly, 2 Corinthians 12, 7 -1, the most epistle written by Paul, he needed grace, or continue on grace.

As I was checking all these verses in the Bible, every epistle, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, by the way, these are the books in the Bible. It's not somebody's name. Galatians, Philippians, Thessalonians, 1 Peter.

I was surprised to see all these epistles packed, like Romans chapter 1, verse 7, Romans chapter 16, which is the last chapter, 20. The first chapter and the second chapter, both are packed with grace.

Paul is writing, grace be to you. Grace be to you. Grace be to you. Grace, why is he packing this just like McDonald's sandwich? I don't know if you like McDonald's or not, but then, I like for some time, but then I don't like afterwards.

You know why I don't like? People say, don't eat it, it is just not the food to eat. That's okay. 1 Corinthians 1 -3, and the last chapter, 1 Corinthians 16 -23. Grace be to you. Peace be to you. Paul is telling the Corinthian church, the Galatian church, the Philippian church, the New Testament churches, all you believers, all you men and women, all you want to baptize, all you walk with the Holy Spirit of God, grace be with you.

Why is he packing Christianity with the grace of God? Jesus Christ brought the grace, and when he resurrected, went back, he left the grace for you and me. Amen? So we are going to see 2 Corinthians 1 -8, 1 -7.

It talks about, actually, Macedonian church. I'll just read it. And now, brothers and sisters, he's writing to Corinthian church, believers in Corinthian, comparing the Macedonian believers with the Corinthian believers.

I write to you, Corinthian church believers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given to Macedonians. What kind of grace? In the midst of a very severe trial, they are overflowing joy, and they're extreme poverty, welled up to rich generosity.

You need grace when not only you become, you get a good job, to have a good wife, to have a house, you need grace. When you are poor, when you don't have a job, when you're living in unemployment, you need grace.

That's what Macedonian church received. You start your Christian life by grace, and you walk with grace. When do you walk with grace? When there is no money in your pocket. Are there times you don't have money?

Or maybe you have a credit card, so you don't have problem, right? We in India know what is meaning poverty. I'm glad I came from a poor family. Are you glad there's going to be a financial crackdown in here?

Maybe it's going to scare you. Let me encourage you, God's grace is available. God is enabling me to walk in the grace since last 60 years. Is that just surprising? You know India, you know Africa, you know all these poor countries.

By the way, this is not the first time I'm going to Canada. I came to Canada in 1974 to go to Bible College in Alberta. That's where my two daughters were born, three daughters, two of us. Some reason, those years I didn't fall and broke my bone, but now I did.

So I thought every Canadian have a brick ledge, so I think I should have my own chance. So this is my time. That's fine. Just like Pastor Steve would say, yesterday, day before yesterday, they said and came to me, my bedroom, without my permission and told me don't go to priest.

Phoned the Pastor Steve and tell him I'm not well. I told the Satan, I said, get out of my room. First of all, you came in without my permission. I'm going to go and share the word to dear people that you are.

And God's presence is going to come upon us. As you've been in church, you are poor people, living in trial. They gave generously. If you are rich and you're treating a chick for thousands of dollars, that's not, well, it's a grace maybe.

But when you're poor, when you don't have money, or you have little, I know what it is. Because when I came back to, when I came to Canada, I was in Dubai with IBM for, IBM mechanic for 15 years in Dubai.

You heard about Dubai. It's an oil rich country now. I was there for 15 years. And God called me out to go to Bible college in Alberta. Before I leave Alberta, God promised me, or asked me to promise him that I must go back to India.

You know, there are those who come here from Africa, from India, and see all the luxuries, see all the wealth, see the comfortable life. And then immediately God appears, you stay here, kind of. But God said, no, you must go back.

I'm glad I went back after five years. And I'm in India now 35 years, living with poor people. People who do not have, I wish I had some pictures to show you how poor they are. And yet they received grace.

A Woman's Offering and the Miraculous Provision of God

I think of this lady, this girl. All her property was just a ring in her ear. That's all she had. In India, they put a ring, ear ring. That is all her property. That was her everything. A year ago, there was a special meeting.

And she was sitting there and listening to the message. And God spoke to her very clearly. If you love me, can you remove those two earrings and throw it in the offering box? Grace. Without grace, you cannot do it.

She did it. I didn't know about it. I came to know after one week that she removed both earrings, threw it in the offering box. I was shocked by myself as a preacher. I said, what did he do? What do you think grace can do now to her?

What do you think? What do you think Jesus Christ who brought grace will do to her? She has a daughter. She has a son and no husband. Husband left her. She's a servant girl. In India, there are servants.

Last year, 2015, when our daughter finished high school, she wanted to go to college, study nursing. No money. Some of us told her, if you had that earring, you could have sold it and sent it to college.

She said, that's okay, that's fine. The grace that was given to Macedonian church was given to her. Would you believe me if I say God raised the very principal of the college to pay for the girls' fees for four years?

Why don't you say, why are you so sad? This is grace. This is the other side of the grace. Not just living in Canada and USA is grace. Living in poverty and enjoying the grace of God. And then secondly, this is very interesting.

Christ's Grace in Voluntary Poverty

Same chapter, 2 Corinthians chapter eight, going down to verse nine. For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who brought grace, now he needs grace. For what? That through, though he was rich.

Jesus was rich when he was in heaven. When he was a son of God. When he was the triune God. He was rich. How much rich was he? Was he rich like Bill Gates? Or was he more than that? You heard about Bill Gates, don't you?

You look like you don't even know about Bill Gates. Why can't you nod your head? Did I ask anything wrong? Jesus was more than Bill Gates. Only a few people say that. Why are you people, why only a few people say that?

Because you're afraid, right? Your pastor will not say anything. I'll tell him, pastor please don't, if they say anything, just allow them. By the way, every Sunday I'm here to hear what is preached here.

I'm moved and sometimes struck by the Holy Spirit because it's God's word. It's his presence, his love. We have to be serious. God is serious with us. We need to be, I need to be serious with him. Jesus Christ needed grace to become poor.

You don't just need grace to become rich and big job to become poor. The Holy Spirit of God tells you today, this morning, can I send you to India? What will you do? Will he speak to you? Will he speak to us?

Is his spirit here? Is his Holy Spirit here? Yes? Wow, there's one bold man says, yes. I heard that missionary Jim spent many years in Africa. I heard his son and daughter-in-law spent many years in Africa because God speaks.

I heard this morning, Pastor Steve was the chairman in some church for mission chairman. This church is a missionary church. Jesus himself is a missionary because he received grace. Macedonian church received grace when they were poor, not when they were rich, when they were poor.

Jesus Christ received grace to become a poor so that you and I, you fill up the blank. Are you rich in Christ or are you poor in Christ? Hallelujah. I am rich in Christ. God meets my need every day, every week, every month, every year.

By the way, you're welcome to India. Yeah, honestly. I get team from Alberta. I get team from UK. I get team from, we get team, young people come, older people come. God willing, I'll be going to Saskatchewan, Alberta and maybe in March and preaching there.

There are teams always come. You need to get some taste of, to check your grace, do this. This is unchanging, everlasting. How many of you brought Bible with you? You know, I'm glad that the NBC Church has technical facilities, but actually you're making us lazy people not bringing Bible.

It's good you have a technology, the good, but then it makes, I cannot go to church without the book. When any pastor preach, I must go reference, see if this is right or wrong. Because you don't have Bible, if I give you wrong verse, you're not going to check.

Oh, this guy is too hard. Do you think that way? And then finally, second Corinthians 12, seven to eight. All of you, I'm sure all of you know about this. 12, seven to eight. I cannot, I don't want to read all the verses, but this is what it says.

My grace, verse nine. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Are you, do you feel you are a weak man or a weak woman? I am a weak person. For this reason, for this reason, I am weak.

For this reason, I am weak. I don't have enough education, I am weak. My color is not white, I am weak. I don't have big house, I am weak. God says, when you're weak, then yours. Friends, dear believers.

When I think of grace, first Peter one, two, and second Peter one, two, both says, grace be with you in abundance. One day I was thinking about grace, and all of a sudden, my mind said, well, you have grace.

But that is almost six months old grace. Oh, so I need new grace. Some of the Christians, we are living in 10 years old grace. It's old. It won't serve your purpose. You need to have a new grace for 2016.

Because your problem is new, and you think nobody can solve it. Jesus can, and his grace can. That's why he brought you here this morning. Because his mercies are new every week. See, I'm saying wrong, and you're not just correcting me.

His mercies are new every morning. Don't walk with last Monday's grace, today's grace. That's why Holy Spirit's indwelling in us. 1 Corinthians 3, 16, knowing not that you are the temple of God. God is not in a building.

God is in you, Judith. God is in you, Philip. God is in you. Put your name. Jerusalem, temple is finished, no more. No more Jerusalem. It's we are the temple of God. I want every one of you walk out from here.

I am the temple where the Holy Spirit is living in me. I am in Jesus Christ, the one who is in Christ, the one who is in Christ, a new creation. All things are passed away. All things become you, grace of God.

Grace for Marriage, Humility, and Daily Dependence

And all of a sudden, Holy Spirit of God woke me up to show me you need to walk in grace. The other side of grace. I was always praising God and telling people testimonies that how God did great things for me, how God did this for me, that for me.

But on the other hand, I didn't have enough grace or I didn't wait for grace to run my own family. My wife and I, I was preaching and she was preaching, but we had still problems. Grace required for her and for me.

When Holy Spirit of God told me you need grace to have a smooth husband wife relationship, I said, whoa, thank you. You know, there are times I don't mind sharing my life, my weaknesses with people because they go through the same thing.

There were times she goes to preach and I go to preach and come back, brr, brr, brr. You know what does that mean? And she prays in that room and I praise this room. And so I was praying. Holy Spirit said, will you stop that and go back and ask forgiveness of your wife?

Oh no, I'm a preacher. I said, God, I ought to go, but see, I am a leader. I am the husband. How can I humble? I need grace. Humble under the mighty hand of God. God gives grace to who? I got a James and first Peter.

They're humble people. I said, okay, in India, this is how we worship God. We put our hands like this. Jesus, help me to humble. Go to my wife. Ask her forgiveness, grace. You know why home is breaking down?

We don't depend on grace. We depend on our own intelligence or whatever. Proverbs, Proverbs chapter one, it says, Solomon said, lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in every walk of life.

He will give you grace. Yeah, all of us need grace for 2016 because God has a great plan for you. Do you believe? You know the man who said, attempt great things for the Lord and expect great things from the Lord.

Responding Boldly to God's Call

What are you expecting for 2016? What is your expectation? Do you have any expectation? What is your expectation? Is your expectation approved by God? My wife died 10 years ago. To continue to do my ministry, I need grace.

The way you're so quiet. Can you shut up and sit down? I will, because I'm going to close. I've got more to share, but I'm going to close. Please make a decision to walk with God today. Even if you made it last year, year before, today.

Because this church, you are this church. Your decision makes the change in this church. Your decision to walk with God. Is the Holy Spirit ministering to you through my Indian accent, English? Say, I cannot speak Canadian accent because I'm not in Canada.

You have to struggle. You have to struggle for grace to understand my message. What is he saying? Well, you need grace because my accent is different. Every Sunday, there are times I wept. By the way, I'm 74 years old.

I wept like a little child before. He's my father, you know? He's my God. He's my Lord. He's my protector. He is my all. He is the one who is going to take me home in heaven. By the way, do you want to go to heaven or not?

Canada is the best place to be, yeah? We don't want to leave Canada. We want to be here for all our life. Well, death will catch us someday. Do you believe you'll die? Is that bad news or good news? Only positive good news.

Repentance and the Call to Receive Salvation

God, I know you struggle, that's why. So we want to give time. Those singings, oh, ladies, this worship team, you did a wonderful job today. Can we take time to respond to God? You know, with this verse, I'm going to close.

Acts chapter two, I think I shared this the other day, but this I'm going to close. Acts chapter two, Peter is preaching a big sermon, big, long sermon, sermon. And then after the sermon, 3 ,000 people responded.

How many are here? 3 ,000, 2 ,000? Looks like 2 ,000 to me. See, that's how we preachers get encouraged. With two people sitting, or 20 ,000 sitting there. Acts chapter two, when the people heard this, what Peter said, Acts chapter two, verse 37, they were cut out, cut to the heart, and said to Peter and other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

They respond from the crowd. Oh, you, Peter, oh, you apostles, you have preached a big sermon. Now, what do you want us to do? Verse 38, Peter replied, this is what he replied. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, each one of you, 3 ,000, each one of you need to be baptized.

3 ,000, each one of you need to be repented. Not total repentance, each one of you separately, individually. I'm not sure how many pastors were asked to baptize the 3 ,000. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promises for you and your children, and for all who are far off, and for all whom the Lord our God calls.

Those who accepted this message were baptized, and about 3 ,000 were added to the church. So whatever I'm saying is not for my benefit, it's for your benefit, for the kingdom of God. God wants you, he loves you, God's love is so real, so true, hell is so true, heaven is so true, Canada is true.

Do you know Canada is true country? So is hell, so is heaven, so is Jesus Christ. I'm going to, I'm done with it. Shall we close our eyes and tell God whatever he spoke to you? I don't know. Shall we close our eyes just for a second?

I'll be watching my watch, and make a decision. This is a new year, 2016, January 3rd. God is just about to send revival to this church. It all depends how much we do, we receive, we are ready to receive it.

This church going to be the church of God, it already is. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together to study your word, study about grace. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you, you are so real. Holy Spirit of God, thank you, you are so real.

Make us bold people, Lord, that we will respond back to you.