Le don de grâce qui nous est accordé est une manifestation de l’amour de Dieu, non pas quelque chose que nous gagnons mais un reflet de sa nature bienveillante.

Il ne s’agit pas seulement de recevoir, mais aussi de s’étendre aux autres. En tant qu’humains imparfaits, nous oublions souvent de vivre dans l’étreinte de cette grâce et avons plutôt tendance à être trop critiques envers nous-mêmes.

Nous mesurons souvent notre valeur en fonction de nos réalisations et réalisations mondaines, en les utilisant comme références pour une « bonne vie ». Cependant, lorsque nous évaluons nos progrès, nous devons également apprendre à être reconnaissants pour ce que nous avons accompli et à nous accorder la grâce pour ce que nous devons encore accomplir. Dieu nous étend également sa grâce lorsque nous trébuchons et échouons. Plutôt que de vivre dans la culpabilité, Il offre le pardon lorsque nous nous repentons.

De la même manière, nous devrions nous concentrer sur la reconnaissance de la qualité des autres plutôt que de leurs défauts. Il est essentiel de se rappeler que nous sommes tous égaux et enclins au péché. Notre force réside dans notre faiblesse. Lorsque nous sommes au plus bas, nous pouvons vraiment apprécier le don de grâce de Dieu et trouver du réconfort en Lui.

« Approchons-nous alors du trône de grâce de Dieu avec confiance, afin que nous puissions recevoir miséricorde et trouver la grâce pour nous aider dans nos moments difficiles. » – Hébreux 4:16

Dieu nous assure, en tant que croyants, que nous pouvons recevoir sa grâce en toute confiance. Lorsque nous libérons notre orgueil et abandonnons le contrôle, nous nous ouvrons à la miséricorde imméritée de Dieu. Nous nous approchons humblement de son trône, partageant nos témoignages et, ce faisant, nous apprenons à demeurer en lui.

Dieu nous a accordé le don de la grâce, nous exhortant à l’étendre aux autres, même lorsque nous les jugeons indignes. Jésus, même s’il ne méritait pas de souffrir, a volontairement enduré la croix et est mort pour nous sauver de nos péchés. Cet acte illustre l’amour sacrificiel. Lorsque nous luttons pour faire preuve de grâce envers les autres, nous devons nous en souvenir, car Dieu nous demande de tout faire avec amour. Les dons que nous avons reçus, qu’il s’agisse d’amour, de joie, de paix ou de patience, doivent être partagés avec ceux qui nous entourent afin qu’ils puissent être témoins de la lumière radieuse de Dieu.

Pour démontrer notre foi en Dieu et lui rester fidèle, nous devons offrir le don de la grâce aux autres. Cette pratique cultive l’humilité en nous. La fierté entrave souvent notre capacité à pardonner aux autres, ce qui rend encore plus difficile l’octroi de la grâce. En exprimant notre gratitude et en reconnaissant la grâce que Dieu nous a accordée, nous surmontons les obstacles de l’orgueil. Tout comme Dieu a fait preuve de grâce envers nous, nous devrions étendre cette même grâce à nous-mêmes et aux autres.

L’argument est le suivant. Il existe de nombreux dieux et religions auxquels les gens croient et ont cru au cours des siècles et des millénaires. Il y a le dieu chrétien, mais il y a aussi le bouddhisme, le judaïsme, l’islam, l’hindouisme, pour n’en citer que quelques-uns, chacun avec ses propres vérités et dieux. De plus, il existe également des religions et des dieux anciens que les gens ne pratiquent plus ou ne croient plus, comme Zeus, Aphrodite, Loki, Osiris, qui sont désormais considérés comme de la mythologie.

Toutes les religions prétendent détenir la vérité et la plupart prétendent la détenir exclusivement. Puisqu’ils diffèrent considérablement sur leurs affirmations de vérité et qu’ils ne peuvent pas tous avoir raison en même temps, il est tout à fait raisonnable de conclure qu’ils ont tous tort. En fait, ils semblent tous assez ridicules vus d’un point de vue moderne et global. Certes, dans sa propre bulle, chaque religion pouvait avoir un sens puisque chaque groupe religieux pensait avoir raison et avait été élevé dans cette croyance, tandis que tous les autres qui étaient à l’extérieur étaient considérés comme mauvais ou étaient tout simplement ignorés. Mais si l’on considère le large éventail de connaissances dont nous disposons aujourd’hui sur les religions de différentes cultures et la portée historique des religions depuis l’Antiquité, il est assez stupide et prétentieux de continuer à penser que seul notre petit groupe a raison alors que tous les autres ont tort. Il est bien plus raisonnable et plus probable de déduire de la même manière que les autres religions ont tort, que nous aussi, et donc toutes les religions sont erronées et invalides. Certains athées poursuivent en disant : « Les chrétiens ne croient pas en des centaines de dieux comme Zeus, Loki,…, je ne crois pas en un seul de plus. »

Cet argument semble tout à fait raisonnable et s’est renforcé notamment en raison de la montée du multiculturalisme. Les sociétés, notamment occidentales, sont de plus en plus composées de personnes de religions différentes, de sorte que les gens sont exposés et en apprennent beaucoup sur les autres religions. Les médias, la littérature et les voyages, entre autres, ont également grandement contribué à accroître la connaissance des autres religions et de leurs affirmations véridiques.
Alors, comment pouvons-nous répondre à cet argument assez fort et raisonnable qui a gagné de nombreux adeptes et convertis ?

Voici un aller simple.

En mathématiques, les mathématiciens discutent depuis des lustres pour savoir si les mathématiques sont une invention ou une découverte. Il y a des faits qui indiquent qu’il s’agit d’une découverte, car le domaine des mathématiques s’est développé avec de nombreuses similitudes dans différentes régions du monde qui n’avaient aucun contact entre elles. On peut raisonnablement en déduire que les mathématiques sont présentes dans la nature et dans le monde qui l’entoure, et qu’avec le temps, l’homme a appris à reconnaître les modèles et les idées mathématiques, à les résumer et à former des systèmes mathématiques. D’un autre côté, on peut également voir que dans le processus de découverte et d’abstraction des mathématiques du champ de la réalité et de leur développement, il y a également eu un processus d’invention. L’extraction peut être effectuée de différentes manières et de nombreuses mathématiques diffèrent par leur approche et leurs modèles.

En appliquant cela au problème des religions et des dieux, on peut alors également se demander : Dieu et la religion sont-ils une découverte ou une invention ? Un argument similaire peut être utilisé. Le fait qu’il existe tant de religions, de personnes religieuses et de croyances en Dieu est un argument fort non pas pour la non-existence de Dieu comme le proclament les athées, mais pour son existence même. Cela signifie que des gens d’horizons et de lieux très divers ont grandi avant même l’existence de systèmes religieux ayant le sentiment qu’il existe quelque chose – une sorte de dieu ou de dieux qui existent et exercent un pouvoir et une influence sur leurs êtres et leurs vies. Dans leur processus d’exploration et de tentative de découverte, ils sont arrivés à des explications différentes qui présentent de nombreuses similitudes mais aussi de nombreuses différences entre elles. C’est comme si l’homme pouvait partiellement voir et saisir la réalité de Dieu mais ne pouvait pas la voir et la connaître clairement, comme une personne qui regarde par la fenêtre essayant de voir quelqu’un alors qu’il fait encore sombre. En ce sens, la révélation est comparée à une lumière ou à un éclair. Un moment dans le temps où l’on peut voir plus clairement ce qu’on ne pouvait pas voir auparavant. Cela correspond à l’affirmation de Jésus selon laquelle lui seul connaît le Père et lui seul peut révéler le Père aux autres.

Il y a ensuite le problème supplémentaire de l’expression de la personne de Dieu. Premièrement, Dieu ne peut pas être pleinement connu, et encore moins pleinement décrit. Même lorsqu’il s’agit de l’homme, combien il est difficile de décrire une personne et surtout son essence. Disons qu’il y a une personne appelée Mark et qu’une expérience est faite pour essayer de connaître Mark. Les chercheurs demandent aux membres de la famille de Mark, à ses amis et à ses connaissances de décrire individuellement quel genre de personne est Mark. Certes, après avoir rassemblé les descriptions que chaque personne avait et donnait de Marc, toutes ces descriptions varieraient considérablement et, dans certains cas, se contrediraient même. Cela ne veut pas dire que Mark n’existe pas, bien au contraire – il existe – et tant de personnes ont interagi avec lui et ont acquis une certaine sorte de connaissance à son sujet. Et on peut dire la même chose concernant Dieu.

In the story, Naboth owned a vineyard in proximity to King Ahab’s palace in the city of Jezreel. Because of this, Ahab desired to acquire the vineyard so that he could use it for a vegetable garden. Since he inherited the land from his ancestors, Naboth refused to sell it to Ahab. Frustrated at not being able to buy the vineyard, Ahab returned to his palace and went to bed without eating anything. His wife, Jezebel, after learning the reason for his being upset, asked mockingly, “Are you not the king?” She then said that she would obtain the vineyard for him. To do so, she sent a letter, under Ahab’s name, to the elders and nobles of Naboth’s city, instructing them to set Naboth up by proclaiming a fast and ordering Naboth to sit in a “prominent place”. Two witnesses, referred to as “scoundrels” by Jezebel, were then called forth to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king. After that, they would take him outside the city and stone him to death. The elders and nobles agreed to carry out the letter’s instructions. The plan was carried out exactly as planned and right after Naboth’s death, king Ahab went and took possession of the coveted land. As punishment for this incident, God decided to bring judgment on king Ahab and all his family.

As it was in the days of King Ahab, also it was in the days of Jesus, and also nowadays.

Naboth is a foreshadow of Jesus. They were both righteous man that had received a vineyard from their Father. In the same way, the earthly powers and authorities such as the kings, princes and elders plot together to judge and incriminate the righteous and take over the land from them.

Nowadays a similar phenomenon is also taking place across the world. Churches and other Christian institutions such as schools are being taken over and turned for other purposes by worldly powers:

1. Churches and other properties that were made to further God’s kingdom are being bought or just taken for secular use such as museums, offices, restaurants, living place, etc.

2. Older churches and Christian institutions become increasingly taken over by liberal and unspiritual leaders by continuous influence of the world or direct intervention of some countries’ governments so that entire congregations are led astray.

3. Churches are being demolished and burned

4. Churches, Christian leaders and Christians are publicaly being hated, slandered, falsely accused and judged by the world and worldly media.

Please pray that, in the midst of all this, the church, Christians and its leaders may not succumb to the fear of man and be corrupted or sold-out but rather live with the wisdom of fearing God and obey and please him only. Pray also for the persecutors and worldly leaders, that they may turn from their ignorant and wicked ways, fear God and submit to Him. Pray for our community to grow with godly leaders and inherit well the Christian history and vineyards so they can be continuously used for their original purpose of furthering God’s kingdom in Europe and the rest of the world, till the day of the Lord will come.

Surely, we wish to be the ones living under God’s blessings and avoid the curses for ourselves and our members. In this chapter we can see that Israel went through a famine that was lasting 3 years. There was a continuous famine as the land did not produce much fruit. After three years, David sought the face of the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

At this time Saul and a big part of his family had already died and David was king for a long time. This is how scary sin is. Sin does not go away, it just piles up and it brings curse, unless we repent of it and make restitution. What had happened was that although the people of Israel had sworn to spare the Gibeonites, Saul had sought to strike them down and annihilate them. The Israelites did not keep their promise towards the Gibeonites. Saul tried to kill them all. There was the blood of the Gibeonites crying out to God from the ground. When David found out about this source of the curse, he called the Gibeonites and he made restitution to them.

Sometimes is not enough to just repent before God. Like in the cases of Zacchaeus and Onesimus, sometimes there is the need to offer restitution, and sometimes there is the need to ask forgiveness to the people we have done harm.

What was the conclusion? It says that, after restitution was made, God answered prayer on behalf of the land. That means that before, although the Israelites prayed for the land to bear fruit, the prayers could not be answered. Why? Because of the sin and curse they were under. After there was true repentance and restitution through David, the prayers on behalf of the land were answered and the land was blessed and started to produce crops well. Conclusively, the famine ended. How was that possible? Through David that sought the Lord till he explained him there was a curse and the reason for it. So for us, how important is this? If there is unfruitfulness, we need to seek the face of the Lord as we live.

As Christianity grows and as our community grows sins pile up more and entangle, and we can easily come under curse. It can be the sins we ourselves committed against others or like in this case it can be even the sin someone else committed in the past. In Europe, particularly, Christianity is quite old, and there is such an extensive history of sins of believers, churches, and religious leaders. The old state churches can be regarded as Saul, and the new vibrant churches as David. Amid that what kind of people do we need to be? Not the people that just judge and condemn others adding sin to sin and curse to curse, but rather we need to be people like David and like Jesus.

We need to become the lambs of God that take away the sin of the world, that disentangle the past sin, that release our people from sin and curse and rather open the way for God’s blessing to come down. In the case of David, he even had to pray and make restitution for the sin his opponent Saul had committed. In the case of Jesus, he prayed and offered his body and redemption to the very ones that were killing him.

May the Lord inspire and strenghten us to live a life of redemption following the life of Jesus.

There, 12 leaders from the 12 tribes of Israel return after exploring the Canaan, as God had guided them through Moses, and shared their reports. Although they all went together and saw the same land, 10 of them gave a report of unbelief and 2 of them – Joshua and Caleb – gave a report of faith.

Listening to the report of the majority, the Israelites cried and despaired. They started to grumble against Moses and God, starting to conclude that the Lord was bringing them to this land to let them fall by the sword. Some of them consider and are about to decide to go back to Egypt.

As we go through our path of faith and face challenges in our ministries it can be easy to become confined in the small picture and just see and analyse the outward reality that may sometimes seem bleak and discouraging. However, faith is knowing in our hearts the simple truth that we were called by him out of the world where we once were slaves, that he makes us go through the desert to purify us, train us, turning us into a holy nation, and that he will allow us to enter and conquer Canaan land, an abundant land filled with idols from other nations that we should destroy and purify like heavenly salt.

Similarly, the one who called us will justify us, sanctify us, and ultimately glorify us. God is good and faithful from beginning to end and he will surely bring about his promise. May we be the ones that like Joshua and Caleb can live interpreting our life with faith and planting that faith in others through a report of faith. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give it to us. Only do not rebel, do not be afraid. The Lord is with us.

In Samuel 14 we can see that through the boldness of Jonathan that decided to go alone to the enemy camp, and the encouragement and companionship of his armour-bearer, eventually the battle against the Philistines was won. As they went forward alone, the opportunity arose where they were able to attack the Philistines taking them by surprise. Single handed, they were able to kill around 20 of them. Meanwhile panic and confusion sent from God arose among the Philistines that started to run away in all directions and to strike each other. Seeing that from afar, king Saul and the other Israelite army troops came and attacked the fleeing Philistines, eventually achieving a great victory for Israel.

What we can learn from this story is that through the boldness and bravery of even just two people, the way could be open for the whole army to win the battle. Through the breakthrough of two people, all the people could breakthrough. In mission, and in business it is also like that. If there is one person that can go out with boldness to explore the enemy territory, eventually the way may be opened, and the opportunity may arise and be seized. If one person reaches a breakthrough, this can raise moral and confidence, and open up the victory for all.

After the settlement of the Europe OC and TM, the priority for 2020 will be mission expansion. Four families will be sent in the second half of January to France, Spain, and Portugal.

P. Nathanael family will be going to Paris, P. Javier family to Lisbon.

Additionally, P. João family will be moving to Barcelona that will become a pivot to support Europe missions and do missionary journeys throughout the continent.

The three countries will also be strategic to form a network with Africa, Latin America, and their new OC’s.

For the year 2020 the next priority is to open the countries of Italy and the Netherlands and in this way complete all the G20 countries.

5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Paul’s attitude and philosophy of his mission work are clearly stated in this verse; he served and worked as “a servant of Christ.” A servant, doulos in Greek, was a term Paul used to indicate his self-identity as he served the Lord.

A voluntary life of devotion and sacrifice for God’s Kingdom was a basis of every work he did. He confessed, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (1 Corinthians 9:19)

Paul’s portrait of his own identity is a mandate to everyone who follows the life of a believer. Once you are saved, you have absolute freedom to choose a way of life. With the new life born through Christ’s blood, Paul “made himself a slave to everyone” to preach the gospel and advance God’s Kingdom.

When this identity collapses, a crisis comes to the believers’ life, diverting them to demand God’s reward and blaming others for their own choice. Although dedication of one’s life to God’s Kingdom begins with one’s free will and voluntary devotion, loss of this mindset as “doulos” can quickly blind our heart and mislead us into a meaningless conflict with secular values such as money, fame, or vain ambitions.

Paul said, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” “I make myself a slave to everyone.”

The fact that his life was driven by this belief was exposed in many parts of the New Testament. Rather than receiving, he considered giving as a greater blessing (Acts 20:35). Even in times of deficiency, he led his team to fundraise from churches in order to help and support the church in Jerusalem that was suffering from a severe famine.

Paul was strictly dogmatic, however, strategically practical and forward-looking. Not only teaching and preaching, Paul provided substantive money and funds for the poor, practicing the love of Christ voluntarily.

In Christ, there is nothing impossible for believers who desire to practice this love for others. We are in an era that even Christians are sold by money, being tested or discouraged in material temptations. Through the lips of the prophet Isaiah, God said, “To which of my creditors did I sell you?” (Isaiah 50:1) However, countless believers surrender to the force of money and discredit their conviction in Christ.

Paul’s courageous and daring model of self-support and self-reliance should speak strongly to modern churches to release many who are bound by a trap of fear in money or secular values. This Early Church method will revive when we inherit Paul’s spirit: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”