Broad Messages
The broad
messages of Giancarlo and Catherine Elia are God’s love, the presence of God in
our lives and evangelism.
Before
Giancarlo shared his message Catherine shared about the presence of God in
us. She shared that sometime back while
she was working, she had to rush to work without praying to God. While in the London tube she saw a telecom’s advertisement
say something like “Ring, you have no time”.
Catherine was struck that this message although ordinary was meant for
specifically her because she had not prayed to God that morning. Right away in the train, she asked God for
His forgiveness and from then on she prayed regularly without fail. She said many people out there do not know
God, and we need to pray to God to bring people in our midst so that we can
share with them the good news. She gave
some examples of her encounters with strangers and how they were ministered to
in public places.
Giancarlo’s Message
God is with
us. Zephaniah 3:17 “The
Lord God is with you, and He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he
will rejoice over you with singing”. God is happy
to see us and He wants us to relate to Him.
Our aim is not about eventually going to heaven and sitting all day
playing the harp! It seem very boring, he
shared.
Roman 8:15
we did not receive spirit of fear but the Spirit of His son-ship. We are children of God and rightfully we
should be joyful. Roman 8:23 we are
waiting for the redemption of our bodies.
2 Corinthian
3:18 – we reflect God’s glory and being transformed to the likeness of
Jesus. On the day of Resurrection we
will become part taker of Jesus.
Genesis 2:20, God
created everything, and He also created man.
Only God can create. Angels
cannot create. But there is one little
thing He did not do, He asked Adam to name the various animals. So as Adam named these animals, He is
effectively honoring him. He got Adam
involved, like He wants us to be involved, as part takers of His kingdom. Giancarlo shared an example of a man who
built a house, and when everything was completed except nailing in a single
nail, he got his son to hammer in that nail, and he told his son he has built
the house! Of course the boy did not
build the house, but his father honored him with putting in the last nail to
show his son he is a part of building the house. God is doing the same thing for us.
John 16:7 –
it is good that Jesus is going away otherwise the Counselor will not come. The Counselor is the Holy Spirit. Giancarlo is sharing about the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit in us Christians. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
John 14:12 –
those who have faith and having been doing what Jesus is doing, he will do
greater things because Jesus is going to His Father. We have the power to do great things as we
are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Giancarlo shared that he and Catherine have been in ministry for 20
years and they never experience any lack.
They do not have an income, and God provides them in a natural
ways. God gave us His own Spirit because
He wants us to be part takers of His Kingdom.
We are not
to be ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel
may be foolishness to people, but it is power to us because God is in us.
John 15:20 –
we will be persecuted, but we are to obey Christ’s teaching, and the world will
obey our teaching too.
People
needed signs and wonders. These things
still happen today. Giancarlo shared
about his visit to Pakistan to a Christian family recently, and this family
told him their deaf and mute son was healed when he preached the previous time
he was in Pakistan. Giancarlo said he
was not aware of the healing until he was told by this Christian family. God is amazing and He heals even today. Sometimes indirectly.
In another
case in Russia, a young woman was healed of serious spinal problem at an evangelistic
meeting although she was not prayed for directly. She was just leaning against the wall because
of her severe back problem. But she was
healed and she testified as the meeting was going on how she felt heat at her back
and sound of her bones coming into place during the meeting, and eventually
she was healed! Praise God!
Why do we
live? As Christians we are
different. We are to be the best in all that we can do, especially in sharing the Gospel with others.
Ordinary people are to do the works of prophesying, healing, preaching, caring in greater measure than Jesus did (John 14:12).
Why did God
love King David so much although he had failed God in many occasions? Because he looked after the interests of his Father, just as for his earthly father. He was willing to risk his own life in doing so - like Jesus. God loved him, like God loves
us.
No comments:
Post a Comment