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Revelation 3:2—“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

In the letter to the church in Sardis, Jesus delivers a startling wake-up call. This congregation, which has a reputation for living, was spiritually dying. To the outside world, Sardis appeared vibrant and successful, but Christ’s diagnosis was grim. His counsel in Revelation 3:2 serves as the urgent prescription for a church on life support.

“Be watchful” is not just a suggestion; it is a command to shake off the spiritual lethargy that allows sin and apathy to creep in. The believer and the church must examine themselves in the light of God’s Word, discerning where life is fading. Spiritual decline is often subtle; therefore, vigilance is necessary. 

This verse highlights the difference between reputation and reality. While we are saved by grace through faith, our “works” are the evidence of that living faith. When Jesus says He has not found their works “perfect”, He is pointing to a heart that started the race but stopped halfway. Holiness is not a static state but a persistent pursuit.

Christ says to them to “strengthen the things which remain”. Though much is decaying, something still lives. Christ does not immediately extinguish the dim flame; He calls for renewal. This strengthening comes through repentance (v. 3), renewed faith, and a return to the gospel once received. What remains, however weak, must be nourished by Scripture, prayer, and obedience.

Revelation 3:20—“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” 

This is not an evangelistic plea to the ‘unchurched’, but a letter to the church at Laodicea. This congregation was self-sufficient, lukewarm and spiritually blind, having locked Jesus out of his own church. The irony is startling: the Lord of Glory stands outside His house, seeking entry.

However, Christ takes the divine initiative; He is the one who approaches and initiates the contact. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”. He is the Lord of the church, yet He does not force entry; He knocks, calls, and speaks tenderly. His knocking is persistent, expressed through His Word and providence. 

While Christ is sovereign, He honours the “door” of human will—“if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…” This highlights the human responsibility to the Lord’s tender solicitation and patient pursuit.

His promise to the lukewarm church is deeply relational: “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” This speaks of restored communion, intimacy, and shared fellowship. The supping mentioned refers to the “deipnon” in Greek, the main meal of the day in the ancient world. It signifies not a hurried snack, but deep, unhurried communion and fellowship.

Christ desires not mere outward religion, but inward fellowship.  It is possible to be religious yet distant from Him. With these words, Christ also challenges the church’s complacency. His call is personal: “If any man hear my voice”. Each heart must respond. To “open the door” is to repent, believe, and welcome Christ’s rightful rule.

Christ still stands, still knocks. Even to a lukewarm church, He offers restoration. The question is not whether Christ is willing to enter, but whether we are willing to receive Him.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4—“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

In the opening of his second letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul offers a powerful doxology that redefines the purpose of human suffering. He begins not with a complaint, but with a praise: "Blessed be God."

Paul then identifies God by two exquisite titles: the “Father of mercies” and the “God of all comfort”. God is called “the Father of mercies”, emphasising His tender compassion, and “the God of all comfort”, showing that every true consolation flows from Him. No sorrow lies outside His reach.

Paul writes as one acquainted with affliction, yet he anchors his heart in the character of God. Paul is preparing the church to understand that trials are not signs of God’s absence, but occasions of His nearness. Comfort is not merely relief from pain, but the presence of God in pain. He “comforteth us in all our tribulation”, not always by removing the trial, but by sustaining the soul within it. Divine comfort is personal, sufficient, and purposeful. The strengthening presence of a God who enters the trenches of our “tribulation” (thlipsis—literally, “crushing pressure”).

Paul also reveals that divine comfort is not a dead-end reservoir meant only for our personal relief. It is a conduit. Verse 4 establishes a clear divine economy: God comforts us “that we may be able to comfort them”. We are not merely comforted to be comfortable; we are comforted to become comforters.

This passage transforms our perspective on trials. Our current crushing experiences are not a sign of God's absence, but a preparation for a future ministry. The very area where you have tasted God’s mercy becomes the bridge over which you carry His comfort to someone else. In this way, suffering is transformed into service, and pain becomes a pathway for displaying the mercies of God.

Psalm 115:3—“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” 

The Psalmist begins this chapter by shifting all glory from humanity to God’s mercy and truth (vv. 1–3). This verse specifically answers the taunt of the nations: “Where is now their God?” (v. 2). While idols of silver and gold remain bound by their own craftsmanship, possessing mouths that are mute and feet that are fixed, our God dwells beyond the physical, unconstrained by the limits of the material world. He is transcendent, dwelling in the “heavens”, a position denoting supreme authority and an unobstructed view of his creation.

This verse is a pillar of divine sovereignty. To say God does “whatsoever he hath pleased” is to affirm that His will is never thwarted by outside forces. His pleasure is not a fickle whim; it is an extension of His holy, wise, and perfect character. Whether in the orbits of the stars or the intricate details of a human life, God’s “pleasure” is the ultimate governing principle of the universe.

This verse affirms God’s absolute sovereignty. He is not limited by human will, natural forces, or earthly powers. God acts freely and perfectly according to His holy will. Yet His pleasure is never arbitrary. It is always wise, righteous, and good.

For the believer, God’s sovereignty is a source of unending comfort rather than a cold concept. Because God is in the heavens and does as He pleases, we are not victims of luck or fate. We are in the hands of a King whose pleasure is always for His glory and our ultimate good. When life feels out of control, we can rest knowing that nothing happens outside of the "good pleasure" of a God who is both infinitely powerful and intimately loving.

Ecclesiastes 1:18—“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”

Solomon is reflecting on his "under the sun" experiment. He sought to find meaning through intellectual mastery, only to discover a painful paradox: the more you understand the world, the more you realise how broken it truly is. The pursuit of earthly wisdom acts like a high-definition lens; it brings the vibrant beauty of creation into focus, yet it inevitably exposes the raw fractures of injustice, frailty, and the deep architecture of human grief. Increased knowledge sharpens our inability to secure lasting joy. Thus, grief arises from human wisdom without divine redemption.

In our world today, we chase information as if it were treasure. We believe that more data will give us clarity, control, and peace. But Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, gently corrects us. When pursued as an end in itself, man’s knowledge cannot heal the human condition. 

Solomon’s remark acknowledges the reality of the Fall. To know more of this world is to see more of the "groaning" of creation (Romans 8:22). The wisdom of this world is an invitation to behold its pain without a true solution.

This is a call to tempered expectations. If we feel a growing heaviness as we mature or deepen our understanding, we are not failing; we are waking up. We must lean not on our own understanding, but on the One who holds all knowledge.

Our sorrow in gaining knowledge should never lead to despair, but to a deeper dependence on Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Without Christ as our foundation, worldly wisdom is a weight that eventually crushes us; it exposes the world’s ruin but offers no power to redeem it, leaving us to labour under the impossible task of self-restoration.

Ecclesiastes 1:14—“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

Solomon, the "Preacher", speaks in the opening movements of Ecclesiastes as a seasoned observer of life "under the sun”. This phrase describes life viewed from an earthly, human perspective, separate from God's eternal purposes. When he writes in Ecclesiastes 1:14 that he has seen "all the works done under the sun”, he isn't merely being cynical; he is being exhaustive.

The preacher surveys human effort, achievement, pleasure, and ambition, concluding that all is "vanity." The Hebrew word used here, hebel, can be literally translated to “breath”, “vapour”, or “mist”. It denotes things that are real to the touch but fleeting and unable to satisfy the soul's deepest longings. This creates a profound theological tension: our daily labour has substance, yet it lacks permanence. We build, we buy, and we achieve, only to find that these works cannot provide the ultimate meaning they seemingly promise.

The phrase "vexation of spirit" suggests a deep, restless frustration, like chasing after the wind. It captures the pastoral reality of the human condition: the spiritual exhaustion that follows when we treat finite things as if they were infinite. If we expect our careers, legacies, or pleasures to anchor our souls, we will inevitably find ourselves trying to catch the breeze.

This verse is a theological warning that created things cannot bear the weight of ultimate fulfilment. As Psalm 39:5 reminds us, "…every man at his best state is altogether vanity”. However, this is not a call to despair, but to reorientation. By stripping away the illusion that satisfaction can be manufactured "under the sun”, the Preacher clears the stage for God.

Restlessness results from living only horizontally. True meaning is found by looking upward to the Creator. In Christ, our labour is no longer in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58), for what is done in Him transcends the mist and takes on eternal value.

Isaiah 46:10— “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”

The LORD reminds His people that history is not random. “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done...” From the beginning to the end, all things unfold according to His sovereign purpose. 

The Prophet Isaiah reveals that God does not merely predict the future; He authors it. Unlike the pagan gods who were carried by men, the God of Israel carries His people, orchestrating history from its inception to its final “Amen.”

What He purposed cannot be frustrated or altered. When God says, “My counsel shall stand”, He is asserting that His purposes are never frustrated by human failure or global upheaval. The Hebrew word for “counsel” (‘etsah) implies a deliberate plan or blueprint. He is the Master Architect who sees the completed cathedral while the ground is still being broken. His “pleasure” is not a whimsical impulse, but the execution of His perfect, holy will.

God’s sovereignty and His providence provide the ultimate antidote to our anxieties. We are often paralysed by the unknowns of tomorrow. Yet, we serve a God who is already there. If He has declared the end from the beginning, then our current situation, no matter how confusing, is not the final page. We can rest in the certainty that His counsel for our lives will stand. Let us trust the One who holds the blueprint.

This truth brings deep comfort and steady assurance. Though our lives often feel uncertain, and circumstances seem beyond control, nothing lies outside God’s sovereign will. What He has purposed for His glory and for His people will surely come to pass. Therefore, trust His counsel when you cannot trace His hand. Rest in His sovereignty when the future is unclear. He is guiding you to the end He has purposed.

To think often of our heavenly home is essential for a faithful Christian life. Scripture exhorts us, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2). When our minds are fixed on heaven, earthly trials lose their weight, temptations lose their power, and our priorities are rightly ordered. The hope of being with Christ purifies our hearts, as it is written, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). Meditating on our eternal home strengthens perseverance, deepens our love for Christ, and reminds us that our present sufferings are but temporary, preparing us for everlasting glory.

The Christian life is a pilgrimage. We are journeying through a world that is not our final resting place. Scripture reminds us, “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). The believer’s true home is not earthly, but heavenly.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave this blessed assurance: “In my Father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Heaven is not a vague hope, but a prepared place for a prepared people. It is the dwelling of God, where Christ Himself will receive His own unto Himself.

This heavenly home is marked by glory beyond imagination. The apostle John writes, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4). All the burdens of this present life—pain, loss, and struggle—shall be forever removed. Sin will no longer trouble us, for we shall be made perfect in holiness.

Moreover, heaven is a place of eternal fellowship. We shall behold the face of our Redeemer, for “we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The presence of Christ will be our greatest joy, surpassing all earthly comforts.

Therefore, let us live as those whose citizenship is above. Let us not set our affections on things of the earth, but on things above (Colossians 3:2). In trials, let this hope sustain us; in service, let it motivate us.

Our heavenly home is sure. Christ has prepared it, and He will come again. Until then, we press on with faith, longing for that glorious day when we shall dwell forever with the Lord. We are more certain of reaching heaven than of returning safely to our homes today, for Christ Himself has promised eternal life to all who trust in Him!

As a pilgrim I look for a better country
Which my LORD is preparing for me.
In that glory land where God is the builder,
He promised me a mansion in His house.
There’ll be glory for me at the end of this road;
There’ll be glory that outshines my troubles here.
So I patiently endure, as I forward go;
With a hope that is steadfast and sure.

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Greetings from Overseas Brethren

Shillong, India

Dear Pastor, Elders, Deacons, and beloved brethren of Gethsemane B-P Church,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I write this letter with a heart full of gratitude to express my sincere thanks for your love and acts of kindness towards my family and me. Your generosity, especially through the blessing we received from Sister Dorcas last week, deeply moved us and reminded us of the grace of God at work through His people.

As the apostle teaches in Galatians 6:10, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Truly, I have seen this lived out among you. Your love is not merely in word, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18), and through it we have been deeply strengthened and encouraged in the Lord.

Though I have nothing to offer in return, the one thing I continually do is to pray for each one of you. I earnestly and sincerely ask that the Lord Himself would richly reward your labour of love, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister”(Hebrews 6:10). I pray that the Lord may prosper the work of your ministry. May He establish the work of your hands and make your service effective in the advancement of His kingdom.

I also pray that the Lord would bless each individual and every family among you, strengthening you with all power according to His glorious might (Colossians 1:11), supplying all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), and causing ye to abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). May He keep you steadfast in the faith, growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). To Him be glory both now and forever.

Therefore, brethren, I thank God upon every remembrance of you, rejoicing in how He has used you as instruments of His grace in my life and family. In moments of need, you did not abandon us, but stood alongside me. Your care has been a blessing, and a means by which the Lord has upheld us in every circumstance, and we give Him all the glory.

May the Lord richly bless each one of you, and may He continue to use Gethsemane B-P Church as a shining testimony of His grace and a beacon of truth. We continually remember you in our prayers.

With heartfelt thanks and in the love of Christ,
Pastor Jied 

Kamoi, Kenya

Thanks for the prayers and support from you and all at Gethsemane B-P Church. Your support over the years has helped me continue in my preaching ministry and care for Gideon, my son, who is unwell.

Recently, I have been troubled by high blood pressure and blood sugar. Praise the Lord, they have come down. Continue to pray for me to be well.

My sincere greetings to the Gethsemanean brethren. God bless.

Rev. Joseph Kendagor

Mumbai, India

Pastor Klepa had sustained deep cuts in his mouth and lower lip when he fell during a church game event. Praise God for the medical care and the quick recovery that allowed him to return to his preaching and pastoral work.  The following message from Pastor Klepa was received on last Sunday night.

Dear Pastor,

Last week, I landed up in the operating theatre of the hospital, and went through a difficult time as I needed 20 stitches for cuts sustained during a fall. But by the grace of God, today I am able to stand and preach His Word. My heart is filled with deep gratitude to the Lord. Just a week ago, when I fell, I could not even imagine that  I would be able to preach again so soon, but God, in His mercy, has granted me healing and strength.

I truly thank the Lord for the healing, strength and opportunity to be used for His Kingdom in proclaiming His Word. I was eagerly waiting for this moment, and today I stood to preach the Word only because of His grace.

I sincerely thank each one of you for your prayers, concern, and support during this time. Please continue to remember me in your prayers, as I am still in the recovery phase. The internal stitches are healing, and the external stitches will be removed on 16th April.

My grateful prayer is that I will not take God’s grace for granted and waste the opportunities to preach His Word. May God help me to use it fully for His glory.

All glory be to God!
Pastor Klepa

Sermon Text: Psalm 132:1–9
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 19th April 2026

Isaiah 46:9—“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.”

The first seven verses of this chapter expose idols as powerless burdens (Isaiah 46:1–7). It is in this context that the LORD calls His people to remember His mighty acts in history. Unlike lifeless idols that must be carried, the true God carries His people and sustains them.

Israel was tempted to trust in false gods, raising altars and groves throughout the land. God responded to Israel’s idolatry with the looming threat of exile; yet in mercy, He summoned them to remember His unrivalled greatness, before which every idol is nothing. 

God told them to “Remember the former things of old”. He directed them backwards to move them forward. By recalling His past faithfulness, they would be strengthened to trust His present sovereignty. Memory becomes a means of faith.

He then declared His absolute uniqueness and sovereign authority over all things. There is none beside Him, none equal to Him, none comparable with Him. He alone declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), governing all things according to His will.

God commands us to “remember” Him and His deeds. In times of fear, confusion, or temptation, we are prone to forget who God is. We look to lesser things for security. Yet God calls us back to Himself. Remember His works. Recall His faithfulness. Rehearse His promises.

When fear or uncertainty rises, do you remember who God truly is, or do you turn to lesser things for security? Are there ‘rivals’ in your life that quietly compete with your trust in God? Let us always recall His greatness and trust Him deeply.