Forgiveness and Pursuit of Happiness (Luke 7:36-50)

"The Voice Of Hope" is published

Click "The Voice Of Hope" to read the half yearly Magazine published by Kathmandu Hope Church.

Change: Price or Reward?

How naïve it is for man to think that the present condition in which one finds will last forever.  Most of the Wealthy, healthy, famous, and powerful people might never imagine their condition in life to be the opposite of what they are now, and so do also the poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak.  Yet, history and experience tell us that no human being can avert the impending change in life, be that either from positive to negative or vise versa.  Life is bound to bring change and for most people whose present is filled with pleasures; change might come as a way of paying the price for it because the nature teaches us that there is a seed time and harvest; whatever one sows that will he or she reap and does not necessarily need to wait for the after-life to pay the bills.  Particularly, if the wealthy, healthy, famous, and the powerful have obtained all these present pleasures at the expense of fellow human beings, then Change for them can be merciless and in a moment of time all the present pleasures can turn into misery.

The poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak may also think that their condition might never change, and most of them indeed resign to a life of misery with no hope for the future.  However, change for such people is good news; it is good news because their time of misery might be coming to an end.    But this change will not come to them automatically and even if it came, they might never be able to take advantage of it because of their willful resignation; they might never see the change coming their way.  But those who see it coming and take hold of it, they will rescue themselves from the life of misery and establish themselves into a life of hope and possibilities.

Behind this change lies the invisible hand of God that guides human history to his story and we are all characters in his story performing our parts; he determines what roles we must play.  The Bible claims that God is the defender of the needy and the weak; and if our present pleasures are drawn from the exploitation of other human beings in any form, change means price.  Because God is the defender of the weak and the needy; the poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak can have hope that change will come their ways and when it comes, it will be a reward instead of the price to pay.

If we find ourselves into miserable conditions, we need to look to God and begin to understand his will for us.  As Christians, we have better chances in understanding the heart God has for us.  God gave his only begotten son for us so that we could be free from the bondage of sin, Satan and death.  God has translated us from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of his dear son; from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  If anyone is in Christ he/she is a new creation.  This is a remarkable change God has brought for those who need God's help.  Through God's help, we can bring positive change into our way of thinking and living; we can change our misery into miracle of meaningful life where wealth, health, honor and power are means for a blessed life and not the ends in themselves. 

Peter quotes Isaiah and says that man is like grass and James says that we are like mist.  Both of these elements remind us that our life on earth is brief.  We are going to see amazing changes as we travel out of this world and the Bible is clear that what kind of life we live here on earth has relationship with the quality of life we will have in the other side of time.  Therefore, let us not be proud in what we have at the moment; it can just be taken way in no time.  Also, let us not be discouraged when we are going through hard times; they will not last forever and through the power of God's word, you can bring in the positive change that you need.

Kathmandu Hope Church, July 2011

Dear friends,

This ministry is a testament to the faithfulness of God.  If you are struggling in any areas of your life; I urge you to be strong in the faith because there is no other alternative to that.

When me and my wife came to Kathmandu in 1993, we had no doubt for what God had brought us there.  But because we knew nothing about life in that city, and had no way of making a living, we decided to work for another church run by an American missionary.  Within six months of our appointment, the Lord showed us that we had made a terrible mistake.  We should have trusted the Lord and begun the pioneering work, but instead we opted for what seemed to be a secure pastoral ministry; and ended up into one of the greatest relational disasters of our lives as a family and ministry.

We could not last there even until the summer of that year and moved out.  But moving out did not leave us in peace.  That dear missionary made sure that we were attacked by every other Nepali Christian that knew us (During the colonial era, western culture replaced the Bible and missionary replaced God, thus our Nepali friends had to obey what the missionary commanded them); attacks ranged from character assassination, curses (prayer meetings were held for our destruction!) to physical threats.

But we were confident that "he is able to keep that which we have committed to him" and today, as we look back, we can see God's faithfulness in every detail of our life and ministry.  He has never abandoned us.  There were times we doubted if we could last this long, but the Lord has kept us alive and well.

The reason we were persecuted by the missionaries and their handymen was our boldness to become Nepali Christians with self-respect and dignity.  We refused to sell our dignity for dollars and that determination was labeled as rebellion against the authority.

Today, Hope Church is grateful to God for those days of persecution because it has taught us the value of self-respect and human dignity.  More than that, we have been able to read the Bible as it is, free from the western stereotype and there is no missionary to cloud our vision of God.  We know his word and we have heard his voice.

I urge you to read the Bible as it is and look to God and not to any man; victory will be yours!

Nepali Audio Sermons (From Believers Convention and Leadership Seminar)

Hope Church Believers Convention (Nepali)

(Please click on the Session to hear)

Session One

Session Two 

Session Three

Session Four

Hope Church Leadership Seminars in Nepali 

(Please click on the Seminars below to listen in Nepali language)

Seminar One

Seminar Two

Seminar Three

Seminar Four

Seminar Five

Seminar Six

Seminar Seven

Seminar Eight

Seminar Nine

Seminar Ten