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Devotional : Trusting God in Extreme Situations (From Psalm 11)

July 7, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 5 Comments

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The writer of the passage, David, was obviously facing extreme dangers when he wrote this beautiful Psalm. His enemies were waiting in the shadows (v 2) to shoot their arrows at him (v 2). This could refer to verbal attacks & very definitely, to attacks on his life. King Saul had already been using him as target practice to enhance his skills in javelin throwing (1 Samuel 19:10)! In verse 3, David speaks about his very foundation being destroyed. At this point, it seems like David’s close friends had encouraged him to flee to safety.

Let’s look at how David responded to this extreme challenge.

Sermon: Father’s Day

July 1, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

This is the full sermon preached on Father’s Day. In this sermon we look at five qualities from the life of Joseph who had the responsibility of bringing up the Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotional : Father’s Day

June 17, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 5 Comments

Devotional For Father’s Day:

As the world prepares to celebrate Father’s Day, it is our joy to present this devotional about a special biblical father. We would like to focus on the life of Joseph, the earthly father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible shows us the following characteristics about Joseph.

Lessons For Father’s Day:

1) He was a righteous man – Matthew 1:19 says, ‘Because Joseph… was a righteous man’. This desire to do what was right is clearly seen in the way he handled Mary’s pregnancy, Jesus’ birth, and the challenge of being a father to the Savior of the world. His moral behavior too was exemplary as seen in Matthew 1:25.

Sermon: Waters of Refreshing

June 10, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 6 Comments

Photo Credit – WikiImages

Introduction to Waters of Refreshing:

I’m sure you have heard or read of harrowing stories of people who had to survive in desert-like conditions with either a limited supply or no supply of water. It’s a deadly place to be in when one has to literally live off the land, till help arrives.

The people of Israel had just come through what was a life changing moment. The Lord had miraculously opened up the Red Sea, with its abundant supply of water, to enable them to cross over unscathed to the other side. It was a once in a lifetime moment! I wonder sometimes whether it was a much larger version of what we experience, when we go through a modern day aquarium found in theme parks, with sea creatures all around and above us! But, from the Red Sea, let’s see what happened on their journey to ‘waters of refreshing’.

Unnamed Yet Effective Messengers

June 2, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 4 Comments

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Mountain Terrain in Sri Lanka

I remember listening to an interview with a popular singer many years ago. In it, he was talking about one of his biggest hit songs. Apparently, the song had been shelved and forgotten by the record company, until a young, unnamed lady who was employed by them, stumbled on to it. When she brought it to the attention of the Producers and it was released, it turned out to be a huge hit for the singer.

Sadly, the name of the lady who re-discovered the song was not mentioned on the interview.

I want to write this Devotional along those lines. It is about unnamed people, who were nevertheless effective messengers for the Lord. There are many examples in scripture, but I can only highlight a few of them in this short devotional.

Sermon: The God Who Provides

May 24, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 10 Comments

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Waterfall in Sri Lanka

Opening

When it was time to enter our elder son to school, we needed what was (for us), a fairly large sum of money, for his entrance and school fees and other expenses. Around that time I was led to call and pray for a gentleman during the Christmas season. As I did so, the Lord led me to pray what would be a prophetic prayer over him. This resulted in him receiving a large sum of money in an unexpected way. In return, this gentleman blessed us with a gift that was exactly what we needed for our son’s school and other expenses!!

Proposition – Our God delights to provide for His children

Devotional: Take It To The Lord In Prayer

May 12, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 3 Comments

A peaceful scene from Kirimetiya, Sri Lanka

My mobile phone crashed sometime ago and I had to switch to my wife’s old one as a temporary measure. On the first day of using the phone, there was one particularly important feature that neither I nor my wife could grasp, though we tried to figure it out for a while. My small son, who was watching us all the time, then boldly mentioned that he could help us figure it out. We ignored his offer of help and kept grappling with the problem unsuccessfully on our own, even though he repeatedly kept offering his help. Eventually, maybe more out of irritation, we handed the phone to him. Lo and behold, he sorted it out within a few minutes!!

Article: Celebrating Women on Mother’s Day

May 7, 2016 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 2 Comments

“A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, give her the reward she has earned” (Proverbs 31:30-31)

The world is celebrating Mother’s Day as usual on a large scale and I’m so happy that The Peoples Church is celebrating our mothers, at our services on May 13^th. I thought however that this was a good opportunity for me to express my appreciation to the 2 mothers who have had the most input and the most impact in my life.