It is a great Joy and Privilege to greet you in Jesus’s name on behalf of the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India Kuwait Parish.

We as a parish are celebrating 2015 - 2016 as the Golden Jubilee Year. When we look back, the STECI Kuwait parish was a humble gathering of 10 members. The parish was formed on 26th August 1965, during the visit of one of our Church-fathers Late Mr. K.A. Abraham (Kurudamannil). Since then the LORD kept us safe and made us to grow in this foreign land. Today, we are one of the largest congregations of STECI with almost 130 members and their families.

As the Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:2 that "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years".

So as we are in this Golden Jubilee Year let us thank our Almighty God for all his wonderful blessings upon us. Let us be humble and remember the Lord our God, for it is He who gave us power to be now who we are. He confirmed His covenant which He swore to our forefathers. So, let us commit ourselves into His hands and be thankful for what we are today. It is by His GRACE that we stand in this foreign land and so let us serve our God with reverence and Godly fear and also let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
 

As the psalmist in Psalms 116 says, "How can I repay the Lord for all the good He has done for me? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people". This thought of repaying our Lord is the origin of selecting the theme of the Golden Jubilee as "Year of Sharing". Heb 13:16 says "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased".

Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him. (Hebrews 12:28). There are two types of worship:

1) Worship That Pleases God
2) Worship that does not Please God

There is a right and a wrong way to worship. The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

a. God is pleased when our worship is accurate (Scripture based - John 4:23)
b. God is pleased when our worship is authentic (Heartfelt - John 4:23-24)
c. God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful (In Mind)
d. God is pleased when our worship is practical (Rom 12:1, John 4:28-30)

We don't need to sacrifice sheep and goats today and certainly no sacrifice on our part can earn God's forgiveness for our salvation; the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has done that for all time. Yet we ARE called to bring sacrifices in worship. We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices - this is OUR spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). We are called to offer our sacrifice of praise.

Each of us has something to give as the object of worship. Some have wealth, some have talents, some have time. Whatever gifts we have been given -- large or small -- we should share generously. When we do so, we make the world better for someone else and find true meaning and satisfaction in our own lives.