Gospel Assembly Church Elmont

05/30/2026

04/28/2026

There are a lot of superficial, empty forms of religious activities pervading the church. Churches everywhere are in competition with Hollywood style stagecrafting. You set the right mood, have the lights strobe around a bit, and you can create an emotional high. Simplicity is lost. Sacredness is gone. Preachers dress down: jeans and t-shirt. There is no appreciation, no reverence for God. But when I compare all the theatrics in our modern church with the Bible, I see something totally different. God calls us to enter into our closet. You do not display anything when you enter your closet. The whole world doesn’t have to know about it. Going to God is about laying your all on the altar of sacrifice. And the altar is not something that needs to be publicized.

The Seraphim in God’s presence, cried out in reverence, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 66:3). But us? We have allowed so much of the world to infiltrate our hearts, that we are devoid of a holy desperation for God’s presence. Our heads are filled with knowledge, but our hearts are empty. We are inundated with information, but not very much is translated into our conduct and lifestyle.

We talk about wanting God. We talk about surrendering to God, but do we really surrender? What does it mean to surrender, saints? To surrender means to let go of that which is hindering our spirituality. It is not merely a word to be repeated. It is a life to be lived. Let’s be honest, we haven’t surrendered, instead we have created a god according to our liking and imagination. We have marginalized the Creator of the universe, the Great and Mighty One, into that which we can carry around like a toy. But we’re only kidding ourselves. God will not be diminished.

The spirit of apathy has overtaken us. Too much is happening that is compressing our spirituality. Our prayer meeting was supposed to be the most important service of the week, yet it is the least attended. There was a time when churches had all-night prayer meetings. Pre-revival, men spent hours praying. And whether you take, Ezra, Nehemiah, or Daniel as examples, they all lamented with importunity before God. But we come to church, and before we can even finish the closing prayer, I see people walking out. There is no reverence in this, saints. It’s like you’re saying, “Hurry up God, I have important things to do. I need to be elsewhere!” It’s sad, isn’t it? So much loss of our spirituality. Sadder still, is that we do not see the pain associated with our apathy.

The presence of God does not create an emotional high. You can go to a Broadway show or watch a movie for that. But when God’s Spirit invades you, it will change you. It will work something in your life to get rid of the unwanted areas. God works in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). And His pleasure is to work everything out for your eternal good.

How did God work in Jacob’s life? Jacob- trickster, deceiver, master strategist- carried a condition for the rest of his life because God was working in him to get rid of that which shouldn’t be there. Jacob had to come to the place where it was just him and God. No tricks, no strategies. Just him and God. Let me tell you something: all the props, everything that you are latching on to, everything that you think is significant, you will have to let go of and stand alone before God for the final outcome and benefit.

How did God work in the early church? If there was a group of people that lacked resources, it was the early church. They didn’t have grand structures, padded pews, or a big bank account. They ate from house to house. They broke bread and had all things in common. Yet, this group of unlettered, unschooled individuals, had something that even the Pharisees and Sadducees did not possess. They had the power of God working in them. So much so, that they turned the streets of Jerusalem upside down! They shook the then world!

Peter said to the lame man, “such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:6). What did Peter have? What is it that would cause a lame man to leap?! I know we don’t have what the early church had. I am not going to sit here and bury my head in the sand. I am talking to you today, saints, because I would like to see God’s power flow in our midst today, like it did then. Because if God’s power is residing in us, we will see changes. We will see lives transformed. We will not live in a delusion thinking just because someone mentions the name Jesus they are saved, when they don’t even see the church’s door. That’s a fantasy world. That’s a magical world. I don’t want to live in fantasy! I want to live in a world where the presence and the Spirit of God will genuinely move. Oh, that God would invade! That He would return to us! That He would pour out His Spirit upon us!

But we cannot see the manifestation of God’s power until we truly seek Him. Until we seek Him with brokenness and contrition. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18). I don’t know what will bring about this brokenness in your life. But I look at my own life, and I see the things that God allows to break me. And I learn from them.

That which God is attracted to is humility. It is very simple. There is no heavy theological requirement to decipher any of this. Brokenness and contrition. That’s it. Not the rituals, not the animal sacrifices, not the theatrical lighting or fog. “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering” (Psalms 51:16). Didn’t David know that it was God who instituted these practices? Why then would he say that God doesn’t desire them? Because just as we are carried away today, God’s people then, were also carried away with performance. They were residing in their activities, when what God really wanted went beyond the mere sacrifices of animals. David tells us this in verse 17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17). There are those words again: broken and contrite. God wants us. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God (Romans 12:1). And if God accepts a broken heart, then we ought to ask ourselves: are we truly broken before Him? Is our all really on the altar of sacrifice laid? Jesus said, “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken” (Matthew 21: 44). When you fall on the rock, you’re not going with the props. You’re not going with harnesses to break the fall. You fall on the rock with the purpose of being broken. And what gets broken? Not your bones. It is your spirit that gets broken- with the kind of brokenness that makes you whole.

03/01/2026

God is faithful…

02/27/2026

It is striking to note that the apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, made a clear distinction between the saints at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus. I’m positive that he wrote this with proper forethought, knowing that amongst those he referred to as saints, there were those who were not faithful- those who failed to live holy lives, those who failed to live to the demands of Christ. But God had chosen us from the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him (Ephesians 1:4). Why would God choose us to be holy? Because holiness is characteristic of His kingdom and only by attaining to holiness can we inherit this kingdom.

When God sent His Son, He sent him so that the indictment that we were under can be removed. From God’s vantage point, the work has already been completed. We were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20) and righteousness was imputed in us. We were therefore placed in right standing before God- Jesus’ death on Calvary opened the door for our salvation.

Our belief in Christ will inevitably lead to the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Analogous to buying a house, where the earnest money is put down until we obtain total ownership of that property, this sealing of the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in verse 14, becomes the downpayment of our inheritance. Well, what are we to inherit? We’re to inherit eternal life. We therefore have this downpayment on our inheritance, until the time of “the redemption of the purchased possession.”

We remain incomplete because of this flesh that we are robed in until that time when God will gather together in one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). So from that time- the time of the purchased possession, to the day of redemption, we have an active role to play in the outworking of our salvation, of course, with the grace of God that enables us to do so. We’re the ones who have to make ourselves ready to go to church. We’re the ones who have to go before the altar and pray. We’re the ones who need to read our Bibles. God will not do this for us. The responsibility is ours. We are the ones who have to “bear fruits.” Day to day, there are disciplines that we need to inculcate. Day to day, there are commitments that we need to intensify on. Day to day, there are areas in our lives that we have to shed- things that we will need to put off.

It would therefore be wise to ask ourselves: are we truly abiding in Christ and is his Word truly abiding in us? If his Word abides in us, then what effect does it have on our lives? Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2). Anyone who claims to be in Christ- but does not bear fruits- does not show growth, does not show movement in the direction of conforming to him, will be cut off. God wants us to be fruitful. He wants us to grow, to mature in Him. In verse 4, our Lord said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” We are to live in him, focus on him, flow with him, conform to him. We cannot be disjointed and still expect to grow. There is absolutely no way that we can truly be in Christ and be fruitless. When our life is fruitless, it is because we are not in him. Sadly, if we are the same person that we were ten years ago, then we cannot say that we are abiding in him. For Jesus continued to say, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (V. 6). You will wither if you are not abiding in him, because the lifeblood of the vine cannot flow through you. But Jesus continued saying in verse 10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.” And “keep” here does not mean to just quote or repeat his commandments. It means to actively be involved in obeying them. There is nothing passive about abiding in him.

When we look back at the church at Corinth, we see division that was working in that church. There were some that had too much while others were lacking. They were taking each other to the law. There was even a man who was living in sin with his stepmother- the kind of sin that the apostle Paul said was not even named among the Gentiles. So here are issues that have plagued the church. And in our time the church is also affected. Not because our Lord didn’t pay the ultimate price, he already did. But when we believe that we can be passive about our salvation, this is the kind of tragedy that ensues.

If we are to honestly evaluate our lives and see how consistent we’ve been in these areas, where would we place ourselves? How often do we open our Bibles to read it? How often do we really pray? How often do we support the work of God? How important is it for us to attend church services? We have to live a life of diligence- “keep [your] heart with all diligence.” We have to be “fervent in spirit.” We have to be zealous- “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” Can we classify ourselves as zealous? Can we say that we are fervent or diligent as it pertains to our walk with God? When we can really understand Revelation 14:4 which says that, “these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” can we really say that we are abiding in Christ?

11/21/2025

Dear family and friends,

After many years of praying, waiting, and believing, our dream for a new sanctuary is finally becoming a reality. We’ve received state approval and have recently signed the contract to begin construction — truly an answer to prayer. This sanctuary will be a place where hearts are healed and lives are changed.

As pastor, I’m deeply moved by what God is doing — and I humbly ask you to join us in bringing this vision to life. If you feel led, a gift toward the sanctuary can help bring this vision to life.

Gifts can be made in the following ways:

• By check: Make payable to
Gospel Assembly Church
1863 Dutch Broadway,
Elmont, NY, 11003

• Via Zelle:
Gospel Assembly Church
Email: [email protected]

I have attached the rendering and will continue sharing updates as progress unfolds.

To learn more, please feel free to call us at 516-457-0153. Your encouragement and generosity are a blessing to us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

- Pastor Narain Richard

07/12/2025

IT IS TRAGIC TO OBSERVE THE CARELESSNESS, THE CASUALNESS, THE COMPLACENCY AND THE CONTEMPTUOUSNESS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TODAY.

IT IS PATHETIC TO WITNESS THE LACK OF DISCIPLESHIP, DEVOTION AND DEDICATION IN THE LIVES OF PROFESSING CHRISTIANS. NO WONDER OUR LORD RHETORICALLY ASKED THE QUESTION “WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES WILL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH”.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING QUOTES FROM HORATIOUS BONAR AND MARTYN LLOYD-JONES.

I LOOKED FOR THE CHURCH AND FOUND IT IN THE WORLD: I LOOKED FOR WORLD AND FOUND IT IN THE CHURCH.

~~HORATIOUS BONAR~~