Rajesh

"We're Singing" – An Excellent Christian Guitar Resource

March 1, 2012

I have been teaching guitar for more than seven years. In that time, I have used We’re Singing, 7^th ed. (by the Wilds® Christian Association, Inc.) extensively as a supplemental text in teaching believers how to play the guitar.

Features

198 songs in SATB with lyrics and chords

Capo information for songs originally in keys that are difficult to play on the guitar

An extensive chart of standard chords, including diminished chords, and a chart of other chords

A comprehensive index of songs

Evaluation

This book is geared for use by both piano players and guitarists, and the author(s) have done an excellent job overall in supplying the chords for the songs.

The capo information and chords supplied for the many songs that are originally in harder keys for guitar work well toward making strumming or picking the chords for these songs generally straightforward.

The book provides a good number of simpler songs that are in good keys for guitar (with and without the use of a capo), which allows the beginning student to use it effectively to learn most of the important chords in the common keys (F, C, D, G, A, and E) that are used in guitar music.

This has been the most useful book that I have found for guitarists who want to play Christian songs.

In Christian Books, Music

Learning Greek Verb and Noun Parsing through English Sentences

February 28, 2012

I am teaching a beginning Greek student about parsing nouns and verbs. I have explained to him the basic concepts of tense, voice, mood, person, and number (Greek verbs) and of gender, number, and case (Greek nouns).

While reviewing these with him yesterday, I recovered an approach to helping students learns these concepts that I first came up with a number of years ago. Using many English sentences and explaining how each word works in the English sentence, I then showed him what Greek would use to convey those same functions for the nouns and verbs.

The following example illustrates this approach:

Tim, Joe gave Frank his book.

Tim – direct address = vocative;
Joe – subject = nominative;
Frank – indirect object = dative;
his – (shows possession) = genitive;
book – direct object = accusative

gave – aorist active indicative

Here are 25 sentences that I made up to use this approach. For nouns/pronouns, give the case. For verbs, give the tense, voice, and mood, unless directed otherwise. Skip the underlined words.

Dave sent flowers to his wife.

Flowers were sent to Dave’s wife.

Dave, have you sent her flowers?

Dave has sent his friends Christmas cards.

The old man had bathed himself until he fell and hurt himself yesterday.

Roy was watching TV.

Mike is listening to the news.

Roy is her husband.

Joe had been mistreated by his boss until recently.

His car is being damaged by hail.

Tim had hoped that he would get a good grade in the class until he failed his test.

Will she do her homework on time?

I had lived in sin until God opened my eyes.

Were you being watched?

The picture showed the accident.

The men of Rome were hating themselves.

Have their children been saved?

The policemen should be arriving home soon. (Present ____________ _______________).

The children may be taught by the new teacher. (Aorist ____________ _______________).

Don hit himself with his racket.

You are hearing for yourselves how bad things really are now.

I will be satisfied when I get to heaven.

Joe has burned himself before.

What should I send mom for her birthday? (Aorist _____________ _____________).

Bill will wash himself.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages

Repentance unto Eternal Life!

February 25, 2012

Through Peter’s preaching of the gospel in Caesarea, God saved a Gentile centurion and his entire household (Acts11:14). When Peter’s ministering to them was later called into question by some in Jerusalem (11:2), he defended himself by relating how God had given the Gentiles the Spirit on that occasion, as He had also done previously for Peter and others “at the beginning” (11:15).

Peter then recalled how on that occasion he had remembered the Lord’s teaching about how the apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (11:16). Based on that statement and how the experience of the Gentiles matched that of the apostles (11:17a), he asserted through a question that he was in no position to oppose what God was doing (11:17b).

Hearing these things, those who had objected earlier were satisfied, “and glorified God, saying, ‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (11:18). Saying this, they acknowledged that those Gentiles had been saved by God’s granting them that repentance.

When, however, the preceding account of what happened in Caesarea (10:1-48), including Peter’s message, is examined, we find no specific statements about what these Gentiles had to repent of so that they would be saved. Despite this lack of information, we can reasonably infer many likely aspects of their repentance by analyzing carefully the information given about them and about what Peter preached to them.

Information provided about Cornelius and those who were with him

Cornelius was a Roman centurion who was devout, feared God with his entire household, gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always (10:2). He was also a just man who had a good reputation among the entire nation of the Jews (10:22).

Furthermore, Cornelius and those who were with him when Peter preached to them had heard about the word that was “published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached” (10:37). He thus had familiarity with the ministry of John and what had taken place throughout that entire Judean region after his ministry. This statement also informs us that they had some prior information about Jesus because John preached about Him when he preached his baptism of repentance (cf. Luke 3:1-18).

Cornelius’ having a good reputation among all the Jews suggests that he was not one who had openly differed with them in his perspectives about what he had heard about Jesus. Otherwise, we would hardly expect the Jews to have spoken well of him.

Hostile Jewish views about Jesus versus Peter’s preaching about Jesus

Many of Peter’s statements in his message directly controverted key aspects of hostile Jewish’ perspectives about Jesus:

The Jews did not believe that Jesus was Lord of all, but Peter preached that He was (10:36).

The Jews blasphemed the Spirit by saying that Jesus cast out demons by Satan’s power. In stark contrast to their assessment of Jesus, Peter preached that God had anointed Jesus with the Spirit and with power, and that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, because God was with Him (10:38). He thus trumpeted that Jesus did all that He did and triumphed over the devil through the Spirit and the power that God had given Him.

The Jews believed that Jesus was a lawbreaker and a deceiver, but Peter preached that Jesus went about doing “good” (10:38).

The Jews did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. They said that the disciples came and stole the body. Peter, however, preached that God raised Jesus bodily from the dead and attested to that by testifying that he and others had seen Him, and eaten and drunk with Him after His resurrection (10:40-41).

The Jews condemned Jesus for His asserting that they would see Him coming one day in the clouds of heaven, which signified to them that He was claiming to be the Danielic Son of Man who would come and judge the world. In contrast, Peter declared the same essential truth that Jesus did when he testified that the God-raised Jesus had commanded them to proclaim that God has appointed Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead (10:42).

The Jews did not believe Jesus’ claims that He was the Messiah whom the prophets had spoken of that would come, but Peter asserted that He was that Christ (10:36, 38) of whom all the prophets are still testifying (10:43).

The Jews condemned Jesus for saying to people that their sins were forgiven and that He had authority on earth to forgive sins. Peter, however, triumphantly declared (10:43) that the Jesus whom he had been preaching (10:36-42) was the promised One spoken of by the prophets through Whose name all who would believe in Him would receive forgiveness of sins.

These seven points show that Peter’s message forced Cornelius and all who were with him to repent of their holding any of these false Jewish perspectives about Jesus.

Eternal life through repentance of false views about Jesus

Repenting of any of these false views of Jesus that they had previously held, Cornelius and the ones who were with him would now have to believe what Peter preached to them about each point in order to be saved. They were saved in that manner because God granted such repentance unto them (11:18)!

Their repentance was a God-given “repentance unto life” (11:18). Because this statement pertained obviously to people who were already physically alive, we understand that they were granted repentance unto eternal life!

Appreciating fully the universal value of what Peter preached for bringing about repentance unto eternal life

This analysis has argued that Peter’s message pointedly called his hearers to repent of any false Jewish views that they held about Jesus concerning at least seven key truths about Him:

He is Lord of all.
He did all that He did through the Spirit and the power that God gave Him.
All that He did was good.
God raised Him bodily from the dead.
God has appointed Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
He is the Messiah about whom all the prophets are still testifying.
He is the promised One through Whose name anyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.

These are all key truths that Peter preached about Jesus to the Gentiles; through their reception of these truths as well as the other key truths that he preached (e.g., the crucifixion; 10:39), God granted them repentance unto eternal life. His people later glorified Him for doing so!

We would do well to proclaim all of these truths to every Gentile whom we desire to be saved through their receiving the same “repentance unto life” (11:18). Through such proclamation from us, may God be glorified through His bringing many Gentiles to Himself!

In Evangelism, Interpretation, Theology

Ten Points about Personal Revival; New Song

February 22, 2012

In January, I read through Psalms in 16 days without having any idea that I would be having an opportunity to minister in February on the topic of personal revival. After I found out that this was to be the topic of my message for an upcoming men’s meeting, it became clear to me why God had directed me to be immersed in Psalms: at least as much as any other book of Scripture, Psalms is the book of personal revival.

To prepare for my upcoming time of ministry, I have been reading through the book of Psalms for the second time this year as well as studying other key passages. (I plan to finish reading Psalms at least by the morning before I speak.)

Here are ten points that I plan to treat about personal revival:

An earnest desire and longing for God is necessary for revival to come to a person.
Because revival is the work of God in His people, we must pray fervently for Him to revive us.
When God revives His people, they are satisfied with His goodness and His mercy, and therefore they rejoice in Him and are glad all their days. They bless and praise Him while they have life.
A humble and contrite repentance of sin is essential for revival to come to God’s people; there must be a turning away from all idolatry, conformity to the world, and fellowship with the works of darkness.
Delighting supremely in God’s Word is central to being revived and is a hallmark of a person who is experiencing revival.
Loving righteousness and hating iniquity are essential for revival.
Revival is the fruit of the fullness of the Spirit whom God gives to those who love righteousness and hate iniquity.
A vital relationship to God’s house, day, and leaders is necessary for revival.
Revival will be a glorious worldwide reality in the millennial kingdom.
An unwavering resolve to be a revived people while we await His coming is needed greatly in our day.

Last weekend, God also gave me new music for singing a key passage about revival (Psalm 63:1-2). I look forward to how God will use both my message, Ten Points about Personal Revival, and my song, O God, Thou Art My God!

In Interpretation, Ministry, Preaching, Theology

Saved From a Scammer!

February 20, 2012

I praise God that He spared me today from being potentially scammed for a large amount of money. I hope that this testimony may somehow be used to spare someone else from falling prey in a similar way.

A few weeks ago, I posted an ad online for tutoring. I was encouraged to receive two replies the very next morning after posting the ad. The first reply went nowhere, but the second seemed promising.

I followed up on the second one and engaged in a series of e-mails with this prospective client. Supposedly, this client was a person coming from overseas to be in Greenville for a month. During that time, he wanted me to tutor his daughter in Algebra.

He said that he wanted many hours of tutoring each week. Because I had been praying for God to meet an upcoming financial obligation, I was thinking that this was His provision. I rejoiced in thinking how He seemingly had answered my prayer so directly.

As things progressed, he informed me that he would be sending me a check to pay for all the tutoring in advance. He asked how much I would charge and agreed to that amount.

Soon afterward, however, he sent a message telling me that he had made a mistake in making out the check. He said that he had mistakenly written one check instead of the two that he was supposed to have written, one to me and one to someone else.

He then told me that I was to deposit the check upon receiving it, take out the amount agreed upon for my tutoring, and then send the rest by Western Union to another party. Upon receiving this information, I was convinced that this was a scam and informed him that he needed to repent of his sin.

Thinking that this matter was finished, I was shocked to receive yet another e-mail from him today that told me that he had sent a check to me by Federal Express and that I would be receiving it today. He even gave me a tracking number to check. I did so and discovered that the check had already arrived this morning and was waiting for me when I would return from work in the afternoon.

Examining the check, which was more than five times the amount that we had agreed upon for my tutoring, I was appalled at the wickedness of this party. I was also grateful that God had given me helpful input from trusted friends that confirmed to me that this was a scam.

I took the check to my bank, and they assured me that it was a phony check. They recommended that I take it to a local branch of the same bank that issued the check. I did so, and they confirmed that it was indeed a fraudulent check.

Had the circumstances been slightly different, I might have lost a lot of money to this scam. Having never dealt with such a situation before, I find it revolting that there are people out there who prey on others in this way.

Praise God for His mercy in saving me from this scammer!

In Testimony

Paul's Emphasis to the Saved and the Unsaved

February 18, 2012

Reading through Philippians this morning, I was again struck with Paul’s teaching to the Philippians about his mindset: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (3:10-11). All too often this teaching is reduced so that Paul’s focus is made out to be that of just knowing Christ.

Such reduction does not account for what Paul himself here teaches that he was seeking to attain by any means–the resurrection of the dead! As this passage actually reads, the statements about knowing Christ, etc., are on the way to Paul’s attaining the resurrection of the dead. He thus emphasized in his teaching to believers that attaining bodily resurrection was a paramount motivation for him.

Other passages show that Paul also testified to unbelievers that he had this same focus:

“But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question” (Acts 23:6).

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:14-16).

From this Scriptural data, we learn that Paul stressed to both the saved and the unsaved that he was profoundly oriented in his mindset toward the truth of the resurrection of the dead. We would do well likewise to focus both our own attention and the attention of all to whom we minister–both unbelievers and believers alike–on this central teaching of Scripture.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

Chromatic Scale

February 16, 2012

Learning the chromatic scale is a good way to start learning to play the guitar. I recently came up with this new handout to teach it.

In Guitar Music

God Wants You to Be Saved!

February 14, 2012

Acts 10 provides us with the wonderful account of how Cornelius, an exemplary man, was saved. The glorious content of this passage reveals three key truths about how God also wants you to be saved!

I. God wants you to be saved by accepting the fact that you need to be saved, even as Cornelius did through the message that the angel gave to him.

Despite his being devout, fearing God with his entire household, giving much alms to the people, praying to God always, being just, having a good report among all the nation of the Jews, and having some previous knowledge about Jesus, Cornelius was not saved. Neither was he saved simply by having a genuine supernatural experience with a true angel of God, who informed him that his prayers had been heard and his alms had been remembered by God.

He, therefore, was not saved even though he was an exemplary man in so many respects. Moreover, even the genuineness of his religious activities and of his supernatural experience did not save him.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that he is not saved despite however good of a life he may have led. He must also recognize that no mere supernatural experience that he might have can save him, even if it were to be genuine.

II. God wants you to be saved by accepting that the only way you will be saved is by hearing the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

The angel that Cornelius encountered informed him that he would have to hear the words by which he would be saved. He thus had to accept that the only way that he could be saved was through his hearing those words.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that simply being genuinely religious will not save him. To be saved, he must hear the words by which he will be saved.

III. God wants you to be saved by having your sins forgiven through your responding properly to the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

Through Peter’s preaching the gospel to him, Cornelius heard the words by which he would be saved. In a nutshell, Cornelius heard that through the Lord Jesus Christ he had to believe in God, that raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so that his faith and hope might be in God (1 Pet. 1:21).

Cornelius was saved through his receiving the forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel message with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Every person must likewise be saved by receiving forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel with repentance toward God and belief in Jesus Christ to be saved.

Have you accepted that you need to be saved?

Have you accepted that the only way that you will be saved is by hearing the gospel, the words by which you will be saved?

Have you received the forgiveness of your sins by hearing the gospel, repenting toward God, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? (To learn more about the gospel, please see my post, The Gospel of God and His Christ.)

God wants you to be saved by doing so! He wants you to be saved from the eternal punishment that awaits those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8).

In behalf of Christ, I beseech you to turn to God and be saved before it is too late.

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Gospel

Questions to Ponder about the Baptism of Believers That Took Place at Pentecost

February 11, 2012

Pentecost took place before Paul had written any of his teaching about baptism in Romans, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, or any of his other books. In fact, it took place some time before he was even saved.

When, therefore, after his message at Pentecost, Peter responded to his hearers’ question about what they should do (Acts 2:37) by saying, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (2:38), what baptism did he have in mind and what was his understanding of its significance?

Moreover, what understanding of baptism and its significance did those people have who heard his word, gladly received it, and were baptized (2:41)?

If these who were baptized were given the truths by Peter (as perhaps part of the information that 2:40 summarizes) that Paul teaches in Romans 6, Galatians 3, etc., then what Paul wrote many years after Pentecost in those passages was not new essential revelation to the Church at large about the fundamental significance of baptism. On the other hand, if what he wrote there was new essential revelation about the fundamental significance of baptism, then how were these who believed and were baptized at Pentecost baptized without that information?

Scripture provides no hint that these who were baptized at Pentecost had an incomplete understanding of anything essential about the importance and significance of baptism. Nor does it say anything about a vast number of believers being re-baptized once Paul came on the scene and wrote what he did in his Epistles about baptism (e.g., Romans 6). What, therefore, should we conclude about the importance of giving the Pauline epistolary teaching on baptism that we now have to new believers in our day prior to their being baptized?

Peter preached that those who would repent and be baptized would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:38). Incredibly, Luke, however, does not say that those who gladly received his word received the Spirit. Instead, he only comments that they were baptized and added to those who were already believers prior to Pentecost (2:41). Why does Luke not say anything about their receiving the Spirit in relation to their being baptized after having received the message?

In Interpretation, Theology

Playing Hymns in Four Parts on the Guitar!

February 9, 2012

For several years, I have been working on developing a new guitar method that trains students to be able to play hymns in multiple parts straight from a hymnbook. This week, I had an exciting breakthrough in my own playing that reinforced to me the value of this approach for Christian musicians who want to use the guitar for ministry.

While practicing playing several hymns in two parts, I decided to try playing the SAT for Grace Greater Than Ours Sins. Encouraged by how well I was able to read all three parts and play them on the guitar, I decided to try playing all four parts of the song.

To my great delight, I was able to play measure after measure of the song! Although I played it much slower than it would be sung, just being able to make it through all 32 measures and play every note exactly where it would be sung or played on a piano was a huge encouragement and confirmation of the usefulness of this method.

I praise God for answering my prayers for enabling me to develop a method that should be able to train highly skilled guitarists who want to glorify God by playing hymns in multiple parts in church services!

In Guitar Music, Music, Testimony

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