Archives For Discipleship

How should Christians who have the opportunity to vote decide which candidates they should vote for? Many people seem to answer this question by voting for the candidates that they think will have the best policies that will most benefit them, especially economically.

In the Sermon on the Mount, however, Jesus taught that God’s people must always prioritize God’s kingdom and His righteousness above all other concerns, including even such essentials as seeking what they will eat, drink, and wear:

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:31-33).

As you consider whom you will vote for in this year’s elections, especially for determining who will be the next president of our country—if you are a Christian—you must keep in mind that God demands that you put His interests first in your deciding which candidates you choose to vote for and support in other ways. You must, therefore, carefully examine how each candidate rates concerning who they are in the sight of God and what they have done and will do concerning the things that matter most to God!

Christians are responsible before God to vote for candidates on the basis of a thoroughly biblical assessment of the things that most directly concern the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

I began this year reading the Bible with an intense desire to read as much of the Bible as I could in preparation for teaching two combined Sunday school classes at my church. I praise God tonight that He has given me grace and perseverance to finish reading the Bible through for this year in 59 days!

Having read the Bible in English this year, my goal now is to try to read through the Bible in Spanish by the end of the year. Because I have not taught the second combined Sunday school class yet, I will also be studying many passages in the Bible in English intensely until I have taught that second class.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Getting closer!

February 21, 2016

1051 chapters read in the Bible this year; 138 to go!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Bible Reading Update 2.15.16

February 15, 2016

I have now read 915 chapters of the Bible this year, praise the Lord! To finish by the end of the month, I will need to read 274 chapters in the next 14 days.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

After studying for many weeks and reading 699 chapters in the Bible since January 1, I am eagerly looking forward to teaching Sunday school tomorrow, God willing, and profiting God’s people with what He has given me to teach about the ministry of God the Father as teacher!

Here are the books that I have read this year:

OT: Exodus, Deuteronomy, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel (439 chapters)

NT: All 27 books (260 chapters)

Praise the Lord!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In preparation for teaching two upcoming Sunday school lessons, I have read Deuteronomy, Job-Proverbs, Isaiah, Daniel, and the NT this year (595 of the 1189 chapters of the Bible)! I praise God for granting me grace to persevere in finishing reading the parts of the Bible that most directly pertain to my topic for the first lesson: the teaching ministry of the Father.

I’m eagerly anticipating teaching those classes, but I’ll have to wait another week to teach the first one because Sunday school is cancelled today

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

377 Done and 812 To Go

January 16, 2016

OT Chapters Read – Job (42); Psalms (150); Proverbs (31); Isaiah (66) = 289 chapters

NT Chapters Read – Matthew (28); Mark (16); Luke (24); 1 Cor. 1-7; 1 Thessalonians (5); 2 Thessalonians (3); James (5) = 88 chapters

Total chapters read in 2016 = 377

Total chapters left to read = 812

Praise the Lord!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

As part of my preparation for teaching Sunday school on January 24 and 31 (Lord willing), I am trying to read as much of select parts of the Bible as I can. So far, I have read 258 chapters in 10 days, which is the best start that I have ever had for reading the Bible in a year, praise God!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

It is a very sad reality that many people in the world suffer greatly because they are poor. Three Scriptural statements provide these many millions of poor people with crucial revelation that they desperately need.

In three successive chapters in Proverbs, God sets forth three truths that go contrary to the thinking and practice of many of the people in the world today. By giving attention to these words from God, they will have essential truth that they need to have God’s mind about being poor.

Proverbs 19:22

Given the opportunity to do so, some people lie to try to get out of their poverty. Some provide false information to governmental authorities in order to get assistance for which they would not otherwise qualify or the amounts that they would receive would be substantially reduced were they to tell the truth about their situation.

People cheat on their tax returns in order not to pay as much taxes as they should. By doing so, they seek to have more money than they would were they to be truthful about their finances.

Contrary to the thinking and practice of all such people, Scripture declares,

A poor man is better than a liar (Prov. 19:22).

Because God teaches that it is better to be poor than to be a liar, everyone who does deceitful things to get wealth shows that he does not have God’s mind about being poor.

By faith and trust in God, every poor person should be truthful. They should not lie to try to escape their poverty. Showing that they fear God, they should commit themselves to God to take care of them. 

Proverbs 20:17

Many people obtain material goods and money through deceitful means. Because they temporarily enjoy the fruit of their lies, they think that what they have done is justified by the sweetness of what they obtain through their falsehoods.

God warns such people,

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel (Prov. 20:17).

No matter how appealing it may be to acquire and enjoy things through lying that you otherwise would not be able to have, God wants us to be certain that the ultimate consequence of such actions will not be sweet. By faith in God, people who are poor must reject opportunities to get things and wealth through deceitful ways.

Proverbs 21:6

Poor people are often tempted to think that they need to lie in order to change the sad realities of their circumstances. Such people must heed what God says about such wrong attempts to acquire wealth:

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death (Prov. 21:6).

God teaches that people who lie to get treasures are actually pursuing death even while they think they are trying to improve their lives by their dishonest acquisitions. Poor people must take God’s viewpoint and reject such fatal seeking of wealth!

Conclusion

God cares so much about all human beings that He has provided us with these (and many other) key truths so that we will have His mind about being poor. God wants all people, including poor people, to put their faith in Him by being truthful and honest in all their ways at all times.

Do you have God’s mind about being poor?

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

On Excellence in Preaching

January 4, 2016

Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest preacher who has ever lived. Matthew 5-7 provides the lengthiest record of any of His sermons.

The Holy Spirit has bracketed that record with these four statements:

Mat 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Mat 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

These divinely inspired words reveal that the greatest sermon of the greatest preacher who has ever lived was foremost an instance of His authoritatively teaching His audience! Based on this evidence, we must conclude that excellence in preaching first of all concerns the nature of the teaching that a preacher provides to his hearers.

We must also be careful about making dichotomous statements about preaching versus teaching, as if the two were sharply distinct. Because Matthew 5-7 shows that excellent preaching essentially includes authoritative teaching that instructs people in doctrine, we must not make statements that downplay the importance of the teaching that a preacher provides when he preaches.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.