Archives For Discipleship

Hechos 15:13-14 dice, “ Y cuando ellos callaron, Jacobo respondió diciendo: Varones hermanos, oídme. Simón ha contado cómo Dios visitó por primera vez a los gentiles, para tomar de ellos pueblo para su nombre.” Estos versículos nos muestra que en el Concilio de Jerusalén, Jacobo compartió cómo Pedro había declarado “cómo Dios visitó por primera vez a los gentiles, para tomar de ellos pueblo para su nombre” (Hechos 15:14). Lo que Dios comenzó en ese entonces en Cesarea, Él continúa con su labor en todo el mundo.

Como gentil a quien ha llevado a estar entre su pueblo, deseo de perpetuar la glorificación de Dios mismo por medio de sacar a muchas más personas por causa del Nombre. Por esta razón, he escogido un pueblo para su Nombre como título para mi ministerio.

Dios me salvó en 1990 y me puso en la Iglesia Bautista Calvario en Cookeville, Tennessee. Con los años, he servido allí en muchas capacidades, incluyendo la enseñanza para la Escuela Bíblica de vacaciones y la escuela dominical en numerosas ocasiones, así como predicar muchas veces. También he estado muy involucrado en el ministerio de la juventud en el Calvario de varias maneras desde que asistí allí.

Dios me trajo a la Iglesia Bautista Monte Calvario en Greenville, Carolina del Sur, en 1991. He estado muy involucrado en las visitas de puerta a puerta en mis años en el Monte Calvario. También he dado muchos desafíos antes de las visitas de puerta a puerta, también he enseñado adultos de la escuela dominical en numerosas ocasiones, y ministrado muchas veces en música especial en varias capacidades en la iglesia.

Como parte del ministerio de estudiantes universitarios en el Monte Calvario, así como por mi cuenta con un número de amigos, he ministrado muchas veces en otras iglesias en Carolina del Sur, Carolina del Norte, Georgia y Tennessee. Hemos llevado a cabo actividades para la juventud, ministramos en predicación, la enseñanza, y la música, y participamos en los alcances de visita. También ayudamos a una iglesia extensamente con el trabajo de jardinería y otros trabajos manuales alrededor de la iglesia.

También he ministrado durante dos veranos en el extranjero. Enseñé a los hombres que estaban en el ministerio o en la formación para el ministerio, prediqué en las iglesias, y evangelizé muchas personas perdidas.

De Abril a Octubre de 2010, el Señor me dio 20 oportunidades para predicar y enseñar en nueve iglesias en Carolina del Sur, Carolina del Norte, Georgia y Tennessee. Entonces ministré 43 veces en 42 días, incluyendo la predicación 39 veces. Además de predicar en las iglesias, mi ministerio incluyó la predicación en servicios de capilla en cuatro colegios, enseñando tres temas durante una semana en un colegio, hablé en un campamento familiar, en un orfanato, y acompañé a un coro de una universidad con mi guitarra clásica en dos servicios.

El 8 de febrero de 2011, Dios respondió a mis oraciones al permitirme publicar por primera vez en mi sitio web! Desde entonces, he tenido el privilegio de publicar 685 veces en mi sitio (como de 29 de agosto de 2014).

En el 2011, también tuve el privilegio de continuar un ministerio de predicación itinerante y enseñanza que promueve especialmente el evangelismo que está totalmente de acuerdo con todo lo que la Biblia revela acerca de lo que Él quiere proclamado en todo el mundo. El Señor abrió algunas oportunidades para ministrar en ese tema, y espero que para muchos más en los próximos años.

El Señor también me permitió terminar en el 2011 un proyecto de lectura muy especial de la Biblia leyendola en griego en el 2011! Leyendo tanto la Septuaginta y el griego del Nuevo Testamento a través de ese año fue inmensamente valioso.

En el 2012, el Señor me dirijó a participar en el ministerio en español a través de la enseñanza de clases de guitarra en las iglesias españolas y ministrando en el ministerio en español de mi iglesia local. También me llevó a comenzar a servir en un ministerio de alcance en mi iglesia a los niños de una escuela primaria local.

El Señor también me ha dirigido en los últimos años a estudiar intensamente todo lo que la Escritura enseña acerca de la música. En el 2012, Él me llevó a leer a través del libro de los Salmos 25 veces para que mi mente se saturara y se renovara a fondo por su verdad.

En los últimos tres años, también he tenido el privilegio de ayudar a editar dos libros, La Biografía del Dr. Frank Garlock, y un libro por Shelly Hamilton, “¿Por qué yo no escucho la música cristiana contemporánea.”

Ahora tengo una carga para instruir al pueblo de Dios acerca de la música que es aceptable para Él. Para ello, he escrito numerosos artículos relacionados con el tema de la CCM, y espero tener oportunidades en las iglesias para ayudar al pueblo de Dios manejar este grave problema correctamente.

Este año, el Señor me ha dirigido para escribir las letras para muchos de los nuevos himnos, entre ellos algunos en español. También me he centrado en gran medida en el ministerio musical en mi iglesia y en prepararme más para el ministerio en español.

El 17 de agosto de este año, el Señor me dio el privilegio de enseñar en la escuela dominical y la predicación del mensaje de la mañana en una iglesia en español que es local. El Señor gentilmente permitió que ambos servicios fuera mucho mejor de lo que esperaba. ¡Alabado sea Dios!

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

Among professing believers today, views concerning the depths of human depravity differ. Three passages in Jeremiah reveal that human depravity has reached unimaginable depths that point to a widespread deficiency in the views of many believers concerning human depravity. In fact, these passages show that many humans throughout history have become so depraved as to plunge to a depth of wickedness that Scripture speaks of in a stunningly remarkable way.

Wickedness That Never Came into God’s Heart or Mind

Jeremiah writes three times of the unspeakably wicked practice of child sacrifice that God’s people at that time had engaged in:

Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

Jer 19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

Jer 32:35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 

These texts make known that the practice of burning children in fire in worship of idols was something that never came into God’s heart or mind as something that His people would ever do! Amazingly, these texts reveal that in their depravity, they had sunk to a depth that was unthinkable to God!

Many other passages also document God’s profound condemnation of this abomination:

Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.

2Ki 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

Psa 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

Psa 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

2Ch 28:3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

Eze 16:20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

 21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

Eze 20:26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

Of these additional passages, 2 Chronicles 28:3 is particularly noteworthy because it reveals that the Israelites engaged in this corrupt practice “after [in imitation of] the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.” This passage especially points to the profound dangers of God’s people exposing themselves to the wicked practices of the world.

God-fearing Christians should guard themselves from the corrupting influences of all people who are not like God (Ps. 1:1), including those professing Christians who live worldly lives permeated by the sensuality of the world. As 2 Kings 17:17 and other texts of Scripture warn us, we must especially shun all contact with objects and practices used in connection with encountering evil supernatural beings or stemming from contact with them, including musical styles that are associated with people influenced by them.

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

This Sunday, I taught Sunday school and preached in Spanish for the morning service at a local Spanish church. It was my first time to minister entirely in Spanish without any help from a translator.

My teaching and especially my preaching went far better than I was expecting, and the Lord gave me remarkable fluidity and clarity in speaking Spanish such as I have never had before in my life! Many people expressed their gratefulness for the clarity of my speaking and how easy it was for them to understand what I ministered.

Although I did have some trouble pronouncing a number of words and had to resay quite a few, my doing so does not seem to have hindered people from readily receiving the truths that were ministered. Even though I had manuscripted virtually everything that I said and was just reading what I had written, the people were attentive in such an encouraging way that I know that their doing so was a direct answer to many prayers.

I’d like to thank everyone who prayed over the past few weeks for my Spanish ministry this past weekend. Most of all, I thank and praise God for His graciously and abundantly empowering and enabling me to minister effectively in a language that I am by no means fluent in at this point!

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

After 228 days in 2014, I have finished reading 689 chapters in the Reina Valera this year (58%)!

Spanish Bible Reading 8.18.14

  • Books completed – Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; 1 Samuel; Ruth; Nehemiah; Job; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Isaiah; Matthew; Mark; John; Acts; Galatians; Philippians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; James; 1 & 2 & 3 John; Jude (606 total chapters)
  • Other reading – Numbers 1-30; 2 Samuel 1-6; Jeremiah 1-35; Luke 1-9; 1 Cor. 13-15; (83 total chapters)
  • Chapters read – OT – 537; NT – 152; Total – 689

500 chapters to go; praise God!

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

Sometime after I became a Christian, I was thrilled to find out that I was born in a Canadian Presbyterian mission hospital that was located in the small town in India where my lost family lived at that time. What’s more, in one of my visits to that town after I was saved, my uncle took me to meet some people who knew what took place every day at the hospital—the doctors and nurses would begin every day by praying for all the patients that they would see that day.

On the day that my mom was brought to that hospital, those who helped deliver me had undoubtedly prayed for the children who would be born on that day. Amazingly, even though no one in my family was a believer—in fact, my mom and all the rest of my family were devout followers of another religion—God so ordered my mom’s life that I was born safely in a mission hospital in answer to the prayers of believers who selflessly sought to serve the people to whom they ministered!

I look forward to meeting someday in heaven the doctor and nurses who helped bring me safely into the world through both their prayers and their medical ministry! I’m sure they will rejoice greatly to learn that at least one baby that was born in their ministry was eventually saved in part because of their prayers!

Praise the Lord!

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

Mi exhortación para todos nosotros como creyentes: ¡Dios quiere que crezcamos en nuestro semejanza a Cristo por teniendo un celo por nuestro Padre celestial, como Jesucristo tuvo (San Lucas 2:49)!

R60 Luke 2:49 Entonces él les dijo: ¿Por qué me buscabais? ¿No sabíais que en los negocios de mi Padre me es necesario estar?

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

First Samuel 18-26 records the tragic story of how King Saul wickedly pursued David and tried many times to catch him so that he could slay him. Although I have read this account more than 25 times over the years, I noticed this week an aspect of Saul’s enmity against David that I do not remember every paying attention to in all my previous readings.

Demonic Influence That Repeatedly Incited Saul to Slay David

King Saul first became at odds with David after he was angered greatly when women honored David’s military exploits far more than they did his (1 Sam. 18:6-9). Immediately after this passage, we read that an evil spirit afflicted him, and he sought to kill David (1 Sam. 18:10-11).

Saul later tried to use his daughters as a means to have David slain (cf. 1 Sam. 18:17, 21ff.), but he was unsuccessful. His attempt to have Jonathan, his son, and all his [Saul’s] servants kill David similarly failed (1 Sam. 19:1-5).

Under the influence of the evil spirit, Saul yet again sought to slay David but could not (1 Sam. 19:9-10). Michal then spared David’s life by deceiving the servants that Saul sent to slay David in his home (1 Sam. 19:11-17).

From First Samuel 18-19, it is clear that direct demonic influence incited Saul at least twice to slay David. His other attempts to kill David may also have been incited by the evil spirit, even though there are no direct statements to that effect.

Evil Human Influence That Incited Saul to Slay David

Two later passages reveal that another key influence besides the evil spirit played a role in Saul’s enmity against David and his efforts to kill him:

1Sa 24:9 And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

 10 Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.

1Sa 26:19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

 20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

These passages show that David pled with Saul on at least two occasions not to listen to the words of wicked men who were stirring him up against David by lying to him by saying that David was trying to hurt him (1 Sam. 24:9; cf. 26:19). These two statements are remarkable because the Holy Spirit does not provide us with any other record of any such lying statements made by evil people who were inciting Saul to slay David!

Conclusion

Based on the earlier statements about the evil spirit and on these direct statements by David, we can be certain that Saul was incited by both demonic influence and evil human influence to attempt repeatedly to kill David. Although Scripture does not say so, it is very likely that the latter was in reality another facet of the former, so that demonic influence on other people was directly responsible for their lying about David to Saul.

Beyond learning a key truth about Saul’s enmity against David that I have overlooked in the past, I am both amazed and challenged by my having overlooked for all these years the statements by David about evil human influences on Saul. Although I have studied the Bible very carefully and intensely for years, this discovery motivates me to read Scripture even more carefully than I have in the past.

 

 

 

 

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

Peticion de oración

August 1, 2014

Le agradecería oración por mi preparación para enseñar en la escuela dominical y predicar en el servicio de la mañana el 17 de agosto. Dios mediante, espero poder hablar en español para la mayoría de los dos servicios.

Gracias por sus oraciones.

(Written by using Google Translate and Spanishdict.com)

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

The book of Nehemiah ends with a striking prayer—“Remember me, O my God, for good” (Neh. 13:31b). An analysis of this prayer and of three preceding ones by Nehemiah provides biblical basis for Christians’ praying for themselves that God would bless them for good!

Nehemiah prayed at least four times to God that He would remember him for good (Neh. 5:19; 13:14, 22, 31). Each of these prayers instructs us about how we should pray.

Remember Me for What I Have Done for God’s People

Nehemiah ministered sacrificially for the good of God’s people (Neh. 5:14-18). He prayed that God would remember him for good because of all that he had done for them:

Neh 5:19 Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

Like Nehemiah, Christians who have diligently served God’s people have a legitimate basis for appealing to God to bless them with good (cf. Rom. 16:2; Heb. 6:10).

Remember Me for What I Have Done for God’s House and Its Services

Nehemiah was very diligent about seeking the welfare of God’s house and its offices (Neh. 13:4-13). Because he had done many such good deeds, he asked God to remember him:

Neh 13:14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.

Christians who have lived lives devoted to their churches and their services (cf. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Heb. 10:25) have a biblical precedent in Nehemiah to pray to God that He would do good to them.

Remember Me for What I Have Done for God’s Day

Nehemiah zealously labored for the sanctity of the Sabbath Day among God’s people (Neh. 13:15-22). Based on what he had done for God’s Day, he prayed for God to remember him for good:

Neh 13:22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

As Nehemiah expended himself for the sanctity of the Sabbath (cf. Is. 58:13-14), God’s special day for His OT people, many believers today have devoted themselves to setting apart the Lord’s Day as special for God’s NT people. Such Christians can confidently cry out to God for His blessing upon them for what they have done for the glory of the Lord’s Day (cf. Acts 20:7).

Remember Me for What I Have Done for God’s Ministers

Nehemiah concluded his book by praying that God would remember him for good both because of all his efforts to cleanse the priesthood and the Levites (Neh. 13:28-30) and because of what he had done to provide for them to carry out their ministries (Neh. 13:31a):

Neh 13:31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Christians who give themselves to honoring and serving God’s ministers (cf. Rom. 16:4; Philippians. 2:29-30; 2 Tim. 1:16-18) have biblical basis in the example of Nehemiah for asking God to remember them for good.

Conclusion

Christians who devote their lives for the sake of God’s people, God’s house and its services, God’s Day, and God’s ministers have strong biblical grounds for seeking divine blessing upon their own lives. May God grant us such consecrated lives of devotion to the things of God (cf. Philippians. 2:21-22) and may He remember us for good!

 

 

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

Scripture records four prayers from Nehemiah that essentially have the same basic idea—that God would remember him for good:

Neh 5:19 Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

Neh 13:14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.

Neh 13:22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

Neh 13:31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Should Christians pray for God to remember them for good?

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