Gathered church worship is our offering up together to God the Spiritual, devotional responses of which He alone is worthy.
—Pastor Mark Minnick
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Archives For Preaching
–Pastor Mark Minnick, Sunday PM message, “Preachers and Missionaries UK 2023,” 8/20/23
I believe that these statements very insightfully express what really is at the heart of so many of the worship music issues in our day.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
In God’s providence, He has directed me to spend a decade or more studying each of four different subjects. These subjects have been quite diverse.
Stewardship of the Physical Body
Prior to becoming a Christian, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Fitness Instruction and a master’s degree in Human Performance. After I was saved, God used that background to open up a graduate assistant position while I worked on a Masters in Bible.
After finishing that degree, He led me to serve on full-time staff for many years in helping believers be good stewards of their physical bodies.
During those years of coursework and ministry, I studied intensely everything that the Bible teaches about health, exercise, nutrition, and stewardship of the body. God gave me numerous opportunities over that time to speak to believers on these subjects.
Evangelism and Discipleship
Soon after I was saved, I became very active in evangelistic ministries successively in the two local churches that I have been a member of during my lifetime as a believer. All through those years, I studied intensely all that Scripture reveals about evangelism and discipleship ministries.
God gave me many opportunities to preach and teach on these subjects for a number of years, but it has been quite some time since I have had such opportunities. It’s puzzling to me that I have not had more opportunities to edify God’s people in this area.
Christ as God’s Judicial Agent
After having served for many years in ministering to believers about stewardship of their bodies and about evangelism and discipleship, God dramatically redirected me to return for seminary work in a doctoral program. During those very hard years of working on that degree, God directed me to study with a passion everything that He has revealed in Scripture about Christ as His judicial agent.
During the years of working on that degree and for about a year afterwards, God gave me many opportunities to preach and teach on passages concerning the topic of my dissertation. Remarkably, however, I have had very few opportunities to do so in the past decade.
Acceptable Music for Corporate Worship
For at least the last decade, God has dramatically shifted the focus of my studies and ministry opportunities to an exhaustive study of everything in the Bible about music and worship. He has directed me to immerse myself profoundly in the book of Psalms during these years, beginning in 2012.
God has led me to write numerous articles about what Scripture reveals about music and worship and has given me several opportunities to speak multiple times on these subjects in a few churches. I am also writing a book about what God has given me in this area of study over this past decade.
Conclusion
Reflecting on how God has directed me during my Christian lifetime, I find it striking that God has led me to so intensively study these four different subjects during that time. Seeing how God has dramatically changed the focus of my studies and ministries more than once in my life makes me wonder what God may have in store for me in whatever years He has left for me to serve Him in this life.
God has been faithful in all these things in spite of much unfaithfulness on my part throughout these years. To God be the glory for all that He has done for and through me!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
In a church-wide time of prayer this past Wednesday evening, my pastor directed six men to lead us online in a time of focused prayer on six key prayer topics. One topic was specific only to our church, but the other five apply to all believers in all local churches:
Reviving of God’s people
Salvation of lost people
Our church’s healthcare workers
Our missionaries and their churches
Our own protection and provision
Taking extra time to pray regularly about these prayer topics would be a great way to redeem the time during this pandemic.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The final question and answer of our Mount Calvary Baptist Church catechism:
Finally, Christians, What Shall Be the Eternal End?
The eternal end shall be that God shall be all in all, that the Lamb shall be served by us who see His face, and that these Divine Persons shall receive from every created thing blessing and honor, glory and power, dominion and praise forever and ever. Amen, and Amen.
These passages are cited in support of this final catechism:
1 Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Revelation 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The vast majority of biblical content about music is not explicitly pertaining to music in the Church. Properly understood, all that the Bible says about music, however, is about music in God’s eternal kingdom. Therefore, we need to engage in The Battle for Kingdom Music because engaging in the battle for Christian music is too narrow a focus to treat properly what Scripture reveals about music.
Of course, in the battle for kingdom music, we must use Scripture to address the problems that we have in Christian music today. In particular, we must explain why God does not accept in His kingdom the use of rock music and music related to it.
Why Rock Music Is Not Acceptable Kingdom Music
To do so, we must help believers understand that the Bible does not teach that God created all musical styles or genres. We also need to explain to them why it is not biblical to hold that music without words is inherently neutral, amoral, or good.
Beyond that, we must make known that God has given categorical prohibitions to His people that completely preclude them from borrowing any music from wicked people who have crafted their music for wicked purposes or used it for wicked purposes. Many rock musicians have testified that they have designed their music to promote evil so we must reject it entirely.
Furthermore, we have testimonies from rock musicians that their music is demonic or sourced in demonic influence on them. God commands Christians not to have anything to do with anything sourced in or connected with human contact with supernatural evil. We must therefore completely reject all rock music and music that is derived from it or based upon it.
In order to fight the battle for kingdom music properly, we must give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of what God says about music that is fit for His kingdom. As God brings it to mind, I would appreciate prayers for God’s good hand to be on me for this ministry.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Mount Calvary Baptist Catechism, Question 67: “What is repentance unto life?”
“Repentance unto life is the change of heart whereby out of a genuine grief and hatred of our sin, we turn unto God with the earnest intent to strive after new obedience (Adapted from C. H. Spurgeon’s, A Catechism, Q. 70).”
—Pastor Mark Minnick
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I had the privilege of preaching a message this past Sunday that treats extensively a glorious subject: The Biblical Importance of Music. I am very grateful for much positive feedback from brethren that God used the message to encourage and edify them greatly.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Understanding what the Bible teaches about marriage is a crucial matter. Pastor Minnick’s recent message, “Marriage of God’s Making,” provides eminently biblical instruction about this vital subject.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
“Created Male and Female” is an excellent sermon by my pastor Dr. Mark Minnick that is worth listening to and will profit you.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
