Based on information from a friend, I downloaded this morning an excellent free audio transcription program: Express Scribe!
I have several audio sermons that I would like to transcribe and found that this software makes the task a lot easier. I praise God for this free resource!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I praise God for the grace that He imparted me to minister His truth about music to the brethren of Foundation Baptist Church on March 26, 2017. At my request, Pastor Gillis has written a recommendation letter for my ministry.
He also shared the following “blurb” with me about my ministry:
Most Christians agree that music is an important factor in our worship of God. However, there is much debate about the style of music to be used. Most agree that what the words say is very important, but there is disagreement about the morality of the music itself. What do I think? That’s not important. What God says in His Word is, however, critical. Dr. Rajesh Gandhi recently spoke at our church on Acceptable Music for Corporate Worship. The four messages focused on what the Bible says about the subject. Foundational to the series was an effective refutation of the popular meme that music is neither right nor wrong (amoral). This was interwoven with a Biblical theology of music throughout the Bible and the history of man. For those who want to please God with all they do, including their music, this series of messages is essential. May God open the doors for this message to be taught.
If you know of any brethren who would be interested in having me minister to their people on this subject, please have them contact me. Thanks for any help that any of you as readers of this post is able to provide me with in reaching more brethren with these messages.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Lord willing, I will be preaching a series of four messages about the Bible and music on March 26! I would appreciate prayers for Spirit-filled skillfulness in preparing for these messages and in preaching them. Thanks in advance to anyone whom God leads to pray for me concerning this preaching series.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
My ministry this year was greatly blessed by my beginning this year by reading the entire Bible in 59 days! I also made it through the NT this year a second time and read much of the Bible in Spanish.
This year was an especially fruitful year for me in ministering the Bible because I had two new teaching opportunities. I also had many other opportunities to minister, especially in teaching, music ministry, and writing on my blog.
I had two preaching opportunities this year: prayer meeting at my church, Mount Calvary Baptist in Greenville, SC, and a Sunday morning service in a church in Georgia. Although I had already preached both these messages before elsewhere, preaching them again allowed me to improve both messages substantially.
Two new opportunities to minister were given to me this year in teaching at my church: teaching a combined adult Sunday school class and teaching a 16-week adult Sunday school class in the fall. In addition, I taught Sunday school once at a church in Georgia.
I did the Scripture reading for two morning services at my church. For the first time, I also read Scripture for a morning service in my church’s Spanish ministry.
I ministered with other instrumentalists in one opener for a service and in two offertories. I accompanied various people singing specials in our Spanish ministry four times this year.
Online, I was able to teach guitar to a developing guitarist overseas who has made encouraging progress in preparing himself for using the guitar for ministry. My teaching guitar this year also included instructing a few students personally.
I also sang with a group of men for a special in our Spanish ministry. I wrote one new Spanish hymn for children this year, “Dios es siempre bueno!”
Regular participation in neighborhood evangelism this summer and in Spanish evangelism at various times throughout the year afforded me many opportunities to minister Scripture to both believers and unbelievers. I also worked in registration for our annual Neighborhood Bible School.
In our Spanish ministry, I prayed for and took the offering several times. For our Men’s Ministry, I wrote one article for the manual and attended all of our prayer breakfasts.
Tutoring a Seminary student in New Testament Greek for several months this summer provided me with a good opportunity to teach elementary Greek again. By regular participation in two discussion groups on Facebook, I was able to give God’s truths numerous times to lost people and saved people.
I gave a brief devotional at the beginning of the workday nearly every Tuesday this year. I also frequently shared Scriptural truths with my coworkers.
I posted on my blog 77 times in 2016, counting this post. The majority of my posts shared biblical truths that God has given me over the years in my own study of Scripture, which has been the major focus of my blog from the beginning.
I praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to me in allowing me to minister so abundantly in 2016!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I praise God for the encouraging feedback that I received last night about how God ministered through me as I preached my message, “Faithful Spiritual Leadership,” from 1 Samuel 12! May He see fit to continue to use it to advance His kingdom and righteousness.
Here is the audio of my message:
My message was enhanced through the use of two graphics that I made that bring out key features of this passage. This first graphic shows how 1 Samuel 12 records the extensive dialogue between Samuel (in green) and the people of Israel (in blue).
This second graphic shows how profoundly Samuel emphasized God as the Lord (Heb. Yahweh) to these people as he ministered to them (31x, highlighted in yellow; the people spoke of God as the Lord once, which is highlighted in blue).
For the main points of this message, see this previous post.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
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 © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I praise the Lord for many things that He has done for me in 2015 and for His many blessings to me so far this year! The following summarizes the Lord’s blessings upon me in some key areas.
I read the Bible through in English this year and am on target for finishing reading through the NT in Spanish by the end of the year. I also read the book of Revelation through sixteen times from mid-April to July!
The Lord blessed me with four opportunities to preach in February 2015 at Iglesia Bautista de La Fe in Greenville, SC. Although I have prayed for and would have loved to have had many more opportunities to preach, the Lord thus far has not seen fit to give me any more preaching opportunities this year.
This summer, I taught an adult Sunday school class for 8 weeks at my church, Beginnings at the End: Creation, Fall, and Redemption in the Book of Revelation. The series featured a thorough comparative analysis of Genesis 1-4 with the book of Revelation.
I had a number of opportunities to use the guitar in ministering to brethren this year. Along with a cellist and a violist, I played for three openers for the regular Sunday services at my church.
I accompanied a special for our Neighborhood Bible Class ministry on one Sunday this year. I also accompanied people singing specials on five Sundays in our Spanish ministry, and I ministered an offertory with a cellist on another Sunday.
I have had the privilege this year of teaching how to use the guitar in ministry on numerous occasions to some brethren from two Spanish churches. All of my students have made encouraging progress!
The Lord has blessed me by allowing me to participate in the Spanish ministry of my church every other week this year, including giving a testimony in January about reading through the Bible in Spanish in 2014, praying for the offering in the service on several Sundays, and playing the guitar for specials six times. I also participated in evangelizing Spanish-speaking people on many occasions this year through our church’s regular neighborhood evangelism program.
The Lord has enabled me to produce several articles in Spanish this year. I have also produced some additional music resources in Spanish.
This year, I have posted 84 times on my blog so far, bringing the total number of posts to 808 since February of 2011. I am very thankful for the Lord’s opening this ministry avenue to me and allowing me to continue in it!
I got to participate in our church’s Good News ministry twice this year. In July, I helped each night with registration for our Neighborhood Bible Class ministry. On one Sunday, I did the Scripture reading for the morning service.
The Lord has blessed me with full-time work this entire year, including the privilege of giving a devotional every week at the beginning of our work day on Mondays. He has blessed me with several new guitar students this year, including my first online student!
Finally, although I have not progressed as much as I would have liked, I praise God for the substantial progress that He has allowed me to make this year in reading, speaking, and understanding spoken Spanish. I am especially thankful that I was able this year to make it through all the numerous free Spanish lessons at duolingo.com.
Blessed be the Lord who has continued His infinite goodness to me in 2015!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Pastor Minnick preached last night on 1 Corinthians 12:28a and dealt with a key question: “Who are the Apostles in the Body of Christ?” This post provides some of the key thoughts (as I understood them) that he shared in the message.1
To profit fully from this vital message, you should listen to it fully2 because undoubtedly my notes and this listing of some key ideas from the message provide an inadequate presentation of the truths brought out in it.
1 These five statements are based on my notes from the message; for the most part, they are largely either direct quotes from the message or statements that I derived closely from direct statements made my Pastor Minnick.
2 Who are the Apostles in the Body of Christ? November 08, 2015
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Many people think that as long as they are not hurting anyone else with what they are doing, they should be able to do whatever they want. At a funeral service this past Saturday, I heard a great illustration by my pastor Dr. Mark Minnick that explains in an excellent way why such reasoning is flawed.
Here is my version* of that illustration that so clearly explained why such a belief is false:
On a long, straight 40-mile stretch of highway in the middle of a desolate part of a Western state of the US, a lone vehicle speeds along at 25 miles above the speed limit with the driver completely oblivious for quite some time to the fact that he is going far faster than is legal. Given that there is no one else anywhere on the road on the entire stretch of the highway, the lone driver of this vehicle “innocently” exceeds the speed limit without even knowing it for a long time because he is caught up in his thoughts about many other things.
When the driver realizes that he is going way too fast, he thinks to himself that what he is doing is not wrong because there is no one else on the road that he is hurting by what he is doing. He decides to keep going at 80 mph instead of the posted 55 mph maximum speed.
About 25 miles down the highway, the driver notices flashing lights coming up behind him and realizes that a state trooper is coming after him. He pulls over and tries to tell the officer that what he was doing was not wrong because he was not hurting anyone else by what he was doing.
After all, there was no one else on the road with him at all. Of course, the office does not buy his argument and tickets him heavily for going way above the speed limit.
Just as the trooper in this illustration did not buy that what this driver was doing was right to do just because the driver thought that he was not hurting anyone, so God is not going to excuse anyone who breaks one of His laws simply because he thought that what he was doing was right to do because he thought that he was not hurting anyone else by what he did. Whatever God says is wrong to do is wrong to do whether we think otherwise because we think we are not hurting anyone by what we are doing.
To read the good news of what God offers to all of us because we have done wrong before Him, please read this post.
* My version maintains the key points of the illustration as it was told by Pastor Minnick. I wrote this version because I wanted to share this great illustration with others and do not have the time to listen to the illustration over and over again and transcribe it exactly as he told it.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Imagine that you go to church on a Sunday or Wednesday and hear that Jesus is going to come to your church and preach a week of meetings at your church. If that were to happen, what do you think Jesus would repeatedly emphasize in His week of meetings?
Of course, Jesus is not Himself going to come preach at any church, but we can know something about what Jesus wants emphasized in messages in His churches by noting what He repeatedly talks about in the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. In messages to three of the seven churches, Jesus spoke six times about a key figure that is active in Christian churches:
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Rev 2:24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Based on this biblical data, we can be confident that Jesus wants preachers and teachers in His churches continually to make His people mindful of the nefarious activities of Satan! Let us learn from these passages that we must keep this emphasis before God’s people continually.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Rajesh Gandhi holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones Seminary; he's a long-time member of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC.
