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.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
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.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
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?
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
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!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Recently, I began reading the Gospel of Luke again, a book which I have read at least 25 times through in the past. In spite of having read the book so many previous times, I understood something interesting this time that I have never seen before and do not remember anyone else ever talking about either.
Luke records the angel Gabriel’s being sent to Mary: “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary” (1:26). Following this statement, he relates Gabriel’s interaction with her about his message to her about her conceiving and bearing Jesus (1:28-38).
Next, he writes of Mary’s trip to visit Elizabeth and stay with her for about three months before returning home (1:39-56). Noteworthy in this account is Luke’s relating that upon hearing Mary’s salutation, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped, and she was filled with the Spirit (1:41).
Elizabeth then exclaimed loudly, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (1:42-43). These verses show that Elizabeth knew that Mary had already conceived Jesus before she had come to her.
Based on Luke’s informing us that Gabriel came to Mary in Nazareth before she had conceived (1:26) and the flow of thought from that scene (1:26-38) to the immediately following account of her coming as an expectant mother to the unnamed city where Elizabeth was (1:39ff.), we are to understand that Mary was in Nazareth when Jesus was conceived. When, therefore, we read of Jesus referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, we should understand that it signifies not just that He grew up there (cf. 2:39-51), as a number of sources explain,* but also that Nazareth was where He was conceived!
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*For example, the New Bible Dictionary entry for Nazareth states, “A town of Galilee where Joseph and Mary lived, and the home of Jesus for about 30 years until he was rejected (Lk. 2:39; 4:16; 28-31). He was therefore called Jesus of Nazareth” (819; bold added). The article on Nazareth in the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible notes, “Though Jesus was often identified by his boyhood city as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (see Mk 10:47; Jn 18:57; Acts 2:22), the NT records only one subsequent visit by Jesus to Nazareth” (2:1531; bold added). Other sources similarly do not mention in their entries for Nazareth that Jesus was conceived in Nazareth (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, 951; The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4:240-41).
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The Super Bowl is scheduled to be played tomorrow evening. Many believers will intentionally pay as little attention as possible to it, and some may decry those believers who have any level of interest in the game.
Many other believers will pay attention to the game in various ways. Given that the game will be played barring some remarkable and unexpected providential intervention by God, here are some things that interested believers might consider praying for:
1. God would glorify Himself in an unmistakable way through whatever He allows to take place before, during, and after the game.
2. The number of believers who forsake the assembling of themselves together tomorrow would be amazingly small because of a supernatural working of God at a remarkable level to convince His people not to do so.
3. Success for whatever evangelistic efforts may be made by believers through commercials aired during the game or through attending the game or planning to be present somewhere near the stadium for that purpose.
4. The players would do no evil. It would be great to have a clean game where there are no dirty plays, especially plays that injure players unnecessarily.
5. The officials would have skill to officiate fairly and not miss any calls. It would be especially great if the game were not to be decided by a questionable call by the officials.
6. The team that wins would do so because they have striven lawfully.
7. Both teams would display excellent sportsmanship in everything that takes place.
8. The fans would not do anything to disrupt the game.
9. There would not be any tragic things take place among the fans such as have marred many major sporting events over the years
10. Law enforcement personnel would be supernaturally empowered to have great success in delivering a great number of the victims of the human trafficking that is expected to take place surrounding this event.
Who knows what God might do tomorrow if many of His people were to pray fervently along these lines!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
As a fairly recent newcomer to American presidential politics, I have been pondering the very difficult challenges that our current political situation poses. Here are some thoughts that have come to me recently as I have been prayerfully trying to discern how God would have us to approach answering some important questions.
1. Had there been news polls at the time of Saul, David, and Goliath, what would they have said about David’s chances of beating Goliath?
2. Suppose that at that time there had been an 8-foot tall former Philistine warrior who nominally became pro-Israel and engaged in occasional worship of Jehovah but not in the same way as the Israelites did. This Philistine is an arms producer and decides to volunteer himself to go up for Israel against Goliath. Would the polls not have ranked him much higher than David? If so, would the establishment leaders in Israel not have clamored for him to be the Israelite’s choice to go up against Goliath instead of the comparatively speaking puny David?
3. Ephesians 2 teaches that the children of disobedience are being energized by the prince of the power of the air. Should the righteous support such presidential candidates as the ones who would best advance the kingdom of God and His righteousness in the US and the world because the polls say that they would fare best against the opposing parties’ candidates?
4. Just how exactly does the Bible itself teach us to vote for the lesser of two evils?
5. Does the Bible teach us that the character of a presidential candidate does not matter that much in view of other supposedly more important considerations because we are voting for a president and not for a preacher?
6. Is there not a God in heaven who can turn the hearts of the “precious” moderates to support a righteous candidate for president so that we do not have to settle again for a candidate that we have to tolerate because the polls say that he is the only one who can win?
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The book of Psalms ends with a profound emphasis on praising the Lord. This emphasis is revealed by the following points in the final five Psalms:
A. Each Psalm begins and ends with the same command, “Praise ye the LORD” (146:1, 10; 147:1, 20; 148:1, 14; 149:1, 9; 150:1, 6).
B. Commands to praise the Lord occur at least 36 times, with a magnificent crescendo consisting entirely of commands to praise Him in Psalm 150:
—146:1 [2x]; 10;
—147: 1, 12 [2x]; 20;
—148:1 [3x]; 2 [2x]; 3 [2x]; 4; 5; 7; 13; 14;
—149:1; 3; 6; 9;
—150: 1 [3x]; 2 [2x]; 3 [2x]; 4 [2x]; 5 [2x]; 6 [2x]).
C. Through these commands, God teaches us many truths about the theology of praise:
1. Praise must be given to the LORD, who is my God, your God, and our God: His name is to be praised!
2. The commands to praise Him are directed universally—all must praise Him: everyone who reads these Psalms; the believer’s own soul; Jerusalem and Zion; all His angels and His hosts; the sun, moon, and all the stars; the heaven of heavens; the waters that are above the heavens; the dragons and all deeps; fire, hail, snow, vapors, and stormy wind; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings and all people; princes and all judges; young men, maidens, old men, and children; everything that has breath.
3. God must be praised everywhere: from the earth and the heavens; in the heights; in the congregation of the saints; in the dance; in His sanctuary; in the firmament of His power.
4. God demands praising Him with singing and numerous musical instruments: upon the harp, the loud cymbals, and the high sounding cymbals; with the timbrel, harp, psaltery, the sound of the trumpet, stringed instruments and organs.
5. God must be praised for a vast number of reasons:
—He is the help and hope of His people;
—He keeps truth forever;
—He executes judgment for the oppressed, feeds the hungry, looses the prisoners, opens the eyes of the blind, raises up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, preserves the strangers, relieves the fatherless and widows, and turns the way of the wicked upside down;
—He will reign forever;
—He builds up Jerusalem, gathers together the outcasts of Israel, heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds, and tells the number of stars and calls them all by their names;
—He is great, of great power, and His understanding is infinite;
—He lifts up the meek and casts the wicked down to the ground;
—He covers the heaven with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass to grow on the mountains, and gives food to the beasts and the young ravens;
—He delights not in the strength of horses and does not take pleasure in the legs of man;
—He takes pleasure in those who fear Him and hope in His mercy;
—He has strengthened the bars of the gates of Jerusalem and blessed her children within her;
—He makes peace in her borders and fills her with the finest of wheat;
—He sends forth His commandment on the earth, and His Word runs very swiftly;
—He gives snow like wool, scatters the hoarfrost like ashes, casts forth His ice like morsels, and none can stand before His cold;
—He sends forth His Word and melts His ice;
—He causes His wind to blow and the waters flow;
—He shows His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel;
—He has not dealt in this way with any other nation, and no other nation has known His judgments as Israel has;
—His name alone is excellent;
—His glory is above the earth and heaven;
—He exalts the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even the children of Israel, a people near Him;
—it is good to sing praises to our God;
—praising Him is pleasant and comely;
—He commanded and all things were created;
—He has also established His creation forever and made a decree that will not pass;
—He takes pleasure in His people and beautifies the meek with salvation;
—His mighty acts.
6. God specifies that we praise Him according to His excellent greatness, and with thanksgiving and dance.
7. All His saints have the honor of having His high praises in their mouth along with a two-edged sword in their hand in order to execute vengeance on the heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, and to execute upon them the judgment written.
D. In addition to these commands, statements of resolve to praise the Lord occur two times (146:2 [2x]).
In view of the immense divine emphasis directing us to praise Him that we find in this marvelous ending of the book of Psalms, let us with the Psalmist resolve to praise Him while we live, while we have any being!
Praise ye the Lord.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
In order to deal with some among the Corinthians who were saying “that there is no resurrection of the dead” (15:12), Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 to reiterate the gospel that he had preached to them. As important as this passage is for our understanding of the gospel, it is vital that we keep the following points in mind about what this passage was not in its original historical context.
1. It was not a first-time revelation of what the gospel was to the Corinthians—Paul had already made the gospel known to them when he had evangelized them while he was with them. The Corinthian church thus did not need this passage to know what the gospel was!
2. It was not an initial revelation of what the gospel was to the apostles; the apostles had received the gospel message directly from Christ some twenty years prior to Paul’s writing this passage and had been preaching it ever since. Peter preached the gospel at Pentecost without any prior instruction from Paul, and he did not need any such instruction at any later point in his life. The same was true for all the other apostles as well (Acts4:33; 5:20-21; 42) and also for Philip (Acts 8:4-40).
3. It was not an instance of either progressive revelation or a progress of doctrine such that it supplemented, corrected, or fine-tuned in any necessary way any supposedly rudimentary or unclear notions that the original apostles may have had of what they were to preach as the gospel.
4. It was not an initial revelation of what the gospel was to the early Church at large. Those who were in the Church prior to Paul’s writing this passage had been saved by hearing the gospel ministered to them by someone who knew what to preach to them. The early Church at large, therefore, already knew definitively what the gospel was before Paul penned this passage because they knew what they had believed to be saved.
5. It was not some vital theological revelation that the early Church was lacking until Paul wrote these words. Proof positive of this statement is seen from the fact that the leaders of the early Church, including Paul, were able to definitively resolve a key doctrinal matter concerning how Gentiles were to be saved (Acts 15; see this post for a full explanation of this crucial point) before Paul had even gone to Corinth to preach the gospel to the Corinthians (Acts 18).
In light of these points, we need to adjust certain theological and practical viewpoints that have resulted from attaching undue importance to 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 at the expense of other equally inspired and relevant revelation from God concerning the gospel that the apostles preached. The changes that we need to make include the following:
1. The lack of explicit mention of the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 has led some to reason that the gospel “changed” from a preaching of the gospel of the kingdom (e.g., Acts 8:12) to a preaching of the gospel of Christ. A careful examination of a number of passages in Acts (as well as in the Epistles, including even 1 Corinthians 15 itself) shows that this reasoning is fallacious (see my post, Did the Gospel Change from Samaria to Corinth?). We must, therefore, reject such reasoning.
2. Not keeping in mind that these verses are merely a brief summary of what Paul actually preached to the Corinthians, some have resorted to an approach to evangelism that too often more or less only amounts to a quoting of these statements to people. A close comparison of Peter’s preaching of the gospel in Caesarea with this passage brings out key truths that are missed when such an approach is taken.
First, Acts 10 teaches us how an apostle preached Jesus as the Christ to unsaved Gentiles (10:38) before testifying to His crucifixion and resurrection (10:39-41). By communicating to the lost the specific information that Peter did in this statement, we will properly explain to them the meaning of the term Christ and also preach the kingdom of God to them (cf. Matt.12:28)!
Second, it reveals to us a key truth (Acts 10:42) that an apostle proclaimed after testifying to His crucifixion and resurrection (10:39-41) and how he based his subsequent appeal to sinners for salvation (10:43) on the basis of his prior proclamation of that key truth. By evangelizing the lost in the same way, we will inform them of the proper significance of these key events for both God and man, and we will also further preach the kingdom of God to them.
When presenting 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 to the lost, therefore, we should be careful to explain the term Christ properly to them and not take for granted that they will invest it with its right biblical significance upon merely hearing it from us (see this post for an example of the problem of not doing this). We should also properly explain the significance of the key historical events that the Messiah experienced (crucifixion and resurrection) in the manner explained above.
Doing so, we will preach to them the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12)!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Here is When I Survey the Wondrous Cross in my bass clef solfeggio method.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
