Amazing Paradoxes In And About The Bible

(Message by GB)

A great many recognized scholars in the world consider that the Bible is the greatest book ever written.  But for reasons beyond our comprehension the world in general doesn’t recognize it so.  This is not the only paradox.  There are innumerable ones similar to that.  The literary world treat it as a classic like Shakespeare, Milton and the like, and the religious world, as one of the religious books.  The greatest historian of the 20th century, Arnold Toynbee, a British born scholar, considers this book as a major source of primary reference for research in world history.  That is the status of this book in the secular world.

This book has to its credit certain interesting statistical records such as, the greatest number of copies printed every year, the greatest number of books sold in the publishing world, the greatest number of translations of this book in different languages, the cost of this book being lowest in the publishing market and so on.  Though educationalists know these facts, they regard it not stylish in these days to speak anything good of the Bible.  This is another paradox about the Bible.

Lecture 4: Glorious spiritual step called ‘Believing’

(GB Message)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek”, Rom 1: 16.

Let us go through this verse and consider carefully the meaning and implications of the step called “believing” in the life of a believer, and how the under-noted expressions in the same verse garnish it.

• the power of God
• not ashamed of
• the Gospel of Christ
• every one
• the Jew and the Greek.

The power of God
What does an average man understand by this expression “the power of God”? He does not even know what ‘God’ means and so there is no chance of his knowing anything about matters pertaining to God. Even to understand the meaning of the word “power” a man does not have sufficient knowledge.

There was a time when man worshipped the sun, moon, stars, lightning, rivers, mountain, mud, stone, animals, and birds. Things have not changed much since those days. Man is still ignorant, and his ignorance of the fact that he is ignorant leads to more transgression. This ignorance coupled with his sky-high pride are his greatest handicaps in understanding God.

Lecture 3: Faith

(GB Message)

The word faith is like an icon on a computer desktop. The icon by itself serves no purpose unless it directs the user to a document. Quite a number of believers stop with admiring the size and shape of the icon as it were, by being content with a superficial knowledge of ‘faith’. I urge every one of you to get better acquainted with the concept behind the icon rather than the glorious looking icon.

In order to have a sound knowledge of the concept of faith, let me divide it into two parts:-

1. Faith in the inerrancy of scripture (a belief in the truthfulness, inerrancy and the urgent message behind the word of God James 2: 17, 24)
2. Faith in the atoning work of Christ (the acceptance by the believer of God’s salvation offered by grace through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. It is to be availed with deep gratitude to Him, and also believing that other than Christ Jesus there is no salvation in any other Acts 4: 12)

We shall try to understand these two parts of faith in some depth. At this stage it will be useful to introduce the concept what I call the twin side principle, with respect to each of the two parts of faith viz.: (i) The theological aspect and (ii) the work aspect.

Lecture 2: The magnificient grace of God

(GB Message)

Before we begin the lesson:
Some may think that they are hearing the same old message repeatedly. Thinking in this way indicates that the message does not penetrate into your mind. It could be a warning that ‘sin lies at the door’. For the past 2000 years God is preaching the same old message. Though it is the same old message of God spoken to millions of people for two millennia, it penetrates into the mind of only a few. People would rather hear new messages, interesting stories, strange presentations, attractive T.V. style preachers and so on.

There are many attractive fancy churches in nooks and corners of every city: handclapping churches, drum-beating churches, Amen-shouting churches, slaying-of-the-Spirit churches, prosperity-gospel churches, not to speak of hundreds of varieties of traditional churches. There are churches where one can hear long sermons and churches where one can hear a neat twenty-minute message. Apart from these churches there are also, all night prayer meetings, fasting and prayer groups, miracles meetings and so on so forth.

Let us choose our church carefully because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has foretold “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”, Mt 7: 22, 23.

Lecture 1: Three perilous forces faced by a spiritual man

(GB Message)

We use the word ‘spiritual’ to distinguish those things that are not earthly but pertain to divine matters. For us, these terms are special terms used exclusively in connection with God. To be spiritual minded is not an ability that can be acquired by human beings on their own. Rather the ability is only imparted by God through the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him (simply because they are beyond the capacity of the earthly mind); nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual (having the help of the Holy Spirit) judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one”, 1 Cor 2: 14, 15.

Such a mental attitude as referred to in the quotation cited above cannot be attained unless God grants it. To begin with, the person must have been born of water and the Spirit. The other two qualifications are (a) being a healthy member of an anointed church (b) being one who walks seriously in the path of sanctification observing all the discipline found therein. Thereafter, knowledge improves as his experience in the path of sanctification progresses.

Need For Taking Up The Cross Daily

(GB Message)

“And He was saying to them all, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”, Luke 9:23-25 (NASB).

Taking up one’s cross daily indicates the believer’s responsibility to make spiritual discipline a daily routine. Satan and the carnality in us cunningly make us overlook this aspect and instead imparts to our minds the ‘Discipline yes but daily no’ rule. We have to devise ways and means of bringing it into our daily routine in spite of the counter suggestion of evil forces. Here, the God-given mind can come to our rescue in devising the ways and means of accomplishing this aim.

When God gives us the command, it is our duty to fulfill it. It is very wrong to assume that we can fulfill His command only to the extent ‘possible’. According to this logic, no one can be in hell.

There is nothing reclusive or remote about taking up one’s cross. It does not refer to a hermitic existence. Instead, it requires that we be very much ‘in the world but not of the world’. It requires that we be ‘not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of ones mind.’ The question may arise as to how exactly this is accomplished. The clue here is in the word ‘daily’. Unless one makes it a routine habit, it will not be possible to fulfill His commandments.

Tragedy of “. . . but few are chosen”

(GB Message)

When those originally invited by the king refused to come to the wedding feast, the king’s servants went into the streets and invited all the people they could find to come to the wedding feast. Many of this second group of invitees came, but even in that group, we are told about one man who did not come appropriately. Jesus concludes this parable by saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt 22:14). We know that we have been invited to the kingdom of heaven. But are we among the few who are chosen?

We see the earliest group of godless people in the book of Genesis, at the time of Noah.

• 6:3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
• 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
• 7:4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”

Nature of the path of sanctification

(GB Message)

Satan constantly attempts to prevent believers from reaching the heavenly kingdom offered by Lord Jesus Christ. The magnitude of his venomous mischief in this matter is unimaginable. That is why the word of God has warned believers time again about this danger. The enemy’s various attributes described in scripture such as “murderer” (Jn 8: 44), “liar” (Jn 8: 44), “enemy” (Mt 13: 25, 39), “devourer” and “adversary of the believer” (1 Pet 5: 8), an “accuser” (Rev 12: 1o), and many more are sufficient evidence to understand how venomous he is.

Rest in Lord Jesus

(GB message)

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The world is an alien place for believers and as such they face troubles, turmoil, and at times tribulations too. Spiritual progress is always an up-hill task for believers. Although believers can at times feel troubled in spirit, they need to avoid reaching that stage of extremity. As believers, they have the privilege of taking shelter in the Lord’s loving concern and care. However, in the midst of an agitated life situation, they are liable to overlook this special privilege and then tend to suffer unnecessarily.

Righteousness only through faith in Christ

(GB Message)

and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (Phil 3: 9)

Righteousness only through faith in Christ
Though an average believer is quite aware of this fact, very few have an emotional understanding of it and practise it. Many Christians do not understand what “the just shall live by faith means.” I have heard very powerful sermons on this scripture in my younger days. I suspect that neither the pastor nor his sheep had any inkling of what it really is. That is why I used the phrase “emotional understanding”.

In churches where God has provided micro ministries, anointed teachers can teach people in a way that everyone understands a subject. To be in a church like that is a privilege and in such an environment, it is possible for all members to learn many important truths. EBA is a church like this, and it is possible for everyone here to understand this teaching. When a person understands that the just shall live by faith, they will either leave the church or get wonderfully integrated into the church as true members.

Faith in Christ is not to become a mere slogan that comes easy to the lips.