Bible Study: Gospel

A study on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in relation to people and places is quite interesting. There were six people specifically mentioned with their roles in relation to Jesus and five places where Jesus had gone through. Each of these people and places contributed to the accomplishment of God the Father's will.

Six People

Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus John 18:5   They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, I am. And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.

Annas, the one who questioned JesusJohn 18:13  And led Him away to Annas first; for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

Peter, the one who denied JesusJohn 18:16  But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the maid who kept the door and brought Peter in.John 18:27  Then Peter denied again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Caiaphas, the one who delivered JesusJohn 18:24  Annas then sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.John 18:28  Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early morning. And they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the passover.

Pilate, the one who delivered JesusJohn 18:38  Pilate said to Him, What is truth?And having said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in Him.John 18:39  But you have a custom that I release one man to you at the Passover. Is it your will therefore that I release to you the King of the Jews?

Barabbas, the one who replaced JesusJohn 18:40  Then they cried out again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

If these six people were to be studied of their character that led to Jesus' crucifixion, I don't think any believer could say they did not possess any of these characters. How often we betrayed Jesus like Judas for personal gain? I believe a lot of time. How often we questioned Jesus like Annas of His Godhood and doubted Him in our trying circumstances? Many of us do at times. How often we denied Jesus publicly among the unbelieving and rebellious crowd in our workplaces or in a community or in a social gathering? We have no excuses. How often we delivered Jesus like Pilate and saved ourselves from impending accusation and public condemnation? We often do this too. How often we escaped our punishment and been replaced by Jesus like Barabbas?

I can speak for myself. In many cases, I am no better than any of these six persons. But the truth is, all these persons paved the way for my salvation! Yes, I can identify myself with all these ones, but the Lord Jesus Christ needed those to justify my sinfulness and died for me, to redeem me, and save me! Despite all those people being just me, He still loved me and gave His life for me! I can hang my head in utter shame for my sinfulness, but thank God, He gave His Son to die for me. What a gospel!

Three Places

Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayedMatthew 26:36  Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to the disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.Mark 14:32  And they came to a place named Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, Sit here while I pray.

Gabbatha, the place where Jesus was judgedJohn 19:13  Pilate therefore, when he heard these words, brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucifiedJohn 19:17  And bearing the cross for Himself, He went out to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

These three places where Jesus prayed, was judged, and was crucified are also very significant in its spiritual application. The Lord went through those places and experienced the will of the Father by drinking the cup of wrath, was unrighteously judged, and inhumanly crucified. All for me! Now, I must experience the same spiritually, all these places subjectively. I must pray and take the Father's will as my will, be judged of my soul life with all its good and bad, and be crucified in my old man daily that I may live to Christ. All for Him! These were the experiences of the Apostles, and it must also be the experiences of the believers today, including me.   

There is a need to pray and pray, even unceasing pray (1 Thes. 5:17). Then, be judged of all that is not according to God in our life and our living (1 Cor. 11:32). And, be crucified with Christ that Christ may live in and through us(Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21).

The six people led to our salvation from eternal punishment and the three places are leading us to experience a normal Christian life, to pray, be judged daily, die daily, and live Christ daily to be an overcomer. What a gospel is this! The gospel of salvation for sinners and the gospel of salvation for saints!

Shepherding Lesson: A Minister to the Gentiles

In shepherding, I have learned a lot of lessons first hand. According to the Bible, having enjoyed the Lord's shepherding I must shepherd others. I have been shepherding a good number of families and individual seekers and saints. Some of them spanning a decade and more. Some of them have come into the church-life, and still, some of them began to show signs of disinterest. 

On the positive side, I am more than willing and happy to shepherd those who are open to shepherding. On the negative side, to those who directly or indirectly indicated to me about their disinterest, I have no way to force myself into shepherding them. I have tried my best to knock on their doors again and again until I discerned their disinterest. For them, I prayed to the Lord that I would give them up, for now, my active shepherding. I did not do this lightly. I took their matter before the Lord in prayer a couple of times and had the feeling from deep within that I should take a break for these closed ones. In my time with the Lord, I told Him that I am still willing to spend my time, energy, and money to take care of them, provided that they are open to shepherding. Therefore, temporarily I will withhold my shepherding to these ones until and unless they themselves called me and confirmed their need to be shepherded again. This was a painful decision I took before the Lord in prayer. 

As I pondered on this matter over and over again, I was reminded of the record in the gospel how the Lord was rejected by His own people, the Jews, and how He was forced to turn to the Gentiles. I took this as a pattern, and now decided to spend most of my time on shepherding the new ones and the Gentiles, especially. I even fellowshipped with my wife not to spend too much time on believers who are not so open and pure. After all, they are believers already, they are saved, and they know how and where to receive the spiritual food supply. When they are in need they will definitely come to us. We do not close the door, in fact, the door to all seeking believers will ever be open. But we will not initiate to shepherd them unless they invited us again. We will rather invest our time on the Gentiles henceforth.

The Lord Jesus Himself and the Apostles had the same experiences of being turned down by the Jews, which turned out to be good for the Gentiles. I believe the time has come for me to do the same. The majority of my countrymen are yet to know and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. Its high time I fully focus on the gospel preaching in coordination with the white horse running these days amidst the global pandemic. I believe this is the Lord's timely leading. And henceforth, I shall serve among the Gentiles as a minister of Christ Jesus, a laboring priest.

That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:16  

Ministry Meeting: The Will of God

But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4

The Lord's up-to-date speaking has become richer and richer as His coming again is nearer and nearer. Last weekend we enjoyed the Lord's timely speaking in the first-ever global online conference. When I first heard this arrangement, I was wondering how that will work out for the saints in India. But ultimately the churches decided to participate in this conference. The result was marvelous.

Through the churches arrangement 2908 saints attended with online prophesying, and 1921 individual attendance who attended at least one message out of the six, thereby, totaling to 4829 attendance from India. That was amazing!

Being so much impressed by this and also by the saints' response to the ministry speaking, the Lord gave me a deep burden to initiate a regular weekly ministry meeting. After prayer and fellowship with the brothers, we had our first ministry meeting after our prayer meeting today, Saturday. The verse in Acts 6:4 is very apt, we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.

The Lord's speaking in the ministry meeting today was so fresh and it keeps ringing in my ear. The ministry message today is, "The Will of God."

Ephesians

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ,

1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

1:9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,

1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him;

1:11 In whom also we were designated as an inheritance, having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

1:22 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church,

God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, all according to His will. His will was counseled in the divine Trinity for the sonship of His predestinated ones and was made known to us, to head up all things in Christ to the church according to His working in the saints.

But Satan tried his best to thwart God's will unsuccessfully, causing a universal heap of collapse through corruption. But God is undoing all that Satan had done and has been doing by delivering the saints from the corrupted heap of collapse to ultimately head up all things in Christ through the church and to the church. Therefore, the church-life is a life of heading up, and the church is the vessel for Him to do the heading up.

But how are we practically headed up? By the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity, by Christ Himself as the Life and the Light, bringing in order to reverse the collapse caused by corruption. Christ as light delivering people from darkness, Christ as life delivering people from death, and bringing in order with all things being headed up in Christ Himself. This, therefore, will ultimately issue in and consummate in the New Jerusalem!

The first ministry meeting in the church here set the record straight. We are one with God's will and are heading forward to accomplish it. I felt so blessed for all the Lord's marvelous and mysterious works in the universe, in the church, in me and my family as well. Despite the global pandemic mingled with a crisis in every earthly establishment, the Lord preserves us, protects us, and provides us with all that He deems best for us.

Halleluiah! Praise the Lord!  

Strength in Rest

For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you will be saved; In quietness and in trust will be your strength; But you were not willing, Isaiah 30:15   

In the same principle as "eating our work," in rest is our strength, too. Another spiritual mysterious paradox. But this is the truth. The rest here is the rest in the Lord, the principle of Sabbath in the New Testament. This rest is not a lazy rest, but a rest in Christ. This is another eternal gospel for the believers who are "missionary" work-minded. The Lord is urgently in need of men who would rest in Him, not work for Him. His works can effectively be accomplished only by those who truly rest in Him first. No rest, no work. 

The church in Ephesus, Thyatira, and Sardis are good examples of works and works with no true rest in the Lord. Despite their "works", the Lord had something against them. They did not truly carry out the Lord's work despite their many works. In the midst of works, they lost the work that was most important; to rest in the Lord and be one with the Lord. No wonder, the Lord's word in the gospel of Matthew warned of such workers.

Matthew  7:22   Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power? 7:23   And then I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.

Therefore, I must rest in Him, taking Him as my Sabbath daily. As I rest in Him, I am accumulating the riches of Christ in His words. This then becomes my constitution; being filled with the word of Christ. Then, as the Lord anoints these words, these Logos will become Rhema whenever the Lord deems best. And I will be reminded by the Lord of His words in me. 

But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you. John 14:26  

What if I do not rest in Him and be constituted with Him in His word? There would be nothing to be reminded of. In that case, I would be spiritually bankrupt and would have no rest at all. Even if I would try my best to work out something, it will all be restlessness. Therefore, in resting in Him, I am accumulating the riches of Christ in His words, which are also my words and works. Resulting in a rich deposit of spiritual treasure of all the experiences and enjoyment of Christ for years altogether. This is being a scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens with rich treasure from which I can mine and bring forth spiritual riches from things new and old, whenever the need arises.  

And He said to them, For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a householder who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old. John 13:52  

The new things are good; they are the daily manna that the Lord taught us to pray for in Matthew 6:11, "Give us today our daily bread." Daily manna has to be collected, consumed, and be constituted with, but that's not good enough. The old also is very much needed. The past experiences and enjoyment of Christ as an eternal memorial are the backbone and testimony of a believer that will make him a pillar in course of time. The old confirms the growth and maturity that qualifies one to be an overcomer. Therefore, such will be made pillars in the temple of God.   

He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name. Revelation 3:12   

All these will be the result of resting in the Lord. Therefore, in rest in my strength. What a deep and profound spiritual lesson! This is to come to the Lord, to take His yoke, and rest in Him. What a gospel of rest!

Matthew

11:28  Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
11:29  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
11:30  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Lord, cause me to come to You and rest in You daily. 

Eat Your Work

 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. John 4:34   For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power. Colossians 1:29

As a Christian, I am well aware that I must eat the Lord through the Word and prayer every day. Christ is my food, drink, air, and all that I need for my daily living. This aspect of eating and enjoying Christ has been well been taught to me ever since I came into the church life. In fact, these are very basic yet inevitable. All Christians need to be taught and brought into these fundamental experiences in their Christian lives, otherwise, their Christian life will only be a mere religion.

Now, the Lord has also led me to another higher level of eating Him! As Jesus Himself declared, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. Here,  the Lord's food is to do the will of the Father and finish the Father's work. What does this mean? Am I supposed to eat or work? Well, I simply must eat, and the result of eating will be the work, and the work based on the eating will simply be another kind of eating. So eat, work, and work, eat!

My initial days of salvation was full of eating the Lord. I remember spending hours and hours daily for my spiritual eating. Those eating made me grow and grow. And it was by those eating that I am what I am today now. As I ate and ate, and I still do daily, maintaining sufficient time for eating spiritual food, there has been a wonderful manifestation of the issue of my eating; serving the Lord! 

The Lord has been gracing me to serve Him all these years in whatever way He has been leading me. Yet in all my service, one key point that stands out is; eating. This sounds paradoxical, mysterious, yet very very true. I eat the Lord and I serve the Lord. My serving the Lord is by eating the Lord. Therefore, the work that I do is actually my food.

From 2006 until March 2020 when the pandemic struck the world and travel restriction with strict social distancing imposed, my ministry literature journey has been paused for a while. I can truly testify that though I traveled the length and breadth of this country, covering all the states and important cities for the past more than one and a half-decade, I had been enjoying the Lord! Outwardly I labored, carrying books, traveling all kinds of terrains, of altering altitudes, of varying temperatures, of cross-culture, multilingual communities, etc., not once I felt I was physically laboring. Though there was physical labor too, the presence of the Lord in all those literature trip far surpassed the little hardship I went through, so much so that the physical labor is merely a drop in an ocean. It was real feasting.

Time and again I have testified to my coordinators that my travel for the ministry has always been a "vacation." Not in a worldly sense of sinful pleasure, but in the sense of resting in the presence of the Lord, and eating my works. The ministry is my food as the Lord said, My food is to do the will of My Father and finish His works. So my food is also to do the will of my Father and finish His works He assigns to me now and then.

What a blessing to learn this lesson! Eat your works as food! Yet all these laborings are by the strength the Lord provided through eating Him. Though I may labor outwardly, it is He who operates in me in power to accomplish His works. And that work is my food! 

Lord, cause me daily to eat my work!

Call to Be An Overcomer

The Lord's speaking these days has been cloud and clear. Time and again He sounding our a clarion call for the overcomers. He has been doing it through His speaking through the members of His Body. I am glad that I have heard them, and I must respond to the Lord 's call; to be an overcomer in this age.

AN OVERCOMER IS A MAN OF PRAYER

A Man of Prayer Redeems the Time

The call to be an overcomer is the call to be a man of prayer. To be a man of prayer we must redeem our time, catching every opportunity the Lord has given to us to live Him.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are without, redeeming the time. Colossians  4:5   

There must be no remorse or regret in the future for the things that we do today. To redeem the time is also to be wise, act, and live in wisdom and not to let any time slip by, but to live to experience and enjoy Christ and gain Christ. This kind of living will propagate Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ. In fact, such a living of redeeming the time is the living in God's will. 

And with his smooth words he will cause those who act wickedly toward the covenant to be profane. But the people who know their God will show strength and take action. Daniel 11:32  

A Man of Prayer Lives in God's Will

The living in God's will enables one to boldly take action. This will command the blessings of God and we will be blessed in all that we do. Everything that we do in God's will, will be accounted for by God, and anything that we do outside God's will, will be just in vain. Therefore, we must pray like the Psalmist to number our days. 

Teach us then to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalms 90:12

A Man of Prayer Prays Persistently

A man of prayer is persistent in his prayer with God as His faith. 

And Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. Mark 11:22

11:23 Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens, he will have it. 11:24 For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them. 11:25 And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in the heavens may also forgive you your offenses. 11:26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in the heavens forgive your offenses.

Yet there is a catch here point here, "when you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone.." Our living before God and man must be proper. In other words, we must be live a life corresponding to the life that we live, we must live an overcoming life. With the proper condition and position in our living we can pray by faith and execute God's will on the earth.

A man of prayer is also persistent in his prayer life. We must not lose heart. The enemy may do all that he can to cause havoc in the world. The ongoing pandemic is one such act. It may apparently seem like God is nowhere when thousands and millions are suffering and dying. But God is still on the throne; He lives, He reigns, He rules, and He is sovereignly operating behind the scene. We must not lose faith. He is wisely displaying His multifarious wisdom through the present situation. He will surely avenge the enemy of His children's prayer.

Luke 18:7 And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them? 18:8 I tell you that He will carry out their avenging quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

A Man of Prayer Understands the Time and Takes Action
A man of prayer like Daniel read the word, understood the times, took action, and joined himself to the word of God by taking necessary action. The action he took was fasting and prayer for God to accomplish what He prophesied in the book of Jeremiah concerning the return of the captivity after seventy years. Similarly, it was with the children of Issachar. 

And of the children of Issachar, men who understood the times that they might know what Israel should do, the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their command; 1 Chronicle 12:32 

A Man of Prayer Prays and Prays

Finally, as a man of prayer to be an overcomer we must not cease praying, especially for the saints.

Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I would sin against Jehovah by ceasing to pray for you, but I will instruct you in the good and right way. 1 Samuel 12:23  

May the Lord grace me to answer His call to be an overcomer in the present age. 

Lord, make be a man of prayer!
Lord, make me Your overcomer in this age!

Truth Lesson: Linking Faith

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”—Luke 18:8b

Faith in this verse literally in Greek means “the faith”. This denotes the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, like that of the widow.  The faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of faith. The faith here is the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ which is also called the linking faith—the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God—Rom. 1:17; Gal. 2:20; John 14:19. The linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return—Luke 18:8b. This linking faith is the Triune God moving in us to link us to His unsearchable riches—Eph. 3:8. And the faith of the believers who have no trust in themselves; rather, their trust is in God—2 Cor. 1:9. When the Lord Jesus returns, He will find a number of overcomers who are living by the linking faith and will regard them as treasures for His kingdom in the thousand years of His reign—Luke 18:8b; Rev. 20:4, 6.

This excerpt from the outline of the first-ever global online Memorial Day Conference was a new light to me. I was so impressed by this truth, "the linking faith." How I pray and aspire to live my Christian life by this linking faith in union with the Lord and be a living overcomer.

This online conference which is going on is the Lord's unprecedented move in the history of His recovery amidst the present pandemic situation prevailing all over the earth. When the announcement was first made for this conference, I was wondering how could such a thing be carried out in India. Many practical details are not just feasible with the majority of the saints. But in fellowship, the brothers picked up the burden, and now the churches are greatly benefiting from it. Our local church in Gurugram is one of the beneficiaries. What a blessing to be globally blended together in His speaking!

  

As the Lord taught me this truth on "the linking faith," I believe this is the follow up on what He has been teaching me these days on prayer and the word of God. Whatever He has taught me is developed further for the next level in my experience of life. I pray that this trend may go on until I attain a level of maturity that would make me a living overcomer. I need not try to gain new things or achieve new height by myself, but simply cooperate with what He is doing in His move today. The Lord does the work and I simply open myself to Him and go along with Him. 

Praise the Lord for the linking faith, and may this faith make me an overcomer by my living with it.