We need to keep our trust on God and not succumb to the pressures of this world and its pagan ways. Otherwise, just like the Israelites, we too will keep returning to our Babel.
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the first chapter of the Book of Daniel
Real change can only be brought upon by the transformation of the heart and as we saw throughout the accounts of the post-exile writings, the Israelites only ever changed their words but never their ways. Like Nehemiah, let us not waste time in forcefully correcting the actions of our fellow beings but rather connect them to God who is the only one who can intervene and make real change in their lives.
One of the reason for our spiritual immaturity is that we are consider our body to be worth more than our soul. Often we do not realize that we do have a soul. We fear people who can only harm our body or hurt our emotions and do not fear God who has redeemed our soul from eternal death.
Sometimes we ask God for signs as proof, but is that wrong? We see a lot of people in the bible asking for signs and God graciously provided them with signs. As long as our intentions are pure, God would be happy to help us if that leads us to understand His will.
Unlike the returning exiles, we must renew our faith in Christ everyday and not wait for such moments to make us realise the need for God in our lives.
Our words reflect the thoughts of our heart and if we do not have God guide our hearts, we will be giving way to the evil one to take over and defile us in the process.
After rebuilding the wall, the exiles realized that they needed structural changes in their lives also.
While we are striving hard, not to conform to the pattern of this world, do we conform to the Word of God or do we struggle to not desire the things of this world?
Our walk with God is similar to that of Peter’s, the winds don’t stop raging on us but when our focus is on God, we are able to walk on all waters.
Like the fictional agency “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, satan also has his agents placed all over this world and in every part of our lives and he will activate them when he sees us coming closer to God.
No doubt that these liturgies contain meaningful statements while the hymns are someone’s inspiration and experience. The question here is not about the spiritual richness of the liturgies and hymns but how it is being sung by the believers.
The pattern repeats itself again later in the final chapters of the book, where Nehemiah thinks he has won over the enemy only to find the enemy had already infiltrated their camps.
We may recall the Government officials hiring Judas Iscariot to identify the Messiah, as they were unable to recognize Jesus on their own, as they did not have the Spirit of God. Whereas the ten lepers who were staying away from their village, were able to recognize Jesus in a remote place.
Our lives are not perfect and oftentimes we too mess up like these people, but if we allow God to work in our lives he will transform our mess into something beautiful. And that’s the story of Genesis!
By sending His Son into this world, God has shown His unconditional love towards us. It is difficult for mankind to understand God’s love, as the world looks at love in an entirely different perspective.
God gives equal chance to the good and the evil doers and allows the evil doers to be among the good. He just wants us to end up in the good bundle at the end.
We have a habit of not leaving anything to chance. We feel the need to plan for our future and have a five year plan for our personal and work lives but seldom for our spiritual lives.
In our busy lives, we have forgotten who God really is. If we even think a bit, our hearts would burn in awe of Him. This entire life will not be enough for us to praise Him when we understand His love and once we understand His love, we will not be able to stop singing His praises and will continue over and over again.
The final chapters of the book of Genesis don’t really give us any insights into the lives of Jacob and his sons in Egypt but if we read carefully they do give us a glimmer of hope for a promise to come.
Hope is an optimistic attitude of expecting something good to happen in our future. When such expected things don’t happen, it sometimes causes agony and depression in some of our lives.
In the present Pandemic situation, people frequently ask “Why is God punishing this world?” Some people think that the wrath of God is upon the earth and some take this as a sign for the second coming of Jesus as a Judge.
Nehemiah got off to a rocky start and as he will learn the lesson the hard way, that his efforts of securing the city had no effect on the hearts of the people, as they had already fortified their hearts to keep God out.
We were put on this earth to Praise God but we are preoccupied by our own lives, in living them to the fullest, that we have forgotten our very purpose of existence.
In the prevailing pandemic, because of community transmission, it becomes hard to track the chain of transmission of the virus in a large number of cases. The virus has started circulating within the community and can also infect those individuals who have neither traveled to a country affected by the outbreak nor have come into contact with a person infected by the virus.
Ezra, who was sent to teach the scriptures to the exiles, spent his first stint in Jerusalem, separating families to purify the people rather than letting God deal with His people.
While Egyptians were selling of their lands to ward off starvation, Joseph’s family was making real estate investments in Egypt. For us it may be a flip of the page but for Jacob’s family it took many years for them to realise the dream that God had shown the patriarchs. Most of us give up on God when we are passing through our famines. We forget all his past blessings and promises for our future. .
When we read the above verse without synchronising our minds with the mind of Jesus, we start encouraging believers to earn money by whatever means (even unrighteous ways) to cater to the needs of the Church and its projects.
The Messiah was amongst us and no one wanted to believe in His existence, neither the pharisees nor the teachers of the law and not even Jesus’ own family.
When God guides our paths, all the arrangements are made for us. Ezra did not have to worry about the finances for his trip or the funds for the temple sacrifices and ornaments or even to gather his troops, everything was prepared by God.
The basic principle behind Machine learning is to use past mistakes to figure out the right path. That’s how our mind also works when it comes to the people who have hurt us. We pretend that we are over it, but deep down our minds are still storing their mistakes and our future actions will be based on this data, all this to avoid getting hurt by them in the future.
No one can harm us because the God who loves us, loves the people who intend to harm us too and no one can stand against His love. We may fail in showing love to our enemies but God is able to love our enemies to the extent of transforming their darkest lives into a light shining for the Truth.
Fifteen years after the work on the temple had been halted due to numerous oppositions that the exiles faced, God sent his word to the people of Israel. First through the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1) and then two months later through the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 1), God spoke to the people commanding them to restart the work on the temple.
Storing our treasures in heaven does not mean that we have to store all the mortal things of this earth in heaven, rather it means that when we shift our focus to the things of heaven, our rewards will start to accumulate in heaven. And if our rewards continue to accrue in heaven, our hearts will cling to our Lord Jesus to inherit His belongings.
Jesus humbly calls us to take up His yoke and learn directly from Him to help our souls find rest. He wants us to accept His yoke as a connector between Him and us, so that we don’t need to look to anyone or anything else.
While the returning exiles continued work on the temple, the natives took notice of their new neighbors’ plans and offered help to Zerubbabel and Co.
From selling Joseph out of jealousy to trading prison sentence with Joseph’s younger brother out of loyalty, we see a huge shift in the attitude of Judah.
Let our love be without hypocrisy. If we hate evil, our love will be complete but unfortunately we love evil.
…something was missing as in the midst of the shouts of joy, there was mixed, the sound of weeping also. No one could distinguish between who were shouting with joy or who were crying, overcome by their sorrow. God’s presence was missing which could only be felt by the older generation, the ones who had witnessed the glory of the previous temple before their land was conquered.
We are placed in this world with the purpose of spreading the Kingdom of God to others and God will help us in every way when we are on this mission. He will never leave us nor forsake us just as He taught His disciples while sending them out into the world. It is up to us if we are ready to depend on Him to carry out His mission.
Who does not want joy in this world? Irrespective of their faith, people will take a chance to grab any joy offered in this manner.
The intentions of the returning exiles were noble, leaving everything behind to rebuild the city of Jerusalem but as we will see in the following chapters, they did little to rebuild their broken relationship with God.
On the basis of the above verse, we are trained to walk on eggshells when confronting our fellow brethren of their mistakes. While we want to do the right thing and correct our brethren, we are plagued with guilt because of the above verse. If we do adhere to our inclination and confront the offender, he might quote the above verse and say ‘Are you not aware of Jesus’ teaching Do not judge others?’
In trying to hide his identity, Joseph kept delaying God’s plan in the lives of his family members.
The outward show that we put on may prevent us hurt from the people around us but it also prevents us from admitting our weaknesses and coming to God for a solution.
The people chosen to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and His love were busy following traditions and burdening the people with rules and regulations and failed to do their work. We are now the shepherds who have tasted the love of God and should let the others know of that love.
This commandment has not only been manipulated by parents but also by the pharisees in misleading young people.
So many of us carry that guilt around, the guilt of our past mistakes. It is not God who burdens us but the deceiver who keeps reminding us of our past shortcomings so that we drown ourselves in sorrow and guilt and forget about our connection with God.
Sometimes when God is convicting us of something our immediate response is to run away from Him rather than take His help in confronting our inner demons.
This earth will only be able to give us robes (Honor) made by human hands but God wants to give us a New Robe. He wants to replace our worn out prison clothes with His heavenly robe and His seal of approval.
According to this world, victory and prosperity are dovetailed notions. Whereas, for the followers of Christ, victory and prosperity do not conform to each other. Not being able to discern the difference between victory and prosperity, leads many believers to become prey to the concept of suffering and end up losing their victorious life.
When we reconcile with our brethren, we receive a temporary peace, our peace of mind. But what Jesus offers us is much more. It is the ultimate peace in our hearts, knowing that our broken relationship with The Father has been fixed by His death on the cross.
While reading this verse in isolation, some understand this verse as the presence of God is possibly drawn only if two or more people gather in a place. With this misconception, people use this verse to invite God’s presence while they come together. The whole endeavor for coming together in His presence may go in vain as it exposes the lack of knowledge of the word of God in them.
Often times we want humans to remember us. We seek the favor of our fellowmen and women and long for their affection, especially during our present state. But the one who is within us, who is constantly seeking us, who always remembers us and has carved us in the palm of his hands, we treat indifferently or maybe take Him for granted.
Jesus compares the person who hears and follows God’s commands as a wise man who built his house upon the rock. This house has a strong foundation hence is able to withstand all the tremors and tribulations of life.
Jesus uses the temple tax as an example, just like he used the fig tree and little children, to teach his disciples important lessons.
Just as the kings of the earth do not tax their own children but only their subjects, Jesus’ followers should not have to pay a religious tax to their heavenly King and Father.
The present freedom is a provision of grace that has to be received by faith. This freedom is available exclusively when people realise the gravity of their situation when they were slaves to sin, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them in penitence and self examination. Self righteousness does not allow people to cherish this freedom in fullness.
Once again Joseph’s cloak became an integral part of someone’s lie and Potiphar was fooled by his wife. Joseph was sent to prison but the Lord’s hand was still with him as the change in scenery did not stop Joseph from rising among the ranks even when he was in the prison.
People question why did Jesus have to come in a manger? Why did God do this to His Son? This passage will be absolute shocker to them that Jesus chose this family to be born in.
Jesus continues his teaching on the mountain. In this chapter He focuses on five topics.
The disciples were always with Jesus, yet they were unable to feed the crowd. They were traveling with Jesus, yet were unable to calm the storm. Above all, they were right next to Jesus listening to Him explaining what will happen to Him and the redemption plan of God, yet they were unable to grasp any of it.
A combination of Jacob’s love for Joseph and Joseph’s innate nature of telling on his brothers caused friction in the house of Israel. Jacob did not help matters when he made an ornate robe for his favourite son Joseph causing further drift among the siblings.
The seven words uttered by Jesus Christ hanging on the cross are the best instant prayers displayed to motivate us to pray to God in the right spirit, even during these tough times.
Jesus goes on to say that what is the point of loving only those whom we like and that even the pagans do that. We have seen the love of God, the unconditional love that God has shown us.
In this quick update about Esau and his family we discuss how Issac’s firstborn did everything he thought was right and perhaps led a good and honorable life. But as we find out living a good life is just not good enough.
Like Jacob, it’s time for all of us to return to our Bethel, the place where we first met God.
Soon after Jesus was baptized, he was led by the Spirit to the wilderness where he spent forty days and nights fasting.
The swift Trial, Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus.
Most of the main line churches are celebrating the Holy Communion by distributing bread and serving wine in one cup called chalice to all of its confirmed congregant members. Many churches instead of chalice have started using separate mini cups for each individual to serve the wine. Some catholic churches distribute wafers/bread to the congregation…
Jesus and John, both preached in a similar manner but their lifestyles were different. The former lived a normal life and the latter lived in the wilderness. However, not many people took their message. Maybe people went to John not to repent or to get baptized but to see how was he living and similarly, people might have gone to hear Jesus not because they wanted to know his message but probably to find fault in him.
God uses different ways to reveal His plans to people. The shepherds were visited by angels and received the Good news of the birth of Christ and for these wise men, God chose to reveal the same plan through a star.
A very dark but real chapter in which we learn about Dinah, the daughter of Leah, who on her casual outing to visit her friends was raped by the ruler of the land, Shechem.
Whenever we are in a difficult situation financially, the first place we look to cut back is our offerings. And when we are in a difficult situation emotionally, the first place we look to cut back is our fellowship with God.
No one is perfect but what we need to know is that God can use anyone. We shouldn’t hold back ourselves from becoming a part of God’s plan, God has his ways to use us. We shouldn’t think that we cannot go to God now because we are not worthy, that is the deceiver fooling us in to believing that we are not worthy. But God calls us as we are.
All the time, after His ministry, Jesus adhered this social distancing to get united with His Father. In the garden of Gethsemane too, Jesus maintained a distance from his disciples to strengthen Him in order to accomplish His Father’s will.
Having overcome Laban, Jacob prepares for his next obstacle on his way back home, his scorned brother Esau. On his way, the angels of the Lord met him and for some reason, Jacob saw it fit to rename that place Mahanaim, meaning two camps, one for him and one for God and his angels.
Jacob finally had enough of his uncle Laban’s attitude and after a message from God, finally got the nerve to return to his hometown and face his brother. He met with his wives privately in the fields to plan his exit strategy. He put forward his case in front of Laban’s daughters, pointing out how badly their father had treated him and let them in on his dream, that he thought was from God, asking him to go back to his homeland.
God is always faithful to his word (2 Thessalonians 3:3), standing next to us. When Daniel’s friends denied to worship the image that the king had made, the king threw them in the fiery furnace and ordered it to be heated seven times more.
The revival in Ephesus did not sit well with the silversmiths in the region. Demetrius gathered his fellow craftsmen started a riot in Ephesus. The ‘Way’ had created a huge crater in their business. Playing with the people’s sentiments towards traditions and rituals, the idol makers of Ephesus created an uproar among the people.
Jacob finally arrived in the land of the eastern People and met few shepherds who were waiting to water their sheep near a well. This could have very well been the same well where Eliezer, Abraham’s servant met Rebecca almost a century ago….
The Pharisees and the Jewish leaders knew the scriptures by heart but could not fathom that the Messiah could come from a humble lineage and that Jesus came to serve rather than rule. Their worlds were turned upside down and they just could not accept that a man who spent his time with sinners was the one sent by God to save the world.
In the beginning God created mankind from the dust, a visible object, and breathed His life, which is invisible, into his nostrils. From that time onward, God became the God of living beings. Since then, visible man has become the carrier of the invisible image of God. Every visible creation reveals the power and existence of the Creator.
Jacob did not know God or the plans He had for him. Maybe that is why he was afraid of the dream he saw. The only way to know the heart of God is to have regular fellowship with Him. That was missing in Jacob’s life and truth be told, in most of our lives today.
The the chosen family became the fractured family where none of the four (Isaac, Rebecca, Esau & Jacob) trusted God to carry out his will but rather tried to intervene in every possible way to ensure their own will be accomplished. That might as we be the summary of our own walk with Jesus.
Often I would feel angry and frustrated about what happened, to the point of wanting harm for those who played back but God taught me that this is how the enemy would try to come after me and that I had to understand that I shouldn’t harbor hatred against anyone. The fight is not with humans but satan and the grace of God is enough to win the fight
True fellowship is a friendship based on a mutual bond between two believers and that mutual bond must always be God.
Thomas was with Jesus for more than three years, he had seen all the miracles that Jesus had performed, how He raised the dead and would have been present for his countless teachings but still Thomas was unable to grasp the supernatural aspect of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
The age old saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree holds true as we see Isaac introducing Rebekah as his sister to Abimelek.
According to the above prophecy in psalms what Judas did was perhaps inevitable. However, when we read about Judas, we often jump to the conclusion that he was predestined to betray Jesus.
This song reminds me again and again that all we can do is Thank God for all that he has done for us. He brought us to light from the gravest darkness we were in, took our sin and shame on the cross, so that we can have the gift of eternal life. Even when we went astray, he was still taking care of us, he never left us.
The two brothers who could not be more different from each other. One was a ladies’ man while the other was a lady like man. Esau was a hairy individual who loved the outdoors while Jacob was content managing the household chores. But Jacob was chosen by God to continue the lineage leading to Jesus while Esau had to be content with his bowl of soup.
Rebecca replaces Sarah as the leading lady of this story and we see God leading this family even while they are making seemingly arbitrary choices, regarding a burial site and perhaps a not so arbitrary choice in finding a life partner for Isaac.
Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket and that ram replaced his son as the burnt offering. Just like that ram replaced Isaac on the alter, Jesus replaced all of us when he died for our transgressions. Perhaps this was the symbolic gesture that God was giving us through this example of a father sacrificing his son.
Even before the creation of the world, God had His plans to redeem His people from eternal death. Subsequently, He sent His only begotten son to this world. During Christmas, we think more about the infant Jesus than the father who sent Jesus into this world.
To understand God’s word we should understand His mind first. The word “finish” may mean different things based on who is saying it. When a teacher says it, it may be an instruction for the students to complete a given assignment but when a mob boss utters the same word ‘finish’ , it is a task given to his men to kill someone. Though the word used is the same, it carries a command for either a constructive or destructive work depending upon the speaker’s character. We cannot understand God’s word in the way we understand the world’s language. God’s word carries the character of God, loaded with love and life.
We saw in the last chapter that God had enabled everyone in Abimelek’s household to conceive again but Sarah was still kept barren. Abraham had laughed at the very thought of Isaac being born to Sarah, Sarah now has joyous laughter that God came through for her despite her disbelief and then there is Ishmael who is mocking his new younger brother. The Hebrew texts quite aptly say that Ishmael was laughing at Isaac. That captures the sentiment of everyone involved in this saga.
After experiencing close communion with God (Chapter 18) and seeing the destruction of the twin cities (Chapter 19), one would assume that Abraham would definitely be closer to God than ever before. But he was in fact back to his old ways. Moving to a land without God’s leading, we don’t see him building any altars or even praying to God, giving Sarah to be married to the ruler of that land by letting everyone believe they are siblings again and in the end profiting off of the ruler’s guilt, again!
It’s D day for Lot as the two angels reached the entrance of the twin cites. They are met by Abraham’s nephew lot at the city gate who much like his uncle, insists that they stay with him. But unlike with Abraham the Angels refused to stay with lot and would rather spend the night in the town square. Reluctantly they went with Lot but were greeted by the town welcoming committee in the most horrific manner.
God lets Abraham in on his plan to destroy the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah resulting in Abraham blatantly pleading for his nephew Lot. The pleading turns into negotiations with God agreeing to all of Abraham’s changes to the clauses but Abraham himself knew that his negotiations will not be able to save his nephew.
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John
So we can finally start calling Abram as Abraham, as in this chapter, God renames Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of many). Seems like a cruel joke to rename a guy who is about to turn 100 and whose wife is on the verge of turning 90. But when God renames someone, it is far from a joke, but rather an assurance of the fulfillment of the promise he had made to Abram almost a quarter of a century ago.
How do we start believing in Jesus Christ? Those who have had an encounter with Jesus can surely tell us about their start. But what about the born Christians and believers who do not have a special kind of encounter with Jesus Christ?
Recently in one of our Bible studies we were discussing John 5 and how the Jewish leaders were persecuting Jesus as he was not ‘keeping the sabbath’ by healing the sick on the Lord’s day. To which Jesus replied…
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the fifth Chapter of the Gospel of John
I like the NIV heading as it doesn’t mention Abram or Sarai and just reads ‘Hagar and Ishmael’. Not surprising, given that this chapter reveals more details about the chosen family that we generally would not associate with the father of faith.
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Fourth Chapter of the Gospel of John
Chapter 15 starts off with God renewing his promise to Abram with the words “I am your shield, your very great reward”. That is what God was offering Abram. In a sense offering himself through the birth of Jesus the snake crusher.
But Abram misconstrues this to mean that God will bless him with great wealth and land and quickly speaks his mind saying that the inheritance that God is promising him in the future is of no use to him without a legal heir. He will surely not be alive to enjoy it and since he does not have any sons (not yet) his servant Eliezer’s family would reap the benefits.
Today we are looking at chapters 13 & 14 and in particular the relationship between Abram and Lot. We know very little about Lot up to this point. We know he accompanied Abram to Egypt and came back but apart from that the author of genesis has not revealed anything about Lot. Lot did not have a father and Abram did not have a son so it’s safe to say that Lot saw Abram as a father figure given that he also left his hometown to follow Abram. And Abram would have seen lot as his son and his presumed heir.
One day, Abram heard a voice asking him to leave his father’s household and go to the land of Canaan. Several years later, Abram listens to the voice and sets out from his hometown to the land that God had promised him.
This marked the beginning of the nomadic life for the chosen family and would be the first of their many travels. Much like this initial expedition, Abram’s spiritual journey was also in its infancy which can be clearly seen in today’s passage.
The old adage ‘Ignorance is a bliss’, does not suit the present day situations that we have to face. An IT professional should be aware of the latest technology in order for his code to be relevant. A government official should know the bye-laws and his duties to do his job effectively. We should be aware of the weather outside or the prevailing traffic rules before we step out of our houses. However, in the spiritual realm, man fails to walk with God because of his ignorance regarding the presence of God, who is always with him. Ignorance of the promises, assurances and provisions of God misguides man to lead a miserable life.
In the last chapter we saw God using a rainbow to remind us of his covenant with us but the incomplete tower of Babel will be forever a sign of our rebellion against Him.
With the invention of modern technology, mankind forgets to look at God’s magnificence through his creation. God created ears and gave a sense of hearing to all the living creatures and man invented the cell phone. Of these two, which one is most popular among man, certainly, the latter. In the course of time, mankind was blinded enough not to reach out to the Creator through His creation but stooped to worship the creation itself because of ignorance and foolishness…..
This week we are discussing the Sunday school favorite story of Noah and the ark and see how God showed His grace upon Noah and his family and how Noah reciprocated by obeying God’s voice to the letter.
We are looking into genealogies this week, specifically the genealogies of Cain and Seth and see how God’s faithfulness is not dependent on ours.
When we stand at a crossroad, we always look for opportunities according to ground realities. It may be our career or a crucial life decision like marriage when we look at the present to visualize our future. Often we depend on our peace of mind to determine our decision.
The conversation between Jesus and the unnamed woman at the well gives us an insight into what God actually wants from us, that we worship Him in the Spirit and in truth. We discuss that and other bold claims Jesus made that baffled the woman and see how we can apply those truths in our lives.
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Third Chapter of the Gospel of John
The conversation between Jesus and the unnamed woman at the well gives us an insight into what God actually wants from us, that we worship Him in the Spirit and in truth. We discuss that and other bold claims Jesus made that baffled the woman and see how we can apply those truths in our lives.
The fall of man continues through the next generation as we see Cain not taking heed to God’s warning regarding the ‘crouching tiger’ and commits the first murder.
We discuss the first sixteen verses of Chapter 4 (Genesis 4:1-16) and see how man’s rebellion against God is prevalent even today.
Today, we look at John Chapter 3 and discuss the infamous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus which gave us the verse that perfectly summarizes God’s love for mankind, the mankind that keeps failing to understand His love.
Nicodemus seems to represent our confused state and much like us, struggles to grasp the true meaning of Jesus’ words.
Genesis Chapter 3 starts off by introducing us to a new creature, the serpent, the craftiest of all wild animals that God had made. We discuss the impact of that infamous conversation between man and the Serpent and how God planned to redeem us through the Snake Crusher. (Genesis 3:15)
It is obvious that mankind has been struggling generation after generation to get rid of sin. People understand the concept of being conceived in sin (Psalms 51:5) without any effort while unable to digest the truth of being sanctified and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, like Paul is genuinely admitting the battle of his mind, (Romans 7:19-20) no one else is genuine in accepting the real state of their own minds.
Acceptance of our condition and repentance are two essential factors for obtaining forgiveness. To get rid of sin we must understand our sovereign God in a wholesome manner…….
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Second Chapter of the Gospel of John
We continue our series on John and see the first of the many signs that Jesus performed where he used six dirty vessels to bring out new wine and had the same plans for the six ordinary men that were following him at the time of the wedding.
Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the first chapter of the Gospel of John
We continue our series on John and see the first three witnesses of Jesus
1. John the Baptist introduces Jesus to his onlookers – (John 1:19-34)
2. Andrew introduces Jesus to his brother Simon – (John 1:35-42)
3. Philip introduces Jesus to his friend Nathaniel – (John 1:43-51)
In this episode we cover the second half (v 19-51) of Chapter 1 of the book of John.
We discuss Jesus’ final hours before Crucifixion, how Judas agreed to betray Jesus and how Jesus gave the Passover festival a new meaning.
When we read Matthew 7:21 it is alarming to know that Jesus may forbid us from entering His Kingdom in spite of …
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. The second chapter of the book of Genesis starts off with that line and goes into the details of how God created the first humans and placed them in this delightful garden where all their needs were provided.
We start our Series on the book of John and immediately are bombarded with callbacks from the very first book of the Bible. John takes us back to the creation and calls Jesus by three simple yet distinct names.
The Word (John 1:1), used to create everything, The Light (John1:4), the start of the creation and the Life (John 1:4), what God breathed into Adam’s nostrils.
In this episode we cover the first half (v 1-18) of Chapter 1 of the book of John.
We start our Series on the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which tells us about God’s wonderful creation, our subsequent fall and God’s plan for our redemption. Chapter one tells us how it all began and quite aptly the very first line of the bible is In the beginning.
Life lessons from Lot and pondering what could have been.
“Just imagine if you had been with Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane?” This question like a sales pitch for a travel agent’s call for a pilgrimage tour. While Peter, James and John, failed to cope with their master’s mission, Jesus is expecting a different response from us. On that fateful night, nothing was clear regarding His redemption plan but now everything has come to light. But now that we know better are we still finding it hard to stay awake?
In Jerusalem, Jesus continues to teach and foretells the destruction of the temple in which the Israelites took great pride.
After arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus had to navigate several rounds of tricky interviews by various groups.
Jesus visits Jericho, his final pit-stop, on route to Jerusalem.
Jesus continues his ministry teaching about prayers, pride and wealth.
Love for money is the root cause for all kinds of evil. In the ancient days, man exchanged the goods and services in return for his own needs. In due course of time man invented money to replace the barter system.
Modern age relies on various kinds of visual aids to promote technology, business, public awareness and social media updates. Visual aids attract human attention more than any other communication tool. Eye-catching visuals go deep into our mind and stay for a longer period. Moses was astonished by an eye-catching glimpse of a burning bush, he…
Love for money is the root cause for all kinds of evil. In the ancient days, man exchanged the goods and services in return for his own needs. In due course of time man invented money to replace the barter system.
The tax collectors and sinners and others who were shunned by the temple, were gathering around Jesus to hear his words. This bothered the Pharisees as they were the ones who had made them an outcast. Jesus heard their grumblings and proceeded with three parables of finding something that was lost. The Parable of the…
The Pharisees kept inviting Jesus to their homes in hopes of gathering evidence against him in order to nullify his radical claims. Maybe that’s why a ‘Prominent Pharisee’ would host a grand luncheon on Sabbath and break the very same law that he was accusing Jesus of violating..
Many TV Evangelists preach, what can only be described as the Gospel of Fear. They survey the current events from all over the globe and interpret them to their audience as punishment from God. Similarly the Jews thought themselves as righteous and labelled the Galileans who died at the hands of Pilate as sinners deserving death.
In this modern age, many gadgets exist that shorten the time phase in every sphere of our work life. Every day new innovations are coming up to make the older ones obsolete. This has changed our work culture tremendously. In spite of these boons, we are more busier than ever and are not able to find time to look after our own family matters.
It takes no time for Yeast to quickly make its way through the dough and in the same way, hypocrisy penetrates our fellowships if we let it. The Pharisees were masters of hypocrisies with a set of rules for them and a different set of rules for their followers. Perhaps this is why Luke devotes half of the chapter recording Jesus’ warnings regarding the pharisees.
The disciples would have noticed Jesus withdrawing to a solitary place to pray several times and eventually one of them asked Jesus to teach them to pray too. Jesus tells them a very short yet a contained prayer.
Jesus wanted the disciples to completely depend on God, who is the ultimate provider and not waste time in letting better food or accommodation decide where they lodged in the city…
Jesus sent out the Twelve after giving them power and authority to drive our demons and cure diseases and to proclaim the kingdom of God. In asking them to take nothing for their Journey Jesus wanted to teach the disciples how to completely depend on God….
This Chapter starts off with Luke mentioning the women disciples about whom we hardly hear from the other writers and ends with Jesus giving two daughters a new life
The Oxford dictionary defines forgiveness as “To Stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.” Stop feeling angry means keeping ourselves from stress and it centers around our interest rather than others.
The Centurion was an officer in the Roman army who was in charge of a hundred soldiers. He would have heard about the miraculous healing that Jesus was doing in the lives of the Jews and wanted to approach Jesus for his dear servant. He did not think that his position of power entitled him a visit from Jesus but thought himself unworthy to even approach Jesus. So he asked the elders of the Jews to carry his message.
