Have the faith of God

In this short study, we are discussing about the faith that is required for performing a miracle or sign for the Glory of the Kingdom of God.

What is the purpose of miracles?

Let me start the message with a question: what is a miracle and why should we need a miracle?

A miracle is an unusual happening that is beyond the capacity of humans.

If a sick person is healed with the help of medicine that is God’s provision, not a miracle.

It is not bad to use medicine; it is God’s provision for us in this world.

Prayer may support the healing by medicine.

But, if a person is healed by prayer, without medicine or when medicine fails, it is a miracle.

So miracle is an unusual and unnatural happening beyond God’s daily provision.

Miracles are happenings where a supernatural intervention is detected.

Miracle happens where humans fail; miracles are done by God, not by human beings.

Untimely Death of God's Servants - Prof. Jacob Abraham

Today we are discussing an important question: Why many God’s faithful servants die untimely?

These days, the number of God’s saints dying early in their young age has been increasing in number.

The number of God’s servants dying in accidents and by acute diseases has increased a tenfold since the last decade.

We have no logical explanation to it and so we often depend on philosophical explanations in the name of religion.

A major part of religion is philosophy and hence it is easy for us to formulate a theory that looks near to the scripture.

I do not want to disturb the comfort that philosophy and religion give us.

In fact, no man in this world can explain why God’s saints die early in their young age.

All what we says in this regard are words of comfort to the dear ones of the departed soul and to ourselves.

Bible does not offer us a direct answer to the question we asked above.

Lessons from the Desert Kingdom

I hope to spend some time today to learn some valuable lessons from the Desert Kingdom of Israelites.

This message is a study of the desert journey of Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

The intention of this short study is not to present any fresh interpretations to the desert life.

We are just re-reading the history with an intention to learn some lessons from them.

We believe that the Desert Kingdom offers some valuable lessons to those who live in the Inaugurated Kingdom of God of the New Testament.

Kingdom of God

Kingdom of God is a real Kingdom that will be established on the new earth.

There was truly a Kingdom established on earth with Adam and Eve as its caretakers.

But humans fell from the Grace of God by sin and lost the Kingdom.

Restoration of the Kingdom is the whole story of the Bible.

Predestination

The topic for this discussion is “Predestination”.

Predestination is a theological doctrine that has been discussed by great theologians for centuries.

Our intention here is not to present fresh arguments.

This is only a short message presenting the doctrine of “Predestination” in simple and lucid way for laymen and beginners.

Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul.

Predestination is truly a Biblical doctrine.

The term “predestined” is found four times in two of Paul's epistles.

Why I give tithe?

This message is autobiographical as well as theological.

This is a simple explanation to ‘why I give tithe?’

Every viewer or listener of this video or audio is free to choose to give or not to give tithe.

But I request you to lend me few minutes to explain why I tithe.

I started to give tithe in 1978 and continued to give tithe except for a short break of five or six years when I had no income.

It was never questioned by the Church or Pastors before.

But these days, I read and listen to many materials that dismisses tithe, calling it Old Testament legalism.

I am open to all different opinions and so I have gone through their teachings against tithing.

So far I found no solid argument against tithe.

Naked and Ashamed

Since no coverings made by man can hid our sins before God, it is more truthful to stand naked and ashamed of our sin before God.

Let God cover our sins with the sacrificial blood.

This is the core of the discussion that follows.

In Genesis Chapter 3, we read:

Genesis 3:9-11

9     Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

10   So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

11   And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"   (NKJV)

Kingdom Values

The Gospel of Jesus was never intended to be something that only affected life after death.

His message of good news is for the life in this world and the life in the eternity.

The Gospel is about the eternal relationship of human with God that begins right now in this world itself.

Relationship with God

Relationships are based on what you have in common with another person.

To find out what we have common with another, we must understand what the other person values in his life.

A person is the sum total of the values he keeps in his life.

Depending on an agreement and unity with the other, the relationship deepens.

That means, a deeper and meaningful relationship between two persons depends on what they hold in common as important and valuable.

Sermon on the Mount

This is an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ.

But this is not a detailed study of each sentence in the Sermon.

We are discussing here what the Sermon on the Mount is, what is its context, what is its importance, how it recalls to our mind the event on the Mount Sinai etc.

I am writing this study hoping that this would help you to understand better the Sermon when you read it next time.

We find the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapter 5 to 7.

The traditional location for the Sermon is on the north western shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Gennesaret.

The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon Jesus ever gave, perhaps the most famous sermon ever given by anyone.

Jesus in Home Town

Today we are trying to find an answer to a simple but important question.

Do Jesus need our faith to work miracles in our life?

Let me repeat the question in a different word order.

Does Jesus work miracles based on the faith of the receiver?

Can human’s faith limit the ability of Christ to perform miracles?

For further discussion let us read two Bible verses about one and the same incident.

Mark 6:5,6

5    Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

 6   And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.  (NKJV)

Matthew 13:58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  (NKJV)

Know Your Deliverance

In this message we intend to discuss briefly, what ‘satanic bondage’ is and how we can receive deliverance from it.

My name is Professor Jacob Abraham.

Let us start the discussion reading few words from our master as recorded in the Bible.

Luke 19:41 - 44

41   Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

42   saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

 43 "For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

 44 "and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."   (NKJV)

Help My Unbelief

I have selected an inspiring verse from the Bible for today’s discussion.

Mark 9:29 is the text for today.

But before we go to the core of the verse, let us try to understand the circumstance in which Jesus spoke the verse.

The event of Jesus’ transfiguration on a high mountain is recorded in Mark 9.

Theologians are not sure of the details or place of the mountain.

The incident happened six days after the conversation recorded in Mark 8.

The conversation in Mark 8 goes like this:

Kingdom Priority

The meaning and importance of prioritizing the Kingdom of God in our life is the subject of this message.

Today we live in a world that is obsessed with the myth of success.

Many motivational speakers and corporate trainers assure us that setting priorities in our life is a clever way for time management, task management and success.

To help us numerous business self-help books are available in book stores.

They offer a lot of help to manage your resources like health, wealth and time.

One of their common advice is to prioritize our interests and commitments.

By His Stripes ...

This is a short study in which I intend to discuss two verses from the Bible.
So let us begin by reading these verses from the Book of Isaiah. 

Isaiah 53: 4, 5
4   Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5   But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  (NKJV)

Jewish Oral Traditions and Christian Faith

Introduction

This is only a brief introduction to the Jewish Oral Law, the Christian Traditions and the Sola Scriptura of Biblical Christianity.
Since this is a short study, I have used minimum Bible verses and examples.
Still I hope this is worthy to listen.

When we speak of the Torah or the Jewish Law, we actually refer to “two” Torahs, which are one and the same.
One is the written Torah, known as the Tanach.
The second is the Oral Torah, known as Mishna

The fall of Roman Empire and the end of the Modern World

Edward Gibbon is a historian who lived in the 18c.

His famous book is The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

The book traces Western civilization from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium.

This is a marvelous book that was published after 20 years of labor in six volumes.

The 1^st volume was published in 1776 and the 6^th volume in 1788–89. 

The work covers the history, from 98 AD to 1590 AD, of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and then of the Roman State Church, and the history of Europe, and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire in the West and East.