knowing god
A spiritual leader will be able to lead others on the path of God because he knows God personally.
about two kinds of preachers
It has been told that there will be many who will be found in the last days. There will be many who will lead people into sin by speaking sweetly. On the other hand, there will be very few who will tell people about God and do great works for God.
Today, both types of preachers are found in Christianity. Many are those who speak sweetly to their listeners
But those who know God speak the truth whether their listeners like it or not, and whether people praise them or defame them.
Mankind is like sheep. They like to follow a crowd and are afraid to stand out. But if the crowd is going in the wrong direction, everyone is lost. This is the situation today. So God is looking for some people to stand firm for Him and lead people in His path. But if we are to be so courageous that we stand out from the crowd, we must know God and His mind and His thoughts and ways.
Many Christian leaders I have met in India during the last thirty years seem to me as if they do not know God and His thoughts personally. They simply repeat what they read in Western Christian literature. Among American Christian leaders, there are certain issues that receive great emphasis in each decade. If one thing was emphasized in the eighties, today something else is emphasized. Just as we hear the hum of voices in the hill country, so in India too, the sycophants of Western Christian leaders hum the issues that give them emphasis. When American leaders write about church growth, then Indian Christian leaders also start talking about church growth. If American leaders say something about the "10/40 window," Indian preachers also faithfully talk about the same subject
Repeat. If Western Christian leaders teach about the rapture of the church before the Tribulation, Indian Bible teachers also teach the same. They do not dare to challenge Western Christians!
But can't God speak directly to anyone in India? Does He only speak to white-skinned people?
The reason for imitation found among Christians in developing countries is their slave mentality. We Indians were slaves of the British for the last two hundred years. And it is very difficult to get free from the slavery of thoughts. Almost all Indian Christians think that the white-skinned man is more spiritual than them and is their leader because he has a lot of money.
I once met a black American brother who told me that although the black citizens of America were legally freed from slavery a hundred years ago, the spirit of slavery is still found in many of them. When they see a white-skinned man, they feel inferior to him. I find the same thing in almost all Indian Christians.
I want to tell you honestly that I found many of the western preachers I met in India to be really worldly. They do not know God. But their
They have a lot of money so they go here and there to earn fame. If you read the notice of any Christian conference in India, you will know that most of the keynote speakers are from Western countries. What has happened to Christianity in our country? If this were only among nominal Christians, it would be a different matter. But the same thing is found even among those who claim to be "born again" and "received the Holy Spirit".
We need to give up this slave mentality. But we will surely find it difficult to do so if a white man is paying us. Then we must decide to stop serving man and start serving God. Whose servant are you, really? The Bible tells us that we should not be slaves of man because we have been purchased with a price. "You have been purchased with a price, so do not be slaves of men
Only if it is your heart's desire to know God personally, will you be able to avoid being a puppet of some Western or Indian leader. Spiritual authority comes only by knowing God personally.
Brothers, I urge you to become people who know God. This will make your personal life glorious and your ministry authoritative. This is what our country needs more than anything else: that we become people who know our God personally.
It is easier to know the Holy Bible than to know God, because to understand the Bible you do not need to pay any price, but just studying it is enough.
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It is possible to be well versed in the Bible and yet be immoral and unholy in your personal life and thoughts. You can be a good preacher and still be greedy for money. But you cannot be an unholy and immoral person and still know God. You cannot be a God-knower and still be greedy for money. It is simply impossible. And this is why most preachers take the easy way out for themselves; instead of knowing God, they try to understand the Bible.
Brothers, I want to ask you, are you happy just knowing the Bible or do you have a burning desire in your heart to know God? In Paul says that his greatest desire in life is to know God thoroughly, and all the good things in the world are like rubbish compared to Him. Paul gave up all his precious pearls to get that pearl of great price. The secret of Paul's ministry was not that he studied the Bible for many years at the feet of Gamaliel, but the reason for his success was his deep knowledge of God.
“The meaning of eternal life is to know God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, personally”
We have defined eternal life as going to heaven. But this is not how the Lord Jesus defined eternal life. Because eternal life has nothing to do with going to heaven or escaping hell. It means knowing God. Knowing God personally and deeply. This is the purpose of my life and the desire of my heart. I know that only by knowing God can I have divine authority in my ministry, and so, in all our churches I have tried to lead people to the knowledge of God.
Today, knowledge of the Bible is the greatest in the history of the world. From the day of Pentecost onwards, for about fifteen hundred years, no Bible was published anywhere in the world. It is only in the last century that Bible publications and other achievements have become openly known. Today we have many different translations of the Bible in different languages, with different study series.
But do you think that this increasing knowledge of the Bible has produced holy Christians? Of course not! If we could attain holiness just by acquiring knowledge of the Bible, then we would be the most holy people in history today. But we are not. If holiness could come in life just by acquiring knowledge of the Bible, then even Satan would be holy today, because no human being has as much knowledge of the Bible as he has.
Today we have countless Bible schools and colleges where Bible lessons are taught to thousands of students. But are there holy people found in these schools? No! The students of many Bible schools are worse than the Gentiles.
A few years ago, I met a student who had graduated from one of India's largest evangelistic Bible schools and had come first in his class. He told me that his spiritual condition was worse now than it was before he joined the school. If that was the case, then what did the school teach that young man? He was only taught about the Bible and Christianity. Satan can also come first in such schools.
What good did that young student get from acquiring the knowledge of translation and knowing Greek words, if even after studying all this for three years he could not get rid of anger, hatred, bitterness, lustful thoughts and greed for money? With the certificate he got there he will become a pastor of any church, but what will he teach the people in his church where the biggest problem is morality and not theology? He will not be able to help his people in any of these things. This is how God's work is being destroyed in India.
Only if you know God will you be able to lead your flock to know God. If you
Only if you have conquered your sins in your personal life, will you be able to lead your flock to conquer sins. Then they too will be equipped and go out to serve God with authority and power.
Do you think Satan is afraid of someone's greater Bible knowledge or their certifications? Of course not, he is only afraid of people who are humble and holy and who know God.
May God help us to lead our younger brothers and sisters to know God personally.
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