Kingsly's Scribbling

Leviticus is a book full of offerings and sacrifices. These sacrifices has three elements. 1.The one who offers 2. Offering 3. Priest In Jesus, we have all these three. 1. who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. - Titus 2:14 He is the one who offers himself. No one took his life from him but he offered it for us. 2. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. - Hebrews 10:10 He is not only the one who offers but he is our offering.  3. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God... Hebrews 4:14, 15 He is also our Great High Priest who represents us . Time and again when sacrifices were made during the OT, they were affirming the one who would come. Lets praise him and be thankful for the grace of the one who offers, one who is our offer...

After resurrection, when two disciples were walking to Emmaus not knowing that Jesus had risen. Jesus joins them on the road and starts a conversation.He asks them the reason for their sadness and they tell that He is dead. :) And Jesus calls them foolish and slow of heart. Then he explains the whole scriptures to them. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in ALL the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. - Luke 24: 27 In other words, Jesus wanted them to understand that the whole scriptures (the old testament was about Him). The reason they were sad is that they did not understand the scripture in the light of Jesus.  And in verse 44, he says all that was written in Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me are fulfilled. That's how Jesus taught his disciples to read the bible. The key to open the old testament was Jesus.  In John 5:39, Jesus says, all scriptures point to ME.  Before Jesus entered this earth...

Have you ever wondered how would God look like? How would he think? What would make him joyful and what would make him sad? What would anger him? Well, you don't have keep guessing. In Colossians 1:15 says Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. When you look closely at Jesus, you would know God. Jesus came to show how God would like. Once Philip asked, “Jesus, can you show us the Father?" and Jesus replied, "If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”  In Jesus, we have a face for God. Start seeing Jesus. Read about Jesus in the gospels. Talk about him to your friends. What you see in Jesus is the exact and correct representation of God. Here are a few more verses: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son , whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3  who being the brightness of His glory and the e...

And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in ALL the scriptures, beginning with the Books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets - Luke 24:27 According to Jesus, the whole of the Old Testament was about Him. He encouraged the two discouraged disciples to read the whole testament in the light of his life, death and resurrection. Every Old Testament story takes a new meaning when you read it through the Jesus lens. The story of Israel is no longer their story but the story of Jesus. Today, I read the following story. A woman who had a huge amount of money and who spent half her lifetime touring the sites and art galleries of the world. She toured everywhere. She saw almost every major museum. But she found herself bored and weary. Then she met a Frenchman who had no money, but who loved art and beauty, and began introducing her once more to the things she had already seen. Suddenly, everything was completely different in his company. When he opened her eyes,...

 The 12 apostles and Paul's sermon seemed to be saturated with Christ. Here are some examples: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. - Acts 5:42 Then Philip went down to the [ a ] city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.  - Acts 8:5 Immediately he preached the Christ [ c ] in the synagogues - Acts 9:20 This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ - Acts 17:3 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord - 2 Corinthians 4:5 and the list can go on. They spoke of nothing else. They spoke of Jesus all the time. They never were bored about it. They never thought that speaking of Jesus is just basic stuff. For them preaching about Jesus was the beginning and end.  The sermons that we hear these days somehow seems to miss this obsession with Christ. There is a obsession with doctrines, principles, rules...but Jesus is missing from today's pulpit. How did we become like this? ...

A friend of mine pointed out to me that Matthew talks about the same thing at the beginning and at the end and in the middle of his Gospel: “… they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)” Matthew 1:23 “…where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” Matthew 18:20 “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:20 That''s beautiful. This great God not only came to be with us but promises to be with us to the very end. That's more than enough. His presence is all that we need!

Isn't he the carpenter, the son of Mary,.. - Mark 6:3 Jesus was born of a virgin. It was a miracle. It was possible because of the Holy Spirit.But some people in those days did not believe it. Instead, they mocked at Jesus. They thought that some dirty little secret was there in the family of Jesus. And they made fun of Jesus because of that. How do i say that? Well, in Mark 6, Jesus is in his hometown. That's where people start calling him "Son of Mary". In those days, people were identified with the names of their Father. James, the son of Zabedee, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon bar Jonah. Nobody were identified with their mother's name. But for Jesus they use Son of Mary to mock him. They were saying indirectly that they dont know who was the father of Jesus. They were talking ill about Mary. Jesus was ridiculed, mocked, and rejected. Jesus knew the pain of people mocking him because of the family. Jesus suffered because of these gossips. Is th...

In order to be truly free one must become a slave to Christ. The world seduces us with slavery and calls it freedom. Christ calls us to become his slaves, to take up the easy yoke, which is the only freedom.                                                               - Michael Card Paul often called himself “a slave to Christ”   ...This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave,... Romans 1:1; ...Paul, the slave of God ...Titus 1:1; .... I, Paul, the slave of Christ.... Ephesians 3:7

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27 The word religion is used only one time (as far as i know) in the new testament. And interestingly its not used to explain all the activity we do in the name of religion. All the temple based activities are not here. The religion that God accepts is this:   1. Caring for the weak people (orphans and widows) 2. Living a holy life If you are doing these two things, then you are following a religion that God accepts . If not, then you are following some other religion that God does not accept.     

When Jesus was twelve years old, his parents took him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. After the celebration was over, Jesus did what any parents of 12 year would not want them to do. He stayed back in Jerusalem without informing his parents.  They thought he was with the group, so traveled a whole day... (Luke 2:44) They were assuming Jesus was with them or with their group. They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Son of God but missed him because of their assumption. Are you assuming that Jesus is with you? Instead of following him are you assuming He is following you? Don’t live with this dangerous assumption. They travelled a whole day without Jesus. How long have you been travelling without Him? A few days, few months or few years…?  “Every year” the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem and came back. (See Luke 2:41, 42). It was a usual thing for them. So they thought, Jesus would do the same, this year too. A...

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Luke 14: 25, 26 Wherever Jesus went, large crowd followed. People followed him for different reasons. This time Jesus turned to the crowd and said these words which would have made them uncomfortable. Jesus is saying unless you give it all, you cannot be my disciple. He did not say, you cannot be a mature disciple or a committed disciple. He simply says, you cannot be my disciple. And in that list the last thing he mentions is your own life. I think that's because that's the last thing we give or surrender.  Peter said he gave up everything for Jesus but we see he had an unsurrendered self. People are willing to give up their family and possession and go into the ministry but they never give up their self.  Surrendering your self is a da...

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  - Luke 12:33  I have been thinking about this verse today. Does Jesus really mean this? Sell and Give. I have never in my life sold anything just to give to the poor.  I have given to the poor out of my excess. I have never gone to the extend of selling and giving.  I can very well pass by this command of Jesus saying its not what he meant. I may also say that the bottom line is to care for the poor and store riches in heaven.  But that "selling" part? What's that all about?  

 I am using the following words to speak to God. Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep?  - Psalms 44:23 Why do you look the other way?      Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?  - Psalms 44:24 Wake up, my God - Psalms 7:6 That's how i feel. I feel that God is sleeping when we are suffering. I am comforted that God in his mercy has given me these words of the psalmist and encourages me to be honest in my prayers.  I am also reminded of Jesus who slept through the storm. The roaring winds and the waves did not seem to wake him up. His disciples cried out to him saying' Don't you care if we drown? And Jesus woke up. The voices of his disciples/followers/friends woke him up. Its amazing that the one who was not disturbed by the mighty winds and waves was disturbed by the feeble fearful cries of his people.How did he hear their voice amidst of the storm? Hope my voice would disturb him. Lord wake up. Lord calm the storm. Lord rebu...

Somethings in our life with and in God seems crystal clear till God disturbs us in his faithfulness. When we expect God to act in a way which seems to us as the faithfulness of God, he acts in ways which completely contradicts my idea of how he works and what faithfulness is. Recently, i lost my close friend, Augustine and am deeply hurt. His health issue was not healed. My expectation of what God in his faithfulness would do was not met. Problems were not fixed. He heals all my disease says psalms 103:3. But he did not heal. C S Lewis says, "Every idea of Him we form He must in mercy shatter...." He did shatter a lot of it when Augustine died. Instead of giving me clear answers, He has given me a lot of questions. He has disturbed my idea of so many things in life. It clearly seems He did not work for me in this issue. Why would a God who is for me not work for me? May be he is working in me using this issue (God, who began a good work within you...) Maybe its s...

Here are some of Gandhiji's thoughts on/for Christians. 1. I love your Christ but I hate your Christians because your Christians are unlike your Christ.  You Christians, should begin to live more like Christ. 2. Practice your religion without adulterating or toning it down. 3. Put your emphasis on love, for love is the center and soul of Christianity. Gandhi loved Jesus because he saw that Jesus’ focus was on love. Prayer: Lord help me to begin to live more like Jesus. 

12  As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, 13  crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16  He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Luke 17 Do you want to draw close to Jesus? Well, there may be many ways to do that. In the passage that i studied today, i saw one.  Let me explain.  When the ten lepers came, they stood at a distance and cried to Jesus. They couldn't come near to Jesus because of their leprosy. There was a considerable distance between Jesus and the ten. So Jesus heals them when they were on the way.  Now only one returns to Jesus as he knew saw he was healed. He was filled with thankfulness. His thankful heart brought him close to Jesus. We see now he was at the feet of Jesus. The gap between Jesus and the healed leper is gone. He knew h...

5  When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer [ b ] came and pleaded with him, 6  “Lord, my young servant [ c ] lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” 7  Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” Matthew 8: 5-7 A gentile roman official approaches Jesus. Gentile and Jews never associated with each other. Any Jew who went to a gentile's home would be considered unclean. Here, we see a barrier of race or nationality.  But Jesus was willing to go to his home and heal. He was ready to break yet another barrier here. India has great walls of Caste. I have seen churches here also play a major part in building the walls of caste. May be it is done below the surface. But its a shame.  Jesus was a barrier breaker. He was constantly smashing all the barriers that prevented people from experiencing God and enjoying the freedom of God. He even went on to say: And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east an...

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2  A man with leprosy [ a ] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4  Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” - Matthew 8  Here we read about the leper's encounter with Jesus. He asks Jesus if he is willing to cure him. As per the religious rules of those days, the lepers were to stay outside the city and should never enter the society. Anyone who touches the leper would also be called unclean.  But Jesus breaks the religious rules to show the leper that God is willing and loving to make him whole. Jesus breaks the barrier of religious rules. This is one the greatest barrier for people to...

Well, if I ask you how is your bible translating work going on, what would be your response?  You may say you never participated in any bible translators work. But the truth is we are all bible translators in one sense. I believe the best translation of the Bible is not NIV, NRSV, NLT... No, the best translation is the life that puts The Bible into daily practice. Well, now.. How is your bible translating going on? How close do you resemble Jesus? I think I need refocus on my bible translating Job...

 Here is a story that i heard recently.  Two brothers lived and farmed on a site. One was married and had a large family, while the other was single. They lived in close proximity to each other, and each worked his land growing wheat. When harvest time arrived, each was blessed with a bountiful crop and piled up his grain for long-term storage. The unmarried brother, observing his good fortune, thought to himself that God had blessed him with more than he needed, whereas his brother, who was blessed with a large family, could surely use more. He arose in the middle of the night and secretly took from his grain and put it in his brother’s pile. Similarly, the married brother thought to himself that he was fortunate to have children who will care for him in his old age, while his brother will depend on what he saved. He, too, arose in the middle of the night and quietly transferred grain from his pile to his brother’s. In the morning, each pondered why there was no noticeable...

We all need to choose better things in life. Things that really matter in life. The wise King Solomon's words can be helpful for us to choose things in life. In Ecclesiastes 7, "Better" is a key word in this chapter. Here is what he says: A good name is better than fine perfume The day of death better than the day of birth   House of mourning is better than house of feasting Frustration is better than laughter Rebuke of a wise person is better than praise from fools The end of a matter is better than its beginning Patience is better than pride   We better ponder on the better things.  

In the famous story that Jesus ever told, the prodigal sons (Sons because both needed to come back into the house and to understand the love of the father), i am sometimes the wayward son who landed in the pig pen and at other times i am the religious elder brother working harder to earn the father's love. I keep shuffling between these sons. May be you too are. One day you may want to leave the father and wander and lose everything and be with the pigs. Some other days, you are the tired, angry elder brother trying to earn your love from the father. But the father loved both the prodigals and invited them to come back home. Come home sons. This father lets us go and make our own choice. This father is waiting, running, pleading, and celebrating your return. That's the image of God Jesus gives. Come home sons.

The problem with today's preachers is that there are so many good orators. They are eloquent, they have a good flow of language and they take the audience captive for 45 minutes to few hours. But they seem to lack power. One of the reasons Moses gave, when he was called by God, was "I am not Eloquent". Because he thought that to serve God and to speak for God and to convince people of the power and freedom of God he needed to be eloquent. But God needs people who will simply hear from God and speak the simple yet powerful Truth (Jesus is the Truth). One of my friend told me that in a court room, all that is needed from a witness is that he will speak the simple truth he has heard and seen. To be a witness my friends, you don't have be eloquent but just hear and see and experience God and say just what he says. I pray that we would have more powerful witnesses in our pulpit than powerless eloquent orators.

One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. - Mark 10:21 This story is about a Rich Young Ruler. He was religious, successful, young and strong.  But still he comes to Jesus and asks him, " What do I still lack?" - Matt 19:20  He asks a good question to Jesus. Ask good questions to Jesus. Jesus answer him and says he lacks one thing. And that one thing is to leave everything and following Jesus.  Jesus is demanding. He looks at you and me and says you lack one thing. Focus only on me and leave out everything else.  Jesus just asks for one thing. That's everything. Follow Jesus. Because he is everything.    

There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish.- John 6:9 When Jesus wanted to feed the thousands, the answer came in the form a young boy.  A young boy who was willing to give away his lunch for Jesus.  A young boy who was willing to give it all to Jesus.  A young boy who did not do it for applause from people. ( We never know is name or do not see people thanking him after the lunch.)  A young boy who was poor (we know he was poor by his simple lunch) but who was really rich in love for Jesus and people.  Even today, Jesus wants to meet the needs of the hungry crowd and he is seeking for "Some Young Boys".  Can it be said to Jesus about you, "There's a Young Boy Here..."?

...I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language... 1 Corinthians 14:19 I personally feel, the pulpit these days do not even have 5 understandable words to help others. Paul's longing was to speak a few words that would help people in their spiritual journey.  It is sad to not even hear five understandable words to help others. I pray for all who are preaching tomorrow (Sunday) that they would preach few words yet power words from the word of God and help people. 

As I listen to my boys speak, i realize that they use the words I use often. Most of the conversion they  have is using the words that I have spoken to them. They have learnt to speak to their father using the words they have heard their father speak. This is very true as we pray. The more we know the words of God, our Heavenly Father, the more we could communicate to God. As we hear his words from the bible we began to use them and meaningfully start to communicate to God. If you want to learn to pray (speak to God), then hear his words as he speaks to us and then use those words to talk back to him.

In Mathew 6, Jesus addresses the issue of worry. Jesus answers the issue of worry by asking a few questions. Here are the questions for you to ponder: 1. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 2. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 3. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 4. And why worry about your clothing?  5. Why do you have so little faith? On one particular occasion when Martin Luther greatly discouraged. Seeing him unresponsive to any word of encouragement, one morning his wife appeared dressed in black mourning clothes. Luther asked her, ‘Katharine, why are you dressed in mourning black?’ ‘It seems,’ his wife replied, ‘that God must have died.’” A life filled with worry is living like God is dead.      

If you have been hanging out with Jesus long enough, then you probably know that Jesus asks a lot of questions. He asked more than 300 questions in the gospels. And people ask him more than 150 questions. But he gives a direct answer only to 3 questions. For the rest of the questions, Jesus answers with another question, tells a story or remains silent. Yes, Jesus is the answer. But he is also the question. Try answering a few questions of Jesus. What are you looking for? Do you love me? Where is your faith? Why don't you understand what i am saying? Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what i am saying? Will you give up your life for me? We expect God to answer our questions. God too expects us to answer his questions? By answering those questions we may have meaning and purpose in life. Jesus is the Question.

Jesus knew the scriptures very well. In fact, Jesus quotes the scriptures from 24 different old testament books. He quotes the scripture during his 40 day temptation. He quotes the scripture even when he was on the cross (Psalms 22:1) Jesus was a person who was filled with scriptures and knew when to use them and how to use them. It was kind of a GPS for his life with which he navigated through his life. As a follower of Jesus, we need to follow his example of knowing and learning the scriptures. If the word of God was important for Jesus, it is definitely important for us. Here are some practical tips: Read a small portion of the bible Daily. Memorize a bible verse every week ..(at least you have 52 at the end of the year) Use bible verse to pray. Discuss a bible verse with your friends every week.

What kind of God did Jesus believe in? Have you ever thought about this question?  Let me give you some examples so that you get an idea:  God is a Father - Jesus referred to God as a Father more than 200 times in the gospels.  God is good - No one is good except God alone ( Luke 18:19) God is all powerful - with God all things are possible ( Matt: 19:  26) God is one - ... Lord is one (Mark 12:28)  God is holy - holy father ( John 17:11)  God is all knowing - your father knows what you need before you ask him (Matt 6:8) God as one who can be known - that they may know you the only true God ( John 17) The list goes on and on... The image of God whom who believe in will shape your image ... So what kind of a God you believe in?  Take time to think about it... 

We talk about doing great things for God. And most of our talk stays as our talk and never get converted into actions. A phrase stuck with me today. It’s found in Mark chapter 14. Two days before Jesus was crucified he was in Bethany having dinner in Simon the Leper’s home. As he was eating, he was interrupted by a lady who broke an expensive jar of perfume and poured it on the head of Jesus.  Everyone was very harsh with her. They told her she could have done better things with the money. But Jesus stops their rebukes and says in Verse 8, “She Did What She Could”.    I have never noticed this phrase all these days. Jesus appreciates her for doing what she could. He doesn’t expect us to do the impossible and unthinkable. That’s his Job. He just expects us to do what we could do.  Many times we see sick, poor, needy and discouraged people and we think I cannot change their condition. But Jesus expects us to do the things that we could do in the ...

21  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22  But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” 23  Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24  “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” 25  Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.   - John 11 In these words we see Martha talking to Jesus. Jesus is late as per Martha. She tells Jesus that if he had been a bit early, (4 days ago), her brother would not have died. In other words, Martha was talking about the past.    Lord, if only you had been here... She is saying that it is too late now.  Then Jesus says, "your brother will rise again".  Immediately Martha focuses on the future..she says,  “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” This seems like our problem too. We talk about how would it be if Jesus had come a little early w...