Buy The Truth

Resting On The Promises One of my all-time favourite hymns is: Standing On The Promises (Hymn by R. Kelso Carter) Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages let His praises ring, Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God. Chorus: Standing, standing, Standing on the promises of God my Savior; Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I now can see Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me; Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free, Standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call, Rest...

Hidden Treasures From Proverbs 2 My best friend since I got saved is a man named James Strong. I met him about two or three years after I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He really helped me find verses in the Bible - to find those passages where I could just remember some of the words but not the references, gave me oodles and oodles of verses to look up on any subject I could think of. Then later, he even taught me how to find the definitions for each word in my King James Bible. That was such a help! In fact, to this day, he has been my most consulted Bible resource - not the man himself, but a book he put together: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance . Not only can you use it to look up any word in the Bible, find out EVERY place that word is used, but you can also find the basic definitions for every word in the underlying Hebrew and Greek text and the range of meaning when translated into English. To this day, I can honestly say his concordance (whether in book format or as pa...

Mustard Seeds And Mountains Matthew 17:19-21 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. As a younger believer I remember reading passages like the one above and thinking that if I only believed strong enough, I could move mountains. I did not have a clue that the Lord here wasn't referring to literal mountains - and I do remember praying once or twice for some small mountains to just move a little bit... Nothing happened. Then in studying out the Bible and church history, I realized no one in the history of the world ever moved a literal mountain by faith - so what exactly did that verse mean? In the context of prayer and moving mountains, ...

The Shadows Flee Away Some of my favourite Scriptures. In times of darkness and gloom in our lives, Jesus is still the Light that shines bright! Several of these verses refer to our Heavenly Father, rather than Jesus Christ, but I wanted to include them too. Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. 2 Samuel 22:29 For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. 2 Samuel 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Psalms 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. Psalms 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalms 36:9 For ...

Jesus - The Sinner's Surety (A Type Of Christ) Tonight I had an opportunity to preach on a passage of Scripture that has, for years, been a blessing to me. As many of us are familiar with the events of Joseph's life and the situation with his brethren, I will just recap it here, but would encourage you to reread it to refresh your minds. Jacob married two sisters, and between them and their handmaids had a total of twelve sons. He had two sons by his favourite wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. In Genesis chapter 37, we learn that Joseph has become the favoured son of Jacob, because of being the elder of the two sons by his favourite wife - especially considering that his wife was no longer living. There certainly was a special place in his heart for those two sons - out of all twelve of his male children. Jacob sends Joseph out to check on the ten older brothers. Because of their jealousy toward him, they plot to kill him when they see him ...

The Children Of Your Father One phrase that has intrigued me is found in the following passage: Matthew 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies , bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. How does our loving of our enemies make us children of our Father in Heaven? In what sense does it do that? I think a parallel passage opens up the meaning here: 1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Manifest means to make apparent, make evident, make clear. Our love or lack thereof makes it evident whom we are children of - ...

Gleanings From God's Word One of my main goals for this blog is for it to be an exhortation to me to get in the habit of daily (or at least regularly) working on developing and writing out studies or devotionals, in a context that is not as formal - which will also give me the opportunity to comment on some passages or issues I have been studying or that have been pointed out to me. With that purpose in mind, here are two passages that I have been discussing and thinking about lately: 1) Matthew 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. This is one of my favourite verses that I apply to preaching and teaching the Word of God. God says an householder is to bring forth things both new and old. I don't have a lot of sympathy for dry preaching, about the same old things - without any new insights into those passages. I can...

So Amazed (Testimony and Poem) I have to say, I really love the Word of God and how the Lord speaks to His children through it. It is a refreshing river always available for cleansing therein, a diamond mine that keeps on revealing precious stones, a tree of life whose leaves (pages) contain medicine for the healing of my heart, a balm of Gilead to soothe my wearied soul. I love it when some precious truth that has impacted you in the past is reinforced anew when you come to the passage a year (or two or three) later. The promise, principle, proclamation, precept, profound truth is there waiting to be seen again, and waiting to be applied afresh to your heart and mind by the Spirit of God. I love that. What am I getting excited about? Just another of my favourite passages (actually two with the same idea in it), about God's grace in our lives. The first one comes right after king David expressed his desire to build the Lord a house (Temple) - though that was not God's will for ...

I can't write music - but sometimes I just get a melody in my heart, and words flow to that tune. I woke up this afternoon with part of this song going through my mind - most of the time that happens, whatever song was there is lost as soon as the brain cells awaken fully. This time the first verse wouldn't leave me, so I kept hammering at it until I was satisfied. I hope it is a blessing to you. I love the story of the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal’s Return The Far Country could never satisfy, Oh what a foolish soul I have been. I’ve come to myself, and I wonder now, Will my Heavenly Father take me in? Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned – I have wandered astray for many days; Now broken inside, I’m coming home again – I’m so tired of my wayward ways. My thoughts run faster than my feet can go – What kind of reception awaits me there? No, I won’t falter, I have to know, “Will He receive me?” my only prayer. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. No more wandering about in a daz...

Reins - What's Driving You? Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines " reins" as: "In Scripture, the inward parts; the heart, or seat of the affections and passions." Basically, it is what drives us. Like a horse can be controlled and directed by his reins, so our reins is what controls or directs us. What's driving you? Here are some passages that use this term: Psalms 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. Psalms 16:7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. Jeremiah 11:20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause. Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and a...

The Song Of The Altar 2 Chronicles 29:27-28 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. Notice that it was when the burnt offering began that the song began also! The burnt offering primarily pictures two things: 1) Jesus Christ's complete dedication and devotion to His Heavenly Father. He completely fulfilled the Law and was the perfect (unblemished, without spot), sinless sacrifice needed to die for our sins. (See John 10:17; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 10:10) 2) The Christian's complete dedication (or submission) of himself (or herself) upon the altar of service to the Lord. This second usage is what Paul refers to in Romans 12:1-2: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by...

Kings And Chronicles One thing I love to do when reading the Bible is compare parallel passages - seeing how they differ, noticing how they are the same, and discovering how they supplement one another. For example, reading a good harmony of the Gospels gives a well rounded picture of the life of Christ, seeing how each passage (event, parable, sermon, miracle, etc.) fits into the overall account of Jesus' life. It is also interesting to see how they differ. Each Gospel presents Christ from a different perspective (with some overlap): Matthew presents Jesus as King of Kings; Mark as the Servant; Luke as the Perfect Man; and John as the Son of God. Each Gospel writer included material that reinforces the special emphasis the Holy Spirit wanted in their Gospel - and what is omitted also adds to the development of this picture. Every reading through of these books - whether reading them side by side or separately - always opens up the life of Christ a little more to our view. The same...