Buy The Truth

Have You Been With Jesus? Someone once posed a great question, which I will ask here: If you were tried in a court of law for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Court is now in session... Acts 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Stephen was a deacon of the church of Jerusalem. He was a man full of faith and wisdom (see Acts 6:3, 8). He was also a man full of the Holy Ghost. The word full  means "controlled by; influenced by." Stephen was a man who was led by the Holy Spirit. He was a Christian who had spent some time with the Lord Jesus Christ and let that time transform his life and daily walk. When he was faced with a false trial to persecute him, and confronted with the very real possibility of his own martyrdom, his faith shone forth. It was obvious to others that he had been with Jesus! His face was beaming with a spiritual glow, the glow of a soul on fire for t...

At the Gospel Mission, we finished a series on Ruth, and started a couple of weeks of messages on a Giving Thanks in preparation for our Canadian Thanksgiving (which is today, October 11th). I preached the main part of this study for the lunch devotional yesterday, and added more verses today to round out it out. Thankful For The Love Of God Love is not an emotion (though it may effect them) - love is a choice. Love is an action verb. Always seeking the best for others. John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Romans 5:6-10  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were...

What God Wrote I love reading about what God wrote! We know He inspired and wrote the whole Bible, so that is not what I mean here (or not solely - I do love reading His Word!) What I am referring to here is the statements in Scripture like this: Exodus 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God . Exodus 32:16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables . Each context is different - but when God writes something (with His finger or His Spirit), it is something only He could do! Statement made by Pharaoh's lost magicians - who could not copy God's miracles and plagues: Exodus 8:19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God : and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. God writing about the judgment of Babylon, literally moments before...

True Friendships This is the message I preached today at the Gospel Mission. Webster's 1828 Dictionary gives this as his first definition for friend : "One who is attached to another by affection; one who entertains for another sentiments of esteem, respect and affection, which lead him to desire his company, and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity; opposed to foe or enemy." He also defines friendly as: "Having the temper and disposition of a friend; kind; favorable; disposed to promote the good of another." While we cannot be friends with everyone we meet, we can always choose to be friendly. Last week, I preached again on The Work Of Thy Hands , and in it I also covered the verses about God being the Father of the fatherless and setting the solitary in families. Afterwards, I had someone come up to me and make this statement: "I would rather be surrounded by friends than family because you can choose your friends; you can't choose your f...

Lessons In The Valleys: The Lily Of The Valleys I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Song of Solomon 2:1 Jesus Christ here identifies Himself as the rarest and most beautiful of flowers, the rose of Sharon . Red in the Bible typically pictures sacrifice and shed blood. Jesus was our sacrifice and shed His blood for our sins on the cross of Calvary. This makes Him the most beautiful of Saviours. Yea, He is altogether lovely! (See Song of Solomon 5:16) Isaiah 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. "'Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,' all are to be found stored up in our Well-beloved. Whatever there may be of beauty in the material world, Jesus Christ possesses all that in the spiritual world, only in a tenfold multiplication. He is infinitely more beau...

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...