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You Can Move Mountains In Your Life
Saturday, October 26, 2024You Can Move Mountains In Your Life
David Sproule
One must NEVER take a verse out of context! One must NEVER make a verse in the Bible mean something that it did not or does not mean! Still, when one understands passages in their context, look for applications for us today.
During His last week of life before the crucifixion, Jesus cursed a fig tree because it had no figs, and “Immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matt. 21:19). When the disciples “saw the fig tree dried up from the roots” (Mark 11:20), they “marveled” (Matt. 21:20). They asked, “How?” (21:20).
Jesus gave the apostles the key to such power in their lives—“Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22)! And not only to “have faith” but also “do not doubt” (Matt. 21:21). Jesus gave the apostles miraculous “power” (Matt. 10:1), which is not available to anyone today, but even that miraculous power would not work if there was “unbelief” (NKJV) or “littleness of faith” (NASB) present in the hearts of the apostles (Matt. 17:20).
In speaking to the apostles (keep the context), Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23). For the apostles: Faith + Prayer = God’s Power. The “moving of mountains” was commonly used among the Jews as a proverb for doing that which seemed impossible or overcoming some great difficulty (see Matthew 17:20 and 1 Corinthians 13:2). The miraculous power from God would enable the apostles to do the impossible or overcome a difficult with God’s help.
So, does this passage not have any application to us today? Let’s be clear that it does NOT have any miraculous application to us today. No prayer is going to move a literal mountain today, and a literal mountain remaining upright and not in the sea is not a sign of a lack of faith. HOWEVER, even for the apostles, this terminology was probably figurative.
Here’s a question: Do you have any “mountains” in your life? Do you have obstacles that don’t seem to go away? Do you have God-given responsibilities that seem too large to accomplish? While the age of miracles has ceased, the power of God still works within us and for us (Eph. 3:20; Phil. 2:13; Heb. 13:21). So, don’t try to scale that “mountain” in your life or try to remove that “mountain” WITHOUT God’s help! What does that involve? First, “Have faith in God.” Do everything you can to increase your faith through God’s Word (Rom. 10:17). Second, “ask,” “pray” “in faith, with no doubting” (Jas. 1:6; Mark 11:24). When you do, remember this: Faith + Prayer = God’s Power.
Watch Out For The “New Math”!
Saturday, October 19, 2024Watch Out For The “New Math”!
David Sproule
The boldness of Satan is astonishing and sickening. The first time we are introduced to him is very early in the Biblical narrative—in the 57th verse of the Bible, that “cunning…beast” enters the scene. The first thing we read of him doing is planting a seed of doubt in the validity of the Word of God (Gen. 3:1), and then going further to lie profusely about the consequences of disobeying God, “You shall not surely die” (3:4; cf. 2:17). Truly, “he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). From the very beginning, he has been adding to and taking from God’s Word to cause mankind to violate God’s Word.
And, unfortunately, since the days of the Garden in Genesis 3, mankind has been following his lead in adding to and taking from the Word. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, when they were forbidden to do so (Gen. 3:6). Israel molded a golden calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, as if it was their “god” (Ex. 32:1-35). Moses struck the rock to provide water for the Israelites, instead of speaking to the rock as God instructed (Num. 20:7-12). Time and time again, God’s creation was disregarding the clear directions given to them by their God. Who did they think they were—what math were they using—that they could disobey God?
From the beginning, God has always told man what He is to do in order to please God (“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat,” Gen. 2:16). He has always told man what He is not to do (“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” 2:17). And, He has always told man the consequences of disobedience (“for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” 2:17). Still, man, being influenced by the father of lies himself, transgresses God’s clear directives.
It is no wonder then that God has to repeat Himself throughout Scripture. In Deuteronomy 4:2, He made it clear, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it.” Again in Proverbs 30:6, “Do not add to His words.” Then, finally, on the very last page of the Bible, “anyone” who “adds to” or “takes away from” the Word of God is warned of the serious and eternal consequences thereof (Rev. 22:18-19).
God’s math is simple—do not “add” to or “subtract” from what He says, lest you “multiply” your sorrow and “divide” yourself from Him. Yet, the cunning beast still thinks that he can teach his new math and get away with it. Friends, remember that the devil is a liar! His new math is from hell and leads to hell! Let us remember that we must “listen to” and “do” the will of God in order to “go in and take possession of the land” He is giving us (Deut. 4:1). What He commands us is “for our good always”—now and in eternity (Deut. 6:24).
The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 4
Saturday, October 12, 2024The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 4
Wade Webster
It Is a Comforting Promise
Not all of God’s promises are comforting. After all, God has made promises to judge the wicked. No comfort can be found in these promises (Acts 24:25; Heb. 10:26-27). Perhaps to the wicked, the promise that God’s word will not pass away is not comforting. In fact, it is probably very troubling. The wicked would like for the word to pass away so they do not have to be judged by it. However, it will be there, they will be judged by it (Rev. 20:12; John 12:48). For us as Christians, the indestructibility of the word is very comforting. Our comfort is not in our perfection, but in its provision. Think of how the word is described:
● It is a solid foundation (Matt. 7:24-27).
● It is a light (Ps. 119:105).
● It is a sword (Eph.6:17).
● It is food (1 Pet. 2:2; Job 23:12).
If the word could pass away, then it would be very troubling to be without these concepts and many more. Without a foundation, nothing we build would stand for long. Without a light, we would be lost in sin’s dark night. Without a sword, we would be easy prey for the devil. Without food, our souls would shrivel and die from malnutrition. We are comforted in the knowledge that we will never be without these things because we will always have the word of God. We are comforted in what the Scriptures tell us about God and His faithfulness to His children (Rom. 15:4).
Surely, the promise that God’s word will never pass away is an exceedingly great and precious promise (2 Pet. 1:3-4). At some point in time, without this promise being true, we would lose all of the others. It is this book that tells us of all the other promises and how they can be ours.
________________________________________
The Christian and his Bible
I find my Lord in the Bible
Wherever I chance to look.
He is the theme of the Bible
The Center and Heart of the Book.
He is the Rose of Sharon
He is the Lily fair
Wherever I open my Bible
The Lord of the Bible is there.
He, at the Book's beginning
Gave to the earth its form
He is the Ark of shelter
Bearing the brunt of the storm.
The Burning Bush of the desert
The budding of Aaron's Rod.
Wherever I look in the Bible
I see the Son of God.
The Ram upon Mount Moriah
The Ladder from earth to sky
The Scarlet Cord in the window
And the Serpent lifted high.
The Smitten Rock in the desert
The Shepherd with staff and crook
The face of my Lord I discover
Wherever I open the Book.
He is the Seed of the woman,
The Saviour, virgin-born.
He is the Son of David
Whom men rejected with scorn
His garments of Grace and Beauty
The stately Aaron deck
Yet He is a Priest forever
For He is after Melchizedek.
He's Lord of Eternal Glory
Whom John in a vision saw.
Light of the Golden City
Lamb without spot or flaw.
Bridegroom coming at midnight
For whom the virgins look
Wherever I open my Bible
I find my Lord in the Book. —Author unknown
The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 3
Saturday, October 05, 2024The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 3
Wade Webster
It Is A Confirmed Promise
God’s promise alone is enough for us. We know that God keeps His promises (1 Kings 8: 56). We know that He cannot lie (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2). We know that time after time, God has been found to be faithful. This is especially clear in the case of this promise. Through the centuries, men have tried to destroy the word of God, without success. Someone has well said, “His words have passed into laws, they have passed into doctrines, they have passed into proverbs, they have passed into consolations, but they have never ‘passed away.’” Bernard Ramm said, “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.” Consider just few of the failed attempts to destroy God’s word:
- Jehoikim: Johoikim slashed and burned the word of God because he did not like the prediction that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy the land (Jer. 36:29). Though he cut out the unwanted prophecy and cast it into the fire, it still came to pass. God’s word lived on. At the instruction of God, the destroyed section was restored and additional words were added to it. What happened to Jehoikim? According to Jeremiah’s prediction, Jehoikim died and was “buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jer. 22:19).
- Antiochus Epiphanes: Antiochus Epiphanes was a Syrian ruler who came to power during the period between the testaments. When he became ruler in Syria in 175 B.C., he destroyed the temple, sold the people of Jerusalem into slavery, forced Greek culture upon the people, and sought to do away with the sacred writings. He wanted to break their morale and substitute the worship of Zeus for the worship of God. Once a month, houses were searched, and whoever was found with a copy of the law or had observed the practice of circumcision was condemned to death. Yet the sacred writings survived his reign and persecution.
- Emperor Diocletian: Diocletian was a Roman emperor during the early part of the fourth century A.D. He decreed death for anyone who possessed a copy of the Bible. He took great pleasure in burning Bibles. After two years, he boasted that he had completely “exterminated the Christian writings from the face of the earth.” He even erected a monument over the ashes of burned Bibles. However, just twenty years later, when Constantine came to the throne and offered a substantial reward for copies of the word, the law of God was found in abundance (2 Kings 22-23). In fact, within twenty-five hours, fifty copies had been offered to him. Like those before him, Diocletian had failed.
- Voltaire (1694-1778): Voltaire was a well-known French infidel. In 1778, he boasted, “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.” He further boasted, “It took twelve men to build Christianity. One will destroy it.” Only fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used this very printing press to print Bibles. Furthermore, the house in which Voltaire had lived was used to store and distribute Bibles. Approximately two hundred years after this prediction, a first edition of Voltaire’s work sold in Paris for a few cents. On that very same day, December 24, 1933, the British government purchased an ancient New Testament manuscript, Codex Sinaiticus, from the Soviets for half a million dollars. The highly-prized manuscript, dated about 350 A.D., is still on display in the British Musuem.
- Thomas Paine: Many remember Paine as the author whose writings were influential in moving the colonists to declare their independence. However, in his book The Age of Reason, he ridiculed the Bible and its claims. His book became known as The Atheists’ Bible. In boasting of the demise of the Bible, Paine declared, “In five years from now there will not be a Bible in America. I have gone through the Bible with an axe and cut down all its trees.” However, it was Paine who was eventually cut down. He spent the last part of his life in bitter isolation, and his dying words were filled with regret. Dying, he declared, “I would give worlds if I had them, had The Age of Reason never been written . . . . O Lord, help me! Christ help me! . . . . Send even a child to stay with me, for it is hell to be alone. If ever the devil had an agent, I have been that one.” Fittingly, Paine’s printing press was also later used to print Bibles and biblical materials.
Although we need no confirmation to take God at His word, much confirmation can be found relative to this promise. Amazingly, in trying to destroy God’s word, God’s enemies have confirmed it!
The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 2
Saturday, September 28, 2024The Promise That God’s Word Will Never Pass Away – Part 2
Wade Webster
In the first installment of this study, we introduced God’s promise that His word would never pass away. Now, we want to consider the first of three things about this exceeding great and precious promise.
Is a Clear Promise
Jesus’ promise is a clear promise. He didn’t use fifty-dollar words or figurative language. There is nothing confusing or unclear about it; even a small child can understand what Jesus is promising. This clear promise is repeated many times and in many ways in Scripture. Consider these examples (emphasis added):
- “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Ps. 12:6-7).
- “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Ps. 19:7-9).
- “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (Ps. 100:5).
- “Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever” (Ps. 119:152; cf. 89-91).
- “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isa. 40:8; cf. 51:6, 8; 54:10).
- “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:22-25)
Clearly,God did not want us to misunderstand this promise.. He stated it many times and in multiple ways.