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Let's Go Back to the Bible

Posts by David Sproule (Page 63)

The Lord lives, therefore…

In one of the lengthier psalms, David extolled all that the Lord had done for him. The Lord “saved” him (Psa. 18:3), “heard” him (18:6), “flew upon the wings of the wind” for him (18:10), “thundered from heaven” for him (18:13), “took” him (18:16), “drew” him out of danger (18:16), “delivered” him from the enemy (18:17, 43, 48, 50), “supported” him (18:18), “delighted”…

Worthy to be praised

The word “worthy” means “having worth or value; of commendable excellence or merit; deserving attention, respect, admiration.” Read those words one more time. Then think about the words of Psalm 18:3 – “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.” Our Lord is WORTHY to be praised! There are many reasons for that, but note the ones that David emphasizes in…

Taste Test

As Jesus hung in agony on the cross, they offered Him “sour wine mingled with gall to drink.  But when He had tasted it, He would not drink” (Matt. 27:34).  The word “tasted” there is not hard to figure out.  It is the same word found in John 2:9, when the master of the feast “tasted the water that was made wine.” …

What did Jesus not do?

When faced with challenging situations in life, it is a good practice to ask, “What would Jesus do?” An even better practice is to ask, “What did Jesus do?” When considering what Jesus actually did, consider also what Jesus did not do. When Jesus was put on trial and even while He hung on the cross, Jesus was “mocked” (Matt. 27:29, 31, 41), “treated…with…

A key to dealing with persecutions

The epistle of First Peter was written to first-century Christians, who were dealing with pressures and persecutions from non-Christians. It was truly a “fiery trial” of their faith (1 Pet. 4:12) that they were facing. How could they deal with these “various trials” (1:6) and overcome them? The book is filled with imperatives, as Peter provides direction to defeat the devil’s efforts (5:8), but his…

What kind of church is this?

Imagine for a moment that there was a person living in the city of Philippi in the first century who decided to visit the church one Sunday. This person walked in and asked, “What kind of church is this?” If you were there in the first century and heard that question asked, would it strike you odd? Think about it. In the first century, there was…

What if someone made this wish for you?

The apostle John wrote a short note to a good friend of his named Gaius. In some of our notes today, we might say something like, “I hope you are doing well.” John sort of said that, but he placed a pretty heavy qualifier on it. John said to his friend, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health,…