As Jesus was nearing the end of His life, He told His apostles that when He left, “another Comforter” would be sent by the Father—i.e., the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). What an interesting word to use—“Comforter” (KJV). The Greek word literally means one who “calls alongside.” What would the apostles need? Comfort! Where would they get it? From “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor.…
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Posts by David Sproule
I heard of a family who played the “Name-As-Many-Players-As-You-Can Game” while driving on long trips. They would pick a number (like “23”), and then say, “Name as many college or professional athletes as you can think of who ever wore the number 23.” After exhausting that number, they’d go to another one. This was obviously a family who loved to watch sports. What about another…
In 1882, Priscilla J. Owens penned these opening words of a familiar hymn: “We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!” What could be a more “joyful sound” than that? In fact, if you were looking for a simple two-word summary of the whole Bible, you could not find one better than “Jesus saves!” Let us think about this exciting…
The red light on your dashboard comes on, telling you that you are almost empty and you need to fill up. How much longer will you go? At some point, you are going to have to stop and take the necessary steps to fill it up. There was a Christian lady in Joppa, who became sick and died (Acts 9:36-37). That was not an unusual…
The phrase “my whole heart” is found eight times in the Bible and each of them is in the book of Psalms. Of the eight occurrences in the book of Psalms, five of them are in Psalm 119. All three times the phrase appears outside Psalm 119, the psalmist is saying, “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart” (9:1; 111:1; 138:1),…
“Well, that’s a typical preacher thing to say, isn’t it? Of course, a preacher is going to say that the church is a BIG deal to Christ! That’s what he’s supposed to say!” I guess someone could respond that way, but let’s approach this strictly from the viewpoint of the Bible. Let’s not give attention to what any ordinary man has said…
The last four words of Psalm 37:3 (in the New King James Version) are intriguing: “feed on His faithfulness.” Picture a lamb out in the field of Israel—what is that lamb “feeding on” in the field? He has grass and to spare. Picture a child of a king walking into a banquet hall in the palace—what is that child “feeding on” in that huge banquet…
As you think about King David in the Bible—growing up in the household of Jesse, being chosen at a young age to be the next king of Israel, being close friends with the king’s son, becoming king and living in the king’s house—it is unlikely that you have ever pictured him as “poor and needy.” And yet, that is exactly how he describes…