When the prodigal son returned home, the Bible says that his father was “glad” when he saw him (Luke 15:32). Imagine those emotions. After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to His apostles and showed them His wounds, and the Bible says that they were “glad” when they saw him. Imagine those emotions. After we have suffered for the cause of Christ and He returns in “His glory,”…
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Posts by David Sproule (Page 100)
The story of Adam and Eve sinning against God in Genesis 3 is no doubt the saddest (and most universally devastating) story in all of the Bible. God let the woman (3:16) and the man (3:17-19) know what their physical punishment would entail. Then the text says that “God sent him out of the garden…So He drove out the man” (3:23-24). I remember as…
I once heard of a preacher who was determined to work only 40 hours a week. So, he calculated how much time he spent in preparing sermons and classes, and how much time he spent in teaching and preaching those lessons. He subtracted that from 40 hours. Then, if he got called into a special meeting with the elders, if he got…
I remember as a child when I got my first pair of glasses. We walked outside the optometrist’s office and I immediately exclaimed, “The trees have leaves on them!” Of course, I knew that fact already, but now I was able to see clearly something that I had not seen clearly in quite some time. I was severely nearsighted and was now enjoying a renewed…
James talked about the gifts that God gives (which are “from above” and come “down from the Father”), and he called them “good” and “perfect” (Jas. 1:17). The gifts of God are full and complete, lacking nothing. Eight verses later, he used the word again to talk about “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25). The gift of God’s Word to us is called “perfect”—full and…
Ezekiel prophesied to God’s people during a very tumultuous time. Israel was falling to Babylon (most were already captive in that pagan land), as a consequence of turning away from God and delving into a life of sin. The prophet was informing the Jews (often in vivid terms) of the reason for their exile and of the future that God had in…
The Jews and Gentiles were bitter enemies and would not have anything to do with one another. Yet, God had an “eternal” plan, once kept as a “mystery” to Himself, but then revealed through Christ. That mystery was that “the Gentiles” were to be “fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ” (Eph. 3:6). How in the world was God…
Everyone wants to be the “greatest.” We love it when someone tells us that we’re the “greatest cook” or the “greatest friend.” We give trophies for the “World’s Greatest Teacher” or the “World’s Greatest Grandma.” Even Jesus’ disciples were interested in being the “greatest” (Mark 9:34). What does the Bible have to say about being the “greatest”? Three key uses of the word “greatest” in the…