Let's Go Back to the Bible

Posts by David Sproule (Page 25)

Thanks to (and more openings available for) 30-minute members

There are lots of things to make you smile as a Christian! There are lots of things that make church assemblies the highlight of a week! Here’s one of those things for me. We have a large (and growing) number of folks, who I affectionately refer to as our “30-minute members.” They fall into two classes. First, there are the folks who always get to services…

Nevertheless at Your word I will

When you’ve been doing something your way for so long and have all but perfected it in your own way, for someone to tell you to do it differently may not always sit so well. Imagine being a fisherman and you’ve fished all night and caught nothing, and then a carpenter comes along and tells you how to fish. Would you listen? That’s exactly…

Did you do it with “joy and gladness”?

Only two chapters in the Bible have more verses than the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (i.e., Numbers 7 and Psalm 119; 1 Kings 8 has more words but fewer verses). The length of the chapter should tell us something. Moses is about ready to die and he is laying out the “Blessings of Obedience” (in 14 verses) and the “Curses on Disobedience” (in 54…

In what does God “delight”?

There are certain people that you know exactly “what is pleasing” to them. For some it’s fresh flowers. Others like the solitude of holding a fishing pole on a quiet lake. For many it’s a trip through the Starbucks drive-thru. But what is it that is a “delight” to God? Or, as the Hebrew word is defined, what “is pleasing” to God? Perhaps multiple answers could be…

It Was All Undeserved

Sometimes students will complain that they “deserve a better grade.”  Sometimes employees will argue that they “deserve a raise.”  Sometimes children will claim that they “deserve a treat.”  The word deserve means “to do something or have or show qualities worthy of reward or punishment.”  Sometimes people get what they deserve.  Sometimes people get what they don’t deserve.  Let’s consider two monumental…

Do not hide from helping

Have you ever seen a fellow Christian have a particular need and deflected your eyes away and thought, “Not my problem! Someone else can deal with this. I’ve got other things to do”? Is that a big deal? Consider first these instructions to the Jews long ago. “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them…You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his…

Do you like to get paid back?

Did you ever loan someone some money, and then you wondered if you would ever get paid back? Do you think that God would be good at paying someone back? There is some interesting terminology to that effect in Colossians 3. Read it carefully: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord…