If you look up the word “Christian” in a dictionary, you will find that the common use of that word today in our nation is “a person who believes in Jesus Christ” or “a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ.” As you consider those definitions, do they match what you think a Christian is? If we…
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Let's Go Back to the Bible
Posts by David Sproule (Page 98)
Have you ever sent an email or text and then thought, “I shouldn’t have done that…I shouldn’t have said that”? It is so easy today to say things to others—with the simple tap-tap-tap on a keyboard or device—that we should not say at all, and things that we would not normally say with our mouth in person. The same verses that apply to…
“I think I should talk to people about the gospel. I think I should invite people to worship. I think I should ask someone if they’d like to have a Bible study. I think I should check on and encourage folks from church. I think I should tell the elders how much I appreciate what they do. I think I should study my Bible more often and…
On his second missionary journey, the apostle Paul came to the city of Athens. Perhaps if Dorothy had been traveling with Paul on this journey, she might have said, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Jerusalem anymore.” While Paul had preached in pagan cities before, Athens was unique. When Paul arrived in Athens, “he saw the city was full of…
There was something that God thought was pertinent for man to know throughout the ages about the Athenians. It was not something that was flattering by any means, but a grave concern in the eyes of God—enough to inspire Luke to write about it. The Athenians wanted to hear Paul’s so-called “new doctrine,” because “all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent…
There is certainly nothing wrong with having earthly treasures, but that is not the same thing as “laying up treasures.” The act of “laying up treasures” is a deliberate and persistent effort to (1) focus one’s life in a particular direction, (2) devote one’s time and effort toward a particular end, and (3) seek the reward that comes from these efforts. Jesus makes…
Researchers recently revealed that they had discovered date palm seeds in some archaeological excavations in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea. These date palm seeds were dated to be 2,000 years old. Think about that: ancient seeds of date palm trees that were determined to be from around New Testament times. Questions may have come to mind in finding these seeds:…
Daniel and his three friends were taken as teenagers from their home in Jerusalem and forced into a three-year training program to serve before King Nebuchadnezzar in the foreign (and pagan) land of Babylon. Yet, even as a teenager, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself” with the king’s food (Dan. 1:8). The Bible does not tell us the exact…