Three Abominations
Prov. 15 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” (v. 8)
The wicked offer many sacrifices to the Lord, but they do it not in the sincerity of their heart. Many use their so-called sacrifices as bargaining power; they seem to think they can bargain with the Lord, and yet, Christians find themselves doing the very same thing at times! When troubles and trials come our way, don’t we cry unto the Lord an
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (v. 8)
Good works do not come by osmosis. Because we are flesh, many times we have to work at producing good works. When we want to lash out with out tongues at someone, we have to learn to bite our tongue; when we would strike them in anger, we need to restrain ourselves; good works
“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:” (v. 1)
I am afraid we are “losing it” in the church today, as well as in our country. As our inalienable rights seem to flee away by political subtly and avarice, our churches are also losing their influence and the old ways are falling by the wayside. Our “roots” have been severed and we are dying on the vine. Sound doctrine, at the time of Paul, did not need defining as it does today. If we admonish men to hold to sound doctr
Quick devotions for those on the move.
“Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.” (v. 11)
I feel a need to focus on the first line of this verse, “Whose mouths must be stopped”. We do not realize the danger of those who oppose the truth and spread their deceit as a plague and infect the hearts and minds of young Christians, and even seek to beguile the older and more mature believers who really want to do rig
A Fisher of Men
Matthew 4
“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (v. 19)
Forgive me if I take this verse out of context, but there is an illustration that one can apply here that teaches us a great truth. You see, Satan too is a good “fisher of men”. It is as if he casts the bait out into the sea of life, and just waits to see who bites. The bait may be drugs, sex, or alcohol, or anything, it may be simply a proud heart, but the emphasis is not on
Forsaken
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(Mk. 15:34)
Jesus’ cry form the cross was a cry of desperation! Yes, Jesus had a time of desperation; a time when He desperately and earnestly called out unto His God, and anguished over the loneliness of sin. You see, God had never left Christ before; He was with Jesus every moment of every day, and the fullness
2 Tim. 1:12
“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
We need to know they “why” of certain things: Paul knew why he had suffered many trials, and here he teaches us that there are several things we must know.
First, we must know whom we have believed. We do not cling to some whimsical hope in a man made god, but in he
1 Thessalonians 3
“To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (v. 13)
This is the purpose for our preaching and teaching, for the “perfecting of the saints” and the salvation of the lost. In this case, we deal with the preaching for the perfecting of the saints, since it is assumed that all those whom Paul writes to are born again saints of the Lord. The aim is for growth in t
1 Thessalonians 2
“But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” (v. 4)
We too, my friends, are “put in trust of the Gospel.” This is a great privilege indeed. Even the angels in Heaven would rejoice at the privilege bestowed upon us. If we only knew the gravity of being entrusted with such a precious thing, we would be much more careful to tend to it, and with much more diligence. This, acc
1 Thessalonians 1
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;” (v. 3)
The Lord, through Paul, commended the Thessalonians for three basic services: Their “work of faith”; their “labor of love”; and their “patience of hope”. I wonder how we all would measure up in these areas? First though look at the first few words of our verse, Paul prayed “without ceasing” as he later urges th
1 Timothy 6:10
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.”
What a fantastic verse this is. We cannot see how the love of money can affect, say sins like adultery, but the Bible says it is the “root of all evil.” Every evil act finds its root in the love of money. Again, this is more than amazing to us. As I mused on this verse, I realized that the roots seldom rese
2 Tim. 1:12
“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
We need to know they “why” of certain things: Paul knew why he had suffered many trials, and here he teaches us that there are several things we must know.
First, we must know whom we have believed. We do not cling to some whimsical hope in a man made god, but in he
Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. (Josh. 4:7)
My uncle was a farmer in northern Michigan. As a child, I often spent summers up there helping out on the farm, and the thing most intriguing to me as a child was an old pile of stones that sat out in the middle of the hayfield.
Daniel 11
“Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.” (v. 1)
One must wonder how this could have strengthened the king, with such unbelievable and fantastic news from Daniel, but I have found that to be forewarned is a great comfort when the trials come, and there is strength in knowing. As a young man, my preacher taught me what to expect from the world, and my “friends” as I began the new life in Christ. This helped me immensely late
Daniel 10
“But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” (v. 21)
The angel is merely showing Daniel some things that are in the scriptures. There is no other vision than that of the Word of God. Those folks who profess to get a new revelation from God today are greatly mistaken. They may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. Even if the entire world believes otherwise, we are
Daniel 8
“And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” (v. 27)
Daniel was so moved by the vision that he had seen that he could hardly stand it; it made him ill to even think of it. There is much conjecture as to what all this means, and the text explains much itself, but the point is that the Lord wanted to share something with Daniel, something very important. Though it
Daniel 7
“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.” (v. 1)
In this chapter we look to the reign of Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had a dream here that he could not interpret himself, a vision of the last days. We come to a new phase in the Book of Daniel. God reveals to His servants what He is going to do, as a blessing, as well as a warning. Ple
Daniel 5
“But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:” (v. 23)
Belshazzar seems to have been the son of Nebuchadnezzar, (vs. 2
Daniel 4 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. (v. 37)
The story of Nebuchadnezzar ends well, with Him glorifying the God of Heaven.
The king, when he had come to his senses, sought to exalt the Lord, and recognize Him as the supreme King of kings, and Lord of lords. His understanding returned unto Him (v. 34), and his reason also returned (v. 36) and he w
Daniel 2
“But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.” (v. 9)
Nebuchadnezzar was wise in the respect that he knew it would be no more impossible for a god to reveal the dream than it would to interpret the dream. He seemed to have his own magicians and seers under sus
Daniel 12 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (v. 1)
These events describe the tribulation, so many say, and the time of the tribulation. The really great thing is that the arch-angel, Michael shall stand against the
Daniel 9 “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:” (v. 3)
One cannot say enough about the importance and the effectiveness of prayer. Much of the first 19 verses record a beautiful prayer by Daniel (from verse 3 to v. 19); a prayer of humility and confession; a prayer for the nation as well as for himself. We would do well to read this prayer again and again, and put America in there where Israel is, and realize t
Daniel 6 “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime”. (v. 10)
It is interesting to note that Daniel defied the proclamation of king Darius, and prayed as he had always done, not changing his pattern. You see, he could have closed the windows, and still prayed, and he would feel just in doin
Daniel 3 Needed Afflictions
“He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (v. 25)
In Daniel three, we have one of the more interesting Bible stories in the entire Bible. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, they had a unique experience; they had the privilege of walking with Jesus! Had they not went through the fire, they never wo
The Ark Of Salvation As Related By Spurgeon
The following is Charles Spurgeon's telling of what his search for salvation was like, using a very neat and encouraging illustration to get his point across. Have you found your rest in the Ark of Salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ?
"I could not believe that it was possible that my sins could be forgiven. I do not know why, but I seemed to be the odd person in the world. When the catalogue was made out, it appeared to me that, for some reason, I mus
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