Scripture Treasures

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ~ Romans 5:10   How have you lived your life so far? Are you a God hater, or a God lover? Do you look at your life’s history and wonder who could ever love you? You have cheated, stolen, perhaps been imprisoned for crimes you dare not mention aloud? Or, maybe not quite so drastic, but you certainly have not had God in mind when you lived life your way, doing your thing, showing that you were the “boss”. I know there are stories about those who would wonder at the love of God for them. How could God love them when they had committed…what crime would you fill in? I will tell you that you are not alone. In every human heart there is enmity toward that which is holy. And ultimately toward God, for He is the author of holiness. Yet, He knew you before you were born, He knew the path you might take, probably would take, unless

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— Psalm 103:17   From everlasting, or from eternity past to eternity to come, the Lord’s love is faithful. His love has no beginning and it has no end. Just a mere two verses previous, the psalmist talks about our life (and you might say, our love) which is like the grass, or a flower, here one moment and blown away by the wind the next. Our love is fragile, sometimes fleeting, but in contrast the Lord’s love is forever. There has never been a time when the Lord’s love was not extended toward humanity for the saving grace which He offered. This love of God’s continues to the children’s children! This is not a promise that our children will be righteous, but that God’s love will not end, even if our children are unrighteous. He is ever ready to receive back the prodigal that may be our child: our son, or our daughter. There are promises in the Bible for

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord ~ Colossians 3:20   In obedience to our parents, we learn humility, and subjection to authority. This is assuming the parent is good and godly, for the call to obedience is not toward that which is sinful and evil, but to what is good. Why does this please the Lord? God is a God of relationship for one. He created man and woman to form a partnership which would bring together two very different, but complimentary people. In this, they bring out the best in each other, or, that was God’s idea. In the family unit, there too must be relationships which blend and bring about a character which is good, and righteous. Ephesians 5:21-6:4 goes into greater detail about how the family unit is to work together so as to be a blessing within the home, and without. To take this then outside the family unit on earth, we have a family unit that is also spiritual. We are called the “children of God”. Before Him we must be humble,

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it ~ Proverbs 22:6   I live in a country where our children, and probably their parents, are biblically illiterate. When I grew up the Bible was taught, and many and most people attended church every week. I went to Sunday school and my first Bible was received when the Gideon Bible organization came into my classroom and gave us all a little New Testament. Children now only hear about the words of God if their parents happen to go to church, which, unfortunately, is not the norm for our world. Most certainly children do not hear about God as Saviour and Redeemer from our school systems, and if parents are not teaching about God, they have no way of knowing the life of faith and belief in One who will guide, comfort, teach, offer truth, give healthy boundaries. The world is a powerful deterrent to godly living and belief. It has pulled children out of the fold and into the secular. When

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;    give thanks to him and praise his name ~Psalm 100:4   In these days of Covid19 we as the church long to be worshipping God together in His sanctuary along with other believers. It is a privilege to come together in song and praise! We know we are the church wherever we worship though. This past week in the Toronto, Ontario area, a church was burned. Found on the building was a writing: “Bet you’ll stay home now!” Whomever wrote that does not understand the church, and that the building is not the church. It is a place where we do meet together, but being home and worshipping God in these times, though it is strange for us, does not stop the church, nor will it, from ever meeting together again. We are God’s people, and we love Him! We love to gather together to worship Him, but He is not in a building, He is in our heart! I will soon gather inside the gates of my church with all God’s people, and I will praise Him the

May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful! ~ Proverbs 23:25   Respect and love for parents and our elders is a good motive, but the greatest force upon our minds is the renewal by God’s Spirit of truth and grace. It is He who is the sustainer of our life, it is He who is our salvation. In writing this, I recognize the counsel and authority wise parents have for their children is sometimes ignored at certain stages of life. Good and godly parents have much to teach their children, yet the temptations of youth disregard the words spoken to them very quickly. The instruction given here is to seek after truth. How desirous we should go after her. To stand up in and for truth against hypocrisy, falsehood, and indifference is an honourable quest. Seek after wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Only those who are vain and pompous refuse to seek after these qualities which they can glean from others. Jesus is the Way, the Life and the Truth. If you come to

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” ~ Exodus 20:12   Ephesians 6:2 reiterates this is the first commandment to which God has added a promise. Therefore, it is a very important commandment to heed, indicating from another scripture verse, Deuteronomy 5:16 “that it may go well with you.” In other words, if you are disobedient, it will go ill with you. Human parents are a symbol for the divine, yet too, they fall short. However short they may fall, they are the means of our natural life, and the channel through which God creates. I personally struggle with what I read in commentaries about this commandment. I lived with an abusive parent on one side and an abandoning parent on the other, so how can I take the words that I should honour my parents because they stand in the place of God in my life? I can say it is only by the grace God imparts into me. I could see the struggles my one parent had with mental illness,

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father” ~ Galatians 4:6   You are the son and daughter of the Most High God! Wow! What a namesake we all now have as a child of God! Through our new-found relationship with God we now have all the rights of a natural born child! We are privileged indeed! I have a little great-niece who is adopted. She is now a part of our family, with all the privileges allotted a child; her name is now a part of our history, and her character is so like her grandmother, though her genetics are different. Just as she bears the likeness of my sister’s character in many ways, and tends to take on the likeness of her adopted mommy by way of looks, so we too take on the nature of God as His sons and daughters. As my little great-niece is lavished with love and gifts, so we too are the objects of God’s particular love as well. We have within us the indwelling Holy Spirit who leads us into obedience

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us ~ 1 Corinthians 2:12   What is meant by “the spirit of the world”? Does it mean there is another spirit which is comparable to the Holy Spirit? Is this what Paul is saying here? Or, is he talking about the spirit of Satan? No, it is neither. Paul is talking about the secular, materialistic thinking that exists in the world which lives apart from Christ through God. He is talking about the intellectual and moral tendencies of an era. We live in one now – it is the “Me” generation. All things in life are about what “I” can attain, how “I” am pleased, what “I” think or believe about a matter, including faith. This is the spirit of the world. As Christ’s followers, we have left behind the spirit of pride, malice, covetousness, for we are filled with God’s Spirit of life, light, faith, comfort, adoption, truth and future glory. All this has been gi

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us ~ Romans 5:5   Hope is a strange word. Sometimes it is confused with desire, you know, like, I hope I win a million bucks, or I hope I can go to that party. Sometimes too it is confused with belief. “I hoped you would help me out of this…because you seemed different than others I have met.” Instead, we find ourselves in another precarious situation. So, separately, hope as desire or as belief are both inadequate and untrue. But, in combination, well that is a different matter. Hope is both desire and faith – it is to have confidence that what lies ahead is good. This is because the Christian has a higher hope, and this hope is everlasting, knowing no decay, and which sustains the spirit. The reason we have such confidence is due to God’s love for us, that He will fulfill our hope because He loves us – He will not fail. Paul states God’s love ha

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit ~ John 3:5   There are many “cannot enter” signs in the Bible, leading us to the recognition there are right, and, wrong ways to enter the Kingdom of God. I think of the “narrow gate” Jesus talked about, and the story of the sheep and the goats, where the sheep can stay but the goats must leave. Then, of course, there is the story Jesus told about it being easier for the camel to enter the kingdom through the eye of the needle than a proud, rich person. These are some of the verses that directly mention a right way into God’s kingdom. The Bible, though, is filled from beginning to end with stories of how to enter into the presence of God. It is a universal story, a continuing story. Today, on this the 40 th day after Easter called Ascension Day, when Jesus rose up into the heavens to be with the Father, we listen in on a conversation He earlier had with Nicodemu

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly ~ Acts 4:31   Adam Clarke writes, “A right prayer will always have a right and ready answer.” How true this is, and how attentive to these words we should be. These men were filled then with the boldness of the Holy Spirit. They had already received the Holy Spirit, but again, this indicates they, and we, are capable of receiving larger “installments” when we ask of God. There is power in our prayers, power to change hearts, power to strengthen our spirit, power to bring about miraculous transformation. In our prayers, we have through the Spirit of God, the power to rise up our churches, to frighten our enemy, to even move mountains. How little faith we have sometimes when we pray. So timid we come before our God, when He would desire us to pray with earnest, believing, specific requests. At times too, our prayers are an afterthought wherea

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them ~ Acts 2:4   This is called the “crowning glory” of the new covenant gospel. I have talked before how in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would operate mostly outside the people, occasionally coming upon those God had chosen for His work either prophetically, physically (such as Samson), or in craft making. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came upon mankind intrinsically, within us, and there He now acts. Our heart is now filled with God’s Holy Spirit! To what degree are we filled with God’s Spirit, I ask, for there are degrees! Jesus had breathed on all these men (John 20:22) before He ascended into heaven, so why now is the Spirit poured out upon them again? I think it is that the Holy Spirit claimed a greater portion of their life. We know we can shut out, or, shut down the Holy Spirit. We do that by not listening to Him speak to us, by not surrend

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” ~ Acts 1:8   Often mankind seeks power of his own will, and often too, power seems to be thrust upon him which he unwillingly has had a hand in, other than to receive that power. In either case, it is often distorted and warped, for we are generally by nature, a people corrupt in our heart. This is the power of authority. Without God’s Holy Spirit being in control of our life we cannot rightly gage our corruption. Now, I know there are “good people” by nature among us, but in all of us there is a desire to lust for more. The revelation here is the Holy Spirit Himself is our power, and there is no other. If we seek after power itself, we seek wrongly, but, if we seek after the Holy Spirit, with Him we will have all the power necessary to do what God wants us to do. After we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit, we grow rapi

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” ~ Luke 24:49 This promise would become the transforming power of the disciples. The words were given to them by Jesus just as He was about to ascend into heaven, and be with God the Father. Yesterday, I talked about how the Spirit of God infuses our spirits, becoming one with us, and Jesus tells them the reason this promise was made – so they would be clothed with power from God! Under this power the task of world-wide evangelism would begin, and we could say it is the birth of the church. The command to stay speaks to me this day, for often we have trouble with waiting for God to act. These men and women were to sit still, be silent, not begin to preach, but to attend to prayer until the Spirit of God came upon them. I look around at the impatience of the world during covid19. It is difficult to wait this disease out, to wait for a vaccine, to wait to go ba

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions ~ Joel 2:28   The day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts was a wondrously, marvelous day, for from then on, the believers in Jesus Christ were infused with the Holy Spirit of God! That means that we were soaked, steeped, filled, immersed by the Spirit of God, oh happy and holy day! No more do we have to wait for God’s Spirit to come upon us, for He lives within us! Every waking and sleeping hour of the day the Holy Spirit of God is a part of our thinking, our acting, our speaking, or, that is, if we do not shut Him down and shut Him out. When God’s Holy Spirit resides within, He guides us to the truth of Jesus Christ, no matter who we are, or where we live, our nationality, or whether we are rich or poor. The prophecy of Joel was fulfilled in all people, for all time at Pentecost. Galatians 3:28 says “all” are one in Christ,

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin ~ Micah 3:8   The prophet Micah is bold and confident in his statement. He is assured he is filled with God’s Holy Spirit to declare the sin of Israel and to set it plainly before them. In Scripture, there is no other claim like his, the nearest coming in Jeremiah 6:11 where he then claims to be full of the Lord’s wrath which he cannot hold in. Micah stands before the people in opposition to those false prophets of the day, the ones who were full of greed. Micah claims to be full of spiritual power, not as a result of self, but as a result of God’s Spirit. Our world is much larger than it was in Micah’s day, or perhaps I should say much smaller as information travels at a quicker speed, and as we know, so does illness. There are many leaders, many countries, many voices in today’s world. There are many suggestions of how covid19 sh

I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills ~ Exodus 31:3   It is interesting to note how the Spirit of God came upon people at specific times to meet a need. We find in Exodus, both here and in 28:3 the Spirit of Wisdom, or of God, comes to a man by way of ingenuity and creativity for a specific purpose. We often think of talents as born into us, but Moses teaches us to consider that all our talents, whatever they may be, come directly from God. That when we invent something, or create something no one else thought of, that genius was opened up to them because God gave them that “compass” as Clarke calls it. In 31:3 our man was given not only wisdom and understanding, but with knowledge of all kinds of skills. Of course, this was so necessary, for the Israelite people had spent 400 years as slaves and had no time for studying other art forms. Bezaleel was this man, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him. We al

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground ~ Psalm 143:10   I talked previously about how we are brought to life by our Creator God, both in the physical, and in the spiritual, which leads us on our journey. This journey progresses through our daily living, which leads us toward our eternal home. It is a day-by-day experience in which we grow and are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. What it is not is something we can do on our own. We cannot become more like Christ without His Spirit within us. Transformation is brought only by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have a little grand-niece, and I frequently receive images or little videos of her and the new accomplishments she is making in her young life. Some are funny to watch and hear about, and then there are other days when I know she stretches the patience of the adults around her. She is learning both about the rules and obedience, and how to stretch the limits as she lea

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life ~ Job 33:4   I have watched the television show, “Big Bang Theory” and enjoyed its actors as they live life on camera as scientific genius’, but that is just a TV show. As far as believing we originated due to the Big Bang Theory, I reject that thought. The world in which I live was created by a Creator God. Elihu, as he sat before Job, utters this statement that God created him. Perhaps he was saying, that like Job, both were formed in the same way, from the same breath of the Almighty God. We are not created by our own self, nor by atoms randomly coming together, but by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Maker and Creator. The allusion given here is that mankind was created first, then God breathed life into him, causing him to become a living soul. It is as a living soul I confess the power of God, for I recognize Him, have communion with Him, and I know His name. For me, this indicates the value and power

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work ~ 2 Corinthians 9:8   When I read this word this morning, this immediate thought comes to my mind, “You reap what you sow…” If you do good works, you will abound in blessings. In today’s world, people tend more to think of karma when it comes to doing good so as to receive good. But there is a big difference in karma and this verse from scripture. Karma is the belief that both the good and bad experiences in this life stem from deeds done in the current, as well as previous lives. Karma is the reaping of either good or bad based on how you live in this life and in the past life, and it can accumulate to balance out the positive or negative consequences we may expect. Our verse this morning, and the verse about reaping what you sow is based on the word “sow”, which means in scripture “to conceive, to bear, or to yield.” Reap of course, means “to h

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies ~ Proverbs 31:10   Coffman writes, “This beautiful poem is a fitting climax to the Book of Proverbs. ’Throughout Proverbs, we have had all kinds of warnings against women who are prostitutes, adulterous, contentious, nagging, etc., but here we have emphasis upon the woman who is truly noble.’” The writer of Proverbs continues in full explanation and description of her character, a picture of the ideal woman of not only ancient Israel, but of a woman of God. I know the modern day woman would not follow all these directives so as to be known as a woman of noble character, but more the point, a noble woman displays a character which upholds her family in any way she can for the best of each member. Some think this is a poem Solomon wrote, describing the character of his mother, Bathsheba. Some also say this was written for no woman, but for the soul, in which its virtue is far above rubies, or that it describes

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea ~ Micah 7:18, 19   There is NO God like our God, this is what Micah is saying as this verse leads us further into the character of God. Our God has compassion upon us, He pardons our sins, a gift received only from our God. He restores those who have walked away from Him. I am one of those, so I praise God He overlooked my backslidden days and brought me out of my bondage to sin. I was the prodigal he welcomed back into His fold. How often do people hold onto anger because they have been wronged, yet our God, though He cannot tolerate sin, and though He judges against sin, shows that His anger is dispelled when a sinner comes back to Him with a repentant spirit. Oh, the mercies we receive from our

Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us ~ Isaiah 26:12   “A tourist writes of a spring as sweet as any that ever gushed from sunny hillside, which one day he found by the sea when the tides had ebbed away. Taking his cup he tasted the water and it was sweet. Soon the sea came again and poured its bitter surf over the little spring, hiding it out of sight. When the tide ebbed away again, the tourist stood once more by the spring to see if the brackish waves had left their bitterness in its waters; but they were sweet as ever. This is a picture of the peace in the heart of the Christian when floods of bitter sorrow and trial sweep over his life. From secret wells the sweet waters flow, crystal and fresh as ever. They have their source in the heart of God.” (J. R. Miller, D. D.) J. R. Miller writes a beautiful analogy of what it is like to have the peace of God within. In these days of covid19 many of us need this peace, for the stresses

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does ~ Psalm 33:4   In our 21 st c. world people are losing some definition of what is true. We live in a world of “fake news”, of sensationalism in web sites and social media, of rumors and claims from unreliable sources which make headlines, and all are disguised as “facts.” People today follow the loudest voice without checking first the validity of the statement. We tend to want to believe what we think to be true and avoid anything which may challenge our belief system. Those who prey on the weak have found them in these days of covid19. Many have believed in the scammer’s email, or link on the internet and have lost not only finances, but information that is personal and private, as well as their new-found feelings of vulnerability. When we live without the Lord, all other truth seems viable, but it is not. When we live without the Lord, the world which says there are many truths are believable. When we liv

Then I said: "LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments ~ Nehemiah 1:5   This is a heart-prayer. You know, those prayers that arise from hearing crushing news, or finding oneself in the midst of a heart-wrenching experience. It is one of those prayers you will remember forever, as the movement from your heart toward God sprang up from deep within for mercy and grace. Not that all our prayers are not important, but there are a certain few that fit into this category of Nehemiah’s prayer. This prayer is a call from Nehemiah, not to the host of heaven with the sun in it as the Persians prayed, but to the Creator God of the heavens and earth. Only this God can be called “terrible” or “awesome” and great, for He is the King above all gods! It is to this God Nehemiah turned, for as he says, this is the God which keeps covenants of love for those who love Him and obey Him, and right now, Nehemi

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name ~ Matthew 6:9   Many books have been written on prayer, and in fact I am reading one in these days myself. The forms of prayer are as   various as one person from the next. Some people are labelled as “good prayers,” people we want to copy, while others say they cannot pray at all. Forms of prayer were frequent among the Jews as well, and every public preacher gave one to his disciples. Some were very lengthy and wordy. The idea was for the disciple to have this prayer for the immediate, but also to meditate upon later. The prayer Jesus gave His disciples was not a wordy prayer, in fact, it is quite simple. It is a prayer that does not lead to vanity in its wording, but it does get right to the point of what is necessary to say. After many years away from faith in my own life, the church I attended said this prayer. After so many years of not hearing these words, I was in awe of a prayer I had take

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come” ~ Revelation 4:8   We cannot grasp the awesomeness of this scene in its completeness. The living creatures stand before the throne of God and glory, they stand in fear and trembling. Each has six wings: two cover their face so they cannot look upon the shechinah, that is, the holy seat of God; with two they cover their feet so they will not touch the footstool of the Shechinah; with two they fly, and cry out the goodness of His great name. Their call and cry is continual, never ending, as they call back and forth, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Day and night the call continues indicating the works and ways of God are constantly bringing praise to Him. How glorious a vision John has permitted us to view. There is a great deal of symbolism in the Book

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord ~ Jeremiah 17:5   God has always spoken to me in very subtle ways. His messages come, leading me more in an indistinct way rather than a clear and direct message, but nevertheless, I know when God is speaking. This message is a special and clear one sent to Judah in the days of king Jehoiachim who threatened an invasion of the Chaldeans. Judah, instead of trusting in God, looked toward Egypt for help. It is also a word to all people in all time, for in whom do we now trust in place of God? Jesus himself understood how man places trust in objects, or religious studies rather than in God. The Pharisees were such a people, trusting in Moses’ law so much so that they could not see the Messiah in front of them. Some people trust in their lineage, that they are descendants from so-and-so, and they were “good people.” Even today the Jewish people ar

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” ~ Daniel 3:17, 18   Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were three Jewish boys who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzer. In their believed disobedience, the King decreed they would be burned in the fiery furnace. To ensure they died, Nebuchadnezzer ordered the fire be made hotter than usual – he wanted no survivors, he wanted to make a point so all would learn. He alone was the one to worship. It is, in the 21 st c., a repeat, for every other god is the one to worship, the God these Jewish boys worshipped is not the One, and Christians are persecuted and told to hold their tongue. Around the world there are still martyrs for Christ. For these three young men, and for Christian martyrs today, the terror o

Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you ~ Exodus 23:25   Are we zealous in our worship? Do we live to worship God in all we do, say, and act? Do we make it more than a “Sabbath” or a “Sunday” event? I will come to worship God when I am in the sanctuary and with other people, but life outside of church, well, that is different all together…is that our thought and practice? I believe one thing covid19 has done is bring to light the plain fact that church is not in our buildings, church is in our heart! Worship, therefore, I pray has become more authentic in some, where before it may have been for show, or for ritual, or tradition. We are a people here in North America who have forgotten how and who to worship. We have worshipped our financial prowess, our fancy homes, cars, jobs, and land of privilege. But worship God? No, there are many gods, and many ways to God. So we thought. I just read a quote from Jon