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A skeptic doubts, but something deeper had happened. A true skeptic questions because he or she just cannot believe. For them, the inability to believe something without a total analysis hinders the simplicity of seeing the invisible. But what is the criterion for a skeptic’s analysis ? Romans 4 gives us several examples: First, a program of merit through good works. In this mindset anything of value comes as a reward for performance. Romans 4:2 teaches us, ” …if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”” …the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. “Of course, good works create value, but not as a means of gaining favor from God. That favor is given as a free gift. The next mindset used as a criterion for analysis centers around the ritual of circumcision. This rite practiced strictly by Jewish folks, eliminates all…

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 During a time of trouble, wise men will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever, they turning many to righteousness also shall shine bright. John the Baptist “was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. “says John 5:35 He was the forerunner and prepared the way for the Messiah — meaning (sending on before kings on their journeys, persons to level the roads and make them passable.) “John Baptist was a priest of the order of Aaron, yet we find him preaching in a wilderness, and never officiating in the temple. The doctrine he preached was that of repentance (Matthew3:2); Consider your ways, change…

“Be strengthened with might, by my spirit in the inner man.” Strengthen? to empower, that is, (passively) increase in vigor:(Strongs) Might? force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): – ability, abundance, meaning, might. (Strongs.) “Inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth” (Thayers) Brothers and sisters we must be empowered in our inherent power, which power resides in us through the filling of the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18. Cement is strong and can bear a load, however, cement that is endued with iron is stronger and can bear a heavier load. This is just one way of looking at it. Frankly, every believer has been gifted the Holy Spirit. All of us believers have been baptized into the body of Christ, and made to drink of that one Spirit. 1Corinthians 12:13.…

Romans 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:20  “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself…” Ephesians 2:14  “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;”Ephesians 2:15  “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” So far, we see three aspects of peace. Since the word itself refers to “a joining together,” our first joining points us to the reconciliation purchased for the human race to Christ. We had lost our connection with God through the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, however, this reunion with Christ, accomplished through the blood of His cross,…

Genesis 37:3  “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.”  The days are dark, perhaps sad and wearisome. In the case of Joseph, his favorite coat had been torn off, only to be left helpless in a pit. Father Jacob had that coat specially made for his favorite son, the son of his old age. But now his very own brothers conspired to rid themselves of this “dreamer.” Brother Rueben forbade them to kill Joseph, but instead they spied a Medianite caravan of merchants — they sold their brother to these men. The coat, they took back to Father, saturated with the blood of a slain goat. Jacob, aghast at the sight, waxed bitter. Joseph, meanwhile, was being sold again to an official of Pharaoh’s court. Egypt became his new residence,…

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” 1Corinthians 9:25a Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.   I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air.” 1Corinthians 9:26  We must know what Paul had in mind here. We must see the metaphor for what it is, and for what it is not. For this end Expositors make this comment: “The brightest jewel in the incorruptible crown is the joy of having become all God made us to become, of perfectly fulfilling the end of our creation, of being able to find happiness in goodness, in closest fellowship with God, in promoting what Christ lived and died to promote.” I must admit an abject failure at any of this striving for the mastery, although I must concede that it is a deep…

I have often heard it said that the Bible is full of contradictions. But is God’s Word not Sacred? Is it for man to judge God? “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies, probably because generally they are the same people.” Chesterton A laughable observation, it somehow grasps the gist of Bible study. And that gist is that our attempts at reconciling two scripture passages invigorate our brains to think beyond the status quo. Yes, we must get this point — God is beyond us, a mystery surrounds His Words. A mystery, yes, is hidden beneath the pages, between the lines, behind the obvious. This is God’s mystery, but not a mystery forever wanting. God’s mystery is there to be discovered. And when we discover that mystery we discover God himself. This is the point of our inquiry. Deuteronomy 29:29 teaches the thought…

Proverbs 29:18 teaches, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. “ The Law” (torah) is not merely the written Mosaic Law, but the announcement of God’s will by the mouth of his representatives. Many times God’s people neglected Him. First, we note the licence of Eli’s time, when there was no open vision. (1Samuel 3:1-21.) “no vision that broke forth” — no publicly recognized prophet whom the people could consult, and from whom they might learn the will of God.” J.F.B. Now, where there is no preaching, men perish in their sins; the word being the ordinary means of grace, ( Acts 20:32) of regeneration (Titus 3:5), conversion (John 3:3), faith (Roman’s 10:17), and salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10); without which, men know nothing of Christ, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life by Him: and where there is preaching, yet it not being…

A life makes little sense without hope. The Bible refers to it as the anchor of our soul. Hope that is seen, it’s not really hope. So says Romans 8:24. No, hope that is not seen we must wait for, it requires patience. Patience is a tremendous virtue because it teaches us how to abide underneath the covering of another. In our case that covering is God and his Word. In this abiding, we can even bear fruit. In this abiding , we can have our prayers answered. It is an abiding in love as we are told in John chapter 15. So what does hope do for us believers? Hope tells you , that “you can do it.” You can do it because Christ is in you, the hope of glory. What a miraculous thing. The miracle of the indwelling Christ, united you to all that He is and…