This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 26:29 'Until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.' What a day that will be; that day when the Bridegroom shall come for His bride, the Church, and take us away to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It should be no wonder if we long for that day in a manner and with a true heart after God entirely superlative to t...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 55:6 'Oh that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away, and be at rest.' David has begun this fifty-fifth psalm with pleadings unto Jehovah, that He would grant to give him [David] a hearing; thus he cries unto Him: Give ear to my prayer, O God; And hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and answer me: I am restl...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 55:6 'Oh that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away, and be at rest.' David has begun this fifty-fifth psalm with pleadings unto Jehovah, that He would grant to give him [David] a hearing; thus he cries unto Him: Give ear to my prayer, O God; And hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and answer me: I am restl...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 1:28 'Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge.' 'Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said unto them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they have suffered these thing...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 46:10 'Be still and know that I am God.' "A Mighty Fortress is our God," (Originally written in the German language with the title "in feste Berg ist unser Gotte") is one of the best known hymns by the protestant reformer Martin Luther, a prolific hymn writer. Luther wrote the words and composed the hymn tune between 1527 and 1529. One...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 16:12 'But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' In the text that we are looking at this week, we are told that Jesus made it clear to the disciples that when He spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees that He was telling them to beware of the teaching of those men. How are we to reconcile that statement with another in ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 16:12 'But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' In the text that we are looking at this week, we are told that Jesus made it clear to the disciples that when He spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees that He was telling them to beware of the teaching of those men. How are we to reconcile that statement with another in ...

‘The Egyptians whom ye have seen today, Ye shall see them again no more for ever.’...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 27 'Jehovah is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?' Psalm twenty-seven is yet another Psalm of David. In spite of the reality that Psalm twenty-three is, arguably, and that, without any doubt, the most well-known psalm in the beautiful catalogue of songs by David, as well as others employed by God's gracious activity, to pen t...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 10:3 'Thomas, Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus.' We may read, in "The Gospel According to Matthew," the calling, by Jesus, of the twelve disciples who were to becomes the twelve apostles, found elsewhere on numerous occasions in the Newer Testament, simply referred to as the Twelve. These twelve are enumerated...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 7:21 'Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom.' It is not enough to say, Lord, Lord.' Everyone that is born of the Spirit will indeed say, 'Lord, Lord,' but there are multitudes that will utter that blessed title without having the Spirit of the Truth in them. They are Christians in name only; that is ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 8:4 'What is man, that thou art mindful of him?' It is, we might say, something of a shame that Kris Kristofferson did not use biblical language in his extremely popular song of the seventies, 'Why me, Lord?" It is a remarkably fine, and excellent, question that every heart, of every individual, that has experienced the blessed activity ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 1:20 'because thou believedst not my words.' The angel pronounced to Zacharias that he and Elizabeth would indeed bear a son in their old age. Zacharias' response was,How shall these things be?or actually,Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well stricken in years?Luke 1 :18.Well stricken in years,supposes that th...

This Week's Focus Passage: Malachi 3:16 'Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another.' Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, what have we spoken against thee? Ye have said, it is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? and now we call the pro...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 19:39 'And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night' There are only five occasions of the name, Nicodemus, being found in the Holy Scriptures. Nicodemus is the name of an individual that is found solely, in the 'Gospel According to John,' and, in extremely unique settings, and that, as we already said, no less t...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 19:39 'And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night' There are only five occasions of the name, Nicodemus, being found in the Holy Scriptures. Nicodemus is the name of an individual that is found solely, in the 'Gospel According to John,' and, in extremely unique settings, and that, as we already said, no less t...

This Week's Focus Passage: Micah 7:18 'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?' We cannot forbear but to set before our readers, this entire passage.Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in lovingkindness. He will a...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 17:23 'That the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovest me' Probably, the most well-known passage in the Word of God is that found in John 3:16;For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.It certainly is no wo...

This Week's Focus Passage: Revelation 2 3 '.These things saith' If our source be a valid source, that is the source which is titled, or named, Bible Gateway.com, we then trust its information to be correct; that is, at least, as far as it goes, in the hands of man; when it has informed us in our search to locate every place, in the Word of God, where the phrase,These ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Daniel 4:34 'Mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High.' The beginning of the account of Nebuchadnezzar's marvelous, and most amazing, 'transition,' is a dream that the king had, which troubled him greatly. "I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ezekiel 36:22-28 'Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.' This glorious passage, from the prophecies of Ezekiel, is not usually read from verse 22 through to verse 28, simply because the essence related to this lovely entire passage, is more often than not, considered to be found primarily focused on one single verse, namely verse t...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 John 2:8 'The darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.' For the sake of continuity and cohesiveness, let us set before our eyes; before our minds and hearts, the entirety of the pericope where our focus passage for this week is to be found. The entirety of this pericope is that found in, 1 John 2:7-11. Beloved, no ne...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 7:5 'For even his brethren did not believe on Him.' Does this statement above from the writings of John, the evangelist, not throw us into something of a consternation? The first time that we ever read these words informing us that even the brothers of Jesus did not believe on Him, we were able to receive it, only with a certain degree of...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 6:44 'No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me, draw him.' The sixth chapter of John's Gospel is one of the longer chapters in the New Testament, of the Word of God. Now we hasten to point out, again, that the chapter divisions in our Bibles, are not inspired; they were added some time later. In fact, resorting to the intern...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ecclesiastes 12:1 'Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth.' We live in a time, and in a day, when this extremely sound advice coming from "The Preacher," or, Koheleth, in the Scriptures, the Word of God, under the title of Ecclesiastes, in most copies of the Bible, is soundly ignored by the vast majority of persons in our country...

This Week's Focus Passage: Jeremiah 6:16 'But they said, we will not walk therein.' Jeremiah 6:16 contains one of the most beautiful exhortations in the whole of the Word of God. We read in that lovely and compelling exhortation here given. This has been a blessed direction for many over decades and centuries, and more; it is most certain. "Stand in the ways, and see." ...

This Week's Focus Passage: James 1:18 'Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.' "Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we sho...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 24:27 'He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.' And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpretedtothem in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 'In all the scriptures,' at the time in question, there would have been nothing else but the Old Testament scriptures; right? Ther...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 21:31 'The horse is prepared against the day of battle; but victory is of Jehovah.' Although the attribution of the saying is questioned by some, it is largely held that it was Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson who coined the phrase, "Do your duty, and leave the consequences to God," or perhaps, more correctly, 'Duty is ours; consequences ar...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 22:43, 44 'And there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.' Consider the entire 'pericope' which, we believe, is that which makes up verses 39-46. We set them before our readers for their convenience: And he came out, and went, as his custom was, unto the mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed him. And w...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 19:5 9 'A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that uttereth lies shall not escape.' It seems quite strange to find in the Proverbs of Solomon, a particular sentiment stated, not only twice, but stated within a range of five verses. The Proverb cited above from Proverbs 19:5, is virtually duplicated in Proverbs 19:9. The si...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 19:5 9 'A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that uttereth lies shall not escape.' It seems quite strange to find in the Proverbs of Solomon, a particular sentiment stated, not only twice, but stated within a range of five verses. The Proverb cited above from Proverbs 19:5, is virtually duplicated in Proverbs 19:9. The si...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 16:16 'How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!' If we ascribe, as many do, the writings of mostly all the Proverbs, to the son, and successor, of David, king of Israel, as the very beginning of this grand book of collected writings, informs the reader, clearly, as follows:The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel,...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 18:35ff. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.' We may read, in Luke 18:35-43, of one of the miracles granted by our Lord Jesus Christ, as He walked upon this earth. In point of fact, He was making His way, with His disciples, on this particular day, to Jerusalem, and to a cross on Golgotha. It is well worth rea...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 16:31 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded.' The account referenced above, is taken from Luke 16:19-31. Many suggest that the account is another parable from the lips of Jesus Christ, but the word 'parable' is not to be found in the pericope, neither even in the entire chapter. It is true that in the...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 16:31 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded.' The account referenced above, is taken from Luke 16:19-31. Many suggest that the account is another parable from the lips of Jesus Christ, but the word 'parable' is not to be found in the pericope, neither even in the entire chapter. It is true that in the...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 13:3 'I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner, perish.' Jesus began His preaching of the gospel, immediately after His encounter with Satan, as the latter on this occasion insinuated his many temptations toward the recently baptized Savior. His preaching began, according to each of the synoptic gospels, with...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Chronicles 24:20 'And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada.' The "Oxford Universal Dictionary,' originally published in 1933, provides us with the following definition of 'pericope,' when it states that a pericope is: "A short passage, section, or paragraph in a writing; esp. (Eccl.)a portion of Scripture appointed for...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 10:1 'and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place.' The context out of which the above citation is to be found, is Luke 10:1-3, where we read;Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. And he sai...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 8:26-36 'And he gave them leave. And the demons came out of the man.' We may read in our copies of God's Word, this passage found in Luke's gospel, and verses 8:26-36. This particular narrative is found in all three of those gospels which have been denominated, the Synoptic Gospels. ["the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 127:1 'Except Jehovah keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' "John Norman (Jack) MacLeod (1926-2002) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly 1983/84. His parents had emigrated from the Isle of Lewis to America in the early 1920s and John was born in Detroit, Michigan in 192...

This Week's Focus Passage: Philippians 2:25-30 'But I counted in necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother.' We, once again, consult "The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia," Grand Rapids, Mich. 1947, with a query: who was this man named Epaphroditus? "EPAPHRODITUS, (Epaphroditus,"lovely"): Mentioned only in Phil. 2:25; 4:18. The name corresponds to the...

This Week's Focus Passage: Philippians 2:12 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' This text is just one of the texts that Arminians and 'free-willers' are swift to raise up before others, as a proof of their position with regard to a synchronic means of salvation; that is, to say, that salvation is a 'joint venture' between both God and the sinner. Or,...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Kings 17:1 'And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead.' In his "International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia," James Orr, M.A., D.D., General Editor, published by Eerdmans, 1947, in volume II, we may read an article on the prophet, Elijah, pp.930-933, about this enigmatic person and prophet. The author of this particular a...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ephesians 1:4 'Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.' After the salutation of verses one and two, the apostle sets before the reader a litany of 'items,' if you will, 'items' that are so solemn, gracious, and remarkable, that it is extremely difficult to know what terms to make use of in describing them unto our mind...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ephesians 1:4 'Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.' After the salutation of verses one and two, the apostle sets before the reader a litany of 'items,' if you will, 'items' that are so solemn, gracious, and remarkable, that it is extremely difficult to know what terms to make use of in describing them unto our mind...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Samuel 24:1 'and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.' We read in 2 Samuel 24:1, basically, that the Lord moved David against his own people, saying, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.' But do we not read elsewhere that 'Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel,' 1 Chronicles 21:1? Well, then,...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 110 'Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand.' Psalm, the one-hundred and tenth, is that Older Testament chapter, or verse, or passage, which has been cited on more occasions, in the Newer Testament, than any other portion from the Older Testament. As a particular example of that reality, we turn to the passage, found in ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 102:12 'Thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide forever; Thy memorial name unto all generations.' On five occasions, each being in the older Testament, with four in the book of Psalms, is the term 'memorial name,' or 'holy memorial name,' used, while it is made use of just once in Hosea 12:5, where we read,Even Jehovah, the God of hosts;Jehovah is h...

This Week's Focus Passage: Mark 10:46ff. 'And when he heard that it was Jesus, the Nazarene, he began to cry out.' We may read the account of a blind beggar in our focus passage this week: And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. An...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Samuel 1:13 'She spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.' In the very first chapter of the first book of Samuel, and nearly the very first verse, we meet up with a man by the name of El-ka-nah; we are told that this man was an Ephraimite. He was also the husband of two wives [polygamy was, although certainly...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ruth 1:16 'Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.' The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren; and Judah begat Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram; and Ram begat Amminadab; an...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ruth 1:16 'Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.' The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren; and Judah begat Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram; and Ram begat Amminadab; an...

This Week's Focus Passage: Judges 2:10 'And there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah .' Let us consider this 2nd chapter of the book of Judges, verses 6 through 12: 6. Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man unto his own inheritance to possess the land. 7. And the people served Jehovah all the days of Jos...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 73 'A psalm of Asaph' Who was Asaph? The name is set before us in several contexts, most notably, in connection with the psalmody of Scripture. The reader is informed from the second book of Kings, that the Joah who is referred to, in chapter eighteen of that book, is mentioned as a son of Asaph, the recorder [to record: bring to rememb...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:18 'For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.' The entire verse, as it is found in 1 Corinthians 1:18, extends far beyond this initial concept about those who perish, but extends unto those who are saved.For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power o...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 27:54 'Truly this was the Son of God.' There are at least two great confessions from the lips of individuals to be found in the gospel narratives given us, and this attestation, found in our focus passage and ascribed to the centurion after that he had witnessed the convulsions that rocked the earth as the Lord of Glory 'yielded up his...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 25:10 'And the door was shut.' This Matthean passage contained in his twenty-fifth chapter, and the first thirteen verses, is considered, by all accounts, as a parable set forth by Jesus Christ. W. E. Vine, in his Comprehensive Dictionary of the Original Greek Words with their Precise Meanings for English Readers, also known as, "Vine...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 8:38-39 'For I am persuaded.' Paul, in that wonderfully glorious eighth chapter of his epistle to the church in Rome, climaxes with a glowing statement of anticipated faith, even unto the end; For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 8:38-39 'For I am persuaded.' Paul, in that wonderfully glorious eighth chapter of his epistle to the church in Rome, climaxes with a glowing statement of anticipated faith, even unto the end; For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 23 'Woe unto you.' There is, at least, some irony of coincidence, that in this chapter of Matthew, and especially the very pericope involving Jesus' condemnatory remarks toward the Pharisees in His presence, where He has pronounced these several 'woes' unto them, with regard to their wicked behaviors in many instances. His audience is ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Acts 28:20 'for because of the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain.' Just what is the 'hope of Israel,' or, Who is the 'hope of Israel'? Of what, or Whom, does the apostle speak of, or write of, here is this final passage in the book of Acts? We, most likely, should be asking this question not with reference to the apostle, but rather w...

This Week's Focus Passage: Exodus 31:18 'The two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.' What is an anthropomorphism? It is the attributing of human characteristics to gods, objects, etc. There are multiple examples of anthropomorphisms in the Word of God; the Holy Spirit determined to employ many of these, in order to help the read...

This Week's Focus Passage: Acts 20:26. 'Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.' Surely, Paul has in mind that poignant and convicting passage from the prophecy of Ezekiel which has respect unto the watchman and his diligence (or lack thereof) in blowing the trumpet, and warning the people. Paul is most likely speaking in this ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 27:4 'That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life.' This is David's very strong desire, even according to his words in the previous line, where he has stated it clearly, as theOne thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after. This twenty-seventh psalm has for its inspired superscription, yet another occasion...

This Week's Focus Passage: Genesis 38:1ff. 'And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren.' This, the thirty-eighth chapter in the first book of our bibles, something of an enigma; namely a puzzle, or a riddle. We refer to the fact of its placement in that first book; that is to say, why is it found 'sandwiched' right in the midst of the 'stor...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 15:4 'In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honoreth them that fear Jehovah.' In order to better understand what David has here written, we offer the entire fifteenth psalm, for each one of us to read over, and ponder over some details: A Psalm of David Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy...

This Week's Focus Passage: Genesis 4:5 'But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.' What is the 'Regulative Principle'? Derek Thomas recently offered this definition. His claim is, that, "Put simply, the regulative principle of worship states that the corporate worship of God is to be founded upon specific directions of Scripture." He continues, asserting tha...

This Week's Focus Passage: The Second Psalm 'Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.' There are, at least, several important questions put forward here at the very beginning of this second Psa.Let us attempt to consider each one; moving along. Why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples meditate a vain thing? Why do the kings of the earth set themselves?...

This Week's Focus Passage: Malachi 3:16 'Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another, and Jehovah hearkened.' Malachi is a very interesting book of the Bible, in its own right, but it is also noteworthy, if not simply for the fact that it is the final book of the Older Testament. Being in that position, it is, we might fairly say, the gateway to the Newer Test...

This Week's Focus Passage: Jonah 1:1 'Now the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the son of Amittai.' What a strange tale is here before us in this relatively small book out of the Old Testament. There are a large number of 'surprises' contained in this brief account of a prophet of God. But, just who was Jonah; this seems to be a very abrupt statement here at the very beg...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 17:23 'That the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.' Is this God's truth? Is it really so; that Jehovah would, and could, love His creatures, as much as He loves His darling Son, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ? But is this not precisely what is here written? What is here clearly stated; how...

This Week's Focus Passage: Jude 14 (Monday Moanin') 'And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied.' Who was Enoch? At the first glance, it would appear that there were two men, in the Word of God, called by the name, Enoch. And the seemingly simplest manner of distinguishing them, one from another, is to 'search the Scriptures,' where we find several ref...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 11:43 'He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.' There are, actually, three separate occasions, recorded for us in the Scriptures, where our Lord Jesus Christ, performed the miracle of raising to life one who was already dead. And the account of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, found only in the eleventh chapter of John's ...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 John 3:1 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.' The entire pericope should be set before us here, in this week's comments; Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Belove...

This Week's Focus Passage: Job 2:9 'Dost thou still hold fast thy integrity? Renounce God, and die.' This has been, we imagine, a perennial problem among theologians and writers of commentaries, to explain or determine, with any good reason, just what the status, or spiritual climate of Job's wife was. It is more than remarkable that Satan left her to Job after virtuall...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 6:66 'Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' We may read the 'pre-quel' to this disturbing verse, in the sixth chapter of the fourth gospel. The response of these 'disciples' did not transpire in a vacuum, but rather it was fostered in a crucible. That crucible was Truth; Truth in the Person of Jesus Ch...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 6:44 'No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him.' This one great and marvelous verse epitomizes, we firmly believe, the teaching of the Sovereignty of God in the salvation of man; any man, woman, child. We understand that the very first three words of this verse absolutely stick in the craw of unregenerate, sinful ma...

This Week's Focus Passage: Jeremiah 31:3 'Jehovah appeared of old unto me, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.' We are not able to forbear, including at the outset, a lengthy citation from the commentary on the book of Jeremiah, by that notable pastor and preacher, Dr. John Gill. Admitting the source of o...

This Week's Focus Passage: Isaiah 'For this is as the waters of Noah unto me.' We are not able to refrain, or forbear, from setting this blessed promise before our eyes and hearts in all its fullness, as contained in Isaiah 54:9-10: For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn th...

This Week's Focus Passage: Hebrews 11:1 'Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.' The above is an inspired definition of 'what faith is, and what it does.' Assurance and conviction are among the answers to the question of what faith is in the heart of the individual having experienced the new birth. For it is a gift granted at the ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 22:6 'Train up a child in the way he should go.' One of the best known passages, or verses, from the Holy Word of God, is this verse six of the twenty-second chapter of the book of Proverbs where we find this exhortation, or instruction, from this book. The fullness, the completeness, of this fascinating verse, is stated here: Tra...

This Week's Focus Passage: Hebrews 1:1 'God having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets.' God having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things The author of this book of Hebrews, or, the preacher of this ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Esther 6:1ff. 'On that night could not the king sleep.' We are able and blessed to witness, in the book of Esther, a remarkable account of God's Providence in the lives and history of His people, and their nation. The book of Esther, a book which perhaps does not get the attention it might, has not been the subject of a great many commentari...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 'That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely.' It would seem that one great end for which God gave His people the Holy Scriptures is that they would not want, or lack, any good thing. Paul informs Timothy and ourselves of this blessed reality when he relates not only that the Scriptures are the very Word of th...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ezra 10:10 'Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women.' What a bane it was upon the house of Israel that many that many of that separated nation, God's chosen people, violated the express commands of Jehovah their God and took unto themselves 'foreign' wives. Is this not a bane upon the church of Jesus Christ in our day as well? May...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 8:22-31 'When He established the heavens, I was there.' The eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs contains one of the most glorious passages in the Word of God. It has often been spoken of in a connection with the even better known prologue of John's gospel, John 1:1-5. That prologue is well worth an often repeated thoughtful readi...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 12:49 'I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if it is already kindled.' These rather striking, or at least startling, words spoken by Jesus Himself, when He said, verses 49 through 53, of Luke's gospel account, of His strange works: I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire if it is already kindled? B...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 149:1 'Sing unto Jehovah a new song, and his praise in the assembly of his saints.' What has God the Holy Spirit indited for us here in His Word, when He has called us toSing unto Jehovah a new song?Is this 'new song,' to be something of our own devising; from our own brains, rather than something written through the inspiration of God...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:18 'Wherefore comfort one another with these words.' The larger pericope in which the above statement is found, is contained in verses 13-18, of 1 Thessalonians, chapter four. It is well worth repeated reading: But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the r...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 9:29 'His countenance was altered, and his raiment became white and dazzling.' This, of course, is Luke's account of the 'transfiguration.' Both Matthew and Mark have, in their particular gospels, granted the readers of the New Testament, two additional perspectives on this very singular event. Matthew and Mark each make use of the termi...

This Week's Focus Passage: Colossians 1:13 'The Fathertranslated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.' We are prone to attribute, entirely, our redemption to the vicarious life, on earth, and the vicarious death, on the cross, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, He is the One, who spoke those pre-incarnate words found in the fortieth psalm,Lo, I come...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ephesians 3:14ff. 'For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father.' It is very likely that it need not be said, that this wonderful prayer of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, that was initially written "to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus," has equally been intended for those of us, in the church of Jesus Chr...

This Week's Focus Passage: Philippians 2:13 'So then, my beloved.. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' What is the apostle's meaning when he has begun this paragraph with the words,So then, my beloved.? One writer has helpfully granted to the reader, what his thoughts are concerning the thoughts of Paul. He has written the following: "Such a sketch...

This Week's Focus Passage: Philippians 3:1 'To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe' Paul begins this third chapter (of course, we must bear in mind the reality that the chapter divisions, in our English translations, are not inspired), but he began here, with the lovely sentiments,Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord....

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Kings 8:11 'For the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.' In the process of erecting the Tabernacle of the Tent of meeting, according to Exodus, chapter 40, we are there informed that Moses was carefully following all the instructions given to him by Jehovah. In fact, one of the notable expressions in the Older Testament, and one...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 117 'O Praise Jehovah, all ye nations; Laud him, all ye peoples.' This brief Psalm is, no question, the shortest psalm in the entire psalter. It exposes to us no author whatever. It is only two verses, yet it is packed full of instruction for the children of God; for Jehovah's redeemed sinners. We are, in this little psalm, first calle...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 110:4 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' We begin our comments on this week's focus passage employing a quote from a Baptist preacher, born in Great Britain in the middle of the eighteenth century in the home of his maternal grandfather, who was at the time, a vicar in the Church of England. The quotation allud...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Samuel 2:18 'And Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.' David is subsequently made king over Judah. In 2:4 of 2 Samuel, we may read that;Andhis men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David over the house of Juda...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 103:8 'Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness.' In this psalm of David, the grandness of the lovingkindness of Jehovah is on full display. We find reference to this in no less than four verses of this psalm, which one writer, having written a volume on this one psalm, was led to employ for the tit...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 15 'Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached.' The apostle John has taught us, in the third chapter of his gospel account, where he has written in verses fourteen and fifteen, and saying there, these very solemn words of eternal life; And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must th...

This Week's Focus Passage: Judges 2:10 'And there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah.' What immediately follows this tragic verse, is the tragic result of the truth of its' declaration, that the generation which came after Joshua and his fellows who had apportioned the land to the twelve tribes of Israel, did not know Jehovah; not that they did...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 'And such were some of you; but ye were washed.' The question is often asked, 'Is there an unpardonable sin?' If there, indeed, is such a sin, what is it; what is the unpardonable sin? Jesus has taught us, through His apostle, John, and in John's first epistle, regarding this very matter. John has written, in the last ch...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:31 'as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' Paul, in his first epistle to the 'Church of God which is at Corinth,' makes plentiful use of citations from both Isaiah and Jeremiah. The statement above which has been selected for this week's focus passage, is to be found in the writings of the prophet Jer...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 16:1 'Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae.' William Hendriksen's legacy is a very popular series of commentaries on a large number of the books of the New Testament. We may read from the end flap of a jacket from one of his commentaries, that which serves as a biographical sketch: "William Hendriks...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 10:13 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' The above verse from the epistle of Paul to the church at Rome, is one of the key verses for the Arminian propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is not to say that it is a verse which would not be included as an important feature of the glorious Gospel of J...

This Week's Focus Passage: Numbers 20:10 'Hear now, ye rebels, shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?' This is a more than an interesting account of the repetition of 'murmuring,' by the people whom Jehovah had brought out of Egypt through the instrumentality of His servant, Moses. There were constant murmurings and complaints, even to the point of virtual ins...

A letter, from the elders, to the people of Fellowship Bible Church; Greenville, S.C. PLEASE READ ACTS 6:1-5, and 1 Timothy 3:8-12, w/Philippians 1:1. In the passage from Acts 6:1-5 we may see what, virtually, all are agreed upon, is the biblical introduction to the church, of the office of deacon. The concern that brought it about was that of apparent discrimination...

This Week's Focus Passage: Romans 1:2 'The Gospel of God which he promised afore through his prophets.' It seems that the apostle Paul is almost echoing the words of our Lord Jesus Christ of which we read in Luke's relating of the encounter on the road to Emmaus between 'the two of them that were going that very day to a village named Emmaus,' and our risen Savior. Reca...

This Week's Focus Passage: Acts 27:21 'Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete.' This involves Luke's record of the voyage of himself and Paul, along with, as we are informed in the first verses of this twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Acts, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. The beginning of this voyage, recorded by Luke i...

This Week's Focus Passage: Matthew 17:2 'And He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun.' The Transfiguration of Jesus, is recorded by each of the three evangelists, in their Gospel accounts, which have become denominated as 'the Synoptic Gospels.' Synoptic, in simple terms, merely means, as an encyclopedia informs us, when it has declared that, ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 37:1 'Fret not thyself because of evil-doers.' The American Standard Version-1901, (ASV-1901), is one of the many English versions of the Holy Bible, of which we are aware, that contains the word, 'fret' and it contains it in seven places; and three of those seven are found in our Psalm. Here as a negative action verb,Fret not.In Levitic...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 27:13 'I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah.' A Methodist theologian, preacher, and commentator, has left on record his thoughts upon this verse of David, the thirteenth of his twenty-seventh psalm, when he wrote, very interestingly: '"I had fainted."The words in italics are supplied by our translators; ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 23 'Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want.' It may well be the case that the 23rdPsalm is the best-known 'passage,' or 'chapter,' in the Bible. It is extremely likely that, even the historical usage of this psalm over many years, as a 'comfort' or 'eulogistic' portion of Scripture by families and funeral directors with, probably, as ...

This week's Focus Passage: Genesis 49:10 'The sceptre shall not depart from Judah.....until Shiloh come. Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Acts 6:1-6 'But we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word.' These words uttered by Peter on the occasion of a discrimination scandal regarding the care of the widows in the recently formed Jerusalem church right after Pentecost, were his response, his answer to this apparent dilemma. It strikes us that it corres...

This Week's Focus Passage: Acts 2:39 'For to you is the promise, and to your children.' How does this statement provide support for the idea, at least in the New Testament economy, of the children of believers being considered thereby to be, 'covenant children,' or, 'children of the covenant?' Or, how is it related to the argument of the paedo-baptist, that is, that...

This Week's Focus Passage: Daniel 3:17 'Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.' Sermons, books, and Sunday School lessons have resounded over the years with the exhortation, in one form or another, in some words or other, that the hearers, readers, or students, should, 'Dare to be a Daniel!!' The great, marvelous faith of Daniel, rig...

This Week's Focus Passage: Job 42:5 'But now mine eye seeth thee.' Wishing to make it absolutely clear that it is not, in any way, being suggested that this experience of Job recorded in the 42ndchapter of that inspired book of the Older Testament, we nonetheless, suggest that it does give every indication, in its progress and process, that what Job has been led to utt...

This Week's Focus Passage: Micah 7:18 'Because He delighteth in lovingkindness.' The grand and gorgeous pericope from whence this blessed truth emanates cannot but be replicated below as a gracious and glorious statement about our God: Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage? he retainet...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 17:23 'Thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.' Wow! Allow me to state that once again for your reading pleasure. Jesus here informed His disciples in the midst of what is frequently referred to as, His 'High Priestly Prayer,' in John 17. The sentence has its beginning in verse 22, and flows into, and includes, ve...

This Week's Focus Passage: Daniel 4:37 'Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven.' The book of Daniel begins with this historical note;In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jeru-salem, and besieged it.Nebuchadnezzar is, to say the very least, a very interesting character, related to...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 John 1:1-4 'These things we write, that our joy may be made full.' John's epistle, which we know as 1 John, may, some have implied, been an accompaniment to his gospel; they may have been written almost together. John writes from, perhaps Patmos, to his church in Ephesus. Again, it may be that this epistle is complementary, in some way or ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Ezekiel 36:26 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.' This glorious promise of Jehovah is frequently paralleled with that found in Jeremiah 31:31, which is expressly declared to be, by Jehovah Himself, a new covenant. And it is cited by the author; the writer/preacher of Hebrews, in his eighth and tenth ch...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 6:66 'Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' This rather remarkable statement is found in the midst of a confrontationone of many between Christ and the Phariseesand here the focus is to be found back in verses thirty-seven and forty-four, where the Son of God, in undaunted boldness, declared to His audien...

This Week's Focus Passage: John 5:25 'The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son.' The blessed context, in which this statement is to be found, may be thought of as verse 20 through verse 25, which we duplicate below: For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show...

This Week's Focus Passage: James 2:25 'And in like manner also was not Rahab the harlot justified?' Justified by works? This was the great difficulty for Martin Luther; making it difficult for him to accept the epistle of James into the canon of Scripture. He called it 'a right stray epistle,' likely a reference to the words of the apostle Paul in his first epistle to...

This Week's Focus Passage: Jeremiah 6:16 'Ask for the old paths, where is the good way.' We read, at the beginning of a new paragraph, the word of Jehovah, spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, in Jeremiah 6:16; words to the wayward Israelites: Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 24:27 'And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets.' 'But we don't see Jesus in the Psalms; we want to sing songs of praise unto Jesus Christ; we want to be able to pronounce His Name; He is our Savior and our Lord. The Psalms are so restricting.' It is, of course, more than just sad, to ever have multitudes of Christians, in mult...

This Week's Focus Passage: Isaiah 42:6 'Iwill give thee for a covenant of the people.' The important context of the statement chosen for this week's focus passage is found in verses 6-7, which are more than worthy of being reproduced below: I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the p...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 22:5 'And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.' We may read in Luke 22:14-20 of the institution of the Lord's Supper, that memorable last supper that our Savior ate with His disciples before His passion. Luke has told us of this occasion, for the most part, in very similar language as did Matthew and Mark. Interestingly, ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Proverbs 13:20 'Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise.' There are a multitude of expressions, warnings, guidelines, directions, in the Scriptures, that have the features that we see in this text from Proverbs; namely, the feature of what we may call 'pro and con,' or in biblical language perhaps, 'yea and nay.' We speak of the entirety o...

Read Through the Bible 2020 08/09/20 Luke 16:1-9 1 Timothy 6:1-10 Proverbs 9 Nehemiah 1-2 08/13/20 Luke 17:11-19 2 Tim. 2:1-13 Pr. 11:16-31 Neh. 7 08/10/20 Luke 16:10-18 1 Tim. 6:11-21 Prov. 10:1-16 Nehemiah 3 08/14/20 Luke 17:20-37 2 Tim. 2:14-26 Pr. 12:1-14 Neh. 8 08/11/20 Luke ...

Read Through the Bible 2020 08/09/20 Luke 16:1-9 1 Timothy 6:1-10 Proverbs 9 Nehemiah 1-2 08/13/20 Luke 17:11-19 2 Tim. 2:1-13 Pr. 11:16-31 Neh. 7 08/10/20 Luke 16:10-18 1 Tim. 6:11-21 Prov. 10:1-16 Nehemiah 3 08/14/20 Luke 17:20-37 2 Tim. 2:14-26 Pr. 12:1-14 Neh. 8 08/11/20 Luke ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 13:3, 5 'Except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner perish.' Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered and said unto them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they have suffered these thi...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 'But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep.' But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Thessalonians 1:5 'Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power.' After the salutation that Paul offered in his first epistle to the church of the Thessalonians, he began immediately to engage in thanksgiving and praise to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, in verses two through five in the first chapter. Read carefu...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Kings 2:11 'Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.' What a dramatic exit from the earth was granted to this prophet, Elijah. The first notice given him in the Word of God is almost as dramatic;read at the beginning of the seventeenth chapter, simply that he 'said unto Ahab, As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, th...

This Week's Focus Passage: Colossians 1:12-13 'Who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' Considering the phrase utilized by the apostle Paul in this epistle to the church, that is the 'saints at Colosse,' when he speaks to them as those, along with himself, and as he does so in verses twelve and thirteen of the first chapter of Colos...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 119:176 'I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant.' While even the 'Prince of Preachers', as Charles Spurgeon was called, of London in the 19thcentury, was forced to concede that he could not with absolute certainty maintain that 'the man after God's own heart' was the inspired author of the 119thpsalm, he nonetheless decla...

This Week's Focus Passage: Luke 2:25 'Looking for the consolation of Israel.' Are we Christians today not looking for the consolation of Israel? This text before us this week, speaks of the man Simeon, about whom Luke has told us, in Luke 2:25-35, that he was encountered by Mary and Joseph as they were bringing their child into Jerusalem; it was afterthe days of their ...

1 Kings 2:27 'That he might fulfill the word of Jehovah.' And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord Jehovah before David my father, and because thou wast afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. So ...

Mark 16:18 'They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing. This portion of the gospel according to Mark, that is, Mark 16:9-20, is one of a few contested passages in our bibles, and also in the annals of textual criticism. It has been under the microscope of this form of criticism for a good number of years. It should be noted that textual criticism ...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 110 'Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand.' Most writers seem to be in agreement with one another, that Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted, or cited, passage from the Older Testament found in the books of the Newer Testament. Moreover, there is also agreement with regard to which is the most frequently cited verse ...

This Week's Focus Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:20 'We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ.' What is involved in the office of an ambassador? Indeed, what is an ambassador after all? If we are called to be such, we ought to know what it is. Qatar is an oil-rich emirate on a peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf: recently, their ambassador to the U.S., Ali Bin F...

2 Corinthians 1:3 'Father of mercies and God of all comfort.' And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. A...

This Week's Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:11 'And such were some of you: but ye were washed.' This is the blessed conclusion at which our apostle, Paul, arrives in his significant litany of the past lives and offences of many in the church; many who were rescued by the grace of God from the bondage they were in to these sins. Let us review the context found in verses ni...

Psalm 74:9 'Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.' We may read in Luke 13:3, 5, the twice repeated asseveration of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He said to His auditory,Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. This was spoken firstly after His allusion to the folk whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and those who died under the tower ...

Matthew 27:54 'Truly this was the Son of God.' There are at least two great confessions from the lips of individuals to be found in the gospel narratives given us, and this attestation, found in our focus passage and ascribed to the centurion after that he had witnessed the convulsions that rocked the earth as the Lord of Glory 'yielded up his spirit,' (which convulsions...

Psalm 62:1 - 'My soul waiteth in silence for God only; from him cometh my salvation.' One of the modern 'translations' of the Scriptures,The Message, the very centuries they have given here, not a translation, but a paraphrase of what they think that the Psalmist, and thus of course the Holy Spirit, intended to communicate. If one is content with a paraphrase, there is...

Romans 8:28 'And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good.' In the 'Authorized Version,' the 'A. D. 1611,' best known as the King James Version, this passage from Romans 8:28 has been rendered, as follows: And we know that all things work together for good. This is, of course, not a complete sentence in any translation of which we are awar...

Matthew 21:45 - 'They perceived that He spake of them.' "They perceived that he spake of them;they plainly saw that they were designed by the son that promised to go into the vineyard, but did not; only talked of works, but did not do them: and that they were the husbandmen that acted the ungrateful part to the householder, and the cruel one to his servants, and would to...

Psalm 46: 'God is our Refuge and Strength.' One who has written '101 Hymn Stories,' adding at a later date, '101 More Hymn Stories,' is, quite apparently, excited to inform us that this hymn of Martin Luther, 'A Mighty Fortress is our God,' is based on Psalm 46. In fact, our own hymn book has the Scripture reference at the top of the page where this hymn is found,God i...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 40:7 'In the roll of the book it is written of me.' Then said I, Lo, I am come; In the roll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God: Yea, thy law is within my heart. These beautiful and astounding words are, in all reality, the substance of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are the embodiment (...

This Week's Focus Passage: Leviticus 1 'Behold, the Lamb of God.' Our readers may read, in their own copies of the Word of God, in Genesis 22:1-2, of the 'proving' or 'tempting' of Abraham by Jehovah. It is rather startling to consider that God would require anyone to offer a human sacrifice, but this is precisely what we read in that particularly astounding passage: ...

Focus Passage, Sunday, Feb. 2: Matthew 11:12 'The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.' In John Bunyan's famous allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress, the reader discovers early in the travels of Christian, the Pilgrim, that he arrives at the house of the Interpreter. At one point in his travels, he encounters a grave person who name w...

Weeks Focus Passage: Matthew 10:16 'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.' We wish to consider the direction that our Lord Jesus has given to His church as He sent out His twelve disciples. He has informed them, in this passage from Matthew, that they are being sent out into a dangerous world. He sent them forthas sheep in the midst of wolves.He fu...

Psalm 119'O How Love I Thy Law! It Is My Meditation All The Day' In our Scripture reading schedule for this week, we find the texts from Psalm 119 to include verses 41-104. While it is frequently noted that apart from only two particular verses in this, the 11 9th Psalm, the word of God is referred to in every other single verse, so that it is to be expected, and no surpr...

1 Kings 13:18'But he lied unto him.' When we read this somewhat disturbing narrative in the book of 1 Kings and the 13th chapter, we come away with many questions upon our minds as well as our hearts; not the least of which is 'who was this man of God'? The narrative begins for us with a simple pronouncement regarding his appearing, when it tells us; And, behold, there c...

Ephesians 1:4'He chose us in him from before the foundation of the world.' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him from before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him, in love having foreordained us unto ...

Psalm 116:15'Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints.' David has, in his songs and prayers that have been recorded and preserved in the book of Psalms, made frequent references to death, both the death of the righteous as well as the death of the unrighteous. Most notable of the latter, perhaps, is found in the 49th psalm, in the provocative language o...

Galatians 1:6'A different gospel.' The devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And he is well able, we are informed, to transform himself into an angel of light. His fervent desire and plan is to take down the King of glory, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. In order to bring this about, he exercises the fullness of his duplicity and hatred a...

This Week's Focus Passage: Psalm 100 'All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.' The inspired heading of this popular psalm states that it is, 'A Psalm of Thanksgiving,' 'A Psalm for the Thank-offering.' One of the greatest privileges of the believer is that privilege of offering thanksgiving and praise unto the Lord for all His mercies. ...

Matthew 4:10'Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.' This passage is conspicuous as the narration of 'The Temptation' of Jesus by the Devil. It is most worthy of notice that Satan chose to make this attempt [no pun intended] immediately after His baptism by John, of which we may read: Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan un...

Matthew 1:21'For it is he that shall save his people from their sins.' The entire pericope actually begins with an angel's appearance unto Joseph, at vs. 20, where we do well to listen to all that was spoken unto Joseph, the betrothed of Mary: Butwhen he thought on these things [being minded to put her away], behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, say...

Job 42:5'I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee.' And Job answered Jehovah, and said, I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be restrained. Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseec...

Micah 6:8'.but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God.' This is, of course, the answer to the question, What is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, O man? The Lord says here that He has showed us what is good and that which He requires of us is to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before Him. These words are, by far...

Amos 3:2'You only have I known of all the families of the earth.' What does the prophet Amos have to say unto the people of God today? The words of Amos, who Hearwas among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. Keep in mind that...

John 14:16'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.' And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him; ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you. John 16-17. Is this not mo...

1 John 2:12-15'I write unto you, my little children,fathers,,,,,,young men.' I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you, for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know th...

3 John'Gaius the beloved, Diotrephes, who loveth preeminence, Demetrius hath the witness.' John the apostle who leaned upon the breast of Jesus at the Table, is one who lived to many years. He has borne witness in his third epistle of three individuals that may be found in the church of Jesus Christ. We must infer that the references and warnings certainly are presented f...

John 8:58'Before Abraham was born, I am.' In Exodus, chapter three, we are granted the privilege of witnessing a dialogue between Moses and God; an interview that impregnates the memory of every serious believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This interview evolves out of the circumstances of what one writer has described as 'God Commissions Moses to Deliver Israel out o...

John 6:66'Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' In the verses which have preceded this sixty-sixth verse of John, chapter 6, we are told, in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself: But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. A...

John 6:66'Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' In the verses which have preceded this sixty-sixth verse of John, chapter 6, we are told, in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself: But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. An...

John 5:46'If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.' If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? This seems to powerfully connect the Old Testament scriptures with those of the New Testament. Is it not fair to consider this to be true from these very words of Jesus ...

John 2:19'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' This is a sequel to John's account of the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem. Well known are the details of that cleansing that Jesus performed with a scourge of cords. He drove out all those merchandizers that were dishonoring His Father's house. And He said to them, Make not my Father's house a hous...

James 1:18'He brought us forth by the word of truth.' The most blessed and entire sentence that constitutes verse 1:18 of the epistle of James is absolutely full even to overflowing with beautiful and wonderful truths. Read for yourself and ponder each pregnant word or expression: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first...

Luke 23:43'Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.' When anyone passes away from this life, we invariably hear someone make the statement that 'they are with God,' or, 'they are in heaven.' And although the Roman Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of purgatory, we virtually never hear it said of one of their communicants, upon passing, that they are in purgatory. What ...

Luke 23:12'And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day.' We are informed by Luke in this passage that during the passing back and forth of Jesus between them, that Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. Luke has not told us how or why this period of the trial of Christ made them to become friends. The only clue Luke has left i...

Luke 20:46'Beware of the scribes.' And in the hearing of all the people he said unto his disciples, Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts; who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive greater condemnation. The ...

Proverbs 19:5, 9 'A false witness shall not be unpunished.' Repetition, repetition, repetition; is that not the way of learning? We were taught that from our youth, weren't we? How often in classes did we not go over the same material again and again until we had it stored in our hard drives (a conspicuous anachronism)? There is an old Latin saying making the very same p...

Titus 'To Titus, my true child after a common faith.' Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal; but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was i...

Luke 17:3 'And if he repent, forgive him. And what if he does not repent? What if he refuses to repent? What if he hardens his heart? How did that work for Pharaoh? Jesus here disciples His disciples. Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to th...

Proverbs 8:30 'And I was daily his delight.' This brief statement of fact contains, in the English, only six words, but of what beautifully grand realities those words speak to the understanding of our hearts. They are found in this eighth proverb among. The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of und...

1 Timothy 2:5 'For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men.' Mankind is religious by his very nature. This is attested through history. Man throughout the ages has held this in common. In every century; in every generation, men have sought the way of connection with the 'higher being,' whether it be with 'Mother Nature' or 'the Man upstairs.' Mankind inst...

2 Chronicles 33:13 'Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.' This is what Paul Harvey would have referred to as 'the rest of the story.' For our purposes, the story begins in 2 Kings 20:21. We may read that simple verse, And Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. Actually, this single verse is quite remarkable; we should therefore...

Psalm 142 'Maschil of David, when he was in the cave; a Prayer.' This superscription is what is written and underlined in an introductory fashion. These are a part of the inspired Word, and by many writers are counted as the first verse. The seven versesof course the verse divisions are not inspiredshall be set down in a prose, rather than a poetic form for the ease of ...

Luke 9:30 'There talked with him two men, who were Moses and Elijah.' Moses and Elijah were attendants at the transfiguration of our Lord on the mount along with the apostles, Peter, James, and John. Many commentators point out to their readers that the likely purpose of this event was to foreshadow the exaltation of Jesus that would result from His resurrection to His s...

Psalm 130'If thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?' John Owen wrote a treatise which, in a Banner of Truth reprint from 'The Works of John Owen,' and titled by this publisher, 'The Forgiveness of Sin,' the 'little' volume is made up of 448 pages. This independent puritan pastor and theologian has written 448 pages commenting upon a psalm which...

Ephesians 1:4'In Him before the foundation of the world.' Verses one through fourteen of the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the saints that are at Ephesus are somewhat well known, in the original, to comprise one sentence. This may, perhaps, be disputed among students of the Greek. Yet, the very concept of these many grand and glorious blessings, even possibly, being ...

Luke 6:10'Stretch forth thy hand.' And it came to pass on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man there, and his right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath; that they might find how to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man that had his han...

Luke 3:21-22'The Holy Spirit descended.and a voice came out of heaven.' Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. The passage above...

Psalm 106:30'Then stood up Phinehas.' There seem to be, on record in the Scriptures, only two men having the name of Phinehas. The first, chronologically, is Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the first high priest of the nation of Israelthis Aaron was also the brother of the renowned and honored Moses. Almost ironically, the only other individual bearing th...

Psalm 71:18'Yea, even when I am old and gray-headed, forsake me not.' This is a glorious example of a child of God praying the promises of God; something of which we should each take personal note. The bottom line, to put it that way, of all of our prayingas exemplified by our Lord and Saviorshould always be, 'thy will be done.' And how could that summation possibly be sa...

The Old Hundredth -'Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands.' "All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;Him serve with fear, His praise forth-tell, Come ye before Him and rejoice. The Lord ye know is God indeed, without our aid He did us make;We are His flock, He does us feed, and for His sheep He doth us take. O enter then His gate...

Ruth 1:16'Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.' We find the name of Ruth the Moabitess repeated thirteen times in the Word of God; twelve times in the Older Testament, and just once in the Newer Testament. There are surely many notable items to be gleaned from that which surrounds the inclusion of this woman of Moab into the Holy Scriptures. The notability a...

And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and he could not be hid. But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by race. And she besought him that he would ca...

Judges 2:10'And there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah.' Why? Did Joshua and his contemporaries fail in bringing up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? What is it that would account for this 'new generation' not knowing Jehovah? Is this a fair picture of our families today? Is it a fair picture of much of the church today? It ...

Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, b...

My mouth shall tell of thy righteousness, and of thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Jehovah: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth; and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Yea, even when I am old and gray-headed forsake me not, ...

Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears,...

A question was put to our Lord Jesus Christ by His disciples as it is recorded for us in Matthew 24. This question has been asked by His disciples over and again ever since. It is the question of the return of our Lord, or His second advent. ...

These words spoken by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, are words that immediately precede perhaps the most well-known verse of the Holy Scriptures, namely John 3:16, which it may well be unnecessary to set before my reader, but I will do so, for convenience, anyway; For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not...

The New International Version translation of the Bible...

And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him. ...

This grand declaration from the lips of our Savior were uttered in response to the blessed and renowned statement of Peter; his confession of faith, if you will, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God....

Psalm 27:4 -One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple....

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ...

These words of the apostle Paul are cited from the words of the prophet, Habakkuk, found in chapter one, verse five. This prophecy is spoken of by Habakkuk as The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. ...

Arise, O Jehovah, Confront him, cast him down: Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword; From men by thy hand, O Jehovah, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose belly thou fillest with thy treasure: They are satisfied with children, And leave the rest of their substance to their babes....

Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vesse...

Wow! Are we already approaching another year? It hardly seems that an entire year has passed since this thought was set before us. What is there that we ought to do, or be doing, as we look back upon the year 2017?...

One twentieth-century writer, I believe, is quite helpful in his attempts at setting before us this awe-striking portrait which John through God the Holy Spirit has set before us in lovely, simple words; And I saw a new heaven and a new earth....

No less than five times in this single chapter from John’s gospel account did our Savior speak of those believing on Him as those given unto Him by the Father Himself. ...

This third chapter in the prophecy of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, was directed by God toward the hearing of the children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt. The remarks of Thomas Scott (1747-1821) on this verse are well worth noting....

If I may be excused for doing so, I intend to communicate a rather large extract from the 12 volumes of his Practical Observations on Job by the Puritan Joseph Caryl (1602-1674). A recent purchaser of this reprint (the first after 400 years) offered the following remarks:...

This rather simple statement by the apostle John toward the conclusion of his first epistle is full of Gospel reality. It is interesting to note that this particular phrase, ‘whosoever believeth,’ of this verse is found in only four other places of the Word of God....

“Alexander Henderson (1583-1646), Scottish minister, described as ‘the Second Reformer’. Born probably in the Fife parish of Creich, he graduated with distinction at St. Andrews (1603) and was appointed regent there. Favored as a supporter of Episcopacy, not later than 1614 he was given the parish of Leuchars, an induction carried out against the wishes of the parish...

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto t...

And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of br...

‘Upon this,’ or, ‘after this’? We may understand that the rendering, ‘upon,’ is intended to signify ‘built on,’ or, ‘coming on,’ that is, ‘with connection to,’ but the rendering ‘after,’ almost certainly must suggest a time frame....

We must needs have before us the entirety of this enigmatic passage if we are to have any opportunity to grasp the enormity of what our Savior has spoken to those Jews that were so completely perplexed over His speech. ...

Behold, we call them blest that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful....

Behold, we call them blest that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful....

Great is the number of men that have, not only imagined but, taught that salvation is a product of the human will. ...

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned chi...

It is difficult to pass by an opportunity to offer remarks on one of the most blessed portions of the Word of God, namely the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah is the Old Testament volume frequently referred to...

If the Christ, the God-man, Emmanuel, God with us; our Champion; God Himself manifest in the flesh, retaining omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, required the sustenance and/or comfort that this angel was able to render, how much more do we weak and frail humans stand in need of such strengthening. How in the world could we even begin to conceive of ‘standing it alon...

How has He spoken in his Son? Is it not through the Word and His Spirit? May we not ‘hear’ the voice of the Son through His Spirit as we read the Scriptures? ...

This verse powerfully suggests a common scenario among men. We should say mankind for, surely, it has infected both man and woman; both men, women, and yes, the offspring of these men and women; that is, their progeny; their children. We are reminded of the psalmist’s asseveration when he cried, All men are liars! This, happily, is not absolutely true....

I thought that we were justified by faith! What goes on here? Has not Paul clearly stated, in Romans 5:1, Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Did the apostle write to the church at Rome telling them that they were justified by faith, and then later write to his follower, Titus, that we are justified by grace?...

I well recall reading a small volume about the translation of Scripture. The author was actually critiquing the most recent translation among the four most used renderings of the Word of God; namely the New International Version, or N.I.V....

This astounding cry of lament over the city of Jerusalem by our Savior is surely remarkable for its somewhat enigmatic nature. How is it that the Son of God, God Himself, must cry over this great city of His own people according to the flesh? Is it that He could not save them?...

In the days of the so-called Second Great Awakening there arose practices that are continued even into our own day. It may not be unfair to attribute the initiation of these methods to the developed thought of the ‘great revivalist’ Charles Grandison Finney....

According to theologians and biblical historians, the Hallel...

The kings of Judah were descendants of David, the second king of Israel succeeding Saul of Benjamin. God had made a covenant with David that his seed always be seated on the throne of Israel forever; 2 Samuel 7:16:...

hat is a conspiracy? I ask the question because this text brings to my mind what I believe to be a conspiracy in the church at large. We find in our dictionary that a conspiracy may be defined as:...

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover....

Who was John Mark? Who was Barnabas? Both John Mark and Barnabas have excellent scriptural pedigrees. By scriptural pedigrees, I mean the records of the Scriptures by which we have come to know these men. ...

In what is frequently declared to be His ‘farewell address,’ our Lord Jesus Christ intended to impart confident encouragement to His own. He encouraged their very hearts early in this discourse with the deservedly well-known exhortation:...

The 119th psalm, it has been frequently observed by writers, is inundated with references to the Word of God. In all but a very few of the 176 verses there is an express reference to the Word. The Word has been spoken of in the many characters that it bears. The Psalmist...

In his Old Testament Word Studies, William Wilson has given to us the meaning of the noun, surety. He has offered this definition; ‘To become surety for any one, properly to exchange with him, to stand in his place; to become surety for one’s life, to pledge oneself for the life of another; for another’s debt, to give security for the payment.’...

This demonstration took place after Jesus had read the Scriptures to those before Him in the synagogue. He had been asked to read, we may presume according to their custom. They had delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah, which He opened to a particular place where, we are told, it was written, and He read;...

The pericope under our purview for this week’s commentary is that which is related in context with king Solomon’s following his father David’s instructive warnings and advice which he gave to his son shortly before he died. He warned Solomon about Joab and Shimei, giving suggestive counsel recommending how he should behave toward each of them. This may be applied, by...

The verse cited above for our focus passage this week is found joined together with the previous verse which should probably be taken as a piece. We put them together for consideration in that way; I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am become as an owl of the waste places. I watch, and am become like a sparrow that is alone upon the housetop....

Is this a classic case of misjudgment on the part of a ‘church leader’? If it is, indeed, not classic, it is at least most pointed. And does it not speak volumes to the issue of pastoral oversight and, particularly, to several other integral matters? Matters such as not judging empirically; in other words, not basing your judgment entirely, or primarily, on appearances...

‘O death, where is thy victory?’ These words of the apostle Paul in 15:55 of his first letter to the church of God at Corinth are citations from a pair of Old Testament prophets. Isaiah, in his twenty-fifth chapter had written, many years before Paul, these blessed promises from God to His covenant people for their faith and encouragement:...

While the majority, even most, of the Psalms have a superscription at their beginning...

Paul is here referencing the account found in Exodus 17:1-7 which took place in the course of the march of the children of Israel through the wilderness after that God had delivered them from the bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh. We are told;...

This word of the cross; just what is it, and why would it be foolishness to any of the sons of men? What does foolishness involve? How may we recognize it? In ourselves? In others? How do people determine if they are being given a pure line of bologna? Is there some clue that will betray for us whether what we are being told and expected to believe is really only an ‘urb...

More often than not when the question of Rahab the harlot is admitted into any conversation, whether it be about the sinfulness of harlotry, or whether or not she lied about having knowledge of the whereabouts of the two spies, the matter of her surprising faith is, sadly only infrequently, brought to bear upon this truly amazing Old Testament narrative. ...

Although the 18th verse of this 28th chapter of Matthew’s gospel account is indisputably the best-known portion of this disciple’s closing remarks, the 15th verse may be one of the most intriguing. After the resurrection of our Savior and His giving of this directive, Fear not: Go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me...

These individuals were quite evidently deceived, perhaps even self-deceived, but deceived nonetheless. Like their counterparts in 7:22, they may have spoken of the many things that they had done, claiming, even believing, that they had done them “by His name,” that they had been living lives, doing ‘mighty works’ in the name of religion; in the name of Christianit...

How fearful it is that we may ever have spoken these glorious words tritely, or without due consideration of their incomprehensible depths: the depths of the love of Christ that truly passes our understanding; the depths of the love of the Father in giving His Son for us; the depths of the love of God the Holy Spirit in applying the infinitely costly salvation to any of th...

A new translation of the Scriptures, the Word of God for Protestant Christians, namely, that is, the Bible, appeared in full in the year of our Lord, 1978, the New Testament had earlier made its appearance in 1773; the publishers evidently not wishing to wait for the entirety of both the Older and the Newer Testaments to be ready....

And as they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David. And the multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace: but they cried out the more, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David. And Jes...

The inspired words of the focus of our attention this week are found on only four occasions, at least in the American Standard Version (1901) of the Scriptures. Three of these four occasions are to be located in the psalm under consideration, namely the 37th Psalm, ‘a psalm of David’ according to its inspired inscription. The fourth employment of ‘Fret not thyself’...

A very prevalent teaching in the midst of the Christian church finds the institution of the Sabbath, not in or before Exodus 16, but, in Exodus 20 with the giving of the law, or the Ten Commandments. Taking these commands, then, as the ‘law of Moses,’ they insist that they are no longer obligatory for the believer today....

“It is not he who sings so well or so many Psalms, nor he who fasts or watches so many days, nor he who divides his own among the poor, nor he who preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly, kindly and friendly; nor, in fine, nor is it he who knows all sciences and languages, nor he who works all virtuous and all good works that ever any man spoke or read of, but it is...

Matthew 10:16 - 'Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.’...

Who is Saul? Why has he received so much attention from the church? Why has he, in fact, received so much attention in the Scriptures? What is the big deal about Saul of Tarsus; who even knows where Tarsus is, or was?...

What was the Ethiopian eunuch reading? The Holy Spirit has informed us through Luke. We are told in unmistakable terms; Now the passage which he was reading was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth; in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For his life i...

What is the promise of which Peter speaks when he informs his auditory that this promise is both for you and for your children? What is the message that he has given his hearers? And to just what was his message a response? Let us have a good look at the context of these things. Acts 2:32-39 provides the important context: This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are w...

Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 13:51-52, Have ye understood all these things?...

This Weeks Focus Passage: Malachi 3:16 ‘Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another.’ Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another; and Jehovah hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared Jehovah and thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession in th...

This Week’s Focus Passage: John 17:9 ‘I pray not for the world.’ For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. These words of John 3:16 are among the most well-known words of the Bible. It may also be said, or at least suggested, that the chapter and verse, John 3:16, are ...

This Week’s Focus Passage: Revelation 2-3 ‘He [or him] that overcometh.’ ...

Revelation 2:1 ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write.’...

This Weeks Focus Passage: John 12:41 ‘These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory, and he spake of him.’...

This Week’s Focus Passage: John 9:25 ‘One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.’...

This Week’s Focus Passage: 1 John 1:1 - ‘Concerning the Word of life.’ "That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life."...

It could hardly be imagined that the parallels seen in the beginning of the written Word of God in Genesis with the beginning of this fourth gospel account ‘according to John,’ are mere coincidence....

This Week’s Focus Passage: John 7:5 ‘For even his brethren did not believe on him.’...

Our passage for this week is the first three verses of Peter’s first epistle and the second chapter. The former chapter has concluded with the wonderful statement regarding the means that God has chosen to employ in the regeneration of His elect. Peter has begun an exhortation to his readers in 1:22, in these following words: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in yo...

This Weeks Focus Passage: John 3:14 ‘as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.’...

There is something of a climax to be found to this exhortation that God has given to His people through the prophet Jeremiah. It is found in the 31st chapter of this prophecy. It does not escape our notice that the 31st chapter of Jeremiah is that which contains the well-known and much admired expression of the New Covenant. But prior to the actual expressing of that bless...

Jeremiah 3:6: ‘Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?’...

Proverbs 19:8: ‘He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul.’...

This Week’s Focus Passage: Luke 23:43 ‘Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.’ This event at the end of our Savior’s work on earth is frequently referred to as an instance of an ‘eleventh hour conversion,’ by which is meant of course that it occurred in the remaining hours of the life of the thief on the cross next to the Christ. It reveals many things t...

This Week’s Focus Passage: Proverbs 20:22 ‘Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee.’...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 19:8 ‘He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul.’ ...

Focus Passage: Esther 9:26 ‘Wherefore they called these days Purim.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Timothy 2:15 ‘Rightly dividing the word of truth.’ (KJV) ...

Focus Passage: Luke 15:7 ‘Ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.’ ...

Focus Passage: Ezra 9:8 ‘To leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 150:6 ‘Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ‘That we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:1 ‘That ye abound more and more.’ ...

Focus Passage: Colossians 3:16 ‘Admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 7:12 ‘There was carried out one that was dead.’ ...

Focus Passage: Philippians 3:2 ‘Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.’ Fellowship Bible Church ...

Focus Passage: Philippians 1:1 ‘To all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 1:67 ‘And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 15:21 ‘And they compel one passing by, one Simon of Cyrene.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 111:9 ‘Holy and reverend is thy name.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Corinthians 8:21 ‘We take thought for things honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 10:38 ‘Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink?’ ...

Focus Passage: Ruth 4:21 ‘Salmon begat Boaz; Boaz begat Obed; Obed begat Jesse; Jesse begat David.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ‘According to the Scriptures…….according to the Scriptures.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 10:16 ‘The cup of blessing which we bless.’ ...

Focus Passage: Ma 1:40 ‘If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 1:1 ‘The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ ...

Romans 9:3 ‘for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh.’ ...

Focus Passage: Romans 5:8 ‘But God commendeth his own love toward us.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 49:7 ‘None can by any means redeem his brother.’ ...

Focus Passage: Acts 26:24 ‘Thy much learning is turning thee mad.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 16:18 ‘I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.’ ...

Matthew 15:14 ‘Let them alone.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 27:13 ‘unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.’ ...

Focus Passage: Genesis 49:10 ‘Until Shiloh come.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 8:11 ...

Focus Passage: Jeremiah 8:20 ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 1:5 ‘Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth.’ ...

Focus Passage: Revelation 22:14 ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes.’ ...

Focus Passage: Micah 7:18 ‘Who is a God like unto thee?’ ...

Focus Passage: Jonah 2:8 ‘They that regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.’ ...

Focus Passage: Revelation 1:17 ‘And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 13:8b ‘Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 12:10 ‘The chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 10:1 ‘He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 9:1 ‘And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 6:44 ‘No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Peter 2:13-14 ‘Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.’ ...

Focus Passage: James 1:18 ’Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.’ ...

Focus Passage: Isaiah 54:10 ‘Neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah.’ ...

Focus Passage: Isaiah 45:22 ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 22:63 ‘And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and beat him.’ ...

Focus Passage: Hebrews 2:12 ‘In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise.’ ...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 1:9 ‘They shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head. [ASV]’ ...

Focus Passage: Ezra 9:15 ‘For we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Timothy 3:12 ‘Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’ ...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 13:20 Walk with wise men and thou shalt be wise. ...

Focus Passage: Philemon 7 ‘Because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Thessalonians 1:1 ‘Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 130:3 ‘If thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?’ ...

Focus Passage: Colossians 1:9ff. ‘For this cause we also, do not cease to pray and make request for you.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 6:27 ‘Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 69:8 ‘I am become a stranger unto my brethren.’ ...

Focus Passage: Philippians 3:12 ‘For which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 119:107 ‘Quicken me, O Jehovah, according unto thy word.’...

Focus Passage: Luke 1:1-4 ‘It seemed good to me also.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Samuel 24 ‘He moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 112 ‘Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Corinthians 10:11 ‘What we are in word…are we also in deed.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 103 ‘Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 9:50 ‘Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 8:12 ‘Why doth this generation seek a sign?’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 87:3 ‘Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Corinthians 5:1 God Made Him Lord and Christ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 73 ‘For I was envious at the arrogant.’ ...

Focus Passage: Deuteronomy 32:15 'But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.’ ...

Focus Passage: Romans 8:32 ‘He that spared not his own Son.’ ...

Focus Passage: Romans 5:11 ‘through whom we have received the reconciliation.’...

Focus Passage: Matthew 20:13 ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 17:15 ‘Lord, have mercy on my son.‘ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 32:5 ‘I acknowledged my sin unto thee.’ ...

Focus Passage: Exodus 14:14 ‘Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.’ ...

Focus Passage: Exodus 3:14 ‘I AM THAT I AM’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 23:1 ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’ ...

Focus Passage: Genesis 38 Judah and Tamar ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 9:16 ‘The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.’ ...

Focus Passage: Genesis 3:14 ‘And Jehovah God said unto the serpent.’ ...

Focus Passage: Revelation 21:23 ‘And the Lamb is the light thereof.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 17:17 ‘Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.’ ...

Week’s Focus Passage: Hosea 4:17 ‘Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.’ ...

Focus Passage: Daniel 9:5 ‘We have sinned.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 12:32 ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.’ ...

Focus Passage: Job 1:21 ‘Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away, blessed be the name of Jehovah.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 6:66 ‘Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.’ ...

Focus Passage: Ecclesiastes 12:1 ‘Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come.’ ...

Focus Passage: Jeremiah 23:6 ‘This is his name whereby he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.’ ...

Focus Passage: John 1:13 'not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man’ ...

Focus Passage: Hebrews 11:32 ‘And what shall I more say?’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 23:12 ‘And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day.’ ...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 21:28 ‘A false witness shall perish; But the man that heareth shall speak so as to endure’ ...

Focus Passage: Hebrews 4:12 ‘The word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 20:15 ‘What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do unto them?’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 17:26 ‘As it came to pass in the days of Noah.’ ...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 13:20 ‘Walk with wise men and thou shalt be wise.’ ...

Focus Passage: Proverbs 7:2 ‘Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.’ ...

Focus Passage: Luke 12:37 ‘He shall gird himself; make them sit down to meat, and come and serve them.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 145:18 ‘To all that call upon him in truth.’ ...

Focus Passage: 2 Chronicles 10:8 ‘But he forsook the counsel of the old men.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 133 ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’ ...

Focus Passage: Colossians 2:13-15 ‘You, I say did he make alive together with him.’ ...

Focus Passage: Philippians 4:8 ‘Think on these things.’ ...

Focus Passage: Philippians 2:12-13 ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 119:57-120 ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path.’ ...

Focus Passage: Ephesians 2:10 ‘For we are his workmanship’ ...

Focus Passage: 1 Kings 1:6 ‘His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?’ ...

Focus Passage: Galatians 5:18 But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 110:1, 4 ‘Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand; Thou art a priest forever.’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 12:26 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ...

This Week’s Focus Passage: Mark 10:21 ‘And Jesus looking upon him loved him.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 90 ‘A Prayer of Moses the man of God’ ...

Focus Passage: Mark 6:56 ‘As many as touched him were made whole.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 80:3 ‘Turn us again, O God, And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 27:50 ‘And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 72:20 ‘The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.’ ...

Focus Passage: Deuteronomy 29:29 ‘Things that are revealed belong unto us, that we may do all the words of this law’ ...

Focus Passage: Romans 9:20 ‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 23:13-36 ‘Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!’ ...

Focus Passage: Acts 28:5 ‘Howbeit he shook off the creature into the fire, and took no harm.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 38”"Inspired Title ‘A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 11:25 ‘Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 25:3 ‘Yea, none that wait for thee shall be put to shame.’ ...

Focus Passage: Matthew 10:4 ‘And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. ...

Focus Passage: Acts 8:1 ‘And Saul was consenting unto his death.’ ...

Focus Passage: Psalm 5:6 ‘Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies. ’ ...