Truth Teacher

What is faith?  It's an easy exercise to find the clinical definition of faith.  Though the textbook definition probably won't change your "faith", it seems to be the necessary starting point.  So here's a few textbook definitions to consider:   Definition of Faith In the OT and NT, “faith” carries several meanings. It may mean simple trust in God or in the Word of God , and at other times faith almost becomes equivalent to active obedience. It may also find expression in the affirmation of a creedal statement. Thus, it also comes to mean the entire body of received Christian teaching or truth—“the truth.” In Colossians 2:7, the term suggests something to be accepted as a whole and embodied in personal life. In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul witnesses to having “kept the faith.” [Emphasis added]   Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (470–471). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Faith , in the Bible ...

It's amazing the simple pleasures of life.  What brings you joy?  A great cup of java, reuniting with old friends, unexpected savings on a purchase.  Oddly enough, my joy came at the low low price of $10 and a landfill.  Let me explain, we recently moved into a new house and they left behind a washer that didn't wash and a dryer that didn't dry and a dishwasher...well you get the idea.  Locally, I was able to take the appliances to the landfill for the rock bottom price of $10.  After living in Toronto for 6 years, the land of recycle and pro-active environment protection, I have to confess that taking a truck load of junk to the landfill felt a bit weird.  But clearing out my garage and starting fresh actually felt great.  I drove away exhilarated...the simple pleasures of life. I found that I had a few extra minutes before work so I jetted over to the Post Office.  Just as I was pulling in, I began to hear this awful noise.  I quic...

"And he [Jehoram, King of Judah] departed [died] with no one's regret." 2 Chron. 21:22b The other day I was driving by a cemetary where a service was in progress.  It caught my eye because of the sheer magnitude of the event.   Cars lined the streets of the cemetary, the parking lot was overflowing and standing around a casket were a thousand people, mourning a life lost. Evidently, this person will be greatly missed and exerted a level of positive impact upon their community. I can't imagine anything worse than wasting my life so that no one cared when I died.  Not because I didn't have a large funeral, but that my life counted as nothing towards eternity.  What a very sad commentary of a life lived (or not lived).  No one was sad that Jehoram died, no one bothered to even bury him in the tomb of the kings.  Have you seen the website www.deathclock.com?  You can put in your date of birth, various lifestyle factors and you will see the esti...

When's the last time you watched someone wither a tree before your eyes?  How about sheer the top of a mountain off and send it hurling into the sea?  Never?  Me neither.  Yet the Christian life demands that we walk by faith. My goal is simple.  Over the next weeks or months I am beginning an in-depth study on faith to deepen my "faith".  Why?  I want to move mountains.  Because when you have it, you please God.  The men and women that do the greatest things for God are the ones that have the greatest faith in God.  Finally, I don't want to waste my life. I plan to post excerpts from my study here and it is my hope and prayer that you will take this journey with me.  I will be answering three major questions: 1) What is it? 2) Who had it? (Biblical Examples) 3) How do I get it and what do I do with it? (Practical Life Applications) Oh, be careful what you ask for.  If you are serious about studying faith, your faith...

“You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”  This verse struck me in a new way today.  Not because of the sheer magnitude of it’s importance, but because of the context in which it was spoken.  I am referring to Matthew 4:10 and it was Jesus that quotes this Scripture to Satan, after Satan wants Jesus to worship him.  Think about this.  God (John 1:1), in human flesh (John 1:14), who inspired the Scriptures for man (2 Tim 3:16-17) is now quoting them back to a being that is not human and lives in a different realm.  This shows the universal impact of the inspired Word of God.  Jesus doesn’t quote from some heavenly doxology or some unwritten ideology, he uses a commandment spoken to men for his defense.  The truth spoken in the pages of our Bible hold the same power in heaven as they do on earth.  I just found that amazing.  That Jesus could have used anything for his defense and yet he goes to the written and i...

There it is, in black and white, OMG is among the top Twitter abbreviations.  O my God!  A term commonly used by teenagers and young adults as an expression of surprise or amazement, especially in instant messaging or other social media.  This little expression has been so misused and overused that today as I read Psalm 25, I was stopped in my tracks at verse 2. "O my God, in you I trust; let my not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me." I could barely get past the phrase "O my God" without hearing it in a teenage girl's voice.  A phrase once used by the humble and contrite to express the deep longings of their heart, is now redefined by a generation that has forsaken God.  I would love to call it ironic but it's what a nation does that turns their back on God.  We take the familiar items of worship and veneration and we alter our perception and dispell the original meaning.  Psalm 25 was the second passage of Scripture I read on ...

The Key to Continued Success As Joshua led Israel from victory to victory through the promised land, the time came to send them away to their new homes.  God had been their victor.  God had conquered the land.  The people had served the Lord all the days of Joshua (Joshua 24:31a) and God had blessed them.  Unlike the skilled politician who talks a lot but says nothing or the legal quagmire of endless documents required to buy a home, Joshua’s final speech is short, simple and ever so powerful.  He lays out the key to continued success in a few short words:     “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Joshua 22:5 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away to their homes. You have been successful and you...