Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

            He must increase, but I must decrease.                     John 3:30 John the Baptist spoke these words in reference to the spiritual part of man that must preside over the material man in order to experience the kingdom of God. In John 3:5, Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God .” This new or second birth would not be physical, by water as the first one was, but of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of man comes alive at the moment of salvation and is in competition with the material nature of man (the soul) for control. When Christ becomes the priority over the other options of life, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, increases in dominion and power while the soul decreases. The Apostle Paul, as a converted Pharisee, understood the integration of th...

                 Casting all your anxiety [ merimna – care that brings disruption to the mind] on Him, because He                cares [ melei – present active indicative, concerned] for you .                         1 Peter 5:7   Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates His own love [ agape ] toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us . The quality of that love can be characterized as unconditional and self-sacrificing on behalf of every human and acknowledged by each one who believes in Jesus. That love is the source of the care and concern that Peter recognizes in the above verse. Jesus left heaven as directed by His Father to come to earth as a man and fulfill the Father’s will and to reveal to each believer the quality of that love.   I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplic...

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [ musterion ] which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested [ phaneroo – made visible].                                 Romans 16:25-26   Upon Paul’s conversion, the Lord began to reveal many things to him that were utterly unknown to the religious community as a whole at the time of Christ’s appearance in the world. Since Saul of Tarsus was a renowned student of the Law of Moses, having studied under Gamaliel, he had a deep understanding of the old covenant relationship to God. However, the Messiah’s first coming, His rejection by the Jewish leaders, and the suffering He would endure leading to His death on a cross were not commonly expected. Yet the Old T...