Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content [ autarkes – self-sufficient, satisfied with one’s situation] in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [ manthano – come to understand] of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.                            Philippians 4:11-13 At times Paul experienced definite financial and material needs, and at other times he had an abundance. The Stoics used autarkes, translated as content, to mean human self-reliance and fortitude, a calm acceptance of life's pressures. But Paul used it to refer to a divinely bestowed sufficiency, whatever the circumstances. He learned how to cope with both...

  What shall we say then? Gentiles who did not pursue [ dioko – to go after with the expectation of success] righteousness [ dikaiosune – conformity to God’s commands] attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law . Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone .                         R omans 9:30-32   In the above, Paul addressed how both Jews and Gentiles find righteousness: not by works, but by faith. In fact, earlier in his letter, he addressed the matter when considering Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do instinctively the things of the Law; these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness a...

Proverbs 23:7 states, For as he thinks [ saar – sets a price, values] within himself, so he is. The believer's thought life determines the quality of his relationship with God and his spiritual success in this life. Of all the things that one faces here on earth, his thoughts can make a difficult situation more manageable and a challenging situation more difficult. The basis of the believer's thought life is his perception of the role God plays in his life while still on the earth. Does he accept the sovereignty of God as not just about eternity, but includes his life on earth? Where does God's authority end and man's free will begin? Even King Nebuchadnezzar recognized (Daniel 4:35) the Lord's total control over heaven and earth, and all it contains: “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You d...

When Jesus appeared on the scene nearly 2,000 years ago, He came on a mission from His Father to introduce a new covenant as prophesied by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:31-32: “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord . The people had not kept the old covenant, and it was time to change the covenant's dynamics to give the people an opportunity to succeed. The people could not obey the entire law and consistently slipped into idolatry. Jesus would introduce a spiritual kingdom. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " (Matthew 4:17). When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples ca...