March 2026 – Page 3 – Mining Jewels from God’s Word: Daily Treasures in Scripture

“As I Was With Moses”

March 11, 2026 by Brother Tony

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 33 – Joshua 2 (KJV)

Click here to listen to Alexander Scourby reading the King James Bible.

When you open the Book of Joshua, the first thing you see is a change in leadership. The man who had stood before Pharaoh, split the Red Sea, and met God face to face in the mount — Moses — is gone. “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab” (Deut. 34:5). One verse closes Moses’ ministry, but forty years of leadership and a whole generation’s history end right there.

Now Joshua stands where Moses once stood. The people are still the same, the land is still before them, and the wilderness is still behind them — but the man is different. It’s one thing to follow Moses; it’s another thing to replace him.

Humanly speaking, the job would crush a man. But God never puts a burden on a man without offering His own strength to carry it. Three times in Joshua 1 the Lord says, “Be strong and of a good courage” (Josh. 1:6, 7, 9). The repetition shows Joshua’s fear. God doesn’t tell a man “fear not” unless fear is there to fight against.

But watch what God ties Joshua’s courage to — not himself, not experience, not training, but His own presence:

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Josh. 1:5)

That’s the key. Joshua didn’t need to be as gifted or as great as Moses. He just needed to remember the same God that held Moses up would hold him up too.

Every Christian can take that promise for himself. You may not have a burning bush, but you do have the same God. The same Lord who stood by Moses, who encouraged Joshua, who protected Daniel, who emboldened Paul — that same Lord said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5).

In Joshua 2, the spies enter Jericho, and right away the Lord shows that He’s already working on the other side of the river. Rahab confesses,

“For the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” (Josh. 2:11)

The Canaanites had already heard what God did at the Red Sea and in the wilderness, and their hearts melted in fear (Josh. 2:9‑10). God had gone ahead of His people before they ever took a step!

That’s how God works. When He sends a man, He always goes before him. Before Noah ever built the ark, God had already planned the rain. Before Abraham ever left Ur, God had already chosen the land. Before Elijah ever stood before Ahab, God had prepared the widow at Zarephath. Before the disciples ever went out to preach, Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you alway.”

That means when God gives you a task that looks impossible — raising a godly family in a crooked generation, standing for truth when no one else will, keeping faith when everything around you shakes — the outcome doesn’t rest on your strength but on His faithfulness.

Joshua didn’t have to be Moses. He had to believe what Moses believed — that God cannot fail.

So today, take heart. Whatever lies ahead, God has already been there. Step forward by faith, not fear. The same Lord who parted the sea can part your river.

Keep reading, because the next chapter will show Israel stepping into the Jordan and watching the Lord make a way where there was none.

Tomorrow’s reading is Josh 3-6

Until tomorrow, Stay in the Book. 📖
—Brother Tony

He Goeth Before Thee: The Promise That Never Fails

March 10, 2026 by Brother Tony

Daily Reading — Deuteronomy 31–32 (KJV)

Click here to listen to Alexander Scourby read the King James Bible

In Deuteronomy 31:8 Moses gives Israel a promise that has steadied the hearts of God’s people for generations: “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” (Deut. 31:8)

Twenty-four years ago I preached a watch night service while I was in Bible school in Pensacola. My wife was visiting her mother in Cleveland at the time. That night I preached from this very passage about the Lord going before His people and being with them. That promise steadied me then, and it steadies me now.

Today, twenty-four years later, my wife is again visiting her family in Cleveland. As I read Deuteronomy 31 this morning, the same verse came back to my mind. The circumstances may repeat, the years may pass, but one thing has not changed: God is still God, and His promises are just as true today as they were then.

Moses was speaking to a nation about to enter an unknown land without him. Their leader was leaving them, their future was uncertain, and their fears would have been real. Yet the promise was not in Moses, Joshua, or Israel’s strength. The promise was in the presence of the LORD.

“He it is that doth go before thee.” Before Israel ever stepped into Canaan, God was already there. Before tomorrow arrives, the Lord is already present in it. The believer never walks into a day that God has not already entered.

“He will be with thee.” The promise is not merely that God prepares the way, but that He accompanies His people along the way. Through the years—through changes, trials, victories, and ordinary days—the Lord remains present.

“He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee.” Men fail. Circumstances fail. Our own strength often fails. But the Lord never fails. Time does not weaken His word, and years do not diminish His promises.

Fear grips when leaders change, futures look dark, or years pile up—but the command is clear: fear not, neither be dismayed, because the promise stands on the character of God, not our circumstances.

Looking back over twenty-four years, the testimony is simple: the Lord has been faithful. The same promise that was preached then is just as real now. God still goes before His people, He is still with them, and He still never fails nor forsakes them.

Brother, whatever unknown land you’re facing today—trust the One who goeth before thee. His promise holds.

Keep reading—because the next chapter will remind us that when God’s people forget His faithfulness, He never forgets His word.

Tomorrow’s reading is Deut 33 – Josh 2

Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖

Brother Tony

The Rebellious Son and the Cursed Tree

March 6, 2026 by Brother Tony

Today’s Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 21-23 (KJV)

Click the link below for Alexander Scourby Reading the King James Bible

https://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/ListenToTheKingJamesBible.htm

Deuteronomy 21 puts two strong passages right beside each other, and at first they don’t seem connected. But when you see what the New Testament reveals, they fit together like pieces of God’s plan laid out long before Calvary.

The first passage is about the stubborn and rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18–21). If a young man kept refusing to obey his father and mother, even after they chastened him hard, the parents were to bring him to the elders of the city. The elders would judge him, and if the charge stood, the men of the city would stone him with stones until he was dead. The reason God gave was plain and serious: “so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” The law showed how God hates rebellion. It wasn’t just bad behavior—it was a heart turned against authority, and the penalty was death to keep the nation clean and to make everyone else take notice and fear.

Then, just a few verses later in the same chapter, God says this about a man who has been executed and whose body is hung on a tree: “his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled” (Deuteronomy 21:23). A man hanging on a tree was a public sign that he was under the curse of God. That wasn’t just a way of disposing of a body—it was a declaration of divine judgment.

Now turn to the New Testament and you see something that takes your breath away. Galatians 3:13 declares, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” The very thing Deuteronomy called a sign of being accursed—hanging on a tree—became the picture of what Jesus did on the cross. He was made a curse for us.

Think about who we really are. The rebellious son in Deuteronomy isn’t just an extreme case from ancient Israel. He’s a picture of every one of us. The Bible says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). There is none righteous, no, not one. We have all been stubborn against God, chasing our own lusts, refusing His voice, loving our sin. Under the law, that rebellion earns death. The rebellious son dies. That’s the righteous demand of a holy God.

But at Calvary, the whole picture changes. The Lord Jesus Christ—the only begotten Son who never once disobeyed the Father—took our place. Philippians 2:8 tells us He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Hebrews 5:8 adds, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” The perfect, obedient Son submitted Himself to the very death the law demanded for rebels.

So put Deuteronomy 21 next to the cross. The law said the rebellious son must die for his sin. The law also said the man hanged on a tree is accursed of God. Fifteen hundred years before Christ ever came, God placed those two truths in the same chapter: the rebel who deserves death, and the cursed one hanging on a tree. Back then they looked like separate rules in Israel’s law. But when Jesus hung on that cross, those two pictures came together in one mighty act of redemption.

The sinless Son—the One who always obeyed—hung on the tree as the cursed One. He bore the curse that belonged to rebellious sons like you and me. He died the death we deserved so we could live.

That’s the power of this truth. The law exposes our rebellion and shows us what it justly deserves—death and the curse. The gospel shows us the Substitute who took that judgment in our place. Deuteronomy 21 gives us the problem in black and white. The cross gives us the answer in blood.

Brother, don’t miss it. You’re either still carrying your own rebellion and its curse, or you’ve run to the One who became the curse for you. There’s no middle ground. Trust Him today, or face the judgment the law demands. The obedient Son has already paid it all. Will you receive what He did for you?

Keep reading, because the law that exposes sin also prepares the way for the grace that redeems sinners. Tomorrow we’ll move into Deuteronomy 22 and 23, where God keeps giving laws that show His holiness, His care for purity, and His heart for justice and mercy—laws that keep pointing us forward to the greater Redeemer who fulfills them all.

Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖

Brother Tony

Tomorrow’s Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 24-27 (KJV)

Click the link below for Alexander Scourby Reading the King James Bible

https://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/ListenToTheKingJamesBible.html

One Prophet Like Moses—And He’s Not Charismatic Today

March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 by Brother Tony

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 17–20 (KJV)

In Deuteronomy 18:15–18, Moses tells Israel straight: “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.”

Moses was God’s mediator—God spoke, Moses delivered, Israel had to listen. But Moses wasn’t eternal. So God promised a Prophet like him: one with God’s own words put right in his mouth. Verse 18: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”

Authority came from one source: God’s words spoken exactly. Not charisma, not feelings, not “anointings” or experiences. Just the words of God.

This points straight to the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter made it clear in Acts 3:22–23 (KJV): “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.”

After His resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, Christ Himself showed it: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27 KJV)

The very Prophet Moses foretold stood there explaining how the Scriptures pointed to Him.

Deuteronomy 18 starts by blasting false voices: no divination, no witchcraft, no seeking supernatural info outside God’s way. Why? Because God had promised the true source—His coming Prophet.

Israel didn’t need mystics, fortune-tellers, or spiritual showmen. God would speak through His Prophet.

That hits hard today. The world—and too many churches—swarm with voices claiming fresh “revelations,” visions, impressions, and new words from God. How convenient. Yet God has already spoken, and He preserved every word: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35 KJV)

Those words aren’t temporary. They aren’t upgraded by someone’s latest “download” or emotional high.

When Christ opened the Scriptures in Luke 24, He proved Moses and the prophets all led to Him. The more we stay in the Book, the plainer it gets.

The question Moses hammered at Israel is the same one staring us down: Whose voice are you really listening to?

The modern crowd chasing “new moves” and “personal prophecies” might claim they’re hearing God fresh. Funny—they skip the part where God already finished speaking through His Prophet, and the KJV records it perfectly. If it’s not in the Book, it’s not from God. Period.

Keep reading. Tomorrow the Lord starts detailing truth and justice for Israel’s national life.

Keep reading, the true Prophet has spoken—modern “prophets” just add noise.

Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖

Brother Tony.

Audio Links for Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 17–20

Here are the direct individual chapter audio links (Alexander Scourby reading the Authorized Version) from earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com for today’s reading (Deuteronomy 17–20), formatted correctly:

Deuteronomy Chapter 17:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy17.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 18:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy18.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 19:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy19.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 20:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy20.mp3

(Right-click and “Save link as” if you want to download.) These play straight in the browser or any audio player—pure word, no commentary.

📖 Stay in the Book.

Audio Links for Tomorrow’s Reading: Deuteronomy 21–23

Here are the direct individual chapter audio links (Alexander Scourby reading the Authorized Version) from earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com for tomorrow’s reading (Deuteronomy 21–23), formatted correctly:

Deuteronomy Chapter 21:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy21.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 22:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy22.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 23:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/KingJamesBibleAudio/Deuteronomy23.mp3

(Right-click and “Save link as” if you want to download.) These play straight in the browser or any audio player—pure word, no commentary.

📖 Stay in the Book.

Mountains Don’t Lie, and Neither Does Scripture

March 5, 2026March 3, 2026 by Brother Tony

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 10–12 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 11:29 lays it out plain: blessings on Gerizim, curses on Ebal. Two real mountains. Two real results. One covenant nation stuck right between them.

This ain’t poetry or feel-good metaphor. It’s straight Mosaic Law administration: obey and get material blessing in the land; disobey and get material cursing. God didn’t bury the terms in fine print or whisper them in a back room. He shouted them publicly, rehearsed them out loud, and nailed them to geography itself.

God didn’t leave Israel in the dark wondering what He wanted.

Later in Joshua 8, the nation literally stood between those two mountains while the Law was read aloud. Half the tribes facing blessing mountain. Half facing curse mountain. The land itself preached the sermon before a single man opened his mouth. Light given. Accountability locked in.

That same principle doesn’t vanish when we hit the church age.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul shuts down the chaos: regulate tongues, demand interpretation, limit speakers, enforce order, and then drops the hammer—“the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” He finishes with the knockout punch: “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.”

That’s not a lack of light. That’s a willful choice to stay blind.

Back then, between Gerizim and Ebal, the issue was covenant obedience. Today in Corinth (and in our churches), the issue is submission to apostolic command. In both cases, God made it crystal clear. The problem was never confusion. It was rebellion dressed up as spirituality.

The modern “signs and wonders” crowd loves to claim they’re walking in New Testament power. Funny thing—they skip right over 1 Corinthians 14. They have the chapter. They have the restrictions. They have the demand for decency and order. Yet experience trumps the written word every time.

Newsflash: You don’t judge the word of God by your goosebumps or your “anointing.” You judge your goosebumps and your “anointing” by the word of God.

If a man wants to stay ignorant after God has spoken plainly, let him stay ignorant. God said it. Paul wrote it. The KJV preserves it.

Israel stood between two mountains with the stakes in plain view. We stand under revealed truth with no excuse.

Light demands response. Ignorance by choice demands consequences.

Keep reading, the Book still cuts sharper than any feeling.

Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖

Brother Tony

Audio Links for Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 10–12

Deuteronomy Chapter 10:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2010.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 11:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2011.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 12:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2012.mp3

(Right-click and “Save link as” if you want to download.) These play straight in the browser or any audio player—pure word, no commentary.

📖 Stay in the Book.

Audio Links for Tomorrow’s Reading: Deuteronomy 13–16

Deuteronomy Chapter 13:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2013.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 14:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2014.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 15:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2015.mp3

Deuteronomy Chapter 16:
http://earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/King%20James%20Bible%20Audio/Deuteronomy%2016.mp3

(Right-click and “Save link as” if you want to download.) These play straight in the browser or any audio player—pure word, no commentary.

📖 Stay in the Book.

The Storm and the Leak

March 1, 2026 by Brother Tony

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 4–6 (KJV)

In Deuteronomy 4:21 Moses says again, “the LORD was angry with me for your sakes.” He says this three times in Deuteronomy. But God already explained the real reason in Numbers 20:12: “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Moses did not trust God fully and did not honor Him as holy.

Psalm 106:33 tells us why it happened: “They provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” The people were the storm—loud, constant, and tiring. Their complaining pushed Moses hard. But the storm did not cause the problem. It showed what was already inside him.

When Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it, the sin was not just anger. It was misrepresentation. He made God look harsh and impatient when God had given clear, calm instructions. Moses failed to show God’s true character. That cost him.

This is a warning for us. We often blame our reactions on the storm: “If they hadn’t said that…” “If the pressure wasn’t so bad…” But God judges what’s inside us—the leak. Trials show what we really believe about Him. Do we trust His word when things get hard? Do we show His character correctly when we’re provoked?

The people’s rebellion was real. Moses’ punishment was real. The storm was real. But so was his unbelief. Pressure reveals what we truly think about God.

Keep reading. Moses now tells the next generation to listen, fear, and obey the LORD.

Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖

Brother Tony.