My daughter and her husband gathered their large family around the kitchen table to celebrate another birthday. The lights were turned off and a few children pitched in to light the candles. The youngest watched in fascination as each candle was coaxed into life. 

'Matchsticks require fuel, oxygen, and a tip of potassium chlorate, on a ball of sulfur. Apply the correct amount of heat or friction and you have ignition. The bible is a matchbox. It contains matches that ignite. Each match is a little promise fulfilled. We are the candles. 'Can I coax you to read the bible? or will I get burned holding the matchstick? Will the word of God light a flame in you? 

I begin with fulfillment in the Book of Romans. I hope you believe Paul when he said in Galatians 1:11-12, 'I certify that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.'

There are two parts to the matchstick 1) the promise 2) the fulfillment of the promise. Truth has both parts. The bible contains both promise and fulfillment, therefore it contains truth. The promise from the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament.