Mandeville Church

Do You Talk Right?

Mar 162010

Good Conversation

If I said, “Bekah and me are going out tonight,” what would you think? Would you catch the misplaced pronoun “me”? It should be “Bekah and I.”

On the other hand, if I said, “Someone gave Bekah and I a coupon for the Olive Garden,” would you have caught the problem there? It should be “Bekah and me” in this case. Would you say, “Someone gave I a coupon”? No, you would say, “Someone gave ME a coupon.” Adding another individual to the sentence doesn’t change it.

Unfortunately, whenever someone uses a phrase like this incorrectly, I mentally correct it. I have made the mistake of correcting Bekah at the wrong times, by the way. Not good. So I generally keep my corrections to myself.

But, ultimately, speaking with incorrect words and phrases is not going to send a person to hell. It’s not a matter of salvation to misspeak like this. However, there ARE good and proper ways to speak to one another the word of life.

Acts 14:1 says that Paul and Barnabas “spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed.” How did they speak? I’d love to know how to speak in such a manner that many of the people around New Orleans would believe!

1. They spoke the WORD.

In the verses immediately preceding and following Acts 14:1 we see the following clues as to their message:

The whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord (Acts 13:44)
It was necessary for the word of God be spoken to you first… (Acts 13:46)
They began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord (Acts 13:48)
The word of the Lord was being spread throughout the whole region (Acts 13:49)
Testifying to the word of His grace (Acts 14:3)

Getting the Message Across

If I want to speak in such a way that many will believe in the Lord, I must speak ONLY the Lord’s message. I must speak ALL the Lord’s message. His word is that which saves (Romans 1:16).

2. They spoke BOLDLY.

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly (Acts 13:46)
They spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord (Acts 14:3)

The manner of their speech was important. We must not bring the word of God to the people in a timid fashion.

“Um…I don’t guess you’d like to hear about your soul’s salvation, would you? You wouldn’t like to know about how to have eternal life would you? No? Oh, that’s okay…”

“We preach the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” (Acts 13:32-33)

So, how do I “talk right” about Jesus? I must first KNOW the word of God before I can speak it with boldness! Knowing the word is half the battle. Then I must stand with courage and speak with my neighbors.

May God bless us with grace in our speech today,
Nathan

Paul’s Modus Operandi

Uncategorized No Responses »

Mar 112010

Preaching to the People

1. Preach to the Jews. Even though God’s message was open to all nations, He still gave the Jews the preferred first opportunity to hear and obey the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Whenever Paul entered a new city, he first went to the Jews (Acts 13:46). It was through the Jews that God had brought salvation to the world, so they did have a special place in God’s plan.

2. Preach from the Old Testament. The Jews were brought up on the “Law and the Prophets,” what we now call the Old Testament. Paul had a habit of running through a history lesson with the Jews, reminding them of their glorious and not-so-glorious past. He showed them how Jesus was all over their Scriptures in prophecy. Their hero, David, wrote of the Christ in Psalm 2 (Acts 13:33) and in Psalm 16 (Acts 13:35). God had made special promises to David regarding the Christ (Acts 13:34). He brought up a terrible prophecy from Habakkuk 1:5 (Acts 13:41) to indicate an impending judgment on the Jewish nation – “Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.”

3. Preach to the Gentiles. When the Jews rejected Paul’s teaching, he turned to the Gentiles. He even used Old Testament Scripture to defend this action (Acts 13:47): “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring salvation to the end of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:6).

Paul was quite effective in his teaching efforts. I am sometimes baffled at why I am not so “successful” with my teaching in this community. What is my modus operandi? Do I have a plan? Am I not teaching the same gospel? Are the people different today than they were in Paul’s time? Have I just not found what really works?

I hold these truths to be self-evident: that men’s hearts are always the same; that the gospel message is just as powerful today as it was in the days of Paul; and that my duty is simply to scatter the seed (the word) and that is the END of my duty. God will not hold me responsible for those who don’t want to hear the message and reject it.

Like Paul, my modus operandi must simply be to preach the word.

God bless,
Nathan

Pearls Before Swine

Uncategorized No Responses »

Mar 102010

I Don't Want to Hear It

Have you ever thrown out pearls of wisdom only to have some fool laugh in your face or argue with you? First, let’s make sure what is coming out of our mouths ARE pearls. Let us, as Ephesians 4:15 says, speak the truth in love. Just because someone rejects what we have to say doesn’t mean they are rejecting truth. It may be WE have it wrong. But if we are speaking the words of the Lord, we know we speak truth, and if someone rejects God’s word, we may be sure they are truly a fool.

How long should you put up with such a person? Perhaps it may take a while for you to determine if the man or woman really is a swine. But once you realize he or she has no intention of accepting God’s truths, what should you do?

Elymas opposed Paul’s teaching on the Island of Cyprus. Paul was trying to teach Sergius Paulus, but Elymas (also called Bar-Jesus) tried to turn the man away from the faith. He openly resisted the word of God. Paul said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10) I tell you – them’s fightin’ words! Paul lit into this guy with both fists flying.

Later in Acts 13:46, Paul had some choice words for the Jews who rejected God’s word: “Since you repudiate [God's word] and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we are turning to the Gentiles.”

Some surely blanch at the boldness of these statements. Wasn’t Paul judging these men? Yes. He judged the attitude of their hearts based on their clear language and obvious rejection of the Word. We can do the same. Our job is to plan the seed, but it is NOT our job to force-feed the seed to fools. When men and women show their complete unwillingness to bend to God’s truth, we should move on. Perhaps we should even inform them of their souls’ destination as we turn to more fertile fields.

It does not pay to cast pearls before swine. We want to help those who want help – the good soil where the word will flourish.

What do you think?

God bless,
Nathan

How are We Led by the Holy Spirit?

Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Mar 092010

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

The Holy Spirit was active in a mighty way during the church’s first century. The Holy Spirit revealed and confirmed the message of the kingdom as well as directed men to specific areas of work. The Holy Spirit directed the church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey (Acts 13:2, 4).

How did the Holy Spirit communicate with those brethren?

Did He make the sun break through the clouds at just the right time to give them a sign? People are always looking for a sign. They see the “face of Jesus” in the clouds, in the bark of a tree, even in their bologna sandwiches! Bobby prayed that God would direct him to the best job. He was choosing between car sales and carpentry. Later that day, he jumped into his old clunker…and the engine started right up with no spluttering at all! He felt God was speaking to him telling him to go into car sales. Most signs men and women “see” today are of this nature. But this was not how the Holy Spirit spoke in the New Testament.
Did the Holy Spirit give them a nudge in the right direction? I have many friends who say they have been “led by the Spirit” to do this or that in their life. When it comes down to it, what they mean by “led” is they got a strong feeling one way or the other. Kathy was in the store “making groceries,” as they say here in Louisiana. As she shopped, she noticed a young lady who was having trouble with her 3-year-old son. Kathy felt she should talk to this girl about godly discipline. Later, Kathy explained to her friends that the Holy Spirit led her to that conversation. “I just felt led to talk to her,” she said. Perhaps we could be nudged in this way – I don’t know. But this was not how the Holy Spirit spoke in the New Testament.

Man's Communication

What the Holy Spirit DID was this: He communicated very clearly with words. Yes, He spoke words to the brethren at Antioch. The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). The elders of the church and the prophets of the church did not see a sign or “feel led” by the Holy Spirit. They WERE led – no question. It was not vague or open to interpretation. There was no guess work.

And I want us to understand: this is the way God always communicates to man! When God wants to tell us something, He does so in a clear, objective manner. When He communicates with us, we are not left wondering if God really spoke or not – we KNOW God spoke. He communicates with words, with language.

The Holy Spirit communicates with us today the same way as He did during the first century. He speaks clear words. His messages are obvious. He speaks through prophets. The only difference today is that all of God’s words are WRITTEN DOWN for us. God is the ultimate master communicator, and we CAN understand what He says. Ephesians 3:4: “When you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.”

What do you think?

May God bless us in the understanding of His word,
Nathan

Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha

Do You Talk Right?

Paul’s Modus Operandi

Pearls Before Swine

How are We Led by the Holy Spirit?

Audio Sermons

Latest Posts

Ask a Bible Question

Come Meet With Us!