Mandeville Church

Gay Marriage

homosexuality, marriage, sin 5 Responses »

Aug 112010

Earlier this month a renegade judge went against the will of the people of California to overturn their ban against gay marriage. This is a war which has been ripping this country apart over the past several years. No – it has ripped this world apart since the beginning of time. The issue at hand is whether or not we can call a sexual perversion “marriage.” Can we legitimize any kind of sexual union we want?

Why Stop There?

One Boy...One Girl...

My main question is: If you will grant a man the right to marry another man and a woman the right to marry another women, how does that stop three men from attempting a marriage? What this ruling actually does is it completely destroys the idea of marriage, at least on paper. Shall we have a man with four wives? That has been outlawed in this country for years…but why? Shall we have a woman with four husbands? Or two husbands and two wives in one marriage. And why even top with human beings? If we are going down this road, let’s go all the way.

But God Wants Us to be Happy, Right?

Anyone who uses the Holy Scriptures to fight FOR homosexuality is deluded and understands nothing about the nature of God or what God wants from man. Let us be clear: using the Bible to defend your gayness or lesbianism is like using the Bible to defend human torture and murder. God has spoken clearly on this issue many times in both the Old and New Testaments.

Romans 1:26-27
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:9-10
…law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching…

Jesus on Marriage (Matthew 19:4-6)
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

1 Corinthians 7:2
But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

God does want us to be happy – but He want us to find happiness by following His law, not by trying to figure it out by ourselves. Homosexuality is one sin among the rest, one perversion among the many that men have discovered. It matters not that law courts attempt to legalize and legitimize the perversion, it will always be a perversion and sinful in the eyes of the Almighty One who created us. The courts may as well try to legalize divorce for any cause! Oh…wait…they did.

I would like to mention that fornication is mentioned right alongside homosexuality in several of the passages above. God is interested in men who will do things HIS WAY. He wants men who accept the right and proper way of marriage God has created: one man and one woman for life. It’s beautiful. It works. It’s right.

Your thoughts?

God bless,
Nathan

The Old Testament Story

Old Testament, bible reading, bible study, prophecy, reading the bible No Responses »

Jul 282010

My Blueprint

As you pick up your Bible, you discover it is not just a single book. The Old Testament itself comprises 39 separate pieces of literature! As you look closer, you find the Old Testament is divided into five different sections. Men through the centuries grouped these books into logical categories.

1. Books of Moses (Law). There are five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

2. Books of the History of the Jews. There are twelve books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, two books of Samuel, two books of Kings, two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

3. Books of Poetry / Widsom. There are five books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs).

4. Books of Major Prophets. There are five books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (also written by Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel. These are called “major” because they are longer books.

5. Books of Minor Prophets. There are twelve books: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These are called “minor” because they are shorter books.

In each of the categories above, the books have been placed in chronological order (as close as possible). The books of Moses contain a lot of history as well as the law and Joshua picks up where Deuteronomy leaves off.

Most of the Poetry and Wisdom literature was written by kings David and Solomon and by others during their time period.

The books of the Prophets all fit back into the history somewhere. These extra writings aren’t exactly history but were written by characters in the history. For instance, the prophets Isaiah and Hosea both prophesied during the reign of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (read about them in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles). The prophet Amos also prophesied during the reign of king Uzziah, but he prophesied to the kingdom of Israel to the north of Judah.

A good understand of how the Old Testament is compiled is extremely helpful in our studies. I always like to start from the high-level look and then work down to the details. And remember these stories were not recorded as a comprehensive history, but these sections of Scripture were selected by the Holy Spirit to be recorded and preserved for our sakes today! Every writing in the Old and New Testaments are for our learning (1 Corinthians 10:6: “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved”).

God bless,
Nathan

Freedom!

Acts, apostle paul, bible reading, freedom 1 Response »

Jul 152010

Slavery

I was in prison yesterday.

Okay, so I was AT a prison yesterday, not actually IN prison. But I still had a foreboding sense of lost freedom even though I never went beyond the front desk.

I’ve been in prisons a couple of times to visit men and women who had been incarcerated for one reason or another. No one trusts anyone around those places. You almost feel like a felon yourself just for visiting.

I remember the last time I went to see someone in prison. I never actually made it there, because I called ahead of time and found out something had gone wrong with the inmates that day and they had locked the place down to visitors. They said they had to take care of the “situation” whatever it was. I remember stopping at a Best Buy and walking around for a little bit in the big, open store, thinking about the man I was trying to see. Here I was enjoying complete freedom, going where I wanted to go, seeing what I wanted to see, and no one was stopping me. He, on the other hand, could do almost nothing without another person first allowing it.

Freedom is so wonderful. I’m sure I take it for granted every day.

Freedom!

Paul wrote about slavery and freedom in Romans 6:20-22: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness…But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” Living in sin is living in slavery. This world is in chains. Another directs their steps and tells them where to go…and it’s not God. We have all been there. We all fight against this slavery.

Paul was well qualified to write about this subject, having been in prison quite a few times himself for the gospel’s sake. I LOVE how the book of Acts ends. Paul was waiting trial in Rome, because he had appealed to Caesar. He was confined to his house, but he was blessed to be comfortable.

“And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered” (Acts 28:30-31).

Even as Paul was “in chains,” so to speak, the gospel was on the loose! Even as he was bound, the gospel was “unhindered.” What a great word – unhindered. God’s word should be (and always will be) unhindered. It is free. In it we find the power of true freedom. It matters not what man does to us here in this life. We may be bound with chains, thrown in a dungeon, kept under lock and key, but our relationship with God determines our true level of freedom.

Freedom! Drink it up.

And we are done with Acts.

God bless,
Nathan

Why Were the Bereans More Noble-Minded?

Uncategorized No Responses »

Apr 152010

Studying

There is an interesting and instructive cause-and-effect in the Bereans’ response to Paul and Silas’s message. They were compared to the Thessalonians, whom Paul and Silas had left just previously (Acts 17:10). The text says the Bereans “were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The REASON they were considered more noble-minded was BECAUSE of how they treated God’s word, the Scriptures. They examined (studied) them closely. Paul and Silas preached, and the Bereans checked up in their Bibles to make sure they were not pulling a fast one.

They not only checked to make sure it was true, they also eagerly RECEIVED the word. These were those men and women who Jesus had said would “hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

Examining Carefully

I want to notice the RESULT of receiving God’s word with eagerness, the RESULT of studying it carefully. Acts 17:12 continues, “Therefore many of the believed…” “Therefore” means “because of what was just noted.” In this case it builds upon the way they examined and received the word. BECAUSE they received God’s word in such a noble-minded manner, they ended up believing it!

If folks would simply study the Scriptures closely, they would end up believing God’s message. The word of God is living and powerful. It is able to cut through to a man’s very soul. It will either convict or alienate a man from God. It will certainly cut him to the quick. Then man’s response will be in humility or complete rebellion, for he must respond to the truth! God’s word will not return to Him void. It will work to break a heart or harden a heart – it’s up to the hearer which response will be given!

Blessed are the Bereans for their acceptance of the word. Blessed are YOU when you hunger and thirst for righteousness…for you will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6).

God bless,
Nathan

Getting Back to the Word

Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Apr 052010

An Open Book

Just a little note of encouragement to those of you who ARE sidetracked by LIFE and haven’t kept up with any sort of regular reading schedule:

You can get started again!

I am not saying you have to read through Acts with us if you already have another reading plan, but I’m encouraging you to get back with your reading plan if you’ve dropped it. We are heading into the fourth month of 2010 and I know how easy it is to lay the Bible down and get involved in all the activities of Spring and Summer. Don’t give in to that temptation! Keep reading. Bible reading should be a part of our daily lives. We must spend time with God’s word if we are truly to get to know Him.

If you would LIKE to use this forum to help you keep to a reading schedule, I encourage you to read Acts 16 today. Read Acts 16 each day we discuss something from that chapter, and then start reading Acts 17 when we get there in a few days. If you want to go crazy with it, read a couple of chapters before and a couple of chapters after Acts 16, too, so you get a better picture of the greater context.

Another GREAT reading tool is to read one chapter of Proverbs each day of the month. Proverbs has 31 chapters, so it’s easy to read one a day each month. today is the 5th, so read Proverbs 5. Tomorrow read Proverbs 6…and so on. If you happen to skip a day, don’t worry – you’ll likely read that chapter next month if you continue with the habit

Remember, the Bible is God’s communication to us. If we leave it on the shelf, we cannot listen. A closed Bible is just a pile of paper.

I’ll get back to the comments on Acts 16 tomorrow. Until then, happy reading

God bless,
Nathan

Many Other Words (Acts 2:40)

Uncategorized No Responses »

Dec 282009

God's Word is the Main Thing

Wouldn’t it be great to have an anthology of Peter’s sermons? I’d like a book containing the great sermons of the apostles – Peter, Paul, John… I’d like another book with the sermons of Apollos, James, Luke, Mark, and all those other prophets who preached by the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything more than what the Holy Spirit chose to record in the pages of my Bible.

Hmmmm….maybe that’s all I need.

I look on my bookshelves to find:

Great Sermons on the Resurrection of Christ by Wilbur M. Smith
McGarvey’s Sermons by J. W. McGarvey
Sound Scriptural Sermon Outlines by Wade H. Horton (as if they would advertise “unsound, unscriptural sermons”)
Letters and Sermons of T. B. Larimore
Sermon Outlines on the Parables of Jesus by W. Gaddys Roy

Do I need to read all these men’s books to learn what the Bible says? The Holy Spirit did not record all of the INSPIRED men’s sermons. Perhaps salvation is not in the wealth of information, but in the simplicity of the Gospel message. Perhaps we don’t become more spiritual as we multiply words, but as we dwell on the few words which the Holy Spirit preserved for us.

So “with many other words [Peter] solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’” (Acts 2:40). We don’t know the exact words, but we do know their thrust; they concerned salvation. Besides the well-crafted sermon in Acts 2:14-36, Peter kept on pushing these people towards salvation. I can learn (1) I need to challenge the world with Jesus’ gospel and (2) I need to keep exhorting and pushing while the hearer will listen.

Do you have any thoughts on this verse?

God bless,
Nathan

Gay Marriage

Why Stop There?

But God Wants Us to be Happy, Right?

The Old Testament Story

Freedom!

Why Were the Bereans More Noble-Minded?

Getting Back to the Word

Many Other Words (Acts 2:40)

Audio Sermons

Latest Posts

Ask a Bible Question

Come Meet With Us!

Gay Marriage

Why Stop There?

But God Wants Us to be Happy, Right?

The Old Testament Story

Challenge for You

Freedom!

Why Were the Bereans More Noble-Minded?

Getting Back to the Word

Many Other Words (Acts 2:40)

Audio Sermons

Latest Posts

Ask a Bible Question

Come Meet With Us!