Mandeville Church

The New Testament Story

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Aug 022010

Looks Like a New Day

Why do we call it the “New Testament”?

At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). Hebrews 8-10 is all about the new covenant in which the blood of Jesus Christ would truly take away sin. He quotes from Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days are coming, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Hebrews 8:8). He goes on to say, “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear” (Hebrews 8:13).

What does the New Testament look like?

My Bible has 27 books which make up the New Testament (remember the Old Testament has 39 books). These books are arranged in a logical order based upon the type of literature, mirroring the arrangement of the Old.

1. The Gospels. There are four of these: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of these tells the same story, and yet each has a very specific purpose. It is important that we have four different

The New Testament

perspectives, each agreeing with the other. How can we doubt the testimony of so many?

2. The Book of History. There is only one book in this category: Acts. Arguably, the gospels also count as books of history, but we shall leave them in their own category – like we leave the books of Moses in their own category in the Old Testament.

3. Letters of Paul. There are thirteen of these: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The first nine are letters to churches. The last four are personal letters to individuals.

4. Other Letters. There are eight of these: Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 & 2 & 3 John, and Jude. Some are convinced that Hebrews was also written by Paul, which is why it is placed at the end of Paul’s letters and the beginning of the miscellaneous letters. Besides Hebrews, the rest bear the name of the author.

5. Prophecy or Apocalyptic. There is only one book here: The Revelation of John. While there are many things difficult in this book, it has been preserved by God for us today. It has great, even practical lessons embedded in the visions.

What would you add to the comments here?

God bless,
Nathan

The Old Testament Story

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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

Burning Books

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May 132010

Book Burning

How terrible! They burned their books! Couldn’t they find a way to sell them? Evidently they were worth a lot of money.

What was in the books? Oh, you know, the old spell books, teaching how to cast charms and perform curses and various enchantments. They were books of magic (Acts 19:19). In our enlightened world, we don’t think much of those kinds of books, do we? Um…actually…there is a big section in a lot of book stores devoted to the “new age,” which does include such things as magic, spells, wichcraft, etc. Don’t think for a minute we live in some age devoid of these dark practices.

When these believers discovered their practices were completely against God’s way, they intended to rid themselves and rid the WORLD of the junk in their lives. Just think if they had tried to sell (or even give away) their books. Someone else would then own this evil. I know of a new believer who invited his Christian friends for a special party. He gave them all a bottle of wine…and then asked them to pour it all down the kitchen drain. One after another he poured out the stuff which had held him captive for so many years. Liberated! Why not sell it? Because he didn’t want to pass this vice on to anyone else.

I tell you what these Christians did that was EVEN HARDER than burning books. They confessed and disclosed their practices (Acts 19:18). They TOLD their new spiritual family about their vices, temptations, and spiritual trials. Sounds healthy. Sounds cathartic. Sounds like something we ought to be doing.

I wonder why we don’t have much confession of sin these days. Maybe…

WE’RE NOT TRULY CONVICTED. Maybe we don’t think our particular sin is that bad compared to others? That’s a troubling thought. Perhaps we need some introspection.
NO ONE ELSE IS TALKING. We think everyone else is so perfect next to us, we are just too ashamed to speak about our own struggles. Somebody has to go first.
WE JUST DON’T TALK TO ONE ANOTHER. No man (or woman) is an island, and God built us for relationships. God built us to share with one another – to have fellowship with one another.

Can you think of any other reasons? It need to know our enemy so we can defeat him.

God bless,
Nathan

Many Other Words (Acts 2:40)

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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

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