Mandeville Church

The House of Yahweh: Me!

Yahweh, my purpose, prayer, temple, worship No Responses »

Aug 102010

An Answer from Heaven

Yesterday I posted an interesting quotation from C. S. Lewis. He said we are a house in which God intends to dwell! That created a great illustration Lewis’ own purposes, but it is also a Biblical thought. In our Wednesday evening Bible studies we just studied 2 Chronicles 1-7. Solomon built and dedicated the very first temple for Yahweh. We did not get a chance to study chapter seven in detail.

As soon as “Solomon had finished praying, fire came down out of heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house” (2 Chronicles 7:1)! I have to believe that was an affirmative statement from God.

Later, Yahweh spoke directly to Solomon one night to confirm that He had heard Solomon’s prayer and would answer him in a positive way. However, God reiterated His promises with some pretty strong IF statements:

1. If you walk before Me as your father David walked (17)…then I will establish your royal throne (18).

2. If you turn away and forsake My statutes (19)…then I will uproot you from the land and this great temple will be torn down and become a mockery of the nations (20-22).

Lesson: It is vitally important to walk in the ways of Yahweh. As great as the temple was, serving Yahweh and keeping His word is more important than the earthly temple which was so grand and glorious. Yahweh still had to be number one in the hearts of the people. That’s where He really lives! We must not lose that message today. We have an even closer relationship with this same God today. He lives within our hearts. He is not glorified by gold and silver and precious stones; He is glorified by the humility of human hearts.

We are the temple of the living God! Like Solomon, we should say, “Who is able to build a house for Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him?” (2 Chronicles 2:6) But now HE has made His dwelling with us.

Marvelous. Amazing. Incomprehensible. He is WORTHY of our adoration.

May you recognize God’s great blessings in your life today,
Nathan

Surprised by Salvation

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Mar 052010

Surprise from Above

We love the stories of men and women in impossible situations, near death, saved in the last hour. We should really love the Bible, then, because it’s full of those kinds of stories! We should really love the Lord, then, because He’s the One who saves.

Peter, I’m sure, loved the Lord greatly after an angel broke him out of prison. The event, recorded in Acts 12, seems surreal at first. An angel appeared suddenly in the prison cell with Peter, and Peter’s chains simply fall off. The angel struck Peter in the side and said, “Get up quickly!” There was no, “Hi, Peter, I’m an angel sent by the Lord to break you out of here…now here’s the plan…” Peter, thinking it was all a dream, quickly dressed and followed the angel past two sets of guards. The prison gates swung open without a touch. And Peter was free – just like that! It was only after he was standing a

lone in the street outside the prison that Peter realized, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting” (Acts 12:11).

Peter was surprised by the Lord’s salvation. He wasn’t even expecting it, or at least he never expected to be saved in such an exotic manner!

Peter wasn’t the only one surprised. A bunch of disciples had been praying together in the home of Mary, mother of John Mark. Peter found them there praying, but they wouldn’t believe it was really Peter standing outside their gate. They were surprised by the Lord’s salvation, even though they had been fervently praying for it.

Grace in Amazing Places

We might ask if we really should be surprised when the Lord acts in marvelous ways to save us from various afflictions. Do we demonstrate a lack of faith? We can see from this event in Peter’s life that, although we ask the Lord to intervene and help, we just don’t always know HOW God will work (or even IF He will choose to work) for us. God surprises us all the time because He works outside our little worldview. He does many things we wouldn’t expect. Who would have expected God to sacrifice His own Son to deliver us from the worst possible situation – eternal damnation? Someone coined the phrase: “Surprised by Grace.” We can’t help but be overwhelmed when God acts.

It is so comforting to realize that God works for His children! Like Peter, it’s often AFTER God has brought us through some grave situation that we can look back on the path we took and see His salvation at work. While we walk the road of affliction, we simply trust. After God delivers, we pour out our thanksgiving! Praise be to our awesome God who loves us and gave Himself for us.

Praise the Lord today,
Nathan

Only One Way to Salvation

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Feb 232010

Praying for Salvation?

If the example of Paul was not enough for us, now Luke writes of Cornelius and his family. Many of the same lessons we learned in Paul’s conversion come back to us, perhaps with even more emphasis. The fact Cornelius was a Gentile is also new instruction for us who have been reading of only Jews and Samaritans (part Jews) entering into the Kingdom of Christ.

Notice how Cornelius was saved:

1. He was not saved by simply BELIEVING in God (Acts 10:2). Cornelius worshiped the true God, feared Him, and obeyed Him. But he still needed something more.

2. He was not saved by his great WORKS (Acts 10:2). Cornelius gave many alms to the people. Jesus often talked about our duty to give to the poor. This was righteous activity. But all the righteous actions in the world will not save a man. Something more is necessary.
3. He was not saved by constant PRAYER (Acts 10:2). Remember Paul prayed for three days and was still a sinner. Cornelius prayed constantly to God…and God heard his prayers (Acts 10:4). Yet God sent Peter to his house because there was more involved in salvation.

4. He was not saved by an ANGEL (Acts 10:3). You’d think the angel could have explained the gospel message to Cornelius, but that is not God’s plan. Can you think of a time when God preached the gospel through the mouth of an angel? Angels helped get the messenger to the hearer, but angels never preached the gospel. God has a specific plan for that – it is through the mouths of men the gospel is spread!

5. He was not saved by the HOLY SPIRIT falling on him and making him speak in tongues (Acts 10:44-47). Surely that was a marvelous event! God’s power coming upon a person in such a way is truly amazing. But Peter (who also was full of the Holy Spirit) still recognized the need for Cornelius to be saved through baptism!

Water Baptism

6. He WAS saved God’s way (Acts 10:47-48). This is the way every individual is forgiven of his sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Cornelius obviously believed in the word, and he obeyed it in baptism. Just like everyone else, he had sins – and baptism is the process God gave by which He forgives those sins.

So – have YOU followed God’s way to salvation?

There are many today who baptize, but their purpose in baptism is NOT for the forgiveness of sins. They do not baptize INTO Jesus (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3). They say, “Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace,” which, in “normal talk,” means that we are baptized to show that God has already saved us. This is not the picture we get from the New Testament! I believe these teachers are leading many to their doom, because they preach a false gospel. What they preach does not match God’s teaching in the Bible. Their teaching is based upon many years of human tradition, rooted in what we call “Calvinism” today, where God saves you first and THEN you respond to Him. The Biblical picture is this: God CALLS, we RESPOND in faith His way, and then He SAVES us.

Man’s plans have absolutely no power to save. Let’s trust in the Biblical plan, God’s plan

God bless,
Nathan

Shall We Pray? (Acts 6:4)

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Feb 042010

Praying Child

My brother commented that I had left out PRAYER in my previous post. I wrote about the ministry of the word, but that was not the only thing to which the apostles wished to devote themselves. Acts 6:4 – “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” In fact, prayer is mentioned in first place.

How long has it been since you devoted yourself to prayer? How long since I devoted myself to prayer? No, I’m not asking how long since we last prayed, but how long since we last DEVOTED ourselves to prayer. Think about what these apostles were saying. They decided that these two responsibilities would take up so much time that they couldn’t organize help for the needy widows among Greek Christians. Helping widows is part of what true religion is all about (James 1:27). What does that say about praying and ministering to the word? For the apostles, this was their main job, and that job was tremendously important.

Have you ever thought about praying as a job? A Christian should wear out the knees of his pants praying. We are in a might conflict against the enemy, and prayer is a great weapon. Little, old, frail ladies may be some of the strongest opponents to the forces of Satan because they pray without ceasing. The prayers of a young child may do more in the kingdom than a hundred strong men who don’t talk to God.

Ephesians 6:18
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…

Philippians 1:3-5
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

There are so many verses which speak about prayer. Notice the continuity we should have in prayer – ALL the time. Notice for whom we should pray – for ALL the saints. That takes a lot of work. That takes a DEVOTION to prayer. It’s hard work, and many of us are shirking our responsibilities.

But we have so many things taking up our time…we don’t have time to devote ourselves to prayer. Maybe we should take a lesson from the apostles. Maybe we should put aside some of the things which take up our time because we have more important things to do. Have you ever scheduled time to visit with a special friend? What happens when another friend calls you up and asks to meet at the same time? You say, “I’m sorry, I have something already scheduled.” Have you ever scheduled time to talk to God? What happens when a friend calls you up and asks to meet with you during that time slot? Would you say, “I’m sorry, I already have an appointment”? We should! Our God is the most important Person in our lives and He deserves our time. And the gift of communicating with our Father is so great, why do we take it for granted so often?

Shall we pray?

God bless,
Nathan

Self-Confidence (Acts 4:13-31)

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Jan 192010

If I Only Had Courage

Have you courage? Have you confidence? If so, where does it come from?

Does confidence spring from some inner well?

Does confidence come from an external source?

We instill self-confidence in our children. It is an assurance that they are good enough to do what they need to do. It can be instilled in many ways, some false, some true.

FALSE self-confidence: “You DESERVE good things in life.” This is a hobby of mine, I admit. I hate to hear people say, “I deserve” this or that. What they are saying, in essence, is “I’m so good, I’m so worthy, someone or something OWES me.” Do we really deserve anything (except maybe a spanking…or worse)?

TRUE self-confidence: “You CAN have good things in life because you have a good mind, you’re talented, and (most importantly) you have God who can help you achieve great things.” This is a confidence which comes from outside your person. It stems from a legitimate source.

Notice the confidence of the apostles in Acts 4:13. They had confidence DESPITE the fact that they were “uneducated and untrained men.” Their confidence was not because they were inherently awesome men. Their confidence rested in the inherent awesomeness of their God! True self-confidence comes from a divine source, not an internal source.

And when Peter and John escaped prison, what did they do? They prayed to their God for MORE COURAGE. They had unworldly courage. It was rooted in Scripture (Acts 4:24-27). It was rooted in the power of God (Acts 4:28-30). And it was no figment of their imagination! God answered by shaking the place where they were praying together – and they went out from that place emboldened.

If you find yourself lacking in confidence, it’s because you are not 100% sure you are in the right. God gives us the ability to live and act in confidence because He has explained what is right. Our confidence comes through the name of Jesus Christ. I don’t know how people live without Him.

God bless,
Nathan

Miracles Today? (Acts 3:1-10)

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Jan 042010

The Lame Man

The lame beggar had been lame all his life. Think about that. He never learned to walk. He never developed the muscle skills to walk because his legs hadn’t the strength. So, by the power of the apostle’s faith in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene (Acts 3:6) this man received the POWER to walk and the ABILITY to walk. They are two separate things. God has given most the POWER (potential) to do many things. I could have been a rocket scientist if I had decided to go down that path. I could have been an Olympic gymnast. I could have done many things with my mind and body…but I am where I am today because I developed skills in certain areas and not in others. This lame man had never developed the skill of walking, but God gave it to him in a neat, instantaneous package.

Why doesn’t He do that for all of us? Why doesn’t God zap us with supernatural power and give us the ability to do great things – things we’ve never done before? Because it’s not the NATURAL way. This man received a SUPERNATURAL gift. It went against nature, broke natural laws. Isn’t that the definition of a miracle?

Do you believe in miracles today? Does God intervene in supernatural ways today?

Prayer

I believe I hold a miracle in my hands every time I pick up my Bible. The words in that book were not written in the natural way, but by the direction of the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

And what about prayer? Have you ever asked God to heal someone? Do you believe God acts today ONLY through natural means? That doesn’t seem to make sense to me. If I ask God to act to help someone recover from an illness, am I not asking Him to change something? Perhaps God might choose only natural events to act today, but why should we expect Him to be limited to the natural world? He is not limited at all! God lives outside the laws of nature because He created those laws.

Some try too hard to put God in a box. Can I say for sure God works in miraculous ways today? No. Can I say for sure He doesn’t? No. I shall be silent, then, and just say, “God can work any way He pleases.”

I don’t control Him. But I want to know Him.

God bless,
Nathan

Fellowship (Acts 2:42-47)

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Dec 292009

Sharing

“Communion.”

What jumps immediately to your mind? Is it the Lord’s Supper? We have taken to calling the Supper of the Lord “communion.” It’s a proper designation, because “communion” simply means sharing. It is communion. It is fellowship. It is sharing.

But we “commune” in many other ways as well, as did the early disciples. Notice they constantly devoted themselves to:

1. The apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42). They all took their direction from the appointed messengers of the Lord.

2. Fellowship (Acts 2:42). This word means “joint participation.” They were participating together…in what? In all the things mentioned here in the context. They PARTICIPATED TOGETHER in the apostles’ teaching, breaking of bread, and prayer. They “had all things in common” (Acts 2:44) because they were “sharing…as anyone might have need” (Acts 2:45).

3. Breaking of bread (Acts 2:42). The specific items in this verse all seem spiritual in nature. There is good reason to believe this “breaking of bread” is a term used for the Lord’s Supper (see also Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17). They took the Supper of the Lord together.

4. Prayer (Acts 2:42). They talked to God together! They continued in this work. It was not something they did every once in a while but all the time.

5. Sharing in physical things (Acts 2:44-45). When a brother or sister had a need, other disciples stepped up and helped them out.

6. Taking meals together from house to house (Acts 2:46). Again, this seems to contrast with verse 42. This breaking bread from house to house is in a different context as the breaking of bread in verse 42. The disciples had their brothers and sisters in their homes all the time. This was a daily activity! Indeed, it must be something we do much more than once or twice a month, if we are to really share with our fellow disciples.

7. Praising God (Acts 2:47). Important! God was the REASON for all this fellowship, and they did not forget to thank Him and praise Him for what was happening among them.

8. Having favor with all the people (Acts 2:47). They treated “outsiders” (non-believers) just as they treated each other – with respect, love, honesty, etc. This is they way Christ’s disciples shine their lights in a dark world. And the world will see the light and will be either drawn to it or bent on extinguishing it!

Did I miss anything?

God bless,
Nathan

Reacting to the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:5-13)

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Dec 162009

Wondering

I remember a time when my church prayed specifically for a lady who had cancer. It was a particularly aggressive and destructive form of breast cancer, and the doctors weren’t optimistic. But we prayed, and over time the cancer went into remission. I remember saying, “Isn’t that just amazing?” An older brother said, “Why are you surprised?” Good question. Why should we be surprised when God answers prayer? Why should we be amazed when God acts?

On the other hand – how can we NOT be amazed? When that brother asked me that question, I thought I was lacking spiritual eyes or something. Maybe I wasn’t close enough to God. But over time I have come to realize that it’s actually a GOOD thing to continually be amazed at the greatness and power of God!

On the day of Pentecost there were two kinds of people.

1. Those who were amazed and astonished and who asked the question, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:7, 12) These were honest enough to admit powerful forces were at work. Many of these would respond to Peter’s sermon later in the chapter.

2. Those who mocked and said, “They are full of sweet wine” (Acts 2:13). Can you believe there are some individuals who will resist the Holy Spirit when He stares them in the face? Many rejected the miracles of Jesus – even after they saw them with their own eyes. Many on Pentecost discounted God’s power as acts of drunkards, against all evidence to the contrary.

We can laugh at these men all we want, but the real question is this: How do I react to the Holy Spirit? When I read of His power and His works, do I discount it as a bunch of fanciful tales, or do I honestly ask, “What does this mean?”

I shall continue to be amazed at the power of my God.

God bless,
Nathan

IF You Can (Mark 9:14-29)

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Sep 112009

Ask Jesus for Help

How does God put up with us?

Jesus’ disciples could not cast out a demon because of their unbelief. So Jesus told them to bring the demon-possessed boy to Him. The boy’s father said, “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” (Mark 9:22)

Those of us who believe in the absolute power of the Savior smile when we read this. Poor guy…he was a parent at the end of his endurance with this unfortunate situation. He stood before Jesus, and he was not even sure if Jesus can help. We shake our heads over his unbelief. Didn’t he know Jesus could do anything?

Jesus said, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Exactly! This poor guy needed to understand this. Jesus’ disciples needed to understand this. We grin as they see Jesus cast out this demon with a word. We celebrate with them, and we are glad they have this opportunity to finally get the picture.

Then we close our Bibles and move into our own lives.

We seem to be in an impossible situation with our finances…going nowhere fast.

We have a sickness of our own, or we are helping a family member with a serious sickness. The doctors have said there’s nothing they can do.

Our family is raging out of control. We don’t know what has gotten into our spouse. We don’t know what is wrong with our kids. We give and receive hateful words with despicable attitudes. We despair. How do we fix this? It seems unfixable.

Life is beating us up. And we just don’t know how anyone can help. We don’t see a way out. We don’t see a light at the end of this tunnel. And this is when we should step out of our skin and take a look at ourselves: We are no different from the father of the demoniac! We pray the same prayer: “Lord, IF You can help me…” And Jesus would give us the same solution He gave this man. “Anything is possible to him who believes.”

“But, Lord, I can’t see a way out.”

Exactly. FAITH is the “evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It has everything to do with things we can’t see, but that we KNOW are there. We know Jesus is there. We know He has the power. We know He can see solutions to our problems that we can’t see. So why don’t we put a little trust in Him? Ask Him to help!

Easier said than done? Perhaps. But Jesus said it, so I know it’s true!

God bless,
Nathan

Got Any Demons? (Mark 9:14-29)

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Sep 102009

What Got Into Him?

Got any demons?

We sometimes use this phrase rather flippantly. “I have a demon child,” someone might say. I know what she means – she has a wild kid. “It’s like he has a demon,” someone else might say after a friend does something completely random and crazy. “What got into him?” “I don’t know what possessed me.”

But demons in the New Testament period were a completely different animal (or should I say…spirit?). Men, women, and children actually WERE possessed! What would it feel like to have another entity, a PERSON (albeit without a body of its own), invading your body? This entity can move your muscles and mess with your mind. It takes over. Kind of scary.

A man had brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus for a cure, but Jesus wasn’t around (Mark 9:17-18). So the disciples attempted to cast out the demon. It was a nasty thing, slamming the child to the ground, making him grind his teeth and foam at the mouth and stiffen up. Any parent would have been completely at a loss and scared to death!

But the disciples couldn’t cast it out. Jesus was, perhaps, a little frustrated, as He said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” (Mark 9:19).

There are several lesson in this story. We shall explore only one today.

Why could the disciples not cast out the demon? Lack of faith. The were “unbelieving.” They asked Jesus at the end of this passage, “Why could we not drive it out?” (Mark 9:28). Jesus responded, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). In other words, you need to have a close relationship with the Father before you can do this. This was quite a reprimand, wasn’t it?

I might ask a question of Jesus: “Lord, why can I not cast out the ‘demons’ which haunt me today? I have pain in my spirit, anxiety, stress, depression, lack of hope, lack of trust.” Do you think Jesus might say the same thing to me? “This cannot come out by anything but prayer.” I need a closer relationship with my God before His power is available to clean me up.

God bless,
Nathan

The House of Yahweh: Me!

Surprised by Salvation

Only One Way to Salvation

Shall We Pray? (Acts 6:4)

Self-Confidence (Acts 4:13-31)

Miracles Today? (Acts 3:1-10)

Reacting to the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:5-13)

IF You Can (Mark 9:14-29)

Got Any Demons? (Mark 9:14-29)

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