OceanSide church of Christ




Click here to see all of the YouTube videos belonging to OceanSide
(opens in a new browser)

 Previous Return to Sermons Next  Click to download Audio

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (32)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    I read some interesting questions that we can ask others to get to know them.

1.      What’s your middle name?

2.      What are some of your hobbies?

3.      Do you have any nicknames?

4.      Where did you grow up?

 

B.      Some of the questions they said to ask could be dangerous.

1.      Are you a giver or a taker?

2.      What is one of your worse habits?

3.      What’s the first thing you notice when meeting someone new?

 

C.     I am glad the questions that we ask on the first Sunday of the month are not personal questions. 

 

D.    Our Q&A lessons involves questions about the Bible and things related to spiritual things.  In tonight’s lesson, we will answer three questions.

 

I.                   QUESTION #1:  R-RATED MOVIES

 

A.    Stated:  Is watching an “R” rated movie bad?

 

B.      Answer:

1.      The movie rating system:

a.      Movie ratings are given by The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

b.      Since 1990, the ratings are as follows:

1)      G- General Audiences

2)      PG – Parental Guidance suggested

3)      PG-13 – Parents strongly cautioned about children under 13 years of age

4)      R – Restricted, no one under the age of 17 with parent or guardian

5)      NC-17 – No one under the age of 17 admitted

c.       The ratings are based upon five areas:

1)      Violence

2)      Language:  profanity, sexual words

3)      Substance abuse

4)      Nudity:  brief nudity versus sexually oriented behavior

5)      Sexual content

2.      A basic answer is that each movie must be judged individually.

a.      A G movie might promote anti-Christian ideas, evolution, divorce, or homosexuality.

b.      A PG movie can contain profanity.

c.       A PG-13 movie can have sexual words (some have had the “F” word) and brief nudity.

d.      An R movie may only contain scenes of violence (war).

e.       Most NC-17 movies used to be called X-rated movies.

3.      The dangers:

a.      We can become desensitized to evil.  To be desensitized means to lessen sensitivity, to make indifferent, or to become less aware (Jer. 6:16).

b.      What we think will not hurt us, does hurt us.  We are not to conform to the world (Rom. 12:2).

c.       We are tempted to call the evil good (Isa. 5:20).

d.      Our funds support an industry that is immoral and godless (Eph. 5:11).

e.       We can harm our Christian influence (I Tim. 4:2).

4.      We must be willing to stand before God and be judged for the things we do (II Cor. 5:10).

 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

 

II.                QUESTION #2:  KILLING DONE BY GOD

 

A.    Stated:  Can God kill a good person?

 

B.      Answer:

1.      When we hear the word “kill,” there is seems to be an evil connotation attached to it.

a.      The words means:  “to deprive one of life.”

b.      The word “kill” is not the same as murder, which means “the premeditated, unlawful taking of life.”

2.      The word “good” is a relative term in the human vocabulary.

a.      A good person to one individual is not good to another individual.

b.      Perhaps a better term to us would be “innocent.”

3.      Thus, our question is:  “Can God deprive the innocent of life?”

a.      The answer to this question is:  “Yes.”

b.      Additionally, we must understand that God never does so without adequate cause.  God does not kill just to kill.

4.      Two illustrations:

a.      The child born to David and Bathsheba through their adulterous relationship was sentenced to death (II Sam. 12:14).

 

Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

 

1)      The child was innocent.  He had done nothing wrong.

2)      His death involved the satisfaction of the law of God.

a)      The Law of Moses stated that both the adulterer and adulteress had to be put to death (Lev. 20:10).

 

And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

 

b)      On this occasion, God put the child in the place of his parents.

c)      NOTE:  The Bible tells us that it was the Lord that struck the child with a severe sickness (II Sam. 12:15).

 

…And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

 

d)     The child eventually died (II Sam. 12:18).

 

 

 

b.      The death of the Amalekites (I Sam. 15:3)

 

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

 

1)      Notice that the infants and sucklings were to be slain.  This was the order of God.

2)      The Amalekites were an extremely evil people.

3)      God was putting an end to sin by the slaying of entire nation of people.

5.      Man may not understand how God can slay innocent individuals.  What we must keep in mind is that we are not God.  God’s virtues, such as His holiness and justice, often drive Him to do the things He does.

 

III.             QUESTION #3:  MAKING MELODY IN YOUR HEARTS

 

A.    Stated:  The Bible says we are to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.  Can we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs without making melody in our hearts?  Is so, how?

B.      Answer:

1.      The melody of a song involves the rhythmical succession of single notes that produce a distinct musical phrase or idea.

a.      The melody is what allows us to know a song even when the words are not sung.

b.      Example:  Jingle Bells

2.      God is not as concerned with the outward melody as He is with the melody made within the heart.

a.      God wants our hearts engaged when we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

b.      It is possible for the heart to be far from God in our worship (Matt. 15:7-8).

 

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 

c.       Three ways we can fail to make melody in our hearts during our song service.

1)      Do not sing.

2)      Mouth the words with no thought involved.

a)      We are really only making noise.

b)      We say words with no meaning.

c)      We say words with no purpose.

d)     NOTE:  We need to be asking ourselves:  “What am I singing?”

3)      Say the words, but do not apply them to our life.

a)      We say things we don’t really mean.  (All to Jesus I Surrender, p. 29)

b)      We say things we don’t do (I Want to Be A Soul-Winner, p. 302)

d.      A summary verse (I Cor. 14:15)

 

What is it then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also:  I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the spirit also.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    Our questions tonight have been diverse again.

1.      One of them involved the practice of holiness.

2.      One of them involved the nature of God.

3.      One of them involved our heart and worship.

 

B.      Knowing who God is and how we are to live is vital to the Christian.

1.      May we study to learn more about our wonderful God.

2.      May we apply His Word to our lives so that can live for Him and worship Him in more meaningful ways.