An Important Interview

This interview, R.C. Sproul interviewing D.A. Carson (a well known Reformed theologian and maybe the world’s leading New Testament scholar), is important for us to listen and watch. It is important for us to take into consideration because they spend 25 minutes discussing how the everyday Christian ought to read their Bible.

They may use certain words that may not be known immediately to us, because they have high academic blood in their veins, so we may need to listen to it more than once! I have heard it twice today already.

Please listen intently to these Christian men and what they have to say to us as we read our Bibles.

What’s So Special About Him?

I am reading The Heart of the Gospel: The Theology Behind the Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Cole for one of my summer courses at seminary. It is a decent book that looks at the theology of the Bible for the impetus of evangelizing. It is written through the eyes of a Wesleyan, which comes through quite often. Aside from a few disagreements here and there, it is a good book and worth reading. I appreciate what Coleman writes in his sixth chapter, “The Son of God.”

It is here Coleman writes about the uniqueness of Christ, and how Christianity is different than all other religions. This is what he writes:

The magnetism of the Gospel is Jesus Christ

When he [that is, Christ] is lifted up he draws one to God. Everything about his life captivates the imagination.
He was born in a stable, the child of a peasant. He grew up in an obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty. Then for three years he became an itinerant preacher. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He never went to college nor wrote a book. He accumulated no wealth nor held public office. He never traveled more than one hundred and fifty miles from the place where he was born. Though loved by the poor and oppressed, religious leaders derided him as a friend of sinners and publicans. He was only thirty-three when they arrested him, put him through a mock trial, then nailed him to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners cast lots for his garment, the only possession he had on earth. When he died, his body was laid in a borrowed tomb.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned–put together–have not affected the life of people on this earth as much as that one solitary man.

That is the uniqueness of Jesus. There is no other religion that compares to Christianity. Christianity, the one True religion, is a story of salvation. God coming to man to save us from our own sin. When we tell others about the Gospel, remember the uniqueness of Christ. As Coleman says, Jesus Christ is “the magnetism of the Gospel.”

Motherhood?

I went to the store this week to get my wife a Mother’s Day gift and a card. I was successful with the gift, but I ran into some issues buying her a card. According to our culture, it would seem my wife is not yet a mother. You see, we are pregnant and she is due September 26th. The store carries two kinds of cards for new mothers. The first is “mother-to-be” cards and the second is “1st Mother’s Day” cards. The problem with these cards is that they only recognize motherhood occurring when the baby is out of the womb. The first says ‘mother-to-be’ as though a pregnant person is not a mom. The second recognizes motherhood when the baby is freed from the womb. But I ask, do mere inches really make that big of a difference? Is the child in my wife’s womb not our child (and we not its parents), because it has not traveled through the birth canal?

I find something strangely grotesque about our culture when it refuses to see the living being inside the womb as a child, therefore making the carrier a mother. In my opinion, motherhood (parenthood) does not start at birth, it starts before conception. Planning to bring a life into this world is no small thing and it takes a responsible, well-intentioned married couple to make that decision. There have to be thoughts of future security with a home, finances, church support, family support, and so on. You have to think of your health and the ability to conceive, and you have to trust God in a broken, sin-filled world.

If you don’t think motherhood starts before conception, fine. But I would urge you to consider that motherhood begins when life does. Motherhood does not begin with birth, it begins at conception. My wife and our child are intimately connected. This connection will never happen (with this child) again. The baby inside her womb relies on her for its very life. If she fails to breathe, so does the child. I consider my wife a mother, she feeds our child, protects our child, prays for our child, speaks to it (we find out Monday if it is a boy or girl), sings to it, she is making a home for our child. If that is not motherhood, I don’t know what is.

So for all those card companies out there that fail to realize pregnant women are mothers, shame on you. But I digress on that point.

Moms of the world. Thank you for carrying us inside of you (I can only imagine!). Thank you for caring for us. Thank you for rearing us in love. Thank you for trying to make our lives better than yours. Thank you for the encouragement, the love, the joy, and the continued security that you will always answer your children’s phone calls, always leave the door unlocked for us, always welcome us back to you.

Moms, thanks for being moms.

What Is So Wrong With Cohabitation?

Before you go Google “cohabitation,” it means living together and engaging in a sexual relationship before you are married. You may have noticed those around you doing this, maybe you are doing this. Here is a staggering statistic from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007: over 12 million unmarried partners live together (U.S. Census Bureau, “America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2007”). That was five years ago! It seems to be the motion of our culture, and many people are doing it, so what is the big deal? Some might even think, “There is not an eleventh commandment forbidding me to move in with my girl/boyfriend is there?”

Let’s think about biblical marriage for a moment. God instituted marriage between a man and a woman, thus making it a divine institution, see Genesis 2.18-25 and Matthew 19.5. This is to depict, for believers, Christ (husband) and the church (wife), see Ephesians 5.22-33. This divine joining is to remain unbroken (no divorce), see Malachi 2.13-16, 1 Timothy 4.3, and Hebrews 13.4. Sex is the consummation of the marriage covenant and therefore is not be had outside of marriage, in fact if two were caught fornicating they would be stoned, see Exodus 22.16, Leviticus 19.29; 21.9, Deuteronomy 23.18, 1 Corinthians 6.18; 7.2, Colossians 3.5, 1 Thessalonians 4.3 and Deuteronomy 22.20-29.

I think I should mention that I highly doubt a man and a woman engaged in a romantic relationship can live together without having sex. If you live in separate homes, and the urge arises, one can leave. When the two live together and they want to have sex, but know it is a sin, the ten foot separation to another room is doubtful to help. What does Scripture say about the temptation to have sinful sex? FLEE! 1 Corinthians 6.18. This is why Paul writes that part of the reason we get married is to satisfy those physical urges, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.’ But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” 1 Corinthians 7.1-2. If Jesus says that when a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has committed adultery (sexual fornication) then how can it be any different if two people live together without having sex? I doubt any man can live with a woman and not think about her sexually. If you try, you are essentially saying you know better than Jesus and no longer have a sinful heart, see Matthew 5.27-30.

I hope it is obvious to you that those who profess Christ as Lord must submit to the Scriptures, and this calls for the acknowledgement that cohabitation is a sin and should not be done. If you have the excuse that it is “more convenient” to live together than separate, I would plead with you to check your heart. Who is Lord? You or Christ? Follow him and do not try to be your own savior. He knows best.

But what should Christians do when their unbelieving friends and family announce, “We are moving in together!!”? First, Paul tells us not to judge those outside the church, see 1 Corinthians 5.12-13. They do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, or as one saint has said, “they have not been bit yet.” If they do not have the Spirit in them, then they will not obey Scripture, but they will chase after their dark passions and lusts. I would recommend that if you are a believer, and some you love who do not believe say they are going to cohabitate, you present the Gospel.  If God judges those outside the church, He will judge their sins (all of them) and the most loving thing you can do is to lead them to the source of forgiveness and mercy (the cross of Christ). Do this with the hope and expectation that the Holy Spirit will bite them (regenerate them). The only hope for joy and salvation is not in the person they are thinking of living with, but in the Son of God.

There are plenty of excuses people have for living together (and engaging in sex) before marriage, but none of them stand against the holiness of God and the holiness He expects from His people. The striking increase in cohabitation has lead to the dramatic rise of divorce and illegitimate children (outside of wedlock). Cohabitation has made marriage a marketplace. People want to live together before they are married to see if it will work. This sort of mentality does not show faith in God, nor His covenant of marriage. This mentality shows the selfishness of individuals and the sin of their heart. It is like saying, “I am willing to live with you before we are married because I want to see what you have to offer me, and if I like it (and don’t think I will get bored of it) then we can consider marriage.” More often than not, during this “trial run” the couple finds out they are pregnant, but that was not in the plan! They moved in for convenience, but a pregnancy is inconvenient (some get rid of the child). When the couple keeps the child (which they should) then they feel obligated for marriage and marriage out of obligation is setup for failure, unless both partners turn to God for grace and love and repent at the foot of the cross. When husband and wife love Christ more than themselves and each other, the marriage will last.

I am not alone in this view that cohabitation is a bad thing. There are even secular people (non-Christians) who have noticed the same thing. Click here for an article from New York Times about cohabitation in America, here you will not find one word about God.

If you are cohabitating, think of marriage. Think of the Gospel of grace, go to a good Bible believing church. Ponder why marriage is more than a civil matter.  Read this book, The Meaning of Marriage.

Jesus in the Old Testament

I have to admit I am mooching off of another blog on this one. It has been a busy couple weeks with the end of the semester and all. In this blog post linked at the bottom you will find a wonderful list of Old Testament prophecy and promise that point to Jesus, and I pray that you see how Jesus has fulfilled all of those notions.

Some who read the Old Testament refuse to see Jesus there, but we know from Jesus that all the Scriptures are about him. When two disciples were on the road to Emmaus, after Christ had been crucified and raised from the dead, Jesus appeared to them “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24.27). So yes, Jesus is in the Old Testament, and Ben Falconer has done a wonderful job showing us that in his sermon and in Kevin DeYoung’s blog post. It is when we realize that the entire  Bible is about Jesus, we will better be able to see the truth of our savior. Who is Jesus? You may find him from Genesis to Revelation.

Stuck in Your Head

So, it is Monday. I hope that yesterday you had the opportunity to worship with fellow believers and to hear the Word of God preached faithfully. I pray that you take that Word of God with you throughout the week, to remain sober minded, hope-filled, and in love with your Savior. To help us remember that all we do is for the glory of God I would like to share a song with you from one of my favorite bands, Leeland. This is not a sales pitch, but you should buy their music. The three members of the band represented in this video are siblings, and they grew up traveling with their father as he preached. Their mother had them reading such men of the faith as Jonathan Edwards, and it is from such awe at the grandeur of God this album was produced. May this song be burned into your mind as you work at your desk, drive around town, pick up your kids, enjoy the sunshine, eat lunch, read the Bible, wrestle your dogs and praise the Lord as you remember what He has done on your behalf. I have added the lyrics at the end of this post. Enjoy.

At the stars in the night, I wonder
At Your lightning in the sky, I shudder
Your glory is a blanket that covers
Every living thing

And it feels like there’s not enough praise inside of me
With all these words, all my heart can sing is holy
You are holy

Jesus Christ
You bled Your love, laid down Yourself
And gave me life
In naked shame You hung and You were lifted high
Here I lay in awe and wonder

I am afraid
For no one’s ever sacrificed and loved me this way

So on my face I fall under Your heavy grace

Here I lay in awe and wonder
And I wonder

I’m in awe at the majesty of who You are
Your love is a seal burnt inside my heart
All of the day I want to be where You are
Holy Father

And it feels like there’s not enough praise inside of me
With all these words, all my heart can sing is holy
You are holy

Jesus Christ
You bled Your love, laid down Yourself
And gave me life
In naked shame You hung and You were lifted high
Here I lay in awe and wonder

I am afraid
For no one’s ever sacrificed and loved me this way

So on my face I fall under Your heavy grace

Here I lay in awe and wonder
And I wonder

Admission of Inability

This is a sermon I preached a couple weeks ago in my Homiletics class. It was supposed to 15 minutes, and I ended up going 19, but you should be able to read it faster than I can orally deliver it. I titled the sermon, ‘Admission of Inability’ because in this Psalm, David is admitting his humility at the hands of the God who sustains his life. I hope you enjoy it, and I do welcome feedback.

Admission of Inability

131:1 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;

                        my eyes are not raised too high;

                I do not occupy myself with things

                                too great and too marvelous for me.

                2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

                                like a weaned child with its mother;

                                like a weaned child is my soul within me.

                3 O Israel, hope in the LORD

                                from this time forth and forevermore.

                In great literary fashion, this psalm presents two images that echo through millennia to touch our ears today. You see, the beauty of poetry is that the images last. These words penned thousands of years ago, ring true to you and I today. The two images in this poem are lively and among us, even in this very room. One image is a lifestyle that leads to destruction, the other a lifestyle that leads to a life of hope and contentment.

You may be saying, “I don’t see two images in that psalm. In fact, I’m a little confused. You read what seems to be a sad, depressed, wayward man writing about his feelings, as though he were an infant. Then there is this odd ending about Israel and hope forever. What’s all that about?”

Well, let me show you.

Image One: Destruction

My heart is not lifted up is an idiom for not being proud. My eyes are not raised too high is an idiom for not being arrogant. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me is the admission that there are things in this world that are beyond human intellectual conception.

On the reverse. There are some who are full of pride, arrogant, and believe they are superior intellectually for pondering the deep things of God no one can understand.

Have you seen the movie π? The main character Max is a brilliant thinker, capable of solving math problems in his head that I would not know how to do with an advanced calculator. His work leads him to see patterns in nature, predictable mathematical equations that seem to govern the universe. This understanding, that the universe can be grasped through numbers leads him to a 216 digit number that can predict the stock market, that gives Max epiphanies and visions, that leads him to study numerology in the Bible. He thinks he has found the true name of God and it is a number. Knowing this number, he feels he can bring in the messianic age. Eventually, Max is driven mad, cluster headaches rule his life, and he often passes out contemplating the mathematical rules of the universe, and eventually takes a power drill to his right temple incapacitating his mental faculties. The movie ends with Max sitting on a bench in a park enjoying the breeze passing through the leaves. To this David writes, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” And Moses agrees, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Have you heard of this cult leader in California who claims to be Christ-come-again? “The prophets, they spoke about me,” he says, “The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth.” This man claims he performs even greater miracles than Jesus Christ, and he has convinced his followers to tattoo the number 666 on their bodies. To this David writes, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.” And James writes to us, “But he (God) gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:6-10)

One more, I looked into World News and this is what I found. A wildfire in Colorado has consumed more than 20 homes. Two men in Italy set themselves on fire in protest of the economy. A teenage girl who was raped, strangled and set on fire passed after multiple days in the ICU. I look out upon our world and I say, “Lord, this is too great for me! I do not understand, speak to me! Comfort me! How can you be so good and the things of this world seem so bad?” The Lord responds,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

                                neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

                For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

            so are my ways higher than your ways

           and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8-9)

You see…haughty, arrogant, and prideful lives lead to destruction. Either your own life, or someone else’s. Sometimes in this life, but most definitely in the next.

This isn’t merely an “out there” issue either. Often, pride is a matter of the heart. When you look at your classmate’s paper to see if you received a higher grade may seem harmless, but pride leads to destruction, it only takes a spark to light an unquenchable fire. One thought from Eve put the course of history on its side.

And yet, there is another image in this psalm.

Image Two: Hope and Life

A child with its mother. What can we gather from this poetic image? Picture in your mind, a child cradled in the crook of its mother’s arm resting peacefully upon his trust and love. For an infant, the mother is everything. A source of protection, nutrition, and love. Often, the sound of the mother’s voice can calm a child from its fit.

In this psalm, David says, “That’s me, Lord. I’m like a child, fed, warm, and trusting in you.” You see, knowing that you are child of God allows you to live with a peace that surpasses the ills of this world. When you trust in God, you don’t have to have all the answers. Resting in God removes our anxiety, our fear, and despair.

“Well, that’s nice,” you might say, “but how do I do that?” It is a submission on your part. Recall the wonderful life of David. From his youth God had called him out to be the King over all the Lord’s people, to do mighty deeds, and to be a man after God’s own heart. Sounds to me like a catastrophe of pride and arrogance waiting to happen, and indeed there were catastrophes along the way!. But read what David writes, “I have calmed and quieted my soul within me.”

Don’t try and tell me that being the King is an easy task. David’s life was in jeopardy many times, there were those trying to bring him down, and to end his reign and lineage. The pressure of prophecy would be overwhelming. Could you be the King God spoke about in days past, could you be the hope God’s prophets told the people about? What pressure, what anxiety.

Be calm. Quiet yourself. What is David’s secret, how could he do these things? He submitted to God. In submitting to God, we must find a glad acceptance in the way that He has ordered your life. Whether you drive a truck, dig holes, crunch numbers, make business deals, scrub floors, raise kids, God has blessed you with your lot in life, whether you see it as a blessing or not. How are you going to respond to what God has done for you?

We are not equals with God, we are His subjects. The very fact that you sit before me is a grace of God, He has numbered the hairs on your head, and nothing happens without His will. The very air you breathe is by His good pleasure.

Do you trust God? Like a child to its mother, do you trust God. Do you willingly subject yourself to God, recognizing Him as the source of your protection, nourishment, and love?  As a creature of the Creator, you cannot survive without Him.

Here is our hope.

Our hope is not attempting to understand the machinations of the universe into madness. Our hope is not claiming anything God has not given to us. He has set the bounds of your life and you must humbly live in them. Our hope is not in trying to understand how God can be so good, and there be so much evil.

Our hope, like a child with its mother, is that God is in control.

John Calvin writes this:

He to whom heaven and earth belong, and whose nod all creatures must obey, is fully able to reward the homage which they pay to him, and they can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends.

Be still. Be quiet. Conforming your spirit to the will of God requires you to cease your striving.

The Perfect Example

In the life of Christ, we see a person devoted to the things of God. Christ tells us he can only do what he sees the Father doing and he can only do the Father’s will. Christ is so given over in submission to God the Father that all of his actions are guided by the loving hand of his Father.

I ask you this, was Jesus’s life easy? Let’s recount some things: he was born on the run in a barn, thrown out of a synagogue for his teaching, abandoned by his family, betrayed by his friends, beaten, cursed, hung on a cross, and pierced. You know, Jesus worried so much about his life at one point he sweat drops of blood (Luke 22.44), but you know what he said looking forward to the cross, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” His hope was in the assurance that the Father was in control.

If you accept Christ as your savior, you can have this assurance that all things will work to your good. You will no longer have to fear the ways of this world for Jesus tells us, “in me you may have peace…in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16.33).

Be like David, be like Christ. Calm and quiet your soul. Look around at this world and realize there is only one hope and that is in giving yourself to God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. I pray you cease striving and rest with the Father. Like a child upon its mother, weaned and satisfied. Rest in the arms of God for He is sovereign.

Gravitate Sanguinem

I hope you enjoyed holy week. And I hope that you had plenty of time to contemplate the risen Lord and how the empty tomb changes everything. If you did not have the opportunity to listen to an Easter sermon, or maybe you did but it was horrible, I recommend you click here and listen to some good preaching. The tile of the sermon is, “The first Day of Forever.”

I would like to share something I wrote in my journal from Maundy Thursday.

On Maundy Thursday we celebrated the Last Supper of Christ by partaking in Communion. The bread was a bit stale, which is not a complaint, and in its hardness it drew out from the cup too much of the grape juice. The excess juice had nowhere to go, so it began to run down my right hand. My left hand darted over to catch the juice before it dropped to the ground. As I brought the bread, drenched in the blood of grapes, to my mouth, I saw the purple crimson stain upon my hands. In solemn prayer, with a sense of gravity I had not felt in a long while, I ate the body and the blood of Christ in the presence of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When I sat down my hands were still covered in the drying liquid. I felt as though I should not remove this symbol of blood from my hands, for it exceedingly appropriate. Among the reasons Christ went to the cross, one in particular was burned into my mind: he went to suffer the death of a sinner. But having never sinned, how could he be punished in such a way? Christ was punished in this way by taking from the world upon himself. the blood on my hands is Christ’s blood.

Christ received the punishment from God which I ought to receive, his blood was let because of my sin, his death came by the wrath of God which I deserve, and this bit of bread and that bit of juice is a devastating marker for the church. The blood of the righteous is upon my hands because I am unrighteous. By this covering of blood God sees righteousness upon me. The blood that covers us is not the blood of a sinner, but the blood of the only true righteous one. Thank you Jesus.

My Brother’s Keeper?

This is not a deep theological dissertation of Cain and Abel (maybe in another post!), rather it is a short exposition of what showing God’s love means, and how to do it. I was listening to Matt Maher this morning while doing homework and this song came on, (click here to have a listen). I am currently writing a sermon on Psalm 131 and being touched by the depths of God’s Word, along with a moving song by Matt Maher I thought I should comment, or let Matt comment for me. In the video below he has a quote, “What determines the worth of the Love of God is the church living it out” and there is truth in that.

The love of God is exhibited by the death of Christ on the cross, Romans 5.8 reads, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” How has the death and resurrection of Christ changed your life? How are you showing it? Read Matt’s quote again.

This is an opportune time, brothers and sisters, as we approach Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. Show the worth of God and plead in prayer on behalf of those who are lost and encourage and invite them to come to church. We all need the Gospel for salvation, there is no other way. Acts 4.12 reads, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

I would like to encourage you to listen Matt Maher’s music often. It is theologically sound (from the songs that I have heard) and he is a man that truly loves the Word (from the times I have heard him talk about it) and he genuinely cares about the lost. Good music, mixed with good theology is never a bad thing.

Matt Maher on being your brother’s keeper.

The Ten Words

Our pastor has just led us through the 10 Commandments (the Decalogue). He finished the sermon series yesterday and what a great journey! If you want to listen to his sermons click here. Our pastor has taught us, biblically, that the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 are not forgotten and are not void. In fact, being saved by grace through faith means that the Law of God is applicable to the life of a Christian. The Law is not about legalism for the Christian, but it is the means by which we live godly lives, the means by which we please the God who saves us. There is a book I highly recommend for anyone who would like to study the 10 Commandments in the Christian life. The book is authored by Joachim Douma (he is Dutch), and it is titled, Ten Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life. Pastor’s sermons and Douma’s book point to the fact that the Ten Commandments are full of, “shall nots,” but by being full of “shall nots” we know what we “shall do.”

I would like to sum-up the Ten Commandments from what I have gathered from Pastor. This by no means does justice to the sermons nor Douma’s book (so listen and read!).

If I were to summarize the 10 Commandments I would do it like this:

“I am your God. I have saved you from slavery and claimed you as my own. I have done everything for you to exhibit my glory. I am the only God and you will not worship anyone, or thing, besides me. I have done all of this and therefore you will worship me on my terms.”

“No one can see me and live, therefore do not capture me in an image for this is false. When you pray to me, do so with your eyes closed. I am not a tree. I am not statue of stone. Nor am I a painted picture. I am your God, and I am jealous. When you worship something besides me you are really worshiping the devil and his demons. These are my terms and you will be blessed if you follow them.”

“My name is holy, therefore take care how you use it. If you slander my name, I will hold you guilty. When those use my name as a curse, it is because they do not mean anything by it, and there is their sin. But you, you know my name and all I have done for you, so keep it holy.”

“Remember the Sabbath day. Just as I have rested and enjoyed creation, so too must you rest and enjoy what I have done for you. Spend the day with me and you will be richly rewarded.”

“Respect your parents, even when you think they do not deserve it. Where would you be without them? I chose them to be your parents, respect them, honor them. This is for the betterment of your home, and who knows, you may win them to repentance.”

“I give life. Without me there would be nothing. All life is mine, either aged beyond years, or still yet in the womb. Do not take it for that is not your duty. I give life and take it away, not you. Did you choose to live? No, I chose for you. Therefore do not take another’s life.”

“A husband and wife are one flesh, do not separate what I have joined together. Men train your eyes to gaze upon the beauties of your wife alone. If you are not married protect your eyes and save them for your future wife. Women be modest and do not allow your fellow brothers to fall into temptation, protect yourself and your neighbor by remaining pure. The marriage bed must remain undefiled, enjoy one another all the days of your life.”

“When you steal it is as though you take from someone’s life. I gave you the ability to work, the capacity to create, and in me you will find enjoyment by the use of your hands. Do not take what another has earned. Honor one another. When you are in need do not doubt the graces of my hands, I will provide for you.

“Tell the truth about your neighbor. May it be known that my people are honest. You know who is the father of lies? Satan. The father of lies is a murderer. Do not murder with your tongue. Be encouraging to one another, let those outside know you are mine by the use of your tongue.”

“Do not desire what another person has, this is a disregard of the blessings I have poured out upon you. Are my gifts not good enough? I will care for my children. I have numbered the hairs on your head, I dress the lilies of the field, and I do not let a sparrow fall unless it is my good will. You have everything you need because it comes from my hand, be satisfied in me and content.”

Please, don’t take my words above as Scripture, go read it for yourself. Exodus 20.1-20. My words are mere thoughts upon what God has said, His words are the authority. I hope that maybe something I said above will interest you enough to listen to a sermon, or read a book, or study your Bible. Have you ever wondered why God gave us these Ten? Why not eleven, or nine? What is so important about these that have lasted thousands of years?