And It Was Done

Bible Reading:  Psalm 33:1-9

Key Verse: Verse 9 – “ For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

Key Words: For he spake and it was done

We accept God's creation work by faith...He spake and it was done.

Sir Isaac Newton had a perfectly scaled-down replica of the then known solar system built for his studies. A large golden ball represented the sun at the center, and the known planets revolved around it through a series of cogs, belts, and rods. It was an incredible machine. One day while Newton was studying his model, an agnostic friend stopped by for a visit. The man marveled at the machinery and asked, "Who made this exquisite thing?" Without looking up, Newton replied, "Nobody." "Nobody?" his friend asked. "That's right," said Newton, "all of these balls and cogs and belts and gears just happened to come together, and wonder of wonders, by chance they began revolving in their set orbits with perfect timing." The message was clear.  

Creation is a miracle, not of chance or happenstance, but of God!!

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Thank God for His miraculous creation.

Evolution vs. the Bible

Bible Reading:  Colossians 2:1-8

Key Verse: Verse  8 – “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

Key Words: Beware lest any man spoil you

The creation-evolution question is certainly one of the most important areas of conflict between the Bible and modern science.  It is a great mistake for Christians to compromise on the issue or, even worse, to ignore it.  Although our nation was founded on Biblical creationist principles, and all of the early schools in our country taught creation, evolution has now become the dominant philosophy and for several years has been taught as fact in our government schools, all the way from elementary through college.

Evolutionary assumptions dominate the news media.  (You can't watch an educational program without hearing someone say, "millions of years ago..." that's evolution.)  Evolution has contributed more to the materialistic philosophy of the world today than any other influence known to man.  No wonder God warned us in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

First I was a tadpole just beginning to begin,

Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in,

Then I was a monkey hanging from a tree,

Now, look, I'm a college professor with a Ph.D.

                                                            

                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ The choice is yours – evolution or creation?

Human Life

Bible Reading:  Genesis 1:28-31, Genesis 2:18-25

Key Verse: Verse  28 – “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Key Words: Be fruitful and multiply

God created man and woman and told them to procreate.  Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out in a same-sex marriage, this is not possible.

When it comes to same sex marriages, the Bible gives us a direct answer.  It’s not what many politicians think or what the liberal media might say, and certainly not what the world, in general, is led to believe.

In Leviticus 20:13a we are told, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.”  We are also told in I Corinthians 6:9 that the effeminate (homosexual) shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

These two portions of Scripture are God’s “one-two punch” on this issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriages and unions.  When God says that any kind of homosexual act will be considered an abomination in His sight, and then tops if off by saying that this kind of lifestyle is the lifestyle of the unrighteous, the unsaved, you really can’t get any clearer or stronger language than that.

When God uses the word abomination to describe this specific sin, He is using one of the strongest words possible to tell us what He thinks about this lifestyle.

We are also told in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”   If Jesus believed in the beginning that homosexuality was a sin, it will always be a sin.  If it was an abomination yesterday, it will be an abomination today and tomorrow as well.

While we are always to love the sinner, this does not mean that we are to tolerate and idly stand by while they impose their sin upon us.  It is righteousness that exalts a nation so I challenge you to always stand right and fight the good fight of faith.

 

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Speak the truth in love.

The Greatest Event

Bible Reading:  Deuteronomy 4:25-38

Key Verse: Verses  32 – “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?”

Key Words: This great thing

Deuteronomy 4 is Moses' review of Israel's wilderness wanderings.  They have now arrived at the east bank of the Jordan River.  It's here that Moses gave his final instructions to the people.  They are now ready to enter the Promised Land and Moses reminds them that this is the second greatest event in the history of Israel.  What was the greatest event?  Well, you find that in Deuteronomy 4:32, "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?"  Since the day that God created man upon the earth, Moses says the creation of man was the greatest of all events.  (Remember Jesus hasn't come to earth yet to live, die, and be resurrected.)

But today creation is scoffed and mocked at by the humanists of our day.  Note prophetic words of Charles Spurgeon in a message he preached on August 31, 1890, in regard to creation:  "If any of you shall live fifty years, you will see that the philosophy of today will be a football of contempt for the philosophy of that period.  They will speak, amid roars of laughter, of evolution; and the day will come when there will not be a child but will look upon it as being the most foolish notion that ever crossed the human mind."  How prophetic!  How true!  What a shame!

 

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞  Never forget the message of creation.  It's a message of power, of love, of salvation.  It's a message that God does exist.

All That God Created

Bible Reading:  Genesis 2:1-7

Key Verse: Verse  3– “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.’

Key Words: all his work which God created

We also read in verse 7 about anthropology, how God created man.  Think about this!

The following is attributed to William Worrell Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic.

Suppose we were going to make a human body. We would need fifty-eight pounds of oxygen and fifty quarts of water, two ounces of salt, three pounds of calcium, twenty-four pounds of carbon, and some chlorine, phosphorous, fat, iron, sulphur, and glycerin. We bring the items home -- so much dust and some water. There it is, our do-it-yourself kit for making a human body. The only problem is with the instructions.

The human body is so complex an entity that no scientist can comprehend more than a fraction of its composition and functions. A mere piece of skin the size of a postage stamp requires three million cells; a yard of blood vessels, four yards of nerves; one hundred sweat glands, fifteen oil glands, and twenty-five nerve endings! Yet the evolutionist would ask us to believe that the blind forces of chance produced our bodies.  It would be simpler to believe that Webster's Unabridged Dictionary resulted from an explosion in a print plant.

The Bible gives us a better explanation.  It says: "The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."  With omniscient genius God took that dust, that water, those odds and ends of things, and formed and fashioned them into a man.  The human body, marvelous and intricate as it is, eloquently testifies to the wisdom and power of God.  The evolutionist preys upon our gullibility.  The Bible leads us to worship.

We are fearfully an wonderfully made, are we not?

                                                                                         Dr. Mike Rouse

 What to do: 

✞ God can make you from nothing, and can save you from anything.

Creation

Bible Reading:  Genesis 1:1-27

Key Verse: Verse 1 -  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Key Words: God created

The word created means to make from nothing.  Only God can take nothing and make something from it.  That's the reason every creation of God is a miracle.

In an article entitled "The Wonders of the Natural World: God's Design," university professor Gerald R. Bergman points out how advanced God's creation is over human invention:

• Before we ever discovered and harnessed electricity, electric eels have generated their own electricity at will, up to 700 volts.
• Before we ever invented electric lights, fireflies were flashing their signals to one another, and certain fish in the ocean depths produce light to guide their travels.
• Long before we learned to navigate the seven seas, birds traveled from the Arctic to the Antarctic, landing at the same nesting sites year after year.
• We take pride in our jet aircraft, but octopuses used jet propulsion long before us. In its bulbous body is a muscular "sack" with a small opening. When an octopus expands the sack, water is sucked in, and when it vigorously contracts it, the water spurts out in a jet. By alternate expansion and contraction of this muscular sack, the octopus can jet-propel its way through the water.
• Before we ever designed and built suspension bridges, God's spiders demonstrated engineering feats of amazing brilliance.
• Bird's nests display a high level of engineering skill in masonry, weaving, tunneling, and structural strength necessary to build them.
• Bees, with their wings, "air-condition" their hives.
• Beavers build large dams out of trees and mud.
• Wasps manufacture a type of paper.
• Man has developed radar and sonar systems, and this development is seen as a miracle of science. Yet bats can do the same thing. Scientists have blindfolded bats and set them loose in a room which has been strung with many thin threads. Scientists found that the bats can dart around the room without striking a single thread because in flight they emit supersonic sound pulses. These hit objects and bounce back to the bat's ears.

To me the amazing thing is not that we believe in God; it's that some don't

                                                                                                  Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Creation itself proves that God is!! Believe it.

Who is on the Lord's side?

Bible Reading:  Exodus 32:25-35

Key Verse: Verse 26 - “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”

Key Words: Who is on the LORD’S side

I know “pride cometh before the fall,” but I’m so happy to be the pastor of the same church for almost 32 years; and thus far, we’ve never had a church fight.  Now, that doesn’t mean every member has always agreed on every issue, but it does mean that our people as a whole have placed God ahead of their personal feelings and desires.  My prayer is that, that will continue.

During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast.  Lincoln was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith.  At one point one of the ministers said, “Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side.”  Lincoln’s response showed far greater insight, “No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God’s side.”

If all of us would just get on God’s side, there would have to be no fussing, fuming, and fighting because there would always be a house full of forgiveness.

Whatever issues you or your church are fighting over today, let me assure you that it grieves the Holy Spirit and quenches the revival fires of the church.  Is your issue more important than that?

                                                                                             Dr. Mike Rouse 

What to do:

✞ Be on the winning side: that would be God’s side.