QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (70)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    If we allow people to ask questions, there is no telling what they might ask.

 

B.      Here are five questions that are some of the craziest ever asked.

1.        Is it illegal to kill an ant?

2.       If you stare at a picture of the sun will it hurt your eyes?

3.       Is an egg a fruit or a vegetable?

4.       Will my laptop get heavier if I put more files in it?

5.       I made Jesus shaped pancakes, but I burned them.  Am I going to hell?

 

C.     So far, the questions that you have turned in for our Q&A lessons, have not been crazy at all.  However, I am still expecting one or two. 

 

D.    This is the third Sunday of the month instead of the first.  But, we have not had our Q&A sermon for January.  We are going to do it in this lesson.  Let’s look at three questions.

 

I.             QUESTION #1:  By Nature the Children of Wrath (Eph. 2:3)

 

A.    Stated:  Please explain the phrase, “…and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,” found in Ephesians 2:3.

 

B.      Answer:

1.        Read Ephesians 2:3

 

Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

 

2.       There are some individuals who believe that this text teaches that all human beings are born with a sinful nature.

a.       This sinful nature is a result, they say, of the fall of man in the garden.

b.      This sinful nature prohibits man from being able to receive spiritual things until there is some type of divine work done on the heart of man.

3.       The key to answering this verse is to examine the word “nature” in the verse.

a.       Definitions:

1)       Strong (5449):  growth, production, useage

2)      Thayer:  a mode of feeling or acting which by long habit has become nature

3)      Vine:  to bring forth, produce

b.      Paul has reference to sinners in the context.

1)       “dead in trespasses and sins” (v. 1)

2)      “walked according to the course of this world” (v. 2)

3)      Walked “according to the prince of the power of the air” (v. 2).

4)      They were “children of disobedience” (v. 2).

5)      They fulfilled “the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (v. 3).

c.       This had become their habitual practice.  “By nature” they were children of wrath.  Their practice of sin was a long standing practice or habit.  It was not that is was inherited.  It was that it was done from one generation to the next then the next.

d.      Another passage that uses this word “nature” in it (I Cor. 11:14).

 

Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

 

1)       If this had reference to just the normal course of nature, how would it teach that it is a shame for man’s hair to be long.

2)      Nature would allow a man to grow his hair longer and longer and longer. 

3)      Nature here is defined as long standing practice or habit.  The long standing practice among the Corinthians was that it was a shame for a man to have long hair.

4.       Men do not inherit a sinful nature. 

a.       The Bible plainly teaches that it is God who forms the spirit of man within him (Zech. 12:1).

b.      Men and civilizations do become the children of wrath due to a longstanding practice, that is, habitual practice of sin.

 

II.           QUESTION #2:  George Mcnulty

 

A.    Stated:  Can you tell us something about brother George Mcnulty and his work in Ireland?

 

B.      Answer: 

1.        George is a gospel preacher who now resides in Dublin, Ireland, the capital city.

 

 

                   

 

a.       George is from Ireland originally.  He is 50 years old.

b.      He came to the United States in order to marry Christina.  They were married on August 22, 2011.

c.       Christina is from Shreveport, LA.  However, she was an Air Force brat who lived all over the world.  She lived in Germany for two years.  She is enjoying being in Ireland at this time.

2.       When George came here he learned about the Northwest Florida School of Biblical studies in Cantonment, FL.  It was under the oversight of the Milestone church of Christ.  The director at the time was Sidney White.  George attended from 2014 to 2016.

3.       In February, 2021, he received citizenship in the United States.  Now he holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and in Ireland.

4.       He was a minister for three churches in the United States following his graduation from the School of Preaching.

5.       In December, he and Christina moved to Ireland to do “missionary” work there.  His work is presently under the oversight of the St. Augustine Road church of Christ in Valdosta, GA.

6.       Ireland:

a.       Population statistics:

1)       Ireland:  6.5 million

2)      Dublin:  544,000

b.      Main religion:  Roman Catholic, followed by Anglicans and Presbyterians

c.       The church in Ireland

1)       The churches are small.  Many of the churches gather in homes for worship.

2)      Pictures of three churches:

 

         

 

d.      Three main difficulties that the church faces in Ireland:

1)       The pandemic

2)      Religious conflict in the past

3)      The International Churches of Christ, or, the Boston Movement

e.       The goals George has

1)       He and his wife are attempting to find jobs to support themselves for a while.

2)      He wants to unite several of the churches meeting in homes and form larger congregations.

3)      He wants to grow a church there that is large enough to support itself.

4)      He will do evangelistic work in the community.

 

III.         QUESTION #3:  The Creation of Woman, Day #6?

 

A.    Stated:  Genesis 1:26-27 reveal that man and woman were created on Day 6 of the Creation Week.  However, Genesis 2:7 seems to indicate that man was created, then some time passed before the woman was created.  Can you explain the apparent contradiction?

 

B.      Answer:

1.        The problem viewed.

a.       In Genesis 1, we read about the first six days of the Creation.  Man was created on Day 6.  Here is how the account reads in Genesis 1:26-27.

 

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

 

b.      In Genesis 2, we have another account of the Creation that focuses on man. 

1)       First Adam is created (Gen. 2:7).

 

And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

2)      The woman was created later from the rib of man (Gen. 2:21-22).

 

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:  and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:  and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

 

3)      However, before this happened, Adam “gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field” (Gen. 2:20).  Most believe that this would have taken a long period of time for Adam to do.  Thus, they believe that the woman was not created on Day 6, but that she was created at some time in the future.

2.       The problem answered.

a.       Answer #1:  If the woman was created at a later time, she was in essence created on Day 6 because she was created from the rib of Adam who was created on Day 6.  Here is how Adam responded when Eve was brought unto him:  “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh:  she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23).

b.      Eve could have very easily been created on Day 6.

1.        God created man (Gen. 2:7).

2.       God said:  “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18).  NOTE:  The text does not say that man had grown lonely.  It merely says that God noted it was not good for man to be alone.

3.       God then had Adam name the animals (Gen. 2:19). 

4.       The purpose of this process was for Adam to see that none of the animals were compatible for him.  “…but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him” (Gen. 2:20). 

a.       NOTE:  This would not take very long to determine.  After a few hours of naming various animals, Adam would recognize that none of them were like him.  Remember, he was formed in the image of God. 

1)       The animals could not communicate with him by talking.

2)      The animals could not fulfill his sexual desires.

3)      The animals could not assist him in caring for the garden.

4)      The animals did not have fellowship with God as Adam did.

b.      After this realization had set in, God then caused Adam to sleep.  He took one of his ribs, formed the woman, and brought her unto Adam. 

1)       This woman was made from him.

2)      This woman was compatible for him.

3)      This woman complimented him.

4)      This woman completed him.

5)      This woman would be a help meet just for him.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    We have examined three questions:

1.        One about the phrase:  “the children of wrath.”

2.       One about George Mcnulty and his work in Ireland.

3.       One about the creation of woman.

 

B.      Man is not born in sin, but all do become sinners (See Rom. 3:23).

All sinners, whether in Dublin, Ireland or in Atlantic Beach, FL need to hear the gospel.

They need to know that Jesus died to save them from their sins.

They need to know the conditions of that salvation found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The steps are simple:  hear, believe in Jesus as the Son of God, repent of sins, confess the name of Jesus, and be baptized for the remission of sins.  Following one’s initial salvation, he/she must be faithful until the very moment of death.