Matty Lawrence

February 27, 2019February 27, 2019

Hiding Our Eyes

Danby House

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
( Proverbs 28:27 )

We had a question in Sunday School about giving, specifically to pan handlers and beggars and people who “don’t deserve it.” These situations can be tricky but the best guidance is always to know what the scripture says.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
( 2 Corinthians 9:7 )

We give because we want to be blessed, not because we want to give a blessing:

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
( Acts 20:35 )

What are we here for anyway, as ambassadors of Christ?

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
( Isaiah 58:7 )

Giving is good for us. Just as withholding is bad for us.

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
( Deuteronomy 15:7-11 )

Harden thine heart? What happens if I harden my heart against the poor, over and over again?

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
( Matthew 24:12 )

If you don’t want to give, don’t give, but don’t be afraid to give.

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
( Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 )

February 27, 2019October 2, 2021

If God is Love, Why Would He Send People to Hell?

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
(2 Timothy 1:8-9) KJV

We use empirical observations & physical evidence to show that the Bible is an accurate description of the universe. We can now answer the question: If God is love, why would He send people to hell?

February 26, 2019

Gravitational Drag Effect (GDE)

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
( Hebrews 1:3 )

It is not possible to prove that the earth is rotating. Experimental results which have formerly been used as a way to prove that the earth has daily rotation are examples of GDE on a stationary earth.

February 26, 2019

Math = Faith

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
( Isaiah 8:19-20 )

Faith is believing in something that you can’t see. Math requires believing in concepts that you can’t see, and relating them to each other in ways that can’t be seen. Math is inductive, reductive, circular faith.

February 26, 2019March 3, 2019

Gravity – מֵכִ֥ין

By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
( Ecclesiastes 10:18 )

We have connected the phrases “established the world,” and “setteth fast the mountains,” with a concept of sinking down. This is the second Hebrew concept of gravity in the correct context of the 2nd day of creation.

February 26, 2019

The Armour of Light

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
( Romans 13:12 )

If you don’t understand popular science well enough to know that it is not a threat to the truth of the Bible, but try to live a Christian life without the truth of the Bible, then you have no armor of light.

February 24, 2019May 30, 2019

Blood, fire, and vapor of smoke

Open Door Baptist Church

Acts 2:14-28

15 the third hour of the day: 9am

Peter is coming out of a 10-day period of intense Bible study which was what lead him to figure out that they had to replace Judas. He and the others had probably read every parchment and scripture that they had 10 times over. He is filled with the Holy SPirit, but he is also bubbling over with the word of God.

17 Peter quotes Joel 2

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
( Joel 2:28 )

Joel was echoing something prophesied by Isaiah:

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
( Isaiah 44:3 )

18 Peter quotes Joel 2

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
( Joel 2:29 )

19 Peter quotes Joel 2

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
( Joel 2:30 )

20 Peter quotes Joel 2:31,

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
( Joel 2:31 )

The disciples have realized that a lot of scripture was written about the days in which they were living. They must be wondering if this has already happened, when Christ died on the cross. Many others would have been wondering too:

And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
( Luke 23:44 )

Was this the darkness of the great and terrible day of the Lord that had been prophesied? They no doubt remembered something else that Jesus said, and made another connection:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
( Malachi 4:5 )

According to Jesus, John the Baptist was the prophesied coming of Elijah:

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
( Matthew 17:10-13 )

21 Peter quotes Joel 2

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
( Joel 2:32 )

25 Peter quotes Psalms 110:1

A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
( Psalms 110:1 )

26 Peter quotes Psalms 16:9

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
( Psalms 16:9 )

27 Peter quotes Psalms 16:10

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
( Psalms 16:10 )

Is this an echo of Job? And does this again point to the time in which they are living?

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
( Job 19:25-26 )

28 Peter quotes Psalm 16 again

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
( Psalms 16:11 )

Then he pauses for a breath.

Peter Quotes

Joel 2:28-32
Psalms 110:1
Psalms 16:9-11
Job 19:25-26

Remember Acts 1:15? And in those days Peter stood up?

He quoted

Psalms 41:9
Psalms 55:12-13
Jeremiah 32:6-10
Zechariah 11:12-13
Psalms 69:21, 25
Psalms 109:8

Jesus spoke about this, too:

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
( Matthew 10:19 )

February 22, 2019

The Law of Gravity or the Gravity of Law?

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
( 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 )

If we accept an effect as being its own cause we have done something called inductive reasoning, where our premise is used to supply evidence for our conclusion. This is circular reasoning.

February 21, 2019

The Father of Lights

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
( James 1:17 )

If God made a point in space the permanent center of creation, but yet he dwells above and apart from it, does this represent a sacrificial act? Did God have to give up part of himself to accomplish this?

February 21, 2019February 2, 2021

Deducing Gravity

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
(1 Samuel 17:49) KJV

Gravity is fundamental to the working out of God’s plan for creation. So how on Earth did we manage to deduce that gravity was created on the second day? There are three parts to this logic: