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By Hafley, Larry Ray, on July 1st, 2000
Did you see where Texas Baptists voted against the wife’s subjection to her husband? Well, they did. I have been asked what I thought about it. Here are my comments:
First, it matters not at all how the Baptists or any other sect votes on any issue or doctrine. All the edicts of all the ecclesiastical bodies of the all the earth count for nothing and mean even less. What is changed by their vote? Are the resolutions of men bound upon the word of God? Can they alter what God has said? No, not one syllable! As Jeremiah said when men sought to challenge and change the word of God, “all…shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs” (Jer. 44:28).
Second, does Ephesians 5:21-33 still teach that men are to unselfishly sacrifice themselves for the good of their wives and to love their wives as their own bodies (5:25-28)? Does the text still say that men are to love their wives and surrender their lives on her behalf (5:25-29, 33)? Does the passage say that the wife is to submit to her husband “as unto the Lord” (5:22)? Do those verses still say the wife is to be subject to her husband as the church is subject to Christ (5:23, 24)? If so, what does the Baptist vote mean with respect to our duty before God (“Study to show thyself approved unto God,” not unto the Baptists!)? Continue reading » Contending for the Faith: Texas Baptists Vote “No”
By Kurfees, M.C., on July 1st, 2000
(From part of a series of lectures delivered at Abilene Christian College Lectureship in 1920. Originally appeared in Gospel Guardian, vol. 2, #33, p. 12)
The purpose of this address is to examine the New Testament record and see how New Testament churches conducted missionary work or the work of evangelizing the world. We shall see that, in the execution of their divine commission, the matter of supervision, management and control was in the local churches, where God himself placed it, and was never transferred to a general board. The authority divinely invested in the local church was everywhere strictly respected, which effectually blocked the way against the entanglements which have always marked the history of general ecclesiastical organizations in religion. We can see an exemplification of the work in the apostolic days by noting a series of facts. Continue reading » White Unto Harvest: Missionary Work in the New Testament Churches
By Deaton, Steven, on July 1st, 2000
Truth Magazine, Vol. XV, No. 46, September 30, 1971
From a prison cell into which he had been cast because of his preaching, the apostle Paul requested the prayers of the brethren that he might “speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:20). The apostles, Peter and John, after being threatened, yet “spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:13, 29, 31). Because of his hope of heaven Paul said he was constrained thereby to “use great boldness of speech” (2 Cor. 3: 12). Further he told the Corinthians, “Great is my boldness of speech toward you” (2 Cor. 7:4). Though he suffered and was shamefully treated for so doing, Paul said he “waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict” (2 Thess. 2:2).
These statements indicate that New Testament preachers were bold preachers. A careful study of the content of their sermons will also indicate they were bold preachers. Peter, on Pentecost boldly declared to the murderers of Christ, “ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay” (Acts 2:23). Those depraved enough to kill God’s Son were not above trying to kill one who would charge them with their crime. In Acts 5:33 we read of some who were so cut by a gospel sermon that they “were minded to slay them.” But Peter boldly made his charge in spite of danger. The evangelist Stephen so preached that the multitude rushed on him, gnashed on him with their teeth, and then beat him to death with stones (Acts 7:57). Paul so preached against idolatry in Ephesus, a center of idolatry and idol making, that the people protested against his preaching loudly for two hours. His preaching caused an uproar in the city. Continue reading » Voices from the Past: As One Ought to Preach (Cecil Willis)
By Osborne, Harry, on July 1st, 2000
Every year most American go through the exasperating experience of filing for income tax. I know of nothing more frustrating than reading the convoluted language of the IRS forms to figure out which provisions apply to me. I am beginning to think that the legal jargon of the IRS laws are a plot to force all of us to employ lawyers for assistance.
Evidently, the lawyers of Jesus’ day also sought to obscure the clear point of God’s law by clouding the issue with complex definitions and provisions to qualify that law. Let’s notice one such instance recorded in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus encounter with one lawyer went as follows:
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (vs. 25-28).
God’s law was plain enough for anyone to understand. Its charge to all was clear. Unless one complicated the simple commands of God, their meaning was obvious. Continue reading » In the Steps of the Savior: Jesus and Plain Preaching
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