Since this (and no other) preacher has anything of which to boast, or in which to glory concerning attendance numbers in worship, we wish to share with you these sentiments from the December, 2004 issue of Christian Courier, in an article based on the text of Hebrews 3:12, entitled, “Falling Away From the Living God”: Church attendance is at an all-time state of disarray. Numerous members of the body of Christ think nothing whatever about abandoning the Lord’s day appointment for a family gathering or a sports event. They seem not to have the remotest ideas as to the significance of the Savior’s mandate, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” (Mt. 6:33). “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” (Heb. 10:25), means “only if it is convenient.” If commitment to the Son of God requires the surrender of one’s physical life-if necessary (Rev. 2:10), how do you suppose one will fare who neglects the most sacred of religious duties for the most trifling of personal interests? (Wayne Jackson 31) Earlier in the article, Jackson remembered that at times some members had made remarks like, “Don’t expect to see me at services when the 49ers are playing” (30). This is expected from our non-Christian co-workers, family and friends, but should never characterize the attitude of God’s people! However, such lures of the world commonly infiltrate and disrupt the commitment of Christians to one another and to God. To borrow a phrase from James, “My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” …

The late B.C. Goodpasture used to tell of the time when James A. Harding held a Gospel meeting in Clark County, Kentucky. The year was 1877. When an elder of the church asked about it he said it was “not much of a meeting. Oh, Brother Harding did his usually powerful preaching, the attendance was fair, but the results were negligible. Only little Jimmy Shepherd was baptized.” Someone has said that you can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the number of apples in a seed. When applied to the preaching of the Gospel that means that you can count the number of people who respond to Gospel preaching to be baptized, but you cannot count the number of good things done in the life of one person who becomes a Christian, as in the case of brother James W. Shepherd. Brother Shepherd went to the College of the Bible, Kentucky University and graduated in 1884. On February 29, 1888 he traveled with his family to New Zealand, remaining there two years. From New Zealand he went to Australia, where he remained almost three years, during which time he preached in Sydney, Melbourne, Balarat, New Castle and Adelaide. Leaving Australia he returned to the United States by way of the Orient. He traveled extensively, passing through the Suez Canal, he could see Mt. Sinai in the distance, but he did not visit the Bible lands. He did visit Scotland and England, and being a …

I. The Earthly Jerusalem The most famous of biblical cities (“of mighty fame among all mankind,” Josephus, WARS 7:1, 11) has had four names: Salem, Jebus, Jerusalem and Zion. In the days of Abraham, it was called “Salem” (Genesis 14:18), meaning “peace:” He who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and he is in our tongue called the Righteous King [Melchizedek], for such he really was. (Josephus, WARS 6: 10) Later the city was called “Jebus” (1 Chronicles 11:40), named after a great grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:16), and the inhabitants were called the “Jebusites” (Joshua 15:63). Then the name “Jebus” (meaning “trodden down”) was changed to “Jerusalem,” which was a fusion of the name “Salem” with the Hebrew word meaning “foundation,” and so the name “Jerusalem” means a “foundation of peace” (Joshua 15:63; 1 Chronicles 11:4). Notice in David’s words how peace is connected with Jerusalem: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. (Psalm 122:6-8) The fourth name for Jerusalem is derived from one of the mountains on which the city is built, Zion, meaning “citadel” (1 Chronicles 11:4-5; Zechariah 9:9). The name “Zion,” especially in songs, has become a synonym for Jerusalem: Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great …

Have you ever noticed that people always want to know when something is going to happen? That is, perhaps, due to the fact that man is very conscious of the passing of time, and he does not want some important event to pass him by when he is unaware. After Jesus told his disciples that the Temple was going to be destroyed, thus bringing to an end all the physical trappings of the Temple worship and the Law of Moses, they wanted to know when this was going to be. We thoroughly understand their curiosity. If someone were to tell us that the City of Moundsville was going to be destroyed, inasmuch as we are all vitally connected to that city  who live there, we would want to know when. Jesus gave his disciples some time signs, but he never did tell them the day, date or hour when the great Temple would be pulled down into ruins. He told them many of the things that would be going on in the world at that time, as well as in the land of Palestine. But he said that his coming in destruction upon the city and Temple would be sudden like lightning flashing from the east to the west (Matthew 24:26). By this, he meant it would be sudden and unexpected. Why would it be that way? Would it be because the Jews did not know that the Roman army was on the march in the land? No, it would …

In the congregation where I did my first fulltime preaching many years ago, I tried to encourage the members to give as they prospered. On one occasion when we needed to make an organized and concerted effort to raise a specific amount to do a job we all agreed needing doing, I suggested that we share with each other the information about how much we felt able and willing to contribute toward the job. One precious lady whom I continued to love dearly criticized the idea vehemently, saying, “What I give is nobody’s business but mine and God’s.”   That idea I have heard expressed and have seen practiced in many ways since that time. In connection with that, I should like to raise a few questions. In the last year or so, we have seen a spate of articles (whatever that is) on the eldership, raising all sorts of questions, from “Who Calls the Shots?” to “What Do They Do?” But I believe, in spite of all the varied opinions about what kind of leadership we should have, there is practically unanimous agreement in all sections of our brotherhood (which includes the “sisterhood”) that the elders are to shepherd the flock, watching after their spiritual welfare. Surely, no one would deny that whether or not a person attends the services is the elders’ business! Why? Because that relates to his spiritual welfare. It is true that a person can bring a warm body (or a cool one) to each …

Modern theological liberals, both in and out of the church, are manifestly embarrassed when we speak of the wrath of God. They teach that love and wrath are mutually exclusive, and God must be either one or the other. When it is pointed out that God often exercised wrath in the Old Testament, they will immediately begin speaking of the God of the Old Testament in contrast with the God of the New. According to these people, the God of the Old Testament was a God of vengeance and wrath, but by the time of the writing of the New Testament, he had become a God of love, mercy and grace–hence, an evolving God. All this notwithstanding, the fact that the Bible plainly teaches that our God is an unchanging one. Not only do the theological liberals find themselves embarrassed by the nature of God, but also it has gotten so the theological conservatives trip around this aspect of the nature of God very lightly. We do not hear sermons on the wrath of God, and his grace, mercy and love are almost constantly emphasized in preaching, writing and worship. As a result of denial by one group and neglect by the other, the people of the last two generations have gotten a very distorted view of the nature of God. However, neither the New Testament nor the early church flinched at recognizing God as a God of wrath as well as grace, mercy and love. However, John the Immerser, …

Now days, you can’t turn the TV on without seeing or hearing about a relatively new type of program, the reality show. Only after a few years, the airways are filled with them; they are becoming the sitcoms and dramas of this generation. From MTV, to the Arts and Entertainment Network, to the Discovery Channel, not to mention the Big Four Networks, everyone has jumped on the reality show bandwagon. They come in all shapes and sizes, countless real-life situations for us to choose from. You can watch reality shows about survival competition, house building, choosing a husband or a wife, getting rich, getting poor, getting plastic surgery and living together in some difficult situation. For one hour we can view the most intimate moments of human interaction, all caught on video for us to enjoy. In this article I want us to take a serious look at the “reality show” and determine if is this is the kind of entertainment we need to be watching. From what I’ve seen, most of the reality shows are based on the same scenario, take supposedly normal, everyday people, put them in some extraordinary or difficult situation and video the whole thing. There seems to always be an ultimate prize of sorts: money, fame, a new home, even a new face and body. As we watch these casts of characters, we begin to connect with these people, some we like and some we don’t. Some we want to “get together” and some we …

“I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). There are various speculations expressed relative to the setting of this well-known parable spoken by the Lord. Some have suggested that Jesus saw a vine growing on the side of a wall. Others think it may have been the vineyards nearby, while others mention that Jesus had just instituted the supper that contained fruit of the vine. Nevertheless, he uses something very common to bring forth some vital lessons to his disciples. The Bible is replete with nature’s symbolisms and made applicable in spiritual matters. Jesus has been referred to as being the rose of Sharon, a rock, a stone, a pearl, a lily and presently in our study as being the vine. Basically speaking, this Parable of the Vine and the Branches in John 15 deals with the various relationships of Jesus with others. First of all, we observe Christ’s relationship with his Father. The Lord said: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). This would indicate that God is the proprietor as well as being the vinedresser. It is God who is spoken of as being the one who does the pruning and the purging of the branches. The prominent and prevalent attitude of Jesus toward his Father is always a submissive one (John 6:38). Jesus is the “true vine.” Israel of old had been “a noble vine” of God in ages past, which was only a figure of the true vine, …

In the Seventh Chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul deals more extensively with the matter of marriage, separation, divorce and remarriage than in any other section of the New Testament. Yet, this divine instruction is being more and more disregarded in our social setting and even among the saints of God to whom it was written. We should be greatly concerned about the general dismissal of the instructions written by this apostle who was chosen to speak for God and “whom the Lord in His Mercy has made trustworthy” (vs. 28). Concerning these spokesmen, Jesus said, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16). The things Paul wrote “are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). To tamper with the words of Paul is to tamper with the words of God. Seven times in this chapter dealing with the matter of marriage, Paul uses the expression “I say” (or the equivalent, e.g., “I command,” vs. 10 and “I give judgment,” vs. 25). There are those who conclude that Paul was speaking out of his own opinion or personal bias, being accused of having a low view of the marriage relationship. But no writer of the inspired Word of God had a higher view of the marriage relationship than did Paul, using it to describe the holy union of Christ and the church (cf. Ephesians 5:22ff). Furthermore, in this Corinthians Chapter he admonished, “…let …

You know you’re changing physically when you round out, gray up, slow down and turn in early and don’t see any comfortable way to stop any of it. It’s all part of growing older. You know you’re changing temperamentally when your teenaged daughter’s musical preferences begin to grow on you. You see it coming when you become less resistant to the sounds of the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and 98º. Then you may have cause to worry, but never at the sacrifice of the “old music.” You know you’re changing spiritually when the old Jerusalem Gospel loses its appeal, when pointed sermons have lost their point with you and when liberalism has slowly crept in, taking you captive and you hardly seem to be aware of it. Some change is natural. It is part of our physical makeup and goes along with God’s design. Like it or not, we are all changing. Some change is a good idea. A father needs to get along with his daughter. I may complain about some of the music my teenaged girls listen to, but my parents also disliked my beloved Carpenters thirty years ago. Some change is a definite mark of spiritual decline. This kind of change has affected the Lord’s church at large for years and is marking our general spiritual digression. This kind of change is destroying the distinctiveness of the Lord’s church, corrupting the pulpit by producing an uncertain sounds in many quarters, resulting in widespread spiritual slumber among us. Let’s fight …

Second Peter 1 opens with glorious words concerning the “like precious faith” of those who have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Look at what that means. Lust is what brings on sin in the first place. Sin is what brings death. People often wonder from where the temptations and evils of this world come, and some blame God. But Holy Scripture proclaims God is innocent and our lusts (desires) are to blame: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13-15) Those lusts pass away, but he who abides in obeying God will last forever (1 John 2:15-17). Such lusts, then, are inarguably the enemy. They are to be avoided. They are to be respected as powerful. One should not toy with his ability to master them, but flee from every hint of temptation (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:18) and “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Those lusts are enslaving. Jesus taught, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). Paul echoed that every man serves either sin (which leads to death) or obedience (which leads to righteousness) (Romans 6:16). Only …

Last fall, ESPN and B.A.S.S. (i.e., Bass Angler’s Sportsman’s Society) mailed out an information packet to all of the BassMaster fishing pros requiring them to wear a patch endorsing Anheuser-Busch beer. When pros first learned of the new mandate, many were angered and contacted ESPN/B.A.S.S. to voice their opposition. At first, the partner companies assured fisherman that they would not have to wear the patch after all. But following a discussion with Busch, the pros were told that they must exhibit the patch on their clothing or forfeit their points in pursuit of the “Angler of the Year” [AOY] award as well as the $100,000 prize money. The ramifications of this new policy were profound. No Busch patch meant no points, no AOY award, no participation in the BassMaster classic, and therefore no requalifying for the following year’s fishing tour. In other words, no patch–no bass fishing career. Oddly enough, the information packet mailed out to pros also stated, “B.A.S.S. does not expect any angler to endorse a B.A.S.S. sponsor… Participating in the NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch or Craftsman truck series does not obligate or imply that one uses or endorses those series sponsor’s products. It is, however, expected and logical that one would be appreciative of and supportive of their involvement in the sport” [emphasis mine-mb]. A number of anglers saw the obvious inconsistency. They asked, “How do you not endorse alcohol, but then simultaneously display the toxic brew on the sleeve of your shirt?” Lendell Martin Jr., a popular fishing professional, dropped out of the BassMaster tour late …