The early church was led by elders (Acts 20:17) appointed under strict rules (1 Timothy 3:1-7). Requirements of being blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, patient and not greedy for money suggest that leaders should be models–role models–for members and for non-members. Therefore, anything in one’s past that can bring criticism, or turn persons away, is not good, and such men should not be chosen. It does not make any difference whether the event is valid according to the Bible or not for it is the affect on people that matters. And all of these should be taken into account. Perfection is not likely, yet some things have an undesirable impact on Christians and non-Christians, for most people view church leaders as special people, thus the role model need. Church leaders should never be consciously guilty of prejudice. They should never sort people, especially members. Sorting, categorizing, grouping members, should not be, for each member is equal to all other members. Paul publicly rebuked Peter for prejudice (Galatians 2:11-14). Elders were given instructions: “Take heed therefore unto your selves, and to all the flock” (Acts 20:28). Peter adds more, saying, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither …

Whenever I take a bite of cotton candy I have several reactions: It tastes good. I enjoy the flavor. It feels good. I’ve always liked the feeling as it melts away in my mouth. It gives a little sugar rush. It has no lasting effect. There is an appropriate time for cotton candy. It cannot replace a meal–nor can it sustain us. I am truly afraid that much of what is done in many pulpits among us today is simply Cotton Candy Preaching. It tastes good. It “scratches” our ears. It is easily palatable. It does not stir up to good works, or demand obedience to God’s will. It is just fluff. It feels good. We leave the sermon (or sermonette) feeling good about ourselves. It is “I’m OK, You’re OK” preaching with no real substance. It gives a little sugar rush. It may excite us for a moment, and get us fired up temporarily. It has no lasting effect. The little stories and lessons really produce no lasting effect in the hearer. There is an appropriate time for cotton candy. Sometimes these short articles are Cotton Candy articles. Sometimes there is a place for Cotton Candy speeches–just not in the pulpit! It cannot replace a meal–it cannot sustain us. Too often congregations are receiving a steady diet of Cotton Candy. This may make crowds gather, like a crowd around a Cotton Candy vendor, but it leaves them spiritually and doctrinally bankrupt. PAUL SAID, “Preach the Word.” PETER SPOKE OF “the sincere milk of the Word.” THE HEBREW …

The word “sect” is found in the KJV of the Bible five times. Every instance is in the Book of Acts, where it is used three times to refer to what we might call “denominations” among the Jews, and twice to refer to the church of Christ. In both instances (Acts 24:5 and 28:22), it is in some way connected with the Jews, leaving us with the very definite impression that the church was looked upon by many, especially among the Jews, as a mere sect so common to the Jews in that time. In every instance of the use of the word in the Book of Acts, it comes from the same Greek word meaning, according to Thayer, “a body of men following their own tenets.” Tenets refers to teaching or doctrine; consequently, there were the tenets of the Sadducees, the Pharisees and those of the “sect of the Nazarenes” (Christians),  “spoken against everywhere.” For the body of Christ to be looked on, both in Palestine and in Rome, as a Jewish sect would have certain, very important disadvantages. The Jews would look on them as nothing more than one of the many sects among themselves and dismiss the teachings of Christ in that manner. Not only so, but they were looked on by both Jews and Gentiles as a troublesome sect, and as the Jews of Rome pointed out to Paul, they were spoken against all over the Roman world. The Gentiles would, no doubt, look on them …

Most of our lives we have heard or done preaching on “The Good Shepherd” and have seen pictures of him as he carried the lost sheep in his loving arms and brought it back to the fold. The text used was Luke 15:4-7. Brother Burton Coffman gives what we think is the usual approach when he says, “The man with one hundred sheep = Christ the Good Shepherd. The sheep which wandered away = backsliders from the faith. Finding the lost sheep = Christ saving sinners. Elevating it to his shoulders = uplifting the fallen. The rejoicing of the shepherd = joy in heaven over the saved.” The truth of the matter is that Jesus did not give this parable, (or any other) for us to pick it apart and make up various things that we think are represented. In the story of the Prodigal Son, we do not need to try to represent the father as God waiting anxiously for the son to come home, wondering how he is spending his time, but as any father who loves his lost son, so God loves the lost. The woman who swept the house diligently looking for the coin does not have to represent the Holy Spirit or God (or some other figment of our imagination), as he sweeps away the accumulated traditions or filth of the world, so the lost coin can be found. Nor does the coin need to represent some lost soul that was lost through the carelessness …

Have you ever opened your refrigerator only to discover that something in there has… well …spoiled? You may not be able to identify the source of the odor (at least at first), but it’s all too apparent that some sort of food item has gone bad. And whatever it is, it’s been in there far too long and now it’s soured. So what do you do? Leave the moldy item in the refrigerator? Of course not. You’ve got only one option–clean it out thoroughly. Find the source of the smell, then throw it out, and finally wipe the interior clean. Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but bitterness is sort of like spoiled food in the refrigerator. It’s simply aggravation that has been left in the heart too long and then gone bad. Do you have a problem with bitterness? Empty the refrigerator; find the source of the offending odor, and then dump it in the garbage. Isn’t that what the Bible says…? “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you…” (Ephesians 4:31; cf. Psalm 19:12). Think about it.

Does sin have an “up” side? Satan would have you and me focus exclusively on what he might term the positives of disregarding the Word of the Lord. For instance, when Eve was being seduced by the father of lies (John 8:44), he directed her attention to the supposed benefit of rejecting God’s command while seeking to negate the force and warning God gave them concerning the consequences of sin (See Genesis 3:1-8). As it was, so it is. There is always a price to be paid for sin. Freedom isn’t free. Neither is sin! “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). How much will a man give up for the temporary pleasure sin may supply (Hebrews 11:25)? How terribly sad it is that some are willing to give up their families for sin. Such was the case in Jesus’ immortal parable of the immoral son in Luke 15:11ff. The young man was willing to permanently distance himself from his loving father and the security his stable home life provided. Two other biblical examples are Cain, who slew his brother (Genesis 4:8), and the brothers of Joseph who sold him into slavery because of their envious hearts (Genesis 37:28). How deplorable it is for homes to be broken up when a parent simply walks away and creates permanent separation due to greed or lust (See Proverbs 5:15-23). Some are willing to sacrifice their good health for sin. Good health is such a wonderful blessing from God that is often …

There is a sense in which the church of the Lord could be classified as being Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. This may seem rather strange to a society wherein all ‘Christian’ organizations are quickly placed in one of the aforementioned categories but hardly to be found in all three of them. First, the church of Jesus Christ is Catholic in nature because of the Lord’s design of his called out people. The word catholic simply means universal. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the “house of God,” which is the “church of the living God,” would be inhabited by people from “all nations” (Isaiah 2:1-3; 1 Timothy 3:14-15). Since the Gospel of Christ is to be preached to every creature in this world, it is clearly seen that the church is also universal in nature (Mark 16:15). Especially is this understood when we learn that the Lord adds the saved to his church (Acts 2:38, 41, 47). Jesus died for the sins of the entire world (John 3:16; Hebrews 2:9). He also shed his blood in order that the church might be established (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25). There is to be no restriction placed on the universality of the Gospel and the church of Jesus Christ. Second, the church is Protestant in that the members thereof are to protest and speak against all kinds of sin. The church and the world are opposed to each other. There can be no peace between the two, no more than between Christ and Satan, …

The Israelites were instructed to kill an unblemished lamb, “a male a year old” (Exodus 12:5) on the 14th day of Abib (April), “at the going down of the sun” (Deuteronomy 16:6), and to put the blood on the two side posts and the headpiece of their doors (Exodus 12:7). The lamb was to be roasted and eaten with unleavened bread (“the bread of affliction”) and “bitter herbs” that night (Deuteronomy 16:3; Exodus 12:8). The Lord promised that, as he passed through the land to smite the Egyptians “at midnight,” when “I see the blood, I will pass over you,” and not allow “the destroyer” to enter that house (Exodus 12:13, 23, 29). So the Passover Feast was begun, and the Israelites were commanded to “keep this ordinance in its season from year to year” (Exodus 13:10), saying to their children: “It is the sacrifice of Jehovah’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses” (Exodus 12:26-27). This “day” became a “memorial,” a “feast to Jehovah” (Exodus 12:14) “by an unlimited (olam) ordinance” (Exodus 12:14). But “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), “according to the eternal purpose” (Ephesians 3:11), Jesus appeared as a planned replacement of the Passover lamb, becoming “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Yes, in “the plan of the mystery, hidden for ages in God” (Ephesians 3:9), Jesus became “our Passover Lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). As …

The true strength of a congregation is not found in the large number of people on the roll, the amount of money in the treasury, the host of prominent citizens found among the membership nor the beautiful and expensive building that might be owned by the local church. Such could be in evidence because of a strong, spiritual group of saints, but would not necessarily and always be true. You can read the history of the early church and learn that this statement is accurate. The kingdom of God is manifested in such qualities as “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Please observe that the word “fruit” is singular. This means that all the qualities mentioned are aspects of single life, that is, one that is committed to living for the Lord and governed by the Spirit. While we sometimes pride ourselves in the fact that our attendance has increased and our monetary contributions are at an all time high, we must understand that true strength is to be measured in the spiritual development of individual Christians. Such growth is not necessarily reported in our brotherhood papers as progress reports. For example, a Christian lady related to me that if she worked two days in a week, one day’s salary would be given to the Lord. That’s just wonderful! A brother …

At the stroke of midnight last night, we began a year that none of us have ever seen before. The past year is like the snow that has fallen on the river, it was a moment white, now it is gone forever. We have no idea of what will come our way in this New Year, for we are not privileged to see even tomorrow. But while we do not know what the year holds, we do know him who holds the year, do we not? Some things will not change. There will be cold and heat, rain and shine, bursting of spring, the growth of summer, the retiring of fall to be followed by the sleep of winter, just as has been the case every year since the world began, and will be until it is no more. God promised in the long ago, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). So far as the changing of the seasons are concerned, we can utterly depend on the Word of God, as we can in any other area of life. However, there are many other things about the next twelve months that we do not know. We do not know if we will be faced with bliss or tragedy, pleasure or pain. This very well could be the last year we will ever live on this earth. Consequently, we need to take the advice of the …

“Churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16). In this passage Paul is speaking of a collection of congregations, each of which is a local church (assembly) of Christ. This term shows ownership. Those local congregations (churches) were his by right of divine ownership as they belonged to him. To us the designation “church(es) of Christ” is entirely proper and scriptural, but it is not a proper name. Thus, to speak of “Church of Christ congregations,” “Church of Christ preachers,” etc., is to take a scriptural designation and use it in an unscriptural way. As Hugh Fulford has so well noted, “Christians no more constitute a ‘Church of Christ’ congregation than they constitute a ‘Church of God’ congregation or a ‘Body of Christ’ congregation! All of these terms carry equal weight and equal meaning in the New Testament” (Gospel Advocate, 10/7/82, p. 596). “Churches of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13-14). This designation also shows ownership. They are congregations (assemblies, churches) of God, who is Owner of all things. Eddie Cloer wrote, “If the church is designated in the New Testament as the church of Christ, we would also expect it to be referred to as the church of God, for Jesus said that He and His Father are one (John 10:30).” (What Is “The Church”? p. 101) “The Kingdom of God” (1 Thessalonians 1:3-5). This is one of the most frequently employed designations of the church in the New Testament (some 68 times). It designates a function of the church in purpose, design and action. …

Archaeology is the scientific study of the life and culture of past peoples, as by the excavation of ancient cities, buildings, artifacts and such. As one archaeologist put it, “No one else could get so excited by someone else’s trash!” And yet, sifting through the debris and evidence of civilizations long gone, one is able to learn much about life in ancient times. The trash, belongings and reverberations of ancient civilizations left behind have a story to tell. While worship is expressed outwardly, it begins and is offered from within. Just sitting in a building where worship is happening doesn’t mean everyone in it has worshipped. Of course, God knows our hearts, even if we can hide our thoughts and motives from others. Sometimes, however, you might learn what was going on inside a person, much like the archaeologist, by examining what has been left behind. Of all the experiences that any building has seen where people worship, it sometimes makes you wonder what it would say if it could talk. “Just look at all the bulletins crammed into the songbook racks, and left on the pews. Have they truly taken note of those mentioned in it that are ill and need prayer? Have they considered the good works promoted in it, and chosen some way to be involved? Did they think about the article written in it, and if there was someone they could pass it on to, who needed its encouragement or warnings? Why did they leave it …