"I Will Build My Church"

In Genesis 12:1-3, we read of God’s promise to Abram that, in him, “all the nations of the earth would be blessed.”  In Genesis 17:5, we read this: “Neither shall thy name any more be Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.”

            In Exodus, we read of Abraham’s descendants (the Israelites) coming out of Egypt and living under the law of Moses.  In Galatians 3:24-25, speaking of this old law of Moses, the apostle Paul wrote, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But, after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”  The law was fulfilled and nailed to the cross of Jesus the Christ.  Colossians 2:14 says, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.”

            In the Gospel accounts, we read of the lineage of Jesus.  Matthew 1:17 says, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away in Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”  Later, regarding the birth of Jesus the Christ, Matthew 1:22-24 reads, “Now all of this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with Child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is interpreted ‘God with us’.”

            Also in the Gospel accounts, we read of the teaching of Jesus.  In John 17:8, Jesus prayed to His Father, “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest Me; and they [the apostles] have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that thou didst send Me.”  After Jesus was baptized by John, in Matthew 3:17, we read “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’.”

            As Jesus began His earthly ministry, in Matthew 4:17, we read Him teach “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  In verse 23, we read that “Jesus went all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”  In Luke 9:27, Jesus said, “But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God.”

            And, in Colossians 1:13-14, Paul says, “[God]Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

            In Mark 16:15-16, Jesus sent His apostles out with this command: “Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

            The GOSPEL (which literally means “good news”) of the kingdom is the message of eternal life that Jesus received from God the Father.  In Acts 2:41, we read where 3,000 were baptized in response to the gospel being preached.  In Acts 2:47, God added these to the Church (ekklesia, meaning “a called out, an assembly, or congregation”).  To what church were they added?  Could it have been the church Jesus spoke of in Matthew 16:18 when He said, “I will build My Church.”  The answer has to be YES!  There is no other church mentioned in the New Testament.  None of the churches we know of today (save His true Church) were in existence until 606AD at the earliest.  Speaking of Jesus, Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12).

--Eugene McNabb

“Ferraris Are American Cars!”

            For some reason, I was recently thinking about my time in the first grade.  Granted, that was a long time ago and most of my memories are fuzzy at best.  However, one thing I do vividly remember is the one cool thing we had in that classroom (aside from me, of course).  It was a set of playing cards.  But, these were no ordinary cards; these playing cards had pictures and statistics of various fancy and exotic cars from around the world on them.  I would pray for rainy days so we wouldn’t have to go outside for recess and so I could stay in and just pour over my beloved car cards.  This is when my love for the Ferrari 250 GTO began. 

            I’m sure that bringing all of this up seems odd.  But I do it for a reason, to tell this story.  One rainy day, when I was re-examining my car cards (specifically, the one of the Ferrari 250 GTO), a classmate of mine told me that Ferrari’s were made in Italy.  I firmly disagreed with him, saying that they were American cars.  This is when he pointed to the part of the card which told about the car’s country of origin and, sure enough, it said “Italy.”  I still didn’t believe it.  So, I looked through the rest of the car cards, picking out all of the Ferrari cards.  And, to my astonishment, my beloved car cards had mislabeled every single Ferrari!  So, I brought them to the teacher and told her about this grave error.  And, she too informed me that Ferrari’s were made in Italy.  Severely unnerved by all of this, I went home and laid my plight before the supreme authority in the land, the knower of all things and one who makes all things right, my dad.  And, it was only after he told me that the cards, my friend, and my teacher were all right that I began to entertain the notion that I had been so wrong for so long.  And, eventually, I came to accept the truth.

            Now, obviously, I didn’t say all of this to just relate some amusing story from my childhood.  I said all of this to illustrate a very relevant point to soul-winners today.  There are a lot of people in the world and, more specifically, in our lives who just believe things which are completely erroneous about what the Bible says.  The time of year in which we are now entering is a perfect example of this.  So many people believe that the Bible speaks of things like “Fat Tuesday” and “Ash Wednesday” and “Easter Sunday” when it clearly does not.  And, when (as a friend) you point the truth out to them, that the New Testament only says to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day every first day of the week (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 20:7) and that treating man-made holidays the same as this one true Biblical holy day is sinful (Galatians 4:10-11; Matthew 15:8-9), many will simply choose not to believe.  They may even look at what the Scriptures clearly teach and still deny the truth.  Sadly, I am afraid that so many people will accept the truth only after they hear it from God the Father.  But, by then, it will be too late (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

            So, what can/should/must we do?  Three things.  One, we can have faith in God and trust in the power of His holy word (Isaiah 55:8-11; Romans 1:16-17).  Two, we should pray for doors to be opened (Colossians 4:2-4) and hearts to be softened (Luke 8:4-15) for & at the preaching of the Gospel.  And, Three, we must go into all the world, preaching the Gospel that “King Jesus Saves!” to every creature of every nation (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16), whether they immediately believe it or not.  This is what we can, should, and must do to help the lost learn, believe, and obey the truth to their salvation and to God’s glory.  Let us resolve ourselves to do these things, praying for & encouraging each other in these things, as we all strive to glorify God.

~Curtis Carwile

Advertising Sin

I’m not sure if you were aware of it or not but, this past Sunday was the Super Bowl.  And, for the seventh straight year, it was the highest rated event in television history with over 111 million viewers.  The fact is that people love to watch the Super Bowl.  People who don’t even like football will tune in to watch it (this described me for years).  And, while many people tune in to watch the game, many more people tune in just to watch the commercials because they are spectacular!  People love these commercials.  And, already, the most popular commercial of the 2013 Super Bowl was the Budweiser “Clydesdale” ad.  People love this commercial because it is “so heart-warming.”  And, this is the way many Christians feel about it; they love it.

            Why do I bring up this particular ad for our consideration?  I do so to illustrate a point.  When you boil it all down, what is the ad?  It’s a beer commercial.  Despite its “heart-warming” story, it’s an advertisement for sin.

            We know that drunkenness and drinking “just one drink” are sins.  In Ephesians 5:18, we are told not to be filled with wine.  In Galatians 5:19-21, we see that drunkenness is a work of the flesh and a damnable offense.  In First Peter 4:3-4, we see that ungodly people engage in drunkenness, social drinking, and casual drinking and that this should never describe the actions of Christians.  In Proverbs 20:1, we see that it is one of the most unwise/foolish things a person can (and shouldn’t) do.  And, while many Christians know these things, many Christians still loved that commercial.

            You see, this is the way Satan works.  Very rarely will he come to us with horns and a pitchfork, breathing fire and whipping his tail at us in a menacing manner.  Rather, how does the Tempter most often appear to people who care about what is good?  In Second Corinthians 11:14, we are told that people fall into his traps because he disguises himself as “an angel of light.”  Satan puts on the appearance of goodness (like he did with Eve, Genesis 3:1-6).  He gets people on his side with “heart-warming” images and messages.  He tricks people into believing that sin is a good thing (Isaiah 5:20) and that holiness is just “being too uptight” or “no fun” or “intolerant.”

            So often time, we think that Satan is openly attacking us with persecution.  Yet, the fact of the matter is that he is very subtly influencing us in ways we may not even see or recognize (“How can such a heart-warming tale be bad?”).  Satan knows what he’s doing and we need to always be SOBER & vigilant (1 Peter 5:8) and always ready to resist him at every turn (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7).

            The Devil is out to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8).  However, God does not want us to be destroyed, but rather wants us to be saved from the Death which our sin earns us (Romans 6:23a; John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9).  So, let us not be fooled by the trickery of the Devil.  But, let us always looked to God and obey the truth as is fitting for those who love the Lord.

~Curtis Carwile