August 18, 2016

old paths by Gary Rose



Once in awhile, I see a restored 1956 Pontiac and think- What a great car that was! Then, I think some more and I remember a few dents and even some rust. But, oh, how I loved that car (and my family as well). Those days are gone, but the memories of them still remain, so I hold onto them fiercely.

The same is true of faith and trust in God... 

Jeremiah, Chapter 6 (WEB)
  16  Thus says Yahweh, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. ...

With God there is comfort and rest; without God is only foolishness.

ps. The photo was taken in 1969, my wife was only 19 and my oldest daughter was about a year old. 

Bible Reading August 18 by Gary Rose


Bible Reading  August 18 (WEB)

Aug. 18
Job 9-12

Job 9:1 Then Job answered,
Job 9:2 "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand.
Job 9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
Job 9:5 He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
Job 9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
Job 9:7 He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.
Job 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
Job 9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 9:10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
Job 9:11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't perceive him.
Job 9:12 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?'
Job 9:13 "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?
Job 9:15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.
Job 9:17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
Job 9:18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'
Job 9:20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life.
Job 9:22 "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
Job 9:25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good,
Job 9:26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
Job 9:27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'
Job 9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.
Job 9:29 I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
Job 9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.
Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
Job 9:33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
Job 9:34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
Job 9:35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

Job 10:1 "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 10:2 I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Job 10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Job 10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
Job 10:5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years,
Job 10:6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
Job 10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
Job 10:8 " 'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
Job 10:9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
Job 10:10 Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Job 10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
Job 10:12 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
Job 10:13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:
Job 10:14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
Job 10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
Job 10:16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.
Job 10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
Job 10:18 " 'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
Job 10:19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Job 10:20 Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
Job 10:21 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
Job 10:22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.' "

Job 11:1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
Job 11:2 "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?
Job 11:3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?
Job 11:4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.'
Job 11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
Job 11:6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
Job 11:7 "Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
Job 11:8 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
Job 11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
Job 11:10 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
Job 11:11 For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.
Job 11:12 An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey's colt.
Job 11:13 "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
Job 11:14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
Job 11:15 Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
Job 11:16 for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it as waters that are passed away.
Job 11:17 Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
Job 11:18 You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
Job 11:19 Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. Yes, many shall court your favor.
Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

Job 12:1 Then Job answered,
Job 12:2 "No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
Job 12:4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
Job 12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
Job 12:6 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their God in their hands.
Job 12:7 "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
Job 12:9 Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this,
Job 12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
Job 12:11 Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
Job 12:12 With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
Job 12:13 "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
Job 12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
Job 12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
Job 12:17 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
Job 12:18 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
Job 12:19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
Job 12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
Job 12:21 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
Job 12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
Job 12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
Job 12:24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.


Aug. 17, 18
Acts 27

Act 27:1 When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.
Act 27:2 Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
Act 27:3 The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself.
Act 27:4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
Act 27:5 When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
Act 27:6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board.
Act 27:7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and had come with difficulty opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us further, we sailed under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone.
Act 27:8 With difficulty sailing along it we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
Act 27:9 When much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by, Paul admonished them,
Act 27:10 and said to them, "Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."
Act 27:11 But the centurion gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things which were spoken by Paul.
Act 27:12 Because the haven was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised going to sea from there, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter there, which is a port of Crete, looking northeast and southeast.
Act 27:13 When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to shore.
Act 27:14 But before long, a stormy wind beat down from shore, which is called Euroclydon.
Act 27:15 When the ship was caught, and couldn't face the wind, we gave way to it, and were driven along.
Act 27:16 Running under the lee of a small island called Clauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat.
Act 27:17 After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along.
Act 27:18 As we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw things overboard.
Act 27:19 On the third day, they threw out the ship's tackle with their own hands.
Act 27:20 When neither sun nor stars shone on us for many days, and no small storm pressed on us, all hope that we would be saved was now taken away.
Act 27:21 When they had been long without food, Paul stood up in the middle of them, and said, "Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss.
Act 27:22 Now I exhort you to cheer up, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
Act 27:23 For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve,
Act 27:24 saying, 'Don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'
Act 27:25 Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
Act 27:26 But we must run aground on a certain island."
Act 27:27 But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land.
Act 27:28 They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms. After a little while, they took soundings again, and found fifteen fathoms.
Act 27:29 Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.
Act 27:30 As the sailors were trying to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they would lay out anchors from the bow,
Act 27:31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these stay in the ship, you can't be saved."
Act 27:32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.
Act 27:33 While the day was coming on, Paul begged them all to take some food, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing.
Act 27:34 Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads."
Act 27:35 When he had said this, and had taken bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it, and began to eat.
Act 27:36 Then they all cheered up, and they also took food.
Act 27:37 In all, we were two hundred seventy-six souls on the ship.
Act 27:38 When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
Act 27:39 When it was day, they didn't recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay with a beach, and they decided to try to drive the ship onto it.
Act 27:40 Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time untying the rudder ropes. Hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.
Act 27:41 But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.
Act 27:42 The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape.
Act 27:43 But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land;
Act 27:44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. So it happened that they all escaped safely to the land.

Lift up your eyes! by Roy Davison


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/Liftupyoureyes.html

Lift up your eyes!
What are Biblical Principles for Effective Evangelism?
What is evangelism?

Although the noun “evangelism” is not found in the Bible, “evangelist” appears three times and has the same root in Greek as “gospel” which means “good news.” Thus, an evangelist is a “gospel preacher.”
The verb form of this Greek word (“evangelize”) is used 53 times, and is correctly translated as “preach the gospel” for which there is also a separate Greek phrase of three words “preach the gospel” which is found 11 times. Thus “evangelism” is gospel preaching. “Preach” means to “proclaim publically,” so evangelism is public proclamation of the gospel.
Benevolent work is not evangelism. Paul did not go to Corinth and set up a soup kitchen to feed the poor. Christians should of course do good works, but that is not evangelism. Evangelism is the preaching of the gospel.
What is effective evangelism?
Gospel preaching is effective when people hear the word of God. “Preach the word” is another phrase found many times in the N.T. in addition to “preach the gospel.”
Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Evangelism is effective when people hear the word.
Notice what happened when Paul preached at Ephesus: “And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:8-10).
Paul taught daily, not just one day each week. We need to find ways to teach daily, for example by conducting Bible studies in the homes of non-Christians. The Internet is another way, since Internet material can be consulted any time of the day or night.
What were the results of Paul’s teaching? All who dwelt in Asia (which we now call Asia Minor) heard the word of the Lord! Did they all become Christians? No, but they heard the word. As Demetrius the silversmith complained, “Throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands” (Acts 19:26). So Demeterius had also heard the message. He did not like it. But he knew what Paul was preaching.
We want people to be saved, but the effectiveness of evangelism does not depend on how many become Christians but on how many hear the word. In the parable of the sower, the seed was broadcast, but only those with “a noble and good heart” bore fruit (Luke 8:15). The response is not our job. That depends on the heart of the hearer and on God who gives the increase. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6, 7).
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors” (John 4:35-38).
Crops do not pop out of the ground and bear fruit the moment seeds are planted! We may not get discouraged when there is little immediate response. Our job is to let everyone hear the gospel.
Jesus tells us, “Lift up your eyes!” Are we preaching the gospel to people who live close to our meeting place? That is good. But we need to lift up our eyes! Are we preaching to the whole city? That is better.

In 1964 an evangelistic campaign was held in The Hague. Former missionary, Bill Richardson, came from the U.S. to preach every night for two weeks. During the week before the meeting and during the two weeks, workers from all congregations in Holland plus two brethren from Belgium made about 9000 door- to-door visits inviting people to attend. Two-hundred thousand folders were distributed. A three-
week series of newspaper ads was run in the city’s three major newspapers. Large posters were placed throughout the city and large banners were placed at strategic locations.
The first evening 44 were present including 26 visitors. Attendance built up until it reached a high of 60 on the last night. Many visitors returned night after night. About 100 different visitors attended and 50 were enrolled in a Bible correspondence course. Eleven were baptized and two placed membership1. The congregation, that had 13 members before the campaign, doubled in size.
This is a good example of preaching to a whole city. But if our eyes see only our own city, we are still not looking high enough. Are we preaching to the whole country? That is better.
How can this be done? Going is required. Jesus and his disciples went from village to village preaching the word. In our time mass media are available for sowing the seed, but going is still required to do essential in-depth study with those who respond.
In a men’s meeting at Roeselare, Belgium in 1970 we discussed how we could preach the gospel to all of Flanders. At that time there were two chains of advertising papers that were placed free of charge in every mailbox in Flanders. To advertise a Bible correspondence course, we decided to place a want-ad each month in one and a quarter million papers that went into every home in Flanders. With outside financial help, we placed the ad every week for several months.
For follow-up we agreed that since I worked full time and could drive longer distances, I would take care of visiting people who responded in distant places and other brethren would study with people closer. From those ads I was able to set up home Bible studies almost every night of the week, sometimes driving from two to four hours each way. New congregations in Antwerp and Boortmeerbeek resulted from newspaper ads.
Each summer for five years, about two-hundred thousand enrolment cards for a Bible correspondence course were distributed door-to-door throughout Flanders by groups of students who came from Canada. The congregation in Hasselt resulted from card distribution.
Although mass media gets the message to many people, personal acquaintance is always the best source of contacts. Hans and Ans van Erp first learned about the church from friends in Germany who had recently become Christians. Hans and Ans contacted Jim Krumrei and attended some gospel meetings in Amsterdam. Because we lived closer (at Wellen, Belgium), Jim introduced them to us and we started studying the Scriptures together. They were baptized in November of 1976 and started worshiping in their home at Asten. They taught the gospel to their neighbor, and in time they formed the core of a new congregation at Eindhoven.
When it had been several years since ads had been placed in all of Flanders, and since I did not have funds to do it myself, I asked various congregations in Flanders if they would help bear the expense. Want-ads were placed again in one and a quarter million homes throughout Flanders, once in October of 1978 and three times in January of 1979. Three people were baptized who responded to those ads, including Willy de Groote.
But is the whole country enough? Are we preaching the gospel to the whole world? Now, we have lifted our eyes high enough! That is what Jesus tells us to do! Preach to everyone in the whole world!
Impossible? Not with God’s help! We need to think of ways to do our share. Some need to go and others need to send. Each person and each congregation must help according to ability.
Now with the European Union we can preach to 500 million people in countries, many of which were closed to evangelism just a few years ago! People can go as missionaries. Groups can go to help small congregations in other countries conduct evangelistic campaigns.
Ghanaian Christians who have emigrated have formed new congregations and have joined existing congregations in many countries.
Internet teaching goes to all the world. I preach each month to less than 100 people, divided into four small congregations in Belgium and Holland. I prepare my lessons, however, with the same care as though I were preaching to 20,000 people, the number who read or listen to my sermons on the Internet each year. Each day about 1000 people from all parts of the world read lessons by various brethren in the Old Paths Archive. I publish websites in English, Dutch, French, German and Russian. All together, they get about a million visits each year. This is a very small part of what is being done. Thousands of Christians and churches of Christ are using the Internet to preach the gospel to the whole world!
These are just a few examples to help us lift up our eyes. Evangelism is effective when we preach the word to our neighborhood, our city, our country and to the whole world. God will give the increase.

What Biblical principles apply to evangelism?
We can learn by examining how Jesus and His apostles preached in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts. In this lesson only a few points can be mentioned.

We must preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2).
The true gospel of Christ must be preached, not a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Savior of the world. He died for our sins and rose from the dead. There is salvation in no other name (Acts 4:10-12). We preach “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2), God’s gift of grace for the salvation of mankind.

We must please God not man.
Paul said, “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). God has told us to preach. He is the one we must please, not man. We must tell people what theyneed to hear, not what they want to hear.
Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32). A call to repentance involves the condemnation of sin, and most people do not like to have their sins condemned! When Paul “reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you’” (Acts 24:25).
Clear preaching makes many people angry. At Lystra they praised Barnabas and Paul when they thought they were their own gods, but after Paul told them, we “preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God” (Acts 14:15) they stoned him and left him for dead.
Most people have a wrong idea about how one can be saved. So, in addition to faith, we need to emphasize repentance, confession and baptism.
Most people think they have been baptized, when they have not been baptized. Thus the nature and purpose of Biblical baptism must be emphasized.
Most people worship in vain “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9), so we must emphasize Scriptural worship.
Most people have a wrong idea about the church. They think they may belong to a denomination. Thus, the evils of denominationalism and the identity of the Lord’s church must be emphasized. This will make people angry, but God will be glorified, and those who love the truth will be saved.
Although our preaching is addressed to everyone, it is designed for the few truth seekers who want to please God and are willing to repent.
A want-ad that received much response in Flanders said, “Being a Christian means to follow Christ, not to be bound to a human church organization. Request 8 lessons by correspondence.” (In your advertising, by the way, it is good to offer something people can request, such as a tract or a course, so you can get the names and addresses of people who are interested.)

We must adjust ourselves to those we teach.
Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Paul adjusted himself culturally to his hearers. Of course he does notmean that we should compromise with cultural evils. But if things in our own culture form a barrier to preaching, we should give them up. And if adopting certain aspects of the culture of our hearers will help them accept the message, we should do so.
Yet we must understand that the gospel, by its very nature, will cause culture-based opposition. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:21-24).

We need to learn languages.
Since we must preach to everyone in the whole world, we must learn languages. If we have immigrated from another country, we need to learn the local language so we can teach our neighbors. If we go to another country as a missionary, we need to learn the language.
That being said, in the same way that Greek was widely known in N.T. times and could be used to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, English is widely known today and can be used to spread the gospel throughout the world. But that is no excuse for not learning local languages!

We must teach faithful men who can teach others.
Paul told Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
The spread of the gospel in Ghana is a wonderful example of this.
Missionaries from Nigeria visited Ghana around 1957. John Gaidoo took a correspondence course and became a Christian. He started teaching others and went to Nigeria for Bible study. Traveling and working at his own expense, he baptized fifty-five people and established three congregations before his death in 1961.
In August of 1961 two missionaries went to Ghana, Jerry Reynolds and Dewayne Davenport. When they left in 1964, just three years later, fifteen congregations had been established. Samuel Obeng, who translated for them, became a Christian and began preaching the gospel. At Kumasi the Ghana Bible College was established to train men to preach. At least four other schools have been established since. Ghanaian preachers have taken the word to the whole country. World Bible School correspondence courses have contributed to growth. By 1984 the church of Christ was the fastest growing religious group in Ghana. Now there are more than 300 preachers and 2000 congregations. Total membership exceeds 100,000. There is a church of Christ in most villages.

The Nsawam Road church in Accra, with 1200 members, has established more than 40 congregations in the last 20 years and has sent missionaries to Mali, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Senegal and Togo. I had the privilege of presenting five lectures there in 1988.

We must pray.
We need God’s help. We are weak. He is all-powerful. Jesus tells us: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2)2.

What have we learned?
Evangelism is gospel preaching. It is effective when everyone hears the word. We must preach daily. We must lift up our eyes and preach to our neighbors, our city, our country and the whole world. We must preach the word, calling people to repentance so they can be saved by the grace of God. Our aim must be to please God, not man. We can learn how to preach from the N.T. We must adjust ourselves to those we teach, including learning their language. We must teach faithful men who can teach others. And we must pray. Amen.

Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Footnotes:

1 Dutch evangelist Henk Rog was one of those baptized.

2 Paul asked the brethren: Pray “for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

The Calling of the Apostles by Eric Lyons, M.Min.


http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=2823&b=Luke

The Calling of the Apostles

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Q.

Did Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer to the same calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John?

A.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus summoning Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave their fishing nets behind and become fishers of men (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11). However, whereas Matthew and Mark’s accounts of the event are nearly identical, Luke positions the account at a different location in His record and reports several other details that Matthew and Mark exclude.
Matthew and Mark both record the calling  immediately following their accounts of the temptations of Christ and the beginning of His ministry (Matthew 4:1-17; Mark 1:12-15) and before His healing of the demon possessed and the afflicted, including Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 4:23-25; 8:14-15; Mark 1:21-31). Luke positions Jesus’ calling of these two sets of brothers after Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and a demon-possessed man (Luke 4:31-41). Furthermore, Luke includes several details in his record that Matthew and Mark omit: (1) The fishermen had left their boats and were cleaning their nets (Luke 5:2); (2) A multitude surrounded Jesus as He approached the fishermen (5:1); (3) Jesus taught the multitudes from Peter’s boat (5:3); (4) Jesus instructed the fishermen to go to the deep part of the lake (5:4); (5) The fishermen’s catch was great (5:6-7); (6) Peter confessed his sinfulness (5:8); etc.
Just as it is possible that Jesus cleansed the temple twice (see Lyons, 2004), it is very possible that Jesus may have told His disciples twice that they would be fishers of men: the first time recorded by Matthew (4:18-22) and Mark (1:16-20), and then a second time recorded by Luke (5:1-11). Consider also that even prior to Matthew and Mark’s accounts of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew to become fishers of men, these two fishermen had already previously “followed” Jesus (John 1:35-42; seeLyons, 2007).
So what is the answer to the question? Did the synoptic writers all refer to the same calling in these passages? Although I tend to believe that these are two different callings, with Matthew and Mark recording an earlier encounter, and Luke a later one, one simply cannot be certain about the matter. Bible writers often arranged things differently because of their different purposes in writing. What’s more, although Luke includes several more details in his account of the calling, it could be that he, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was merely providing supplemental material. In either case, we can be sure that no discrepancies exist among these accounts—only differences that we would expect to find from inspired, independent writers.

REFERENCES

Lyons, Eric (2004), “Chronology and the Cleansing of the Temple,” [On-line], URL:http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/528.
Lyons, Eric (2007), “When Did Jesus Call the First Apostles?” [On-line], URL:http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/3344.

5 Reasons Racism is Ridiculous by Eric Lyons, M.Min.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=4171

5 Reasons Racism is Ridiculous

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Atheism has no rational basis upon which to call anything objectively just or unjust, including racism. If mankind is merely the result of billions of years of mindless evolution and is nothing more than animals (as atheistic evolution contends; Marchant, 2008), then man can logically make evolutionary-based racist remarks that are consistent with the godless General Theory of Evolution. In fact, Charles Darwin’s “Bulldog,” atheist Thomas Huxley, did just that in his 1865 essay, “Emancipation—Black and White.” He alleged, for example, “no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less superior, of the white man.” In truth, if there is no God, mankind could just as easily look down upon and mistreat others (whom he deems are less evolved), as he does roaches, rats, and orangutans (Lyons, 2011;Lyons and Butt, 2009). Those who are Christians, however, logically contend that since (1) God exists, and (2) the Bible is the Word of God, racism is morally wrong—and completely ridiculous for the following five reasons.

#1—ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

Not only did God specially create Adam and Eve in His image and vastly different than all other living things on Earth (Genesis 1:26-27), since then, every human being has been made according to God’s likeness. While preaching to Gentiles in Athens thousands of years after the Creation, Paul, a Jew, did not contend that man was once the offspring of God; he said, “We are” the offspring of God (Acts 17:28-29). [The Greek word esmen in 17:28 is the first person plural ofeimi (to be). This recognition of being God’s offspring served as a basis for his argument, as the next verse indicates: “Being then the offspring of God….”]
James wrote: “But the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not so to be” (3:8-9, ASV, emp. added). [The English verb “are made” (ASV) derives from the Greek gegonotas, which is the perfect participle of the verb ginomai. The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe an action brought to completion in the past, but whose effects are felt in the present (Mounce, 1993, p. 219).] The thrust of the expression, “who are made after the likeness of God” (Greek kath’ homoisosin theou gegonotas), is that humans in the past have been made according to the likeness of God, and they are still bearers of that likeness. For this reason, praising the Creator at one moment, while hurling unkind, racist remarks at another time, is terribly inconsistent in a most unChristlike way. All human beings (of every color and ethnicity) are divine image bearers.

#2—GOD ONLY MADE ONE RACE—THE HUMAN RACE

Although people come in different colors, shapes, and sizes, and although they often associate more closely with those whom they find more similar in ways to themselves, the fact is, there is only one human race. Racism is ridiculous because we are all related, not by means of naturalistic evolution, but by special Creation. No one person is inherently of more value than another person. We are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve—the specially created couple whom God made thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:20). What’s more, we are also sons and daughters of Noah and his wife, through whom the Earth was repopulated after the worldwide Flood of Genesis 6-8.
As the apostle Paul informed the idolatrous Athenians 2,000 years ago, God “made from oneblood every nation to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Adam and Eve had children, who had children, who had children…who had you and me. We are all physically related. We are all of one race—the one human race. We are all (as modern science classifies us) of the same human species—Homo sapiens. We all trace our ancestry back to Noah, and then back to Adam. We may have different skin color, facial features, hair texture, etc., but we are all brothers and sisters! We are family—a part of the same human race.

#3—GOD DOESN’T PLAY FAVORITES…AND NEITHER SHOULD WE

Although God is omnipotent, He is actually color-blind. His all-loving, perfectly just nature will not allow Him to love someone more than another based upon the color of a person’s skin or the nation in which one was born. Similar to how God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), God cannot show favoritism.
Moses wrote: “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19). Peter said: “God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:34-35, emp. added). According to Paul, God “does not receive a face” (Galatians 2:6, NASB literal footnote rendering); that is, “God does not judge by external appearance” (Galatians 2:6, NIV).
In short, it is impossible to hold “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, (the Lord) of glory, with respect of persons” (James 2:1, ASV). The Christian’s care and concern for his fellow brother by Creation and by Christ is to be color-blind.

#4—LOVE IS NOT RACIST

Whereas racism is fueled by earthly ignorance and hate, the Christian is filled with the fruit of Heaven’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The child of God is directed by an omniscient, omni-benevolent Father Who expects His children to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). To the Philippians Paul wrote, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (1:9-11, emp. added). 
In two of the more challenging sections of Scripture, Paul wrote: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6, ESV). “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another…. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…. Repay no one evil for evil…. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:9-18).
No Christian can be a racist, and any racist who claims to be a Christian is, in truth, a liar. As the apostle John explained, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).
“[W]hatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor [regardless of his or her color and ethnicity—EL]. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:9-10, NIV).

#5—JESUS IS EVERYONE’S SAVIOR

In one of the earliest Messianic prophecies, God promised Abraham that it would be through One of his descendants that “all the nations” and “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22:18; 12:3, emp. added). It certainly was an honor for Abraham’s family to be chosen as the one through whom the Savior of the world would come, but Jesus did not come only to save the Jews. God did not enact a plan of salvation to save one particular color of people. He did not send Jesus to take away the sins of a particular ethnic group or nation. Jesus is the answer to the whole world’s sin problem; He is “the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but thatthe world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17, emp. added).
“God…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4, emp. added). For this reason, “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations” (Luke 24:47, emp. added)—to people of all colors, in all cultures, in whatever countries.
The Gospel “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16, emp. added). And when individuals in the world “obey the Gospel” (2 Thessalonians 1:8; see Lyons and Butt, n.d.) and are added to the Lord’s Church by God Himself (Acts 2:47), we all become one in Christ Jesus. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:29).

CONCLUSION

I do not claim to be an expert on race relations, but I know that some people genuinely struggle with the sin of racism. Some struggle with being the recipients of racism, which in turn may cause them to be tempted to react in racist ways. Others struggle with cowardly silence as they tolerate the sin of racism in their homes, churches, schools, businesses, and communities. Still others seem so preoccupied with advancing their own racial agenda that they appear to hastily interpret most everything as a racial problem, when most things are not.
Jesus once taught the hypocrites of His day, saying, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). May God help us to see as He sees: “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). What a better world this would be if everyone realized the foolishness of judging a book by its cover. Racism really is ridiculous.

REFERENCES

Huxley, Thomas (1865), “Emancipation—Black and White,” http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE3/B&W.html.
Lyons, Eric (2011), “The Moral Argument for the Existence of God,” Apologetics Press,http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=4101&topic=95.
Lyons, Eric and Kyle Butt (no date), Receiving the Gift of Salvation (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), http://www.apologeticspress.org/pdfs/e-books_pdf/Receiving%20the%20Gift%20of%20Salvation.pdf.
Lyons, Eric and Kyle Butt (2009), “Darwin, Evolution, and Racism,” Apologetics Press,http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=2654.
Marchant, Jo (2008), “We Should Act Like the Animals We Are,” New Scientist, 200[2678]:44-45, October 18-24.
Mounce, William D. (1993), Basics of Biblical Greek (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).