THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume IV
January 2009
Number 3
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
PREACHERS OF
ERROR
The preaching of error is a very serious
problem. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You’re thinking, “We
already know that!” Before you lay this article aside, please consider the
thoughts it contains.
Paul in writing to the churches in
Paul continues by saying that should an
apostle or an angel from heaven preach unto them any gospel other than what was
preached unto them, they would be anathema. He then directs the same curse
toward any man who would preach any gospel other than what they had received (Galatians
1:8-9).
Paul then affirms that the gospel which
he preached to them was not after man and that he did not receive it from man,
nor was he taught it by man, but that it came to him through the revelation of
Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-2:10).
Thus far, we have learned that a
distorted gospel can be preached and that it will affect the relationship of
those who preach and practice the perverted gospel with those who stand upon
the true gospel.
John writes in his second epistle that “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not
abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the
teaching has both the Father and the Son” (v. 9). The one who is not content to remain within the confines of
Christ’s doctrine, but will, in teaching and/or in action over step those
bounds, is separated from God the Father. God takes this matter of
teaching the true gospel, as opposed to a distorted gospel, very seriously.
John did not stop here. He proceeds
further by telling Christians, “If anyone
comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your
house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked
works” (2 John 1:10-11). The false teacher is such an
abomination to God that Christians need to be careful they do not do anything
that can be construed as agreement with him least God hold that Christian
accountable for the evil of the false teacher.
Early in my preaching work, I was in a
business meeting of a work where I had located, when a brother introduced for
discussion whether or not we should continue a radio program which we had begun
three months earlier. He had done his homework. He quoted how much money we had
spent and then asked me if we had had any visible results, to which I responded
in the negative. He proposed that we drop the program being we had spent X
amount of money without any return.
After some discussion, he began to praise
a Christian Church preacher who had the time slot previous to ours. What
happened after that is a little fuzzy. I remember engaging him in a discussion
about false teachers. I think I remember standing up once, maybe twice, OK
three times. I also remember two of the brethren coming to me after the
meeting; one asked if he could drive me home while the other offered to drive
my car. They were afraid I was too upset to drive.
My youth and inexperience caused me to
react outwardly in a manner I would not react today. However, I have not
changed my position on false teachers. I continue to believe that to offer
praise for a false teacher will cause a Christian to partake in his evil works.
If not why not?
False teachers don’t wear a sign that
says, “FALSE TEACHER”. They often appear as if they are ministers of
righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15). John warns in his first epistle “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have
gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). It behooves faithful
Christians to examine those who present themselves as ministers of
righteousness. Peter, in his second epistle, devotes the whole of chapter two
to describe the false prophet. I would recommend that you study that chapter
carefully while keeping in mind that they often appear as ministers of
righteousness.
Since the beginning of the
Don’t give praise too hastily. It might
be that the teacher for which you hold such great esteem is a false teacher.
Praise given in haste will condemn the soul when there is no repentance and in
matters of this nature, pride makes repentance extremely hard.
The Editor’s
Page
“We often learn
the most from our children. Some time ago a friend of mine punished his
3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight,
and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under
the tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next
morning and said, ‘This is for you, Daddy.’
He was
embarrassed by his earlier over-reaction, but his anger flared again when he
found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, ‘Don’t you know that when you
give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside of it?’ The
little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Oh Daddy, it’s
not empty. I blew kisses into the box. They are all for you, Daddy.’
The father was
crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness.
My friend told me that he kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he
was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember
the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real
sense, each of us as parents has been given a gold container filled with
unconditional love and kisses from our children. There is no more precious
possession anyone could hold.” (Author
unknown)
Unconditional love is the most precious
love of all. Unconditional love is not based on whether love is reciprocated to
the one giving it. It is given without thinking, “will I be loved in return?”
Unconditional love is love given with no strings attached.
Of all the God-like attributes a person
can possess, unconditional love is the one most characteristic of God. John
says God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son, that men might have
eternal life (John 3:16). He points to the unconditional love of God
by showing that though man did not love God, God loved man and sent his Son to
be the propitiation for man’s sins (1 John 4:10). Hence, when we attain
to the love commanded by the Lord, we do so because He first loved us (1 John
4:19).
God’s love is like the gold box in our
story. God has given Christians such a box which contains His unconditional
love for each one.
We are most like God when we love those
who do not love us in return. It may be our enemies or our neighbors or our
brothers in Christ, in either case, Christians are to give unconditional love.
Whenever I feel unloved because of the
treatment of others, I go to God’s gold box. It is at these moments I truly
know love.
WORKING FOR THE
MASTER
The
Work Of Preaching
The Lord intended for local churches to
take part in the spreading of the gospel. The example of the church at
I know the doctor Phil’s of the world
will view the previous paragraph as the ranting of the emotional disturbed.
These same detractors see nothing disturbing about an eight year old girl
spending six hours a day seven days a week on the ice practicing to become an
Olympic figure skating gold medalist. The one is applauded for their commitment
to obtain a gold medal. The other is told they need to ‘lighten up and get a
life’. The man who cannot see through this subterfuge of the devil and then
exhibit the dedication to succeed has no place doing the work of preaching.
There are aspects of the work of
preaching that cannot be accomplished unless preaching is your life. This is
made clear with Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Timothy’s charge was to
confront those who would teach fables and endless genealogies. Paul identifies
them as those who desired to be teachers of the law but were deficient in
understanding the very law they affirmed. The charge to Timothy presupposes two
things. It supposes that Timothy is well enough versed in the doctrine that he
can counteract the fables and endless genealogies with truth. It also supposes
that Timothy’s godly character is such that he will, with love from a pure
heart, be able to withstand the cruel assault that will surely come upon him at
the hands of false brethren (1 Timothy
1:3-7).
A history teacher may be able to educate
his students about historical dates, places, events, and people without having
a godly character. The subject matter of history requires accuracy but does not
require purity of purpose. The same cannot be said of the work of preaching.
Paul’s admonition for Timothy to be an example of a believer (1 Timothy
4:12-16) emphasizes the bond between the message and the character
of the messenger. It is a grievous mistake to think one can do the work of
preaching without an exemplary life to accentuate his work. Every aspect of
life (whether the words from his mouth, the love expressed from his heart or
the strength of his faith) must proclaim the preacher’s loyalty to his God. The
meditation Paul enjoins upon Timothy is not merely a mental exercise for the
purpose of memorizing and reciting verses of scripture. It is a meditation that
gives oneself entirely to progress in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
The single mindedness necessary to
accomplish this life style comes from a sincere desire to lead others to
salvation. To accomplish this noble end, the preacher must be well versed in
the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9). The preacher, who waits
till Saturday night to prepare for Sunday’s preaching, does not have a sincere
desire to lead souls to salvation. Likewise, the preacher who only studies in
preparation of sermons or to teach Bible classes; fails to take heed to himself
and to his teaching and will not save himself nor those that hear him (1 Timothy
4:16). We understand that it is necessary for all Christians to grow
in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). When we
consider the responsibility of the preacher to himself and others, can we not
argue that Peter’s command to grow is doubly important to the work of
preaching? It should be the goal of every man who takes upon himself the work
of preaching that he will be a better preacher tomorrow than he is today. [To Be Continued]
THE LAST WORD
“We have no government armed with power
capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our
Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only
for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”
John Adams – Statesman and President of the
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WHAT MUST
I DO
Hear: Rom 10:17
Believe: Heb 11:6
Repent: Lk 13:5; Ac
17:30
Confess: Matt 10:32; Ac
8:36
Be Baptized: Ac 2:38;
22:16
TO BE
SAVED?
###################
FAMILY
MATTERS
AUDIO SERMONS & RADIO PROGRAM:
If you would
like to hear a sermon you can access our Audio Sermons page. Also on this page
is a place to access our radio program [WALKING BY FAITH]. Place your cursor
over the title, WALKING BY FAITH radio program and click. This will take you to
a page where you can download a program. The program is a weekly so there will
be a new program uploaded each week. We also keep the sermons updated as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Pound church web site = www.poundchurchofchrist.org/
WALKING BY FAITH
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The Pound Proclaimer is published monthly by the Pound
All articles by the editor unless otherwise
stated
Editor: Glen Young
Phone: 276-796-5767=Office
804-365-8694=Home
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