Join us as we delve deep into the defining aspects of the Church of Christ, exploring its worship practices, organizational structure, and the significance of its name. Drawing entirely from Scripture, we provide insights into how the early church operated and how it should guide contemporary practices. Whether you’re familiar with church traditions or exploring for the first time, this episode offers clarity and understanding grounded in biblical authority.
Today, from the International Gospel Hour, we continue our discussion and study about the church as we look at worship organization and its name. All of this from Scripture and all for our study today from the International Gospel Hour. Please stay right here.
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Hi, this is Jay Webb for International Gospel Hour. For 90 years, churches of Christ have proclaimed God’s Word through International Gospel Hour. You are about to listen to another Bible-based lesson with Jeff Archie of International Gospel Hour, starting now.
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Well, thank you to our J-Web, as we always appreciate his kind words and information he shares in our broadcast. And greetings to all of you. We are indebted to you for choosing to study with us, to be with us today, here for our broadcast from the International Gospel Hour. A little bit about us, we are under the oversight of the elders of the West Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, Tennessee, located about 20 miles north of Huntsville, Alabama. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 118 Fayetteville, Tennessee 37334. We’d love to hear from all of our listeners, and we’re thankful when you reach out to us and let us know that you are listening to us and where you are listening to our broadcast. Our website is internationalgospelhour.com. That’s internationalgospelhour.com. and toll free 855-444-6988. That’s 855-444-6988. And we’d love to hear from you. If nothing else, just give us a call and say, I’m listening to your broadcast on, and tell us where you are listening to our broadcast. We’d love to know where all of our listeners are coming from, and we would be honored if you called and let us know. Don’t have to leave your name or any information. Just say, Hi, I’m listening to you on, and you can just call the station’s name, and we would be honored. Amen. Amen. Amen. along with studies of conversion for those who were added to the church through their faith in Jesus Christ and accepting the command of repentance, confessing their faith in Christ, and baptized into Christ, thus were added to the church. Today we want to look further at those who are added to the church, how they worshipped, how they were organized, and the name by which they were called. And all of this, during this broadcast, we are going to dig from Scripture. Friends, we acknowledge the church of Christ. The church we read of in the New Testament is not a denomination. We will never ask you to be a part of a denomination. We will ask you to come out of denominationalism. if there are matters that are not according to Scripture, that come out from that, and to simply be of the church we read of in the New Testament. That is our plea here at International Gospel Hour. Denominationalism is a divisive word, and we see division all throughout the religious world. But can one come to Christ, to the one church, the one body we see in the New Testament, Well, they did for centuries and they continue to do so today and you can do so as well. If we can help you in your pursuit of a Church of Christ in your community, you can reach out to us and we will be glad to assist you in any way possible. I am reminded of one of our listeners who heard our broadcast and reached out to us and a local Church of Christ assisted them in their study and obedience to the Word of God. We will help you. We’re very careful how we do that. But we will work with you and help you in any way possible. Now friends, we’re going to conclude our study of the church today. But first, a few quick words from our J-Web.
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Friends, let’s talk about the Church of Christ. And it is the Lord’s Church because it is scriptural in worship. Let’s consider how the early church worshipped. We read in John 4, verse 24… that God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We must have the right attitude, and we must worship Him according to truth. John 17, 17. Within this study, I will briefly mention instrumental music. The Old Covenant had ordinances of divine service. Hebrews 9, verse 1. There are also acts of worship specified in the New Testament. When we worship, we are on holy ground. We cannot use just anything we want in worship to God. In Ephesians 5.19, Paul says, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Every reference in the New Testament pertaining to the music that we are to use in our worship tells us that we are to sing. Also, we are told not to go beyond that which is written. If one brings in mechanical instruments of music into the worship, he has done just that. He’s gone beyond. 2 John 9-11 reminds us, Whosoever transgresseth and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God’s speed, for he that bids him God’s speed is partaker of his evil deeds. The power of the gospel is indeed great. When my brother moved to Pikeville, Kentucky to preach many years ago, there were only eighteen members of the church. After four years, approximately three hundred had responded to our Lord’s invitation. While I was there in a meeting, three preachers of the Christian church came to our services. They claimed to be members of the Church of Christ, but they were digressive in their worship and in other ways. After services one evening, we discussed some matters with them until eleven o’clock. When people there learned that instrumental music was sinful to the worship of the New Testament church, many renounced the Christian church. Some repented of that sin in the presence of the three digressive preachers. I had mentioned in my sermon that particular night that there were honest people in error. But now, since they knew instrumental music was wrong, they should renounce it and go on toward heaven. I also stated that these three preachers should lead the way down the aisles and repent. One of these preachers had earlier in the day, in a private conversation, admitted that instrumental music was not authorized in the worship of the New Testament church. He had also admitted that it caused division and that if he were starting a new congregation, he doubted the wisdom of putting in the instrument. However, he went on to further state that he was going to keep it. This preacher had been laughing during my sermon until I told the audience what he had said, and then he ceased his laughing. It would be difficult to convince me that a man who would admit things to be wrong in private did not know better than to teach them in public. The truth is, all arguments offered to substantiate the use of instruments in worship are flimsy and have absolutely no scriptural weight to them. Some people will go back to the Old Testament in an effort to prove that instrumental music is acceptable to God in worship today. They say they had instrumental music under the Old Testament. Yes, and Solomon, under that same law, had a thousand wives. Also under that law, animal sacrifices were offered. The Mormons seek to justify polygamy by an appeal to the Old Testament. And God did not approve of polygamy even in the Old Testament, though He tolerated it, Matthew 19, 3 and 9, or 3 through 9 in Acts 17, verse 30. He allowed both polygamy and instrumental music under the Old Testament, but He neither sanctions nor approves either under the New Testament. Suppose a man next Sunday seeks to attend the services of a religious group that uses instrumental music. Following him were his fifty wives, with each wife having a goat under her arm. The man carries a lamb to sacrifice, but following them someone is bringing a piano. They walk to the door and seek to enter and worship with their polygamy, animal sacrifices, and instrumental music. There is not a religious group in this country, that would allow them to bring in their goats and sheep and offer them in a religious service upon an altar. None of them, unless indeed it be the Mormons, would tolerate their polygamy. But here is what they will do. They will say, We will not accept your polygamy, nor animal sacrifice, but we will not object to your instrumental music. In fact, we have had it all along. Friends, there is no more authority for instrumental music in Christian worship than there is for polygamy and animal sacrifices. There is absolutely no authority for any of them. The Roman Catholic Church is an apostate church. The Catholic Church introduced instrumental music into their worship and Protestant denominations have borrowed the instrument from the Catholics. Instrumental music in worship has no higher authority than the Roman Catholic Church. There is not a scripture in the New Testament that authorizes its use in the worship of the New Testament Church. Friends, we are not under the law of Moses, the prophets, nor the Psalms, and we cannot go back to any of them for proof of what we are to do in New Testament worship. Luke 24 verse 44 shows that Christ settled this matter once and for all. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. The Lord’s church is scriptural in worship. There are five items of New Testament worship. They are 1. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper, as we see in Acts 20 and verse 7, 1 Corinthians 11, 23 and 24.
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2.
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Giving of our means every Lord’s Day, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2.
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3.
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Teaching and preaching, Acts 2, verse 42.
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4.
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Praying, Acts 2, verse 42.
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5.
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And singing, Ephesians 5, 19, Hebrews 2 and verse 12, and Colossians 3 and verse 16. I submit to you, friends, that the church of Christ is scriptural in name. As individual members, we glorify God in the name Christian. 1 Peter 4, 16, Acts 11, 26, and Acts 26, 28. The church is referred to as the churches of Christ. Romans 16, 16. The church of God. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. the body of Christ, Colossians 1.24, Colossians 1.18, Ephesians 1.22 and 23, and the church of the firstborn, Hebrews 12.23. In fact, any scriptural designation is acceptable. However, if a church is wearing any of these scriptural designations, but has denominational teaching to go with it, it is, of course, unscriptural. The church of Christ is the Lord’s church because it is scriptural in organization. In Acts 14 and verse 23, the Bible says, And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Some today said that he had been told that the early church did not have elders. Acts 14.23 refutes this error and elders’ qualifications are stated in 1 Timothy 3 and also in Titus 1. Christ is the head of his church. Colossians 1.18 affirms, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Again, Colossians 1.18. My friends, you can read about the church of Christ in the New Testament, but you cannot read about the Roman Catholic church there. The first pope of the Catholic church was Boniface III in the year 606 A.D. Before the year 606, it cannot be found where anyone was ever styled Pope. Yet the Catholics have the audacity to misrepresent Peter and claim that he was the first Pope. All such is an insult to the intelligence of enlightened men. You cannot read any of the modern denominations in the Bible, friends. You must go to secular history to read about them. At the beginning of the Reformation, Martin Luther arose to defy the Pope while the Pope was putting on a big sale of indulgences. This, of course, we admire in Luther. He wrote out 95 objections to the Catholic Church, nailed them to the door of a church building, and invited any Catholic to meet him in a discussion of them. This brought forth a papal denunciation and finally his excommunication in 1521. You cannot read in the Bible about one Protestant denomination with which we are familiar today. John Calvin became the founder of the Presbyterian Church in the year 1535. Was it the Church of Christ? Well, of course not. Why? Because the Church of Christ was founded by Christ in the city of Jerusalem in the year 33 A.D. You will find that Calvinism has assumed different names in different countries. On the European continent, Calvinism was called Church of the Reformed Faith. In France, Calvinism wore the name of Huguenots. In Scotland, the very same body was referred to as Presbyterian. In England, they wore the name of Puritans. In Holland, the Dutch Reformed Church. But they all were practically identical in origin, doctrine, and practice. It might be well to point out here that the Baptist Church has, in doctrine, been greatly influenced by Calvinism. Henry VIII, King of England, was a devout Catholic because he wanted to divorce his wife and marry another woman. Because the Pope refused to grant Henry’s divorce, Henry broke with the Catholic Church. He then had Parliament pass some laws suitable to him. The act of supremacy, which Henry succeeded in getting Parliament to pass in 1534, made Henry VIII the head of the Church of England. By the passage of this and other acts, the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church as it is known in America, came into being in 1534. Well, friends, it could not possibly be the Church of Christ. Let us devote some attention to the Baptist Church. In the year 1608, the first Baptist church on earth was founded in Holland, and in 1611 another sprang up in England. Roger Williams planted another in Providence, Rhode Island in 1639. Some Baptist preachers still vainly try to prove from the Bible that the Baptist church has a right to exist, but the most learned and scholarly of Baptist preachers no longer try to prove the impossible idea of Baptist church succession. Methodism is a byproduct of Episcopalianism. It was a step taken at first not to establish something new, but to overcome the coldness and ritualism that prevailed in the Church of England. The center of Methodism is not Christ, but John Wesley. In my possession I have the Discipline of the Methodist Church, 1952 edition. On page 3 under the heading Historical Statement we find the following. The church is a great Protestant body, though it did not come directly out of the Reformation, but had its origin within the Church of England. Its founder was John Wesley. It can be shown that all denominations are man-made, and therefore without divine authority to exist. The Church of Christ exists by the authority of Christ, and to be saved one must be in it. Sometimes people say, one church is as good as another. There might be some element of truth in this statement if they are referring to man-made churches. But if they intend to include the church of our Lord in that statement, nothing could be further from the truth. From no standpoint could a person be wrong by being in the Lord’s church. Since there is only one church, it is a matter of necessity to be in that one church if one is to be saved. As said earlier in this series, we stated the plan of salvation for the alien sinner. Faith in Christ, repentance of sin, confession of our faith in Christ, and baptism. And the erring child of God must repent, confess his sins, and pray. Acts 8, 20-23, 1 John 1, 9, James 5, 16 Thus, friends, we have concluded our study of the church. Parts 1 and 2 of our 30-minute broadcast on the church can be found on our website at internationalgospelhour.com under the contact tab Previous Shows. Today we concluded our study by looking at the worship of the church in the New Testament. the organization of the church in the New Testament, and the name by which they were called from the New Testament, all from Scripture and all from this broadcast. I realize that as we have studied a certain amount of church history, that many may say, why did you call names, Mr. Archie? Why did you bring that forth? Friends, we simply want to return to the Bible in our studies. I can only through good conscience and in light of the Scripture present the church that I read of in the New Testament and plead for others to be a member of that one church and that church only. I cannot in all good conscience endorse denominationalism because the Bible does not, but rather to encourage people to take the Bible and to study the Word of God yourself. to see what the Bible has to say concerning these matters. Friends, maybe we have prompted you to think about some things. And it’s very well possible some of you may be a bit angry. I simply ask that you research the content in light of the Word of God. Now, if you’re going to bring forth any other sources, I’m sorry, that’s not what we wish to do. But we want to go back to the Bible for our authority in what all that we do. The Bible is not called God’s Word for nothing. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect or complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The Bible is able to do so. Maybe you are like the eunuch in the fact that the eunuch is reading Scripture in Acts chapter 8. And Philip ran to his chariot and asked him if he understood what he was reading. And he said, How can I except some man should guide me? Philip was very careful in guiding the eunuch in light of what the Scripture teaches to help him understand where he was reading in Isaiah about Jesus Christ. Friends, we’re very careful how we guide and encourage study of the Word of God. I can tell you what I’m about to share with you that’s absolutely free. I do so with confidence, knowing that it will be of help to you. We offer a new Bible study by mail. Now, we still have our Bible correspondence courses, the 30-part series that people can work through at their own pace, and we still have those available. And we’re grateful to our friends at the Mount Leo Church of Christ in McMinnville, Tennessee, that helps us to send those studies out. They’ve been doing so since 1970. And we also have online studies available through our friends at the World Bible School. But this new Bible study… available from International Gospel Hour, is titled, God and Man, How to be Saved from Sin. This little study booklet addresses a number of questions about the salvation from God to man, and friends, like all of our materials, it’s absolutely free. We will never ask for your money from our broadcast. And you can receive it one of two ways. Actually, I’ll give you a third, but the easiest way, you can call us at 855-444-6988, Leave your name and address and just say God and man. That’s all you have to do. 855-444-6988. Hi, I’m John Doe. I’m Jane Doe. I live at 123 Anywhere Way, Anywhere USA, 12345. God and man. That’s all you have to do. Or you can go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com, click on the contact tab, and leave us the same information, your name, address, and just type God and man in the message box. And again, we’ll send it to you absolutely free. Now, you can also go to the God and Man website, which is God-and-man.com. Now, be sure that you put the dashes in between God and, and of course, and man. That sounds a little confusing. Let me try it again. type in the message box, or rather type into the website, god-and-man.com, and you can download your free study immediately. So folks, we give you another option. And again, any option you choose is free. We want to help you in your study of the Word of God as we look upon the Scripture for the church for salvation in Christ Jesus, to grow and to learn His will and His way. I want to pause and thank our friend Paul Sane and SanePublications.com for the book of sermons titled The Savior’s Way. These lessons on the church have come forth from those lessons that were preached originally in 1965 by the late Garland Elkins, That was in Morrison, Tennessee, at the Church of Christ. Those lessons are most worthy and relevant today. And so today we turn back the clock for the lesson from Brother Elkins that was aptly titled, The Church. And, of course, we have presented the first two parts, and today was part three. And, of course, you can access those at our website at internationalgospelhour.com. Click on the contact tab, Previous Shows. Go to our 30-minute offering, and you’ll be able to find the broadcast. We are grateful to come and to study with you each and every week. If you are a new listener to the International Gospel Hour, not only do we have this, our 30-minute weekly program, But we also have a daily 15-minute broadcast on many of these stations that carry our 30-minute broadcast. You can also access them at our website. We have a Hispanic podcast for our Hispanic friends, hosted by Brother Marlon Ratana, Christianos Fieles, or Faithful Christians. You can also check us out on YouTube. Yes, friends, you can now put a face with a voice. And our YouTube channel is International Gospel Hour. And there we also have our television program where we highlight good works in churches of Christ. We also have a Searching the Scripture segment, a verse-by-verse study. And then we handle the Word of Truth or sometimes turn back the clock for sermons, just as you’ve heard today. We’re grateful for each and every opportunity that the Lord opens the doors for us to study the Word of God. Thank you for being with us. We’ll continue these studies at another time. Join me next time on the International Gospel Hour. Until then, I’m Jeff Archie. Friends with us always keep listening.
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Thank you for listening today. May this study prompt your search of God’s Word for His will in your life. To assist you in your study or to listen to our other programs, please visit our website at internationalgospelhour.com. To God be the glory.
