Reaching the World . . . Through the Local Church

Seeking a Senior Pastor

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Chapter 14 – 30 Minutes

Temple Baptist Church - 3-17-20242 Timothy 4:7? Introduction:? A.? March 22nd? will mark 37 years? that Barbara and I have been at Temple Baptist Church.? ? 1.? That is almost half of my lifetime!? ? Our children grew up here!? Laurens is our home!? Every day is a special day for this pastor when I walk through those doors and see our church family.? I often stop by the church while out visiting and many times just sit on the back pew where I can see the whole church or sit on the platform and look over the church.? I love to come here and sit and pray.? 2.? There has never been the slightest doubt? that this is where the Lord has placed me and never a time when I considered leaving or looking for another pastorate.? I am satisfied with God's amazing grace and providence that brought my family here so long ago.? I can still say that I love you better than Butter Pecan Ice Cream!? B.? We laughed and we cried!? Two special men went home to be with the Lord last year, Bro. Harold and Bro. Carroll!? What a loss for our church but what a gain for our heavenly home.? We will see them again soon.? C.? This last year, Barbara and I stood with you, and you have stayed with us.? ? I could ask for no more!? There have been good times and bad times.? There has been sickness and there has been health.? There have been fat times and there have been lean times.? There has been spring, summer, fall, and winter with times of growth and times of pruning.? Temple Baptist Church, you have proven yourself true and have positively affected this county and the world for Christ.? D.? Temple started right physically!? ? 1.? We started small but right!? Our faith was in the Lord and our foundation was in God's Word.? We were happy!? My family moved into the little house by the church, and it was home.? ? 2.? Today, we will eat? in a beautiful Fellowship Hall.? Then, we fellowshipped in the “hall!”? We were happy because we were in the perfect will of God, and we could lay our heads on our pillows at night knowing that what we were doing and had done was scriptural.? ? God blessed.? We began to take on missionary families and made this church a safe haven for them.? We have always taken good care of these special people and God has blessed us for it.? I have not tallied the numbers, but my estimate would be that we have put 3 million dollars or more on the mission field.? ? 3.? We chose to stay? in our building and remodel it as needed instead of building a larger one and allowing our debt to dictate our missions giving.? I am not knocking churches that build when they need to build but the bible says to be content with such things as you have.? In God's time, we paved our parking lot.? Remember the days when we had to push cars out of the red mud when we outgrew our graveled lot?? Those were special days.? ? 4.? When it was time,? God gave us a Fellowship Hall with SS classrooms.? When it was time, God gave us one of the most beautiful Prophet's Chambers that missionaries and evangelists have ever stayed in.? Now we also have a beautiful, cozy, feel right at home Mission House for God's special people.? E.? We started doctrinally right!? 1.? We taught our Sunday School? from the King James Bible; we filled our pulpit with the King James Bible; our people treated this property with respect; our people treated the pulpit with respect; our people have treated this pastor with respect.? We got rid of the Church Constitution and voted in the King James Bible as our authority for faith and practice.? 2.? We maintained the Old Paths? of doctrinal purity and separation.? We believed the Word of God and honored its doctrines.? We culled out the preachers and missionaries who compromised the bible and held the ones that we supported to the same standard that the church had.? We have never been “in your face” with who we are but we also have never apologized or capitulated.? ? "The New Testament Church did not depend on a moral majority, but rather on the holy minority. The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural. The Church the Apostles ministered in was a suffering Church; today we have a sufficient Church. Events in the Spirit-controlled Church were amazing; in this day the Church is often just amusing. The New Testament Church was identified with persecutions; today many of us are identified with prosperity, popularity, and personalities.""Why Revival Tarries", Leonard Ravenhill? F.? I have preached from this verse? over the years but want to make a spiritual application on Homecoming Day, 2024.? Paul is ending his race and is summing it up in three aspects: he fought a good fight, he finished his course, and he kept the faith.? That is all God expected from this great man of God and that is all that God expects from Temple Baptist Church!? 1. We must Fight!? ? The Fight is not over!? We have had to fight from the very beginning and have continued to fight through these years.? Their faces have changed but the fight is the same.? As a church, we have weapons:? ? a.? ? The weapon of unity.? We must fight together.? When the enemies of God's Word begin their work of division, we must band together.? We are a “Band of Brothers and Sisters” here.? Too many churches have failed because people will not “answer the bell” for each round.? Most people do not like to fight and, unfortunately, most heretics or religious devils love to fight.? b.? ? The weapon of prayer.? The Lord is on our side because He loves the church more than we love it.? The church is His and we need to saturate our problems in prayer.? Pray and fight.? ? c.? ? The weapon of righteousness.? ? Our cause is just!? We war to keep our church right with the Lord.? We war to keep our church a nest in which to raise our young.? We war to keep our church's mission's outreach vibrant.? ? 2.? We must Finish!? We started right but it is possible to finish wrong or not to finish at all.? The bible does not say to finish “big” or to finish “popular.”? We are to finish our race with our spiritual integrity intact!? Today's mentality is “bigger” means that God is blessing, but many churches are “bigger” because they have allowed their churches to be worldly places for worldly people.? Starting right is great but finishing right is even greater.? 3.? We must keep the Faith!? We do so by maintaining or contending for:? ? a.? The Word of God.? ? The unending battle for Truth will continue as liberal theologians constantly undermine the foundation of our faith.? If the foundations can be destroyed, then what can the righteous do?? b.? The Old Paths.? The old ways are now being forsaken and mocked as liberal churches contend for our young people with the straw man of bridging the generation gap.? I find no place in the bible for a generation gap as the youth are to walk in the paths of their fathers!? ? c.? Separation from the world.? Church needs to be treated like church.? I, as a pastor, never come to this pulpit without a coat and tie on.? Do I wear a coat and tie all week?? I am a denim shirt and blue jeans man!? I believe it is right for the pastor to follow the old ways instead of the open shirt, casual dress of many.? When the church becomes casual, the worship will become casual!? The respect for God's house will be gone and it just becomes another building.? Conclusion:? Temple, we started right—we have remained right—let us finish the task that God has given us right!

? Temple Baptist Church - 2-4-2024Hebrews 10:24-31? Introduction:? ? A.? Sanctuary – A sacred place.? ? The word sanctuary has religious roots as it referred to a consecrated place where sacred objects are kept.? It often refers to a temple or church, the holiest of holy places.? ? ? ? ? 1.? As early as Genesis 4,? we find that Cain and Abel “brought” their sacrifices.? They did not offer just anywhere but there was? a special place? where they offered.? ? 2.? Abraham built an altar at Bethel? (The House of God) and later came back to that same altar, naming it El-Bethel (God-The House of God) and? found God there.? ? 3.? When God brought Israel? out of Egypt (a beautiful type of salvation), He gave instructions to Moses for the building of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness; when Israel came into the land of Canaan—they? brought the Tabernacle? with them.? 3.? Later build Solomon's Temple.? This beautiful temple was the center of Jerusalem.? When the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon, the first order of business was the rebuild the walls and Temple.? ? 4.? When the New Testament Jews and Gentiles got saved, they had a local church to attend.? The Bible says much about the local church and works only through it.? ? It is around the local church that our lives are to be centered.? 5.? The Local Church is a special place of:? a)? Refuge from the storms of life.? b)? Rest from the toils of life.? c)? Refreshment from the disappointments of life.? d)? Restoration from the failures of life.? e)? Revival from the lifelessness of life.? 6.? The? Bible calls the? Local Church the pillar and ground of the truth:? ? 1 Timothy 3:15? But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.? B.? Sometimes,? when we go back to Hebrews 10:25, I wonder if I am not? “beating a dead horse.”? 1.? But the Holy Ghost emphasizes the importance of the local church? when using the words “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”? ? That day is HERE? and the house of God forsaken.? 2.? ? Preachers preach the important truth found in these verses,? we quote these verses often, and yet—continually—we see a decrease in the faithfulness of God's people to the church.? ? C.? These verses? are the most profound concerning faithfulness to church that you will find.? In them we find:? 1.? The responsibility to each other – vs. 24? 2.? The importance and purpose – vs. 25? 3.? The callousness of the sin – vs. 26? 4.? The promise of the judgment of God – vs. 27-29? 5.? The seriousness of unfaithfulness – vs. 29? 6.? The fearfulness of the Lord – vs. 30-31? D.? If God said? and meant all of these things, you would think that His children would see the seriousness, repent of their sin, and get faithful? but just the opposite is true.? ? “As the manner of some is” has become the norm for most professing believers.? ? E.? In the last few years,? we have seen a great “falling away” from the local church.? ? 1.? With the rising number of “home churches,” “TV churches,” “Radio Churches,” “golf, fishing, motorcycle, cowboy, etc.,” there has been a great forsaking of the house of the Lord.? ? 2.? I find no substitute in the bible for the local church.? ? F.? The local church? is a landmark of the Lord's making and it needs not to be removed.? Churches all over the Bible Belt have gone from two services on Sunday and Wednesday night Prayer Meeting to just Sunday morning services.? 1.? A Place Of Assembly – Hebrews 10:25? ? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.? ? (The word “church” means a called-out assembly.? We are called out of this world to assemble together.? If the Lord did not think that we needed a place of gathering, He would have just let us stay at home.? “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” describes the modern day “Christian.”)? 2.? A Place Of Exhortation - 2 Timothy 4:2? Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.? ? (We need each other's strength to continue on in this “present evil world.”? Bearing one another's burdens can only come about when we are together to know what those burdens are.)? 3.? A Place Of Fellowship - Acts 2:42? And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.? ? (We cannot love each other with a whole heart fervently if we are never together.? I love my family and spend much time with them.? I love my church family and spend much time with them!? We laugh, cry, eat, and share together.)? 4.? A Place Of Bible Teaching - 1 Timothy 3:15? But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.? ? (Most believers do not know how to behave in the house of God because they are not there often enough to be taught!? ? Teaching is a very important of our spiritual welfare!? The largest denomination in America is the “Church of the Ignorant Brethern!”)? 1 Timothy 4:16? Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.? 5.? A Place Of Powerful Preaching - 2 Timothy 4:2? Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.? ? (The pastor is commanded to preach the Word, but many are never there to receive it.? So often I know that a particular message will be of help to someone, and they do not show up.? We need bible preaching and need it from the pastor!)? 6.? A Place Of Prayer - Matthew 21:13? And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.? ? (We come, take prayer requests and pray!? We begin each service in prayer, we pray in the prayer rooms, we pray during the services, and we end each service in prayer.? We pray for each other, we pray for our families, we pray for our needs, we pray for the needs of others, we pray for our nation, we pray for Israel, we pray for those in authority over us, we pray for souls, and we pray for the coming of the Lord.? You have not because you ask not is an indictment against those who do not pray!)? 7.? A Place Of Faithful Giving - Malachi 3:10? Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that? there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.? 1 Corinthians 16:2? Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.? ? (Some tithe and give regularly while some tithe and give irregularly.? The local church pays its bills regularly and missions support should be paid the same.? How would we like it if we got paid on an irregular basis?? We would probably be a little upset.? Missionaries do not get full support because of irregular giving!)? 8.? A Place Of Divine Approval - Ephesians 5:25-26? Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;? ? ? That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.? ? (It is a sanctifying place where we are cleansed through the water of the Word.)

Disagreement without DisunityDr. Don SiskTue, 05/02/2023 - 10:14 I am nearing my ninetieth birthday. I made public my call to preach on Thanksgiving night of 1954. A few days after that I preached my first sermon in the prayer meeting service of the Black Oak Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana. Two years later, I began pastoring. I have been in full-time ministry since 1956—nearly seventy years.Because of the various ministries I have served in, I've preached in literally thousands of churches all over the world. Being in so many churches is a blessing because I get to meet men and women who are faithfully serving Christ all around the globe. But going to so many places does have a downfall: I sometimes see the sad disunity among God's people. Churches, Bible Colleges, mission organizations, preachers, and ordinary Christians find reasons to quarrel with one another.Of course, every church or organization has some differences with the next organization. But among the independent Baptist places where I am privileged to serve, most have so much more in common than different. Yet, for some reason, we emphasize our differences more than our common practices and beliefs. Would it not be wonderful if we would emphasize our commonality rather than our differences?Many years ago when I became the Far East Director of BIMI, my pastor, Dr. Lee Roberson, was generous in giving needful advice—principles by which to conduct my ministry. One night as we were driving together back to Chattanooga from a meeting, he said to me “Don, you go anywhere that you believe God is leading you to go and minister. Some of the places you go to some of the brethren will criticize you. Don't fight with them; just keep going where you know God wants you to go.” Of course, Dr. Roberson was speaking about doctrinally-solid Baptist churches. And that was good advice. He was right on both points—some brethren criticized me, and I learned not to spend valuable time defending myself.For the first eight years of my ministry. I was a Southern Baptist. When I began to see the liberalism and compromise taking place in the Southern Baptist Convention, I became an independent Baptist by conviction. I'm grateful for that decision, and I would do it all over again—even today. I soon learned, however, that independent Baptists sometimes aren't very independent in their relationships with one another. If I did things the way they wanted me to do and went where they wanted me to go and refused to go where they did not want me to go, I was accepted. But when I didn't meet those criteria, I was not always accepted.Over my nearly seventy years in the ministry, I have seen several leaders try to be a Baptist pope (although not, of course, with that title). None of them have succeeded. The reality is that we must each answer to God—not to each other. “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. . . . But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:4, 10).When biblical doctrine or sin is involved, of course we must separate. And yes, we all have our preferences. We have a right to have them. However, pastors, in particular, have a responsibility to establish leadership guidelines for their church workers. But, pastors do not have the right to determine preferences for other churches.I realize we must not call the violation of biblical principles a preference. We are commanded to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3). But we need not be contentious about matters not pertaining to the faith.Throughout the New Testament, we have examples of the conflict that comes through pride and the good that comes when people who have differences give deference to one another.John the Baptist“And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:26–30).Some of the disciples of John the Baptist realized that when Jesus began His ministry, people were going to Him instead of to John. They told John, “all men come to him.” (By the way, all of the people were not going to Jesus. We often unwisely exaggerate when we want to make a point.)The answer that John the Baptist gave to his disciples was classic: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John did not become jealous or competitive. In fact, he was not trying to make disciples for himself in the first place; he was pointing people to Christ. So rather than feeling insecure, he rejoiced in what Jesus was doing and how the people were following Christ.I fear—and I can speak from experience—that we have a tendency to criticize others not because of something bad they are doing, but because they are doing more and are seeing more results than we are. In short, we become jealous.None of us are in competition with other good Bible believing organizations or individuals. We are on the same team. Their success is our success, and it's all for the glory of God. But when team members become jealous of one another, we all lose.John the Apostle“And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us” (Luke 9:49–50).Basically, what John was saying was, “They didn't graduate from our college” or “They weren't with our mission organization” or “They are not in our camp” or “They aren't doing things like us.”And what did Jesus tell John? “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.”To allow others to do things differently than we do without criticizing them is Christlike. And to attempt to be an enforcer of others is Johnlike—the immature, pre-resurrection version of John.Paul and BarnabasPaul and Barnabas were a wonderful team who were greatly used of God. In Acts 13, they were sent out as missionaries from the first organized church missions program. Throughout Acts 13 and 14, we read of the amazing ways that God used them. Then, when they returned to Antioch, they continued to work together, including speaking to the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.But when it came time for their second missionary journey, they had a falling out.“And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” (Acts 15:36–40).Because we know this story of Paul and Barnabas' disagreement, we aren't surprised when we read it. But if we had known Paul and Barnabas before this incident, we would never have suspected that they would have parted ways.Perhaps the most amazing thing about this separation, however, is not that it happened, but what did not happen—specifically that they did not spend time criticizing one another. In fact, you do not find one word in Scripture of Paul speaking poorly of Barnabas or Barnabas of Paul. They parted ways, but they did not spend the rest of their ministries criticizing one another. And they did not draw John Mark into tests of loyalty over their disagreement. In fact, just before Paul was martyred, he makes the statement, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).There are things that happen that make it nearly impossible for particular people to work together. But even if two Christians can't work together, they can be kind to one another. If we have differences with a brother, we can determine, “Even though I cannot work with this person, I am not going to be critical of him.”Paul in Prison“Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:15–18).Paul was in prison for no other reason than preaching the Word of God. He did not look at his prison time as a hindrance to the ministry, but as an opportunity to preach to the other prisoners, to the people in authority, and to all of the other leaders. No doubt, many of them were converted.Because of Paul's boldness, many other leaders became bold in preaching the gospel. Some of these were sincere. And evidently, some of these were just trying to irritate Paul. Yet, Paul's conclusion was that regardless of the preacher's motives, he would rejoice that Christ was being preached.Years ago, I determined that I, too, will rejoice when others are preaching the gospel. When God's Word is preached and people are getting saved, baptized, and added to the church, I am going to rejoice. Rather than being jealous or critical, I am going to rejoice.I think we independent Baptists need to take Jesus' words in John 13:35 more seriously than we do: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”If you are preaching the gospel, winning people to the Lord, discipling believers, and training leaders, you are my brother in Christ, and I love you, appreciate you, and will gladly pray for you. We can be brothers without being identical twins. Category Pastoral Leadership Tags Pastoral Leadership Christian Living