Gospel for All

By Larry Coffey

The Bible clearly teaches the gospel of Christ is available for everyone who seeks it. While reading a book on the life of Walter Scott, a preacher in the early 19th century, I noted two good examples of this fact. Scott moved to Carthage, OH, a small village near Cincinnati and lived there 13 years. When he moved there, the village was described as flourishing with drunkenness, profanity, idleness, and neglect of the public and private duties of religion. The single redeeming feature was a Sunday school where an incident of interest took place on Scott’s first visit.

In one of the classes was a bright girl about 13 years old, who, along with others, had to find the answer to the question, “What shall I do to be saved?”  She searched her Bible and found the answer in Acts 2:38. When the day came for the class to answer the question, she was the only one with a ready answer. With a feeling of childish triumph, she quoted the passage: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Rather than receiving the teacher’s approval, she was disappointed to learn she had not given a satisfactory answer. Soon the class was over and the superintendent asked the same question. She rose and quoted Acts 2:38, but her answer was not approved again. She cried and wondered why her answer was not accepted. Just after this, Scott preached in the village school house and the little Sunday school scholar was present. To her surprise his text was the very passage she had read in Sunday school. Her response to his lesson was a request to be baptized. Her example caused six men to step forward and be baptized at the same time.

These proved to be the first fruits of a great harvest. Many more soon also obeyed the gospel. Among the converts was one who had long held in the village an unenviable notoriety—a poor fellow who was regarded as the most hopeless of an exceedingly irreligious and immoral population. He was a clever, dissipated good-for-nothing by the name of Parker. When it was announced in the village that a strange preacher was to be there to hold a series of meetings, for reasons unknown, Parker decided to attend. After a few nights of sitting on the back row, he came forward to be baptized. Needless to say, Walter Scott looked upon him with surprise and astonishment.

After Parker’s conversion, he made this statement: “I was as great a sinner as any of you; a drunkard, a gambler, poor, miserable, and wretched. But now I am redeemed from my former ways and have become a man.” As far as was known, both Parker and the 13-year-old girl remained faithful the rest of their lives. The cases mentioned show that the gospel can be brought to the comprehension of a little child and its power can be felt by one as wicked as Parker. Walter Scott’s labors resulted in planting a church that had 200 members within about two years from his first visit.

Bible Reading

By Larry Coffey

David Norfleet preached a lesson recently entitled “Engaged with the Truth”. He emphasized knowing, teaching, and practicing the truth. In John 8:31-32 we read, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  This clearly stresses the necessity of reading the Bible often.

We all would acknowledge the importance of reading our Bible. What we know about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, we learn from the Bible. Churches frequently offer annual Bible reading programs. Some have schedules for reading the Bible all the way through in one year. Many people who start the year with good intentions end up not continuing. So, churches reduce the amount to be read and schedule annual reading of just the New Testament. That works better, but still some Christians can’t seem to complete that either.

In reading a book on the life of Walter Scott, a pioneer preacher in the first half of the 19th century, I noted that bro. Scott taught and baptized a 23-year-old-man by the name of Samuel Church. He was a diligent Bible student and by the time he was 40 years old, he had read the New Testament through 150 times and the Old Testament 75 times. One might say they didn’t have as much to do then, since there was no television or internet service. We may forget about all the modern conveniences we have which they didn’t have such as electricity, heating and a/c systems, plumbing, etc. It is probable we have “more time” available for reading than did they.

Also, in February of this year, I talked to a man who had read the Bible all the way through in 20 days in that month. The man has a full-time job and a family. This causes me to think we are  making excuses when we say we don’t have time to read the Bible daily.

We do the things we consider to be most important to us. And there are many things that should be priorities. However, I suggest that letting God talk to us each day through the reading of his word should have the highest priority. A familiar scripture is 2 Tim. 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Can your mind fully grasp eternity? Mine can’t. However, it can understand that knowing God’s will for us is absolutely essential for us to prepare for eternity with God. And for us to know God’s will, we must have a regular Bible reading habit to which we commit a portion of our time.

Humility

By Larry Coffey

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about a man she knew who had decided he no longer wanted to undergo kidney dialysis on which his life depended. As a result, he died in less than 24 hours. She further stated he had instructed his family to have Frank Sinatra’s popular song, “My Way,” played at his funeral services. That song always makes me think about humility, or the lack thereof.

The lyrics of the first stanza of that song are as follows:

“And now the end is here

 And so I face that final curtain

 My friend I’ll make it clear

 I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain

 I’ve lived a life that’s full

 I traveled each and every highway

 And more, much more

 I did it, I did it my way”

There are three more stanzas to the song all of which end with “I did it my way.”

A number of themes are found in the Bible such as faith, love, obedience, and others which include humility. The Bible clearly teaches no one can please God who is not humble in spirit. We see many Bible examples of those who were not humble, those who did it their way. In Ex. 5:2, Pharoah says, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, l will not let Israel go.”  God said to Pharoah, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” (Ex. 10:3) We know how that ended for Pharoah.

Nebuchadnezzar was the great king of Babylon. He rejected Daniel’s advice and said in Daniel 4:30, “Is this not the great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” He did it his way. While he was speaking, the kingdom was taken from him and he ended up in the fields eating grass. After learning his lesson, his kingdom was restored and his speech changed as recorded in Dan. 4:37, “I praise and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” In Acts 12, we have King Herod receiving praise and being exalted in pride, and he was eaten by worms and died.

The biggest threat to our efforts to be humble is success. It is hard for the Super Bowl winner not to think how great he is. Or, the CEO of a large corporation not thinking the success of the company is due to his unique skills. However, it is not limited to these kinds of successes. I have known gospel preachers who were sought out for gospel meetings across the country and being told what wonderful preachers they were, to allow that success to affect their humility. Dee Bowman told a story about a preacher friend. He said they were talking on the phone on a Monday and he asked how services had gone where the preacher spoke on Sunday. The preacher said great. He said it was probably the best lesson he had ever preached. When Dee asked the topic, the preacher said “Humility.” I suspect Dee was jesting. I do well remember Gerry Sandusky when receiving compliments for his preaching, always deflected the comments about himself by responding, “Isn’t God great?”

No one is exempt from the temptation to think highly of themselves. We all have degrees of success and it is easy to start taking credit for the abilities and opportunities God has given us. No matter what we may achieve, it is God that needs to be thanked. God said in Is. 57:15, “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.”  Is. 2:11 says, “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Of course, our best example of humility is Jesus. In Mt. 11:29, he said he was meek and lowly in heart. In John 13, he washed the disciples’ feet. In Phil. 2:8 we read, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He said in Mt. 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

We must remember it is not “my way” that is important. Rather, it is God’s way to which we must humble ourselves and follow.

ANGELS

By Larry Coffey

If you google the word “angels”, you will receive a lot of information about the Los Angles Angels baseball team. This may not have happened in the late 20th century when television shows and many books and articles were about angels. I have no research available to support it, but my impression is that angels have fallen out of favor in our present society.

One who reads the Bible will be aware of angels since the NKJV Exhaustive Concordance states the words “angel” or “angels” appears 361 times in the Bible. Like many others, as I read the Bible, I noted angels mentioned a lot but I didn’t know much about angels until I taught a class on the subject about 10 years ago. Other DH members showed a lot of interest, so I repeated the class two more times.

Who are angels and what do they do?  W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words has this to say in part:

“An angel is a messenger sent whether by God or by man or by Satan, and is also used of a guardian or representative in Rev. 1:20, Mt. 18:10, but most frequently of an order of created beings superior to man, Heb. 2:7, belonging to heaven, Mt. 24:36, and to God, Lk. 12:8, and engaged in His service, Psa. 103:20.”

Michael Hardin in his class book on angels lists the following functions they perform:

  --Angels are helpers and protectors to God’s people in need, Psa. 34:7.

  --Angels come to give God’s people guidance and direction, Gal. 3:19.

  --Angels come to call men to special missions, Ex. 3:2.

  --Angels come to rescue people from great danger, Gen. 19.

There are many more things which could be listed that angels have done.

The Preceptor Magazine, October 2003 edition had an article on thoughts and questions about angels. It listed some things angels and men have in common:

  --Both angels and men are alive. Both have the ability to move about, speak and worship God.

  --Neither is deity. Both are of a lower order than God. Men are yet a little lower than angels.

  --Both can choose to obey or disobey God. Each is held responsible for their choice. Their final state will depend on the choice they make, Rom. 6:16, Jude 6.

  --Both have feelings or emotions. The angels shouted for joy when God laid the foundation of the earth, Job 38:4-6.

  --Men marry and are given in marriage, and by procreation populate the earth and continue the race, Lk. 20:34, Gen. 1:28. Angels do not marry and procreate, Mt. 22:30, Neh. 9:6. This implied that angels are sexless beings. As a result, there are no baby angels, no cupids with bows and no teen angels.

  --Men are visible to one another while alive. Angels, as spirit beings, are invisible to men. There are occasions when the eyes of the beholder have been opened so that he has the ability to see angels, Gen. 18 and 19, Lk. 24:4.

  --Men are mortal and subject to death, Heb. 9:27. Angels are immortal, not subject to death, Lk. 20:34-38.

  --Men have a Savior, Jesus Christ. Angels that sin are kept in Tartarus in chains of darkness until their judgment, Jude 6, 2 Pet. 2:4.

To me, one of the greatest things about angels is that they are sent here to help Christians. We read in Hebrews 1:13-14: “And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

Someone may ask, do we have a guardian angel? I don’t believe the Bible teaches we have a specific angel to help us. Why would we want one angel when we could have many? I will take the many and be thankful for God’s grace in providing angels to help and serve us.

ATTENDANCE

By Larry Coffey

Ed Byers, my father-in-law, was a charter member of the Douglass Hills church. He served as an elder of this church for 26 years. I know of no one who was more devoted and worked harder for this church than he did. Also, I have never known anyone who attributed more importance of attending our worship periods than he did.

Of course, he knew and taught there was more to being a Christian than attending the worship services. His view was like that of long-time preacher, Roy E. Cogdill, who wrote in the Expressway church bulletin in 1977 the following: “Attendance at the services of the church is the best index of interest in one’s own spiritual growth, and is a certain indication of one’s own interest in the Lord’s church.”

When encouraging members to attend our worship periods we often quote Hebrews 10:24-25 which reads: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Bobby Graham does a Q. A. column in Truth Magazine each month and in the April, 2022 edition, writes the following regarding Hebrews 10: 24-25: “In my judgment, the Holy Spirit was appealing to the Hebrew Christians to rescue them from drifting away from Christ in their disastrous return to the Law of Moses. One should get the point here: their assembling with each other, and the beneficial effects noted in verses 24 and 25, was one divine provision for their spiritual strength/stamina, so that they remain faithful to Christ. They needed such assemblies for their spiritual survival.”

Here is a story that appeared in church bulletins several years ago relating to the importance of attendance: “Paul Harvey once reported news of a 73-year-old man who was pinned beneath his farm tractor for four days and nights in rain and a terrible storm. Concerned friends went to see about him just in time. He lived after his ordeal but lost a leg. Several newspapers picked up on the story and centered upon the amazing fact that a 73-year-old man could live after being pinned beneath a tractor for four days. That is amazing, but what is more amazing is what caused his friends to go see about him. One friend said the reason was that he missed prayer meeting on Wednesday night. That’s all? He just missed one service and his friends went to check on him. This man was so faithful and regular in his church attendance that everyone knew if he was not there, something had to be seriously wrong. A question. What if you had been the one pinned under the tractor? Would your absence have been noticed? Or would you have died under the wheel?”

Brother Ed knew there were times when members could not attend services, such as sickness, disabled, etc. But he also knew people gave all kinds of excuses for not attending when they were perfectly capable of doing so. People claim they can’t come to the worship periods, but they can go lots of other places, such as restaurants, shopping, vacations, doctor check-ups, etc.

He was concerned for the souls of his brethren and did not hesitate to try to encourage them often to demonstrate their love for the Lord by attending every worship period available. He knew their spiritual health was far more important than their physical health.

I agree with my father-in-law. I love and miss you brother Ed.