The First Disciples

By Paul Earnhart

John the Baptist had disciples who followed him as he preached and baptized.  The gospel of John, chapter 1, tells us that two of those disciples heard John say of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God.”   From that time onward, they followed Jesus (Jn. 1:35-37).

Those disciples did the right thing.  John was a great teacher.  Jesus said of him that no previous servant of God was greater than John (Mt. 11:11).  Yet, Jesus was greater than John, and those disciples would have been wrong to remain with John when they could follow Jesus.  In fact, they honored John by following Jesus.

Today, there are many fine men and women who may attract our favorable attention.  Some of us have been blessed with godly parents and spiritually minded teachers.  They have taught us many valuable lessons.  But if they have been truly wise teachers, they have pointed us to Jesus.  We may sometime come to know Jesus better than they have known Him.  We may learn that they were not entirely right in their thinking about what Jesus taught.  This may bring us to a difficult decision; shall we follow what our parents or teachers believed, or what we see to be the true teaching of Jesus?  By all means, we must follow Jesus, even if it should mean leaving the things taught by others.  Of course, in following Jesus, we actually honor those who have taught us to honor Him above all others.

John was not envious of Jesus.  He was not jealous of his own position as a leader.  Indeed, he was glad to see his disciples leave him to follow Jesus.  Later he said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn. 3:30).  John is a good example for all of us who teach.  We must point others to Jesus.  We must impress upon those that Jesus is the only leader worth following.  We must be wise enough to reject the allegiance due only to Him.  Paul said, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord…” (2 Cor. 4:5).

Our Worship Service

By Arter Gary

It seems our worship services have become routine to many of us. Some seem to just be going through the motions in many of our activities. Some leave our services no better than when they came. 

Some members do not know what God expects of them when they assemble with the saints.  If we do not follow the scriptures and worship God in spirit and truth, we miss the whole concept of our worship services, John 4:24.  From the view of some, our services are boring. For others the services have become unbearable as they have quit attending.  Then you have those who say, “I didn’t get one thing out of the worship service today.”  The question becomes, “What did you put into it?”  Then you have those who feel the high point of the week is being able to gather together with other saints to worship God each time there is a service of the church.  What are some things we can do to make our worship acceptable?

The first thing is to make the necessary preparation.  As with everything there must be some preparation.  A good night’s sleep would be the place to start.  Prepare lessons and meditate upon them before leaving for the services.  Arrive early.  Greet each other and have time to speak to the visitors.  Find a seat and start meditating and praying about our worship.  Then each will be blessed because we have properly prepared to worship.

Then we must participate in each act of worship in the manner God has commanded.

When we sing, we must look at the words of the song.  Each song that we sing has a message in it.  Our song service does two things – we are offering praise unto God, and we are teaching and admonishing one another, Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16; Heb. 2:12.  We must be an active participant in this.  Just sitting and listening is not sufficient if we are physically able to sing. 

When we pray, remember we are talking to our Father in Heaven.  We are either giving thanks to God for what He has done for us, or we are asking God for things we want or need.  The Christian life should be centered around prayer, 1 Thess. 5:17-18; John 14:14; Matt. 7:7-11 and 1 Pet. 3:12.

When we give, remember we are giving back to God a portion of the blessings that He has given to us.  Think about the material things God has blessed us with – jobs, homes, families and the portion of health that we enjoy, Eph. 4:28; 2 Thess. 3: 10; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 16:1-2.  Then give as we have prospered and with the right attitude .

When we partake of the Lords Supper, remember Christ died for us that we can have the forgiveness of our sins.  Remember when we eat the bread, Jesus offered His body as a sacrifice for us; and when we drink the fruit of the vine, remember Jesus shed His blood for our sins.  We are to remember His death and resurrection until He comes again, Matt. 26:26-29; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7.

When we are studying the word of God, remember God gives us instructions on how to live in this world acceptably to Him, John 7:16.  We should take every opportunity to study and meditate upon His word.  In our worship service we should follow along in our Bible to make certain the teacher or preacher is teaching the Word as God would have it taught, Acts 17:11.  Then make application to our lives, Rom. 1:16; Acts 2:42; 1 Thess. 2:13;  2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet 3:15.

Our worship must be offered in Spirit and Truth, John 4:24.

“Son…It’s Not Story Time”

By Victor Osorio

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend who worships in the northeast. He mentioned that the elders at the church he attends did away with “exhortation/invitation” talks. When I asked why, he matter-of-factly said, “Because no one knows how to do them.”

That conversation reminded me of one of my first exhortation talks. It was in the summer of 1998. I was living in Temple Terrace, Florida and had just graduated after my sophomore year at Florida College. When asked if I would give an exhortation talk, I agreed but neglected to check the calendar. When the duty roster came out, a brother teased, “You’re brave! That will be the first week of school at Florida College. This place will be packed!” After overcoming the initial panic, I had an idea. I was going to challenge all of us college students.

My scripture was 2 Timothy 2:15. Yes, it was scripture, singular – there was only one verse. But at least I used the NIV version which said, “Do your best, rather than “study,” to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” After that, I was off to the races with a great story.

The story was fitting. It was about “Cory Matthews,” a fictional character from the sitcom Boy Meets World. The episode I referenced was when Cory was graduating from high school. Through the entire episode Cory was acting strange and melancholy, which was out of character.  His friends and family were worried about his well-being. The climax was at the end when he revealed what was bothering him. As he came to the end of his high school career and completed an assignment to reflect on his feelings about the moment, he realized he was barely a “C-student.” As he presented the assignment he stated, “I could’ve done better. I could’ve done better. I’m sorry; I could’ve done better. Congratulations to those who did.” In my talk, I then pivoted, not to our lives as academicians, but as Christians. I challenged us students not to look back at the end of the year wishing we could have done better in our service to Christ.

I stepped down from the dais feeling that I did my job. Many encouraging folks agreed. Then I saw dear brother and veteran soldier Harry Pickup, Jr coming up to me. He put his left hand on my right shoulder, and in his slow, low, southern draw said, “Son, you did a nice job. You were prepared. You were articulate. You had a good message. But let me give you some advice.” His voice changed from encouraging coach to admonishing, but loving, father. He added, “Son, remember, this is not story time. You have to start with scripture, end with scripture, and use scripture all in between.”

Oddly enough, as hard as I worked on that lesson, and as much as I thought it was just the right message for the time, I agreed with him. I took the admonishment to heart. And I have tried not to repeat that “mistake” since.

No doubt stories have their place in exhortation and Lord’s supper talks. But our cleverness is not “the power of God to salvation” (Romans 1:16-17).

A brief caveat as hearers of these talks. Let’s not make assumptions on our brothers who perform these talks. When someone reads a story off the Internet, let’s not assume they didn’t prepare and print a story off last minute. Let’s take that as a sign of preparation. When someone has a unique presentation style, let’s not assume they are trying to be theatrical and make it about themselves. Let’s assume it is serious to them, and they wanted to make it memorable and meaningful to us.

The answer to better talks is coaching and demonstration by example. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water and do away with them all together. Our young men need opportunities like these to grow their abilities in public settings while being taught to understand the Holy Spirit left enough material in the Bible for a lifetime of sermons, let alone short talks. Let’s encourage our future laborers and leaders to do these talks well.

As for this article, I know I could’ve done better because it’s not story time.