WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.919 I want to thank each and every one of you for 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:06.440 being here tonight. All honor, glory, and praise 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.339 goes to God through His Son and our Savior Jesus 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.679 Christ. He's the reason why we're here. He's 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:15.880 the reason why we sing. He's the reason why we 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.719 pray. He's the reason why this week we are studying 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:22.399 God's Word and considering what it has to teach 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.899 us about our theme, our topic of restoring New 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:28.920 Testament Christianity. You know we've covered 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:31.579 a lot of ground already in this series over the 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:33.759 last week. We've talked about a lot of things 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:37.740 pertaining to restoring New Testament Christianity 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:41.000 and going back to the Bible to find our faith, 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.340 to find our doctrine, to find our practice so 00:00:43.340 --> 00:00:46.820 that we can simply be the one in the same church 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:50.200 that Jesus built. I'll mention to you before 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.759 we get started in our lesson tonight that if 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:56.619 you're interested in getting the notes from The 00:00:56.619 --> 00:00:59.439 topics that we've talked about thus far in this 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:02.100 series, those notes, those handouts are right 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:04.099 up here on the front view. After the service, 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.420 feel free to take a copy of the notes and the 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:12.379 outlines for lessons one through seven in this 00:01:12.379 --> 00:01:14.640 series. Tonight, we're gonna do lesson number 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:16.400 eight in the series. Tonight, we're gonna talk 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.200 about restoring God's plan for undivided teaching 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.760 assemblies in the church. I realize that some 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:25.799 of you will be back at your home congregations 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.459 tomorrow, and if you're interested in having 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:31.299 the notes for Lessons 9 and 10, those are provided 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:33.739 here on the pew as well. Feel free to grab those. 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:36.239 So if you desire, you can have a complete set 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.560 of the notes for this series. The church here 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.319 at North Warren, as I mentioned last night, does 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:47.500 not use any kind of Sunday school or church Bible 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:51.719 class system for teaching. And you know when 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:54.099 people in the Church of Christ hear that they 00:01:54.099 --> 00:01:57.239 think a lot of different things. You may be hearing 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.579 that tonight and you may be thinking well that 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:02.700 sure sounds different. I never knew there were 00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:04.620 congregations that didn't have Sunday school 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:07.040 or church Bible classes. You might be hearing 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.500 that and to you that might sound like a strange 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:12.340 idea. Maybe you're sitting there tonight and 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:14.400 you're saying well it's just the craziest idea 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.919 you've ever heard of in all your life. Why not 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:21.620 have Sunday school? Why not have church Bible 00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:24.800 classes? You know a person might be prompted 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:27.319 to think or ask, you know, don't y 'all think 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:31.599 it's important to teach the Bible? And I think 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.840 that's a fair question and I want to answer that 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.280 question up front really clearly for you. Yes, 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.219 we do feel strongly and we believe strongly that 00:02:39.219 --> 00:02:41.400 the church should teach the Bible. And we've 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:43.939 been trying to do that to the best of our ability 00:02:43.939 --> 00:02:47.250 all week through this gospel meeting. A person 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:49.569 might wonder, well, don't y 'all think it's important 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:52.289 for children to learn the Bible? It's a good 00:02:52.289 --> 00:02:55.389 question and let me answer that. Yes, we believe 00:02:55.389 --> 00:02:57.669 strongly that children should be taught and they 00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:00.930 do need to learn the Bible. And I've been thankful 00:03:00.930 --> 00:03:04.030 over the course of this week for how many young 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:06.469 people, how many children we've had in our assemblies. 00:03:06.789 --> 00:03:09.370 And they've done a good job participating, singing, 00:03:09.569 --> 00:03:12.169 praying, listening. They're up here taking notes. 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:14.389 They're learning the Word of God with us tonight 00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:17.490 and we're very thankful for that. You know, a 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:19.710 person might ask the question, well, don't you 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:21.789 all think it's important for women to have an 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:24.650 opportunity to teach the Bible? Because, you 00:03:24.650 --> 00:03:26.569 know, in a lot of churches, the church Bible 00:03:26.569 --> 00:03:30.330 classes is the sole opportunity for a woman to 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:33.789 teach, to make comments, or ask questions in 00:03:33.789 --> 00:03:36.569 Bible classes. And the answer to that question 00:03:36.569 --> 00:03:39.830 is this. Yes, we believe that women can, and 00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:42.490 we believe women should be teaching the Bible. 00:03:45.640 --> 00:03:48.159 Okay, then if we think it's important to teach 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.259 the Bible if we think it's important children 00:03:50.259 --> 00:03:52.580 learn the Bible and if we think it's important 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:54.860 that women have an opportunity to teach the Bible 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:58.020 as well Then why doesn't the church here at North 00:03:58.020 --> 00:03:59.900 Warren have Sunday school? Why don't they have 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:04.080 any kind of church Bible class program? It all 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:06.580 goes back to this fact and I and I hope through 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:09.000 our study tonight I can help you see this I can 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.180 help you understand it We feel like there's a 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:15.759 proper time and there's a proper place for all 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:17.819 this important teaching that we've just talked 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.980 about. Teaching children, women having opportunity 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:23.100 to teach. We feel like there's a proper time 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:25.699 and a proper place for all of it. We believe 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:28.259 and we are convicted that God has a plan for 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:32.079 teaching the church. He has a plan and he has 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.399 revealed that plan to us Of course in the New 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.439 Testament and we've been going to the New Testament 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:39.079 and looking at it as a pattern as a blueprint 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:41.399 for Everything we've talked about this morning 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:44.000 or this week and we're gonna do so again tonight 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.560 We're gonna go to God's pattern his New Testament 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.899 to see what the plan is for teaching the church 00:04:51.310 --> 00:04:53.910 And we know, and I think we all agree, when God 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:56.290 gives us a plan, we shouldn't add anything to 00:04:56.290 --> 00:04:58.490 that plan, we shouldn't take anything away from 00:04:58.490 --> 00:05:01.370 that plan, and we shouldn't try to substitute 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:05.670 our own plan for God's plan. And we believe, 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:08.490 we are convicted and convinced by our study of 00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:10.790 the Scriptures, that God's plan for teaching 00:05:10.790 --> 00:05:14.470 the church, it involves undivided teaching assemblies. 00:05:15.470 --> 00:05:18.519 Undivided teaching assemblies. thrown out that 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:21.120 term undivided teaching assemblies. It's probably 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.579 important that I define exactly what I'm talking 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:28.360 about so there's no confusion. When I say undivided 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:31.500 teaching assemblies I'm talking about men women 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:35.360 and children of all ages coming together into 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:39.240 one place I'm talking about men standing up and 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:41.779 teaching the Word of God. I'm talking about women 00:05:41.779 --> 00:05:44.420 sitting and learning in silence. I'm talking 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:46.680 about everybody sitting, listening, and learning 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:50.399 the Word of God together. Okay, and the best 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:52.879 example I could give you of an undivided teaching 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.000 assembly would be the very setting and assembly 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.269 we are in right here tonight. All right, we are 00:05:58.269 --> 00:06:00.470 all called together into one place men women 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:02.250 and children young and old. We're all sitting 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.670 We're all listening men are taking turn leading 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:07.730 in the service It's my turn to teach and y 'all 00:06:07.730 --> 00:06:09.990 are being a great audience You're sitting reverently 00:06:09.990 --> 00:06:12.410 and listening carefully and we're all listening 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:14.750 and learning the Word of God together That's 00:06:14.750 --> 00:06:17.189 what I mean when I talk about undivided teaching 00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:21.449 assemblies We believe God's plan does not involve 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:24.709 teaching the church with a Sunday school or a 00:06:24.709 --> 00:06:28.389 church Bible class system of teaching or a divided 00:06:28.389 --> 00:06:31.870 system of Bible classes. We believe God's plan 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:34.370 and pattern is for undivided teaching assemblies 00:06:34.370 --> 00:06:38.230 and not this. Now, before we dive off into the 00:06:38.230 --> 00:06:40.509 lesson and start looking in the Scriptures, I 00:06:40.509 --> 00:06:42.550 want to stop for just a moment and I want to 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:44.490 share a few words and a few thoughts with you 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:47.009 up front. And I just want to be open with you. 00:06:47.009 --> 00:06:52.310 I want to be real with you. I am well aware of 00:06:52.310 --> 00:06:57.430 the fact that this issue has caused division 00:06:57.430 --> 00:07:01.550 in churches of Christ for many, many, many years, 00:07:01.629 --> 00:07:05.529 going back over a hundred years. This issue of 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:07.410 whether or not we should have Sunday school or 00:07:07.410 --> 00:07:10.490 church Bible classes has caused a division in 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:14.449 the church. That is not lost on me. And I think 00:07:14.449 --> 00:07:16.970 that division is something that is very unfortunate. 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:20.639 I think this division is something that we would 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:23.000 have to all admit the Lord is not pleased with. 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:25.720 The Lord doesn't want division in His church. 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:31.139 He wants unity. All right, now I have very strong, 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.709 passionate convictions about this issue. And 00:07:34.709 --> 00:07:36.509 I'm going to share those convictions with you 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:38.689 tonight. And I'm going to do so with passion 00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:40.949 in my heart. I'm going to get excited. I might 00:07:40.949 --> 00:07:43.689 raise my voice. But if I do that, please know 00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:46.050 it's for no other reason other than I'm passionate 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.230 about what I believe the Bible teaches about 00:07:48.230 --> 00:07:53.089 this. Let me just be completely open and honest 00:07:53.089 --> 00:07:56.089 with you. There's a part of me as I stand up 00:07:56.089 --> 00:07:58.170 here tonight that's very excited to share this 00:07:58.170 --> 00:08:02.000 information with you. But you know to be honest 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.360 there's also a part of me that is hesitant because 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.579 I know there's people in this audience tonight 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:10.699 That have attended churches of Christ and congregations 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:12.819 that use Sunday school and church Bible classes 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:14.959 there may be people in the audience tonight that 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.379 that's all they've ever known their whole life 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:19.220 and they're just hearing for the first time that 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:21.199 there's churches of Christ that don't have Bible 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:25.740 classes and I always want to be very careful 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:31.959 and very sensitive and very thoughtful. I don't 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:36.539 want to offend anyone. We're not eager to offend 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:38.620 people when we teach and preach on these things. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:40.700 That's not our goal. That's not our purpose. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:48.399 I believe that we should not be afraid to discuss 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.750 controversial issues like this. I think it would 00:08:51.750 --> 00:08:54.370 actually be better if we could find a way within 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:56.889 ourselves to humbly, patiently, and lovingly 00:08:56.889 --> 00:08:59.730 talk about some of the issues that have divided 00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:03.210 us. Because here's my conviction and here's my 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:05.370 belief, and you may not feel the same way I do. 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:08.090 That's okay. But I believe if you obeyed the 00:09:08.090 --> 00:09:11.590 same gospel I did, I believe you are my brother 00:09:11.590 --> 00:09:13.809 and you are my sister in Christ. God put you 00:09:13.809 --> 00:09:17.350 in the same family He put me into. whether we 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.789 agree or disagree on this topic or any number 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:22.110 of things we've talked about this week if we 00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:26.629 obeyed the same gospel we are heirs of the same 00:09:26.629 --> 00:09:29.110 inheritance we are members of the same family 00:09:29.110 --> 00:09:32.029 citizens of the same kingdom we have the same 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:37.070 hope we have the same Savior and I don't know 00:09:37.070 --> 00:09:40.009 how you feel about that but I feel like it's 00:09:40.009 --> 00:09:42.789 my obligation and my duty to always do my best 00:09:42.789 --> 00:09:45.330 my very best to love and respect my brethren 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:48.740 Even when we might disagree on issues like this, 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:53.120 I think that's important. And I'm gonna try to 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.799 present this material in such a way that shows 00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:58.860 that love and that respect, but at the same time, 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:00.960 shows the passion and conviction that we have 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.940 on this subject. And so, again, part of me is 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:09.059 excited, part of me is hesitant. Part of us... 00:10:09.579 --> 00:10:12.960 is eager to embrace everyone, all of our brothers 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.039 and sisters, who are a part of the Lord's family 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.360 with us. On one hand, we're very eager to embrace 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:20.539 everyone in the body of Christ, but on the other 00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:23.440 hand, honestly, we are also very hesitant to 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:26.419 embrace and condone what we believe from our 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:30.220 perspective to be unscriptural practices. And 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:32.460 I'm just being honest and real with you. This 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:35.559 is where I'm at. This is how I feel. This is 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.320 how I see these things. I'm going to ask one 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:40.720 thing from you. I'm being real honest. I'm being 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:43.759 real and raw with you. I'm going to ask you to 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:51.360 do one thing for me. Before you tune me out and 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.320 say this hillbilly from Arkansas don't know what 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:59.679 he's talking about. Would you please give this 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:04.299 a fair and honest consideration? Before you dismiss 00:11:04.299 --> 00:11:08.759 what we're teaching tonight as strange, odd as 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:11.639 mean divisive crazy whatever you might think 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.039 about this before you do that would you please 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:19.919 just just hear us out just listen just give us 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.700 a fair and honest consideration and listen to 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:24.779 these things with an open heart and open mind 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:27.399 I'm gonna I'm gonna trust tonight that you're 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:29.200 gonna do that so I'm gonna thank you ahead of 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.600 time for having an open heart and an open mind 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:34.440 to receive the things that we're gonna talk about 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:38.320 tonight Now before we dive off into the scriptures 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.820 it might help all of us to go back and review 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:43.340 some of the different ways that we approach the 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.120 scripture. It's hard for some people to understand 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.299 how we could arrive at such a conviction and 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:51.120 such a practice like this and often times people 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.039 have a hard time wrapping their mind around it 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:55.500 because they don't understand our approach to 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:58.240 scripture. We believe the New Testament provides 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:00.379 us with a pattern on how to be the church that 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:03.220 Jesus built, and we are trying our very best. 00:12:03.259 --> 00:12:05.779 Despite our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and 00:12:05.779 --> 00:12:08.200 our failures, we're trying our very best to carefully 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:10.700 follow the New Testament pattern so that we can 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:13.159 be careful to avoid all the different man -made 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.740 doctrines and traditions we see in religion today. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:18.519 Here's another way we approach Scripture. We 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.539 learn a lot of lessons from the Old Testament. 00:12:20.820 --> 00:12:22.840 There are stories in the Old Testament that teach 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.360 us the importance of obedience to God's plan, 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:29.100 obedience to His patterns. Obedience is imperative, 00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:31.279 you know, even in the things that might seem 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.759 like the finer details to us. God still wants 00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:37.779 our obedience even in the finer details. And 00:12:37.779 --> 00:12:40.259 I don't have time to preach a sermon about these 00:12:40.259 --> 00:12:42.820 stories, but I'm just offering these to remind 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:46.019 you. We read in Leviticus 10 .1 -2 about two 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:48.500 brothers, Nadam and Abihu, who offered strange 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:51.360 fire before the Lord. These were religious men 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:53.399 doing religious things, but because they weren't 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:56.240 following the word of God, they suffered the 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.100 worst of consequences. They died. We read about 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:02.639 Moses. God told Moses in Numbers chapter 20 to 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.740 speak to the rock, and it would give forth water. 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:08.019 Instead, Moses struck the rock. And because of 00:13:08.019 --> 00:13:10.879 his disobedience to what God told him to do, 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:12.879 he didn't go into the promised land of Canaan. 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:16.399 In 1 Chronicles 13 we read of a man named Uzzah 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.500 who in the days of King David was very unwise 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:21.460 in the way that he handled he reached up and 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:24.539 touched the ark of a covenant in a way that wasn't 00:13:24.539 --> 00:13:27.440 authorized by God. And because David and the 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:29.539 men of Israel weren't paying attention to the 00:13:29.539 --> 00:13:31.480 details of God's word, they weren't following 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:34.559 his plan and pattern for moving the ark, Uzzah 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.929 was careless and he lost his life. We also read 00:13:37.929 --> 00:13:40.450 of proud King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles chapter 00:13:40.450 --> 00:13:43.529 26 who went into the temple of the Lord to burn 00:13:43.529 --> 00:13:45.509 incense. The problem was he wasn't a priest, 00:13:45.570 --> 00:13:48.870 he wasn't of the tribe of Levi. And God struck 00:13:48.870 --> 00:13:50.929 him with leprosy and he was a leper till the 00:13:50.929 --> 00:13:53.590 day he died because he didn't pay attention to 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:56.789 the finer details of God's law. He rebelled and 00:13:56.789 --> 00:14:00.330 he disobeyed God's plan for offering incense 00:14:00.330 --> 00:14:03.730 in the temple. Stories like these remind us how 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:06.789 important it is. that we pay close attention 00:14:06.789 --> 00:14:10.330 to the Word of God and render obedience at every 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:13.509 level, even things that we might consider minor 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:17.149 or consider to be finer details. First thing 00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:19.269 we're going to do tonight as we've done all week 00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:21.929 is we're going to start by looking at the original 00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:25.490 pattern as it's revealed in the Word of God concerning 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:27.950 God's plan for teaching the church. We're going 00:14:27.950 --> 00:14:31.169 to talk about how the original pattern or plan 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.179 for teaching the church consisted of undivided 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:36.659 teaching assemblies. And to establish that, we're 00:14:36.659 --> 00:14:39.559 going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.419 I'm going to do a brief survey of this chapter. 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:46.080 It has so much to teach us about the way we should 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:48.120 be conducting our teaching in the assemblies 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.860 of the church. Church at Corinth had a lot of 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:54.059 issues. in their assemblies. In 1 Corinthians 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:57.220 14, 1 to 3, Paul exposes the fact that they all 00:14:57.220 --> 00:15:00.000 desired spiritual gifts, but it was not for the 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.539 right reasons. They all had selfish motivations 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:05.679 for wanting these spiritual gifts that God had 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.940 given them by way of the Holy Spirit. Paul explains 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:12.779 to them in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 4 to 5, that 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.159 those spiritual gifts were given to edify the 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:18.440 church. But these Corinthians were using these 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:21.179 gifts to build themselves up. They thought it 00:15:21.179 --> 00:15:23.120 was really neat. It was really cool to have the 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.000 gift of tongues, to speak a language that you'd 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.740 never studied before or spoken before. That made 00:15:28.740 --> 00:15:30.659 them feel real important and real special and 00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:33.059 they loved to showcase that gift in the assembly 00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:36.279 of the church. Not giving any consideration as 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.419 to whether or not it was helpful to the church, 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:40.980 teaching the church anything or building them 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:44.059 up. Paul tries to help them see that. in verses 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:48.259 4 and 5. In verses 6 to 19, Paul tries to explain 00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:50.519 and reason with them. He tells them, you know, 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:52.659 speaking those foreign languages, speaking in 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:55.940 tongues without interpretation might be edifying 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:58.759 for the speaker. It might make the speakers feel 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.000 important or special, but he reasons with them 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.539 to help them see it was not building up the church. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.759 Would this lesson mean anything to you if I preached 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:11.779 it in Vietnamese? I don't understand a word of 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:14.480 Vietnamese. If I was speaking in Vietnamese right 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:20.639 now, that would be a miracle for sure. If I could 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.200 preach this lesson in Vietnamese, it wouldn't 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.139 profit you anything, right? Because you couldn't 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:28.159 understand a single thing I was saying. And that's 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:30.000 what Paul was trying to help the Corinthians 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.980 understand. You might feel good to have the gift 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:33.980 of tongues and be able to use it, but you need 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:36.100 to think less about yourself and more about building 00:16:36.100 --> 00:16:39.259 up the church with these gifts. In verse 20, 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:42.539 you know, talks to him really straight. He gets 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.399 serious with him and he tells him, you know what, 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:46.840 you need to stop being childish. You need to 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.120 stop being spiritually immature and you need 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:51.860 to grow up in your faith and understanding about 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:54.700 how to properly use these spiritual gifts. And 00:16:54.700 --> 00:16:57.879 then in verse 21 to 22, he starts to explain 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:01.200 the proper use of some of those gifts. He tells 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.639 them that the proper use of the gift of tongues 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:07.859 was to convince unbelievers that these men were 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:10.420 speaking on behalf of God. And he goes on to 00:17:10.420 --> 00:17:14.279 say the proper use of the gift of prophecy, prophesying 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:17.099 was for edifying or building up the believers. 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:20.000 Speaking in an unknown language was good to convince 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.839 unbelievers that they should listen to you. Speaking 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:25.640 in a known language, prophesying for the congregation 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.779 was good for teaching them, instructing them, 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.319 and building them up. And then when we get to 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.640 verse 23, Paul talks about the abuse of those 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.859 spiritual gifts. and how if they continued to 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:39.119 abuse the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy, 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:41.819 it was going to discourage those who came in 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:44.980 and visited their assemblies. In verse 24 and 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:49.119 25, he explains that the proper use of the gifts 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:53.500 would convict and convince those who came in 00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:56.599 and visited the assemblies. When he gets to verse 00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:03.559 26, verse 26 through 32, Paul explains that every 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.410 brother can speak and can participate. And in 00:18:07.410 --> 00:18:10.309 Corinth, all the brethren had a desire to speak 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:13.849 and participate in the assembly. But he explains 00:18:13.849 --> 00:18:16.829 and tries to show them that by not taking turns 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:20.650 and by everyone speaking at the same time and 00:18:20.650 --> 00:18:23.750 men speaking over one another, it had led to 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:26.029 a lot of confusion and a lot of chaos in their 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:30.250 assembly. Verses 33 to 35, Paul points out that 00:18:30.250 --> 00:18:32.490 women were also creating disruption in their 00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:35.329 assemblies by speaking out publicly and asking 00:18:35.329 --> 00:18:38.170 questions there in the assembly. And that's a 00:18:38.170 --> 00:18:40.829 very short summary of 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 00:18:40.849 --> 00:18:43.509 We're going to dive deeper and read some of these 00:18:43.509 --> 00:18:46.349 scriptures, but I want to set the stage for you 00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:48.509 and help you understand that the church at Corinth 00:18:48.509 --> 00:18:51.529 had a lot of problems in their assemblies. And 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:55.029 Paul wrote 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It's a chapter 00:18:55.029 --> 00:18:59.150 of correction. He wrote the chapter to correct 00:18:59.150 --> 00:19:01.549 all the error, all the disorder, all the chaos 00:19:01.549 --> 00:19:05.170 and confusion that they had because of the way 00:19:05.170 --> 00:19:07.910 they were doing things in the teaching part of 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.289 their assembly. Next thing that we'll look at 00:19:10.289 --> 00:19:13.089 this tonight is how Paul corrects the error that 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:15.369 they had at Corinth. Here's the first thing Paul 00:19:15.369 --> 00:19:19.430 tells them to do. He says the whole church needs 00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:21.849 to come together into one place for edification. 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:24.680 It's the first thing he tells them, 1 Corinthians 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:27.680 14 verse 23. He says, if therefore the whole 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.920 church become together into one place and all 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.200 speak with tongues, foreign languages, and there 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:35.240 come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, 00:19:35.299 --> 00:19:38.279 will they not say that you're mad? Won't they 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.920 say that you're crazy? If all your men get up 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:43.000 and speak foreign languages they don't understand, 00:19:43.019 --> 00:19:44.559 they're going to come in and they're going to 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.559 think you all are crazy. But I want you to notice 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:52.240 here the arrangement that Paul envisions. as 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:54.440 he lays these things out for the Corinthians. 00:19:54.539 --> 00:19:57.920 What arrangement was Paul speaking of here in 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.720 verse 23 concerning when the church came together 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.180 for teaching? It was what I'm going to call a 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:07.259 togetherness arrangement. A togetherness arrangement. 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.259 Paul said the whole church become together into 00:20:11.259 --> 00:20:15.359 one place. That is how the first century church, 00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:18.079 the New Testament church came together for edification. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.960 The whole church came together in one place. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:26.920 And tonight, I'm gonna refer back to that over 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:29.220 and over again, and I'm gonna refer to that as 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:32.440 the togetherness arrangement. That is the authorized 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:34.960 arrangement for teaching the church. When the 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.359 church comes together for teaching, this is what 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:40.000 the scripture authorizes the whole church to 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.599 become together into one place. The next thing 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:45.960 Paul does by way of correction is he tells them, 00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:48.819 look. Your men who speak in the assembly need 00:20:48.819 --> 00:20:52.019 to take turns. They need to teach one at a time. 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:55.559 Remember, they were all speaking at the same 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:58.660 time, talking over one another, creating confusion. 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:00.920 He said, you need to speak and teach one at a 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:04.039 time so everyone in the audience can sit, listen, 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:07.019 learn, and be comforted all together. The whole 00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:09.859 church become together into one place. We see 00:21:09.859 --> 00:21:13.690 that in verse 31 of 1 Corinthians 14. Paul tells 00:21:13.690 --> 00:21:16.210 him, for ye may all prophesy. He tells the teaching 00:21:16.210 --> 00:21:18.210 brethren, you can all get up and speak, you can 00:21:18.210 --> 00:21:22.349 all prophesy, but he says do it one by one, one 00:21:22.349 --> 00:21:28.049 at a time. He says that all may learn and all 00:21:28.049 --> 00:21:31.450 may be comforted. Paul says the speakers, the 00:21:31.450 --> 00:21:34.549 teachers need to speak one at a time so everyone 00:21:34.549 --> 00:21:37.349 can sit, everyone can listen, everyone can learn 00:21:37.349 --> 00:21:40.009 together because the whole church has come together 00:21:40.009 --> 00:21:44.819 into one place for this teaching. Okay, the men 00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:46.920 need to speak and teach one at a time to the 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:49.039 congregation assembled together there in that 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:51.980 togetherness arrangement Now I want to I want 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:58.359 you to stop and notice something here If we think 00:21:58.359 --> 00:22:00.960 about the situation here at Corinth in the chaos 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:03.119 and the confusion that was in their assembly 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:08.200 This was actually a perfect opportunity for God 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:12.339 to give us a divided into classes arrangement 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:15.380 for teaching. And let me explain what I mean 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:19.380 by that. In 1st Corinthians 14 verse 26, Paul 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:21.460 says, How is it then, brethren, every one of 00:22:21.460 --> 00:22:23.299 you hath the psalm, hath the doctrine, hath the 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:25.980 tongue, hath the revelation, hath an interpretation? 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:29.640 He said, you brethren all have something you 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.240 want to say, you want to interject, you want 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:36.279 to participate in some way in the assembly. And 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:39.500 that wasn't a problem. That wasn't a problem. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:41.839 It was just the way that they were going about 00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:45.460 participating. They were all speaking over one 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:47.799 another and that was not edifying. That's why 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.180 he says at the end of the verse, let all things 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:53.279 be done unto edifying. Picture this, the church 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:55.579 was coming together and all these teachers, all 00:22:55.579 --> 00:22:58.200 these men at Corinth had something to say or 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:00.359 contribute but because they were all speaking 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:03.039 at the same time it just created chaos and confusion. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.319 This was a perfect opportunity. For God to say, 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.480 look, here's the solution to the chaos. Just 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:14.480 divide the church up into different classes and 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.680 let each man who has something to say teach his 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:21.119 own class. For example, we could have the psalm 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:24.339 class. We could have the tongue class, the interpretation 00:23:24.339 --> 00:23:27.240 class, the doctrine class, the revelation class, 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:30.259 any number of classes. All these men wanted to 00:23:30.259 --> 00:23:33.799 contribute in these ways. The Lord could have 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:36.579 very easily said, just divide the church up into 00:23:36.579 --> 00:23:39.200 classes, put a teacher in every class, let those 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.339 men teach their classes, and that would have 00:23:41.339 --> 00:23:44.319 eliminated the chaos. That would have removed 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:49.240 all the confusion. This was the perfect opportunity 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:52.880 for God to give us a divided into classes arrangement 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:55.059 for teaching, but what I want you to notice is 00:23:55.059 --> 00:23:57.940 that is not the solution that God gave in 1 Corinthians 00:23:57.940 --> 00:24:02.809 chapter 14. The solution, God did not tell them 00:24:02.809 --> 00:24:05.250 to divide the church up into different classes. 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:08.410 The solution was this. He told them the church 00:24:08.410 --> 00:24:11.269 needs to stay together, whole church become together 00:24:11.269 --> 00:24:13.950 into one place, togetherness arrangement. He 00:24:13.950 --> 00:24:16.789 said, you men need to speak one at a time instead 00:24:16.789 --> 00:24:19.410 of everybody speaking at the same time. First 00:24:19.410 --> 00:24:22.349 Corinthians 14 verse 31. And he said, if you'll 00:24:22.349 --> 00:24:25.569 do that, all can listen, all can learn, and all 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:28.150 can be comforted together in that common assembly. 00:24:29.069 --> 00:24:33.730 This was God's solution to the chaos and the 00:24:33.730 --> 00:24:37.390 confusion in their assemblies God had the perfect 00:24:37.390 --> 00:24:39.490 opportunity to tell the church to divide into 00:24:39.490 --> 00:24:42.349 classes. He didn't tell us to do that He said 00:24:42.349 --> 00:24:44.369 we need to stay together and men need to speak 00:24:44.369 --> 00:24:46.329 one at a time He said you need to do the teaching 00:24:46.329 --> 00:24:49.349 just like it's being conducted here tonight Everyone 00:24:49.349 --> 00:24:52.289 together men speaking one at a time so we can 00:24:52.289 --> 00:24:55.660 all listen and learn together Now we continue 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:57.880 to look at Paul's correction of the Corinthian 00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:00.700 errors. He had some correction for the sisters 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:03.339 in the congregation. He wrote to them in verses 00:25:03.339 --> 00:25:05.920 34 and 35 that the women need to keep silent 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.180 in the assembly, that they weren't permitted 00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:11.059 to speak out or ask questions. First Corinthians 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:14.619 14, 34 to 35 says, let your women keep silence 00:25:14.619 --> 00:25:17.380 in the churches, for it is not permitted unto 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:20.240 them to speak. But they are commanded to be under 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.019 obedience, as also saith the law. And if they 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:24.920 will learn anything, let them ask their husbands 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.359 at home, for it's a shame for women to speak 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.240 in the church. We understand from scriptures 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:32.359 like this that men and women have different roles 00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:35.759 and responsibilities in the church. And it's 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.200 that way in the home as well. Husbands, wives, 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.680 mothers, fathers have different responsibilities 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.380 in the home. Doesn't make the father any better 00:25:43.380 --> 00:25:45.759 than the mother or the wife any better than her 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.650 husband. God just gave us different roles and 00:25:48.650 --> 00:25:50.829 responsibilities in the home. And when husband 00:25:50.829 --> 00:25:53.109 and wife know their role and work together, it's 00:25:53.109 --> 00:25:55.670 a beautiful thing. It's the same way in the church. 00:25:55.750 --> 00:25:57.990 Men and women have different roles and responsibilities. 00:25:58.069 --> 00:26:00.069 It doesn't mean men are any better than women, 00:26:00.089 --> 00:26:03.170 not at all. It just means God gave them different 00:26:03.170 --> 00:26:06.289 roles. And a man's role is to be a leader and 00:26:06.289 --> 00:26:08.390 a speaker, a teacher in the assemblies of the 00:26:08.390 --> 00:26:11.470 church. A woman's role is to listen and learn 00:26:11.470 --> 00:26:14.089 in silence. And that's the difference in the 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:16.779 two roles. Now something else I want to show 00:26:16.779 --> 00:26:20.880 you by way of Paul's correction here. These corrective 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:24.019 measures that were mandated by Paul, these things 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:26.220 that he told the church there that they needed 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:29.559 to put into practice to correct all these errors, 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:33.960 these measures were not optional suggestions. 00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:37.299 These things he told the church to do were the 00:26:37.299 --> 00:26:40.000 commandments of the Lord. I want to show you 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.250 that in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 37. Paul said, 00:26:43.410 --> 00:26:45.809 if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, 00:26:45.869 --> 00:26:47.869 let him acknowledge that the things that I write 00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:51.950 unto you are the commandments of the Lord. He 00:26:51.950 --> 00:26:54.089 just told him, you need to speak one at a time. 00:26:54.509 --> 00:26:57.470 You need to take turns. Women need to be silent 00:26:57.470 --> 00:26:59.450 in the assembly. If they have questions, ask 00:26:59.450 --> 00:27:01.809 away from the assembly. He just laid out all 00:27:01.809 --> 00:27:05.009 the measures that they needed to take to fix 00:27:05.009 --> 00:27:07.569 the chaos and confusion. And he said, these are 00:27:07.569 --> 00:27:10.349 not optional suggestions. These are the commandments 00:27:10.349 --> 00:27:13.759 of the Lord. And you know what, if the Corinthians 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.440 would only accept that correction, they could 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:19.920 restore peace where there was confusion. They 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:23.099 could restore decency where there was chaos. 00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:26.259 They could restore order and the assembly could 00:27:26.259 --> 00:27:29.740 end up being something that was edifying instead 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:32.420 of being a big mess, something that was not edifying. 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:36.140 He explains that to him in verses 33 and verse 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:39.339 40. He says, for God is not the author of confusion 00:27:39.339 --> 00:27:42.640 but of peace. as in all the churches of the saints. 00:27:43.299 --> 00:27:45.859 And he said, let all things be done decently 00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:48.579 and in order. You see, God can restore peace 00:27:48.579 --> 00:27:51.700 where man has created confusion. He'll do that 00:27:51.700 --> 00:27:53.339 in the assemblies of the church. He'll do that 00:27:53.339 --> 00:27:55.460 really in every aspect of our life, if we'll 00:27:55.460 --> 00:27:58.480 let him. By following his will and obeying his 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.460 word, we can have peace where we once had confusion. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:05.619 As we continue to look at the original New Testament 00:28:05.619 --> 00:28:08.180 pattern for teaching the church, I want us to 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:10.319 take a few moments to see from the Scriptures 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:13.460 that the Bible gives us two different settings 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:16.500 for Bible teaching. I want us to understand what 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:19.000 these two different settings are. Two settings 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:21.319 for Bible teaching as revealed in the Scripture 00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:23.579 are going to be what I'm going to call the individual 00:28:23.579 --> 00:28:27.619 setting and the congregational setting. Let's 00:28:27.619 --> 00:28:30.140 talk about the individual setting and the congregational 00:28:30.140 --> 00:28:32.799 setting for just a moment. Do we find these settings 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:35.480 taught in Scripture? Absolutely. And it's very 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:38.579 important that we can go to Scripture to find 00:28:38.579 --> 00:28:41.359 and to describe these settings using scriptural 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.619 terms and scriptural language. Let's see what 00:28:44.619 --> 00:28:47.299 the Bible says and let's look at Scriptures which 00:28:47.299 --> 00:28:50.140 contrast these two settings for teaching. The 00:28:50.140 --> 00:28:53.630 first one is Acts 20 verse 20. In Acts 20 verse 00:28:53.630 --> 00:28:56.670 20, Paul says, he's talking to the Ephesian elders. 00:28:57.089 --> 00:28:59.230 He talks about how he kept back nothing that 00:28:59.230 --> 00:29:02.710 was profitable unto them, but had taught them 00:29:02.710 --> 00:29:07.009 both publicly and from house to house. Paul tells 00:29:07.009 --> 00:29:09.250 the Ephesian elders that he taught them in two 00:29:09.250 --> 00:29:10.950 different settings. He said, I've taught you 00:29:10.950 --> 00:29:13.960 publicly. That's the congregational setting, 00:29:14.099 --> 00:29:16.039 and he says, I've taught you from house to house. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:18.759 That's the individual setting. We're just using 00:29:18.759 --> 00:29:21.160 the language of the Bible to describe these two 00:29:21.160 --> 00:29:23.779 settings. Another place these two settings are 00:29:23.779 --> 00:29:27.220 contrasted is 1 Corinthians 14 verse 34 to 35. 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.779 We just read that passage where Paul said, let 00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:33.180 your women keep silence in the churches. In the 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:35.579 churches, there's that public congregational 00:29:35.579 --> 00:29:38.220 setting. He said, if they have questions let 00:29:38.220 --> 00:29:41.500 them ask their husbands at home in verse 35. 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:44.740 At home, there's the contrast with that private 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:47.539 house to house individual setting. So we have 00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:51.980 in the churches and at home. Acts chapter 5 verse 00:29:51.980 --> 00:29:55.460 42, Acts 5 42 talks about the apostles there 00:29:55.460 --> 00:29:58.319 and their work in the church at Jerusalem. It 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.099 says, and daily in the temple and in every house 00:30:01.099 --> 00:30:03.579 they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. 00:30:03.930 --> 00:30:06.289 The apostles were teaching in Jerusalem and it 00:30:06.289 --> 00:30:08.410 says they were teaching daily where? In the temple. 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:11.849 That's that congregational public setting. And 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:14.430 it says in every house. That's that individual 00:30:14.430 --> 00:30:18.190 at home private setting. The apostles were teaching 00:30:18.190 --> 00:30:20.990 in the temple publicly and in every house privately. 00:30:21.450 --> 00:30:23.329 And then the fourth example I'll give you from 00:30:23.329 --> 00:30:26.369 scripture, which helps us see these two settings 00:30:26.369 --> 00:30:30.910 very clearly, is in Acts 18 26 when Aquila and 00:30:30.910 --> 00:30:34.069 Priscilla, a Christian couple, corrected a gospel 00:30:34.069 --> 00:30:36.309 preacher, Apollos. You know, they went into the 00:30:36.309 --> 00:30:38.829 synagogue and heard Apollos preaching Christ, 00:30:38.930 --> 00:30:41.630 but he was preaching John's baptism. He had the 00:30:41.630 --> 00:30:44.029 wrong doctrine of baptism. You know, they found 00:30:44.029 --> 00:30:46.609 it necessary to correct Apollos, to give him 00:30:46.609 --> 00:30:48.769 a better understanding of the doctrine of baptism. 00:30:49.109 --> 00:30:52.529 In Acts 18 26, Bible says that they took him 00:30:52.529 --> 00:30:55.670 unto them Priscilla and Aquila took him unto 00:30:55.670 --> 00:30:58.109 them. They were in the synagogue setting, but 00:30:58.109 --> 00:31:00.549 they took him unto them in the private setting, 00:31:00.609 --> 00:31:02.869 the individual setting, and expounded unto him 00:31:02.869 --> 00:31:06.390 the way of God more perfectly. So in Acts 18 00:31:06.390 --> 00:31:08.650 26, again we see both settings for teaching. 00:31:08.789 --> 00:31:12.190 We see that public setting. Apollos was there 00:31:12.190 --> 00:31:14.730 in the synagogue teaching publicly, but when 00:31:14.730 --> 00:31:17.670 it came time to correct him, Priscilla and Aquila 00:31:17.670 --> 00:31:20.630 took him aside. They took him into that private 00:31:20.630 --> 00:31:23.650 individual setting. to expound unto Him the way 00:31:23.650 --> 00:31:27.210 of God more perfectly. So these are the two settings 00:31:27.210 --> 00:31:30.190 as they're given to us and revealed to us in 00:31:30.190 --> 00:31:32.670 Scripture. And we're using the language of Scripture 00:31:32.670 --> 00:31:35.589 to understand and to characterize these two settings. 00:31:35.829 --> 00:31:37.650 I want to talk about each one of them briefly 00:31:37.650 --> 00:31:40.210 for just a moment. Let's dive in deeper and look 00:31:40.210 --> 00:31:42.589 at the congregational setting. Here's some of 00:31:42.589 --> 00:31:45.109 the defining characteristics of teaching that 00:31:45.109 --> 00:31:47.660 happens in the congregational setting. Teaching 00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:49.980 that happens in the congregational setting, the 00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:52.559 general public is going to be invited to come 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:55.680 and be a part of that teaching. Teaching that 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:57.559 happens in the congregational setting is going 00:31:57.559 --> 00:32:00.880 to be facilitated by the church and its leadership. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:03.380 The church is going to provide a time, a place, 00:32:03.900 --> 00:32:06.680 whatever resources might be necessary to facilitate 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:10.000 that teaching. A teaching that happens in the 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:12.059 congregational setting is going to be organized 00:32:12.059 --> 00:32:14.059 by the leaders of the congregation. They're going 00:32:14.059 --> 00:32:16.980 to pick a teacher. They may even pick a set of 00:32:16.980 --> 00:32:19.779 topics and ask the man to teach on those topics, 00:32:19.779 --> 00:32:22.259 but all of that's going to be organized by the 00:32:22.259 --> 00:32:24.779 leaders of the congregation. And then the teaching 00:32:24.779 --> 00:32:26.880 that happens in this congregational setting is 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:29.019 also going to be overseen by the leaders of the 00:32:29.019 --> 00:32:31.859 church. If there's any error that's taught, of 00:32:31.859 --> 00:32:33.500 course the leaders of the church are going to 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:35.339 hear that and they're going to need to correct 00:32:35.339 --> 00:32:38.960 that teaching. Okay, the best example I could 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:41.799 give you of teaching in the congregational setting 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:44.460 is the teaching that's going on right here right 00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:47.039 now. We're having a gospel meeting this week 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:49.299 and we publicized it all over town. We put the 00:32:49.299 --> 00:32:51.640 posters up and the flyers up and we've invited 00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:54.400 the public to come and to hear the Word of God 00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:57.420 this week. The congregation here, its leadership 00:32:57.420 --> 00:32:59.839 has facilitated this gospel meeting. They have 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.579 facilitated this assembly. They provided the 00:33:02.579 --> 00:33:05.099 means by which we can come together and be a 00:33:05.099 --> 00:33:07.500 part of this teaching. They have organized the 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:09.400 gospel meeting this week. They have organized 00:33:09.400 --> 00:33:12.650 this assembly. They've asked me to speak. And 00:33:12.650 --> 00:33:15.049 they are overseeing what I'm teaching. If I teach 00:33:15.049 --> 00:33:17.349 something wrong, leaders of this congregation, 00:33:17.869 --> 00:33:23.170 it's their responsibility to correct me. So these 00:33:23.170 --> 00:33:25.690 are some of the defining characteristics that 00:33:25.690 --> 00:33:30.529 help us understand teaching that is done in the 00:33:30.529 --> 00:33:32.509 congregational setting. Now why is it important 00:33:32.509 --> 00:33:36.569 that we know that we're being taught in a congregational 00:33:36.569 --> 00:33:40.319 setting? When we're being taught in a congregational 00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.519 setting the role of women is very important The 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.819 New Testament teaches in the public assemblies 00:33:45.819 --> 00:33:47.859 of the church in this congregational setting 00:33:47.859 --> 00:33:52.220 as we saw from 1st Corinthians 14 34 to 35 Then 00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:54.039 in the public assemblies of the church women 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:57.740 may not teach anybody Women may not teach anybody 00:33:57.740 --> 00:34:00.259 and they may not ask questions because as the 00:34:00.259 --> 00:34:03.980 verse says they must keep silence Let your women 00:34:03.980 --> 00:34:06.299 keep silence in the churches. It's not permitted 00:34:06.299 --> 00:34:09.099 under them to speak He goes on to say in 35, 00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:12.199 it's a shame for women to speak in the assemblies 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:14.679 of the church. When the churches come together 00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:17.280 for this teaching in this congregational setting, 00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:20.280 this is the role of women. Women can't speak, 00:34:20.340 --> 00:34:22.960 can't teach, can't ask questions, they must keep 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:26.159 silence. It's important for us to know that that's 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:28.679 the role of women when we come together in this 00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:30.780 setting for teaching. Well, let's shift gears 00:34:30.780 --> 00:34:33.599 also in contrast this to the individual setting. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.000 What are some of the defining characteristics 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.139 of teaching that happens in the individual setting? 00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:41.280 Teaching that happens in the individual setting, 00:34:41.579 --> 00:34:43.860 generally the public is not going to be invited 00:34:43.860 --> 00:34:45.699 to that teaching. It's teaching that happens 00:34:45.699 --> 00:34:49.179 in more private places, more private settings, 00:34:49.239 --> 00:34:52.380 if you will. Teaching in the individual setting 00:34:52.380 --> 00:34:56.130 is going to be facilitated by individuals. If 00:34:56.130 --> 00:34:58.849 me and Brother Mark, just by using him by way 00:34:58.849 --> 00:35:00.550 of example, last night Brother Mark said, hey, 00:35:00.650 --> 00:35:02.590 I sure would like to get together and talk about 00:35:02.590 --> 00:35:04.809 the Scriptures. So this morning I said, come 00:35:04.809 --> 00:35:06.750 on over to Mark's house. So Mark came over this 00:35:06.750 --> 00:35:08.789 morning, we talked for an hour and a half about 00:35:08.789 --> 00:35:11.590 the Scriptures. That's something we facilitated 00:35:11.590 --> 00:35:14.610 and we set up as individuals. And the teaching 00:35:14.610 --> 00:35:17.449 that was conducted in that setting was in the 00:35:17.449 --> 00:35:20.250 individual setting. Teaching that happens in 00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:22.949 the individual setting, is going to be organized 00:35:22.949 --> 00:35:25.369 by individuals, facilitated by individuals, and 00:35:25.369 --> 00:35:28.090 it's not necessarily going to be overseen by 00:35:28.090 --> 00:35:31.230 the leaders of the church. Mark didn't have to 00:35:31.230 --> 00:35:33.130 ask the elders permission to study the Bible 00:35:33.130 --> 00:35:35.170 with me, neither did I need to ask their permission 00:35:35.170 --> 00:35:37.849 to study the Bible with him. You know, we all 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:39.869 ought to be willing and eager to study the Bible 00:35:39.869 --> 00:35:42.730 with one another, to teach and admonish one another, 00:35:42.869 --> 00:35:47.610 encourage one another. private studies, home 00:35:47.610 --> 00:35:49.989 Bible studies, house to house studies. We need 00:35:49.989 --> 00:35:53.989 to use the teaching that's afforded to us in 00:35:53.989 --> 00:35:56.869 the individual setting and I hope by looking 00:35:56.869 --> 00:35:59.170 at the defining characteristics of each on the 00:35:59.170 --> 00:36:01.130 screen you can see the difference. We're not 00:36:01.130 --> 00:36:04.690 in the individual setting tonight. You know last 00:36:04.690 --> 00:36:07.250 week brother Mark and Robin invited a lot of 00:36:07.250 --> 00:36:09.710 us over to their house after our assemblies to 00:36:09.710 --> 00:36:12.380 sit on the back porch and study. And you know, 00:36:12.460 --> 00:36:16.019 when Brother Mark organized that and facilitated 00:36:16.019 --> 00:36:18.320 that as an individual and invited us, you know, 00:36:18.360 --> 00:36:20.579 we met over at Brother Mark's porch late into 00:36:20.579 --> 00:36:24.019 the night and we enjoyed teaching in this individual 00:36:24.019 --> 00:36:27.360 setting. The role of women for teaching in the 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.280 individual setting is different than the role 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:32.599 of women for teaching in the congregational setting. 00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:35.579 In the individual setting, I believe that a woman 00:36:35.579 --> 00:36:38.969 can teach anybody. I believe a woman can teach 00:36:38.969 --> 00:36:40.730 a child. I believe a woman can teach another 00:36:40.730 --> 00:36:43.130 woman. I believe a woman can even teach a man 00:36:43.130 --> 00:36:46.030 in the individual setting. And I'll give you 00:36:46.030 --> 00:36:47.989 a book chapter and verse for that in just a moment. 00:36:48.329 --> 00:36:50.349 I believe in the individual setting. I believe 00:36:50.349 --> 00:36:52.730 women can ask questions. In fact, First Corinthians 00:36:52.730 --> 00:36:55.809 1435 says that's where she does need to ask questions. 00:36:56.110 --> 00:36:58.750 Not in the assembly, but at home or away from 00:36:58.750 --> 00:37:01.929 the assembly. In the individual setting, I don't 00:37:01.929 --> 00:37:04.409 believe women have to keep silence. The scripture 00:37:04.409 --> 00:37:06.429 that tells them to keep silent, 1 Corinthians 00:37:06.429 --> 00:37:10.469 14, 34 to 35, tells them to do so in the assemblies 00:37:10.469 --> 00:37:16.050 of the church when we're receiving teaching in 00:37:16.050 --> 00:37:19.130 the congregational setting. I hope it's easy 00:37:19.130 --> 00:37:21.550 for us to see that there are two different roles 00:37:21.550 --> 00:37:25.110 for women depending on which setting we are in. 00:37:25.150 --> 00:37:27.309 That's why it's important for us to know the 00:37:27.309 --> 00:37:29.710 difference between teaching in the congregational 00:37:29.710 --> 00:37:31.949 setting and teaching in the individual setting. 00:37:32.650 --> 00:37:35.530 Let me show you why I believe women can teach 00:37:35.530 --> 00:37:37.909 women, women can teach children, women can even 00:37:37.909 --> 00:37:41.710 teach men away from the assemblies of the church 00:37:41.710 --> 00:37:45.849 in private house -to -house studies. Titus 2 00:37:45.849 --> 00:37:49.989 verse 3 to 5 commands that older Christian women 00:37:49.989 --> 00:37:53.650 teach younger Christian women. This is very important. 00:37:54.110 --> 00:37:56.869 Titus 2 verse 3, the aged women, it says likewise 00:37:56.869 --> 00:38:00.599 that they be teachers of good things. Christian 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:02.820 women, aged Christian women need to be teachers 00:38:02.820 --> 00:38:05.280 of good things. That they may teach the younger 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:07.559 women to be sober, to love their husbands, to 00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:09.920 love their children, to be discreet, chaste, 00:38:10.019 --> 00:38:12.320 keepers at home, good, obedient to their own 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:14.980 husbands. That the Word of God be not blasphemed. 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:18.079 This is very, very clear. There's a time and 00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:22.139 a place for older Christian women to teach younger 00:38:22.139 --> 00:38:26.800 Christian women. But where is the time and when 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:28.820 is the place for that teaching to happen? Does 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:31.980 that... teaching need to happen tonight, right 00:38:31.980 --> 00:38:34.900 here in the public assembly of the church? Do 00:38:34.900 --> 00:38:37.099 we need to have a gospel meeting to do that teaching 00:38:37.099 --> 00:38:40.260 where we invite the public to come? No, this 00:38:40.260 --> 00:38:43.480 teaching needs to happen away from the assemblies 00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:46.000 of the church. The perfect place for this teaching 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:49.239 to happen is in the private house -to -house 00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:52.280 individual setting, not in the congregational 00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:54.260 setting, not in the public assemblies of the 00:38:54.260 --> 00:38:57.019 church. And I told you, I believe a Christian 00:38:57.019 --> 00:38:59.510 woman can teach a man as long as she does it 00:38:59.510 --> 00:39:01.750 away from the assembly. I believe there's an 00:39:01.750 --> 00:39:05.130 approved apostolic example of that in Acts 18 00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:08.650 26. Remember, this is about Aquila and Priscilla, 00:39:08.809 --> 00:39:11.650 a Christian husband and wife. What did they do 00:39:11.650 --> 00:39:16.309 in Acts 18 26? The Bible says he, that's Apollos, 00:39:16.429 --> 00:39:19.510 began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom 00:39:19.510 --> 00:39:21.949 when Aquila and Priscilla, a husband and his 00:39:21.949 --> 00:39:25.329 wife, had heard, they took him unto them. Who 00:39:25.329 --> 00:39:30.329 took him unto them? Bible says they. Who is they? 00:39:30.409 --> 00:39:33.170 They is Aquila and Priscilla, a husband and a 00:39:33.170 --> 00:39:36.429 wife, a man and a woman. They took Apollos unto 00:39:36.429 --> 00:39:38.829 them. They took him aside in private. And what 00:39:38.829 --> 00:39:41.829 did they do? They expounded unto him the way 00:39:41.829 --> 00:39:44.690 of God more perfectly. Who expounded unto Apollos 00:39:44.690 --> 00:39:46.730 the way of God more perfectly? Who taught him? 00:39:47.710 --> 00:39:49.650 Well, they did. The same people that took him 00:39:49.650 --> 00:39:51.969 unto them. The same people that took him aside. 00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:55.360 And who was they? They was Aquila and Priscilla, 00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:58.539 a man and a woman. Let me tell you how I think 00:39:58.539 --> 00:40:04.960 this would apply today. Listen, if a sister in 00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:09.239 the church hears me or any man teach something, 00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:14.079 it is an error. It is not biblical and not scriptural. 00:40:14.139 --> 00:40:17.480 I believe they have every right to bring that 00:40:17.480 --> 00:40:20.199 to our attention and to correct us in the same 00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:23.900 way that Priscilla corrected Apollos in Acts 00:40:23.900 --> 00:40:26.639 18 26. Now the only thing I'll ask is that you 00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:30.199 do that like they did privately away from the 00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:32.119 assembly of the church. After the service of 00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:35.039 the church, if you think I've taught error or 00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:36.840 there's something that's amiss in my teaching, 00:40:36.900 --> 00:40:39.139 I believe a Christian woman has every right to 00:40:39.139 --> 00:40:42.579 correct me and I'll try to receive all the correction 00:40:42.579 --> 00:40:46.510 that's offered. But I think this verse authorizes 00:40:46.510 --> 00:40:49.010 our sisters. When it's appropriate and necessary, 00:40:49.809 --> 00:40:52.269 they can teach us. If we need to be taught, they 00:40:52.269 --> 00:40:54.949 have authority from God to teach us. They just 00:40:54.949 --> 00:40:57.369 need to do that in the individual private setting. 00:40:58.849 --> 00:41:02.130 Now that we've thoroughly established God's original 00:41:02.130 --> 00:41:04.289 plan and pattern for teaching the church, and 00:41:04.289 --> 00:41:06.949 we've seen how that pattern involves undivided 00:41:06.949 --> 00:41:09.469 teaching assemblies of the church, we're going 00:41:09.469 --> 00:41:11.909 to move on and we're going to look... at how 00:41:11.909 --> 00:41:14.750 error slowly crept into the church and changed 00:41:14.750 --> 00:41:17.349 God's plan and changed God's pattern down through 00:41:17.349 --> 00:41:21.050 the course of church history. God's plan and 00:41:21.050 --> 00:41:25.030 God's pattern for teaching really did not change 00:41:25.030 --> 00:41:31.090 at all for about 1 ,750 years. For about 1 ,750 00:41:31.090 --> 00:41:34.469 years the church was taught exactly in the way 00:41:34.469 --> 00:41:37.829 that we have seen revealed in Scripture tonight. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:41.659 But in the last part of the 1700s, last part 00:41:41.659 --> 00:41:44.380 of the 18th century, we see the Sunday School 00:41:44.380 --> 00:41:48.440 movement is born in England. This is Robert Rakes. 00:41:49.139 --> 00:41:54.539 Robert Rakes was an Englishman and in 1780, Robert 00:41:54.539 --> 00:41:58.800 Rakes established a secular school for poor working 00:41:58.800 --> 00:42:02.579 -class children in Gloucester, England. That 00:42:02.579 --> 00:42:05.400 school met in a private home It met on Sundays 00:42:05.400 --> 00:42:08.139 because Sunday was the only day that the children 00:42:08.139 --> 00:42:10.039 didn't have to go to the factories and work This 00:42:10.039 --> 00:42:12.960 was the early parts of the Industrial Revolution 00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:15.840 There were no child labor laws. It's very sad 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:18.039 and unfortunate, but children is as old as six 00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:21.719 years old We're working 16 hour days six days 00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:25.179 a week in the harshest Working conditions in 00:42:25.179 --> 00:42:28.809 factories across England and Europe And this 00:42:28.809 --> 00:42:30.889 was very detrimental to their physical health, 00:42:31.070 --> 00:42:32.829 very detrimental to their emotional and mental 00:42:32.829 --> 00:42:37.329 health. On Sundays, these children, the day they 00:42:37.329 --> 00:42:40.010 had off, they were running around town being 00:42:40.010 --> 00:42:42.929 destructive, being violent, drinking alcohol, 00:42:43.389 --> 00:42:46.690 causing fights, destroying property. And Robert 00:42:46.690 --> 00:42:49.630 Rake saw what was happening with these children 00:42:49.630 --> 00:42:51.710 in his community. And he said, these children 00:42:51.710 --> 00:42:53.570 need something better. They need an education. 00:42:54.190 --> 00:42:57.349 And so he opened a home. to bring these children 00:42:57.349 --> 00:43:00.710 in and to teach them on Sundays. He taught them 00:43:00.710 --> 00:43:04.010 basic reading, he taught them writing, and in 00:43:04.010 --> 00:43:06.030 connection with that he also taught them basic 00:43:06.030 --> 00:43:09.070 Bible lessons. Because of that Robert Rakes is 00:43:09.070 --> 00:43:12.230 given attribution as being the founder of the 00:43:12.230 --> 00:43:16.789 modern day Sunday School movement. By 1783 Robert 00:43:16.789 --> 00:43:19.610 Rakes idea of Sunday School was being publicized. 00:43:19.630 --> 00:43:22.409 He was publicizing it throughout all of England 00:43:22.409 --> 00:43:26.880 and it didn't take long By 1785, a Sunday school 00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:29.800 society formed in England because of the growing 00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:32.280 popularity of the Sunday school all across the 00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:35.699 country. By 1788, just eight years after it was 00:43:35.699 --> 00:43:38.880 established, there was an estimated 300 ,000 00:43:38.880 --> 00:43:42.360 students in England who were enrolled in Sunday 00:43:42.360 --> 00:43:45.940 schools, which were originally secular schools 00:43:45.940 --> 00:43:49.500 in private homes just for the purpose of teaching 00:43:49.500 --> 00:43:54.309 basic reading, writing, and Bible lessons. So 00:43:54.309 --> 00:43:56.469 as we continue to go forward in history, here's 00:43:56.469 --> 00:43:59.429 what happened with this new Sunday School movement. 00:43:59.889 --> 00:44:04.050 It wasn't that long, about 20 years later, denominational 00:44:04.050 --> 00:44:07.190 churches saw the success and the popularity of 00:44:07.190 --> 00:44:10.170 the Sunday School and they began to adopt it 00:44:10.170 --> 00:44:12.630 within their own denominational churches. By 00:44:12.630 --> 00:44:15.170 1800 many churches in England and even some in 00:44:15.170 --> 00:44:19.769 the US were embracing Robert Rake's very popular 00:44:19.769 --> 00:44:25.769 and idea of this Sunday School model. And so 00:44:25.769 --> 00:44:28.469 what we see these denominational churches doing 00:44:28.469 --> 00:44:32.710 is they're adopting a secular form of education 00:44:32.710 --> 00:44:35.690 to teach the beliefs and the tenets of their 00:44:35.690 --> 00:44:39.309 respective faiths. So they are taking a secular 00:44:39.309 --> 00:44:41.570 program for teaching and bringing it into the 00:44:41.570 --> 00:44:44.710 church and adopting it and adapting it and making 00:44:44.710 --> 00:44:47.230 it their own in the denominational churches in 00:44:47.230 --> 00:44:51.119 the early 1800s. Here's the testimony of history. 00:44:51.619 --> 00:44:53.760 The testimony of history is that churches of 00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:58.500 Christ initially were very strongly opposed to 00:44:58.500 --> 00:45:01.019 the introduction of the Sunday School into churches 00:45:01.019 --> 00:45:04.460 of Christ. I want to quote a few things from 00:45:04.460 --> 00:45:08.219 Brother Bill Bonowski. This is Brother Bill Bonowski. 00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:13.239 Brother Bill Bonowski was a very popular Church 00:45:13.239 --> 00:45:16.639 of Christ preacher in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. 00:45:16.860 --> 00:45:19.440 I don't want to misrepresent Brother Bill Bonowski. 00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:22.400 He looks kind of like a Catholic priest because 00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:26.159 he's got that robe on. But Brother Bill Bonowski 00:45:26.159 --> 00:45:29.019 was an educator. I believe he was the president 00:45:29.019 --> 00:45:31.239 of Pepperdine University. I think in the 70s 00:45:31.239 --> 00:45:33.500 he ended up the president of Oklahoma University, 00:45:33.599 --> 00:45:38.320 OU at Norman. He was a very popular, a very widely 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:41.400 known teacher and preacher in churches of Christ. 00:45:41.480 --> 00:45:43.780 And he was a writer. He wrote a lot about education. 00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:47.639 That was his passion. And he wrote about the 00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:50.460 evolution of education in churches of Christ. 00:45:50.500 --> 00:45:53.699 He wrote a lot about the history of that. And 00:45:53.699 --> 00:45:56.679 in one of his books, Mirror of a Movement, brother 00:45:56.679 --> 00:45:59.880 Bill Banowski wrote this. He says churches of 00:45:59.880 --> 00:46:02.639 Christ were very slow to organize Sunday school 00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:05.579 in their local congregations. And they were slow 00:46:05.579 --> 00:46:08.480 to do it because of the close ties between the 00:46:08.480 --> 00:46:12.139 Sunday School movement and denominationalism. 00:46:12.739 --> 00:46:15.219 And because of those close ties between Sunday 00:46:15.219 --> 00:46:18.599 School and denominationalism, the disciples assumed 00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:25.920 an early posture of belligerent opposition. The 00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:30.139 churches of Christ in the early 1800s, initially 00:46:31.319 --> 00:46:35.659 assumed an early posture of belligerent opposition 00:46:35.659 --> 00:46:38.980 to this idea of bringing the Sunday School into 00:46:38.980 --> 00:46:43.159 churches of Christ. However, over the last half 00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:49.059 of the 19th century, from 1850 to 1900, slowly, 00:46:49.550 --> 00:46:52.769 But ever so surely many many churches of Christ 00:46:52.769 --> 00:46:56.389 slowly adopted and adapted a form of the Sunday 00:46:56.389 --> 00:46:59.730 school again, brother Bill Banowski writing in 00:46:59.730 --> 00:47:03.170 20th century Christian in 1967 and he said this 00:47:03.170 --> 00:47:07.530 he said churches of Christ borrowed from denominational 00:47:07.530 --> 00:47:11.570 neighbors the Sunday school idea when it was 00:47:11.570 --> 00:47:17.869 Hale and Hardy Now I want to say something to 00:47:17.869 --> 00:47:21.420 my knowledge Brother Bill Bonowski was associated 00:47:21.420 --> 00:47:23.340 with Churches of Christ that had Sunday school 00:47:23.340 --> 00:47:26.780 and church Bible classes Okay, so so me and brother 00:47:26.780 --> 00:47:28.840 bill bonowski. We we probably wouldn't agree 00:47:28.840 --> 00:47:32.039 on this issue, and that's okay But at the same 00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:34.119 time I appreciate brother bill bonowski. You 00:47:34.119 --> 00:47:40.079 know why? Because he's giving us an honest explanation 00:47:41.380 --> 00:47:44.980 as to how churches of Christ come to have Sunday 00:47:44.980 --> 00:47:47.699 school and church Bible classes. He's being honest 00:47:47.699 --> 00:47:50.599 about how they came into the church. And I want 00:47:50.599 --> 00:47:52.340 you to notice what he says. He says churches 00:47:52.340 --> 00:47:54.860 of Christ borrowed from denominational neighbors 00:47:54.860 --> 00:47:59.619 the idea of Sunday school. Okay? They borrowed 00:47:59.619 --> 00:48:02.639 it from denominational neighbors. Now, with all 00:48:02.639 --> 00:48:06.739 due respect, is that really where we want to 00:48:06.739 --> 00:48:10.780 borrow? our doctrines and our practices and our 00:48:10.780 --> 00:48:14.599 faith from our denominational neighbors. Is that 00:48:14.599 --> 00:48:16.480 really our goal? Is that really our mission? 00:48:16.539 --> 00:48:20.079 Just to be like all the other churches in town 00:48:20.079 --> 00:48:22.440 and we see them doing something and it seems 00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:24.579 successful, we'll do the same thing they do. 00:48:25.780 --> 00:48:30.260 I don't believe that's at the heart of any of 00:48:30.260 --> 00:48:32.360 the congregations at the Church of Christ. I 00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:35.909 believe churches of Christ want to Restore and 00:48:35.909 --> 00:48:38.329 be the one in the same church that Jesus built. 00:48:39.909 --> 00:48:41.969 But you know what? Here's the honest truth and 00:48:41.969 --> 00:48:44.730 Brother Bill Banowski helps us to understand 00:48:44.730 --> 00:48:48.429 this. The churches of Christ did not borrow the 00:48:48.429 --> 00:48:50.829 Sunday School idea from the New Testament. Churches 00:48:50.829 --> 00:48:52.789 of Christ did not borrow the Sunday School idea 00:48:52.789 --> 00:48:55.130 from Jesus. They did not borrow that idea from 00:48:55.130 --> 00:48:58.349 the Apostles. Brother Bill Banowski is right 00:48:58.349 --> 00:49:00.650 that they borrowed that idea from denominational 00:49:00.650 --> 00:49:04.440 churches in the mid to late 19th century. He 00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:07.539 goes on to say in Mirror of a Movement, by 1850, 00:49:07.820 --> 00:49:10.460 however, Sunday schools had gained a strong foothold 00:49:10.460 --> 00:49:13.159 among the more progressive congregations, he 00:49:13.159 --> 00:49:16.019 says, and the conservatives also slowly followed 00:49:16.019 --> 00:49:20.460 suit. By 1900, a great majority of the congregations 00:49:20.460 --> 00:49:24.139 had made provisions for at least a crude system 00:49:24.139 --> 00:49:28.960 of Sunday morning Bible study. Now, I'm just 00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:31.280 going through and trying to lay out the history, 00:49:31.639 --> 00:49:34.619 okay? I appreciate... the history of this. I 00:49:34.619 --> 00:49:38.159 appreciate men like Brother Bill Banowski giving 00:49:38.159 --> 00:49:40.400 us an accurate and fair representation of the 00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:44.300 history. And according to Brother Bill, and I 00:49:44.300 --> 00:49:47.019 think he's right, he's accurate. This is how 00:49:47.019 --> 00:49:49.440 Sunday school in churches of Christ came to be 00:49:49.440 --> 00:49:52.500 so popular and so common in churches of Christ 00:49:52.500 --> 00:49:55.559 even today. However, I do want you to be aware 00:49:55.559 --> 00:49:59.219 of this as we finish up our talk about the history 00:49:59.219 --> 00:50:04.539 of this practice. While many congregations slowly 00:50:04.539 --> 00:50:06.699 adopted and adapted the Sunday school there was 00:50:06.699 --> 00:50:08.980 a small minority of congregations that never 00:50:08.980 --> 00:50:12.539 did and It was due to doubts about the lack of 00:50:12.539 --> 00:50:15.940 scriptural authority Due to doubts about the 00:50:15.940 --> 00:50:18.000 lack of scriptural authority for the Sunday school 00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:20.480 some congregations of the church never adopted 00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:23.460 it They never adopted a formal church Bible class 00:50:23.460 --> 00:50:27.110 system of teaching My best estimation is about 00:50:27.110 --> 00:50:29.389 ten percent. One out of every ten churches of 00:50:29.389 --> 00:50:31.650 Christ in this country would fall into this category. 00:50:32.030 --> 00:50:34.309 A lot of those congregations are in rural Texas. 00:50:34.690 --> 00:50:36.809 There's many in Arkansas and Oklahoma, but they're 00:50:36.809 --> 00:50:38.750 spread out all over the country. They're here 00:50:38.750 --> 00:50:40.630 in Tennessee. They're in Alabama. They're in 00:50:40.630 --> 00:50:43.869 Georgia. They're all over the country. A small 00:50:43.869 --> 00:50:47.710 minority of congregations never adopted and to 00:50:47.710 --> 00:50:50.710 this day do not use Sunday school or church Bible 00:50:50.710 --> 00:50:54.570 classes as part of their practice. Let's talk 00:50:54.570 --> 00:50:56.750 about our modern practice in churches today. 00:50:58.030 --> 00:51:00.469 Sunday school and Bible classes has gained wide 00:51:00.469 --> 00:51:02.969 approval in denominational churches today. It 00:51:02.969 --> 00:51:05.550 goes without saying most denominational churches 00:51:05.550 --> 00:51:08.670 have some modernized form of Sunday school and 00:51:08.670 --> 00:51:11.489 some of them have had it now for over 200 years. 00:51:11.510 --> 00:51:14.070 So this is something that's very common, never 00:51:14.070 --> 00:51:16.889 questioned, never think twice about it in many 00:51:16.889 --> 00:51:19.610 denominational churches today. This is also a 00:51:19.610 --> 00:51:21.710 practice that has come to be accepted in most, 00:51:21.750 --> 00:51:23.969 but as I said, not all of churches of Christ 00:51:23.969 --> 00:51:27.090 today. And if I understand the practice correctly, 00:51:27.480 --> 00:51:32.579 I want to describe the practice fairly and correctly 00:51:32.579 --> 00:51:37.539 so we can have a good understanding of it. Concerning 00:51:37.539 --> 00:51:39.539 the Sunday School or Church Bible classes in 00:51:39.539 --> 00:51:42.760 Churches of Christ, Most congregations who have 00:51:42.760 --> 00:51:44.780 this practice are going to call the church to 00:51:44.780 --> 00:51:47.340 gather together at a given time. For example, 00:51:47.539 --> 00:51:49.760 this congregation of the church comes together 00:51:49.760 --> 00:51:53.739 at 9 .45 in the morning on Sunday, and that congregation 00:51:53.739 --> 00:51:56.480 is going to be divided into classes by age, by 00:51:56.480 --> 00:51:59.760 gender, by marital status, by spiritual maturity, 00:52:00.260 --> 00:52:02.769 by any number of criteria. Church is going to 00:52:02.769 --> 00:52:04.750 come together and they're going to be divided 00:52:04.750 --> 00:52:08.190 into different classes. And then women are oftentimes 00:52:08.190 --> 00:52:10.869 going to be encouraged to teach, to speak, to 00:52:10.869 --> 00:52:14.170 comment, or to ask questions in those classes. 00:52:14.829 --> 00:52:18.969 But at 11 o 'clock, at the same congregation, 00:52:19.110 --> 00:52:21.230 at the same place, the same people are going 00:52:21.230 --> 00:52:23.750 to come back together oftentimes in the same 00:52:23.750 --> 00:52:25.929 auditorium to be taught by the same preacher 00:52:25.929 --> 00:52:29.539 who taught them at 945. They're going to have 00:52:29.539 --> 00:52:31.739 another service, but this time the women are 00:52:31.739 --> 00:52:34.639 not going to be permitted to speak, teach, make 00:52:34.639 --> 00:52:39.159 comments, or ask questions. Okay, so that is 00:52:39.159 --> 00:52:41.500 the practice. And I want to go back and I want 00:52:41.500 --> 00:52:43.539 to consider that practice in light of what we 00:52:43.539 --> 00:52:46.719 saw concerning the two settings given in the 00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:49.239 Bible for teaching. We saw the two scriptural 00:52:49.239 --> 00:52:51.380 settings for teaching was the individual setting 00:52:51.380 --> 00:52:54.039 and the congregational setting. But this practice 00:52:54.039 --> 00:52:56.260 that we've just introduced actually brings in 00:52:56.260 --> 00:52:59.460 a third setting. Okay, a third setting. I'm going 00:52:59.460 --> 00:53:02.780 to call it the church Bible class setting. You 00:53:02.780 --> 00:53:06.239 know, we went to Scripture and we let Scripture 00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:09.340 define and describe the teaching in the individual 00:53:09.340 --> 00:53:11.380 setting and the teaching in the congregational 00:53:11.380 --> 00:53:13.099 setting. But if we're going to be fair and honest, 00:53:13.119 --> 00:53:15.340 we're going to have to conclude that we don't 00:53:15.340 --> 00:53:17.380 find any Scripture in the New Testament that 00:53:17.380 --> 00:53:19.460 speaks about this church Bible class setting 00:53:19.460 --> 00:53:22.539 for teaching. We can't find a book chapter and 00:53:22.539 --> 00:53:26.230 verse. that tells us about it, that teaches us 00:53:26.230 --> 00:53:29.150 about it, that describes it, that provides its 00:53:29.150 --> 00:53:31.210 defining characteristics. We just don't find 00:53:31.210 --> 00:53:33.150 those scriptures. Those scriptures to our knowledge 00:53:33.150 --> 00:53:36.989 are not there in the New Testament. Here are 00:53:36.989 --> 00:53:39.570 the defining characteristics of church Bible 00:53:39.570 --> 00:53:41.909 classes as I understand them and as they're commonly 00:53:41.909 --> 00:53:45.250 practiced. The general public is invited and 00:53:45.250 --> 00:53:47.389 welcome to come to the church Bible classes. 00:53:48.170 --> 00:53:50.750 Those classes are facilitated by the church and 00:53:50.750 --> 00:53:52.610 its leadership. They're going to be organized 00:53:52.610 --> 00:53:55.030 by the leaders of the church and the church is 00:53:55.030 --> 00:53:57.030 going to oversee the teaching that happens in 00:53:57.030 --> 00:53:59.599 the church Bible classes. Classes are going to 00:53:59.599 --> 00:54:03.099 be advertised out front on the church sign and 00:54:03.099 --> 00:54:05.760 the church bulletin on the church website. And 00:54:05.760 --> 00:54:07.760 the public is going to be encouraged to come 00:54:07.760 --> 00:54:11.099 and participate in these classes that are facilitated, 00:54:11.260 --> 00:54:13.480 overseen, and arranged by the church and its 00:54:13.480 --> 00:54:15.679 leadership. So when we look at these defining 00:54:15.679 --> 00:54:17.920 characteristics for Bible classes, it looks a 00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:20.679 whole lot like the defining characteristics for 00:54:20.679 --> 00:54:22.980 teaching that happens in the congregational setting, 00:54:23.699 --> 00:54:25.760 teaching that happens like we have now in the 00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:28.309 public assemblies of the church. They shared 00:54:28.309 --> 00:54:30.829 the same defining characteristics. And for that 00:54:30.829 --> 00:54:33.369 reason we would expect the role of women in these 00:54:33.369 --> 00:54:37.230 classes to be just the same as the role of women 00:54:37.230 --> 00:54:39.409 in the assemblies of the church. We would expect 00:54:39.409 --> 00:54:41.550 that women aren't teaching, they're not asking 00:54:41.550 --> 00:54:43.849 questions, they're not making comments because 00:54:43.849 --> 00:54:45.869 the Bible says they need to be silent in the 00:54:45.869 --> 00:54:48.010 congregational setting. That's the role of women 00:54:48.010 --> 00:54:51.230 we would expect but in practice that is not the 00:54:51.230 --> 00:54:54.230 role of women in church Bible classes. In church 00:54:54.230 --> 00:54:56.590 Bible classes the role of women that's put into 00:54:56.590 --> 00:55:00.090 practice is the role of women for the individual 00:55:00.090 --> 00:55:02.369 setting, for the private house -to -house setting. 00:55:03.429 --> 00:55:05.730 So we call the church to gather together for 00:55:05.730 --> 00:55:08.949 teaching that's facilitated, organized, overseen. 00:55:09.050 --> 00:55:11.269 It's an extension, a program, a function of the 00:55:11.269 --> 00:55:14.710 church, but we don't follow the role of women 00:55:14.710 --> 00:55:16.750 for teaching when the church comes together. 00:55:16.829 --> 00:55:19.769 Instead, in the classes women can teach, women 00:55:19.769 --> 00:55:22.809 can ask questions, women don't have to keep silent. 00:55:24.010 --> 00:55:26.969 The role of women isn't followed. It isn't honored 00:55:26.969 --> 00:55:31.389 or observed. And for that reason, we must conclude 00:55:31.389 --> 00:55:33.690 that this church Bible class setting, this third 00:55:33.690 --> 00:55:37.110 setting, for which we had no scriptural authority, 00:55:37.269 --> 00:55:39.889 it's a man -made setting. It's a hybrid setting 00:55:39.889 --> 00:55:42.570 for teaching. It's a hybrid in that it's really 00:55:42.570 --> 00:55:44.809 trying to be both settings, isn't it? On one 00:55:44.809 --> 00:55:47.949 hand, it's partly congregational public assembly 00:55:47.949 --> 00:55:51.110 of the church, and on the other hand, it's trying 00:55:51.110 --> 00:55:54.599 to be private house -to -house Bible study. It's 00:55:54.599 --> 00:55:56.739 organized and facilitated as a public church 00:55:56.739 --> 00:55:58.960 assembly, but then when it's implemented and 00:55:58.960 --> 00:56:01.159 put into practice It's conducted like a private 00:56:01.159 --> 00:56:03.739 home Bible study. It's a hybrid. It's trying 00:56:03.739 --> 00:56:07.420 to be both public and private at the same time 00:56:07.420 --> 00:56:09.880 It's trying to be congregational and individual 00:56:09.880 --> 00:56:13.460 at the same time and for that reason We look 00:56:13.460 --> 00:56:16.400 at this and for us from our perspective. We see 00:56:16.400 --> 00:56:20.199 this as inconsistent We see this as inconsistent. 00:56:20.199 --> 00:56:23.789 We also see that it creates confusion And we're 00:56:23.789 --> 00:56:27.809 also very concerned about the questionable lack 00:56:27.809 --> 00:56:30.309 of scriptural authority for this practice and 00:56:30.309 --> 00:56:37.369 for teaching in this setting. Now, like I said, 00:56:37.489 --> 00:56:41.449 I don't mind to discuss this issue that divides 00:56:41.449 --> 00:56:44.170 us with my brethren. I've talked to many of my 00:56:44.170 --> 00:56:46.570 brethren on the other side of this issue. And 00:56:46.570 --> 00:56:48.530 one of the things that they commonly bring up, 00:56:48.650 --> 00:56:50.269 and I'm going to bring it forth tonight so we 00:56:50.269 --> 00:56:53.010 can honestly consider it, is the idea that church 00:56:53.010 --> 00:56:55.250 Bible classes in Sunday school are not really 00:56:55.250 --> 00:56:58.329 public assemblies of the church. I hear that 00:56:58.329 --> 00:57:01.010 a lot. I hear you don't understand, Brother James, 00:57:01.070 --> 00:57:03.050 these classes are not assemblies of the church. 00:57:03.349 --> 00:57:05.070 It's just people getting together to study the 00:57:05.070 --> 00:57:07.989 Bible. That's all it is. That's all it is. It's 00:57:07.989 --> 00:57:09.530 just people getting together to study the Bible. 00:57:09.730 --> 00:57:11.610 It has nothing to do with the church whatsoever. 00:57:12.779 --> 00:57:14.659 Well, the first thing we would notice is that 00:57:14.659 --> 00:57:16.480 it's right there on the sign out front of the 00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:19.159 church, advertised and marketed as an assembly 00:57:19.159 --> 00:57:22.239 and a service of the church. The 945 Sunday School 00:57:22.239 --> 00:57:24.260 is going to happen at this congregation wherever 00:57:24.260 --> 00:57:27.219 it is. These church Bible classes are arranged, 00:57:27.380 --> 00:57:29.320 they're operated, they're facilitated, they're 00:57:29.320 --> 00:57:31.760 funded by, they're overseen by the church and 00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:33.900 they're advertised as such. It's hard for us 00:57:33.900 --> 00:57:37.820 to see those classes as anything but. programs 00:57:37.820 --> 00:57:40.460 and extensions and functions of the church, not 00:57:40.460 --> 00:57:43.059 just people who got together and decided to study 00:57:43.059 --> 00:57:46.559 the Bible, separate and apart from anything belonging 00:57:46.559 --> 00:57:50.360 to the church. Here's an example of an old pamphlet, 00:57:50.380 --> 00:57:52.619 and these pamphlets are common in times gone 00:57:52.619 --> 00:57:55.460 by, even common today. This is a Church of Christ 00:57:55.460 --> 00:57:58.079 in Arkansas. This is its weekly bulletin. It 00:57:58.079 --> 00:58:00.380 has a list of its scheduled assemblies on the 00:58:00.380 --> 00:58:03.179 front. This church assembles Sunday for Bible 00:58:03.179 --> 00:58:06.699 classes at 10 a .m. Morning worship is at 1045, 00:58:06.940 --> 00:58:09.099 evening worship Sunday at 6, and then Wednesday 00:58:09.099 --> 00:58:12.260 night Bible study at 7. Notice this is these 00:58:12.260 --> 00:58:15.199 Bible classes are listed under the heading schedule 00:58:15.199 --> 00:58:17.679 of assemblies. These are assemblies of the church 00:58:17.679 --> 00:58:21.199 and they're advertised as such. So it's hard 00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:23.500 to say that these classes don't have anything 00:58:23.500 --> 00:58:26.980 to do with the church when they're listed and 00:58:26.980 --> 00:58:29.440 labeled as assemblies of the church. This is 00:58:29.440 --> 00:58:31.739 an example from a church website back in northwest 00:58:31.739 --> 00:58:34.570 Arkansas. The Church of Christ, West Side Church 00:58:34.570 --> 00:58:36.769 of Christ says we meet weekly for Sunday Bible 00:58:36.769 --> 00:58:40.409 class, 9 a .m. Sunday morning worship, 10 a .m. 00:58:40.409 --> 00:58:42.769 Evening worship, 5 p .m. Wednesday Bible study, 00:58:42.849 --> 00:58:46.969 7 p .m. That Sunday Bible class at 9 a .m., what 00:58:46.969 --> 00:58:50.289 is that? That's the church calling the members 00:58:50.289 --> 00:58:53.030 together for teaching, facilitating that teaching, 00:58:53.210 --> 00:58:55.289 organizing that teaching, overseeing that teaching. 00:58:55.690 --> 00:58:58.030 It's a work, it's a program, it's a function 00:58:58.030 --> 00:59:02.940 of that church. So it's hard for us to see those 00:59:02.940 --> 00:59:05.460 as anything but public assemblies of the church. 00:59:05.579 --> 00:59:07.579 It's hard for us to see them as just private 00:59:07.579 --> 00:59:12.980 Bible studies that people are doing. I want to 00:59:12.980 --> 00:59:15.119 mention something else to you that we're seeing 00:59:15.119 --> 00:59:18.599 more and more of today. And I believe the introduction 00:59:18.599 --> 00:59:20.840 of the Sunday School and the church Bible classes 00:59:20.840 --> 00:59:23.159 as it's progressed onward to the present day 00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:25.920 has opened the door wide open, blown the door 00:59:25.920 --> 00:59:28.000 wide open for what you might be hearing about. 00:59:28.179 --> 00:59:30.780 It's called gender inclusive ministry. It's a 00:59:30.780 --> 00:59:32.900 hot topic in churches of Christ right now. There's 00:59:32.900 --> 00:59:35.900 a lot of controversy about this. A lot of disagreement. 00:59:37.099 --> 00:59:41.079 Gender -inclusive ministry. It's the idea that 00:59:41.079 --> 00:59:43.960 we need to be giving women the privilege to speak, 00:59:44.719 --> 00:59:47.320 teach, lead songs, be at the head of the table, 00:59:47.500 --> 00:59:50.579 be elders, be deacons, be evangelists, be preachers, 00:59:50.780 --> 00:59:53.019 that we need to give women every right and privilege 00:59:53.019 --> 00:59:54.980 in the church that we give to men. That's what 00:59:54.980 --> 00:59:58.820 gender -inclusive ministry is all about. And 00:59:58.820 --> 01:00:02.280 let me tell you what happened, brethren. A group 01:00:02.280 --> 01:00:05.179 of sisters in the church got together and they 01:00:05.179 --> 01:00:07.139 started reasoning and they started thinking and 01:00:07.139 --> 01:00:09.039 they said, you know what, if we can teach Bible 01:00:09.039 --> 01:00:11.619 classes at the church at 945 in the morning on 01:00:11.619 --> 01:00:14.340 Sunday, why can't we stand up and teach at 11 01:00:14.340 --> 01:00:18.280 o 'clock in the auditorium? That's the question 01:00:18.280 --> 01:00:20.480 they put before their elders and that's the question 01:00:20.480 --> 01:00:24.519 they put before the professors down at the Church 01:00:24.519 --> 01:00:28.480 of Christ colleges and the universities. And 01:00:28.480 --> 01:00:30.099 unfortunately, the leaders of the church didn't 01:00:30.099 --> 01:00:33.219 have a good answer for that. Some of the professors 01:00:33.219 --> 01:00:35.139 at the college church universities didn't have 01:00:35.139 --> 01:00:37.880 a good answer for that. And because of that, 01:00:37.900 --> 01:00:40.139 they began to compromise the Word of God. And 01:00:40.139 --> 01:00:42.440 they, many congregations of the Church of Christ 01:00:42.440 --> 01:00:45.300 in the last 10 years, an alarming number of congregations 01:00:45.300 --> 01:00:47.599 have went on to say, OK, you're right. We give 01:00:47.599 --> 01:00:50.380 you privilege at 945 in the classes. We need 01:00:50.380 --> 01:00:52.360 to start giving you privilege at 10 o 'clock 01:00:52.360 --> 01:00:55.639 in the in the worship. And many congregations 01:00:55.639 --> 01:00:58.019 have went on to ordain women preachers, women 01:00:58.019 --> 01:01:01.699 elders, women song -leaners, women deacons. And 01:01:01.699 --> 01:01:05.219 I believe a lot of this will go back to the introduction 01:01:05.219 --> 01:01:07.539 of allowing women to speak, teach, comment, ask 01:01:07.539 --> 01:01:10.639 questions in Bible classes which are public assemblies 01:01:10.639 --> 01:01:14.909 of the church. The introduction of Sunday school 01:01:14.909 --> 01:01:18.090 into the churches has also given rise to modern 01:01:18.090 --> 01:01:20.170 -day youth ministry. And look, I don't want to 01:01:20.170 --> 01:01:22.570 be overly harsh of critical of people who are 01:01:22.570 --> 01:01:25.309 involved in modern -day youth ministry. Okay, 01:01:25.329 --> 01:01:29.010 I know people have a heart and a desire to help 01:01:29.010 --> 01:01:31.130 young people, and that's a good heart, that's 01:01:31.130 --> 01:01:33.289 a good desire, and young people do need help. 01:01:34.110 --> 01:01:36.190 We're not denying that young people need help. 01:01:36.960 --> 01:01:39.079 Well, let me tell you something. All of this 01:01:39.079 --> 01:01:41.800 has evolved modern -day youth ministry and in 01:01:41.800 --> 01:01:44.119 some places, not everywhere, but in some places, 01:01:44.179 --> 01:01:47.239 far too many places, modern -day youth ministry 01:01:47.239 --> 01:01:50.780 has severely undermined God's plan for parents 01:01:50.780 --> 01:01:53.179 to take responsibility for teaching their children 01:01:53.179 --> 01:01:56.340 at home. We don't need to lose sight of that 01:01:56.340 --> 01:01:59.039 fact that God gave the responsibility to parents 01:01:59.039 --> 01:02:01.400 to teach their children and to do that teaching 01:02:01.400 --> 01:02:05.690 at home. And ye fathers, provoke not your children 01:02:05.690 --> 01:02:07.409 to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and 01:02:07.409 --> 01:02:10.090 admonition of the Lord." Parents, not the church, 01:02:10.130 --> 01:02:13.230 are given the primary responsibility of raising 01:02:13.230 --> 01:02:15.730 and teaching their children. Now the church will 01:02:15.730 --> 01:02:17.909 help you do that. Bring your children to church. 01:02:18.210 --> 01:02:20.190 Set them right there beside you and they'll listen 01:02:20.190 --> 01:02:21.929 and they'll learn like our children are doing 01:02:21.929 --> 01:02:24.150 tonight. So this is not to say the church can't 01:02:24.150 --> 01:02:27.650 be involved, but the primary responsibility belongs 01:02:27.650 --> 01:02:31.119 to the parents. But if we were to be honest we 01:02:31.119 --> 01:02:33.260 would have to confess that this is the situation 01:02:33.260 --> 01:02:35.860 in too many families in too many places a lot 01:02:35.860 --> 01:02:39.199 of fathers If they were honest, they'd say this 01:02:39.199 --> 01:02:41.159 you know what I hadn't read my Bible in years 01:02:41.159 --> 01:02:45.420 and shame on them But because they hadn't read 01:02:45.420 --> 01:02:47.099 their Bible in years They say it's just a lot 01:02:47.099 --> 01:02:49.679 more easier and convenient for me to take my 01:02:49.679 --> 01:02:51.619 kids down to Sunday school Take them to youth 01:02:51.619 --> 01:02:54.039 group take them to Bible class and let the professionals 01:02:54.039 --> 01:02:56.840 teach my kids Because I'm just not qualified 01:02:56.840 --> 01:02:58.599 to do it. I'm gonna leave it to the professionals 01:02:59.269 --> 01:03:01.369 We've also developed this idea that parents, 01:03:01.789 --> 01:03:03.269 grandparents aren't qualified to teach their 01:03:03.269 --> 01:03:05.969 kids. It has to be someone who's a professional 01:03:05.969 --> 01:03:08.130 down at the church. Listen, if you're a parent 01:03:08.130 --> 01:03:09.909 or a grandparent, you are qualified to teach 01:03:09.909 --> 01:03:12.889 your kids. And if you feel inadequate, you feel 01:03:12.889 --> 01:03:14.550 like you don't have what it takes to teach your 01:03:14.550 --> 01:03:17.429 kids, please let us come alongside you and help 01:03:17.429 --> 01:03:20.969 you and equip you and encourage you so that you 01:03:20.969 --> 01:03:23.070 can teach your children like God asks you to 01:03:23.070 --> 01:03:26.920 do. We got to get away from this idea that that 01:03:26.920 --> 01:03:29.179 parents can't teach their kids, that only qualified 01:03:29.179 --> 01:03:35.500 professionals with college degrees can teach 01:03:35.500 --> 01:03:39.900 kids in modern -day youth ministry. Kids' church 01:03:39.900 --> 01:03:42.000 is something that has become very appealing in 01:03:42.000 --> 01:03:44.000 many denominational churches today. I don't know 01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:45.860 if churches of Christ have kids' church. Maybe 01:03:45.860 --> 01:03:48.510 some do. I don't know. But I know in a lot of 01:03:48.510 --> 01:03:51.150 denominations, kids church is very, very appealing. 01:03:51.510 --> 01:03:53.429 It's a place where parents can drop off their 01:03:53.429 --> 01:03:55.429 kids on Sunday morning. They have their own separate 01:03:55.429 --> 01:03:57.869 service for the kids. The parents can go in, 01:03:57.969 --> 01:04:00.429 sit down, not be disturbed by their children. 01:04:00.730 --> 01:04:02.550 You know, your children sometimes doing the assemblies 01:04:02.550 --> 01:04:06.070 of church, sometimes they make noise. Sometimes 01:04:06.070 --> 01:04:08.250 they're a little bit disruptive. Sometimes they're 01:04:08.250 --> 01:04:10.030 a little bit unruly. You know how I know that? 01:04:10.349 --> 01:04:14.010 I've raised four kids in the church. I've been 01:04:14.010 --> 01:04:16.539 there. Listen, I've been in the trenches. I've 01:04:16.539 --> 01:04:18.739 been right there with you. If you're raising 01:04:18.739 --> 01:04:22.340 kids in the church, I've been there. Let me give 01:04:22.340 --> 01:04:24.300 you a little bit of encouragement. There's no 01:04:24.300 --> 01:04:27.159 better place for your kids to be. And right there 01:04:27.159 --> 01:04:29.980 sitting beside you listening and learning. It 01:04:29.980 --> 01:04:31.760 might take one, two, or three years for them 01:04:31.760 --> 01:04:34.519 to learn to be quiet and sit still. But if you'll 01:04:34.519 --> 01:04:36.679 be disciplined and you'll be consistent and you'll 01:04:36.679 --> 01:04:38.659 stick with it and don't give up and go to some 01:04:38.659 --> 01:04:40.480 church that has kids church and just pawn them 01:04:40.480 --> 01:04:43.139 off on somebody else, if you'll stick to it, 01:04:43.139 --> 01:04:45.489 guess what'll happen? Your kids will be doing 01:04:45.489 --> 01:04:48.429 what these kids are doing down here. Sitting, 01:04:48.769 --> 01:04:52.849 listening, learning, taking notes. They'll get 01:04:52.849 --> 01:04:55.369 there. Don't get discouraged. Let me tell you, 01:04:55.369 --> 01:04:58.050 your kids are gonna make noise. It don't bother 01:04:58.050 --> 01:05:01.150 us one bit. Your kids are ten times louder to 01:05:01.150 --> 01:05:03.309 you than they are to me. I remember my kids used 01:05:03.309 --> 01:05:05.769 to make the smallest sound. It was like roaring 01:05:05.769 --> 01:05:08.530 in my ears. No one else heard it. But I heard 01:05:08.530 --> 01:05:10.409 it and it just made me all kinds of uncomfortable. 01:05:11.030 --> 01:05:14.159 We don't hear your kids. like you do and they're 01:05:14.159 --> 01:05:16.219 not a disruption to us like you might think they 01:05:16.219 --> 01:05:18.739 are. No better place for our kids to be than 01:05:18.739 --> 01:05:21.300 right here with us listening and learning from 01:05:21.300 --> 01:05:23.800 the Word of God. What Kids Church has unfortunately 01:05:23.800 --> 01:05:27.239 done is it has created deep generational divides 01:05:27.239 --> 01:05:30.599 between the youth and the older people of the 01:05:30.599 --> 01:05:33.199 church because all too often the youth are separated 01:05:33.199 --> 01:05:35.539 and excluded from the greater work and worship 01:05:35.539 --> 01:05:37.880 of the church. They're always pushed to the side. 01:05:38.469 --> 01:05:40.510 They're always pushed to the side and that might 01:05:40.510 --> 01:05:42.170 seem like a good thing and it might seem like 01:05:42.170 --> 01:05:45.650 convenient until they turn 19 years old. And 01:05:45.650 --> 01:05:47.730 then guess what? Can't go to kids church anymore 01:05:47.730 --> 01:05:50.690 when you're 19 years old. You gotta go to real 01:05:50.690 --> 01:05:55.449 church. You gotta go to big church. And when 01:05:55.449 --> 01:05:57.409 they come out of kids church and see big church 01:05:57.409 --> 01:06:00.510 doesn't look like kids church, a lot of kids 01:06:00.510 --> 01:06:04.150 leave the church at 19. They didn't manage to 01:06:04.150 --> 01:06:07.110 make any connection, any real and lasting meaningful 01:06:07.110 --> 01:06:09.590 connection with the older generation in the church 01:06:09.590 --> 01:06:12.829 because they were so often excluded and removed 01:06:12.829 --> 01:06:15.789 and pushed to the side. Let's not let that happen 01:06:15.789 --> 01:06:20.699 to us. Titus 2, 3 to 5. Bible tells the aged 01:06:20.699 --> 01:06:22.719 women to teach the younger women, you know the 01:06:22.719 --> 01:06:24.739 only way to do that is for the aged women to 01:06:24.739 --> 01:06:27.019 be a good example to the younger women. And we 01:06:27.019 --> 01:06:29.059 do that by spending time with one another and 01:06:29.059 --> 01:06:31.480 setting the right example. So older generation 01:06:31.480 --> 01:06:33.739 and younger generation need to spend time together, 01:06:33.820 --> 01:06:36.059 need to worship together, need to study together, 01:06:36.800 --> 01:06:39.119 and not be separated into different classes or 01:06:39.119 --> 01:06:42.650 different groups in the church. Everything in 01:06:42.650 --> 01:06:44.610 the world wants to divide us. Everything in the 01:06:44.610 --> 01:06:47.369 world wants to divide men from women, rich from 01:06:47.369 --> 01:06:49.489 poor, parents from their kids. Everything in 01:06:49.489 --> 01:06:51.170 the world is seeking to divide us and the church 01:06:51.170 --> 01:06:53.230 should be the one place where we should come 01:06:53.230 --> 01:06:56.610 that we aren't going to be divided. We're going 01:06:56.610 --> 01:07:00.210 to be together. Now I will make mention of this 01:07:00.210 --> 01:07:02.170 before I move on and wrap up my lesson tonight 01:07:02.170 --> 01:07:04.030 and I know I'm talking long and I appreciate 01:07:04.030 --> 01:07:07.570 your patience with me. There have been a few 01:07:07.570 --> 01:07:10.690 religious organizations recently that have reconsidered. 01:07:10.860 --> 01:07:13.679 The whole idea of Sunday school, Bible classes, 01:07:13.960 --> 01:07:16.280 modern -day youth ministry. In recent years some 01:07:16.280 --> 01:07:18.559 denominational churches, community churches have 01:07:18.559 --> 01:07:21.500 shifted away from what they call age -segregated 01:07:21.500 --> 01:07:24.860 ministry. And they have left behind Sunday school 01:07:24.860 --> 01:07:26.920 and modern -day youth ministry. They've left 01:07:26.920 --> 01:07:29.699 that behind to embrace what they call, these 01:07:29.699 --> 01:07:33.380 are their terms, family -integrated worship and 01:07:33.380 --> 01:07:35.969 family -based youth ministry. And that's what 01:07:35.969 --> 01:07:37.769 we do here at North Warren. Family integrated 01:07:37.769 --> 01:07:40.610 worship. We're all together worshiping God. Family 01:07:40.610 --> 01:07:44.050 -based youth ministry. Instead of separating 01:07:44.050 --> 01:07:47.170 children from their parents, come alongside the 01:07:47.170 --> 01:07:49.869 parents to equip and encourage them to shape 01:07:49.869 --> 01:07:52.829 the faith of their children. That is definitely 01:07:52.829 --> 01:07:56.429 a more scriptural model. And you know, what some 01:07:56.429 --> 01:07:58.889 of these churches are waking up to is the fact 01:07:58.889 --> 01:08:03.280 that this system... of separation and division 01:08:03.280 --> 01:08:06.760 does not always bring forth good fruit. Some 01:08:06.760 --> 01:08:09.139 churches are leaving it behind to embrace a more 01:08:09.139 --> 01:08:11.940 biblical model, to embrace the model we have 01:08:11.940 --> 01:08:14.139 here at North Warren. I'm not trying to promote 01:08:14.139 --> 01:08:17.220 or sell books or documentaries, and we don't 01:08:17.220 --> 01:08:19.239 even get our authority from books or documentaries, 01:08:19.319 --> 01:08:21.119 but there have been several books and documentaries 01:08:21.119 --> 01:08:24.199 produced in the last few years where people from 01:08:24.199 --> 01:08:27.520 different parts of Christianity are starting 01:08:27.520 --> 01:08:30.020 to wake up to this and starting to change their 01:08:30.020 --> 01:08:32.479 practices. and get more in line with the Word 01:08:32.479 --> 01:08:35.220 of God. The last thing I want to talk about tonight 01:08:35.220 --> 01:08:37.460 is how do we restore God's plan for teaching? 01:08:38.279 --> 01:08:41.220 How do we get back to God's original plan and 01:08:41.220 --> 01:08:43.239 pattern for undivided teaching assemblies in 01:08:43.239 --> 01:08:45.739 the church? We've got to return to teaching the 01:08:45.739 --> 01:08:48.380 church only in authorized ways. You know, the 01:08:48.380 --> 01:08:50.539 New Testament is our only authority in faith 01:08:50.539 --> 01:08:53.189 and doctrine and in practice. We need to follow 01:08:53.189 --> 01:08:55.810 carefully that which is authorized in the scriptures. 01:08:56.310 --> 01:08:58.069 If you were here the other night, we talked about 01:08:58.069 --> 01:09:00.670 the type of music God wants in the church and 01:09:00.670 --> 01:09:03.670 how authority is so very important in establishing 01:09:03.670 --> 01:09:06.229 and understanding what kind of music God wants. 01:09:07.550 --> 01:09:10.449 Concerning the music of the church, we find no 01:09:10.449 --> 01:09:12.949 New Testament command, no example. There's scripture 01:09:12.949 --> 01:09:14.989 inferring or implying that God wants instrumental 01:09:14.989 --> 01:09:17.329 music in the church. We conclude that there's 01:09:17.329 --> 01:09:19.430 no scriptural authority for instrumental music. 01:09:19.640 --> 01:09:22.000 We studied history and found that instrumental 01:09:22.000 --> 01:09:24.520 music was added in the seventh century by men. 01:09:25.500 --> 01:09:27.619 And God specifies the type of music He wants 01:09:27.619 --> 01:09:30.079 in the church. He tells us He wants the singing 01:09:30.079 --> 01:09:32.359 of music, which excludes the playing of music. 01:09:32.399 --> 01:09:35.439 Colossians 3 .16. The Word tells us that God 01:09:35.439 --> 01:09:37.819 wants us to make melody in our hearts. That excludes 01:09:37.819 --> 01:09:40.479 making melody in a guitar. Ephesians chapter 01:09:40.479 --> 01:09:45.039 5 .19. This is our analysis of instrumental music 01:09:45.039 --> 01:09:48.369 when we approach it. by looking for scriptural 01:09:48.369 --> 01:09:51.630 authority for the practice. And I'm here to tell 01:09:51.630 --> 01:09:54.250 you tonight when we do the same analysis for 01:09:54.250 --> 01:09:56.770 a different practice, the practice of teaching 01:09:56.770 --> 01:09:59.329 the church in church Bible classes, likewise 01:09:59.329 --> 01:10:01.909 we have no New Testament command example or inference 01:10:01.909 --> 01:10:04.829 for that. Therefore we conclude there's no scriptural 01:10:04.829 --> 01:10:06.970 authority for it. We've seen through our study 01:10:06.970 --> 01:10:09.630 of history it was added by men in the 18th century. 01:10:10.029 --> 01:10:12.369 And you know, God has specified how to do the 01:10:12.369 --> 01:10:14.989 teaching. He's given us pattern and a plan for 01:10:14.989 --> 01:10:17.510 how to do this. God wants a togetherness arrangement 01:10:17.510 --> 01:10:20.010 when we come together for teaching, not a divided 01:10:20.010 --> 01:10:22.970 into classes arrangement. 1 Corinthians 14 23. 01:10:23.470 --> 01:10:25.510 He wants men to be the teachers in the church, 01:10:25.609 --> 01:10:28.670 not women teachers in church Bible classes. 1 01:10:28.670 --> 01:10:32.409 Corinthians 14 verse 34 to 35. When we look at 01:10:32.409 --> 01:10:35.069 the authority for the practice, we come to the 01:10:35.069 --> 01:10:37.550 same conclusions about church Bible classes as 01:10:37.550 --> 01:10:40.159 we do instruments of music. We don't use church 01:10:40.159 --> 01:10:42.699 Bible classes for the exact same reasons we don't 01:10:42.699 --> 01:10:45.680 use instrumental music. We just simply don't 01:10:45.680 --> 01:10:49.180 find scriptural authority for the practice. The 01:10:49.180 --> 01:10:52.699 church survived for nearly 1800 years without 01:10:52.699 --> 01:10:54.739 Sunday school or church Bible classes. How did 01:10:54.739 --> 01:10:57.340 they ever manage to survive? They had two settings 01:10:57.340 --> 01:11:00.600 for teaching and they used them. They had the 01:11:00.600 --> 01:11:02.359 congregational setting for teaching, they had 01:11:02.359 --> 01:11:05.319 the individual house to house setting for teaching. 01:11:05.760 --> 01:11:07.460 And I want to tell you brethren something, it's 01:11:07.460 --> 01:11:10.899 not enough for us stand up and teach what we're 01:11:10.899 --> 01:11:14.319 against. If not, we're not going to be about 01:11:14.319 --> 01:11:17.159 putting into practice what we are for. Okay, 01:11:17.159 --> 01:11:19.060 we can say we're against Sunday school and Bible 01:11:19.060 --> 01:11:20.880 classes all day long, but I don't know that does 01:11:20.880 --> 01:11:22.939 us any good if we don't go out and take advantage 01:11:22.939 --> 01:11:26.579 of both types of teaching. Teaching in the church 01:11:26.579 --> 01:11:28.579 is important, yes, but we need to be working 01:11:28.579 --> 01:11:30.819 and be active and going house to house and sharing 01:11:30.819 --> 01:11:33.760 the Word of God in that private individual setting. 01:11:34.479 --> 01:11:36.439 It's not just what we're against, it's what we 01:11:36.439 --> 01:11:39.380 need to be for and we need to be for both. settings 01:11:39.380 --> 01:11:41.899 of teaching. We need to be making the most of 01:11:41.899 --> 01:11:44.000 both settings when we teach the Word of God. 01:11:44.680 --> 01:11:47.239 We believe we can do all the teaching that God 01:11:47.239 --> 01:11:50.659 requires of us by doing it in these two settings 01:11:50.659 --> 01:11:54.079 that God has clearly authorized. To restore the 01:11:54.079 --> 01:11:55.800 New Testament pattern for teaching, we're going 01:11:55.800 --> 01:11:58.060 to have to return to a togetherness arrangement 01:11:58.060 --> 01:12:00.779 for teaching. That's the authorized arrangement 01:12:00.779 --> 01:12:03.380 in 1 Corinthians 14, 23. The whole church become 01:12:03.380 --> 01:12:05.859 together into one place. We're going to have 01:12:05.859 --> 01:12:07.640 to get back to teaching to the church in that 01:12:07.640 --> 01:12:10.479 arrangement. We do not see authority in the Bible 01:12:10.479 --> 01:12:13.699 for a divided into classes arrangement. We don't 01:12:13.699 --> 01:12:16.420 find a scripture for that. We believe all of 01:12:16.420 --> 01:12:18.619 God's people can sit, listen and learn together. 01:12:19.399 --> 01:12:21.659 The law is not our authority, but even in the 01:12:21.659 --> 01:12:24.560 days of Moses under the law, all the God's people 01:12:24.560 --> 01:12:27.319 came together every seven years at the Feast 01:12:27.319 --> 01:12:31.359 of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 31 10 to 13. God 01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:33.899 told them to gather the people together, the 01:12:33.899 --> 01:12:36.340 men, the women, the children, the strangers, 01:12:36.520 --> 01:12:38.800 the foreigners within their gates, that they 01:12:38.800 --> 01:12:40.899 may hear and that they may learn and fear the 01:12:40.899 --> 01:12:43.640 Lord their God and observe to do all the words 01:12:43.640 --> 01:12:46.159 of that law that their children look at this. 01:12:46.390 --> 01:12:48.569 told them every seven years for the whole nation 01:12:48.569 --> 01:12:50.949 to come together and read the law and this was 01:12:50.949 --> 01:12:52.970 primarily for their children, their children 01:12:52.970 --> 01:12:56.010 which have not known anything that they may hear 01:12:56.010 --> 01:12:59.430 and learn to fear the Lord your God. You know 01:12:59.430 --> 01:13:01.050 a lot of people today would tell us that men 01:13:01.050 --> 01:13:04.210 women and children can't learn together. Men 01:13:04.210 --> 01:13:05.869 women and children can learn together they've 01:13:05.869 --> 01:13:07.590 been doing it for thousands of years they did 01:13:07.590 --> 01:13:10.270 it every seven years under the old covenant law 01:13:10.270 --> 01:13:13.130 they all came together and they taught the Word 01:13:13.130 --> 01:13:16.060 of God. And they all learn together. We don't 01:13:16.060 --> 01:13:18.180 have to divide men, women, and children into 01:13:18.180 --> 01:13:19.899 different classes for them to learn the Word 01:13:19.899 --> 01:13:24.020 of God. Some people have suggested, well, this 01:13:24.020 --> 01:13:26.100 togetherness arrangement, this whole church come 01:13:26.100 --> 01:13:28.899 together into one place in the binding part of 01:13:28.899 --> 01:13:30.840 the New Testament pattern. It's not an important 01:13:30.840 --> 01:13:34.279 detail. Some have suggested the togetherness 01:13:34.279 --> 01:13:36.380 arrangement is not a binding part of the pattern. 01:13:36.920 --> 01:13:40.479 I believe... The togetherness arrangement is 01:13:40.479 --> 01:13:42.439 a binding part of the New Testament pattern. 01:13:42.920 --> 01:13:45.039 I also believe the togetherness arrangement is 01:13:45.039 --> 01:13:47.220 binding for when we come together and have the 01:13:47.220 --> 01:13:49.960 Lord's Supper. When we come together and have 01:13:49.960 --> 01:13:51.760 the Lord's Supper, we believe the whole church 01:13:51.760 --> 01:13:54.960 needs to become together into one place. Would 01:13:54.960 --> 01:13:57.859 we ever have the Lord's Supper when we divided 01:13:57.859 --> 01:13:59.920 the church up into classes? Would we ever divide 01:13:59.920 --> 01:14:02.520 the church up into classes and eat the Lord's 01:14:02.520 --> 01:14:04.979 Supper in the classes? I don't know of any church 01:14:04.979 --> 01:14:07.279 of Christ that has ever done that, would do that, 01:14:07.300 --> 01:14:10.380 or will ever do that. You know why we wouldn't 01:14:10.380 --> 01:14:12.779 eat the Lord's Supper in the classes? Because 01:14:12.779 --> 01:14:15.140 1 Corinthians 11 .20 says when we eat the Lord's 01:14:15.140 --> 01:14:16.760 Supper we need to come together therefore into 01:14:16.760 --> 01:14:19.720 one place. We need to come together therefore 01:14:19.720 --> 01:14:23.140 into one place to eat the Lord's Supper. And 01:14:23.140 --> 01:14:24.819 that's what we do, that's what we all do, and 01:14:24.819 --> 01:14:27.079 I'm glad for that. But here's the point, if the 01:14:27.079 --> 01:14:29.279 togetherness arrangement is required for communion 01:14:29.279 --> 01:14:32.430 in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Why is the same 01:14:32.430 --> 01:14:35.250 togetherness arrangement not required for teaching 01:14:35.250 --> 01:14:38.289 from 1 Corinthians 14? It's the very same language. 01:14:38.909 --> 01:14:41.489 It tells us to come together and be together 01:14:41.489 --> 01:14:43.909 in one place for communion. It tells us to come 01:14:43.909 --> 01:14:46.930 together and be together in one place for teaching 01:14:46.930 --> 01:14:50.250 the church. And the last thing we need to do 01:14:50.250 --> 01:14:52.510 to restore the New Testament pattern for teaching, 01:14:52.890 --> 01:14:55.109 we need to return to the proper role of women 01:14:55.109 --> 01:14:57.909 in and outside of the assembly. I want to tell 01:14:57.909 --> 01:15:01.420 you something, we are thankful. for godly Christian 01:15:01.420 --> 01:15:05.600 women. And I've said it once, I'm gonna say it 01:15:05.600 --> 01:15:09.039 again and I'm gonna keep on saying it. Men, it's 01:15:09.039 --> 01:15:11.539 God's will for men to be the leaders and the 01:15:11.539 --> 01:15:13.880 teachers in the church. But I'm gonna tell you 01:15:13.880 --> 01:15:15.520 something, holy women are the backbone of the 01:15:15.520 --> 01:15:20.319 church. I've seen it in so many different places. 01:15:21.760 --> 01:15:24.260 Holy women doing their work behind the scenes, 01:15:24.319 --> 01:15:26.460 their faithfulness, their commitment, their devotion 01:15:26.460 --> 01:15:28.859 to the Lord and His church. In many places they 01:15:28.859 --> 01:15:31.359 are the backbone of the church. Let me tell you 01:15:31.359 --> 01:15:34.779 something about the women of the church. They 01:15:34.779 --> 01:15:39.479 make up 50 % of the army of God. 50%. Are we 01:15:39.479 --> 01:15:42.659 going to sideline 50 % of the army of God? I 01:15:42.659 --> 01:15:45.619 hope we never do. I hope we encourage, equip, 01:15:45.760 --> 01:15:48.220 and enable our women to be doing their work because 01:15:48.220 --> 01:15:50.640 they play an important work. in the Lord's kingdom. 01:15:51.079 --> 01:15:53.020 It's just that there's a proper time and a proper 01:15:53.020 --> 01:15:54.960 place for women to speak and teach the Bible. 01:15:55.079 --> 01:15:57.979 That's all this has been about tonight. When 01:15:57.979 --> 01:16:00.020 is the proper time and where is the proper place 01:16:00.020 --> 01:16:03.020 for that to happen? We need to learn to lead 01:16:03.020 --> 01:16:05.539 and guide our sisters in Christ into a proper 01:16:05.539 --> 01:16:08.600 understanding of their role and their responsibilities 01:16:08.600 --> 01:16:12.199 in the church. And I want to tell you all something. 01:16:14.359 --> 01:16:17.359 I love my Christian sisters too much not to tell 01:16:17.359 --> 01:16:21.279 them this. I want to be plain. I want you to 01:16:21.279 --> 01:16:26.800 understand this. It is sinful. It is sinful for 01:16:26.800 --> 01:16:30.239 women to speak, teach, make comments, and ask 01:16:30.239 --> 01:16:34.000 questions in the assembly of the church. Sin 01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:38.819 is committed when women speak, comment, ask questions, 01:16:39.140 --> 01:16:40.819 and teach in the assemblies of the church. I 01:16:40.819 --> 01:16:44.239 know that because the Bible tells us. We need 01:16:44.239 --> 01:16:46.180 to understand this. This is serious. The Bible 01:16:46.180 --> 01:16:48.520 tells us let your women keep silence in the churches. 01:16:48.600 --> 01:16:51.539 They're not permitted to speak. It says it's 01:16:51.539 --> 01:16:53.520 a shame for women to speak in the church. And 01:16:53.520 --> 01:16:55.939 then in verse 37 it says these are the commandments 01:16:55.939 --> 01:16:58.479 of the Lord. What happens when we violate and 01:16:58.479 --> 01:17:00.180 transgress and break the commandments of the 01:17:00.180 --> 01:17:04.579 Lord? We commit sin. We commit sin. Now I take 01:17:04.579 --> 01:17:07.340 no pleasure or satisfaction in telling you that, 01:17:07.340 --> 01:17:12.010 but it's my obligation. to teach you and to tell 01:17:12.010 --> 01:17:14.609 you that when we violate, when we transgress 01:17:14.609 --> 01:17:19.729 1 Corinthians 14, we're committing sin. We're 01:17:19.729 --> 01:17:22.750 breaking the commandments of the Lord. Now as 01:17:22.750 --> 01:17:26.789 I wrap up tonight, I want to say a few things 01:17:26.789 --> 01:17:31.109 to close. We don't want to be misunderstood. 01:17:31.670 --> 01:17:33.970 I hope and pray that we're not misunderstood 01:17:33.970 --> 01:17:37.529 in what we've taught tonight. We are not questioning 01:17:37.529 --> 01:17:41.939 anybody's sincerity. We are certainly not questioning 01:17:41.939 --> 01:17:44.859 anyone's love for the Lord. You know, we've talked 01:17:44.859 --> 01:17:47.279 this week about how error comes into the church 01:17:47.279 --> 01:17:48.979 and what we've seen over and over again that 01:17:48.979 --> 01:17:52.220 a lot of times error comes into the church when 01:17:52.220 --> 01:17:55.239 people have the best of intentions. I believe 01:17:55.239 --> 01:17:57.399 people probably had the best of intentions when 01:17:57.399 --> 01:17:59.199 they brought in Sunday school and church Bible 01:17:59.199 --> 01:18:02.039 classes to churches of Christ. The best of intentions. 01:18:02.500 --> 01:18:06.000 Teach people the Bible. There is no greater intention. 01:18:06.989 --> 01:18:09.409 Right? When we're not questioning people's intentions, 01:18:09.550 --> 01:18:11.489 we're not questioning their sincerity, we're 01:18:11.489 --> 01:18:13.789 not questioning how much people love the Lord. 01:18:13.810 --> 01:18:15.670 This is just a question of what does the Bible 01:18:15.670 --> 01:18:19.850 teach? What has God authorized concerning teaching 01:18:19.850 --> 01:18:22.750 the church? We are also not trying to promote 01:18:22.750 --> 01:18:25.369 division. We're not teaching these things to 01:18:25.369 --> 01:18:29.090 sow seeds of division, to create strife, to create 01:18:29.090 --> 01:18:33.689 conflict. We have a heart and a mind to seek 01:18:33.689 --> 01:18:37.069 for peace and unity. I don't know that we'll 01:18:37.069 --> 01:18:40.130 ever achieve peace and unity if we aren't able 01:18:40.130 --> 01:18:44.710 to talk about and teach and listen to one another 01:18:44.710 --> 01:18:47.590 concerning some of these controversial doctrines 01:18:47.590 --> 01:18:50.489 that divide us. We do not want to promote division. 01:18:50.630 --> 01:18:55.329 We need to be seeking for peace and unity. Here's 01:18:55.329 --> 01:18:57.329 something else. We don't want to be misunderstood. 01:18:57.489 --> 01:18:59.649 We aren't saying tonight that people can't or 01:18:59.649 --> 01:19:02.380 people... have never learned anything from Sunday 01:19:02.380 --> 01:19:04.140 school or Bible classes. You could be sitting 01:19:04.140 --> 01:19:06.220 here tonight saying, Brother James, everything 01:19:06.220 --> 01:19:08.439 I learned about God, I learned in a Bible class. 01:19:09.100 --> 01:19:10.619 You could be sitting here tonight say, Brother 01:19:10.619 --> 01:19:12.739 James, I teach a Bible class. I teach Sunday 01:19:12.739 --> 01:19:17.420 school every Sunday. We're not claiming or trying 01:19:17.420 --> 01:19:19.560 to make the case that people can't or people 01:19:19.560 --> 01:19:22.239 haven't ever learned anything in church Bible 01:19:22.239 --> 01:19:25.460 classes. All we're trying to say and show from 01:19:25.460 --> 01:19:27.460 the scriptures tonight is that those church Bible 01:19:27.460 --> 01:19:30.770 classes are not authorized. They're not a part 01:19:30.770 --> 01:19:33.510 of God's authorized plan for teaching the church. 01:19:34.390 --> 01:19:37.210 Okay, can people learn? Can people be taught 01:19:37.210 --> 01:19:40.569 in those classes? Yes. You know an ox cart will 01:19:40.569 --> 01:19:43.189 also move the ark of a covenant and in 1st Chronicles 01:19:43.189 --> 01:19:45.750 13 the ox cart did move the ark of the covenant 01:19:45.750 --> 01:19:48.449 for a while. It's just that it wasn't a part 01:19:48.449 --> 01:19:51.670 of God's plan for moving the ark. In like manner 01:19:51.670 --> 01:19:54.380 we don't believe that that this system of teaching 01:19:54.380 --> 01:19:57.579 is a part of God's plan. We believe undivided 01:19:57.579 --> 01:19:59.859 teaching assemblies are what God authorizes and 01:19:59.859 --> 01:20:03.220 we're encouraging everyone to stick to following 01:20:03.220 --> 01:20:06.199 God's plan concerning the teaching that we do 01:20:06.199 --> 01:20:09.000 in the church. Thank you for your careful attention 01:20:09.000 --> 01:20:11.060 tonight to these things. I appreciate you coming 01:20:11.060 --> 01:20:14.340 and listening. I'm sharing these things with 01:20:14.340 --> 01:20:17.659 you from a humble heart. I hope you receive them 01:20:17.659 --> 01:20:21.159 with a humble heart. Again, these may be new 01:20:21.159 --> 01:20:23.060 ideas, new concepts to you. You may have never 01:20:23.060 --> 01:20:25.960 heard anything like this before. If so, if you've 01:20:25.960 --> 01:20:27.640 got questions, I'm more than happy to answer 01:20:27.640 --> 01:20:29.500 any questions you might have after the service. 01:20:29.579 --> 01:20:33.239 We can have a discussion about it. I'd really 01:20:33.239 --> 01:20:34.520 appreciate your attention tonight.