Steve Hulshizer
In John 14 Christ encourages his disciples by declaring that while He
was leaving them, He would return. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Montague Goodman
Thousands of men are honorably engaged mainly in their leisure hours in
teaching and preaching Christ. Yet it is probably true to say that the number of
evangelists is lamentably few, and as a direct consequence our churches and fellowships
languish. If we are to covet earnestly the best gifts, then surely there is a call in
these days for young men to covet, with a holy ambition, that rare yet greatly desirable
gift of the evangelist. What, then, are the outstanding, and in some part, unique marks
and indications of the gift of an evangelist?
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.? Heb. 12:1
Is the Church handicapped in the race by carrying weights of carnality? Paul says ?every man that strives for the mastery in temperate in all things? 1 Cor. 9:25
There was a professor of philosophy at USC who was a deeply committed
atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester
attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with
him because of his impeccable logic.
by Steve Hulshizer
And they were continuing stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship,
and the breaking of the bread, and the prayers. Acts 2:42 (Strong)
In the New Testament there is only one Church, and all who by faith are
in Christ Jesus are in the Church, and as such are members of Christ?s body. (Eph.
1:22-23). However, there are local expressions of the Church, or local assemblies of
called?out believers. These local assemblies are to reflect the truth of the One
Body, and thus they are to function according to the New Testament Scriptures, gathering
only to the Name of Christ. (Matt. 18:20; Acts 13:1; Rev. 1:4)