Rubbish

www.scatteredchristians.org

Another Sermon for the Starving Bible Believing Christians All Over the World Wide Web
2006 - Touchet Baptist Church, Touchet, Washington - Pastor Mike Paulson - 2006
Expounding the way of God more perfectly - Acts 18:26 - with the Scriptures Rightly Divided - II Timothy 2:15

Throw Out the Rubbish

And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish;
so that we are not able to build the wall.
Nehemiah 4:10

As we learn to follow Paul more and more, we begin to see the need to 'fine-tune' some doctrinal applications. In other words, looking at the Bible rightly divided, we see that the 'way of God more perfectly' means that we should always be willing to learn a deeper understanding - a more excellent way. We will be surprised in our readings how often this comes about.

Here is the outline for tonight's sermon.

As I was throwing out old papers and supplies and 'junk' these past few days, I found:

Our outdoor scripture signs said Mark 16:15 is the gospel. We know that to not be true - that is a pentecostal verse - and one of modern Christianity's verses - the Great Commission, etc. If Mark 16:15 is our gospel today, then we need to be speaking in tongues, drinking poison, etc.
Hyper-dispensationalists are grace only with no direction in scriptures to please God in the walk, thus we see once again that we are NOT hyper-dispensatinoal in our preachings, nor are we hyper grace.
We see from a Baptism certificate from the early years of Touchet Baptist Church showed Matthew 28:19 for our purpose of water baptism - and we know that is to the Jews, NOT to us.
A church Bible printing ministry says that their standard is the "King James Bible in English, or equivalent in languages derived from historically received texts. What? There is an equivalent? Aha, we see that these folks are TR folks - and that they lie when they say the King James Bible is the Word of God!
This same church pamphlet says that Amos 8:11 talks about a famine of God's word, when the scripture actually says HEARING the word of God. See - we have to watch closely what is being preached these days compared to what the Scriptures actually say.
And in that church pamphlet order sheet, we see a few books that we won't ever order let alone believe - "Little Baptist," "Price of a Coconut," "The Myth of the Universal Church," "Trail of Blood," and the "Way of Life Encyclopedia."
Of the infamous Baptist Distinctives from a Bible printing church ministry, we see that they are called Biblical distinctives now instead of baptist distinctives. And we also found out that we didn't agree with most of them. They claim that the Biblical distinctives spell out the word BAPTIST in an acrostic design. Right!

Here is our own assessment as to how we stack up to the common Baptist Distinctives,
now being called Biblical Distinctives.

B - Biblical Authority - The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. II Timothy 3:16,17.

Us in Touchet - fine, but why don't they say King James Bible instead of just 'Bible?' Because they don't see the KJB as their final authority. In fact, we will go further and say that the King James Bible from 1611 is 'that which is perfect' in I Corinthians 13:10.

A - Autonomy of the Local Church - The local church is an independent body accountable only to the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. Colossians 1:18.

Us in Touchet - ONLY? Folks, until the Lord returns, this dirt that our church building is located on can be told what to do by the government. When they start telling us what to preach, then they can have this building. The taxes we don't have to pay is because of the Catholic churches, etc. The local church is NOT the church that the gates of Hell will not prevail. Just look around at all the local churches that have died. Our local church family can meet in our homes - THAT is the 'church' that is accountable to Christ, etc.

P - Priesthood of All Believers - No human mediator is necessary to intercede between God and man. I Peter 2:5-9.

Us in Touchet - I Peter? We have to go to I Peter to prove that one? That is not to us, that is to the Jews, etc. during the Tribulation. Anyway, we do believe in this one - however, we don't go to I Peter to prove it. Romans tells us that we are able to be in direct closeness and fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. But, we will go further and say the communication from God to us is the King James Bible, not just our heart. You will only find those verses 'before' that which is perfect or in the time of Tribulation.

T - Two Ordinances - The local church practices two ordinances - baptism by immersion in water and the Lord's Supper. Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-32.

Us in Touchet - And where does it say TWO? And where does it say those are the two specific ordinances? It doesn't! It does NOT say anything of the kind. In fact, those two things Paul does NOT say but Baptist do, and the things that Paul says to do, the baptist don't do. Doesn't that make sense now.

I - Individual Soul Liberty - Every individual has the liberty and responsibility to believe as his own conscience dictates, within the framework of the Word of God. Romans 14:5-12.

Us in Touchet - Yes, however, we must remember that our conscience is seared and that we need the King James Bible to make sure we are following the truth. We state that rightly dividing the word of truth is the main element of following the Word of God! II Timothy 2:15,16

S - Saved, Baptized Membership - Local church membership is limited to those who give testimony of a personal faith in Christ and have publicly followed him in believer's baptism. Acts 2:41-47.

Us in Touchet - What is a believer's baptism? There is no such thing. There is one baptism and that is a spirit baptism (I Corinthians 12:13), NOT a water one. In fact, to go to Acts 2:41-47 shows the support of pre-Paul doctrine, which is nothing short of Pentecostalism. Read ALL the verses in their context there. Those are NOT written TO us - no, not for a second.

T - Two Offices - Only two Biblical mandated offices exist in the local church: pastor and deacon. I Timothy 3:1,13.

Us in Touchet - Ok, we can agree on this, but we still have all the men come to our meetings. And voting? right!

S - Separation of Church and State - Baptists have always believed in the separation of church and state. Matthew 22:15-22.

Us in Touchet - Once again, we see the separation based on thinking they are the holy church on this earth - which is simple a catholic doctrine.

Wow, this makes it look like we are not very good baptists, eh! Hmmmmmmmmm

Part II for tonight:

In continuing to throwing out more trash, we look at these verses to see how they need to be fine-tuned through an understanding of Paul's gospel:

Acts 17:24,25; II Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 9:24 in relation to worshipping God in our 'buildings' and by what we 'do' with our hands, etc.
Galatians 2:7-9 - a marvelous verse that shows the gospel of the circumcision vs the gospel of the uncircumcision. It also explains why James and John are to the Jews. Man, these verses are KEY verses in rightly dividing!!!
I Timothy 2:8 - why do we fold our hands when we pray, etc.?

Finally - Acts 17:30,31 - read the entire context from 22-31 - This is a great bridge verse from OT doctrine to Paul's teachings - and how God looked at the people before and after.

Then we previewed the next sermon - looking at how we are to handle:
The Enemy

Are we to love them, as Jesus said?
Matthew 5:44-50+
Luke 6:27
Luke 6:35
Hey - loving the enemy was key to following Jesus in the Gospels!

Hebrews 12:14
I Peter 2:15-17
III John 12
So you see that loving the enemy is also stated in post-Paul Tribulation - well of course, the teachings from the Gospels and early Acts carry right on into the Tribulation. Paul's gospel is a burp right in-between it all. Thank God for God's grace TO US today.

Luke 1:74 - being delivered OUT of the hand of the enemy. Is that our expectation today?
We discuss the difference between the physical kingdom and the kingdom of God, a spiritual kingdom for today.
See Luke 10:19.

What does Paul say to us about our enemy today? That is in the next sermon.