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Brethren, It is my contention that Paul the Apostle, as he preached the gospel, and folks were saved, he then had these saints assembled together in a local assembly: a church in a local area. This thread is to follow Paul, by giving examples, as he, and the other apostles, obeyed the Great Commission in seeing souls saved and churches established. Alan

The Local Church I Timothy 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The “house of God” that Paul is referring to the local assembly of the believers. The Apostle Paul is admonishing Timothy to behave himself in the local assembly of believers; the church. The local church was an assembly in an area of a community. It was the visible assembly of the saints in the New Testament. The church may be in a house, a rented building, or a building that was bought for the purpose of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1 and 2 Timothy Paul the Apostle give Timothy, and every saint in the New Testament, instructions “how” to behave himself in the local assembly of believers in the church. This behavior includes the following two offices in the local church: 1. The qualifications of the pastor, or bishop, in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, and called an elder in 1 Timothy 5:17. These qualifications are for the pastor of the local church. 2. The qualifications of the deacon and his wive, 1 Timothy 3:8-13. These qualifications are for the deacon(s) of the local church. The local churches were Independent in Authority and Fellowship Colossians 4:15 and 16, “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.” Nymphas had a church in his house. This assembly was local in scope, visible, and limited in authority, There was another church, or another visible assembly of believers, in Laodicea. Paul admonished the two assemblies to share in the reading of the Epistle of Colossians. There were no "bishops," or denominational headquarters, over the two assemblies. Denominations & the so-called “Universal” Church There are no denominations in the New Testament. All of the denominations, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, etc… have a starting point in history, a leader, and a religious hierarchy that is unknown in the New Testament scriptures. There is no “universal church” in the New Testament. There is a “General Assembly,” in heaven of all the saints, “But ye come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” Hebrews 12:22 and 23 All of the assemblies mentioned in the New Testament are visible, local and independent. The Apostle Paul gave detailed instructions for the qualifications of the pastor and the deacon as the visible head of the local church.

Jim, I am sure that the lesson that you have planned for us to view on Acts 15 will be a blessing to us all and fortify the study on the local church. As with a lot of the scriptures, denominational leaders mis-use Acts 15 to try and control their churches. Alan

Hello, my name is David, and posting as brand new member on this Board. My wife and I are soon to celebrate 20th anniversity, and have sons recently graduated from High School, and both of them we adopted from Russia while infants. The Lord saved me while in College, and have run the entire viewpoints within Chrsitianity, as was first in a Pentacostal church and was a teaching Elder there, then moved to Free will baptist church, and now currently on pastoral prayer team and involved in Chidren church with my Baptist Church. I am currently seeing things salvation wise from the Calvinistic/Reformed side, but all other things pretty much still baptist!

Helpful to remember that the Revelation ties directly into Daniel and other OT prophecies, so the key to the symbols will be found in those other prophetic books. Also important to realise that the Book was written to address both immediate situations at time of John, and also was addressing future end time events still yet to come. The churches mentioned by John addresed by jesus would refer to various churches throughout the Church Age, and some see them as historical churches, as in various stages of the state of the Church going forward. Please remember also that the main person of the Book is Jesus Christ, not the antichrist, as some weant to elevate that person to being the main person of the prophecy.

Understand from "the get-go" that I haven't read this thread. This post, therefore, has nothing to do in defense nor opposition to any contents of said thread. With all that stated: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” Would you care to take this sentence and show how, in the phrase "he sent and signified it", the word "signified" is used as a noun and not as the past tense of the verb (to) signify? Incidentally, Webster's 1st edition has the following concerning both etymology and definition of the verb "signify" (which you acknowledged as a verb). So the past tense of such a "making known (def #4)" would be ...? SIG'NIFY, v. t. [L. significo; signum, a sign, and facio, to make.] 4. To make known; to declare. The government should signify to the protestants of Ireland that want of silver is not to be remedied.

Sorry. I thought that I answered in an explanatory fashion. I'll try to explain my thoughts and belief better...maybe. There are several different baptisms mentioned in scripture...the Israelites were baptized unto Moses, John's baptisms were baptisms of repentance, the Lord was baptized to fufill all righteousness, baptism by the spirit into the body, believer's water baptism...and more...so it's apparent (to me) that the verse in question isn't inferring that there is only one baptism and no others; rather, it's referring to only one particular baptism that serves one particular purpose. My belief (as I mentioned earlier) is that it's the baptism of the believer...performed by the Holy Spirit...which places the believer into the body of Christ. That baptism can only be performed one time, and that one-time baptism is the only baptism that serves that one particular purpose. I believe that all of the "one" elements mentioned in Ephesians 4:4-6 are spiritual; therefore, the "one baptism" is too. (1 Corinthians 12:13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whetherwe be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

So, met a pastor in N.GA. He set a date for a meeting without a calendar in hand. When my son was there a week later the Pastor told him, "I have your Dad coming in Sun morning 5 Aug" (again, no calendar there). Enter today (5 Aug 18), the Pastor said, "I'm not climbing the platform stairs, its too painful. After the offering is taken, the service is your's." He just had back surgery Friday (2 days ago). Oh yea, "The rest of the story....." he's 86 years old!!!!!!!!!!!

I just noticed it was your birthday today. Hope you had a great day. Happy Birthday. 🎂

Bro. Jordan, The answer to your first question is found in verse1 and 2. They came down from Judea and Paul and Barnabas determined to go to Jerusalem about the matter that they had brought up. I can't find the exact scripture about James being the pastor right now, but will look for it later.

OK, it is "this evening" and I still cannot copy and paste my lesson without the forum scrambling the formatting. I use MS Word and evidently it is not compatible with how the forum formatting sees it. Perhaps it may be better to just include the lesson as a downloadable file attached to this post. I'll try to do that now. So look for a file you can click on in this post. This lesson is done in MS Word format, hopefully your word processor can hold the MS Word formatting, or you have MS Word on your computer. Acts 15.doc

John, Thank you for bringing out that Acts 15:1-32 does not infer that a "Council" or a "denominational hierarchy" has any authority over the local church but that is was a good example how churches can get together in unity for fellowship and seek counsel with one another in order to discuss common issues. All of the local churches in the New Testament were autonomous and there was no denominational authority over any local church. We will be discussing Acts 15:1-32 in more detail (with an emphasis on Acts 15:4, 13, 19, 22, 23, 25 & 30), later as I wanted to discuss a passage of scripture to show how Paul conducted his ministry in starting churches. Alan

A big contention against local autonomy is Acts 15 were they say the "Jerusalem Council" is determining doctrine for "the whole church" but to me it seems to be a case for local autonomy. As it started out with certain men trying to force the gentiles in Antioch to live as Jews for salvation but they went to Jerusalem to resolve the issue because the offending people were members of the Jerusalem church. While some of the apostles weighed in with guidance on the matter, it was James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church and not the apostles that passes sentence on the matter and the letter is written by that church as a clarification of their doctrine and as a request, not as a decree. Its basically Matthew 18 but with automatons churches, showing us how issues between churches should be resolved and not showing a denominational church hierarchy.

Oh goody, one of my favorite subjects! I am looking forward to this study also, thank you for starting it Bro. Alan..

Brother Alan, I do apologize, for I misunderstood. Because you included some discussion concerning Hebrews 12:22-23 and concerning the "General Assembly," I was under the impression that you were open to further discussion thereof. Now that you have clarified the intention of this thread discussion as being strictly about the local church, I shall withdraw my questions concerning the membership of the "General Assembly." I shall look forward to any further study that you do herein concerning the New Testament's teaching on the local church.

This study is just on, "The Local Church." I do not not want to continue the debate on the previous thread. I simply pointed out that there are no denominations in the New Testament nor does Hebrews 12:22 & 23 have anything to do with the local church on the earth. I did not quality the term "of all the saints" (nor do I intend to do so in this thread), as it is dealing with the "general assembly" that is in heaven and does not refer to the local church on the earth. Who, "all of the saints" are is a study in itself. Maybe you can start a thread on this subject. This thread is only about "the local church" not "the general assembly." I whole-heartedly agree with you and am grateful for your stand.

Here in northern California we have had a month of 100F or over. We also have lot of smoke from forest fires. It never goes away because of the great number of fires. It does vary some depending on wind direction. Sorry to all for posting off topic, I should know better.

...so who is your proofreader? I do suppose however what I need is a ghost writer.

You did explain your thoughts on this subject very well NN. I am sorry to make you have to write it twice. You went into great detail in your second response as well, which is appreciated. As I said before, my thoughts run in a much simpler direction, which, after reading your last response runs very much in the direction you elaborated on. My take on this portion of Scripture can be summed up in three words, but also elaborated on as you have done. Mine is not some great Theological response, probably because I am not a Theologian. My simple thoughts and understanding , summed up in three words are: "as to kind". In other words, context will determine what "kind" of Baptism is being spoken of. As Brother Jordan pointed out in his original thread, there are different "kinds" of Baptism. With water, with the Holy Ghost, with Fire. In contemplating Eph. 4:5 we know that there are many lords, but only one "as to kind", many faiths, but only one "as to kind", any many Baptisms, but only one "as to kind". The "kind" must always be determined by context. Here is but one example of this concept: 1Co 8:5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. I'm not going to muddy this up any further, the above Scripture explains my understanding of Eph. 4:5 using my terminology of "as to kind" very well. I would welcome any others thoughts and ideas regarding Eph. 4:5

At the present time I feel no need to present anything differently from that which Brother McWhorter has presented.

Sorry about your cold HC. Summer colds are the worst because that is always when all the good stuff goes on that you miss. I'm batching it tonight but have every intention of grilling burgers for myself. The deer here, so close to the river are amazing. They walk right by me within a few feet while I am grilling, take a quick look and move on for more apples. My presence doesn't bother them one bit.

John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 1 Corinthians 16:6 And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. "That ye may bring me on my journey" "That ye may furnish me with the means of travelling. It appears that, in most cases, the different Churches paid his expenses to other Churches; where this was not done, then he labored at his business to acquire the means of travelling." Adam Clarke Commentary

Update! Update! I was able to locate a proof-reader for the Revelation Study. Just a while ago I sent the manuscript off for proof-reading. But, future books are planned for the days ahead. In our Bible Institute on Taiwan we taught numerous subjects that are in Chinese. Some of the material is already in English: most are not. I am planning to print the material into English in regular book formatting, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 size, and not in the Spiral Bound method that I did in Taiwan.

I usually start out with Romans 8:27 to get the exact context that Paul is dealing with, and proceed to verse 28 & 29, with my comments inter-spaced as we talk. Verse 27, "And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit [only the saints have the Spirit] because he maketh intercession to the will of God." Verse 28 & 29, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God [only a saint can love God], to them who are the called [the saved, the redeemed] according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also [also: in addition too after salvation: after being redeemed; after the Spirit enters the saint] did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Please also take careful note Paul stated, "among the brethren." I then concentrate on Romans 8:29 & 30 to bring out the 'foreknowledge' of God is before predestination, and to define the biblical definition of predestination, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and them he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." " And," and "also" are key words. In talking to the saints, Paul starts with "And," after salvation, also, in addition to, the saint is predestined to "be conformed to the image of his Son," and the other gifts of salvation from verse 30-39 If I have time, I generally talk in detail about verses 30 to 39 to show that there are other blessings every saint has after salvation. I hope the above study helped. Alan