Jeff hamilton la vista church of christ

Such guardianship will at times place the preacher in opposition to false teachers. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. When a preacher finds a person not living in accordance with God's commandments, it is his duty to rebuke them. After telling Timothy about the digression to come, Paul said, " In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

In carrying out these duties, a preacher comes from a position of authority. Let no one disregard you. The authority is not within the preacher, but the preacher has been given authority by God to carry out his duties. While a preacher's primary duty is heralding the word of Truth, the Bible records several other miscellaneous duties for the preacher.

He is to set an example for others in how to follow the Gospel. A preacher is involved in the selection of elders in congregations and seeing that congregations are properly organized. Preachers are also involved in rebuking elders who sin. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.

Preachers are to maintain the accuracy in following the truth. No one, including the overseers of congregations, is exempted from this and preachers are charged with seeing that such faithfulness is maintained. Obviously, such duties requires a preacher to know God's word very well. In our society, many preachers attend formal schools to learn the word of God in depth. However, this is not the way it was originally done. He then traveled extensively with Paul and other preachers Acts Besides Paul, Timothy spent a good bit of time in the company of Silas Acts ; Soon Timothy was being sent to various congregations by Paul either in the company of another preacher or alone.

Hence, we learn that preachers are responsible for the training of other preachers. The idea of going to a school to learn how to preach is actually fraught with danger.

All that is need is to corrupt a few teachers in the school and false doctrine is rapidly spread throughout the brotherhood. However, with decentralized training no one preacher can impact the teaching in the majority of churches. The idea of ordination is to choose or appoint a man for an office, such as Titus appointing or ordaining elders Titus Denominations use ordination papers to state that a man is approved by the denomination to preach their doctrine.

The church founded by Jesus Christ fulfills a need that no human institution could possibly perform. We deplore the fact that so many religious organizations have smothered the true purpose of the Lord's church beneath civic, social, and domestic affairs.

They feed hungry souls with hamburgers, but we feed the soul with the teachings of Christ John The church exists " in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord " Ephesians It is a sacred institution that no community social club can match, and to alter the church into a social club would cheapen the very institution for which Jesus died Acts Some reading this may think, "We live in the 21st Century. The church must meet the needs of modern society. Our society has civic and social organizations which meet the physical needs of our community.

When combined with other sacrifices, the peace offering was always done last as sin must be atoned before fellowship can exist with God. Burnt offerings are related to the sin and guilt offerings Leviticus 1. It was offered for the atonement of sin Leviticus , but the one making the offering could chose what was being offered.

All the offerings involved burning portions, but the burnt offering was given wholly to God Deuteronomy Only the skin of the animals offered were kept Leviticus Dedication offerings were given when articles of the tabernacle or temple were put into service or when a person became a priest. The burnt offering and grain offering were to be done on a daily basis for the nation. The sin offering, guilt offering, and dedication offerings were done as needed for the individual.

The burnt offering, grain offering, and peace offering were offered by individuals at appointed occasions, such as feasts, as the fulfillment of a vow, or as a freewill offering Numbers ; When a individual offered a burnt offering, grain offering, or peace offering he was allowed to choose to offer whatever he desired within certain guidelines.

For example, money and goods were given as freewill offerings Ezra ; ; however, money gained from prostitution could not be accepted as fulfillment of a vowed offering Deuteronomy Even words of praise were considered to be freewill offerings Psalms Obviously, items that were not sacrificial animals were not burnt, in whole or in part.

Instead, they were used in God's service. II Chronicles speaks of a man appointed to oversee the usage of freewill offerings. Jesus's death upon the cross is described as a combination of offerings. His death is called a sin offering Hebrews ; If you recall that offerings which were burnt were said to be a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord Leviticus ; ; , you can see then that the Lord's death was also a "burnt offering" even though he was not burnt Ephesians This is because Jesus gave himself wholly over to God to appease God's wrath.

In the same way, Christians are expected to be a whole or burnt offering to God when we dedicate our lives in the service of God Romans Peace offerings, grain offerings, and burnt offerings could be vowed to God. When the vow was fulfilled, the offering had to be made Deuteronomy ; Ecclesiastes Just about anything that belonged to a person could be vowed to God: people Leviticus , livestock Leviticus , homes Leviticus , or property Leviticus are given as examples.

Most vowed offerings could be redeemed, or bought back, and most of Leviticus 27 deals with how to determine the redemption price. However, certain things could not be redeemed: sacrificial animals Leviticus , firstborn clean animals because they already belong to the Lord Leviticus , or anything that a man sets apart for destruction, whether man, animal, or property Leviticus Anyone whom the Lord has set apart for destruction cannot be redeemed as they are under a death sentence Leviticus By implication, firstborn children also could not be redeemed if they are vowed because they already belong to God Exodus ,