Welcome to you, my friend. Today marks the beginning of the 28th year of continuous broadcast of our program In Search of the Lord's Way. Well, we will have more to say about that a little later. We are glad you have chosen to be with us as we mark another milestone in this ministry. We pray you will be blessed.
Oh say friend! We're so glad you have chosen our program today. We are "In Search of the Lord's Way" to become and to be a Christian. This is the 1,411th weekly broadcast of these programs! This is our 28th anniversary today. Some said we would not survive this long. And were it not for one thing, which they must have failed to consider, well, they might have been right. And that one thing is this-- "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our own eyes." That is what King David said in Psalm 118:23 about the work of the Lord. Had the program not been the Lord's doing, those discouraging prognosticators just might have been right. I'm sure they would have been.
I have thought many times of Edgar A. Guest's poem, "It Couldn't Be Done," in which he says, "Somebody said it couldn't be done, But he with a chuckle replied That Maybe it couldn't, but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin on his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it. Somebody scoffed: Oh, you'll never do that; At least no one ever has done it; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat; And the first thing we knew he'd begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it. There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start to sing as you tackle the thing That "cannot be done," and you'll do it." Oh no, no one would have said another religious TV program would be doomed to failure. No, not that, but one that would be and do what we are seeing and doing would be!
Anyway, we are here and we will have more thoughts about that. If you think you might want a free printed copy of the text of this program-- or a free CD or audio cassette tape of the entire program, singing as well, mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll free telephone number for this purpose is 1-800-321-8633. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing, and then I'll be back.
Our Bible reading today is in the 14th chapter of the book of Acts; and we will begin reading at verse 24 and read to the end of the chapter-- about six verses. “And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.” And I read through verse 28. Now let’s go to God in prayer. Our heavenly Father, we recognize You as the infinitely powerful, the almighty One, the One and only true and holy God. And, Father, we are so thankful that we have had You as our support and our guide and our director in this programming. And we are thankful, Father, for the years that You have given us here and for the many souls that have heard the Gospel and have started to follow You. We pray Your continued blessings upon us for the future and that we may know that Thou art with us always, even to the very end. We pray Your blessings upon this program today as we review some of the things we have done and as we anticipate some of the things that we hope to do in the future in Your name and to Your glory. And we pray this prayer in Jesus’ name, Amen!
The 13th and 14th chapters of the New Testament book of Acts tell of the work of the apostle Paul and his fellow-workers on what we often call his first missionary journey. We read only the last few verses of the 14th chapter for our text. That reading told us how they reported to the church at Antioch who had sent them to this work. The fifteenth chapter tells their story of the conversion of many gentile people to Jesus Christ. And with that part of their report, the Scripture says, "they caused great joy to all the brethren." But, some of the sect of the Pharisees in the church there "rose up against them." And you can read about that in the first six verses of the 15th chapter. That was the beginning of the first major controversy, and perhaps even a split in the church. In spite of a similar opposition, this program has not just survived; it has grown and has brought the message of salvation to untold numbers of thankful people for twenty-seven full years now. It has also brought "great joy to all the brethren," even as they did. Those people were lost and now-- thank God-- they are found! They are saved! Some of them have already gone on to be with the Lord. Oh, how thankful we are that before they departed on their journey into eternity, they heard the soul-saving gospel and they obeyed it.
The entire fifteenth chapter of Acts is devoted to that problem with the Pharisees. Then, in the next five chapters and part of the sixth, God has preserved for our thoughtful and inspiring reading, the events of the apostle's second missionary tour. And if you haven't read those chapters recently you should do it-- today if possible. They will build a fire under you and get you going as nothing else will, friend. It was on this journey that Paul and Silas were "beaten with many stripes" and thrown into prison (Acts chapter 16, verses 23 and 24). Being released, they went to Thessalonica where it is written that Paul explained "that Christ had to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and He was saying this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas." That is the 17th chapter, verses1 to 4. But, again, some evil men set the whole city in an uproar and drove the men of God out of town; and they left by night. They went from there to Berea, then to Athens where the apostle Paul delivered what is considered by some in the literary world to be "the second greatest speech in all of world literature." (The "greatest," of course, being given to our Lord's "Sermon on the Mount.")
Well, from there Paul went to Corinth where he stayed a year and a half preaching Christ to the people; and again the Jews vehemently opposed him and even blasphemed. "But Paul shook his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean…" Later, He wrote about that experience; and He said: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing..." (So what do we do, Paul? You are preaching to a different culture now-- to people to whom Biblical truth is foolishness; and they won't come back and hear you again and we can't build big churches unless we preach to them what they want to hear. Pardon me, please. That isn't at all what he said, is it? Now where did I hear that? Oh, I remember now; I read it in another book-- not the Bible. Yeah, yeah, that's where it was.) Then, Paul said, "The Jews request a sign, and the Greeks, or the gentiles, seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." And that is 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18; and verses 22 through 25. My friend, that is our response, too. That's our commitment here in this ministry. That is our message! We believe that that's the reason that we are here today, reaching millions upon millions more people than ever before. Thank God! Yes! “This is the Lord's doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes!" And personally speaking, I can go to sleep at night knowing we are doing the will and preaching the message of the infinitely wise and Almighty God. Well, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25). Yes! Sure! It's so, friend! It is! God always knows best!
This is a non-profit ministry, too. We don't sell anything here. Sometimes we have to make a charge for an unusually large quantity of something that we offer free. But the charge only covers our cost. We are sponsored on radio and television stations and networks by churches of Christ and individual Christians. I personally receive absolutely no money given to this ministry by churches and by individuals. I'm fully and adequately supported by the Edmond, Oklahoma Church of Christ, just as the congregation's other ministers and missionaries are. That means when we announce we are beginning on another station somewhere, we have new support from churches of Christ-- probably, but not necessarily in the broadcast area of that station.
For example, I am told that only recently, in the last couple of Sundays perhaps, that we are back on the air in St. Louis, Missouri-- the 21st largest TV market in the U.S! And, we have been on station WGTU in Traverse City, Michigan Sundays now at 7:30 a.m. for a long, long time. But, as of just the last week or two or three-- perhaps even as just today, we're being carried into countless numbers of cities and towns of Northern Michigan by that station and by Charter Cable Company. All that is being financed by churches of Christ in those areas! Thank God! The Lord's will be done! And in one day while I was preparing this message, we received word from two people (one in the metro area of Detroit and one in Georgia) who wanted personal studies with people in their local congregations and the local church of Christ. And one of them wanted to be baptized. We were able to assist both of them. Thank You, Lord! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! The Bible says when Paul preached in Corinth, "...many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized" (Acts 18 and 8). And, Jesus the Savior and Judge said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16, verse 16).
So, what I am saying to you is that, it isn't our purpose in these programs to amuse you or to entertain you in anyway. We're not here to impress you with my cleverness, or my wit or my humor-- or even my great oratorical style. We are not here to become rich. We are here to "preach the word of the Lord” (2 Timothy 4:1 to 2). “Preach the word! Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” The message in the Bible is not out-dated, friend. It's as fresh, as new as the morning dew. It is as authoritative as when He spoke in thunderous tones to Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20: "Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven" (Hebrews 12:26). Neither is His way of salvation outmoded. How dare us-- or any other human-- to substitute for His way of salvation (Acts 16, verse 17). You have heard me say it before, but it's worth repeating today, that the responsibility for our national corrupt and immoral way of life is due to the failure of American churches to "preach the word," a failure to "reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching." Indeed, like some of the religious leaders of the first century, "Some people love the praise of men more than the praise of God." False-- feel good-- religions are the product of the feel good teaching and the false teaching that goes along. They are the fruit of the false teachers such as we read about in 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 to 3. There God speaks to us directly and in a powerful way. He's saying, "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed." That is 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. But if there were no church members with "itching ears" there would be no false teachers devoted to pleasing them, would there now?
So, we do have a different message in these programs. We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God-- all of it, friend. The Bible claims that for itself. It says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that (and the word "that" right there in that position, makes this a statement of purpose, that) the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped to every good work." The Bible does that, friend. We believe since God speaks in the Scripture to supply "the man of God to every good work," there is no more to be said about it. That means then that books and other claims to latter day revelations from God are false. The Bible and it alone is the foundation of our faith and teaching. If we love God, we love His word, don't we now? To show disrespect for the Bible, shows disrespect-- irreverence-- for the all wise and almighty God. Don't you agree? Of course you do. In these programs, we are studying in the Bible in each verse in search of the Lord's Way to be saved, how to be saved, and to become a Christian-- and live the rest of our lives here on this earth the best way that man has ever known. And that is the reason we have enjoyed more than a quarter of a century of fruitful work with God, and for Him. And that is why we are still here. Let's pray. Thank You, Lord, for Your presence with us. Thank You for Your manifold blessings upon us. Thank You, Lord, for all the good that is being done. We give You the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Oh say, friend! It's been so good to have you with us to help us celebrate the beginning of our 28th consecutive year on television. We started on only one station, 28 years ago this week, with no plan or dream ever of being anything but a local effort to speak to the people of our town and area. But, God must have had other plans for us we knew nothing about. We wonder what He has in mind for this work in the future, too. Whatever we plan to be here, we are committed to doing His will. Thank you for your encouraging mail, also.
If I could speak with each of you personally, I would like to ask you if you are a Christian. We have a lot of youth that write us that they appreciate our music and our messages. Some of them have come to believe in Christ. They turned to Christ in repentance. They may not have called it that, because some of them might not have even known the word "repentance" or what it means, nevertheless, that is what they did. And they have written us that they were baptized into Christ. Oh, how many others they can lead to Christ, we'll never know. Then too, we've had many older people (some not so old either) who have heard the word-- then, fallen among the thorns as Jesus taught us in the "Parable of the Sower" in Matthew 13. But, like the prodigal son in His parable in Luke 15-- by these programs, they saw the error of their way, came home to the Father in heaven. And as I mentioned earlier, we've had many, many more who have written us that they have heard the word of the Lord here, have come to be believers in Christ, repented of their sins, unashamedly admitted their faith or confessed Him and they have been baptized and had their sins washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. And that conforms to the teaching of Acts 22:16; Revelation 1 and 5. Now they are saved! What a joy it would be to us to hear that good news from you, this week, my friend. If we can help you, please let us know.
If you would like a free printed copy or a free audio cassette tape or CD of today's message, simply send your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083, or by e-mail searchtv@searchtv.org. We will get yours in the mail just as soon as possible. Oh yes-- our toll-free telephone number for your use for such purposes as this is 1-800-321-8633. And, we are having about 550 visits to our website every day. You can access today's program and much, much more information at searchtv.org. Oh, I have time to tell you a little bit about our free Bible Correspondence Course, too. That is such a good and interesting and easy way to study through the Bible in an organized fashion at your own speed, too-- one a week-- or maybe two a month-- or something of that kind-- however you'd like to do it-- in eight easy lessons. Use either of the addresses we just mentioned to you or just phone us at 1-800-321-8633 and tell Donna-- or one of the others who might answer the phone-- that you would like to enroll in the Eight Lesson Bible Correspondence Course. We just appreciate so much your being with us today; and we pray that you have been blessed by the remarks we have had to make. And I look forward to being with you every week this month with a fresh, new message and I pray that you can be with us, also. I pray that you will be telling other people, also. We heard from some people up in Iowa that were inviting others to see the program. What a blessing it has been to them. God bless you now and keep you. We love you.
|