Old Paths Advocate - Church of Christ

PAGETWO ’ THE OLD PATHS ADVOCATE MARCH 1, 194(
THE CHRISTIAN’S PRAYER
By Ray B. Nichols
Prayer is the sincere desire of the heart to
speak to God; the act whereby the creature talks
to the Creator; man speaking to God. This cornmunication
between man and God is as essential
to the life of the Christian, as food is .for the
physical body. It is one of the most essential acts
of the Christian, for without it, one cannot exist.
‘ Without prayer, the Christian is like the plant
without water, both soon must die. (See Phil.
4:6-8).
God doex not hear the prayer of the sinner who
is in rebellion against Him ( jno.
g :31). One
must meet certain conditions stipulated by the
Lord, if he would have the Lord hear his prayer.
We give some.of those conditions as follows:
1. One must be born again into the family of
-.
God, if he wishes to call upon God as his Fafher.
“If any be a worshiper of God and doeth His will,
. him He heareth” (Jno. 9:31). Hence, one must
be a child of God.
2. The prayer of the Christian must be “In the
Name of Christ” (Col. 3:17). No man can reach
the Father, except by or through Jesus Christ, as
Jesus said: “NO man cometh unto the Father, but
by me” (Jno. 14:6). Prayers without the name
of Christ will never get higher than the ceiling.
3. The Christian must “ask in faith” (Jas.
1 :6) ;’ “Without faith it is impossible to please
Him” (Heb. 11:6). To pray without faith is to
be like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind
and tossed. Therefore, we must ask in faith,
believing we will receive.
4. The prayer must be in harmony with the
will of the Lord. “This is the confidence we have
in Him, if we ask anything according to His will
He heareth us” (1 Jno. 5:14). Therefore, to ask.
“according to His will,” we must know what His
will is, and that will is in the Bible. Hence we
must study the Bible, that we may ask “accord-
ing to His will.” Let us not be ignorant of God’s
will, that we may really “ask in faith.”
5. That we may be beard in prayer, we must
have a forgiving spirit (Mk. 11:25). Tne Lord
forgives us as we forgive others. and if we for-
why we cannot have this power through prayer
when we meet all of God’s requirements, undei
like circumstances.
Brethren, let us earnestly pray without ceasing
(1 Thes. 5:17) for the cause of Christ. Let us
“seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness” (Matt. 6 :33), instead of thinking always of
self. May our Prayers ever be in the spirit of the
Master, Who said: “Not my will, but Thine be
done.” May we continue steadfastly in prayer
(Acts 2:42). May we enter into our closets daily
and pour out our souls in thanksgiving, “suppli-
cations, intercessions, and prayers, for all men,
and that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty, knowing this is good
and acceptable in lthe sight Of God, our Savior”
(l Tim- 2:1-3)-
HOARDING THE TRUTH
N.‘J. Catterton
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free” (Jno. 8:32). While Jesus was
teaching in the temple He spoke these words to
the Jews who believed on Him. Daily He taught
them the truth, but most of them failed to un-
derstand all of that truth; but to those who
seemed to understand, He spoke the above words.
Again, He called upon the Father to “sanctify
them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth”
(Jno. 17). Paul said:: “In whom also ye trusted
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). Now, since the
truth (gospel of salvation) makes us free, let
us preach it today, that the souls of men may be
free. No wonder Jesus com-m-anderl His apostles
thus: “Go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature; he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:15, 16), and,
“Go teach all nations” (Matt. 28%-20).
From the above we find that God is no re-
spector of persons (Acts 10:34). God has never
discriminated against any individual, because of
race or color-black, brown, red, yellow, or white,
but as Peter said, “But in every nation, he that
feareth and worketh rightepusness is accepted
with Him (Acts 10:34, 35).
give not men their trespasses, neither will the Now, as we view the millions today, who are
Father forgive us: Remember we must contin- without the truth and without the body of Christ
ually ask the Lord to forgive us for the wron-gs (the church), we are made to wonder if we are
we do, and He makes it obligatory upon our part. not hoarding the truth, by sounding in the truth,
to forgive those who do us wrong. If we will not instead of “sounding out the gospel,” as we are
forgive a brother, how can we expect God to for- taught to do. No doubt many are behind prison
give us? We must be careful here. bars today, because the church failed to take the
When we comply with all of God’s requirements, “bread of life” to them. No doubt many will be
pertaining to prayer, we can have the full assur- lost in a devil‘s hell, because the church failed in
ance that our petitions to the Heavenly Father her mission to make known “the manifold wisdom
will be granted. “The effectual fervent prayer of God” to the world. Remember, brethren, the
of a righteous man availeth much. Elks was a church was ordained to be the “pillar and ground
man subject to like passions as we are, and he of the truth.” IS it that, where you are a member,
prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it brother? .
rained not on the earth by the space of three Jesus said: “Man shall not live by bread alone,
years and six months. And he prayed again, and but by every word that proceedeth out of the
-the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought mouth 0% Cod” (Matt. 4:4). Isiah said: “So shall
forth her fruit” (Jas. 5:16-18). I see no reason my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth;
MARCH P~~ -1, 1946 THE OLD PATHS ADVOCATE PAGE THREE
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall ac-
complish that which I please, and shall prosper
in the thing, whereto I have sent it” (Isa. 55:10,
11). Paul tells us that the ”gospel is the power
of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Do we be-
lieve the above Scriptures? If we do, why do we
not make a greater effort to preach that gospel to
;I lost and dying world?
We have many men who are very zealous for
the Lord, and who are willing and able to preach
the gospel, wherever they are needed, but they are
given no encouragement by the church, for “how
shall they preach, except they be sent?” asked
the Apostle, Paul. Many young men have been
discouraged because they received no help, and
have turned to other pursuits for a livelihood.
Should these things be so? Someone will have to
give an account for such neglect of duty.
Often, we hear an elder or leader of the church
say, concerning a young man, who desires to
preach the gospel: “He has more zeal than knowl-
edge.” Well, where can they find a better place
to obtain knowledge than in the church? Who is
responsible for his lack of knowledge? Possibly,
the church has failed to impart unto him and
others such knowledge as he needs, or possibly the
leaders in the church have failed to provide the
opportunity for him to obtain knowledge. Of
?ourse, no young man should expect nor wait
€or someone to make it possible for him to ob-
tain all the knowledge he will need, for nothing
:an take the place of Paul’s admonition to Tim-
)thy, “Study to show thyself approved unto
sod, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
nightly dividing the word of truth.” Then, let
iim, as James said: “If any man lack wisdom,
et him ask of God, Who giveth to all men liberal-
y and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him”
:Jas. 1 :5). Therefore, let .the church help and en-
:ourage all faithful young men, and let the young
’aithfully and prayerfully study God’s word, provng
that they are worthy of help and encouragenent,
and let us all see that more faithful men
.re sent out to preach the pure gospel to lost
ouls, and surely God will bless in the endeavor.
Is the church not hoarding the truth, when it
efuses to’do anything to send out the gospel,
rhile millions are perishing for the lack of it?
Vhy are so many preachers idle, while many
hurches continue to swell their bank account?
they not hoarding both the gospel and God’s
ioney ? Brethren, let us let the blessed gospel
hine forth in the hearts of lost souls.
-32‘ Douglas St., Hammond, Ind.
.
UNITY
(Jno. 17)
Our Savior, just before his crucifixion, prayed
wonderful and most beautiful prayer. He pray-
1 for the unity of His disciples, who afterward
?came His apostles; and not only for those who
ere associated with Him in His personal mintry,
but for those who afterward should believe
I..
on Him’ through their preaching and teaching.
Sometimes this is called the unanswered prayer
of the Lord. However, this prayer was answered
in part, for those apostles, after they had been en-
dued with power from on high, as they went forth
into the world and preache& the Gospel in its
Purity and simplicity, and established the Church
as they were instructed by the Lord. In those
primitive churches there was perfect unity in doc-
trine and practice. The churches were known as
the Church of Christ or Church of God, etc. Fur?
t‘nermore, the apostles wrote the New Testament
which practice. is the only infallible rule of faith and
The Apostle, Paul, in his second letter to the
Thessalonians warned them that there would be
falling away. The apostle John also knew that
the apostacy was in the embryonic stage. In
course of time false teachers, who were dissatisfied
with the purity and the simplicity of the
Gospel, began to “teach for doctrines the commandments
of men,” thus the darkness of superstition
and error settled down over the Roman
Empire, resulting in the apostacy of the Church
and the rise of the Roman Catholic church.
For about twelve centuries Roman Catholicism
had full sway in the Roman Empire. Then Martin
Luther, a conscientious monk, became sick and
disgusted with the corrupt practices of the priesthood.
Martin Luther pulled away from the Catholic
church and led a large following which afterward
came to be known as the Lutheran
Church. In time, this movement was followed by
other reformers among whom were Wesley, Calvin
and others. While rejecting the unscriptural
and corrupt practices of the Catholic church,
made an “image to the beast” by bringing with
them many unscriptural things from the Catholic
church, chief of which was the belief that religious
bodies must have a “creed” in addition to
the word of God to govern them.
In the early years of the nineteenth century, a
few great scholars like the Campbells, Franklin,
Stone, and others came forth with a plea for unity,
using the maxim, “Where the Bible speaks, we
speak and where the Bible is silent we are silent.”
The basis of their plea was that all human creeds
be rejected and that all believers unite by taking
the Word of God as their only rule of faith and
practice.
It is unfortunate and deplorable, that in the
course of time, division has come into the body
of disciples who hold to this plea. First it was
instrumental music then other things such as
missionary societies, Sunday school, “cups” and
what have you. All of which are contrary to the
prayer Christ prayed and the teaching of Christ
and the apostles.
Unity can never be until all acknowledpe Christ
as the Head of the church and “observe au things”
He has commanded. Anything that breaks the
unity of the Spirit between congregations or in
congregations is wrong.
4. C: Waters.