Mailer Street Gospel Hall

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Those who preach or teach the Word in our meetings are ordinary brethren like you and me. Some, at the call of the Lord, devote full time to the Lord’s work. Others maintain secular jobs while serving in this capacity. We all are servants of the Lord since we all have a gift to use for Him (1 Cor.9:7-14; Gal.6:6; Eph.4:11-16; Acts 18:1-3; 20:33-35; Rev.1:1). Being a servant is not a class distinction, but a great privilege we all can enjoy, even if not called to serve full time.

No where in Scripture is the idea of a clergy / layity system supported. All believers in Christ are brethren and are equally responsible before the Lord for the study of His Word in their own lives. In fact, the Lord Jesus said to not call anyone “master” or “teacher” or “father” (Matt. 23:1-12). Preachers and ministers are generally voted on by a congregation to serve a local church and are paid a salary. They are given the place of spiritual leadership and superiority as long as the preacher remains “our pastor.” In other groups the preacher is appointed over a flock by a governing board. This practice, we believe, is not supported in the Scriptures.

We must also consider that we do not all look at Scripture the same way. We believe by having an “open” platform where various men are able to minister the Word, rather than a “one man ministry” allows the Spirit of God to use the diversity of gift and personality that He has given to the Church. However, we do not believe in an “every man” ministry (that is to say, we believe that every believer has a ministry but not every believer is called to be a preacher), but only ministry by those who are gifted.

This particular truth, abandoned by some as archaic or cultural, is a beautiful expression that only the Lord’s glory (not man’s – pictured by a woman’s hair) is to seen and noticed among His people (see 1 Cor. 11:3-16).

God makes it plain that He has assigned different roles for men and women to be displayed in our gatherings. God established man as head of the woman (1 Cor.11:3, 8-9; Gen.3:16). The woman is also a picture of the Church as seen in Ephesians 5, while man is a picture of Christ. Therefore, when the assembly gathers together the woman does not speak. She is always to learn in quietness (see 1 Timothy 2:12), regardless of the setting. Quietness does not mean silence in non-assembly settings, but the gentle and quiet spirit of 1 Peter 3:4. She is never to teach the man because she is to fulfill the above pictures of headship.

The clear teachings of Scripture on this subject have been clouded almost universally by the smokescreen of inferiority/superiority. There is no such thought found in Scripture! The claim is often made that Paul was simply a woman-hating bachelor, or he didn’t understand women, or his words simply conveyed a cultural “reality” of Corinth where short-haired, uncovered women often were prostitutes. Inspired Scripture says that the things that Paul wrote are the “commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor.14:37). As a result of this unbelief and faulty teaching, women are often active in preaching and teaching and praying in the church, publicly. Virtually everywhere, in almost every denomination and group, headcoverings have been discarded as a relic of the past and all too often the men wrongly take the place of the woman and never open their mouth in praise or worship.

When the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (or as some have called it, the communion service) He said, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Mk. 14:22-24; Lk. 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). This meeting is to be a time only for those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus to remember the tremendous price that was paid in order to secure our salvation. This is symbolized by two elements: The bread – which pictures to us the sacrifice of the Lord’s body; and the cup – which represents the shedding of blood, without which their can be no remission of sins. The pattern of the early church in the book of Acts was to meet on the first day of the week for the “breaking of the bread” (Acts 20:7). Paul suggests that it is to be a continual exercise when he wrote, “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26). Some have suggested that having the Lord’s Supper every week (instead of monthly or quarterly) dulls the worshipper sense of true appreciation. On the contrary, to those who practice the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper, it becomes the highlight of the believer’s week to gather once more with fellow believers and remind themselves of all that Christ has done to secure our salvation.

No. Actually faith demands the surest evidence, and finds it in the Word of God. There is nothing as certain as God’s Word. His Word is truth (John 17:17). To trust Him is the most sane, logical, reasonable thing a person can do. What is more reasonable than that the creature should trust his Creator? He cannot lie, deceive, or be deceived.

Then the Bible is narrow minded. Jesus said that no one could come to God, the Father, except through Him (John 14:6). Peter said that no one could be saved in any other way than through Christ (Acts 4:12). And Paul wrote that there is no other foundation except Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). Faith in Christ is the only way of salvation.

You need to be born again. Jesus said it tersely, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again'” (John 3:7). Unless a person is born again, he will never see or enter the kingdom of God. The new birth is a marvelous, miraculous, supernatural work of God that takes place when a person repents of his/her sins and receives Jesus Christ by faith as Lord and Saviour. Your first birth was physical; the new birth is spiritual.

Grace is God showing favor to those who don’t deserve it, but who, in fact, deserve the very opposite. It is closely linked with the idea of a gift. You do not earn a gift. That would be wages. You receive a gift and say “thank you.” Grace and works cannot be mixed. It has to be one or the other. Grace must be distinguished from justice. In justice, you get what you deserve. In grace you get favor that you don’t deserve.

Salvation by works is a popular teaching today. It is popular because it makes men think that they can be their own saviour. It gives a place of honor to man’s sinful nature. But there is no way you can earn or deserve salvation. God says that we are saved by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Repentance is a change of mind about sin, self, God, and Christ, which changes the attitude, which changes the actions. It involves not just the mind but the conscience. It is the sinner’s acknowledgment of his ungodliness, lostness, helplessness, and hopelessness, and his need of grace. It is an about face. It is taking sides with God against one’s self. It involves penitence, that is, sorrow for sin, but it is more than this. You can be sorry for sin and yet not turn away from it.