The importance of mutual service and care within the Christian community, drawing from numerous New Testament passages that instruct believers to act "one toward another." The message highlights practical applications such as praying for each other, offering encouragement, showing kindness and tenderness, forgiving one another, and bearing with each other's weaknesses. It underscores that these actions are not merely suggestions but essential components of Christian living that foster spiritual growth and demonstrate Christ's love. The sermon concludes by urging believers to actively practice these principles, thereby strengthening the body of Christ and reflecting God's grace.
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Oh, he's not turned on. Oh, you may have turned John on. Oh, excuse me. Now, there are a lot of wonderful methods of Bible study. Some of them are easy. Some of them are hard. Now, this morning I suggested that in order to do a job for the Lord and bring others to Christ, there are certain tools that we use. Now, by the same token, if you'd like to study the Bible, there are some essential tools that you have to have. Now, you know, I am, well, they say you're supposed to tell it like it is.
I want to make a confession for you. I'm really appalled when I meet people that have known the Lord, and they've been in assembly fellowship or evangelical or fundamental church for years, and I find out how few tools they have for studying the Bible. Now, I'll just mention several, I think, very, very essential tools. One of them is a good concordance. Now, some of you wives, you know, Goodwill, your husband, doesn't have a real good concordance. It would be a good time to get him one. Save your money up from now to December, and by December you'd be able to buy him one. unless you have the money anyway. But the average concordance in the average Bible is just kind of a, you know, you get by with it.
A good concordance like Strong's the Young is very, very helpful, especially if you like to study as I do by topics and by subjects. And then I'm sure that by now, You've heard me, and I'm sure I must have mentioned the Thompson Bible at least once every day. If you don't have a Thompson Bible, you should have one. It'd be good to have a copy of Vines, Greek English, or Greek Dictionary of New Testament words. Then, of course, you should have several good, reliable translations. of the Bible. Now, I, for one, do not believe that the King James translation came down from heaven bound in leather.
I think it's a good translation, and I think it's fine to use the King James translation. We still use the King James when we read aloud in our chapel in Columbia, but many of the people sitting out there in the pews have not only the King James but another wisdom. when they come to the services. Now of course we've already used the new American standards which I highly recommend and which I'll be using again tonight. Now I think it's alright on occasion to use for comparison a good paraphrase. We're going to use one tonight.
Now a paraphrase is not a translation. It is what A servant of the Lord believes to be what the Holy Spirit is trying to say in modern, everyday English. Now, if you have a hang-up about a paraphrase, I'd like to challenge you to do something with a good paraphrase, such as, for example, the Living Bible. I want to challenge you to do something. Get your King James, which many people think, of course, is flawless. Doesn't have any mistakes in it. Get your King James. and take the living Bible and take some verses like Romans five, eight and John three, sixteen and first John five, ten, eleven, twelve and compare them.
And I believe that you will find that our brother Ken Taylor that I've known for twenty-eight years now has been used to the Lord to express in a modern paraphrase what the Holy Spirit was trying to say to us. A few months ago in my study one afternoon, I happened to notice in reading some of Paul's epistles how frequently he used a little phrase, one another, one another. And would you believe it, I hope you were at least, that there are twenty-eight times in the New Testament.
where we are told to do something for one another. And there are some overlapping, but approximately fourteen of these can be interpreted as what one Christian should do for one another, and approximately fourteen of them is what the Church or the Assembly should do, one for another. And so tonight, that's what we're going to do. Now, since there are fourteen of them to look at, and we're going to look at it in three different translations, or rather two translations in one paraphrase, I won't be able to send much in between. And I'll probably have to leave a few verses out as we get towards the end.
I'll use a few illustrations. And I hope you're going to take notes. If you're not, I hope somebody that does will be generous enough to make you a copy and make you have it, because this is the kind of a study that you just get the skeletons here. I hope it's what's your appetite. and I hope that you learned that joy are taking a good concordance or good topical Bible or good reference Bible and following a theme all the way through the Scriptures. Now, there are a lot of wonderful byproducts of this type of study. One is you're looking for what God says on a certain theme or a certain word that you're following through the Scriptures. And you see a lot of wonderful truths that you never thought of before as you're making that type of a study.
I see several people shaking their heads because they've tried this before. All right? Now, here's where we're going to work. Brother John C. Has a King James. Well, actually, he has one book. It has about four translations, right? Or the two. It has two translations. And it has King James. And it has then the paraphrase. He's going to read the verse in the King James. And then I'm going to read it in the New American Standard. And then he is going to read the paraphrase of the verse, which we've just read in those two translations.
Let's bow heads once again then, ask the Lord to help us in these moments that we have. to receive the message that he has for us our father we thank thee for the confidence that we can have in the way that you will bless your word we thank thee that were we to do no preaching tonight were we just to read the scriptures that we could know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would not return your word will not return unto you both so we look to you for your help tonight that we would receive the message that you have for us concerning what we should do and seek to do for your grace one or another.
In Jesus' name, amen. The first verse, in fact, the first two verses are just kind of an introduction because It is where we read in Paul's epistle to the Romans and in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians that we are one body in Christ. It's Romans twelve five is the first one and the second one is Ephesians four and twenty five. So if you want to try to follow, since we're reading from three different passages, three different books, You might be able to take these down even though we'll be going rather rapidly.
All right. And when I call that out, Brother Cease will read it without any further ado. And then I will read it in the New American Standard, and he will read it in the Living Bible Parachute. The first, Romans, twelve, and five. Now you will notice that many times the new American standard is very, very similar, sometimes identical to the King James. So we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. Now Brother Feast will read it in the Living Bible Paraphrase.
Can you people hear that all right in the back? You hear it all right? All right. Now the next verse, Ephesians four and twenty-five. Four and twenty-five. Wherefore, putting away life, keep every man moving with his neighbor, and we are members of one another.
In the New American Standard, therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. All right? And then we'll begin our study of the fourteen different places where we are told to do something for one another. And the first is in the book of Galatians chapter five and thirteen. Galatians five and thirteen. In the New American Standard, for you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another.
And the paraphrase. Now, that phrase, by love, serve one another you could really expand on that it would be very very easy I'm sure for some of you to develop a message on ways that Christians can serve one another when I was preparing these notes some several months ago now I just stopped to think very quickly hurriedly what are some of the ways that Christians are able to serve one another Now, some of these, of course, will be covered in the next few moments.
But the first one that came to my mind, even though I knew we'd probably get to it later, was we can pray one for another. Now, this is something that every believer in the body can do for other believers in the body. We can pray one for another. Another thing that we can do is we can encourage one another. We'll also be coming to that because we are admonished in some of the verses that we're going to study. And we can encourage one another. And you know there are some Christians that have a wonderful gift of encouraging other people. You know this is one of the duties of an elder in an assembly to encourage a young brother.
I think of a man there who is in heaven. And when I left the Methodist Church and came into fellowship among those who meet in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the first meetings, in fact it was the first meeting that I ever went to that was of a conference type, was the Workers' Conference in Austin. No such thing as Austin now, but Brother Bob remembers when Austin was there on Leamington Avenue in Chicago. And I met all these brothers. I've never met most of them before. And there was a man there that had a real shepherd's heart all of his life. And the Lord used him to plant many assemblies. And one of the main reasons the Lord used this man to plant a lot of assemblies was not because of his great ability, even though he had great ability, but it was because he loved to encourage young people.
And his name was T.C. Young. And he encouraged me. He was patient with me. I didn't know a lot of things. And I still don't know a lot of things. But he recognized the situation. And he encouraged me. Sometimes there's a dear sister in an assembly. And the Lord just uses her to just encourage you, you know. And the Lord. Last summer, I went to the Bill Gossett Youth Conflict Seminar in Atlanta. And if you've never been to one, even though you may not be a youth, it's how you to go. And the Sunday before it began, I had the joy of ministering at one of the chapels in Atlanta.
And there was a sister there from Augusta. And I hadn't seen her in about six months. And I noticed when the meeting was over, she kind of hung around, you know, and when most of the people were gone, she said, Shockley, I came up to give you a word of encouragement. And I thought to myself, well, I wondered what she was going to say. She said, do you remember the lady that I called you about a few months ago that you led to the Lord twenty years ago that I told you had cancer and was in the hospital? Yes. And I asked you to pray for her? Yes. I wanted you to know that she's out of the hospital and she was at the meeting last night. And that God has answered our prayers. Yes. And I have something else to tell you.
Do you remember the lady that trusted the Lord the last time you were in Augusta? Yes. Well, I just wanted you to know that the elders baptized the last Sunday night and I just wanted to encourage you. That's encouragement. And that's a ministry. One to another. Oh, there are a lot of ways you can encourage people and you can help people. I have in my notes, I've just got to tell you this. Some of the couples in Columbia, you know, it does people that have children good to get away from the children. I don't know whether you knew that or not, but it does. Special, they're pinned down all the time. And we've got a lot of young couples. We've got them running out of our ears up in Columbia. One reason they had to build another building. And so we had three or four young couples and they wanted to get off and just have a few days, you know, away from the family and have some rest and recreation and spiritual fellowship.
And so three of the couples that had children said, okay, you go ahead, we'll take your children. And we'll keep them for you for three days while you all go to the beach. I think that was serving one another. Oh, there are a lot of things you can do. We could really expand into this. You, sisters, I know you've got the kind of brain that works like that, and it's wonderful. But you can think of a lot of wonderful ways to serve one another. Now, it won't spend as long on the other things as we did on this, but there was a lot to say there, and I had more I wish I could say. All right. The next one is found in Ephesians fourth chapter. Ephesians chapter four, verse two.
Ephesians four two. And a new American standard with all humility and gentleness with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love. Now we'll have the paraphrase. Now, I don't know whether you notice that or not, but I like that. Read that again, brother. Listen to it. Listen how practical it is. How easy to understand it is.
Listen. I like that. Make allowance for each other because of your love. forbear with one another. By the way, when I was telling you of the equipment you need to really study the Bible intelligently and practically, I left out a very, very important piece of equipment. You know what it is? It's a common, ordinary Webster dictionary. You see, we think we know what a lot of these words mean, but sometimes we don't. And if you'll get a good old dictionary and look up some of these words, you'd be amazed at how much light it throws on the word. Mr. Webster says that To prevail means to check to control oneself.
To keep oneself in check, rather, to control oneself. Colossians three-thirteenth says about the same thing. Let's look at that. Colossians three-thirteenth. All right, in the New American Standard, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whosoever, whoever, has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Now we'll have it in the paraphrase.
When we finished the six-day basic youth conflict seminar in Atlanta, they gave us all a little badge and it had some letters on it and it stood for, please be patient with me. God isn't finished with me yet. And I think they'd be wonderful to remember with all of the brothers and sisters that we know. Be patient with your brother or sister because God hasn't finished with them. He's still working on you, see. And it's a wonderful thing to remember. A friend of ours got married and somebody gave them two little salt and pepper shakers and one had bear and one had forbear. And somebody said, if you'll always remember this, you'll have a long and happy marriage. It's a wonderful thing to learn how to forbear with others, especially those who are brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Do you have a thermostat turned up? It feels a little warm in here. It's about ninety-five degrees up here. Now the next one is in Ephesians. Ephesians four. The first time all week I felt warm, but it is reasonably warm up here. Ephesians four, and we're going to read the Sometimes when you're looking at one verse, there's a wonderful truth in a verse right next to it, and it's hard to not read both of them. So we're going to read Ephesians four thirty-one and Ephesians four thirty-two.
All right, Brother John. In the New American Standard, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. All right, now we'll have the paraphrase. We don't have time to spend a lot of time on this particular one, but I would say this, as we've already suggested several times this week in other messages, that beloved brother and sister, an unforgiving spirit
grieves the spirit of the Lord. And if you have an unforgiving spirit in your heart about any brother or sister that you know, I don't think it is worth your while to pray and expect God to hear and to answer. The Word of God says that we shouldn't let the sun go down upon our wrath. And if the end of the day comes and you're aware of the fact that there's someone else that you have ought against, I believe the Bible teaches very, very clearly, you ought to straighten that thing up, not tomorrow, but today. And I think that much power and much blessing many, many times has been withheld from a given assembly because of an unforgiving spirit.
Well, there are a lot of things that are closely connected with this. A grudge, malice, envy, because they are all so closely interrelated. But a lack of love in an assembly of Christians can stifle the power of the Holy Spirit and keep God's blessing. But there's only one remedy for this, and that's confession and forsaken as we read about in I John one, nine. Now, we stay right there in the same place and we notice one or two other words. The word, you notice in Ephesians four in thirty-two is the word kind and tender-hearted.
And Mr. Webster says that this means easily moved to pity, sympathetic. And I wonder how many of us this is true of tonight. Would you read that please first from the King James Brother John? All right, now we've already, of course, read this verse one. But I wanted you to notice the two words there, kind and tender-hearted. We emphasized the forgiving part before.
But think now of what it means to be kind. When you meet someone and someone says, I'm such a kind person, this person is so tender-hearted. Now, I'll tell you what will happen if you happen to have a kind spirit, and if you happen to have a tender heart, the word will probably get around, and you'll probably be on easy touch occasionally for a handout, and you'll probably be conned a few times. But you know what? I'd rather be known as an easy touch and somebody that's easy to call and get some money or something from than to be known as someone who's hard-hearted, selfish and proud, and who won't share what they have with someone else.
I believe, and I know the Lord, our Lord, was very kind and he was very tender-hearted. In fact, in the Word of God, I cannot think of a single place, and I'm sure you can, where anyone ever came to him and asked, but what he gave to us. He was kind, and he was tenderhearted. Now turn back to First Peter, chapter five. First Peter, chapter five, and verse five. First Peter five, verse five. We read it first in the King James.
I read in the New American Standard, you young men, or younger men it says, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but give grace to the humble. We were talking today around the table about a servant of the Lord that our honor and respect very, very highly. And a brother happened to mention, yes, this fellow does have a high opinion of himself, and this is true, and it's unfortunate. He's an able man. He's a very capable man. He's a kind of man that if he were in the business world, he'd be at the top.
But this is something that we need to pray for him, and I'm sure he would pray for himself even, that the Lord would help him to exhibit a humble spirit to those who know him and observe him. in the Lord's work. It's a wonderful, wonderful characteristic. Well, I had an illustration I was going to share with you, but we just don't have time. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing to see young people in an assembly who respect the opinion of the elders. But there's another thought in there, and that is that all of us are to be subject to other Christians.
If there is something that we would like to do, but what we would like to do might offend someone else, we should make this a real matter of prayer, whether or not we should do this. I will say this, but a dear friend of mine who knows a lot of Greek, I don't know much Greek, he just runs a restaurant, the one I know, but a man who really knows Greek, explained to me what that word offend really means in the Greek. It means to offend them, would be to cause them to indulge in sin. And not just to kind of, they just don't like it. To offend in the Greek there means to cause them to indulge in sin. It's one more thing to be subject one to another as well as to see young men subject to the elders and the local assembly.
Did you read that in the living, John? All right. All right, let's turn very quickly now to First Peter, this time chapter three, and we'll read verse eight in the, first of all, the King James. I'll read it in the New American Standard, then he will read it in the Living Paraphrase.
To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit. All right, let's have it now in the paraphrase. I like that phrase there in the paraphrase, living as though you were one big happy family. Now, I must admit, because when I think of Parker the Pond, that's what I think of. One big happy family, and the spirit here is very real.
It's an encouragement to me to come here and to see how you seem to care for one another. And this is the way it's supposed to be. And there are a number of fellowships scattered over the country where this is evident and where it's very true. But as we travel from place to place, I must admit that sometimes we run across some groups where they don't seem to be very closely knit together. And where things happen and they get sick and they go to the hospital and they'd almost die before anybody else would know about it. You know, one of the reasons the Lord suffered is so that he... could enter into our suffering.
And sometimes a person has to suffer before they can fully appreciate the suffering that someone else might be going through. So, he says, have compassion one or to another. The Greek word used here means to suffer with another. So, when someone is going through a time of trial or hardship, testing, there are a number of ways, once again, where we can have compassion upon them and offer to help them. A card, a phone call, a short note, a short visit, a smile, a pat on the back.
Let them know that you are entering into that time of testing or that time of trial. chapter five and verse sixteen. James chapter five and verse sixteen. We'll have it first in the King James. in the New American Standard, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
The effectual prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Now we'll have it in the paraphrase. Thank you. In order to follow this admonition and this exaltation from the Apostle Paul, or rather, excuse me, in this case it's the Apostle Peter. It is, oh, I beg your pardon, I was wrong the first two times. It's James. It is very necessary to be knowledgeable of the needs of the people that we want to pray for.
Now, how may I be knowledgeable of the needs of the people in my home assembly?