In this sermon, the speaker describes a simple service that took place in a forest. Around 36 people gathered at night, led by a brother named George Bastian. He read scriptures and spoke for three hours, followed by a quarter-hour prayer for authorities and persecutors. Afterward, they shared a common meal, with some bringing food. The speaker emphasizes the simplicity and lack of hierarchy in this service, highlighting the importance of serving one another and meeting each other's needs.

Shall we join our hearts and voices in prayer, adding, Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would help us to understand the beautiful power and simplicity of that holy body of the Church, which is here to represent thee on this earth today, here in Christ's stead. And our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be head supreme, and his spirit would provide the life and supply the power for the effective working of thy body in this earth. We pray for glory to ascend to thy throne today, from the hearts of those gathered here together in worship. O Father, be exalted in our hearts, be lofty in our minds, and may we bow our hearts humbly before thee, O God, for who are we to have been called into the household of faith, O Father? And so renew thy spirit within us, that I may worship thee in spirit and in truth, we pray through Jesus. Amen. I am sure that most of you are aware that on the triple crown of the Pope of Rome, there are these three words written in Latin, decadius, filia, dea. What do these words mean? Decadius, of course, means in place of, or in the stead of, as he substitutes for. In place of, filia, filio, Philadelphia, brotherly love. Philia means brother or son, and deo is God. In place of, the Son of God, I am here instead of Jesus Christ being here. To see me is to see Christ. I am here in the place of Jesus. I have the authority of God. I have the authority of Christ. I am here in place of Christ, decadius, filia, dea. How corruptible, how terrible, for a man to take upon himself such presumption. And so we have someone usurping the Lord Jesus Christ as head of the Church. We now have another head. We have a human head in the Bascilia at Rome. But I am conscious this afternoon that a person does not need to wear such a sign on his forehead in order to represent Christ, or rather, to take the place of Christ on this earth. I recognize with you that there could be other ways to replace Christ as head of the Church. Other ways besides just placing X number of words across our foreheads or upon our crown. And anything that replaces Christ as the head of the Church is not apostolic. And so may he be returned to his lofty and holy place as head of his own body. When we talk about the Church this afternoon, we're talking about one of the most beautiful concepts that ever has emerged in Scripture. And that is this concept of a body that is not only universal in time, but universal around the world. And that hymn we sang particularly, the third stanza of that hymn, calls attention to the universality and the worldwide nature, the all-inclusive aspect of this holy variety of the Church. And I realize that a person cannot speak on these subjects without a degree of eschatology entering into a person's thinking. And we're not here to discuss controversial issues this afternoon, but there are four-and-twenty elders in that book of Revelation that kneel down before the throne and before the Lamb, and worship Him and serve Him day and night. And we take the position that these represent the culmination of the people of God throughout time. And we want to be part of such a holy army, a holy apostolic train that joins the sacred name to hallow even this hour. For there is no more beautiful function, there is no more noble calling that you and I have as the saints of God, as part of the Church this afternoon, than to worship Him. That's the reason why we're here. And all service that we would render on the part of our God, or because of our serving the Kingdom, because of our loving the Lord, is all subservient to our worshiping and adoring the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And His servants who serve Him day and night, what do they do? They worship God. And for those of you and I who are here, whose lives are a continual testimony of the service of our God, of worship and praise to Him, then to such as that will come those who are seeking the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who are worshiping Him, and to those from whose lives there flows forth the glory of God from the heart of these mortal creatures. And so may we worship Him. If there is anything that a recovery of apostolic vision will need to teach us as a people, it is how to worship God. We ought to have another six lessons when these are over on just that theme. How to worship the God of glory. And so we join the sacred name to hallow of the saints and martyrs of all times. Persecuted brethren in Russia, wherever they are, in Poland, in Romania, wherever they find themselves at this hour, in El Salvador, or wherever it might be. And we join with them in spirit to the praise of our God. And so we are a universal and a worldwide fellowship here this afternoon. And no other name but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as head do we bear. And upon His word do we build our foundation, do we build our cause. And then, not only is it worldwide in this scope, but also as we've said, it is universal in time, including those martyrs already gone on, those who have laid down their witnesses, already cast their crowns at the feet, the brazen feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, the burning feet pictured there, portrayed in chapter one of that great revelation. And so may we join in such a cause this afternoon. I fear something that could happen to us. I would fear if in this meeting, or if in our lives do we meet each other again, we having lost something of the spirit of God, directing us and leading us in life, having lost that, are able to maintain our functions, carry on our work, continue our program, as if the spirit of God was still there when He is gone. And I think it's good for us to consider some building safeguards early in our experience and understanding of the scriptures, so that we are helpless, we are unable, we are anemic, we are powerless to go forward without the spirit of God upon us. I am thinking this afternoon of a school that has had serious spiritual and social problems since their inception. And there were some real difficulties there, some internal strife between brethren that caused the school to come into real difficulty at this place in their school term. And I would wish that those brethren there in charge, many illustrations could always be given, would realize that we do not go forward without the blessing of God upon us. Let us open our hearts to find out what is wrong. But you see, we have organizations, and we have strength, and we have a lot to draw from. We have a lot of resources. If we could just simply expel some and include some others and make some changes, this thing will go on. This thing will go on. This thing will go on. Dear brethren, I am not satisfied to go on unless the spirit of God is going with us. Let us be satisfied that all that that we are doing in our own efforts to bring to pass something that God is not behind. And we want that to quickly come to naught. And so we lay that again before you this afternoon. Along with that challenge, I want to invite this from you. We welcome you to share with us any wrong thinking that we are purporting here, any error in our understanding. We are men, and we are faulty, and we are fallible. And we don't want to in any way discredit or shame the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ by making any errors or giving any false pretenses here. And so please help us with this. We desire to serve the Lord in honesty and openness. And so we invite you to correct us in any error that we might make. I suppose there's no subject in which the Anabaptists received as much difficulty and oppression from their peers as was on this subject their view of the Church. For you see, it was a matter in that time of trying to restore something that was lost. Both the Reformers, that is Lutheran Reformers and the Zwingli Reformers and so on in Zurich, Switzerland, both had this view, how shall we rebuild? How shall we restore this Church which has fallen? For it was Luther's belief, and Zwingli's, and the Anabaptist brethren as well, that the Church had fallen. But just what was the nature of that fall was a point of real controversy. Now I can take you through history this afternoon and bore you possibly by showing you where Luther placed the fall and where Zwingli placed the fall and Calvin a different place and Judd and Knox a different place. But I'll just give you the Anabaptist view of it. They felt that the Church became fallen when Constantine united together churches and states. You've heard us refer to this every time in these meetings so far. So there's the Church fallen as they understood it. When the whole community, apart from regeneration, apart from the new birth, apart from the Spirit of God, bringing together those whom he has redeemed, apart from that, some geographic or political area all was now part of the Church. And so they wondered what type of church should take the place of the old Church. Now, apostolicity in this time in which we're looking this afternoon meant two things to these two different groups of people. In this sense, Catholicism and Lutheranism and the Reform Movement all saw this thing the same. For them, apostolicity was that I have authority, I have a right to be a church because I can trace my history back through a line of apostolic succession, back through Peter, if you please, to the call of the disciples. And so in that sense of the word, Luther himself and Zwingli, having been ordained priests, were in that sense considering their calling and their right to establish a church's balance because of that line through which they had come. Now, that does not sound to me too very different from any concepts that are alive today, does it? But the Anabaptists saw a different view of true apostolic position. They felt that an apostolic church was not one that could trace its history through a period of time. It was rather a group of people, a body of saints, who were upholding in this present day apostolic truth and apostolic doctrine. In that sense of the word, and I know there are some here who have come into a historic conservative faith not having been raised this way by their fathers and mothers. And so if I may draw from your experience and illustration this afternoon, it would be like this. If your name was Weaver, or Stalsthus, or Martin, or some name such as that, or Lapp, it could be that you could say, well, you see, I've had this in my blood for years. And there's a tendency then to suppose that I have some kind of connection with historic Christianity because of this life in which I've come. But until our lives are matching the truth of the saints of God, and our lives are exemplary of what God has done to us, then we have no Anabaptists, we have no scripture, we have no New Testament foundations. And so it must be the light that's lining up with the truth that's in here. And we take that for granted today, but that was a revolutionary thought in that time. Now, it might be interesting for you to know the Anabaptists hardly ever referred to a passage of scripture that you hear almost every time you hear a message in the church. I think I'll take a chance and ask you the question orally. You find out that the message is going to be in the church. What is the first passage that it's referred to? I might be taking a chance in doing this. If it's not the first one, it's going to be referred to very near the beginning of a message. Where is it? Maybe you're afraid to take a chance. How many of you have ever heard a message on the church begun with Matthew chapter 16? Thou art Peter, verse 18, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The Anabaptists? Well, I would urge you to try it. I question whether you can find those verses quoted one time in Anabaptist literature. You might wonder why. It was this passage right here, that Catholicism and Luther and Zwingli based their rights to continue on as a church. You and I both know that if we understand this correctly, it would be a very valid passage to use to show how Christ built His church, that the church belongs to Him, that the apostolic confession here of Christ being the only begotten Son of God is a valid position for which a church is then brought forward. Well, I'd like you to turn to chapter 18, Matthew, and show you what became the low-guy of Anabaptist positions. Verse 19, And I say unto you, that if any of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, that they shall ask it should be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And that passage you find referred to time and time again. May I show you another? John chapter 20. We'll look here at verse 22. And when he hath said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. It's early in this discussion, I want to call attention to the fact that for them, the truth of whether or not we are a church is dependent upon whether or not we have within our hearts, within our body, within our congregation, among us as brethren, whether we have the Holy Spirit of God upon us or not. If that Spirit is here, we are a part of that body of Christ. And if it's not here, to have any kind of lineage, or heritage, or ecclesiasticism, or hierarchy, or anything else, position, or doctrine, or organization, is to be a pseudo-church, is to be a false church, is to be no church at all. And Acts 180 tells them that ye shall receive power if not the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And so, the essence of baptism, the zenith, if you please, became not Matthew 16, but Matthew 28, when it was empowered, empowered with that Spirit. They went out into all nations and taught them, and baptized them, and brought into this body those whom God had called. I am quoting from a passage in this book, edited by Guy Hershberger, The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision. Those of you who are taking notes and want to document what is said in these meetings, it is found on page 124. As far as Anabaptists are concerned, biblically speaking, the act of holy government is reported this way, it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us. May I quote this rather difficult sentence, it may be difficult for some of you, and I'm reading now. Anabaptism rests ultimately on perpetual spiritual recreation which derives its authority from the work of the Spirit among men, thereby united, and not from ecclesiastical structure. Are you able to understand that? If I put it in simple terms, it's this. We are a church as long as we derive our unity and our oneness of heart and our oneness of purpose from the fact that the same Spirit has baptized us all into one body. And for that reason, we are one of heart, and not because some structure has brought us into its control or into its conformity. As right as what? Some external direction is possibly in order, yet this must be an implicit, a from within to without position that we as the saints of God have. I wonder if I can just teach you a little English here and talk to you about those few words I've already referred to. Explicit and implicit. The meaning is this. When you say the Sermon on the Mount, and you decide, for instance, that you're going to, starting this afternoon, walk out into these streets of New Holland and live the Sermon on the Mount, you will discover yourself absolutely powerless to do it. You can't do it. So when it comes, you smite one cheek and you try to turn the other. It won't work. Explicit religion. Explicit. Ex is out. Exhale. Breathing out. External. Outside the building. Exterior. Outside the house. Explicit is attempted to control a life by some conformity that we attach to the outside of it and bring it into some kind of order, into some kind of regulation. But implicit is the opposite. It works within the person. It establishes in life a germ of truth within the heart. And this then works out and cannot be hidden. It's that light that sits on a hill, that city sitting on a hill that cannot be hidden. And so we have, we give rise here to this thought of a church of the spirit. Oh, I'm concerned about the possibility of having a lantern but having no light in the lantern. Having a lantern but no oil in the lantern. Some of you are acquainted with the classics of radical reformation, which is an attempt to reproduce for laymen like myself and like yourselves, possibly, I don't know if there are any classic scholars here or not, but I certainly am not one. The writings of Anabaptists, of Anabaptist persons who wrote in Dutch or wrote in German or some other dialect and they're taking some of their important writings and making them available in a language that you and I can understand. And so numbers of, numbers of texts were selected for these translations into our language. And I have one such book here titled Anabaptism in Outline. It's this book. Takes about 17 subjects that you can, that you can peruse through and then they've taken collections from the writings starting with the earliest known writing on that particular subject up until about the year 1560, possibly, including the Swiss brothers in the south, including the Ottarian brethren from the east and including the Mennites from the north compiling their writings in this text under the various subjects. And so I want to refer, if I may, to that somewhat this afternoon. I'm quoting first of all from page 101 in its outline of Anabaptism. The church was not identified as the gathered congregation of believers who have voluntarily entered if by baptism upon confession of faith. Excuse me, I misread the word now and said not. The church was now identified, excuse me, as the gathering, gathered congregation of believers members who have voluntarily entered it by baptism upon confession of faith. Only those can be members who are obedient to Christ. Love is the chief mark of the Church. It is a community of mutual aid in which nothing is held back from those who are in need. Anabaptism transferred in Catholicism with sacerdotal powers to the whole Christian congregation. We'll be talking more about that later. The Anabaptist emphasis was on the visibility of the Church. It is seen to cause its members to live public lives of obedience unto Christ. This is the Church of the Spirit, the lantern of righteousness of which we speak. I want to quote further from page 106, concerning this great commission that I said was the zenith of Anabaptism. Notice this. Go and teach all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And teach them to observe all things as I have commanded you. And for those of you who were not here last week, this will be a good way to tie the thoughts of last week's lesson together with this one. Listen closely. The first teaching is that they present to them the basics of God's will in Christ. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. The word teach appears twice in the great commission. Go ye therefore and teach. That first teach was the first impressions, the first truths, the basic call and claim of salvation upon the life of a person, the basic issues of God. That was the first teach. If then they accept the teaching and wish to become disciples of Christ, they shall baptize them so that they may put on Christ and be incorporated in this holy church, finally, in order that they may remain friends of Christ. The ones baptized should be taught everything that Christ commanded. All this can be clearly seen in the apostolic writings. Behold, this is the true church of Christ from the beginning, and still is so. Did you get that? Teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and then, that having been done, to maintain the true doctrine, to maintain the walk of life in accordance with the words of Christ, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And there is an apostolic pattern, brethren, that comes straight from the great commission, the very central thought of anti-baptism. And so we have here the church of the Spirit. Possibly, no, I will not take time to quote from some other sources that we have here. We were planning to have for you a sheet today, and it's not available at the present time, and hopefully by next week I'll be able to put it into your hands. We stopped to get this thing reproduced today, and the place was closed where we had stopped. And so I appreciate the sister who took some time to prepare this for us, and I will just put it on the board, if I may. Some thoughts here from this page. This concept is possibly a bit better understood if you see it graphically portrayed to you like this. Finally, more chalk. I write three more words on the board in here. Right here would be Catholicism. Here would be Protestantism. And here would be anti-baptism. And remember, that's three different views of the church. Here is the believer. This believer is only able to come to God, or has access to God, as he goes through the church priest. This can be an idea that always stands in the way, always stands to mediate a believer's way to God. Through the church he must come. Through the priest he must come. Through the sacramental system he must come. And now through the sacrament he comes to God, through the church there. The Protestants, however, saw something different. They were able to remove this pretty well. They were concerned about the individual's personal salvation. Faith in the individual heart. And so each one of them came to God individually. I'm right with God. You're right with God. All of us are in touch with God. No priesthood is included here. I'm in touch with God myself. I have my faith in the Lord. I have my own little faith. My need is met. I'm taken care of. I'm right with God. At the end of Acts chapter 2, no man comes to God apart from his brother. And here all the brothers are one together. And it's the brotherhood that has the strength and power of God. We've tried to call this pure tension. And Brother Andy, let us see you here for verse 50 to 12. Am I correct? I was in chapter 3. Where we are divided twice. And everyone remembers one another. He was in chapters 12, verses 3 and 4. And so as we are all one with each other, and living for each other, and united together, and as our love flows on this level, we have with one voice, and one heart, and one mind, a connection with God. And truly there's individual faith. Certainly there's a personal voice. But only with God, as I move in relation to my spiritual brethren, I consider that to be valid. Does anyone have any questions about that? They certainly may challenge it. I want to move on, if I may, to the second aspect of this talk this afternoon, and that's dealing with church authority. Where does the church get its authority to function? And if I were to draw another chart on that board, and not having the chalk, we won't do it this afternoon, I would draw Christ God at the top of the page. Try to follow this thought. You can easily understand it. I would draw Christ God at the top of the page, and then I would put an arrow down from God to two things. I would put a Bible here, and put the church here. And then I would bring two more arrows down from God and the church, down to the congregation. And then below the congregation, I would put believers down here. And as you can just visualize that concept in your mind, I want to show you what that says to me. It says to me that in this hour of day, we have a good bit of thinking that indicates that there are two authorities, there are two powers that give direction to a congregation. The one power and the one authority is the church. The other one is the Bible, the word of God. And so from God, he has invested authority in two places here. And this authority then comes down through to the congregation and down through to the believer. And I want to share with you this afternoon that I do not believe that that is a valid position. I believe that the church has authority. It has power to function this earth only to the extent that it ever draws its rules, its It's teaching from the Word of God, and so we hold God's Word as supreme, and all other things are subordinate to that Word of God. The Word which has gone forth from God, the Word which brought forth the heavens and earth and created all things, and now upholds all things by that same Word, and will one day shake and destroy by the same Word, and will judge all mankind some day by the same Word, is the source of our power and authority, and any church that deviates from that book, from that authority, from that control, from that foundation, does not have authority in that area where they have done that. We want to show you that a little later on this afternoon, if time permits us this way. And so it's based upon the Word of God, and I can give you a series of references here. If I may save time, I will give those to you when we have our lesson, the fifth lesson here on the sola scriptura position. I'll try to save those references for that occasion. You might have a further question about it until that time, but I want you to know that the Lord gave the Word, and great was the company of those who published it, who published the Word of God. How is the church organized? Colossians chapter 1. Let's use our Bibles. Verse 18. He is referring here to Jesus Christ, the firstborn of every creature. The image of the invisible God, verse 15. All things created by him, verse 16. He is before all things, 17, and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, in him does all the fullness of the Godhead dwell. And so Christ is head, and he remains head. There never is any other head for the church. Now, there are shepherds on earth. There are shepherds here, caring for individual congregations, individual flocks of souls gathered in geographic areas here and there. And these shepherds come and go as they are martyred, or as they die, or as they are spent in service. But Christ remains as head all the time. Now, I want to just share with you a bit of concern that I have. May I do that this afternoon? For I am convinced that if our people are suffering from anything in this afternoon's hour as we are gathered here, we are suffering from a lack of shepherds, you brothers and sisters. Shepherds' hearts. Shepherds that care. Shepherds that have a one-to-one contact with the sheep. That know each sheep by name. That know when one is missing. That know what the need is. That know what the problem is in the life of that one special one. We're in need. Each individual sheep feels a calling, feels a oneness, feels that someone is interested in them as a person. We're too large. We're too busy. Somebody has summed it up like this. To be shepherds. Somebody has summed it up like this. That whereas we ought to be shepherds out there walking with our flocks and tending the sheep, leading them into green pastures instead of that, too many who are called to be shepherds are inside in the office managing the farm. They're doing the business, doing the paperwork, and they're traveling to and fro and running hither and john, but are not taking care of the sheep. And so, since they're not out there to take care of the sheep, we must do something different. Instead of having a shepherd to guide the sheep, show them the right way, walk the way before them, lead them into living fountains of waters, the green pastures, the still waters, instead of that. We build great big fences until the sheep, they stay in there. In there you are. Take care of yourself. Be in that fence. That fence will take care of you. Nobody's going to take care of you. And so, once you get outside of that fence, well, you know what happens inside that fence? The grass gets dry. Oh, the grass is dry. Oh, I could be outside this fence. Out there, there's green grass. And so, the sheep push around at the fence, and lo and behold, they find a weak place. And they get to nudging on that thing and working on it, and sure enough, they find a leak. They find a way through, and some get out. Shepherd comes out, says to the farmer, what's going on here? So, he gets out with his pile of drivers, gets some more fence posts in there, lays some cement blocks to make the fence stronger, and that should take care of it. Now, get back inside there and stay in. Dear shepherds, get out of your office, get off the telephones, and get out there with those sheep, and walk them, and lead them, and direct them into living fountains of water. And if you have more sheep to care for than you can take care of yourself, there ought to be a way to solve that problem. Prepare under shepherds and others to God and direct. This is one of the greatest needs that is in the church in our time. Who understands the need of an individual heart? It takes a tremendous amount of time, brothers and sisters, to disciple one soul, to give spiritual direction to just one life. Some of us know a little bit of what it's like to work with just one person, and how much work that takes, and how can you take care of the hundreds, and so on, in some cases the thousands. Now, God has provided a way for under shepherds here in this time to provide for His sheep, His loved ones. Just how is this to be done? May I show you such a very beautiful and simple way that this could be accomplished? And there's nothing at all complicated about it. Concerning our calling and commission to the ministry of preaching, we answer as follows. A Christian community must be pure and holy. If she detects gifts and virtues in a member, as Paul speaks about, then she has the authority to send them to preach the gospel. Now, can you think about that for a while? In the congregation, there are those that we see have gifts and calling, that God's blessing is upon the life in one kind of gift or other, as was already read to us from chapter 12, and could have been read to us from Romans 12, or could have been read to us from Ephesians 4, or could have been read to us from 1 Corinthians 14, and other places in the Scripture. And so we see those gifts there. And so, if the church is pure and holy, they have the apostolic right to come to that brother and say, we would like to release you and send you out into this work that we feel God is preparing you for. May I quote again? I, too, for my own part, did not preach unto the faithful who are called to a Christian life through the teaching of Christ, and gathered through a penitent life called me to do so. And so, here is a holy church, here is an apostolic body that is sensitive to the working of the Spirit among them, and they see such a brother or sister with some gift in their fellowship, and they go to that one. They call them and commission them to the work whereto Christ has called them. And with this, we must give you this impression. We must set this record straight, that the Anabaptists believe in a holy doctrine that is seriously threatened today, and that is in the priesthood of all believers. May I quote something to you? This comes from a tract written by the Swiss brethren in the year 1532. That all things may be done in the best, the most seemingly inconvenient manner, when the congregation assembles, which congregation is the temple of the Holy Spirit, where the gifts of the inner operation of the Spirit in each one serve the common good. Note, for the common good. This, they feel, is the essence of New Testament apostolicity. When every gift that the Spirit gives to the church is their use. Listen to this observation from the same tract. It would sound like one of us sitting here wrote it, but we did not. This was written in 1532. When someone comes to church and constantly hears only one person speaking, and all the listeners are silent, neither speaking nor prophesying, who can or will regard or confess the same to be a spiritual congregation, or confess according to 1 Corinthians 14 that God is dwelling and operating in them through His Holy Spirit with His gifts, impelling them, one after the other, in the above-mentioned order of speaking and prophesying. I say, what an outstanding observation for this brethren way back in that time. For here we sit. We sit there with our heads looking up at this person who is speaking and speaking, but never respond, and never forthcoming. Is the Spirit of God only working in one person, or are the gifts in the rest? What has the Spirit said to the rest of you this week? Why isn't that coming forth? And so, when the stranger, the unbeliever, as 1 Corinthians 14, verse 26 speaks of him, comes into a midst, and there he observes the compelling Spirit of God in the minds and hearts of each one, and they come forth with the gifts that God has given them, the unification of the total body, then he knows that here is truly a brotherhood among whom the Spirit of God is dwelling. I want to hold that forth before you this afternoon. When they come together, and they have no appointed leader, they should monish one among them whom they regard as capable in a friendly and pleasant manner to read or speak to them according to his God-given gifts. One after another should be allowed to speak, depending upon whether something has been given to him, as Paul teaches. But before they begin to speak, they should fall on their knees and faithfully call on the Lord. He will grant them to speak fruitfully. Further, they are to thank God for all his gifts and goodness, and according to the opportunity before they leave to break bread with one another in memory of the death of our Lord. What beautiful and simple thoughts! I hold these before you because I believe that it's a concept that we need to regain according to the word of God, according to the printed letter especially. Now, you might be interested in knowing just what a Nanabaptist service sounded like, and there's only one record of it that I know of. I've tried to search for a long time to find an index into what one of their worship services would have been like. It's difficult to document this. But a lady under torture, and I'm quoting from Manifest in Europe, page 128, a lady under torture gave this simple description of what one service was like. This evidently was in a forest. She related that about 36 persons assembled at night in a forest. One brother named George Bastian, and I'm probably not pronouncing that correctly, was reading the scriptures and speaking for three hours. When he was done, they all knelt and prayed for a quarter of an hour for all authorities and for their persecutors. After that, all partook of a common meal for which some had brought food. Then one of them admonished those who were not yet baptized to lead a quiet Christian life. Some had need of clothing and tools and were supplied. Can you imagine a simple service where someone there with some kind of physical need felt free to make that known? And before they left, that physical need was met as well as the spiritual one. Whenever they had thus come together, an elder, or if there is none, a senior brother, should for the Lord's sake be concerned for the poor members. This should be done with wise, sincere, gentle, and not offensive nor aggressive, but earnest, emphatic words, that their hearts may be moved to willingness and mercy, and that the way and power of love grows according to God's pleasure. Above all, a brother should always have a box or bag nearby with the knowledge of the that a free offering or thanksgiving may be put into it if the Lord so admonishes, either during the meeting or after. This must be done in order that, whenever necessary, the poor may be given something according to the necessity of each and the amount available. The brother who is in charge of the money is to distribute it with diligent care, in a good conscience, and in the fear of God. It is not to be done as the world does it, with its poor, without investigation or examination of life, whether it is necessary or not, whether the recipient is admonished or not, for it is a holy office." Acts chapter 6, verse 1, referring to the deacon office there. And so just those few references there, if we may, to the simplicity of such services as what they had at that time. Number three. I want to talk to you a little bit about an important word related to the church of our God. This is a Greek word, koinon, and were you to check in your concordances at home, you would discover that this word is translated in many different ways in the KJV Bible. I'm not quite sure how it's translated in other ones. Translated in such ways as this, fellowship, communion, partakers of, and so on. And this word gives rise to the most beautiful of Anabaptists' expressions concerning their oneness in Christ, concerning their being of one body, and that is in the Lord's Supper. And so I would just like to spend a few moments this afternoon talking about this subject to you, if I may. The Lord's Supper and how it was observed and how it so beautifully explains their understanding of the Lord's Supper. From this we judge that the Lord's Supper might rightly be called and understood as a loving gathering for all those who thus gather must be equipped with love to each other, even as Christ is to them. That is why we say that the Supper is a loving gathering of those who believe in Christ. I wonder if you ever heard that simple view of the Lord's Supper before today. They said the Lord's Supper was based upon two things. Both of them had to do with love. The first one was based upon Christ's love for us and that He died for us. And so every time we partake of this holy communion together, we are remembering the love of our Lord Jesus Christ toward us. And then they said it is an expression of the love we have with each other. Now, let's go to the classroom. If you're not interested in a little bit of study, you might fall asleep on this. But I feel it's worth a study, and there are some of you that came here for the purpose of being challenged a bit in some concepts that are beyond your present thinking. And so I'm going to give this to you, and the rest of you will get some benefit from it if you try to stay with it. And if you get a little sleepy, just stand at your seats, and I'll try to get through this as quickly as I can. And yet, I want to show you four things. Now, I believe that word is spelled correctly on the board. It says transubstantiation. For those of you that know a little lesson, you might have come across this expression before. These words were quoted every time a Catholic priest took the wafer in his hand and threw these few words in Latin, five words if you please, translated that wafer into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this cup of wine into his blood. And of course, these priests at times, speaking to audiences who did not understand the Latin as they did, possibly they were speaking to a German audience, or some other kind of person there, maybe Dutch people. And these people did not understand Latin. And as the man would go through there, saying, Hocus, pocus, enum corpus menum. That's all he said. They thought he said, Hocus Pocus, and that is where that very term came from that we have today and it's very common to us. Hocus Pocus. So then it was Hocus Pocus that's going on here with this redness wine up front here. Hocus Pocus. Now, I guess I think that there might be a lot of people that go through communion services today as they're called. It's nothing but Hocus Pocus. So much form going through, brothers and sisters. So much ritual. But we are not one in Christ Jesus. And the Spirit of God has not drawn our hearts together in love. And there's animosity. And there's bitterness of feelings. And there's some brothers pitted against other brothers. And there's possibly division in the ministry. But Hocus Pocus anyhow. Hocus enum corpus menum. Brothers and sisters, catch the thought that here is the Catholic view of communion. It is this way. That here was Christ and he died. And so if I'm going to be a partaker of and one with Christ, then I must somehow have him come into me. And so through this priest, as I partake of this sacrament, now I am right with God. And so I've got that grace of God that I need to be saved and communicated to my being, to my body. And now I'm one with God. Hocus enum corpus menum. Hocus Pocus. Of course Luther came along and had a doctrine that was very similar. And yet had a distinct difference. I possibly will say it at times already. Consubstantiation. Con of course would be a prefix meaning with, as you know. Substantiation means the substance of that bread and body. Trans, crossing over into a new form. Consubstantiation. No, when you took the bread into your body, it was bread. And when you took the wine into your body, it was wine, according to Luther. But with that, as you took this into your being, you now have become a partaker of Christ because Christ enters your body, enters your gullet if you please, enters into your stomach with the bread and the wine. And now you've been a partaker of Christ. Consequently you can have your, you can be right with God too. And you can be one with him. And now you've had fellowship with him because you've partaken of the sacrament. Christ went along in there, into your stomach. I'll just tell you something, brothers. You're not going to be a very healthy Christian with Christ in your stomach. It was Luther who argued against Wingley by taking a piece of white chalk and drew a circle on top of the table. Inside of that circle he wrote these words, this is my body. And he was trying to help Wingley to see that Christ said this is my body. And so it has to be my body for Christ said this is my body. May I give credit to a deported brother here, George Brooks Sr., who gave this analogy concerning Christ's words there, this is my body. When Christ was feeding a multitude of people, he afterwards said, I am the bread of life. None of these people who heard Jesus say that supposed for a minute that they were looking at a loaf of rye or a loaf of wheat bread. They were looking at a man, they were looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. They were not looking at a loaf of bread. But Jesus said this is, he said I am the bread of life. But then why would they reverse the error and look at a piece of bread and say there is Lord Jesus. For Jesus said, I am the bread of life he meant. But as bread feeds you, so shall I feed you, my word shall feed you. You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And he was that word. Then down from heaven, that fresh manna. And so Luther made that mistake. He would not have called Jesus the water of life, which he said he was. He would not have called Jesus the bread of life, which he said he was. He would not have looked at Jesus and said that is the door. If Luther would have been building a new castle or a new cathedral in Wittenberg, he would not have taken the Lord Jesus and put him in the doorway to keep out the rain and the weather. But then he took this thought of Jesus, this is my body, and tried to turn the loaf into the body of Jesus. The reformed doctrine is going to sound very familiar to you. This is the beginning of the symbolism, I have to say. No, he says, Gwingli. And he says Gwingli was right. No, he says Gwingli. Jesus was thinking figuratively. Jesus was saying that this is a symbol of my body. This is a symbol of my blood. This wine, this bread. This is a memorial service. We're just remembering that Christ died. Oh, yes. He said, you do show the Lord's death when it comes. This should remember to me. It's simply a means of memorial. It's a means of remembrance. But so, for Gwingli, every person who would partake of this symbolism has, again, a one-to-God, person-to-God relationship. And I now have my little remembrance of God. For this reason, you have such things as deathbed communion services. Oh, this person's dying. He ought to share in the Lord's suffering once more before he dies. Run to him, Mr. Priest. Get to him there, hurry up, Mr. Pastor, and get that bread and wine in there so they can have their fellowship and communion with God before they die. It might be interesting for you to know that Cundinamon Grebel taught that the communion service should never be observed individually. There should never be anything like someone taking, supposedly, communion to a person's home and serving them communion. Did you ever hear of terms like that? Taking communion. They brought communion to them. They took communion to her, and they served communion. I want to know how you can take fellowship to a person and serve them fellowship. You had about this idea? I don't know where it is on the board, so I don't know it yet. This is a communion fellowship. The body of Christ is not what ascended into heaven. It is not what's in bread. It's not what I put into my stomach. But the body of Christ is a union of believers here on this earth. This is the body. This is where the love flows. This is where the life and nourishment come from. And we are partakers together in this union with Christ. We are one in the bonds of love. The front of your program there has that quotation on it from Acts chapter 2. We are one together. We have been partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1.4. We fellowship in his sufferings, Philippians 3.10. We fellowship in the Spirit. And we worship God in the Spirit. And we have no confidence in the flesh, Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. And, well, I want to turn to 1 John 1. May we do that? This then, verse 5, is the message which he heard of him and declare unto you. Excuse me. I should start at verse 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship was with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And so this matter of having communion for them was a fellowship situation. May I quote some words from Brother Conrad Grebel? The Lord's Supper was ordained by the Lord as a means of fellowship. One should eat and drink in the Spirit and in love. As often as it is practiced within the congregation, it is to signify that we are truly one body and bread. And ought and wish to remain true brethren together. This is a sign, an ongoing sign of my oneness with my brethren, of my oneness with God. And I together with my brethren fellowship and enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ together. It's an exhibition, if you please, of unity. An exhibition of oneness. And as often as it is observed. He said, use common bread to do it. He said, observe it often and much. And of course, the inside of your folder there, I think it's one of the last points of that congregation order, tells you how often they wanted it done on the occasion that you have written there. We're not quite sure if that was written in 1524 or 1525. But you have it printed there in the front of your paper, in the middle of your paper. Now, how does this relate to the memorial idea? What are you partaking of when you go to church? May I say it in kindness? And the people are dressed in black or dark blue. What are they doing? The concept is here, brethren. Christ died. Oh, Christ died. And we're remembering his suffering. But somehow or another, we are not allowed the love that he poured forth on Calvary to excite and ignite our own hearts so that we are one with each other in the same kind of love. How does one share forth the Lord's death? By merely eating bread? Is that the way you do it? No. There's only one way to share forth the Lord's death. And that is by sharing, as we said last week, in the cross experience together so that we might be perfect in one, in just this way. To be baptized as Christ was baptized with that cup of suffering. I would prove to you that this fellowship meal is not merely a memorial because 1 Corinthians 11 says that a man should examine himself. And in this manner, having found himself to discern the Lord's body and knowing what truly is the body of the Lord in our times, he shares in that service together with all those who are like-minded with him. I would say that if all we're doing is remembering Christ's death, as Lindley thought, then he was right. The sinners in his termination were as qualified to partake of it as was anybody else. In fact, the sinner ought to share in it. Let the sinner have it. He's the one that needs it. I would like to also call your attention to how this would relate to the frequency of the observer. If truly this Lord's Supper is a fellowship of love, then you understand why the Anabaptist desires to share the service so frequently together. May I share yet a few thoughts dealing with the Church's authority and power to receive and to excommunicate members. I'd like you to turn now to Matthew 18. I think you may have been there a while ago. Moreover, verse 15, If a brother trusts fast against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a republican. And then the verses that I'd already read to you, What ye bind shall be bound in heaven, and so on. Where ye two agree, bear mine in the midst, and it will be done unto my Father in heaven, and so on. When a member inadvertently falls, and it's a serious moment in the life of any brotherhood, what are we doing? Are we terminating their membership? Are we expelling them from our society? Are we saying to them, Hey, I think you'd fit better over here. Or are we saying, We're a little tired of dealing with you. We've worked with you long enough. You've been a thorn in the flesh. It's time to move you on. I wonder if you're aware. For them, to have excommunicated a person was to realize that their soul was no longer one with God. I'll just share with you a few references here. When you hear your brother say something that is strange to you, do not immediately argue with him, but listen to see whether he may be right. And you can also accept it. If you cannot understand him, you must not judge him. And if you think he may be in error, consider that you may be in greater error. Now think about that for a while. I want to hold before you this concept this afternoon that the power and authority of a church is not seen in its ability to excommunicate. May I take you along with me into the hospital? Having worked there for a few years, some illustrations come out of that experience at times that are very apropos. I work with a lot of doctors there, and I happen to know that the last thing the doctor wants to do is amputate a hand, a limb, a member of the body. That works for the doctor. That makes the doctor sweat. The night before such an operation is pending. These two boys that were lost in Mount Washington just had members amputated from their body just recently. And all the intermittent time there, all the interim, the doctors were working to save those members, save those parts of the body. What should we do to get that body in condition? Do you know something? When the body is unable to heal an ailing member, it is a sign that there is a sickness in the body. There are times when something is beyond healing. This I know, and it must be amputated. But if every time there's a sore, a problem, an infection, the body cannot heal it, and we must amputate, as in the case of a person with sugar diabetes. I don't know if there's anyone here with that problem or not, but I've seen many amputees in my lifetime who had diabetes. And the body is in a poor condition, and normally you and I can get our tush thumped on or something like that, and the body will quickly heal and go on because we're healthy. But their bodies are not healthy, and they cannot fight the disease. They cannot heal the ailing member. And so the doctor would come over there and amputate it. It's the only way to save it. But the problem in that case is a body problem more than as much as a member problem. You would not go very much longer to the doctor who upon entering his office with a sore or a problem or a cut. You would say, well, I can take care of that. I can take care of that. I can just cut that off there. You would say, well, isn't there some way you can get that together and heal that? Cut that off there. I'll take care of that. Heal that. Sure, I'll heal all right. Cut that off. Do you encounter a doctor like that for a long time, brothers and sisters? You know, however your attempt is made to heal. I heard this expression. I would trust that it was misunderstood. I would trust that someone didn't understand it right. But I was told that someone said, I prefer to excommunicate you. And I want you to know that there's no doctor with common sense who has ever said anything like that. I prefer to amputate. I prefer to cut this off. I prefer to save. I prefer to save. I'm going to ask you another question. As far as you're concerned, does excommunication in our time have a corrective effect, a whipping effect, a Catholic effect, a punitive effect, or does it have a redemptive effect? What does it have? We have a band member here, and he's been excommunicated. I want you all to know that. Make sure that he's stepped out because he's excommunicated. What is that a sign of? Brethren, on the authority of God's Word, I will tell you that that is a sign of cutting off, of putting away, of slamming down, and not a sign of healing and drawing together. Men of Simon's himself taught that this act of the church cannot be done until it's the last thing possible to save. We teach our children in first aid class that before they put a trinic on a person's arm that is bleeding, maybe was ripped in an auto accident or something, blood profusely coming from there, before a trinic is placed on that limb, they must make a decision as a first aid person or a paramedic. That decision is whether or not you're going to save the limb or save the body. And excommunication is only for that time because to put a trinic on a person's arm is to lose the arm. This we know, the arm will be lost. But if it saves the body, we'll do it. It's an important decision for a first aider to make, probably the most important decision they ever have to make in first aid work. And so if it's necessary to save the body, it will be done. In this way, the eye must be put from the body to save the body and the hand must be cut off to save the body. This is the meaning of Jesus' parable when he said, If the eye offends me, cut it off. If the eye offends me, fuck it out. The body is Christ's body. And that ailing member is what he's referring to there. It must be cut off. It's not a matter of me cutting my hands and eyes off and think I'm going to sanctify myself by doing that. It'll take more than an amputation to make my heart whole. Wherefore, brethren, understand correctly, this is Matt Simon speaking, that no one is excommunicated or expelled by us from the communion of the brethren but those who have already separated and expelled themselves from Christ's communion either by false doctrine or by improper conduct. If we are not prepared to say that this soul, as far as we understand it, has severed himself from God, has cut off from the body of Christ and no longer part of the spirit of the Lord, we are not yet qualified and we have no authority to expel them from the church of Jesus Christ. That authority has come from somewhere else and not from the scriptures. The Bible gives us a very clear outline on how expelling is to be done. In the passage I read from Matthew chapter 18, it says, In the case of personal offense, those of us who have a problem with each other, there should be three entreaties, three attempts to reach a conclusion, a reconciliation between these brethren before action is taken otherwise. In the case of false teaching, which it turns to Titus chapter 3, the order is different here. False teaching is serious. False doctrine is serious. The Bible makes a distinction between the personal offense and the teacher of false doctrine. Verse 10, A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition rejects. And so that person got two warnings according to this verse here. The teaching is false and you present it to him and show him what the problem is after the first and second admonition rejects. But there is yet another category, some open and blatant sin, some immorality or something like that, one sharp rebuke and then rejection. First Timothy chapter 5, verse 20, Them that sin, this is referring to an open and flagrant sin, violation of the word of God and conduct before all. Them sin rebuke before all that others may fear. The same thought is found in Titus chapter 1 and verse 13. But there must be time allowed between each step for repentance and brotherhood. Excuse me, time taken between each step for repentance and for the brotherhood to understand all the steps and action taken that every member is up and informed as to what stage we are and what is being done to help heal this broken and wounded part of our bodies. For when we have this kind of penonial love, this kind of Lord's Supper fellowship and wonder that grieves us to see any of us be lost. May I say this yet? There's only one way that you can prove as a church that you have authority to do what you did. And that's communication. And that is, one of two things will happen. That excommunication will result in that brother who was wayward returning and coming back to that love that he missed and that oneness with Christ that he desired and had when he was with you. He will return. Either that will happen or this. Or the body, thus rid of its disease and deteriorating members will surge forward with new power and authority and strength. If one of those two is not the case, brethren, you have looked at the working of men and not the working of the Spirit of God at work in the heart of that body. And so the true voice of authority is in the ability to reclaim and heal and recall and draw back to the fellowship. And it's for that reason and only for that reason that this activity has ever entered into. And I will tell you that that is truly our heart as we enter into such an experience the electric drawing, the magnetism of drawing into that heart that is going out from us. He will feel a need to return to us. I must bring this to a close. I'm sorry this is taking so long. I wanted to speak yet from two chapters of the Bible, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 14. But I will limit myself to 1 Corinthians 14 only. And shall we turn to that together? Am I a church? Is this a church? Is this truly the church of Jesus Christ? Is it apostolic? Two ingredients, is all that I know of must be necessary. The first one is that there is a holy and pure love for the truth. We love the truth. We love the scriptures. We love its doctrines. Please teach us. We're open to it. Share with us more of the living word. And number two, we renounce sin and the world and the devil and join our hearts with others who believe that the Bible is truth and unite our hearts together in purity of life and doctrine and follow Jesus in that way which he has shown us. And remember there are brethren that are doing that. You're looking at the visible church of Jesus Christ upon this earth. A body, a lantern with living light that calls men to salvation. Not hidden under a bushel but on a candlestick. I heard some brethren recently being told that you're not a church. You're not part of the organized church. And here was the response. Would you listen to this simple apostolic response? We love God's word. We want to be taught by it. And we love each other. And there is peace in our hearts one for another. And we want to be separated from sin. We want to follow the Lord. And so our hearts do not condemn us. We feel that we are the church of Jesus Christ. They have a right to feel that. But are you a church, I ask? Brethren, if you are the church if you're a part of the church then you are part of something that is living. And if it is living there is something going on among you that only life can do. You are reproducing saints after the image of the invisible God. If that is happening that's the church of Jesus Christ that works wherever in the world it is. And if it's not happening you know what you are or what I am. I must give credit to Marlon Berger or Harrison Berger who said these words that a church who is out saving and bringing people into fellowship calling sinners to repentance baptizing them into the body they are a living church. And those that are merely holding their own getting their children brought in and keeping after the role they are a dying church. And those that are losing their own they are a dead church. I think the category is justifiable. Chapter 14 If, verse 23 Therefore the whole church, they come together in one place and all speak with tongues and there come in those that are learned or are believers will they not say that ye are mad? To be fair to this whole situation I possibly should have started earlier but if you understand bear with me as I go down through these verses. But if all prophesy, verse 24 there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all, he is judged of all and thus to the secrets of his heart they manifest and so falling down in his faith he will worship God and it is worth that God is amongst is in you of a truth. How is it then, brethren when ye come together every one of you hath a psalm hath a doctrine, hath a tongue hath a revelation, hath an interpretation let all things be done. On to edifying. I will disclose these thoughts with a challenge to you. If when we are together that unbelieving one cries out the Spirit of God being present and says the Lord is among you of a truth God is here I feel him at work in my heart my sin condemns me what must I do to be saved? The light has gone out and shined in his darkness and the darkness comprehended extinguished it not it shone in his bosom it called forth the darkness that was in there he cries out to God for mercy and healing and help at that place where that happens the church of Christ is alive and well it's as simple as that brethren and sisters there's nothing complicated about it no hierarchy necessary no organization really apart from that which Christ is the head and calls to his Holy One those who serve whose gift he has given to the church and I would pray that we would not be satisfied with anything less than such gospel simplicity in our time Teach me O Lord thy way of truth and from it I will not depart that I may steadfastly obey give me an understanding heart in thy commandments make me whole for in thy love my joy shall be give me a heart that knows thy will from his content and be free turn now my eyes from vanity and call me in thy ways to tread O let thy servant prove thy word and thus to godly fear be laid turn now away reproach and fear thy righteous judgment I come to know thy precepts I in thy reigning in thy righteousness breathe on me breath of God fill me with life anew that I may love without a slough and who art thou breathe on me breath of God until my heart is pure until with thee I will one way to endure endure breathe on me breath of God till I am holy thy till all this earthly part of me flows with thy fire divine breathe on me breath of God so shall I never die but live with thee in the perfect life of thy eternity amen let our sorrows part again for the son of God who came bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned he stood sealed my pardon with his blood hallelujah hallelujah what a savior guilty violent helpless me thoughtless friend of God was he full atonement can it be hallelujah what a savior lifted up was he to die it is finished was his cry now in heaven exalted when he comes the glory of all his ransomed home to free there under this song we'll sing hallelujah what a savior as we journey on toward heaven's shining goal we ask God for pain and loss let his only grace us bless as if we live in the shadow of the cross are you living in the shadow of the cross where the Savior stood your claim by the cross you'll lead us to that home above there we'll sing thanks to him on the tree of sorrow Jesus died for all just upon himself on the cross as I see him there I long to ever live in the shadow of the cross are you living in the shadow of the cross where the Savior stood your claim by the cross you'll lead us to that home above there we'll sing thanks to him there are souls to rescue there are souls to save on the tree of lies they toss may we be the light and teach them how to live in the shadow of the cross are you living in the shadow of the cross where the Savior stood your claim by the cross you'll lead us to that home above there we'll sing thanks to him