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The Seed Of The Gospel? By: I. D. Byars
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The Seed Of The Gospel? By: I. D. Byars
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Nine times in the first chapter of Genesis, God said that everything should bring forth after its kind. A watermelon seed from the first century planted in the twentieth century will bring forth a watermelon and nothing else. Jesus said, "The seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11)." This seed was planted in Antioch of Judea by men of Cyprus and Cyrene and it produced "Christians," and nothing else (Acts 11:26). Paul planted this seed in Corinth, it fell into good soil (hearts), germinated and produced obedient faith, for the Scriptures declare that "many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized (Acts 18:8). If this seed (the Word of God) that was planted in the first century of the church produced "Christians," and nothing else, it will do the same today. There were no creed books, church manuals, prayer books, confessions of faith or catholicism in the first century. the seed was not polluted with such additions then, therefore, it will not produce such additions today. Suppose there were found an intelligent tribe of people in the deepest portion of some country who had never heard of God's Word and by chance a Bible should fall into their midst. These people being intelligent, able to understand, they read it, study it, and investigate it; and become convinced that there is a God in heaven, who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth, that He taught people about the church, His kingdom - how He suffered and died on the cross - purchasing the church with His blood - that he arose from the tomb the third day - that He taught His disciples to "go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15-16)." They continue to read the facts of all the conversions in the book of Acts. They learn from Paul that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)," and that the soul of the sinner will die spiritually. They understand that by believing God's Word they must become obedient to it in order to be saved. They repented of their sins (Acts 17:30), they confessed their belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (Acts 8:37), and then they are buried with Christ in water baptism unto the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:37-40, Acts 22:16), and raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-5). They are now "Christians," and nothing else. The Lord added them to His church (Acts 2:47). They had no need for any other book, because the Bible only makes Christians only. The seed of 2000 years was planted and it produced the same thing as it did in the first century. This same seed was planted in America during the eighteenth century by those great men preaching only the Gospel of Christ. It produced only Christians, and it will still produce only Christians unpolluted by man made doctrines.Sponsored by the churches of Christ at:
DIBRELL, EARLEYVILLE, EAST END, SALEM, SMYRNA, WEST RIVERSIDE.