Oklahoma City Meeting 2009
Church of God General Meeting Blog
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
November 23-29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Bro. Ray Tinsman preached on: One Mind!
It cannot be understood in the flesh. The natural man cannot understand the spiritual things. The “one-mind” is not something you learn. It is an experience. This is the minimum standard of any saint. No matter what people think of it; they may call it what they will, the people of God have ONE mind.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
1st AM session: Bro. Daniel Layne spoke about the importance of these doctrinal meetings and the importance of our people knowing the doctrines. Doctrine is not given to us. It has to be learned – we are people of the Book.
2nd AM session: Bro. Daniel Layne went over the new tract called: 27 Marks of the True Church. After that he taught on the subject of Women in the Ministry. He emphasized the unanimity of the Word of God. We do not use two scriptures to explain twenty scriptures but we use twenty to explain the two. The Bible is very clear that women may prophesy which according to I Corinthians 14:3-4 means speaking unto men for exhortation, comfort, and edification.
PM service: Bro. Benjamin Tovstiga preached on: Divine, Physical Healing!
He said it is of utmost importance that we “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” If we let down on one point, we soon have a flood on hand. He reminded the saints how important it is to remember that we must die. At its best, divine healing is a temporary fix to the problem. All those that were healed, have died. Paul said it would be far better to die and be with the Lord than to live. Why do so few people want the “far better?”
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
1st AM session: Bro. John Strizu preached on: The Gifts of the Church!
If God calls someone, it will not be a secret. The gift will speak for itself. GOD gives the gifts in the church. God does not allow just anybody to lead his people, which is his peculiar treasure. To have a desire to preach, teach, sing, etc. is not enough. You need a calling.
2nd AM session: Bro. John Redecop preached on: The Sure Foundation!
It was a very encouraging message to build on the sure foundation which is the rock, Jesus Christ. In order to find this rock, you must DIG. This is the reason many do not build on this rock; the price is too high. Those on the rock are the only, sure winners, no matter what comes their way. The gates of hell cannot prevail against them! GLORY!
PM service: Sis. Susan Mutch preached a serious message Our Eternal Destiny. Where will your soul be after this life has passed? Surely, each and everyone of us is going somewhere – it will be heaven or hell.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
1st AM session: Bro. Henry Hildebrandt preached on: Cursed, except you continue! Unless we possess perpetual (ongoing) obedience, we will be cursed. Don’t pray for revival unless you are willing to accept revival when God sends it. Simeon was ready to accept God’s salvation when it came. Galatians 3 was used in this lesson.
2nd AM session: Bro. Abe Redecop taught on Baptism. Baptism does not save and does not make you a member of the church of God. Baptism is God’s way for us to testify about what happened to us when we got saved. Immersion is the only mode that describes this.
PM service: Bro. Randy Hargrave preached on: Must they be gathered? The answer is YES! We cannot “hang on” to what we had or what we liked. Some liked Moses, some liked John the Baptist. John pointed them to Christ. Christ is the finisher. We must ALL be gathered in Christ. You will be gathered or you will end up in darkness.
Friday, November 27, 2009
1st session: Bro. Peter Hildebrandt preached on: Keeping the Unity! There is a big difference between seeking unity or keeping the unity we have. We are spread out far from one another as far as locality is concerned but we are all working on the same wall. God’s unity is more important than you are. God hates the one that sows discord among brethren. The Bible says to mark them which cause division.
2nd session: Bro. Patrick O’Shea dealt with the subject of: Our conscience! The church was not called to adjust itself to the conscience of the people. Your conscience should never override the Word of God. Your conscience might tell you that you are right when you are wrong. Your conscience alone is not a safe-guide. We need a body-conscience, governed by the word of God.
PM service: Bro. Stephen Hargrave taught on: Speaking in Tongues! He showed us very clearly by the Bible that it is talking about spoken languages that can be understood. What is known today as “speaking in tongues” in so-called “pentecostalism” is NOT what the Bible teaches at all. Something is working in those people but it is NOT the Spirit of God.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
1st AM session: Bro. Ray Tinsman did a study on: The Head Covering! He stressed the importance of understanding that there are 10 chapters before the 11 chapter of 1 Corinthians. If you read the previous chapters you will see that Paul was putting a lot of weight on not being an offence. In the 11th chapter he explains that the social custom in Corinth required the head covering but the Church of God does not have such custom. The hair is the covering instead of a veil.
2nd AM session: Bro. Daniel Layne taught on: The Kingdom of God. He gave us plenty of scriptures to prove that we are not to wait for a future kingdom, but that it is presently on earth – within the hearts of the people of God.
PM service: Bro. Randy Hargrave taught in the evening on: The Fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11). There is mass confusion in the religious world about the phrase “all Israel shall be saved.” This scripture has been manipulated to form teachings that all Jews of the literal Israel will believe before the end of the world. God is impartial, he shows no favoritism toward anyone. If you believe, you will be saved – Jew or Gentile. It is clear that Paul is explaining the guidelines for the salvation of the Jews: all would be saved, IF they believed.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
AM service: Bro. Benjamin Tovstiga taught this morning on Ministerial Authority.
Isaiah 9:6-7 God has ordained government – His government is not a free-for-all, nor is it a democracy. Spiritual government is just as normal and necessary as physical government.
Isaiah 16:17 God has policemen! They will be peaceable with you, as long as, you are peaceable with them.
Matthew 16:17-19 and 18:18 The key is the Word and the Spirit. Jesus didn’t say he would do the binding and loosing, He said the ministry will do it.
II Peter 2:12 If someone opposes the judgment God backs up, they are opposing God. When we see something wrong, we should cry out, “BIND HIM!” We won’t cry out in vain. The ministry will lay hold on “the man”.
John 20:23 The ministry can discern professors and say, “You are not right. Your sins have not been forgiven yet”. Others, may be going through accusations and the ministry can discern and say, “You are fine.”
Isaiah 30:20 Carnal people feel comfortable around cornered preachers. In the Church of God there are no cornered preachers.
Hebrews 13:17 The ministry must have authority over you if they have charge over your soul. They have authority to deal with anything that would harm your soul.
Revelation 2:14 The Lord was going to fight with the ministry, if they didn’t take care of the problems that were there.
Acts 15:5-6, 22-32 The apostles did what seemed good to the Holy Ghost and them.
I Corinthians 14:37-38 If anyone thinks he is spiritual, let him acknowledge what the ministry says.
PM service: Bro. John Strizu dealt with The Second Resurrection. The first resurrection is Salvation, and the second resurrection is the literal resurrection of the dead at the day of judgment. We went through most of I Corinthians 15. There were some during Paul’s time that said there was no resurrection. I Corinthians 15 tells us that if there is no resurrection: Jesus did not rise, the truth is vain, our faith is vain, we are liars, Jesus is still dead, we have not been resurrected from sin, the saints who have died have perished, and we are of all men most miserable.
Romans 6:4-5
Baptism contains symbolism of the resurrection.
Some ask “How are the dead raised?” Paul says that’s a foolish question. We don’t know exactly how. All we know is it won’t be hard for God, and the new body he gives us will be a body that pleases him. Acts 24:14-15 and John 5:28-29
Tell us that saints and sinners will both be resurrected.
Philippians 3:20-21
Our physical bodies cannot take eternity. If we are faithful, there is a time coming when we will be able to lay down these vile bodies to inherit the glories of heaven.
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