I was thinking of taking the Lord’s Supper this past Sunday evening, and how joyful the occasion was. I spoke to Mrs. Shirley about the joy then present, comparing that joy to the terrified fear I had as a boy when the Lord’s Supper was given. I suppose it was common to feel that fear and dread, but it is certainly not right to dread the worship and remembrance of the life and death of Christ. I got to thinking about all the anxiety people feel about worship. This should not be. Worshipping God should be an absolutely joy and full of peace, contentment, hope and promise.

The issue of succession and perpetuity is being questioned today because too many people are reading "the fathers" instead of reading and understanding their Bibles. Many preachers disagree with succession because they associate that doctrine with Catholicism. Rome is the "mother church" and all the protestants are the daughters of Rome. That is true, but that doesn’t mean churches spontaneously generate themselves. I do not believe there must be a vote of any particular church to start another church, because things are done differently during different times, but there must be a public notice that one church is starting another, however it is done. Tell how Bible Baptist Church at Hornbeck, LA was organized. From Southern Baptist churches who had independent members. All the churches agreed on scriptural baptism, but some members wanted to follow the SBC, and some wanted to be independent. So the SBC churches granted letters to Bible Baptist Church for the purpose of organizing the people into an independent Baptist church.

In relation to Brother Jim’s teaching on the succession of churches: We just need to understand that we must be busy teaching succession and perpetuity because it is not being taught much at all. Brother Moser Jr. was well known for his writings on the local church. Many people sought him when they had questions.

The question was asked, "Did I think the early church voted to give authority to establish mission points when the church was scattered when persecution arose when Stephen was killed?" I replied that the first church did not separate salvation from service. It was unthinkable to them that a saved person would not join the local church and have an active part. Remember I Corinthians 5:1? This man was committing fornication with his fathers wife, yet was still attending church services, and considered himself an active part of the church body. Paul had to tell the people to exclude him from membership, as they had not thought of that themselves. It is a "given" to us, but apparently not to them.

It is also readily apparent from Acts 11:26 that much teaching was necessary for new converts to learn Biblical doctrines. Paul and Barnabas assembled themselves with the church for a whole year, teaching the things of God.

Today, churches are expected to meet only on Sundays and perhaps one time in the middle of the week. In the book of Acts, the church apparently met every day, as the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:35-39. The question is often asked, which church was the eunuch a member of? Because he went on his way rejoicing. There is no Bible record that he ever returned to Jerusalem, so if he was a member of the Jerusalem church, he could not have been very faithful in attendance. That is a good question, but it is seldom asked, "Why did the eunuch come to Jerusalem to worship God?" See Acts 8:27. There is no doubt in my mind that he had heard of the Saviour of the Jews, and knowing that Saviour was the true Saviour, came to worship.

The perversion of true, happy worship has gradually been replaced almost world-wide by men who seek to glorify themselves instead of pointing people to Christ. I think preachers are very guilty of doing this, but many church members also like to destroy their church so they will be thought to be somebody. III John 9 – Diotrephes – is one such example.

The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. The doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitanes is not exactly the same, although both groups have similar characteristics. Balaam worships an entirely different god than Christians, but the Nicolaitanes teach it is okay to worship what you want to worship and call that God.

II Peter 2:15 describes the false way of Balaam, and the Nicolaitanes are doing nothing different in principle.

It is quite apparent, by comparing Revelation 2:13-15 that those that worship Balaam and those that worship the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes are different. Notice the word "also" in verse 15. It is also true that any deviation from the worship of God is error. Any error is like all error in the fact that every error points away and leads away from Christ.

The Nicolaitanes would go into the temples of Balaam, and mix and mingle freely with that worship. That was bad enough, but they would then bring the items of Balaam worship into Christian worship. The Nicolaitanes would teach the items they brought into the Christian worship didn’t make any difference because we have "liberty" in Christ. The Nicolaitanes taught there was no need for the Gentiles to keep the law, or the ten commandments, because Christ had paid for all that on the cross of Calvary. They lead the people to discern truth by their own minds, circumstances, or whatever seemed to be right in their own eyes.

In truth, the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes is mentioned in Revelation 2:15, as the thing hated by Christ. If Christ hated the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, we would do well to stay away from these doctrines. But before we can stay away from those doctrines, we must understand what the doctrines are.

The great missionary movement of the 1800’s and 1900’s is said by many to be the turning point. And it is. Before that churches carried on the work of God, but then men put their planning into it all, and started their mission boards, conventions, associations, all of which exercise control over churches. The men running these various boards, conventions, and associations may be good men, but they are taking instructions from the world, and know from God. God had run the mission of churches pretty good up until the time when men figured they ought to take over.

It is my personal opinion that any doctrine that takes our eyes off Jesus Christ is error.