Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / July 11, 2019, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The Chronicle July 11, 2019 B3 RELIGION Elder Richard Wayne Wood Sunday School Lesson New church headed to Winston-Salem BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE Jesus Teaches Us to Love One Another Scriptures: Matthew 5:21-32 By the end of this lesson, we will: * Contrast outward conformity of obedience to God with inner purity; * Repent of the times we have obeyed God super ficially; * Respond to the call of Jesus to take practical steps to live righteously. Background: The lesson this week is a continuance of the “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus goes through six of the Ten Commandments. Jesus is continuing to cor rect the misinterpretations given by the Pharisees. Jesus interprets the commandments or the Law in the light of the new life He came to give. His focus is on the internal more so than the external. Jesus uses the phrases “You have heard” and “It was said” to indicate what the Phari sees teach. And to be perfectly clear that He differs with their interpretation and to give the correct moral intent, He says, “But I say to you,” then gives the matter atten tion to the heart and not the external actions of a man. Lesson: In verses 21 through 26, Jesus deals with murder, the law and the intent to punish. Jesus makes clear that murder begins in the heart. He stresses that verbal abuse comes from the same sinful motives of an ger and hatred that lead to murder (verses 21-22). Jesus goes on to say that to correct the situation of the heart, reconciliation has to be made and should be done quick ly ... even at the cost of self-sacrifice. The longer you wait, the worse the situation becomes for you personally and mentally (verses 23-26). The sin is bound to you if reconciliation is not sought. Adultery is confronted in verses 27 through 30. Je sus says that the sin of adultery is not confined to the physical act itself “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already commit ted adultery with her in his heart (verse 28). The “look” that Jesus speaks of is not a casual glance, but a constant stare with the purpose of lusting. The man Jesus refers to looks at the woman with the purpose of feeding his inner sensual appetite as a substitute for the act itself. In verses 29 and 30 Jesus is not advising self-mutilation. He is using this example to demonstrate the seriousness of sins of lust and desire. The point Jesus makes is that it would be “better” to lose a member of one’s own body than to bear the eternal consequences of guilt from such sin. And, since lust is a problem of the heart, physical injury to the body would not remedy it. Divorce is the subject ofverses 31 and 32. The Phari sees taught that if one procured the proper paperwork, then one could get a divorce. The rabbis had wrongly concluded that men could divorce their wives for any thing that displeased them as long as they gave “a cer tificate of divorce.” Jesus corrected the misinterpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and made clear that a man can divorce for adultery, but divorce for any other reason is not acknowledged by God and therefore, renders those who would re-marry after such a divorce would in fact be adulterers in the sight of God (verse 32). For more de tails on divorce, see 19:1-12. (The UMI Annual Com mentary 2018-2019, the MacArthur Study Bible, the Wi- ersbe Study Bible and the Oxford Bible Commentary). For Your Consideration: According to the lesson, how many acts of murder might we be guilty of? How does the Old Testament divorce and New Testament di vorce according to Jesus’ teaching reflect on marriage today? Application: Jesus challenges us to look at motives behind our actions and thoughts. We should deal with our sinful thoughts and feelings toward our neighbors before we see the sinful action. Much of the sin around us can be credited to a lack of love and respect for God’s ways and a lack of love and value for ourselves and for others because we focus on the external. But the Lord said to Samuel, “ ... for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7). A new church is about to lay roots here in the city. Destination Temple, led by Bishop Alvin Free man, will hold their inau gural service on July 14 at 1 p.m. at the Benton Con vention Center. Originally from India napolis, Indiana, Freeman came to the city because of a new job, by way of Tex as. After spending time in the city, he began to have the feeling that he needed to start a church. “When I first arrived here, after being around the city a couple of days, I said I have to start a church here,” said Freeman. “It’s like when you feel some thing with reluctancy, but you’re excited, but the reluctant part is about the work that goes into it and the care because you feel something for the city.” Freeman has been in the ministry for most of his life. The family has built churches in South Carolina, Georgia and In diana. Freeman has not led a congregation in a few years, but feels Winston- Salem is the perfect loca tion to get back to what he knows best. “We are just at this thing because we care about people,” he said. “I really care about people and don’t want to see Discrimination in the pulpit Ever since I was a child, I always wondered why there were only men leading the congrega tions of the churches I at tended. I found that rather strange, because I was always under the impres sion that we are all equal in God’s eyes. If that’s the case, then women should have the same opportuni ties to lead a congregation as men. I am not writing this ar ticle to try and ruffle feath ers, but rather to hopefully answer a legitimate ques tion. The question is: why do some churches look down upon or not allow women in the pulpit? I am in no way a Bib lical historian, so I had to ask a few people who are well versed in the Bible for some context on if there were any verses in the Bi ble to back up not having women in the pulpit. Ev ¬ Photo by Timothy Ramsey Pictured from left to right are Alvin Freeman Jr., Alvin Freeman Sr. and Jameelah Freeman. people hurting and a lot of people to have a place to let that hurt out, that’s what our church is about.” The excitement build ing up to their first service is there, said Freeman. He is a stickler for his atten tion to detail, so he wants everything to be set up per fectly for their first service. “My first job is making sure that everything is tak en care of before Sunday gets here,” he said. “Peo ple have asked what mes sage I am going to preach, but I don’t know. When I get up there, it just starts pouring out of me and it may seem very strange to some, but it’s nothing staged. “We are just happy that God allowed his anointing to follow us, that means that we are doing some thing right. You need daily clarity to make sure you are on the right path and ery one of them led me to 1 Corinthians 14: 34 and 35. Those verses state: (34) Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says. (35) And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own hus bands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. Through doing some research on the subject, I have read that these two verses were not part of Paul’s original writing. It is said that the verses were added to the text by scribes or copyists. This evidence leads back to a previous column I wrote about tak ing the Bible 100% literal. Even with these verses there, I am not sure how this relates to not having a woman lead a church. It baffles me how some use God lets us do that by the filling of the Holy Spirit.” Freeman has not been the senior pastor of a church in several years, he said. He can’t wait to get back into the pulpit in the role of senior pastor to de liver more souls to Christ. The convention center will be the home of Desti nation Temple for the fore seeable future. Their plan is to locate land to build a permanent home for their congregation. “Our offering goes directly to building,” he continued. “We don’t take a salary and I don’t want it either, because it doesn’t sound right to me. I am not knocking those who do. As soon as we get enough for the land, we are buying land and then we are going to start building. “Since we build our selves, we just need land and materials, because Biblical text out of context to fit their own agenda. The same thing was used during slavery to justify it. To obtain a deeper look inside this mode of think ing, I reached out to sev eral pastors to hear their thoughts on the subject. I spoke to both a man and a woman who have been in the ministry for several years and their responses were surprising. The male pastor I spoke with has an exten sive background in the ministry and is very well known in the city. He im mediately said he has per sonally seen women being discriminated against in the ministry. He does not agree with churches not allowing women to lead a congregation. “I have seen it firsthand with my associate minis ters that are female,” he we are going to build this church ourselves. Ben ton will be our temporary home, but it is a place we can grow and we are excit ed about the meeting space we have there.” The Freemans have reached out to the sur rounding community as well as churches in other states to come out for their inaugural service. Destination Temple is a non-denominational church that welcomes ev eryone, Freeman said. “We are not indoctrinated, be cause doctrine a lot of times comes from men and men’s thoughts and a lot of practices we have go ing into church are things we were taught as young people to do in church,” he said. Freeman stated they are not there to take members away from other churches, but rather to bring in those who are not saved. “It’s about getting people saved and that’s the best feeling in the world. I don’t desire anything from another per son, I just want folks to get saved,” he said. The youth will be a focus of the church. Free man stated their youth department will be called Redemption Temple. “We love the youth, because we think that’s where every thing starts right now,” he said. said about the discrimina tion toward female minis ters. “Sometimes I will go different places to preach and pastors who don’t be lieve in women preachers don’t allow them to sit in the pulpit. “Even a lot of women don’t like women preach ers,” he continued. “At my divinity school, most of my female colleagues were not elected for a church, even though they had the credentials. Most women who go to divinity school will not get called to a black Baptist church, in most cases. He went on to speak about when he was asked to do a wedding or a fu neral and could not make it, the people requesting his services stated they did not want a woman as his replacement. He said he was surprised that so many See Pulpit on B8 RELIGION CALENDAR Now - July 12 Vacation Bible School Fresh Fire Worship Center Inc. and Bishop Phillip G McCloud Sr. will host their annual Vacation Bible School July 10- 12. The church is located at 1538 Waughtown St. Classes will be held from 6 - 8:30 p.m. Children ages 4 and under must have a parent or guard ian over the age 21 present to attend. For more informa tion, call 336-833-4208. Dinner will be served nightly. July 13 Women’s Conference The New Birth Worship Center (NBWC) Women of 1033 Newbirth Dr. East Bend, NC cordially invites every lady to “Revive Us Again” 2-Day Women’s Con ference on Friday, July 12, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 13,10 a.m. The Keynote Speaker for both dates will be Ammie Bouwman, speaker and founder of For His Glo ry Ministry from Hamilton, Mi. Lunch will be served on Saturday. This is a free event. We are requesting that you please bring a non-perishable food item to sup port the Food Pantry. Dr. James L.E. Hunt is the senior pastor. For additional information, call 336-699-3583 or visit www.newbirthworshipcenter.org. July 14 New’ church in Winston-Salem Destination Temple Church is proud to announce the launch of its first church in North Carolina. The inaugural service will be held July 14 at 1 p.m. at the Benton, 301 W. 5th St. The senior pastor is Bishop Al vin Freeman. For more information about the Destina tion Temple Church, visit www.destinationtemple.org. July 14 Worship services St. Philips Moravian Church, 911 S. Church St., will worship at 11 a.m., Sunday. The service will be led by Pastor Bill McElveen and Sisters Safie Briama and Donna Hurt addressing “Our Mission in Sierre Leone.” July 15-18 Vacation Bible School St. James AME Church will hold its annual Vacation Bible school July 15 -18, 2019 from 6-8 p.m. each night. St. James is located at 1501 N. Patterson Ave nue at the corner of 1 Sth Street (across from the US Post Office). The Pastor is the Reverend Shelton T. Miles. July 19-20 Back-to-school sock sale Goler Memorial AME Zion Church, 630 N. Patter son Ave., will have a back-to-school sock sale on Fri day, July 19 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and Saturday, July 20 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m). Huge selection of packaged first qual ity socks (men/women/girls/boys). All socks are $1/ pair - Dickies / Dockers / Saucony. Ask about special discounts. Sponsored by Goler Memorial Parent Body Missionary Society. Proceeds to help with charitable work in the community. For more information, call (336) 529-2928 or e-mail gphifer@roycetoo.com. Ongoing Monday, Wednesday and Friday Food pantry, clothes closet Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 1-4 p.m., Love Community Development Corporation, at 3980 N. Liberty St., will serve those in need of food and clothes. JobLink is also available Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for those needing assis tance with resumes or seeking employment. For more information, call (336) 306-8119. Sundays Free breakfast Love Fellowship Outreach Church, 205 E. 25th St., offers a free community breakfast at 10:30 a.m. before Sunday morning worship at 11 a.m. Family & Friends Day is every third Sunday, with a free fellowship din ner served immediately following worship. Wednesday Night Bible Study is held weekly at 6:30 p.m. Apostle Antonio L. Johnson Sr. is the pastor. How to submit items to the Religion calendar: The deadline is Sunday at 11:59p.m. to have all cal endar items submitted for that week s paper. Send your calendar items to news@wschronicle.com. You can also drop them off, Monday through Friday before 5 p.m., or mail your items to Winston-Salem Chronicle, 1300 E. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101; or send them via our website, www.wschronicle.com.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 11, 2019, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75