|
Chief Apostle and First Lady in Mississippi, Church of God in Christ, International; This is a New Testament Church in Pattern, Order, Procedures and Practices Have You considered your development of Ministry in a Corporate Church Body with convictions similar to yours: It's Future It's Doctrine It's Fellowship, etc. We are not just another Denominational Church ! 'Having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore' (Ephesians 6:13-14) Theme: Brethrens Building Together in Trouble Times! A New Generation to Save! Often the generation that inherits the fallen truth, undone deeds and errors of the preceding one, falls victim to the sins of its Fathers. The bibles speak of the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children. "A Restored Faith in Trouble Times" Dr. J. L. Payne was led of God over 45 years ago to establish New Testament Church Ministry within the Church and he conceived the vision of God's restored church into the Apostle's Order. The message of placing this before the body of the church became a consuming passion of his life and ministry. He has written over (20) books describing and producing documentation of the early church's era. These accounts of the church is based upon the end time revelation of the church restored before the Rapture and the Tribulation. If The Foundations Be Destroyed, What Can The Righteous Do? The time has come for an uncompromising Gospel, rooted in the Christ-centered message of the Cross that the early church practiced, studied and preached. The inception of the Payne Bible College was founded in 1970 with a missionary zeal and vision to equip it students with an International burden. This was reflected in the world-wide missionary vision and the increasing emphasis placed upon Bishop Payne to reach the lost at any cost. The first class to complete studies was numbered at over 50 students that were prepared to serve in local and foreign lands. The historical significance of the school is that the school stands for a movement firmly fixed upon the principle: "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20). The nature of the Payne Bible College is a fellowship for study, not a "church" as in a denomination, but focusing on teaching the basic body of biblical truth that establishes and builds individual bodies of believers in the church controlled by the Head of the church, Christ Jesus through Personal Relationship with Him and the Holy Spirit. The Articles of Faith and Doctrine of the Church Fellowship and School are essentially the same. We have established cardinal beliefs of the historic biblical Christian faith as taught in the beginning of the new testament church era by Jesus Christ and the epistles later written by the Apostles and we take serious accounts of the history of God dealing man in the ages of both Old and New Testament times. We teach scriptural principles necessary to bring us into oneness of the Lord's work world-wide with others that there may be One Fold. |
|
|
About the Church
Watchman, What of the Night? I. “The Alarm Clock is Ringing” A message for this 'crisis time' in which we live is found in Romans 13:11-14. It reads: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Here we have a pattern for action spelled out for pastors and churches, which are called upon to meet the challenge of society in crisis. This is the situation in which we find ourselves today. Paul is writing to the infant church at Rome. Roman society and civilization at that time were in a sad state of decline. The Empire was beginning to break up. In earlier history it had had a relatively high standard of law and order, of political integrity, of moral behavior, and of civil obedience. But now the seeds of decadence, the seeds of lawlessness, the seeds of permissiveness, the seeds of self-indulgence, the seed of greed, and the seed of ambition had taken root and sin was rampant in the society at that particular time. Edward Gibbon, the famous historian who wrote the classic, The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire, made that famous remark that the decline of the great Roman Empire came not because of opposition without but because of corruption and decay within. This was the kind of society that this infant church was cradled in. They were living in times of social, political, economic, domestic, and moral crisis -- very much like the day in which we are living at this particular time. In verse 11 we read, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” The Apostle Paul uses the word “time” twice “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time…” and in the original text these are two different words. The first word “time” – means it is a special occasion, it is seasonable. It is not the usual or the normal word used for time. Literally it means a period marked by untoward ness or emergency circumstances, crisis times. Williams in his New Testament translated like that – “knowing the present crisis.” It is an emergency situation, not just a normal, usual setting. The second word, “Now it is high time to awake our sleep…” means it is the moment for action; the moment has arrived. There is a sense of urgency, a sense of pressure here. The hour is late – in what he is trying to get across. It is now high time. It is a call to action. Lenski in his commentary suggest that what Paul is saying here is “The alarm clock is ringing!” as he writes to these Christians in Rome. These are crisis days, emergency days, and the Apostle writing to the believers in the church at Rome says, “it is high time; the time is late; this is an emergency situation. It is a call to action. He gives us more details with regard to the situation as we read on. In verse 13 he says, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” That is not a complete list, obviously, of the sins of that society. What we have here is a summation. They cover the whole range of iniquities. The sins of men in that day may be classified into three categories: word, thought, and deed; body, sense and mind. Sins of the flesh, world, and the devil had taken over the lives of people. We look upon our day with the same crises and sense of emergency. The condition and picture of the Roman Empire just before her fall is an exact replica of our times. Their condition was seen so clearly to the early church as a judgment of God upon a society where its sins were at a saturation point. God’s judgment could not be delayed. Are we not in a similar situation today? Is it not that the Spirit of God is grieved over the affairs of men in our nation and the world? Will God tolerate sin forever? Can we judge from God’s dealing with men and declare an alarm clock is ringing? Is not this is a moment for action? It is high time to awake out of spiritual sleep? These are crises days, emergency days. The time is late! An emergency situation exists to seek the Lord while He may be found! “For thus saith the Lord unto me, Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he seeth” (verse 11) “Watchman, what of the Night…” (Isaiah 21: 6,11). As a people, a nation and the world, we are at the end of the rope. The world has a 50/50 chance of survival. Our survival is in the hands of the sanity of political leaders. “This is an insane period.” Today, we are living in a very turbulent world. People everywhere are sensing the pulse of our day. It is frightening and terrifying. We would all have to be blind, deaf, and robbed of our mental faculties not to see, feel, and be aware of the conditions around us. We face situations at this present minute that no civilization in the past has ever had to face. The pressures upon us are beyond our abilities to handle. The tools of prayer, seeking God, commitment to God, holy living, renewal and dedication is our greatest need. Meet us in the 3 am prayer hour at the Mother Church! II. A call for the women of prayer; Jeremiah / Call in the day of trouble Ps 50:15
|
