International Gospel Hour

Jeff Archey: What if every home was a godly home? Can you imagine the impact, dear friends? Let's pursue the home as God would have it. That's coming up from the International Gospel Hour. Stay with us.

J. Webb: It's time for our broadcast from the International Gospel Hour. I'm J. Webb and welcome to our study today as we embrace God's word to help us meet the challenges of today. Let's open our Bibles and open our hearts for this time of Bible study with our speaker Jeff Archey of International Gospel Hour, a broadcast of the Churches of Christ. Here's Jeff.

Jeff Archey: Well, thank you to our J. Webb for his kind words and you'll hear from J. throughout our broadcast today. And greetings to all of you, and so good to always have you with us for this our weekly broadcast from the International Gospel Hour. From time to time I love to mention our friends at addedtothechurch.com, that's addedtothechurch.com, a fantastic work by D.J. and Sarah Curry of Parkersburg, West Virginia, dear friends and encouragers of ours. They have some exceptional articles written by them and others, and get this, friends, you can subscribe free to two digital publications, the *Mountain Messenger* and the *New Testament Expositor*.

So go addedtothechurch.com, check out their good works and subscribe free to those two digital publications, the *Mountain Messenger* and the *New Testament Expositor*. Again, check them out at addedtothechurch.com, once again that's addedtothechurch.com. Dear friends, might we affirm today that a godly home is a good home, and that is a home to pursue. Would we not agree? By way of brief introduction, I want you to consider an example of the home from 1 Corinthians 16:15 and 16, the home of one Stephanas.

The scripture reads, "I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits [or converts] of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints, that you also submit to such, to learn... or rather to submit to such and to everyone who works and labors with us." Now, considering that text from 1 Corinthians 16:15 and 16, let's highlight some of the things we just heard. First of all, this household of Stephanas was of the firstfruits or converts of Achaia. So from the outset, they were converted to Jesus Christ. They were simply New Testament Christians. They were part of the first Christians in Achaia.

Then they devoted themselves. They had a devotion unto God. Not only were they obedient to God through the gospel, but they had now devoted themselves and their lives to God. Specifically to the ministry of the saints. We could see their labors, their encouragement, their serving of one another. And then we find Paul saying to submit to such. The word submit there could also be subject yourselves to them. It's a military term that means to learn and improve. When we submit to, say, the household of Stephanas, we want to learn some things about them and how we can improve our lives together.

I'm mindful of the Legacy Family Camps that are among Churches of Christ. There is one in the West in Oklahoma and there is one that's in Alabama, the East one if you will. From time to time I will mention Joe Wells and Kaio Publications. He and his wife Erin and some fellow laborers, Denise and Wesley Skelton, and some of you may have received Wesley's tract on "How To Do Bible Time" through us here at International Gospel Hour. These are good yearly camps that families come together and they learn from one another to improve family lives and to be the godly homes that God would have them to be. It's a fantastic work, Legacy Family Camp, and it's a great work. I'll have that website for you momentarily.

But going back to Stephanas, what a great pattern of a godly, devoted home. And there is much more to say in God's word about a home to pursue, and that is our study just ahead. Now, before we do that, I'm going to defer to our J. Webb, who has a few words about our friends at the World Video Bible School, and let me say this, friends: their videos can be used within your family of a Bible night and to study together. So let's hear more about the work at World Video Bible School, then I'll come back with that website for Legacy Family Camp and we'll continue with our study of a home to pursue.

J. Webb: World Video Bible School is at wvbs.org, that's wvbs.org. You can check out over 2,400 videos on a number of biblical subjects, and you can also enroll in their online school and work at your pace, and friends, it's absolutely free. That's wvbs.org. Again, that's wvbs.org.

Jeff Archey: Friends, we appreciate J.'s kind words and let me mention Legacy Family Camp, that is the website, legacyfamilycamp.com. That's Legacy Family Camp, all one word, .com. legacyfamilycamp.com and you can see the information and the locations in Oklahoma as well as in Alabama and more information about that good work that's been going on since 2012. A great camp for families to strengthen families, much like the family we're going to talk about today. And so again, that's legacyfamilycamp.com and let them know that you heard about them here from the International Gospel Hour.

So let's talk about a home to pursue, and let's begin with the men of the home. Let's talk about husbands, fathers, men that are single. Let's talk about all men because whether the man is a husband, if he's a father, if he's single, whatever his contribution is to his family, the family will be better if the man is a godly man. I take us now to Titus chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. The Bible says, "But as for you," Paul writing to Titus, "speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience."

Now when we read this text here, here's what we note. First of all, give us men of soundness. What is spoken in sound doctrine needs to be heard and applied for soundness. Things that are healthy. These older men to be sober or wise, reverent, temperate, sound in faith and love and patience. Now let's elaborate a little bit on those. These are good, sound habits for men to take and apply. Men of soundness, let's notice now, men of faith. Men of faith that are holding to the faith or the doctrine. In Acts 6 and verse 7, we find of those who had obeyed the gospel, who were converted to the faith. The faith according to Jude 3, that we are to contend for the faith which was delivered once for all saints.

We're talking about the doctrine. We're talking about the faith, one faith that we note from Ephesians 4:4 through 6, and the gospel, the scheme of redemption of which we hold and it redeems us and we grow therein. Men that are sober or temperate and while building off of this man's faith, his reverence has a deep fear and respect toward God. And that fear, that deep fear and respectful attitude toward God grows fervently; he embraces God even more. Now while he is one who is serious, he's not to be confused with gloominess. He's actually a happy person, a blessed person. And when we see that word temperate within a life of faith, that expresses the self-control over desires that can consume one's life and one's faith.

How many men do we know fail to have self-control in their lives? They would rather spend time on the golf course or they would rather spend time doing other things that they could be spending more time with family. And those opportunities of the golf course or the fishing trips will come, but yet sometimes men have self-control... they are determined to do what they want to do regardless of others. I was reading recently of a number of years ago of a man, unbeknownst to his wife, had borrowed against their house and in so doing, spent it in unwise investments and it was all gone. They were in a debt that she knew nothing about.

Men, we need to be individuals that control ourselves through God and asking God to help us to be men of soundness, men of faith and now watch this, men of love. Men that seek the welfare of everyone. Romans 15 and verse 2 speaks of one who would please his neighbor for his good to edification. What about Galatians 6 and verse 9 where we are to do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith? So this man's faith is expressed in his love and his behavior; it is sound. Proverbs 20 and verse 7 reminds us how the just man walks in his integrity. This man of love is honest in his dealings. He provides things honest in the sight of all men, Romans 12 and verse 17, and he is one who walks honestly, Romans 13 and 13. And then we see to be men of patience.

Oh now men, I know that's liable to say, well that's it for me. Now here's what we mean by men of patience. Where the trials and the afflictions that a man may face and the challenges with his family, he is going to use those to honor God who will help him get through those things because he's a man of soundness, he's a man of faith, he's a man of love. In Job chapter 1, we learn of Job and his afflictions. We learn how he lost his children. We learn of the suffering that was placed upon him by Satan. But yet, he did not deny God. Yes, throughout the book we noted how he questioned things, but he always held his faith. He was one who would flee the things of the world and follow such things as patience, 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11.

And in the early part of James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, the trying of one's faith works patience and let patience have her perfect or complete work. This man is able to endure, he perseveres, he stays with the course, he keeps that faith strong. He's sound, he's a man of love and he applies and uses what God gives him to endure against the things that happen. So you add all this together, friends. The godly man, the man that would be one in his household, a home to pursue, the godly man has qualities that are sound in the faith with love and patience. He is a Christian man. He has obeyed the gospel of Christ. He believed in God, repented of his sins, confessed that faith and was baptized into water for the remission of his sins, Acts 2 and verse 38, and to be raised to walk in newness of life.

And he grows in soundness, in faith, in love and patience. He's like the man in Psalm 1:1 and 2. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in it doth he meditate day and night. Now let's continue with the women. Let's talk about the wives, the mothers, the single women. Let's talk about all women with these characteristics. We go back to Titus 2:3 through 5. The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.

That they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Now friends, from this text of Titus 2:3 through 5, notice the word likewise. There's the similarity of the soundness of life that the men possessed of God and by God, it's the same for women. Women with proper behavior. They are reverent in behavior, becoming holy. They are set apart unto God and they are set to take on the world. In 1 Peter 1:15 and 16, but as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." Women with proper behavior.

Women with proper speech. And oh how we are reflecting James chapter 3, to control our tongue and the challenge therein for everyone. Not to be slanderers or false accusers. That we need to know the facts of a matter before we speak on it and if we don't know all the details, we would be best not to say anything. Slanderer in the original language is actually the Greek word *diabolos* or one of the names of the devil, who is called the accuser of his brethren. To be women with proper speech. Oh I know how through the years, women have always been slandered with being slanderers or talking about things. I'm reminded of that old episode of the Andy Griffith Show where the ladies took off talking about a small cut on Barney and that he had eventually died.

And yet Aunt Bee made a simple comment to where the men turned around and thought that this shoe salesman was a TV scout. Maybe you've seen that episode, but it's amazing we all have problems with our tongues. And of course here to the ladies: don't be slanderers. Women with proper example. I think of 1 Timothy 4 and verse 12 of how Paul told Timothy to be an example of the believers and how these women were to be proper examples. Not enslaved to much wine, for example. The late David Lipscomb commented how the women of Crete were given to wine drinking, and when we look at the term enslaved or not to be given to much wine or enslaved, the drunkard is thoroughly the slave of his appetite. To not allow that to even come near and to affect. A word that means come to your senses, to moderate, control or curb, to discipline, to hold the line, to admonish.

In 1 Peter 3:1 and 2, wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. And so here are ladies that are not given to much wine. In other words, they're instructed to moderate, to control, to curb. It would be best if they stayed away from it totally when you embrace all of the meaning of this word. What about women with proper teaching? In Matthew 28 and verse 19, the context of older women teaching the younger women. And the younger women to teach their children and when you think about it, friends, that covers most of the world. And it's interesting to see the hierarchy here so to speak.

It was the aged women to teach and instruct the younger women and they would then love their children and love their husbands and in turn they in time to come would be the instructors. The woman of faith is sound in her behavior, her speech, her example and her teaching. She is to be a godly woman like the godly men we noted. This reminds me of Luke 1 and verse 38 when Mary said to the angel, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Let it be to the women according to the word of God. Now pause with me for a moment. If we have men who are godly, women who are godly, men and women, godly men and women meet one another, they marry, they begin a good household. Do you get the idea? Do you see how this is a home to pursue and it begins with you and I as individuals being what God would have us to be and then we're able to grow in those areas. What a beautiful thought.

J. Webb: Are you on Instagram? Follow International Gospel Hour on Instagram. Just search International Gospel Hour, click follow and you are set. Keep up with International Gospel Hour on Instagram. Thank you.

Jeff Archey: And now friends, let's conclude with the children. Let's talk about the boys and girls, if you will. What about Proverbs 4, verses 1 and 2? "Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine: do not forsake my law." Friends, that's good doctrine. Now, when we have godly men, husbands, fathers, we have godly women, wives, mothers, and children are going to learn from their parents more than anyone. Let's talk about children within the home to pursue. What about children that obey? That's simply taught in Ephesians 6:1 through 3. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee and thou may live long on the earth."

And in Hebrews 12 and verse 7 the question is asked, "For what son is he whom the father chastens not?" I am so grateful for the instruction of my parents and the correction of my parents, that here I am in my 60s and I still think about things that my mother and father instructed to me, told me and emphasized to me. What about children then that will learn the ways of God? Oh I think about Jesus who made the good choice when he said in Luke 2:49, "How is it that you sought me? Know you not that I must be about my Father's business?" In 2 Kings 22, verses 1 and 2, Josiah was a youth about the Father's business. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15, Timothy was a youth about the Father's business. And think of the choice Solomon through inspiration who taught us to remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, Ecclesiastes 12:1.

Friends, that's why you will hear us emphasize here on International Gospel Hour from time to time about the importance of Bible time at home. Bible time. As a matter of fact, we consistently offer and... or we try to offer from time to time would be more accurate, friends, but whenever I talk about the home, the tract "How To Do Bible Time" by Wesley Skelton that we send. Wesley is involved with the Legacy Bible Camp, the Legacy Family Camp that we mentioned earlier. And "How To Do Bible Time," it's a very simple brochure that we can mail to you. As a matter of fact, I want you to keep that in mind because when we offer our free Bible study course by mail in just a moment, I want you to ask for the "Bible Time" tract, so keep that in mind and I'll mention it in a moment.

But you see, these are times at home that families can sit down and have Bible time. TV's off, radio's off, phones are put aside and we can sit down and we can learn a little bit each and every day. You see, children that obey their parents, that learn the ways of God and apply them. Let's talk about children that speak respectfully. Titus 2 and verse 8, back to our text in Titus. The young man to have sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. To have sound speech, truthful speech. And in Colossians 4 and verse 6, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." Young people that will speak respectfully and how they indeed should do so.

How about children that will select their friends carefully? Keeping in mind such texts as 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 33, "Be not deceived: evil communication corrupts good manners." And in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 22, to flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Now those four things are very huge, friends, but yet they're so simple to apply. Children that will obey their parents, that will learn the ways of God and apply them, that will speak respectfully and select friends carefully. The pattern of Jesus in Luke 2:52 where he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. You see, friends, godly families make the difference.

Imagine if every member of a family simply believed in Christ and repented of sins, confessed their faith in Christ and were baptized into Christ, added to his church, forgiven of sins, and they simply lived Christian lives to grow in Christ every day. What a wonderful thought. And friends, we want to help you toward that end. We mentioned earlier about videos at wvbs.org that families can watch together. And I mentioned about the "Bible Time" tract at home, the "Bible Time" tract. Well friends, how about if we share with you our free Bible study course by mail that families can work on together and don't forget, when you call and request the Bible study course by mail, don't forget to add when you say "Home Study," also add "Bible Time" tract and we'll get that to you. Now here's our J. Webb with those details, then I'll be back to wrap up our study today.

J. Webb: Our longtime free Bible study course by mail is always available. Have you tried it yet? Just call us toll-free at 855-444-6988 and leave your name, address and just say "Home Study." That's it. You may also go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com, click on the contact tab and leave us the same information, name, address and type "Home Study" in the message box. Study the Bible at your own pace. Again, it's free from your friends here at International Gospel Hour.

Jeff Archey: My dear friends, we have covered some ground today concerning a home to pursue. But let us grasp one key thing. The godly home must be pursued and it can be accomplished through all that we will do. It starts with everyone in the family. It starts with the men, it starts with the women, it starts with the children. And as we've studied today how a man should conduct his life godly, he'll be a godly husband, a godly father and he will serve faithfully in his household. Even if he's not married, he's going to impact this family as a brother. Same with a woman who would be a sister but also a godly wife, a godly mother. And then children that will follow in that pattern. Let us have homes that we can pursue God and let us continue these studies together at another time. Thank you for joining me today on the International Gospel Hour weekly broadcast. I'm Jeff Archey and friends, as always, keep listening.