No man in New Testament times received more attacks and criticism for his preaching than did the apostle Paul. Again and again he was called upon to defend his apostleship and the gospel which he preached. The book of Galatians is largely devoted to the proof of his apostleship and the divine origin of the gospel which he preached in contrast to the false doctrines which were carrying them away from the Lord. The ideas of what constitutes proof of sound doctrine today may vary, but the one way to prove what is sound doctrine was used by the apostle in Galatians 1:11,12: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Of course, we do not today receive the gospel directly from Jesus Christ, but we do receive what was delivered directly to the apostles. What we read in the New Testament is the word of Christ just as Paul and the other apostles received it. But usually when one comes to prove a proposition or establish a practice he uses other arguments besides the fact that it is written in the New Testament. Those who do such are occupying the grounds of the false teachers against whom Paul wrote in the Galatian epistle. A certain doctrine is taught; and to make the hearer believe it, the teacher or preacher resorts to the following claims:

 1. ‘My years of experience.’

Paul could not say much for his years of experience in the gospel as compared to the other apostles. He speaks of himself as “of one born out of due time.” Now one of the first arguments made is that of preaching so many years. That is supposed to make the hearer accept what he says. This is no proof because a man may preach error for fifty years and never get it right.

 2. ‘My education.’

Paul mentioned his education in the righteousness of the law at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), but he counted all this for nothing in preaching the gospel delivered to him by Christ (Phil. 3:7-9). One does not know God by the wisdom of this world (I Cor. 1:20,21). The number of degrees a man has does not prove his preaching to be true.

3. ‘I stand with great men of the past.’

Paul stood with one of the greatest teachers of his day – Gamaliel – but he did not offer that as proof of the truth he preached. Often great men of the past were wrong in what they taught. The thing to do is to prove that these men stood upon the only foundation of truth – the New Testament, then we have only proved that we have the truth because it is taught in the word of God. Just the fact that we stand with great men of the past does not give credence to what we teach; it is the fact that it comes from the New Testament.

4. ‘The majority agree with my stand.’

Not one time do we read of Paul, or any other apostle, using this argument to prove either apostleship or truth of the gospel which they preached. History abounds with proof that the majority are always opposed to the gospel of Christ. It is true that many people are more persuaded by the stand of the majority and the elite than they are by what is taught in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but this does not prove their doctrine to be true. Just the fact that one stands with the minority does not prove him right. It must be proved by what is taught in the word of God.  Neither the majority nor the minority proves a man to be teaching the true gospel.

5. ‘I have never changed.’

This is supposed to guarantee that the position held without change is the true one. This is certainly not the proof Paul used to establish his apostleship and his gospel. He freely admitted his change and told why. His proof was not in the consistency of his own belief and practice through his years, but rather that he had learned and received the truth that did not come from man, nor by man, but from the Lord himself. He says that in his former course he “thought” he was right, but learned of his error and changed. The mere fact that one has never changed his teachings does not prove his doctrine to be true. The only proof of sound doctrine is what is taught in the New Testament.  Let that be our only appeal.

By H. E. Phillips (Taken from THE BEACON  -  Electronic Edition)

Justin Dobbs is our featured speaker this week for a spring meeting.  Justin works with brethren in Boston, Massachusetts and is partially supported by Westwood.

We hope you’ll come hear him teach God’s word each evening at 7 PM.

If you cannot come, we’ll be glad to send you audio CDs of each lesson.  Simply write to us at Westwood Church of Christ, 1605 West Lincoln Street, Tullahoma, TN 37388, or email westwoodcoc@gmail.com.   Be sure to include your full address and zip code.

Or look for postings of the audios here for listening online and/or free download.

The theme of study for the week is “In Judgment of the Gods”.

Topics of study include:

• What’s This Book About Anyway? (Sunday AM Bible study)
• Psalm 32 Confession (Sunday AM worship)
• Where the Lord Began to Hate Them (Sunday PM)
• The High Places (Monday)
• Idols of the Heart (Tuesday)
• Desires of the Heart (Wednesday)
• Two Sons (Thursday)
• A Resurrected Christ (Friday)

COME JOIN US.

Seth McDonald will be guest speaker in a series of gospel meetings March 4 through 9.

We hope you will come.

Service times and topics:

Sunday 4 9 am,  “The Most Frequent Commandment”

Sunday 10 am, “Convicted As a Christian”

Sunday 5 pm, “Encourage Like Joses”

Monday 7 pm, “Blessings That Require Action”

Tuesday 7 pm, “How Big Is Your Shield?”

Wednesday 7 pm, “Loving Like Jesus Loved”

Thursday 7 pm, “Strange Stuff That Smells Good to God”

Friday 7 pm, “Homesick for Heaven”

Bro. Lanny Smith of Fishers, Indiana will be guest speaker in our fall meeting starting October 23. 

We hope you will join us in these studies.

Topics for each service are as follows:

Sunday Oct 23 9:00 AM — A Study of First Corintians 2

Sunday Oct 23 10:00 AM – Jesus’s Death

Sunday Oct 23 5:00 PM — The Parable of the Talents

Monday Oct 24 7:00 PM — Minor Details — or Weightier Matters?

Tuesday Oct 25 7:00 PM — Developing a Mature View of the Church

Wednesday Oct 26 7:00 PM — Ruining the Hunger for Righteousness

Thursday Oct 27 7:00 PM — Where Do You Draw the Line?

Friday Oct 28 7:00 PM — Put on the Whole Armor of God

Recently Bro. Mickels presented a serious of lessons on the topic: Building a Better Church Through Building Better Relationships.

For your convenience, here is the entire series of lessons on audio.

Lesson 1: Brethren1 (4.6M WMA File)

Lesson2: Attitudes for Better Relationships (4.4M WMA File)

Lesson 3: Attitudes that will Hinder Relationships (5.5M WMA File)

Lesson 4: The Role of the Tongue in Building Relationships (4.3M WMA File)

Lesson 5: Can We Control Our Tongue? (5.1M WMA File)

Lesson 6: Specific Ways to Improve Our Relationships (5.7M WMA File)

Jim Mickells presents a lesson on the Rejection of Christ.

Christ was rejected by men during his life and is still rejected today.

The Rejection of Christ (5.5M Audio File)

Jim Mickells presents a sermon examining the Parable of the Great Feast

Passage:  Luke 14:16

Parable of the Great Feast (3.6M  Audio)

September 19-24

Sunday:   9 a.m.     10 a.m.    5 p.m.
Monday – Friday 7:00 pm

Speaker:  Mike Webb of Vinemont, AL

SERIES: BUILDING A BETTER LOCAL CHURCH

To hear audio of the sermons, click the links below. All files are in Windows Media Format.

• Sunday Bible Study – Laying Aside Every Weight
• Sunday AM – The Importance of the Local Church
• Sunday PM – Building a Better Local Church by Each Member Doing Their Part
• Monday  -  Building a Better Local Church by Developing Better Relationships
• Tuesday  -  Building a Better Local Church by striving to be Structurally Organized
• Wednesday  -Building a Better Local Church by Demanding Good Preaching/Teaching
• Thursday  -  building a Better Local Church by Developing an Evangelistic Spirit
• Friday  - Building a Better Local Church by Properly Dealing with Church Problems

Bob Waldron of Dade City, Florida spoke at Westwood March 7th thru the 12th.

The theme was “Effective Bible Teaching”.

You can listen to the sermon audio by clicking on the links below. Sermons are in WMA format.

Sunday 10:00AM  – Purposes of Effective Bible Teaching: PurposesEffectiveBibleTeaching (4.7M)

Sunday 5:00PM – The Story of the Bible: StoryOfTheBible (6.3M)

Monday 7:00PM – The Importance of Old Testament Studies: ImportanceOldTestamentStudies (7.4 M)

Tuesday 7:00PM – Plans for Effective Bible Teaching:  PlansEffectiveBibleTeaching (5.9M)

Wednesday 7:00PM – Teaching the Lesson God Planned:  teachinglessongodplanned (6.9M)

Thursday 7:00PM – Psalm 119:  psalm119 (6.7M)

Friday 7:00PM – The Day of Pentecost: dayofpentecost (5.8 M)

Come hear a series of lessons on marriage and the home September 13 through 18.

Several area speakers have been invited to speak.  We hope you will come.

On Sunday, three lessons will be presented–at 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, and 5:00 PM.  Lessons will continue through Friday, at 7:00 PM each night.

Scheduled lessons:

Sunday:  Greg Gwin spoke at all 3 services on “Attacks Against the Home”

Sun morning class WMA audio (9M) -  Pornography:

Sun morning WMA audio (8.5M) – Problems with Preference

Sun evening WMA audio (7.5M) – Personal Finances

Monday: Chris Bates WMA audio (11.6M) – How to Prevent Infidelity in the Home

Tuesday:  Phillip Martin WMA audio (13M) – “Successful Marriages“

Wednesday:  Terrell Bunting  WMA audio (11M) – “The Mother’s Role in the Home”

Thursday:  Jeff Curtis — “The Father’s Role in the Home”

Friday:  Donnie Rader — “Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage”

We hope you’ll come to visit.