Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel message, and a fellow worker and slave in Christ to the church at Acworth which is called Summit Baptist, to those who have been justified and set apart for the work of the Kingdom, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God always in my prayers concerning you for the grace which has been imparted to you.
I want to encourage you to continue to push forward in the things of Christ even in a world which is difficult. I know of your works with those who are hungry and how you are feeding them where they live and even from your own homes. The works you are doing are growing the kingdom, but remember that food alone is insufficient to sustain eternal life. Continue to share Christ and Him crucified in every aspect of this work.
I also know of the works you are doing to spread the gospel to the world. Your works in Hungary, Ukraine, Mexico, North Africa, West Virginia, and all over the Southeastern United States are faithfully leading people to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do not become weary in your endeavors, but continue to share Christ with the world.
Your desire to start other churches is also right and good. The bride belongs to Christ and not to man; therefore, it should be the bride and not man who starts churches. Continue to teach and disciple shepherds who can be sent out with the gospel. Love and support these men greatly, but test them even more to ensure they are above reproach, the husband of one wife, able to control their children, not rebellious in spirit, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine or tobacco, not after prosperity, and sound in every doctrine holding to the truth of scripture above all else (1 Tim. 3:2-7; Tit. 1:6-9).
If you find after you have sent them, that this is not the case, rebuke them, retrain them and encourage them, with all love and patience to return to the faith (2 Tim 4:2). If that is not possible, cut them free, with a shower of prayers, and set them adrift to be drowned in the world.
Your faith and works are many and I exhort you to continue, but I also know of the divisions among you. It is said that many of you are attacking the annoited that God has placed at Summit. Whether right or wrong in his decisions, he is answerable to God and not you so long as he does not act unbiblically. I doubt that this is the issue. Instead, it seems obvious that those who are attacking are doing so for selfish ambition or simply for sinful gossip. May the almighty Judge cul you from the bride and leave you to the unrepentant ways of your heart if you do not change.
I understand that many of you say that you are at Summit because of Jimmy or Aaron or Lee. While one may have invited you or visited in your home, or even baptized you, none is responsible for your salvation. This is the work of Christ alone. Has Christ been divided? Absolutely not! Therefore, you are not to be divided. No staff is worthy of your praise and devotion. Like me he is nothing more than a sinner saved by grace, and only Christ is to receive your devotion. It is Christ who calls you to sanctification, and it is for Christ’s glory that we propagate the gospel (1 Cor. 1:10-17).
Therefore, do not be devoted to a man, but to Christ. Serve as a slave to His will and not your own or to that of another man. Pray for and encourage your staff, but also challenge and hold them accountable for the preaching of the Word and the fulfillment of their ministry. Ensure they do the work of evangelists (2 Tim 4:1-5).
But your divisions have also caused you to sin in worship. For just as your seem to worship one of your staff over Christ, so you also find that worship must be to your liking and comfort to be worth your time. Oh how sin abounds in your pride. You worry more about what style of music is sung than you worry about the truth of the words you sing. You worry more about the temperature of the sanctuary, than you worry about the temperature of your heart. These things are of no lasting value, only the truth of scripture should remain. Confess your sins and enter into the sanctuary with a contrite heart, seeking the presence of God, for we are all Men of unclean lips and live among people of unclean lips (Isa. 6:5) completely unworthy of worshiping God, yet cleansed by the altar fires through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, do not dwell on style but on substance. Bend your knees, and confess Christ and Him crucified alone, so that you may have true worship, and heal your divisions. Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to one another, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:16).
Finally, brothers, do not take license with your salvation, for you remember that you are nothing more than sinners, and your license may prevent others from understanding salvation. You want to proclaim the gospel in restriction, and yet live with all license, and while all things in Christ are permissible not all things are profitable, since we are no longer under the law. However, the gospel is only power to those who are being saved, to those who are perishing, it is pure foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18), and a stumbling block. Therefore, apart from your witness and testimony, making the gospel real and evident, you in your license, impede those who are lost and dying from coming to salvation.
How many of you would eat before a man with an allergy the very food which would kill him? Yet you parade your freedom in front of those who would stumble without thinking (1 Cor. 8:1-13). You drink and carouse and party with those who are unsaved, leading them further into sin, while you sin in your righteousness. For, we are all merely sinners, saved by the grace of God, not to flaunt the grace, but to be humbled by it. We are to revel in our poverty, and not in our liberty. While grace is sufficient for all sin, we are not to sin so that grace may be more prevalent. NO, we are to share that grace by giving up our liberty, for even I have nothing to boast, having made myself a slave to all, that I might win more to Christ.
Therefore, boast in your submission to Christ and in His cross, not in your liberty. Do not hold on to the law to make it a measuring stick for righteousness, but exchange the law and liberty for grace, living in submission to the will of Christ that even one more may be won to faith.
Now, send my greetings to your elders that they may be encouraged and steadfast. I know that they have had these last four years as a season of testing and trial, having to deal with unrepentant sinners and removing them from the fold. Their work is the Lord’s.
Greet your pastor Aaron and encourage him as physical infirmity has slowed his ministry, but not stopped it. Remind him that even I have a thorn which the Lord has chosen not to remove, but our bodies will be healed in the final resurrection, just as Christ was resurrected, so we too will have our part in the perishable being made imperishable.
Finally, remain steadfast in your faith. The days are coming when the bride will be attacked from all sides and the world will seek to destroy her. I fear even now that day has come. But, remember that Christ is still exalted and seated at the right hand of the father for all eternity and the Day of the Lord is certain and immanent. He will be victorious and we shall enjoy that too, for God has not destined us for His wrath, but for obtaining salvation through Jesus Christ.
Pray for us and for each other and greet one another with a holy kiss.
Read this letter to all who are in the fellowship.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
