{"id":92036,"date":"2025-11-10T21:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T03:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=92036"},"modified":"2025-11-10T21:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T03:20:09","slug":"following-gods-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/following-gods-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Following God&#8217;s Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n<p>Following the pattern of authority in the Bible isn&#8217;t hard; individuals and churches just need to make up their minds to do it. That means doing things that might run counter to what we&#8217;ve always believed.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, raising money for the local church using methods other than the free-will giving of its members is against the New Testament pattern.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That means &#8220;church owned&#8221; bookstores, coffee shops, or cafes are unscriptural.<\/li>\n<li>Using the church&#8217;s treasury to provide benevolence to non-Christians is contrary to the New Testament pattern. So church-run food pantries or clothing stores are unscriptural.<\/li>\n<li>Using the church&#8217;s treasury to provide recreation or other social activities for its members is against the New Testament pattern. So, church-financed so-called &#8220;fellowship meals&#8221; in a church kitchen are unscriptural.<\/li>\n<li>Using musical instruments to accompany congregational singing is contrary to the New Testament pattern. So, using a piano, a guitar, or any other musical instrument, even if it&#8217;s just a &#8220;small one,&#8221; is unscriptural.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Does that mean that I can&#8217;t enjoy a meal with my brethren? Of course not, but it&#8217;s up to me to provide the hospitality, not the church&#8217;s treasury. If a non-Christian needs some help with food, it&#8217;s my personal responsibility to aid the needy, not the church&#8217;s treasury. If I want my local church to accomplish the work God has given it, I must support it with my own financial contributions and not expect it to go into business to finance the work.<\/p>\n<p>The most important part of recognizing scriptural authority is respecting the One to whom it belongs. We need to remember that it&#8217;s Christ&#8217;s church, not ours, and He has the right to regulate its practices as He sees fit.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work<\/em>&#8221; (II Timothy 3:16-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Zeke Flores Following the pattern of authority in the Bible isn&#8217;t hard; individuals and churches just need to make up their minds to do it. That means doing things that might run counter to what we&#8217;ve always believed. For instance, raising money for the local church using methods other than the free-will giving of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[154,152],"class_list":["post-92036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church-funds","tag-social-activities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/institutionalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":0},"title":"Institutionalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chris Reeves Truth Magazine August 2024 Christians today who were not raised during the institutional battles among brethren in the 1950s and 1960s would do well to learn the issues that divide us today. Having learned these issues,\u00a0they can then teach others the truth concerning the work and organization\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90355,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-restrictive-nature-of-submission\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":1},"title":"The Restrictive Nature of Submission","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores Submitting to the authority of God's will is not only serious business, it's also very restrictive.\u00a0Because of its very nature, those who submit to authority can only operate within its bounds. What passes for Christianity in America, and across the world, really isn't because it goes beyond\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sponsoring-church-arrangement-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":2},"title":"The Sponsoring Church Arrangement (Jennings)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan Jennings Not long after World War 2, members of the Lord's church decided they wanted to take the gospel overseas to the countries with whom we had been at war. This was a good attitude to have. Especially since we are supposed to spread the gospel to everyone.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-the-church-may-use-its-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":3},"title":"How the Church May Use Its Money","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor \"Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-has-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":4},"title":"Who Has Changed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Goforth Sentry Magazine, September 2000 Someone has indeed changed! It has sometimes been argued that \"The anti's have come up a new doctrine.\" Thomas B. Warren, in his book on \"Lectures on Church Cooperation and Orphan Homes,\" argues \"If you can find anyone who taught this before 1955,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23049,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-restoration-of-giving\/","url_meta":{"origin":92036,"position":5},"title":"The Restoration of Giving","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Harold V. Comer via Gospel Power, Vol. 14, No. 48, Dec. 2, 2007. This is a day of religious fundraising and money promotions. With all of the emphasis on pressure and gimmicks, there is a great need to restore the New Testament pattern of giving. The first-century practice would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/collection.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}