Worship #4: Why They Didn't Preach Sermons in the Early Church

Worship Seminar #4: Why They Didn't Preach Sermons in the Early Church. A public lecture by Tom Wadsworth, PhD, presented on Oct. 25, 2022, at the Loveland Community Building in Dixon, IL. This presentation takes a closer look at the specific kinds of "assembly speaking" employed in church meetings in the New Testament.
Chapters:
00:00 Recap of Episode #3 on The Temple
07:17 Introduction and Praise for Pastors
14:58 The Sermon in the NT
20:35 Church Speakers in the NT
28:37 Preaching in the NT
45:14 What We Lack #1: One Anothering
48:44 What We Lack #2: Multiple Perspectives
54:05 What We Lack #3: Opportunity for Development
59:53 Excursis on Evangelism
1:04:21 Summary

[alanalynn]

What a timely message and a blessing to me right now I am so disgruntled with how churches operate today. I've never been so lonely as a single woman on Sunday
No one seems to fellowship anymore after a service. It's like a fast food experience. Sing three songs a half hour sermonette and everybody scatters like cockroaches an hour later. I have looked for house gatherings unsuccessfully. The only solution is to start one.. Thank you for these teachings they're actually a God send for me

[bengrivno]

Tom. Brother. This series is pure gold. That certain ache in the modern Christian's heart is finally explained. There is something missing and it's massive. I am blown away and without adequate words. 😮I cannot thank you enough for teaching this and sharing. 🥲

[BookmarkthisLPR]

The grief of wanting to follow Christ and getting stuck time and time again in dead church. I appreciate this channel!

[shaeholden]

"One Anothering" is a profound reminder. I left the corporate church system 5 years ago and I do not miss it at all. My daughter recently hosted a women's interactive Bible study and prayer requests. It was a profoundly uplifting time, and it occurred to me... THIS is what the Acts church did!! May the Lord continue to use you to enlighten us believers.

[standinginthegap]

Myself and 2 of my friends who are Christians are going to start doing our own at home Bible study and fellowship each week. I feel like I really need this more than the “show “ I see on Sundays

[scullyfox]

I stopped attending church years ago because the whole structure felt so off. I got incredibly tired of listening to sermons that were catered to a general audience. I got tired of having no indepth fellowship with other believers because we all wore our Sunday best masks. It finally dawned on me that my church wasn't for Christians it was for unbelievers who didn't know anything about the bible. I've often wondered how the early church conducted their meetings, so this message much appreciated.

[Maxandshe]

My husband and I became missionaries in Japan. We'd a great Bible study for our students called Firm Foundations. From Genesis to Revelation. We sat around a table with students and read Bible based on the study. It truly taught the entire purpose and picture of Jesus. We learned more in those informal classes than in years of services and even 2 years at Bible college. We were able to pause discuss and see the Wonder of salvation unfold from Gen to Rev.

[mjrewerts]

Yes bring back the interactive church—personal testimonies were so impactful to me as a young teenager in the church.

[TS-ydcn]

Amen, amen, AMEN! I have felt confusion and guilt for thinking these things about the rituals of church 'services' for most of my life. Many go home after a church service feeling gently alienated from Christendom - and from our heavenly Father. I love praising God in song, but prefer to do it spontaneously (and, honestly, privately), and certainly without a team on microphones to lead and drown out the other wonderful voices of brother and sister believers. I love conversing with people, encouraging and comforting (which you can sometimes do AFTER the service, but very quickly before everyone leaves). I love biblical teaching (so it's a problem if the sole pastor is not gifted for the purpose but is still forcing himself to preach for 30-60 mins because that's what you DO at church). The emphasis is on conforming to modern church structure. To participate in limited, carefully defined, and sometimes quite meaningless ways.

Each church I've been in does seem to live and die by its head pastor (or maybe its worship team). If a pastor moves on, the church risks collapsing from within. The new leader may inherit an unsatisfied (and unsatisfactory) group and try to shape them into the flock he wished for. It's not surprising to hear that people tend to leave most after a change in leadership, but it is sad. We HAVE a shepherd. We can all be equipped for every good work, we can all study to show ourselves approved, we can all be part of the body and show love and mercy to one another.

Sometimes, when evangelism is the only purpose valued, church leaves me feeling either used or useless. Believers matter too!!! When we look after each-other... When we LOVE one another... This is how the world knows that we are His disciples.

[MerhawiZere-djxy]

This teacher is eloquently putting this ideas where I was unsure how to say them, and much much more. I am so grateful for him.

[martinmccormack]

Hi Tom. I stumbled upon your series of Teachings on "Worship" and it is a breath of fresh air. For so long I have struggled with the Evangelical emphasis on the "gathering" as some form of necessity to "Worship " God. The emphasis on this, and may I add, on acquiring lots of biblical knowledge, distract us away from our main purpose as Christians, and that is, to serve each other, and lay down our lives for each other. We thereby follow Christ as he did the same. We are very Pharisaical in our "church" activities, and I sometimes feel, we are almost not Christ followers, but rather, religious pharisees. Your studies are amazing and solid, and a great foundation to build a better basis as to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I thank you sincerely. God bless and preserve you. A book on the subject would be a good idea...in case Youtube cuts you off .Thanks. Martin

[mtlucky]

Your videos were immensely beneficial in aiding in my strengthening confidence in my journey away from the institution of church. Over the last 2 years my relationship with the Lord grew exponentially by deepening my individual prayer and scripture studies and fellowshipping with family, friends, and strangers alike. It is lonely at times though as this belief is quite minimal all around me.

[lorbrand]

Well done … thank you for awakening us from our millennial slumber listening to SERMONS

[moodberry]

What it TRULY takes in any congregation is humility between ALL the members. I noticed in my years of "attending church" that the overbearing members tended to rise to the top. The meek and humble ones simply endured those who wanted to be "leaders", so the overbearing (actually prideful) ones dominated and pushed aside any opinions but their own.
This, IMHO, is what creates denominations and schisms within the body.
How much better is it then for a group of people who ALL count one another as better than themselves. This is true worship, because God says "To this one will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my Word" and "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble"
We should ALL respect one another's personal relationship with God, and by respect, I mean TRULY take what someone else says and consider it carefully, not flippantly and reject it out of hand because it doesn't agree with what we already think we know.
If the church did this today, what astounding growth and witness to the world would happen! I believe some day this will happen. I hope to see it in my lifetime.

[carolynorr]

Excellent, excellent video! Thank You!

[NoJesus.NoLife]

Amazing! So glad to know this now. Thanks again, Doc.

[jeaniekelly]

thank you brother .there are
many who have seen the grave errors of Western churchianity, many of us have no contact with believers, many for years. I now know that only through God revealing it ..I wrestled with myself to what I was understanding that something was vert wrong and getting worse no longer could I be a part of the decline...shalom ...

[jbible]

So good! So right! Good research. Very significant. Let's honor and respect the early church apostles and how they did church.

[firstcenturychristianity]

You just presented a great argument against a single bishop pastor pope model. In spite of how much pastors groan and complain about how much is on their shoulders, virtually none of them will embrace a New Testament model because they’d lose all of their power and most of their income.

[heartsandmindsathome]

So many good points! I became annoyed getting all my kids ready on Sundays just to go sit and be preached at as if I was an unbeliever. Definitely needed meat but this was below milk status. Unbelievers are outside. Go out there to preach/evangelize. We also don’t do kids church or youth activities… it’s all become an outreach. We need INreach!