I have chosen chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians to help us consider the covenantal nature of the New Testament Church. This is a short chapter with only 13 verses out of which I wish to make five observations. After those five observations, I want to give just a few moments of practical consideration about our accessing members into a local church and our oversight of them, since many of you are pastors and leaders of churches.

Before I read this passage let me tell you a story that took place in 1837. A protracted meeting was held in Eatonton, Georgia. A number of people had been converted, and one day they were all gathering by the river for a baptism. One of the persons being baptized was a teenage girl. Her name was Caroline, or shortened, Carrie. Carrie had come to Christ with a great deal of conviction. She said in her own testimony, "I desire to be even more devoted to my Savior than I have ever been to the world." This, as we will see, was her intense desire. There at the riverside was one of her friends who was yet unconverted whose name was Julia. Julia, in fact, had been very close to Caroline or Carrie in all of kinds of worldly exploits. So this unsaved girl was now watching the baptism of her closest friend.

Our family begins the day with the hymn we are currently memorizing. When Laura was five, she sang for all of us the second verse of "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" by the Yale president of the late 1700s, Timothy Dwight. With a determined look, she sang out,

My boys collapsed on the floor with laughter. The word is "graven!"

The kids were telling me just this evening how special our morning worship is. They value it, not only because it is sometimes humorous, but because it is the glue that holds us together, the stimulus for some our best discussions, and the real strength of our lives—its the heart, in fact, of our family reformation.

The Puritans, long misunderstood, had an exceptional view of the family. We can learn from them even though we might not accept all they had to say. They often talked of the home as the "little church," and the father as the pastor of his little flock. Lewis Bayly said, "What the preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house." Family worship is the natural outcome of such a view.

The practice of family worship (with or without children at home) is as forgotten to the church today as the dust in our attic, but this simple and effective method of restoring family spirituality is the most potent tool we have available to us—and every one of us can do it!

• Oct. 26-28 Audubon Bible Church, Annual Conference, 800-405-3788
  
  
• Oct. 31 FCA Headquarters Chapel, KC, MO
  
  
• Nov. 4 Bethel Community Church, KC, Kansas Tony717@earthlink.net
  
  
• Nov. 11 Host Evening of Reformed Preaching, Parkville, MO ccwjce@juno.com
  
  

• The www.WayToGod.org site has been launched! Already several sites have linked from their homepages to our site for the purpose of giving a clear presentation of the gospel. We think that many more will do so in the days to come. You may copy and paste a button to use as your link from our site by right clicking the graphic in this newsletter.
• Jim just returned from Gardnerville, NV and Cordelia, CA where he spoke in two pastors fraternals, seminar, a conference and two church Lord's Day meetings. The interest was high and there was great eagerness on the part of the listeners.
• The 35 Reasons Not to Sin has been translated into Ukrainian!
• The Eaglet has been translated into Braille!
• Bill Busshaus and family are still attempting to sell their property in the hill country around San Antonio. Please pray that this will happen in God's timing. Bill is contributing some of the answers for our Q and A section of the www.WayToGod.org site right now. He is also working on a personal tract that relates his unusual testimony. Bill was paralyzed what a freshman Navy quarterback. After opening a bar in Jacksonville, Florida, he read the NT and was converted. Perhaps we will put his testimony on our new site soon.
• Pam Elliff, along with the three kids, Benjamin (15), Bryan (12) and Laura (9) are doing well. Benjamin just had his 15th birthday. He stands six feet tall and shows no signs of shrinkage. If big paws has anything to do with size, Bryan may grow up as large or larger! Laura is into trying to solve the Sherlock Holmes mystery on the computer; Bryan is playing his classical guitar beautifully, and Benjamin is applying his writing skills on critical reports. Pam has produced a beautiful garden of flowers that are all in bloom now. The Elliff family continues to host many friends in their home keeping Pam busy and out of trouble. The family cat, Widdy, continues to use the toilet, a wonder to most guests!