Jan. 26, 2016 Show with Daniel R. Hyde on “FROM the PEN of PASTOR PAUL (1-2 Thessalonians)” plus REV. Ron Glass & Steve Visconti on “The Vital Need for Christian Service”

The Program Opens With a Scripture-Based Introduction

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors, Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions. Now here's our host, Chris Arnton.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming. This is Chris Arnton, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 26th day of January 2016.

And we are still digging out from the blizzard that we had here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas and thankfully there were no power outages, at least that I'm aware of, and nothing that is going to prevent us from broadcasting today, thus far anyway, God willing.

Daniel Hyde on the Pastoral Heart of 1 and 2 Thessalonians

And I'm very happy and excited to have returning guests today whose interviews I really enjoyed in the past. For the first hour we're going to have Danny Hyde returning to the program, pastor of Oceanside United Reformed Church in California.

He's going to be discussing the theme of his new book, From the Pen of Pastor Paul, in which he addresses first and second Thessalonians. And then the second hour we are going to have back on the broadcast Pastor Ron Glass, who is one of my favorite preachers, not only that, but one of my dearest friends and the church where he pastors on Long Island, Waiting River Baptist Church, is one of the primary sponsors of Iron Sharpens Iron, without whom this program would likely not exist.

And joining Pastor Ron Glass for the second hour will be Steve Visconti, who is a columnist for the Narrow Pathway in Eastern Long Island's Community Journal. They're going to be discussing the vital need for Christian service, and so we hope that you stay tuned for that hour as well.

But first of all, let me welcome back to Iron Sharpens Iron, Pastor Danny Hyde.

Hey Chris, thanks for having me.

It's great to have you back, and I know that I always have you repeat this, but there are people who may be hearing you for the very first time, so tell our listeners something about Oceanside United Reformed Church.

Sure. We are, so trying to, of Christ, so we've been around for roughly 16 years, still continuing, so 75 to 100 people, hundreds of people, hundreds of people.

Great. And many people who hear the name of your church may wrongly confuse your denomination with a very frequently seen church on many street corners and towns all across the country that might be the first Reformed church of such and such town, which may be a liberal church or a church involved heavily in the self-esteem movement or something like that.

That is due to the unfortunate decline in sound theology of many congregations within the Reformed church in America. Denomination, but you are not a part of that. No, I are. Right, they came out of the Dutch Reformed church.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. In 1975, we see that as or not.

And it's said that some churches wearing the title Reformed on their sign very often are not even theologically Reformed at all, or even remotely Calvinistic today, even though their heritage may be very rich in that from many years ago.

Yeah, a lot of churches have that name, but now there are.

And I also don't want to broad brush everyone in the Reformed church in America in one lump because there are even Bible-believing and thoroughly Reformed and conservative congregations within that denomination, but it seems that they are diminishing from what I have seen.

And we just ask God to bring about revival in those areas. But I do know that there are even in the Christian Reformed church some men who are very faithful to the scriptures still that chose to remain there for some reason.

Joel Niederhood, I don't know if he's still in the CRC, but he was hanging in there for the last time I heard. And he's been a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron, and he wrote a very glowing endorsement for our program, so we thank the Lord for men of God like that.

The Title and Focus of From the Pen of Pastor Paul

We're here to discuss today your new book from the pen of Pastor Paul, which immediately strikes me as an interesting title because Paul in the New Testament predominantly refers to himself as an apostle.

And there are even some men and some churches and some denominations that would say that even though Paul was an apostle and wrote much of the New Testament, that he would not even qualify being a pastor according to his own principles laid out in his letters to Timothy and elsewhere, because he is not the husband of one wife, or wasn't the husband of one wife, and didn't have children that we know of unless he was a widower.

But tell us about why you specifically chose the term pastor in this title from the pen of Pastor Paul.

Sure. It's interesting that servant, in his letters to the Thessalonians, these are the only letters where on the one hand you can say, well, that shows us that there was no most scholarly Greece. In fact, he loved them.

He cared about all the titles and all the authority. He's coming to them as the man who began through his ministry.

Yeah, it's amazing that some in the clergy, if you will, will insist on very lofty titles and yet the apostle himself sometimes just said, hey, I'm Paul.

That's right.

And what was the reason that you focused this latest work on a study of the first and second letter to the church in Thessalonica?

Yeah, I decided, you know, the people in Thessalonica, these two letters should be between a pastor and people. How a church should, for me, approach my congregation to each other, at least the very basics.

And of course, something that's included in those letters are beautiful words of comfort to those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. I'm sure that every preacher and pastor and minister worth his salt, including every ordinary Christian who is reaching out with the love of Christ to comfort those who are mourning during a painful time of loss, turn to those very letters, those words of encouragement that Paul offers.

Yeah, that's that in Christ, trust in Jesus other death, that they did not miss if you died, you first and then.

And I just have to, before I go any further, I have to read an endorsement for this book because a very dear friend of mine that I've known since the mid-nineties wrote the endorsement, Dr. Conrad Mbewe, who is pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, and he is the chancellor of the African Christian University in Lusaka.

He is also one of the most powerful preachers I have ever heard in my life, and that is no exaggeration. And I urge everyone, anytime you hear of him speaking in the United States, especially if you live here, to drive, take a train or a plane to wherever he is.

I believe he may be coming to Laurel, Mississippi, if I'm not mistaken, if he hasn't already left there. But I remember hearing not long ago about him coming to Mississippi to preach. But here's what Dr. Conrad Mbewe says.

We are about, we hear about it regularly. Pastors resigning the ministry, people leaving their churches, churches splitting because of internal discord and Christians fighting against one another. Paul's letters to the Thessalonians open up his pastoral heart and theology in a way that addresses contemporary church life.

Believers who read through these letters together with this exposition will be shown the Lord Jesus Christ on every page as our chief pastor. You will have your heart warmed with love for fellow Christians, and you will be challenged to live life together with your pastor.

The best commentaries on New Testament epistles are often those that were born the same way as the epistles themselves, out of the womb of real pastoral concern and ministry. That is what you find in this highly readable book on 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

It has an aroma of authenticity about it. Read it and you will sense the heart of the Apostle Paul for the 1st century church, brought with fresh power into the 21st century. That's Dr. Conrad Mbewe, pastor of Coboata Baptist Church and chancellor of African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia.

Well, if he feels that powerfully about it, it must be definitely well worth anyone's read as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, thanks.

And, well, let's go into Pastor Paul's prayer, if you will.

Sure. If you read chapter 3, you'll see that he begins, for 3, getting off to prayer. So really, there was Paul, you know, members of church, we'd be most when we stood against them, and we take all that for granted.

The wisest that are preaching, people of prayer, remembering them, thinks of them, and that those prayers would be...

And I want to let our listeners know that if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own for Daniel Hyde, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com, chrisarnsen at gmail .com, C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com.

And please include your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the USA. And just providentially, after I read that endorsement fight by Dr. Conrad Mbewe, and that memory just reentered my brain about him preaching here in the United States, coming up very soon, I was correct.

In fact, it's just a couple of days away, he is speaking at the Deep South Founders Conference, the 28th of January through the 30th, and that is in Laurel, Mississippi, as I said earlier. He is going to be speaking at the Bethlehem Baptist Church is where it's actually located in Laurel, Mississippi.

And for more information, you can go to deepsouthfounders .com, deepsouthfounders .com. We actually do have a listener in Lindenhurst, Long Island, CJ, who wanted to know something that I actually touched upon earlier when I was introducing the title of the book.

He said, in your guest's opinion, was the Apostle Paul a widower with children, even though that is not specifically mentioned because of the very prominent role he played as a leader in the church, and it seemed that the qualifications that he himself penned for leadership required one to be able to view how they maintain and rule a household.

And by the way, CJ, you'll be happy to hear that you're receiving a free copy of this.

Book from the pen of Pastor Paul by Daniel R. Hyde. If you give me your full mailing address, we'll make sure that that is shipped out to you as soon as possible. So we thank you for writing in. And one other thing I wanted to mention about that, even if he was not married and did not have children, obviously being an apostle had a very unique role in the church, and there was a very unique involvement of the Holy Spirit in the life of the apostles, especially those that were involved in penning the ordained and inerrant and God-breathed words of Holy Scripture.

So that would be a very unique place and role in life that would not necessitate us having to view their life in a home with a wife and children.

That's right. That's right.

And we—oh, actually, we have to go to another station break right now. If you'd like to join us on the air, please email us at chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Chrisarnson at gmail dot com. And please include your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the USA.

And we do have a few more books to give away. If you live in the United States only, I'm sorry for our overseas listeners and our Canadian listeners, we cannot have these shipped out to you because of the shipping costs.

But we still want to hear from you with your questions if you have any. Chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Don't go away. We're going to be right back after these messages.

Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Hi, I'm Mark Lukens, Pastor of Providence Baptist Church.

We are a Reformed Baptist Church and we hold to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. We are in Norfolk, Massachusetts. We strive to reflect Paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how God views what we say and what we do than how men view these things.

That's not the best recipe for popularity, but since that wasn't the Apostles' priority, it must not be ours either. We believe, by God's grace, that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and to be vessels of Christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us and to build up the body of Christ in truth and love.

If you live near Norfolk, Massachusetts or plan to visit our area, please come and join us for worship and fellowship. You can call us at 508 -528 -5750. That's 508 -528 -5750. Or go to our website to email us, listen to past sermons, worship songs, or watch our TV program entitled, Resting in Grace.

You can find us at providencebaptistchurchma .org. That's providencebaptistchurchma .org. Or even on sermonaudio .com. Providence Baptist Church is delighted to sponsor Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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Paul, Egalitarianism, and the Role of Women in the Church

Welcome back. This is Chris Arns. And if you've just tuned in to Iron Sharpens Iron, our first guest today is Daniel Hyde of the Oceanside Reformed Church, United Reformed Church. And we are discussing his book, brand-new book, hot off the press, From the Pen of Pastor Paul.

Now, obviously, the Apostle Paul didn't write this book. Daniel Hyde has written us an exposition of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul's epistles to the church in Thessalonica. And if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Chrisarnsen at gmail .com. And we do have a listener in Perry County, Pennsylvania, Arnie, who wants to know, how do you respond to those who are feminists in the church or egalitarians who say that when the Apostle Paul was teaching that only men could teach and have authority over the church, that that was due merely because women of the day were prone to gossip and their being silent had nothing to do with a prohibition of leadership and teaching roles?

So, there are plenty of other, plenty of resources. From my vantage point, Timothy went to teach in, because he goes on to explain, it's not in his opinion, really, she gets to be number one, she's expecting to serve power in 13.

There's a reason for my teaching and women exercising. It's relegated to men.

And Arnie, you're going to be getting, Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania, you're getting a free copy of From the Pen of Pastor Paul by Daniel Hyde as well. Thank you for writing in. And it is interesting that some people use that argument that women had a habit of talking or chatting or gossiping or whatever during the services.

How is that less of a male chauvinist slam against women? I don't even understand why, how you could possibly, as an egalitarian or Christian feminist, how could you even bring yourselves to use that as an argument?

Because that's even more of a derogatory stereotype, in my opinion.

Yeah, it's not really a struggle between Into the Garden, what happened, multiply your pain and childbearing, your desire to be for, and sort of behind these there, your desire to be for your husband, your desire is to be over, to be against, structure, be a reflection, of course, of Christ's love for his church.

And what is that? Well, the church is a new creation. The church is to reflect the realities of what everlasting life is.

Now, how do you cover, specifically, Pastor Paul's preaching in this book?

Well, he did it. Yeah, he's running uptown, he's writing back to them to encourage,.

To preserve you,.

Isn't the part even his own words? They were the reaching answer. Why is it that?

And we do have another listener, Harrison, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, that, who asks, well, he starts out with a statement, it seems that the Scriptures are very pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-procreation, and yet it appears the Apostle Paul himself seemed to be favoring the single life for Christians.

Is that a misreading of his words?

Because God does not call everyone to be married. Paul does say they're kind, they have, they serve God, they serve Christ. Every person who is married to Christ is going to live, it's not going to be as, it's not going to be in the same exact way as people who are married can serve in certain areas, people who are single can serve in other areas.

They both are going to go out of their lives, have their own.

Thank you, Harrison, and you'll also be getting a free copy of Danny Hyde's book from the pen of the Pastor Paul, from the pen of Pastor Paul, I'm sorry. And we do have Christopher in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, who says in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 12, the Apostle Paul writes,.

But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away. Why is he making this caveat that he is saying this seemingly out of his personal opinion, and not that this is being divinely revealed to him?

Is that what this text is trying to convey?

I think in those Gospels, so now he, not the Lord, now he has this distinction between now he's giving direction.

What are the fruits of Gospel ministry that you could demonstrate from the pen of the Pastor Paul? And we have a listener from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Christian, who says, I have heard that many theologians and Bible scholars believe the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews.

What is your guest's opinion on that? I have also heard the possibility that Luke may have written it, but I don't know if we can ever be certain this side of heaven. So, any opinion on that?

More modern. My opinion would be to say he didn't. It's called an amanuensis. That letter, I think, the way that the other epistles might be, the big issue is...

I'd like you to give our listeners the main reasons you believe. These two letters to the church in Thessalonica are so very crucially important in the life of the believer.

I think 1st Thessalonians and 2nd Thessalonians are what a godly Christian ministry should look like. It may humble us. It may not be. Maybe he's having a hard time.

And if you could also now make sure that you leave our listeners with what you most want etched on their hearts and minds before they leave the program today.

Sure. I want people to know Christ. He is the best deacon.

Amen. Well, I'd like you to now also let our listeners know exactly how they can contact you and the Oceanside United Reformed Church and how they can get a hold of this book. Obviously, Amazon .com would be one way.

Yeah, sure. People can find me online.

Yeah, it's sad that the local Christian bookstore is a dying breed of stores. And of course, you and I know that there are some Christian bookstores that the world would be better off without them because they are nothing more than Tetzel's shop of garbage.

I mean, it's amazing. Some of the so-called evangelical bookstores will sell on one shelf. They'll have something absolutely wonderful by somebody like R .C. Sproul or John MacArthur and a shelf away, they'll have T .D. Jakes.

And then another shelf away, they'll have rosary beads and statues of Mary. So, I mean, it's absolutely...

Yeah, I mean, I would encourage...

Yeah, and I'd like to plug two sources of great and wonderful and God-glorifying and biblically sound books. That's Solid Ground Christian Books. Their website is Solid-Ground-Books .com. Solid-Ground-Books .com.

And Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, C-V-B-B-S .com. C-V for Cumberland Valley, B-B-S for Bible Book Service .com. Thank you so much, Daniel Hyde. I look forward to having you back on Iron Sharpens Iron in the near future.

Yeah, thanks, Chris. God bless.

God bless you. And I hope that none of you go away because we have two more guests who are going to be on for the final hour of today's Iron Sharpens Iron. Pastor Ron Glass and Steve Visconti who are both from Wading River Baptist Church on Long Island, New York.

And they are going to be discussing the importance of Christian service. That's Pastor Ron Glass of Wading River Baptist Church and Steve Visconti, who is a member of that congregation and also a sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron.

So please don't go away because we're going to be coming right back after these words from our sponsors.

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The Parable of the Talents and the Call to Christian Service

See the Long Island Galleries display ad at ironsharpensironradio .com. Welcome back, this is Chris Orange and if you just tuned us in, our second hour today, we are featuring a very dear friend of mine for many years, Pastor Ron Glass of Wedding River Baptist Church, one of the primary sponsors of Iron Sharpens Iron that has enabled this program to be relaunched and returned to the airwaves and joining Pastor Ron Glass as a member of Wedding River Baptist Church, Steve Visconti, who is a columnist for the Narrow Pathway in Eastern Long Island's Community Journal.

Today they're both going to be discussing the vital need for Christian service and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you both back to the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Airwaves. Pastor Ron Glass and Steve Visconti.

Yeah, I echo that.

The pleasure is all mine and I thank the both of you from the bottom of my heart for sponsoring Iron Sharpens Iron because as I said, I'm not exaggerating when I say that without your help I believe it would not exist.

And for those of you who are wondering what sponsor Steve Visconti is the owner of, that would be Long Island Galleries, whose ad you just heard and we thank you so much Steve for joining the family of sponsors of Iron Sharpens Iron.

And Pastor Ron Glass, if you could let our listeners know for those of them who have not yet heard you interviewed on Iron Sharpens Iron or perhaps they have never visited your congregation on Long Island, tell us about Wedding River Baptist Church.

And I know that your website.

Is wrbc .us. That's wrbc .us and you host a program called the River of Life program and tell our listeners a little bit about that broadcast that they can hear by the way, live streamed every Saturday and Sunday on East Gate Broadcasting Network and you can go to their website eastgatebroadcasting .com eastgatebroadcasting .com to listen to the live streaming.

Tell us something about the River of Life program.

Well, River of Life is and what time.

On Saturday and Sunday can they hear that program live streamed?

9th on Saturday.

Great, well I hope that everyone listens and starts to go to eastgatebroadcasting .com as their regular habit on Saturday and Sunday to hear the River of Life program. Well, I'd like you both, I guess, to answer this question.

Why is the vital importance of Christian service a topic that you each wanted to address today on Iron Sharpens Iron? Either one of you could start whether it was Steve or...

Well, I know I teach adult Sunday school and I had asked them if it was alright to come out with a two-way dialogue format service using the kind of recent concept. For a lot of Christians service is...

Well, I'm going to take the liberty of reading the text that we are primarily focusing on today and I'm using the New American Standard Bible, not just because they're a sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron but also because it happens to be my personal version of preference and even Pastor Ron Glass' personal version of preference.

We have in Matthew 25, 14 -30 the parable of the talents starting in verse 14. Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents.

In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents saying, Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.

You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted two talents to me.

See, I have gained two more talents. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

And the one who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid and went away and had your talent and hid your talent in the ground.

See, you have what is yours. But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has more shall be given and he will have an abundance but from the one who does not have. Even what he does have shall be taken away.

Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.". Pretty powerful and chilling words actually. And if you guys could begin, perhaps you could begin on the master going on a long journey and what the implications for believers are today.

And the point of that, that reminds us when he talks about the fact that Jesus would, as we know, he died, rose again, returned to heaven, and for 2 ,000 years he's been away. The promise is, of course, he's coming back.

We.

Have a listener in White Plains, New York, Bob, who asks how do you respond to those who are either liberal or who are confused by the wording of the Bible in regard to slaves who immediately become offended in thinking that the Bible is promoting the horrors of slavery experienced here in the earlier centuries of the American continent and Europe where men were treated like animals rather than human beings.

Can you please differentiate what the scriptures are teaching when they use the word slaves here and other.

Places? That's a fairly simple answer to that. We believe in what's called historical grammatical, literal historical grammatical.

Yes, definitely, Steve.

When you think about these were employees, as a matter of fact, they were employees that were.

Very.

Trustworthy and actually shared in the landowners or the masters in the carpets. The journey unfolding back then and now he's talking about far more than what we hear in the United States.

Right, and I can even recall from hearing the River of Life broadcasts that Pastor Ron preaches for that broadcast that these slaves very often were men of superior intellect and knowledge in some areas than their own masters, like they were doctors and so on.

Isn't that true?

Right, and a lot of times they were because a talent, and most commentators agree that Drachma from Denari is roughly 45 years worth of average income. A lot of money for an employee. He's not talking about slavery in the American South in the years of the Civil War.

That's not the kind of thing we're talking about.

Also, many of the slaves in that day were voluntarily placing themselves in that position to get out of debt and other things, correct?

Well, that was a... It's more of an...

Just out of curiosity, the talents referred to here that you were talking about, the pieces of silver, do you know if the origin of the way we typically use that word today is somebody's innate gifts or abilities at performing certain tasks or like some people are gifted athletes or artists or musicians or whatever the case is.

Do you know if the origin of that usage of talent goes back to this specific word.

Here? Well, if you could.

Explain what the text is referring to when the money was given by the master to each according to his own ability.

These men were obviously ready, but they didn't all have the... He's not going to give us more than we can handle. The same to their own ability. I could tell you right now and I'm pretty sure Pastor will concur that there are people out there in the church at large that.

Are.