charlesfowler.com: Letters to Churches

Charles Fowler Ministries

Letters to Churches

Letters to Churches

"The letters are written to the Churches"

When I was a Pastor in rural Colorado people in town would approach me and ask when I was going to start a series on a particular subject or book of the bible. Most of the time they asked me about the end times, the antichrist or something from the book of Revelation. There is nothing wrong with these things and I would of course do my best to answer their questions. However, I learned early in my ministry that what Christians need, especially new believers, is found in the Epistles, the letters to the churches.

These Letters, which are written directly to the Church are what we as believers need first and foremost from the Word of God. Before we become experts on the antichrist, let's become experts on Jesus Christ. Before we learn about the end times, let's learn what will make us victorious in the now times!!!

I guess as a new believer in high school I fell in love with the letters, especially the writings of Paul. Early in my ministry I learned the importance of the Epistles.

It was in the letters I learned that:

. . . I was accepted in the beloved

. . . about my sonship in Christ

. . . being justified by faith in Christ

. . . that I was bought with a price, purchased by the blood of Jesus

. . . that I had direct access to God the Father through Jesus Christ

. . . about the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse my consciousness from dead works and make me an overcomer

. . . about the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse me from all sin, both the guilt of sin and the desire to sin

. . . the full plan of redemption

. . . the finished work of Christ on the cross

I could go on and on. This gives you an idea of the importance of theses "Letters to the Churches" and why I am going to spend my time of study and teaching of the Word of God in those letters.

Most of my time teaching and preaching as a pastor was spent in these letters. Even when attending Knox Seminary my mentor took us through the letters of Paul as we studied the Greek New Testament. He is a great teacher of the writings of Paul, his doctorate is in Pauline Greek from the University of Edinburgh.

But as a pastor I saw how this helped people. Maybe it was an unusual assignment that I had early in my ministry as Pastor Jolly Terry encouraged me to become the chaplain at the "Turkey Farm" which was a ministry to alcoholics. It was called the "Turkey Farm" because they helped them overcome their addictions by going "cold turkey" off their drugs, alcohol and other addictions.

The Church of the Resurrection in Dallas would take men off the streets in downtown Dallas, Texas and help them cold turkey off of alcohol in the back of a paint and body shop in Garland, Texas. Then they would bring these men to this farm house on 1,100 acres overlooking a small lake just east of McKinney, Texas. The area now known as "Eldorado" was just a large ranch in those days. There I would have breakfast with these men and begin to share the scriptures and provide them tools to learn the Word of God.

There I learned that teaching these men what Christ accomplished for them on the cross of Calvary would help them more than anything else. The redemptive themes found in these letters was exactly what they needed to overcome.

They overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony of what the blood of Jesus Christ accomplished for them!!!

So along with my "Live Free" series, I am going to be teaching from the Letters of Paul. You will soon find that these go together quite well!!!

NOTES:

The Four Groups of Paul's Letters

1. First Thessalonians A.D. 50-51
   Second Thessalonians

2. First Corinthians A. D. 54-57
   Second Corinthians
   Galatians
Romans

3. Philippians A.D. 61-63
   Philemon
   Colossians
   Ephesians

4. First Timothy A.D. 65-68
Titus
   Second Timothy