The Gospel Of God

Theme: The Gospel of Your Salvation
“Him you also trusted, after you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation…” (Ephesians 1:13)
Date: October 17, 2003 - Friday P.M. - (During a Gospel Meeting October 17 Through 19, 2003, at the Northeast church of Christ, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Speaker: Mack Lyon, Speaker on the In Search of the Lord’s Way Television Program
Main Scripture: 2 Chronicles 2:5; John 3:16; John 5:25-28; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-9; Ephesians 3:20, 4:4-6; 1 John 1:5, 4:8

Mack Lyon: Let me just say two or three things preliminarily. We’ll not be repeating these remarks during this series of meetings. This congregation has been so strong in the financial, moral, and spiritual support of the In Search of the Lord’s Way Television Program. We are exceedingly grateful for that. Some of the latest newsletters are out there in the foyer on that table with those books. The newsletters are free to you and I hope you’ll take one. It’s the latest issue. The next issue went to the printer today, so it will be out in a few days. If you’d like to be on the subscription list for this, just give me your name and address on a piece of paper and mark on it “subscription,” and I’ll know what it means. When I take it back to Edmond, Oklahoma, you’ll get one of the next newsletters and you’ll get them monthly. That is free to you. We want to keep all of you who are supportive of this ministry informed about what is going on and about our way of doing it. This church has been unusually supportive of the work and we’re just so grateful for that. Brother John Phillis, if you would come back up here just a moment, we would like to make a little presentation to the congregation. I’ll ask you to accept this plaque. [Written on the plaque:] “Given in grateful appreciation for your continued support and dedicated loyalty to the Search Television Ministry, broadcasting the Gospel since 1980, on television, radio, and the internet.” I hope you will take pride in displaying this somewhere in your building where the members will always know your support.

John Phillis: Thank you very much, Brother Mack. I gladly accept this on behalf of the Northeast congregation.

Mack Lyon [with some humorous introductory stories]: I’m going to begin tonight with another little ceremony that I sometimes do to make an explanation about some things that you may wonder about a little later. The reason I’m making such a “to do” about it is so that you will understand.

I had had a little bout with pneumonia and had a lingering cough that went along with it, so I had gone to the doctors. I had been to about three different doctors and they had given me this stuff to spray in my nasal [passages], and all that. You’ve been there and done that. But none of it seemed to have any effect.

I came upon these Halls Menthol Throat Lozenges, and that stopped my coughing. We usually do three Search television programs at a time in the studio. So I’d go to the studio and we’d have to do so many retakes because I’d be coughing. I’d get to coughing and I just couldn’t keep from it, and we’d have to do retakes and edits, and everything, and it took so long to do the program. But I came upon these little cough drops, and that stopped the coughing. So a simple thing—a little thing like a throat lozenge. I put it in my mouth and didn’t think anybody could see it. You can’t see it, can you? Good! You’re supposed to say, “No.”

But I had this letter from a lady out in western Oklahoma, a viewer of the television program, from around Mangrum as I remember. She said, “I always have enjoyed your television program so much, but recently I can’t understand a word you are saying. Your dentures are slopping so much that I cannot understand a word you are saying. If you’re too tight [stingy] to go get a new set of dentures, you can at least go to the pharmacy and get some of this goop that I use [to tighten the hold of her dentures to her gums],” and she gave me the name of it. So we stopped using the throat lozenge. I still use it once in a while, so if anything is making a clacking sound, you’ll know it’s not my dentures!

There was another lady over in Arkansas, around Fort Smith, who wrote me a letter, and she said, “Tell Brother Lyon that his hair piece was on crooked Sunday. Straighten his hair piece.” Well, we do three programs at a time, so that means it’s going to be crooked the next Sunday, isn’t it! She was not content with that; she called on the phone and said, “I wrote last week and it didn’t do any good. I’m calling this week to remind you to tell Brother Lyon that his hair piece is on crooked. Will he please straighten it?!”

Well, neither are my teeth dentures [his teeth are his real], nor my hair a hair piece [his hair is his natural hair]. They both grow there and they come naturally. Anyway, that’s all beside the point, but I just gave you a little introduction to this cough drop.

Another reason I use this cough drop is that I use it as a timer. When it’s gone, it’s time to quit the sermon! It’s a good timer, too! When it’s gone, it’s a reminder that the time is gone and I’m supposed to quit. I heard of the preacher who reached in his pocket and got a button and he used it for this purpose, but it didn’t melt very fast! That was a long sermon that day!

[Mack Lyon’s sermon begins.] Thanks again for your presence. The word “Gospel,” as you know, means “Glad Tidings” or “Good News.” And it IS Glad Tidings and God News that we have in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is a Gospel, or “Good News,” religion. We could use the word “Gospel” in regard to a lot of other things, but we don’t usually do it.

If you’ve been to the doctor and you’ve had some tests run, and Monday morning he calls you and says, “You know, the tests we ran last Friday morning all came out good, so you have nothing to worry about. You’re in good health.” Say! That’d be a gospel message, wouldn’t it! We wouldn’t call it a gospel message, because we don’t use it for that purpose, but it would be a good-news message or a gospel message.

If you’d just been admitted to the Honorary Society at school and you get a letter, or notice, and a certificate to that effect, that’s good news! That’s gospel! We wouldn’t say “gospel;” we’d probably say “glad tidings” or “good news” because we don’t use the word “gospel” for secular [worldly, non-religious] purposes.