The Omaha guide., 1955-09-30

The following is the Dedicatory
Statements of the Rev. j. Andrew
Thompson at the Dedication Of the
Corinth Baptist Church Building,
Sunday, September Is. 1855.
This is a great occasion for me
personally, for the Corinth Baptist
Church particularly, and for many
of you in general. This is a great
occasion because it is the first
time some Of us have had the privi-
lege of witnessing the dedication
of a church building. Many of us
have walked into the "Open Door,
where the church or building has
been dedicated years ago. This
building is not a new building, it
has served other purposes, but now
it has a new purpose. No doubt
many of you have been in this
building for some other purpose,
and maybe you are saying in your
hearts as Jacob said on a special
occasion, Surely the Lord is in
this place and I knew it not" )
Primitive man dedicated certain
trees, rivers and mountains to God
and those places became holy
places, Abraham when he was
passing through Canaan built an
altar to God and that place became
a holy place. Moses was out on
the mountain watching the sheep
of his father-in-law and God spoke
to him and that ground became
holy ground. When Jesus was
passing through Samaria, he met
a Samaritan woman and she was
disturbed about a place of wor-
ship. The Samaritan had followed
in the tradition of worshipping in
the mountains and the Jews had
built a temple in Jerusalem, so she
wanted to know who were right,
the Samaritans or the Jews. Jesus
said neither was right or wrong,
the place of Importance in worship
ing God is the heart, the time has
come when the true worshipper
must worship God in spirit and in
truth. Our f~orefathers got that
spirit and they built secret affairs
to the Almighty God, where they
could worship Him and talk to Him
in their own way. Some of those
places were in the valley, some
were in cribs, some were over wash
tubs, as it were. And some were
in groves and brush harbors, but
we are here today dedicating a
place to God because our fore
fathers worshiped God in spirit
and in truth.
We are living in a confused
world. But confusion in the world
is nothing new. The first account
as given in the Bible tells of con-
fusion between two brothers to the
extent that Cain killed Abel. We
also have confusion between Abra-
ham and Lot, we have another in
stance of confusion between twin
brothers ESau and Jacob. The
Bible records the history of Israel
as being the history of a prosecuted
people and then let us take a look
at Jesus Christ, who was without
sin, yet he was in a world of con-
fusion and persecution. Today as
yesterday, we find kings confused,
queens confused, presidents con-
fused and diplomats as well as
generals in the army confused.
Not only that, but we find con-
fusion in the government, we also
see people on the street confused.
Why is all this confusion? The ans
wei is that the truth and spirit of
the Bible has been left out of the
lives of so many people, that they
become selfish and have a drive for
power. 1t is my prayer that this
building will play a part in elimin-
ating some of the confusion to
those who may come its way, and
see it, that in some way they will
recognize that "The Lord is in
this place, and I knew it not"
Christ started something, the
Church Christ built upon the
Eternal Rock. He followed in
the tradition of the prophets. He
built upon the Law, but he empha-
sized the spirit of the Law and not
the words of the Law. The prophet
said, mot by might, nor by power,
but by my spirit saith the Lord"
Jesus said to Peter, .'put up thy
sword, he that Tighten with the
sword shall perish by the sword"
And on another occasion, Jesus