This document discusses the church and its purpose. It begins by summarizing key aspects of the Heidelberg Catechism and Apostles' Creed related to the church. It then discusses the church as a called out people joined in biblical community. The church represents God's promise to build it, is pictured as Christ's bride though broken by sin, and has the potential to unlock spiritual treasures to impact the world.

1. ‘11
Rediscovering the Good News
that We Dare Not Forget!

2. The Heidelberg
Catechism (1563)
129 questions
and answers
52 Lord’s Day
Readings

3. The Apostles’ Creed
“I believe . . .”
“The holy catholic (universal) Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins”

4. The NT word for “church”
ekklessia
out of to call

5. he Church is a called out
people joined in biblical
community – a people
called out of lost
humanity BY Jesus, to
live FOR and IN Jesus!

6. “A couple of summers
ago, I read through a
whole stack of books
about why the church
is lame.”

7. “Give me Jesus
but not the
church!”

8. A Promise
A Picture
A Potential

9. Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades
will not overcome it.

10. Matthew 16:16
You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.
Peter’s testimony affirms both the
WORK and the PERSON of Jesus!

11. Matthew 28:18-19
Then Jesus came to them and
said, “All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit,

12. Matthew 28:20
and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the
age.”

13. he Church in China

14. he Church is a called out
people joined in biblical
community – a people
called out of lost
humanity BY Jesus, to
live FOR and IN Jesus!

15. A Promise - “I WILL build My
Church!
A Picture - A Bride

16. Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with
water through the word, and to
present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and
blameless.

17. Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give
him glory! For the wedding of the
Lamb has come, and his bride
has made herself ready.

18. The church, as the Bride is full
of a called out people – a
people broken, twisted, scarred
by sin and in need of healing!

19. Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with
water through the word, and to
present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle
or any other blemish, but holy and
blameless.

20. The Church as the Bride
of Christ …
Beauty in the midst of
brokenness!

21. A Promise - “I WILL build My
Church!”
A Picture - A Bride (Beauty in
the midst of Brokenness)
A Potential -

22. Humpty
Dumpty

23. “The Church and
only the Church, has
been commissioned
by the sovereign Lord
to be His
representative
agency in history.”

24. “It (the Church) has
been given sole
authority to unlock the
treasures of the
spiritual realm so that
they can be brought
to bear on the
realities of this earth.”

25. Matthew 16:19a
I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven.

26. The Amazing POTENTIAL of the
CHURCH . . .
“To unlock the treasures of the
spiritual realm so that they can be
brought to bear on the realities of
this earth.”

27. A Promise - “I WILL build My
Church!”
A Picture - A Bride (Beauty in
the midst of Brokenness)
A Potential - God wants to use
His Church to apply his spiritual
riches to the world around us!

29. ‘11
Rediscovering the Good News
that We Dare Not Forget!
Next Sunday - The Best is Yet
to Come!
Questions 57-58
Lord’s Day Reading #22