3. We are trying to be the church
you read about in the Bible
4. We are trying to be the church you
read about in the Bible
Philippians 3:12-17
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in
any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by
the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk
so as ye have us for an ensample.
5. The reason this is the church
we are trying to be is because
we believe the only trustworthy
pattern for identifying the New
Testament church is the Bible.
6. It is altogether a mistake to rely on human devices
to decide what kind of church one should be. It is
not what…
Seems right (Prov. 14:12)
Looks like a good blind guess (Mt. 15:14)
Seems like a better substitution (Mt. 15:13)
Seems more modern (Jere. 6:16)
Seems to fit tradition (Mk. 7:9)
Is deem right by any human organization (Psa. 127:1)
One of the biggest mistakes people make is, in failing to
recognize that there is a divinely appointed church in the
Bible and it does make a difference whether one is in a
church built by the Lord or one started by man.
7. Look at the Bible. Look at the
church presented in the Bible,
and see the church we are
trying to be.
8. The church of the New
Testament…
Had one founder and head
Col. 1:18; Mt. 28:18; Heb. 5:9
Each congregation in the New Testament was local in
scope and independent; organized with elders; with
Christ as the only head and heaven it only headquarters
Had scriptural authority for everything it
followed in faith and practice (Col. 3:17;
Jude 3)
Worship that pleased God (Jn. 4:24)
Taught the gospel plan of salvation (Heb.
11:6; Jn. 8:24; Rom. 10:17; Rom. 10:10;
Acts 2:36ff)
9. We do not claim to be the church of
Christ because of our own
attainment, but when people accept
the Divine plan that makes them
apart of the church that Jesus built.
