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 What
Is the Church of Christ? Charles Ivie
1. The church of Christ is not a proper name…rather it describes the
church that belongs to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "...I will build my
church" (Matthew 16:18). All those who obey the will of Jesus Christ
are added to that church (Acts 2:41,47; Matthew 7:21). We who are
members of Christ's church, therefore, are not "Church Of Christers."
We are simply called "Christians," those who follow Christ. In Acts
11:26 we see, "...the disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch."
2. The church that Christ built is not a denomination. The word
denomination gives the idea that there are many churches of
different kinds. The Bible shows that there is one true church built
by Christ, in Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul discusses unity. He says
"...There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling...'" This one body is the church. Ephesians
1:22, 23 says, "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the
fulness of him that filleth all in all."
3. All those who are saved are added to the church that Christ built
(Acts 2:47).
Only those who are in Christ can be saved (2 Timothy 2:10). The only
ones who are in Christ are the ones who have been baptized into Him
(Romans 6:3,4; Galatians 3:26,27). Those who are baptized into
Christ are at the same time baptized into His church (1 Corinthians
12:13).
4. Christ's church is not something that we can join, but when we
are obedient to the gospel plan of salvation we are added to it by
the Lord (Acts 2:47). As members of Christ's church we are expected
to live proper lives in keeping with our profession, in Ephesians
4:1 Paul said, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you
that ye walk worthy of the profession wherewith ye are called. "
5. Those who are cleansed from their sins are ones who have been
born again by obeying the incorruptible seed, the word of God. 1
Peter 1:22-25, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see
that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is
preached unto you." The seed is the word of God, and this seed
produces Christians and only Christians. Following the gospel and
nothing but the gospel will not cause a person to be in a
denomination. It will cause him to be added by the Lord to the
church that was built by the Lord. It takes something in addition to
God's word to be added to a denomination, but God says that addition
is wrong (Revelation 22:18,19).
6. What must we do to be added to this church? The commandments are
given in the New Testament! We must believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God (John 8:24). We must repent of our sins (Luke 13:3; Acts
17:30). We must confess Christ before men (Acts 8:37; Romans
10:9,10). Then we must be immersed in water to wash away our sins
(Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16). When we have been washed from our sins, we
can walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17). But,
this is not the end. It is the beginning. If we are going to
continue to enjoy the cleansing power of Jesus' blood, we must
continue to walk in the light (according to His word). We are told
this in 1 John 1:7.
These are things I have expressed in love to you. I have given the
Bible references for all that I have written so you may look them up
and determine if I have used them correctly. If you disagree with
me, please be willing to study these things in a loving way so that
we can both be in agreement (not my way or your way, but according
to God's word). ~
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A Successful
Home?
Roy Dunavin
The Washington Post published a survey of what makes a successful
home. There were six things that stood out in that survey. Notice as
I list these six principles with supporting scripture showing how
they also apply to the church.
Successful families show appreciation for each other.
Paul to the Philippians, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of
you" (Philippians 1:3).
The ability to deal with a crisis in a positive manner; a mutual
support system.
When James was put to death and Peter was in prison, the church
gathered in Mary's house to pray on Peter's behalf (Acts 12). The
Bible says we are to "bear each other's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).
When a crisis comes we are to be positive because God said "all
things work together for good to them that love Him ..." (Romans
8:28).
They spend time together.
"Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honor
preferring one another" (Romans 12:10). "They continued steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine and fellowship" (Acts 2:42).
A strong commitment to each other. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:11).
Good communication.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19). "Let your speech always
be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought
to answer every man" (Colossians 4:6).
A high degree of religious orientation. "Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is
faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love
and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the
more as you see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:23-25). ~
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In Search of the Ancient Order
Clark Dugger
The plea of the restoration movement to go back to the Bible and
restore New Testament Christianity is indeed a noble one. The
efforts of courageous men of the past who studied themselves out of
the chains of sectarianism and denominationalism should certainly be
appreciated by those of us today who attempt to serve God in God's
way. We owe a great debt to those of days gone by who have helped us
understand more accurately the way of the Lord. But the fact is, we
are still a part of that great restoration movement today in that we
continue to study and learn exactly what God would have us to do and
how to do it.
Certainly we are, and should be, practicing that which we believe to
be right in the sight of God. Not only so, we should be able to
agree on the truth of God and stand together in defense of that
truth. At the same time, we need to beware that we keep a proper
attitude toward truth. We should still be "examining the scriptures
daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Whenever such
examination ceases and individuals begin to consider their practice
as the equivalence of truth, they are no longer in "search for the
ancient order" and find themselves in the world of sectarianism.
Many in the church today perceive themselves as that body which
accepts and obeys God's truth, and as such, consider themselves to
be the true church. They reason that only those who do as we do are
members of the true church. Consequently, they deduct: "Since the
church of Christ is the right church, if the church of Christ is
doing it, it must be right." Such a subtle change in attitude is
hardly recognizable, but the conclusion is unavoidable: human
standards are substituted for divine standards. It is precisely this
attitude that has caused brethren across the land to be involved in
practices for which there is no Bible authority.
Whenever we place our confidence in the "Church of Christ" to be the
"right church" to do the "right thing" we become no different than
the denominations around us who are teaching and practicing what
their sect has always done or wants to do. Our confidence must be in
the Lord and in His Word. Our criterion of determining whether a
thing is right must be whether we have a "thus saith the Lord." We
cannot stop searching for truth. We cannot be content to allow
others, either in the past or the present, to determine our
convictions. A thing is right not because some man or church says it
is, but because the Lord has authorized it in His Holy Writ. ~
~In Gospel Power, Anderson, Alabama, 11/2/97.
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 Dinosaurs
and Man From www.bible.ca (Click on the
picture for a much larger version.)
This spectacular fossil footprint was found
in July of 2000 by amateur archaeologist, Alvis Delk of
Stephenville, Texas and is now on display at the Creation Evidence
Museum, Glen Rose, TX. Mr. Delk found the loose slab against the
bank of the Paluxy River, about one mile north of Dinosaur Valley
State Park. He flipped over the rock and saw an excellent dinosaur
track, so he took it home where it sat in his living room for years,
with hundreds of other fossils.
Early in 2008 he had a devastating accident. He
fell off of a roof incurring damage that required months of
hospitalization. He still has a dangerous blood clot in his brain.
When he returned to his home, he decided he would
sell the dinosaur track, thinking Dr. Carl Baugh of the nearby
Creation Evidence Museum would pay a few hundred dollars for it. He
began to clean the rock, and that was when he discovered the fossil
human footprint underneath the dried clay!
The human footprint had been made first, and
shortly thereafter (before the mud turned to stone), a dinosaur
stepped in the mud with its middle toe stepping on top of the human
track. You can actually see the displaced mud from the dinosaur's
middle toe inside the human footprint.
Spiral CT scans are used to generate images of
the inside of an object from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray
images taken around a single axis of rotation. This technology
provides an effective means of analyzing fossil footprints without
physically destroying them. It allows us to see inside the rock,
specifically, under the footprint.
Click here
for the entire story and more photos.
Or here for more information like this...
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