What can I say? I'm a gospel preacher!

Hello again my friends from up in the country and the Enola Church of Christ.  I write the words “Church of Christ” simply because the group of people who have been called out of the world is the church that belongs to Him.  I love looking into the Bible (Specifically the New Testament because the New Testament is where we find everything we need in these “last days” to fulfill God’s expectations for us – Hebrews 1:1-2) and finding the perfect picture of the church that Jesus planned, promised, purchased, and provides for.   

Why is it that too many people today go about planning, promising, purchasing, and providing for their own church and not His; that is Christ’s?  If you have been in the audience when I have preached you will probably remember me saying something like this:  “If you are in my house: who makes the rules?  Who has the authority?  Me!  If I am in your house: who makes the rules?  Who has the authority?  You! Right?  Right!  Now consider this.  Who makes the rules in God’s house?   Who has the authority in His house?  Me?  You?  Do we take a vote?  Do we ask the person with the most money, or with the most talent, or with the most influence?  No way.  Since the church belongs to Christ and Christ is God’s Son and since the Father has given His Son ALL authority (Matthew 28:18), then only Christ makes the rules.  Only Christ has authority.” 

Just what does it mean to have ALL authority?  If Christ has ALL authority, and He does, then He makes the rules for His church, not me, not you, not anyone else, period.  Only Jesus can say who is in His church and who isn’t.  Luke wrote this fact in Acts 2:47.  In Matthew 7:21 the Bible tells us that it takes more than words and intentions to be counted as members of Christ’s church.  And we find that if anyone can ever be pleasing to God that person MUST believe that God is (Hebrews 11:6), but more than this, the person who wants to please God must also believe that God rewards those who “diligently seek Him.”  This means that if I am to be right with God, if I am to be pleasing to Him, I must with my whole mind, heart, body, and soul seek His direction in my life.  What I think, say, and do must be brought under His authority.  I must yield.  I must submit.  If I am to be a Christian, a disciple, a follower of Christ, then I follow and He leads.  This includes what I do in the church that He planned, promised, purchased, and provides for. 

When I am counselling an individual about their spiritual relationship with God, I usually ask them to consider the church where they work and worship to see if they can find that church in the Bible.  Ask:  Am I in the church that Christ planned, promised, purchased with His own blood, and today and forever provides for?  We can know.  How does the church where we work and worship compare to what the Bible teaches?  What is the name of the church?  Is there a man’s name other than Christ’s in the church where we work and worship?  How is the church organized?  Is the church led by bishops/elders/overseers/shepherds?  Are there deacons who have been assigned the duties of ministry?  Is the Bible the sole source of authority for the church where we work and worship?  How does a person become a member of the church where we work and worship?  Is faith in Jesus Christ necessary?  The Bible says that we cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).  What about repentance and confession that Jesus is indeed the One and Only Son of God?  What about baptism?  Jesus said that baptism precedes salvation (Mark 16:16).  So does Luke in Acts 22:16.  So does Peter and the apostles in Acts 2:38.  Does the church where we work and worship recognize God’s commands when it comes to roles for men and roles for women?  Does the church where we work and worship have a worldly emphasis or a spiritual emphasis?  These questions should be and must be asked and answered for you and me.  And the Bible alone is the sole source of authority for these questions.  Our eternal destiny lies in the balance.  I just want to go to heaven.  Worldly pleasures, worldly activities, worldly lifestyles, and worldly things have little if anything to do with our decisions when it comes to Christ and His church and me.