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Danville Enlightener VOL. VIII, No. 39
The following article (the first of at least two) was written by my good friend Gary Hunt. Gary preaches in Brooklyn, NY. He and his wife Flora are visiting with us for two weeks. Gary will be preaching for us here at Danville next Sunday (Oct 28) night. I commend the following to you. -- jrb Which Church Should I Join? (1)This should be an easy question to answer. But, it has been made hard because there are so many different churches that claim to follow Jesus. They have different names such as Roman Catholic, Baptist Methodist, and teach different things. Also, each church is organized differently. How then can we know which church we should join? Jesus Gives The Answer You may be surprised that Jesus, through the New Testament, has clearly shown all of us the answer to this question. We do not have to be confused about which church we should join. Jesus promised His apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them in speaking and writing all truth. When we read their writing, we can understand all we need to know about His church and how we become a part of it. John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. Eph 3:3-4 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. (4) By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, By
reading
the
New
Testament,
we
will
get
the
clear
answer
that
Jesus
intended
for
us
to
have.
Let
us
look
at
the
Scriptures
to
tell
us
about
Jesus’
church
and
how
we
can
Jesus Promised to Build and Save His Church Mat 16:15-18 He *said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" (16) Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (17) And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (18) "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Eph 5:23-25 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. (24) But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (25) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, Eph 1:20-23 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (21) far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (22) And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, (23) which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Because Jesus said He would save His church, we should want to be a part of it not any other church. But what is His church and how do we become a part of it? Again, we must turn to the Scriptures for our answers. How Do We Join Jesus’ Church? The New Testament tells us that when we be come a Christian, Jesus adds us to His church. You cannot join Jesus’ church but if you become a Christian, He will add you to His church. When people were told that God had made Jesus Lord over all and that they were guilty of sin, they asked the apostles what they should do to be saved. When they obeyed what the apostles said, Jesus forgave them and added them to His church. The
apostles
taught
people
that
Jesus
died
for
our
sins,
was
raised
from
the
dead,
and
God
seated
Him
at
His
right
hand
giving
Him
all
authority
over
heaven
and
earth.
Those
who
believed
in
Him
were
commanded
to
repent,
change
their
minds
about
their
sins,
and
be
baptized
for
the
forgiven
of
their
sins.
When
they
did,
Jesus
added
them
to
His
church.
Also,
before
they
were
baptized,
fully
immersed
in
water,
we
learn
they
Acts 2:36-38, 41, 47 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified." (37) Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" (38) Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (41) So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (47) praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 8:35-39 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. (36) As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" (37) [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."] (38) And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. (39) When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. (To be continued – Gary Hunt)
As
I
See
It
“There are too many lost souls out there to be taught the word of God for us to be using our time arguing about such things as M.D.R.” The above is a direct quotation taken from a letter written to a young preacher in 2004 by an eldership explaining why they |