Sermons

The Lord’s Supper is not some random church thing that we can do however we want. It has purpose and meaning and comes with a User Manual. So, we need to see how this ordinance fits into the history of our redemption and look at a couple of ways we easily mess that up.

When you show up to play a game you love, you rarely do so with the rule book under one arm. We assume we are all playing the same game and in the same way, but rule books and codes of conduct become very important when someone on the field or ice or court is acting outside the expected way. Confessions, covenants and constitutions — the three C’s of local church life — help us to stay on course to finish well.

Is local church membership Biblical? Where is it in the Bible? The word “membership” may not be in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean the concept is not there. A careful reading of the Scriptures will show that local church membership is regularly assumed and implied in the New Testament.

For the sake of the elect, we entrust the Gospel to faithful men, and send them with the grace of Jesus Christ. The Word of God is not bound, and the strength of the grace of Christ Jesus is more than enough.

The local church is made up of members. These men and women have been bound together by their shared belief in the Gospel and their faithful obedience to Christ. Knowing their responsibilities as members will help them all to function at the top of their game.

Every baptism is an opportunity to understand your own baptism better, and to rejoice anew in what God did for you. The more we grasp what is being signified, the more blessed we will be as a church and the more our collective joy in God’s saving work will glorify His Name.

Elder installation service.

The local church is a group of saved people who identify with one another and seek to glorify God by regularly gathering together to: worship Him and proclaim His Word; affirm one another’s profession of faith by the right practice of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and, display to the world His gospel by their authentic love.

It is quite possible that one of the most beautiful portraits of one local church is found in Acts 2:42-47. In those early days of the first Christians, so many things were going right and it was, indeed, beautiful. But one has to ask what commitments were running in the background for these results? What had God revealed and what were they living out that bought about such rich fellowship and warm devotion to Christ? Perhaps no church will reach this ideal stage if they do not build from the right foundation.