INTRODUCTION:<\/p>\n
A. Why are you a member of the church of Christ?<\/p>\n
1. If you are not a member of the church of Christ, why are you a member of the religious organization that you are?<\/p>\n
2. Is it because that was the one your Dad and Mom were members of?<\/p>\n
3. Is it because that is the one closest to your home, or has the nicest building in town?<\/p>\n
4. Is it because it because you think that one church is as good as another?<\/p>\n
B. If our neighbor were to ask us why we were a member of the church of Christ, could we give them a sound reason?<\/p>\n
1. Isaiah 41:21<\/p>\n
2. 1 Peter 3:15<\/p>\n
3. If your neighbor were to say that one church is as good as another, how would you answer them?<\/p>\n
D. Over the next few weeks we will be answering the question: “Why am I a member of the church of Christ?”<\/p>\n
E. Previously we studied that I am a member of the church of Christ because:<\/p>\n
1. It was founded by the Scriptural Builder – Christ<\/p>\n
2. It was founded on THE Scriptural Foundation<\/p>\n
DISCUSSION:<\/p>\n
A. I AM A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BECAUSE IT WAS FOUNDED AT THE SCRIPTURAL PLACE – JERUSALEM<\/p>\n
1. If a person should be a member of some church first founded in London, Rome, Salt Lake City or New York, he cannot be a member of the Lord’s church.<\/p>\n
a. The Lord’s church did not have its origin in any of these places<\/p>\n
b. Man just cannot be a member of the scriptural church unless he is a member of the church founded at the scriptural place.<\/p>\n
2. Let us consider some passages which point to the place where the Lord’s church was established:<\/p>\n
a. Isaiah 2:2-3<\/p>\n
1) From this prophecy we learn, first, that The Lord’s house would be established in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
2) Second, the Lord’s house would be exalted and all nations would flow into it.<\/p>\n
3) Third, the time of fulfillment would be in the “latter (or, last) days”<\/p>\n
4) The apostle Paul spoke of “the house of God, which is the church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15).<\/p>\n
5) Thus, the Lord’s house is the church, and Isaiah tells us that it will be established in Jerusalem in the last days.<\/p>\n
b. Micah 4:1-2 … the same prophecy, almost verbatim, as Isaiah.<\/p>\n
c. Zechariah 1:16 … So once again the Holy Spirit taught that the church was to have its origin in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
d. Jesus, in giving His world wide commission, taught that Jerusalem was to be the starting place of the church<\/p>\n
1) Luke 24:46-49<\/p>\n
2) From this passage we notice:<\/p>\n
a) Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead before repentance and remission of sins could be preached in His name.<\/p>\n
b) The proclamation of this message was to begin at Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
c) And they were to tarry in Jerusalem until they be endued with power from on high – the Comforter of John 14:26<\/p>\n
3. Let us now consider the fulfillment of these passages:<\/p>\n
a. The Holy Spirit was not to come until Jesus had gone away – John 16:7. The apostles saw Jesus ascend out of their sight in – Acts 1:9.<\/p>\n
b. The apostles were commanded to tarry in Jerusalem (Lk. 24:49). After the apostles watched the Lord’s ascension they returned unto Jerusalem (Acts 1:12), the appointed place; and there they tarried.<\/p>\n
c. The apostles were to be clothed with power from on high (Lk. 24:49)<\/p>\n
1) In Acts 2:1-4 we read of the fulfillment …<\/p>\n
2) The Holy Spirit was to come and we see that it did come in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost<\/p>\n
d. The word of the Lord was to go forth from Jerusalem in the last days or later days (Isa. 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-2)<\/p>\n
1) We have the fulfillment of this prophecy in Acts 2:14-42 in which a stirring sermon was preached in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
2) This occurred in the last days; for Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28-32) as proof of that which was to come to pass in the last days.<\/p>\n
3) Hence, this was the right place and the right time<\/p>\n
e. Repentance and remission of sins was to be preached in the Lord’s name, beginning at Jerusalem (Lk. 24:47). – This was the message of Peter … Acts 2:38<\/p>\n
f. The Lord’s house (the church) was to be established in Jerusalem in the last days (Isa. 2:2-3; Zech. 1:16)<\/p>\n
1) And that is when and where it was established.<\/p>\n
2) Notice Acts 2:41, 47<\/p>\n
3) Beginning at this time we find the church being spoken of as a reality, while prior to this it was spoken of as a future institution.<\/p>\n
4. So, according to the prophecies and their fulfillment, the Lord’s church, the church of Christ, had its origin in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
a. This is the church of which I am a member!!<\/p>\n
b. This is the church you must be a member of…<\/p>\n
B. PLANTING THE SAME CHURCH IN ANY COMMUNITY AND AGE IS DEPENDENT UPON SOWING THE SAME SEED INSTEAD OF CHURCH SUCCESSION<\/p>\n
1. Even if a man could trace an institution, year by year, back to its establishment, he would have no assurance that it was the identical institution that existed in the beginning.<\/p>\n
a. Over a period of years, a church could so apostatize that it could no longer be the true church.<\/p>\n
b. The apostle Paul said that there would come an apostasy, or a falling away:<\/p>\n
1) Acts 20:29-30<\/p>\n
2) 1 Timothy 4:1-3<\/p>\n
c. These passages make it clear that an apostate church would grow out of the true church<\/p>\n
2. Thus, we had better be interested in seeing if we are sowing the same seed that was sown by the apostles.<\/p>\n
a. Jesus says that “the seed is the word of God” (Lk. 8:11).<\/p>\n
b. If we sow the same seed the apostles sowed, the same church will spring forth – Galatians 6:7<\/p>\n
c. Every seed produces after its kind:<\/p>\n
1) Sow corn, you get corn …<\/p>\n
2) When the seed of the kingdom was sown in the first century, you did not get different denominations.<\/p>\n
3) Today if the seed of the kingdom is planted in its purity you will not get a denomination, you will have the church of Christ.<\/p>\n
4) Denominations exist today because the seed of man has been sown<\/p>\n
3. We must realize that if all the growing corn throughout the world was destroyed, corn would not be destroyed as long as it exists in seed.<\/p>\n
a. The same is true concerning the church!<\/p>\n
b. As long as the seed of the kingdom exists the true church will never be destroyed<\/p>\n
c. Jesus said … Mark 13:31<\/p>\n
d. If we want to have the church in any community, we must do as Paul and Apollos did – 1 Corinthians 3:6<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION:<\/p>\n
A. I am a member of the church of Christ because<\/p>\n
1. It was founded by the scriptural builder – Christ,<\/p>\n
2. It was founded on THE scriptural foundation – Jesus Christ<\/p>\n
3. It was founded at the scriptural place – Jerusalem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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