Love Gathers
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34–35
What is a Church?
The church is a Fellowship
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. - Acts 2:42.
The church is a family.
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father. Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, in all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1-2
The church is a body.
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:4-5
The church is a flock.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. – Acts 20:28
Bottom Line | The Church is the body of Christ, the local collection of Christians committed to Christ and to each other.
2. Marks of the Church
The faithful proclamation of sound doctrine.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:14-17
The faithful administration of the Christian ordinances.
Baptism: Matthew 28:19-20
Communion: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Church Discipline: Matthew 18:15-17
The Mission of the Church
Christ has commissioned the church to make disciples.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. – Acts 1:8
Christ has commissioned the church to mark disciples.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:27-29
Christ has commissioned the church to mature disciples.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. - Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
Gather. Why the Church?
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25
We gather around the word of God to introducing the lost to Christ, Re-connecting the distant and edify the saints.
