July 19, 2020
Morning Service

Rom 1:7  To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

·        To all that be in Mitchell, the church, the called out ones, if you have obeyed the gospel, which is, to hear it, believe it, receive it, be baptized, filled with His Spirit, and are doing your best to live for Jesus, this is for you.

·         Peter said this:  2Pe 1:12-13  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.  (13)  Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

·         This is something that we will continue to do, remind the church of our fundamentals.  To build our faith, making it stronger, and more sure.

·        Paul said this; 1Ti 4:6  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

·        To do this is very important, and will help us to be able to give good answers to people that would ask us why we do what we do, and what we believe as Christians.

·        This is our goal, or calling in the church, to see that this is done.  Reminding us what the Lord, and His Apostles taught the church, which is what Jesus wants taught, and wants us to know. 

·        You see Jesus said in Matt. 16:18;  “I will build my church”, and He did, the called out ones.  Called out of struggling after the things of this world, and seeking the things of God.

·        We see clearly in our Bible the beginning of this church.  The first called out ones were His immediate Apostles.  He called them out and they came.  Then we see in Acts chapter two how to enter this church, (Acts 2:38) and that it was being added too.  You see something has to already be there in order to add too it.  The twelve, or the Apostles, are what those 3000 were added too.  The church, the called out of God.

·        With this being said, we look for the structure, and authority of this church in the Bible. 

In Matt. 16, where Jesus said He would build His church (called out ones) this is what He told them; Mat 16:18-19  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  (19)  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

·        Without question Jesus gave to Peter the authority to speak in His name, (the keys) and Peter used this authority to open the doors to salvation to the Jews on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38; and to the gentiles in Acts chapter 10, at the house of Cornelius, the Centurion, a gentile.

·        Just before this the Lord Jesus called Saul of Tarsus, ( Acts 9 ), later to be called Paul, a most knowledgeable Pharisee, in the Judaism faith, to be the Apostle to the gentiles, and to speak in all authority of God.  His was a most miraculous conversion.

·        Peter said this;  2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

·         We believe this to mean the Bible, the Word of God.  We have our knowledge of Him from this Bible.  Not only does this Bible teach us that Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God, God’s only begotten Son, Immanuel, God with us, but it tells us this; 

·         Heb. 11;  Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

·        So how do we increase, or receive our faith?  Rom. 10:17;  “ Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  We put our dependence upon our Bible, the Word of God.

·        Paul said this to Timothy; “2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

·        For those that would argue that our Bible was written by men who were not perfect, they are correct, but God Almighty has guided their thinking, and speech, and has kept His hand on this Holy Book through very difficult times, and we believe it to be the infallible Word of God.

·        And speaking of Paul’s authority;  believing the Bible to be infallible; 1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

·        In our Bible there are 39 books of the old testament.  27 books in our new testament. 

·        The four gospels were written by, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

·        Then we have the history of the church, the Acts of the Apostles.  In this book, written by Luke, we get to hear many wonderful sermons from Peter, Steven, Paul, and the accounts of the saints of the early church.  Wonderful, exciting history of the church.

·        Next, the Apostle Paul wrote 14 letters, if you believe he wrote Hebrews. 

·        Then we have James writing James. 

·        Then we have Peter writing Two letters. 

·        Then John writes another three letters. 

·        Jude writes the letter of Jude. 

·        John again writes the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

·        Making a total of 66 books in our Bible.  Everything we have is by faith, and faith comes from hearing this Word of God, our Bible.

·        Now Peter said this:  1Pe 5:1-2  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:  (2)  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

·        Feed them what?   The teachings of the Lord, at this time it was handed down from the Apostles who had been directly with the Lord.  These teachings are found in our Holy Bible.  We accept them to be accurate, and without flaw.

·        Then Peter says this:  2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

o   We believe, and look forward to all these wonderful promises that are given to us in this Word.  I encourage you to read this Word, and lay hold on all these wonderful promises.  It will build your faith, that you have nothing down here worth holding on to, and you will look forward to your reward that is kept in store for you in Heaven.

·        Then Peter said this:  1Pe 2:1-2  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,  (2)  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Now this is where we will begin next Sunday, looking at the Principles, or the milk of the Word, or first things in the teachings of our Lord Jesus.

Our prayer;  Lord create in us a desire to study Your Word, and grow into what You would want us to be.  In Jesus name, amen.