THE CHURCH I BELONG TO

by Dan Spence

Preface

Often people ask the question, "Where do you go to church?" To answer that question properly, let's go back about 2000 years and talk to an old expert. His name is the apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit led him to draw many of the blueprints for the New Testament Church. Perhaps he could give us some insight. Let's move in a little closer and ask, "Paul, where do you go to church?"

Picture him methodically stroking his beard and then with a loving smile and a glint in his eyes, he takes up his pen and exclaims:

THE CHURCH I BELONG TO...

1. IS BUILT ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION

JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD

"Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it'" (Matthew 16:16-18).

"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11).

The Godhead, sometimes called the Trinity, consists of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sonship directly expresses equality with God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation rock on which the Church is being built. He was born of a virgin and is God in sinless, human form (incarnate).

2. ACCEPTS THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS THE ONLY MEANS OF SALVATION

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him..."