The children as they are given the sign of baptism are visibly testamented to be as much partakers of the . . . ministry, oracles, and ordinances of the New Testament as an adult present. We deny that when we unnecessarily remove them from the presence of Christ in the morning and evening worship. They need the singing, preaching, praying, and while they do not partake until they profess faith and are confirmed by the elders, even witnessing the Lord’s Supper as those who belong to Christ (when they do speak of Jesus as their lord and savior they become communicant members and can eat the bread and drink the cup).

Good Morning,

We live in a day and age where the word church is like a wax figure. You can form it to mean pretty much whatever you want. Any gathering of people can just call themselves a church, put any name they want out front, file with the government for a 501(c)3, and receive all the benefits available from both the civil and ecclesiastical realm. That’s not really how it should be, but it is the way it is. So when we come today to read how our forefathers defined what the church is there is much we can learn and apply to what we should think about the place where we worship and the people there and why it exists. If there is anything we should take into our discussion of the doctrine of the church it is that it exists on a larger plane than whatever the local expression of it is. We are a kingdom, bound together in the blood of Christ, gathered from every nation under heaven so that every tribe, tongue, and people can praise His name, rejoice as one, and be built up in faith together. I’ve noted before that one of the blessings of recognizing that truth is knowing that we walk not alone in this life, either in the sense of being aware of God’s presence or that all the saints throughout the world are here to help us deal with whatever trials we have.

One of our besetting sins as Christians is that we think like we only need church every now and then. That getting that one hour a week grace shot is sufficient for life. As we walk through the directory of church government a key thing we will learn is how the whole of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ has been given to us by our Savior in order that every area of our life might be ministered to by these brothers and sisters in Christ He has given to you. Our unwillingness to share in that ministry with them is only detrimental to our own spiritual health. Anxiousness, fear, anger, etc… both inside and outside the church are all exacerbated when we don’t take the time provided to love another in the Spirit, in person, regularly, and with comforting peace. As we now turn to the meat for the day I want to encourage you to take time to consider most especially how these truths can be and applied to Bethany, and all churches, for God’s glory.

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