Neither are we inter-denominational. It is our sincere desire to be non-denominational. It is our wish and purpose to wear no other name than Christ's and to be know simply as Christians, member of the body of Christ - the church of Christ. Such was clearly true of the Lord's people in the first century (Acts 11:26; 1 Pet.4:16; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18; Rom. 16:16). We refer to ourselves as the church of Christ, the Lord's church, or some other scriptural description, not in an attempt to be "sectarian," but on the contrary, to identify ourselves as the church belonging to Christ.
Our Emphasis is Spiritual, Not Material or Social
Our building is designed to facilitate our work and worship. We place little emphasis on luxurious surroundings. While as individuals Christians we seek each others' association socially, the church is not a social club or agency and therefore the Lord's money is not used to promote social functions or works.
Our aim is spiritual (1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Tim. 3:15).
We Strive To be The Same Church Described In the New Testament It is our purpose to be completely identified with the Christians of the first century. We believe this to be possible to all who will learn, believe and be guided by the plain teaching of the word of God. Jesus declared such to be "the seed of the kingdom" (Lk. 8:11). A fundamental truth in nature is that a specific kind of seed, when planted, will always produce after its kind. The word of God when planted in the hearts of honest people, and obeyed will produce Christians - just as it did in the first century - nothing more and nothing less. We are human, and therefore subject to error, so we recognize the possibility that we may be wrong in our application of the scriptures. But if we can be shown where we are wrong - by the scriptures - we are willing and anxious to change.
We Have No Human Authority
There is no man, or group of men who legislate for the church. We have not one to answer to but Christ. He is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22). As was true in the first century, there is no intercongregational organization, but rather independent congregations in different locations with Christ as Lord and Master.
According to the authority of Christ, when a congregation matures to the point where men meet the qualifications, overseers (also called bishops, elders, or pastors) are appointed to look after the spiritual welfare of the congregation. such men are appointed only when the congregation determines that they meet all of the qualifications listed by Paul in 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. They then have the responsibility to "feed the flock" with the spiritual food found in the scriptures, and to be living examples for others to see (1 Pet. 5:1-3).
The Bible Is Our Guide In Serving God
Therefore we have no man-written creed books to follow. We are governed in faith and conduct by the Bible alone. While recognizing and heeding the guiding principles of the Old Testament, we seek to conform to the teachings of the New Testament (1 Cor. 10:4; Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Pet. 4:11). We accept the Bible as being both verbally inspired and infallible in content (2 Pet. 1:20-21; 1 Cor. 2:11-13).
Consequently, when the Bible speaks upon any given subject, its pronouncement is accepted as final. By its own testimony, no one may with impunity alter a single word of it (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19).
Our Plea For Unity
We plead for unity among all who obediently respond to the doctrines and commandments given in the New Testament. Such is in harmony with the prayer of Jesus and the pleadings of the apostle (Jn. 17:20-21; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:1-6). We consider such unity to be possible, or Jesus would not have prayed for it.
We also note that unity and love for each other was a mark of discipleship in the early churches (Jn. 13:34-35; Acts 2:44-46; Acts 4:32). And since division has always been the result of departure from "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3), we believe that division can be healed by a return to the revealed word of God.
Morris Bowers
In the beginning God …
Some basic truths from the beginning of the beginning
Introduction
The first book of the Bible is called Genesis, that means "the beginning", because it tells us the very commencement of the story between God and man (see Genesis 1-3). "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). It is worth noting that the only created being made in the image and likeness of God was man: a free creature able to sustain a relationship with the Creator. God created the first couple (Adam, the man, and Eve, the woman: male and female) to populate the earth and take care of it; He also stated what was right or wrong for them to do, warning them about the consequences of their trespasses. Adam and Eve understood fully God’s directions and commandments; however Satan was able to convince them that the Lord was not acting for their good and that they would not die disobeying His laws. They sinned, and their conscience became dirty; so, they tried to hid themselves from the presence of the Lord – but of course they could not. God judged and punished Adam, Eve and the serpent, and sin entered the world, causing all the tragic effects that we can realize day by day. But God also promised a redemption, gave a hope to human beings, because He had prepared a plan of salvation on their behalf. This story is our story: God created us innocent, but later we became all sinners, because sin is stronger than us in this wicked world and we chose to sin; we often try to flee from God but it is impossible (see the story of Jonah as a memorable example). We have no hope without Him but are separeted from Him, until we decide to know, appreciate, love and obey Him through the knowledge and the practice of His Word. Let’s consider together some basic principles that we can infer from the "begginning of the beginning".
1. God created everything
"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3). We can understand many truths about the functioning and development of all what is visible; but, even if we could know what happened just an instant before the very beginning, scientifically we will never be able to know who or what gave the first impulse to the universe. We know for sure that nothing can be created from nothing, and so an original, absolute source, not caused by anything, must have been in existence before the beginning of all things. This earliest (not generated) source can’t be derived from nothing: it must be eternal, not influenced by space and time. Bible faith declares that this source is the only, invisible God, who says of Himself: "I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6).
Then, things which are seen neither can be born from other created things, nor they can be self-generated: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth … For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6.9). Unfortunately, many people often decide to forget that "by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water" (2Peter 3:5).
"The fool has said in his heart: "There is no God"" (Psalm 53:1); the Bible judges as a fool the man who does not realize that "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1); "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" all the ones who denies his existence and all the ones who "exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather then the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:20.25). God produced everything, but He is not within any of the created things: all depends on Him, and nothing or nobody can take his place or be put on His same level, unless we commit a lethal sin of idolatry. We must worship God, and God only, according to His will.
2. Mankind: the crown of creation
"Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him…" (Zechariah 12:1). We are not made of flesh and blood only, but we also possess a spirit – an invisible and eternal life within ourselves – making us similar to God, because "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). If you really desire to abide in God’s love, you are required to "… glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s" (1Corinthians 6:20). We are like stewards of our spirit and quite responsible of how we nourish it. In other words, it is decisive to see how we treat our deepest, inner life, before giving it back to God, in order to be submitted to His Judgement. Let’s remember what Jesus said, just before dying on the cross: "Father, into your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46).
Man is completely different from all the other living beings, since he can communicate with God, knowing and loving Him or rejecting and ignoring Him. God earnest desire is to have fellowship with man; the Bible is God’s revelation but also a dialogue between God and man: "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord" (Isaiah 1:18). God exhorts: "Give ear, my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth" (Psalm 78:1); and the man who is looking for God says: "I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me" (Psalm 77:1). God’s Word can answer to our most vital questions, leading us on the divine path of love and justice, into a full communion with our Creator.
God stated that all the created things were good, but only after He made man He said that everything was very good. Being the best and highest part of creation, man was given the task to take care of this earth. We can fill and subdue the earth; exactly for this very reason, we are once more responsible of whatever God gives us – both our personal talents and the things we own – as stewards of His: "As each one received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1Peter 4:10). And let’s always remember that, according to Revelation 11:18, God will "destroy those who destroy the earth".
3. Human being is male and female
When someone asked Jesus: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?", the Master answered: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female?"; then, keeping on quoting the book of Genesis, He said: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flash"; and then He added: "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:3-6). Marriage is the very first and divine earthly institution, and it must be always laid as the foundation of any human society. Without solid and sound marriages (in which men and women can join together in order to constitute compact and faithful nucleus, united by a life-long covenant and by deep and lasting feelings) there is no future for mankind; what is left is only immorality and corruption.
Man and woman were created in order to complete, balance and help each other. In addition to this, they are also the source of the natural perpetuation of life. Very significant is what Adam exclaimed looking at Eve, just after she was generated: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!" (Genesis 2:23). Marriage’s bond is the divine habitat for living a total love between two human beings and for generating, and lovingly bringing up, other human beings: "Neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God" (1Corinthians 11:11-12). It is only within the pure and genuine institution of marriage that one can declare: "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3).
God created them "male and female" (Genesis 1:27). Homosexual relationships have always been considered unlawful by God. The actual physical complexion of both man and moman helps us to understand their complementarities, while this cannot certainly stated as a fact for two women or two men. Bible condemnation of homosexuality is without appeal; consequentely, today’s world ought to consider God’s position very accurately, since the world itself is too prone to judge as normal what is instead against nature. This trend, unfortunately, can be observed too often in the history of mankind. As Paul acutely declares in Romans 1:25-27, men "exchanged the truth of God for the lie" and "for this reason Gode gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust of one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due".
4. God’s laws are clear
"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). What God said to Israel in the Old Testament regarding love and obedience is still valid for each of us today: God requires of us to love and serve Him, observing His commandments, and He tells us that this is for our good. If God’s laws are set for our benefit, we need them in order to understand how to live, to purify ourselves, to be happy and to achieve eternal life with Him. Whenever a father counsels his son for his good, first of all it is in the son’s interest to listen and obey; and our heavenly Father can’t fail. Then, for our good, let’s not be rebels and let’s try to follow God, considering in deep how much suffering entered this world, as a consequence of the first transgression and of all the following ones.
God’s laws are laws. We are acquainted with the force of gravity, and with the fact that we can’t hope to jump from the fifth floor and remain uninjured – this is a natural law. Going into the spiritual realm, we ought to realize what God has established. He advised for the best Adam and Eve, who understood very well what He said, but decided to forget the consequences and did not resist temptation. Jesus said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matthew 24:35); and also: "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). This world passes away, but God’s will stands, and we must not be deceived by the many changings occurred – in the spiritual and moral field – follow one upon another during the centuries. In the last day, neither we will be judged by human religions, traditions or philosophies, nor we will be able to assert our opinions. What God established is established and cannot be changed, as Adam and Eve had to learn tragically, and we with them.
As we noticed, Adam and Eve understood what God told them, and they were free whether to obey or not. They chose – as human beings often do – to neglect the divine will, and they had to suffer the penalty. Because of that sin, and of all the others that followed, Jesus Christ had to die on the cross, giving us hope again, offering us the forgiveness of our sins, and overcoming death. And He also did it in full liberty, because He loves us. Let’s use at the best our free-will, which always involves a great responsibility. In fact, God – as the Apostle Paul wrote - "will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath" (Romans 2:6-8).
5. Satan and sin are real and separate us from God
Both God and Satan exist. You can’t believe in the God of the Bible without believing in Satan and demons: angels too can be rebels, choosing whether to love and obey God or not. In the Judgment’s day, Jesus will say to those who are damned: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). The Apostle Paul wrote that Christians fight a spiritual struggle "against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). As he did with Jesus, so Satan tempts also us, because his earnest desire is to rule over our minds and his joy consists in seeing the believers giving up hope and faith in God. We know from the Scriptures that Satan is lost; sadly, he does not like to be by himself and consequentely wants us to join him in his disgrace. At this regard he constantly tries to instil into our hearts many doubts and mistrusts about the Creator. Since men usually confer upon Satan a great power, he really is "the ruler of this world", as Jesus said in John 12:31. Nevertheless we can choose to let God possessing our lives. It is good to know that the Bible can lead us in this good purpose: we are not left alone in the struggle against the devil. Our solemn aspiration is to leave Satan alone in his ruin: Satan is a bad company.
"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). God gave an order to Adam and Eve, and yet they decided to disobey. God also said that the consequence for disobeying would have been death, and so it was. Not only the sinner is destined to physically die in the midst of anguish and pains, but he also must be separated from God, cast away from His presence: spiritual death is no hope, no light, no life... "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (1John 3:4). Even though we can deny that sin and his consequences are real, they still are real and affect our existence: we become – whether we realize it or not – a property of Satan. We can presumptuously decide to establish what is wrong and what is right on our own, but God’s Word remains valid and judges us.
Jesus stated: "Therefore I said that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). Unless we believe in God and in His Son Jesus the Christ, there is no real hope for us. God said about men: "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him" (Psalm 49:7). We can’t escape by ourselves from this "black hole"; only God can free us: "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me" (Psalm 49:15). If we want to come back to God, to have our sins forgiven, to take the chance of eternal life with Him, we must turn to Him through Jesus, who paid the price for us and redeemed us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Let’s listen to Jesus again: "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
6. God punishes
"God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11). For instance, speaking about the sanctity of marriage, the Bible says: "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4). As God punished Adam and Eve, the same He does with all sinners, both in heaven and on earth, and we are all sinners: "It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on earth the kings of the earth" (Isaiah 24:21). God is impartial: therefore, the God who can save us is the same God who will punish us if we do not turn back to him, notwithstanding who we are. God is just; a good judge must punish transgressions, and God’s judgements are perfect.
We find many examples of God’s judgements in the Bible, both against nations and individuals. A complete list would be too long to be offered here. Here will be adequate to remember the total destruction of the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fact that God has always punished His own people (the nation of Israel), when they were rebellious, and He punishes His Church whenever the Church is unfaithful, according to the principle: "For we know Him who said: "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay", says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge his people"" (Hebrews 10:30). During a very hard and sad period of Israel’s story, God said through the prophet Jeremiah: "For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence" (Jeremiah 44:13).
Very often, men wonder why the story of this world is so full of suffering and tragedies, but we must remember that this situation is the result of men’s attitudes and choices; moreover, we ought to notice how God can abandon men to their obstinate self-will, punishing them in this way: "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions" (Romans 1:26). From this point of view, we may say that God is actually punishing men, and all the suffering of this world is but an anticipation of the last Judgement, when God will finally divide good and bad, light and darkness – the saved ones from the damned ones. As the Apostle John said in the last book of the Bible: "Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth…"" (Revelation 16:1).
7. God saves: He planned a redemption
Preaching in Athens, the Apostle Paul said that God "now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31), and this Man is His Son Jesus the Christ. In Genesis 3:15, God foretold that someone, someday, born of a woman, would have been able to fight against the serpent (Satan), bruising his head, defeating him, and being wounded by him. The Son of God was born from the virgin Mary and was the man capable to freely face the pains of the cross, lay down His life and take it again, being raised from the dead. The whole Bible is the description of God’s plan of redemption, from the first sin to the coming of our Savior and Redeemer. Studying the Bible, we can understand what was by God "foreordained before the foundation of the world" but is now "manifest in these last times" (1Peter 1:20): the sacrifice and victory of Christ, who came to "destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15).
God punishes, but He is also so merciful and ready to forgive and forget all our sins if we just turn to Him following His directions and living with Him. We can change our earthly life and our eternal destiny, attaining everlasting life with Him! Jesus said: "I have come that they [his disciples] may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly … and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" (John 10:10.28). And again: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). This is the offering of God, valid for every man. Let’s take the chance, until we are in time! The Word of God also exhorts: "Behold, this is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation!" (2Corinthians 6:2).
Paul, as an Apostle, wrote: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God" (2Corinthinans 5:20). We are given the greatest opportunity: to be reconciled with our Creator; and it is up to us to decide whether to accept it or not. And if we ask – like some people did in the book of Acts: "What shall we do?", we can listen to the same answer that the Apostle Peter gave to those men: "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:37-38). In converting to Jesus Christ we can give birth to a new inner man, clean and pure, and start a new life in Him: a life of purity, love and obedience to the One who really knows what our good is. And this new life will not only be something individual, but will be spent in communion with the other believers who are making the same choice. This choice is within the Church of Christ, His spiritual family, the true Church taking the New Testament Church as the only one pattern to follow. Becoming Christians according to the New Testament, we consent to start again with God, to be spiritually created again by Him in order not to separate from His love again. Last, but not least, we become members of His family: "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47).
Valerio Marchi - vmarchi@xnet.it
Men of Success with God
Success is a "god" for the people of the world. But sometimes it can become a kind of idol even in the Kingdom, when we try to reach it without being in the right position before God.
In Luke 9:1-2 we read that Jesus "called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick"; but we also read, in the same chapter (verse 40), how they failed in casting out a bad spirit that was tormenting a poor boy: we may imagine the shame, the surprise and the disappoint of the Twelve! But that unsuccessful result was a blessing for them. In fact, Matthew 7:21-23 teaches us that we may find people performing great deeds in our Lord’s name, without having fellowship with Him: whether they are conscious of their lawlessness or not, the fact is that they are deluding themselves and many others.
Being "successful" without being true believers is a curse. On the other hand, failing because God is trying to teach us something, and learn His lesson, is a wonderful blessing and leads us toward true, divine success. So, let’s try to learn the lesson.
Whenever God gives us the power to do something and we cannot do it, it is possible that we have not correctly prepared ourselves in order to be good instruments in His hands. In Luke 9:41 Jesus says: "O faithless and perverse generation…": it happens that we lack faith and we lack goodness, just like this wicked world. So, before and while using God’s power (the Gospel – Romans 1:16), let’s work in our spirit and among ourselves in order to grow, to mature and to cultivate the right attitude toward Heaven, our soul, the brethren, the world. As God was teaching the Twelve that true success consists in performing God’s work (in that context: miraculous operations) in His ways, He tells us today that we must use the incomparable power of the Word with faith, obedience and love, if we want to be really successful, that is… effective and saved!
It is very hard to preach and live the Gospel, always! Sometimes we feel we are not fitting for this mission. Sometimes we realize how weak and "poor" we are. Blessed moments! We know that even the Apostles had to suffer and learn many things (2Corinthians 1:8-11, 4:7-15) and it is always a blessing from God to understand how insufficient we are, so that we may ask Him to help us in strengthening "the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths" for our feet (Hebrews 12:12-13).
We work for God because we desire to love and obey Him more and more and we want to be saved and to save those who hear us (1Timothy 4:16). We must never quit praying; on the contrary, let’s find more room in our lives for speaking with God: we must be used for the day in which it will be possible to speak with Him with no cease and eternally. Let’s keep on studying, meditating and practicing His Word, never forgetting It when it is the time to do what God taught us. In so doing, let’s increase our faith, because if we are with God He is with us and "all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23). Let’s also fast from many bad or not useful or inconvenient things that hinder our way to Heaven. Learning the time, the way and the place for doing good, let’s do it!
I’m just a poor and weak servant, but I’ve seen my faith growing step by step, and God has given me the chance to be a successful Christian in several occasions, pushing and helping me to learn also from the inevitable errors and failures. We Christians are not looking for human, material, worldly success; neither we want a false and hypocritical "religious" success. We are not seeking big numbers, but one sinner, one soul (Luke 15:10). We are doing the most important work of the world! We need to perform it well and people desperately need our good and faithful labour, especially when they don’t know how much they need it.
We have "power and authority over all demons", and power "to cure diseases"; Jesus sent us "to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick". Of course, I’m speaking in a spiritual sense. God gave us the Gospel in order to be healed and to heal everyone to whom the Gospel is preached, casting out all sins from our hearts by the infinite power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16)!
Valerio Marchi - vmarchi@xnet.it
The house of the living God
The disciple's proper conduct in God’s house
"…I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
Giving instructions to the young evangelist (preacher) Timothy, the apostle Paul laid down some foundamental principles regarding the Kingdom of God, principles that can be linked to other parts of the Scriptures.
The Church is the house of God
God is the Father, and his children live in His house. The Lord adds those who become Christians to the community of believers. One cannot hope to preserve the salvation obtained through baptism if he is outside the Church of Christ (Acts 2:38, 47). Certainly, it is not the Church that saves but Christ Himself; He adds the saved to His Church which is His spiritual body (Eph. 22-23) and nothing can be its substitute: Jesus, indeed, is the "head of the Church" and the "savior of the body" (Eph. 5:23); He is referred to the Church as the Spouse, and the Church as His bride (Rev. 19:7 and 22:17).
The temple in Jerusalem and the Jews were both considered to be God's house at the time of the old covenant (see John 2:16-17; Heb. 3:2-6); from the time Christ fulfilled His earthly ministry, all who obediently approach to the Gospel are "being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5), and therefore become a part of the new "temple of the living God" (2 Cor. 6:16), the NT Church.
Our God is a living God
Idols and false gods can neither do good nor evil, they are of no value (Is. 41:23-24), though a majority of the human race prostrates before these false gods and idols in various manners; but the "living and true God", for whom Christians abandon every idol (1 Thess. 1:9), can save or condemn, bless or leave us to perdition, lead us to eternal life or destine us to eternal torment. The living God is "the Savior of all men" (1 Tim 4:10), because He wants to lead all men to eternal salvation, as it is "terrifying to fall" into His hands when we are unrepentant sinners or false disciples (Heb 10:31): this last passage is located in a context where some Christians were reproved for their negligence of not attending the regular church worships at the congregation to which they belonged; then, they were considered to "profane the blood of the covenant in doing so", while Christ sacrificed Himself for His Church (Heb 10:25.29), which "He purchased through the shedding of His own blood" (Acts 20:28).
Every house has its rules and regulations
Jesus promised to build the Church and granted that the evil forces cannot predominate over the house of God (see Matth. 16:18). Respecting the rules is very essential for Christians, because if they do not completely allow themselves to be guided by the Head (who is Christ) this will lead them to be lost. As such they will lead a muddled life and look at things superficially; they will be obtuse, haughty, and rebellious people. In the book of Revelation (chapters 2 and 3) Jesus Himself appeared to the seven Churches of Asia Minor, exhorting them lovingly (but at the same time with severity) to remain faithful; otherwise, they risked having their candlestick removed, being excluded from the assembly of the faithful who belong to Him.
The Lord adds the converts to His Church and they must have pure conduct. In order to do so there are rules to be obeyed without adding any self-made rules. Over the centuries many churches (human denominations) were formed and have often established, maintained, and fulfilled their mission by carnal motivation. This motivation comes not from the proper NT teachings, but from the deformed and corrupted society with a view to material gain and earthly rewards. This has violated the divine and basic teachings of the Lord and His apostles.
The house of truth
The Church of Christ is regarded as the "pillar and support of the truth": does this mean that the Church can meddle with the truth as it wishes? Of course not! If the true disciple is a faithful executor of the teachings and the orders he received, the very same is applied to the Church (the disciples who make up its membership). "Retain the standard of sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you" (2 Tim. 1: 13-14).
The disciples are guardians of the truth that through the work of the Holy Spirit was revealed by apostles and prophets in the layout of the "faith that has been revealed to the saints once and for all" (Jude 3), the NT. The Holy Spirit rests upon the Christians and within the Church in the same measure in which they accept guarding and living the Bible truth, knowing the fact that the bearers of the Word have been guided by the Spirit "in every truth" (John16:13).
The Scripture describes Jesus to be the "cornerstone" of the spiritual house of God and the "apostles and prophets" as the "foundation" (Eph. 2: 20). The Church is the pillar and supporter of the truth because it is designed to safeguard, practice and propagate the divine contents divinely revealed once and for all.
Just an example of an erroneous ordainment regarding the acquirements of the elders, the overseers appointed within each congregation. The right and biblical point of view is taken from the first letter to Timothy, chapter three: among the things that Timothy had to do in the Church of Ephesus there is the duty to teach christians the precise scriptural qualifications designated by the Holy Spirit in order to cover the role of an overseer and serve in an official capacity. With what authority does the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church have over its bishops to make them abstain from marrying, while Paul says that an elder "must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity"? Is The Roman apostolic catholic church perhaps superior to the apostolic authority?
But any time whosoever decides to do something that is not taught in the Bible concerning the Church, he is a traitor of the truth because he does not respect the rules of God.
The house of love
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Love and truth can never be separated in God’s design: we must speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15); the goal of our instruction is love (1 Tim. 4:12). Every individual should learn to see where he stands "in speech, conduct, love, Spirit, faith and purity" (1 Tim. 4:12); "grace, mercy and peace" will be with us from God the Father and Christ Jesus "in truth and love" if we abide in God’s commandments; love is pure and sincere if "we walk according to His commandments" (2 John 3, 6).
In the Church of the living God we are taught to love fervently, "from the heart" and with "a sincere love of the brethren" (1 Pet. 1:22): applying this commandment can only make a Christian "to appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life" (Phil. 2:15). When "a sincere love of the brethren" is non-existent or too weak in a congregation, this congregation may appear alive, but it is in fact dead or close to death (Rev. 3:1).
The house of hope
Paul mentions that through the Church "the manifold wisdom of God" is wholly manifested (Eph. 3:10). Writing to the Gospel preacher Titus, the same apostle recalls the "hope of eternal life" for the faith of those chosen of God and "the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness" (Tit. 1:1-2). The Church of Christ is like the ark for those who refuse to partake in the sinful deeds of this world, and to finally reach the new heavenly Jerusalem that the Bible mentions in chapters 21-22 of the book of Revelation.
Living in truth and love within the body of Christ, a Christian has the "living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3). Therefore, the disciples of Christ can comfort one another with words like these (1 Thess. 4:18) and with the knowledge of the fact that God has "given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace" (2 Thess. 2:16).
Having the right attitude in the house of God, the Church will result to live fully as mentioned in Acts 13:52: "…and the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit", looking forward the return of Jesus.