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Who Are We?. We Are New Testament Christians. No Creed But Christ. We do not follow any man-made creeds (“I believe”) We follow only the doctrine of Christ (Jn. 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 2:16; 4:17; 9:21; 14:37; Gal. 6:2). No Book But the Bible.
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Who Are We? We Are New Testament Christians
No Creed But Christ • We do not follow any man-made creeds (“I believe”) • We follow only the doctrine of Christ (Jn. 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 2:16; 4:17; 9:21; 14:37; Gal. 6:2)
No Book But the Bible • We do not follow any man-made books, catechisms, manuals, confessions, decrees, etc. • We follow only the New Testament (Acts 2:42; Gal. 1:6-9; Eph. 2:20; Jas. 1:25; 2:12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)
No Church But Christ’s Church • We are not a part of any man-made church: Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. • We are part of the Lord’s church only (Mt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; 20:28; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4-6; 5:23)
No Worship But True Worship • We do not engage in any man-made worship that is vain (Mt. 15:9), ignorant (Acts 17:23), or self-willed (Col. 2:23) • We engage only in worship that is authorized by God’s word (Jn. 4:24; Col. 3:17) 1. Sing (Eph. 5:19) 2. Pray (Acts 2:42) 3. Bible study (Acts 2:42) 4. Lord’s supper (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-33) 5. Collection (1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 9:7)
No Organization But Local • We do not have any ties to any man-made, earthly organization: convention, conference, synod, council, diocese, etc. • We are part of a local church only (Acts 20:28; Phil.1:1-2; 1 Pet. 5:1-2) with Jesus as our head (Eph. 1:21-23)
No Mission But Soul-Winning • We do not engage in any kind of work related to politics, recreation, entertainment, social work, secular education, etc. • We focus only on the work Christ: edifying the saved (Acts 11:22-26); helping the needy saints (Acts 11:27-30); evangelizing the lost (Acts 13:1-3)
No Plan But the Gospel • We do not preach a man-made plan of salvation: faith only, voting, etc. • We preach only the gospel plan of salvation (Rom. 1:16) • Hear (Acts 15:7; Eph. 1:13) • Believe (Jn. 8:24; 20:30-31) • Repent (Acts 17:30-31) • Confess (Rom. 10:9-10) • Be baptized (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16) • Live faithfully (Rom. 6:4)
No Unity But Bible Unity • We do not promote a man-made unity that says, “Let’s all agree to disagree” … “Let’s agree on Christ, but not the Church” … etc. • We promote only the unity that Jesus prayed for – unity through his word (Jn. 17:20-21; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:4-6)
No Speech But Bible Speech • We avoid man-made religious language that is not found in the Bible: “Reverend,” “Pastor,” “Father,” “join the church of your choice,” “pray through and get religion,” “a second work of grace,” etc. • We speak only where the Bible speaks (1 Pet. 4:11; Isa. 8:20)
No Life But Christ • We do not live in a way that follows the pattern of the world: vulgar language, immodesty, drinking, gambling, homosexuality, etc. • We live only as Christ would have us to live and pattern our life after his example (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 11:1; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; 1 Pet. 2:21)
No Hope But Heaven • We do not preach a hope that is based upon the wishes of men: rapture, earthly paradise, reincarnation, nirvana, 70 virgins, rule your own planet, etc. • We preach only the one hope of the gospel: heaven (Eph. 4:4; Col. 1:5; Tit. 1:2; 3:7)
Who Are We? • We are New Testament “Christians” only (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16) • We are only one of many local “churches of Christ” seeking to serve Jesus (Rom. 16:16) • Let us all examine ourselves to see who we really are and make the change if necessary (2 Cor. 13:5)