He was a member of the church. He said so when questioned about his religion.

He was a member of the church but he could not be counted on to attend the services. He worked six days a week, and he had to visit sometimes, when could he go except on Sunday. He worked hard and needed some recreation, and Sunday was the only time he had for recreation.

He was a member of the church, but he just could not get to Bible study on Sunday morning. He needed the extra hour or two of sleep more than he needed to study the Bible. He attended the worship most of the time, and he felt that was enough.

He was a member of the church, but he did not come on Sunday night. He had to rest to be ready to go to work on Monday. He had already attended one time and that was enough except for the preacher and a few over zealous people. He had eaten the Lord’s Supper, and that was the only thing that was really important anyway.

He was a member of the church, but he never came to mid-week Bible study. He could not find where the Bible said anything about mid-week Bible classes. He said he was tired on Wednesday night and needed the rest and requested people not to bother him by calling on him to invite him.

He was a member of the church, but gave very little of his money to the cause of the Lord. The church supported the preaching of the gospel, but not with his money. The church helped orphans and widows, but not with his money. After all, he owned a home, a new car, a television, and took a vacation each year and it took all of his money to live on.

He was a member of the church, but he never invited anyone. He said that he thought that was what the preacher was paid to do. If he was sick and no one visited him, it hurt his feelings. He complained of the church not visiting people.

He was a member of the church, but he never tried to teach anyone else. In fact, he did not know where to find the Great Commission. If someone asked him a question about the Bible he had to call the preacher to find the answer. The truth is he just did not like to talk with other people about the Bible.

He was a member of the church, but he died. I conducted the funeral. I said, “He was a member but he was careless in his attendance. He was a member of the church, but he did not think Bible study was important, and so he never came. He was a member of the church, but he never gave as he prospered. His funeral is being conducted in a building paid for by others. He was a member of the church, but he never visited the sick. He was a member of the church, but no one gathered here today has he taught the truth. He has now gone to judgment to meet his God, and all he can say to God is: ‘I was a member of the church.’ All that I can say about him is that he was a member of the church.”

While these are not the words that I used, it is the substance of what was said. The service was over, and as I stood at the door waiting for the men to take the casket and place it in the ambulance, I heard someone say, “He preached him straight into hell.” But I deny that I did so. All I did was to tell the truth about his life. All that he claimed while he lived was that he was a member of the church. Why should I insult his family and his friends and his body by saying he was more? I could not claim for a dead man what he refused to claim for himself while he lived.

This is not fiction—it happened.

• Franklin Camp (Deceased) submitted by Jerry Sturgill

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build His church.  Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).  Upon this bedrock foundational fact, Jesus made His promise.  There can be no other foundation for the church than Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:11); therefore, any church that is founded on someone else has a faulty foundation and is headed for ultimate demise (Matthew 7:24-27; 15:13).

The promise Jesus made was, “I will build my church,” (Matthew 16:18). The singular form of the word church ought to be glaring to a religious world that hosts thousands of different churches.  Ephesians 1:22-23 and Colossians 1:18 clearly show that the church is Christ’s body.  Coupled with the plain statement of Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body,” it is clear that Jesus built only one church which is to be united in teaching and practice.  Later in the same epistle, Jesus is called the “head of the church” and “the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). Christ is the one head over His one body, the church. No mention of different worldwide churches can be found in the pages of the New Testament.  When a man is saved, God adds him to Christ’s one church (Acts 2:47).

However, one may be curious about the mention of “churches of Christ” in Romans 16:16.  Does this indicate a multiplicity of churches?  It must be understood that in the New Testament though there was only one worldwide church which was built by Christ, all of the members of this universal organization could not regularly meet in the same geographical location.  Therefore, the word church in the New Testament many times refers to local congregations of which Christians in a given locale were a part.  The church at Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi are examples of this.  The seven churches in Asia Minor, to whom the book of Revelation is addressed (Revelation 1:4) are also examples of local congregations.  Each of these local congregations had elders, also known as bishops, (Acts 14:23; Philippians 1:1) who would watch for the souls of those members of the local congregation. Each member is to follow the example of the elders of the congregation as they shepherd the flock among them (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:3).

The meeting of the local congregation on a regular basis was an important part of the church in the New Testament and is just as important today (Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:24-25; James 2:2).  Thus, sometimes the word church is used in the sense of the assembly (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). The phrase “come together” appears six times in this one section of scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-14:40. The inspired instructions and corrections given here to the first-century congregation at Corinth provide insight into what is to occur when the whole church comes together into one place (1 Corinthians 14:23).  The Lord’s supper was to be observed (1 Corinthians 11:17-29), prayers were offered (1 Corinthians 14:15), psalms were sung and public teaching occurred (1 Corinthians 14:26). All this was to be done in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40).  This assembly occurred on the first day of the week when Christians would also give of their means to support the work of the church (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

The church is so important to Christ that He purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28).  Those that would please Christ would be added to His one church by obeying the Gospel (Acts 2:37-47), place membership at a local congregation where faithful elders can watch for their souls (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4), and faithfully attend the assemblies of the church for their own spiritual edification (1 Corinthians 14:4-5).

-Mark Day

When Jesus was preparing to die and leave His followers in this world, He promised them He was preparing a place for them and He would come again to take them home with Him (John 14:3). Thomas asked Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Jesus replied, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

This claim is exclusive. Jesus said He is “the truth”, not “a truth.” Today people often want options. They may say, “I have my truth and you have your truth.” Many look for “a truth” that will serve them, but the only way Christianity truly works is by acknowledging it for what it is: the truth. You may find aspects of truth in many places, but only in Jesus will you find “the truth.”

There are many paths one may pursue in this life, both religious and secular. Jesus is not merely one way (option), or one path among many acceptable paths; Jesus is the way. Many say we are all going to heaven, we are just taking different roads to get there; however, Jesus spoke of Himself as the exclusive way. The one way that leads to life is narrow and few find it (Matthew 7:14).

When people say, “this is the life,” what do they mean? The good life may include different ideas to different people, but Jesus is “the life” beyond comparison. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Did Jesus make abundant life available? He said in the very next verse, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Truly Jesus lived the most exemplary, sinless life (John 8:46; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Peter 2:21-24). But not only that, He died and rose again to give us eternal life; the only way to have life is to be in Jesus, the Son of God (John 11:25; 1 John 5:11).

With these thoughts in mind, consider how we must follow the commands of Jesus and imitate His example in the way we live each day as communicated in 1 John 2:3-6:

 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Only by following the way of the Lord Jesus Christ will we have the truth in us that leads to eternal life (Hebrews 5:9). This week we have the blessing of having brother Phil Sanders with us in our Gospel Meeting. Brother Phil addresses a vast multitude of households each week in the television program “In Search of the Lord’s Way.” Will you be with us each opportunity you have to consider the way that leads to eternal life?

-Mark Day

Acts 26:18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

The Lord gives Paul his mission statement in Acts 26:18. In regard to Jews and Gentiles he was to…

Open their eyes…Paul preached both among Jews and Gentiles, but his specific work was to be an apostle to the Gentiles. His preaching was always to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles. (Romans 1:16) He would preach to the Jews and when they rejected the Gospel, then he turned to the Gentiles. By preaching to the people Paul would instruct/enlighten the people so they could see their lost condition. Cf. Ephesians 1:18. He was able to accomplish opening their eyes only by preaching the gospel of Christ.

…turn them from darkness to light…They were walking in the darkness of ignorance and sin, but Paul’s preaching would bring them to knowledge and salvation. “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.

…and from the power of Satan unto God…Only two spiritual realms exist. There is no neutral position in reference to Satan or God. One is either serving the Devil or God. Romans 6:16 teaches, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” When one heeds the Gospel, he turns from Satan to God. Colossians 1:13 described those who had obeyed the Gospel, God had  “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son…”.

…that they may receive forgiveness of sins…When those to whom Paul preached and had their eyes opened, when they gave heed to his preaching, i.e., obeyed the Gospel, they would receive 2 blessings.  They would also be forgiven of all sin. Colossians 1:14, points out that when a person has been translated into Christ’s Kingdom (previous point), “In whom (i.e. in Christ – JDS) we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27 teaches us that to get “in Christ” we are baptized into Christ. That is the reason that the message preached on the day of Pentecost was to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” Acts 2:38.

…and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. The inheritance those who obey the Gospel can look forward to is eternal life in the hereafter. “”And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” To be sanctified is to be set apart for God’s service. These blessings are shared by all who are sanctified by faith which is in Christ. One is sanctified, not by faith only, but by the faith of Christ.

Paul preached the Gospel by inspiration in the 1st century, and these were the blessings those who obeyed that Gospel would enjoy. Today, we preach and teach the Gospel, not by inspiration, but according to the Inspired Book, The Bible. When people obey that same Gospel Paul preached, they enjoy the same blessings as those in the 1st century.                – Jerry D. Sturgill