Family of God – Church
of God Kingdom
of God
- In the beginning, The
Kingdom of God was; God, Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit. “Three”.
- God sent His Son who
taught the Government of God and the Gospel to the twelve Disciples.
- Then God started the
first church in A.D. 31 with about one
hundred and twenty believers.
- Shortly after that, there
were about three thousand
believers, now there are millions.
- Jesus was the first “son
of God” and now, we that believe are also “sons of God” and are
part of the family and the “
John 1:1 – BEGINNING – THE KINGDOM WAS GOD AND
JESUS
1:1 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Gen 1:2 – PLUS THE HOLY SPIRIT – THE KINGDOM OF GOD
2 and the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters. NIV
18 And he is the head
of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among
the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. NIV
Luke 6:12-13 – GOD CHOSE THE FIRST PASTORS
13 When morning came, he
called his disciples to him and chose
twelve of them, whom he also designated, apostles: NIV
Matt 11:1 – HE TEACHES THE CHRUCH PASTORS
11:1 After Jesus had
finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to
teach and preach in the towns of Galilee . NIV
John 16:29 -30 – HE MAKES HIS PLAN CLEAR
29 Then Jesus' disciples
said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.
30 Now we can see
that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you
questions.… you came from God." NIV
Matt 10:1 – HE GIVES AUTHORITY TO THE TWELVE PASTORS
10:1 He called his twelve
disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal
every disease and sickness. NIV
Acts 1:15 – HE STARTS A CHURCH WITH 120 PEOPLE
15 In those days Peter
stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)
NIV
Matt 28:19-20 – GOD COMMISSIONS THE CHURCH
19 Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you.
Mark 16:19 -20 – HE SENDS OUT TWELVE
20 Then the disciples went
out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his
word by the signs that accompanied it. NIV
Luke 10:1 – THEN HE SENDS OUT SEVENTY
10:1 After these things the
Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his
face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. KJV
Acts 6:7 – THE WORD OF GOD SPREADS
7 So the word of God
spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem
Acts 2:41 – THREE THOUSAND ACCEPT CHRIST
41 Those who accepted his message were
baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 2:42 – BELIEVERS DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO GOD
42 They devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled
with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were
together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their
possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. NIV
Acts 2:46 -47 – GOD ADDS TO THEIR NUMBER DAILY
46 Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts.
47 praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily
those who were being saved. NIV
Rom 8:14-16 – BELIEVERS
BECOME PART OF THE KINGDOM
14 because those who are
led by the Spirit of God are sons of God
16 The Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are
God's children. NIV
DENOMINATIONS
- QUESTION: Why are there so
many denominations? God’s
Church in the scriptures seems pretty straight forward. Why aren’t we all just called God’s Church?
- Divisions started
immediately in the church based on their interpretation of doctrine and
the mixing of doctrine with tradition
like circumcision, & ceremonial washing. (Read
that twice)
- Gradually the early
church became layered with extra hierarchy of church officials.
- The
Catholic Church
evolved with the Pope at the top then cardinals, archbishops, bishops and
finally priests and is laden with false doctrine mixed with tradition. They produced their own modified version
of the Bible.
- At some point the
Government got involved and began to control the church.
- Then a breaking away
or rebellion started with leaders such as Martin Luther, John
Wesley, and John Calvin concerning doctrine. Let’s look at a few of the differences
in dominations.
- Assembly
of God –
Belief that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are still active - The
Pentecostal distinction is of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking in tongues. If
you are saved, you should speak in tongues.
- Baptist - Were known as Anabaptist
(re-baptizers) because of their rejection of infant salvation baptism.
They follow John’s the Baptist’s method of baptism (emersion) and
salvation through faith alone.
- Christian
Science – Founded
by Mary Baker Eddy – Claim man and the universe is spiritual and
not physical – Practice the belief in the “awaking of moral thought” for healing.
·
Church of God Los Angeles Church of God
- Congregational
Church
– Government by the local congregation - Their government fulfills
what the early church did without the layers of administration as in the
Catholic Church.
·
Lutheran Church – Founded by Martin Luther who
led the break away from the Catholic Church over church doctrine. He nailed his
Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the door
of the Castle Church, in Wittenberg.
·
Methodist Church
- Mormon
Church
– Founded by their prophet Joseph Smith and his book of Mormon that
“corrects” the errors in the Bible. – Practice baptism for the dead. - Salvation is achieved by obedience to
the Mormon laws and ordinances through works. – They will become gods.
·
Presbyterian Church - Follow
John Calvin and the doctrine of predestination and the absolute
sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damination
- governed by
the presbytery of ministers in control. – Get their name from Acts 14:23 ”Presbyteros”
which means “Elder”. Elders take part
in pastoral care and decision making at all levels – Deacons care for the
members and community. - They have split up over
doctrine interpretation. Two major dominations, PCA and PCUSA
- Seventh
Day Adventist- Founded
by their prophet Ellen G. White – Her writings are
considered “a continuing and authoritative source of truth”. - Distinguished
by their strict observance of the Saturday Sabbath. – Belief that they are
the end time remnant as announced by “the three angels” of
Revelation 14:6-12.
- And on
and on.
- QUESTION: Which Church is the right Church ?
- ANSWER: The Church that
governs and leads the congregation according to Bible scripture, verse
upon verse, precept upon precept. What
that means is that you have to study for yourself to find out what the
Bible says.
- PROBLEM: Most Christians can’t tell you anything
about their domination’s doctrines and further more don’t care one way or
the other - Most folks want you to just tell them what the true doctrines
are. They do not want to study for
themselves. - I dare say they will finally wind up as a member of a church
where they find themselves comfortable and embracing doctrines that are
not taught and rejecting others that are.
- SAD
NOTE;
Without realizing it, man is willingly
ignorant of God and will just join the church that is closest or the
one their friends go to.
- Once I was excitingly
sharing with a friend about a new church that all our friends were going to. He said, “Paul, It only matters where I go to church”. I have never forgotten it.
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