A biblical church....

Yes. The world is full of biblical churches. Your church is probably a biblical church and mine is too -- even if they disagree on some points of doctrine/practice/polity.

If the church in Corinth could still be a biblical church, then there is hope for all of us.

Sinners saved by grace, striving to follow and honor the Lord every day, but sometime fail miserably. Members who genuinely care about one another, but still manage to disagree and foul things up occasionally.

Preaching would honor Christ, emphasize grace and responsibility, and occasionally slip into pet doctrines.

As people who are in the process of being redeemed. They would resist sin successfully much of the time, but occasionally lapse back into old habits. The lives of mature believers would be characterized by good works and a deep and abiding faith in the face of uncertainty and confusion.

A time where people exercise the best of their gifts helping each other glorify God, but occasionally lapse into vanity or a self-centered focus.

Heaven. That's when all the church are going to get ecumenical based on their love for Jesus. We will all find unity.

A portion of the lyric from the song, "Child of Mary, Son of God" (copyright 2001):

"And on that final day (where there will be no night),
the glory of the Son will be our only light.
Our tears will be wiped away, our Savior's face we'll see,
as we stand as one, united, across the crystal sea."

 

The " Church " is any congregation of believers. What they do as a form of worship, Right or Wrong, doesn't change that.

 

Just because we did not give you some legalistic rules or non-biblical standards to impose on a church to make it "biblical", does not mean that it is an "anything goes" kind of fellowship.

A church should be made of people genuinely committed to God -- the Lordship of Christ and the Leadership and Power of the Spirit -- and to each other.

A church should be made of people who are people who study and implement God's written word and also obey the promptings of the Spirit.

A church should be made of people who carry the gospel to those who have never heard it -- at home, nearby and far away -- and provide training and support to make those people disciples.

A church should be made of people who take care of the material, emotional, spiritual and mental needs of people at home, nearby and far away.

A church should be made of people who live a holy life -- not because they are striving to be holy, but because the Lord has made them holy -- as a side-effect of following Jesus. (Concern for "holy living" for the sake of "holiness" and "purity" is the concern of a legalist -- of you focus on it, it doesn't happen and you are not following Christ very well. For example, a woman who was a prostitute but is converted and leaves her life of sin is just as pure on her wedding day as a young woman who is a virgin who is also a believer. Only human legalism draws a distinction. There are certainly many reasons why one should be sexually chaste, but chastity does not add "purity" to the believer -- sexual immorality is simply sin.)

A church should be made of people who exercise great grace with people who do not quite fit in, who have many flaws, and who often fail. the church should be redemptive toward those whose lives have been ravaged by sin and should deal gently with those is rebellion against God.

A church is made up of people who fail from time to time -- sometimes miserably -- in their quest to follow Jesus, but somehow find the faith to keep going.

I could keep going, but I think you get the idea from both of my posts.

 

1. We as Baptist have to take the Bible(KJV)as the finial authority. Jesus gave His Local Visible Church, TWrdiances, Baptism and the Lords Supper. We as Baptist cannot and should not take anyone into our church as a member except they that have Baptist Baptism if you do, that makes YOU UNSCRIPITURAL; or whos Baptism is of another group. John was sent to Baptize and all Jesus Apostles had John Baptism (John 1:33), (Acts 1:22). If A Baptist Church has the Lords Supper Open to anyone besides members that make them UNSCRIPITURAL TOO!!! Jesus only had His Members when He Institued the Lord Supper,if these ordiance, one or the other is off that makes THEM WRONG. By the way we had the KJV over 400 years I don't need another so,so,so called other translation!!!!!!

 

I think there are a lot of Biblical churches these days also. To me a Biblical church is one that teaches the truth of Gods Word. That of course leaves out a lot of Churches also. One can Teach the truth about salvation, but have a woman for a pastor, does this amke them a Biblical church? Not according to my Bible. The Corinthian Church did discipline those who were sinning, I think this maked this church Biblical in that it responded when they were enlightened to their sin.

God Bless

 

Yes, but it will be hard to find one but have faith

Finding a good church in this lukewarm, Laodicean church age is very difficult. Regarding this present time, Jesus tells of religious deception in Mt 24:4, Mk 13, and Lk 21. He tells of this being a time when the saints are in a state of slumber and sleep-ref Mt 25:4. Jesus shows us clearly that this period of time is one in which the church believes it is in great condition, but does not know it is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-ref Rev 3:17. It is a lukewarm church age that will be spit out-ref Rev 3:16. With religious deception and unbiblical doctrines running rampant and very few recognizing it, finding a good church can be difficult. There are very few around.
Throughout the world, most Christian churches have mixed doctrines of men, doctrines of their denomination, doctrines of other religions, doctrines of tribes, doctrines of their culture, doctrines to please people, or doctrines of other things along with Christianity.
Many people throughout the world that profess to be a Christian are illiterate. Thus, they can be easily led astray by ministers that say, God says this or that.
In other cases, many that profess to be a Christian and are able to read may only read a few Bible chapters per week. Their knowledge of God’s Word is very limited.
It is the same with ministers. Most only read and study a few chapters per week, some even less. In some cases, ministers may not even possess a Bible, nor the people in their congregations.
In addition, new doctrines are springing up in many churches and denominations that would shock the apostles.
Biblical repentance is no longer understood by most. Such subjects as denying oneself is laughed at. Subjects such as sacrifice and suffering are things that have disappeared from the teachings in many churches.
In addition, this is the age of the lukewarm Christian church that will be spit out at the judgment.
A very well-known evangelist has indicated that in many communities in the United States, there is no longer a good, Bible teaching and believing church to be found.
The problem may start with lukewarm Bible colleges, and then filters down into lukewarm churches that want to please men more than they want to please God. The problem continues with missionaries that go overseas. Often (but not always), they are from lukewarm churches and take with them lukewarm teaching and unbiblical doctrines and fads, and spread these teachings overseas. In addition, they often do not understand or investigate the sinful tribal or cultural traditions that have crept into and polluted the Christian churches in many countries. Often if they do understand, they will not take a stand against those things that are wrong for fear of offending someone, such as their host or someone in authority.
This is not to say that every Bible school, or church, or preacher or missionary is this way. There are a "few" that are zealous for Jesus according to knowledge, but the number is very small and getting even smaller as we approach the time for the Rapture. When the Rapture comes, the lukewarm, compromising Christians will be left.

 

The church needs to be based on the Church planted in the book of Acts. Removing all of the added on catholic doctrines which includes keeping the Sabbath on Sunday. and also standing against new falsified doctrines of the Word of Faith - Prosperity Gospel Heresy.

As far as the KJV being the only authoritive Word of God. Look into the practices of the Cult that teach this. which are based in freemasonry. And you will soon see that this teaching is an added on yoke also.

 

Hi Molly. Great question. Each and every standard set in 1 Tim. 3 MUST be met by anyone claiming or seeking the office of Pastor. Yet, these pre-requisites are often missing among pastors of so many congregations today.

If the 1 Tim. 3 standards for the pastor are not met, then how can that congregation be defined as “Biblical?” If the Biblical rules are not followed, can it possibly be called Biblically based in the first place?

latterrain77

 

A Biblical church would be one that extolled the word of God above all things, despite many of the church's (inevitable) misunderstandings.

 

I believe that the Primitive Baptist Church is biblical..www.pb.org

 

Molly, this is a great question. I had considered posting something similar myself. We are going to a church in which we are not members and are considering membership, but what do you look for and how do you know that it lines up with the Bible?

The church we were at before was very informal and didn't teach much doctrine. Even though my husband and I have been saved for sometime, we still don't know much about how a church should be, including offices and functions.

What has been posted has been helpful. However, more input would be nice. The last thing we want is to submit to a church that may not be straight in basic doctrines and functions.

Please Help!

[ November 19, 2002, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Walls ]

 

This is a pretty good list and coupled with the other post that says the preacher must meet 1Tim3 qualifications, is a good start. But I have another question, some people I know measure their spirituality according to their standards. According to the Bible we must adorn ourselves with a meek and quiet spirit. Which is more important in a congretion, high standards or a meek and quiet spirit? Because after all the congregation will become your church family.