Views: 11<\/p>
[Note: <\/strong>This MS is available ilarger font on our Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus promised to build His church, which He identified as his spiritual kingdom (Mat. 16:18\u201319; John 18:36). Gabriel told Mary that Jesus, the Son the Holy Spirit would implant in her womb, would fulfill the kingdom prophecies God made to David (and to Israel) a millennium earlier (Luke 1:26\u201335; 2 Sam. 7:12\u201313).<\/p>\n The church began in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the risen Christ ascended to sit upon the throne of His kingdom (Acts 2:34\u201347). The book of Acts records the history of the spread of the Gospel, beginning \u201cin Jerusalem,\u201d then to \u201call Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth\u201d (Acts 1:8b). When the Gospel was\/is preached, the church was\/is established (Luke 8:11). Luke provides some information regarding such things as the organization and worship of the church (e.g., Acts 2:42; 14:23; 20:7; 17, 28), but the epistles flesh out the picture of the Lord\u2019s church as established and nurtured by His apostles. These men were inspired by and had been baptized in the Holy Spirit (Mat. 18:18; John 16:13; Acts 1:4\u20135; 2:1\u20134), so the church as they established it was just as Jesus designed it.<\/p>\n A pressing question for all who are serious about Christianity is, \u201cDid the Son of God intend for His church to remain in its inspired, apostolic form only for their time or for all time?\u201d Does the assertion, \u201cWe don\u2019t need a first-century church, but a twenty-first century church,\u201d represent Biblical teaching or human opinion? Shall we let the Bible answer?<\/p>\n The Bible teaches that Jesus\u2019 first-century church is His every<\/strong>-century church, including the twenty-first century. This goal is accomplished only when men follow the New Testament alone regarding the worship, work, organization, and every other aspect of the church.<\/p>\n [Note: <\/strong>I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, August 20, 2010.]<\/p>\n Attribution:<\/strong> From www.thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, proprietor, curator, and administrator.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 11[Note: This MS is available ilarger font on our Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] Jesus promised to build His church, which He identified as his spiritual kingdom (Mat. 16:18\u201319; John 18:36). Gabriel told Mary that Jesus, the Son the Holy Spirit would implant in her womb,…<\/p>\n\n