Part One

Part Two

Part Three

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:25

Time with other bible believers studying the truth of God’s word and learning about the Christian life is essential for growth in Christ.

The purpose behind these Essential Instruction posts is to grow in Christ. In the next post, we’ll provide specific technical instruction about how to lead a lost soul into the Kingdom of God if they’ve by given by the Father under the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God to rely on Christ Jesus. Here in Part Four, we’ll not be talking about modes of worship or rudiments of outward forms of godliness as a group of believers. This post is about you serving God in spirit and in truth.

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” – Romans 12:4-5

See also: 1 Corinthians 12:12

A local church is a body of believers. All followers of Jesus are His church, sometimes referred to in Scripture as the body of Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is not a Church building. When the members refuse to serve, they make the body lame and dysfunctional retarding the growth of His church by slowing the spreading of the Gospel to every tongue. God has a job for you to do, that the body may be whole.

“And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” – Acts 11:26

What did Jesus command in the Great Commission? What did they do at Antioch? What did the disciples do everywhere they went? What are you doing?

A Christian is a believer who is now in the body of Christ and becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. A Christian is someone who gives His life in service to the Father just as our Lord Jesus did. Christianity is not a mere belief, although that is the essential first thing. Christians do the work of God to bring about the glorification of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth, preaching the Gospel to every creature and teaching all nations to obey Christ. Being saved by Jesus is not the end; it is the beginning, the beginning of a new life of service for our Lord in the Kingdom of God.

This is very important; the Churches of America have taken to preaching the Gospel to each other and ministering to the lost. This is the exact opposite of what Almighty God calls Christians to do in service of Him as commanded in His word. The first work of believers, if done according to the Holy Bible, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost sinners outside the body. And secondly, care one for another as a group of believers, teaching not only about the Bible but how to accomplish what God commands in His word.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” – Jude 1:3

The church we should want is not one where believers come to get refreshed from work, or the news cycle, or from a hectic life of worldliness nor as a babysitter for our children and an activity center. Your local church should be the group of believers we rely upon to be refreshed in the power of Christ, refilled with the Holy Spirit of God. And the local church should be the place we get encouraged and uplifted because we’ve spent a week reproving the wicked of sin, sharing the Gospel with the lost, and standing in the righteousness of Christ against the evil of this present world by following the commandments in the new testament. We should want a church that contends for the faith within and outside the body in serious commitment to follow after Christ.

“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” Jesus Christ speaking to His disciples in John 15:12

Seek opportunities to teach, share the simple Gospel with the children of your church, spend a little time listening to widows and the elderly. Great all members with a smile and sincerely ask if you can pray for them, and then do pray throughout the week, and follow up the next week and ask them how it’s going. Offer to help the Pastor with anything He needs. He’ll say no at first but continue to make yourself available. Depending on how your church is structured, there may be many ways to contribute, but it’s mainly about the people. Serve in meekness, love, longsuffering, mercy, and compassion, never backbiting, telling tales, or spreading gossip. You don’t need anyone’s permission to love and care with sincere kindness one for another and not in words only but in deeds that help your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now, pastoral leadership is a narrow calling of God on the men He chooses. But specific gifts and ministries may include teaching, church planting, missions, evangelism, and we are all made witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. And we all strengthen each other uplifting each other’s spirit to prepare each other to re-enter the battlefield doing battle for our High King.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:2

Want to know the will of God for your service of Him? Prove it, test it, try the reigns of God by giving yourself in time and ability within the body. You’ll find where you work best for His glory. Perhaps He’ll use you in one capacity for a season and another capacity for another season. This is not unusual for those who seek to earnestly and humbly give of themselves for God’s kingdom. When you begin this search, God will put you where He wants you. You’ve got to want it; take the initiative.

God isn’t looking for benchwarmers to help Him with gravity by holding down a pew with your backside. Christians are not useless observers. Consumerist Christianity is destroying the American Church. Be ye doers of the word!

Another thing that is destroying the American Church is that it is supposed to be for believers; it is not a mixed multitude. Inviting somebody to church is a kindness but having a group that is half lost people is not the church. The church is the body of Christ, and we are His people. We are to assemble with other believers to strengthen each other so that we can go into the world and seek the lost that God would make His own. Filling the body with lost people weakens the purposes of assembling together.

Contending for the faith is done by following the commandments in the New Testament and telling people about Jesus. When studying the New Testament, it becomes clear that Jesus was preparing men to preach to the lost, create assemblies that gather as His church, and within those assemblies to set out specific functions for service of Him by caring for the saints. In these two things is the fullness of the Great Commission; to serve God on earth in the name of Jesus Christ by following His commandments; teaching and learning and ministering among a group of believers, and secondly by spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost souls outside the body.

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” – Hebrews 10:24

Disciples seek the lost to share the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus. And followers of Jesus Christ minister among a group of believers, a local church. This ministration includes caring for one another, urging each other to do good works, encouraging each other, and sharing life with other believers. The church is not a building; it’s the body of Christ, that is, all the believers working and serving Holy God to accomplish the specific tasks for the particular purposes that the New Testament lays out. If accomplished according to Scripture, this is an excellent work for Holy God in which He is well pleased.

Time with other bible believers studying the truth of God’s word and learning about the Christian life is essential for growth in Christ. Personal prayer and bible study do not replace church going. And going to church does not replace personal prayer and bible reading & study time. You must do both.

So that you mature in Christ becoming a worthy vessel to serve our King in His kingdom, you must examine yourself with fear and trembling to become the member in particular that God would have.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” – Philippians 2:12

Prove God’s perfect will for your service of Him. Prove your own self whether you are in the faith. Are you in or not!?! Work this out with fear and trembling before the throne of the Almighty; will you follow Christ?

And pray; God help me grow and put me in service of you that your holy name would be glorified and that I falter not unto the day of redemption. Amen.