'LET US RESTORE' NOT 'REFORM'

First, let's restore The Lord's Supper as we see in The Church at Troas.

Acts 20:7 tells us the Church of Troas met together on the first day of the week to break bread. Paul stayed at Troas for seven days. 
If he could have taken the Lord's Supper during the week, like at a Thursday night candlelight service, he would have done so. He waited for Sunday, so he could meet with the congregation.

Sunday is called the Lord's Day in Revelation chapter one. For many today who 'wear' the name Christian today, Sunday could be called anything but the Lord’s Day. 
The dominant sound on Sunday today is not "Praise the Lord!", but, "That ball is outta' here!"

Jesus arose from the dead on Sunday. He made many of His appearances after the resurrection on Sunday. The Apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit on Sunday. The first gospel sermon was preached on Sunday. The Church began on Sunday. The first converts were immersed on Sunday. The disciples at Troas gathered together on Sunday for the purpose of the Lord's Supper observance.

There are some today who observe the Lord's Supper on Saturday night because they think Troas was on Jewish time. Whatever time system was used at the city of Troas at that time is of no consideration in the holy writ.
There is no way you can take the Lord's Supper on Saturday night today in the good Ole USA in the 21st century, and call it Sunday. 
So let's restore the New Testament Church by restoring the Lord's Supper of the Church at Troas.

Next; Let's restore the preaching of Christ's Word as seen in the Church at Thessalonica.

In a world where toleration is so widespread, let's restore the emphasis on the preaching of the Church at Thessalonica. 

In Acts 17 we are told how Paul started the Church at Thessalonica. He entered into the synagogue and for three Sabbath days had preached the same message; teaching that it was Christ's duty to suffer, and rise again the third day, and stated that this Jesus,

"I proclaim unto you is the Christ."

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul identifies the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and the preaching of that message resulted in the charge against them, "that these who have turned the world upside down have come here also."

The preaching of that message today is the only thing that can turn our world upside down and yet leave it right side up. 

We need to restore this aspect of the New Testament Church. So, let's restore the New Testament Church by restoring the preaching of the Church at Thessalonica.

God bless until our next time...

"RESTORE THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH"

Good day to all who read;

Let's restore the Church of New Testament. 
Maybe a better way to put it would be, let us restore the people to the New Testament Church. 

If you think about it, the New Testament Church has been here since 50 days after the resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost, when the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was first proclaimed, and 3,000 souls were added.

Jesus said that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. So it has always been here since that day, and we need to restore people back to it.

A question often asked is, "Which one of the New Testament Churches do you want to restore?"

How about the one at Sardis, it was dead? How about the one at Laodicea, it was lukewarm? How about the one at Ephesus, it had left its first love? How about the churches in Galatia, they were legalistic?

How about the one at Corinth, it was full of division? Which one of the New Testament Churches should we restore?

Maybe it's hard to see the entire Church from looking at any one of the New Testament congregations, but if we take a look at several of them, the composite of the many will give us an idea of what the Church was really like and what it was meant to be. Let us restore the New Testament Church.

1) LET'S RESTORE THE NAME THAT WAS FAMILIAR TO THE CHURCH AT ROME.

If you had gone to Rome in the first century and asked for the location of most any denomination, either Protestant or Catholic, the members of the Roman Church would have been completely confused. 

They would not know what you were talking about. But if you had said Church of Christ that would have been a familiar name, because Paul had written to the Roman Church and said in Romans 16:16, 

"All the Churches of Christ salute you." 

The Church at Ephesus according to Acts 20:28 would have understood the name Paul used at his meeting with their elders, 

"The Church of God which he purchased with His own blood."

God the Son is the One who purchased the Church with His blood. The church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14:33 would also have recognized the term 'Churches of the saints'.

We know that a saint is a Christian because Paul referred to the Christians as saints in Ephesians 4:12 when he said, 

"The Lord has given us pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering."

Any name found in the scripture is a scriptural name. Is there anything that sows the seed of division any more than denominational names?

I read of a Christian traveler who went to Japan from America, and had need of filling out papers. The Japanese clerk asked about his nationality, his place of birth, his business, and wanted to know,

"What is your religion?" 

The traveler said he was a Christian. The Japanese clerk said, "American, I know you are a Christian, but to what damnation do you belong?"

To avoid much confusion and to be in line with God's Holy Word, let's restore the New Testament Church as far as a name that was familiar to the Churches of the New Testament.

"Correctly Handling The Word of Truth"

       
2 Timothy 2:15

When we consider the Old Covenant or The Law of Moses we need to consider what laws were included in it?

The Old Testament record says: "So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." (Exodus 34:28).

We also read, "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." (Deuteronomy 4:13).

The people at the base of Mt. Sinai agreed to obey all the laws of God as we read Exodus chapters 20-23.

The first covenant, or Testament, included directions for building the tabernacle, the altar, and for the Levitical priests in offering the animal sacrifices. (Exodus chapters 25-31). 

These additional laws were part of the covenant that God made with Israel and that covenant was then ratified, or given formal consent, in the offering of that blood (Exodus 24:6-8).

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He nailed this entire law to the cross taking it out of the way and declaring it obsolete. (Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:14-16)

It no longer has legal or binding authority today and has been replaced with the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13).

Paul deals with this issue in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and also shows us that the Ten Commandments were done away. In verse 3 Paul makes a clear reference to the Ten Commandments when referring to the tables of stone.

In verse 6 he begins to contrast the New Covenant with "the letter," which in context means the letter of the old covenant.

Then in verse 7 and 8 he talks about the law being engraved on stones as well as the shining of Moses' face:

"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?" (NKJV)

The first or old covenant was certainly glorious, but as scripture tells us, it was "fading away" and it was being replaced by a covenant much more glorious; the New Covenant that came by Christ's death and resurrection.

Paul went on to say, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Rom. 8:3-4).

God never intended for the Law of Moses or the First Covenant to make a person righteous. The Law could not do this because it was weak in that it could not forgive and remove sins.
(Read Hebrews 10:1-4)

God planned before the foundation of the world to save mankind by way of His Son. (1 Pet. 1:17-21)

By our Lord's death on the cross, Christ has redeemed us from eternal death and condemnation, which is the penalty of a broken law. (Galatians 3:13; Romans 10:4)

In another revealing discussion of law Paul said:  "Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.  So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.  Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God." 
(Romans 7:1-4).

The Scriptures are always consistent; never contradictory. New Testament Christians are not required to obey the Law of Moses.
Even though it was glorious throughout the Mosaic Dispensation, it has been superseded by Jesus Christ and His New Covenant.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 
40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

God bless until our next time...