Joy in Qualifying

Acts 2:41-47

I: Every Organization has Some Qualifications:
1. U.S.A 5 yrs. residence, proof of character, study of Government, Elements of our Language.
2. Trade Guilds have rigid standards.
3. Men willingly strive to qualify for membership in that they prize high.
4. No Organization will cherish the Member that joins with no respect of Faith in its Membership.

II: Qualifications of A New Testament Church:
1. Does any Membership compare with that of a New Testament Church?
2. There is no cheap and easy way.
3. It offers privileges unparalleled in this World, Opportunity, and Satisfaction.
4. The Apostles recognized no qualifications for membership which didn’t begin with repentance and faith. Romans 5:1-2
To fail here robs of true joy in belonging.
5. “The Apostles understood Baptism stood between Conversion and Membership.”
Acts 2:41, 8:12, 8:36, 9:18, and 10:48.

III: 3 Basic Steps of Qualifying:
1. Conversion, impossible to define fully.
a. Sorrow for sin — repentance.
b. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
c. To turn about.
d. The New Testament gives no record of acceptance into membership without Conversion.
e. Voting to accept the guarding of it’s basic beliefs by the whole membership.
2. Confession: Public acknowledgment of Christ as Savior and Lord. Romans 10:9-10
Baptist: A picture of the Cross and the Resurrection. If one is ashamed of true Baptism, he is ashamed of Christ (Mexican Lad). “If I die, I die.”
3. Committed: A pledge of devotion and loyalty to the program and policies of the Church Body as found in the New Testament.
a. No one can experience true joy in belonging to a church that doesn’t merit and obtains our loyalty.
b. Lodges and other clubs put us to shame, in their committal.
c. There is no perfect Church, but the weakest Church that Preaches Christ is stronger than the strongest Lodge.
d. Too many join the Church with fingers crossed as to committal to her program.
e. Our belief and behavior can’t be separated. We show what we believe about our church by what we do for and through the Church.

Posted by on Aug 11, 2011