Jesus stated clearly God's expectations during worship.
"God is Spirit and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)
One can expect the following during our Sunday morning assembly: The Lord's Supper. The church in the New Testament observed the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) to commemorate the death of Christ. We follow their Divinely guided example. This memorial observance consists of eating unleavened bread and drinking "fruit of the vine" (grape juice). These were the emblems Jesus used when he established this practice in Matthew 26:26-29. Observing this memorial follows the teaching of the Lord, the teaching of His apostles and the example of the New Testament church (I Cor. 11 :23-26).
Congregational Singing. Paul instructed Christians to sing songs of praise and exhortation in worship (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). This, you will quickly notice, we do without any accompaniment of musical instruments. In these passages, there is no authority given for using any instruments except the voice and the heart. Because we desire to do only what is biblically authorized, we simply sing - no more, no less.
Prayer. At various times in our worship period, men will direct the thoughts of the congregation in prayer to God through Jesus Christ (Luke 18:1;
I Thess.5:17).
Bible Preaching. In order to encourage, inform, build faith and rebuke if necessary, time will be spent in the presentation of simple and understandable studies from God's word ( 1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor. 1:18-21)
These are the things you will observe in a Sunday assembly of Northwest Church of Christ. As was stated above, these are expressions of worship that can be clearly seen in the New Testament. Our desire is not to add to or take from God's word (Rev. 22:1819), but to do only that for which we have authority.
Using the Bible as our example, we also find and follow
The Gospel Plan of Salvation:
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans
10:17)
"For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
"And these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." (Acts 17:30)
"That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)
"…arise, and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16)
"…be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life." (Revelation 2:10)
**The Northwest Church of Christ is not affiliated with the United Church of Christ.** |
