{"id":2073,"date":"2018-09-26T00:34:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T00:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=2073"},"modified":"2018-09-26T00:37:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T00:37:42","slug":"what-constitutes-a-new-testament-church-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=2073","title":{"rendered":"What Constitutes a New Testament Church?  Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>3.\u00a0 Sound Doctrine.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Foundational to sound doctrine is accepting the Bible for what it says about itself.\u00a0<em>\u00a0All scripture\u00a0is\u00a0given by inspiration of God (God breathed), and\u00a0is\u00a0profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:<\/em>\u00a0(II Timothy 3:16).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Being a Christian is more than identifying yourself with a particular religion or affirming a certain value system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong><em>Being a Christian means embracing what the Bible says about God, mankind, and salvation.\u00a0 Consider the following truths found in the Bible.*<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">God Is the Sovereign Creator:<\/span>\u00a0 The Bible says we were created by a personal God to love, serve, and enjoy endless fellowship with Him.\u00a0 The NT reveals it was Jesus Himself who created all things, therefore He also owns and rules everything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">God Is Holy:<\/span>\u00a0 He cannot commit or approve of evil.\u00a0 God requires holiness of us as well.\u00a0 <em>You shall be holy, for I am holy<\/em>\u00a0(I Peter 1:16).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mankind Is Sinful:<\/span> Everyone is guilty of sin.\u00a0 <em>As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God<\/em>\u00a0(Romans 3:10&amp;11).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sin Demands a Penalty:<\/span> God&#8217;s holiness and justice demand that all sin be punished by death (Ezekial 18:4).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Jesus Is Both Lord and Saviour:<\/span> Christ&#8217;s death satisfied the demands of God&#8217;s justice, and Christ&#8217;s perfect life satisfied the demands of God&#8217;s holiness, thereby enabling Him to forgive and save those who place their faith in Him (II Cor. 5:21\/Rom. 3:26).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Character of Saving Faith:<\/span> True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin.\u00a0 Repentance is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin, pursue Christ and obey Him.\u00a0 True saving faith always responds in obedience.*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>*Copyright 2013 Heritage Baptist Church, NSC, SD.\u00a0 Used by permission.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3.\u00a0 Sound Doctrine. Foundational to sound doctrine is accepting the Bible for what it says about itself.\u00a0\u00a0All scripture\u00a0is\u00a0given by inspiration of God (God breathed), and\u00a0is\u00a0profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:\u00a0(II Timothy 3:16).\u00a0\u00a0 Being a Christian is more than identifying yourself with a particular religion or affirming a certain value system.\u00a0\u00a0Being &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=2073\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What Constitutes a New Testament Church?  Part III<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2073"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}