this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory you am I in the right church how does that question strike you you know people who go looking for a church home are looking for so many different things it might be the youth program and how vital and strong that is or it could be the size of the church itself or maybe it's the building's architecture and whether it speaks to them maybe it's the financial resources that are available to them perhaps it has much to do with the church's dress code or maybe it's even the talent of the preacher or the distance that that church is from their home and while none of these things are inherently wrong qualities to possess or to look for one can find these in all kinds of different churches which may or may not be accurately teaching what the Bible says sometimes people are motivated by what are not motivated by what God is looking for in a church may I tell you today that I am looking for the church that follows the Bible as well as imperfect people can and if I am NOT in that church if there is a church that more closely follows the Word of God then I would leave the Church of which I am a member in order to become a member of that church nothing should matter more or be more important than being like the church found in the New Testament to be a part of that in Matthew 16 and verse 18 Jesus promised to build his church and when he said this it was not going to be long before he built it at the end of that discussion in Matthew 16 in verse 28 he says assuredly I say to you that there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom now Matthew through John record Jesus's life and his teaching and it shows his will and his desire for his followers if you keep reading the New Testament that church is established very soon after these words in Matthew chapter 16 Acts has often been called the history book of the church and rightly so because it traces for us the establishment and the expansion of the church then we get over to the epistles the books of Romans through the book of Jude and they're all full of instructions for how the church was to conduct itself and then the book of Revelation includes a look at the ultimate future of the church John would look and say I have seen me in and God's people are going to win they that overcome can come over but I think that it's fair to say that too often churches do not consult the New Testament to guide them and what they will teach and practice or how they will worship or how they will decide matters the majority may be content with being a part of such churches but I am not satisfied with that if I cannot find permission for it in the Bible I want an answer for why were you're doing it you know if you and I were dropped onto a deserted island with no previous experience with religion and the Bible was the only resource and the guide that we had what would that church look like how much would that church resemble the one where you attend how much would it resemble the ones all around us if that answer doesn't matter then it would seem that church and especially the Bible are completely unimportant and irrelevant and we would make better use of our time to totally reject both the Bible and the concept of church but if the Bible and the church that it reveals do matter I want to know am I in the right church the church began on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem following Christ's resurrection and we read about this in Acts chapter 2 verse 22 through 47 I know that this is a lengthy reading but I hope that if you have your Bible that you will look at this with me because it's so important what we see in Acts chapter 2 is the sermon that Peter preaches and then the response of people and what happens as the result of that on this particular day Peter gets up and preaches to those present and he says this Acts chapter 2 beginning at verse 22 men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God you have taken with wicked hands and have crucified and slain who God raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it for David says concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my face he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad moreover my flesh shall rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades no nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption you have made known to me the ways of life you will make me full of joy in your presence men and brethren let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him of the fruit of his body according to his flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne he pursued seeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ that his soul was not left in Hades or his soul see corruption this Jesus God raised up of which we were all witnesses therefore it being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the Holy Spirit he poured out this which you now seeing here for David did not ascend into the heavens but he says himself the Lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and they said the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do if Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is unto you and under your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God shall call and with many other words he testified and exhorted saying be saved from this perverse generation and those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day 3,000 souls were added to them and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as every one had made and so continuing daily with one Accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and in simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved there are several characteristics that we read about this church that is different from many churches today but that church we just read about is the right Church the Church of Acts chapter 2 is the New Testament church why do we say that notice with me number one it is the right church because it has the right head in Acts chapter 2 verses 22 through 36 Jesus is the subject of the sermon that led to the church's establishment it is not called the church until Acts chapter 5 and verse 11 unless you have some versions that use the word in verse 47 of chapter 2 but it is the same group that we read about forming after Peters sermon right here in acts 2:22 - 36 again your Bible may even have the word Church in verse 47 and the number to which the saved were added is obviously the church just keep reading and the context proves this at the end of Peters sermon he says that God made Jesus Lord verse 36 that is the one who exercises supernatural authority over mankind while the resurrected Christ reigns and rules over all men everywhere he is the king of his kingdom three times the New Testament specifically caused Jesus Christ the head of the church you can look in Ephesians 1 in verse 22 also in Ephesians 5 in verse 23 in Colossians 1 and verse 18 and this very principle is found repeatedly in the New Testament being the head means being uppermost in relationship to others it means to be preeminent and so what I want to know is this does the church that I attend honor and serve Jesus as its head how can I know whether or not it does well in Luke 6 and verse 46 Jesus says why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do what I say in Matthew 7 and verse 21 and the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven an important place to start regarding the church that I am a member of is asking do we do what he says are we following the Father's will the only way I can know this is by measuring what the church that I attend does by what the Word of God says that it's supposed to do how can a body claim to be attached to the right head and then refuse to follow his direction in a practical sense every body of believers is going to struggle with personal sin in their daily lives it's an inevitable quality of our humanity according to Roman's 3 in verse 23 but that is a different matter altogether then being a group of people who collectively ignore or violate the will of God when it comes to the commands of God and his revealed wheel the Bible tells us to worship a certain way to be organized to certainly to teach certain things and it fulfills certain purposes and in the wake of that some Bible verses would say this second John 9 it says anyone who goes too far and that's not abide and the teaching of Christ does not have God the one who abides in the teaching he has both the father and the son Galatians 1 beginning at verse 6 Paul says I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace from the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that which you have received let him be accursed that's serious if I am in a church that has followed its own mind in its own will where Christ has already legislated then John and Paul tell me that I don't have God and even worse that I am under a curse if someone who teaches a different gospel is accursed what will happen to anyone who follows and obeys that different gospel and so to ascertain whether or not I'm in the right church I have to ask does it have the right head but there's a second very important point that I see straight out of Acts chapter 2 we know that Acts chapter 2 reveals the right church the right Church according to chapter 2 of Acts verse 37 through 41 has the right plan of salvation God has a plan for our salvation it has been in his mind from eternity according to Ephesians 3 verse 9 through 11 it is revealed in Acts chapter 2 you know it's a laborious and at times a frustrating task to determine how so many of the churches around us answer that question what must I do to be saved you'll walk into one building and ask what must I do to be saved and you'll get some answer about sprinkling a baby you'll go into another Church and you'll ask the same question they'll say what has nothing to do with water at all the Holy Spirit baptizes you and overwhelms your mind and heart and that's what you need to do to be saved others say just accept Jesus in your heart by faith in your saved somebody else might say in another Church you can be baptized for the dead different answers are given from one place to the next between the writing of the New Testament and today men have given different answers to that question but tragically they are different from the answer that's given in the New Testament the first time that Jesus was ever preached Peter and the Apostles gave a clear and unmistakable answer shouldn't we want the answer that they gave and the rest of the New Testament it goes that answer that was given the first day Jesus was preached as if to anticipate how many religious leaders would come along and try to change the clear truth of Scripture let me emphasize again what's said in acts 2 verse 36 to 41 which we read a few moments ago Peter says at the end of his sermon therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ and when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do and Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call them with many other words that he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls so how does this relate to whether or not were in the right church Acts chapter 2 and forward we read that the Lord added to the church those who were saved verse 47 how are they saved by following the right plan of salvation Peter did not answer their question what shall we do in the way that so many churches have and do if you are not given the right answer to that question how can you be in the right Church there's no mistaking that the body that Paul refers to in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 is the New Testament church and he says in chapter 12 and verse 13 for by one spirit were you all baptized into one body the whole analogy is about the corinthians being a body with many individual members 1st corinthians 12 and verse 12 Paul addressed them on the whole as the Church of God which is at Corinth for those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus Saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 1st Corinthians 1:2 this body is Christ's body 1st corinthians 12 27 and so we're talking about those who follow his authority so we are baptized into the one body the New Testament church God adds us to this one body when we do like the people in Acts chapter two and like the people in Corinth did now thanks to the Internet anyone can google the church that they are a member of and find out what that church teaches that one has to do to be saved may I ask you to consider this if the church where you are attending is teaching something different than what the New Testament teaches about this you need to ask if they are if that is the right Church the question is not are there sweet sincere and good people in that church if they are teaching something different from Peter and the Apostles about how to be saved how could we justify remaining in that church Harry Randell Truman was a World War one veteran who lived near Spirit Lake in Washington State he was a fast talker described as loud opinionated and perhaps not the easiest man to get along with being twice divorced and out living his third long-suffering wife he became a folk hero in the spring of 1980 as the lone holdout in the face of two months of warnings and imploring from the state of Washington Spirit Lake sat at the foot of a beautiful mountain with an elevation above 8,000 feet in the name of this mountain the saint of Mount st. Helens and on May 18 1980 it claimed one fatality at Spirit Lake and 56 others in the surrounding area Truman was buried under 150 feet of a volcanic landslide debris the site was engulfed in a pyroclastic flow which moved at 450 miles per hour and that temperatures that may have reached a thousand degrees but in one of his last interviews he said the mountain ain't gonna hurt me boy now mr. Truman knew better he was told to escape but he refused to do so that's tragic but how many people belong to a church that is not giving them proper warning for a doom that is undoubtedly coming and how many people can read passages like acts 2:38 and see what God says that we must do to prepare for the judgement but keep refusing to do it I must ask myself am I in the right church if it does not teach the right plan of salvation the answer that matters it's eternally grave but third in answer to the question am I on the right church I answer that by going to verse 42 through 47 the the right Church has the right purpose you know there's a place for recreation and entertainment and the like some of my best memories involve Church softball teams and church picnics in church camp and church camping these are great ways to create togetherness and fellowship as well as to introduce friends and unchurched people to the church a late-night talk-show host asked a bodybuilder who came on the show and was flexing for the camera and the host said you sure have a lot of muscles what do you use them for the host asked him multiple times but he just continued to flex and he never said a word he had no doubt spent multiplied hours in the gym and he could have to many hundreds of pounds but for what purpose a church needs to ask itself often why do we exist what is our purpose is it to glorify self is it to entertain self is it to scratch what the world is itching for but what was the purpose of the New Testament church now this one text in Acts chapter 2 doesn't record the totality of their purpose but it represents all that we see in the New Testament we've already read that but look at acts 2 verse 42 again they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul too many wonders were in signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things coming and sold their possessions and goods and part of them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one Accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all the people in the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved their purpose was number one devotion verse 42 through 45 Luke shows us what all they were devoted to they were devoted to apostolic teaching we cannot overstate the importance of this they had the Twelve Apostles right there with them and they took their teaching as gospel truth consider the words of one apostle describing the church in Ephesians 2 19 and 20 he says now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone did you know that every word of the New Testament was written by God through either an apostle or a prophet Paul wrote 13 books John wrote 5 Peter wrote 2 and Matthew wrote 1 and they were all apostles Luke wrote to mark the writer of Hebrews James and Jude wrote 1 and they were prophets the first Christians were led by their teaching when it came to their worship how they were organized and led the role of men and women in the church morality and ethics Paul says in 2nd Timothy 3:16 and 17 that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching reproof for correction for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work so many churches did I give any regard to what the New Testament says about these matters in fact many go to great lengths to try and disprove and disagree with what it says they were also devoted to fellowship at Jerusalem church Christ this is scene and how important spending time together was to them they were together with joy and sincerity and gratitude to God their sense of purpose was encouraged by the unity and the fellowship that they enjoyed they were also devoted to worship their worship is represented by the teaching the Lord's Supper in prayer the breaking of bread is a formal act and it's distinguished from the common meal at verse 46 we read later in acts and in the rest of the New Testament that the disciples had an official day when they met together to worship God they worship the way that they were instructed to worship and we have those instructions in the New Testament and they were devoted to meeting needs their priorities changed from the material to the spiritual they dedicated themselves to helping these new found spiritual family members who suffered materially they were not a social club they were not a gymnasium they were not a shopping center and they were not the local entertainment venue the Roman Empire already offered all of those things through the baths and the Colosseum's the chariot races the festivals the literature and the theaters the early church knew these things but they knew that these things we're not there purpose to be the Church of the New Testament we cannot forget where our greatest emphasis lies it's on the spiritual and the fulfillment of man's greatest need the early church was all about reaching the loss and strengthening to save and helping those in need if the church where I am a member is a playhouse or is just playing Church than I am in the wrong place friend I know we've given a lot to consider in this one lesson but that fundamental question remains am I in the right church are you in the right church I think you know that the answer to that matters to God he has given us his word preserved for us the New Testament so that we can find a church that reflects the teaching and the practice of the first century church if we can help you find that church please call on us we don't believe we've got it all figured out but we believe that this word does and all we wanted to do is follow what it says only what it says not adding to it or taking away from it if we can help you to find the Church of the New Testament please call on us you