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When you visit us, you should expect
to find nothing more or less than what you read in the New
Testament regarding the church. Your expectations of the church
meeting in Wichita Falls Texas will be met since such expectations
are based on Bible facts regarding the church. Most assuredly
your expectations of us are that we follow the instructions of
God’s word. We trust that you will find nothing but Biblical
standards being held in the highest esteem in areas of the name,
reputation, acts, work, organization, worship and discipline in
the church.
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls to wear a scriptural name:
Some believe that the name of
the church is not important. Jesus had somewhat to say about
this. He purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28).
Jesus is the head (Eph. 5:23), body (Eph. 1:22-23) and foundation
(Eph. 2:20). The church belonging to Jesus is therefore called
the church of Christ or of God (cf. Acts 20:28; I Cor. 1:2; 10:32;
11:22; 15:9; II Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:13; I Tim. 3:5; Rom. 16:16).
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls is in good standing:
The
apostle Paul spoke of the reputation of the Roman brethren saying,
“I thank my
God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is
proclaimed throughout the whole world”
(Rom. 1:8). Again Paul said, “For
your obedience is come abroad unto all men”
(Rom. 16:19). When a church is in good standing with God it is in
good standing with brethren.
The elders of
this local church will in no way accept into our fellowship anyone
who is not in good standing with the Lord that we may not sin
(Eph. 5:26-27). When the brethren in Ephesus sent Apollos to
Achaia, they sent a letter with him so that the brethren in Achaia
would “receive”
him into their fellowship (Acts 18:24-28). This is an example of
the importance of brethren fellowshipping each other in truth.
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls doing all things “in
the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17):
Since the Bible
teaches that Jesus has all authority (Matt. 28:18), you can expect
to find the church here doing nothing more and nothing less than
the instructions of Jesus. Jesus took the words of the Father (Jn.
7:16-17) and passed them on to the apostles (Jn. 16:14). The
apostles and prophets took these teachings and revealed them to us
in the New Testament scriptures (cf. Eph. 3:1-5).
A close examination
of the scriptures will reveal that Jesus and the apostles preached
by direct commands, examples, inference and silence. Jesus
illustrated the importance of following direct commands when being
tempted of the Devil (Matt. 4:4-10). The apostle Paul tells us
the importance of following the example of the apostles in
Philippians 4:9. God depends upon man’s reasoning abilities to
understand the scriptures (cf. Isa. 1:18). God therefore gets his
commands across through inference as well (cf. Matt. 3:16
regarding the baptism of Jesus; the passage infers a submerging in
water!). The silence of the scriptures are to be respected as
taught in Hebrews 7:11ff. The New Testament is a law and must be
treated as such (Isa. 2:3; Jer. 31:31; Matt. 7:23;
Romans 3:27,
8:2;
Galatians 6:2;
I Corinthians
9:22; Heb. 8:10;
James 1:25;
2:12;
I Jn. 3:4).
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls to be performing works
authorized by the scriptures:
You
will find the church busy promoting the spiritual growth of its
own members (edification) (Eph. 4:12-16). We generally
have two gospel meetings per year and various classes to instruct
each member. The elders have oversight of the ladies only Bible
study every Thursday evening through the spring. We currently
have a “New Converts” class set for June that they will exercise
the oversight of as well.
Secondly, you will find
the church busy in the area of evangelizing the community
(Acts 13:1-5; I Cor. 9:1-14; Eph. 3:10; Phil. 4:15). During the
year 2002 we knocked on over 500 doors and passed out a multitude
of flyers. We wrote regular articles in the local newspaper and
invited many to attend our gospel meetings going door to door with
flyers.
Thirdly, the church at
Floral Heights stands ready and willing by the authority of God to
help any of its own needy saints and other saints abroad as
we have the opportunity. This need may come in the form of
financial aid (Acts 11:27ff; I Tim. 5:1ff) or spiritual aid of
burdens (Rev. 2:24).
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls to be organized according
to God’s standards:
You will not find this church to be a part of any type of national
organization or denominational body. The New Testament church was
organized locally only, and so must we be (cf. I Cor. 1:2; Phil.
1:1). The church of Christ in Wichita Falls has two elders
(Tom Witherspoon and Mike Chancellor) who meet the qualifications
set forth in I Tim. 3:1-8; Titus 1:5-9.
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls to be worshipping the Lord
in the spirit of truth (Jn. 4:23):
The
New Testament church reveals five acts of worship. You may expect
to find the church of Christ in Wichita Falls Texas performing
these acts of worship every first day of the week. These acts
are: singing (Eph. 5:19); praying (I Tim. 2:8), preaching (Acts
7:20ff), partaking of the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 11:23) and giving
of our means as we have been prospered (I Cor. 16:1-2)
You can expect to
find the Lord’s church in Wichita Falls exercising longsuffering
patience with members who have erred but not forbearing with their
sin with indifference.
Recognizing that sin separates man from God (Isa. 59:1-2; I Jn.
1:5ff), the elders at the Floral Heights church of Christ are
patient and longsuffering with the erring. There comes a time,
however, when that patience and longsuffering must end (cf. I
Thess. 5:14 and II Thess. 3:6). The brethren in Corinth were
guilty as such and were not pleasing to the Lord (I Cor. 5:1ff).
The apostle John reveals the mind of God against those who would
tolerate sin among the body of saints in Revelation 2:20.
Conclusion:
You may
expect to see the above things at this church when visiting. If
you find something that we are doing that is not in accordance
with God’s word you would be our friend to point this out to us.
Please know that it is our desire to perform only acts authorized
in the scriptures and to preach the truth in a spirit of love
(Eph. 4:15). These things are done in faith as we desire and
expect (hope) to be in heaven one day with the Father (Rev.
21-22:5). Please do come and worship with us as you have the
opportunity.
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