The following is the introductory transcript from Pastor Steve Hereford given at the 4th Anniversary Service of Changed By Grace Community Church on Sunday April 9, 2006.
It is very clear that the world does not understand us. The apostle John said it is “because it did not know Him (Christ)” (1 Jn.3:1). Many churches do not understand us. And sometimes I don’t understand them either. The Lord has given us a unique fellowship. A church that is committed to Him, His Word, and to each other. As we celebrate our 4 year anniversary today, I want to talk about the commitment we have maintained throughout our time together. There are many things that mark a church. It is true that no two churches are alike because no two people are alike. We are all unique to God with differing gifts that make up the body. But there are non-negotiables in Scripture that should mark every church. And this morning I want to talk about what those are and our steadfast commitment to them.
We hear churches and individual believers constantly talk about their commitment to the Word of God, and rightly so, but when that commitment is examined, many times we find it to be shallow or fluffy. I don’t say that to imply that we never fight those things because we do. But there are some underlying foundational features that assist us in the application of truth—that keep us from becoming shallow. I want to remind you of them this morning.
Three years ago I shared a message called “The Authority of Scripture.” In that message, I talked about these 5 foundational truths. Since that message, we have sought to lay that foundation here at Changed By Grace. Some years ago, a staff member where John MacArthur pastors said to him that “The history of the church and its people seem to always follow an interesting pattern. The first generation fights to discover and establish the truth. The second generation fights to maintain the truth and proclaim it. But the third generation couldn’t care less about all of that. Since they weren’t a part of the fight the first two generations faced, they don’t have anything at stake. They tend to take for granted the things that have already been established” (John MacArthur, The Anatomy of a Church, 3).
Changed By Grace is still in the first generation. We are fighting to “discover and establish the truth.” There are many of you here that are fighting that with us. Some of you are seeking to “maintain the truth and proclaim it.” But there are also some in here that “couldn’t care less about all that.” And that really scares me! Changed By Grace is committed to a lot of things but that commitment grows out of our commitment to the truth. Every time we’re together we seek to exposit, explain, and exemplify the Word of God. We do that by systematically teaching the whole counsel of God. And in that teaching we have sought to implement what we’ve learned. We have exposed ourselves through the teaching of God’s Word to Bible doctrine and systematic theology. We have systematically taught what the Bible says about elders, deacons, deaconesses, church discipline, the one-another’s, marriage, family, children. We have also taught and continue to teach subjects pertaining to God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, heaven, angels, the church, salvation, end times, man, sin, and hell. We have held nothing back!
As we move into our 4th year, we will continue to teach and model these truths. But as we do that we must be reminded of the foundation that we’re building on or you will not understand our commitment. These five foundation truths are unalterable; they cannot be compromised in any way. When I say that a church has to be committed to those things, I am talking about you and me. You and I are the church.
The first nonnegotiable requirement of a church is that it have a high view of God...(click the link above to listen to this anniversary message by Pastor Hereford).
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