Restoration leaders… Refused being controlled Refused having their access to Christ filtered Demanded free passage to the Bible

Church organizations/Religions

Body of Christ C A B

You are part of the Body of Christ There is no earthly conduit you have to pass through to connect to the Body at large Christ who has done this Direct connection to Him means…

Christ has taken away the filters

We are Free to… Consider ourselves as part of the Body of Christ at large “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” Ephesians 4:4

How about if… We just take the Bible, specifically the New Testament as our only guide We do what it says… When we have trouble understanding that, we do what they did…

First things first Restoration leaders asked… “What did the New Testament record say about people becoming Christians?

Acts 2 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it…“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

The way people became Christians The facts were delivered to them What God had done was summarized This recounting was labeled “Good News” or “The Gospel”

The whole story is called -

Note what Paul says For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile Romans 1:16

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed (NIV) This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight (NLT) —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:18

How to help people remember

We see ourselves… Free from being Church A,B, or C. We are a local congregation part of the Body of Christ

We are not

How did get here? So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Galatians 5:1

Paul – Just making sure Galatians 2 Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. I went there because God revealed to me that I should go.

While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing.

And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile. Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really— who were secretly brought in.

They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. But we refused to give in to them for a single moment.

We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you. And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)