1. T HE N EW T ESTAMENT C HURCH T HE G RANDEUR AND G LORY OF THE C HURCH

2. I NTRODUCTION The Church does not occupy the place in the hearts of men that it should until men realize that by staying outside the church they rob themselves of life’s greatest blessings and hope of eternal life! – “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.”{Hebrews 3:4}

3. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE It is God’s Temple. – “ Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” {1 Corinthians 3:16,17}

4. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE His dwelling place. – “ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” {Ephesians 2:19-22}

5. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE Must be built according to His directions. – “A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man...who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” {Hebrews 8:2,5}

6. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE Jesus is the builder. – “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” {Matthew 16:18,19}

7. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE Must take heed how we build. – “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” {Psalm 127:1} – “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.” {1 Corinthians 3:10}

8. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE God refuses to recognize any but His own. – “But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” {Matthew 15:13,14}

9. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE To wear God’s name. – “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” {Ephesians 3:14-16}

10. G OD ’ S T HE A UTHOR : I T IS T HEREFORE D IVINE It is God’s institution. – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” {1 Corinthians 1:2}

11. C HRIST IS THE S AVIOR AND H EAD Gave Himself for it. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” {Ephesians 5:25-27}

12. C HRIST IS THE S AVIOR AND H EAD Savior of the body. “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” {Ephesians 5:23}

13. C HRIST IS THE S AVIOR AND H EAD Head of the body, which is the church. “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” {Ephesians 1:22,23}

14. C HRIST IS THE S AVIOR AND H EAD Christ our representative in Heaven. “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” {1 John 2:1,2}

15. G LORIOUS IN I TS M ISSION Saving of souls by the preaching of the gospel its design. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” {Romans 1:16}

16. G LORIOUS IN I TS M ISSION The pillar and ground of the truth. “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” {1 Timothy 3:14,15}

17. G LORIOUS IN I TS M ISSION Sending agency. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” {Romans 10:14,15}

18. G LORIOUS IN I TS M ISSION Wisdom of God made known through the church. “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” {Ephesians 3:10}

19. G LORIOUS IN I TS M ISSION God glorified in the church. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” {Ephesians 3:20,21}

20. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS ARE T HEREIN The church is His fullness. “Which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” {Ephesians 1:23}

21. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS ARE T HEREIN All spiritual blessings are in Christ. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” {Ephesians 1:3}

22. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS … Christ body and the church— one in the same! – “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” {Colossians 1:18}

23. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS … Christ and the Church are inseparably united! – “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” {Ephesians 5:30-32}

24. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS ARE T HEREIN We are reconciled unto the body of Christ, which is the church. “And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” {Ephesians 2:16}

25. A LL S PIRITUAL B LESSINGS ARE T HEREIN We get into Christ and the church upon the same condition and by the same process. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” {Galatians 3:26,27}